Chapter 1 The Beginning

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

“Where am I?”

Qin Hu sat up groggily, feeling a chill on his body. The wind was howling outside, and he felt a strange sense of bewilderment.

“Hey, 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, 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. Standing before him was a soldier in leather armor.

As he was about to ask a question, a splitting headache suddenly struck, and a torrent of information flooded his brain. 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!

The era, called the Great Yu Dynasty, didn't exist in history.

Qin Hu’s ancestor was one of the four dukes and twenty-eight marquises who founded the Great Yu Dynasty. His father had died three months ago, and Qin Hu had inherited the title, becoming the new Champion Marquis.

Qin Hu had been spoiled by his parents since childhood. He disliked reading and martial arts, only caring about having fun, indulging in food, drink, and pleasure, 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 noble family, both beautiful and intelligent.

Qin Hu was ruthless to everyone else, but he was utterly devoted to his beautiful fiancée, treating her like a precious treasure.

But the trouble arose from this very Chen Ruoli, his childhood sweetheart.

According to Qin Hu's memory, he had accompanied his fiancée to the palace to pay respects to the current Chang'an Princess. The princess and Chen Ruoli were close friends since childhood, so she arranged a banquet.

Later, Qin Hu drank himself into a stupor. When he woke up, he was in the inner guard’s prison. He was told that he had drunkenly harassed the princess and attempted inappropriate acts.

Even more bizarrely, Chen Ruoli actually submitted a memorial accusing her fiancé, Qin Hu, of seventy-two illegal acts, each with solid evidence.

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

An imperial decree soon followed. Considering Qin Hu’s ancestors’ merits, the death penalty was waived, but he couldn’t escape punishment. He was exiled to Youzhou to serve in the army, retaining his title to observe his future behavior.

But after arriving in Youzhou, he was quickly assigned to the front lines – to be at the vanguard’s beck and call.

After these events flashed through Qin Hu's mind, he basically understood that this was a trap.

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

The Qin and Chen families were originally joined by political marriage, both seeking to become stronger and bigger. But the later Qin Hu, besides being a playboy, was virtually useless. It could be said that he had completely disgraced the Champion Marquis’s House.

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

When the Old Marquis was alive, the Duke of Chen still showed respect. But when the Old Marquis died, the Duke of Chen turned ruthless, staging a scene of breaking off the engagement at the funeral.

But Qin Hu deeply loved Chen Ruoli and refused to agree at all costs, while Chen Ruoli had long been disgusted with this villain.

Thus, a disaster descended!

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

These forces, each seeking their own benefit, colluded and quickly united…

Truly, entering the marquis's gate is like entering the deep sea. There were so 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 rough north wind carried a piercing whistle, sweeping across the empty wilderness, making the few torches flicker. It felt as if countless flying knives were cutting at people's skin.

“We can't, Young Marquis. We’ll be punished according to military law."

Qin Hu and Qin An huddled together against the wind, running out of the camp and stepping forward on the thick snow.

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

Two sentries changing shifts saw them come out, exchanged sinister smiles, scooped up two handfuls of snow, extinguished the warming bonfire, 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 carts. There were no chevaux-de-frise or antlers on the outside, and the surrounding terrain was flat, with no defenses to hold. It was clear that they didn't plan to stay for long.

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

The target of Li Qin’s 20,000-strong army was the Yu Dynasty’s longtime enemy on the border, the Kingdom of Liaodong.

“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 his voice was weak, as if he could die at any moment.

Qin Hu sighed inwardly. Qin An was purely implicated by him. If things continued to develop like this, they would undoubtedly die.

Those who wanted him dead, unable to kill him in the imperial court, would resort to underhanded tricks and beatings in the military camp, trying to kill him.

But Qin Hu was definitely not a person 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, not only will I survive, but I will also kill my way back to the capital and settle accounts with you all.

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

“There are no silver notes. I only have twenty taels of silver on me. The imperial decree stated 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, already不堪折磨 (bùkān zhémó - unable to bear the torment), and looked like he was on his last breath.

Actually, Qin Hu wasn't much better. These past few days, the vanguard camp had been marching 30 *li* every day. The work they did was opening roads through mountains, building bridges over water, chopping firewood and making fires, digging ditches and carrying water, and building camps.

What would happen when these two delicate and tender guys were with hundreds of rough and tough soldiers every day?

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

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

It could be considered that he deserved it.

It was just that 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 methods.

Saving his life wasn't actually difficult. The simplest method was bribery. As the saying goes, money can communicate with the gods. Although this method was primitive, it always worked.

But in this situation, he couldn't 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.

Who was currently the leader of the vanguard camp.