Chapter 848 Martyrdom!

Zheng Fan finally found Chen the Great Hero.

The first time he saw Chen the Great Hero, he was alone with a sword, looking simple but exuding righteousness. One glance was enough to tell he was a master.

Because a low-level fighter with that kind of temperament would easily be killed in the martial world early on.

Now, as Chen the Great Hero's realm and state of mind have improved, he is beginning to have a sense of simplicity similar to that of the Sword Saint. In short, with his aura restrained, it's really hard to spot him in a crowd.

Chen the Great Hero saw Zheng Fan push aside the guards in front of him.

Chen the Great Hero saw Zheng Fan walk behind the Sword Saint.

Chen the Great Hero saw Zheng Fan bypass the Sword Saint.

Chen the Great Hero saw Zheng Fan walk up to him, open his arms, and give him a big hug.

"You're bullying me."

For some reason, the Qian Kingdom's martial world swordsman, held by the Prince of Pingxi of Great Yan, blurted out such a sentence.

Zheng Fan gently patted Chen the Great Hero on the back,

and said,

"Be good, don't say such Jin-style things."

Chen the Great Hero was helpless and didn't struggle out of Zheng Fan's embrace. He just let out a sigh, followed by a long silence.

Zheng Fan patted Chen the Great Hero's back again,

and said,

"Be good, speak quickly."

Chen the Great Hero tilted his head slightly, looked at Zheng Fan's profile, and asked,

"Say what?"

"You know, say it quickly."

Chen the Great Hero sighed again.

Zheng Fan patted Chen the Great Hero's back again, urging,

"Ask quickly, aren't you afraid I'll stab you with a sword?"

Chen the Great Hero rolled his eyes.

"Hahahaha!"

The Prince of Pingxi laughed, released his embrace, and grabbed Chen the Great Hero's shoulders, shaking him;

"To be honest, I'm really a little afraid. Seeing you in Jin, seeing you in Chu, I wouldn't be afraid, but now, I'm standing on the land of Qian, I'm really a little flustered."

"You know too."

"Yeah, you understand, I've always been afraid of death, I don't want to take even the slightest risk. Besides, both of my wives have babies in their bellies, I can't bear to explain myself vaguely out here.

But how should I say it,

Seeing you,

If I didn't come up and greet you like this, I'd feel bad.

In my life, Zheng Fan, I'm cautious, and I have very few friends I can trust.

But once I recognize him as a friend, I will definitely treat him with all my heart.

Being afraid of death is to continue to live well, but I can't be afraid like a mouse, losing even the courage to poke my head out of the hole, then life would be boring."

"If the Prince of Pingxi of Yan wasn't named Zheng Fan, how great would that be."

"Hey, it's thanks to the fact that the Prince of Pingxi is named Zheng Fan, otherwise, wouldn't you be done for?"

If the Prince of Pingxi wasn't Zheng Fan, Chen the Great Hero would have drawn his sword.

And the consequence of drawing his sword is that he probably wouldn't be able to kill anyone. Even if there weren't the Sword Saint, A Ming, and Fan Li, the large number of knights around could crush Chen the Great Hero into mud.

Chen the Great Hero looked at Zheng Fan and said,

"You said before, the great hero serves the country and the people."

"I was just rambling when I had nothing to do, you know, I have a problem, I like to sigh about life even when I'm eating barbecue."

"But I think what you said is right."

"No, it's not right." Zheng Fan looked at Chen the Great Hero, very seriously, "Martial heroes should have been the ones who violate the law with force. No one likes a group of martial world people living next to their home.

And once a country needs martial world people to stand up, then this country really has no hope at all."

Zheng Fan put his arm around Chen the Great Hero's shoulder and pointed to Su Mingzhe standing in front,

and said,

"By the way, what's your official position?"

"Replying to Your Highness, this official is the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial."

"Recite the poem you just made for this Prince again."

"Okay, please correct me, Your Highness..."

"Stop, don't recite it, Great Hero, look how well-behaved he is.

He eats the emperor's salary, where does the salary come from? From the people's fat and blood, but in front of this Prince, he is so obsequious in order to survive.

His teacher is honored as the Literary Saint, enjoying the love of the entire Qian Dynasty, how much advantage has he taken for this, but what about him?

He doesn't want to die, why are you in such a hurry when he's not even anxious?"

Zheng Fan pointed to Su Rongrong and Wu Xiang again,

and said,

"How much reward do their two families get from the Qian Dynasty every year? The common people in other parts of the Qian Dynasty have to pay taxes, grain, and provide corvée labor, but what about them? They don't have to, right?"

Wu Xiang and Su Rongrong looked at each other, but still nodded.

"Look, they don't pay taxes, grain, or provide corvée labor, and every year, they still receive rewards from the imperial court, living the life of an upper-class person, your Qian Kingdom's upper-class people.

But are they willing to die?

They're also unwilling.

On the contrary, they despise you Qian people from the bottom of their hearts, and don't think of themselves as Qian people.

Look here again,

There,

A large group,

Oh,

Just now, there was also a large group of adults following the Jiedushi (military governor) to help me open the door. So many, even if I count the previous waves who still had some backbone and dared to escape as loyal and righteous people.

There's only this little bit,

This large group, they are all beasts in clothing who want to live, eating the flesh of the common people."

For a time, a group of newly captured adults covered their faces with their sleeves.

They were ashamed and annoyed, but no one dared to accuse the Prince of Pingxi.

Chen the Great Hero looked at Zheng Fan and said, "What you said seems to make sense, but what I want to do, what does it have to do with others?"

"Yo, improved, improved."

Zheng Fan nodded and continued,

"You go, come home for a visit next time if you have the chance."

"Okay, I will go south, and if I meet you again, I will draw my sword at you. I know..."

Chen the Great Hero looked at the Sword Saint standing on the side,

"With Master by your side, it's difficult for me to kill you, but just in case, just in case, if I kill you, I will commit suicide to accompany you."

"Don't, don't, if you kill me, I still have two unborn children, don't be in a hurry to die, help me go back and take care of the children, the biological father is gone, you, this godfather, must take care of them."

Chen the Great Hero heard the words,

and took a deep breath.

The Sword Saint witnessed the whole process, tapping Long Yuan lightly with his fingertip. He really wanted to laugh, he really wanted to laugh, but for the sake of the atmosphere, he held back.

He had discovered long ago that there was a kind of flavor in Zheng Fan.

As those gentlemen said, it's called personal charm.

Whether it's pretended or real, he can show this feeling, which is enough. Once the effect comes out, the truth or falsehood loses its meaning to distinguish.

Chen the Great Hero picked up his sword and saluted Zheng Fan.

Turned around,

and walked out.

The Prince of Pingxi raised his hand, and the outer armor soldiers opened a path.

At this time, the Sword Saint lightly touched Zheng Fan's armor with Long Yuan's scabbard, and said,

"Did you sweat?"

"Luckily I'm wearing armor, otherwise it would have shown."

Soon after, a military report came from Lanyang City that Lanyang City had been taken.

…

The Prince of Pingxi, who had changed into his Pixiu armor, entered Lanyang City surrounded by a group of armor soldiers.

This is a newly expanded city, not very large in area, and the scale is not very exaggerated. It can only be said to be quite satisfactory.

The Qian people originally intended to use Lanyang City as a fulcrum to set up a barrier on this line, but when this fulcrum was broken, the remaining barriers actually lost their effectiveness.

Under Zheng Fan's order, except for a part of the soldiers who suppressed Lanyang City, the rest of the soldiers were completely dispersed to clear the surrounding Qian army.

As for Lanyang City, the people have already closed their doors, and there are very few people on the streets.

From time to time, disarmed guards were escorted past, and the city was full of Yan soldiers.

"Pass the order, restrain the soldiers."

"Yes!"

Chen Yang went to arrange it himself. More than half of the 50,000 soldiers that Zheng Fan brought into Qian this time were originally from the Sushan Camp. With Chen Yang coming forward, the soldiers below would not act rashly.

Sometimes, the ferocity of soldiers is difficult to control, especially after entering a conquered city.

Fortunately, this Yan army did not finally break the city after a long siege, otherwise, even Zheng Fan would not be convenient to come forward to stop the soldiers from burning, killing, and looting.

The reason for doing this is not because Zheng Fan is kind. If he were really kind, he wouldn't have let the soldiers plunder in the Zhao area.

The reason is that the army has to continue to go deep into the hinterland of Qian Kingdom next, and the soldiers cannot bring the looted property to march; the second is to leave a way out for themselves, which belongs to the "hypocrisy" and "pretense" of the invaders.

However, the collection of food and some military supplies is bound to be carried out. However, according to reports from below, a lot of food and military equipment have been hoarded in the Lanyang City treasury.

Originally, it was planned to be transported to Liangdi (Liang Prefecture), but because he captured the capital of Zhao State, which affected the safety of the food route on this line, a lot of it was still accumulated here.

When night fell, Zheng Fan did not stay in the city, but stayed in a military tent outside the city.

In the afternoon of the next day, the soldiers who had been dispatched to sweep the nearby Qian military fortresses returned one after another. Basically, they did not encounter any obstacles, and the returning soldiers began to rest.

In this way, another three days passed.

The Yan army retained control of Lanyang City, but did not carry out too deep intervention. A lot of military supplies were moved out of the city warehouse. In order not to affect the marching speed of the army next, the Yan army basically took soldiers as units and tried to bring as much rations as possible without affecting their actions.

There were still a lot left. Chen Yang asked for instructions on whether to burn them all. Anyway, we can't leave what we can't take to the Qian army, even if these military grains originally belonged to the Qian Kingdom.

Zheng Fan rejected this proposal, but followed the example of the first time he attacked Chuzhou City, and distributed the things in the Lanyang City treasury to the people.

Therefore,

A few days after the arrival of the Yan army,

Lanyang City now presents an extremely strange situation.

Because the capture of this city did not go through war, the traditional scenes of swords and soldiers were not seen.

Furthermore, Jiedushi (military governor) and a series of bureaucrats, Zheng Fan just temporarily detained them, and the rest of the original middle and lower-level officials in the city, except for the military generals, were basically untouched.

Therefore, there appeared the scene of Yan soldiers patrolling the city while some Qian officials were still sitting in the yamen and maintaining their own functional operations.

In addition, because the Yan army distributed food, the people inside and outside Lanyang City suddenly had a much better perception of the Yan army.

The Qian army's operations in Liangdi have levied a lot of corvée labor on the Lanyang City area, and the apportioned taxes are also very high. The lives of ordinary people are actually not easy. This time, the Prince of Pingxi can be regarded as a "timely rain."

Every day, many people outside the military camp brought vegetables, fruits, and even many small vendors came to sell some... souvenirs.

Even the Prince of Pingxi himself bought a small stone carving piece, which is one of the local specialties.

At this time,

Zheng Fan was sitting in his handsome tent, playing with this stone carving.

The Sword Saint leaned there, his eyes glanced through the tent curtain and saw his own son boiling water outside.

"Hasn't the Qian Kingdom sent any soldiers over yet? We've been resting here for so many days."

Zheng Fan put down the stone carving and replied: "Yes, there are. In the southwest and northwest directions, there are signs of Qian troops being mobilized to approach. Although they are organized, there are not many soldiers. Before they are unified or before more soldiers are gathered, the Qian army dare not take the initiative to launch an attack.

After all, most of the new army that the Qian Kingdom has trained in the past few years is still in Liangdi.

As for why we are delayed here;

One is because the army needs to rest for a while, because there will be a long-distance raid next, and the soldiers and war horses need to accumulate their energy;

The second is to give Qian Kingdom time to react, whether it is the Qian army in Liangdi or the Qian army within Qian Kingdom; If our army inserts too quickly, Qian Kingdom will not feel it.

We have to give them time to shake everywhere, we have to give them time to panic the morale of the army, we have to give them time to panic the people, and we have to give them time to shake the court."

"War should have been a very refreshing thing, in your place, it has become a bit..."

"Long-winded?"

"It can't be considered long-winded, it's just that the things you think about are no longer just fighting."

"When you can't destroy a country in one battle, war is the continuation of politics.

It's still hard to say whether this time we can mobilize the elite Qian army in Liangdi to return to defend against mistakes,

But at least I have to step back hard on the people's hearts and morale that the Qian people have gained from a great victory near Liangdi.

This battle does not need to conquer cities, and it does not even need to pursue how many Qian troops have been defeated and how many heads have been cut off;

Even if the soldiers under my command have the opportunity to find a place to plunder and make a fortune before leaving Qian Kingdom and returning safely, it is still hard to say;

But,

What I want,

It is to step over the Bianhe River again, and say good night to that official under the Shangjing City.

It can be understood that this time the dispatch of troops, for the soldiers below, they are purely for... glory."

The Sword Saint smiled and said, "Just like the training you gave to the army last night?"

"Yeah, did you listen too?"

"My son listened and got excited for half the night."

"Hehe."

"Only you can use so-called glory to mobilize these soldiers."

Follow you to fight to the death, risking danger to enter other countries, not for opening up territory, not for looting, but just for a so-called glory.

Just for a picture,

In the picture, your own Prince is sitting on the back of Pixiu facing Shangjing City, and the Qian Kingdom officials on the walls of Shangjing City are extremely panicked and embarrassed.

This kind of detached from reality, purely pursuing the spiritual enjoyment of calligraphy and painting masters, if it is done by others, the soldiers will hate him to death, the better ones will act against the orders, and the worse ones will simply cause a mutiny.

Therefore, it must be done by the Prince of Pingxi himself. Only his prestige and status in the army can make the soldiers willingly pursue and kill for this "spiritual pursuit."

Zheng Fan said: "The difference between humans and animals is that humans know better how to restrain their desires. If you do things purely by instinct, it is easy to be short-sighted."

"Are you praising yourself? Praising yourself for having a long-term vision."

"No, there are actually many people with long-term vision, but it is really capable to be able to lead a group of people to break away from low-level tastes while having a long-term vision."

"Still praising yourself."

"Yes."

Liu Dahu came in with a teapot and changed a cup of tea for the Prince and his father.

Zheng Fan took a sip and suddenly seemed to think of something, and said:

"By the way, a family just died in the city, a big family, more than two hundred people up and down, all died."

"Resisted?"

Zheng Fan shook his head, "No one messed with him."

"That is?"

"That big family's surname is Qin, and the family was originally in Litian City. They were probably loyal ministers of the Wenren family. After my Great Yan army entered Jin, the Qin family was unwilling to serve Yan, so they moved their whole family here.

The relationship between Qian Kingdom and the Wenren family has always been good in the early years, and the Qin family also has real estate in this Lanyang City, so it is a place for a large family to move here.

In addition, because of their status as defectors, they also have some preferential treatment here.

Yesterday, they committed suicide as a family."

"Why?"

"The old master of the family left a blood letter, written on the beams of the house, probably meaning that when the Yan people came to Litian City, his family ran away. Now the Yan people have chased here again, and his family doesn't want to run away anymore. If they run again, they will become rabbits with three burrows, and they will have no face to live on.

In order to preserve the reputation of the family, the whole family committed suicide to apologize."

The Sword Saint sighed when he heard the words, and sighed:

"Unexpectedly, the first country to be martyred in this huge Lanyang City after the city was destroyed was actually a Jin person."

"Do you want to go to pay your respects?"

"Aren't you going?"

"It would be too much if I went, and there is no need for it, but I have ordered people to collect their bodies."

"I'll go see it at night." The Sword Saint said, "It's worth offering incense to."

"Okay."

Zheng Fan stretched his waist,

and said:

"It's almost there, we'll set off tomorrow and go south!"

…

The Yan army set off.

The funny thing is that many local people actually came to see off the Prince of Pingxi's Yan army spontaneously.

And a group of senior officials of Lanyang City who had been detained all these days were also released under the order of the Prince of Pingxi.

In the early years, Zheng Fan cut off the head of a prefect and was overjoyed and rushed back to ask for credit.

Now,

He has long been full of these first-class military exploits and almost overflows.

Furthermore,

For these Qian officials, it is the greatest benefit to Great Yan if their heads continue to stay on their necks.

Killing them,

Isn't it equivalent to eliminating harm for the Qian Kingdom?

A loss, a loss.

In short,

After staying in Lanyang City for a period of time, the Yan army set off in a southwest direction.

After the Yan army left,

A Qian army came from the north, with only 20,000 soldiers, and it was pieced together from the garrisons in the north. The soldiers from the three sides had not been able to arrive yet.

Therefore, the generals of this pieced-together army had been watching from the periphery for many days.

They really can't be blamed for being afraid of death, because they know the actual combat power of their subordinates. Facing the Great Yan iron cavalry led by the Prince of Pingxi of Yan, which is even more numerous than themselves, they can only deliver food by taking the initiative to attack.

However, this does not prevent them from coming to Lanyang City in the posture of the victorious division of "recovering lost land" after clearly finding out that the Yan army has withdrawn.

The temporary leader of this "coalition army" with the highest official position is a governor. As soon as he led the army into the city, he was met by a group of officials from Lanyang City led by Zhou Jiedushi.

Zhou Jiedushi led a group of officials to bow and bow,

"Thank you, sir, for leading the army to fight hard and rescue the people of my Lanyang City from the iron hooves of the Yan barbarians!"

The governor immediately went over to help and said:

"Sir, you have worked hard, and you have suffered."

Zhou Jiedushi wiped his tears and said: "As long as we can keep the people from suffering less from the Yan barbarians, this official is willing to do anything."

Immediately afterwards,

Zhou Jiedushi said again:

"There is a large family surnamed Qin in the city, who moved here from Jin in the early years. It was this Qin family who colluded with the Yan barbarians in private, which led to the breaking of the city by the Yan barbarians."

"How unreasonable, how unreasonable, where are the Qin people now?" the governor asked angrily.

Zhou Jiedushi replied:

"After you, sir, led the army to repel the Yan barbarians, the Qin family knew that the general situation was defeated,

They have already committed suicide as a family to atone for their sins."

————

I've been adjusting my schedule these past two days, so there will only be one update today, and I'm going to sleep later.

I will write more tomorrow;

Hold on tight everyone!