Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 191 When you can't bear it anymore, you don't have to bear it anymore.
Yun Ce had countless guesses about what was in Huishui Bay, but he never imagined that all his guesses were wrong, and that there was actually an open-air radioactive material deposit there.

The dog tested the elephant meat sample that Yun Ce brought. The results showed that the elephant meat was safe. The radiation was concentrated in the elephant pig's hair and thick skin, with the brain receiving the most radiation.

This is also something that Yun Ce can't understand. How could radiation to the brain make a primitive beast like a pig become smart?
Cao Kun eventually ordered the scouts to dig up all the fluorescent red soil. He didn't replace any of them, but instead gave the scouts who dug the soil very generous rewards. It was this group of scouts who eventually disappeared with the soil.

Since Yun Ce returned, he has been spending every day in the bathhouse, and Cao Kun has followed suit.

"If something can harm me, it can probably harm others too, right?"

Yun Ce, who was taking a bath, suddenly stiffened when he heard Cao Kun's seemingly random words. He pretended not to hear and continued humming a little tune, stirring the water in the tub.

"This time, I can use the carcass of an elephant pig to fool everyone. Everyone is eagerly waiting for you to share the spoils. After all, a lot of people have died. It wouldn't be right not to share the spoils with them."

"Five bottles of healing medicine produced by Panxinglou for each person."

Hearing Cao Kun say this, Yun Ce shut his mouth. In the end, it was Peng Zeng who was suffering. He wondered how badly he was being exploited. However, judging from Cao Kun's generosity, Peng Zeng's life must not be very good.

Cao Kun stayed at the Yun family manor for another five days before leaving. When he left, he said something seemingly random to Yun Ce.

"They're all dead. Not a single one survived."

Yun Ce understood the meaning of this nonsensical statement: it meant that all the scouts who were digging, loading, and transporting the soil were dead; not a single one had survived.

Yun Ce solemnly had Gouzi compile the discovery of radioactive minerals into a meticulous report, which was then carefully stored in Gouzi's mental database.

After finishing these tasks, Yun Ce devoted all his energy to the vigorous large-scale agricultural production.

Anything that involves a large number of people will inevitably exhibit a grand and heroic atmosphere, but the agricultural reclamation in Yun Ce carries a tragic and heroic air.

The main reason is that most of the people involved in agriculture in Yun Ce are women and children. There are not enough oxen and horses, so many women have to drag plows to plow the fields. Some children lie on millstones made of tree branches to act as weights to flatten the fields, while others follow behind the women to pick up weeds and tree roots.

Originally, the plan was to cultivate 100,000 mu of land intensively, but unexpectedly, many more people were added and many more mouths to feed. So Yun Ce gritted his teeth and included all 300,000 mu of land that had been reclaimed before winter into the scope of intensive cultivation.

For the sake of these 300,000 mu of land, Yun Ce led 40,000 people from the Yun Clan Manor, and with the help of the Shehuo (a local folk performance), finally, on the last day of the first month of spring, they finished sowing the last mu of land.

This approach is inefficient and of low quality, but it is important that everyone participates in the work. Only when everyone participates in the work and it yields fruitful results will each person feel a sense of belonging to the group when they enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Life cannot remain in poverty indefinitely; visible changes are needed for people to have confidence in their own future and the future of the community.

Fortunately, with 300,000 jin of elephant pork powder, Yun Ce relaxed the rules on grain rationing. Although people still ate in the communal canteen, it was not a problem for them to have enough to eat twice a day.

The people of Yun Family Manor never had the chance to eat elephant meat powder. The nine surviving elephant pigs contributed a total of 300,000 catties of meat powder to Yun Ce, all of which was exchanged for by the noble sons brought by Cao Kun.

At first, Yun Ce had some concerns, after all, this stuff was radioactive and would be bad for people's health if consumed. However, after the nobles took the meat powder samples home, they had people try it. After eating it, the people felt that the meat of wild beasts like pigs seemed to have a great nourishing effect on them, as martial artists.

Under duress and enticement, Yun Ce had no choice but to replace all the meat powder with grain and supplies.

Poor families don't deserve to eat good food. Everyone in Yun Family Manor understands this, as do the eight thousand prisoners sent down from Chang'an. Poor families would give them any good things they had in exchange for cheaper, but more plentiful, food.

Eji knew her family wasn't poor; she had 16,000 taels of gold in her room, enough to buy a lot of grain.

When Eji went out during the day carrying her rice bowl, a group of women carrying rice bowls would naturally come over. The porridge in Eji's rice bowl was just a little thicker, and there might be a few pieces of meat in it.

At such times, Eji would pour the porridge from her bowl into the bowl of the pregnant woman, or pick out the meat from her bowl and put it into the bowls of the little children who were still unable to leave their mothers.

She could only eat a few bites of the large bowl of rice; the rest went into the bowls of the pregnant women and babies.

When she gets home, she usually eats again. The first time is for socializing and winning people over, while the second time is the real meal.

Only a woman like Eji, who came from the countryside, could do something like this. Zhang Min and Anji couldn't do it; they either couldn't stand the unsightly way women ate or the way children ate and defecated at the same time.

Eji is capable. When faced with such a situation, she would scold the woman and beat the child. After scolding and beating, she would distribute the porridge as appropriate and let the child choose the meat as appropriate.

This led to everyone in Yun Family Manor, regardless of age or gender, respectfully addressing Eji as "Madam," and habitually seeking her help when problems arose.

After the busy spring plowing and sowing season, Eji's words carried more weight at the Yun Clan Manor than Yun Ce's.

After the last Shehuo festival, the Shehuo seemed to have accepted people's worship, and it basically fulfilled their wishes for good winds and rain. Whenever the Shehuo brought down sweet rain, the wild animals in the wilderness would respond with long howls. The presence of the Shehuo was also very beneficial to the reproduction of wild animals, and even the grass here grew better than elsewhere.

When the wasteland is transformed into fields, its appearance changes drastically. It becomes orderly, flat, and systematic, presenting a different kind of beauty, even more so than the original landscape of the wasteland.

Spring is a mating season, and both humans and animals are willing to follow this natural law. Especially after the hard work of spring plowing, both men and women want to reward themselves on this bountiful day.

Yun Ce is still defying fate.

Zhang Min claimed to be a mature woman on the verge of exploding, and told Yun Ce that as long as he got involved with her, she would definitely be able to have a baby.

Yun Ce had personally measured this with his hands and knew that what others said was true.

Eji also said that she was already very mature, especially since her breasts were large enough to meet the needs of her future children.

However, after Yun Ce revealed his dragon arm at night, the two women quieted down and stopped seeking pleasure, seemingly just like Lord Ye who loved dragons but was terrified of them.

They would naturally be willing to have a son with Yun Ce, but with Long... well, forget it.

They eventually had marital relations with Yun Ce. Unlike the fool E Ji, Zhang Min, being from a wealthy family, was knowledgeable and experienced. The next day, she brought a mysterious object and gave it to E Ji.

When Eji whimpered and tried to snuggle into Yun Ce's arms again that night, Yun Ce was stunned by what he saw.

"Fish bladder?"

Eji buried her head in Yun Ce's arms, but held the fish bladder in her hand high, as if afraid he wouldn't see it.

That night, Eji cried out all night. As for the swim bladder, it was broken by the clumsy Yun Ce before it even started. But the arrow was already on the string, and it couldn't be left unreleased. If it was forced to continue, people would die.

The next evening, Eji took out another fish bladder, and this time it was very good, with a hint of perfect harmony between them.

On the third day, it was Zhang Min's turn to get the fish bladder. This woman was crazy. By daybreak, the two of them had been searching for the fish bladder for a long time but still couldn't find it.

Then, the maids in the Yun family manor were able to eat fish every day, and each fish was very large.

Physical isolation is a very unreliable thing, especially using fish bladders. Although Eji and Zhang Min always said that the process is not important and the result is good, unfortunately, these two women were obviously aiming for the process.

Using Shehuo (a type of folk performance) to roast the dragon's arm is actually very effective, because Shehuo can soften the hard dragon's arm.

It hurts so much when it's being roasted.

Yun Ce once held on until the dragon's claws retracted, at which point he fainted.

According to Gouzi's prediction, if Yun Ce can continue to persevere, She Huo will be able to expel the dragon element from his body, which would be the best outcome.

Because Shehuo has the power to suppress all evil spirits. For Shehuo, any part that does not belong to humans is an invading evil spirit, even a dragon is a kind of evil spirit.

The rain in Chang'an was thick and heavy, which Yun Ce disliked. The rain at Yun Clan Manor was different; it fell clear and bright from the sky, landing on the newly sprouted rice seedlings, as if stroking a child's head.

After the start of spring, Yun Family Manor has evolved into a town with a population of 40,000, a welcome sight that has emerged after Yun Ce gradually opened up the means of grain distribution.

Just as expected, when there are many women and children in a place, young and strong men will come uninvited.

This has nothing to do with romance; it's all about survival.

The area north of the Great Wall is not as desolate as Yun Ce had imagined. In some remote places, many abandoned people still live.

Yun Ce didn't ask why these people were stranded in the wilderness; it was nothing more than things like "oppressive government is more ferocious than a tiger" or "oppressive government is more poisonous than a snake."

They are all of Han descent, so Yun Ce felt there was no need to worry too much.

　It's been blocked and I'm asked to make changes, but I don't know what to change.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)