Chapter 1 Jin Emperor Gone Mad?

Was the Jin Emperor mad?

The scene before Zheng Fan made him involuntarily think of Murong Fu at the end of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils."

The dream of a dynasty was truly just a dream.

However, perhaps because of the limited contact, Zheng Fan didn't feel much唏嘘 (xīxū, emotional grief).

Ultimately, a person's success depends not only on individual effort but also on the progress of history.

Compared to the Yan Emperor, the Qian Emperor, and even the Chu princes vying for the throne,

The Jin Emperor Yu Ciming's start,

Was truly as bad as it could get.

If history were to develop according to its natural course, the division of Jin into three would be inevitable. All he could do was struggle in the position he was in.

He had once seen hope, and then, behind that hope, was even deeper despair.

What Zheng Fan didn't know was that when the Jin Emperor left Yanjing to return, Zhao Jiulang had commented on the Jin Emperor who had opened the south gate with his advisors.

He said that if he had been born in the mid-dynasty, he might have become a restorer because he was not lacking in decisiveness, ruthlessness, and determination, and even had a spirit that defied convention.

It was a pity that such a person placed at the end of the dynasty would only exhaust the last bit of vitality and die even faster if he tried to make a difference, and it would be better if he didn't.

Having a heart higher than the heavens and a life thinner than paper probably described the Jin Emperor.

Zheng Fan silently stood up. He had no interest in accepting the Jin Emperor's rewards. Firstly, since waking up in this world, even though the Demon Kings had created good conditions for him, Zheng Fan had always been restrained in the area of "desire."

Most importantly, with Si Niang's companionship, he had little interest in these mediocre women.

Zheng Fan cupped his fist at the Jin Emperor,

And said:

"Your Majesty, this humble general is a subject of Yan."

The Jin Emperor frowned slightly and said, "I know, but my Great Jin can give you more. In the future, you can become a Pillar of the Nation of my Great Jin, and the Grand Marshal of the armed forces of Great Jin!"

"Your Majesty, this humble general doesn't want to distinguish whether you are truly mad or pretending. This humble general just wants to say that if you are truly mad, then it is your good fortune. If reality is too cruel, living in a dream is also a kind of happiness.

If you are pretending to be mad, this humble general really doesn't think it's necessary. The situation is already like this. The people below won't care about you, and the people above are too lazy to care about you.

This is not because you are acting well, but because you have become an actor on the stage. No matter how realistic you act, you have ultimately lost the qualification to enter the hall."

The Jin Emperor glared at Zheng Fan.

In this era, actors had no social status and were generally regarded by the world as inferior people.

What Zheng Fan meant was, Your Majesty, you no longer have that status and qualification, so it's not necessary.

Regardless of whether the Jin Emperor could hear it or not,

Zheng Fan continued to say to himself:

"In fact, it's better to leave yourself with some dignity."

Leave Jin with a little dignity.

After speaking,

Zheng Fan bowed and took his leave.

Leaving the Jin Emperor standing alone in place, his lips trembling slightly.

Leaving the room,

Zheng Fan took a deep breath,

Feeling a bellyful of depression in his lungs that was difficult to vent.

If the Jin Emperor had completely lost control and lost all his capital, then Zheng Fan himself was more like being cut to pieces with a soft knife.

Accompanying the Yan army southward to Qian, fighting all the way, his own troops were constantly being lost. He thought he had accumulated enough qualifications and saw the hope of going to a city to defend it and develop agriculture, but he inexplicably ended up in this Wubao (fortified village), fighting this inexplicable siege battle.

Last night's night attack and today's siege failed to let the Jin army in, but the losses under Zheng Fan's command were not small either.

All of his savings were here, using a little less, like a person in later generations taking out a loan to open a hot pot restaurant, with the daily profit being negative.

This was truly torment.

"Master, Heaven never seals off all exits."

A Ming carelessly comforted him while continuing to drink the liquid from his water bag.

In fact, the Demon Kings were more open-minded than Zheng Fan, having experienced more, their outlook was different. Their understanding of "total loss" and "comeback" was not on the same level as Zheng Fan.

"I'm just worried, where exactly is our path?"

"Master, the path is right..."

"If you're going to answer that the path is under my feet, then shut up."

A Ming shut up.

Looking up again, Zheng Fan saw the sunset glow dyed red and suddenly felt a bit emotional. In this scene, a knight should appear to rescue him.

People always couldn't help but fantasize in this environment, especially when surrounded by heavy soldiers.

It could be said that if Zheng Fan's subordinates were not elite soldiers, not the kind of recruits or defeated soldiers filling the ranks, this Wubao (fortified village) might have already been breached.

He could hold on, Zheng Fan believed in the Blind Man's psychological counseling.

But would the Yan State send reinforcements?

Because even Zheng Fan could see that this Jin Emperor was actually useless.

Of course, the fantasy of a knight appearing under the sunset to save him could only be thought about in his heart, it was impossible to say it, otherwise the Demon Kings around him would definitely laugh their heads off first.

"Pfft!"

A Ming suddenly spat out blood.

Of course, what he spat out was definitely not his blood, but what he had just drunk.

Zheng Fan turned to look at A Ming,

A Ming took out a handkerchief and silently wiped the corner of his mouth, saying:

"I've been drinking too much blood lately, it's a bit bloated."

At this moment, Fan Li's voice suddenly came from Zheng Fan's heart:

"I think that's not a knight, it should be Supreme Treasure."

Zheng Fan then realized that the Blind Man's mind link had not been closed.

A Ming couldn't hold back either. Since he had been exposed, he simply squatted down, holding his stomach, laughing until his stomach hurt.

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

……

The wolf cub was transporting arrows to the front again and again, his little arms and legs were quite strong, and he didn't seem to feel tired at all from running back and forth.

The little sword attendant sat silently beside him, watching,

Finally,

She couldn't help it,

And asked:

"Aren't you tired?"

The wolf cub wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied:

"Fighting a war!"

"What does fighting a war have to do with a little one like you?"

The wolf cub looked at the girl who was only half a head taller than him and said:

"You haven't fought a war, have you?"

The little sword attendant felt that she had fought a war. Her master had taken her to fight. On the Bian River, her master had broken the ice for hundreds of meters.

Although, it was useless.

But among children, you can't admit defeat verbally.

The wolf cub didn't care and said:

"Our tribe used to fight wars often. After fighting many wars, you'll understand a principle."

"What principle?"

"That is, there is no reason to fight a war at all."

"…………" Little sword attendant.

"Hehe, I learned this from Uncle Blind, and he often chats with the master like this."

"Do you understand?"

"I don't understand."

"You still learn even if you don't understand?"

"Although I don't understand, it feels very powerful."

"Okay."

"I haven't studied. I've only learned some words in the past six months. I don't understand any great principles, but I know that whether we fight others or others fight us, we can't lose. If we lose the war, we might die."

"Sometimes living is meaningless."

"Uncle Blind said that people who usually say this kind of thing run faster than anyone else when they are about to die."

"You're annoying!"

"Hehehe, Fourth Aunt said that when a woman says this to you, it proves that you have a chance."

"Were you raised by them?" the little sword attendant asked.

The wolf cub hesitated for a moment, thinking, and said:

"I guess."

He was from a criminal tribal origin. He came to Beifeng County from the desert on Liang Cheng's shoulders. For the past six months, he had been living with everyone.

"They'll spoil you sooner or later."

The wolf cub curled his lips and said unhappily:

"What about you?"

In fact, he was just short of saying that your master was a clown.

The little sword attendant was a little speechless. The other party kept using this point to attack her, which really made her feel suffocated.

She was not angry with the wolf cub, but with her own master.

If her master was a little more normal, instead of breaking the ice, he would have killed hundreds of Yan soldiers before dying in battle, and she could brag much better when bragging at this time.

The dignified second sword of the Qian Kingdom died so…speechless.

The wolf cub sat on the ground and took out a cold馒头 (mántou, steamed bun) from his arms and began to eat it.

The little sword attendant looked up,

Staring at the sky,

And said:

"Do you think we'll die?"

"We'll die sooner or later."

"I mean this time."

"I don't know, we shouldn't die."

"Why?"

"Look, you still have the mind to think about these useless things, which proves that you yourself don't think the Jin people outside can break in."

The little sword attendant nodded and said:

"That makes sense, but I'm very curious, why did you choose to follow them in the first place?"

"Because they promised to help us rebuild our tribe in the future."

"You believed it?"

"In the past, when our desert criminal tribes were driven by those large tribes to fight, the large tribes would also say the same thing to us."

"Then why?"

The wolf cub handed the little sword attendant his half-eaten馒头 (mántou, steamed bun) to look at,

And said:

"This馒头 (mántou, steamed bun) has filling."

………

In the Jin army camp outside the Wubao (fortified village), the atmosphere was a bit depressing.

Situ Jiangong didn't come to find Yu Huacheng because he had been watching the siege that started earlier that morning. Sometimes, it was really not a crime of war. In the absence of enough and threatening enough siege weapons, it was really difficult to break through a fortification guarded by many elite soldiers in a short period of time.

Situ Jiangong believed that even if he were to be the commander, he would not be able to do better than Yu Huacheng, so he did not come out to add trouble to Yu Huacheng. It would be too boring to come over and say a few sour words sarcastically.

Yu Huacheng sat silently in the military tent, in front of him was a map. In the map, this Wubao (fortified village) was so small that it could hardly be smaller, but he knew that last night's night attack plus this morning's siege told him one thing, that is, it was almost impossible to break through this Wubao (fortified village) in a short period of time.

Unless……

"I won't take action."

The Sword Saint seemed to see through his younger brother's thoughts and said directly: "If I take action, the nature will be different. The Yan State might really be angry, and then it might take my Yu family as a burial object."

Yu Huacheng subconsciously rubbed his brows. He really had a headache.

If his elder brother was willing to take action, it would be basically no difficulty to break open this Wubao (fortified village). It was not to let his elder brother kill all the defenders in the Wubao (fortified village) alone, but only to let him use that sword to sweep a blank space on the Wubao (fortified village) wall, so that the subsequent soldiers could steadily follow up, and this Wubao (fortified village) would be taken down.

But he also understood in his heart that people in the Jianghu (martial world) naturally had the rules of the Jianghu (martial world). It was not impossible to stand up for the country with a sword, but once this line was crossed, it might anger the Yan State and break the tacit understanding between the two sides.

This was a very unnecessary thing at the moment.

The Sword Saint curiously said:

"Your brother, I, don't understand the military, but last night it seemed that the soldiers who climbed the city were not far from breaking open that Wubao (fortified village). How did it happen that when the official troops moved today, they basically didn't achieve any results?"

"Elder brother, perhaps it's because the Yan army in the opposite Wubao (fortified village) is not familiar with the battle of defending the city. Last night, they were naturally a little flustered, but the Yan army general on the opposite side, that is, the one called Zheng Fan, is indeed a person who knows the military. In just one night, he actually managed to adjust it back.

Moreover, this Zheng Fan has a lot of barbarian soldiers under his command. After today's siege, many of the soldiers who retreated said that the defending barbarians were extremely skilled in both slashing and archery.

At present, unless I spend ten more days building arrow towers, siege hammers, and other equipment, it would be too costly to attack the city with such a stupid method as during the day."

"So that's how it is."

The Sword Saint nodded and said:

"Then don't rush, take your time. I think the walls of this Wubao (fortified village) are not high."

Yu Huacheng smiled bitterly: "Elder brother, it is still unknown whether the Yan State court will follow our tacit understanding and use our hands to get rid of the Jin Emperor;

Even if the Yan State court really acquiesces, but we use several times the number of troops to besiege a Wubao (fortified village) and spend so much time without success is enough to make the Yan people laugh their teeth off."

"The scabbard is never as important as the sword itself."

Face, sometimes can be worth a lot of money, and sometimes can be worthless.

"Elder brother is right, so I'll take my time?"

"It can't be too slow, otherwise it won't look good on either side."

"Little brother knows it in my heart, elder brother doesn't have to stay in my military camp all the time."

The meaning is, since you don't plan to take action, then find a place to play by yourself.

The Sword Saint shook his head and said:

"You don't understand."

"What does elder brother mean by this?"

"Do you think your brother wants to stay here?"

"Could it be, could it be that there is something unusual in this Wubao (fortified village)?"

"What exactly it is, your brother, I, don't know, but don't mind your brother staying in your tent, doing nothing, and not leaving."

"Elder brother is being too serious."

"No, not too serious, Huacheng, although there are almost no warriors and cultivators in the world who can resist thousands of troops, but if there really is such a warrior, like your brother, wanting to try to take the head of the main general in a chaotic army is not impossible."

Saying that,

The Sword Saint reached out and touched his younger brother's head,

Slowly said:

"I haven't touched this head enough."