Chapter 138 The Hada

Si Niang had woven a golden silk soft armor for Zheng Fan and all the devils. Before leaving the city this time, Zheng Fan took the golden silk soft armors from A Ming and Liang Cheng and wore them himself.

He didn't ask for Fan Li's and Xue San's,

because one was too big and the other too small.

Then, wearing his armor and riding his horse, Zheng Fan squinted his eyes and silently enjoyed the midday sun.

The more tense and stimulating the environment, the more one craved this moment of peace and warmth;

and the longer one stayed in this comfort zone, the more one wanted to seek external stimulation;

A poor old man fishing and a wealthy man fishing seemed to be doing the same thing and admiring the same scenery, but because of the different states of mind, the feedback to the surrounding environment was naturally different.

Here, General Zheng was being sentimental,

while over there,

behind him, the Sword Saint rode over, wearing ordinary armor and carrying a black dragon flag. However, the Long Yuan sword was embedded inside the flagpole.

In fact, for the Sword Saint himself, wearing Yan armor and carrying the Yan flag didn't cause much resistance;

Firstly, he had been a city guard in Shengle City for a few months and was used to wearing armor. After looking at the black dragon flag for a long time, it wasn't as glaring as it was at the beginning.

Secondly, the Sword Saint himself was a very reasonable person. You could deceive a gentleman with righteousness, as long as you pressured him with a great cause, he would definitely submit.

General Zheng had gained experience in this routine.

Did you want to bury all the wildlings in this invasion of Jin?

Did you want the snow plains to be unable to recover for fifty years?

Did you want to avenge the Jin people who died tragically under the wildling's blades?

Then pick up this flag,

follow me,

out of the city.

Perhaps, in the eyes of outsiders, the Jin Sword Saint was an unattainable and terrifying existence, but for General Zheng, he liked to make friends with this kind of person the most.

The two met, and the time was almost up.

General Zheng reached out and touched the armor that was getting hot in the sun, and asked:

"Are you confident?"

"It depends on how close I can get," said the Sword Saint.

"How close do you need to be?"

"Within a hundred steps, I have a 30% chance of success. Within fifty steps, I have a 60% chance. Within ten steps, I have a 90% chance."

"There's no 100% chance?"

"If the commander of that wildling's tens of thousands of troops has the same strength as you, then yes."

"Brother, you make it easy to lose friends when you talk like that."

As he spoke,

Zheng Fan also took out a long white cloth from his saddle bag.

"What is this?" asked the Sword Saint.

"A Hada, symbolizing good luck and auspiciousness. In my hometown, when facing distinguished guests and friends from afar, we have to present this; later, I want to offer my blessings to my good Anda (blood brother)."

This way, the distance would be narrowed.

General Zheng's preparations were quite meticulous.

"Does Yan have this kind of tradition?"

"It's unique to our village."

"I see."

"I will try my best to help you get closer to the enemy's main general, but you also have to pay attention to the flag bearer over there. I guess he's not an ordinary person either."

"I know, but it won't have much impact."

This was confidence, the confidence of the Sword Saint.

Of the four great swordsmen, Li Liang Shen was in the military. As a general, he was better at commanding battles and killing people. No one had seen the Chu sword maker take action, so no one knew how much of his reputation was real.

The two best at killing people with swords in this world were the Sword Saint and Qian's Baili Jian.

And Baili Jian's younger sister was the Qian Emperor's personal silver-armored guard, and Baili Jian himself was treated as a guest of honor by the Zhao family.

If the Sword Saint was willing, he could become a top-level offering of Great Yan in a matter of minutes. Zheng Fan felt like he had a cheat code having such a peerless expert by his side, willing to listen to his orders.

Well, since the cheat code was still valid, he should enjoy it quickly.

"The last successful night raid bought us three days. If we can kill the enemy's main general this time, then defending the city this time will most likely be secured."

General Zheng continued to do psychological construction for the Sword Saint, telling him how great what we were doing was, so great that you could disregard your own life and sacrifice to complete it.

"But doing this will damage your, General Zheng's, reputation."

The enemy agreed to negotiate with you, which was considered honorable, but you were bent on plotting against him, which was too morally corrupt.

"My reputation is not important."

Zheng Fan looked around with a deep gaze,

and said emotionally:

"These lads are the ones I brought out, and I have to try my best to bring them back alive. Their wives and children are still waiting for them at home.

I have to be responsible for them, so what do some empty names matter?"

The Sword Saint sighed.

Having been a city guard in Shengle, he could understand this feeling of ordinary soldiers.

Zheng Fan glanced out of the corner of his eye, noticing the Sword Saint's expression. Yes, he had successfully increased his favor.

"Do you need me to remind you when you make your move?"

"No, using the sword requires building momentum beforehand. I'll take care of it myself."

"Okay, after you strike, regardless of the outcome, I will immediately ride back to the city. I have to be responsible for my lads. Please forgive me."

"I understand, this is what you should do."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Soldiers stepped forward to remove the obstacles behind the city gate, and inside the city gate, hundreds of cavalry were ready.

If anything unexpected happened outside, they would rush out of the city gate as soon as possible to meet their general.

Not only that, but locks were also prepared on the city wall. If it really came down to it, Liang Cheng would personally shoot an arrow with a rope. As long as Zheng Fan could grab the rope, Fan Li on top would quickly pull the rope and pull Zheng Fan directly up from under the city wall.

In any case, security measures and various contingency plans were all prepared.

The reason was simple: Zheng Fan was going for a "decapitation strike."

Gently urging the warhorse under his crotch, Zheng Fan regretted why he didn't ride the Pixiu over. At a critical moment, escaping on the Pixiu should be faster, right?

But thinking about this now was meaningless.

After exiting the city gate, the Sword Saint lowered his head, his face hidden by his helmet, and his aura was completely restrained.

Because above their heads, a falcon was already circling early on.

Demonic beasts were spiritual, and to a certain extent, their perception was actually stronger than humans.

"Can you hide it from that bird?" Zheng Fan whispered, moving his lips slightly.

"I couldn't before, but now, I should be able to."

This was the Sword Saint's answer.

In the past, when he stood there, he naturally looked like a sword standing upright. Even if he restrained his aura, it was difficult to completely hide a person's temperament.

But after experiencing several months of life as a city guard in Shengle, the Sword Saint's state of mind had a new breakthrough, and he was able to do it more naturally. This was actually a return to simplicity.

In fact, the news of the Sword Saint being in this Yan army team had not spread.

Although the Sword Saint had taken action during the capture of Fengxin City, firstly, it was chaotic at the time, and secondly, not many ordinary rebels could recognize the Sword Saint.

And the rebels in Fengxin City, after being defeated by Zheng Fan's Shengle army, did not go to join the wildlings. Some simply changed their names and hid, while others simply became bandits.

They weren't stupid. When the Yan people appeared in Fengxin City, they naturally knew that there would be even more tragic killings between the Yan and the wildlings next, and they wouldn't actively send themselves to the wildlings to serve as auxiliary soldiers.

And under the general trend, especially in military disputes, a battle of tens of thousands of soldiers would often directly conceal personal bravery and glory.

Outsiders only knew that the Shengle army had entered Fengxin and drowned Situ Yi and his brothers, but they wouldn't excessively nitpick every word.

The martial world was the martial world; national warfare was national warfare.

Just like when the Zhenbei Army attacked the lower capital, although Baili Jian returned in time, he could only choose to retreat in the face of the Zhenbei Army's iron cavalry and didn't play any role.

But now,

this opportunity,

was given to him by the other party,

In Zheng Fan's opinion, this was God showing him favor to make up for his bad luck every time he charged.

Moreover, swordsmen were the strongest in single combat, and the one beside him was the Sword Saint of swordsmen.

The Sword Saint whispered:

"Aren't you tempted or curious about the conditions the wildlings are offering you?"

In the Sword Saint's view, Zheng Fan was a bit unfathomable. He felt that Zheng Fan was a very pure person, and the purity here was not the same as the purity understood by ordinary people.

"At most, they'll give me the title of king, maybe even a King of Jin?

By the way, there's something you don't know. I sent the First Prince to the northern snow plains to help bestow titles on those tribal chiefs.

We're all cunning old foxes, why talk about *Liao Zhai*?

They're using the same tricks. Wouldn't I be stupid to believe that?"

"*Liao Zhai*? What is that? Thousand-year-old foxes are very terrifying demonic beasts. I've never seen one."

"Okay, I'll tell you about it tonight, a collection of strange tales. It's quite interesting."

"Is that your new work? I know you wrote *Zheng Zi's Art of War*."

Zheng Fan pondered for a moment,

sighed,

and replied:

"Yes."

"You, being a scholar instead of a general, is actually pretty good. There was a Yao Zizhan in Qian. His literary path flourished for thirty years."

Zheng Fan put on a compassionate expression again,

and said;

"Yan is bordered by the barbarians to the west, the Three Jins to the east, and now it has to face the wildlings. To the south are the Qian, who are sharpening their swords and preparing their horses;

Although the glorious Great Yan has vast territory, it cannot accommodate a quiet desk."

The Sword Saint was touched by these words and said:

"So, children in Shengle can enter private schools without tuition?"

Zheng Fan closed his eyes, his mouth slightly open,

a few strands of saliva connecting his upper and lower lips,

nodded,

and said:

"I hope the next generation can live the life that I can't live."

…

The falcon kept circling,

and in another direction,

Grimm was riding his horse, slowly heading towards Snow Sea Pass, with a middle-aged wildling flag bearer half a step behind him.

The true identity of this flag bearer was a Guide, the highest-ranking Guide under Sanghu.

In fact, Sanghu was not considered a priest; he was just a chess piece planted by the wildling king in the Guide group. Strictly speaking, this person beside Grimm was the actual leader of the snow plain Guides.

"The falcon shows no signs of abnormality, proving that the enemy's main general has indeed come out."

The flag bearer heard this and said:

"Grimm, what do you say, if we kill that Yan general now, would Snow Sea Pass be easily broken?"

Grimm shook his head and said:

"No, if we assassinate that Yan general, the Yan army inside will know that they have no way out and will fight to the death instead, because behind them is the snow plain. They have no way to retreat.

However, I am worried that the Yan general on the other side may have the same thoughts as you."

The flag bearer smiled:

"Grimm, you yourself are a fifth-grade martial artist, and you have my protection. Do you still need to worry about this?"

"I'm afraid of death, I'm really afraid of death. I haven't seen the rise of the Holy Race, and I haven't seen the fame of my family spread again. I can't bear to die.

Moreover, the Jin people have a saying: 'Better safe than sorry.'"

"How many what-ifs are there? My power of Star Protection, there are really not many people in this world who can break it."

"So there are some?"

"When that Jin Sword Saint came to my snow plain, he broke it once. That was the only time.

But you wouldn't say that Sword Saint, who has ambitions higher than the sky,

would be like me,

carrying the flag for that Yan general who also destroyed half of his Jin, would you?"