Chapter 1 The City of Ying Was in Chaos

Within the city of Yingdu, chaos reigned, but it was a chaos tinged with a sense of "order."

The juxtaposition of these two contradictory descriptions seemed absurd, yet it was the reality.

The fall of a nation, the collapse of a dynasty, was generally a gradual affair.

After all, Great Chu was not a short-lived dynasty hastily built, nor was it a chaotic era where the strong made themselves king.

The kind of chaos that once plagued the land of Qian, where one could proclaim himself emperor today only to be beheaded by his subordinate general tomorrow, had never occurred in Chu.

Although Great Chu was currently locked in a stalemate with the increasingly powerful Yan to the north, the situation was far from good; in fact, everyone felt a heavy pressure.

After all, the fate of the Three Jins was a stark warning.

However, everyone believed that even if the situation were to crumble, it would happen step by step, that even if the Yan truly invaded, they would slowly gnaw away at the land, city by city.

Just as Great Chu had done for centuries, gradually nibbling away at the territories of the surrounding mountain tribes and small kingdoms.

Who could have foreseen that,

Suddenly,

The iron cavalry of Yan would appear outside the capital?

Because neither the common people nor the nobles within the capital were prepared for this, their initial panic was followed by an instinctive return to the established rules and logic.

First, the military camps outside the capital discovered the enemy's presence and immediately reported it to the city gatekeepers. The city gatekeepers beat the drums and simultaneously reported to the Jing Prefecture. The Jing Prefecture then reported to the Yingdu Garrison Command, which immediately sent someone to the palace to report to the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War then reported to Mo Ao, who reported to Sima, who reported to Ling Yin. In Chu, Ling Yin was equivalent to the chancellor. Finally, Ling Yin would report to the Prince Regent.

Heh,

Wouldn't you know it,

The Yan army's iron cavalry was already outside,

Yet the bureaucratic system within Yingdu was still functioning so orderly, layer upon layer rising, it was hard to tell whether to praise them for their composure in the face of danger or to mock them for their rigid inflexibility.

Although Great Chu also had the Six Ministries, the Minister of War of Chu did not wield much power. The so-called Six Ministries system was more like something they'd created because they saw other countries doing it and felt they had to have it too, or else they'd look backward. In essence, the power of the court was still divided among the hereditary noble families.

Therefore, the Minister of War and Sima jointly issued an order, instructing the army outside the capital to quickly prepare for defense.

Yingdu,

Was difficult to defend,

But right now, the experienced old nobles who could fight were all leading troops elsewhere, so the military order was for defense, to enter the city for defense.

Those issuing the orders didn't care whether Yingdu, this romantically-inclined great city, could even conduct a proper defense; they only knew that they would feel more secure by bringing the troops from outside the city in as soon as possible.

However,

After the military order was issued, the military camp outside the capital surprisingly sent its troops out of the fortress, directly forming a battle formation outside the city to face the Yan army.

Going by preconceived notions, Zhao Yuelin, for example, would think that the Sima who issued the order believed that the Yan army must be exhausted from their long march, and that Yingdu would be unfavorable for defense and would only tie their hands, so they might as well meet the enemy outside the city.

But in reality,

It was because there was a conflict in orders between the central authority and the military camp outside the capital.

Ling Yin did not manage to see the Prince Regent, but the Prince Regent's decree was issued.

It was concise:

Yingdu is the foundation of my Great Chu's ancestral temples and state, and must be defended to the death.

In fact, at this point, the true high-level figures remaining in Yingdu, like Zhao Yuelin, had already sensed that something was wrong.

How could the Yan army have arrived outside their capital before they even received the news?

It shouldn't be,

It was impossible!

But the Prince Regent remained behind closed palace doors,

So what could Ling Yin and the other representatives of the great noble families remaining in the capital do?

Could they possibly summon their own troops to attack the palace and see if their Prince Regent was even still inside?

In this world, fools always make up the majority, but those who can sit in positions above tens of thousands of people are rarely fools.

Therefore, there were many people in Yingdu who could guess what was going on, but unfortunately, the Yan had really come, and there was no time for them to calmly arrange, slowly investigate, and gradually assign blame.

When the Yan cavalry's sabers were raised,

Reflecting a terrifying gleam in the sunlight,

That gleam,

Could strip away all the elegance and opulence covering the nobles,

Leaving them unrecognizable!

The Yan army,

Attacked!

………

The Chu army barely managed to form a battle formation, relying on the city walls, but the city walls were a bit too far away.

And the Yan army, having marched a long distance, was indeed weary.

And even if the men could forcibly rally their spirits and burn their blood to squeeze out their potential, the warhorses could not.

Therefore,

The Yan army did not choose to whittle down the enemy's spirit with hit-and-run tactics and then seek opportunities to divide them, as they usually did when dealing with infantry formations, because the Yan army was no longer capable of those maneuvers.

Fortunately, one side was exhausted, while the other was panicked;

The two sides were barely evenly matched.

Next, it would depend on which side made the first move.

The Prince of Jingnan personally charged ahead, his surrounding knights divided into three groups, launching attacks on the front, west, and east of the Chu army's formation.

Right from the start, it was penetration.

Either you poke holes in me, or I tear you to pieces;

Simple, direct, decisive, and clear,

Directly pointing to the essence of war.

Li Fusheng once said that the requirements for winning a battle were very simple – strong soldiers and sturdy horses.

This was somewhat absolute, but it was true in most cases.

The first wave of attacks occurred.

Then,

The Chu army collapsed.

It collapsed quickly,

It collapsed suddenly,

They came,

They formed a formation,

They collapsed,

Like actors rushing onto the stage to perform, they only came to show their faces, sing a few lines, and offer a toast to their patrons before impatiently rushing to the next show.

Or like a temperamental courtesan who, after much coaxing, finally appeared, rolled her eyes at you, and then immediately retreated back into her room.

It was just a token gesture.

And this token gesture,

Even caught the Yan army off guard. The Chu army's collapse actually began before the two sides made contact. Faced with the charge of the Yan army's iron cavalry, with such formations and such momentum, the Chu army's vanguard began to flee backward. The middle army, seeing the vanguard fleeing, also immediately followed suit. The rear army, confused, assumed that the front had already been defeated. At this point, you had to run even if you didn't want to. Having the will to kill the enemy but lacking the strength to turn the tide described this situation perfectly. Under the general trend, no one person or small group could stop it.

And the Yan army, which had been strictly controlling its charging speed according to experience, had to readjust its planned strategy at this time, like slamming on the brakes. Many Yan soldiers even fell off their horses, trampled by their own steeds or by the horses of their comrades behind them.

The Yan army's charging formation was clearly stalled because of the Chu army's overly hasty rout.

This situation should not have occurred to the Yan army, which was known for its proficiency in horsemanship and archery, and the Jingnan Army was one of the most disciplined forces in the Yan army.

But unfortunately, a pig-like opponent will often make you perform like a pig as well.

Since the Chu had already collapsed, there was no need to charge into the crowd. The Yan army's vanguard slowed down, and the middle and rear armies were caught off guard. Everyone was stuck together.

Because according to the Jingnan Army's tradition, the vanguard was supposed to be prepared to die, the middle army was responsible for following up and tearing open the gap, and the rear army was to further penetrate the enemy's formation.

The overall picture was that the vanguard had the fastest speed, the middle army continued the charge, and the rear army went all out in the last wave. Then, it was chaos, chaos, all chaos.

However, fortunately, the Yan army's chaos was only caused by the unexpected situation. In fact, it was harmless, because their opponents were completely collapsing.

The Prince of Jingnan's gaze turned somber;

This was not the Great Chu's imperial guard elite.

Among the other major powers, Jin was not counted because the imperial power had long fallen by the wayside. In Qian and Yan, the imperial guards in the capital, known as the central army, were actually the most incompetent troops.

The capital's economy and lifestyle were the best in the country. Amidst the extravagance and debauchery, even the hardest sabers would rust.

But Chu was different. Chu's imperial guards were the Xiong clan's reliance, the foundation upon which the imperial family could dominate Chu.

If the various great and small noble families were likened to a pack of wolves, then the Xiong clan was the wolf king. The wolf king had to ensure that he was strong enough to command the pack and not be devoured by them.

The desert barbarian tribal court was actually very similar to Great Chu, except that the barbarians lacked the subtle cover-ups of the Chu.

Therefore,

It was obvious that,

This fleeing army,

Was definitely not the proper imperial guard.

Neither the combat power nor the numbers matched up.

But even so, Tian Wujing still ordered to pursue the fleeing enemy, to kill them, and at the same time, to seize the gates.

And the Yan soldiers forgot all their fatigue, and under the stimulation of victory, they began to chase and kill the fleeing Chu even more excitedly. At the same time, the various troops that had been dispatched began to seize the gates.

And Yingdu's city gates were really too easy to seize.

The Star Gazing Tower aside, there were many similar places. The city walls, which were supposed to be relied on as a means of military defense, had completely become artistic embellishments in the hands of the Chu.

It wasn't that the Chu were negligent in their city defenses,

But because,

Even during the chaos of the princes, the capital region had never actually experienced large-scale warfare.

A royal city that had never been attacked by foreign troops,

To have strict defenses and a rigorous defense system,

That would be truly strange.

And,

Regardless of what would happen in the future,

At least for now,

At least at this moment,

At least before his eyes,

The Great Chu's Yingdu, which had been praised by countless scholars and poets,

Shed all its colorful veils symbolizing beauty and romance,

And was exposed to the unromantic barbarians from Yan.

The Prince of Jingnan, riding a Pixiu and standing in the center of the army outside the city,

Suddenly recalled a sentence that Zheng Fan had unintentionally said when they were standing together once:

Civilization,

Will always be destroyed by barbarism.

Comparing Great Yan to barbarism,

Was not disrespect;

But a kind of pride.

Just like that shout that the Left Guli King of the barbarian tribal court, Sha Tuo Queshi, had yelled in front of the Zhenbei Marquis's residence:

"I am but a barbarian from the desert."

This was a powerful confidence.

A hundred years ago, when the Yan faced the barbarian cavalry sharpening their knives, although they called them barbarians, the "barbarian" here represented a kind of power, a kind of fear.

The barbarism that destroys civilization,

The barbarism here symbolizes a kind of strength;

And the civilization that is destroyed by barbarism,

That civilization,

It,

Is sick.

Tian Wujing suddenly felt a bit of regret,

He regretted that Zheng Fan was not by his side now,

Under this scene,

If Zheng Fan was also riding a Pixiu by his side,

He should be able to say some things that he would find quite interesting,

Or,

Even if he said nothing,

Just standing here,

He would have the feeling of witnessing this with another "self."

The capital of Jin,

That dilapidated and declining royal capital,

Was meaningless.

Quhe City, Litian City, Yingdu,

To put it bluntly,

They lacked that true air of royalty.

And the Great Chu's Yingdu, standing to this day under the influence of eight hundred years of dynastic history,

Truly had that flavor.

Did you see it,

The capital of Great Chu,

I have taken it down.

In the future,

You can too.

………

"Clack!"

The crisp sound of a chess piece being placed rang out.

Meng Shou's chess skills were not as good as the Prince Regent's.

In fact, Meng Shou's chess skills were very ordinary.

In this life, to be able to achieve the pinnacle in one thing is already extremely difficult. It is really hard to devote too much energy to other aspects.

Not everyone who wears a feather fan and silk turban is good at playing chess;

Some are busy writing essays, some are busy pursuing academics, some are busy learning how to govern a country. In short, they are very busy.

The Prince Regent was not thinking about winning,

He was just playing for the sake of playing, placing pieces for the sake of placing pieces, continuing the game for the sake of continuing it.

Neither side had any concept of winning or losing.

"Is Your Highness curious how the historians of the future will record this day?"

Meng Shou asked.

The Prince Regent did not answer, but picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.

Meng Shou said again:

"Writing history is like being a person. Historians say it sounds good, calling their pens like knives, but in reality, they are still sitting on someone else's stool."

The Prince Regent put down his teacup,

And said;

"Do you know how the Great Chu historians will write books for the next sixty years?"

Meng Shou asked:

"Please enlighten me, Your Highness."

The Prince Regent smiled slightly,

And said;

"I will dictate, and they will transcribe."

Meng Shou opened his mouth and smiled wryly:

"Then they won't even have a stool to sit on."

The historians would have to kneel, listen to the dictation, and transcribe.

As the greatest synthesizer of historians since Great Xia, Meng Shou was naturally very saddened by this result.

The Prince Regent placed a chess piece,

And said:

"Tell me, will your disciple enter Yingdu?"

Meng Shou shook his head and placed a chess piece,

And said:

"This subject only taught that disciple some literary matters. Martial arts and military affairs have nothing to do with me. How can I guess that?"

"I think he will definitely enter."

"This subject thinks that my disciple should know that Your Highness has already made arrangements. This is inviting a guest into an urn."

The Prince Regent said:

"But he will still enter."

"Since Your Highness is so sure, could it be that you have already made arrangements?" Meng Shou teased with a smile.

But although he was smiling, the concern in his eyes could not be faked.

Having spent most of his life writing history, and his entire being was now living in the history books, he was too lazy to hide his true emotions.

The Prince Regent picked up a chess piece,

And said:

"Just like this chessboard, even if you and I don't say a word, just by looking at the moves, you can deduce what I want to do, and I can deduce what you want to do.

The chess pieces will continue to be placed, because………”

"Clack."

The Prince Regent placed the chess piece on the chessboard,

And uttered the last four words:

"Each gets what he needs."