In reality, something such as the sand table perhaps has long existed. Just, most used rice grains and loose sand, piling up to roughly illustrate an idea. As such, it didn’t spread extensively. This time, seeing a different kind in Jin Qinwang Manor that was practical and had form, it was very necessary to make one too.

When He Zhen Wei finally had a bit of free time, he had that brat called before him.

As a result, before General He could say anything, little tyrant He just started blathering first.

Listening to his son’s words, General He’s expression was like a blending palette, very much interesting, and in the end, his gaze became a bit peculiar, even suspecting that this person wasn’t his son.

When He Shi Hai finished, meeting his old man’s gaze, his complexion instantly darkened, “Old man, what kind of look is that?” Little tyrant He that was unable to be serious for more than three seconds revealed his true nature.

General He instead relaxed a breath. This was more like it. This was what that stupid son of his should be like.

He Shi Hai’s face once again darkened, wanting to commit an offense towards his superior, wanting to commit patricide, alright!?

General He used his fist to cover his lips, letting out a cough, slightly having his expression put away. Now, he knew why in his madam’s letter previously her words were unclear. Jin Qinwang sure enough was impressive. Something that he wasn’t able to achieve in more than ten years got turned around by him in this short amount of time, even immediately having effect.

Just, at the same time feeling gratified, he was also a bit sour inside.

These things were temporarily placed aside. They needed to exchange information first in order to determine the next step.

Although what He Shi Hai wanted to say, he for the most part already said, just General He in the beginning was a bit ‘absent-minded’ and didn’t hear very clearly. Hearing again, his expression already became solemn. Although he had received Jin Qinwang’s warning, he actually didn’t have this matter thought that seriously, but now, it wasn’t the same. If the Northeastern Army perishes, and the He family just has three little kittens left, what would this entail? Merely just thinking of that scenario, General He was just completely unable to control himself, the negative emotions from the battlefield in this moment fully erupted, as if having thousands lost souls swirling around his body, both terrifying and scary.

‘A general’s meritorious achievements, ten thousand dried bones[1]‘ wasn’t just said for fun.

He Shi Hai’s older brother at this time lifted the tent’s curtain and came in. Seeing this kind of scene, he blanked, “Father, what happened?” Although his father was a military general, but as long as it wasn’t on the battlefield, he for the most part can be considered a scholarly general, very rarely losing control of his emotions. Being like this now was further a first time seeing.

He Shi Hai’s older brother, compared to him, this little tyrant, was much more elegant, but in the Northeastern Army, he was the number one valiant general after He Shi Hai, and moreover, his prestige was also quite high, the successor to General He that everyone hopes for.

Walking to He Shi Hai’s side, “Younger brother, did you anger father again?”

He Shi Hai’s gaze coldly swept him a glance, “This young master, in your eyes, is just this unreliable?”

He older brother wanted to laugh, but because of General He’s situation, in the end, didn’t laugh out.

Fortunately, General He very quickly controlled himself, “Eldest one, you came just in time. This matter, we need to discuss together.”

“You all can slowly talk, I’ll be going first.” He Shi Hai vowed to have his ‘brainless’ image preserved to the end.

General He also knew letting this bastard go pay attention to this matter was the best, thus he waved his hand like shooing a fly.

He Shi Hai hadn’t even walked out of the camp when he saw the smoke signal in the distant.

“An enemy attack, an enemy attack………..”

In an instant, the entire camp all began moving. The people in the various large and small tents all charged out in the quickest speed, rapidly assembling. Rising up and down were the sounds of the various generals shouting ‘quick, quick, quick’.

He Shi Hai just charged towards the stables first thing, pulling out his other warhorse. The people in charge of raising the horses swiftly attached the saddle and reins.

All say He Shi Hai had a beast-like intuition, and using on his own warhorse similarly was applicable. Whether his own horse was well or not, by just casually pulling out for a walk, he will immediately know. That’s why, to want to do something to He Shi Hai’s horse, that was definitely impossible.

The battle just erupted from here. The cries on the battlefield shook the skies, fresh blood wantonly spilling.

He Shi Hai was still that ‘mad demon king’ that never lost a battle, and the people that followed behind him were forever the most fierce and the most lively ones on the battlefield. Their blood seemingly all got ignited by He Shi Hai.

However, if someone were to slightly take a moment to pay attention, one would discover that He Shi Hai has already started using his brain in fighting the enemy, no longer blindly charging forward and disregarding everything, instead even paying attention to the state of the battle. It couldn’t be helped, this was all deliberately drilled out by Jin Qinwang. No matter how crazy, he seemingly would always have a thread pulling him along. Whenever there was the slightest crack, he would just subconsciously go contemplate. He Shi Hai also realized this bit himself, wiping his face. Can’t carefreely play around anymore, miserable!

This battle lasted for more than four hours. In the end, it was still the enemy side that was outmatched and ordered a retreat.

Qi Yuan although won, the casualties also weren’t few. Those were all human lives. The soldiers carried fatigue as they cleaned the battlefield. Perhaps because they were already numb, even if dragging along their brother that they had their arms around previously, they still were completely unable to cry.

He Shi Hai’s body was still excited, but his spirit similarly was unwell. Just through this battle alone, he already clearly sensed a difference compared to the past. Moreover, in the past, they wouldn’t even have this kind of loss in an entire year.

This kind of situation, no matter who saw all would feel unpleasant.

He Shi Hai wanted to go look for his old man. However, this while, he was most likely discussing matters with the high ranking officers, so He Shi Hai could only sullenly endure, for a time, wanting to take people charge over. But in the end, his rationality was still intact, so he didn’t do anything stupid.

His older brother came looking, “What’s wrong, feeling unhappy inside?”

“Eldest brother, how come you came over?” He Shi Hai stuffily asked.

“Know that you would be unhappy, so father let me come check on you.”

He Shi Hai glanced at him, “Think I’m still a twelve thirteen year old, when unhappy just take people to slaughter back?”

He eldest brother laughed in good-nature, looking to his younger brother that wasn’t that old, yet was already a bit taller than him. “As long as you know propriety.” He glanced to the battlefield that was smeared with specks of color. The trampled wet mud, the bits and pieces of black and red snow, and at this time, the skies also began fluttering with snow. From the looks of it, not long from now, all of this will once again be covered up, “Actually, the situation is already considered not bad. If we had encountered this kind of situation in past years, the loss would at least increase by five times.”

(T/N: iirc, He Shi Hai has a pretty big age gap with his eldest brother. He Shi Hai is the youngest of five, but two of his older brothers have already died, and the youngest of his four older brothers was already ten years older than him.)

“That bit of things from the imperial court can have this big of an impact?”

“That bit from the imperial court naturally was far from enough. Those things were merely the cover, it was Jin Qinwang………..”

He Shi Hai blanked, seemingly a bit in disbelief. If originally he just revered Jin Qinwang because of the other party’s martial arts skills, then now, it just ascended to a completely unimaginable height.

“To say that Jin Qinwang singlehandedly saved the Northeastern Army all wouldn’t be an exaggeration. The He family is loyal to the ruler, so won’t participate in the battle between the princes, but this time, it’s not the same, owing him too much. Jin Qinwang is practically just the overt scheme among overt schemes[2]. If he has something to request of us, we’re simply unable to refuse. Regarding this matter, father has yet to write a letter to inform mother and grandmother, because he doesn’t what to write, and moreover, some things, he also can’t write.”

“Originally it was just me, but now, it’s taking along the entire He family?” He Shi Hai faintly asked.

“Little Hai has indeed grown up.” He eldest brother was rather pleased.

He Shi Hai snorted, “I’m just saying, in my eyes, being loyal to the ruler and being loyal to Jin Qinwang, there’s no difference.”

He eldest brother blanked, “Little Hai, you mean………….”

“I didn’t say anything at all. Just, the facts are displayed before the eyes. Having the inside traitor dragged out is the only way to not disappoint.”

He eldest brother nodded. Regarding this matter, it just stopped here. “Speaking of which, don’t know what’s wrong with the various tribes of Zhennu Mountain, assembling this many troops, letting one suspect whether or not their tribes just had the old, weak, and sickly left. Just, unfortunately, the weather was too cold, and the terrain didn’t allow for it either, else it was just going around to their old nest and exterminating in one go. No matter how dauntless, they would still be crippled.”

He Shi Hai absentmindedly responded, his train of thought already drifting to who knows where.

However, on the matter of ‘saving people’, Li Hong Yuan really was wronged. The people of the He family were using a ‘petty’ mind to speculate the thoughts of a ‘gentleman’[3]. Li Hong Yuan wanted the throne, but he never had ideas towards these soldiers that guarded the borders, as well as the various prefectures provincial army. Inherently, he just wanted to perfectly preserve He Shi Hai, and reduce Qi Yuan northeast borders’ losses. The rest were all done in passing.

Speaking of which, it was already the last third of the twelfth lunar month. Originally on the twenty-third, the imperial brush should’ve been sealed, and Le Cheng Emperor should also properly relax, but unfortunately, because of the war in the northeast, he didn’t dare to seal the imperial brush, delaying all the way until the twenty-eighth.

Speaking of which, Le Cheng Emperor this year was indeed quite tragic, in the summer, not going away to avoid the heat, and in the winter, unable to rest.

However, if he as the boss can’t rest, then the officials below would certainly also have to accompany him.

Fortunately, Le Cheng Emperor wasn’t excessive to the point of not even resting during the new year celebration. The court officials finally relaxed a breath. Le Cheng Emperor taxing his mind and body, for them, it also wasn’t relaxing either, and even can be said to be even worse.

However, no matter how busy the imperial court was, and no matter how chaotic the borders were, for the great majority of people in the capital, there still wasn’t any influence, doing whatever they should be doing, regardless whether it was indulging in a life of luxury, or living peacefully in tranquility.

Towards the northeast, Jing Wan was similarly worried, but she didn’t see with her own eyes after all, so her feelings weren’t deep. In addition to Li Hong Yuan consoling her to the side, telling her that everything had him, as such, Jing Wan just had this matter temporarily placed aside. It was the new year after all, so what should be prepared still needed to be prepared, especially the holiday gifts. ————-Bearing the brunt of the force naturally was the Luo family.

[1] This is a line from an old poem by Tang dynasty’s Cao Song. The meaning is roughly ‘how many lives are sacrificed for the recognition and glory of a general’. The entire poem itself is just a poet’s lament towards the chaos of war, and hopes to return to a peaceful time, as during that point in time, the Tang dynasty was filled with internal conflict and rebellion.

Cao Song wrote this poem in 880AD, which was already towards the end of the Tang dynasty that ultimately fell in 907AD. It was a reflection on how Zhenhai (province) Jiedushi Gao Pian had received bestowments for his so called ‘achievements’ in the battle against Huang Chao, the leader of a peasant uprising in late Tang.

A jiedushi is a title unique to the Tang dynasty, essentially a provincial governor that held both civil and military authority, each having an army under their direct command. What’s unique about this position is that towards late Tang, as the imperial court lost more and more control over the jiedushis of the various regions, the position became a hereditary position passing on from father to son, instead of one that was appointed by the imperial court. Towards the end of the Tang dynasty, as the imperial family ultimately lost all power to the jiedushis, they eventually started declaring themselves as ruler and started fighting one another, resulting in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. I honestly can write an entire essay on the Jiedushi so I’ll stop here for now, since it’s pretty irrelevant to this chapter.

[2] The word used here is 阳谋 literally ‘yang schemes’, the antonym to dark (yin) schemes. It’s a word with a positive connotation, meaning ‘to utilize the existing conditions, under the premise of not affecting or relying on others, taking advantage of new situations and openly through changing one’s resource allocation raise the efficiency to achieve a better outcome’.

[3] This idiom here is very much used in irony. The original idiom means a petty and narrow-minded person using their views to guess the thoughts of an upright and honest person. Obviously the He family isn’t petty and narrow-minded, and LHY isn’t an upright and honest person.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com