Chapter 1 The Beginning

Mianzhou City,

Prefectural office,

In the back hall, a scene of singing and dancing.

The dancing girls from Xiahang were graceful and charming, their captivating eyes elevating the atmosphere of the banquet to its peak.

There was a saying in Qian country about the four loves of scholars:

The rouge of Xiahang stains the brush of Jing;

The fine wine of Wuchuan uncorks the ink of Hengzhou.

The rouge of Xiahang refers to the beauties of Xiahang. In the harems of successive emperors of Qian, there was always a place for Xiahang women.

The current monarch of Qian even took in the three Yang sisters of Xiahang in one fell swoop, which was a widely circulated story.

At the moment, the beauties dancing gracefully in the hall were all from Xiahang, gifts from a wealthy Jiangnan merchant to the prefect.

The prefect of Mianzhou sat in the seat of honor, with his colleagues from Mianzhou City sitting on either side below him, and the garrison commander of Mianzhou City sitting at the lowest position.

Logically speaking, in a border town, military generals should be respected. Civil officials manage local administration, and military generals control the troops. Often, in order to deal with the main conflicts, when military and political affairs are not separated, the military generals have more say.

This point was thoroughly implemented in Yan's Beifeng County.

But this was not Yan, this was Qian.

In the eyes of Qian's civil officials, they were already giving a lot of face by allowing a military general to join their banquet.

The garrison commander was also good-tempered. No one paid attention to him, and he didn't pay attention to anyone else, drinking his own wine, eating his own dishes, and watching the dancing girls in front of him.

Without a good temper, how could one be a military general in Qian?

He was open-minded, because there was a ready-made example around him. His former superior, also his father-in-law, the old man who had brought him up, wielded the Sun family spear with superb skill.

In the end, he ended up arguing with the civil officials, and after all the back and forth, he actually became his subordinate.

Why bother, why bother?

Garrison Commander Li Yue squinted and secretly glanced at the prefect sitting in the seat of honor.

He was thinking that the prefect was already over sixty years old, and these dancing girls sent by the southern merchants today would all be sent to the prefect's room tonight.

Li Yue shook his head, thinking about the jokes circulating in Mianzhou City, and wondering who had leaked them out...

It was said that the prefect's lower body had been useless for a long time, but his series of oral skills could still keep the faces of his many wives and concubines rosy.

At this thought, Li Yue suddenly felt a sourness in his tongue and subconsciously raised his wine cup to suppress it.

The scholars above were composing poems and essays to accompany the singing and dancing, and even set up desks to display their writing skills.

Li Yue remained sitting in his seat. No one asked him, a rough man, to look at books and appreciate paintings, and he was too lazy to bother with it.

Previously, his brother-in-law, Sun Jianming, could play with those scholars, and he knew a little about everything: qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Originally, he could have had a great future. If a military general could understand literature and art, and enter the eyes of the scholars, his future path would be broader, and he could be promoted and make a fortune after being regarded as one of their own by the scholars.

It was a pity that Sun Jianming was implicated by his own father. Originally, he could have smoothly taken over his father's position and perhaps made the Sun family into a family of scholarly generals.

But alas, alas,

The characteristic of the Sun family spear was that it had two heads, and could stab both front and back.

His father-in-law was just like his family's ancestral spear, impeaching civil officials for turning corvée laborers into private servants, and exposing the serious problem of empty pay among border troops.

Well, you don't choose either of the two broad paths, and you can't ascend to heaven, so you can only be slapped on the ground.

Fortunately, Li Yue himself was not very ambitious. He was already content with being a garrison commander in this life, and he didn't expect to climb any higher.

After watching for a while, Li Yue got up and bid farewell to the prefect.

The prefect and a group of scholars were preparing to take medicine, which was the highlight of every banquet for Qian's scholars. Everyone took out their own high-quality Five Stone Powder and exchanged them, then took them together.

At this moment, who would want to pay attention to a vulgar military general? The prefect simply waved his hand, indicating that he knew.

Li Yue was not annoyed on the surface, and greeted the others one by one before leaving the hall. Before he could even walk out, he heard bursts of singing from behind.

Looking back, he saw that those literary scholars were already red-skinned, some singing heartily, some taking off their clothes and dancing, and some even hugging the dancing girls beside them and starting to force themselves…

"Heh…"

Li Yue snorted disdainfully and continued to walk out.

Full of food and drink, his face flushed, Li Yue took his horse from a servant, mounted it, and swayed, almost falling off.

This woke up most of his alcohol. He took a deep breath and looked back at the two stone lions in front of the prefectural office.

"He~~tui!"

A mouthful of thick phlegm was spat by Li Yue on the stone lion.

Of course, this was all he dared to do.

At the moment, he lay on the back of the horse and said to his servant beside him:

"Go home…"

Just as he was about to lie on the horse's back and take a nap, a very noisy sound suddenly came from the front.

"What's going on?"

Li Yue raised his head and squinted at the front. He saw many people running, shouting as they ran.

"What, what are they shouting?"

Li Yue asked his servant beside him.

The servant's face already showed disbelief.

He turned his head and looked at his master, who was lying drunkenly on the horse's back,

And said with a crying voice:

"They're shouting, shouting, the Yan are attacking, the Yan are attacking!"

"Plop!"

Li Yue fell off the horse,

His head landed on the ground,

And he fainted directly!

…………

"Ula!!!!!!"

"Ula!!!!!!"

These "Mao-style" charging slogans made Zheng Fan feel very uncomfortable, always feeling very discordant, but now was not the time to stop and teach everyone to relearn the slogans.

The cavalry had already accelerated, and their momentum had already risen.

Now,

All that remained was to move forward bravely!

The hooves of the horses were like thunder. This was different from dealing with the scholars in the academy during the day, and it was also different from sneaking into the chicken fort in the first half of the night.

This time,

It was a righteous cavalry charge!

As the tents in front got closer and closer, as the figures in front got closer and closer, as the city walls in front got closer and closer, Zheng Fan felt that the blood in his body was constantly heating up, and even about to burn!

In his excitement,

Zheng Fan also shouted:

"Ula!"

The managers of the several merchant caravans at the city gate were stunned first. They couldn't figure out what was going on.

Even many people in the shantytown came out of their homes to watch the excitement.

The soldiers who were carrying goods continued to carry them on their shoulders stupidly, looking blankly at the cavalry rushing towards them from the front.

Until,

This cavalry began to wave their sabers!

Anyone who stood in the way of their charge, no matter who they were, was either directly knocked over and trampled by the warhorses, or slashed down by a saber.

Screams echoed at the north gate.

Finally,

Someone who understood what was happening finally realized it,

And screamed:

"The Yan are attacking!"

…………

"Dad, which town's cavalry is that? How arrogant!"

Sun Jianming said, pointing to the cavalry that had appeared in front of him.

Old Sun's breathing suddenly stopped,

He took a deep breath,

Stomped his foot hard on the ground,

And cursed:

"That's not our cavalry, that's not our cavalry!"

"Of course it's not our Mianzhou City's cavalry. Didn't our Mianzhou City's cavalry be used as mules and horses long ago? How could it be ours..."

Sun Jianming suddenly stopped talking,

From his father's horrified emotions, he suddenly thought of a possibility,

At the same time,

When the charging cavalry began to slash and kill the people outside the city, it was tantamount to confirming this possibility for him.

"Are they Yan?"

"Are they really Yan?"

"They are Yan!!!!!"

The last sentence was shouted by Sun Jianming.

Old Sun kicked the long spear with his toe, and the long spear popped up and was grabbed by him. He shouted at his son while unwrapping the thick cloth covering the long spear:

"You go down and order the gatekeepers to close the city gate. The Yan are going to seize the gate!"

"The Yan have really come..."

Seeing that his son was still stunned there, Old Sun kicked him.

"Bang!"

Sun Jianming was kicked to the ground, and only then did he recover from his previous shock.

"Quickly go down and close the city gate. If the Yan seize the gate, Mianzhou will be finished!"

"Okay, okay, okay!"

Sun Jianming scrambled towards the steps.

Old Sun took two deep breaths, looked at the situation below the city wall, and immediately felt a chill in his heart.

Because several caravans had collided together tonight, most of the soldiers in Mianzhou City had been pulled over to work as servants to carry goods.

Therefore, when the Yan cavalry suddenly attacked, there were actually over a thousand Qian soldiers below the city gate!

But these nearly two thousand soldiers had not been trained much at all, and were just using their registered names to receive a monthly salary, most of which was deducted even though they had put in labor.

In fact, they were more handy and skilled with hoes and carrying poles than with knives.

Therefore,

When the four hundred barbarian cavalry attacked,

These nearly two thousand soldiers did not play the slightest role in hindering them, and directly collapsed!

They saw blood, they saw killing, they saw the black armor, they saw the ruthless eyes, and they also saw the faces of the barbarians.

They simply collapsed!

They threw down the goods on their shoulders, they ignored the shouts of the managers, and they almost instinctively turned their heads and began to flee towards the city gate.

Their instincts told them that it would be safer to hide in the city!

Old Sun, on the city tower, watched this scene unfold below,

And a sense of despair began to fill his heart.

Clearly, the Yan cavalry had not really reached the front, but the soldiers of Da Qian had already collapsed first!

Old Sun turned his head and glanced at the long spear in his hand, and the blood that had become somewhat depleted as he aged began to be mobilized again.

"Bang!"

Old Sun slapped the crenel with one palm, flipped over, and jumped off the city tower.

The tip of the long spear was stuck on the city wall, and a string of sparks was drawn as Old Sun's body fell.

"Buzz!"

Old Sun came directly to the bottom of the city tower in this way,

When he landed,

His chest,

Felt a little stuffy,

But he couldn't care about that anymore.

He held the long spear in his hand behind him, and the whole person began to move forward proactively,

While shouting:

"Don't run, follow me to intercept the Yan dogs!"

However, the soldiers around him simply ignored him and continued to run towards the city gate.

In the torrent of thousands of people, Old Sun was advancing alone. He seemed so lonely, but he was helpless.

He had only recently been demoted to Mianzhou City. His original old subordinates were not here, and he had not had time to reorganize the soldiers here.

If it had been before, even if the Yan dogs really attacked, he would have had the confidence to gather a group of his men and fight the Yan dogs, but here, he simply could not mobilize the troops.

Moreover, could these unarmed people still be called soldiers?

Finally,

The foremost barbarian cavalry charged over, slashing down two fleeing soldiers in a row, and happened to meet Old Sun, who was going against the tide.

Old Sun's blood was stimulated again, and the long spear in his hand stabbed out directly.

The barbarian soldier blocked with his knife, but he only felt a shock in his arm, and the saber in his hand was actually knocked away by the tip of the opponent's spear.

Old Sun moved forward again,

The strength of an eighth-rank martial artist accompanied this long spear as it stabbed out again.

"Pfft!"

The tip of the spear pierced through the armor of the barbarian soldier, and the barbarian soldier looked down in disbelief.

"Yan dog, give me your life!"

Old Sun let out a low roar,

Raised his long spear,

And directly picked up this barbarian soldier from the back of his horse with his long spear,

Then he slammed him **** the ground on the side.

"Bang!"

The barbarian soldier's body struggled a few times on the ground, and stopped moving after the last twitch ended.

"Buzz!"

Old Sun propped the long spear on the ground,

And took this opportunity to look back.

He was shocked to find that the city gate had not been closed yet!

It could be seen that someone inside was trying to close the city gate, but the collapsing soldiers were desperately blocking it, and in addition, the city gate was blocked by a lot of goods, making it even more difficult to close the city gate.

"Damn it!"

Old Sun let out a low roar. In his opinion, this was an vanguard unit of the Yan army, and their purpose was to seize the gate. Behind them, there should be a large army of Yan!

If it really continued to be delayed,

Then…

At this moment, more barbarian cavalry approached.

At this moment,

Under this Mianzhou City, a very strange situation had formed.

More than a thousand people were squeezed at the city gate,

A cavalry was gradually converging towards one side of the city gate,

In the middle of both sides,

There was an old man holding a spear.

This strange situation did not last long, because Zheng Fan's purpose was to seize the gate!

The charge of the barbarian cavalry did not stop!

For a time, nearly ten barbarian cavalry charged towards Old Sun in a fan-shaped encirclement.

"Yan dog!"

The long spear in Old Sun's hand danced out again, releasing a brown glow from his body. This glow was also attached to his long spear.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The long spear seemed to have turned into a flexible dragon and snake. With three horizontal strikes, three barbarian cavalry were directly knocked off their horses.

Immediately afterwards, there was a horizontal sweep on the ground. For a time, it was not known how many of the horse's legs were broken, and several more barbarian soldiers were knocked off their horses.

Finally, the tip of the spear began to pick out names, one stroke, one pick, one stab, simple and unpretentious movements, but each set could stab down a barbarian cavalry.

Before long, all ten of the barbarian cavalry who had rushed up earlier were swept down by Old Sun alone, either dead or injured.

However, before Old Sun could take a breath, the second wave of barbarian cavalry charged over again. At the same time, more cavalry were not held back by him alone, but instead detoured around him, and their goal was very clear, pointing directly at the city gate!

"Yan dog, don't go!"

Old Sun knocked down two more barbarian cavalry with his long spear, and his body began to retreat rapidly, while roaring:

"Close the city gate!"

Behind the city gate, Sun Jianming led dozens of city guards and was desperately trying to close the city gate, but outside, there were thousands of people pushing towards this side, and the city gate could not be closed!

"Bang!"

Old Sun stabbed down a barbarian cavalry with another spear.

For a time, this old Qian general actually gave Zheng Fan the feeling of seeing Sha Tuoqueshi knocking on the door of the Zhenbeihou Mansion back then.

But Zheng Fan, as a ninth-rank martial artist, could clearly feel that the other party's blood was about to dry up.

Perhaps the other party was indeed a master when he was not old, but no one could resist the erosion of time.

Liang Cheng made his move. After Old Sun had dealt with two waves of barbarian cavalry in succession, Liang Cheng rode his horse directly over.

Old Sun's long spear danced out again and collided with Liang Cheng's knife.

For a time, Old Sun only felt a sink in his arms and a tremor in his body, and he couldn't even stand still. At this time, Liang Cheng directly jumped off his horse and pounced on Old Sun.

Old Sun's eyes turned cold, and the long spear in his hand broke directly at this time, turning into two spear tips, one spear blocked Liang Cheng's knife, and the other spear pierced into Liang Cheng's abdomen.

However, the other party's physique was like fine steel, and his section of the spear tip could not penetrate the other party's body, but instead, his wrist made a crisp sound.

The strength of the zombie physique was terrifying!

Moreover, Liang Cheng was not just Liang Cheng who had reported to the civilian labor camp with Zheng Fan at the beginning. After Zheng Fan entered the rank, his strength had been further restored. To be precise, his bloodline had also been further awakened.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the knife in Liang Cheng's hand was about to slash at Old Sun's neck.

However, at this moment, Old Sun suddenly let out a roar, blood overflowed from his eye sockets, and a brown light shone brightly on his body, and even the section of the spear tip that was being held against Liang Cheng's abdomen was covered with luster at this time.

"Pfft!"

The spear tip was sent into Liang Cheng's body.

Old Sun gritted his teeth, staring at Liang Cheng with scarlet eyes,

"Yan dog, give me your life…………"

Two barbarian cavalry killed him,

One on each side,

When the warhorses roared past,

The two of them bent down at the same time,

Drew their knives,

"Pfft!"

Old Sun, who was deadlocked with Liang Cheng, could not move at all,

The next moment,

His head was chopped off,

And as it rolled in the air,

He saw that the city gate behind him was still not closed.

"Pa!"

The head finally fell to the ground.

Old Sun's vision began to gradually blur and darken,

He knew that,

Mianzhou City was finished;

At the same time,

He was also tired.

"Your injury?" Zheng Fan asked Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng shook his head and said, "Thank you for your concern, Lord, it's not a big deal."

After speaking, Liang Cheng remounted his horse.

At this time, Zheng Fan saw a previously injured and fallen barbarian soldier actually walk to the old man's head and bend down to pick it up.

Zheng Fan narrowed his eyes and said in the barbarian language:

"What are you doing?"

"Master, he is a true warrior. We barbarians respect warriors, even if they are our enemies."

Zheng Fan nodded and said:

"I order you to take twenty people to take all the injured tribesmen and the bodies of the fallen tribesmen and wait for us to return at the earthen slope where we rested earlier outside the city."

"Yes, Master."

Zheng Fan pointed his finger at the old man's body again, "Take his whole body, bury him first, he is a Qian, he should be buried here."

"Yes, Master."

Liang Cheng covered his abdomen with one hand and still held the knife with the other, and said:

"Lord, our troops can't hold this place. The Qian in the city probably think we are the vanguard, and there is a large army behind us, so they are so afraid and panicked. Once they wake up and find that we only have this little manpower, maybe..."

"I'm not naive to that point,

But at least, I have to take some souvenirs to prove that I have been here, enter the city!"

With an order,

More than three hundred barbarian cavalry, led by Zheng Fan, directly rushed into the city. They did not disperse to loot, nor did they attempt to occupy the treasury or the warehouses of the merchants in the city. After crushing a few mobs composed of scattered soldiers on the streets,

The team stopped at the entrance of the prefectural office.

Zheng Fan raised his head and glanced at the plaque on the prefectural office,

And said to Liang Cheng beside him:

"We're here, the souvenir shop."

But Liang Cheng said:

"Please don't let it be another chicken fort."

Zheng Fan immediately glared at him,

And said:

"Shut your crow's mouth!"