Chapter 836 Advancing

"Yo, Yi Han, when are you going out to scavenge for treasures again? Take your cousins along!"

"Yi Han, treat your grand-uncle to a drink, just the old yellow wine brewed by Widow Cui at the village entrance."

"Quite a bit of commotion last night, Yi Han, just like your uncle when I was young, hahaha!"

Teng Yi Han walked alone on the village path, and the villagers of Teng Family Village were very enthusiastic towards him.

This young man, originally considered by the villagers to be dull-witted, had taken the initiative to respond to the county government's call-up, transporting grain and military supplies for the Qian, when others avoided it like the plague, becoming a civilian laborer.

It was said that in Liang Province to the east, the armies of Qian and Chu were fighting the Yan army.

Even the villagers in the countryside knew how powerful the Yan were. How could they dare to go and join in such a thing?

Fortunately, the decree of the Zhao Kingdom's ruler did not truly affect the location of Teng Family Village. It was mainly the people of eastern Zhao who were conscripted as civilian laborers for the Qian.

It was said that many Zhao people there cried and screamed when they were conscripted by the yamen runners and soldiers, and they probably couldn't be dragged out without being whipped or having knives pointed at them.

After all, who would want to be a ghost under the Yan's blade?

In such a background, Teng Yi Han took the initiative to go, rushing to become a civilian laborer and heading to San Shan Pass between the Zhao and Liang Kingdoms.

The old people ridiculed that the young man's brain had really been kicked by a donkey, and said that his father had named him "Yi Han" because he had finally gotten a son in his old age, but now this only incense stick was going to be extinguished.

But who would have thought that the previously invincible Yan army would suffer a great defeat in Liang Province, with countless casualties? It was said that the corpses of the Yan almost filled the entire Wenxin Lake.

After the war, Teng Yi Han returned alive. Not only did he receive a reward, but it was also said that he had scavenged many good things from the corpses of the Yan soldiers on the battlefield after the battle.

He had gone there empty-handed, but when he returned, he was actually leading a mule, with a woman sitting on it. The woman's hair was very messy, covering most of her face, and she didn't respond when people called out to her.

In addition, there were several heavy bags on the mule's back.

Some well-informed people said that Teng Yi Han had passed through the town when he returned and had inquired about the price of cattle, so he wanted to buy a cow!

Since he was buying a cow, he would definitely have to buy land, and he must have already reserved the money to buy the land, otherwise, what would he do with the cow?

The village fool had made a fortune and was going to become a landlord!

On the day he returned to the village, Teng Yi Han's ancestral thatched hut, which had been dilapidated, suddenly welcomed the enthusiastic villagers from half the village. Everyone asked questions, touched and looked, and tried to establish a connection.

And today, the young men in the village had all come and chatted with Teng Yi Han for a long time.

After sending them away,

Teng Yi Han returned to the house, picked up a basin, went outside, scooped some warm water from the middle of the stove, and then, with a towel, walked to the woman.

The woman was sitting by the bed, her hair had been tidied, and there was a scar on her face. She was about thirty years old and didn't look old, but the scar was too glaring and ferocious.

So, cheap.

Teng Yi Han wrung the towel dry and handed it to the woman.

The woman took it and began to wipe her face.

Teng Yi Han then took out the yellow steamed buns that had been simmering on the stove, plus half a bowl of pickled vegetables, and placed them in front of the woman. He hadn't been willing to take them out when the villagers were there earlier.

Afterward, he went to the courtyard and hung up a washed black dragon flag on the mud wall pole at home.

The material of this flag was very good, and he had also picked it up from a pile of dead people on the battlefield.

Teng Yi Han looked at this flag for a long time, wondering what to do with it.

At this moment, the sound of a bowl breaking came from the house.

Teng Yi Han walked in and found that the bowl containing the pickled vegetables had been broken, and the pickled vegetables were scattered all over the ground.

"Broken."

The woman said.

The pickled vegetables were bad, stinky.

Teng Yi Han bent down, scraped the pickled vegetables off the ground with his hands, and also picked up the broken bowl shards to use when scraping taro.

"Not broken, it's just this taste."

The woman shook her head and said, "It's just broken."

Teng Yi Han sighed and said, "Eat the bun."

"Dry."

Teng Yi Han poured some water and brought it in.

The woman ate the bun with the water.

Teng Yi Han squatted aside, watching.

The woman glanced at him and said, "What did they come for?"

"There's going to be another war, the yamen has conscripted."

Obviously, these young people in Teng Family Village wanted to go with Teng Yi Han this time, to pick up spoils together, and to get rich together.

The woman looked at Teng Yi Han and asked:

"Are you still going?"

Obviously, after being bought, the woman knew all of Teng Yi Han's past.

Teng Yi Han nodded and said, "One trip is worth five years of digging in the fields."

Moreover, these five years could be without food or expenses.

"Stupid."

The woman spat out this one word.

Teng Yi Han nodded and said:

"If I wasn't stupid, I wouldn't have bought you."

He admitted that his brain wasn't good, he had admitted it since he was a child.

On the way back from San Shan Pass, he had originally planned to buy a cow, but he ran into the people from the broker's office, and she was standing in the middle of a group of women with her hands tied.

She called out to him:

"You, buy me."

Teng Yi Han heard it and used the money he had planned to buy a cow to buy her.

The people traveling with him laughed at him for being stupid,

This woman has a scar on her face, it's terrifyingly ugly. If you want to buy her, just buy her, but you didn't even bargain. The broker's office must be laughing to death!

The woman threw the remaining half of the bun on the ground in front of Teng Yi Han.

Teng Yi Han picked it up, patted off the dirt, and broke it apart to put it in his mouth.

The woman began to wash her hands,

Said:

"The Yan are going to attack again."

Teng Yi Han nodded and said, "Probably, there's going to be another war."

"You can't go." The woman continued, "You'll die if you go."

Teng Yi Han smiled and said:

"The Yan are also people, if they're hit by an arrow or a knife, they'll bleed and die too."

In fact, Teng Yi Han deliberately made it sound simpler, because he had seen the battlefield after the fighting ended, and it was simply like a Shura hell. (Buddhist demon realm)

But he had witnessed the Yan's defeat, so the fear in his heart wasn't that strong.

He always heard that the Yan were so powerful, but hey, they could also lose, right?

Besides, he was a civilian laborer, he wouldn't be going to the battlefield.

Seeing Teng Yi Han's expression, the woman threw the wet towel directly in his face.

Teng Yi Han's face was marked with a red line,

He still wasn't angry, he just silently put the handkerchief back.

His father had said that the most useless man was the one who got angry at women at home.

Teng Yi Han felt that he was stupid, but not useless.

The woman frowned, as if this man who couldn't even be squeezed for a fart was making her very depressed, but she still opened her mouth and said:

"Are you listening to me or not!"

"Listening."

From the moment she asked him to buy her, all the way home, he had been listening to her.

The money for the cow, bought her;

The money for the land, bought a mule;

Because she said her feet were tired and she didn't want to walk.

"The Yan lost the first time. According to the Yan's temper, they should invite their Prince of Western Peace to come out of the mountain. This time, the commander should be the Prince of Western Peace."

"Oh, I've heard of him, he's very powerful."

"So, don't go. If you die, who will serve me?"

"Alright."

"You're not going?"

"I'm not going."

"Good."

A rare smile appeared on the woman's face.

But immediately, her smile froze, because she saw that the water in the basin in front of her was rippling.

The ground also seemed to be shaking slightly.

Seeing this, Teng Yi Han got up and made to go out and take a look.

The woman screamed directly:

"Close the door, don't go out!"

Teng Yi Han didn't understand why. Although he really wanted to go out and see who had come, he still listened obediently. His father had said that because he was so stupid, he had to listen to his wife in the future, because it was already a great sacrifice for his wife to follow him.

This man from Zhao closed the door and turned back to see the woman skillfully opening an old box left by his father, said to be his mother's dowry back then.

The woman threw out the winter bedding inside and crawled in;

Then,

She looked at Teng Yi Han standing outside.

Teng Yi Han grinned, smiled, picked up the hoe leaning against the corner of the wall, and stood there.

"Don't you dare make a move if anyone comes in later, did you hear me!"

The woman ordered.

Teng Yi Han nodded.

"Let them take whatever they want when they come in, don't stop them, understand?"

"Understood."

"Even if they want me, don't stop them, understand?"

Teng Yi Han didn't answer.

The woman said seriously, "I'm ugly, it's no loss!"

Teng Yi Han shook his head:

"Pretty."

The woman was directly amused by his words.

At this time, the sound of horses' hooves outside was loud, one after another, like a raging tide, continuous and endless.

At the same time, screams rose and fell.

"The Yan, it's the Yan!"

Outside, someone shouted, and then, there was a scream.

The woman in the box's face began to turn pale. It really was... the Yan.

Immediately afterward,

She began to murmur to herself:

"How could they come so quickly, how could they come so quickly? An army marches on its stomach, they can't... unless..."

The woman immediately stared at Teng Yi Han and shouted:

"Quick, take out the grain you bought and put it in the yard!"

Teng Yi Han walked over, carried up two bags of grain, opened the door, placed the grain in the yard, and then came back and closed the door.

The gate to the courtyard was open. The young men in the village hadn't helped to close the gate earlier.

Of course, it didn't make much difference whether the gate to this small mud wall was closed or not.

Teng Yi Han leaned against the door, looked at the woman still hiding in the box, grinned, and said:

"I also hid a small bag of white flour for you to eat."

The woman was too lazy to pay attention to him,

Retracted her head, and the lid fell.

In the box, a person was curled up. Outside the box, a person was standing.

The screams outside, first sparse, then dense, first far, then near;

Finally, after a series of screams came from the next house, the woman lifted the lid of the box;

She was certain,

The Yan were being ruthless!

The woman cursed:

"Damn Zhao Kingdom's ruler, damn Zhao Kingdom's ruler!"

In the Battle of Liang Province, the Wei and Qi Kingdoms had only closed their passes, but only the Zhao Kingdom had taken the initiative to attack and chose to join.

Because a Qian princess was going to marry the Zhao Kingdom's ruler.

Now, the Yan's anger began to vent on the Zhao land.

……

"Pu!"

Chen Xianba slashed down the old man in front of him who was holding a firewood knife, and Zheng Man pulled out the knife from his son's chest.

Liu Dahu also held a knife, his expression somewhat struggling.

In the rear, armored soldiers rushed in to carry out the grain from the house.

Chen Xianba sheathed his knife, walked in front of Liu Dahu, glared at him, and roared in a low voice:

"If you dare say that we didn't kill soldiers but civilians, so your conscience can't take it, I'll break your legs right now and let you become a wounded soldier and retreat!

Your father's face doesn't work here!"

Liu Dahu looked at Chen Xianba and shook his head, saying:

"I'll kill her?"

Liu Dahu's knife pointed at the trembling old woman in the corner.

"Heh."

Chen Xianba smiled and said, "That's not necessary. The Prince has ordered that anyone who dares to obstruct our army's grain collection will be killed without mercy."

Liu Dahu also glared at Chen Xianba. He felt that he had been despised by this mighty young man.

Zheng Man grinned, walked over, reached out and punched Liu Dahu in the chest, and laughed: "Dahu has a good heart."

Chen Xianba spat on the ground,

Said:

"Heh, I heard that your mother took you and your grandmother to Sheng Le City to escape the disaster in the early years and received the Prince's protection. Since you suffered a disaster when you were a child, you should know..."

Liu Dahu suddenly said, "That's why I feel sorry for them..."

"Bang!"

Chen Xianba kicked Liu Dahu to the ground.

Zheng Man's skill was very good, and Liu Dahu had been taught breathing techniques by the Sword Saint since he was a child to adjust his body, so his skill was also very good.

But compared with this fishing boy from the Yan fishing village, neither of them was a match.

When they were still in the academy, this fishing boy had already beheaded a Chu pillar state official.

Chen Xianba's boots stepped on Liu Dahu's chest,

The scabbard poked at the ground,

He lowered his head,

Looking at the person under his feet,

Said:

"I am the Battalion Commander of the personal guard, either go home and cry, or listen to my orders!

Pity? Pity?

You pity these Zhao people,

Who will pity Earl Huwei and those great Yan soldiers who died in Liang Province?

Do you know how tight the supplies and rations are for this southern expedition? If the food supply is cut off, how will everyone fight?

If this battle is defeated,

Just watch,

After the Qian-Chu allied forces enter the Nanmen Pass, will they have any mercy for you Jin people!"

Liu Dahu looked at Chen Xianba and said, "I just feel sorry for them, but I know what I should do, and I know when I should draw my knife!"

"I won't allow you to feel!

Cherish it,

Now it's your knife that falls on them;

Instead of their knives falling on your mother and your grandmother.

This is the world, this is what the world looks like!

Tell me loudly,

Did you understand!"

"Understood!"

"Very good, next time, don't even show me a trace of an expression that makes me feel uncomfortable, understand!"

"Understood!"

Chen Xianba took back his foot. He was a very proud person. This pride became more and more uncontrollable after he came to Jin East, put on armor, and went to the battlefield under the command of General Jin Shuke of Zhennan Pass.

He was naturally extremely respectful to the Prince, because he admired and loved the Prince from the bottom of his heart.

But he was also extremely domineering to those below him.

"Let's go, next house!"

Liu Dahu got up, not caring to pat the dust off his body, and immediately followed.

When everyone came to the front of the next house,

Chen Xianba was suddenly stunned when he looked at the black dragon flag hanging on the courtyard wall,

And then he laughed:

"Damn, how sensible is he, he even hung up our flag."

The mud wall was not high, and standing by the mud wall, you could see the two bags of grain in the yard.

Chen Xianba kicked open the courtyard door, walked in, and gave Zheng Man and Liu Dahu a wink. The two behind him stepped forward, each carrying a bag of grain.

"Let's go!"

Chen Xianba didn't kick the house door open, but waved his hand and turned to leave.

In the house, Teng Yi Han stared outside through the crack in the window. Seeing the Yan soldiers leave, he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

……

And not far from here, Zheng Fan, wearing black armor, stood there, with the Sword Saint standing beside him.

"What, your son got beaten, and you feel sorry for him?"

The Sword Saint shook his head and said, "I think that kid's words were very good."

"This isn't your style."

"I've already forgotten what my style used to be. Besides, is this your style?"

"I might still have some airs at home, and I'll also talk about cherishing moths on paper lanterns after eating pork knuckles;

But as long as I'm on the battlefield, I won't allow myself to have even a trace of sentimentality."

"I heard Chen Daxia say that he once chased you down."

"That was a misunderstanding."

When Chen Daxia was traveling in his early years, he passed by a small village in Sanbian. The villagers served him a bowl of vegetarian noodles;

When he came back, the village had been massacred;

In fact, a Qian junior officer killed good people to claim credit, using the heads of civilians to impersonate Yan heads, and Chen Daxia mistakenly thought that it was Zheng Fan who did it, so he went to Yan and assassinated Zheng Fan in an inn outside Yin City.

"So, what about now?" The Sword Saint asked.

"You're still minding it after all. You mind that your son was kicked by my personal guard captain."

"I'm not."

"No, you are."

"Heh."

"People who want to kill me won't stop wanting to kill me just because the sins on my hands are a little lighter. In fact, even if I am a saint, morally and ethically flawless, and I sit in this position today, there will still be many people who want me to die.

Instead of thinking about who wants to kill me;

It's better to think about how to make them not dare to come, and not be able to come."

The Prince of Western Peace bent over,

Reached out and gently patted the scabbard of the Dragon Abyss Sword,

Said:

"It's a pity that I'm not Tian Wujing, I don't have the ability to make all the assassins in the Xia retreat;

But I'm not much worse,

Right?"

The Sword Saint then said, "It's already gotten to this point, so there's no need to say these words, right?"

"Although I usually burn enough incense, I still like to hug the Buddha's feet a little more at the last minute."

After saying that,

Zheng Fan raised his hand, and the adjutant behind him immediately stepped forward to listen to his orders:

"Order the vanguard to advance towards the Zhao Kingdom's capital. The central army will be stationed here today, and the rear army will scatter out to collect food and supplies from all over the place."

"Yes!"

"Going to the Zhao Kingdom's capital?" The Sword Saint looked at Zheng Fan and asked.

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "I'd like to meet the King of Zhao, but unfortunately I don't have the time. He must already know that I've come to his country to be a guest;

Let's give him a feint first, and let him transfer the garrison of San Shan Pass back to the capital to give us a way."

"You've come out to fight with me quite a few times. It used to be a rush, but this time, it seems to be much more procrastination."

"There's no way, collecting food is too slow."

"No, it's not that simple."

"Yo, you saw through it?"

"You can say it if you want, and I can choose not to listen if you don't want to."

Zheng Fan smiled and said:

"The matter is actually very simple, just like playing chess. I made a move, and I have to see where the opponent wants to move, and I have to give them a little room to breathe."

While Zheng Fan and the Sword Saint were talking, Chen Xianba led Zheng Fan's adopted son and the Sword Saint's stepson, plus a group of armored soldiers, back.

Under Chen Xianba's command,

Archers were already in place, surrounding the three sides of the mud wall, shield soldiers were in the front row, and the rest of the armored soldiers were in the rear.

This was the army's formation for dealing with a real Third-Rank master.

Obviously,

The black dragon flag plus the two bags of grain placed in the courtyard early didn't really make Chen Xianba feel that the people in the house were sensible, so he let them go.

In fact, in Chen Xianba's opinion, this house was probably the kind of "world-hidden master," so he let it go first, and then immediately mobilized troops to be ready.

Soon,

Chen Xianba personally held a shield and led a group of armored soldiers to break into the door, but the expected power surge didn't appear.

The Prince of Western Peace also looked forward to it for a while, but didn't see anything.

He only saw Chen Xianba leading people out of the house, escorting a man and a woman.

The man looked very honest, even a little cowardly;

The woman,

Tsk,

Her figure was okay, but the scar on her face...

This was the first time that the Yan army had entered the Zhao Kingdom with great fanfare. Teng Family Village didn't belong to a place where the two sides were fiercely contested. If the Yan captured it today and the Zhao regained it tomorrow, the villagers would make a Yan military flag and then a Zhao military flag, and hang whoever came. That would be excusable.

But this family was a little too "advanced."

Chen Xianba began to whip Teng Yi Han with his scabbard, forcing him to tell where the black dragon flag came from.

Teng Yi Han was beaten with blood all over his face, and shouted that he had picked it up.

Asked where he picked it up,

Outside San Shan Pass;

The Yan army had great resentment towards the Zhao Kingdom, the Zhao land, and even the Zhao people, and Teng Yi Han's claim that he had been a civilian laborer on the front line was a definite crime.

Chen Xianba drew his knife, intending to finish him off.

So what if you're sensible?

You deserve to die!

Seeing that Chen Xianba was about to draw his knife, the woman immediately shouted:

"I want to see the Prince of Western Peace, I want to see the Prince of Western Peace!"

Chen Xianba paused and turned to look at the woman, his eyes filled with scrutiny.

A woman who had just been found out of a box in the house actually knew that their Prince was also nearby?

The woman seemed to see through what Chen Xianba was thinking and said:

"The armor on your body, and the armor on the bodies of the two behind you, have brocade clothes inside, and their patterns are flying fish, which is what the Prince of Western Peace's personal guards wear.

Since you are here, then the Prince, His Excellency, must also be here!

I want to see him, I have something important to tell him!"

"Heh."

Chen Xianba snorted coldly and reached out to grab the woman's jaw.

At this time, Teng Yi Han, who had been beaten without fighting back and looked very cowardly, suddenly struggled, but was quickly pinned down by two armored soldiers.

"Who do you think you are, with something important to tell?"

The woman stared at Chen Xianba and said, word by word:

"Ask your Prince, is the one who was captured from the snowfield still imprisoned?"

"What the hell."

Chen Xianba was about to give this woman a blow with his scabbard, but Liu Dahu, who was standing behind him, grabbed his wrist.

Some things,

Chen Xianba didn't know, but Liu Dahu knew.

Not only did he know, but he was also made to stand in a horse stance for a whole day by his father for it.

"Dahu?"

"Inform the Prince." Liu Dahu said very seriously.

Seeing this, Chen Xianba put down the knife and nodded.

At the same time, he waved his hand, signaling the armored soldiers to release the woman.

The woman's chest rose and fell for a while, her expression uncertain, and she turned to look at Teng Yi Han, saying:

"You bought me from the broker, and I have now saved your life, we are even."

Hearing this, Teng Yi Han just smiled foolishly.

When Zheng Fan and the Sword Saint walked over,

The woman raised her head and saw the Prince of Western Peace, who was much younger than she had imagined.

Before the Prince of Western Peace could speak,

The woman pointed at Teng Yi Han in the corner,

Said:

"I have nothing to say.

You can kill him now, because I am no longer indebted to him."