Chapter 1 The Sound of Hooves

The sound of hooves echoed dully on the bluestone streets of Litian City.

At the head of the procession,

a man dressed entirely in white mourning clothes

rode slowly forward on his Pixiu.

The officials who had gathered to welcome him were all silenced by the sight. The festive atmosphere they had prepared and the auspicious greetings they had rehearsed were now useless.

The people of Litian City had initially been very interested in this Count Pingye, partly because of his military achievements and partly because of the princess of Chu.

As people of Jin, they didn't have that sense of pride or vicarious glory, but that didn't stop them from enjoying the spectacle.

However,

after seeing this,

the people of Litian City seemed to recall the terrifying oppression that had gripped the entire city two years ago when the Lady of Jingnan suddenly passed away.

No one dared to step forward to stop him. They only dared to watch from a distance.

Liao Xian, the governor of Litian City, was not present, nor were any of the other high-ranking officials and dignitaries he represented.

They knew that Count Pingye was entering the capital by imperial decree, but he shouldn't have passed through Litian City on the way.

They valued their status and didn't feel the need to rush out to welcome him. If they did, it wouldn't be an expression of "affection" but rather a form of flattery designed to ruin him.

However, behind the scenes, the steward of the governor's mansion had already booked the best restaurant in Litian City, intending to host a welcoming banquet for Count Pingye.

But after learning that Count Pingye was leading his personal guards into the city in mourning clothes, the steward went back to the restaurant and canceled the reservation for that evening.

Even a fool would know that

tonight

was not a suitable time for feasting.

The procession advanced through Litian City and finally stopped in front of the former Jingnan Marquis estate.

The plaque of the Jingnan Marquis estate still hung there. For a time, it had been taken down and replaced with "Jingnan Prince Estate," but after the massacre of prisoners outside Jade Plate City, His Majesty stripped Tian Wujing of his title as a prince.

The army didn't care about this and continued to call Tian Wujing "Prince," and even more enthusiastically than before.

But in the official circles of Litian City, the plaque had to be changed.

The two stone lions at the entrance were still there and hadn't been moved.

After all, this was the residence of the Jingnan Marquis.

It was one thing to move a plaque, but if they continued to tamper with other things inside, everyone would have to think twice.

After all,

the Jingnan Army was still around,

and the Jingnan Marquis himself was still around.

It wasn't yet time for everyone to push the wall when it was falling.

Zheng Boye dismounted. The knights behind him also dismounted. Outside the Jingnan Marquis estate, on both sides, stood many commoners and officials, and the constables of Litian Prefecture were nervously maintaining order.

For the first eight hundred years of the Great Yan Dynasty, the country had been defended on horseback. Now, they were fighting for the world on horseback. The status of military men was already somewhat transcendent.

Adding to that Zheng Boye's multiple identities, he was even more transcendent than transcendent.

So, no one stopped him, and no one dared to ask questions. Everyone could only watch in silence.

The curtain of a carriage was lifted, and Xiong Liqing, dressed in white, stepped out of the carriage and quietly walked behind Zheng Boye.

The gates of the Jingnan Marquis estate were closed, and a group of armored soldiers stood guard at the entrance.

Inside the estate was the mourning hall for the Lady of Jingnan.

For a long time,

there hadn't been a definite Jingnan Marquis estate.

The Tian family didn't count.

The house in Nanwang City didn't count either.

The Jingnan Marquis had lived in this mansion in Litian City for quite some time, but it shouldn't have counted either, except that inside was the spirit tablet of Du Juan.

Zheng Boye climbed the steps.

The two stone lions seemed to still exude a faint smell of blood. This ethereal scent made Zheng Boye's head spin, and even his steps felt unsteady.

Without being told, the armored soldiers at the gate took the initiative to open the door.

Then,

they split into two rows and knelt down on one knee to Zheng Fan:

"Greetings, Count Pingye!"

"Greetings, Count Pingye!"

Since the Jingnan Marquis had taken command of the eastern expedition, he had never returned to Litian City. For these Jingnan soldiers guarding the mansion, Count Pingye was the first guest to enter the estate since the Marquis left.

Zheng Boye and the princess entered the estate together, followed by their personal guards. After everyone entered, the armored soldiers at the gate closed the doors again and stood there with their sabers in hand.

It should have been a season of revival and prosperity, but the Marquis estate seemed very desolate.

When the Marquis left, he ordered that the estate not be maintained.

In fact,

from the day Du Juan died, the Marquis estate had never been maintained.

Even the mourning hall remained as it was.

Behind the mourning hall was a small courtyard.

In the courtyard

was a grave.

Yes, Du Juan's grave was in the estate.

The world was vast, and the Jingnan Marquis had conquered most of Jin, but his wife didn't have a place to rest in peace.

The Tian family's ancestral graveyard in Yanjing was still there, but it was clear that they couldn't return.

Zheng Fan sat down on the threshold in front of the mourning hall.

He remembered that when he rode into Litian City and entered the Marquis estate, the Jingnan Marquis had been sitting here.

It was also on that day that Tian Wujing's hair had turned white overnight.

Right and wrong, who was right and who was wrong? Many things couldn't be taken too seriously. Even the most complex laws and regulations couldn't judge all the complicated matters in this world.

Many things couldn't be divided into right and wrong, and no logic could be found.

After all the dividing, everyone still based their decisions on the chair under their buttocks. So, don't bother with those hypocritical solemnities, just start from the chair under your buttocks, and everything will become clear.

"Husband, I'll go offer incense."

Zheng Fan nodded.

The princess entered the mourning hall to offer incense.

Zheng Fan continued to sit there.

He sat there until late at night.

During that time, the princess came over and put a cloak over Zheng Boye's shoulders, then quietly left.

In fact,

the relationship between Zheng Boye and Du Juan wasn't that great. In the beginning, he had just helped the Secret Intelligence Department with some tasks and met her a few times. After that, it was because of her relationship with the Jingnan Marquis that Zheng Fan shamelessly called her "Sister" a few times.

Sitting here,

mourning Du Juan for so long was too pretentious for Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan was mourning the Marquis.

He remembered in the Heavenly Mountain Range, the Marquis had asked him about some things about raising children.

At that time, Zheng Fan had sensed a human touch from the Marquis.

In the early years,

the world believed that the Jingnan Marquis had violated human ethics and annihilated his entire family for personal wealth, honor, and official position. But after the Jingnan Marquis won victory after victory, few people said such things anymore.

Because it was clear that if it were for personal wealth and honor, wouldn't it be easier to rebel and become emperor himself?

Among the four eastern countries, there were countless outstanding military generals. Who would dare to stand up and say that they were definitely better at fighting than Tian Wujing?

Furthermore,

the Tian family

was originally a first-class aristocratic family in the Great Yan Dynasty.

"Sigh."

Zheng Fan shook his head

and continued to sit there.

Tonight's moonlight, with a halo, spread down like mercury spilling on the ground.

Zheng Fan turned his face to the side, as if he could see the Marquis sitting here just like him, his hair as white as snow.

"Why bother? Why suffer?"

Zheng Fan's head drooped slightly.

He

fell asleep.

……

In the prefectural office of Litian City, Liao Xian sat in his study. In front of him sat a group of high-ranking officials from Litian City.

The notice from Yingdu had arrived later than usual.

The first one must have been sent directly to the capital, and the communication between the other departments naturally lagged behind.

In the afternoon, Count Pingye had already entered the city.

At dusk, the news from Yingdu reached the Litian prefectural office.

At this time,

the Litian City Recruitment Commissioner said cautiously:

"Could Count Pingye be here to quell the rebellion as well?"

The adults present

wanted to laugh, but they couldn't.

Because they suddenly realized that perhaps their colleagues in Yingdu had been laughing like this at the time.

Everyone could only look at each other in dismay.

Finally,

Liao Xian spoke:

"Mobilize half of the Yan army camp outside the city into the city. The remaining troops will be divided into two groups to be wary of the Jin army camp.

Order the generals above the rank of military advisor in the Jin army camp outside the city to come to the prefectural office, saying that I want to host a banquet to reward them."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir."

In any case, it was better to be prepared.

Liao Xian picked up his snuff bottle, sniffed it, waved his hand, and said:

"Disperse. Go back to your departments and agencies and reorganize yourselves. It's good if nothing happens, but if something does, whoever's department has a problem will be responsible with their official hats."

……

Different from the mobilization and tension inside and outside Litian City,

this night,

although Zheng Boye was sleeping while sitting on the threshold,

he had a good night's sleep.

When he woke up,

he stretched lazily.

At this time,

the Blind Man happened to walk in from outside.

"Perfect, let's have breakfast together."

The breakfast was simple. To be precise, there was no fire lit in the mansion. It was bought ready-made from outside.

Zheng Fan and the Blind Man sat facing each other.

Zheng Boye was eating noodles.

The Blind Man was eating porridge.

In front of them were also many local Litian City breakfast delicacies, very rich.

"Master, I have finished interrogating those three members of the Hun Sect."

"Hmm."

Zheng Fan was not surprised by the Blind Man's interrogation skills.

"They are indeed members of the Hun Sect. Within the Hun Sect, there are no sect titles, nor is there any mention of an ancestral court, because what they do is inherently shady work, so it is impossible to have a public mountain gate, for fear of being sought for revenge.

Their lair is in Quhe City."

"From Quhe City?"

"Yes."

"What are they doing here?"

"Because their master, known as Tea Hermit in the Hun Sect, was captured by the Secret Intelligence Department and is now locked in the prison in Litian City. This Tea Hermit is involved in a case of embezzlement of military funds and will be escorted to Yanjing for trial. The three of them plan to rescue their master on the way."

"That's quite loyal."

"Otherwise, it's because their master secretly hid the wealth they had accumulated from years of fraud in a place, and only their master knows about this place.

They said it themselves. If it weren't for this, they wouldn't care about the old thing's life or death."

"Oh, realistic."

"The Hun Sect has many swindling techniques. When Master saw them, they had already cast a swindling technique on themselves, which was to make themselves absolutely believe in their new identities, so that they could be absolutely realistic when swindling.

Previously, they were actually practicing under Tianhu Mountain. After practicing, they went to the tavern to eat."

"It's a bit roundabout."

"It's purely a matter of luck and probability. It can only be said that it was too coincidental."

"Heh heh."

"Their practice is also to find out some problems. This is actually a kind of self-hypnosis, but the effect is too good, leading to that woman who hypnotized herself into becoming a disciple of the Sword Saint, wholeheartedly wanting to see the Sword Saint's sword.

This is a kind of self-hypnosis.

Because the people they have to face are from the Secret Intelligence Department, they cannot show any timidity."

"That's a big gamble."

They wanted to take away the Tea Hermit in his name, a good trick of deceiving the heavens.

"I think these three people can be kept for the time being. They might be useful in the future."

"The Tea Hermit is in prison?"

"Yes."

"Should we take him too?"

"I think we can."

"I'll have Gao Yi pick him up later. How should we transport him back?"

"Let the Litian City garrison send people to escort him back to Snow Sea Pass. Chen Daxia (great hero) can be in charge."

"Him? He's easy to fool."

"That was before."

"Forget it. Chen Daxia came along this time because he wanted to learn skills from the Sword Saint. Let Gao Yi take a hundred personal guards to escort them back."

"Okay."

Zheng Boye didn't think it would be a problem whether Litian City would let them go.

As long as he could leave here immediately, the Litian City prefect would probably agree to any request.

"What about Fu Shun'er?" Zheng Fan asked.

"I didn't ask him what he found out."

"Escort him back together."

"Yes, Master."

Zheng Fan nodded and finished the noodle soup.

He put down the bowl

and said:

"Pack up, let's hurry up and set off."

……

Yanjing,

the Imperial Palace,

the Imperial Study.

If the imperial court was the power center of the Great Yan Dynasty, then this imperial study was the symbol of the most core power of the entire country.

If it was a weak emperor, the imperial study might be a decoration.

But the current emperor clearly had nothing to do with decorations.

Every day,

the will issued from here would be carefully scrutinized by the many civil and military officials of the entire central government.

The emperor's power was unpredictable.

This was vividly interpreted in this supreme being.

Behind the imperial desk,

the Yan emperor threw aside a memorial.

Wei Zhonghe, who was serving beside him, immediately picked up the memorial and sent it to Prime Minister Zhao Jiulang in front.

Most of the time, there were basically only the emperor and his minister in the imperial study reviewing some memorials. Zhao Jiulang came from a humble background and was promoted by the Yan emperor in one fell swoop. If it weren't for the Marquis of Zhenbei and the Marquis of Jingnan in front, perhaps the harmonious relationship between the emperor and his minister in the Great Yan Dynasty would be this prime minister.

Zhao Jiulang opened the memorial and found that it was sent by Mao Mingcai, the prefect of Yingdu.

In the past month, the number of memorials from Yingdu had increased several times compared to usual.

But this time it was not about the rebellion or asking for the imperial brush to condemn someone, but about the flooding of the Wangjiang River.

Currently, the rainy season had not yet arrived, but there were already some signs. Mao Mingcai requested the court to allocate the next season's military supplies and rations to be used for river works.

Zhao Jiulang closed the memorial.

The Yan emperor smiled and said:

"Mao Mingcai is indeed a doer."

Zhao Jiulang echoed:

"Yes."

The rebellion in Yingdu was ended with Sun Taifu's re-emergence to rectify the situation. Mao Mingcai did not continue to focus on these matters, but instead focused on river works.

He was indeed worthy of the title of a high-ranking official.

Some officials spared no effort in court infighting, but were able to shirk responsibility when it came to mundane affairs. Such people were of no benefit to the country.

"Your Majesty, the Wangjiang River works were originally an important task that the Situ family had to manage every year. These two years have been delayed due to the war. If it is really as Mao Mingcai said, we should take precautions early. The Three Jins are in a period of recuperation and cannot be troubled by floods again."

The Great Yan Dynasty was now facing a very serious problem, which was that the annexation of the Three Jins was progressing too quickly.

Originally, it would have been fine to take down half of it and slowly consolidate it, but the invasion of the wild men forced the Marquis of Jingnan to take command again and directly conquer the entire Jin.

In this way, the Great Yan Dynasty would bear the defense and governance of the entire Jin, and basically all of the resources were being transferred from the Yan to the Jin.

Now, they no longer expected Jin to recover and reciprocate Yan in the short term, but only hoped that Jin would recover a little vitality earlier and reduce the burden on Yan.

"Order the Ministry of Works to send a special person to preside over the river works, and order Mao Mingcai to employ former officials of the Ministry of Works of Cheng and those with experience in river management to participate together.

You go and arrange it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Let the Fifth Prince, Ji Chengmin, observe the Ministry of Works. Doesn't he always like those things? This time, I will give him a chance. My Great Yan does not support useless princes."

"Your Majesty, is it for the Fifth Prince to immediately go to Yingdu with the people from the Ministry of Works?"

"Not in a hurry. Count Pingye is about to enter the capital, right?"

Wei Zhonghe immediately responded, "Responding to Your Majesty, it should be soon."

"The Ministry of Works still needs time to prepare, and the Ministry of Revenue also needs to additionally prepare the next season's grain and military supplies for Yingdu. When Count Pingye returns, let Chengmin return to Jin with Count Pingye.

By the way, have you read Wujiang's memorial?"

"Responding to Your Majesty, I have read it. The Great Prince led his troops on the Nanwang City line and repeatedly defeated two groups of Qian troops, stabilizing the situation."

"Hmm, in this world, besides Wujing, I have not seen a general who wins every battle. My Great Yan only has one Wujing.

This child has been raised in the military camp since he was a child. He is good at everything, but he is too thoughtful. I was really worried that he would become discouraged because of the Wangjiang battle. It seems that I was overthinking it.

In the name of the central government, issue an edict to commend him. At the same time, warn him not to be greedy for merit and advance rashly. Just stabilize the situation. I am worried that he will be too eager to seek military merit."

"Your Majesty, the Great Prince has always been steady and cautious in his use of troops."

"Hmm, that's it for today. You should go back and hold your granddaughter earlier."

Zhao Jiulang's eldest daughter-in-law had just given birth to a daughter.

"I thank you, Your Majesty, for your great kindness."

After Zhao Jiulang left the imperial study,

the Yan emperor, who had been sitting quietly behind the imperial desk, suddenly stiffened.

Wei Zhonghe, who was standing beside him, immediately took out a handkerchief and handed it to the Yan emperor.

"Cough cough..."

The Yan emperor suddenly coughed violently.

After he calmed down,

Wei Zhonghe immediately quickly put away the handkerchief containing the blood and then brought tea.

This illness, which had improved for more than two years, had recently started again.

In the entire inner palace, only Wei Zhonghe himself really knew the Yan emperor's condition.

The Yan emperor held the teacup,

took a sip,

and said:

"What specific day will Zheng Fan enter the capital?"

"Responding to Your Majesty, the day after tomorrow at noon."

The Yan emperor took a deep breath,

slowly exhaled,

put the teacup on the table,

slowly closed his eyes,

and said:

"Good."

"Your Majesty, I dare to ask, what are the arrangements for the day after tomorrow?"

The Yan emperor's closed eyelids slowly opened,

his gaze fell on Wei Zhonghe, and he said:

"What, even you, a slave, think that after Zheng Fan went to Litian City once, I must have some ideas?"

Wei Zhonghe immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying:

"I dare not, I deserve to die."

The Yan emperor slowly closed his eyes again,

"Heh..."