Why do I have so many masters?-Chapter 738 - 42 The Bitter Cold of the Western Regions (1/2)
Chapter 738 -42 The Bitter Cold of the Western Regions (1/2)
The territory of Great Qin was vast beyond measure. Twenty years ago, it had devoured the remaining Six Kingdoms with a momentum that could swallow Heaven and Earth. Its territorial peak was unprecedented, a feat not even the ancient sage kings could match.
After the world was pacified, it was Wang Tiance who laid out the strategy, while Zhou Fengyue gathered his followers.
Renowned as the supreme master of the chessboard, Wang Tiance spent nearly ten years orchestrating the endgame, greatly diminishing the influence of the noble clans by threefold, and established an era of universal peace.
Originally, the countless disordered counties and state cities were consolidated into seventy-two prefectures. All land belonging to Great Qin became part of the Central Plains. The Western Regions, for the most part, were territories absorbed from the Jinwu Dynasty.
The Jinwu Dynasty had only a dozen counties to its name, negligible compared to the multitudes of the Central Plains states, and moreover, was bitterly cold and bordered many barbarian nations—its people fierce and resilient.
Though few in number, every household reared horses in the Hu style. With a force of 130,000 elite Iron Cavalry, they dominated the Central Plains, unbowed and unafraid, until they met the famous general of Great Qin, Su Zhengcheng. Only after a bloody battle and a single misstep did they fall to defeat.
When Great Qin invaded the Jinwu capital, the Emperor, deeply affectionate towards his children, slaughtered his wives and offspring with a sword to spare them from ending their lives willingly and becoming playthings for others, losing their dignity. Then, with sword in hand, he boldly emerged from the Imperial Palace, slaying thirty-seven of Great Qin’s fiercest soldiers and decapitating two generals, before dying to a barrage of arrows. With eyes wide open in anger, cursing “Tyrant Qin,” facing the direction of Heaven Capital City, his body stood erect in death, his spirit unbroken and chilling to behold, worthy of an Emperor’s reputation.
Su Zhengcheng personally ushered this tyrannical Emperor to the afterlife. After Great Qin’s unification, he repeatedly petitioned, even risking the wrath of the Emperor at the time, to secure a posthumous title of ‘Wu’ for the fallen Jinwu sovereign, whose country’s ruin had largely been caused by himself.
For this, he nearly lost his ranks and honors, and struggled to be reappointed. Bereft of military authority, he found himself serving the Former Emperor, leading the Blackwater Flood Dragon Cavalry, seeking exotic treasures across the world, unknowing if he ever regretted his outspoken past.
Distinct from other counties in Great Qin, the Protectorate General was established in the western territories, a position higher than the Prefectural Governor, with significant military power, no need for reporting, and the ability to mobilize three thousand Iron Cavalry at will—like a Sea-Calming Divine Needle, quelling the longing of the locals for their lost homeland.
People forget easily, and life, when peaceful, becomes calm. With Great Qin’s tender policies pervading discreetly like spring breeze, inaudible and soothing, after over a decade, even the most stubborn of sentiments had gradually subsided.
Jingyang City was home to the Great Qin’s Western Region Protectorate General. Over the past ten years, Great Qin stealthily relocated people here, including many skilled artisans and beautiful women from the Central Plains, making this harsh land increasingly prosperous.
Once a land of martial prowess, now, delicate and beautiful women could be seen everywhere, along with privileged youths flying hawks and indulging themselves. Although not as elegant as Jiangnan Road, it had surpassed the robust cities in Northern Lands like Fufeng.
The scent of rouge assailed the senses, making it hard to believe that just twenty years ago, this was Jinwu territory, where even women and children could mount horses and draw bows, and an army of a hundred thousand could sweep across the universe.
The most prominent wastrel in the city was, of course, the son of Great Qin’s Western Region Protectorate. Yang Yongding, the Protectorate’s current commander, was a favorite general of Sima Cuo, the head military officer of Great Qin. He had once broken into cities and defeated generals but now found himself in a desolate, cold place far from Heaven Capital City.
Yet he bore no resentment towards the Grand Commander.
Now that the Supreme General, Tiance, was no longer in this world, it was as if Sima Cuo was being put to the test by fire. Yang Yongding still remembered when Wang Tiance left Capital City, Sima Cuo, who had never got along with Supreme General Tiance, sat in a daze for a long time, sighing that life was not going to be easy henceforth.
Afterward, he raised his cup in salute from afar. When Yang Yongding asked why he didn’t send him off, the famous general simply smiled faintly, saying there was no reason to seek out scorn voluntarily.
Being at the pinnacle of his position and least in need of fearing harm from others, that one was gone. Zhou Fengyue became like the proverbial old turtle, attending court each day with eyes on his nose, nose on his heart, sparing his words, even speaking nonsense sometimes; within a month, he was impeached several times.
Sima Cuo, who was known for his integrity and bravery, voluntarily sullied himself, even relinquishing his military power. His loyal followers, illustrious for their battle honors, were dispatched throughout the empire, like nails securing Great Qin’s borders and world. He himself toured various military formations as the Grand Commander.
Favored immensely, he spent over two hundred days a year in the Capital City, summoned by the Emperor for chess, a privilege once granted only to Wang Tiance. However, those seated above Third Rank at the Imperial Court could see through the favoritism and didn’t believe it compared to when Emperor called Wang Tiance into the Eastern Palace for chess.
Yang Yongding found himself drifting again and shook his head in resignation. He carelessly rolled up the documents on the desk and set them aside. A seasoned veteran who rose through military ranks, he disliked these headache-inducing and irksome matters, preferring the comfort of leading troops into battle.
Muttering to himself in the Northern accent, Yang Yongding, whose tall figure rivaled that of a barbarian strongman but whose name was refined, stood up and stretched. He walked out to breathe in the view of the courtyard, then turned to the old servant beside him and asked,
“Where have those two rascals gone?”
The old servant bowed and replied, “The Eldest Young Master is probably at the drill field, practicing martial arts with a few military officers right now. The Second Young Master has vanished without a trace, he must have left the city…”
Yang Yongding’s thick eyebrows knitted in frustration as he cursed under his breath, asking,
“Off to see that scholar again?!”
“You’d think if he was a scholar with real skills, it might be acceptable, but what can a destitute Confucian who only teaches grand principles do?”
The old servant added with a smile,
“Master Zhao also taught the common people martial arts.”
Yang Jinxian sneered disdainfully,
“Those basic things taught in the Confucian School, we in the Military Family’s training grounds teach better things than that. Moreover, it doesn’t cause much harm to the body. Besides, he himself had an arm chopped off and his qi mechanism is weakened; how could he possess any notable skill?”
“I have no idea what nonsense Ding’er heard to buy a golden-tongued parakeet from a barbarian trader, and then he actually went to become his disciple and knelt for full three days. Wanting to bring him back from that heterodox scholar, he even threw a tantrum at me, smashing a Black Glazed Cup given by the Grand Commander.”
“If he were anyone else, I would have beaten him until his skin split and his flesh burst and he was unrecognizable, just to feel slightly appeased.”
Yang Jinxian’s face was full of rage, yet he was also as helpless as all fathers in the world who cannot control their children, exhaling a long breath. With a pained expression, he calculated,
“Anyway, it’s better to listen to the Confucian Sect’s principles there than to rob someone’s bride outside. If one day he feels the Confucian martial arts are too weak and uninteresting and returns to learn the Military Family’s skills, that would be the best outcome.”
The old servant at his side couldn’t help but crack a smile.
Dressed in a hunting outfit with a hint of barbarian style, Yang Yongding mounted a horse of superior breed named Spring, renowned in the treatise on horse judging. Its physical power was secondary; what stood out most was its majestic appearance, galloping through the heavily fortified cities of the Western Regions.
In less than twenty years, this land, which should have been the most resistant as the old territory of Jin State, had hardly any difference left with the other county cities of Great Qin.
Great Qin’s Western Regions differed from the Northern Border; beyond its boundaries lay no Xiongnu watching covetously, just many small nations like Baekje and the Göktürks, who dared to anger Great Qin and provided asylum to numerous distinguished scholars not willing to subsist on Qin’s grain after their countries had fallen.
This was originally Su Zhengcheng’s strategy, employing a sophisticated tactic of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao, which fragmented the resistance of the Jin Dynasty. Otherwise, the Jin Dynasty, which prided itself on every household adept in barbarian attire and archery, even with women capable of taking up arms, wouldn’t have been so easily conquered.
This barren, cold land had little to offer, yet its strategic location was critically important. After swallowing up the world, Great Qin could not tolerate a fierce beast lurking in the northwest.
The Supreme Former Emperor of Great Qin, then the sovereign of the world, full of bold aspirations to conquer, drunkenly declared that beside his couch, how could he allow a tiger to snore? He led his troops northwest and killed Emperor Wu of Jin, a leader equally brilliant and bold, in front of the Nine Dragons Wall at the entrance of the Great Dry Palace.
When the news of victory reached him, he was at the Tai Chi Skill place toasting from afar.
That was the moment he felt truly fulfilled in his life.
Yang Yongding charged out of the city gates; this place was much stricter than the Central Plains of Great Qin, yet how could the officers guarding the city not recognize the Second Young Master from the Protectorate General’s office? They intended to let him pass, but Yang Yongding voluntarily dismounted and lined up at the back.
The soldiers guarding the gate found nothing unusual in this.
Over the past three-plus years, the utterly licentious Yang Yongding had, for some unknown reason, become sensible and well-read. At first, they were somewhat panicked, thinking they would be settled with and thoroughly disciplined come autumn.
However, various signs eventually revealed that this young noble was not feigning decency because he was smitten with some girl; he had genuinely changed.
Since then, he had taken a series of astonishing actions. Originally, many soldiers regretted that the Eldest Young Master was courageous while the Second Young Master was a hopeless profligate. Now, they were both surprised and pleased.
Those with good military intelligence found out that the likable transformation of the Second Young Master was because he had taken a scholar as his master.
This scholar came to the Western Regions from the Central Plains over three years ago.
A one-armed man carrying a sword.
PS: The first update of the day is here… Two thousand nine hundred words.
