Nie Zheng looked at Yang Zhanbei, who was walking over.
He was dressed in plain clothes, looked haggard, and appeared to be older than him, but was actually younger.
Yang Zhanbei has thick eyebrows with upturned corners, giving him a very stylish look.
But the face beneath his eyebrows was covered in pockmarks.
Nie Zheng pointed to the chessboard and said, "Yang Mazi, I've already placed thirty pieces for you. It's exactly the same as the game we didn't finish last time. Come on over and continue."
Looking across the entire Southern Zhou Dynasty, there are very few people left who dare to call Yang Zhanbei Yang Mazi.
Yang Zhanbei said, "You knew I was coming?"
Nie Zhengdao said, "What's so strange about that? Your status as the Grand Commander of Southern Zhou is too conspicuous. Many people are secretly watching you. I, a disciple of Merlin, am helping you keep an eye on those who are secretly watching you. Isn't that being a good friend?"
Yang Zhanbei sat down opposite Nie Zheng, glanced at the two people beside him, and said, "My two disciples are here. Can't they accompany you first?"
Nie Zheng shook his head and said, "They are not qualified."
The two apprentices listened quietly, their expressions unchanged.
Yang Zhanbei snorted and said, "You, you're already sixty years old, and you're still the same."
Nie Zhengdao said, "Stop talking nonsense and make your moves quickly. We need to finish this game today."
Yang Zhanbei asked, "Not even a sip of tea?"
"No."
Nie Zheng decisively refused, saying, "I don't like lobbyists. It's best if you keep your mouth dry and say less."
"What a pity to waste Merlin's excellent flower tea."
Yang Zhanbei sighed, picked up the black piece, and said, "Alright, alright, I'll play a game with you."
After they started making their moves, both of them quieted down. However, Nie Zheng made his moves quickly, while Yang Zhanbei made his moves slowly. When Nie Zheng got impatient, he would glare at Yang Zhanbei, but he didn't urge him on.
A light rain began to fall from the sky, and the petals swayed gently in the rain.
The two apprentices each held up an umbrella to shelter Nie Zheng and Yang Zhanbei from the rain.
Two hours later, the game was still not over and had become a stalemate.
Yang Zhanbei's move speed became even slower.
Nie Zheng asked anxiously, "Are you walking so slowly because you want to stay and freeload dinner?"
Yang Zhanbei laughed and said, "If you can't even get water, how can you expect to get food?"
"Are you this slow and drawn-out when you're fighting a war?"
"That's not called being slow or fussy, that's called being meticulous."
“Meticulous? If you are so meticulous, why did you delegate authority to Qingzhi so quickly? He is too young and inexperienced. His words are only effective within the Yang family army, and he cannot command respect from outsiders.”
"I know my son."
“He’s so handsome, but you have a face full of pockmarks. I’ve always doubted whether he’s really your son.”
To joke to this extent, you can only be a very close friend. qqxδnew
Yang Zhanbei wasn't angry at all; instead, he said smugly, "Because my wife is beautiful."
Nie Zheng snorted, glanced at the black chess piece in Yang Zhanbei's hand, and said, "Holding it up for so long, isn't your hand numb?"
Yang Zhanbei said, "Since we haven't figured out the next step anyway, let's talk first."
Nie Zhengdao: "I don't want to talk."
Yang Zhanbei said, "But you were the one who spoke first."
Nie Zheng leaned back and stared at Yang Zhanbei's face, saying, "I will not participate in matters of the court, nor will I interfere in matters of the military."
"If you don't want to get involved, why do you have such a clear understanding of the current state of affairs?"
"Just because I don't want to doesn't mean that after I die, my disciples of Merlin won't want to."
"Speaking of Merlin's disciples, among your disciples, one died in Jingdi, and another had his cultivation crippled in Jingdi. Their fates were all due to one person, who is now the commander of the Dongjing Army."
Nie Zheng narrowed his eyes and said, "Trying to provoke me with these words won't work."
"It's not that it doesn't work, it's just that we haven't put enough effort into it."
Yang Zhanbei also looked up at Nie Zheng and said, "Avenging one's disciple requires the power of hatred, but also the power of gratitude."
“Old Nie, we’ve been friends since childhood, and we’ve never held grudges or remembered favors. But today I want to bring up the past. If I hadn’t mustered up the courage to secretly mobilize the people from the school’s affairs office for you back then, you wouldn’t have been able to leave Kangye. There wouldn’t be the current Plum Forest Overlord, and there wouldn’t be this Hundred-Mile Plum Forest that you love.”
"In terms of our friendship, this is just a small matter, but if we have to take out this favor, do you think you should repay it?"
"If Qingzhi loses this battle, our family will be in big trouble."
"Your intervention is helping the imperial court, that's true."
"But by helping me, you're also doing me a favor."
Nie Zheng was silent for a while, then looked at the plum blossoms in the rain and said, "A fine sword is forged through tempering, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold. This poem is truly beautiful. I heard that the author of this poem, Mr. Pu, is actually Zhao Cheng's man in private."
"What kind of person is Zhao Cheng that even a great talent like Mr. Pu has gathered around him?"
With that, Nie Zheng threw the white piece in his hand into the box.
"This game is going to go on forever."
"So eager?" Yang Zhanbei asked.
Nie Zheng stood up and said, "I'm not like you, always dawdling! Now that we've decided to take action, let's get going!"
Yang Zhanbei stood up, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Nie Zheng, and said with a smile, "After knowing you for so many years, this is the first time I've felt that your impatient nature is actually quite good."
Nie Zheng looked at his two disciples, stroking his beard, and said, "Go, get this old guy some flower tea to take with him!"
...
"Zhao Cheng, you son of a bitch, you idiot!"
"Zhao Cheng, your father is a cuckold, and your brother is an idiot. It must be that your father and mother used the wrong positions in bed, right?"
"Zhao Cheng, you scoundrel, are you having an affair with your Empress Dowager? Or is it your father who's having an affair with her?"
"Everyone knows that the Zhao family and Yuan Zhang are at odds. Look at how you've tormented his daughter-in-law!"
"..."
The Southern Zhou army continued to hurl insults for several days, and as Zhao Cheng had predicted, their insults became increasingly offensive.
Every day, people would pass on these insults to Zhao Cheng, which made Zhao Cheng feel gratified, thinking that Yang Qingzhi had made progress.
Zhao Cheng has this kind of temperament and can endure it, but some people can't.
Tu Wei stood atop the city wall, looking at the Southern Zhou soldiers spewing profanities. He slammed his fist on the wall and roared, "These bastards dare to curse even the Empress Dowager! They're asking for death!"
The soldier beside him said, "General Tu, please calm down. They only spoke rudely to the Empress Dowager because they saw that the General and the Deputy Commander were indifferent."
Tu Wei said, "How much respect the General has for my brother-in-law! And how much more respect he has for the Empress Dowager! But these people are full of foul language, they're not even human!"
"Someone come here!"
"Follow me and fight your way out!"
His subordinate advised, "The deputy commander has issued a military order..."
Tu interrupted him, shouting, "The Empress Dowager is the mother of the nation. Their insults against her are an insult to the prestige of Dongjing. Even the deputy commander cannot ignore this!"
"General Tu is right!"
Parker walked over and shouted, "This is intolerable! I'll fight my way out with you!"
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