Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 113 A Strange Calm
Even though it's already the month of He Yue, the rain in Chang'an is still lingering.

Summer rain should be more intense; the current weeping and wailing is really annoying. The crops have just been planted and need a thorough watering. What good is it if the rain, which has only soaked the ground for half a day, just looks nice?

There was a couple, no, several couples, dressed in nice clothes, holding umbrellas, cuddling and cuddling along the pebble path by Longhu Lake.

The lake was shrouded in mist and rain, and the ground was slippery, yet no one was seen falling into the lake to feed the fish.

Wearing a rain tarp, Yun Ce dug a shovel and watched the water flow into the field. He was in a great mood. After draining the water and letting the ground dry a bit more, he planned to plant baby beans. He had heard that baby bean seedlings could grow to two meters tall and be covered with many baby beans.

Yun Ce didn't look at the wheat fields and millet fields. These things were either brought by the Yellow Emperor or Huo Qubing, and they should have already adapted to the land and climate here.

Eji, also wearing a rainproof cloth, stood with Yun Ce. Although she was useless, she just liked to stand next to Yun Ce.

Yun Ce doesn't like farming either, but there's no other way now. If he doesn't farm at least once, no one else will either.

Ditching, ridging, and sowing sound simple, but once you try it yourself, you'll find that it's actually quite difficult. At least, Zhang Min isn't good at ditching or ridging.

Now is not the time to make a big fuss. As long as the seeds are planted with a decent amount of care, the rest is up to fate.

Yun Ce and E Ji had both gone back, but Zhang Min was still looking at the furrows that Yun Ce had built. Looking at the furrows that were wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, and flat, even, and straight, Zhang Min knew that Yun Ce was definitely a person who knew how to farm.

Yun Ce was certainly good at farming. He once led a group of people to grow onions. However, after the onions were harvested, the promised buyer disappeared. All the onion growers in the village piled their onions in his yard... It was quite a sight; the onions were taller than the mountain behind his house...

If someone hadn't helped him bring the buyer back, he'd still be eating onions right now.

Once the seeds are sown, the rest is waiting; waiting is also part of agriculture.

When Lin Weizhou arrived, Yun Ce was directing people to put more than a dozen large water ladles on the frame. Seeing that Yun Ce was standing at the highest point directing the installation, Lin Weizhou did not disturb him.

Once all sixteen large water ladles were filled, two strong beef cattle began to pull a rotating disc. As the disc rotated, the frame under Yun Ce's feet also began to rotate. When the frame reached the bottom, Yun Ce stood under the waterwheel, watching the water ladles fill with water and then continue to rise. When the angle of the water ladles reached the desired level, the water inside was poured into a trough.

The waterwheel kept turning, and the water scoops kept digging water. The sixteen water scoops kept pouring water back and forth into the wooden trough, and finally the water flowed along the canal to the reservoir at the highest point of the land.

Lin Weizhou stood by the reservoir and pondered for a while before saying, "Ten days should be enough to fill this reservoir."

Yun Ce said, "This reservoir of water can only irrigate 500 acres of farmland. It is stored up in preparation for when the water level of Longhu Lake drops. Normally, papermaking also requires a lot of water, so this waterwheel needs to keep running."

"Why did you suddenly decide to farm?"

Yun Ce sighed and said, "My family background isn't good enough, so I can only farm. By the way, County Magistrate, if I manage to grow grain here, will the county government buy it at market price?"

Lin Weizhou said nonchalantly, "Alright, anyway, there's never enough food. If you manage to grow it, I'll harvest it. Putting aside the matter of food, His Majesty's reward for you has arrived. This time it's quite generous. In addition to the title of Grand Master, he also bestowed upon you a set of large chime bells. This is something that only families of Marquis or above within the Pass are entitled to. It shows how high His Majesty's expectations are for you."

Yun Ce cupped his hands in the direction of Chang'an and said, "Your Majesty, I will certainly cultivate the land well and live up to your expectations."

Why farming?

Yun Ce shrugged and said, "What else can I do if I don't farm? I'm just afraid that once people find out that farming is profitable, I might not even have land to farm anymore."

"The Han Dynasty used titles to secure the country. Those with higher titles made greater contributions, and those who made contributions were rewarded first. Isn't that only natural?"

Many high-ranking officials and nobles in our Han Dynasty were once nothing more than stable boys, soldiers, hunters, or herdsmen. One day, they achieved merit and their names became known throughout the land.

Yun Ce nodded. Chang'an's decline was already so obvious, yet this county official, Lin Weizhou, still couldn't see the significance of farming for Chang'an. Talking to him would be a waste of breath. It would be better to go inside and talk about something that everyone would like.

The neighbor's wife always had nothing better to do than gaze at the Yun family's estate. Eji hated this behavior. In the previous arguments, she hadn't gained the upper hand because of the title, but now that her husband had finally become a Grand Master, she naturally wanted to give her a good scolding.

Lin Weizhou enjoyed discussing ancient texts with Yun Ce, such as the Book of Poetry, Zuo Zhuan, Spring and Autumn Annals, and Book of Documents.

It's not that Yun Ce's literary skills are particularly high, but rather that he often offers unexpected interpretations of these classics, and these interpretations are always plausible.

Yun Ce believed that although the books he had read and the books Lin Weizhou and the others had read had the same content, their meanings were vastly different.

Lin Weizhou praised Yun's boiled horse meat as the best in Chang'an. Not only did he eat his fill, but he also took a cooked rib with him when he left.

After seeing Lin Weizhou off, Yun Ce called An Ji over and asked her to play music. However, after seeing the complete set of chime bells, An Ji became serious. She not only scolded Yun Ce severely, but also demanded that he apologize to the ancestors of the Yun clan that night and ask them to forgive his rebellious act of using the chime bells without offering sacrifices.

Even though Eji would pinch Yun Ce's soft flesh while scolding him, Anji remained unmoved and only cried out in pain after she had finished scolding Yun Ce.

Seeing Eji pinching Anji again, Yun Ce looked at Zhang Min impatiently and said, "Why aren't you back at your Panxing Tower yet?"

Zhang Min said, "You have no respect for the emperor." "Nonsense! I even contributed papermaking technology to the emperor. Besides, wouldn't it be heartless of me to say I don't respect the emperor?"

"In that case, why not also give the emperor the best methods for farming?"

Yun Ce sighed and asked, "Did I hide anything from Lin Weizhou about what I did today?"

Zhang Min shook her head and said, "No."

"Farm tools, oxen, waterwheels, fields—did I hide any of them?"

"no!"

"That's it. So the fault lies with Lin Weizhou, not me. He was extremely satisfied with taking the papermaking technique because it could bring him promotions and titles. What can farming bring him?"

Therefore, Zhang Min, you must learn to shut up from now on. The Yun family's traditions are ancient and profound, and are the result of countless failures by our ancestors.

When your respected Dong Zhongshu presented Confucian theories to Emperor Wu, he said that his scholarship was like a peerless beauty, and he would not present Confucianism to Emperor Wu without sufficient compensation.

It's the same here. The things are just there, the fields are just there. If they see something and want to learn, I won't stop them. If they don't see it or don't want to learn, I won't ask them to.

Zhang Min, shut your mouth. Just keep your eyes open.

Zhang Min lowered her head and silently left.

Eji climbed off Anji and approached Yun Ce, saying, "Should I send her away?"

Yun Ce held E Ji's hand and said, "No need. She is a person who truly cares for the Han Dynasty. Such a person should not be humiliated. On the contrary, we should respect her."

"Why? I just want to yell at her."

"Because these kinds of people really will help us block the enemy and cover our escape when we are in danger."

"What about someone like Lin Weizhou?"

“When there is danger, he should be pushed out to take the blow while we run. That’s his duty.”

"Oh, I see."

Seeing that the house was under construction, the crops were growing, and the chicks weighing more than ten kilograms that Eji had bought were eating, Yun Ce felt that he really needed to study Shehuo (a traditional folk performance) carefully.

As soon as his hand reached into the Dragon Ball, Yun Ce quickly withdrew it, because She Huo wanted to devour his hand again, and the pain did not come from his body, but was a pain that went straight to his brain.

The dog's voice echoed faintly in my mind.

"This world is relatively young, not as old as Earth, and the life force here is stronger, which is why things like spirits and monsters exist."

Rather than being a form of fire, Shehuo is more accurately described as a bridge connecting people and nature. Shehuo does not directly communicate with people, yet it influences them at all times.

I even suspect that Shehuo (a traditional folk performance) not only affects people, but also animals. Have you noticed? Your Dragon Ball is much more powerful than before.

"Now that we have a breakthrough, let's study it quickly. I always felt that Shehuo is related to dragons and also to the seeds that Ao Bing mentioned."

When we left Earth, they should have known the direction the dragons were flying. Furthermore, I believe this planet isn't far from Earth, considering we didn't fly for very long.

The dog chuckled in a very human-like manner: "You're wrong. My timing function is extremely powerful. From the moment I fail to the moment I recover, my error is less than one microsecond."

In other words, time has little to do with what you perceive as the flight distance.

You'd better stay here obediently. With your short lifespan, you won't live long enough to see the arrival of Earthlings in the Han Dynasty.

Yun Ce thought for a moment, stroked the wristband on his wrist, and said softly, "It's fine. It's not bad to live for myself. After all, we've already made a good start."

The dog chuckled and said, "Let's just stay alive. I think this place is much more interesting than the other side of Earth."

Yun Ce replied with a laugh, "That's true, at least Yun Linchuan isn't among them."

(End of this chapter)