Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 101 Shehuo (a type of folk performance)
Yun Ce went to Chuyun City again.

He was in a really bad mood after he got back.

I thought that the two factions in Izumo Castle had reached a dead end and one side would eventually compromise, because continuing to fight would only result in mutual destruction.

As the full moon returned and the weather gradually warmed, the stench of corpses filled the air beneath Izumo Castle.

Normally, it would be impossible for the stench of corpses to be so pervasive in Izumo Province. This is mainly because Izumo Province has a huge population of dog skin animals. Dog skin animals are extremely careful with their food. They will not only chew up the skin and flesh, but also the bones and suck out the marrow.

A corpse can be cleaned up by the sharp teeth of the dogs in less than half an hour.

When Yun Ce arrived at the land below Chuyun City, a huge number of dog skins were lying lazily on the ground, licking their paws and basking in the warm spring sun. Only the dog skin puppies were frolicking in the wilderness outside the city. When they got tired, they would find their mothers and lie on their bellies to drink milk.

Another pile of things was thrown down from the towering city wall. Although it wasn't very clear, Yun Ce knew that they must be human corpses.

Upon seeing corpses falling from the city wall, the dogs instinctively stood up to snatch the food, but their full bellies quickly dissuaded them from the idea.

Sitting on his chestnut horse, Yun Ce sighed and said, "So it really is true that even dogs wouldn't eat it."

Yun Ce thought the Battle of Xiangji Temple in the Tang Dynasty was the ultimate military feat, but unexpectedly, it happened again in Chuyun City, and it was even more brutal than the Battle of Xiangji Temple.

The Battle of Xiangji Temple was, in any case, a field battle. If one could not withstand the attack, one could still escape to the wilderness.

Izumo Castle is different; it's a duel between two giant beasts locked in cages, a fight to the death.

"What deep-seated hatred or grudge could drive us to such a desperate act of mutual destruction?"

After witnessing the brutality of the battlefield firsthand, Yun Ce became less interested in the 100 million tribute. Even if the amount sounded substantial, it wasn't worth so many people losing their lives there.

Looking again at the corpses that even dogs wouldn't eat, thrown down from the city wall, Yun Ce felt he should reconsider the situation in Chuyun City.

If a hundred million in tribute is not worth sacrificing so many lives, then what could possibly make the people in the city so reckless with their lives?
Previously, Yun Ce was already surprised that Lao Cao, who clearly did not meet the standards of a death squad, stayed in Chuyun City instead of running away. Now that the final moment has arrived, none of those people have run away, which makes Yun Ce feel that what these people are after must be more important than their lives.

So, what exactly is it?

Driven by intense curiosity, Yun Ce decided to go and take a look.

After letting the chestnut horse roam freely, he passed through the group of dogs that ignored him and touched the cold city wall with both hands. Yun Ce then used his fingers to pick at the cracks between the bricks and slowly climbed up.

When he climbed up the city wall, he was very careful. However, after sneaking around for a long time, he found that even if he shouted loudly, no one would give him a second glance.

Thick smoke filled the city of Chuyun, mixed with the strong smell of charred meat. Yun Ce had to cover his mouth and nose with a handkerchief.

The iconic red building in Chuyun City has now collapsed. Yun Ce did not go there, but went straight to the Chuyun City warehouse. He wanted to find Lao Cao and see if he could get some useful information from him.

Upon arriving at the warehouse, Yun Ce glanced at it and left. The once mountain of supplies had been reduced to charcoal, and the warehouse manager and guards inside had also vanished.

Yun Ce dared not walk on the main road, because the main road was very empty, there was not a single corpse, some green coins were scattered at some doorways, and some women's undergarments were scattered in some places.

Yun Ce thought those places were probably traps.

As soon as he stepped onto the roof, a spear pierced through it, nearly impaling Yun Ce. Without time to argue with the people below, he quickened his pace, swiftly crossing from one end of the house to the other.

An arrow was shot at him at close range, but he raised his hand and knocked it away. He then jumped over a low wall and was suddenly thrust at by a spear.

Yun Ce grabbed the spear and gently pulled, pulling a woman out from behind the low wall. Her clothes were very dirty, but the fabric was surprisingly good, suggesting she was a woman from a wealthy family. She shouldn't have been this skilled, considering her previous spear thrust was quite impressive.

The woman fell onto the roof. Knowing she was no match for him, she got up and lunged at Yun Ce with bared teeth and claws. He pressed his hand on the low wall and vaulted over it. Seeing this, the woman screamed and tried to climb the wall to chase after him.

Yun Ce glanced at the two children in the corner. Although they were hiding behind a pile of broken wood, he still managed to see them. The children were so thin that they were almost unrecognizable. They had big eyes, and perhaps, those were the only eyes that could see.

The woman finally scaled the low wall and continued her ferocious attacks on Yun Ce.

There was nothing Yun Ce could do; he was no match for the woman. After she snatched away the few remaining tree cakes he had, he had no choice but to flee in disarray.

As Yun Ce ran, he thought to himself, "It's really not easy for that woman to have survived until now with two children."

It seemed that everyone in Chuyun City was really trying to survive. After running for a while, Yun Ce saw the collapsed red building. He had heard that this red building was built with flame stones, a specialty of Chuyun Prefecture.

Now it seems that this red stone truly lives up to its name of flame; even when it is broken, it still looks like burning flames in the sunlight.

This should be the home of Lord Pompeii. The once magnificent building has been almost completely destroyed by fire. Underneath those beautiful fire stones, many people died in a chaotic mess.

Men, women, and children were all there, huddled together tightly, their expressions obscured. They had been half-cooked by fire after their deaths.

Passing by an artificial hill, Yun Ce saw a woman through a crevice. Noticing her sleeve twitching slightly, Yun Ce pulled her, only to have her arm torn off. Seeing the fire marks all around the artificial hill, Yun Ce returned the charred arm to the woman.

A plump middle-aged man sat on a rock. For some reason, Yun Ce felt that he might be Pompeii, the city lord of Chuyun City.

The reason for this belief is that his official robes were purple.

As far as Yun Ce knew, there were only two people in Chuyun Prefecture who could wear purple official robes: one was the city lord, Pang Bei, and the other was the governor, Han De.

Everyone else's death was murder, but Pompeii's death was suicide, and the most painful kind of death at that—he stabbed a knife from his jaw into his head.

No one would do such a thing to themselves unless death was better than life.

Yun Ce touched his sleeve and, sure enough, found only a seal, which should be the city lord Pompeii's private seal. He didn't see the official seal, only an empty box, which looked like it had been taken away.

Yun Ce searched the entire city lord's mansion, but apart from a lot of gold scattered on the ground, he found nothing of any use.

As the sun was about to set, Yun Ce slowly withdrew from the city lord's mansion. He planned to go back to the warehouse to rest for a while, and then began to explore in the other direction.

He returned the way he came. This time, the madwoman was no longer mad. She stared at Yun Ce for a long time before finally saying, "Take my child away."

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "That's your child, you should raise him yourself."

The woman said, "Although I don't know what you're looking for, if you're looking for Shehuo (a traditional folk performance), I advise you to give up."

Yun Ce glanced at the two children and said softly, "Shehuo?"

Seeing that Yun Ce didn't know what Shehuo was, the woman kept her mouth shut.

Yun Ce didn't pressure her. This wretched woman had already fallen to this state, yet she still wanted to bargain with him.

Seeing Yun Ce turn to leave, the woman said, "Once you obtain the Shehuo, you will possess a whole province."

Yun Ce chuckled and said, "Stop dreaming."

The woman seemed to have lost all will to live, leaning against the low wall and holding a spear, she said: "In the past, the Yellow Emperor divided the community, each community had its own fire."

Yun Ce listened intently, and when he saw that the woman had stopped talking, he handed her the bamboo tube he used to hold water.

The woman took a sip of water herself and then handed it to the four- or five-year-old girl next to her. The girl greedily drank two sips, then seemed to remember that she had a younger brother, and pressed the bamboo tube to her brother's mouth.

"With fire, wild beasts will flee, poisonous insects will go far away, and people will gradually gather around the fire. Originally, there were nine provinces and nine fires, later there were thirty-six provinces and thirty-six fires. When King Huo established the Han Dynasty, he seized the thirty-six fires and gathered them into one fire. Then he divided it into three hundred military provinces and three hundred fires, and then divided the secondary fires into two hundred subordinate provinces and tributary provinces."

Seeing that the woman was silent again, Yun Ce stood up and said, "Fire shouldn't be a problem."

The woman smiled slightly and waved her hand, seemingly unwilling to talk to a fool like Yun Ce any longer.

Yun Ce didn't ask any more questions, and climbed over the low wall and left.

As Yun Ce left, the woman's eyes gradually lost their sparkle. She snatched the bamboo tube from the child's mouth, put the lid on it, and then, holding the two children in the corner, placed the spear at an upward angle, ready to thrust it out at the slightest movement.

"Doggy, what's a fire starter?"

“In ancient times, it was not easy for people to obtain fire. Every group of people would have a hearth, and the fire in the hearth would never go out. When the number of people in the tribe increased, the local resources were not enough to support too many people, so some people would be separated. These people would take fire from the hearth and take good care of it. After finding a suitable place to live, they would rebuild a hearth to preserve the fire taken from the tribe.”

The rituals of that time were primitive; they couldn't explain where they came from, so they used the act of gathering and scattering fire as a way of tracing their origins.

(End of this chapter)