Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 124 There's never anything good in the shadows of Chang'an.
The transport commissioner of the Great Han Iron Enclosure Pass was named Zhang Heng.

He was also the top-ranking transport commissioner among the eighteen routes of the Han Dynasty.

This guy has been in this position since he was thirty-six, and he has never stepped down or been promoted. Now, at sixty, he is even more shrewd and experienced in handling affairs.

In Yun Ce's family, Zhang Min was essentially a military man, Feng An and Liang Kun were clearly scholars, and only Yun Ce could be considered a true bureaucrat.

Zhang Heng did not provide Yun Ce with the various supplies needed for land reclamation, but only with people. However, there were two thousand people left over, and these two thousand were seemingly useless prostitutes, women and children.

This is actually a test to see how Yun Ce chooses. Only after Yun Ce makes his choice will Zhang Heng determine how to view him.

If Yun Ce is not provided with supplies, he can go to the High Priest and complain, but that's the worst option. As long as that option is available, Yun Ce will be seen as incompetent in Zhang Heng's eyes.

By selling off the extra two thousand useless women, children, and prostitutes, Yun Ce could obtain most of the resources needed for land reclamation. However, that would be all. Without prostitutes and women, there would only be military camps north of the Great Wall, making it impossible to build a city that could operate for a long time. This was the only option.

Being selected was an unremarkable choice, and from then on, Zhang Heng would only treat Yun Ce as an ordinary official.

The so-called selection process doesn't actually have a fixed format, but there is a general requirement: the selected official must have the ability to create something out of nothing.

If you don't have money, you raise it within the prescribed limits. If you don't have people, you use your prestige to recruit them. Then, you use the money and people you've recruited to successfully complete the tasks assigned by the state.

Such people are what people call talented individuals, people who can be entrusted with important responsibilities.

Yun Ce himself had seen a certain fellow who, as a prosecutor, went down to the county and arrested a whole bunch of corrupt officials and bureaucrats in a year. His ruthlessness in punishing local bullies and his viciousness in confiscating property were astounding.

After finishing his business, he returned to the Party School for further study. Six months later, when he returned to the area, he was already the head of the government. Although most of the embezzled funds and fines that had been recovered went into the national treasury, the county still retained a portion.

He used this money to begin his journey in the county.

In truth, Zhang Heng was a gentle person. He didn't let Yun Ce wander around aimlessly like a headless fly, and even gave Ren Hu this clue.

"Is Ren Hu very wealthy?" Yun Ce asked Zhang Min.

Zhang Min said, "There are three brothers: one is an official, one is a clerk, and one is extremely wealthy."

Yun Ce thought for a moment and said, "One acts as a deterrent on the surface, one provides covert protection, and one makes money by buying and selling slaves against their conscience. It's a pretty good combination."

"What are you going to do?"

“We don’t have enough manpower, enough supplies, enough cattle and horses. It looks like we’ll have to rely on these three brothers.”

“The High Priest is always upright and selfless; he shouldn’t allow you to do this.” Zhang Min also knew Yun Ce well. Ever since he concluded that Ren Hu was a god of wealth sent by Zhang Heng, he knew that Yun Ce should deal with these three brothers deadly.

"No, the High Priest remains aloof and cannot see the human suffering that is about to befall Ren Hu."

"By the way, Zhang Min, do you remember what Zhou Chengming did in Chuyun Prefecture?"

“I remember, although he plundered the tribute, it was for the sake of the soldiers of Tiewei Pass. He didn’t put a single penny in his own pocket.”

"If I told you that this was also the result of Zhang Heng and his group's scheme, would you believe me?"

Zhang Min shook his head and said, "The Transport Commissioner has always been honest and kind."

Yun Ce nodded and said, "Remember your thoughts now. A few years from now, think back on what you said today and see how honest and benevolent this Transport Commissioner is."

After speaking with Zhang Min, Yun Ce instructed Feng An and Liang Kun to use their own money to forge farm tools and purchase as many cattle and sheep as possible.

Finally, he told Eji and the others to get ready properly so they could go to Chang'an City for fun the next day.

The next day, Yun Ce, riding a chestnut horse, and Zhang Min, who was also riding a thunder-smoke beast, escorted E Ji and the others' carriage to Chang'an City.

Zhang Min was originally going to enter the city dressed as a warrior, but Eji and Anji pulled her into a house and changed her into a brightly colored, light silk dress, and adorned her head with all sorts of dazzling jewelry.

Later, they tried to force her onto the carriage, but Zhang Min resisted fiercely. Only then did she wear a gaudy outfit and ride a Thunder Smoke Beast alongside Yun Ce.

"Your wife has practically dressed me up like a concubine."

"If you don't like being a concubine, why don't you object?"

"I think what Eji is doing is very interesting. What's wrong with playing along with her?"

"Don't be careless. If Eji continues to treat you like this, sooner or later the whole world will know that you are a concubine of the Yun family. Oh, the kind of concubine who can be traded for a BMW."

Zhang Min's eyes sparkled as she looked at Yun Ce with a smile and said, "You want to trade me for a BMW? Do you really think you can do that?"

Yun Ce chuckled and said, "That's because we haven't been pushed to that point yet."

Zhang Min probably felt it was too awkward to continue the topic, so she asked seriously, "What are your plans to do about Ren Hu?"

Yun Ce said arrogantly, "Charge in, find Ren Hu, interrogate him to find out where the large sum of money is hidden, then kill him to silence him, and finally, take the money. Then use his money to buy the various craftsmen and slaves I need." "Is it that simple?"

Yun Ce shrugged and said, "How complicated could it be? Right now, many, many people in Chang'an already know that the three Ren brothers are all dead."

"If that's the case, why should I waste my brainpower?"

"You want to use this brutal method to tell those people not to try any tricks on you?"

Yun Ce nodded and said, "That's how it is."

Eji sat in the carriage, watching Yun Ce and Zhang Min whispering intimately to each other. She picked up the little dog beside her and was about to wag its tail when Anji pulled her back.

"She's deliberately trying to provoke you. You're the first wife, and she's just a concubine who sells smiles. You have to endure it at this time."

“What if they sleep together at night? My husband’s family has an ancestral rule that I’m not allowed to have children before I’m eighteen. Zhang Min is an old woman, she can do it.”

“Then, you sleep with your husband tonight and keep him occupied so that Zhang Min doesn’t have a chance.”

"it is good!"

“I plan to build a city north of the Great Wall,” Yun Ce said earnestly to Zhang Min.

Zhang Min shook her head and said, "The Shehuo (a traditional folk performance) is all south of the Great Wall. Without the protection of Shehuo there, it's impossible to build a city."

Just after Zhang Min finished answering Yun Ce's question, she seemed to remember something and stared intently at Yun Ce, saying, "The folk performances of Chuyun Prefecture are in your hands?"

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "No."

"No? Without that, how could you be qualified to build a city?"

"Because I don't believe that a city can't be built without Shehuo (a traditional folk performance). After all, there's the example of Tiewei Pass, so it shouldn't be difficult."

"Inside the Iron Enclosure Pass is the Xuanyuan Cauldron. It is said that the cauldron can gather the spirits of heroes who died in battle. Over the past thousand years, countless heroic souls have gathered in the Xuanyuan Cauldron. The place is filled with murderous aura, so there is no need for something as gentle as Shehuo."

Yun Ce laughed and said, "It's alright, we'll be able to rebuild Yun City."

"You're too arrogant."

Zhang Min always felt that Yun Ce didn't tell the truth. When she turned around, she saw E Ji's hateful eyes. She then smiled, got off the Thunder Smoke Beast, and gracefully accompanied E Ji into her carriage like a concubine.

It was less than 300 li from Lantian County to Chang'an, but Yun Ce and his group walked from dawn till dusk before finally arriving in Chang'an.

Because they only had the Chang'an Morning and Evening pass, they naturally couldn't enter Chang'an City at night. Therefore, they could only rest for the night at Jimingyi, outside Chang'an City.

Jimingyi is less than three miles from Chang'an. It is said that the crowing of roosters here can be heard throughout Chang'an, hence the name.

A chicken, weighing over a hundred pounds, crows at dawn, and the world turns white.

Yun Ce ate chicken at Jimingyi that night. The chicken here is very famous. The chicken is freshly slaughtered, cleaned, boiled in cold water, and seasoned with a few spices. After the water in the iron pot boils away, rice wine and salt are added and the chicken is stewed until the meat is tender and falls off the bone. Then it is considered done. A large handful of broad-leaved grass with garlic flavor is sprinkled on top. When the pot lid is lifted, the rich aroma is so strong that it can be smelled all the way to Chang'an.

Of course, this is the second legend of Jimingyi. The legends here are always related to Chang'an, the nobles in the city, and the emperor.

Iron Pot Chicken was the first dish that Yun Ce had eaten since arriving in the Han Dynasty that he thought was good, but it lacked chili peppers, which made the flavor incomplete.

The whole family gathered around a half-person-high iron pot to scoop out chicken from it, which clearly reflected the refined and luxurious lifestyle pursued by the nobles of Chang'an.

However, Yun Ce believes that they may have misunderstood the meaning of "a family with a large and prosperous household"; it is not that a large cooking pot represents wealth.

On the contrary, the smaller the bowl and the more exquisite the dishes, the more it reflects the wealth of the family.

As night deepened, Yun Ce stood by the window, looking up to see the dense lights of Chang'an City.

Yun Ce had imagined the appearance of Chang'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty, countless times before. It must be grand and majestic. But he never expected that Chang'an would be a city without walls.

Chang'an City had no city walls, but a deep lake surrounded it. There were twelve bridges on the lake, each 300 meters long and 20 meters wide. The bridges also had mechanisms that required the bridge decks near the lake to be raised at night to resemble city gates, and lowered during the day for people to pass through.

At this moment, the lights of thousands of homes in Chang'an City were reflected on the deep ditch lake, so densely packed that they were almost like the stars in the sky tonight. When the wind blew, the water rippled, shattering the starlight in the pool, making it hard to tell whether this was Chang'an City or the Heavenly Palace.

Eji hugged Yun Ce's arm and said sweetly, "Let's go to sleep early, we're going to play all day tomorrow."

Yun Ce said, "I've always heard people say that prices in Chang'an are exorbitant, and it's not a place where poor people like us can stay for long. Have you brought enough gold?"

Eji took out two heavy gold ingots from under her pillow, tapped them together in her hand, and said with a grin, "Is that enough?"

(End of this chapter)