Chapter 1 Jingnan侯

Jingnan Hou and his beast were waiting there, seemingly acting out some kind of martial world etiquette, but in reality, it was an exchange of pieces.

Li Fusheng had once told Zheng Fan that during battles between armies, it was hard to guarantee that there wouldn't be a few experts on the other side.

And to deal with these kinds of experts, there were only two methods.

One was to encircle and suppress them with a large army. That was how Shatuo Queshi died before the Zhenbei Hou's mansion. It was said that when the Qian Kingdom's Western Army was at its peak, the Tattooed Face Chancellor had specially trained a unit of eight hundred elite armored infantrymen to hunt down the strongmen among the southwestern aborigines, and their battle record was remarkable.

The other was an exchange of pieces, sending out one's own experts to either entangle them or simply kill them.

The Jìn Kingdom's Sword Saint was named Yu, and he had actually been in the Jìn army camp earlier. Now, he had most likely returned to the capital region with the Jìn army.

A Sword Saint,

Unless he was really as foolish as that second-best swordsman from the Qian Kingdom, the master of the Little Sword Maid,

Otherwise, under the cover of this night,

He could probably kill two hundred cavalrymen on his own.

However, Jingnan Hou was very confident that the other side would come specifically to find him, not because of some martial world honor or rules, but because Jingnan Hou believed that with his arrangement, even if the Yan army was less than half the size of the other side, they would definitely be able to completely put the Jìn army on the defensive after the attack was launched.

At that time,

If the Jìn army wanted to turn the tables,

They could only rely on the Sword Saint to come and find him, forcibly reversing the situation by capturing the leader.

If he didn't come, it would be an admission of defeat.

If he came, then he would be waiting.

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment arrangement. From the moment Tian Wujing received the news from Xinsu City, to when he arrived with only two flag-bearing knights, forcing the Jìn army back and seeing that the Sword Saint was also in the Jìn army, all the plans and arrangements fell into place.

Honestly, fighting with a commander like this made you feel very at ease, as if everything was under his control. You only needed to complete his instructions step by step, and then you could wait to reap the rewards of victory.

And his own rewards of victory?

Perhaps because he had been influenced by Fourth Sister-in-law earlier,

What Zheng Fan was thinking about was the Jìn Kingdom's imperial palace, not the gold and jewels inside, but the Jìn Kingdom's Empress Dowager.

Immediately afterward, the figure of the Consort of the Prince of Fu appeared in his mind.

Tsk…

Degenerate, degenerate.

He was patrolling, really just patrolling, as if he was taking a stroll, leading three hundred riders to stroll to the left, then to the right. There was no specific goal, just wasting time as ordered.

Half an hour later,

The chaos in the capital region began.

Fires appeared everywhere, and shouts of killing rang out everywhere.

Zheng Fan took a deep breath and glanced at the three hundred Jingnan army knights behind him. They were indeed Tian Wujing's direct subordinates. Even at this moment, none of the knights showed any signs of impatience or restlessness.

Everyone was still earnestly and devotedly,

Accompanying Zheng Fan to continue his aimless stroll.

Liang Cheng wasn't by his side, so Zheng Fan didn't dare to "assess the situation" recklessly,

So he simply and firmly carried out Jingnan Hou's orders, waiting for the full hour before taking action.

………

"Damn it, Brother Xu, this time it's really frustrating, really too frustrating!"

The vice-general slammed his wine bowl heavily on the table and couldn't help but start cursing angrily.

"That's right, to actually be scared away by the Yan people's Marquis leading just two people, our face, it's really been completely lost!"

"Lost completely, really lost completely. Back then, a hundred years ago, the first Zhenbei Hou used thirty thousand to defeat the Qian Kingdom's five hundred thousand, and the Qian Kingdom's border army was ridiculed for a hundred years.

This time we're good, three people defeated our fifteen thousand. Isn't the loss of face even worse than the Qian people's?"

"That's right, damn it, I still get angry when I think about it!"

Xu Youcheng silently listened to the complaints of his subordinates while treating the arrow wound on his arm for the second time.

Let them complain, let them complain.

Xu Youcheng didn't directly ask, since his unit was the first to come to the Yan people's Marquis, if you really had that kind of bravery, why didn't you swarm him back then?

Hundreds of riders rushing over directly, even if he Tian Wujing was a third-rank martial artist, he would have a hard time enduring it for a while, right?

However, since they were his brothers-in-arms after all, Xu Youcheng let them vent their anger with the help of alcohol, and didn't pour cold water on them.

Today's events were destined to be spread out, and the face of the children of the Three Jìn was considered to have been completely lost by them.

If the fact that the Wenren family and Helian family's hundreds of thousands of troops were wiped out in ten days was like having their clothes stripped off, making them no longer able to say how the Three Jìn knights were inferior to the Yan people's iron cavalry,

Then today, it was equivalent to having their last pair of pants pulled down as well.

The superiors, the big shots, definitely had their own calculations.

But in the final analysis, it was still that the Jìn people had been beaten and frightened, beaten into submission, beaten into a nightmare by that Yan people's Southern Marquis.

It was true, they didn't dare to fight anymore.

"Hiss…"

After applying the ointment, Xu Youcheng gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath of cold air while re-bandaging himself.

Ignoring the increasingly louder curses of his subordinates, Xu Youcheng put on his clothes, didn't mention his armor, and walked out of the military camp in plain clothes.

This place, said to be a military camp, was actually just a former drill ground that had been converted, specifically used to house these defeated soldiers from the Helian and Wenren families.

As for the original Jìn imperial guards of the capital region, they were basically all locals, who usually maintained only a small garrison, and when the time came for war, they would gather upon receiving orders, riding their own horses and bringing their own armor and weapons, to be the vanguard for the king.

Therefore, after the army retreated this time, most of the imperial guards of the capital region had already taken off their armor and returned home. In the evening wind, one could still smell some grass ash and debris, and faintly hear some crying, as the families of the fallen imperial guards were holding funerals.

Xu Youcheng suddenly envied them, because they were dead, at least they had relatives who could cry for them and offer sacrifices to them.

As for him, as a Wenren family retainer, his family was naturally also in Litian City, but with the Yan people attacking, his family had probably become prisoners because of him.

The Yan people had released news that Jìn soldiers who surrendered could keep their families and have them removed from slavery. Several of Xu Youcheng's acquaintances who were thousand-man commanders had surrendered to the Yan people after the defeat.

But Xu Youcheng didn't, and he himself didn't know why he was so cruel, even disregarding his own wife and children.

As a member of the Wenren family, he naturally had no good feelings towards the Sima family, and didn't think about defecting to the Sima family. Perhaps, he simply felt in his heart that as someone who came from the Three Jìn knights, he couldn't bear to see the Yan people rampage on the land of the Three Jìn and become kings and overlords.

He hadn't told these inner thoughts to outsiders. In the eyes of others, and even in the eyes of many of his own subordinates, he was actually a heartless person who abandoned his family for the sake of fame and fortune.

However, it didn't matter anymore.

Xu Youcheng had been living in a daze for the past few days, and now, it was just making that state even deeper.

For a moment, he even hoped that the Yan people would hurry up and attack again, fight another battle quickly. He didn't want to die, he really wanted to live, but if he really died, it seemed like a good relief.

However, as soon as that thought came to his mind,

Suddenly,

Shouts of killing immediately came from the west!

"Buzz!"

Xu Youcheng staggered and sat down on the ground.

"They really… came?"

……

"Hua Cheng, tell this old woman honestly, how is the emperor, how is the emperor really!"

In the side hall, a noblewoman dressed in phoenix robes was pointing at Yu Huacheng, the commander of the capital region's troops, and questioning him.

The woman was not yet forty years old, and was very well-maintained. Unlike the Jìn Emperor's dark complexion, the woman's complexion was very fair.

Leaving aside the nonsense that the years had not left any traces on her, the years had settled on her, settling into a intoxicating taste.

"Empress Dowager, Huacheng has entered the palace this time to see the Empress Dowager for the last time."

Yu Huacheng knew that the true purpose of his dispatching troops this time could not be hidden from the Empress Dowager. Although he had taken control of the imperial guards, the imperial family's influence within the imperial guards was very deep, and it was normal for someone to inform the Empress Dowager.

"Could it be that you even want to kill this old woman?"

"The Empress Dowager is Cí Míng's mother. For Cí Míng's sake, this subject wouldn't dare to be disrespectful to the Empress Dowager."

"You still have the nerve to mention the emperor, you still have the nerve to mention the emperor!"

"Empress Dowager, the envoys of the Dachen Kingdom will arrive the day after tomorrow. Please, in these next two days, Empress Dowager, clean yourself up well and return to Dachen with the envoys."

"Hahahaha… Hahahaha…"

The Jìn Kingdom's Empress Dowager laughed loudly,

"This old woman really regrets that when this old woman discovered that you and the emperor were messing around together, I should have ordered someone to beat you to death with a staff!"

Yu Huacheng knelt down,

And kowtowed earnestly,

Without the slightest dissatisfaction,

Only after finishing the ceremony,

Did he slowly open his mouth and say:

"After my elder brother became famous, the Empress Dowager even specially helped this subject and His Majesty create opportunities."

"You… you… you…"

"Empress Dowager, the Yu family ancestral temple, incense, sacrifices, Huacheng will naturally guard them. This dragon throne has actually long since lost its flavor. Now, letting it go is actually a fortunate thing."

The Empress Dowager slowly took two steps back,

"Yu Huacheng, you are also surnamed Yu!"

"The Empress Dowager is right, my surname is Yu."

"The ancestors of the Yu family will not spare you!"

"Empress Dowager, that is wrong. Cí Míng opened Nanmeng Pass and sold the country to Yan, willingly becoming the Yan Kingdom's puppet emperor. If the ancestors are alive in heaven, the first person they will not let go of is Cí Míng, your good son, Empress Dowager!"

After saying that,

Yu Huacheng spread out his arms and took a few steps back. He looked around, and the surrounding eunuchs and palace maids all dared not look him directly in the eye. They all knew that when Yu Huacheng entered the palace this time, he had also brought hundreds of armored soldiers, directly replacing the original guards in the palace.

Right now, the real decision-maker in the palace was not the Empress Dowager, but the commander in front of them.

"Empress Dowager, if the ancestors were truly alive, how could they watch my Yu family's children be bullied by the three great families to this day?

If the ancestors were truly alive, and now I am standing in front of the Empress Dowager, speaking disrespectfully to the Empress Dowager,

Why hasn't heavenly punishment descended to punish me, this traitorous subject!"

As soon as the words fell,

A series of fierce shouts of killing and screams suddenly came from outside the palace gate.

"…………" Yu Huacheng.