The Demon Lords

Chapter 994 - 230: Chu Traitor

In earlier years,

actually between Yan and Chu, there wasn’t much deep hatred, because even if they wanted to hate, they couldn’t reach each other.

The strong stance of the Yan State over the past hundred years has suppressed the Jin State, which could only obstinately claim that its knights were not inferior to the Yan people, while internally remaining anxious;

The Qian people were even more outrageous, not only frightened enough to spend huge manpower and resources to build a series of fortresses at the three borders, but they also forcibly diverted the Qian River to dig out the Bian River to shield their capital and block the Yan cavalry.

As for the Chu State, successive Chu Emperors would occasionally shout a few slogans to show their presence and then continue annexing the Shanyue or swallowing smaller neighboring countries, and when they were tired, they would come out again to shout a few times.

However, all of this changed dramatically after Yan eradicated the Wenren Family and the Helian Family, originally, the Chu people had the Situ Family and Town South Pass above their heads; occasionally skirmishing was just seen as military exercises to find some trouble.

The Chu State never put great effort into preparing to move north because there was still plenty of land waiting to be developed both domestically and in the south; meanwhile, the Situ Family found it difficult to invade the Chu State independently, being too weak.

When the Chu State discovered that their northern neighbor was suddenly becoming the Yan State, the Chu people panicked because the annexation atmosphere exhibited by the Yan people was too intense, almost suffocating.

The Earl of North Border, as Yan’s top military leader, directly sided with the Yan Emperor;

Lord Jingnan went to the extent of exterminating his entire clan to pave the way for Yan’s rise;

Additionally, the current Yan Emperor, apart from his ruthless tactics, almost embodies the template of a wise and heroic sovereign.

He distrusts the occult,

dislikes arrogance and extravagance,

Any traits and labels of ancient foolish emperors cannot be found on this Yan Emperor.

It can be said,

being the Yan Emperor’s son is indeed painful;

but in the eyes of others, among monarchs and nobility of other kingdoms, this Yan Emperor seems like looking at oneself in a mirror, and yet feeling awkward and out of place.

Unfortunately, the previous Chu Emperor passed away early, though the fourth prince quickly consolidated the situation with his strong arm, it indeed missed the grand battle among three kingdoms, or rather, it wasn’t missing but Yan’s trick of using Qian to attack Jin State caught everyone off guard, even the Qian Emperor ordered that the troops at the three borders were not allowed to retreat.

And subsequently, after ten days of swift battles across a thousand miles, the elite forces of the North Border and Jingnan easily swept away the Wenren and the Helian Families, leaving no time for the Chu people to react.

The only action the Chu could take was to hastily form an agreement with the wild peoples, preparing to march into Jin State together to resist the Yan State after Yan had occupied most of the land of the Three Jin States.

As during that time, the king of Cheng State, Situ Lei, rejected the decision to surrender to Chu State and swear allegiance, simultaneously, the Chu people sensed that Situ Lei planned to lower their national status and pay homage to Yan State.

This forced the Chu people to seek external cooperation.

Originally, the situation should have been very favorable.

During the first Battle of Wang River, the allied forces of the wild peoples and Chu State heavily defeated the Yan Army; for a time, the Chu State was in an uproar; from the nobility to the common people were cheering, believing that the nightmare of the Black Dragon banner looming over their heads could finally dissipate.

But then Lord Jingnan returned to the battlefield, followed by Lord Pingye’s thousand-mile cavalry assault that ultimately led to the burial of the wild people’s army; making the Chu people despair and furious, as despite a treaty being established, the Yan people breached it and slaughtered forty thousand disarmed Chu soldiers.

This act of killing prisoners is the greatest humiliation to a nation, it means ending things completely with no room for future reconciliation.

It was a genuine contempt from the heart.

These boatmen, although considered as Chu civilians, aren’t really just that; in any era, those willing to engage in smuggling were never good-hearted folks, honest people wouldn’t dare or have the means to do this.

So, don’t underestimate these boatmen’s shabby clothing and "simple" appearances; their information channels are actually quite rich, they have seen and heard much.

If there’s any sign of trouble, these boatmen can immediately draw their swords and fight with river pirates.

All night long,

Zheng Fan sat on the chair on the deck,

half-squinting,

watching the boatmen bustling back and forth in front of him.

The waterway exists, but it is not very smooth, caution is needed when navigating at night, especially when the fleet turns south into the river, then the river becomes narrower, increasing the danger significantly.

However, these boatmen are seasoned smugglers, no matter how difficult the ways are, after navigating them repeatedly it becomes familiar to them.

Siniang stood by Zheng Fan’s side all along, accompanying him.

At this time, no one knew what Lord Zheng was thinking about, thinking for a whole night.

When the dawn appeared,

Lord Zheng finally stood up from his chair, Siniang brought some water, and he washed his face.

Fan Yongxin came down from the second floor of the cabin, he didn’t ask why Zheng Fan didn’t indulge with those three women last night, he simply respectfully said:

"Lord, breakfast is ready, authentic Chu region-style breakfast."

Zheng Fan shook his head and said: "Thank you for your efforts, but we brought our own food."

"Lord be seen as strange, is it because..."

"Yes, afraid of poisoning."

"..." Fan Yongxin.

It was evident that Fan Yongxin was embarrassed because he was more accustomed to the interactions with smiling tigers, even when secretly sending people to kill mutual enemies, when meeting, they would give outsiders an impression like old friends reuniting.