The Demon Lords

As for the current Yan Emperor, in my view, it was the brotherhood forged since childhood together with the grand ideal of expanding the realm that dissolved this sort of opposition.

People have always thought I, Gouzi, am good at using this glib tongue to, in just ten short years, by various means, integrate a large bunch of wild tribes and finally lead them south into the Pass, but Little Dog knows very well in his own heart that I, Gouzi, am a far cry from His Majesty the Yan Emperor.

The Earl of North Border stood by the Yan Emperor’s side; for the sake of his feelings for the realm, he voluntarily gave up the dragon throne he might have contended for.

After that,

with the dismantling and relocation of the North Border Army, half of it left Beifeng Prefecture, and Beifeng Prefecture was filled in with a large number of the original Imperial Guards.

On top of that, with the Prefectural Princess entering the capital waiting to be married, it was equivalent to the Earl of North Border voluntarily dismantling his own household and the blade in his own hand.

Even those arrogant, battle-hardened officers and men under the North Border Army knew in their hearts that their Lord had no intention of ever looking again at that dragon throne.

That was five years ago,

and starting three years ago,

who then took their place and became Yan’s new mortal peril?

It was Lord Jingnan!

Originally, the Jingnan Army only had fifty thousand main troops and fifty thousand rear troops.

After one campaign of borrowing a route through Qian State to open up Jin, under Lord Jingnan’s command, they annihilated the Wenren and Helian clans in succession; from then on, the Jingnan Army began to replace the North Border Army and became the new leading military power of Yan.

For Yan’s first eastern expedition, why was the Eldest Prince Ji Wujiang made to sit in the commander-in-chief’s position?

Wasn’t it precisely to suppress the development of the Jingnan Army, to suppress Lord Jingnan, intending to prop up a prince of the surname Ji to sit there and hold the line?

It’s just a pity that

the Eldest Prince did have talent as a general, and talent as a commander as well, but he ran into me, Gouzi, and also... Qu TianNan."

Qu TianNan, as a Zhuguai of Chu, was by no means famous for nothing.

In fact, Qu TianNan’s final defeat truly was not his own fault in war; if at the time Chu State had not been mired in unresolved internal turmoil, if they had been able to send him tens of thousands more troops, if his expedition had not been a lone thrust deep into enemy territory but had advanced together with supply lines of grain and fodder...

All one can say is that Qu TianNan’s fate was a kind of tragedy brought about by Chu State’s national condition at the time.

As for the Wildmen King, there’s no need to say much about his level.

The Eldest Prince losing to those two was actually not unjust, and from the moment he led his troops into Cheng, the Eldest Prince advanced step by step, consolidating every move; strategically speaking, he didn’t really make any big mistakes.

"The Eldest Prince lost, and then the court had no choice but to invite Lord Jingnan out of retirement again. Lord Jingnan truly is formidable in the art of war; our Lord as well, he fought me, Gouzi, into complete conviction.

But precisely because of this, the Jingnan Army’s swelling power became utterly uncontrollable.

Coupled with Chu State’s covetous glare at Town South Pass, this all the more allowed Lord Jingnan to, with perfect justification, integrate all the troops throughout Jin land.

And this was exactly what the court did not wish to see.

So now the court has begun to move to reclaim local governing authority; this is in fact reclaiming the power within the armies. For any army, as long as you choke off its supplies, it’s crippled by half; Qu TianNan is the warning example ahead.

What the court is doing now is a replay of what was done back then to the Earl of North Border’s residence.

At the same time, Lord Jingnan indeed will not rebel against Yan; he has tacitly acknowledged this process of the court.

But we cannot.

Everything our Lord has laid out at Snow Sea Pass absolutely cannot be handed over.

At the earlier military parade, our Lord’s posture was in fact to use the mouths of those two imperial envoys to express your will to the court."

Zheng Fan crushed a walnut in his hand, reached in to pick out the meat, and slowly chewed it as he

said:

"Even Lord Jingnan has acquiesced—what can I, this Lord, do?"

"Lord Jingnan will not rebel against Yan, because for Yan he has already sacrificed his entire clan.

But you, my Lord, should understand that no one is ever willing to spit back out what they’ve already swallowed.

The various military heads in Jin land are not only the Jingnan Army itself; there are all the other forces as well. Originally, whether holding major cities or small fortified towns, both military power and local governing power were in the hands of these military heads; their days were naturally comfortable. Now to make them spit it all out—how could they possibly be willing?

It’s just that with Lord Jingnan pressing down above them, no one in the armies dares act recklessly; they can only tacitly accept the court’s moves.

However,

within the entire Jingnan Army—no, within all the military commands of Jin land,

only you, my Lord,

are not subject to Lord Jingnan’s suppression!"

Zheng Fan crushed a second walnut and said nothing.

"So at this moment, my Lord, you in fact represent the attitude of all the military commands of Jin land, and at the same time, you represent Lord Jingnan’s attitude.

If you, my Lord, follow the court as obediently as those other command lords, Lord Jingnan will not say anything, nor will he do anything; he will just tacitly accept this partition of military power and local authority.

But if you, my Lord, display a posture of resistance, first, you can keep Snow Sea Pass from falling under the court’s grasp; second, you can become a sort of half-leader for the various military heads in Jin land, and gain their support and response;

third,

I, Gouzi, boldly speculate about Lord Jingnan’s bottom line: his bottom line is that he will not rebel against Yan, but he will protect you, my Lord!

Just like Mr. Bei,

I, Gouzi, also stand on these three points.

So that you can keep Snow Sea Pass, this ’land where the dragon rises,’

so that you can use Snow Sea Pass as a cornerstone to continue expanding your wings,

so that you can sit in the northeast and glare like a tiger at the four directions,

I, Gouzi, beseech you, my Lord,

to seize this opportunity,

and in Ying Capital City,

unleash a great slaughter!"

Many times, matters are not complicated.

That group of instructors at Snow Sea Pass had never been in Zheng Lord’s original plans to be used.

On this point, he had discussed it with the Blindman: with Chengjue’s influence already present in the bureaucracy, if he set up another faction of his own, first, there was no need; second, it would be hard to see results in the short term. After all, with his identity as a titled lord by military merit, it would be very difficult to form enough appeal and centripetal force among the civil officials;