“Ahem, let’s not bring up the past.”
Jin Feng smiled awkwardly.
That day, seeing the corpses of the common people, he had genuinely been furious, and his words had indeed been rather sharp.
Thinking back now, the Ninth Princess had probably meant well at the time, fearing he would clash with the Xue family and the Crown Prince.
“Alright, hurry up and speak.”
The Ninth Princess urged.
“Then I will continue.”
Jin Feng said, “The rise and fall of the realm is every man’s responsibility, that applies to ordinary men, but those in the court are scholar-officials!”
After saying this, he glanced at the Ninth Princess. “To put it bluntly, even if Great Kang were to fall, it would only be the imperial family that perishes. If someone establishes a new dynasty, they would still need educated men to govern the realm. They could simply submit a letter of allegiance and continue as officials. Even if they no longer held office, returning home they would still be local gentry.”
“Sir speaks wisely,” the Ninth Princess nodded slightly. “Many great clans today have ancestors who were high officials in the previous dynasty, or even the one before that.”
“Exactly. So when the court rises or falls, it is always the common people who suffer. What does it have to do with the officials? They just need to secure their own gains,” Jin Feng said.
“Sir’s words are indeed weighty, yet they hit the nail on the head!”
The Ninth Princess gave Jin Feng a graceful curtsey. “Many thanks for sir’s guidance!”
“It’s just casual chat. As long as you are not angry, that’s fine. If you are angry, say it now. I will let you kick me a couple of times or hit me a few times. We do not go in for saying one thing to someone’s face and another behind their back.”
Jin Feng looked the Ninth Princess up and down. “Do not bow to me now and then later find reasons to make things difficult for me.”
“Satisfied now?”
The Ninth Princess rolled her eyes and kicked Jin Feng lightly on the leg.
Jin Feng was in a good mood and felt playful.
He promptly sat down on a rock, clutching his leg. “Ouch! The princess is hitting people! You have crippled my leg. I am telling you, without a hundred warhorses, I am not getting up!”
“You started being improper again. Fine, just sit there then!”
The Ninth Princess turned and walked away, but the corners of her mouth could not help curling upwards.
She knew that Jin Feng was willing to joke with her, which meant he had let go of any lingering resentment.
That was the greatest gain of the day.
Not far ahead, she encountered Qing Muluan coming towards them.
“Wuyang, what happy thing have you run into? You are smiling so broadly.”
Qing Muluan asked curiously.
The court education the Ninth Princess had received emphasised never showing joy or anger on her face, yet now she was grinning so widely that her teeth showed.
“Nothing,” the Ninth Princess composed her smile. “Sister Mulan, is there something you need?”
“I have come to deliver an invitation to sir.”
Qing Muluan waved the card in her hand.
“What invitation?” Jin Feng stood up and asked.
“My brother has long said he wants to host a banquet to thank sir, but he has been too busy lately. Only today did he find the time.”
Qing Muluan presented the invitation to Jin Feng with both hands. “I hope sir will do us the honour!”
Jin Feng took the invitation and examined it curiously.
This was the first time he had received such a formal invitation.
“This invitation is quite exquisite. It feels heavy too. It must have cost a fair bit?”
Jin Feng weighed it in his hand and asked.
“Of course. My brother had this made at Qinglong Studio. It cost at least twenty taels of silver!”
Qing Muluan said proudly.
“We are so close. To invite me to dinner, he could just shout it out. Why spend so much money on an invitation?”
Jin Feng said with a pang of regret. “Can I go to Qinglong Studio to return it and exchange it for twenty taels of silver? No, ten taels would do.”
Qing Muluan was furious upon hearing this and reached to snatch it back. “Are you coming or not? If not, give it back!”
“I am coming, coming, of course I am coming. It was just a joke. Why get upset?”
Jin Feng quickly tucked the invitation into his robes. “I have decided. I will skip lunch and save my appetite. Tonight I will go to Lord Governor’s residence for a grand feast.”
After the great battle, Qing Xinyao had been extremely busy. Jin Feng had not seen him for several days.
Even if Qing Muluan had not delivered the invitation, he had planned to visit Qing Xinyao in the next couple of days.
After the war ended, the Ninth Princess had not gone to Xichuan city either. Like Jin Feng, she stayed in the military camp at Big Python Slope.
This moved many soldiers of the Weisheng Army deeply.
The female escorts from the Zhenyuan Escort Agency had also become a scenic feature at Big Python Slope.
Every morning during drills, many Weisheng Army soldiers would come to watch the spectacle.
This left the male escorts feeling quite displeased.
It was as if the cabbages in their own field were being eyed by others. During drills, they simply surrounded the female escorts in the middle.
This even led to several brawls.
But they were all soldiers, and fighting was too commonplace. Zhang Liang and Meng Tianhai could not be bothered to intervene.
In the evening, Jin Feng went to the Qing residence for the banquet.
He rode on horseback, while the Ninth Princess and Qing Muluan sat in the carriage beside him.
Passing the drilling ground, they heard waves of shouts from afar.
The Ninth Princess lifted the carriage curtain and looked at the lively drilling ground, sighing. “How wonderful!”
The emperor inspected troops every year. As a child, she had been favoured by Chen Ji and had accompanied the emperor to many armies.
But she had never seen one with an atmosphere as good as Big Python Slope.
In truth, neither the Weisheng Army nor the Iron Tiger Battalion had been this lively before. It was only with the addition of the escorts that it became so.
“Brother Xinyao really should thank sir,” the Ninth Princess said. “Without sir, the Weisheng Army and Iron Tiger Battalion would not have their current morale and fighting strength.”
“The Weisheng Army and Iron Tiger Battalion are already elite forces under Lord Qing. They simply lacked the tempering of battle. Even without me, after this war, they would have become seasoned soldiers.”
“Sir is too modest. Without you, they might all have starved to death on Mao’er Mountain.”
The Ninth Princess said, “Great Kang has fought Tubo, Dangxiang, and Khitan for so many years, yet there are only a few truly capable armies. This time, if the escort team had not charged ahead and set a fine example, does sir think the Weisheng Army could have won?”
“Now that Your Highness puts it that way, I suddenly feel a bit proud,” Jin Feng said with a smile.
“Sir has every right to be proud,” the Ninth Princess said. “Although the escorts are not regular troops, their morale is higher than any army I have ever seen.
Not to mention anything else, just take the time when Brother Liang was ambushed. Even the imperial guards, facing enemies ten times their number, would probably have been terrified. Yet Brother Liang led the black-armoured team and fought their way out!”
A bear of a soldier makes one bear, a bear of a general makes a nest of bears. The character of a unit is greatly influenced by its leader.
When initially recruiting veterans, Jin Feng had personally overseen training, so that first batch of veterans was deeply influenced by him.
They later became the backbone of the escort team, and the soldiers they trained were indirectly influenced by Jin Feng as well.
They seemed carefree in ordinary times, yet calm and ferocious in battle.
This was indeed the first time the Ninth Princess had seen such a unit.
“Your Highness, do you know why the escorts fight so desperately?” Jin Feng asked.
“Why?”
“Although I am rather handsome and quite charming, I am not handsome enough for them to be willing to die for me…”
Before he could finish, he saw the Ninth Princess drop the curtain.
“I was not finished yet?” Jin Feng lifted the curtain.
“This palace has discovered that you are being improper today!” the Ninth Princess pretended to be angry.
