Chapter 2728: Anshi City IV

The Goguryeo soldier across the way rolled his eyes unhappily and said, “I’m from Goguryeo, you occupied our land.”

Before Manbao could speak, the young flagbearer already said, “Hey, that’s not right, what yours, ours, there have been many dynasties and states in the past in Great Jin, during the pre-Qin period, there was the Qin Kingdom, Wei State, Zhao State, a mess of countries, does that count as occupation too?”

He said, “That unification of the world, it was for the good of the people, sparing them years of chaos and war.”

After saying it, he looked up and smiled flatteringly at Zhou Man, “Lord Zhou, this is what Lord Bai told us, but what’s that unification called?”

Manbao: “…Qin Shi Huang.”

“Yes, that’s him, heard he’s the first emperor in the world, truly formidable.”

Manbao nodded in agreement, “That’s right.”

Manbao reached out and pinched his arm, feeling the bone and flesh trembling, she pressed his shoulder and then ran her hand down his arm, finally placing a water pouch in his arms and said, “Here, drink, take a couple of sips and then share with others.”

Manbao touched everyone’s arms and leisurely walked away.

Not far off, Yuan Yi squinted his eyes on the tavern upstairs, “Is that the favorite of the Great Jin Emperor, Zhou Man?”

“Yes, she’s said to be the head of the Jin army’s medical camp, the reason the Jin army’s casualties were low this time is because she led her batch of students to heal wounded soldiers on the frontline.”

Yuan Yi’s eyes flashed, he ordered, “Kill her.”

The deputy general: “…General, it’s a ceasefire now, during battles she stayed in the rear.”

“But now she’s here, isn’t she? Kill her.”

“That’s not appropriate,” the deputy general said, “General, assassinating enemy officials during ceasefire could escalate things.”

Because it’s easy for things to deteriorate, once they assassinate the enemy’s officials, the other side’s retaliation would surely cause greater losses.

Because this is Goguryeo, it’s Anshi City.

Not to mention how many officials are in Anshi City, plus the Second Prince is still in the city, such disputes shouldn’t be initiated.

Not only the deputy general, but others also opposed, all saying, “We can’t lack morality.”

Yuan Yi was so angry he almost spat blood, with the city nearly gone, what’s the use of talking about morality now, shouldn’t it be whatever works be used, as long as it strikes the enemy?

Keke detected a strong animosity towards the host, including a killing intent, so the protection system automatically activated to warn the host of danger.

Manbao, who was checking the soldiers’ conditions, paused, then directly squatted on the ground, curling her head just slightly raised, “Keke, what’s wrong?”

Keke seriously said, “Detected strong malice against the host.”

Zhou Man, on the battlefield, unless swords and arrows are directly heading towards her, Keke wouldn’t alert, and until now the alarm hadn’t been triggered, because the system judged she was always within a safe range.

This was the first time it sounded.

And it was due to malice.

Manbao asked, “Who, Goguryeo people?”

Keke: “Yes, but host, you should deal with the immediate situation and then leave here, it’s dangerous.”

Manbao listened, glanced around, the soldiers were looking at her with curious faces, when they saw her glance over, they’d ask concernedly, “Lord Zhou, what’s wrong?”

Suddenly crouching on the ground with a wary face, they were all so scared they bent their waists slightly too.

Manbao coughed lightly, didn’t stand up, but instead randomly found an excuse, “Nothing, maybe I’m about to grow taller, so my calves hurt a bit, I’ll rest for a moment and be fine.”

Manbao handed them water, “It’s saline, drink some to replenish your strength.”

After saying this, she walked away stooped.

Seeing a great opportunity disappear before his eyes, Yuan Yi became increasingly expressionless, with nothing left to say.

But down at the distant checkpoint, Jin soldiers had plenty to say.

The young flagbearer chatted away with the Goguryeo soldiers through a scattered checkpoint, “Lord Bai told us, do you know Lord Bai?”

“An accomplished scholar, still young, an Academic Editor, now favored by His Majesty.”

The Goguryeo soldier thought silently, he certainly knew about Academic Editors, they were said to be the most knowledgeable group in Great Jin.

“Lord Bai said that in the past, Liaodong and the Central Plains were one, later, the Central Plains fragmented due to war, and Goguryeo was established here in Liaodong, during the previous dynasty, the Central Plains unified, only your area wasn’t unified, yet you Goguryeo pledged allegiance to the new emperor,” the soldier sneered and said, “But you weren’t honest, though you pledged allegiance, you kept sending troops to harass the borders, just like this time.”

He reasoned with the other, “Do you think we want to fight you, it’s cold, the food is bad, and there’s a risk of dying, isn’t it because you attacked our Yingzhou?”

He asked, “Why did you attack our Yingzhou?”

Goguryeo soldier: …how would he know why?

Setting aside that he didn’t attack Yingzhou, even if he did, could he decide whether to attack or not?

Isn’t it just about following orders?

The young flagbearer said, “You even block Silla and Baekje, not allowing them to pay tribute, they are just like you, our Great Jin’s vassals, on what grounds do you block them from paying tribute?”

“You sure have a good idea, blocking them from paying tribute, yet having them offer tribute to you, is your Wang Ting bad or not, should it be attacked?”

The Goguryeo soldiers were not clay statues either, they started arguing directly.

The head flagbearer said, “Enough, enough, don’t argue, it’s only less than two quarters of rest, can you calm down, talk about things we can decide on?”

He said, “Want to fight for your life, wait until the battle starts, then you can fight.”

The young flagbearer was adaptable, immediately saying, “Alright, we won’t talk about that, let’s talk about food, do you have good meals normally?”

The Goguryeo soldier also suppressed his anger, feeling it was pointless to discuss that, who to fight or not wasn’t up to them.

So he said crossly, “Good, very good, white bread buns, eat as many as you want.”

The young flagbearer was taken aback, “That good? We eat coarse grain buns, only on holidays do we have white bread buns to eat. How much is your military pay?”

They began discussing their treatment, which was something they could talk about.

General Ashina stood on the city wall, listening vaguely to the commotion below, his lips slightly raised.

He didn’t believe Goguryeo’s treatment could be better than theirs.

Of course Goguryeo’s treatment wasn’t better than Great Jin’s, mainly because they hadn’t had military pay for two or three years, in the army, they were just kept from starving.

Precisely because there was no money to pay the military, they decided to attack Yingzhou.

With bigger territory comes money, and there’s money in war, storming into the city and plundering provides cash.

Every time there’s a war, it’s the nation that spends, but the officers, especially the higher-ups, can make a fortune.