Chapter 1073: First Time

Several days ago, the Northern Frontier welcomed its first snowfall of the year.

Based on past experience, once it began snowing in the Northern Frontier, the demon race would hardly ever launch a major battle. Although the demon race had a greater ability to withstand such bitterly cold weather, it was obvious that they were also unwilling to put themselves in the most difficult circumstances.

Especially once the wind and snow became heavy enough, a layer of ice could naturally form over the surface of the Northern Frontier Great Wall. At that point, attacking the city would only become more difficult.

However, this time, no one in the Northern Frontier General’s Office would be optimistic about it. They had long since prepared themselves for the demon race to attack the city at any time.

After taking care of the matters left over from the previous great battle, the General’s Office also received the imperial decree of commendation that had arrived from Divine Capital. Along with the imperial decree came several large carts of imperial wine.

Great General Ning Ping kept one jar for himself and distributed all the rest among the other generals and commanders.

In truth, whether it was money or official positions, none of it mattered to these martial artists who might lose their lives on those city walls at any moment.

At this stage, not a single person who remained was staying for that little bit of fame, fortune, and rank.

Just after putting away that jar of imperial wine, Ning Ping walked out of his room, only to turn around and run into Gao Xuan, who was fully clad in armor.

Although this young general, who had already matured quite a bit compared to before, shaved his beard as cleanly as he could, there was still a faint layer of blue stubble on his chin.

This also proved that Gao Xuan was no longer that young.

Ning Ping raised his brows and deliberately put on an angry expression. “Are you thinking about this general’s jar of wine? You stinky brat, you’ve got some nerve, don’t you?”

Gao Xuan smiled and shook his head. “Great General, you misunderstand. This subordinate wants to ask for a task.”

Ning Ping did not respond and simply walked forward on his own.

Gao Xuan followed behind in his full armor, his face filled with anticipation. “Great General, just let this subordinate handle this matter. I guarantee I’ll do it beautifully!”

Ning Ping snorted coldly. “Is this the sort of matter where it’s about who goes to do it? It’s about whether it can be done at all!”

“What do you take the Northern Frontier Army for? Some damn rabble, or someone’s damn private army? You young people can treat this sort of thing as nothing and do whatever you want, but once you do it, what will the imperial court think? What will those court officials think?”

Ning Ping glanced at Gao Xuan and said irritably, “Can’t you damn well leave me alone?”

Gao Xuan did not mind in the slightest and merely said with a grin, “Great General, the person you want to curse isn’t this subordinate, right? It should be someone else.”

It would have been fine if he had not brought this up, but the moment he did, Ning Ping’s eyes filled with anger. “That brat just had to not be in the Northern Frontier. If he were in the Northern Frontier, I’d have him strung up and beaten!”

Gao Xuan clicked his tongue. “Great General, this subordinate isn’t trying to spoil the mood, but let’s just suppose, just suppose, that the Lord Warden Commander were right here, in this very place. You still wouldn’t be able to do such a thing, would you?”

Putting everything else aside, just the fact that the two of them now held the same official rank would be enough to prevent him from doing such a thing.

Ning Ping snorted coldly. “No matter how remarkable he is now, he still rose step by step from my warden faction. That is something no one can ever change!”

Gao Xuan shook his head and bobbed it from side to side, but did not dare continue the conversation.

......

......

When Ning Ping stepped into the grand hall where military affairs were discussed, a group of Northern Frontier generals had already gathered inside.

The cavalry commander, Li Changling, this general of the frontier army, now bore the title of “Enemy of Ten Thousand,” and seemed to be only one step away from the end of Nepenthe.

At his side were two deputy generals. One was Xue Wanxian, who was skilled in wielding a great saber and was also a brave general.

The other was tall and clad in silver-white chainmail - Hou Cha, also a pillar of the Northern Frontier army.

Beside him stood a medium-built armored general with the ordinary name Zhao Dezhi, yet he had already served as the commander of the infantry for a full fifteen years. Back then, former Great General Xiao Hezheng had once sighed that as his vitality declined and his energy became increasingly inferior to what it had been in those earlier years, if it had not been for this man, the Northern Frontier might not have held out until Ning Ping arrived.

Beside Zhao Dezhi were two deputy generals, one named Bai Yuan and the other Yan Yi. Perhaps influenced by their own commander, neither of these two looked particularly conspicuous.

Apart from them, there were another three or five people, all of them already middle-aged and precisely the prime-aged generals of the Northern Frontier frontier army today.

On the other side, standing at the very front was naturally that female general, Xie Nandu. Gao Xuan had arrived a little later, and at this moment he also walked over to her side and stood there without saying anything.

As for the seven or eight people beside Gao Xuan, they were all young generals, but compared with Gao Xuan and Xie Nandu, the gap between them was actually quite considerable.

The two of them, in the frontier army now, had long since accumulated enough military merit to stand alongside some of the middle-aged generals, while the others still needed time to grow.

Ning Ping walked into the hall, glanced at the letter lying on the table, took a deep breath, and said helplessly, “I imagine everyone already knows about it.”

No one spoke.

Ning Ping continued on his own, “Since you all know what happened and have gathered here, you must have something to say. Why not say it?”

Upon hearing Ning Ping say this, the first person who could no longer hold himself back, aside from Li Changling, was no one else.

“Great General, this subordinate thinks the Lord Warden Commander’s proposal is excellent. Damn it, we’re fighting and risking our lives up front while these people stab us in the back. Do they really think we won’t get angry? This time, we should let them see it, let them know what happens when they provoke us!”

Ning Ping frowned and glanced at the two deputy generals beside Li Changling before sighing. “No need to say it. Your cavalry have always been of one mind.”

Xue Wanxian laughed. “After killing the demon race in the north for so many years, we can’t have learned only to kill demons. They should at least know that nothing in this world is simply a matter of course.” ℯℯ𝑙.

Hou Cha chimed in, “Exactly, exactly. Great General, how about letting this subordinate lead the troops?”

Ning Ping helplessly turned his head toward Zhao Dezhi, the commander of the infantry, and asked, “Dezhi, you have always been steady. You know that doing this will make things somewhat troublesome. In your view, should we still do it?”

Zhao Dezhi thought for a moment before quietly saying, “In this subordinate’s view, if there is an imperial decree from His Highness the Crown Prince, then we can head south.”

Ning Ping frowned. “How will the civil and military officials in the court weigh this?”

Zhao Dezhi did not answer Ning Ping’s question. Instead, he shook his head and said, “Great General, since we are no longer in court, there is actually no need to think about these things, is there?”

Ning Ping raised his brows slightly.

“Great General, for a military official, reaching where you are now means you have already reached the end of the road. If we defeat the demon race, the merit will be too great. There will be no further title they can bestow, and His Highness the Crown Prince will have to grant you death!”

A voice that was clearly joking rang out.

“Then shouldn’t we be careful in our actions? You’re asking the Great General to make the final decision on this matter right now. Aren’t you pushing the Great General into a fire pit?”

“It’s over, it’s over. The Great General might clearly have been on his way to being made a marquis or a conferred king, and now you’ve made things difficult for him!”

One joking voice after another rang out in the grand hall, leaving Ning Ping feeling helpless.

However, all that talk of being made a marquis or duke, all that talk of worrying about merit overshadowing one’s sovereign, had never actually been something Ning Ping considered, because he had always felt that in Great Liang, with the Emperor of Great Liang present, there had never been any need to worry about such things.

Even now that His Majesty the Emperor had left the country and His Highness the Crown Prince was governing the state, he was not particularly worried.

It was just that in front of His Majesty the Emperor, he could be His Majesty’s younger brother and regard His Majesty as his elder brother. But now that His Majesty was absent and His Highness the Crown Prince was governing the court, he was the Crown Prince’s uncle. And in this world, which uncle would not have to think about his nephew?

Especially now that he commanded the frontier army, every move he made was enough to give the court officials room for speculation.

“That brat doesn’t act like an older brother at all, but this general still considers myself an elder.”

With Great General Ning Ping speaking, everyone else fell silent.

Ning Ping looked at the letter on the table and hesitated for a long while. Just as he was about to make his decision, Xie Nandu suddenly spoke. “Great General.”

At this moment, perhaps this woman was the only one who could, and dared to, speak.

Ning Ping looked at her.

Xie Nandu said, “His meaning actually has two layers. The first is to let these itinerant cultivators of the foreign lands know that if they truly offend the imperial court’s reverse scale, then the imperial court really can choose to ignore the northern front and allow the demon race to move south, while killing these bastards first.”

Perhaps for a very long time, cultivators had held one belief: no matter what happened, Great Liang would never abandon that Great Wall. In other words, Great Liang would always care about the bigger picture.

Now that the frontier army was heading south, it was to tell them that they had been wrong from the very beginning.

“The second layer is to tell the soldiers that we fight for our country, shed our blood and sacrifice our lives, and that is glorious, but that does not mean we have to suffer grievances for it.”

Xie Nandu said calmly, “We have suffered many grievances in the past, but that does not mean we have to keep suffering them now and in the future. We have already put our lives on the line. After suffering a grievance, are we not even allowed to turn around and slap someone in the face?!”

“Allow me to say one more thing. If Great General refuses to send troops south because you do not want to cause trouble for His Highness the Crown Prince, then Great General is not fit for this position, and you would also be letting down the soldiers of the Northern Frontier.”

Xie Nandu spoke very calmly, but there was something utterly resolute in her voice.

Ning Ping wanted to speak, but stopped himself.

Gao Xuan suddenly said, “If His Majesty were still here, what would he do?” If His Majesty were still here, what would he do?

Ning Ping subconsciously said, “If His Majesty were still here, what else would there be to say? We’d go.”

Having said this, Ning Ping shook his head, then took a deep breath. His eyes became resolute. “Listen to this general’s military order. The entire Vanguard Battalion is to head south. Li Changling will be the commander, and Gao Xuan the deputy commander.”

After saying this, Ning Ping looked at Gao Xuan and laughed boldly. “Pick the best sabers and the fastest horses! Let those cultivators in the south see this! Damn it, the men of Great Liang can kill demons, and it’s not as if we can’t kill people too!”

......

......

On this day, three thousand cavalry of the Vanguard Battalion rode south from the Northern Frontier Great Wall.

In the more than two hundred years since Great Liang was founded, this was the first time such a thing had happened.

And it was also telling the people of the world that after this, it might not be the only time it will happen.