Chapter 1 The Struggle Begins

"So, our Comrade Shen Hai is coming here soon to fight alongside us."

Xue San added charcoal to the stove while teasing.

"Yeah."

Zheng Fan nodded, picked up the kettle next to him, and added some water to the plain water pot.

This was a small charcoal stove hot pot, and the soup base inside was very simple:

a little salt, two scallions, three slices of ginger.

The side dishes were even simpler: just tender tofu, nothing else.

After the water boiled, Zheng Fan put a few pieces of tender tofu into the pot. After cooking for a while, Zheng Fan, the Blind Man, and Xue San each picked up a piece.

The dipping sauce was even simpler: just soy sauce.

The tender tofu dipped in soy sauce was smooth, tender, delicious, and piping hot.

"Hoo..."

The three of them ate while panting.

Blind Man Bei took another sip of Yellow Wine from Yinlang County, looking quite content.

"This way of eating is quite pleasant in winter," Xue San said with emotion.

Blind Man Bei nodded and added, "In the past, it was a way of eating for the poor because tofu was cheap."

But at least the devils in Cui Liu Fort had good eating and drinking conditions. Occasionally having a light and simple taste was like a change of pace.

Immediately afterward,

Blind Man Bei added a few more pieces of tofu and said to Zheng Fan:

"Lord, what are your plans regarding Zuo Jiqian's matter?"

Zuo Jiqian had already come to him yesterday. Although Zheng Fan had brushed him off, and he had left dejectedly in the end, this matter would definitely be settled after Xu Wenzu took office.

"Do nothing," Zheng Fan answered honestly.

Blind Man Bei nodded in agreement and said, "Lord is wise."

"Counting the days, Xu Wenzu should be entering Yinlang County today. Let's go to the post station after we finish eating and welcome him in advance."

"Of course, Lord is thoughtful," Blind Man Bei agreed.

In any case, Comrade Shen Hai was coming. Meeting him privately before he took office in Nanwang City would be beneficial in every way.

Meeting an old friend in a foreign land was a heartwarming thing in life. Emei Peak and Shen Hai cooperating again on another front could also be considered a good story.

Zheng Fan could not empathize with how nervous and fearful Zuo Jiqian was, but he could foresee that after the plump Xu Wenzu came here to be his immediate superior, Zheng Fan's life would be more comfortable.

Zheng Fan took a sip of wine and said, "Alright, let's leave after we finish eating."

In the small room, the three of them were quite content eating the tender tofu hot pot, but halfway through, there was a knock on the door and Fang Cao's voice:

"Master, Mr. Liang sent someone to ask, a lot of refugees have gathered in Nanwang City. Do we want to receive them in Cui Liu Fort?"

"Refugees?" Zheng Fan put down his chopsticks and asked, "Did they say where the refugees came from?"

"They came from the south."

"From the south?"

Cui Liu Fort was located on the southernmost line of Yan. If they came from the south, then it was obviously from the Qian Kingdom.

Zheng Fan put down his chopsticks and said to Blind Man Bei:

"Let's go take a look and then go to the post station to wait for Xu Wenzu."

…………

The refugee队伍was not very large, but it was definitely not small either. The sides of the road were filled with refugees. It was estimated that there were several thousand people.

Zheng Fan sat on horseback, with Blind Man Bei and Xue San by his side.

Perhaps because Zheng Fan had gone to the Qian Kingdom and played too hard last time, scaring the devils under his command, Zheng Fan was now accompanied by at least two people every time he went out. If the Demon Pill that Zheng Fan always carried with him was also counted, that would be a lineup of three devil bodyguards.

Some Yan cavalrymen, it was unknown which fort they were from, were maintaining order in the队伍while also leading the way.

These refugees were basically moving in units as small as families and as large as villages, with many elderly, weak, women, and children. Therefore, the proportion of able-bodied men was not very high.

Xue San specially rode over to inquire about the situation and returned to report:

"Lord, they are indeed from the Qian Kingdom. They were originally going to Nanwang City, but they were re-guided and distributed. Those cavalrymen are from Ji Tui Fort. It is said that Zuo Jiqian ordered his Ji Tui Fort to receive all the refugees from the Qian Kingdom."

"They really are from the Qian Kingdom," Zheng Fan said with emotion.

Because the impression that the Qian Kingdom had always given people was: rich and cowardly.

Although its military strength was not good, it had considerable advantages in economy and culture.

Therefore, Zheng Fan really did not expect that the people of the Qian Kingdom would actually sneak across the border to Yan.

Blind Man Bei noticed Zheng Fan's surprise and said:

"Lord, this is normal. The Qian Kingdom is rich, but because of the first generation Zhenbei Marquis's matter a hundred years ago, the Qian Kingdom has never seriously managed the three northern prefectures. In addition, there are many garrisons in the three northern prefectures, and the burden of labor is heavy. After being severely oppressed, it is not as easy for ordinary people to live as in the Yan Kingdom to the north."

In the Yan Kingdom, there were many prominent families, but these aristocratic families were actually not that bad to the tenants under their control. At least, the head of the family would try to ensure that the tenants in their family could survive as much as possible. At the same time, they would release some economic and even political benefits to share with them within their means.

Because these tenants were actually their own "people." Their users and political influence, including their own "private soldiers," actually originated from the tenant population on their own land.

This was a bit similar to the idea of "it's okay to waste public property," but one had to cherish their own things.

For the court officials, the people under the rule of the court were similar to public property, but once they became their own tenants, they became their private property, and the attitude was definitely different.

In addition, thanks to the Silk Road, the Yan Kingdom's trade was developed in recent years. Unlike the Qian Kingdom, it could not really extract commercial tax. Therefore, the Yan court's control over the local areas was not very high in the first place, and it had already obtained substantial financial supplements from commercial tax. This resulted in the ordinary people under the rule of the Yan Kingdom experiencing less pressure than the other three countries.

This was also Zheng Fan's first impression of the mental outlook of the residents near Cui Liu Fort when he first came to Cui Liu Fort.

"I just don't know what the officials and literati of the Qian Kingdom will think after they know about this."

"Lord, this is understandable. Culture and things like that are a bit too far away for the people at the bottom. They don't know any great principles, but they know how to vote with their feet.

There are similar records in the Song Dynasty. The people in the Song Dynasty actively gave up their status as Song people and fled to the Liao Kingdom to become subjects of the Liao Kingdom."

"The Yan Kingdom is not the Liao Kingdom," Zheng Fan reminded.

"Yes, Lord is right."

"Zuo Jiqian is leading these refugees to his Ji Tui Fort to settle down. He should be trying to perform as much as possible before Xu Wenzu takes office."

The appearance of these refugees was itself a kind of merit, proving that destiny and the hearts of the people were with Yan and not with Qian. Xu Wenzu had not even taken office yet, and it was as if a wave of political achievements had taken the initiative to come to his door.

But these were also several thousand mouths, and they had to eat every day. Therefore, Zuo Jiqian, who had the Zuo family's financial support behind him, dared to lead these refugees to his Ji Tui Fort and support them.

It was equivalent to the Zuo family spending money to support a political achievement for the new Commander-in-Chief Xu Wenzu. Zuo Jiqian probably hoped that Xu Wenzu would take this matter into consideration and lightly punish his previous military failure in the Qian Kingdom.

"We don't want these people, right?" Zheng Fan looked at Blind Man Bei.

Blind Man Bei shook his head and said, "If they were all able-bodied men, we might not be able to accept them, but there are so many elderly, weak, women, and children. Let's not compete with him, Zuo Jiqian, for the opportunity to perform."

"Yes, after all, there are enough chicken legs in Zuo Jiqian's Chicken Leg Fort."

In fact, if you really want to talk about financial resources, Cui Liu Fort, which was supported by the Sixth Prince, was really not afraid of Ji Tui Fort.

First of all, Cui Liu Fort had already been built. Although there were still some small details that needed to be repaired and improved, it would be fine to knock and beat and make small repairs after the spring thaw. It itself had the ability to absorb population. At the same time, Zheng Fan was clear that in the warehouse of his own fort, not only had some extra weapons and equipment been hoarded, but there were also very rich grain reserves.

The Sixth Prince was really generous. When he took action, he would definitely support you until you were completely satisfied.

Blind Man Bei even said that people from the merchant guild had sent a message asking why they were not expanding their army, which was obviously an indication from the Sixth Prince.

A garrison commander was generally only responsible for the military expenditure of 500 people, but if you had the ability to raise 800 or 1,000 people, the court would generally turn a blind eye to it. This was the current trend in Yan.

At the same time, the court's main attention and main contradiction were still focused on those large aristocratic families. It was common for those large aristocratic families to have tens of thousands of tenant households under their control. If they wanted to, it would be commonplace to pull out thousands or tens of thousands of private soldiers.

However, Zheng Fan had always wanted to take the elite soldier route. It was really not very meaningful to gather a large group of miscellaneous soldiers.

Let's wait patiently until the Yan Emperor strikes against the aristocratic families before expanding. The people in the aristocratic families were of high quality in the first place, and they were even more eager to make contributions after being exiled and distributed. Maybe they could receive shining talents in the future, which was more useful than relying on these peasant soldiers to make up the numbers, right?

"Actually, I think there is something abnormal. In previous years, it was fine for people from the Qian Kingdom to escape to the Yan Kingdom to make a living, but this year, because you stimulated the Qian Kingdom before winter, Lord, logically speaking, even if the Qian army is useless, they should be able to handle internal affairs. There are also many fire forts on the border. Small-scale smuggling is fine, but for several thousand people to smuggle over together at once, there may be hidden tricks from the Qian Kingdom."

Hidden tricks meant spies, and there might be quite a few of them.

"Putting aside the quality of the Qian army, the Silver Armored Guards over there, at least the impression they gave me was not bad, and they also provided wives."

"Hehe." Blind Man Bei also smiled. "Actually, I think Zuo Jiqian should also be clear that there are definitely time bombs in there, but he is now trying to eat his fill in one breath, and he doesn't care whether he will have diarrhea in the future."

"Alright, let's not watch anymore. Let's set off for the post station to wait for Fatty Xu."

Zheng Fan still decided not to be too ostentatious about meeting Comrade Shen Hai in advance, so he only brought Blind Man Bei and Xue San with him and did not bring any soldiers.

The three of them rode from the afternoon until dusk before arriving at the post station outside Yincheng.

Nanwang City was the undisputed largest city in Yinlang County, but Yincheng was the capital of Yinlang County, but like some provincial cities in later generations, it had no sense of presence.

The post stations of Yan received officials on official business and were responsible for preparing horses and hospitality for messengers, but they were not closed to business. Zheng Fan had stayed at many post stations on the way from Beifeng County to Cui Liu Fort, and he felt that most of the post stations were similar to comprehensive hotels in later generations, and officials did not have to pay the bill.

Because he was not on official business and also intentionally wanted to conceal his relationship with Xu Wenzu, Zheng Fan chose to "pay his own way." Considering that he would have to talk for a long time after meeting Xu Wenzu, Zheng Fan simply ordered two rooms.

When ordering wine and dishes, Xue San was responsible for going up to get information and ask which room the guest from Beifeng County was staying in.

Because Xu Wenzu's body shape was too obvious, it was easy to get information. The news he got was that Xu Wenzu and his party had booked the first-class courtyard.

Well, as the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of Nanwang City, he still had this kind of presence.

However, when Zheng Fan went to the first-class courtyard and explained his intentions to the guards at the door, the guards replied that Xu Wenzu had gone out to visit friends in the afternoon and would probably not return until night.

As for who his friends were and where they lived, the guards who stayed here did not know.

There was no way, the three of them could only eat the dinner prepared by the post station in a hurry and rest in their respective rooms while waiting.

Xue San gave the petty official in the post station some money and asked him to inform him when he saw Xu Wenzu return.

There was no need to worry about being suspected, because there were many people who wanted to "accidentally" meet dignitaries in the post station every day. This petty official was obviously used to it.

Blind Man Bei and Xue San stayed in one room, and Zheng Fan stayed in the room next to them.

Fortunately, Director Zheng was a small "local emperor" in Cui Liu Fort, and no one would remember the director's attendance, so it was not a problem to stay outside for a day without going back.

Lying on the bed, Zheng Fan made an archery posture with both hands and experienced it over and over again.

In this month, with A Ming accompanying him to practice archery, Zheng Fan felt that he had made great progress, but he had not been able to grasp the control of releasing qi and blood very well.

Ninth-rank martial artists were considered experts in the eyes of ordinary people. In the army, they could also get a position as a small leader, but Zheng Fan knew that it was really difficult to protect his life with this cultivation.

He had killed more than one martial artist in the Qian Kingdom's army formation this time.

Zheng Fan felt that he had to have at least the level of cultivation of Sha Tuo Queshi to ensure his safety. In fact, it was really difficult for Sha Tuo Queshi to die if he had not been determined to die.

Lying on the bed, he repeated "an arrow in the heart is better than no arrow in the hand" over and over again. Time passed unknowingly to late at night.

Zheng Fan was a little worried that Xu Wenzu would not stay at his friend's place tonight and not return to the post station, right?

Or, maybe that friend was actually an old widow who was an old flame?

"Dong dong dong..."

There was a soft knock on the door.

Zheng Fan initially thought it was Xue San or the Blind Man. He got up, got out of bed, and opened the door.

After opening it, he found that standing at the door was a short and fat woman in her forties. The woman's face was covered with thick powder, which was greasy and greasy.

"Sir, do you need someone to accompany you at night?"

So, the service of hotel rooms in later generations actually existed in ancient times, right?

Zheng Fan pointed at the woman with his finger,

and said:

"You come to accompany me?"

"Aiyo, sir, what are you saying? Of course not this old woman. This old woman has many young ladies under her. There are pretty horses from Jin, slender horses from Xiahang, noble horses from Chu, and fierce horses from Yan. This old woman has all of them under her control. Sir, you can tell me which one you want to choose. Later, when the girls come up, I guarantee you will be satisfied."

The girls from Jin were beautiful and had good figures, the slender horses from Xiahang were very famous, and even the Qian Emperor took in the three Yang sisters from Xiahang in one breath. There were many nobles with hundreds of years of inheritance in Chu. Because of internal infighting, noble women were often exiled. As for whether they were really noble women, no one knew, but at least they would pretend to be noble women to serve you. The fierce horses from Yan were self-explanatory.

To be honest, with a world's most outstanding mommy Si Niang at home, Zheng Fan really had no interest in eating wild food outside. Even if he really wanted to eat it, how could the little Hongfu girls trained by Si Niang be worse than those outside?

Furthermore,

his two subordinates lived next door, and there was also a blind man who could "live broadcast" even through a wall. How could Zheng Fan find service here?

"I'm tired, I don't need it."

"Then I'll take my leave."

The fat madam was very sensible and bowed to Zheng Fan before turning around and leaving. Soon, there was a knock on the door next door.

Immediately afterward,

Xue San's voice came.

He only heard Xue San shouting excitedly:

"I want them, I want them all, one of each!"

"Sir, please wait, the girls will be here soon."

After saying that, the fat madam went downstairs, probably to call the girls.

Zheng Fan walked out of the room and stood in the corridor on the second floor. Xue San also came out at this time. When he saw Zheng Fan, he showed a shy expression.

"Have fun, let the Blind Man come to my room."

Zheng Fan had Si Niang himself. Although he had never been able to get to first base, the sentiment of playing needlework was also wonderful. Therefore, he could not let his subordinates starve while he was full.

Xue San shook his head and walked from the door to Zheng Fan. Because the floor on the second floor was a bit old, the floor in the corridor made a "creak creak" sound when he walked.

"Lord, did you hear that?" Xue San asked in a low voice.

Zheng Fan suddenly understood.

"I am such a short and small person, and the floor will make a sound when I walk here, but the fat madam just walked over without making any noise."

"It seems that someone has sneaked in and wants to harm Xu Wenzu."

Then he could be considered Xu Wenzu's savior. He had actually caught up with this.

But it was also quite funny to think about it. Back then, outside the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion, Zheng Fan wanted to kill Fatty Xu, and he even dispatched the Left Guli King of the Barbarian Royal Court.

As a result, Xu Fatty coincidentally got off the carriage to poop at that time.

He was simply lucky.

But now, Xu Fatty was going to be his immediate superior, and he, who originally wanted to kill him, was now going to protect him.

At this time, a petty official carrying a lantern walked out from downstairs, shook the lantern at Zheng Fan, who was standing in the corridor above, and then left.

This was to tell Zheng Fan that Xu Wenzu had returned, because he lived in a courtyard, so he did not go through the main entrance of the post station.

At this time, Blind Man Bei also walked out of the room and made eye contact with Zheng Fan.

"Lord, go and remind Xu Wenzu to be prepared."

Zheng Fan nodded and went downstairs alone. As for Xue San and Blind Man Bei, they did not follow Zheng Fan. They should be responsible for the outer perimeter.

The guards at the entrance of the first-class courtyard had changed. The guards who had accompanied Xu Wenzu to visit friends during the day had just changed shifts.

The ones who could accompany Xu Wenzu to visit friends and be responsible for his safety during the day were definitely the most trusted guards. These two guards actually recognized Zheng Fan. Seeing Zheng Fan actually appear here, they were stunned at first, and then immediately showed vigilance. They even put their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"Colonel Zheng, is that you?"

one of the guards asked.

"It is Zheng, please inform Ming Zheng Gong that Zheng has come to visit."

If it were someone else who wanted to make a name for themselves, curry favor, or try to get in good with him, the guards might think that Xu Wenzu was tired from just returning and stop them. But seeing that it was Zheng Fan, the person their lord hated so much that his teeth itched, they did not dare to neglect him. One of the guards immediately went in to report.

"Let him in, hurry, let him in."

Xu Wenzu's voice came from inside, and he was also walking quickly towards the door.

The guards at the door no longer stopped him, and Zheng Fan walked in. He saw a huge mountain of flesh pressing towards him.

Xu Wenzu had lost a lot of weight on the way back from the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion, but now it seemed that he had completely made it up, and even more so than before.

This was Yinlang County, not Beifeng County, and the surrounding area was guarded by his trusted guards, so Xu Wenzu was very relaxed. He walked over with a smile to welcome Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan did not have time to express his joy at seeing his comrade again.

He immediately lowered his voice and said quickly:

"Sir, be careful, there are assassins who want to assassinate you mixed in this post station. This humble officer received the news and came to inform you immediately."

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Just then,

two screams came from outside the wall of the courtyard. It was obvious that Xu Wenzu's guards had been shot to death.

What surprised Zheng Fan was that he originally thought that the assassin would use poison, sneak in, or approach Xu Wenzu through door-to-door service,

but he really did not expect that

the assassin would openly kill his way in.

At the same time,

a loud roar came from outside:

"Yan dog Zheng Fan, pay your blood debt, give me your life!!!"

"............" Xu Wenzu.

"............" Zheng Fan.