Chapter 1 The Return

Zheng Fan and A'ming returned to the fortress.

The next moment,

Cui Liu Fort was on full alert.

The sentry riders, who would normally be sent out at night, were all recalled.

The role of the sentry riders in Cui Liu Fort was to patrol and be vigilant, providing a guarantee of respite and relaxation for their comrades sleeping, resting, or engaged in daily activities.

Now that it had been determined that a sizable force of Qian cavalry had moved north, and that their target was Cui Liu Fort, the sentry riders outside no longer had any practical use while the fortress was on full alert.

Zheng, the garrison commander, was used to small-scale trading and meticulous calculations, so rather than letting the sentry riders be ambushed or scattered, he might as well bring them all back.

On the battlements of Cui Liu Fort, soldiers held bows and crossbows, and to be on the safe side, even hot oil to resist enemy siege attacks was being heated in large iron pots.

If this were a drill, Cui Liu Fort would surely win a red flag as an advanced fighting collective.

Oh, right,

The sign of Cui Liu Fort, which had originally hung at the gate of the fortress, had been ordered to be taken down as soon as Zheng Fan returned.

The cold wind of the deep night howled over the fortress again and again, but not a single soldier dared to be the slightest bit lax.

Because what their military commander had brought back was not only the news that Qian cavalry might be heading north to raid their fortress, but also the news of how their military merits would be calculated this time.

The families of the penal soldiers of the aristocratic clans would soon be freed from their registry, and the barbarian soldiers would soon be able to obtain Yan citizenship. Under the stimulation of these two pieces of good news, the so-called shadow of enemy attack really didn't seem to be anything at all.

Liang Cheng was directing the defense and deploying troops. Since the enemy was a cavalry突进(tu jin, rapid advance), it was unlikely that they would openly launch a siege.

Most likely, it would be similar to their two previous incursions into Qian to attack Mianzhou City. Siege warfare with ladders and ants was impossible; they would just try to catch you off guard.

In Liang Cheng's view, with everyone on high alert, unless the Qian general on the other side had really lost his mind, it was unlikely that he would order an attack on such a heavily defended and high-walled fortress.

You get what you pay for. Compared to the makeshift military camps surrounded by wooden fences elsewhere, Cui Liu Fort could be said to be quite the "turtle shell."

To Zheng Fan's surprise and delight, the Blind Man had woken up.

After controlling Madam Da Xi under Mianzhou City, the Blind Man had suffered severe mental exhaustion and had been unconscious for two days.

The Blind Man was now sitting in a wheelchair with a hot towel on his forehead, looking rather delicate.

"When did you wake up?" Zheng Fan asked.

"This afternoon." The Blind Man replied, coughing a few times.

"We're in trouble this time," Zheng Fan said.

"It's okay." The Blind Man seemed calm. "Master's luck is unmatched."

Being captured and asked where his home was...

"Well, the heavens will surely bless kind-hearted people."

"............" The Blind Man.

Perhaps still weakened from just waking up, the Blind Man couldn't quite keep up with his master's thick-skinnedness for a moment.

Zheng Fan then recounted the story of eating wontons during the day, including the fortune-telling old man and the down-and-out swordsman.

The Blind Man asked:

"Then Master didn't go to tell the Secret Intelligence Division?"

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "I originally wanted to, but I thought about it and decided against it."

"Well, according to Master, those two have obviously surpassed the level of so-called spies. It's best to leave the tall ones to deal with the tall ones; there's no need for us to interfere."

"Yes, that's what I thought."

The wolf smoke of Cui Liu Fort rose up at this moment.

To be honest, no one in Cui Liu Fort knew how many smoke columns, what color the smoke was, or how to properly operate it.

If the Qian fortress system was one of personnel neglect, then the Yan side could be said to be completely 拉胯 (la kua, falling apart).

The long-term strategic advantage, coupled with a psychological advantage, made the Yan people not care much about these details. Now that the Qian cavalry had moved north, they were like fish in water.

Wolf smoke needed to rely on the spreading effect of other nearby fortresses to truly achieve the "传递烽火 (chuan di feng huo, passing of the beacon fire)" effect. There was actually a very profound knowledge in this, not inferior to the intelligence warfare of intelligence agents during World War II.

Unfortunately, long after the wolf smoke of Cui Liu Fort rose, no second smoke column could be seen nearby.

Since the start of the war between the two countries, the Great Yan, which had always been in a strong offensive position, was now as slow and weak as an old man in his twilight years.

Zheng Fan was even sure that the Qian army still hadn't received sufficient and effective encirclement and suppression threats. The military leaders at all levels, when faced with this sudden situation, would basically react by holding their ground and waiting for reinforcements, which was also a way to preserve strength.

Well, Commander Zheng was doing the same.

Of course, Commander Zheng had a reason and an excuse, because due to special circumstances, Commander Zheng knew that the target of the enemy's northern raid was his Cui Liu Fort.

Therefore, Commander Zheng's plan was to hold his ground and attract the enemy's firepower, and then allow friendly forces to counter-encircle them.

Of course, this was just an excuse.

In the middle of the night, even if the Qian army was isolated and deep in enemy territory, Zheng Fan wouldn't be willing to let his cavalry rush out and play night battles with them before he had figured out the other side's exact numbers and strength.

Military merits were tempting, but if he accidentally lost all his men, he would be the one who would be heartbroken.

On the battlements, Zheng Fan held a heated wine skin in his hand, taking small sips to keep warm.

Liang Cheng stood beside Zheng Fan, his eyes constantly gazing into the distance.

With Liang Cheng by his side, Zheng Fan felt very safe. At the same time, only Zheng Fan and the devils knew that within Cui Liu Fort, there was still a truly great weapon sleeping.

It was just that it wasn't convenient to show that great weapon to others. It was best not to use it if possible, but at least it could save their lives.

The cold wind continued to blow, and Zheng Fan's eyelids began to droop, feeling sleepy.

Outside, it was still quiet. He didn't know how many military camps the Qian army had broken through, nor did he know if there was any "毁家纾难 (hui jia shu nan, sacrificing family for the country's sake)" general who insisted on leading troops to take down the enemy, regardless of his own strength being damaged.

"Master, I've always been curious about one thing."

Liang Cheng imitated Zheng Fan's posture and sat down with his back against the battlements.

"Speak."

Zheng Fan handed the wine skin in his hand to Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng reached out to take it,

But Zheng Fan retracted his hand,

And smiled:

"I forgot you're not afraid of the cold."

If zombies were afraid of the cold, then electric blankets could be sold out in Sanya.

"Master, the Jingnan Army's reaction is too strange."

This was Liang Cheng's observation. Since the start of the war, oh no, actually, strictly speaking, it wasn't even since the start of the war, but since the first time Cui Liu Fort went to Qian for a stroll, Tian Wu Jing had led 10,000 Jingnan iron cavalry to接应 (jie ying, meet and escort) Zheng Fan's small unit back.

After that, Marquis Jingnan went to Yanjing.

After returning, he issued the order to officially declare war on Qian, but other than forcing these small warlords to constantly harass the south, the Jingnan Army had not sent out a single soldier.

Zheng Fan nodded and said:

"At first, I thought Marquis Jingnan was waiting, waiting for us warlords to provoke the Qian people, waiting for the Qian Three Borders to send out elites to剿杀 (jiao sha, suppress and eliminate) us, and then the Jingnan Army would strike with thunderous force, eating up the Qian Three Borders' field elites, paving the way for a southward advance.

We warlords, to put it bluntly, are just tactical bait, laying the groundwork for a grand strategy."

Liang Cheng heard this and said:

"But that Grand Commandant Yang of Qian has been holding on to his defenses and won't come out no matter how much we provoke him, and Qian has also transferred several of its most capable units to the north, putting up a complete iron wall."

"Yes, I can't really understand it either."

"In fact, this kind of small-scale raid doesn't have much impact on the overall situation." Liang Cheng paused and continued: "No matter how many military camps that Qian cavalry breaks through tonight, or how many warlords they defeat, it won't change the overall strategic pattern of Yan attacking and Qian defending.

To put it bluntly, the purpose of this army's northward movement is similar to our Cui Liu Fort's two previous southward movements; the effect of exaggerating achievements and boosting morale is greater.

Moreover, since the other side is clearly here to cause trouble for our Cui Liu Fort, it should be because we swept away thousands of wolf soil soldiers outside Mianzhou City last time, making them lose face, so they organized a 'come and go is not impolite' revenge.

But as long as it's daytime, this army will quickly retreat. It can't hold on to any military camp."

As long as daytime arrived, and the slow and涩 (se, unsmooth/difficult) communications of the night were restored, the generals would not allow this unit to continue on Yan territory.

At that point, it was no longer a question of preserving strength or not, but a question of national honor, and the nature of the matter would change drastically.

The Jingnan Army was suppressing everything in the rear, and the Yan Emperor had just trampled on the aristocratic clans, annihilating centuries of aristocratic clans. How could he not be able to deal with a small general?

In the past, soldiers, especially those who were generals, always had the support of one or even two aristocratic clans behind them. It was not easy for anyone to move against them, and it would all turn into endless haggling. Now, that was no longer the case.

Zheng Fan took another sip of wine,

And said:

"You mean, why did Marquis Jingnan only issue orders and not send the Jingnan Army south? No, even if the Jingnan Army continued to be stationed in Nanwang City, maintaining direct influence over the border area, the border warlords of our Great Yan wouldn't be such a disorganized mess."

If the Jingnan Army was still stationed in Nanwang City at this time, if Marquis Jingnan Tian Wu Jing himself was still living in Nanwang City, even if it was night, who would dare to preserve their strength?

Even Zheng Fan would have to grit his teeth and lead seven or eight hundred cavalry to find that Qian cavalry to block, attack, and exhaust them.

As long as the tiger kept its eyes open, the monkeys in the mountains would have to desperately perform, but now, the tiger seemed to be dozing off.

"Actually, I don't know why either," Zheng Fan said honestly.

There was no need for him, this "master," to play mysterious with his subordinates. Who didn't know who?

"However, A'cheng, you can raise your level of thinking a little higher. Although it's wronged you now, and our Cui Liu Fort only has so few soldiers, you can try to imagine what you would do if you had 50,000 Jingnan troops and 200,000 Zhenbei iron cavalry in your hands."

Liang Cheng shook his head and said:

"Master, this is hard to imagine, because there are many political things involved in this."

Liang Cheng didn't understand politics, or rather, he was too lazy to play politics. Deep down, he was always a very proud person.

Zheng Fan nodded and took another sip of wine, saying nothing.

Sigh, it's so cold, and he's still stuck on the battlements, keeping watch. It's really annoying.

Originally, Zheng Fan had been thinking that after delivering the heads, settling the military merits, and returning, everyone in Cui Liu Fort would be overjoyed, and then he would talk about the matter of the 1,500 barbarian soldiers, and the devils would also be happy.

After that, he would be able to take a nice bath and have Si Niang wear white silk tonight.

Sigh,

The script he had originally thought of was ruined by that Qian cavalry.

Zheng Fan wiped the tip of his nose with the back of his hand and exhaled.

Just then, there was a commotion on the battlements.

Liang Cheng suddenly turned sideways and looked outside through the battlements, while saying to Zheng Fan:

"Cavalry is approaching!"

.........

Zhong Tian Lang's silver armor had been soaked in blood several times over. When charging into battle, he always liked to charge at the forefront, and the bloodstains on his armor were naturally all from the Yan people.

When they first entered Yan territory, they had taken down a small fortress. After that they charged straight in, but they failed to meet up with the Silver Armor Guard 暗谍 (an die, secret agent) who had been notified in advance to lead the way, making his team somewhat "茫然 (mang ran, at a loss)".

It was normal for the commanding general to get lost. Many awesome generals in history had gotten lost.

Moreover, Zhong Tian Lang wasn't lost. He remembered the way back, but he was somewhat unable to distinguish the target, faced with the "uneven" fortress system on the Great Yan border.

Even the local people of Yan would find it difficult to figure out which one was which and where it was, faced with so many military camps that had sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain in the past few months.

Fortunately, Zhong Tian Lang was lucky. He risked catching two tongues on the main road, and they really told him the location of Cui Liu Fort.

After crushing Cui Liu Fort, the general named "Zheng Fan" had some backbone and would rather die than surrender, directly committing suicide.

Zhong Tian Lang still remembered "Zheng Fan's" angry glare before his death,

Enough to see,

The inner anger and unwillingness to die of this Yan barbarian!

However, he can be considered a man!

It was just a pity that Zhong Tian Lang couldn't leave him a complete corpse. He still cut off his head, and also took advantage of the night to pick off three more Yan military camps.

The defense systems of these military camps were all very sparse. He had an absolute advantage in troops, concealed by the night, and a sudden attack, so it wasn't difficult to crush them.

However, even so, the Yan people's counterattack when they were ambushed still made Zhong Tian Lang a little咂舌 (za she, click his tongue).

Coming from the Western Army, the opponents he had faced since childhood were the Northern Qiang tribes or the 土司 (tu si, local chieftains) in the southwestern mountains. Those enemies would often be routed and directly wiped out when faced with a night attack, with corpses lying everywhere.

But these Yan people, as long as they had a knife in their hands and couldn't escape, would often choose to主动 (zhu dong, actively) fight to the death.

Therefore, there were also not small casualties in his team.

Originally, when he was in the Western Army, after learning that the generals of the Qian Three Borders were being suppressed by the Yan people and didn't dare to raise their heads, Zhong Tian Lang was still somewhat contemptuous.

After truly coming into contact with them this time, although there were victories one after another, he also slowly understood that these Yan barbarians were indeed not characters that could be easily揉捏 (rou nie, knead/manipulate).

Most importantly, what he was facing was just the Yan people's杂牌军 (za pai jun, rabble army). The real elites of the Yan people in Yinlang County, the Jingnan Army, had not yet appeared.

Furthermore,

The Zhenbei Army, which was feared by the Three Eastern Kingdoms, had not yet moved south.

After this experience, Zhong Tian Lang somewhat understood how wise his old man's decision to start digging trenches and building forts as soon as he entered Mianzhou City was.

The Yan people's arrogance was rampant, and their own combat power was extremely good. The Great Qian could only use this method to wear down the Yan people's arrogance, and then take advantage of this national war opportunity to reorganize the army.

Fortunately, the Yan people were poor, and the Yan land was also poor.

As a general, Zhong Tian Lang knew that he shouldn't have these thoughts, but these thoughts kept swirling in his mind uncontrollably.

However, he was, after all, a young man, and young men should be full of vigor!

This time, he had at least vented a bad breath for the Great Qian, letting the Yan people know that the Great Qian also had men of valor!

It was getting late, and Zhong Tian Lang didn't dare to stay here any longer, but prepared to lead his army back.

The advance army reported that they had to pass through a Yan fortress ahead, and that the fortress was very well constructed, like a small city.

Zhong Tian Lang led a group of personal soldiers and rode over,

After seeing the fortress ahead,

He couldn't help but feel a "咯噔 (ge deng, thump)" in his heart,

The fortress walls were towering, and there were moats and visible fences below. The top was distinctly layered, and the corners protruded. Although the shape was a bit peculiar, Zhong Tian Lang saw the cleverness of this fortress design at a glance.

No matter which direction you attacked the city from, you would be subjected to attacks from three sides.

Moreover, this fortress clearly hadn't been built long ago.

"It's said that the Yan people's iron cavalry is 甲天下 (jia tian xia, the best in the world), but now it seems that there are also people in the Yan people who are good at defending."

Although Xiao Liu Zi did the labor for this fortress, it was designed by the Blind Man. The Blind Man used the castle design methods of later Europeans.

When Koxinga recovered Taiwan, he was also extremely troubled by this type of castle of the Dutch.

Zhong Tian Lang knew that this type of castle, plus the vaguely visible soldiers on the city walls, was not something he could take down now.

However, there was generally a feeling of heroes cherishing heroes. After picking off several military camps, he finally saw an opponent who was willing to put so much thought into military camp construction. Zhong Tian Lang spurred his horse forward, spear-impaled Deng Zi Liang's head,

And shouted at the front:

"Yan dogs, Cui Liu Fort has been覆灭 (fu mie, overthrown) by your Grandpa Zhong, Cui Liu Fort Garrison Commander Zheng Fan's head is here!

Your heads are being temporarily寄放 (ji fang, placed/deposited) on your necks. Your Grandpa Zhong will come and take them when he has time in the future!"

For a long time, the fortress in front remained silent, and no one answered.

Zhong Tian Lang saw that the fortress was silent,

Smiled,

And said to the several school officers around him:

"It seems that斩 (zhan, beheading) Zheng Fan, the Yan people's most recently renowned and meritorious general, has indeed重挫 (zhong cuo, seriously挫伤) the Yan people's arrogance!"

Actually, after Zhong Tian Lang finished speaking,

The guarding soldiers on Cui Liu Fort,

Looked at me,

I looked at you,

And then looked together at their own garrison commander, who was also drinking on the city wall,

And then looked together at the Qian general shouting under the torches outside,

Everyone had one thought in their hearts at this time,

That Qian general below:

Is he a傻子 (sha zi, fool)?