After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chunyu Ding was startled, staring at Zhao Hanzhang for a long time without being able to speak, "You, how did you end up here?"

Nowadays, Zhao Hanzhang’s name is famous, even though he was far away in Chang’an, he had heard about her disrupting Liu Yuan’s rear by herself, tying up half of the Xiongnu’s forces;

She even managed to escape the Xiongnu’s pursuit and siege, went around to meet Gou Xi, and who knows how she persuaded him. She actually got Gou Xi to send troops and drive the Xiongnu away with her.

Chunyu Ding was already prepared for her to become the next formidable enemy of Prince East Sea after Gou Xi, assuming they would eventually clash, but he didn’t expect it to be this soon.

Chunyu Ding swallowed nervously and asked, "Where is General Ma?"

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang, he already had a bad premonition, only to see the young girl opposite him smile lightly, with raised brows and eyes, pointing to the left, "Over there."

Chunyu Ding turned his stiff neck to look and saw it was a pile of grave soil, still looking fresh.

In the past two years, too many people have died, he accepted it well, but his back was cold, trembling with fear, afraid that Zhao Hanzhang would transform into a monster and suddenly charge at him.

He felt dizzy for a moment before returning to his senses, struggling to calm down, asking with difficulty, "Why did Governor Zhao kill General Ma?"

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Zhao Hanzhang then retracted her smile and said coldly, "He disobeyed the imperial edict, maliciously obstructed the Yu State reinforcements. Even if I were just an ordinary person, hearing of such disloyal and unjust behavior, he should be killed."

"What, does General Chunyu think I was wrong to kill him?"

Chunyu Ding said nothing.

Zhao Hanzhang wasn’t in a hurry and patiently waited.

Chunyu Ding’s gaze swept over the flickering firelight behind her, unsure of how many troops she had here.

He had let Fu Zhi go, and would surely be held accountable by Prince East Sea later, and Prince Nanyang might not be able to protect him.

Is it better to die later or to fight for it now?

As he hesitated, Zhao Ran behind him had already made the decision for him, stepping forward and saying, "Governor Zhao, you misunderstood, our general simply saw the fire here and came to inquire, after all, this belongs to the Central Pass, which is under Prince Nanyang’s guard."

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at Zhao Ran, raised the corner of her mouth in acknowledgment, and said, "Now that General Chunyu has seen it, I am here to pick up my Yu State reinforcements, General Chunyu, is that alright?"

Chunyu Ding did not speak.

Zhao Ran lowered his voice and said, "General, the Yu State Army has just been blooded, fighting the Xiongnu, their fighting spirit remains. We should avoid conflict at this time."

Besides, they are all Jin people. If we fight without orders from above, who knows if we might be blamed later?

Chunyu Ding also thought of this and swallowed before saying, "No problem."

Zhao Hanzhang then smiled and said, "It’s still early, we need to wait until dawn to leave. Since we have met by chance, General Chunyu, why not stay and reminisce?"

What old stories were there between him and her?

Chunyu Ding pulled a stiff smile, "No need, it’s late, we won’t disturb Governor Zhao here."

Chunyu Ding ordered his men to slowly retreat, seeing Zhao Hanzhang had no intention of pursuing, he quickly turned and ran with his people.

After running a distance, he stopped his horse, angrily struck his whip, "Let Fu Zhi escape, and he was rescued by Zhao Hanzhang, Prince East Sea will surely be angry."

Zhao Ran felt that this was all in the future, the priority was to stay alive now.

"General, Zhao Hanzhang is ruthless, she killed General Ma, a Central Lang General, just like that; she also managed to subdue the Ma Family Army, twenty thousand men, without any disturbance," Zhao Ran said, "If we contend with her now, if she becomes ruthless..."

He lowered his voice, "We don’t know how many troops she actually brought, but the twenty thousand under Ma Jian’en, plus Fu Zhi’s twenty thousand, are all in her hands, and she’s someone who can make the Xiongnu dance with just two thousand men..."

Chunyu Ding finally stopped being angry, with a face like iron, got on his horse, and hurriedly led his people to run.

A scout who had been closely watching them followed behind, saw them return to camp, pack up, and flee overnight before running back to report, "General, they ran off."

Zhao Hanzhang lamented, "Too sensible."

She thought of the person beside Chunyu Ding just now and couldn’t help asking, "What’s the name of the deputy general with Chunyu Ding?"

"His name is Zhao Ran."

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow, "Him, quite a talent."

But she didn’t say she wanted to recruit him.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t immediately pursue the main army, instead she and the soldiers slept on the ground, waiting until daylight to pursue the main army.

Fu Tinghan and his men hadn’t traveled far, after all, it was deep night, easy to complicate things, so they only went twenty li and then stopped to camp.

Scouts kept an eye on the rear; if there was any change, they would know.

So, the main army was very easy to pursue; as soon as it was pursued, they caught up.

The three armies merged, but Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan reorganized them, so their marching speed wasn’t slow, and they quickly approached Yu State.

Before reaching Yu State, a scout came to report, "General, ahead are the court’s main forces."

Zhao Hanzhang: "Where did the court get a major force, is it Prince East Sea’s or Governor Gou’s?"

"It’s Prince East Sea’s."

Zhao Hanzhang understood, and directly went to find Fu Zhi, "Grandfather Fu, ahead is Prince East Sea’s main forces. If you wish to retain your men, I suggest you follow us into Yu State."

Fu Zhi, of course, knew, but he was unwilling to just stand on Gou Xi’s side, so he decided not to go anywhere, "I came to prevent the two from contending."

Zhao Hanzhang: "So Grandfather Fu should follow us into Yu State, if you stay here, not only will Prince East Sea annex your troops, Gou Xi will not spare you either."

Fu Tinghan said, "There is another way, you could return to Luoyang."

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow, looked at him before facing Fu Zhi earnestly, "Yes, going back to Luoyang is also an option."

She said, "Neither Prince East Sea nor Gou Xi are people who will heed your advice. Otherwise, when Yu State was in crisis before, they wouldn’t have been indifferent."

"At that time, the entire court advised Prince East Sea, and he still ignored them. Now with armies confronting each other, will he change his mind because of your twenty thousand soldiers?" Zhao Hanzhang said, "To him, these twenty thousand are like a drop in the river, insignificant, but to the emperor, they are a lifeline."

Fu Zhi hesitated only for a moment before taking their advice. He looked at Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, gaze moving between the two, before saying after a long pause, "Tinghan, Hanzhang, power is the most wonderful and also wicked thing in the world. Before, my hope for you was simply to survive, but now, I hope that no matter what position you reach in the future, you can stay true to yourselves."

He earnestly said, "Be loyal to the monarch, love the country, and benefit the people."

Zhao Hanzhang agreed without hesitation, nodding directly, "Don’t worry, Tinghan and I will surely be loyal to the monarch, love the country, and benefit the people."

Zhao Hanzhang paused for a moment and added, "Grandfather Fu, when you return to Luoyang, please give the emperor our regards."