Chapter 1 The Coffin

The coffin was carried onto the city wall and placed in the middle of the eastern side. Zheng Fan sat directly on the coffin lid, his saber resting beside him.

To outsiders, this scene was incredibly tragic. In cold weapon warfare, a general's ability to lead by example often had a great motivating effect on his subordinates.

Li Fusheng's garrison was known as the most skilled at taking on tough opponents among the six garrisons of the Zhenbei Army, largely because Li Fusheng always liked to be the first to charge into battle. His men naturally followed him, fighting to the death without retreating.

Zheng Fan wasn't suddenly trying to imitate Li Fusheng. Rather, Sha Tuo Que Shi, lying in the coffin, could be said to be his greatest reliance at the moment.

If the battle really reached an unmanageable point, Sha Tuo Que Shi naturally wouldn't hide any longer. He would then call out to him to take him and run.

In life, Sha Tuo Que Shi could repeatedly break through thousands of Zhenbei iron cavalry. Now that he was dead and turned into a zombie, his strength should have decreased, but the probability of him finding a weak spot in the enemy's ranks and carrying him alone to safety should be quite high.

As for the other Devil Kings, they believed that as long as Zheng Fan survived, they could find their own way to escape. If they couldn't, they would just die. In any case, it was better than Zheng Fan, their master, dying and everyone collectively perishing.

The Si Tu family's troops had already arrived at the city. This force looked quite formidable and had the air of a strong army.

It was said that when Ci Mian Xiang Gong was still alive, he once said that soldiers were like swords. If they were never used, even the best sword would rust.

Even if one insisted on wiping it from time to time, the blade had never tasted blood. No matter how carefully it was maintained, it would only be a superficially shiny showpiece.

Therefore, the Qian Kingdom's Western Army, starting with Ci Mian Xiang Gong, expanded its defense zone to include the southwest and northern border, using it to sharpen the blade.

Imagine if the Yan army hadn't had the Western Army acting as a pillar of support during their southward invasion, the Qian Kingdom's situation might have collapsed long ago, and the so-called "borrowing a path to attack Jin" would have been unnecessary.

According to this concept, the three families of the Jin Kingdom, the He Lian family and the Wen Ren family, were located in the western part of the Jin Kingdom. The Wen Ren family was north of the He Lian family and south of many small countries. Therefore, the Wen Ren family had the most comfortable geographical advantage, sitting in the central position of the four major countries, with developed trade and little warfare. Among the three major families, the Wen Ren family could be said to be the wealthiest.

Although the He Lian family bordered the Tian Duan Mountains to the north, there weren't many barbarian settlements in that section of the mountains because it also bordered the Yan Kingdom. In addition to guarding against the Yan Kingdom, the He Lian family didn't usually have many opportunities to use weapons. Even against the Yan Kingdom, they wouldn't dare to provoke them easily unless they felt they had a great opportunity.

On the other hand, the Si Tu family not only had many barbarian settlements in the Tian Duan Mountains to the north but also had even more barbarian tribes living in the vast and boundless icy snowfields to the northeast.

If the barbarian threat to the Jin Kingdom was divided into ten parts, the Si Tu family could be said to bear seven or eight parts of it alone.

Not to mention that the Si Tu family bordered the Chu Kingdom to the south, and the two sides had been going back and forth over the years, taking advantage of opportunities to strike.

The troops were constantly in a state of mobilization and preparation, and the opponents they faced were not peasant revolts. It would be difficult for such troops not to be fierce.

This was probably one of the reasons why the Yan Emperor wanted to make peace with the old Si Tu family head after the first phase of the war ended.

At this time, a team of standard-bearing cavalry appeared among the Si Tu family's troops and headed directly to the city.

Zheng Fan raised his hand, signaling not to fire arrows.

Zheng Fan was familiar with this kind of job. He had done it himself under the capital city of Shangjing, but compared to himself back then, this team was obviously much more professional.

There was also a civil official in a red official robe overseeing the formation, holding a roll of yellow silk, which was probably the so-called imperial decree.

"The Great Cheng Emperor decrees that this military campaign is not intended to engage in warfare with the Yan Kingdom, but only to capture the Jin pseudo-emperor and punish him for his crimes of causing chaos in the Three Jin!"

Perhaps considering the low level of literacy among the soldiers, the Cheng Kingdom's civil official didn't read the edict in a refined manner, but instead shouted it out in his own words.

Zheng Fan smiled. The Si Tu family believed that Yu Ciming was a pseudo-emperor, but in the Yan Kingdom, the Yan Emperor recognized the Jin Emperor's status. How could he hand him over?

Although from the perspective of the Jin people, Yu Ciming was indeed a traitorous emperor who opened the door to the enemy, only children would distinguish between good and bad people. Adults would only care about where they sat.

"My lord, let's stall for some time," Liang Cheng said.

"Unless the enemy general is a fool, he won't believe it," Zheng Fan said.

"What if he really is a fool?"

"Alright."

Zheng Fan leaned out from the battlements and shouted:

"We need to ask for instructions from His Majesty the Great Yan Emperor!"

There was no need to say anything more, as more words would only lead to more mistakes.

The civil official was not an easy person to deal with either, and said:

"Then we will wait for good news!"

After saying that, he pulled on the reins and began to return.

Whether the Si Tu family believed this delaying tactic or not was doubtful, because that force immediately began to set up camp and at the same time began to cut down nearby trees to prepare for making siege equipment.

If it were an ordinary small fortress with few troops garrisoned inside, a unit of archers could suppress the defenders, and then a vanguard could scale the walls and take it.

But this fort was not small, and because of the Yan people's invasion of Jin in recent days, the old fort lord had specially reinforced and raised it to protect himself. Now, including Yu Ciming's two or three hundred personal guards, Zheng Fan's troops in the fort had two thousand combat soldiers, not counting the fort's young men. No matter how aggressive the Si Tu family was, unless they wanted to let their own soldiers pile up corpses under the city walls to the height of the walls, they wouldn't foolishly order an attack.

"When I was in the Qian Kingdom, facing this kind of city wall was also a terrible headache. Now that the city wall is on our side and the enemy is all cavalry, it's quite satisfying."

Zheng Fan joked with Liang Cheng with a smile.

"My lord is right. In the future, we must always have infantry in our army, and the scale must not be small, so they can be used when capturing cities."

"Yeah."

At this time, the blind man silently came up to the city wall from below and came to Zheng Fan's side.

"Blind man, what have you been busy with down there?" Zheng Fan asked.

With a major event coming, the Devil Kings each had their own division of labor and immediately entered their roles. The blind man was previously down there comforting the people, but that should have ended long ago. Yet he only came up now, when it was already night.

To be honest, although Zheng Fan also knew that Liang Cheng was the most skilled at fighting among the Devil Kings, he really felt less secure without this old fox by his side when something happened.

"My lord, I went around the Jin Emperor's personal guards earlier and gleaned some information."

"Oh? What's the matter?" Zheng Fan asked curiously.

"I feel like there's a bit of a problem."

"A problem?"

"Yes, after the Jin Emperor separated from us, his stop tonight should have been Xinsu City, and then his next stop would be his fief in the Jingji region."

"And then?" Zheng Fan suddenly sensed that things were not quite right.

"Xinsu City has a Yan Kingdom garrison, and it's even guarded by a chief military officer under Marquis Jingnan, but I learned when I asked those personal guards that when they were about to reach Xinsu City, the Si Tu family's army suddenly attacked from outside Xinsu City, preventing their team from entering Xinsu City."

"That's great, that means even if our own messenger didn't get through, Xinsu City will definitely send a message to the Yan army."

"No, my lord, what I mean is, since Xinsu City is still in the hands of the Yan army, how could this Si Tu family's army approach the vicinity of Xinsu City so silently without being discovered?

Tens of thousands of cavalry could hide if they were traversing wilderness valleys, but even when Marquis Jingnan and Marquis Zhenbei entered Jin, it seemed like a brilliant move, but if the Jin Emperor hadn't opened the South Gate Pass and led the Yan army in, the He Lian and Wen Ren families would definitely have received the news and taken countermeasures, and it wouldn't have been possible to achieve the result of destroying the elites of those two major families in one battle."

At this point, the blind man turned to Liang Cheng and asked:

"A'Cheng, what do you say, isn't this strange?"

"Jin has only recently been annexed, and the people's hearts have not been won over. That's why when the Si Tu family raised their army, the powerful families of the Three Jin responded, directly forming a large scale.

But since Xinsu City hasn't fallen, it's almost impossible to hide tens of thousands of cavalry near Xinsu City. The Jingnan Army under Marquis Jingnan is known for its strict military discipline. It's impossible for such an army to be so careless as to make such an oversight."

Zheng Fan rubbed his temples, which were feeling a little swollen, and asked:

"So, you mean, the Yan Emperor intended to give this Jin Emperor to the Si Tu family all along? The Yan Emperor and the newly enthroned young emperor of the Si Tu family have actually reached a backroom deal?" (py - pinyin abbreviation for "pi yan," slang for a shady deal)

If that were the case, what was he doing now?

"My lord, there's actually another possibility," Liang Cheng said.

"Speak."

"Xinsu City has been garrisoned by a force for decades, which the Wen Ren family used to monitor the Jingji region. Now the city is controlled by our Yan army.

To think of it another way, if the Yan Emperor and the Si Tu family didn't reach a deal to send the Jin Emperor out like a bargaining chip, and the Yan army in Xinsu City didn't deliberately let them in,

Then it can only be that this Si Tu family's army has been hiding near Xinsu City, in a place where Yan soldiers are inconvenient to enter and scout."

Zheng Fan immediately responded, "Hiding in the Jingji region?"

"Only there can troops be hidden without being discovered by the Yan army in Xinsu City. And when the Jin Emperor's team is about to enter Xinsu City, they agree on a time in advance, and the cavalry in the Jingji region rush out ahead of time. That way, even if the Yan army in Xinsu City discovers them, there's simply no way to respond in time."

Zheng Fan "Heh heh" laughed,

And said:

"So, this is the Jin Emperor directing and acting out his own capture?"

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I've been feeling a bit down lately. I'll just update once today. From tomorrow on, I'll try my best to return to my previous state and write longer chapters so that everyone can enjoy reading them more.