Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 211 Boulder in the Torrent

When Cao Kun appeared on the hillside riding his Thunder Smoke Beast, he could see the well-organized military formation at the foot of the hill without even looking up.

He thought this was Yan Fei trying to intimidate him, and although he was displeased, he still put on a smile beforehand, considering Yan Fei's importance to the border region of the Great Wall.

The smile wasn't strong enough, indicating some displeasure with Yan Fei's arrangement; yet it was still smiling, meaning Yan Fei's current behavior was within his tolerance. A smile was enough to convey a great deal of information for Yan Fei to understand, and Cao Kun felt this was perfectly reasonable.

Hearing that Yun Ce was still besieging Xiangcheng with the remaining sixty-odd wounded soldiers, Cao Kun searched around but couldn't find Yun Ce, so he figured that Yun Ce must have been driven away by Yan Fei.

Actually, it was quite good. Yun Ce, with five hundred soldiers, kept Yan Fei in Xiangcheng for eight whole days, giving him enough time to take the five cities near the Great Wall in Pingzhou, and completely cut off Tan Shou's reinforcements. He had already accomplished his mission very well.

Cao Kun had already planned out Yun Ce's reward. He wouldn't give Yun Ce any territory or cities, mainly because they wouldn't be of much use to him. He only had five hundred cavalrymen, and even if he gave them to him, he wouldn't be able to defend them.

Since he likes to support women and children, he might as well give him more women and children. After all, in this battle in the north, two cities were captured by force, and the men in the cities suffered heavy casualties. After the cities were captured, in order to reward the soldiers who attacked the cities, he issued a massacre order. Therefore, there were basically no men left in the cities.

Beautiful women have been rewarded to the soldiers, while young, handsome boys and girls have been rewarded to the generals guarding the various passes of the Great Wall who participated in this battle.

The remaining women and children who were not good-looking and could only do some work were all given to Yun Ce as a reward. He should be very satisfied, after all, the number of women and children given to him was the largest.

This arrangement is quite good. The Cao family has acquired six border cities, including two empty cities that can accommodate the population that has migrated from Qiuhe Prefecture. These two cities will also become the core cities for the Cao family to control the border regions.

Everything seemed perfect. With the overall situation already settled, all Yan Fei wanted was Xiangcheng. This city could be given to him; it wasn't the main issue. After Tan Shou was completely destroyed, they could use the overall situation to slowly crush and eliminate Yan Fei's living space in the north.

Having followed his uncle Zheng Tianshou, Cao Kun had developed great patience. He knew that there were many things in the world that could not be accomplished overnight. If things were done too quickly, one would not be able to see the situation clearly and would leave hidden dangers for the future. It was better to plan things out slowly.

Subduing Yan Fei was Cao Kun's last major undertaking in this Northern War. Zheng Tianshou also came along. In any case, Yan Fei was known as the wise general of the North, and Zheng Tianshou did not want any unexpected events to occur in the final stage, thereby affecting the eldest son's reputation for wisdom and competence.

Zheng Tianshou glanced at the circular military formation below the hillside and immediately frowned, because he discovered that the formation was still in operation. The entire ring of the formation was slowly rotating and constantly squeezing inward.

What does this mean? It means that the military formation is engaged in combat, and the target of the combat is inside the circular cavity of the formation. From the changes in the size of the outer perimeter of the formation, we can tell that this military formation of nearly 5,000 people cannot instantly crush the inner cavity of the formation.

Zheng Tianshou immediately stopped Cao Kun from going down the hillside.

"They are fighting, but their objective is unknown."

After listening to his uncle's words, Cao Kun carefully examined the military formation at the bottom of the slope and vaguely saw people flying up from inside the formation. He asked Zheng Tianshou in confusion, "Uncle, who is Yan Fei's enemy?"

“┗|｀O′|┛Ouch~~”

A furious roar came from inside the army formation. Upon hearing it, Cao Kun immediately said to Zheng Tianshou, "Uncle, it's Yun Ce. He's still fighting."

Zheng Tianshou focused his inner energy into his eyes and looked at the military formation. He saw the battle taking place inside the formation. He not only saw the battle, but also saw that the person fighting was Yun Ce. At this moment, Yun Ce was wielding a pair of meteor hammers and was killing everyone in the formation. Even though the enemy outnumbered him, he was not at a disadvantage at all.

He even subtly relied on his own strength to drag a military formation of five thousand men slowly laterally. Following the direction of Yun Ce's movement, Zheng Tianshou saw Yan Fei's military flag.

"Dismount, prepare your armor and weapons. In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the entire army will attack!"

Upon hearing Zheng Tianshou's military order, Cao Kun couldn't help but say, "Uncle, to avoid arousing Yan Fei's suspicion, we only brought three thousand cavalrymen with us when we came."

Also, we didn't come here this time to...

Zheng Tianshou looked into Cao Kun's eyes and said coldly, "What are we here for?"

Cao Kun shivered under Zheng Tianshou's cold gaze. His mind raced, and he quickly said, "We've come to take Xiangcheng." Zheng Tianshou's gaze gradually warmed, and he said to Cao Kun, "Mountains have no constant form, and water has no constant shape. The way to adapt lies in the change of momentum. Different mountain formations will naturally result in different water shapes. However, mountains will always exist, and water will always flow. Neither can be stopped. By taking the middle path and controlling the flow of water, mountains will still be mountains, and water will still be water. Taking advantage of both is the greatest benefit for the controller."

And you are the manipulator.

Cao Kun listened attentively to his uncle's words and immediately jumped off the back of the Thunder Smoke Beast. Like the other cavalrymen, he began to check the saddle, girth, and bridle, to see if the weapons were easy to handle and if the quiver was in place. Some experienced cavalrymen even began to drink small amounts of water. They drank water in a strange way, only gulping it down into their mouths, rinsing their mouths, and then spitting it out.

The time it takes for an incense stick to burn is neither long nor short; it's the perfect time for Cao's cavalry to attack. Neither Zheng Tianshou nor Cao Kun mentioned Yun Ce, who was engaged in fierce fighting amidst heavy encirclement.

There's nothing more to say. Since Yun Ce doesn't have a powerful family to rely on, he can only risk his life to fight for a chance to revive his family. If he wins, the family's prosperity will be just around the corner. If he loses, then he loses. He has to accept the consequences and can't blame anyone else.

Yun Ce was still approaching Yan Fei. His two spinning meteor hammers stirred up waves of shock in the army formation like giant lawnmowers. After being infused with internal energy, the hammers were truly invincible. Any soldier who stood in the range of the hammers' rotation was no match for them. They were either swung away like grass or cut in half by iron chains.

It can be said that anything that stood in Yun Ce's way was annihilated, both man and horse!

The fear in Yan Fei's eyes had turned into terror. As he watched Yun Ce grind over him like a millstone, carrying countless severed limbs, he couldn't understand why he still had the courage to fight him one-on-one after this man had slaughtered two thousand of his soldiers.

He wanted to tell Yun Ce that there was no need for the two sides to fight to the death like this. They were already on the same side, and to engage in such a brutal battle was self-destructive and meaningless.

However, seeing Yun Ce's eyes, which had long since turned bloodshot, and the inhuman, sinister laughter that occasionally erupted from him, Yan Fei endured the pain in his body and could only hope that Yun Ce would be exhausted to death before his subordinates were all gone.

Yun Ce's internal energy was inexhaustible. Before it could run out, Gouzi would replenish it with new energy—from the generals of a hundred men, the generals of a thousand men, and even the energy left behind by Yu Sang. This made Yun Ce's internal energy ever-changing. Sometimes it was clumsy, only producing explosive power, focusing solely on killing the enemy and quickly exhausting its energy. Other times, it could skillfully control its internal energy, never wasting a single bit. Every bit of internal energy it invested would yield sufficient profit.

As he watched the hammer smash the head of an armored soldier, Yun Ce suddenly remembered a legend from the Han Dynasty, in which Huo Qubing killed 20,000 people single-handedly.

Previously, Yun Ce had only thought of it as a legend after hearing it. But now, as Yun Ce was killing people in the midst of the chaos, he suddenly felt that as long as his own conditions were good enough, it might not be impossible. After all, that guy was named Huo Qubing, who was the one who cured all the enemies of their faults—Huo Qubing.

The horrific scene finally made Yan Fei's army formation less flexible. No one was willing to turn into Yun Ce's path anymore. At this moment, everyone understood one thing: turning into Yun Ce's path meant certain death.

Seeing that the army formation was becoming congested, Yan Fei kept waving flags and beating drums, hoping that the soldiers could be more courageous...

Zheng Tianshou naturally understood the situation and gave Cao Kun, who was wearing a mask, a look. Cao Kun then raised his lance and, under the protection of two thousand-man generals, was the first to leave the hillside and charge down into Yan Fei's army formation.

Immersed in the battle with Yun Ce, Yan Fei was suddenly startled by his deputy's report and turned his gaze to the hillside. He saw a large cavalry force emerging from behind the hillside and then rushing down it quickly, their murderous aura making them look nothing like those who had come to negotiate.

In his grief and anger, Yan Fei wanted to lead his troops to fight Cao Kun, that treacherous villain. However, when he turned around, he saw Yun Ce stepping on his severed limbs and slowly approaching him.

He couldn't help but roar, "You beast!"

Then, he rode a horned horse and quickly broke away from the army formation. There was no possibility of victory in this battle. As a general, he needed to return to Xiangcheng to plan for the future.

The army, which had been keeping a close eye on the general's battle flag, suddenly noticed that the flag was rapidly retreating. The soldiers who were about to turn to face Yun Ce were the first to retreat. Following them, the soldiers guarding the perimeter who saw Cao's cavalry charging towards them felt it was their duty to protect the general's safety, so they also ran away.

The chestnut horse, ignored by everyone, silently appeared beside Yun Ce. As for the black thunder beast from which it had torn off a large chunk of flesh, it was already dead.

Yun Ce stood alone on horseback in the midst of the army formation, like a boulder in a river. Countless people slid past them, yet no one dared to raise their swords at the silent Yun Ce.

　Chapter 1, and more to come.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)