The Demon Lords

Chapter 973 - 221: New Year’s Greetings

Lord Jingnan’s lunch was a bit late; he didn’t start eating until about two-thirty in the afternoon.

The dishes weren’t extravagant or lavish, but they were refined enough: one meat, two vegetables, and a soup.

Lord Zheng split the chopsticks and sat with Lord Jingnan at the stone table by the pond to eat.

The earlier conversation had gone too smoothly.

Just a few words back and forth, and it seemed the matter of the Princess had already been settled; something that in his own eyes felt earth-shaking, in Lord Jingnan’s eyes was nothing more than a minor squabble between two juniors.

Most importantly, Zheng Fan’s methods were very clean, leaving not the slightest trace; as long as there was no handle to grab, then whether to cover up or not was just a matter of a single sentence, or even not needing to say anything at all.

"If you wish to condemn, you will not lack for pretexts" did not apply here; after all, however you counted it, Lord Pingye was no longer some soft persimmon, and behind him stood Lord Jingnan.

Zheng Fan ate two bowls of rice; when he was on the second bowl, Tian Wujing took the initiative to scrape his rice into the meat dish, casually stirred it a few times, then handed it to Zheng Fan.

As for himself, he poured the remaining rice into the soup bowl, then pushed in the remaining vegetables.

The two men didn’t actually lick the plates, but they ate very cleanly, leaving basically nothing.

After they finished eating, a personal guard came up to clear away the bowls and chopsticks. Although Fengxin City looked like a city and this residence looked like a marquis’ manor, in truth it was more like a military camp and a commander’s tent. In the army it was naturally inconvenient to have serving girls coming and going openly, so there were no maids coming up here to bring basins and towels or the like.

Tian Wujing drew water from the pond, squatted there, and washed his hands and wiped his mouth.

Lord Zheng followed suit, squatting to the side to wash his hands.

He shook his hands dry,

Tian Wujing raised his head and glanced at the sky,

and said:

"It’s going to rain."

Zheng Fan nodded and said, "Yes."

Although it was very likely going to rain, Tian Wujing still walked out of the marquis’ residence, and Zheng Fan naturally followed.

Lord Jingnan walking within Fengxin City was just like Lord Zheng walking within Snow Sea Pass; the outer ring was full of troops loyal to him, so there was no need to worry too much about safety.

At the same time, Lord Jingnan’s own strength was right there; for the vast majority of assassins in this world, ninety-nine percent of their effort would be spent on how to penetrate the outer cordon and defenses to get near the target.

But with Tian Wujing, it was the other way around, because even if you exhausted all your wits and had heaven-defying luck, slipping past the patrols of the Jingnan Army and finally got in front of Tian Wujing, that’s when you would experience what "real difficulty" meant.

It seemed he understood that his Lord wanted to walk alone for a bit, so no armored guards tagged along at his side; but Zheng Fan still noticed that a squad of personal guards had moved on the outer perimeter. They would only follow at a distance and wouldn’t come forward without special circumstances.

The armored guard at the gate even handed Zheng Fan an umbrella.

They had barely walked far from the marquis’ residence when it began to rain from the sky. Zheng Fan opened the umbrella, holding it to cover both himself and Tian Wujing.

Summer rain makes one feel sticky; early winter rain, on the other hand, chills one to the bone. Moreover, Fengxin City had gone through several bouts of war and had no signs of ordinary life; walking on streets like this, it was truly hard to find any quiet charm or flavor.

Zheng Fan didn’t know where Tian Wujing was going, and he didn’t need to know; he only had to follow.

Even taking ten thousand steps back,

it hadn’t been easy to see Old Tian this once,

so simply keeping Old Tian company on a walk was the least he should do.

Half of Fengxin City was taken up by military camps; the other half looked quite dilapidated, with few people about.

Tian Wujing walked farther and farther toward the desolate outskirts, and Zheng Fan spoke up:

"My Lord, actually, Fengxin counts as a good place too."

Although back then the Situ brothers had been driven out of Jade Plate City by the Chu people, their subsequent choice of Fengxin clearly had careful thought behind it; they would never have gone to some godforsaken backwater.

The subtext was that for Fengxin City to be this desolate was really a bit of a pity; given how difficult the overall situation was now, they should vigorously develop production and save themselves.

Tian Wujing said calmly, "Once the Chu people launch a full-scale war, this place Fengxin will definitely become the forward thrust and will likely be besieged by the Chu army."

Tian Wujing also explained: the Chu State was like a centipede that would not stiffen even in death. The tens of thousands of Chu troops previously slaughtered in Jade Plate City had indeed been crack forces of Chu, but Chu was after all a great power; this bit of loss was still not enough to truly hurt their vitals. Next time they went to war, the Chu people would definitely deploy even more troops. The Yan State excelled at cavalry warfare, and cavalry operations also required a strategic support point as a base. Most likely, Fengxin City would be used as a nail hammered into the board.

So even if they managed and developed it now, once the Chu army laid siege it would all be wasted effort; and if they drew in too many non-military civilians, it would instead become an extra burden.

"Yes, this subordinate understands."

"Your Snow Sea Pass, on the other hand, can be further developed. The Chu people currently hold Town South Pass; once war breaks out, the initial initiative will definitely be in Chu’s hands. But with this Lord sitting in Fengxin, the Chu people won’t dare split off troops to attack your Snow Sea Pass."

These words were spoken with great confidence, yet Lord Jingnan indeed had the capital to say them.

As long as the Chu army’s commander on the other side hadn’t had his brain kicked by a donkey, he wouldn’t dare, while playing chess against Lord Jingnan, to still split forces to attack Snow Sea Pass. The Chu people and the Qian people shared a similar problem: the Chu cavalry was not numerous either, and Snow Sea Pass was a great pass, especially after its repairs. Given the current garrison, population, and war mobilization capacity at Snow Sea Pass, without a hundred thousand troops the Chu people simply couldn’t bite through it.