Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 259 So many useless people.

Having seen the Five Sacred Mountains, one need not see any other mountains.

People who are used to eating delicacies find it hard to swallow coarse grains.

People who are used to seeing the appearance of the armies of their ancestral homeland will find it really hard to like these nonsensical armies of the Han people.

Although they share the same origin, Yun Ce still insists that they are two different species, with a difference even greater than that between humans and pigs.

Yun Ce had neither the time nor the energy to reform the old army, nor did he believe he had the ability.

These thirty-six children were different. What they learned was provided by Yun Ce, their behavior was instilled by Yun Ce, and even their living habits were physically separated from those of the Han people by Yun Ce.

These thirty-six children are the thirty-six seeds he planted in the land of the Han people. Now, he will take these thirty-six seeds to witness the cruel battlefield.

The crisscrossing river bends and waterways are designed to restrict the movement of large enemy forces, making it difficult for the enemy to exploit their numerical advantage.

After all, the road was built to the length of Yun Ce's meteor hammer, and unless the enemy could defeat Yun Ce, it would be very difficult to pass through it.

On the children's big horns, two sacks of bombs were being carried, all of which were meticulously crafted by the dog.

After a night of turmoil, those people who had been impaled on wooden sticks had a sharp splinter protruding from their mouths, and most of them were now looking up at the sky.

Last night, those people clearly had the opportunity to steal these people from the wooden sticks, but they didn't do so. Instead, fearing a surprise attack from the Yun clan's cavalry, they huddled in the river network area and refused to come out.

Yun Ce knew that the river network area was not suitable for large-scale cavalry operations, but the number of cavalrymen who came was even greater. He couldn't figure out what these hesitant enemies wanted to do.

They came to extort grain and fodder, but when refused, they automatically lowered the price from one thousand carts to three hundred. In the end, they were ambushed by Qin Shu's troops and slaughtered. Many who surrendered were smeared on wooden sticks by the vicious Qin Shu as a warning.

They weren't even fierce enough to be considered enemies. I asked Zhang Min last night, and the biggest loss for Yun Clan Manor was the death of three locked-up ferocious beasts.

Yun Ce led the thirty-six children into the first backwater bay, where they saw a group of people huddled together with the wildebeest for warmth. There were no scouts, let alone sentries.

It wasn't until a sleepy-eyed guy saw Yun Ce that he hurriedly got up, shouting and yelling like a riot.

What Yun Ce found most incomprehensible was that this group of people all wanted to hide in the back and push others to the front.

When Yun Ce advanced to within 150 paces of the enemy, Lei Ming had already ordered his men to raise their shields to prepare to block the enemy's arrows, but not a single arrow came at them.

When they were a hundred paces away from the enemy, Lei Ming had already ordered a final charge with his spear tucked under his arm. However, the enemy's barricades, shield formations, and forward-moving spears did not appear; they remained a chaotic tangled mess.

This made it unnecessary for Lei Ming to issue the next order: "Collect the shields and prepare to throw bombs to blow the enemy's shield formation, barricades, and spearmen to smithereens," because the enemy was in a chaotic and rapid retreat.

The terrain of the backwater bay meant they had little room to retreat; not far away was the turbulent Qingshui River.

Once Yun Ce took the lead and pushed the cavalry into a corner, the last of them were already standing in the cold Qingshui River. The resistance that Lei Ming and the children had been hoping for still hadn't come.

"How can a person be so cowardly?"

During his voice change, Lei Ming's roar, like that of a male duck, echoed throughout the entire backwater bay.

The anticipated bloody battle was over, and not only Lei Ming was furious, but also Yun Ce, who had planned to use this weak army to toughen up the children.

If you kill him, he won't resist; he'll just run away. If he can't escape, he'll kneel down and wait for his final moment.

After Yun Ce returned, he ordered his men to remove all the corpses stuck in the sticks, pile them up, and then burn them all. A group of people who didn't even dare to resist didn't deserve such cruel punishment; they simply didn't have the guts.

Zhang Min was the one who interrogated these people.

When she returned, she looked very unwell.

Yun Ce raised his hand, and Lei Ming placed the teapot in his hand. Yun Ce took a sip and asked, "Who are these people?"

Zhang Min, sitting next to Yun Ce, sighed and said, "The original Great Wall garrison."

Yun Ce asked, "Is every single one of them?"

Zhang Min nodded and said, "Every single one of them." Lei Ming couldn't help but say, "Madam, how can a soldier have no backbone at all?"

Zhang Min said, "The Great Wall garrison originally numbered 500,000, but Zhao Shu reduced it to 200,000. Later, Zhao Shu took a group of confidants to Chang'an, and the remaining Great Wall garrison became wandering ghosts. Later, the feudal lords occupied various passes of the Great Wall and drove the original Great Wall garrison out of the passes under various pretexts."

The area south of the Great Wall belonged to the feudal lords, and since they couldn't enter, they could only wander around north of the Great Wall.

In spring, summer, and autumn, things were relatively easy; they could find food in the wild. But when the dead of winter arrived, food became scarce, so they approached the guards of various passes, preparing to surrender and hoping to be incorporated into their ranks.

As a result, no one wanted them, so they continued to wander in the wilderness north of the Great Wall. Later, they met a very powerful man who gathered them into an army, and they began their life as bandits in the wilderness.

It's laughable, they say they've been bandits six times, and were defeated each time. This is their seventh time coming to our village.

Lei Ming asked in bewilderment, "They have bows and arrows, weapons, and quite a few wildebeests. They also have a powerful general in command. How come they are losing battle after battle?"

Zhang Min sighed and said, "The fierce general who killed the guard beast of my manor doesn't want them anymore. As for the wildebeest, they are their only source of food in winter. It is only thanks to the wildebeest's milk that they have not starved to death."

As for Lei Ming's claim of not resisting, it's not that they didn't resist, it's that they lacked the strength to resist, or even the strength to escape. They were forcing themselves to gather their last breath and try to extort money from us; it was their last hope for survival.

After listening to Zhang Min's explanation, Yun Ce tilted his head back and looked at Lei Ming, asking, "What do you think of this army?"

Lei Ming angrily said, "This doesn't deserve to be called an army, it doesn't even deserve the name of thieves. They should be called a bunch of walking corpses."

Yun Ce laughed and said, "What should we do? Kill them?"

Lei Ming shook his head firmly and said, "We won't kill them. We'll give them a meal, and once they've regained their strength, they can use their own strength to earn food. They're no longer soldiers; they're just a group of pitiful people. Our swords won't be used to cut the heads of pitiful people."

After hearing Lei Ming's words, Yun Ce said to Zhang Min, "Have Feng An come back and prepare to take over these people."

Zhang Min said, "Okay, we should always give people a way to survive."

Upon hearing that Yun Ce had returned, E Ji rushed back to the manor from Jin Suo Guan on the third day. She was very interested in the useless person Zhang Min had described. After being affectionate with Yun Ce for a moment, she led a group of followers to the military camp that Lei Ming had just set up for more than 2,600 people.

As soon as she entered the military camp, Eji flew into a rage. The clean military camp that had been set up just two days ago had been turned into a filthy mess by these people. Not only was there dung from wildebeests everywhere, but there was also human excrement in many places.

They were so dirty that they were almost unrecognizable as human beings.
This group of people refused to listen to orders and insisted on staying with their wildebeest. They didn't want to live with the wildebeest, and if they were separated from the wildebeest, they would go crazy and burst into tears.

Men's crying is unsightly, even more heartbreaking than women's. Zhang Min couldn't bear to see these people cry, which is why she turned the once peaceful camp into a filthy place.

Eji didn't care about any of that. She insisted that since these people had joined the Yun clan, they should follow the Yun clan's rules. You couldn't make an exception for them just by crying a few times.

Since men love to cry, she gathered a large group of women to watch them cry, and gradually, fewer men cried.

"The less people want a person, the less they consider themselves human, and the more they want to hold on to what little they have left."

The wildebeests they had were all mares, capable of producing milk for them to drink. When they couldn't produce milk, they would cut off their blood to drink, which was enough to keep them alive.

Nobody wanted it, so it was in low spirits; it's no wonder it treated the wildebeest as its lifeblood.

This group of people no longer desires a better life, so things should be taken slowly. Once they've had a few good meals, slept in warm houses for a few days, and feel like human beings, then they'll be of use.

Eji's thinking is a typical diode-like thinking. She only has two kinds of evaluations of people: one is that they are usable, and the other is that they can be used after being washed with water.

There will absolutely not be any people who are unusable or useless.

Sometimes, Yun Ce felt that E Ji was a ray of light. She could illuminate everyone fairly. Even if you didn't want to be illuminated, she would still shine the light on your face, whether you wanted it or not.

Despite the whips, food, and the humiliating words and gazes of the women, Eji finally resolved the problem of this group's preference for eating and sleeping with the wildebeest.

"The remaining problems will be corrected little by little. As long as you are human, there is no problem that you cannot overcome."

When they rested at night, Eji put her hair up in a bun, rested her head on Yun Ce's arm, and whispered in his ear, "Isn't that sweet?"

(End of this chapter)