There Was Once... an Opportunity Before You

There was once... an opportunity before you.

"Boom..." The council hall turned into a chaotic marketplace, everyone red-faced as if drunk, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Neither Chen Xuanji nor Li Zinian spoke to stop them. Smiling, they savored this glory that belonged to the Great Xia Empire alongside these young people.

Qin Mo was deeply shaken upon hearing the news as well. But unlike those excited fellows, the first thing he felt was not excitement, but fear.

Trading City held a status among the Orc Tribe comparable to Ulan City in Great Xia. It was the launching point for the Orc Tribe's southern invasions of Great Xia, and likewise the defensive center against Great Xia's counteroffensives. Several great cities around Trading City served as defensive strongholds, while Trading City itself had lofty walls, deep ramparts, and numerous troops.

Over the past two or three years, the Great Xia army had entered Orc Tribe territory and repeatedly breached great cities around Trading City, such as Darhan and Erdenet. They had even reached the gates of Trading City several times, but after suffering hundreds of thousands of casualties, they had never once broken through its walls.

Yet Zhao Qirui had actually captured and occupied Trading City in winter. The Orc Tribe's counterattack next year would surely be fiercer than ever before. Was his first campaign as a commander going to be a bitter fight for life and death?

"Everyone, Duke Wu'an has calculated with divine precision and achieved an immortal feat. However, the Orc Tribe is vicious and cunning; they will certainly not let this go. Before long, they will surely return in full force. Now, an opportunity to leave your name in history lies before you all. Which hero can seize it?"

Li Zinian's few words thoroughly ignited the nobles' fervor, while dousing Qin Mo with ice water from head to toe. Watching those young nobles howl madly, he silently mourned for them... An opportunity to die for your country lies before you. Anyone who wants to be a hero, go seize it. I'll take a nap first. Qin Mo howled along with them while searching for an inconspicuous corner to hide in, but his seat was in the front row. No matter how he looked at it, he stood out like a sore thumb. Damn it, was high status sometimes an original sin too?

"Duke Wu'an has laid down a strategy: use Trading City as bait to lure the Orc Tribe's army into attacking, blunt their edge, then send troops from Ulan City to Trading City and strike from north and south, utterly crushing the Orc Tribe's army." Chen Xuanji tossed out another bombshell, raising the hall's feverish atmosphere several degrees higher.

"Duke Wu'an now needs fifty thousand brave warriors to go to Trading City and serve under his command. Which young heroes are willing to go?" Li Zinian looked at the noble youths whose hot blood he had stirred, finally revealing his true purpose.

"This subordinate is willing to go..."

"This colonel is willing to go..."

"Wu Shenghuan of the Wu Family of Huzhou is willing to go to Trading City and kill enemies for the country..."

Qin Mo watched coldly and noticed that after Li Zinian's final words, the hall's heat instantly cooled by half. Though many shouted their willingness to go to Trading City and serve the Grand General, not a single leading figure from the great aristocratic clans spoke up. Almost all who answered were from noble families.

"Are there any other outstanding heroes willing to go to Trading City and lend the Grand General a hand?" Li Zinian was somewhat disappointed and helpless. The heirs and eldest sons of the great clans were no fools. Their earlier blood-boiling cheers had all been for show. When it came time to risk their lives, not one stepped forward to support him.

A prince's conscripted private army numbered ten thousand men. A duke could bring six to eight thousand, a marquis three to five thousand. An earl had only one or two thousand. As for those viscounts and barons most fervent about military merit, they had brought only a few hundred men north. Could anyone expect them to scrape together tens of thousands of warriors? And how much combat strength would they even have?

"Is there anyone else willing to go to Trading City and serve the country?" Li Zinian's voice suddenly rose, and the hall instantly fell silent. The noble families exchanged uncertain glances, not knowing why Commander Li had suddenly flared up. The great clans, meanwhile, all wore the same expression—eyes on their noses, noses on their hearts, silent as stone.

"General Ningyuan Qin Mo, are you willing to go to Trading City?"

Qin Mo had kept a low profile all along. He knew that going with the flow was the most sensible choice right now. He had no informants in Ulan City, but that did not mean the other great clans lacked them. Since none of the great clans intended to go to Trading City, he only needed to follow their lead. Yet Li Zinian had actually called on him first.

"My men are all southerners. By the time they reached Ulan City, they had already lost half their lives. In this weather, they truly have no strength left to rush to Trading City. I hope Commander Li can understand."

Li Zinian had addressed Qin Mo as General Ningyuan because he naturally wanted to settle this through military law. Unfortunately, he was not from the Northern Expedition General's Office and held no direct authority over Qin Mo. Qin Mo was the Heir of Prince Heng, holding a first-rank noble title, one rank higher than Li Zinian, the Commander of Ulan City. Naturally, he did not fear this second master of the Li Family.

Li Zinian was the second master of the Western Jin Li Family. His elder brother, Duke Jinyang Li Zichu, was the current family head. The Western Jin Li Family could be considered a regional powerhouse in Great Xia. Both Li Zichu and Li Zinian possessed Earth Realm cultivation; with two Earth Realm experts in one family, their strength was quite respectable. But compared to Dayuan, they were simply not worth mentioning. Setting aside Allen and the others' martial strength, Qin Mo's status as a prince's heir alone was enough to make them wary.

"Qin Mo, your Dayuan family has received imperial favor for generations, and His Majesty has even granted you the title of General Ningyuan. You should naturally serve our emperor. How can you make such excuses?" Li Zinian once again brought up the imperial family. I may not be able to control you, but can't the emperor control you? This time, you were personally made a general by His Majesty.

"A country has its laws, and an army has its rules. Commander Li, do you have a written order from the General's Office?" Qin Mo could no longer be bothered to bicker with him. If Li Zinian caught hold of a loose thread in his words, he would have no way to explain himself. Qin Mo had already decided that without military orders, he would not obey. If they pushed him too far... Heh heh... I'll immediately propose marriage to some top Great Xia clan. With my breathtaking beauty, I can instantly forge the strongest alliance with a top-tier clan. Your Jinyang Li Family is merely a second-rate family—I'll have you kneeling on the ground and singing conquest in minutes.

"Ha ha, what a joke. Qin Lan was such a figure, yet he produced such a cowardly thing..." Loud laughter rang out behind Li Zinian. The crude words made Qin Mo narrow his eyes. He knew this was surely the other side trying to provoke him, but it involved his cheap father Qin Lan—and that man had called him a... thing. Today, it seemed this matter could not end peacefully.

"What sort of thing was that speaking just now? What skill is there in hiding behind someone else and spouting nonsense? Come out and let this heir have a look. Let me see whether you're worth this heir lifting a hand against." Qin Mo spoke lazily, perfectly adopting the arrogant tone of a spoiled second-generation dandy. Today, he intended to use his status to crush people. If he did not suppress this matter, who knew how many stumbling blocks would await him in the army afterward?

"I am He Jin, commander of the Pingwei Army. I stand upright and walk straight, open and aboveboard. If His Majesty has need of me, He Jin, I will surely fight to the death. I am not like certain people, whose wealth and rank all came from His Majesty, yet who fear the enemy and refuse to advance when a great foe stands before them. What a laughingstock." A dark-faced man stepped out from behind Li Zinian and launched into a tirade. Neither Li Zinian nor Chen Xuanji made any move to stop him, stoking Qin Mo's anger even further.

"What noble rank do you hold?" Qin Mo put away the dandyish expression that disgusted certain people and asked He Jin coldly, as though questioning a dead man.

"I am the commander of the Pingwei Army."

"What noble rank do you hold?"

"I said it already. I am the commander of the Pingwei Army."

"What... noble... rank... do... you... hold?"

"I... have received His Majesty's great favor and been granted the title of Earl Mengshan." He Jin finally could not hold on any longer. Sweat quietly appeared on his forehead.

"Then do you know what noble rank this heir holds?" Qin Mo's icy tone was like a life-reaping curse, striking He Jin's heart once more.

The Great Xia Empire maintained strict ranks, especially between noble titles, which were divided by rigid social hierarchy. Higher noble ranks possessed several privileges over lower ranks, not the slightest of which could be overstepped. By rights, He Jin should have saluted Qin Mo before speaking. Qin Mo could choose not to pursue it, but if he pressed the matter, He Jin would be in serious trouble.

One had to know that every noble title was granted by the imperial family. The nobility itself was a cornerstone of the imperial family's control over the empire; noble ranks were one of the imperial family's crucial means of ruling Great Xia. If titles bestowed by the imperial family were treated with contempt, that was tantamount to contempt for imperial authority. No matter what office one held, one would be rebuked by the imperial family, and in serious cases, punished. Whatever the outcome, one would have made oneself known before the emperor...

"Your Highness, He Jin is a rough man, a battlefield fighter. He speaks his mind bluntly, so how could he care for all these rules? Your Highness should not take offense." Li Zinian stroked his beard and casually excused He Jin.

"Oh... as Commander Li puts it, eight or nine out of ten noble titles in the empire were won through battlefield slaughter. So all those people are uncouth brutes who do not understand the rules?"

Qin Mo's single sentence nearly choked Li Zinian to death. Other than the imperial clan, nearly all the empire's nobility had earned their titles through military merit, then passed them down generation after generation. If battlefield fighters were uncouth men who did not understand the rules, was he not insulting even his own family ancestors?