CHAPTER 422: CHAPTER 44 SURRENDER_2

The Yan people were predominantly cavalry, so they could afford to be this brazen and arrogant. They were like bandits walking through the owner’s house, yet they still openly warned the owner not to make any rash moves.

This task was always rotated among the various units, with the number of personnel assigned for surveillance depending on the number of defenders in the city.

This time, it was Zheng Fan’s unit’s turn.

Upon receiving the military order, Zheng Fan led his 2,500 cavalry to break away from the main army. They galloped thirty miles westwards and arrived at the outskirts of Qingshan City.

In yesterday’s battle, Qingshan City had nearly become a decisive point, as Zu Dongcheng had ordered his troops to fall back towards it when he realized the situation was turning unfavorable.

Honestly, Qingshan City’s walls were not very high, and its defensive facilities were not well-established. Even if this contingent of troops had entered the city, Li Fusheng, no matter how reckless he might become, would never have truly ordered his soldiers from the Earl of North Border’s army to lay siege to it.

When the cavalry from Green Willow Fortress appeared in sight of the Qingshan City defenders, gongs and drums suddenly erupted within the city. More and more people could be seen rushing to the city walls. The entire Qingshan County Town was on high alert, as if facing a formidable enemy!

Meanwhile, the leader of this ’formidable enemy,’ Commander Zheng, had already sat down. He was holding a piece of crispy cookie, eating it while sipping water.

Next to Zheng Fan sat the blind man and Siniang.

The military order was only to monitor the city and prevent its garrison from sending out small units for harassment, not to besiege it. Therefore, Commander Zheng was quite relaxed.

"The Qian army was defeated yesterday. Qingshan City must have received the news by now," said the blind man.

"Naturally," Zheng Fan remarked, clapping the dust from his hands. Siniang thoughtfully tilted a waterskin downwards, allowing her master to wash his hands.

Qingshan City was very close to the battlefield. Moreover, after their victory, the Yan Army had withdrawn to Chuzhou City to rest and reorganize. Even the most foolish officials and soldiers in Qingshan County couldn’t be so inept as to not send anyone out to assess the situation.

The traces left by tens of thousands of men fighting and the plains littered with corpses could not possibly be concealed. Besides, although most of the Qian army was annihilated in yesterday’s battle, a few lucky ones managed to escape. It was certain that some of these deserters had fled to Qingshan City.

"Honestly, considering the merits My Lord has achieved, you should have been promoted to Aide-de-camp long ago," suggested the blind man.

"What’s the hurry? The main thing is Lord Jingnan. It feels like he’s deliberately trying to hold me back."

If he had wanted to become an Aide-de-camp, he could have achieved that by directly joining the Earl of North Border back then.

However, Zheng Fan wasn’t actually dissatisfied with Lord Jingnan’s apparent suppression. He could sense Tian Wujing’s intention to promote him; perhaps Lord Jingnan hoped he would accumulate experience and build a solid foundation for future success.

"It’s best if My Lord can see it that way. In my humble opinion, Lord Jingnan intends to assign you a position in the future where you can take charge independently—at the very least, as a military commander of a county town where your word is law.

Therefore, we still need to earn more military merits, as this will affect the positions we are assigned in the future.

If we could be assigned directly to Chuzhou City, that would be the most comfortable outcome."

"If the Yan campaign proceeds smoothly, the Qian State might either be completely destroyed or reduced to a southern dynasty. As long as we can lure out and annihilate the main armies of the Qian State on its three borders, the entire northern part of the Qian State will fall into Yan’s sphere of influence. Those cities that haven’t been captured will become isolated strongholds, and isolated strongholds are, in fact, very easy to conquer.

For a long time to come, it’s foreseeable that a general will lead his troops to garrison a city and defend a region. This is what’s known as military administration.

This situation will likely continue until Yan has fully assimilated the newly conquered territories. Only then will administrative authority be reclaimed from the generals and returned to the imperial court.

Throughout history, this has always been the case during dynastic transitions."

Commander Zheng was quite open-minded about this and said with a chuckle, "Earning merits isn’t difficult. Although I don’t really have a clear path, for some reason—perhaps because I was too unlucky in my previous life—my luck in this life is genuinely good. Merits seem to be practically jumping into my arms."

"HEH HEH HEH." Both the blind man and Siniang laughed.

"Don’t laugh. I’m serious."

"I am happy for My Lord. My Lord is blessed with immense fortune and destiny itself is on your side!" the blind man flattered him.

Just then, a detachment of several hundred cavalrymen led by Liang Cheng charged from their ranks towards the walls of Qingshan County. They weren’t intending to attack the city; they were merely riding out to relieve boredom and stretch their horses’ legs, incidentally applying some pressure to the enemy.

The defenders on the city walls reacted quickly, loosing a volley of arrows.

Liang Cheng didn’t get too close to the city walls. He had his troops turn back while still outside the effective range of the defenders’ arrows.

After returning, Liang Cheng dismounted and walked up to Zheng Fan, reporting, "There are quite a few defenders on the city walls, and their armor looks somewhat different. I reckon the city took in a lot of deserters yesterday. They’ve even mobilized the common folk from within the city to help with the defense."

"Hmm."

Zheng Fan wasn’t surprised by this. From now on, trying to capture a city merely by rushing its gates would be overly naive, just like the different situations he had encountered during his two sieges of Mianzhou City.

The Qian people’s military preparedness might be lax, but not all of them are fools.

After eating, Zheng Fan sat cross-legged and began to circulate his vital energy.

His strength had been stuck at the Eighth Rank for some time now, and he truly had no idea how to advance further.

Of course, it was normal for him to be clueless about it; after all, Commander Zheng’s rate of strength improvement was already astonishing. No one would disturb My Lord at this moment. After all, My Lord wasn’t just cultivating for himself, but for all the Demon Kings.