Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 261: Chapter 252 Why Bother!

Yang Zhenshan stood high above, his voice cold as he said, “You’ve lost!”

Though Yang Zhenshan’s face bore a look of indifference, his heart was actually filled with lingering fear.

Damn, that was close to having my guts spilled.

Had his reaction been slightly slower, his abdomen would have sustained at least a significant wound. With Meng Temu’s strength, his mountain-pattern armor definitely wouldn’t have held.

Meng Temu’s murky eyes flickered, his complexion both pale and gloomy.

He was still gasping heavily, the prolonged battle having taken a severe toll on his stamina, especially since he was a man past his prime.

Yet, his heart was still unwilling to accept defeat!

I cannot lose!

At this moment, this was the only thought in his mind!

The next moment, he suddenly reached out to push away the spear in front of his chest. However, the moment his hand touched the spear point, Yang Zhenshan did not hesitate to thrust the spearhead into his chest.

Crack, the spear shaft was broken by his slap, but the spearhead remained lodged in his chest, and fresh red blood spurted out like a fountain.

*Cough cough cough~~*

Meng Temu let out a series of painful coughs. A fishy sweet taste filled the depths of his throat, coating his tongue, and trickling down from the corners of his mouth, staining his grizzled beard.

“Why bother?”

Yang Zhenshan’s expression remained cold as he retracted the now deformed spear shaft.

“Cough cough, an old man like me can only die, not be defeated!”

Meng Temu’s face grew paler.

He was the king of the East Sea Hu Clan. His defeat would be a disgrace for the entire East Sea Hu Clan.

Yang Zhenshan understood his point; death and defeat are two different things. Death ends everything, but defeat leaves room for the future.

Given Meng Temu’s status, if he were captured alive, it was clear what would happen — he would be dragged back to the Capital City, suffer humiliation and become a trophy of Da Rong’s achievements.

Thus, he would rather choose death than endure disgrace.

Watching Meng Temu, lying on the ground, gradually losing his breath, Yang Zhenshan surprisingly had little emotion.

He’d seen many die before him, and although Meng Temu had a special status, he was just another person.

Perhaps he held special significance, but to Yang Zhenshan, this was just another enemy.

A dead enemy is the best kind of enemy.

“The enemy chief is dead!”

Yang Zhenshan shouted again.

However, this time, he did not sever Meng Temu’s head, acknowledging that despite his questionable claim to kingship, some respect was due.

He lifted Meng Temu’s body, called for Red Cloud, mounted, and raised Meng Temu’s body high.

“The enemy chief is dead!”

…

When Yang Zhenshan lifted Meng Temu’s body, the Hu cavalry outside the city utterly lost their courage to fight.

As the Hu cavalry outside the city completely collapsed, Yang Zhenshan, holding Meng Temu’s body, appeared inside the city gates. The streets of Fushan City plunged from panic into despair.

The enemy had entered the city, and their king was dead. In an instant, the Gorcin family seemed to lose all hope.

Everyone became terrified, losing the determination to fight to the death, instead trying desperately to flee from Fushan City.

The North City Gate was already occupied by Yunlong Dragon Guard, but there were still the east, west, and south gates.

Screams of killing echoed through Fushan City, and large numbers of the Hu Clan fled through the other gates.

Defeat was like a mountain collapsing!

Countless Northern barbarians fled into the dim night, filled with terror.

“Marquis, we have taken Fushan City!”

A shout rose in the western battlefield, destroying the resistance spirit of the Emu Bu, Chahar, and Dosol clans.

Seeing the defeated enemy, Liang Chu, his face covered in blood, laughingly declared.

“Da Rong will triumph!”

“Da Rong will triumph!”

Liang Chu waved his long sword, shouting loudly.

Immediately, the surrounding soldiers also started shouting.

For a moment, the shouts were thunderous, sky-reaching, and the soldiers’ morale surged, causing the Hu Clan to flee in defeat.

…

When the dawn’s light once again descended, Fushan City had fallen entirely into the hands of Da Rong.

Liang Chu rode his horse, escorted by trusted aides, and slowly approached the city gates.

At the city gate, Zhou Lan, Yang Zhenshan, and the leader of Yunlong Dragon Guard, Duan Hua, bowed and saluted, “We welcome the Marquis!”

Liang Chu dismounted and quickly stepped forward to lift the three, “Gentlemen, you’ve worked hard!”

This battle was truly tough — whether it was the battle with the Emu Bu tribes on the west or the fight inside and outside the city with Gorcin, it was an extremely fierce battle.

Both sides had thrown in all their chips and fought with all their might.

Zhou Lan briskly made a welcoming gesture, “Marquis, please!”

“Hahaha—Let’s go and see what this so-called Royal Capital looks like! Hahaha, the Royal Capital!”

For the Da Ling Dynasty, the Da Rong Dynasty had never acknowledged it. Even now, the entirety of Da Rong still refers to the East Sea Hu Clan as Hu Clan or Hu Zei.

To Liang Chu, the royal capital of the Da Ling Dynasty seemed like nothing but a joke.

The entourage entered Fushan City, and its interior was very rudimentary, lacking the grandeur expected of a royal capital. It paled in comparison not just to the Great Rong Capital, but even to An Yuan City.

The streets, not very wide, were flanked by earthen houses that looked quite primitive.

In terms of area, Fushan City was slightly bigger than An Yuan City, and the population living there was about the same as An Yuan City’s. However, the East Sea Hu Clan was much inferior in architectural artistry and cultural heritage.

This made Fushan City look no different from a rural village, with only the Royal Court in the center of the city possessing a semblance of splendor.

After all, this place was the royal capital of the Da Ling Dynasty and the heartland of the Gorcin clan, where most of their wealth was concentrated.

When Liang Chu and his entourage reached the Royal Court, squads of soldiers were busy moving the treasures within.

Liang Chu stepped forward, opened a large chest, and casually grabbed a handful of pearls and jade, “The Gorcin clan is indeed wealthy, but their Banner Master is just like a miser, only knowing to store the wealth in the warehouse, never willing to use it.”

Are the people of the East Sea Hu Clan really poor?

Judging from the ordinary Northern barbarian citizens, yes, they are indeed poor, poorer than most of the citizens of Da Rong.

But the nobility of the Hu Clan is very wealthy, owning tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, and horses. They can trade these animals, along with various furs, medicinal herbs for gold, silver, jewels, silk fabrics, tea leaves, porcelain, and more.

Although Da Rong prohibits trading with the Hu Clan, there are always some reckless merchants who secretly go beyond the border to trade with them, sometimes even with the collaboration of military officers.

The case where the Secret Martial Guards investigated the Liang family for colluding with the enemy was actually just one example of smuggling at the border towns. It was only taken seriously by the Secret Martial Guards because it might involve Prince Qing.

If it weren’t for the attention of the Secret Martial Guards, nobody would have cared about these matters.

Of course, this was in the past. After Lu Chongde and Liang Chu took office, they cooperated with the Secret Martial Guards to block the Liang family’s convoy, and other smuggling merchants were also blocked.

So now, there are not many merchants in Chongshan Town trading with the Hu Clan.

Yang Zhenshan stood beside Zhou Lan, looking at these treasures, but he wasn’t particularly interested.

These were not his spoils of war; he had no right to handle them.

Besides, he had already taken enough things previously; taking more might invite trouble.

A person should not be too greedy, always thinking about putting things into their own pockets; sometimes, one needs to consider the repercussions.

“Marquis, how should we handle the prisoners in the city?” Duan Hua asked from the side.

They hadn’t slaughtered the city, and there were still many Northern barbarians who had become their prisoners.

The number was not small, about more than twenty thousand, almost all of them were members of the Gorcin clan.

Liang Chu thought for a moment and said, “First, keep them guarded, and I will report the situation here to His Majesty!”

This battle was a complete victory, and naturally, he had to present his achievements to the Emperor.

Prisoners and spoils were some of the factors in presenting one’s achievements.

Liang Chu knew the nature of the court well; the more critical the time, the less room there was for mistakes, otherwise, there would inevitably be someone in the court who would impeach him.

Afterward, the group briefly inspected the Royal Court, and then Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan led their soldiers out of Fushan City.

From now on, Fushan City would be Liang Chu’s main venue, where he would handle all matters, and neither he nor Zhou Lan needed to worry anymore.

After leaving Fushan City, Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan set up a camp on an open area north of the city.

After a night of fierce fighting, the casualties among the soldiers were not small, and the garrison suffered nearly two hundred casualties again.

By now, only half of the over a thousand soldiers in the garrison remained.

But in terms of casualty rates, the garrison’s rate was relatively low.

Zhou Lan’s eight thousand Rescue Camp now had less than three thousand left.

The brutality of war was reflected in these shocking numbers and even more so on that battlefield intertwined with blood and fire.

Yet this war was not over.

Despite having captured Fushan City, the East Sea Hu Clan still had considerable forces remaining.

Just three days after the battle of Fushan City, Wang Bin arrived at Fushan City with less than a thousand Cavalry.

Seeing the exhausted Wang Bin, Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan both heaved a sigh of relief.

“Damn, it almost killed me!”

Finding the camp, Wang Bin dismounted, cursed, then asked for a ladle of cold water and started gulping it down.

His soldiers behind him did similarly, many removing their harnesses and rolling off their horses.

“What are you waiting for? Get some water and food ready for the brothers!”

Yang Zhenshan hurriedly called out to Han Cheng and Yang Mingzhi nearby.

Snapping back to reality, they immediately beckoned the soldiers to eat and drink.

Once Wang Bin caught his breath, Yang Zhenshan smiled and said, “Seeing you guys return puts us at ease!”

Though Wang Bin and his soldiers looked miserable, Yang Zhenshan noticed that they hadn’t lost many men, which meant they probably hadn’t been caught by the Northern barbarian Cavalry.

“Ah, don’t mention it. This is the first time in my life I’ve had it so bad; I was chased for six straight days and nights!”

“For the first three days, we could still rest, but for the last three days, we almost never stopped, even many of our horses died from exhaustion!”

Wang Bin vented his frustrations to Zhou Lan and Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan personally brought him a bowl of rice porridge, smiling, “That must have been very tough, General!”

Wang Bin slurped up the rice porridge happily.

After he had eaten and drunk his fill, Yang Zhenshan arranged for him to have a tent to rest in.

Wang Bin’s return also gave Liang Chu a sigh of relief; Liang Chu personally came to see Wang Bin, but when he arrived, Wang Bin was asleep like a dead pig.

In the following days, while dealing with the affairs inside Fushan City, they also let the soldiers rest and recuperate.