Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 232 A season of abundance, and also a season for childbirth.

Everyone has secrets they don't want to tell others.

Keeping this secret in his heart for too long will arouse his strong desire to confide in others.

What should I do at this time?

Most people would confide in a tree hollow, but extraordinary people, like Shen Tingyu, would tell their secrets to someone who is destined to die, such as Yun Ce.

Shen Tingyu was originally a meticulous person, but unfortunately, no matter how meticulous he was, it was useless because his two younger brothers knew what he was thinking.

It is very difficult for people to give up bad habits, let alone control their minds, not to think about those deeply hidden bad things, and not to reveal their true thoughts in their minds. This is even more difficult.

Fortunately, Shen Tingyu had an extremely strong talent for martial arts. This was probably largely due to the fact that the three of them shared one head. Only when he was practicing martial arts could he prevent his two younger brothers from prying into his thoughts. Over time, he became a top master, but also turned himself into a madman whose reactions were a beat slower than others.

In the end, he was badly deceived by Yun Ce.

In the foreseeable future, Shen Tingyu's story will surely spread throughout the Han Dynasty, and the Guifang people, who have always admired Han culture, will probably find out about it as soon as possible.

Actually, knowing other people's secrets is not a good thing, especially knowing other people's life-or-death secrets, which is very dangerous, such as witnessing someone commit murder.

Hong Gu Niang witnessed Yun Ce's several illegal killings. Yun Ce had considered killing to cover up his crimes before, but he later realized that killing was something that was not respectable in the Han Dynasty. In addition, what Hong Gu Niang was doing was something that his bloodline required him to do.

In the end, he became very good friends with Red Girl.

After parting ways with Zhao Qi and Xiao Man, Yun Ce returned to Yun Family Manor and received a letter from Miss Hong.

The contents of the letter were very inspiring.

On the 7th of last month, Hong Guniang launched the Battle of Longmen Station. She used the drawbridge at Longmen Station, which could be opened and closed, to gradually whittle down the three thousand heavily armored cavalry sent by Peng Dayong, the governor of Ningzhou. Among them, Pei Chuan made the greatest contribution by transporting the bombs from Yun Family Manor.

In the letter, Hong Guniang carefully explained to Yun Ce her various methods of using bombs and her experiments, and finally told Yun Ce that bombs would definitely be a deadly weapon that could determine the outcome of wars in the future.

It might even change the way the Han Dynasty waged war, and alter the equipment used by its troops...

After reading the letter, Yun Ce also learned from Hong Guniang's letter that this battle had established their position in Chuyun Prefecture. After losing the most important three thousand heavy cavalry in the prefecture, the governor of Ning Prefecture, Peng Dayong, would face the encroachment of his neighbors. Hong Guniang had no ambition for Ning Prefecture's territory.

She wanted the Shehuo performance in Ningzhou.

Before the Spring Festival next year, when the Shehuo (a type of folk performance) can be moved, we will spare no effort to acquire the Ningzhou Shehuo and eventually place it in Chuyun City, restoring this almost abandoned prefecture.

"From now on, wars within the Great Han territory will evolve from struggles for territory into battles for Shehuo (a type of folk performance).

After reading the letter, Yun Ce handed it to E Ji and asked her to keep it.

Still lying in bed, Zhang Min said, "Ningzhou is in chaos. We should get involved. With your martial arts skills, sir, we have a chance to get the Ningzhou Shehuo (a type of folk performance).

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "No, it will put us under the control of the Dragon God Palace."

Zhang Min said, "All the folk performances in the world are controlled by the Dragon God Temple."

A flame suddenly appeared at Yun Ce's fingertip, dancing playfully like a mischievous child. Zhang Min stood up, touched the folk performance on Yun Ce's fingertip, and said, "Is this the folk performance from Chuyun Prefecture?"

Eji, who already knew about the Shehuo performance, curled her lip and said, "This is our family's Shehuo."

Zhang Min ignored Eji's nonsense and asked again, "Why didn't it take root?"

Yun Ce put away the folk performance, chuckled, and said, "It is free and unwilling to take root here."

Zhang Min pondered for a moment and said, "No wonder you value territory so much, and are willing to give up the prosperous Chang'an to come to this desolate land north of the Great Wall."

"So, if I weren't pregnant, you wouldn't have told me about the folk performance, right?"

Eji sneered from the side, "Is this all you're saying to the child in your belly?"

Zhang Min stuck one foot out from under the covers and kicked Eji, saying, "Go and prepare breakfast for me quickly."

When Eji heard this, she was furious, but she dared not neglect the pregnant woman. She angrily ordered Anji to prepare, since Zhang Min was carrying the first offspring of the Yun family, and she could not be too precious.

Indeed, nowadays, everyone in the Yun Family Manor has to serve Zhang Min. While it is important for the main family of the Han Dynasty to be powerful, it is even more important for the main family to have a son.

The Yun family currently only has one heir, Yun Ce, and this heir can't live a carefree life in a greenhouse. He's always out doing dangerous things. If he were to die one day, not only would the Yun family disappear, but those of us who depend on the Yun family for a living would also have nowhere to go.

Within the Yun family, they were retainers and servants. Without the Yun family, they would be refugees and slaves, generation after generation. Now, with Zhang Min pregnant, everyone had hope. "Tonight, let's guide the Qi into the bodies of those eighteen children."

During the meal, Zhang Min started assigning tasks to Yun Ce.

Yun Ce glanced at the arrogant Zhang Min and said to E Ji, "Aren't you going to do anything about it? Also, didn't you say there were only twelve? How did it become eighteen?"

Eji lowered her head and ate, pretending not to hear what Yun Ce said.

Zhang Min said proudly, "The children are a bit ugly, but there are still many good children. After you left, I discovered six more children who have the conditions to draw qi into their bodies. Adding to the six children who have already drawn qi into their bodies and can cultivate on their own, soon the Yun family will have twenty-four retainers to assist my son."

"Oh, by the way, I've already recruited Lei Ming and his men into my secret service team. Also, my secret service team is called Red Sleeves."

Eji, who was already no match for Zhang Min in childbirth, was furious. When she heard Zhang Min brazenly trying to recruit the Yun clan's most important fighting force into her ranks, she threw down her chopsticks, refused to eat, and left.

Zhang Min, feeling vindicated, ate two extra bowls of rice.

Both Eji and Zhang Min are genuine Han Chinese, and they have been influenced by the customs of the Han Dynasty their whole lives. Naturally, they will not change because of Yun Ce's sudden appearance.

A woman's livelihood depends on her son.

Even a strong woman like Zhang Min is no exception. For example, when she was in poor health and knew that she did not have long to live, she took the initiative to ask Yun Ce for a child, which is a manifestation of her stance.

Even though she was reduced to a concubine by Eji because of this worthless act, she never regretted it. Now, with a child in her belly, her world is bright and clear.

Zhang Min's pregnancy posed a strong challenge to Eji's position as a housewife. A housewife without her own children would not speak with authority at home.

At this point, there's no need to talk about the Guifang people, the Red Maiden, or the chaos in the world. For Eji, her world has already collapsed.

“That doesn’t make sense. Your body is very strong, and your vitality is far stronger than that of ordinary people. Although you can’t compare to a dragon, you are still the best in the human world. There’s no reason why Zhang Min is pregnant while Eji isn’t, especially considering that Zhang Min’s constitution is not as good as Eji’s. How could she get pregnant first?”

The dog's barking started playing in my head again.

"What are you trying to say? Are you implying that Zhang Min cheated on me? Let me tell you, don't try to stir things up. Right now, my senses are incredibly sharp. Even though the child in Zhang Min's belly is just an embryo, I can still feel the connection. It's definitely my child."

"I told you, my sense of morality is higher than yours, but you didn't believe me. What I'm trying to say is that Eji should also be pregnant, but she just doesn't feel it clearly. She's a silly child who has been without a mother since childhood, so it's understandable that she doesn't know she's pregnant."

"The moment you think about it, you immediately think of your wife cheating on you. Is that your moral character?"

"How can you be sure that Eji is pregnant too?"

"Your physical evolution data has always been under my monitoring. Shehuo eliminated the dragon's genetic hidden dangers and also made your own vitality flourish. Therefore, your evolution data has extremely high reference value for those of us who will land later. Naturally, I have recorded it meticulously."

Yun Ce thought Gouzi's words made a lot of sense, so he decided to go to Eji's place to sense whether she was also pregnant.

Back in Eji's bedroom, Yun Ce found the silly woman lying on the bed, crying her heart out. He turned her over, placed his hand on her lower abdomen, and withdrew it after a moment.

He pulled Eji, who was crying so hard her body went limp, to her feet and said, "If you keep crying and hurt the baby in your womb, I'll whip you until you're finished."

Eji cried so hard she didn't hear Yun Ce's words clearly. She only heard that he was going to whip her. In a fit of rage, she buried her head in Yun Ce's chest and said, "You don't have a child, so you deserve to be whipped. Go ahead and whip me."

Yun Ce helped her sit up straight, looking into her tearful eyes, and said, "How stupid can you be? You don't even know you're pregnant?"

Eji heard clearly this time, and stared wide-eyed at Yun Ce, saying, "I have a child?"

As she spoke, she lifted her shirt and looked down at her stomach.

Seeing that her stomach was still flat, she scratched it twice and said dejectedly, "You've been lying to me."

Yun Ce released E Ji, took a cooked bean from the plate and put it in his mouth, saying, "The child is not even as big as this bean. It's just that we don't have a doctor here. If we did, he should be able to detect it."

Upon hearing this, Eji immediately got out of bed and hurriedly said while rummaging through her things, "My lord, I need to ride my chestnut horse to Xiangcheng. There are doctors there."

Yun Ce sat on a newly made chair and laughed, "Doctors also use their internal energy to examine a person's body. Don't forget, whose internal energy here is stronger than mine?"

I said if you have it, you definitely will; that's guaranteed.

Upon hearing this, Eji flopped straight back onto the bed, exhaling a long breath. She remained motionless for a long time, as if dead. Just as Yun Ce was about to check on her, Eji suddenly sat up abruptly, looking down at her stomach and exclaiming, "Heavens above, that scared me to death..."

　Chapter One

　　
　
(End of this chapter)