“That’s interesting.”

Both parents were surnamed Qu.

Of course, this wasn't really anything; in later generations, it was common for couples to have the same surname, and the children didn't have to argue about whose surname to take.

But,

how to put it…

Yao Zizhan himself was incredibly amorous, having love affairs during his travels in various countries. He could be described as loosening his belt to enjoy himself, running away after he was satisfied, and then writing a poem from afar. Outsiders saw it as unrestrained and romantic, but in reality, he was truly shameless.

Yet, this was the same person who once said in his writings that the grand houses were the most filthy and foul, so filthy that one dared not set foot, so evil that one's heart trembled, and so foul that one could hardly restrain oneself.

Therefore, Zheng Boye couldn't help but let his thoughts wander in that specific direction.

Zhao Qi opened his mouth and said,

“It's really the first time someone has asked what my mother's surname is.”

Then,

Zhao Qi continued:

“Because everyone knows that I'm the illegitimate son of the Qu family; that's already enough for me to freeload. Boye, your focus is making me surprised.”

“You want to talk about it?” Zheng Boye asked.

“How dare this servant not speak if Boye wants to know?”

“It's different. Before, you were a prisoner, and I was the master. Now that things are settled, you are…”

“A friend?”

Zhao Qi's eyes began to shine.

“You’re like the loafer under the locust tree at the village entrance, gossiping, and I'm the lazybones sitting there listening to the gossip.”

If you're willing to talk, I can listen.

“Boye's analogy is interesting. Let me put it this way: my mother is a generation higher than Qu Peiluo, whom Boye knows, and if I could enter the Qu family tree, I would also be a generation higher than Qu Peiluo.”

“Oh?”

“What does Boye think?”

“Very interesting.”

“This servant thinks so too.”

“You want to live?”

“This servant wants to live well.”

“Take the horse ranch, and this *boye* (lord), will promise you a future.”

“A future that can be exchanged for how many beautiful men?”

“This *boye* isn’t into that kind of thing. So, if you don’t want me to chop you up one day when I'm in a bad mood, just act normal in front of me from now on.”

Zhao Qi knelt down,

“This humble one understands.”

…

Liang Cheng and Jin Shuke returned with their troops. This battle was very fruitful, with minimal losses on their own side. However, they were still limited by the mobility of the infantry, which prevented them from further expanding the gains to form a sweeping victory.

They also couldn't continue to penetrate further north, otherwise, they would be in danger of being encircled by the Chu people. It was best to quit while they were ahead.

The soldiers could rest, but the generals could not.

Zheng Boye had only slept for a short while in the second half of the night. When he heard that A’Cheng and the others had returned, he immediately summoned them.

Gou Moli, who was responsible for the reception, came along with them.

If the Blind Man were here, Gou Moli's role would be somewhat redundant.

But the Blind Man was now at Xuehai Pass managing affairs back home, so Gou Moli's strategic vision was highlighted.

After all, he was once the Wild Man King who stirred up waves among the Wild Men; no one dared to ignore his suggestions and opinions.

He Chunlai, the righteous man who wanted to "overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming," had now completely become Zheng Boye's life assistant, and had prepared supper in advance with Niu Dongguan.

Originally, it could have been set up in the courtyard,

but the city was burning grain on a large scale. The smell of grain alone was fine, but the problem was the endless smoke and dust, which was unbearable, so they could only stay in the house with the doors and windows tightly closed.

“The situation is like this. I want to talk about my own thoughts.”

Zheng Boye took a bite of wonton and put the spoon in the bowl,

and said:

“This is what I'm thinking. Jing City can't be defended, but we must strangle this position, and we can't let the connection between Shanggu Prefecture and Chu territory become smooth again.

“What we want is just this effect. In terms of methods, there can be many changes.

“For example,

that horse ranch.”

Zheng Boye looked at A'Cheng,

“If we can take down the horse ranch and arm a few thousand cavalry, A'Cheng, are you confident that you can use these few thousand cavalry to continue to contain this area?”

A few thousand cavalry, to say it's few, it's not few, but to say it's many, it's really not many, it all depends on how you use them.

If they were to charge into the enemy's formation, then a few thousand cavalry would only be a one-shot deal. If they couldn't break through the enemy's formation, they would probably be trapped.

But if they could suddenly strike out like Jin Shuke did outside Dongshan Fort during the fierce battle between the Yan and Chu armies, and completely subvert the battle, the effect would be great.

Liang Cheng naturally understood Zheng Boye's thoughts, so he said directly:

“Master, this time, we also seized a lot of ships at the Jing City wharf. If the sneak attack on the horse ranch goes smoothly, and you leave some ships for this subordinate, this subordinate is confident that he can stay and play a few rounds of push hands with the Chu people.

“In addition, if the master leads the main force south, the Chu army's subsequent troops will most likely be unable to continue north to Shanggu Prefecture, which can also help this subordinate reduce a lot of pressure.”

If Zheng Boye led the main force south by ship, he could directly threaten the Great Chu imperial capital.

The Yan Emperor could directly write to the Barbarian King in his letter:

“If you dare to send troops, my Great Yan will risk losing Yanjing and concentrate all available soldiers and horses to fully press into the desert and attack your royal court directly!”

The Regent probably dared to say the same, because from what he heard, saw, and personally experienced, he could conclude that this Regent, who was also Zheng Boye's brother-in-law, was really not ordinary.

But to put it bluntly,

the Great Chu had its own national conditions.

If you threaten others by overturning the table, you have to see if you really have the ability to overturn the table.

After Emperor Yan made a unilateral decision and crushed the aristocratic families, there was no one in the court who dared to disobey him. The military power of Great Yan was partly in the hands of the imperial court, and the rest was all in the hands or under the control of the two marquises. One was the Marquis of Zhenbei, whom the barbarians feared the most, and the other was the Marquis of Nan, who dared to exterminate his own family.

If Emperor Yan wanted to go crazy, Great Yan could and would inevitably go crazy with him. This table could really be overturned!

Therefore,

the Barbarian King chickened out. Throughout that three-nation war, the barbarians never dared to send troops, and even took the initiative to send two tribes that they didn't get along with into Yan territory to surrender and submit.

But what about Chu?

If the Regent shouted this out,

forget Yingdu, forget the home, and launch a full-scale northern expedition!

First of all,

Yingdu could be ignored, but could the fiefs of the great nobles be ignored?

Who knew that after this Yan army came to Yingdu and found that the city walls were too high and couldn't be broken, they wouldn't turn around and run to other places.

The Regent could be "noble and upright," but the nobles below might not really be willing to ignore their families.

At the same time,

the most important point was that

if the Yan state went crazy, it wouldn't be able to destroy the barbarians, but it could catch their royal court and beat them, directly eating up their royal court's cavalry, chasing their royal court around in the desert for a few laps, and directly削掉 (xiāo diào, diminish; weaken) both their legal prestige and actual strength. This was not a problem.

For the Barbarian King, after that, even if the royal court was still there, it would probably be reduced to an ordinary tribe in the desert.

But what about Chu?

A full-scale northern expedition

sounded very brave,

but did Chu dare to do that?

Outside Zhennan Pass, the Jingnan King's hundreds of thousands of iron cavalry were waiting. If they really dared to come out for a northern expedition, would there be a need to build so many turtle shells there?

In the end,

when all was said and done,

Zheng Boye dared to be so relaxed,

and these generals under his command dared to feel so good about themselves even when they were deep behind enemy lines,

it wasn't really because their military skills were poor, nor was it because they lacked a sense of crisis.

It was because of national strength, national momentum.

At least,

on the level of war,

the Yan army occupied an absolute initiative.

How arrogant a little devil is depends entirely on who Yama is standing behind;

You should know that even if Zheng Boye's main force went south, they could take away troops from Chu, but at Zhennan Pass, there were still hundreds of thousands of Chu troops with the strongest combat power.

But Liang Cheng still dared to be so confident and use a few thousand cavalry and some warships to expand the battlefield and carry out guerrilla warfare, and dared to guarantee that he could continue to hold back the Chu people's logistics.

The fundamental reason was that

the Chu people in the north were being watched by the Jingnan King himself.

Gou Moli smiled,

then covered his mouth,

then covered his eyes again.

For a time,

his emotions were a little out of control,

and after putting down his hands, his eyes were a little red.

This wasn't intentional on Gouzi's part; he wasn't pretending, because there was no need to pretend here, and he also understood that Zheng Boye and those subordinates who were called "Sir" preferred "truth."

Gou Moli thought of himself back then,

when he learned that Xuehai Pass had been captured by Zheng Boye,

he was immediately stunned;

and he regretted it immensely, regretting why he had to know this news.

Because once he knew, even if he wanted to pretend he didn't know, he would naturally reveal traces of "acting";

but,

the other party was Tian Wujing.

That was a person whose mind was so meticulous on the battlefield that it made one's scalp tingle;

The final outcome was that

Tian Wujing saw the hidden instability in the rear of the Wild Men, so he predicted the Wild Man King's prediction, used a trick to deceive the heavens, induced the main force of the Wild Men to cross the river, and then directly defeated them with the main force of Great Yan!

“What’s wrong?” Zheng Boye looked at Gou Moli.

Gou Moli wiped away his tears,

and laughed:

“This subordinate just thinks that it won’t be long before that Chu general, Nian Yao, will experience the same injury that this subordinate once suffered. That’s so, so happy.”

When others repeat your misfortune,

you will most likely,

gloat over it.

“Hehehe…”

Zheng Boye laughed.

The others also politely laughed along.

“Everyone, we are all considered family members, and we must be clear about the significance of this battle to us. I won’t hide anything from you. No matter how great the difficulties we encounter now, they are worth overcoming.

“Just imagine,

Zhennan Pass is breached, the elite troops of northern Chu are completely wiped out, and Shanggu Prefecture falls into the Yan territory;

after that,

the entire Jidong

will be our family fortune.

The first Marquis of Zhenbei relied on that great victory a hundred years ago to establish his mansion for a hundred years, and is still the pillar of Beifeng Prefecture.

Now,

it’s time for us to build this pillar!”

The crowd prepared to kneel down again and shout slogans, but Zheng Fan directly raised his hand to stop them,

and said:

“Things should be done sooner rather than later. That horse ranch in the east must be taken down as soon as possible, otherwise I’m afraid there will be defenses there, Liang Cheng.”

“This subordinate is here!”

“This matter will be left to you to handle. You personally select a group of people. After seizing the horse ranch, if everything goes smoothly, immediately send someone to report back to me.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Everyone else, let’s get ready. I hope everything goes smoothly, because I want to go to Yingdu to see the scenery.”

…

He Chunlai, who had finished making supper, naturally didn't have the opportunity or qualification to participate in that meeting that truly belonged to the core circle of Xuehai Pass.

He sat on the steps,

and Niu Dongguan sat beside him.

Niu Dongguan took out a handful of dried fruit from his pocket and handed it to He Chunlai.

He Chunlai reached out and took it.

“Your cooking skills are excellent,” He Chunlai said.

“Hey, today was the most nervous time I've ever cooked in my life. When I was an apprentice with my master for ten years, I wasn't so nervous the first time I cooked for guests.”

Niu Dongguan was an honest man;

Therefore, he could scold the Yan army outside as Yan dogs when he saw Si Niang, and then kneel down and shout "Benefactor" when he saw Zheng Boye.

Although every commoner is responsible for the rise and fall of the world, it had been divided so much that it was almost nothing for a cook like him.

The nobles and generals hadn't all died yet, so it didn't seem like it was his turn to risk his life.

Another aspect of Niu Dongguan's honesty was that he felt that He Chunlai was very kind, because in his opinion, He Chunlai was also a cook like himself.

“What are you planning to do?” He Chunlai asked.

Niu Dongguan replied:

“Live.”

The world was so difficult, and having witnessed so many deaths inside and outside the city, being able to live was already a great fortune.

“Haven’t thought about the future, haven’t thought about the future?”

“If you don’t live in the future? If you don’t live, what future is there?”

He Chunlai felt that this made a lot of sense, and nodded seriously.

“Rest, Boye gets up early, and we have to make breakfast tomorrow. Boye likes to eat noodles, you make a Chu-style noodle dish, put more scallions and herbs, chili oil… I’ll make the chili oil.”

“Okay, brother.”

The next morning,

Zheng Boye woke up, and at the same time, Liang Cheng, who had arranged his troops and hadn’t even had time to rest, had already left the city with Zhao Qi and headed east.

The granary in the city hadn't finished burning yet and was still continuing.

However, the soldiers' food these two days could be described as quite extravagant, because burning was a solution, and eating it was also a solution.

Of course, the grain needed by his own troops was prepared separately early on. It would be really brainless to burn all the grain and then have no grain to eat.

Zheng Boye first took a bath. The conditions were limited on the boat, but now that he was "on solid ground," he had to seize the opportunity to wash up more.

The bath water was prepared by Si Niang. At Zheng Boye's request, the two of them bathed together, washing until they were foaming at the mouth below.

He pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard. He took a deep breath of the air mixed with plant ash and the aroma of grain, which almost suffocated Zheng Boye's feeling of refreshment.

Helpless, Zheng Boye could only retreat back to the room and order the guards outside to bring in breakfast.

The breakfast was very rich, and Zheng Boye was very satisfied.

While wiping his hands after eating, Zheng Boye looked at He Chunlai and said:

“That Niu Dongguan’s craftsmanship seems to be pretty good.”

“Yes, Boye.”

“Take him with us, it would be a pity to lose such a good cook, let him go and learn Yan cuisine, and strive to make a full Yan-Chu banquet.”

“Okay, Boye.”

“What about you, what do you plan to do in the future? Chen Daole stayed in Xuehai Pass to manage affairs with the Blind Man, you can't just stay by my side and be responsible for cooking, right?”

“Boye, I think this is pretty good.”

“It’s a waste of talent.”

“Being able to make Boye eat and drink well is also a big deal. To be honest, I admire Boye for daring to eat the food I make.”

“Some things, I think the Blind Man has already told you, but what I should say, I still have to say. In my eyes, there is actually no distinction between Yan and Jin, but I like the Yan country.”

“This subordinate can feel it.”

“But what I really care about is my own people, this is what I said to the Sword Saint, I don't care if the people below me are Yan people or Jin people or even barbarian wild men, or even Chu people in the future.

“If they are willing to kneel to me, willing to follow me, I will treat them as my own people, I will protect them, except for my own life, I can take everything else out to protect them.”

“This subordinate has seen it.”

Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.

The Sword Saint once guarded the city gate in Shengle City, and once slaughtered pigs in Xuehai Pass.

He could clearly feel that the former General's Mansion, now the Earl's Mansion, was truly willing to invest in people's livelihood.

Perhaps, looking at it from the history books, this was a sign of intending to compete for the world, so they didn't enjoy themselves in advance like the peasant army uprising, but had greater plans.

But the Sword Saint and He Chunlai were not people in the imperial court. What they saw with their own eyes was the living standards of the people under the Earl's Mansion.

“I don’t want to ask about your past, but if you are willing to create a more beautiful and happy future with me, where the people live and work in peace and contentment, without oppression, without exploitation, and even without ethnic distinctions, where everyone lives in peace, respects each other, and is equal, I am willing to accept you.”

“Is this… a dream?”

“You have to dream first before you can realize it in reality.”

He Chunlai nodded and said:

“What would Boye like to eat for lunch?”

“Something light.”

“Okay, Boye.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s an honor.”

Lunch was indeed light, and after nightfall, the burning of grain finally came to an end.

According to the reports, many soldiers cried while burning it.

This was understandable. If possible, Zheng Boye also wanted to transport this grain back;

Except for those nobles who don’t lift a finger, who would say brain-dead things like “Why don’t they eat meat?”, most other people, especially those from the bottom, have a kind of awe for grain that comes from the bottom of their hearts.

The Sword Saint sat there drinking tea,

and sighed:

“What a waste of things.”

Zheng Boye nodded and said:

“Yes.”

The Sword Saint then asked:

“The Chu people haven’t come yet?”

The first batch of nearby reinforcements was defeated by Liang Cheng and Jin Shuke, but the Chu people obviously wouldn’t let it go, nor did they have the qualification to let it go.

“They should be here soon.”

Just then,

a messenger rushed into the courtyard and knelt down in front of Zheng Boye, who was sitting at the door enjoying the cool breeze.

His lips were chapped, and he looked exhausted. He was obviously very tired, but he still saluted immediately

and shouted:

“Boye, General Liang has captured the horse ranch, and there are no less than four thousand usable warhorses!”

Zheng Boye smiled,

stood up,

and ordered:

“Pass down the order, set fire to the city, and level Jing City to the ground for me!”

Zheng Boye tidied up his sleeves,

and focused on his appearance.

The Sword Saint, who was sitting opposite him, asked:

“What’s wrong?”

Zheng Boye replied;

“I’m going to see my mother-in-law, I’m a little nervous.”