135 The Three Leading Generals

He wanted to hear more!

The other students talked with him as they headed to the class, but before they entered the room, someone called him from behind.

"First Brother."

Nan Luo's expression turned bad when he heard this infuriating voice. The servants who were following the young masters from behind automatically moved away. They didn't have any place here aside from helping their young master carry the books they needed to bring.

To be able to hear the lessons were usually a great privilege for them. Many didn't have such chance and the servants who were waiting outside could usually hear the teacher's voice. Though, it wouldn't be as clear as those who were listening from inside.

Turning around, Nan Luo could see a young boy just slightly younger than him. While there were some similarities in their countenance, the difference also quite clear. Nan Luo felt annoyed when he saw this face.

"Second Brother," Nan Luo greeted.

Nan Hou Xiang smiled faintly. "It's been a while since I see you attend classes, First Brother. Have you finally decided to follow class properly?"

"I didn't know that you care so much about my lessons." Nan Luo sneered. "If you would like, I can show you my progress after several weeks of training at the field."

"There's no need for that." Nan Hou Xiang waved his hand, his eyes turned colder.

While Nan Hou Xiang's words implied that he cared for his brother's progress, the underlying was that his brother was lazy and chose not to come to the academy. Thus, Nan Luo had to refute that he was studying martial arts.

Nan Hou Xiang's fist clenched. If only Nan Luo was not good at martial arts, he would have an easier time to deal with his first brother. Unfortunately, Nan Luo was ultimately one of the few geniuses in terms of martial arts.

While his study might not be that good, he made up his weakness by having good martial arts.

"In that case, I'll enter first." Nan Luo snorted. He took the books that Xiao Yan carried then pointed to the other side. "You can either wait here or outside."

"We'll wait here, Young Master," Xiao Yan replied respectfully. He beckoned for Nan Hua to follow him.

Nan Luo walked into the class while ignoring the others around Nan Hou Xiang. Thanks to their father's status, it was not weird for other families to try to get close to them. Not to mention, there was also their study partner.

"Second Young Master Nan, shall we enter?" one of the students asked in low tone.

Nan Hou Xiang nodded. "Yes, we have to learn a lot."

"You're right."

"We're all going to be powerful figures in the future!"

As the boys entered the classroom, Nan Hua was standing not far from the class with Xiao Yan. The two of them didn't look conspicuous with so many other servants around. They were also waiting for their young masters to finish class. Some of the servants left since it was not their position to stay here or just didn't have any interest to listen in through the thin wall.

Nan Hua lowered her eyes. "Luo didn't have study partner?"

"Young Master's study partner was Shangguan Yi, but the two have dispute some time ago and eventually they no longer study together," Xiao Yan explained.

It was quite hard to find study partner that was suited each other well. Shangguan Yi was one of the young masters from Shangguan Family and was quite the sloppy person. However, his background was excellent. It was the reason why Nan Shu Cheng arranged for Nan Luo to be Shangguan Yi study partner.

Unfortunately, the two youths couldn't cooperate well and ended up no longer being study partner.

Nan Luo would study by himself while Shangguan Yi had already found a different person to be his study partner.

Nan Hua nodded.

No wonder their grandfather asked Nan Luo to find friend. One was to increase his ability to socialize, the second was to expand his influence, and third was for him to find a study partner.

The term study partner might look good and all, but the true purpose was for the young masters to build their influence. Most of the time, it would be used to form connection between two families that didn't have any connection to each other.

Tep! Tep!

Nan Hua didn't raise her head but she could hear someone coming. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she noticed that the way the other person walked indicated that his martial arts was high. To think that a teacher in the academy could have high martial arts even though he didn't study it.

'Crouching dragons and hidden tigers are always everywhere.'

Not everyone who was excellent wanted to showcase their talent. Many of them also lay low and chose not to do anything, living their lives as ordinary person.

"Teacher Luo is here."

The door opened and Teacher Luo walked inside. He was already in his mid forties but still looked very energetic. Upon seeing the students inside the class, he nodded his head. The students have learned how to behave themselves.

"I see that the class is full today. Today's topic would be the continuation of the military during the era of Emperor Xuan. Have you all studied this topic before?" Teacher Luo asked. He was not the type to preach all the time but instead the type to ask the students to engage in discussion.

What was the use of speaking if the students end up understand nothing? It would be better for him to ask them to interact with him.

"Yes!"

Teacher Luo swept his gaze across the class. "Chi Song Hu, what have you learned?"

A young boy around the age of 12 years old quickly stood up when he heard his name was called. He looked at Teacher Luo with worried expression. "This… I know that we lost a lot of war in the past few years… and that…."

"Did you not read the books?" Teacher Luo's gaze turned sharp.

Chi Song Hu lowered his head and hung his head low.

Teacher Luo snorted and waved his hand. "I expected better from you next time. You can sit down. How about you, Su Ao Kang?"

A boy who was slightly older quickly stood up. "Teacher Luo, I have read the anecdotes of the first year of Emperor Xuan's reign regarding his military achievement. Emperor Xuan had no interest towards the military conquest and choose to follow the same methods as what the previous emperor, Emperor Huan did."

Emperor Huan was the title of Yang Zhou's grandfather and also the emperor before Emperor Xuan. The changes of Emperor in Fei Yang Kingdom was quite recent because Emperor Huan was in power until late of age while Emperor Xuan didn't last long because of the conflicts within the palace.

But this matter was not discussed for now.

Teacher Luo nodded. "That's the general condition, what exactly that Emperor Huan decides to make sure that Fei Yang Kingdom can stay at the forefront?"

Su Ao Kang straightened his back. "Emperor Huan gave the generals freedom!"

It was not known where Emperor Huan thought of this method, but it was indeed very effective. By allowing the powerful generals to go into war without having to give so much detailed report to him, he allowed them to expand into the other kingdoms' territory. However, this method had its weakness too.

It was hard to control the powerful generals.

Also, asking those powerful and arrogant generals to cooperate with each other if it was not a national problem would be a bit difficult. As the result, their border did expand but it was not to the point of defeating other kingdoms.

Emperor Xuan wanted to be able to defeat other big kingdoms nearby but his dream was cut short because the military power of Fei Yang Kingdom was not enough. This dream of his… could only be continued by his children.

"By allowing the generals to have more freedom, there are several powerful generals who rose to the top. During the first year of Emperor Xuan's reign, the three famed generals are Old General Long, Old General Nan, and Old General Shangguan."

Nan Hua's eyes flickered when she heard the three names.

They purposely used the term 'Old' because those people were already of advance age and their grandchildren had started to grow up. Not to mention, both Old General Long's son and Old General Shangguan's son had ended up becoming a general too. They might not be as famous as their father, but they were slowly getting more powerful.

Only Old General Nan's son didn't go to the battlefield.

"Good, have you studied the battles that occurred during that time?" Teacher Luo nodded in approval.

"Yes!" With that, Su Ao Kang began to recite the books that he had read. Before coming here, he had already read a lot of books and naturally familiar with the three great generals' story.

They did great in battles during the year Emperor Huan's fell.

Unfortunately, it was also the battle that signified the end of one of them.