"Alas, it seems the General is also a man of misfortune! Utterly helpless!" Ye Guanting, a man from Anding Commandery, sighed deeply after hearing Zhou Fugui's story.
Compared to the thrilling events Zhou Fugui had experienced, Ye Guanting suddenly felt he was rather fortunate. His own fate wasn't that bad in comparison.
"Alas, who can say otherwise?" Zhou Fugui's eyes lit up with a sense of understanding. He repeatedly sighed, "I was living a good life in Luoyan Village, Luoming Town, Youzhou. Then, that damned imperial envoy showed up. From then on, I embarked on a path of no return, burdened with the infamy of a Han traitor. In the end, I was exiled to this barren land. Tell me, who did I offend? Is the heavenly way truly so unjust?"
"General, I repeat my words: when Sai Weng loses his horse, how do you know it isn't a blessing?" Ye Guanting smiled slightly as he looked at Zhou Fugui, who was blaming heaven and earth and weeping profusely. "There is gain in loss, and loss in gain. What is lost in the east can be recovered in the west. For every loss the General suffers, there must be a gain."
"What have I gained?" Zhou Fugui pondered upon hearing this.
"You have gained renown, you have gained hearts, you have gained the trust of the people and the morale of your soldiers," Ye Guanting replied.
"Brother Ye is joking..." Zhou Fugui forced a wry smile. "I, Zhou, am but an unknown nobody, a mere private. As you can see now, I have barely over a hundred soldiers under my command. What renown or morale are we talking about?"
"Didn't the General say it himself?" Ye Guanting shook his head slightly. "You were the first to conquer Guangling Commandery, you did not seek personal glory, nor did you flatter your superiors. You saved thousands of civilians in Xia. Surely, the General's virtuous reputation has spread throughout Xia? If this is not popular support, then what is? The General avenged his family by killing three hundred Xianbei in anger. When you entered Youzhou, the populace greeted you with cheers. If this is not popular support, then what is? The General leads his troops effectively and treats his subordinates with benevolence. Every soldier is willing to die for him. If this is not morale, then what is?"
"You... you... why do you know so much? Who exactly are you?" Zhou Fugui asked, startled.
Zhou Fugui had spoken about some things, but kept others to himself. He never expected that this person seemed to know almost everything, and was thus astonished.
"A Yang Youji of the Great Yan!" Ye Guanting replied with a smile. "Although I am in the north, I have heard a little of the General's name. As for myself, I am truly an unknown nobody."
"Oh, is that so?" Zhou Fugui looked at Ye Guanting with a hint of disbelief.
Had his great name truly spread throughout the land? Zhou Fugui found it hard to believe.
"General, why have you suddenly come to this place? Do you have any plans or objectives?" Ye Guanting then asked.
"Objectives? My objective is merely to survive in this world, and of course, to be with my brothers," Zhou Fugui replied. He certainly wouldn't immediately reveal the thoughts weighing on his heart to this person he had never met before, who was so perceptive and seemed to see through his mind.
"Alas, General Zhou..." Ye Guanting sighed. "The General possesses virtues that reach across the seas and unparalleled strategy and courage. Upon entering the camp, you quelled chaos and disciplined the army. You did not plunder or harass ordinary civilians. Even the renowned generals of ancient times were no more than this. Such a person, if said to be without ambition, who in this world would believe it?"
"Heh heh, Brother Ye is joking, truly joking. I, Zhou, have no great ambitions," Zhou Fugui stubbornly insisted. "I am merely a general of Yan. My only ambition is to kill the enemy and achieve merit."
"Killing the enemy and achieving merit? To kill the enemy and achieve merit for the Yan court? The General's words just now seem to harbor resentment towards Yan," Ye Guanting said with a smile. "I have never known the General before today. Yet, meeting you today feels like meeting an old friend. I wish to speak frankly. Why is the General so hesitant and evasive?"
"Since Brother Ye puts it that way, I shall be frank with you," Zhou Fugui nodded. "I, Zhou, am a humble person. In the past, my only aspirations were to have enough clothes to cover my body and enough food to fill my stomach, and for my family to have no worries about sustenance. I joined the army and fought in the south, firstly for my family, and secondly to survive. Yet, even this wish could not be fulfilled. My elder brother and younger sister were murdered, so I angrily killed more than three hundred enemies. Afterward, I was fortunate to survive and ended up at the frontier. Brother Ye, I now truly understand how helpless it is for a person to exist in this world. Man is the knife, and we are the fish. The fish is food for others. If we wish to resist, how can we match the sharpness of the blades?"
"Heh heh, is this the General's ambition?" Ye Guanting asked with a light chuckle. "You do not wish to be fish, and your only desire in this life is to be the knife?"
"To be honest, precisely so," Zhou Fugui nodded. "It is always better to have the knife in your own hand than in someone else's."
Ye Guanting was merely a slave of the Xiongnu. Zhou Fugui revealed a little of his true feelings.
"And what then, General, after you wield the knife?" Ye Guanting asked, looking at Zhou Fugui.
"Ah? This... I haven't thought about that," Zhou Fugui replied, momentarily stunned.
"If the General becomes the knife, and others are the fish, does the General also intend to wield the blade against them?" Ye Guanting inquired further.
"This..." Zhou Fugui hesitated and did not answer.
When man is the knife and others are the fish, times change, and it becomes 'I am the knife, and others are the fish.' Many people undergo earth-shattering changes, becoming even more ferocious and brutal. Such events, from ancient times to the present, are common. Could Zhou Fugui escape the three realms and five elements?
"Brother Ye..." Zhou Fugui said after a long period of thought. "Only those who come from the common folk can truly understand the suffering of the common folk. I dare not say I can transcend the mundane, but I dare not forget my origins. If I become the knife, wielding its handle... Alas, currently, I have less than two hundred soldiers and no more than ten generals. Is it not too early to speak of such things now?"
Ye Guanting nodded.
Only those who came from the common folk could understand their suffering. Ye Guanting wholeheartedly agreed with this statement. The noble lords in the imperial courts of the Great Yan spent their days uttering "concern for the nation and its people," but how many truly cared about the populace? They had never experienced hardship, so how could they understand the difficulties of the myriad people and the suffering of the common masses? In this chaotic world of slaughter, bloodshed, shamelessness, betrayal, and deception, all people were merely treated as cattle and sheep, as tools. They were used when useful, and discarded without hesitation when no longer needed, like worn-out shoes.
"General Zhou..." Ye Guanting said. "The wind is born from the earth, rising from the tips of green grass. It infiltrates valleys, rages at the mouth of embankments, travels along the slopes of Mount Tai, dances beneath pine and cypress trees, swirling and gusting with fury. The General currently has less than a hundred soldiers and fewer than ten generals, like the tips of green grass. But can the General not achieve something? Who dares say the General can accomplish nothing?"
"Brother Ye means...?" Zhou Fugui pondered.
"The Nine Provinces are in decline, and the barbarians are eager. The people suffer and are unsettled. Does the General have the heart to uphold righteousness? To raise a powerful army, rescue the people from their suffering, save them from their torment, and cleanse the realm to achieve something great," Ye Guanting said slowly. "The General's benevolence reaches across the seas. If he raises his voice, all heroes under heaven will surely follow!"
"Heh heh, Brother Ye thinks too highly of me..." Zhou Fugui shook his head with a wry smile. "With no food, no soldiers, and no territory, why would anyone follow me?"
Ye Guanting wished he could spit a mouthful of blood onto Zhou Fugui's face. After speaking for so long, he still appeared timid and cautious...
However, for Zhou Fugui to lead his mere hundred men to dare enter the Xiongnu army camp, he was certainly not a timid person. Ye Guanting mused inwardly. If it wasn't timidity, then it was intentional concealment. In that case, Zhou Fugui was a man of deep cunning, and perhaps such a person could achieve great things.
Thus, Ye Guanting looked at Zhou Fugui and said, "Hasn't the General already occupied a vast camp? What do you mean by having no territory?"
"Didn't you just say that the Xiongnu army will arrive at any moment? I can only lead them to flee..." Zhou Fugui replied.
No matter what, his less than two hundred men could absolutely not confront the Xiongnu army head-on. Therefore, Zhou Fugui had already prepared to flee. As soon as he had eaten his fill and slept soundly, he would make his escape.
However, where to run, how to return to Xuelin City, and how to survive, Zhou Fugui had no good plan. He could only take it one step at a time.
But when fleeing, he must bring Ye Guanting along, Zhou Fugui thought to himself.
In just a few words, Zhou Fugui had already realized that Ye Guanting was quite capable, and might become a great help in the future.
"Has the General never considered staying here and expanding his influence?" Ye Guanting asked.
"We are guests, unfamiliar with the land. How can we expand our influence? And with what can we expand our influence?" Zhou Fugui asked in astonishment.
"It is nothing more than people," Ye Guanting replied. "Hasn't the General already taken in the Kunlun slave, Pi'e? Is this not the General's intention?"
"Just a slave, could there be... Oh, you mean other servants?" Zhou Fugui suddenly understood.
Relying on slaves was a shared idea between Zhou Fugui and Lin Yue. He never expected Zhou Fugui to have ventured into the heart of the Xiongnu's Great Chieftain's territory to carry out such a plan...
He wondered what her reaction would be if she knew.
"Over two thousand servants, among them two hundred beast fighters," Ye Guanting replied.
"Beast fighters?" Zhou Fugui asked in surprise.
"Death warriors who fight against ferocious beasts for their lives, for entertainment," Ye Guanting answered.
"Oh, so that's how it is. I didn't expect that the Right Valley Leader King to be so brutal? To make people fight against ferocious beasts? Outrageous!" Zhou Fugui exclaimed. "They can certainly be of use to me. But why didn't they run when I attacked the camp?"
"They are all walking dead. Why would they run? Whose servants are they, it's all the same. Why should they run? General, even if they escaped, capturing them back would be even more tragic," Ye Guanting shook his head slightly. "Whether they can be of use to you depends on your abilities."