Chapter 1005 Zhuge Zheng Fan

Ming Su City;

Former Prefect’s Residence;

Now, it is Nian Yao’s General’s Manor.

At this moment,

Nian Yao held a fragrant melon in his hand, pondering over and over again, his gaze finally settling on the threshold.

Looking down at the melon, then at the threshold;

Nian Yao took a deep breath, walked over, but when he wanted to sit down, his body began to tremble slightly again;

He was castrated, but not to the point of being crippled and unable to even squat down.

You must know that every time the Yan Emperor summoned him, Wei Zhonghe was always inseparable from the Emperor.

He was afraid,

He wanted to sit down, but he was afraid to sit down.

Nian Yao stood up straight again, took another deep breath, and forcefully swallowed the emotions in his eyes.

Back then,

He loved eating while sitting on the threshold.

Nian Yao’s nose twitched, he wiped it with the back of his hand, took a third deep breath, and finally, closed his eyes,

And sat down!

Huff… huff… huff…

Nian Yao heard the sound of his own heartbeat, so clear, so strong.

He slowly opened his eyes,

Vaguely,

The vision in front of him seemed to begin to blur;

He saw in front of him nearly a hundred generals wearing Chu army standard armor, each holding a melon in their hands, sitting there, learning from him, digging and eating with spoons.

They were all a group of proud and fierce generals, many of whom came from great aristocratic families, but in front of him, who came from a slave background, they were as docile as quails.

Suddenly,

The illusion in front of him disappeared.

Nian Yao lowered his head,

And saw that his legs were together.

In his memory, what he used to love most was sitting on the threshold, legs spread apart, sitting in a grand and imposing manner while eating.

He began to try to slowly separate his legs,

But what followed was a inexplicable sense of shyness, constantly harassing him.

Nian Yao put the melon in his hand on the ground, clenched his fists, and continued to try to separate his thighs.

But his legs were just trembling non-stop, unable to open.

Nian Yao waved his fists,

And slammed them on the threshold beside him,

At this moment,

He really wanted to shout loudly, just shout… perhaps only in this way could he release the anger in his heart towards himself, the anger towards the present, and the anger towards the past.

But after opening his mouth wide,

The sound,

But he couldn’t shout it out.

In the end, he could only bite his arm and make a “woo woo” sound.

“Hiss…”

The melon hadn’t been eaten yet, but his body was soaked with sweat.

He was tired,

He gave up,

He moved his butt off the threshold and sat cross-legged.

He no longer looked at the threshold behind him, as if that threshold simply didn’t exist.

He picked up the melon next to him again, broke it open, brought it to his mouth, and began to devour it, the juice constantly splashing, but he still ate faster and faster.

After eating half a melon, he stopped, too lazy to wipe his face and body, and put the remaining half of the melon back on the ground, supported himself with his hands behind him, and just sat there.

Things are no longer what they used to be,

That was probably the feeling.

He was no longer the same person he used to be, not the Chu general who could play chess with Tian Wujing.

Nian Yao lowered his head a little dejectedly.

Just then,

A dense sound of footsteps and the friction of armor came from outside;

Nian Yao raised his head, his eyes became deep again, and his whole person’s aura returned to the majesty he had when leading the army, as if everything he had done before had nothing to do with him.

Soon,

Several military generals led a team of soldiers and rushed in.

“Nian Yao, receive the decree!”

Nian Yao wanted to get up,

But the opposite side didn’t want to complete the process in full, but directly read out the imperial decree:

“... hereby strip Nian Yao of his position as general, take him into custody pending trial, and prohibit military affairs, which shall be temporarily handled by Zhao Han.”

This was a direct removal of his military power.

Nian Yao’s face didn’t show much surprise, or even too many other emotions, because his emotions had just been exhausted by the threshold behind him.

The soldiers approached, ready to escort him away.

Nian Yao looked at the opposite side,

And asked:

“Where’s Zhao Han? Let him come and see me!”

Originally, Zhao Han was the Chu’s predetermined candidate for the commander of the imperial guards this time, but because of the Yan Regent’s intention, it was forcibly changed to Nian Yao.

Zhao Han himself walked in from the outside, he seemed to be deliberately avoiding it all along.

For him, it wasn’t too difficult to seize Nian Yao’s military power in the army, and he wasn’t very willing to see Nian Yao in this kind of background.

But since the man had called him, he had to come out.

“Is this really His Majesty’s decree?” Nian Yao asked.

“Genuine.” Zhao Han replied.

“Heh.”

Nian Yao nodded, indicating that he understood.

Zhao Han raised his hand, stopped the soldiers who were preparing to escort Nian Yao away, and instead re-instructed:

“Then please General, rest here.”

After a pause,

Zhao Han’s gaze swept over the half melon on the ground,

And said:

“Since the General likes to eat melons, then prepare more melons for the General.”

“No need to bother.”

The soldiers who were originally escorting him had already let go, so Nian Yao was able to bend down and pick up the remaining half of the melon again,

And said:

“Enough, enough, no matter what it is, it’s enough to taste something new at first, eat too much, and you’ll get tired of it.”

“Please General rest well here, and don’t worry about military affairs.”

After Zhao Han finished speaking, he turned around and walked out.

Nian Yao suddenly shouted loudly:

“Zhao Han.”

Zhao Han stopped.

“Are your family aware of what you’re doing?”

Chu’s current decline is clear, and the aristocratic families, who were previously suppressed by the Chu Emperor and were alienated from each other, are now naturally beginning to actively embrace the thighs of the Yan people, in the hope of surviving the storms in the future;

The Dugu clan and the Xie clan were both like this.

If the Zhao clan wasn’t stupid, they should be doing the same.

“Han is only loyal to His Majesty.”

“Hehehe, hahahaha.”

Nian Yao laughed,

And asked:

“You have such a spirit, it’s a pity, you were born too late, if you could have been born ten years earlier, maybe my great Chu could have produced a Tian Wujing.

Let me ask you one last question,

Zhao Han,

Are you afraid?

You just lost to him once, and now you have to face him again, how much martial courage do you have left?”

“For the sake of Great Chu, Han is fearless.”

“Mm.”

Nian Yao nodded,

Turned around, ready to go into the house.

If there were no accidents, this room would be strictly sealed off and guarded for a long time to come;

When his foot stepped over the threshold,

Nian Yao held up half a melon,

And shouted:

“If you fucking said you were afraid, then I would respect you as a real man!”

“Creak…”

The door was closed.

A team of soldiers surrounded the room.

Zhao Han waved his hand, and the remaining generals followed him and left this place.

But Nian Yao had actually been standing behind the door all along, without moving.

He took another bite of the melon in his hand,

And muttered to himself:

“Here, I’ll use melon instead of wine, and wish my great Chu to turn the tide in this crucial game, reversing the fate of the country!”

Immediately afterwards,

Nian Yao took another bite,

And said as he chewed:

“This servant uses melon instead of wine here, and wishes the Regent, good fortune in bad luck, and the Great Yan for ten thousand years.”

…

Yingdu,

The Imperial Palace,

Inner hall;

The Emperor was sitting alone in the center of the hall, dismissing everyone else.

“Was that imperial decree issued by you?”

The Emperor tilted his head and smiled,

And said:

“Yes, it was issued by me.”

“You will kill my great Chu.”

“So what? It’s true that the imperial decree was issued by me, but… weren’t you also watching ‘next to me’ when I issued the decree?

Why didn’t you stop me then?

You want to say that at that time… you weren’t clear-headed?

Hehehe;

Actually,

After you regained consciousness, you could have withdrawn the imperial decree or added another one.

What nonsense about being for the sake of Great Chu,

What thoughts are preoccupied with the country and its people,

Bah,

The Emperors of your Chu have inherited the shamelessness, regardless of how they govern.

Stop talking about Great Chu,

Actually, it’s just you,

Who can’t afford to lose!”

The Emperor did not deny it, but said:

“It’s just that Zheng Fan is too arrogant and too… impatient.”

“Oh hehe, you’re afraid that people are calm, and you’re complaining that people are impatient, anyway, you have something to say, you can always find a reason and excuse for what you want to do.

Humans are more than beasts in this one thing.

Beasts can’t learn this pretense.”

The Emperor raised his hand and began to slowly form seals, preparing to seal it down.

“However, I do hope that your Chu can be restored, in the last ten years, I have clearly noticed that fewer and fewer people in Chu genuinely believe in the Fire Phoenix.

The people of Chu are about to forget their totem, perhaps in a few more years, people will pass on that the first Marquis of Chu didn’t enter the land of Chu riding the Fire Phoenix, but… riding a Pixiu, no, a Pi beast.

You are the Emperor, this is your dereliction of duty.”

“Then what about you?” The Emperor retorted, “What have you been doing all along.”

“Me?

What do you want me to do?

I’m just a slightly larger and still able to fly animal.

Although this time, countless Qi Refiners from the Qian gathered together to bestow blessings, while also isolating the so-called heavenly secrets.

Alas, this is really a farce.

The ancestors of the Chu people were most fond of divination before battle to pray for the blessing of the heavens, but this rule is now not taken so seriously even by the Chu people themselves, but the Qian people, they use it so exaggeratedly and confidently.”

“You’ve said enough for today.”

The Chu Emperor patted his chest, his body trembled, and his eyes returned to calm.

…

Jinghai City;

The military reports from outside were sent back one after another.

First, Han Laowu’s troops appeared in the south of Jinghai City, and Mingsu City basically failed to play a blocking role, and not even a beacon fire was lit.

Xie Zhuyang of Tongyan City sent a message, that Le Huan’s troops of the Qian army had appeared outside his city;

The next morning, a large-scale army appeared west of Jinghai City, the current generals like to use the commander’s flag to distinguish the composition of an army, and this army that advanced from the west was Meng Gong’s central army.

The scale of these three armies was much larger than expected, because the original garrison in Jiangnan feared the Yan people like tigers and dared not go up themselves, but when their own elites appeared, they began to flock to gather, and the scene became lively all of a sudden.

“Under Zhong Tianlang’s command is the largest cavalry legion in Qian, um, if there are no accidents at the moment, his route should be on the edge of Jiangdong, responsible for cutting off Xian Ba, Tian Tian, and Zheng Man’s troops stationed in the three towns from returning for reinforcements.”

The Prince looked at the information newly marked on the military map according to the military reports,

And couldn’t help laughing out loud:

“Alas, even though we have several times more troops, we still walk cautiously and carefully, using the most stupid, most clumsy, and most stable way to deal with me.

Tsk tsk,

Old Yu, did you see that,

These Qian people,

Are really giving us face!”

Liu Dahu respectfully stood beside him and reminded, “Your Highness, Mr. Bei and the others are still waiting for you to make a decision in front.”

“Mm, I’m already prepared.”

Zheng Fan pointed to a pile of brocade pouches on the coffee table beside him,

And said:

“Send out personal guards to send these brocade pouches to the generals of the various garrison troops.”

“Yes, Your Highness. However, Your Highness, Mingsu City…”

“Send it as usual, and send it to the Wu family fleet as well.”

“Yes.”

Liu Dahu picked up all the brocade pouches, and estimated the number in his heart, and wondered:

“Your Highness, it seems that there are still quite a few more.”

“Oh, there are more, it’s okay, send one brocade pouch to the Qian army’s various armies as well, just as a greeting gift.”

“Yes, your subordinate understands.”

Liu Dahu hugged the brocade pouches and prepared to go out to dispatch manpower to send them out. Although Qian troops have appeared in the south and west of Jinghai City at the moment, Qian troops have not yet completed the encirclement of the city after all, and it is still very convenient for messengers to enter and exit at present.

But,

Not long after,

Liu Dahu, who had just gone out, came back with that large pile of brocade pouches again,

And asked:

“Your Highness, these brocade pouches are not marked which one to give to which one, your subordinate…”

“Send them out randomly, they are all empty inside.”

Liu Dahu was stunned for a moment,

But seeing his Prince sitting there calmly and leisurely, Liu Dahu’s heart instantly calmed down, the Prince is the Prince, everything must be under the Prince’s control.

The Sword Saint, who was originally accompanying Zheng Fan to drink tea next to him, watched his silly son finally leave, and asked:

“Empty brocade pouches, what does that mean? Is it convenient to say?”

If it was a military secret, the Sword Saint didn’t need to know.

Zheng Fan shook his head and smiled:

“It’s really hard to say.”

“Then let’s not talk about it, it’s okay.”

“Hey hey hey.” Zheng Fan reached out and tugged at the Sword Saint’s sleeve.

The Sword Saint looked at Zheng Fan suspiciously;

“It’s really hard to say.”

The Sword Saint said: “I know, I know, you don’t need to explain so much to me, it’s like what’s performed on stage, if you say it in advance, it won’t work, right?”

“Heh, hehehe.”

Zheng Fan laughed so hard that he almost bent over,

And kept waving his hand and said:

“No no no, that’s not what I meant, the reason for sending empty brocade pouches is because I don’t know what military orders should be issued to the various troops at this moment, given the current situation, since the Qian people are targeting me in the most stupid way, the battlefield has been fixed, the cards have been revealed, and the plans of ghosts and gods are of no use at the moment.”

“Then why send them? Isn’t it superfluous?” The Sword Saint asked.

“It’s different, it’s different.”

“How is it different?”

The Prince picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea,

And said:

“What if a miracle happens?

In this way,

It will be easier for me to justify it later.”