Chapter 1 The Long Horn

"Wuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!”

The long sound of the horn echoed through the vast snowy plains.

North of Snow Sea Pass,

On one side,

Were the tribal leaders of the various Wildling tribes.

On the other side,

Was General Zheng, mounted on his horse.

Behind both sides, more than a thousand cavalrymen were arrayed.

However, there was no tension in the air.

It was as if they were not the ones who had slaughtered each other at the southern gate of Snow Sea Pass not long ago, leaving corpses strewn across the field.

Of course,

It really wasn’t them.

"Wuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The second round of horns sounded.

A group of Wildlings wearing unique animal skins, painted with dye, and adorned with feathers, walked out from the military formation and began to sing and dance.

This was a Wildling ritual, usually performed around a bonfire during large events.

After a while, they began to sing.

General Zheng had to pretend to find it very pleasant and admirable, nodding slightly from time to time and revealing a faint smile.

This was out of respect.

Of course,

Respect sometimes has a neighbor called perfunctoriness.

To be honest, General Zheng really couldn't appreciate these authentic performances.

In his previous life, he had traveled around collecting folk songs and customs, visited many scenic spots, and appreciated many local folk performances.

These performances usually had "Endangered" hanging on the left and "Rescue" hanging on the right.

In fact, if you put aside self-intoxication and hypnosis and purely and seriously appreciate them with your own public aesthetic,

You will find,

Oh,

No wonder they are endangered.

Just like the scene before him.

This was not a discrimination against this era,

General Zheng believed that,

If he were now in Jiangnan, in the Qian Kingdom, watching courtesans dance gracefully in front of him, he would definitely appreciate it with great enthusiasm.

Money spent uncomfortably just doesn't have the right feel. Rummaging through his brain, he'd plagiarize a couple of poems and let the courtesan offer herself on his bed. That's what you call real romance.

In comparison,

Watching this group of Wildling tough guys dancing bare-chested in the snow was really eye-searing.

The First Prince sat in the middle, with seven Wildling women beside him.

These women had all served the First Prince in bed, and some might even be pregnant. Naturally, they had to accompany the First Prince back.

The imperial family attached great importance to the continuation of bloodlines. In fact, not only the imperial family, but even ordinary wealthy families, as long as they felt that their wealth and status were higher than ordinary people, would imperceptibly feel good about their own "bloodline."

At the same time,

In the eyes of the Wildling tribal leaders,

This,

In fact, it was a symbol of the friendly relationship between the Snow Plains Wildlings and Great Yan!

And the carrier of this symbol was the First Prince!

The Wildling leaders didn't think there was anything "humiliating" about it, because they themselves didn't have the concept of "country." Although the former Jin, Yan, and Chu people all called them "Wildlings," in reality, they were just a pack of wolves. The Holy Race and the Star Temple were just very general concepts. In essence, they were still a disunited group.

In other words, they had no sense of collective honor.

But it could be seen that the First Prince's face was gloomy. As the former commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Army and the eldest son of the Ji family, he was sitting in that position, surrounded by seven Wildling women, like an emotionless sacrificial object.

If his face looked good at this time, it would really be a miracle.

But in any case, anything, either don’t do it, but if you do it, you have to see it through.

Especially after Xue San told the First Prince that the Jingnan Marquis had no intention of launching a northern expedition to the Snow Plains for the time being, the First Prince had no choice.

Even for the sake of that short period of peace between Snow Sea Pass and the Snow Plains, even if he knew that the guy named Zheng in front of him would definitely ignore the alliance set by the Star Temple, and would definitely attack the Snow Plains after he cleaned up Snow Sea Pass and dealt with the urgent matters at hand;

He, Ji Wujiang, had to act as a foil for this meaningless "alliance" ceremony.

The Wildling sacrificial activities finally ended.

General Zheng was not stingy either. He sent Fan Li, leading dozens of soldiers who had undergone intensive training overnight, to the center. With a sound of gongs and drums,

The dozens of men, led by Fan Li,

Took out two colored ribbons from their pockets and began to dance the *yangge*.

The Wildlings were somewhat familiar with the folk customs of the Jin region, because in addition to fighting in the past two years, they actually had a lot of exchanges in the past.

But they expressed great shock at the "characteristic folk customs" of the Yan people.

Fan Li danced very happily and standardly, and the dozens of men behind him also danced vigorously!

"Gula, this, is this the Yan people's...?" a tribal leader asked the leader of another tribe next to him.

"This should be the Yan people's sacrificial ritual."

"Oh, I see. It looks really mysterious."

"Yes."

The surrounding Wildling leaders nodded in understanding.

Only the First Prince,

After seeing this scene,

His mouth began to twitch uncontrollably.

In fact, it wasn't that General Zheng was deliberately perfunctory, but because the Shengle Army was mostly composed of Jin people, followed by Barbarians, and then Yan people.

But after asking the few Yan people, he found that no one knew the process of the Yan people's sacrifices, and the Blind Man wasn't here.

General Zheng was too lazy to bother, so he decisively sent Fan Li.

Just treat it as,

A Yan-Wildling characteristic cultural exchange gala.

When the *yangge* dance was over, the prelude to the ceremony was over.

Next,

General Zheng took the initiative to ride forward.

The tribal leaders dismounted and walked forward.

The First Prince stood up and knelt on one knee to General Zheng, giving a military salute.

He was a prince, but he had already been demoted to a military captain by the Jingnan Marquis, so he naturally had to salute according to military rules.

This was actually one of the First Prince's personal charms. He paid great attention to rules.

This scene directly shocked the Wildling leaders. Even the prince had to kneel before this young general. It seemed that this young general's power was truly terrifying.

Therefore, these Wildling leaders also quickly knelt down to General Zheng, who was riding on his horse.

General Zheng was still only the General of Shengle, and the position of Regional Commander hadn't been confirmed yet, and he didn't know if he would be granted any titles, but this didn't prevent him from accepting the worship of a group of "kings, marquises, generals, and ministers" at this time.

These leaders were not stupid either. The First Prince's canonization would naturally not be brought out at this time to show off to the Yan people.

They also understood the principle of people being the knife and I being the fish.

The more than 100,000 Wildling army led by the Wildling King was buried in the Jin region. At this time, the Snow Plains was in a state of absolute emptiness and turmoil. What these leaders wanted was to immediately cease fighting with the Yan people and then go to appease the Snow Plains.

Naturally, this would inevitably involve devouring and developing a wave.

It could be said that the entire Snow Plains was actually a *gu* breeding ground. It was normal for big fish to eat small fish and small fish to eat shrimp. Those tribes that had followed the Wildling King's call to send out tribal warriors were now weak. Wouldn't it be a shame if they didn't take advantage of the situation?

On the other hand, General Zheng's Shengle military and civilians hadn't arrived yet, and they were simply unable to send troops. They also needed time to settle down.

In short,

Mountains don't turn, but water does,

Today,

Let's put on a harmonious show together.

In the future,

We'll continue to greet each other with real swords and guns.

General Zheng dismounted and came to a large wine vat.

He reached out and took a dagger from a soldier next to him.

Sigh,

Damn it.

"Clang!"

After cutting his palm, General Zheng dripped his blood into it.

Then,

One Wildling leader after another came over, cut their palms, and dripped blood into the wine.

In the end,

Someone came over to pour in the wine.

General Zheng took the blood-red wine bowl and immediately felt a wave of nausea.

He usually saw A Ming holding his wine bag and drinking this thing every day and didn't think anything of it, but now that it was his turn to drink it, he was a million times unwilling.

God knows if these Wildling brothers in front of him had any diseases.

However,

General Zheng immediately took the lead in holding up the wine bowl over his head.

The Wildling leaders immediately followed suit.

"For the peace between my Great Yan and the Snow Plains, for the harmonious coexistence of both sides, cheers!"

After saying that,

General Zheng put the wine bowl to his mouth, swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva to make his throat move a few times, and then gracefully let the wine drip down his jaw, pretending to drink very heroically.

Then, with lightning speed, he smashed the wine bowl on the ground,

And shouted:

"Refreshing!"

The Wildling leaders followed suit and smashed their wine bowls.

The ceremony was over.

The Wildling leaders quickly returned, and General Zheng also brought back the First Prince to Snow Sea Pass.

This ceremony was considered "enjoyable for both host and guest."

After entering the city, General Zheng led the First Prince into his courtyard.

"Your Highness has worked hard," General Zheng said as he took the hot towel handed over by Xue San and wiped his neck.

"Is General Zheng mocking me?"

"How dare I, how dare I."

General Zheng threw the towel to Xue San, sat down on the chair next to him, and pointed to the chair opposite him, signaling the First Prince to sit down as well.

The First Prince cupped his fist to General Zheng and sat down.

"You also made a great contribution in this battle. Our fate is coming to an end."

After all, a prince is a prince. The Yan Emperor has seven sons, and after counting on his fingers, there are actually only a few who can be used.

The Third Prince was crippled by him and was probably still appreciating the snow at the Lakeside Pavilion.

The Seventh Prince was still young, and the Fourth and Fifth Princes didn't know why they had been suppressed and had no opportunity to be sent out to do things. Moreover, with the death of the head of the Deng family in the Wangjiang battle, the Fourth Prince had his greatest support cut off.

As for the Sixth Prince, he was a "club."

Putting himself in his shoes, if he were the Yan Emperor, he wouldn't give up on his eldest son like this.

"Wujiang is just atoning for his sins."

"Your Highness is too serious."

Ke Shi came over and offered hot tea.

General Zheng picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then slowly put it down, saying:

"In this world, there aren't many people who can always have smooth sailing, but there are very few, as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Although I had no contact with Your Highness at the beginning, to be honest, I really admire Your Highness's integrity and temperament.

My Great Yan is in the midst of expansion. I hope Your Highness will not be decadent. In the future, you and I will eventually have the opportunity to join hands to attack the outside world again."

The tone of these words was actually placing himself on an equal footing with the First Prince. It seemed a little rude, but after all, they were both military men, and speaking like this was more sincere.

General Zheng always liked to make friends with honest people. This First Prince, to a certain extent, also had the attributes of an honest person. At least, he had a bottom line.

Ji Wujiang smiled and said:

"I am grateful that General Zheng thinks highly of Wujiang."

"Please forgive me for any offense in the past."

This was to settle the matter of him sending someone to ask the First Prince for money and food when the First Prince was the commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Army last time.

"It's all in the past," the First Prince sighed, and then said: "But Wujiang must first congratulate General Zheng on his upcoming appointment as the Regional Commander of Snow Sea Pass."

It wasn't that the First Prince was a genius, but after entering the city, he discovered that soldiers were urging the Wildling prisoners to carry out city defense construction work.

It's the same principle as county magistrates not repairing the county government office. Anyway, they would be transferred after a few years, so why bother?

Therefore, if General Zheng wasn't going to be stationed at Snow Sea Pass for a long time, he wouldn't be rushing to repair the city walls at this time.

"It's a possibility," General Zheng didn't deny it.

"With General Zheng stationed at Snow Sea Pass, Wujiang is relieved. These are Wujiang's heartfelt words."

A Wildling rebellion had caused great suffering to the entire Cheng Kingdom.

Now that the Three Jin Lands had been returned to Yan, the Jin people were also Yan people. From the First Prince's standpoint, he naturally hoped that a truly reliable general would guard the Snow Plains.

After counting, the only one who could be trusted was Zheng Fan.

At the same time,

The First Prince also knew that, according to the distance from here to Yanjing, the imperial decree hadn't been issued yet. So, who could guarantee and decide on this matter in advance?

Only the Jingnan Marquis.

If the Jingnan Marquis wanted to recommend Zheng Fan as the Regional Commander of Snow Sea Pass, then the imperial court, including his father, would basically not object.

To be blunt,

At this time,

Who would dare to object?

Hearing this, Zheng Fan suddenly thought of what the Sword Saint had said to him a few days ago:

You're so immoral, I'm relieved to leave Snow Sea Pass to you.

The two fell silent.

The First Prince took the initiative to break the silence and said:

"After Wujiang returns to Yanjing this time to report, he should get married soon."

Being able to talk about his marriage in front of others was actually a recognition that they regarded you as a friend.

However, the First Prince's marriage was a political marriage.

The Eastern Expeditionary Army was defeated for the first time. In any case, he had to take responsibility. After returning, he would inevitably be punished, stripped of his title, and suppressed to make a show for outsiders. This was inevitable.

Then, he would use his remaining value as the eldest son of the Ji family to marry the daughter of the Barbarian King.

This also meant that the First Prince had completely lost the possibility of inheriting the throne, being more thoroughly expelled from the succession race than the Sixth Prince.

Because the competition between the other princes was a Ji family affair.

But if a prince who married a Barbarian woman tried to covet the Yan throne, he would inevitably be attacked by all levels of Great Yan.

Hundreds of years of blood feud,

How could the Yan people allow their future queen to be a Barbarian?

At the same time,

How could they allow the next generation of their emperor to have Barbarian blood flowing in his veins?

It could be felt that the First Prince's heart was desolate at this time.

If he was only temporarily acting as an object for the alliance between the Snow Plains and Snow Sea Pass today;

Then, after the marriage, he would be held up as a long-term balancing pole between the Barbarians and the Yan people.

This wasn't the worst part,

The worst part was that,

Perhaps Great Yan and the Barbarians would start another war in the future,

At that time,

How should the First Prince deal with himself?

Even if he considered himself a Yan person, still a member of the Ji family, the imperial court would never let him lead troops to deal with the Barbarians again.

In fact, the First Prince wouldn't have many opportunities to lead troops in the future, nor would he have many opportunities to hold real power.

Who knew if he would do something treacherous and lead Barbarian troops into Yan?

The lessons of Situ Yi and Situ Jiong were right in front of them. The Yan people wouldn't allow themselves to make this mistake.

"When Your Highness's wedding date is set, I will definitely send a congratulatory gift."

"Thank you, General Zheng."

"You're too kind, Your Highness."

The First Prince leaned back in his chair, and his whole body seemed to relax.

Zheng Fan also leaned back and relaxed as well.

The two used their body posture to indicate that the heavy topic had ended and they were about to enter a new chapter.

"General Zheng, are you on good terms with my Sixth Brother?"

"To be honest, my initial fortune was helped by His Sixth Highness."

Without the Sixth Prince desperately and continuously "milking" from behind,

His Cui Liu Fort couldn't have been built so quickly, and he couldn't have raised thousands of elite cavalrymen, and he wouldn't have been able to support the continuous strategic adventures in the early stages.

In comparison, the snowballing effect that grew bigger and bigger later on couldn't compare to the difficulty of starting a business in the beginning.

"The Sixth Brother is the smartest of our brothers. At the beginning, Father actually loved the Sixth Brother the most."

This topic involved the imperial family's secrets.

But General Zheng only felt full of interest and a little excitement.

"It's just that Father has suppressed the Sixth Brother too much in recent years, but I think the Sixth Brother hasn't lost yet."

Damn it,

I just wanted to hear some gossip, but you came up and gave me something so explosive?

Any warlord is very cautious before they truly rise and become powerful.

With the Yan Emperor in power,

And Tian Wujing above him,

In this situation,

General Zheng didn't think he had the qualifications to participate in the struggle for succession.

The struggle for succession, throughout history, was the biggest gamble in the world. If you win, you can soar to the sky. The phrase "merit of following the dragon" surpasses everything.

But the stake was the lives of your entire family.

It is said that those who wear no shoes are not afraid of those who wear shoes, but the problem is that General Zheng's boots are quite beautiful and warm. It's really not worth taking off his boots and running impatiently with the Sixth Prince in the sunset.

The First Prince was observing Zheng Fan's expression. Seeing that Zheng Fan didn't respond, he smiled and said:

"Wujiang was being abrupt."

"You're too serious, Your Highness. It's just that Zheng is just a slightly bigger soldier. Facing this kind of thing, Zheng really hasn't thought about it, and doesn't dare to think about it."

"Why can't you, and what can't you dare to?"

You, General Zheng, can carve so many seals out of radishes overnight. Are you pretending to be pure and virtuous with me now?

"Hehe."

Zheng Fan smiled shyly. He really couldn't figure out what was wrong with this First Prince today.

Was he stimulated? So he started to let himself go?

The First Prince then stood up. Zheng Fan didn't move and continued to lean on the chair.

"General Zheng, the Eastern Expeditionary Army had two major battles, one defeat and one victory. The defeat was a heavy loss, and the victory will definitely not have small losses."

This was very natural. In the defeat, the main force of the Left Route Army was lost.

In the victory, the Jingnan Marquis used the elite of the Zhenbei and Jingnan armies to directly attack the main force of the Wildlings, winning a great victory.

It couldn't be called a pyrrhic victory, but the casualties were definitely not small.

Zheng Fan's expression also began to become serious, and his back also straightened up slightly from the chair.

In his previous life, although he had opened a manga studio, he was still unable to escape the attributes of a houseman.

In this life, he was always dealing with big shots. It wasn't until he was about to become a big shot himself that he began to slowly understand this style of conversation and habits.

So,

What the First Prince said before was a prelude, and the real highlight was just beginning now.

Thinking of this, General Zheng couldn't help but feel a little self-deprecating. He had thought that the First Prince was an honest person before. Alas, he was still a son of the Yan Emperor. How could he be simple?

"The Zhenbei and Jingnan armies will inevitably suffer not small losses. This is the fundamental reason why the Jingnan Marquis has no intention of launching a northern expedition to the Snow Plains in the short term."

There were still tens of thousands of Chu troops locked up in Yu Pan City, but to be honest, Zheng Fan estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 cavalrymen would be enough for a northern expedition to the Snow Plains.

The Snow Plains was not only greatly injured now, but also extremely empty. It wouldn't be difficult to go up for a wave, not to kill them, but to stab them again, bleed them, and at the same time, snatch back a batch of the population and wealth that had been looted by the Wildlings.

But despite the fact that it wasn't difficult, the Yan army was now unable to do it.

"The territory of Great Yan has gained a complete Three Jin Lands in less than three years. Such a large piece of land requires how many troops to garrison, and how many more borders and passes, how many troops to defend."

It was also a sin to expand the territory too quickly. It was like a brand opening chain stores in later generations, blindly expanding, eventually leading to the lack of foundation, and always losing everything and failing completely.

"The direct descendants of the Zhenbei and Jingnan armies will inevitably be the preferred choice for replenishing troops after the war. General Zheng won't deny this, will he?"

Zheng Fan nodded.

In any case, the two trump card field armies must be given priority in replenishing troops.

"But the problem lies here. Although the original Left Route Army was mostly composed of local warlords, after a great battle, they would often become the target of assimilation.

It is indeed inappropriate for Wujiang to say these words from Wujiang's position, but they are indeed heartfelt words."

After crushing the aristocratic families, the local warlords were a major source of instability, so the Yan Emperor sent the First Prince to gather the local warlords to go on an expedition.

These local warlords and their troops were originally supposed to be the best source of replenishing troops, but now, because of the defeat in the first Battle of Wangjiang, the replenishment of troops had already suffered heavy losses.

This would lead to a very awkward problem: your reserves can't keep up.

The continuous battles had exhausted the soldiers. It wasn't just fatigue. The old soldiers were constantly dying, and new soldiers were constantly replacing them. The whole game was actually being constantly diluted.

"Your Highness, please speak frankly."

Zheng Fan said.

"General Zheng, even if all of your Shengle Army moved over, Snow Sea Pass is so big and the Snow Plains are so vast. Do you think your troops are enough?"

"Far from enough."

"That's right. Moreover, the area within a hundred miles south of Snow Sea Pass has become a no-man's land due to the Wildling plundering. General Zheng is famous in my Great Yan army for being good at commanding Jin troops. Among the many generals of my Great Yan, you are the only one who commands Jin troops.

But, where can General Zheng replenish his troops now?"

Replenishing troops was indeed a difficult problem.

First of all, it was difficult to get high-quality soldiers, because other people's real direct descendants weren't enough.

Although the Shengle Army that he brought out in the Battle of Snow Sea Pass suffered a lot of losses, compared with the Jingnan Army and Zhenbei Army who charged and fought on the front line, the casualty ratio was really not big. Therefore, it was definitely politically correct to give them priority in replenishing troops.

What was even more annoying was that even if you wanted to conscript strong men in the short term, it wouldn't be easy, because there was a large no-man's land within your jurisdiction. The people were gone, the villages were empty, so how could you conscript strong men?

As for the more than 20,000 Wildling prisoners, they could only be used as laborers and couldn't be absorbed into the army.

If you were stationed in the Jin region and used Wildling troops, it would only cause a violent conflict between yourself and the basic disk where you were located. Moreover, you were defending against the Snow Plains. If you absorbed a large number of Wildlings into your army, wouldn't Snow Sea Pass be turned into a sieve in minutes?

In the future, after his main army had grown, he could form a Wildling auxiliary army and use them as cannon fodder when attacking the Qian Kingdom or the Chu Kingdom.

But the order of this must not be reversed.

"Your Highness, what do you have to teach me?"

"General Zheng, you are too serious. What Wujiang means is that when the Barbarian King betrothed his daughter to Wujiang, he promised Wujiang that he would give a dowry."

A dowry?

Zheng Fan's breathing involuntarily became heavier.

Because he quickly realized what it meant.

Barbarian soldiers!

Barbarian soldiers were good. The capital that General Zheng made his fortune with was Barbarian soldiers. Moreover, after the Blind Man's experiment, he found that Barbarian soldiers had the best brainwashing effect.

And they themselves were born cavalrymen, easy to use!

After getting them, you only needed to equip them with excellent warhorses and fine armor, and integrate them slightly, and they would be elites!

"Wujiang wants the dowry." The First Prince stared at Zheng Fan and said word by word: "But absorbing Barbarian tribes into Yan is a very thorny matter for my Great Yan, because Beifeng County will definitely not allow Barbarian infiltration."

For a long time, the Yan Kingdom had actually accepted the surrender of many small Barbarian tribes, but the size of Beifeng County was there, and because of the specialty of its geographical location, it would also face similar problems to what Zheng Fan had encountered before. That was that his Zhenbei Army was originally here to defend against the Barbarians, so if he put so many Barbarians in here, how could he defend?

Therefore, when he was in Cui Liu Fort, Zheng Fan was able to get the Barbarian soldiers that Xu Pangpang sent through the back door. The imperial court wanted to absorb them, but it would never put them in Beifeng County, but would send them to other areas of the empire to cut off their connection with the desert through the length of the distance.

Zheng Fan stood up,

Looked at the First Prince,

And said:

"What Your Highness means is that you want to put this dowry in my Snow Sea Pass?"

"Do you like Barbarian soldiers, General Zheng?"

"I like them." Zheng Fan nodded. Then, feeling that his emotions weren't enough, he added: "I like them very much."

This wasn't like relatives giving you red envelopes during the New Year. Even if you were honest in your heart, you would still keep saying "no, no."

If he got another team of Barbarian soldiers as a foundation, plus the original Shengle Army's territory, and then spent some time to renovate Snow Sea Pass and put the people's livelihood in place,

General Zheng would immediately let the Wildling brothers who had just sworn blood alliance today see "Why the flowers are so red"!

Before, in Cui Liu Fort, it was the early stage of entrepreneurship. After surviving the beginning, he successfully emerged and was appreciated by the Jingnan Marquis. After that, everything went smoothly.

But wasn't this a new round of entrepreneurship?

Stabilizing the base of Snow Sea Pass as soon as possible and starting to invade and expand as soon as possible would allow him to achieve his goal of becoming a regional hegemon sooner.

This urgency was difficult for ordinary people to understand.

"The Barbarian King is old, and the royal court also needs to arrange for the inheritance of the throne. That's why the Barbarian King chose to watch from the sidelines during the last Three Kingdoms War.

There was naturally a reason for my father's edict, but the Barbarian King himself knew that even if there was a real war, once the inheritance issue of the royal court was not resolved, even if the Barbarian army successfully entered my Yan Kingdom, there would be no benefit in the end.

This marriage will definitely be kept by the Barbarian King. He needs a long period of peace to arrange his affairs. The person in charge of this matter was supposed to be Shatuo Queshi.

The Barbarian King trusted that Left Valiant Prince very much because he was upright, but Shatuo Queshi's death outside the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion made the Barbarian King's previous plans abandoned in the end.

For my Great Yan, for my father, what they want is the beautiful Jiangshan of the Qian Kingdom. Compared with the barrenness of the desert, unifying the ancient homeland of the Zhuxia is the real long-cherished wish.

If the two sides can avoid war in recent years, it is best not to fight."

Speaking of this, the First Prince paused and pointed to his feet, saying:

"The placement of that dowry is a very big problem in itself, but for you, General Zheng, this is indeed the biggest advantage. Beifeng County is the westernmost part of Great Yan, while Snow Sea Pass is the easternmost part of my Great Yan's current territory.

Placing the Barbarian soldiers here, far away from the desert, can limit the possibility of this Barbarian army responding to the desert and causing chaos to the greatest extent. At the same time, the Barbarians and the Wildlings have fundamental differences. They will not collude with the Wildlings.

Wujiang has asked Jin Shuke under General Zheng. They look down on the Wildlings very much."

Zheng Fan took a deep breath,

And spat out four words:

"Control barbarians with barbarians."

The First Prince's eyes immediately lit up when he heard this, and he couldn't help but praise:

"Profound."

Then,

The First Prince said again:

"Just these four words can be worth thousands of words. As long as these four words are said in the court, this dowry will definitely be yours, General Zheng."

Control barbarians with barbarians,

Whether it was from an "aesthetic" point of view, from the perspective of Great Yan's national policy, or from the self-satisfied angle of the emperor and his courtiers, it could be said that it scratched their itch.

The Qian Kingdom was not barbarian;

The Chu Kingdom was not barbarian either;

In Yan's official propaganda, everyone was Zhuxia brothers, and they were all sent by the Xia Emperor to open up territory back then, so in essence, they were one family.

This propaganda played a huge role in the process of Yan annexing the Three Jin Lands.

Look, the Wildlings are our common enemy, and we, putting aside the gap between Yan and Jin, are actually one family eight hundred years ago.

Turning ethnic opposition into dynastic change could greatly offset the sense of rejection of the people of the conquered country.

And the only place in the entire Great Yan that could use the "control barbarians with barbarians" policy was Zheng Fan's Snow Sea Pass, and there was no second place!

But,

Zheng Fan still asked very solemnly:

"Your Highness, this kindness..."

"Could it be that General Zheng thinks that I want to drag you into the water and stand on my side?"

Hehe,

He had changed from "I" to "I, the Orphan."

Zheng Fan smiled awkwardly.

"I have no possibility anymore. I understand, the people of the world understand, and you, General Zheng, actually understand in your heart."

If he hadn't been defeated in the first Battle of Wangjiang, even if he married a Barbarian princess and was stripped of his military power, he would still have the hope of going out to lead troops in the future, just like the Jingnan Marquis before.

But because you have failed, it is almost impossible to lead troops on an expedition again.

"General Zheng, what I want is a hope."

"Hope?"

"Everyone has selfish motives, what do you think of this sentence, General Zheng?"

"People are not sages, this is natural."

"What I am asking for is this hope, because I don't want to spend the rest of my life in the royal mansion, walking dogs and teasing birds, living that leisurely life;

I dare not forget the tens of thousands of sons who drifted on Wangjiang, I still want to atone for my sins!

What I want is to be able to die in battle one day, so that I can return what should be returned."

Zheng Fan hesitated for a moment. What did this have to do with him?

"If the Second Son succeeds to the throne, with the Second Son's character, I, this idle prince, will be confirmed, and I will completely give up my thoughts."

Zheng Fan's eyelids trembled.

The First Prince sighed heavily,

Then subconsciously stretched out his hand,

Wanting to pat Zheng Fan on the shoulder.

Finally,

He was assimilated by the trend of patting shoulders in the Shengle Army.

The palm,

Patted Zheng Fan on the shoulder,

The First Prince said:

"If the Sixth Brother succeeds to the throne, I feel that I still have hope, even if I continue to be sent out and only be a captain.

At that time, General Zheng will still need to speak well of me for the sake of the friendship of sending the dowry today."

Fuck,

Why are you more confident than me, a "Sixth Master Party," that the Sixth Son can successfully seize the throne?

Zheng Fan felt absurd. Although he, Zheng Fan, was the one who instigated the Sixth Son to rebel countless times all day long, he really didn't intend to do his best to help the Sixth Son seize the throne.

Especially since he was now tightly embracing the Jingnan Marquis's thigh and had the opportunity to develop his own climate, there was no need to do something so dangerous.

If it really didn't work, he could bring the Sixth Son to his place for placement, just like he treated the Little Marquis.

But the First Prince in front of him had obviously pinned the possibility of his later life on his Sixth Brother.

By the way, it was also pinned on himself, the first mainstay of the "Sixth Master Party."

But to be honest, Zheng Fan's loyalty to the Sixth Son was not so high, but others didn't think so.

Zheng Fan stretched out his hand and also put it on the First Prince's shoulder.

The two of them were now,

Hugging each other's shoulders.

The First Prince frowned slightly. He instinctively felt that this posture was a little unnatural.

"Your Highness, you are joking. If a prince like Your Highness who is wholeheartedly serving the country is not used, it is a loss to the imperial court and a loss to Great Yan."

"As expected, General Zheng's words are always humorous. After I return to the capital, I will start arranging this matter and will not let it be delayed."

"Then I will wait for Your Highness's good news."

The two put down their arms together and subconsciously took half a step back.

The First Prince turned around and prepared to leave, but he was just leaving the courtyard. To leave Snow Sea Pass and return to Yanjing, he had to wait for the imperial edict to arrive.

Walking to the entrance of the courtyard,

The First Prince stopped again,

Looking at Zheng Fan,

And said:

"General Zheng, you said, if the person you met first was not the Sixth Brother, but me..."

"Then why didn't Your Highness ask before whether I would change my allegiance if I gave me this dowry?"

"Would you?"

Zheng Fan shook his head directly without hesitation.

The First Prince smiled.

But Zheng Fan said again:

"Unless