Chapter 1 Where Am I?

“Young Marquis, please get up, it’s our turn to patrol.”

“Where am I?”

Qin Hu sat up groggily, feeling a chill all over his body. The wind howled outside, and a sense of bewilderment washed over him.

“Oh, Young Marquis, why are you so confused? We’re in the military camp. It’s our shift to stand guard. If we don’t get up, it’s military law, and even the old Marquis can’t protect you now.”

“What?”

Qin Hu opened his eyes and saw that he was in a tent, with a soldier in leather armor in front of him.

Just as he was about to ask something, a splitting headache suddenly struck, and a massive influx of information flooded his mind. A few seconds later, he realized he had transmigrated.

He had gone from being a modern special forces soldier to a Young Marquis also named Qin Hu, the leader of the seven notorious young masters of the capital!

And this era, called the Da Yu Dynasty, simply did not exist in history.

Qin Hu’s ancestors were one of the four dukes and twenty-eight marquises who founded the Da Yu Dynasty. Three months ago, his father had died of illness, and Qin Hu had inherited the title, becoming the new Champion Marquis.

Qin Hu had been spoiled by his parents since he was a child, disliking reading and martial arts, indulging in play, eating, drinking, and making merry, and running rampant in the capital.

When he grew up, his family wanted him to settle down, so they arranged a marriage for him. The woman was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Chen, named Chen Ruoli, a renowned lady of a distinguished family, beautiful and intelligent.

This Qin Hu was vicious to everyone else, but he was particularly obedient to this beautiful fiancée, treating her like a treasure.

But the trouble started with this childhood sweetheart, Miss Chen.

According to Qin Hu’s memory, that day he and his fiancée entered the palace to pay respects to the current Chang’an Princess. The princess and Chen Ruoli had been good friends since childhood, so she arranged a banquet.

But later, Qin Hu drank too much and passed out. When he woke up, he was already in the inner guard’s prison. He was told that he had drunkenly harassed the princess and intended to commit indecent acts.

What was even more bizarre was that Chen Ruoli actually wrote a memorial impeaching her fiancé Qin Hu for seventy-two illegal acts, each with evidence.

Qin Hu felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He simply couldn’t believe his ears…

An imperial decree soon came down, stating that in consideration of Qin Hu’s ancestors’ merits, the death penalty could be waived, but he could not escape punishment. He was exiled to Youzhou to serve in the military and retain his title to see how he would behave.

But after arriving in Youzhou, he was quickly assigned to the front line—to be used in front of the vanguard tent.

After these things flashed through Qin Hu’s mind, he basically understood that this should be a trap.

Because the Duke of Chen had long wanted to break off the engagement with him.

The Qin family and the Chen family were originally a political marriage. Both families wanted to become stronger, but the later Qin Hu, apart from being a playboy, was almost useless. It could be said that he had completely disgraced the Champion Marquis’s Mansion.

It should be known that the Champion Marquises of past generations were all heroic figures who had unparalleled influence in the military, but in this generation, there was a good-for-nothing who had never even been on the battlefield.

When the old Marquis was alive, the Duke of Chen still gave him face, but when the old Marquis died, the Duke of Chen turned ruthless and staged a scene of breaking off the engagement at the mourning hall.

But Qin Hu deeply loved Chen Ruoli and refused to agree to it, while Chen Ruoli had long been disgusted with this scoundrel.

Thus, a disaster descended!

As for the Chang’an Princess, it was even simpler. She was the cousin of Qin Hu’s cousin. As long as Qin Hu died, the Champion Marquis’s vast estate would naturally fall into the hands of this cousin.

These forces, each taking what they needed, colluded with each other and quickly united…

As expected, entering a noble family’s gate is like entering a deep sea. There were really many people who wanted him dead.

“Qin An, do you think we can find a place to take shelter from the wind?”

Under the bright moonlight, the rough north wind, with its piercing whistle, swept across the empty wilderness, making the few torches flicker, as if countless flying knives were cutting the skin.

“It’s not allowed, Young Marquis, we’ll be punished by military law.”

Qin Hu and Qin An shrank their heads and braved the wind, running out of the camp and stepping forward on the thick snow.

The weak Qin An was accidentally overturned by the strong wind.

Two sentries who were changing shifts saw them coming out, smiled at each other maliciously, scooped up two handfuls of snow, extinguished the fire that was used for warming up, and then crawled into the tent.

Damn it, even the soldiers have been bought off, trying to freeze me to death!

This was a very small camp, with about twenty tents, surrounded by wagons. There were no chevaux-de-frise or antlers on the periphery, and the surrounding terrain was flat, with no natural defenses. It was obvious that they didn’t intend to be stationed there for a long time.

According to Qin Hu’s memories from his previous life, there were about two hundred people stationed here. They were the vanguard camp of Li Qin, the General Who Conquers the North of the Yu Dynasty.

And the target of Li Qin’s 20,000-strong army this time was the Yu Dynasty’s long-time enemy on the border, the Liaodong Kingdom.

“Cough, cough, Young Marquis, do you think we can go back alive?” Qin An’s whole body was curled up on the snow, his lips and face were blue, and he was speaking weakly, as if he would die at any moment.

Qin Hu sighed in his heart. Qin An was purely implicated by him. If things continued to develop like this, the two of them would definitely die.

Those who wanted him dead couldn’t kill him in the court, so they were using underhanded methods and ambushes in the military camp, trying to kill him.

But Qin Hu was definitely not one to sit still and wait for death. This was obviously a frame-up, and he couldn’t let it go.

Life is an endless struggle for survival. Just wait, not only will I survive, but I will also kill my way back to the capital and settle the score with you.

“Qin An, how many silver notes did we bring when we left?”

“There are no silver notes, I only have twenty taels of silver on me. The imperial decree said that we were exiled to the army, and our family property was confiscated.”

Qin An was only 16 years old this year. He was Qin Hu’s personal servant. He was very thin and weak, and had long been overwhelmed by the torment. He looked like he only had one breath left.

In fact, Qin Hu was not much better. In the past few days, the vanguard camp had been marching 30 *li* every day, and their job was to open roads through mountains, build bridges over rivers, chop wood, make fires, dig ditches, carry water, and build camps.

And what would be the situation if these two delicate guys were with hundreds of rough soldiers every day?

They would definitely do the hardest work, eat the worst food, suffer the most beatings, and endure the greatest anger…

Qin Hu estimated that his predecessor might have been tortured to death.

It could be regarded as his deserved punishment.

It’s just that he has to bear this suffering now. If he can’t bear it, he will die too.

“Give it to me.”

Qin Hu had made up his mind. He must first find a way to save Qin An’s life, and then think of other ways.

Saving his life was not difficult. The easiest way was to bribe. As the saying goes, money can make the gods move. Although this method is primitive, it always works.

But in this situation, it was impossible for him to bribe high-ranking officials, because no one dared to get involved with him. Besides, he didn’t have any money.

So, he thought of one person in his mind, Centurion Li Xiaokun.

He was currently the top leader of the vanguard camp.