Lord of the Desert

Chapter 427 Indifferent
On the 16th day of the first lunar month in the 31st year of Zhenghe, Hong Fan returned to Xijing alone ahead of everyone else.

In the next few days, he first opened the door of Tiannan Bank with two strings of firecrackers with a burst of 10,000 bangs, then followed up on the progress of Wu Hongling's transfer, and finally personally delivered the prepared birthday gift to Tianpeng Mountain.

After everything was ready, he attended several farewell banquets hosted by others and decided to travel to the capital within the month.

In a blink of an eye, it is the 25th day of the first lunar month.

After the Rain Water solar term, the temperature in Xijing rose back to around freezing point, loosening the snow that had accumulated on the city walls over the winter.

In Chaori Palace, Feng Qing, as the leader of Hong Fan's escort on this eastward journey, led his eight subordinates in the Guantong realm to carefully inspect all the vehicles and equipment.

The daily necessities that Hong Fan used every day were classified and packed into boxes and neatly arranged in the side room.

In fact, with the prosperity of Shenjing, it is not difficult to buy any items, but it is different for confidants - even if you are a martial arts master, you cannot have thousands of locations, and there will always be a time when you need someone.

In the afternoon, the sky was light blue and the clouds were scattered.

Hong Fan was planning to set off tomorrow morning to avoid parting with Aunt Liu and others who had just returned from Jinhai, but he was suddenly summoned urgently by Xu Guinian.

"There is urgent military information in Shengzhou Valley West."

This was the first sentence Xu Guinian said after he entered the governor's office.

When Hong Fan suddenly heard the name of an unfamiliar place thousands of miles away that had nothing to do with him, he was confused at first, but when he saw Xu Guinian's serious expression, he knew it was no joke.

"When did this happen?"

He sat down at the table and asked.

"On the 17th day of the first lunar month, the insect swarm attacked along the E River. On the 20th day, the vanguard troops reached Tiewa Pass. At this time, the eldest princess happened to be organizing the Shengyu army inside the pass. She immediately reported the military situation and received the order to defend Shenjing the next day."

Xu Guinian finished speaking in one breath. Seeing that Hong Fan was exhausted, he took the porcelain pot from the air and poured him a glass of water.

"Who would have thought that only three days later, another urgent letter from the princess arrived, bringing back the sad news that Tiewa Pass had been breached."

"So it was news from two days ago."

Hong Fan nodded at first, then became confused.

"I remember that Shengzhou's border is four or five thousand miles away from Shenjing, and Shenjing is more than two thousand miles away from Xijing. What kind of postal route can be so fast?"

"It's not the postal route, it's Feilian, which is commonly known as Longque."

Xu Guinian replied.

"This strange beast has a bird's body and a deer's head, with a wingspan of ten feet and weighs thirty to forty kilograms. It is not only fast and sturdy, but also recognizes people and roads. It can fly nearly a thousand miles in an hour. It only takes half a day to get from Shengzhou Maoyan City to Shenjing. Its value is equivalent to its weight in gold."

"There is such a fast alien species?"

Hong Fan said in surprise.

Thirty or forty kilograms of gold is equivalent to several thousand taels of silver. He can't afford it now, but it will be easy in a year or two.

"Fei Lian is not that rare. We have always kept them in our Zhangwu Academy. They brought the news this time. If you are curious, you can go to the state bird house to have a look after we finish our business..."

Xu Guinian continued speaking, his tone seeming hesitant.

Just as Hong Fan was about to ask what the matter was that he was called here, he was suddenly startled.

"The Admiral just mentioned Shigehiko?"

he asked urgently.

"Yes, Maoyan City is adjacent to the E River and is outside the Tiewa Pass, right on the frontier of Shengzhou."

Xu Guinian will return soon.

Hong Fan suddenly became solemn.

Although he had never been to Shengzhou, he had gained a general understanding of the relevant geography.

This state is located in the southwest corner of Dahua, connected to the three Huaiyang counties in the north and Zhanzhou in the east.

It is divided into two parts, east and west, by Mount Saga and Mount Qingzhang, and connected in the middle by the Fifty-li Broken Heart Valley, which was created by the Martial Saint with human power more than a thousand years ago.

To the east of the Broken Heart Valley, the Yao River runs through the entire area and then flows out to the sea from the Foodless Heart Realm, making it extremely prosperous.

To the west of Broken Heart Valley, the border is connected to the Zerg, the terrain is barren and mountainous, with three passes: Iron Frog, Flying Swallow, and Thunder and Fire.

As an important frontier town in Shengzhou, Maoyan City is not only the place where Gan Deshou had been stationed for many years, but also the hometown of Gu Yixin.

"Admiral, what is the current situation in Maoyan City?"

Realizing this, Hong Fan became uneasy.

"First, the city must be broken."

Xu Guinian sighed.

"I don't know the specific information. I can only say that according to the princess's reply, the insect tide is so fierce that it is not safe outside Feiyan Pass in Shengzhou."

"In addition, Hong Fan, along with the military intelligence, there was actually an order from the head of the mountain. The original words were, 'The Purple Ribbon Cavalry who receive this order should immediately set out to help Shengzhou. Even if you save one person or kill one enemy, you will be rewarded. Otherwise, you don't have to return to Shenjing to see me.'"

He spoke carefully, a little embarrassed. "Although you promised the headmaster that you would go to the capital to take orders, you are not yet an official Purple Ribbon Cavalryman. Strictly speaking, you are not obliged to obey the orders from the capital. In short, whether to obey the orders is up to you..."

Hearing this, Hong Fan immediately understood where Xu Guinian's hesitation came from.

It is a dilemma to risk one's life to resist the insect swarm, or to disobey orders and eat the dead bodies of the mountain elders.

Xu Guinian knew that Hong Fan was going to leave in the next two days. If he used the authority in his hands to keep the news secret for a while, he could make him miss the order perfectly and solve the dilemma.

But if the news of this festival reaches the ears of the headmaster later, it is hard to say what will happen next.

"I understand. Thank you, Admiral, for the message."

Hong Fan thanked him solemnly.

Xu Guinian looked puzzled.

"Admiral, you may not know that my sworn brother Gu Yixin's hometown is in Maoyan. He returned home early after finishing the work in the three counties of Huaiyang last year. Now he may be trapped in a siege and needs a helping hand."

Hong Fan explained briefly and then asked again.

"Also, according to the instructions just given by the headmaster, does it mean that more than 30 Purple Ribbon Innates will gather in Shengzhou in the near future?"

As far as he knew, most of the Purple Ribbon World Riders were powerful warriors of the same realm, and the energy that could be unleashed when dozens of them gathered together was beyond imagination.

“I’m not that optimistic.”

Xu Guinian shook his head.

"When a warrior reaches the Xiantian realm, he can be said to have entered the realm of mastery, so Zishou has always been responsible for each mission and acted alone - especially those outstanding warriors who target the masters on the Evil List, who often chase them thousands of miles away within ten days. How can they get orders at this time?"

"According to my estimation, it would be extremely lucky if the headmaster's order could reach ten people before March."

Upon hearing this, Hong Fan put his hands on his knees and did not respond for a while.

The room fell silent.

Just when Xu Guinian was getting impatient, he heard Hong Fan asking him a serious question in a suppressed tone.

"Why didn't the mountain commander send the admiral in his order?"

Xu Guinian was stunned.

"And Shengzhou Martial Arts Academy must have a commander, and perhaps dozens of local Yuanci—even if they all live in the prosperous places in the east of the valley, how long will it take to fly from Hongdou City to Maoyan City?"

These questions had been stuck in Hongfan's mind for years, and Hongwu's explanations at the time had never convinced him - it only took a flat-haired beast half a day to cross half of Dahua, let alone a celestial martial saint?
Once upon a time, he thought that the people in high positions in Dahua did not care about the casualties among the lower classes - but now it seems that Guan Qimai obviously does care.

"Duke Zhuang once told me that the foundation of Dahua is in the upper echelons, not in the lower echelons. If the defense of the border and the interests of the people are in the lower echelons, there will be no merit."

Hong Fan took a deep breath and spoke quickly.

"I thought I had come to my senses at the time, and I thought to myself that the extent of the human race's occupation of territory might not have been determined by the hearts of the people or the strength of the nation, but simply by the casual words of the gods."

"But Admiral, this brings up two more problems:
First, if the gods have an agreement, why do alien races still come to harass us?
Second, the territory was lost, the people died in vain, Zulong didn’t care, Xiao family didn’t care, don’t the Yuanci people who were born and raised in this state and county care either?”

"Before, when the snake people came and caused chaos in Jinhai City, did the Yuanci generals in Liangzhou Camp not care? Even if they didn't care, Lord Wu Zheng had experienced war and displacement when he was young, so would he be indifferent?"

"It's a simple task, why doesn't anyone do it?"

Hong Fan asked a lot of questions in his mind, which made Xu Guinian silent.

How could the latter not understand that the "everyone" in the question naturally included him.

"It's not that I don't want to go, it's that I can't go."

After a long moment, he replied.

"why?"

Hong Fan kept asking.

The hall fell into a longer silence.

Xu Guinian stared at Hong Fan, hesitated several times, and finally turned his eyes away.

"Hong Fan, if you can establish yourself in the martial arts world in the future, you will naturally know."

"it is good."

Hong Fan nodded solemnly.

"If so, please ask the Admiral to send a message to Shenjing for me, saying that Hongfan has received the order and will go to Shengzhou immediately!"

After he finished speaking, he suddenly stood up and strode away.

PS: Happy National Day everyone.

There was a week in the past half month when I had a lot to do and I had no ideas or writing, which resulted in less updates.

I feel like I can write more in October.

(End of this chapter)