Chapter 788 Also Has Dignity

"Great General!"

The Eighth Prince was truly speechless at this moment. Within the short time before, his heart had experienced ups and downs, like a chicken being held by the neck, repeatedly tightened and then suddenly released.

"Your Highness, the Yan army bypassed us from my Chu territory to encircle us here.

Tell me,

if my Great Chu were still the Great Chu of yesteryear,

would the Yan dare

to do this?"

"Great General, what do you mean by this?"

"If it were the Chu Kingdom of yesteryear, although it was full of noble fiefdoms, hindering the imperial power, the localities could be said to be strong and well-equipped. If the Qu clan were still around, not to mention whether Fancheng would be lost, even if Fan Zhengwen was truly determined to rebel and the Marquis of Pingxi was determined to save him, the Qingluan Army of the Qu clan alone, even if slightly inferior, could still fight the Yan army to a standstill.

But now, the local nobles are greatly weakened. My Great Chu seems to be centralized in the new Ying capital, and Your Majesty holds all the power, but the Yan can come and go in my Chu territory as if entering an uninhabited land.

This servant borrowed a path from Jin, but this servant took a surprise attack, walking mountain roads, and in the end, took a shortcut;

But, how many Yan have come this time?

At least tens of thousands of cavalry, charging in openly!"

"The Yan have many cavalry, so..."

"The reason they dare to come is because they are not afraid of not being able to return."

"This..."

"Your Majesty wants to imitate the late Emperor of Yan, this servant is clear, and this servant is willing to help Your Majesty do so, but the comparison between the Yan and Chu situations has not changed because of the death of the Yan Emperor, but has become more obvious and clear.

But now, the Yan can attack whenever they want, and my Great Chu can only passively defend.

This servant took a risk this time because he saw that the Marquis of Pingxi's manor intended to use troops against my Chu territory, so he took the first step, wanting to destroy the Fan family and the rebellious Qu clan, to slightly balance the scales.

In the end, if the strength is sufficient, if there is really no fear at all, why bother to take shortcuts?"

"Great General, what do you mean by telling me this now?"

"It doesn't mean anything, this servant just wants to talk.

Your Majesty believes that after the late Emperor of Yan dies, the national strength of Yan will weaken, and after the two Kings of the North and South of Yan are gone, Yan will have internal strife.

But Yan has not been in chaos, and the Marquis of Pingxi's manor in Yan is gradually growing into another Situ family, another... Great Cheng country.

Your Majesty believes that no matter how good the relationship between the new Emperor of Yan and the Marquis of Pingxi was before, once one sits on the dragon throne, their relationship will immediately turn into suspicion between the court and the vassal;

But no, the Marquis of Pingxi did not use his troops to support himself, and without looking, one knows that what he brought this time must be the true elite at the bottom of the box. He is not afraid of the loss of his family's foundation, which is better than a national war. Where is there any suspicion in this?

Your Majesty wants to slowly develop, to prune all the dead branches and leaves, waiting for new shoots to emerge. If it were five years ago, ten years ago, this would be no problem. Self-reform to eliminate accumulated malpractices will certainly make oneself weak for a while, which other countries can take advantage of, but in the end, it can be blocked.

When the late Emperor of Yan trampled on the aristocratic families, the Jin thought that Yan would be in great chaos and had an opportunity to take advantage of, so they united the troops of the two families to attack Yan.

But the Jin of the past, divided into three families, each with their own ghosts, with internal and external dissatisfaction, how can such opponents be compared with the Yan of today?

Your Majesty wants the new branches to bloom again and reshape Great Chu, but outside are the wolf-like Yan. How can the Yan give Your Majesty such an opportunity to slowly develop?

The situation is different now.

Qu Tiannan died,

died during the chaos of the princes, died when my Great Chu had no time to care about him;

Lord Stone Pillar died, died during the Yan-Chu war;

Now, it is not yet known whether the Lord Dugu Pillar in the south can escape unscathed.

But even if some of the Dugu family's troops can be withdrawn, the skeleton will be basically crippled.

My Chu lacks cavalry, but the bravery of my Great Chu's infantry formations in the past was not afraid of even hard-carrying cavalry in field battles, but in recent years, elite troops have been repeatedly lost, swallowed and eaten by the Yan.

The Great Chu imperial guards were indeed preserved to the greatest extent by this servant in the last round of the Yan-Chu war, but after a series of attacks on Qian and tossing, and then pulling them back, they still seem to be strong and well-equipped, but in fact, they are already exhausted.

Without the support of these elites, the Yan will become even more unscrupulous.

And in the past few years, some people and some troops were actually sent by Your Majesty to the Yan to deal with them."

"Does the Great General mean that this defeat is not the responsibility of you, Great General, but of my imperial brother?"

"This servant did not expect that the Marquis of Pingxi would dare to kill from my Chu territory so blatantly. Perhaps, before making this choice, the Marquis of Pingxi also gambled everything.

But now it seems that he has won.

Great Chu is like a towering tree, but in reality, it is empty inside.

It's a pity that I didn't dare to say these words to Your Majesty before, I didn't even dare to mention them. Only now do I have the courage to say them."

"Do you want me to pass these words on to my imperial brother?"

"Your Highness, do you dare?"

At this time, the last wave of resistance in front has been broken through by the Yan army. Although there is still some distance between the Yan army and the flag of the Great General, there is no more obstruction!

"Great General, it's already this time, are you still joking with me?

We... what should we do now?"

General Nian sighed and said,

"Your Highness, just stand here."

"What? Then what about you, Great General?"

"This servant is going to escape."

"You are going to escape, but I am going to stand here?"

"Without you, Great Chu would only lose a little more face, and it wouldn't be a big problem, anyway, it doesn't matter if you lose a little more face;

But without this servant, there will be no one available under Your Majesty's command."

"..." The Eighth Prince.

What was infuriating was that in this situation, this servant dared to say such words;

What was even more infuriating was that he couldn't refute the words of this servant.

Even if his imperial brother were to choose, he would definitely choose Nian Yao without hesitation.

As he got angry, he suddenly stopped being angry;

The Eighth Prince even rubbed his face with his sleeve, took a deep breath, and his expression calmed down:

"Great General, leave quickly. Great Chu still needs you, and the imperial brother also needs you. I will cover your retreat."

"This servant really doesn't want to leave, this servant wants to stay;

This servant also wants to keep a bit of dignity. If I lose, I lose. It's not like I can't afford to lose. I'll just stand here and wait for my punishment.

Since I was born, I have been a servant, but I also want to be a true noble before the end.

Unfortunately,

I still have to try to escape.

Alas,

I am still a servant by fate.

In addition, Your Highness, you don't need to cover my retreat. Just stand under my flag. You don't need to resist or fight back. Just stand here quietly. In terms of relationship, the Marquis of Pingxi is still your brother-in-law.

When you were young, you seemed smart, good at talking, and seemed to have traveled a lot, but you were just looking around and having fun, and in fact, you didn't get involved in anything.

The Marquis of Pingxi probably wouldn't make things difficult for you, making things difficult for a... um.

He even dared to let Qu Peiluo go back then. You are well-behaved, and I estimate that you will be released soon."

"..." The Eighth Prince.

Nian Yao knelt down to the Eighth Prince,

and said:

"Your Highness, if this servant fails to escape this time, I will have to ask you to bring a message to His Majesty. The previous ones were just my own complaints, and the following are the words I hope you will convey.

Of course, if His Majesty asks you if this servant said anything else, you can convey my previous words by imperial decree."

"What... words."

"It is that this servant is useless, and in the end, I lost this move. This servant has failed His Majesty's expectations of me all along;

However, this servant has followed his master in this life, and I have enjoyed glory and lived a free and easy life. This life is worth it.

It's a pity

that I can't continue to help my master restore Great Chu.

This servant..."

Nian Yao's lips moved twice. One was that time did not allow it, and the other was that "a dying man's words are good," and he was too lazy to be polite.

"This servant wishes my master a long life and Great Chu's dynasty eternal."

After saying that,

Nian Yao stood up. Beside him stood a dozen or so personal guards.

"Thank you, brothers."

"We swear to protect the Great General!"

"We swear to protect the Great General!"

"Go, let's go into the mountains. If we can join up with the navy, Nian Yao, I will have another day!"

The Eighth Prince watched Nian Yao ride away on his horse,

and then,

he stood alone under the flag. His original personal guards had been dispatched to the army to attack the city and seek military merit a few days ago. Therefore, at this moment, as the tree fell and the monkeys scattered, there were Chu people fleeing everywhere. Once Nian Yao was gone, no one thought of guarding the flag of the Great General.

After standing for a while, he simply sat down.

Not long after, the sound of horses' hooves came from the front. He looked up and saw the Xuanjia Marquis riding a Pixiu.

A group of black-armored knights surrounded the flag, with their blades pointing forward.

Marquis Zheng rode the Pixiu to the flag and looked at the young man sitting below.

Nian Yao was not there.

Marquis Zheng had thought before that the Great General Nian would tidy up his armor and stand there, waiting for him to come over, and say a few polite words before admitting defeat, which would fit the aesthetics of the novel.

But that one obviously did not make this choice.

At this time, the Eighth Prince mustered his courage, raised his head, and looked at Marquis Zheng;

with a forced smile on his face,

he said with a bit of flattery:

"Brother-in-law... I finally met you."

Marquis Zheng ignored his brother-in-law, but reached out and waved forward,

saying:

"Anyone who captures Nian Yao alive or brings back his head will be rewarded handsomely by this Marquis!"

"Yes!"

The knights around him immediately chased forward.

Then,

Marquis Zheng looked at A'Ming, who was always habitually standing by his side,

and said:

"A'Ming."

"Here."

"I have never liked the idea of ​​a destined enemy, and I will not give any opponent another chance to fight me in the next round of the arena because I value him.

We have spent so much effort, gambled most of our family's fortune, and worked so hard. If we let him run away in the end, it would be too annoying.

I don't like this lengthy drama. I like something more crisp.

Understand?"

A'Ming nodded, picked up the wine bag, pulled out the stopper, and drank a mouthful of the blood inside.

"Understood."

Marquis Zheng reached out and grabbed the Pixiu's mane, and said calmly:

"Last time, you missed it;

I'll give you another chance.

I don't want to have to comfort you and say 'things don't happen more than three times' when you come back."

A'Ming smiled

and said:

"Master, if he runs away again this time, this subordinate will have no face to come back.

I,

A'Ming,

also has dignity."