Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 165 The purpose of coal is to burn.
The lives of nobles and commoners were not connected, so it was inevitable that they would not be able to communicate.

Many times, nobles found it hard to understand the stupidity of commoners. For example, when there was no food and they were starving, why did these fools refuse to eat meat porridge?

Can't minced meat fill our stomachs?

Similarly, commoners sometimes find it hard to understand when they see nobles. For example, why is it that when the maids around them are plump or slender with fair skin and pretty faces, the page with thick eyebrows and big eyes is the one who serves them in bed at night?
If people don't understand each other, they just don't understand each other. Only when nobles fall into poverty and commoners rise to become nobles will they realize that prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain.

To be precise, there is such a statement, which goes like this:

The best cook is a man, the best tailor is a man, the best massage therapist is a man, the best makeup artist is a man. So, can we say that only men truly understand men?

In the midst of drinking and revelry, as people whisper sweet nothings and open their hearts, one deliberately tries to please the other, and the other flatters. At that moment, whether they are male or female no longer matters; everyone just wants to elevate their relationship to a higher level.

That's how it was with Gouzi and Yuzhu. They argued all night, and when dawn broke, Yun Ce only saw a human head on the table.

Even with only her head remaining, Yu Zhu was still heartbreakingly beautiful, her eyes downcast, carrying a hint of brokenness...

The dog placed an exquisite bucket-shaped bottle in front of Yun Ce and said, "This is a piece of trash."

Yun Ce asked, puzzled, "That's not what you said yesterday."

“Yesterday we only paid attention to the amount and did not conduct further examination. After the examination, we found that the energy on his body was very mixed. I suspect that this energy was not generated by his body.”

Yun Ce exclaimed in surprise, "Is that so? Did he consume some rare and precious herbs, or...?"

Dog sighed and said, "I don't know. The sample size is too small to make a cross-sectional comparison. Next time, grab a real Thousand Talents Program member for me, and maybe we can figure out the reason."

Yun Ce frowned and said, "You mean the Guifang people have a way to turn a good-for-nothing into a general of a thousand men in a short period of time?"

Dog said, "It's very possible. I studied it carefully last night and found that this guy's muscle strength, lung capacity, cardiopulmonary strength, heart pumping ability, and blood oxygen content are all comparable to those of an ordinary samurai. There's only one thing: his cells seem to have an enzyme of unknown type, an enzyme that can promote cell division in a short time."

"Is that why his martial arts skills fluctuate so much?"

"Yes, artificially ripened fruit doesn't taste good."

Through the dog, Yun Ce gained a deeper understanding of the Japanese. Those guys were not useless barbarians, but had begun to seriously confront and study him.

"It seems that they have more say in the matter of evolution."

The dog said, "It's alright, it's still in the early stages of ignorance, you have plenty of time."

While eating breakfast, Yun Ce gave Yu Zhu's head to Qin Shu. Qin Shu immediately put it in a box and wrote a battle report to Cao Kun, in which he described how they had ambushed a large scout group of the Gui Fang people and killed one of their thousand-man generals. Moreover, this person was likely a prince of the Gui Fang.

While Qin Shu was writing the battle report, He Qingfang was looking at the severed head. After staring at it for a long time, she said to Qin Shu, "Is loving someone to the point where all that's left is their head a kind of ability?"

Qin Shu put down his pen and carefully blew the ink off the paper. He treasured the paper Yun Ce had given him. Once the ink was dry, he put it into a bamboo tube before remembering to answer He Qingfang's question.

"They're nobles, after all—"

The dead man was a Japanese soldier, only he was good-looking. He Qingfang wasn't going to mourn him. Seeing that Qin Shu had sent a messenger, she sighed and said, "We won't get any credit."

Qin Shu sneered, "The general had already foreseen this. The Japanese soldier who died this time was very powerful. His aunt was even the Imperial Noble Consort of our Han Dynasty. Aren't the people inside the Iron Enclosure Pass always stealing our war merits? This time, let's give them a poisonous war merit so that they can learn a lesson after swallowing it."

He Qingfang laughed and said, "Isn't it obvious? Once Young Master Cao submits the battle report, they will discard our report, rewrite it, change the names of those who need to be commended, and send it to Chang'an to the Grand Marshal. As for us, they won't mention us."

Qin Shu laughed and said, "I am already content to be able to follow the general and kill the Japanese devils. This merit is nothing."

He Qingfang continued, "Ghost King Mountain is a dead end. General, are you determined to hold this dead end and lead us to our doom with the Japanese devils?"

Qin Shu laughed and said, "Isn't this the result we've been longing for?"

He Qingfang sighed and rested her head on Qin Shu's shoulder, saying, "I actually wanted to have another child for you."

Qin Shu put his arm around He Qingfang's waist and said, "You were born and have been living a life of hardship with us, enduring wind and snow. Don't make things difficult for the child."

He Qingfang stopped talking, but tears kept flowing down her face.

Yun Ce directed the digging of many exploratory pits in Ghost King Mountain. These pits were only one meter deep and fifty meters long. Moreover, the pits were not aligned with each other, with the most pits facing southeast and southwest.

It must be said that the coal resources here in Guiwang Mountain are very rich. Digging through the weathered layer on the surface reveals an open-pit smokeless coal mine that makes Yun Ce's mouth water.

Through those exploratory pits, Yun Ce gained a preliminary understanding of the approximate area of ​​the coal mine.

Under the combined effects of water and pressure, the summit of Ghost King Mountain has collapsed from the fire, making it impossible for human intervention to extinguish.

After determining the approximate extent of the coal mine, Yun Ce asked Gouzi to help him investigate the combustion layer of the coal. Looking at the devil's gaping maw-like air-suction tunnel, Yun Ce glanced up at the still-burning Ghost King Mountain, and heard Gouzi say in his head, "Are you planning to set the entire Ghost King Mountain on fire?"

Yun Ce said, "There's nothing we can do. Ghost King Mountain is a dead end. In the past few days, the Japanese scouts have already come in to investigate and have discovered our presence."

Within three days at most, a steady stream of Japanese soldiers would come looking for trouble.

We are outnumbered, so we can hold out in short-term offensive and defensive battles, but if it goes on for too long, we're doomed.

Although Qin Shu and the others seem quite willing to die here, I'm not. They're very useful, and if it weren't for winning their hearts and minds, I wouldn't bother leading them to kill Japanese soldiers in the wilderness.

Gouzi said, "Are you planning to use a folk performance to set this pile of coal on fire?"

"Well, Shehuo has been a bit sluggish lately. He probably wants to play with fire again. Plus, the coal here is burning too slowly. Since a wind tunnel has appeared in the combustion layer, this is a qualified furnace. I don't mind making this furnace burn brighter."

"Last time at the volcano, the folk performance almost caused it to collapse. Are you just going to ignore it this time? Or do you no longer care that people know you have control of the Izumo folk performance?"

"What are you still hiding? That old guy, the High Priest, has known for a long time that Izumo Province's folk performances are in my hands. Once, he even put his hand on my chest and told me something—'There is fire in your chest. Be calm and know how to use the fire well and protect the fire.'"

Tell me, is there any need for me to hide anything anymore?

"Oh, if that's the case, then let's burn it."

It's only two hundred li from Guiwang Mountain to Tiewei Pass, and a fast horse can get there in half a day. Cao Kun was quite satisfied with the head of the Japanese soldiers that was being carried back by more than a dozen large horned horses.

He felt that his military achievements at Tiewei Pass needed to be further increased, and his title needed to be raised by three to five ranks. In this way, his position as the eldest son of the Cao family in Qiuhe Prefecture would be more secure.

The old steward and the warrior leader Cao Ling were also examining these heads. They were looking at them very carefully, comparing each one meticulously.

After the inspection, Cao Ling scratched his head in frustration and said, "Are the Japanese so easy to kill? More than two hundred Japanese were killed after a dozen or so people died."

"Uncle, how about we go out too?"

The old steward wrapped himself in a fur cloak, glanced back at Cao Kun who had just finished reading Yun Ce's letter, and shook his head, saying, "I'm not going out."

Cao Ling said, "Why? It's such a great opportunity."

The old steward chuckled and said, "You can tell just by looking at the eldest young master's face."

Cao Ling immediately looked over and found that the young master, who had just been all smiles, now looked like he had eaten shit. Not only was his face ugly, but he also quickly stuffed the letter in his hand into his pocket.

"Something's strange?"

The old butler sneered, "Something's very strange."

Fortunately, Cao Kun didn't keep them waiting too long before showing the contents of the letter to the old steward and the warrior leader.

"The head of Prince Yuzhu of the Guifang clan?"

The samurai leader had barely uttered a cry when he was immediately silenced by the old butler's chainsaw-like, vicious gaze.

After the small box was opened at the garrison in Tiewei Pass, the old steward looked at the lifelike jade bamboo and sighed, "Sometimes, too much merit can also be a problem."

Cao Kun said, "Yun Ce said in his letter that with 221 Japanese heads plus one Japanese prince's head, he wouldn't owe us anything."

"Uncle, should we do this deal?"

The old steward pondered for a moment and said, "In the Han Dynasty, Imperial Noble Consort Yuheng is a vile concubine whom everyone wants to kill. However, over the years, although everyone wants to kill her, she has lived a comfortable life for many years. Moreover, now that she has put such a big hat on the emperor, she has still been pardoned by the emperor."

There must be something we don't know about this.

"Couldn't it be that the emperor was indulging in beauty?" Cao Ling stared at Yu Zhu's head and couldn't help but start to imagine the beautiful appearance of the bewitching concubine Yu Heng in his mind.

"Then you are underestimating our emperor."

"Yun Ce doesn't want us to take this head. Instead, he suggests that we make a deal with the military in Tiewei Pass to get benefits without harming us."

The old butler continued to shake his head, saying, "It can't be covered up; sooner or later, they'll find out about us."

Cao Kun frowned and asked, "Then what should we do?"

The old steward sighed and said, "Keep it in your hands for a while, and we can discuss it after I contact the head of the family."

(End of this chapter)