Chapter 207: The enemy's army is approaching

Xiao Fan is just a mortal. He can't change much history and can only do his best to do something he can do.

Some people are mediocre and do nothing all their lives. From birth to old age, they live in a confused and inconspicuous way, and they are busy all their lives. They occasionally have a little Aq-like little happiness in hardships. This little happiness may be the only source of motivation in a difficult life that can support themselves to continue running. As for the belief and meaning of life, no one must have thought of these luxury problems.

What is belief? Live and have a good hope. This is the belief of ordinary people. It is very vulgar, but no one is qualified to laugh at this vulgarity. Most people in the world are just ordinary people. They cannot pretend to be family, country and the world. For them, those beliefs that are highly admired may be less real than a piece of oil in their jobs.

What about Xiao Fan’s belief?

To this day, he holds great power, especially in the special position of the commander of the Jinyiwei. It can be said that he is the most powerful department in the entire Ming Dynasty. Such a prominent position brings him endless dazzling halo, and what does he need to do?

He needs to maintain this halo, he needs to permanently have everything he already has, his wife, family, friends... He hopes that his friends can be the emperor happily on the throne of the emperor, rather than ending up missing and desperate...

Each belief is different. This is Xiao Fan's belief. It cannot be said to be great, but he persists with no regrets.

So, Xiao Fan participated in this war.

Civilization is always accompanied by war, constantly being destroyed and rebuilt. History is a war story that changes dynasties one by one, repeating itself and never stopping.

Xiao Fan hates it very much, and he will see the difference with one knife. This is war. It is like a monster, with its hideous mouth, devouring all living beings. Xiao Fan hates it and is even afraid of it, but he has to participate in it.

Faith that does not pay a price is worthless and cannot be called a belief. Xiao Fan is now paying for his belief, and the price is very high, perhaps his own life.

The team of three thousand people galloped on the vast grassland that could not be seen from the end, and seemed very small.

The morning breeze on the grassland was bitter and cold, mixed with some sand and dust, which made everyone's face hurt.

It was indeed a shame to be chased by hundreds of naked men for dozens of miles. This directly led to the morale of the soldiers. Everyone had a look of embarrassment on their faces, followed Xiao Fan with a look of shame, and marched northwards all the way.

Xiao Fan also felt very embarrassed, but he had a very commendable advantage, embarrassing things, unhappy things, and shameless things, and he would forget them in a blink of an eye, and there would be no trace in his mind.

After a decadent and silent march, Xiao Fan quickly recovered his good mood.

I stole hundreds of sheep and hundreds of clothes. This is victory! Why not be happy? What's the shame? So what if I was chased by a naked man? Didn't I catch up? It's also victory... How could there be an army that was so dejected after winning a battle?

Actually, if you are shameless, you will definitely live happily...

The ancients were so pretentious and didn’t know what they mean!

"Brother Xiao, I have been away for two days and are getting closer and closer to Pingfu. In other words, we may encounter a 50,000 army of the Tartars at any time. How should we deal with it at that time?" Cao Yi's expression gradually became a little anxious.

Xiao Fan shook his head and said, "To be honest, I really haven't figured out a way. The battle is about strength, and there are not so many tricks of taking advantage of tricks. We have 3,000 people against 50,000 Tartars. No matter how we deal with it, we will hit the stone with eggs. This battle is difficult to fight. Maybe... maybe we will be wiped out..."

As Xiao Fan spoke, his expression became dark, not sure whether it was for himself or for the three thousand lively young lives behind him.

Cao Yi was silent for a while and sighed: "Going to the battlefield is like putting his head in his belt. Fighting is a life-threatening activity. It is too common to die in the country... We are all born with misery. If you are a rotten life, you will die. It's no big deal. But you... Oh! Brother Xiao, you really shouldn't have come. You are already an important minister in the court at such a young age. You are the commander with great power, and Chengyi Bo, the late emperor. Your great future and power are waiting for you, but you ran to this vast grassland with us to die..."

Xiao Fan Zhanyan smiled and said, "I don't want to come either. There is no way. King Yan's eyes are too sharp. He can't hide it from him even if he pretends to be dizzy and sick... In fact, among the three thousand of us, I am the most afraid of death."

Cao Yi looked at him deeply and said, "You came to the grassland not just because of the situation, right? I know a little bit about the situation at that time. You are the imperial envoy. Even if the King of Yan is forced to you with power, you can still push it over. Before the King of Yan's rebellion was revealed, he would not dare to do anything to you, otherwise he would cause trouble for himself. - Why do you have to follow the army into the grassland?"

Xiao Fan sighed and said, "Maybe I'm a slut..."

Cao Yi stared at him in confusion.

Xiao Fan turned his head to look at Cao Yi and said, "Brother Cao, have you ever thought about what our world in the future will be like?"

Cao Yi scratched his head and said, "A year later? Hehe, I never thought about what it would be like in a month. After entering this grassland, I just thought I was dead and I would earn money if I lived one more day."

Xiao Fan said seriously: "I have thought about it, I often think about this question..."

"Then what will we look like in a year?"

Xiao Fan raised his head, looked at the few white clouds floating in the blue sky, pondered for a while, and said, "A year later, maybe... the King of Yan has rebelled, and the kings Jingcong, the court mobilized a large army to encircle and suppress the rebellion of the King of Yan. Although the imperial army was superior, the army was used to peaceful days, and the dusk was gradually growing, and the combat power was low. More importantly, no commander who could be a great commander to command the battle. This war against rebellion will be very hard, and it will even gradually lose its advantage and become very passive. Perhaps... At the end of the war, the king of Yan, who was originally at a disadvantage, occupied the country and usurped the throne. The unrighteous vassal king finally became the crown of the monkey and faced the south and the north, but our emperor was finally taken advantage of by the emperor's uncle, burned the palace, and ended up in a desperate situation..."

Cao Yi opened his mouth wide, his eyes as big as a bell, staring at Xiao Fan in disbelief, with a look of ghosting in the daytime.

"How did you... know? You still know so much?" Cao Yi said in shock.

Xiao Fan smiled bitterly, how did I know? In another six hundred years, everyone in the world will know.

Cao Yi stayed for a while, then suddenly realized, and came to Xiao Fan's ear and said mysteriously: "...Your master's fortune-telling?"

"……right"

Cao Yi immediately looked respectful: "The old immortal is so wise and unfathomable!"

Xiao Fan: “…………”

This kind of thing is really unexplainable!

Cao Yi was worried again: "The old god really counted that King Yan would eventually usurp the country?"

Xiao Fan said: "Actually... I calculated it."

Cao Yi's expression immediately became relaxed, and he let out a cold snorting contempt from his nostrils with disdain.

Xiao Fan had no choice but to change his words: "Okay, it was my master who calculated it."

Cao Yi suddenly became nervous again.

Xiao Fan: “…………”

Am I so untrustworthy?

Cao Yi thought for a while and said, "But... what does this have to do with your coming to the grassland and fighting the Tartars?"

Xiao Fan sighed and said, "There is no general in the court. I am the emperor's most trusted minister. If King Yan rebelled, do you think I can stay out of trouble? Since I cannot stay out of trouble, before he rebelled, I have to go to the battlefield to see it. At least let me, a person who has never fought a war, understand what the war is. Otherwise, when things come to an end, wouldn't I become Zhao Kuo who only knows how to talk about war on paper? It's not a pity to lose my life. If the emperor's rule is misleading, how can I be worthy of him?"

Cao Yi suddenly realized, and immediately looked at him with admiration, and said, "It turns out that you are willing to go to the grassland to deal with the Tartars. It is not entirely forced by the King of Yan. You also have your own plans."

Xiao Fan nodded and then laughed dryly: "Of course... I can't pretend to be dizzy and can't pretend. In fact, you can win a battle by trying your luck on paper..."

Cao Yi said with a dark face: "...you don't know how to climb up with a pole."

In the following days, there was an inexplicable increase of thousands of robbers on the grassland.

This robber is very despicable. When encountering a slightly larger tribe, he avoids it without any harm. When encountering a weak tribe, he rushes up and rushes into the tribe like a dog falling into the water, kills sheep and cattle, and even kills the sheep's dog. If he encounters resistance, he will shoot arrows and hunt without hesitation.

However, this robber is very particular. He only robs cattle and sheep, not women, and runs away after robbing it. In the blink of an eye, there is no shadow, coming and going like the wind, and it is simply and neat.

This news made the small Tartar tribe outside the pass panic. What kind of robbers are they? How many times are they hungry?

Regardless of whether the news is true or false, the Tartars in the small tribe dare not be careless at all. It is not easy to survive these days. Fight against the sky, the earth, and people. Black disasters and white disasters will bring devastating blows to them.

So the small tribes of the Tatars hurriedly began to contact and convey messages, and several small tribes that were closer to grazing were temporarily united to form a temporary alliance to resist robbery.

The calm grassland was filled with a strange and panic atmosphere.

Xiao Fan was unaware of this. His view of right and wrong was very weak. In his opinion, robbing a few cattle and sheep was a very common trivial matter, and it was no big deal. Based on the principles of humanitarianism, the nature of their robbery can only be regarded as a slightly violent emergency rescue. - Who can't borrow some jealousy when trying to get a crab?

Just borrowing something, can it be called robbing? Make a big deal!

On the vast grassland, a army of three thousand people galloped northward.

"I said, how many cattle and sheep should we grab? The brothers' horses are almost unable to let go. On average, the cattle and sheep we grab now are enough for more than two months... Are you here to fight or rob?" Cao Yi said with a bitter face.

Xiao Fan was shocked: "So many? You're so sinful..."

Cao Yi was covered in black: "It's indeed a sin..."

Xiao Fan said awkwardly: "I was afraid of being hungry when I was in Jiangpu. I felt insecure if I had no food..."

Cao Yi sighed: "Now it's the Tartars' turn to feel insecure..."

"Then we... won't snatch it?"

"If you don't rob it, if you rob it again, your brothers will be able to die..."

Xiao Fan smacked his lips with unfulfilled intentions: "Okay, then I won't snatch it."

After three more days of travel, the scouts in front brought shocking news. The 50,000 Tartars had captured Kaiping Prefecture ten days ago. Liu Fu, the thousand households of Kaiping Guards who were guarding the city, and Zhou Zushan, also sacrificed their lives for their country. Their love was heroic. After the city was broken, the people were slaughtered by the Tartars. The Tartars slaughtered the city for a whole day. They killed people, set fires, burned, killed, robbed property and women in the city. The small Kaiping Prefecture was as tragic as hell on earth.

Now, under the leadership of Gui Lichi, the Tartars are marching south quickly. They were stationed a hundred miles away from Pingfu yesterday. The next move is to open Yanqing or Shanhaiguan, which is still unclear.

Xiao Fan was deeply shocked by the news.

He always knew that war was cruel, but "cruel" used to be just two words written in books. Now he finally realized the true meaning of cruelty, which was a kind of pain that was directly burned on the tip of his heart with a soldering iron, and could not be described in words such anger and hatred that penetrated into his bones.

In times of trouble, your life is not as good as a dog. The Han people in a city were slaughtered and destroyed by the Tartars. Isn’t their lives a life? Zhu Di, you introduced the Tartars into the territory of the Ming Dynasty and plotted against them, have you ever counted these innocent Han people? It is a great thing for you to kill the Tartars, but should these people die?

Zhu Di, you have committed a great deed!

"Sir! The dogs and Tartars are so detrimental to our people of Daming, let's fight with them!"

"Yes! Fight with them! Anyway, I didn't plan to go back alive after entering this grassland!"

"Sir, please fight!"

"Please fight with me!"

“…………”

“…………”

Facing the angry eyes and twisted and deformed faces of the soldiers, Xiao Fan felt that his mind was empty at this moment. He was stunned for a long time before shaking his lips and tremblingly said, "Now... all the soldiers, dismount!"

The soldiers were stunned and immediately dismounted as they said.

Xiao Fan said in a hoarse voice: "Draw your knife!"

clang!

A sharp sword light pointed straight at the sky.

Xiao Fan was silent for a while, and suddenly hissed like a spring thunder, roaring: "We swear to avenge this revenge! To sacrifice to Kaiping's elders' spirits in heaven!"

The soldiers seemed to have their blood ignited, and they followed Xiao Fan and shouted: "Swear to take revenge! Kill all the Tartars!"

"Swear to take revenge! Kill all the Tartars!"

The high-pitched and angry oath echoed on the grassland, and the sound reached nine nights, as if comforting the thousands of innocent elders who died...

Looking at the young and angry faces in front of him and the deafening roar, a hazy mist suddenly surged in Xiao Fan's eyes, and a seed called hatred woke up and sprouted in his heart.

He suddenly realized that he had another more responsibility and meaning in living in this strange world.

War has been repeated since ancient times with the progress of history, repeating itself over and over again, and endlessly cycled.
Chapter completed!