Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 168 Who Did You Risk Your Life For?
There's always a woman who hides half her face in the darkness, revealing the other half of her beautiful face to ask you a question that's hard to answer.

Have you ever risked your life for anyone in your life?

Yun Ce felt that the question was flawed. Desperate measures are an extreme thing. Just because you are a woman, or a beautiful woman, doesn't mean that a man should risk his life to save you.

Yun Ce really gave it his all today.

However, he wasn't risking his life for anyone else; he was risking his life to survive.

So he was fighting desperately for himself, like a dog that had fallen into the water. Even when faced with raging waves, it had to struggle to paddle with its short legs and survive by dog ​​paddling.

As long as it survives, regardless of the process, the meaning is at least extremely magnificent... Just think about it, a dog, amidst raging waves, survives in the end and even has the opportunity to mate with a female dog and reproduce... That is the greatness of life.

In a chaotic world, you can't expect a refined life. What's meant to happen will happen, and what's not meant to happen will also happen. You just have to deal with it.

Just like the blisters that had just appeared on Yun Ce's body, and the blisters that had just appeared on the chestnut horse's body, the blisters were clustered together, making the man and the horse look like mutated monsters.

The blisters shouldn't be popped, because those raised skins are the best dressing for the wound. Yun Ce was in a lot of pain, and the chestnut horse was in a lot of pain too. It wanted to roll on the ground and pop the blisters, but seeing that Yun Ce didn't do that, it stood up like Yun Ce and endured the pain.

Qin Shu led his men to explore the surrounding area.

After Yun Ce dragged his chestnut horse away from the subsidence area, the subsidence at Guiwangshan Coal Mine never stopped; in fact, it expanded outwards considerably.

Now, Ghost King Mountain is nowhere to be seen. The place where Ghost King Mountain once stood is now a huge pit that continues to spew fire.

However, the fire won't last long, as groundwater has already begun to seep out from the bottom of the pit.

In the evening, Qin Shu returned with his men. The news he brought was neither good nor bad.

"The Japanese retreated. Their losses were not significant. Their main force retreated the moment the fire broke out on Ghost King Mountain, and they were minimally affected."

However, none of the Japanese soldiers who entered the Ghost King Mountain area survived. A rough estimate suggests they numbered no more than two thousand; after all, the Ghost King Mountain area couldn't accommodate more troops.

Yun Ce was only wearing a soft cloth robe, with nothing underneath, so he couldn't sit down and stood listening to Qin Shu recount the recent situation at Ghost King Mountain.

"Those who can enter Ghost King Mountain are the elite of the elite. We saw as many as ten Giant Bull Knights, and they should all have perished in Ghost King Mountain by now."

General, to be honest, I still find it hard to believe that we actually survived a natural disaster.

What's the situation at Tiewei Pass?

He Qingfang sighed and said, "When Ghost King Mountain was spewing fire, they sent out scouts. When Ghost King Mountain broke, they retreated. The scouts had a brief standoff with the Ghost Fang people. For some reason, they did not fight, and both sides retreated."

“We’ve lost nearly three hundred men, and I’m in this state. Do you think we can still return to Iron Enclosure Pass to rest and regroup?”

He Qingfang remained silent.

"So that means we can't go back, right?"

Qin Shu sighed again and said, "They think we're troublemakers."

Yun Ce glanced at the five people in front of him, thought for a moment, and said, "How many more years do you think Tiewei Pass can hold out?"

Qin Shu frowned and said, "If we just hold out, it will take a very, very long time."

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "It's not as optimistic as you expect. Just because the Iron Enclosure Pass has stood for a thousand years doesn't mean it will stand forever."

We need to plan ahead.

Qin Shu said, "Our strength is insignificant."

Yun Ce said, "Just because our strength is insignificant, does that mean we shouldn't do it?"

Zuo Chong asked, "How do we do it?"

Yun Ce sighed and looked at the two leaders who had just been promoted, saying, "Prepare for the second line of defense."

"The second line of defense? Where is it?"

Yun Ce was covered in blisters and couldn't squat down, so he used his saber to draw a simple map on the ground and then stuck the saber into the spot between Tiewei Pass and the Great Wall, near Jingkou Pass.

"right here."

"This is a plain."

He Qingfang seemed to be very familiar with the terrain north of the Great Wall. She could accurately describe the general terrain of the area based on a simple map that Yun Ce had drawn casually.

Yun Ce drew a few more lines on the map.

He Qingfang added, "The network of rivers is a good thing, but at least twenty days a year the river network freezes."

Yun Ce then drew a mountain in the center of the river network.

He Qingfang said, "A city cannot be built on a mountain without water; otherwise, it's tantamount to courting death."

Yun Ce recalled Ma Su's mistake at Jieting and nodded, saying, "That's why it was built at the foot of the mountain." He Qingfang stretched out her foot and wiped the map Yun Ce had drawn off the ground, then looked at Yun Ce and said, "Do you know how many years it took to build Tiewei Pass to its current size?"

After waiting a while, seeing that Yun Ce did not answer, he said to himself, "One hundred and sixty years."

Yun Ce drew a new map on the ground and poked it with his saber, saying, "We're not building city walls."

The glimmer of hope in Qin Shu, Zuo Chong, and the others' eyes dimmed again.

"Without city walls, how can we defend ourselves..."

It was unclear who was making the remark, but Yun Ce said stiffly, "This city is called Yun City. It's not a defensive city, but rather our forward base for attacking the Gui Fang tribe. So, it doesn't need any defense."

"Even so, we are too few in number, and we won't be able to harvest much grain."

Yun Ce said, "I will tell every warrior of the Great Han that if they want to go to Guifang to raid the grasslands, they can come to Yun City. At that time, many people who want to fight against the Guifang people will come to Yun City."

This is a very contradictory point about the Han people. The warriors in the country have endless enthusiasm for killing the Japanese, but soon after arriving at the border, their enthusiasm will be gradually worn down by the long-term expectation. In the end, they will either recklessly go to the wilderness to find the Japanese to fight and die on the battlefield, or return home with their meager belongings, disheartened.

With the main force unwilling to take the initiative, there is very little that civilian individual armed forces can do.

Qin Shu looked at Yun Ce and said, "If there's no other way, it's better for the general to come up with a solution than for us to sit here and sulk."

We can follow the general to the Great Wall to build Cloud City.

He Qingfang spread her hands and said, "Relying on just our five hundred or so people?"

Qin Shu gritted his teeth and said, "Since we have no way to kill the enemy effectively at the moment, then, as the general said, we need to think about the future."

As the general said, Tiewei Pass is old, too old, so old that it no longer knows how to fight. I also heard that the Great Wall defense line, which is the second line of defense for Tiewei Pass, is now completely rotten. Grand Commander Zhao Shu would rather lead his troops into the capital to participate in the internal strife than spend any more effort on the Great Wall defense line.

Since the general intends to build a city north of the Great Wall, I support him no matter what, even if it's just the two of us.

Once the general and his deputy have made a decision together, the only thing the rest of the group can do if they don't want to leave is to support the general and his deputy.

Although this seems very unreliable, it's still better than staying in the Iron Fortress and waiting to decay.

The meeting didn't last long. The main problem was that the clothes Yun Ce was wearing were causing him blisters, which was very painful. He needed to get rid of these people so he could continue to be naked.

Yun Ce will not attend the meeting, but Qin Shu and the other four will continue the meeting.

"Brother Qin, do you really think the general's plan is feasible?" Zuo Chong asked impatiently.

Qin Shu threw a dough ball made of straw and grain into the fire. As the dough expanded, he used a twig to stir it to ensure it heated evenly, and said, "What were your thoughts when you saw the general dragging a horse out of the devastating chaos?"

Zuo Chong recalled his state of mind at the time and said seriously, "I thought I had met a god."

Seeing that the dough was baked, Qin Shu took it out of the fire, tossed it around in his hands a couple of times, broke it in half, and handed a piece to He Qingfang before the heat had dissipated.

He gently chewed on the fragrant dough and said to the four people present, "Don't forget, he is a nobleman."

After Qin Shu finished speaking, the other four fell silent, seemingly accepting Qin Shu's nonsensical and illogical explanation.

The water from the blisters on Yun Ce's body was absorbed by his body on the third day. The fact that the round blisters had deflated indicated that he had a lot more dead skin on his body.

The biggest benefit of Pengzeng brand rapid growth liquid is hair growth. In just three days, half an inch of hair has grown on Yun Ce's bald head. These hairs were the first to pierce the blisters on his head, which had caused Yun Ce pain for a whole day.

When Cao Kun saw Yun Ce, he almost didn't recognize him. It wasn't until Yun Ce extended a straight middle finger that he realized the short-haired ugly man in front of him was the handsome Yun Ce of the past.

"What happened?" Cao Kun tried to lift Yun Ce's wide robe to see what was underneath, but Yun Ce pushed him away and sat on a wooden stake to ask.

"When the sky and earth collapse, those who escape from the center of the fire will all look like this."

Cao Kun shook his head and said, "It's not worth it. Do you know what it means to be a son of a wealthy family who doesn't sit under a dangerous roof?"

Yun Ce laughed and said, "I know, I never used to play under the eaves. Now, my house doesn't have an eaves anymore."

Cao Kun looked at Yun Ce with pity and said, "The life of a poor man is indeed pitiful. Alright, since you are poor and also my brother, I will give you a benefit this time so that you can get out of poverty as soon as possible."

Yun Ce looked at Cao Kun with amusement and asked, "What is it about me that you've taken a fancy to this time?"

Cao Kun leaned close to Yun Ce and whispered, "Zhao Shu may not be coming back. The eighty-seven passes on the Great Wall are now ownerless."

Yun Ce stared at Cao Kun in astonishment and said, "You, Qiuhe Prefecture, want to defend the borders for the Han Dynasty?"

Cao Kun chuckled and said, "Yes, the Great Wall defenses are already broken. It's time for us to do our part for the country."

Yun Ce sniffed and said, "I'm afraid you're not the only one in Qiuhe Prefecture who wants to defend the country's borders."

Cao Kun nodded and said, "My father said that Chang'an and Luoyang will no longer be the centers of the Han Dynasty for a long time to come."

The heart of the Han Dynasty should be at the Iron Fortress Pass, at the Great Wall defense line!

(End of this chapter)