Chapter Thirty-Six: The Hero's Tomb

  Ye Xuan habitually stroked his chin, then slowly said: "As for Huang He, although he has no ability, it's precisely because he is a greedy and lazy person who cherishes the present comfort. I think he must be eager to let our Ye family army guard him, so even if we don't go looking for Huang He, he will come looking for us on his own initiative. In that case, since he wants us to guard him, he must pay some benefits fee, heh heh..."

  Yè Xuán chuckled and looked up at Zhūgě Yǔ, asking: "I wonder if what I said is correct?"

  Zhuge Yu nodded and praised: "General is indeed a descendant of the Ye family, with extremely high intelligence, understanding it at once."

  Ye Xuanqian nodded slightly and continued to ask: "Then what is the third point that Mr. Unknown mentioned?"

  "General, you see, the Southern Barbarians' troops in Jiangdong and Jiangxi have never joined forces. Every time they try to seize our territory, they always split their army into two routes. And why is it that almost every time, our Hebei region manages to survive?"

  Ye Xuan rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and suddenly understood. It turned out that the desolate place where Nanmanzi was located had not a single drop of water on its own territory, which also led to most of Nanmanzi's troops being cavalry, with no one knowing how to swim.

  So relying on the natural barrier of the Great River, ordinary southern barbarians did not dare to cross the river to plunder the north or south. However, people's desires are insatiable, and the ambitions of this group of southern barbarians in the Zhongjin kingdom have expanded to an extreme degree.

  Taking advantage of Hebei's insufficient military strength and relative chaos, take the opportunity to cross the river and fight in Hebei, grab a good spot.

  However, the Nanban soldiers were all landlubbers and no one knew how to swim. The water currents in the river were very complex, and unless an experienced fisherman or a naval officer was there to guide them, it was uncertain how many people from the Jin kingdom could be brought over. Even if they were brought over, some would get seasick, while others would not adapt to the local environment, so it was really a problem how many of them would have combat effectiveness.

  In addition, the soldiers of the Jin Kingdom were expeditionary forces after all, and the supply of food and homesickness would definitely have a great impact on their morale.

  If Ye Jiajun takes this opportunity to take down these Southern Barbarians in one fell swoop, it's not impossible.

  Zhu Ge Yu and Ye Xuan were chatting enthusiastically when a messenger sent by Huang He arrived, inviting General Ye Xuan, the leader of the Ye family army, to discuss strategies for retreating from the enemy.

  Yexuan and Zhuge Yu looked at each other and smiled after hearing what the messenger said.

  ……

  White clouds drifted lazily across the sky, while on the ground, thousands of mountains and rivers stretched out as far as the eye could see. At this moment, Ye Xuan, Sun Yu, and Chen Fei, three sworn brothers, were making their way to the meeting location hosted by Huang He. Up ahead was the mountain pass! A fork in the road.

  Two forked roads, separated by a mountain in the middle. At the entrance of one road stands a huge sign: Hero's Tomb! Iron-Blooded War General's Grave! Each word is written with iron brush and silver hook, sword drawn and bow stretched, but every word is written to its utmost, making people involuntarily feel a sense of heroic demise, desolate and sorrowful.

  Ye Xuan's expression suddenly turned serious, and he stopped in front of the stone tablet. A strange feeling surged up, and he whispered: "So it was here all along... This is indeed the Hero's Mausoleum!!"

  "Big brother, what's wrong?" Looking at Ye Xuan's dazed expression, Sun Yu walked up and asked curiously.

  Facing Sun Yu's question, Ye Xuan seemed to have not heard it at all, and did not answer for a long time. He just stared intently at the few big words, and his eyes showed a bewildered expression. His heart was filled with bittersweet emotions, and those distant memories that had been merged together suddenly became crystal clear again in this moment.

  "Hero's Tomb! Iron Blood War General's Grave!" Chen Fei muttered behind Ye Xuan, suddenly a flash of inspiration in his mind, eyes wide with surprise: "This place is... Big Brother... Father... That... Bo Bo... Father?"

  Chen Fei hadn't finished speaking when Sun Yu suddenly came back to her senses and stood there blankly, staring at her older brother.

  "It was my father." Ye Xuan nodded and said slowly: "This place is where he had his last battle! It's also where he rests in peace!"

  Ye Xuan gazed at the several giant, sword-like characters with a daze, his heart churning restlessly. Because even if the previous soul in this body had come here before, this body itself was still visiting for the first time.

  Thinking of this, Ye Xuan couldn't help but sigh. It wasn't that he was unfilial or unwilling to come here. In fact, Ye Xuan wanted to see his father more than anyone else.

  But at the time of Ye Wei's death, the Ye family was in a state of great turmoil and instantly fell from being a wealthy family. At that time, Ye Xuan was not yet 10 years old, just a young child, and besides, they couldn't even gather enough money for travel expenses, how could he come here to pay respects to his father?

  Thinking of this, Ye Xuan's heart also felt a pang of sadness. "Let's go this way." Ye Xuan's voice was low and melancholic as he looked towards the direction of the Hero's Tomb in the distance.

  Sun Yu and Chen Fei didn't say anything, they just quietly followed Ye Xuan from behind.

  But just after walking for a short while, Sun Yu and Chen Fei were shocked to discover that the road they were on was normally swept by many people... everywhere was spotless, even the flowers and grass on the rocks on both sides of the road had been trimmed neatly... although now there were only bare branches without any profession, but the traces of trimming were obvious at a glance.

  The three brothers walked slowly along the road, and as they went further ahead, the road became increasingly wider. After turning a corner, all three of them suddenly stopped in their tracks, staring blankly ahead.

  It's already winter now, and the weather is extremely cold. Just a few days ago, there was a heavy snowfall, and the ground has been covered with snow for some time. However, in the distance, despite the freezing weather, a group of nearly 100 men are working tirelessly to clear the road, their bodies steaming with heat and sweat dripping from their brows. From afar, the rising steam appears like mist, and it's astonishing that they can work up such a sweat in this cold weather. They must have been clearing snow for at least half a day now.

  The person in front shoveled the snow, piling it up, and immediately after, someone pushed a small cart over, scooping the snow onto the cart, quickly moving away. Right behind them, someone with a specially made large broom thoroughly swept the ground again, until the original color of the mountain stone land was revealed... Everyone remained silent, all diligently working with their heads down, as if this snow-shoveling work was so sacred.

  Behind them, a big road can be seen clearly, surprisingly clean and without even a bit of snow, as if the surface had been swept away... The road winds its way into the distance.

  In such a remote place, even if there were people passing by, they would be few and far between. Yet, these people have to put in so much effort to build such a wide and clean road...

  Ye Xuan suddenly felt his nose slightly aching, he had keenly sensed the situation here.

  These people, all in their thirties or so, even if there were some slightly older ones, would not have exceeded forty years old; they can be said to be uniform. Each of their faces was cold, hard and rough, but in their eyes, there was still a fervent color...