The Prodigal Son

"Report..."

A man from the Baojing Bureau rode up at breakneck speed.

Before they even reached Qin Yu, the men from the Baojing Division shouted, "Lord Qin, good news! Fan Bing has passed away!"

"Sure?"

Qin Yu was pleasantly surprised, but also secretly suspicious.

Is he faking his death?

A plan to escape unscathed?

Did they intend to use this to escape the imperial court's pursuit?

Alternatively, the court could stop regarding him as a major threat and give him a chance to make a comeback.

"Sure!"

The visitor nodded emphatically. "We tracked down the remnants of the enemy army and captured a group of deserters about fifty miles from Jin Suo Pass. They all confirmed that Fan Bing had died vomiting blood! His body was taken away by his personal guards..."

After Fan Bing died, Sang Po and Fan Bing's personal guards had no interest in the remaining soldiers and simply took Fan Bing's body and left.

After that, the remaining troops, who had completely lost their leader, all fled.

Very good!

Qin Yu was overjoyed, then hurriedly asked, "Aren't Zhao Yi and the others with them?"

"No!"

The messenger replied, "After the enemy's crushing defeat, Zhao Yi and the others became separated from them! Commander Pei suspects that Zhao Yi and the others, knowing the situation was hopeless, have already gone into hiding!"

"It should be."

Qin Yu nodded slightly, secretly feeling regretful.

Although Fan Bing is dead, the two masterminds, Zhao Yi and Zuo Jiangyue, are still alive!

If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they'll grow back in the spring!

Moreover, they lost two credits for nothing!

Those two bastards were more eager to rebel than anyone else, but they ran away the fastest when they failed!

Later that evening, Wu Chi arrived with his troops.

Wu Chi was accompanied by Lü Si.

Upon seeing Lü Si, Qin Yu immediately became displeased. "What brings you here?"

"Of course, we're going to expand our territory!"

Lu Si spoke with righteous indignation, patting his sword: "I've even prepared my sword!"

"Get lost!"

Qin Yu waved his hand impatiently, "You're from the Ministry of Justice, go do what the Ministry of Justice is supposed to do, what are you meddling in for!"

Upon hearing this, Lü Si immediately became furious and instinctively wanted to jump up and curse.

However, considering the current unfavorable situation, Lü Si ultimately swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

Lu Si hesitated for a moment, then pulled Qin Yu aside and said firmly, "To tell you the truth, I absolutely have to go! Tell me, what will it take for you to let me go?"

"Are you fucking out of your mind?"

Qin Yu was speechless. "Those people in Lingqiu and Chongyi who joined the rebellion still need to be dealt with. Are you worried about not getting credit for it? If you're really that bored, go retrieve the corpses and armor! That's credit too!"

"How can that be the same? I want the credit for expanding territory!"

Lu Si retorted, "If my father ever dares to say I'm useless again, can't I just ask him if he ever contributed to expanding territory?"

Merit is not the same as merit!

Did his father, Lü Chunqiu, have no merits for the court?

If you want to achieve merit, you must choose merits that your father didn't have!

This might be his only chance in his life to make a name for himself in expanding territory!

He would never let such an opportunity slip by!

Meeting Lü Si's resolute gaze, Qin Yu couldn't help but stroke his chin and ponder.

After a moment, Qin Yu cut to the chase: "You can go if you want, but it'll cost you 100,000 taels of silver! I'll give you the title of a thousand-man general in the army!"

A thousand generals?

Lu Si's eyes lit up instantly.

"make a deal!"

……

In just over a day, Qin Yu led eight thousand cavalrymen to Jin Suo Guan.

When they arrived, the flag of Daning had already been re-raised at Jinshuo Pass.

Pei Du and some of the people from the Baojing Division also arrived at Jin Suo Guan ahead of time.

Upon learning that Qin Yu and his group had arrived, Shen Jue quickly led his men out of the pass to greet them.

Seeing Lin Gong riding forward with Qin Yu, Shen Jue felt deeply ashamed and quickly stepped forward to bow: "This guilty general, Shen Jue, greets General Lin!"

"Don't you dare put me on a barbecue grill!"

Lin Gong pointed to Qin Yu beside him, "He is the commander-in-chief."

"what?"

Shen Jue's face twitched violently as he looked at Qin Yu in astonishment.

He had assumed that His Majesty had appointed Lin Gong to be fully in charge of suppressing the rebellion!

So, after all this commotion, Qin Yu is actually the commander-in-chief?

Qin Yu is only eighteen years old, right?

So... he's become the head coach?

After a moment of stunned silence, Shen Jue finally came to his senses and hurriedly turned to Qin Yu awkwardly: "This humble general, Shen Jue, greets... Commander Qin!"

He found it hard to call a playboy he once looked down upon "Commander Qin" for a moment.

However, he should indeed thank Qin Yu.

If Qin Yu hadn't used a water attack to defeat the enemy and given him a chance to redeem himself, he probably wouldn't have escaped death even with a thousand reasons.

"Alright! You've captured Jin Suo Guan, so that's enough to make amends."

Qin Yu adopted the air of a commander-in-chief, "Let's enter the pass first and then talk!"

"well!"

Shen Jue nodded repeatedly and gestured, "General Qin, General Lin, please!"

Led by Shen Jue, the group quickly entered the pass.

As they walked, Pei Du strolled up to Qin Yu and asked incredulously, "You've really become the commander-in-chief?"

"Of course! I have the imperial edict in my hands."

Qin Yu chuckled and teased, "How about it? It's not shameful to become my disciple, is it?"

Pei Du's face stiffened slightly, and he said awkwardly, "It's alright!"

"What do you mean 'it's alright'? It's your honor to be able to become my disciple!"

Qin Yu glanced at him unhappily, then asked, "Where are Da Chui and the others? I haven't seen them."

Pei Du replied, "I heard that after capturing Jin Suo Pass, they followed the two who were secretly protecting you to rescue Nan Que'er's people..."

"How many people went?"

Qin Yu inquired.

Pei Du: "Just those two, Xu Wan, Qi Dachui, and Nan Que'er."

"Just the few of them?"

Qin Yu frowned slightly. "I hope nothing's happened to them."

"Nothing should happen."

Pei Du said solemnly, "The Holy Flame Sect has definitely sent out all its elite forces this time. There shouldn't be any experts left behind at their stronghold! With their strength, even if they bring a burden along, nothing should happen to them! Besides, after I arrived yesterday, I sent dozens of people to meet them."

"I hope everything's alright!"

Qin Yu felt a little relieved, but secretly thought to himself, if anything happened to them, he would definitely chop that Nan Que'er up!

The group arrived at the General's Mansion.

Qin Yu, as the commander-in-chief, naturally took the main seat.

After everyone was seated, Qin Yu got straight to the point: "Let's talk about the situation in the Southern Frontier first!"

"Let me explain!"

Pei Du stood up. "According to our intelligence, the Nuoli tribe in the southern border has less than 10,000 men left..."

The Nuoli tribe was not a large force among the tribes in southern Xinjiang.

The 10,000 armored soldiers plus 20,000 able-bodied men nearly emptied the Nuoli tribe's coffers.

The remaining 10,000 men of the Nuoli tribe were all hastily assembled.

The actual number of armored soldiers should not exceed three thousand.

Furthermore, according to their information, the reason why the Holy Fire Sect was able to almost completely control the Nuoli tribe was closely related to the old woman named Sang Po who was by Fan Bing's side.

With their current strength, it's almost a certainty that they can conquer the territory of the Nuoli tribe.

However, although the various tribes in southern Xinjiang have their share of disputes, they are relatively united when facing external enemies.

Therefore, when they attacked the Nuoli tribe, they needed to be wary of other tribes in southern Xinjiang coming to their aid...