Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 178 You fight your way, I'll steal mine

The war is over.

As the battlefield entered the later stages of cleanup, Yun Ce noticed that Cao Kun and his men had neatly arranged the bodies of the fallen Fire Clan members in front of the suspension bridge, and then retreated several hundred meters away to collect the remains of their own fallen warriors.

Returning corpses to their owners on the battlefield is a very respectable thing to do, but Yun Ce, considering Cao Kun's personality, felt that this was not something he would do.

These bodies must be very dangerous.

After running around all day, Yun Ce was also hungry. He looked through the Dragon Balls and found that there was no food inside. He glanced at Cao Kun, who was surrounded by a crowd in the distance, and then walked into a small path that Gouzi had pointed out.

The path is lined with lush trees on both sides, and there are even flowing springs and waterfalls along the way. Although it is winter and most of the vegetation is withered and yellow, some coniferous forests are still green.

Watching the squirrels, each the size of a rabbit, dart about in the coniferous forest, Yun Ce remained unmoved; he had always had a psychological aversion to animals that ate rats.

Yun Ce didn't know why Gouzi, who had been lying low for days, would suddenly give him directions. Since Gouzi hadn't explained it, Yun Ce didn't ask. He just followed the road and found out when he got there.

Suddenly, a wooden cabin appeared in the woods. Moss had grown on the outside of the cabin. Because it was the middle of winter, the moss had dried up and was just clinging to the cabin, decorating it.

"Is anyone home?" Yun Ce asked, but no one answered from inside the house.

Seeing that the wooden door was bolted from the outside, Yun Ce untied the knot, pushed open the door, and went inside.

The wooden house was cold and damp, and the ashes in the hearth were icy, indicating that no one had been here for a long time.

This wooden hut was undoubtedly a place where hunters would rest on weekdays. A squirrel skin was hanging on the wall. Judging from its condition, it had long been dried out and was basically of no use. However, a bag of grain was also hanging on the wall, which caught Yun Ce's attention.

He opened the bag and found that it contained a fairly rich variety of food, including hay, beans, wheat grains, salt, and a small piece of dark red cured meat.

Seeing a clay pot still hanging on the hearth, Yun Ce picked it up and went to the stream to wash it. He put a lot of beans in it, then added slices of cured meat, a little salt, and lit a fire to cook meat porridge.

Watching the flames lick the bottom of the pot, Yun Ce couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

In the capital, the struggle between the Grand Marshal and the Emperor ultimately disrupted the balance of power in the land, with the Grand Marshal's actions being the most egregious.

Since we've already decided to kill the emperor, we should see it through to the end. Since we've made up our minds, killing the emperor should be our primary objective in this struggle.

Now, you've only gone halfway through killing the emperor, and suddenly you stop? What's the logic behind that?
Waiting to kill again next time?

Don't spout nonsense about how continuing the killing will shake the foundations of the Han Dynasty. The damage to the Han Dynasty began the moment you started opposing the emperor.

No matter how deep the harm, it cannot compare to the damage inflicted on the Han Dynasty by killing half the emperor. Because the people's hearts are in turmoil, and what Cao Kun is doing right now is a harbinger of impending chaos.

In recent days, Yun Ce has been reading a lot of information about the Fire Clan that Feng An has collected. According to the information, the Fire Clan has been subservient to the Han Dynasty for more than a thousand years.

At the same time, the Fire Clan is one of the few groups that can travel directly from the East Sea's tributary states to Chang'an without the permission of the local governor.

Even at the New Year's banquet of the Han emperor, the Fire Clan were honored guests with prominent positions, even above the governors of various provinces.

Now, the Fire Clan, a race capable of forging armor and weapons, has become the first target to be devoured by hyenas after the Han Dynasty lost its authority.

Cao Kun appears approachable, even somewhat roguish, but deep down he is incredibly arrogant. Anyone who can get close to him must at least be his equal in status; otherwise, no one would dare to do so.

Therefore, it's perfectly plausible that he said a friend needed Yun Ce's help to solve a problem, since he really does have many wealthy friends.

Yun Ce is currently very poor, having even sold his wife's jewelry for grain. Cao Kun and his group, on the other hand, are quite wealthy. Given the friendship between friends, it's reasonable to ask them for some money to replenish our empty warehouses. Presumably, Cao Kun, being so generous, wouldn't mind.

Well, where they hid the money, we'll have to ask the dog.

Yun Ce was certain that Cao Kun had brought a lot of money with him this time. This guy always liked to use money to intimidate people. If something could be solved with money, he would not bother to use force. Many times, Yun Ce could smell the strong scent of money whenever he got close to him.

The military should ideally avoid getting involved with money, and even less should they attempt to earn it themselves.

This kind of thing wouldn't be a problem for him. Yun Ce never considered himself a qualified soldier; in fact, he was more accurately described as a politician.

Now that he's a politician, it's only natural that he does whatever he wants.

A pot of meat porridge simmered for an hour, and once the porridge had caramelized, it cured Yun Ce's hunger.

The chestnut horse had run off to play somewhere, so Yun Ce decided to rest for a while before heading to Cao Kun's camp to check on things and get some money to take back.

After sleeping for three hours, Yun Ce woke up on time. He rubbed his face with his hands, then covered his face with a cloth. His left arm transformed into a dragon claw, and his body suddenly became three inches shorter, while his upper body became much thicker. If he could shrink three inches, his body would be about the same size as the fire tribesman he had seen during the day.

With the dog leading the way, Yun Ce didn't walk along the road after leaving the wooden house, but instead skipped and hopped forward through the woods. Cao Kun's military camp was set up in an open area, away from the woods and close to a stream. Even though it was a temporary camp, Cao Kun still built it like a fortified village.

Guided by the dog, Yun Ce scaled the stockade wall during a break in the soldiers' patrol and jumped into the camp.

They had only entered the camp and walked less than ten meters when they heard Gouzi say, "Cao Kun is not in the camp."

Yun Ce was startled and exclaimed, "Is this a trap?"

Dog said, "It doesn't seem like it, because there are less than a hundred living people in the camp. But the gold you want is in many tents, and there's quite a lot of it."

Yun Ce asked, "What are the procedures?"

Gouzi said, "Capture a few soldiers, throw them into the Dragon Ball, then take all the gold to make it look like you're embezzling, then flee far away, making sure Cao Kun doesn't see you here."

"Don't you have any thoughts about the Fire Clan?"

"No, if you need mining, iron smelting, and forging techniques, I have them all, from basic to advanced. We can select some kids from that group who are interested in these things, train them for a few years, and they'll be better than the so-called Fire Clan."

"Don't bother. We came here to steal Cao Kun's gold. Go back and use the money to buy more grain. When your wife is sleeping next to you, her belly is pounding like a drum, keeping me awake."

Yun Ce retorted angrily, "Didn't you say you wouldn't pry into my private life?"

The dog asked, "Where was your phone usually when you were sleeping?"

"Beside the pillow, in a place that can be reached easily."

"That's it. Do you think that just because you put your phone face down, it won't know what you're doing?"

"Holy crap, there are security cameras?"

"There's no such thing as surveillance. It's just that every now and then, big data scans you to record your lifestyle habits and then accurately pushes the products you need to you."

While chatting with the dog, Yun Ce searched for a scapegoat, but there were few people in the camp, and apart from the patrolling soldiers, he didn't encounter a single one for quite some time.

What Yun Ce couldn't understand the most was that there were women in many of the tents.

Just as Yun Ce was about to abandon Plan One and pretend to be a member of the Fire Clan to forcibly seize the property, he saw a man and a woman sneaking towards a deserted area.

Yun Ce was delighted. If an affair didn't involve money, it would be an extremely boring story. Stealing your woman and then stealing your money—that's a good story to teach lustful people to give up.

From a distance, Yun Ce noticed that they were a very well-matched couple. The man was handsome and the woman was beautiful. They didn't seem to be in a hurry to meet, but instead embraced and poured out their hearts to each other. However, they didn't take off their clothes for a long time, which made Yun Ce a little anxious. If the woman didn't take off her clothes, Yun Ce wouldn't be able to wear them to get money.

Fortunately, the couple, who seemed to be truly in love, took off their clothes and hugged each other tightly, considering the time constraints. Yun Ce went over, helped the man put his clothes back on, and then stood aside and watched for a while. He noticed that they were really engrossed in their relationship and hadn't noticed him yet, so he knocked them unconscious.

Back at the tent where the woman had come out, it was indeed very luxurious. There was a sturdy black wooden box next to a low table. When he opened it, he found that it contained gold, which Yun Ce casually tossed into the Dragon Ball.

Upon entering the second tent, the woman inside, without even seeing Yun Ce's face clearly, exclaimed, "Zhang Lang, what are you going to do? Get out of here right now!"

Yun Ce leaned forward and knocked the woman unconscious as well. After collecting the valuables inside, he hurriedly went to the next tent. Along the way, he was called 'Zhang Lang' four times.

Zhang Lang took a lot of gold from others. Yun Ce calculated that it should be no less than 10,000 taels. It is unrealistic for Zhang Lang to take 10,000 taels of gold by himself. In addition, there is also a beautiful woman, so a carriage is necessary.

So Yun Ce stole another car, put it in the Dragon Ball, climbed over the wall, and then took the car out and placed it not far from the village wall.

After finishing these tasks, he returned to the couple he had knocked unconscious. As soon as he got close, a gleaming white knife stabbed towards Yun Ce's stomach.

Yun Ce held the knife in one hand, staring at it for a long time, still unable to understand where the naked man had hidden it.

When he looked at the woman again, he found that she was dead, with a large handprint on her neck, indicating that she had been strangled.

The man also had a fierce streak. Seeing that the blade was being grabbed by something like a claw, he decisively released the blade, clenched his fist, and punched Yun Ce in the throat.

Then, he was slapped to death by Yun Ce.

"Dog, you're the one who did this, aren't you?"

The dog said, "I'm afraid you might let them go in a moment of confusion."

　One more chapter

　　
　
(End of this chapter)