Chapter 1 Heads

Heads were being chopped off one by one, because the effects of the drugs hadn't worn off yet, so these adults were truly demonstrating what it meant to "entertain to the death" with their actions.

As for the other captives kneeling in the yamen, Zheng Fan didn't order them to be beheaded as well.

Although the Great Yan valued military merit and retained the method of calculating it by counting heads, to be honest, this time attacking the city didn't actually kill many people.

Compared to the limited number of heads for military merit, bringing back the heads of high-ranking officials led by the governor had greater symbolic significance.

At the same time, it made it easier for you to brag when you got back.

As for how to brag in accordance with the Basic Law, Zheng Fan had to discuss it with the Blindman after returning.

For example: Garrison Officer Zheng led four hundred tiger-like warriors and slaughtered Mianzhou City!

Don't believe it?

Look, the heads of the city's officials have been chopped off and brought back. As for the heads of the others, too many were killed, so they weren't brought back because they were too heavy to carry!

Of course, another important reason for letting go of the people in the yamen was that this era didn't have internet media or social software.

Whether it was famous scholars cultivating prestige or princes being known for their virtue, it all relied on people's mouths to spread the word, and Zheng Fan believed that the Yan Kingdom definitely had its own intelligence system in the Qian Kingdom. In addition, trade between the two countries was very close, and even during wartime, smuggling was difficult to cut off.

So,

when Zheng Fan left the yamen,

he thrust his sword into the floor tiles,

and shouted:

"City Breaker—Zheng Fan!"

In order to avoid errors in pronunciation when these human propaganda machines spread the word, which would affect the transmission of his great achievements back to the Yan Kingdom, Zheng Fan also personally wrote with a brush on the pillars at the entrance of the yamen:

"Zheng Fan, garrison officer of Cui Liu Fort of the Great Yan, was here!"

After finishing, he clapped his hands and looked at it again himself. He actually thought this sentence was a bit old-fashioned, but compared to:

"Reject yellow, reject gambling, reject yellow gambling and drugs—Cui Liu Fort Police Station of the Great Yan proclaims"

Zheng Fan still thought the former was better.

With that done, Zheng Fan waved his hand:

"Withdraw!"

Entering the city, entering the yamen, and then regrouping the team to exit through the north gate they had entered from, everything actually happened very quickly.

Zheng Fan couldn't give the city time to react, and at the same time, he couldn't give the other Qian Kingdom troops in the vicinity a chance to react.

After all, they only had three hundred-odd people now.

Moreover, even though the Qian Kingdom people had given Zheng Fan a lot of confidence, Zheng Fan still wouldn't naively believe that all the troops in the Qian Kingdom were so useless.

If that were really the case, then Zheng Fan wouldn't plan to go back. He'd go south all the way, attack the capital, burn the Qian Kingdom's ancestral temple, and capture the Yang family's three sisters alive!

Now, the task at hand was to return safely.

He'd already gone wild, already had his fun, and swept away two of the yellow, gambling, and drug dens.

At the moment, returning safely was the top priority, because the one who laughs last laughs best.

Before leaving,

at the city gate,

Zheng Fan sat on his horse,

looking back at the city,

He felt that he should say something at this time, leave a sentence behind, otherwise when later history textbooks recorded his actions today, if there wasn't a sentence of his own to embellish it, it would be too dry and boring.

After thinking for more than ten seconds,

Zheng Fan slowly said:

"Farewell, city of only one man..."

Atmosphere,

mockery,

swagger,

stance,

all were present.

Zheng Fan was very satisfied with this sentence, but unfortunately Liang Cheng wasn't skilled enough in bootlicking. If Xue San or the Blindman were here, rainbow farts would definitely be coming like a tide.

The entire Mianzhou City, except for the old man with the gun who went against the tide, everyone else basically had their backs to their own swords and soldiers.

However,

there was one person who seemed dissatisfied,

and,

he also seemed to be planning to express his dissatisfaction with practical actions.

Above,

on the city tower,

a disheveled man appeared,

in his hand,

he held a crossbow.

No one knew when he had appeared on the city tower. In fact, no one had even expected that there would still be someone on this north city gate,

moreover,

this person was planning to resist.

Even though the invaders were leaving and he could actually survive, he still wanted to resist, still wanted to fight back, wanted to do something to the invaders, even at the cost of his life.

Liang Cheng saw the crossbow, and other barbarian soldiers around him saw the crossbow. They began to move, some drawing their bows, some preparing to ride their horses towards the city tower, and some moving closer to Zheng Fan to protect him,

but all of this,

was too late,

"Buzz!"

The crossbow bolt,

had already been fired,

striking Zheng Fan directly in the chest.

"Bang!"

Zheng Fan fell from his horse and crashed to the ground.

"Kill him!"

Liang Cheng issued the order, and a group of barbarian soldiers immediately rushed back.

………

After firing the crossbow bolt, Sun Jianming immediately shrank his head back. Arrows flew past the crenellations above his head, but he didn't care. He just silently reloaded the crossbow.

He didn't choose to escape, because he was the only one at the city gate tower. There were clearly many people in this city, but he didn't have anyone who could help.

His father had died outside. Through the cracks in the closing gate, he saw it, saw his father's head being chopped off and flying very, very high.

But the city gate ultimately wasn't closed.

However, it actually didn't make any difference whether it was closed or not. Everyone was just focused on escaping, and no one was organizing the defense. Even if you closed it, they could still slowly climb over the walls.

Sun Jianming had always felt that his old man was a bit rigid. The reputation of the Sun family's Liangjun double-headed spear had actually been very prominent since his grandfather's generation.

His father had inherited the legacy of the double-headed spear and joined the army as an eight-rank martial artist, but his official position had always been unremarkable. He had never been able to stand out, and had been a centurion for many years, without even being able to obtain a miscellaneous title.

If the native chieftains in the southwest hadn't launched a rebellion when the late Emperor was in power, and his father's unit had been transferred to the southwest to quell the rebellion, and his father hadn't relied on his solid skills to earn real military merit, he might have only been able to become a patrolling commandant at most in the end.

Oh, although he was demoted to patrolling commandant when he was old.

But at least, when his father was in the limelight, he could dream a little.

Sun Jianming couldn't endure hardship and didn't have any talent for martial arts, so he had always thought about learning the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, and composing poetry, to spray a bit of literary air onto himself.

In the future, if he could get in good with a civil official and create the image of a scholarly general, with his father as a guarantee in the background, his career would definitely be much better.

Sun Jianming knew that in the Yan Kingdom, the status of military generals was very high. Not to mention the Zhenbei Marquis's manor, but all the military generals leading troops below were very assertive in front of civil officials.

But my Great Qian had its own national conditions.

In Great Qian, if a military general wanted to climb up, wanted to do well, he had to be a civil official's dog.

Even the grand commanders of the Great Qian border army had to kneel in front of the prime ministers' mansions after entering the capital, shouting "This dog under your command requests an audience,"

and had to see if the prime ministers were in a good mood before deciding whether to see you or not.

Once, the native chieftain rebellion in the southwest had ravaged the southwest for ten years. In the end, the one who completely quelled the rebellion was a tattooed-face military general.

He had committed a crime in his early years, had his face tattooed, and was assigned to the army, climbing up step by step through military merit. Eventually, because of pacifying that great rebellion, he was able to enter the imperial court and join the Privy Council.

In those years, the military generals seemed to see that the day they could finally hold their heads high was really coming. There was actually a place for their military generals in the Privy Council!

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. That role model for all military generals of that era was exterminated, along with his nine generations of relatives, after being in the Privy Council for less than half a year, because he was suspected of treason.

The one who presided over this case was the current chief minister, Prime Minister Han.

The little bit of hope that the Great Qian military men had finally managed to raise was extinguished, and a basin of icy water was poured on it.

His father would always wipe away tears while reminiscing about that tattooed-face prime minister every time he drank too much at night.

After all, his father had also followed that tattooed-face prime minister into the southwest to quell the rebellion.

Therefore, Sun Jianming was very practical. He felt that he wasn't someone with great abilities. Since he didn't have the ability to change the rules, then he would adapt to the rules.

He befriended many men of letters and visited many civil officials, doing his best to create a scholarly atmosphere around himself as a military general.

But his father had successfully screwed him over. His old father, who could only be considered a dull and inarticulate person who wasn't good at socializing and bootlicking, seemed to have developed some problems with his brain in these last few years of his life.

He confronted civil officials, confronted military generals; civil officials made fortunes, military generals drank the blood of soldiers. This had been the tacit understanding between civil and military officials in Great Qian for hundreds of years.

His father offended both sides and was demoted all the way, causing his own career to suffer because of having this kind of father. There was no way around it. In this era, they valued the idea that a hero's father had a heroic son. If the father had a mental illness, then the son was likely to be a bit slow as well.

Thinking of this,

a smile appeared on the corner of Sun Jianming's mouth,

He had always thought that his father had become muddled, that people became stubborn and unreasonable when they got old!

But the facts proved that his father was right.

The Yan people,

they really came!

A long time ago, his father had said to him that the tattooed-face prime minister had said when he led them to quell the rebellion in the southwest:

"The native chieftain rebellion in the southwest may seem powerful, but it will ultimately not amount to much. The real threat to Great Qian is the Yan people, the Yan people who have been contending with the barbarians with the strength of one nation for hundreds of years!"

Therefore, his father would pay attention to news about the Yan Kingdom every year, especially news about the marquis's mansion in Beifeng County, from friends, from the court, from merchant caravans.

In previous years, news often came that the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion had used troops against the barbarians and had won against which tribe, had destroyed which tribe, and his father frowned.

In recent years, similar news had been rare, almost non-existent, and his father's brow had furrowed even more tightly.

He smiled and asked his father if this wasn't a good thing?

But his father sighed and said:

"In the past, although the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion had been winning battles, at least it proved that the barbarians still dared to bark, still dared to bare their teeth, still dared to probe.

In recent years, news of battles had been rarely heard, proving that the barbarians had been subdued into submission.

Once the barbarians were subdued,

the Yan people's hands would be freed up."

Sun Jianming tilted his head and looked down.

At the stairs leading down, barbarian soldiers were already coming up.

Wasn't that right, Dad? The Yan people had not only freed up their hands, but it seemed like they had already subdued the barbarians. Those wearing Yan armor, where the hell were they Yan people? They were clearly barbarians!

Sun Jianming moved his body, took a deep breath, and raised the crossbow again.

He actually didn't know why he hadn't left. He had actually been chased away by the soldiers who had stormed into the city, but he had returned as if possessed.

In the small warehouse on the city tower, there were actually quite a few bows and crossbows, at least there were a few that looked the part, but no one had used them.

He took a crossbow and sat against the battlements.

He didn't know if his father had gone to heaven yet. He guessed that he had only died not long ago, so he probably hadn't had time to go to heaven to bless him.

But he had still encountered that Yan army leaving the city.

Damn it,

that group of Yan people only had three or four hundred riders!

But in this city, there were more than thousands of people who could wield weapons?

A huge sense of absurdity surged into Sun Jianming's heart,

and then the anger in his heart became even stronger.

In the entire city, his father was the only one who had taken the initiative to charge towards the Yan people with the ancestral double-headed spear, if only...

Alas.

Just then,

a figure darted out,

"Buzz!"

Sun Jianming didn't hesitate to pull the trigger,

The crossbow bolt shot over, but hit the wooden door panel.

It turned out that the leading barbarian soldier had blocked the approaching bolt with a door panel he picked up from the ground.

The crossbow bolt actually penetrated half of the wall panel, but after losing its force, it failed to penetrate the barbarian soldier's armor.

There was no time to reload, and the barbarian soldiers rushed over from behind.

Sun Jianming picked up a knife and slashed forward.

"Bang!"

In just one exchange, the knife in Sun Jianming's hand was blocked in the collision, his wrist tightened, and the knife fell to the ground.

Then,

three or four weapons directly chopped at his body, knocking him to the ground.

There was no earth-shattering battle, no back-and-forth fighting, and no heroic behavior of dragging a few people down to hell with him before dying.

He,

in front of this group of barbarian soldiers,

was as weak as a little quail.

In his dying moments,

Sun Jianming felt a little regret,

regretting that he clearly had a father who had been an eight-rank martial artist,

but he had always put most of his energy into the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting,

ultimately leading to the fact that this son of a military family couldn't even hold a knife steady.

His father had already left, and it was time for him to leave too.

Fortunately,

he had finally seized the opportunity,

and shot the leader of the other side to death.

That guy had actually ridden his horse out alone and stood under the city tower in a daze,

hehe,

what an idiot!

…………

"Lord? Lord? Lord?"

"Cough cough cough..."

Zheng Fan coughed. When he fell off his horse, his entire back hit the ground, and with the weight of his armor on top of that, the fall was really not light.

"Lord, don't move, I'll help you remove the arrow."

Liang Cheng had a zombie physique, so he could leave the tip of the spear in his body first and wait until he had free time to deal with it later, but Zheng Fan didn't.

That crossbow bolt had hit Zheng Fan's heart, and if it wasn't handled carefully, it could very likely endanger Zheng Fan's life.

But Zheng Fan shook his head, reached out and grabbed the crossbow bolt stuck in his armor, and pulled it out directly before Liang Cheng could stop him.

"Crack..."

The expected blood splatter didn't appear, and Zheng Fan sat up slowly on his own,

shaking his head and saying:

"I'm fine."

As he said that, Zheng Fan began to unfasten his armor, reached inside, and took out a stone,

smiling,

"You know, before we set off, the Blindman told me not to bring him with me anymore, but I'm glad I didn't listen to him."

Son, you've saved your dad's life again!

After saying that, Zheng Fan coughed a few more times.

At this time, the group of barbarian soldiers who had gone up had already brought down Sun Jianming's head.

As expected of a character who had founded a x-cult in a manga and was 404'd,

the brainwashing effect was really powerful,

This group of barbarian soldiers had a deep-seated fear of Zheng Fan, but at the same time, they had an extremely strong sense of attachment.

They were extremely angry at this Qian Kingdom person who had almost killed their master.

"Master, take his head back and have Third Master chop his head into a bowl to drink from!"

Several barbarians suggested this.

In their hearts, Xue San, who had personally performed "using your skull as a bowl" in front of them, was the most cruel punishment in the world, and even the soul could not rest in peace after death.

"There's no need."

Zheng Fan shook his head. Ultimately, it was his own fault. What was he doing running out of the formation and standing under the city tower in a daze for no reason?

He was still too complacent and had become lazy in his heart.

However, he was slapped in the face right after he said it. He had said that this was a city of only one man, and another man had immediately stood up.

But that was only two.

Zheng Fan got back on his horse, indicating that he was fine. The others also got on their horses, and they went to the dirt slope where they had rested earlier.

A grave was erected there, and buried inside was the body of the old man with the gun. Some stones were piled on top of it. As for the inscription, on the one hand, the conditions didn't allow it, and on the other hand, it was too difficult for these barbarian soldiers to have the cultural level.

As for the remains of the other dead barbarian soldiers, they were not buried, because Zheng Fan's request was to bring their remains back with them.

"Can you, turn them into zombies?" Zheng Fan asked Liang Cheng.

"Not yet, but in the future, I should be able to," Liang Cheng replied.

"Then take their remains back and preserve them properly first."

"Okay."

"You, give me that head."

Zheng Fan pointed to a barbarian soldier, who immediately stepped forward and handed Sun Jianming's head to Zheng Fan.

"Tsk, he died with his eyes open."

Sun Jianming's eyes were still open.

Zheng Fan reached out and wiped them, but couldn't close them.

Zheng Fan knew some scientific explanations for this phenomenon, estimating that it was because the eyelid muscles had lost their tension, resulting in the enlargement of the palpebral fissure and the inability to close the eyes.

However, Zheng Fan didn't plan to bring his head back, but walked to the grave and placed Sun Jianming's head next to the grave.

"You two, stay here and keep each other company. I guess you'll have some common language."

After saying that,

Zheng Fan looked up again at the distant Mianzhou City,

turned around,

and ordered:

"We're going back!"

A group of cavalry rode away, disappearing into the night.

The evening breeze blew over the grave,

besides that, there was only deep silence.

But the eyes of that head,

slowly closed at this moment...