Chapter 1 Where Is This?

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

“Where am I?”

Qin Hu sat up groggily, feeling a chill all over his body. The wind was howling outside, and a strange feeling rose in his heart.

“Oh, Young Marquis, why are you so confused? We’re in the military camp. It’s our turn to stand guard at this hour. If we don’t get up, we’ll be punished according to military law. Even the old Marquis can’t protect you now.”

“What?”

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

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask something, a splitting headache suddenly hit him. A huge torrent of information flooded his mind. After a few seconds, he realized that he had transmigrated.

He had transmigrated from 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 Dayu Dynasty simply did not exist in history.

Qin Hu's ancestors were one of the four dukes and twenty-eight marquises who founded Dayu. Three months ago, his father passed away, and Qin Hu inherited the title, becoming the new Champion Marquis.

Qin Hu was spoiled by his parents since he was a child. He didn't like to read or practice martial arts. All he did was play, eat, drink, and be merry, running rampant in the capital.

When he grew up, his family wanted him to settle down, so they arranged a marriage for him. The bride was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Chen, named Chen Ruoli, a famous and virtuous lady.

This Qin Hu was extremely vicious to others, but he was obedient to this beautiful fiancée, treating her like a treasure.

But the problem arose with this childhood sweetheart, Miss Chen.

According to Qin Hu's memory, that day he took his fiancée to the palace to pay respects to the current Chang’an Princess. The princess and Chen Ruoli had been close 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 immoral acts.

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

Qin Hu was thunderstruck at the time and couldn't believe his ears...

The imperial decree came down quickly. Considering Qin Hu's ancestors' merits, the death penalty was waived, but the living punishment was unavoidable. He was exiled to Youzhou to serve in the military, retaining his title to see how he would perform.

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

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, besides being a playboy, was almost useless. It could be said that he had lost all the face of the Champion Marquis’s Mansion.

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

When the old Marquis was alive, the Duke of Chen still gave him face, but after 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, 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 vast wealth of the Champion Marquis’s Mansion 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 the halls of the mighty was like entering the deep sea. There were really too many people who wanted him dead.

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

Under the bright moonlight, the violent north wind carried a piercing whistle, sweeping across the empty wilderness, blowing the torches flickering, like countless flying knives 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, stepping on the thick snow.

The weak Qin An was caught off guard and was directly overturned by the wind.

Two sentries who were changing shifts saw them coming out, smiled at each other sinisterly, scooped up two handfuls of snow, extinguished the bonfire for warmth, and then crawled into the tent.

Damn it, even the soldiers have been bought off. They want to freeze me to death!

This was a very small camp, with about twenty tents, surrounded by carriages. The outer perimeter didn't even have chevaux-de-frise or antlers, and the nearby terrain was flat and defenseless. It was clear that they didn't plan to stay for long.

According to Qin Hu's previous life's memory, about two hundred people were stationed here. They were the vanguard camp of Li Qin, the Zhengbei General of the Yu Dynasty.

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

“Cough, cough, Young Marquis, do you think we can return alive?” Qin An curled up on the snow, his lips and face were blue, and he spoke weakly, as if he could die at any moment.

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

Those who wanted him dead didn't finish him off in the court, so they used underhanded tricks in the military camp, trying to beat him to death.

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

Life was an endless struggle for survival. Just wait, he would not only survive, but also kill his way back to the capital and settle the score with them.

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

“There are no silver notes anymore. 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 sealed.”

Qin An was only 16 years old this year. He was Qin Hu's personal servant, very thin and weak, and had already been exhausted. He looked like he was on his last breath.

Actually, Qin Hu wasn't in much better shape. These past few days, the vanguard camp had been marching 30 *li* every day. Their job was to open roads through mountains, build bridges over rivers, chop firewood, make fires, dig ditches, carry water, and build camps.

And what would happen when these two delicate guys stayed 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 most anger...

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

It could be considered that he deserved it.

But he had to bear this suffering now. If he couldn't bear it, he would also die.

“Give it to me.”

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

And to save his life was actually not difficult. The simplest method was to bribe. As the saying goes, money can move gods. This method was primitive, but it always worked.

But in this situation, he couldn't bribe high-ranking officials, because no one dared to associate with him. Besides, he had no money.

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

That was the current leader of the vanguard camp.