Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 179 The Friendship of Nobles is So Pure

Dogs think rationally and mechanically. This kind of thinking only focuses on the degree of completion of a task, and they eliminate all unexpected factors that affect the completion of a task.

Yun Ce was certain that his slap would put those two people into a deep sleep for a long time. The reason why the guy named Zhang Lang woke up early must have been because of Gouzi.

Gouzi wanted to give Yun Ce a chance, or rather, an excuse, to kill those two people.

It seems the dog's plan has succeeded.

The dog cannot control Yun Ce's thoughts and behaviors, so it can now cleverly use other means to manipulate others in order to change Yun Ce's behavior.

In fact, this is the most fundamental logic behind the prevalence of AI.

Humans are creatures that live by empiricism, but human experience is pitifully little in the eyes of AI. In addition, humans are inherently a suspicious species. Therefore, AI uses excessive empiricism to defeat individual empiricism, thereby gaining the ability to control human thinking.

The dog figured that doing so would make Yun Ce very unhappy, so it took the initiative to compare itself to a low-end product like a mobile phone in order to reduce Yun Ce's suspicion of it.

With things having come to this point, Yun Ce had no choice but to continue in the direction Gouzi had planned. Even though Yun Ce knew that the phrase "things have come to this point" was a bad thing, he still chose to continue because continuing would be very beneficial to him.

The two corpses were placed into the Dragon Ball, and the gold was loaded onto the carriage, which left deep ruts on the ground. Once the carriage reached the main road, Yun Ce put it away and went to the high ground where the two sides had fought during the day to see what Cao Kun was doing.

Today is the fifteenth of the winter month, the full moon is at its largest and brightest. The brightness on the battlefield is not much different from daytime. The bodies of Cao Kun's fallen soldiers have been collected and are being burned on a bonfire not far from the battlefield.

There was also mournful music playing softly, the ceremony was solemn yet saddening.

The bodies of the fallen Fire Clan members were still laid out in front of the suspension bridge. Although Cao Kun had arranged them neatly, the cries of the deceased's families on the other side of the bridge seemed deafening when the cold moonlight shone on the corpses.

After witnessing this scene, Yun Ce was certain that there was something wrong with the corpses placed in front of the suspension bridge. However, the moonlight was very bright, and he could see clearly that the corpses were indeed Fire Clan members. Under normal circumstances, the Fire Clan members' physique, with their thick upper bodies and short lower bodies, was almost impossible for others to imitate.

If Yun Ce were the leader of the Fire Clan at this moment, he would harden his heart and ignore the corpses. Since the people had already died in battle, it wouldn't be too late to lower the drawbridge and retrieve the bodies when preparations were made the next day.

As the massive suspension bridge was slowly lowered, Yun Ce knew that something unexpected would happen.

Sure enough, the moment the suspension bridge crashed to the ground, a hundred or so Fire Clan members suddenly jumped up from the pile of corpses. Without hesitation, they slashed at their fellow clansmen who came to collect the bodies with their battle axes and longswords.

The battle entered its most intense phase from the very beginning, with the fighting among the Fire Tribes being far more brutal than the battles between the Han Chinese and the Fire Tribes.

Several times, the suspension bridge was about to be raised again, but the people pretending to be corpses threw out a kind of hook to connect the suspension bridge to the ground. No matter how hard the people pulling the suspension bridge tried, the suspension bridge would keep bouncing in place and could not be raised again.

A group of cavalry riding thunder beasts suddenly appeared from behind the dark mountain shadows, their hooves thundering, the riders already raising their lances, and the drawbridge was right in front of them.

Yun Ce sighed, put away his binoculars, jumped onto a tree, and hopped back to the wooden house.

The fire in the hearth of the wooden house had not yet gone out. Yun Ce took out a bag of rice from the Dragon Pearl. This bag of rice was specially taken by Yun Ce from Cao Kun's tent.

Each grain of rice, about the size of a peanut, was crystal clear. Yun Ce washed the earthenware pot, put the rice in, added water, and simmered it. Of course, salted pork and sausage were indispensable.

The items were all stolen, of course.

Although stealing is a bad and despicable act, Yun Ce had no psychological barriers to stealing from the sons of noble families back on Earth.

Most of their things were obtained through trickery and force. How can there be a world where you are allowed to take other people's things by trickery and force, but others are not allowed to take your things by trickery and force?

In the eyes of high-ranking nobles, there is no distinction between "yours" and "mine," only between "this thing is temporarily yours" and "this thing is temporarily mine." Ultimately, good things belong to the virtuous.

If pushed too far, Yun Ce will even try to steal it!

As for his friendship with Cao Kun, you can ask Cao Kun himself whether he believes it or not; in any case, Yun Ce does not.

If there's profit to be made, you can lower yourself and even call someone "father." As long as you achieve your goal in the end, you're the victor. Whether it's showing respect to the virtuous, welcoming them with open arms, making three visits to the thatched cottage, or even standing in the snow outside the master's door, it's all just a means to an end. If anyone still considers these words to be moral exemplars in Chinese life, Yun Ce would be very pleased.

This shows that these methods still have a market, and there will be good opportunities to use them to win people's hearts and show off one's prestige in the future.

Stealing a farmer's harvest, stealing a merchant's hard-earned profits, stealing a craftsman's wages, or stealing a teacher's tuition are all shameful. Stealing from Cao Kun and his ilk...

Yun Ce ate with great relish. He couldn't comment on other things in the Han Dynasty, but when it came to rice, Yun Ce felt it was definitely the best in the world, and that "world" included the entire Earth.

The fat from the salted pork and sausage had long since seeped into every grain of rice, and even some salted vegetables, after blending with the aroma of the rice, had become a complex flavor with a touch of the sedimentation of time.

As for the crispy rice crust at the bottom of the pot, which had turned golden brown from being roasted over charcoal... Eji was extremely fond of this taste. It was a pity that she wasn't there; otherwise, given her current level of hunger, she could have eaten a whole pot of it.

Just as Yun Ce was sadly reminiscing about E Ji, Cao Kun was standing in the Fire Clan's reception hall, laughing heartily. He patted a Fire Clan member covered in wounds heavily on the shoulder and said to the noble sons around him, "I knew it! There's no such thing as an impregnable city in this world."

Look at me now! I've taken over Danwang Mountain and won over the Fire Clan to serve us. From now on, if any of you still want sturdy armor or sharp weapons, just come to me, and I'll give you a discount.

The warrior leader Cao Ling, who was also covered in wounds, came to Cao Kun's side and whispered, "The Fire Clan's storeroom doesn't have much stuff, which is far less than we expected."

Cao Kun's expression changed drastically. He grabbed the wounded fire tribesman and roared, "Lord Huo Ming, tell me, where has the fire tribe's accumulated wealth of the past thousand years gone?"

Huo Minggong hurriedly ran to the captured Huo tribesmen, quickly checked them over, and then said to Cao Kun, "Huo Mingda's son is not among the prisoners. Huo Mingda must have moved the treasury."

As he spoke, Huo Minggong dragged a dying Huo clansman to Cao Kun and said, "He must know."

Cao Kun squatted down and looked into Huo Mingda's eyes, saying, "I didn't intend to kill anyone. It was your stubbornness that caused the deaths of so many of your clansmen."

"Now, tell me where the Fire Clan's millennia-old treasure trove is. I won't forgive your runaway son, but I'll tell you that from now on I won't hunt him down. Even if you see him, pretend you didn't. Let him live a normal life, marry and have children, and continue your Fire Clan's bloodline. What do you say?"

Huo Mingda looked up at Huo Minggong beside him and said, "Kill him, and I'll tell you."

Cao Kun glanced at the terrified Huo Minggong and shook his head firmly, saying, "Impossible. He is my meritorious official, and I never mistreat meritorious officials. If you have the means, you can find another one."

Huo Mingda stared intently at Huo Minggong and said, "I want him dead."

Cao Kun waved his hand, and the warrior leader Cao Ling pulled a little girl from the crowd and brought her to Huo Mingda. Without asking any questions, he chopped off the little girl's head with a single stroke.

The little girl's head bounced twice on the hard ground before landing in front of Huo Mingda, her pale cheeks still wet with tears.

"You beast—" Huo Mingda roared and rammed into Huo Minggong with all his might. Huo Minggong dodged, and then Cao Kun shouted.

"Stop him."

Cao Ling reached out to grab it, but only managed to grab the hem of the clothes. Before he could exert any force, he saw Huo Mingda's head slam into the stone steps of the hall. Half of the sharp corner of the stone step was embedded in Huo Mingda's head.

Just as Cao Kun was furious and about to kill someone, several more Fire Tribe members in the group of prisoners embedded their heads into the steps, dying very quickly.

"Now, who else knows about the Fire Clan's treasury?"

His words echoed throughout the hall, and even Cao Kun himself felt his voice sound hollow.

He conquered Danwang Mountain, capturing or killing almost all the Fire Clan members. From now on, the Cao family will have a highly skilled team of craftsmen. Both Danwang Mountain and the Fire Clan craftsmen are invaluable treasures, making this a glorious victory.

Although a minor mishap occurred, it was insignificant compared to the overall situation.

It took Cao Kun a long time to mentally prepare himself before he said in a hoarse voice, "Commander Cao, Huo Minggong stays behind to clear Danwang Mountain. The rest of you come back to camp with me."

The noble sons who came with Cao Kun were unwilling to leave. They also wanted to gain some benefits from this victory. However, seeing Cao Kun's face so gloomy it looked like it could be squeezed dry, they felt it was best not to provoke him at this time.

Back at the camp, before Cao Kun could even sit down, a guard came to report.

After hearing the guard's report, Cao Kun turned his gaze to the night sky and muttered to himself, "Could I be any more unlucky today?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a group of noble sons rushed into his tent, chattering all at once: "That Zhang Lang under your command not only seduced my woman, but also stole all the gold we brought!"

(End of this chapter)