Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 214, Section 106: Who is Whose Hero?

Cao Kun was a man of his word. As dawn approached on the eleventh day, he prepared to leave with his spoils from Xiangcheng and his men.

Yun Ce sat at the busiest crossroads in Xiangcheng. He and the meritorious officials who participated in the attack on the six northern cities were not able to enjoy themselves to the fullest. However, Yun Ce watched them commit their crimes with a fierce gaze. Even if they had great dissatisfaction, they dared not say a word.

In reality, the effect of not sealing the sword for ten days after the city fell was only two days, or more accurately, only one and a half days, because the people in the city had all gone to sit behind Yun Ce at that time.

Before parting, Cao Kun suddenly said to Yun Ce, "Are you sure I can return to Yujin Pass safely?"

Yun Ce nodded and said, "Of course you have no problem."

Cao Kun sighed and said, "So that means the other people have a problem?"

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "How would I know if they can get home? You know, the North just experienced a rebellion, and bandits are everywhere..."

Cao Kun continued to sigh, "As long as you don't become a thief, other thieves are nothing to worry about."

Cao Kun looked back at the border generals of the Great Wall who had pleading expressions on their faces, and said to Yun Ce, "I'll stay and keep you company for a day."

Yun Ce said with a worried expression, "You are a noble person, but there is nothing in Xiangcheng now, nothing to entertain you."

Cao Kun laughed and said, "It's alright, it's alright."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the carriages that the men were leading, which were filled with all the good stuff they had looted from Xiangcheng.

Left with no other choice, the border generals had to leave behind half of the looted supplies and the beauties.

As the two were talking, the chestnut horse returned from the wilderness like lightning, happily neighing and jumping around Yun Ce. Not only was it quick-witted, but it could also jump ten feet high.

Cao Kun looked helplessly at the chestnut horse frolicking beside Yun Ce, and once again said to the border generals behind him, "General Yun's Thunder Smoke Beast is extremely handsome and can travel a thousand miles in a day."

The border generals looked troubled upon hearing this.

Yun Ce said softly, "More than that, Da Hong can traverse mountains and valleys as if walking on flat ground. It is the most powerful Thunder Smoke Beast in the world."

One of the border generals could no longer contain himself and said to Yun Ce, "General Yun, let's be frank. What percentage of the spoils we captured in Xiangcheng do you intend to keep?"

Yun Ce, covered in dirt, said solemnly, "Seventy percent, leave seventy percent behind, and take the rest with you. Also, you are not allowed to take a single person with you."

Upon hearing this, Cao Kun immediately signaled Cao Ling to leave all the women behind, and then took more than a dozen carts of supplies and was the first to leave Xiangcheng.

The border generals were shocked by Yun Ce's shamelessness and didn't react for a moment. They saw that after Cao Kun left, a group of people closed the city gate.

Yun Ce shook off his dirty outer robe and looked at the panicked border generals, saying, "Now, I want everything, including your warhorses, weapons, and armor!"

"Yun Ce, you've gone too far!"

Yun Ce waved his hand behind him, and immediately two strong men struggled to drag Yun Ce's meteor hammer over and put the iron chain in his hand.

The enormous meteor hammer, once in Yun Ce's hands, became as light as two children's toys, whistling through the air and making a chilling "whoosh" sound above everyone's heads.

Just as Yun Ce was choosing which border general to smash with his meteor hammer, Zhao Yi, a border general from Dongquan Pass, jumped off his horse and began to remove his armor. Similarly, his two hundred guards also began to lay down their weapons and remove their armor.

With Zhao Yi taking the lead, the other border generals had no choice but to follow suit. In the past ten days, they had visited the two killing fields that Yun Ce had personally created, not wanting to turn the east gate of Xiangcheng into a third killing field.

Seeing these people remove their armor, Yun Ce showed no joy whatsoever. Instead, he felt a great deal of melancholy. He doubted whether such a group of cowards could really hold the Great Wall defense line when the Gui Fang people arrived.
In the end, Yun Ce let these people go.

Because the people of Xiangcheng did not demand that Yun Ce avenge their dead family members.

Therefore, this is also a group of cattle and sheep that can be grazed. Even if a fierce tiger appears in their ranks, they dare not seek revenge against the wolves that harmed them.

Liang Kun arrived with twenty-three well-dressed young men. Yun Ce pointed at Liang Kun and said, "From now on, he will be your city lord."

Pointing to the twenty-three young men, he said, "From now on, they will be the ones managing you."

After the people present finished bowing to Liang Kun and the others, Yun Ce said to them, "If your daughters have been kidnapped and are here, take them back. If your belongings have been stolen, you can get 30% back from here."

From now on, do your business well in Xiangcheng, do your jobs well, pay your taxes on time, and I will protect you. From now on, anyone who invades Xiangcheng will be put to death!

There was no scene of cheering crowds as often seen in stories, nor was there any joyful scene of people spreading the news. After realizing that they were being governed by another group of people, the people returned to their homes one after another.

Families whose daughters were abducted at least had the courage to get their daughters back, but no one dared to step forward and demand their property back after it was robbed.

Liang Kun quickly took on the role of manager, and they began recruiting people on the spot. From constables to village chiefs, a lot of people were needed. These people could only be recruited from Xiangcheng, or existing officials could be employed.

Yun Ce didn't care about these things, or rather, he wasn't particularly interested in the Han people here, even though they were very compliant.

He was waiting for the children in Yun Family Manor to grow up. Only when they grew up could his comrades emerge from this group of people armed with Earth culture.

Yun Ce felt he could wait; good food is never too late.

The chestnut horse galloped happily across the wilderness. Sitting on its tall back, Yun Ce could still see the corpses that had long begun to rot, the carrion birds in the sky, and the carrion beasts on the ground, who had been feasting here for many days.

Soon, only bones will remain here.

As long as these bones remain, no one will attack Xiangcheng, a city without an army or city defenses.

Zheng Tianshou left three days in advance. When he left, he took with him the Xiangcheng treasury, the most beautiful woman in Xiangcheng, the most intelligent child, and Yan Fei's entire family.

Yun Ce had no way of knowing whether the old man's behavior was unintentional or intentional. If it was intentional, Yun Ce felt he had to be careful and wary of him in the future, as being seen through was not a pleasant thing.

Moreover, Cao Kun's inexplicable assistance was also very strange. This was not the scene Yun Ce wanted to see. What was supposed to be a proper act of establishing authority was turned into a charade between Yun Ce and Cao Kun, greatly diminishing the effectiveness of the action.

Originally, the deterrent power could have been maintained for at least three years, but Cao Kun reduced it by half and even made the independence of the Yun clan questioned. This was very detrimental to future alliances and counter-alliances, and the Yun clan would henceforth become a minority in the north.

Unfortunately, Yun Ce had no way to turn against the Cao family. After all, Xiangcheng still needed the protection of the Shehuo people in Pingzhou. Faced with their counterattack, Yun Ce had to swallow this bitter pill.

On the way back to Jingkou Pass, you will pass a mountain called Woman Mountain. The reason why this mountain is called this is mainly because the two connected peaks are shaped like steamed buns, and the peaks further away look like the profile of a beautiful woman.

Near the foot of the mountain, there is a waterfall. It is not a large waterfall, but the water is clear. After falling into a deep pool, it overflows and forms a river that flows into Xiangcheng. The river is called the Woman River.

At this moment, Yun Ce and the chestnut horse were soaking in the deep pool under the waterfall to wash their bodies.

Yun Ce never wanted to bathe with the chestnut horse, mainly because the horse's farts were poisonous. Whenever it got into the water, it loved to blow bubbles with its farts, so much so that downstream from where it bathed, fish that had died from the poison would float all over the river.

Fortunately, there was a small rock pit above the deep pool. The rocks were slippery, and the red horse was not coming. Yun Ce could lie in the pit and accept the waterfall's cascading water without worrying about being poisoned by the red horse's farts.

Yun Ce was about to go to a town called Qilipu to meet the beauty Yan Fei had mentioned. He planned to wash himself clean before going, just in case she was a shady innkeeper who made human flesh buns. If he washed himself clean, it would save the chef in her kitchen the trouble.

The treasure trove Yan Fei mentioned is definitely a trap, and one that Yan Fei prepared for his revenge. There is definitely treasure there, but there's one annoying thing: Yan Fei clearly knows that I have the ability to defeat ten thousand men, so why would he tell me that there is treasure in Qilipu?

If the people of Qilipu were capable of avenging Yan Fei and killing him, a man of unparalleled strength, then why didn't Yan Fei place such an important force, capable of almost influencing the outcome of a battle, in Xiangcheng?

What kind of relationship do they have?

Are they superiors and subordinates, colleagues, or allies?
All of this can only be understood once we arrive at Qilipu.

Yun Ce scrubbed his body vigorously with the towel. He had been so dirty over the past two weeks that it took him a full hour to thoroughly clean himself. He even used the water as a mirror to shave off his short-grown, messy beard.

The dog, who claimed to have learned the entire grooming technique, helped him shave his face, groom his eyebrows, and even trimmed the nose hairs that had grown out of his nostrils.

Yun Ce never knew that trimming nails could be so troublesome. In order to match the white nail polish, a massage technique was required to make the nails rosy and vibrant.

The chestnut horse accepts even more projects; it is the most important prop for a young nobleman to display his wealth.

After Gouzi finished grooming the man and the horse, Yun Ce leaned down to look at their reflection in the water and muttered to himself, "He should have been a leader in the world of pleasure, a butterfly among flowers, how did he end up here?"

　I'll update one chapter early this morning, then head to the airport, and continue in Hainan this afternoon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)