Chapter 1 The Anxious Waiting

From the news of the Wang Shi (Royal Army) appearing nearby in the early morning, the commoners and dignitaries in Chuzhou City had been eagerly awaiting the outcome.

After the main force of the Zhenbei Army (North Suppression Army) left the city, everyone craned their necks like giraffes, wanting to see as soon as possible which banner the returning troops would be flying.

Perhaps, for ordinary people, their lives would not be greatly affected, because the Yan people were different from the rumored barbarians who liked to kill and eat human flesh.

The Yan people would also distribute grain, a lot of grain.

The common people's ideas are actually very simple. If you treat me well, I will feel good about you, whether this is an appeasement policy or just for show.

However, for the powerful officials in Chuzhou City, the impact would be much greater. A slight misstep could cost them their lives and fortunes.

Finally, before the necks of the entire city broke,

a troop of soldiers

returned.

When they saw the knights riding warhorses entering the city,

a sense of listlessness

began to slowly spread throughout Chuzhou City,

accompanied by the Zhenbei Army knights' rhythmic hoofbeats,

as if everything was being trampled into the abyss.

The blind man stood by the street, with Yue Xin, whom he had just brought out from the Wen family, standing behind him.

Yue Xin still held the blind man's arm, she really treated him as a blind man.

When the Zhenbei Army knights passed in front of them,

the blind man clearly felt the woman beside him begin to tremble slightly,

No matter how intelligent a woman is, when facing these elite soldiers who have just come down from the battlefield, fear is natural.

Especially since this was the army of an enemy country.

The Zhenbei Army knights' armor was still stained with blood that had not been wiped away, and almost everyone had a head hanging beside their saddles.

Heads were symbols of military merit, a "陋习" (lòu xí, crude custom) inherited from the barbaric era, but it was still being used.

Because war is not a civilized affair.

The smell of blood began to gradually permeate, and a vast and terrifying pressure once again pressed down on the entire Chuzhou City.

Those majestic knights,

those hideous heads,

and those banners of the Qian army,

all told the story of the outcome of this battle.

The Wang Shi (Royal Army),

the Qian army,

had been defeated!

The Qian people in Chuzhou City did not know that this Qian army was simply passing through.

They naturally assumed that the Wang Shi (Royal Army) was sent by the imperial court to recover Chuzhou.

The Wang Shi (Royal Army) came, the heads of the Wang Shi (Royal Army) were hung on saddles, and the banners of the Wang Shi (Royal Army) were dragged on the ground like brooms sweeping the streets.

Even the most ignorant commoner could clearly see that the Qian army had been defeated, and defeated miserably.

The Yan army seemed to have gone out for a stroll around the city, had a hunt, and returned fully loaded.

The sound of horses' hooves continued to beat against the bluestone streets, like heavy hammers striking the hearts of everyone in the city.

A kind of faith, a kind of emotion, a kind of simple and innate thing, was being torn apart piece by piece.

The blind man reached out and patted the woman's hand, saying;

"Don't be afraid."

The woman bit her lip lightly and said:

"I'm not afraid."

The woman was afraid, but her fear was not that complicated, because strictly speaking, she was already half a Yan person.

At this time,

Zheng Fan rode past, he noticed the blind man, and the blind man had obviously noticed his master long ago.

Liang Cheng also saw the blind man, and then looked at the woman holding the blind man's arm.

The two stopped and rode their horses to the blind man's side at the street corner.

"Kowtow and call him master."

The woman was very obedient and knelt down to Zheng Fan on the street.

She was very smart, because Liang Cheng was standing behind Zheng Fan, so she could tell at first glance who the master her husband was talking about was.

"Master."

Yue Xin's voice was very clear.

Zheng Fan's face was full of question marks?

"What's going on?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Thanks to master's blessing, this subordinate just got married."

"Uh......."

I went out to fight a battle, and you got married?

Although there were still many, many questions in his mind, the young lady had already bowed and kowtowed to him, so Zheng Fan, as the master, naturally couldn't say nothing.

Zheng Fan reached into his arms and took out a piece of jade, bent down and handed it to the woman kneeling beside his horse,

"A small gift, don't despise it."

Yue Xin raised her head and took the jade pendant. As a member of a wealthy family, she was well-informed. After seeing this jade pendant, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"What, do you recognize this jade?"

Zheng Fan's words carried a sense of inquiry.

In fact, he didn't recognize it at all.

"In response to master's words, this is East Sea Qingcui (Azure Jade), it is said that it can only be occasionally obtained on the islands of the East Sea, it is rare and precious. Such a large East Sea Qingcui (Azure Jade), I... I..."

Yue Xin wanted to say that it was too precious and she couldn't accept it, but after hesitating for a moment, she said:

"Thank you for master's reward."

"If I give it to you, just take it."

How could Zu Dongcheng's personal jade pendant be ordinary?

His Zu family army was simply a replica of the East Sea King in the East Sea.

Not every warlord is as poor as Marquis Zhenbei, who can't even bear to eat meat usually.

Of course, no matter how valuable this thing was, Zheng Fan wouldn't feel bad about giving it away. Zheng Shoubei (Defense Commandant Zheng) still had this much class.

"Master, did we win?" the blind man asked a redundant question.

Liang Cheng said:

"A great victory, more than 20,000 heads were cut off, and master even captured the enemy's commander, the eldest son of the Zu family."

"Master is mighty."

"Alright, alright, pack your things and get ready to go back."

Zheng Fan turned his horse's head and greeted the blind man before leaving.

The Yan army's re-entry into the city seemed to have taken away all the spirit of this great city.

Like a rebellious teenager who suddenly entered his twilight years.

They knew their fate, and accepted it.

Wen Mansion,

after hearing the report from the servants,

the faces of the Wen family members in the hall revealed relief and a sense of release.

Wen Su Tong, who had just sent away his virtuous grandson-in-law, slowly picked up the official hat placed to the side.

For a time,

the Wen family members in the hall did not dare to speak.

At this moment,

they seemed to finally understand what kind of sharp insight this old man possessed.

Wen Su Tong stood up and pushed away the housekeeper who wanted to help him, walking out of the hall by himself.

Continuing to walk outside,

passing the courtyard, passing the atrium, all the way to the entrance of the Wen Mansion.

The servants on both sides of the door opened the gate,

Wen Su Tong walked out of the gate.

Beneath the steps of the gate,

stood densely packed armored soldiers holding weapons.

The leader

was Liu Sicheng, the newly appointed Chuzhou City commander who had personally led the surrendered soldiers to slaughter many prominent families yesterday.

"This humble general greets the Jiedushi (Military Governor)!"

Liu Sicheng personally knelt down,

behind him,

thousands of surrendered Qian soldiers knelt down together.

"What should be seen has been seen, what should be waited for has been waited for."

Wen Su Tong put the official hat on his head,

and continued:

"The Yan people's knives are fast, but not accurate enough.

The Yan people have already cut once, now we will cut the second time."

Liu Sicheng and the surrendered soldiers under his command shouted in unison:

"As you command!"

...

Zu Dongcheng was thrown into the tent, with Xue San in charge of guarding him.

The others were sitting around a bonfire, with an iron pot on top, filled with hot pot seasoning, and a mixed stew was cooking inside.

Si Niang sat behind Zheng Fan, massaging his shoulders.

Yue Xin very sensibly began to busy herself with the things cooking in the iron pot, stirring it with a large spoon from time to time. It could be seen that she was not used to the spicy taste, and she coughed from time to time.

"It's ready," Yue Xin said.

"Serve it," the blind man said.

"Yes, husband."

Yue Xin picked up bowls and served a bowl to each person.

Si Niang said:

"Sister, the rice is steaming over there."

"Okay."

Yue Xin did not show any displeasure at being ordered around, and got up to serve rice again.

Each person had a bowl of spicy hot pot and a large bowl of rice, and they ate very happily.

Yue Xin couldn't eat spicy food, so she could only try to eat more rice. While eating, she was also looking around.

The clever thing was that she wasn't peeking cautiously, but observing everyone openly.

Therefore, everyone who felt her gaze glanced at the blind man sitting next to her and then nodded or smiled at Yue Xin.

In Yue Xin's opinion,

the man in armor was very valiant, and there were still traces of blood on his body that had not been wiped away. He must have just come down from the battlefield.

However, this person seemed very cold, with a chill that could be felt just by sitting near him.

Next to this man sat another man, this man gave people the feeling of a refined and romantic Qian scholar, but he didn't like to eat, he barely touched his food, and seemed very thirsty, constantly drinking water from his water bag.

He must be afraid of spicy food like her.

That tough guy ate so fast, he didn't use a bowl to eat, but after the others had served their rice, he picked up the remaining bucket of rice and put it in front of him, stuffing rice into his mouth directly with the large spoon used for serving rice.

That little shorty came out of the guard post, picked up his food, then glanced at her, and finally glared at her husband before leaving resentfully.

This dwarf has a conflict with her husband.

Finally, Yue Xin focused her gaze on Zheng Fan and Si Niang.

This is the master,

is this sister beside the master, the mistress?

Yue Xin carefully observed Zheng Fan,

this man,

looks unremarkable…

Judging from his temperament, he is also unremarkable…

The way he eats is also unremarkable…

How could such an unremarkable person make her husband recognize him as his master?

After eating,

Zheng Fan said:

"Pack up."

Packing up here, of course, did not refer to cleaning up the dishes, but that the army would set off tomorrow.

Zheng Fan walked to the tent where Zu Dongcheng was,

Xue San had just put down his bowl and wiped his mouth, saying:

"Master, he's awake, he's pretending to be asleep."

Zu Dongcheng still had his eyes closed.

Zheng Fan said: "Piss him awake."

Zu Dongcheng opened his eyes.

Zheng Fan squatted down beside Zu Dongcheng and reached out to pat his rather fair face:

"You're a military general, why do you have such a pretty face?"

Zu Dongcheng turned his face to look at Zheng Fan, without saying a word.

"He's mute, use piss to cure him."

"............" Zu Dongcheng.

"Okay." Xue San prepared to untie his belt.

"Why humiliate me?" Zu Dongcheng said.

"Then why are you, a prisoner, putting on airs here?"

"What's your name?" Zu Dongcheng asked.

"Pa!"

Zheng Fan slapped Zu Dongcheng in the face.

Zu Dongcheng was stunned.

"Pay attention to your identity, to be honest, don't think that you can put on airs just because you're the young master of the Zu family army. Didn't your 30,000 troops also turn into mountain goats running all over the mountains?"

"Then what are you keeping me for? Why don't you just kill me?"

"Bored, wanted to humiliate you."

"My surname is Zu, my name is Dongcheng."

"That's right, it would have been better if you had done this earlier. My name is Zheng Fan, Shoubei (Defense Commandant) of Cuiliu Fort, Yinlang County, Great Yan."

"It's you?"

"Looks like I'm quite famous."

"Indeed very famous, I didn't expect that I would actually fall into your hands."

"It's your honor."

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Haven't thought it through yet, but I have a preliminary idea, can you persuade your father to revolt and surrender to my Great Yan?"

Zu Dongcheng looked at Zheng Fan as if he were an idiot.

"Okay, I asked a bit idiotically."

Zheng Fan shook his hand,

he hadn't really figured out what to do with Zu Dongcheng. The reason why he came to see him after dinner was one, to help with digestion, and two, to see the piglet he had caught back in the pigsty today.

Li Fusheng also didn't plan to do anything fancy with Zu Dongcheng. It wasn't that Li Fusheng was arrogant, but as a veteran general, he knew very well that it would be too naive to try to do anything by holding onto someone's son.

"How about we change our thinking, tell me, what can you bring me, let's make a deal?"

"A deal?"

"That is, business, let's talk."

A mocking smile appeared on Zu Dongcheng's face.

"Bang!"

Xue San punched down, and Zu Dongcheng's right face swelled up.

"Master, I was wrong, I was impulsive."

"No, you did very well."

Zu Dongcheng spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and said:

"Yan dogs, we sons of the Zu family don't have soft knees."

"Okay, okay, I know, I know, then let me chat with you, do you know what we are going to do next?"

Zu Dongcheng didn't speak.

"You have to cooperate with me, maybe you can hear some of my Great Yan military secrets from me, in case you can escape, you can still report back, right?"

"What are you going to do next?"

"Go south." Zheng Fan directly gave the answer.

"Go south?" Zu Dongcheng was a little surprised and said: "Go south!"

"Don't believe it?"

"With just you people, go south, how can you......."

"Oh, you're wrong, this time going south, there are 250,000 iron cavalry."

"Impossible... impossible... impossible..."

"I didn't expect it before, but that's the fact. Right now, in the territory of Chuzhou County, 250,000 iron cavalry have spread out. When we came, we didn't care about your three-border defense line at all, and just passed straight through."

"How dare you!"

"There's nothing we don't dare to do, our Emperor dares to play like this, but does your Emperor dare to play like this? Tell me, does your father dare to go on a Northern Expedition instead of going south?"

Zu Dongcheng was silent.

A villainous smile appeared on Zheng Fan's face:

"Think about it, when your Zhao Emperor gets up one morning and suddenly finds more than 200,000 iron cavalry outside the capital,

isn't it unexpected, isn't it surprising?"

"The capital is not so easy to conquer."

The capital is the pride of the Qian people.

Without exaggeration, the capital is not only the entire Eastern world, but even the most brilliant and shining pearl in the world, East and West combined, the most exquisite and prosperous city in this world.

"Chuzhou City is also very solid, didn't we take it down?" Zheng Fan asked back.

"It's different, I think, the reason why Chuzhou City could be taken down by you so quickly is because it was completely unprepared. Now, the capital will definitely be prepared.

At that time, with an imperial decree from the Emperor, calling on the armies of the world to defend the Emperor, it can easily gather hundreds of thousands of troops."

"The capital can be taken down if it can be taken down. As for the so-called army defending the Emperor, what kind of stuff is it, you and I both know in our hearts. In front of my Great Yan iron cavalry, no matter how many people there are, it's meaningless."

Zheng Fan took out an iron box and took out a cigarette from it.

Xue San very considerately lit the fire stick and helped Zheng Fan light the cigarette.

Zheng Fan took a puff,

and slowly exhaled a smoke ring,

saying:

"To be honest, we didn't think about being able to take down the capital."

"Then what do you want......."

Zu Dongcheng suddenly widened his eyes, obviously, this young general who had grown up in the military since childhood, thought of the Yan people's plan!

"Hehe, thought of it, didn't you?"

Zu Dongcheng gritted his teeth.

In his mind, it seemed as if his father, Old Zhong and Little Zhong Xiang, Yang Taiwei and others were leading hundreds of thousands of troops from the three borders to the south to aid them.

Then,

more than 200,000 Yan cavalry suddenly attacked,

everything,

seemed to be a replica of the scene he had experienced before.

The fleeing soldiers all over the mountains and plains,

the Yan cavalry chasing and killing madly,

the land stained red with blood,

the elite of the Qian Kingdom's three borders that were reduced to ashes...

"Why... tell me this?" Zu Dongcheng looked at Zheng Fan.

"You can think about it again."

Zheng Fan patted Zu Dongcheng's face again.

He got up,

and walked out of the tent.

He happened to see Si Niang coming out of the tent where the blind man lived, followed by a male soldier.

This scene seemed as if Si Niang had just had something happen with this soldier in the tent.

However, Zheng Fan did not misunderstand anything.

He wouldn't misunderstand that Si Niang was cheating on him, he still had this much character guarantee.

Therefore, with this preconceived character setting, it was clear who the soldier behind Si Niang was.

Just then, the blind man walked over with a box of files in his arms. These files were all searched from Chuzhou City and were worth studying repeatedly.

Zheng Fan, with a cigarette in his hand, pointed at the blind man,

and asked Si Niang:

"You changed your appearance so quickly, what are you going to do with the blind man at night?"

Si Niang shrugged and said:

"Master, it's not my fault, the blind man asked me to help her change her appearance first."

If Yue Xin wanted to be taken along, she had to disguise herself as a male soldier, including Si Niang, who would also disguise herself when marching. It was really not suitable to bring women in the army.

Si Niang then covered her mouth and smiled:

"Master, once the lights are off, it's all the same."

Zheng Fan heard this and said:

"For the blind man, it's all the same whether the lights are on or off."