Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 283 Refugees
It is almost impossible to live a clean life in this world.

Yun Ce understood this principle. The Tiger Legion would definitely do some things that did not meet moral standards in the future. At the very least, he hoped to postpone that outcome as much as possible.

There were many people, caravans, and villages that couldn't be avoided or escaped. With no other option, Yun Ce had to kidnap them all and take them away. He not only kidnapped their people, but also their livestock, wagons, and grain to prevent them from starving to death, and also to feed the 2,600 Tiger Legion soldiers.

At first, this approach worked perfectly. Individuals and caravans captured by the Tiger Army were bound hand and foot with ropes and strung together as they walked through the army.

This approach proved highly effective. Even after Yun Ce led the Tiger Legion a thousand miles away, hiding by day and moving by night, no trace of the Tiger Legion was found in Liangzhou. To ensure that there were no enemy traces in any direction, Yun Ce even had the Black-haired Eagle fly around all day to search for them before he could finally relax.

Yun Ce then focused on sensing his inner energy, completely entrusting the marching arrangements of the Tiger Legion to Gouzi. He even felt that Gouzi's wisdom and ability were more than capable of handling such a tedious march.

Inner vision is an important sign for a martial artist to become a warrior capable of defeating ten thousand men. Yun Ce hopes to break through this barrier in the shortest possible time. Only by breaking through this barrier will he be qualified to compete with a master like Shen Tingyu, instead of fleeing immediately upon hearing of their existence.

Once Yun Ce entered a state of introspection, his perception of the outside world disappeared. However, Gouzi had placed five hundred Tiger Warriors around him. Even if Shen Tingyu came in person, it would take some time to break through the formation of these five hundred men. This time would be enough for Yun Ce to wake up from his meditative state.

Yun Ce was fascinated by this state of visualization. The blood in his veins flowed like a great river, his heartbeat was like the rhythmic beating of thunder in the sky, and his breathing was like a storm, sometimes violent and sometimes calm. He could even hear the breaking and regeneration of his body's cells and feel the breath he was breathing nourishing his body.

Whenever Yun Ce was about to wake up from this meditative state, Gouzi would give Yun Ce the inner energy of the thousand generals he had collected, so that he could have more inner energy to participate in the new meditative state.

After receiving the inner energy of three thousand generals, Yun Ce's mind fell into boundless darkness. There was light in this darkness, even luminous light, but Yun Ce knew that this place was darkness. He tried to escape the darkness by struggling left and right, but in the end, he fell into an even more gloomy darkness.

When Yun Ce gasped for breath like a drowning man and hurriedly opened his eyes to look around, he found himself in a vast camp.

If it weren't for the Tiger Army guarding him, Yun Ce would have even doubted whether he had escaped from that colorful darkness.

The dog, like a giant spider, swung its eight tentacles as it climbed down from a large tree, and after landing on the ground, it plunged headfirst into the Dragon Ball.

"You're awake? Did you get a lot?"

“It’s huge. My internal energy has increased a lot. When I was visualizing, I almost thought I would die.”

"I envy you for being able to explore new worlds, unlike me, who can only help you with odd jobs."

"No, you usually start being humble when you're about to cause trouble. Tell me, what were you doing when I was introspecting?"

"Dog asked doubtfully, "I have been resolutely following what you did before as a model, but as I do it, I always feel that something is not right."

However, I calculated it countless times but still couldn't find what was wrong.

look! "

Yun Ce followed the dog's tentacles and looked around. He remembered that he had been in a meditative state for no more than ten days. Ten days ago, his camp was just a small camp that could accommodate three thousand people. Now, although he was still in the core of the camp, he could see that the camp stretched for at least four or five miles. Not only that, there were countless women cooking around a hundred or so large pots, groups of children running around the camp, and teams of men smashing sharpened, thick timbers into the ground. It seemed that they were building a stockade.

"Where did these people come from?"

"They were all captured to cover their tracks."

"How did they manage to arrest so many people?"

Dog asked doubtfully, "To conceal our whereabouts, we've detained everyone who sees us. But there are still consequences to doing so. The Tiger Legion already has a large number of people, and with these kidnapped people, the marching force is even larger, and the supply requirements are even heavier."

Therefore, we are more likely to be discovered, which means more people will be kidnapped...

So, before you entered meditation, our team of three thousand people quickly expanded into a team of over ten thousand, since many of them were from entire villages or hamlets.

At first, those who were kidnapped were terrified and constantly thought about escaping. But no matter how they tried to escape, they couldn't escape the surveillance of Black-haired Eagle and me. No matter what method they used to escape, they would eventually be found by the Tiger Legion and brought back. Gradually, those people realized they couldn't escape, so they stopped trying.

Once they discovered that we distributed the food fairly to everyone, they became even less willing to flee. Not only did they not flee, but they also actively tried to persuade villages they encountered along the way to surrender. In just ten days, we had built a camp of this size.

Yun Ce sighed and rode his chestnut horse around the camp. He noticed that the men and women in the camp all looked pale and sickly. There were very few strong men. As before, most of the camp consisted of the elderly, women, and children.

Seeing this, Yun Ce basically understood what was going on.

The Tiger Army went to mostly remote and undesirable places. It's easy to imagine that those who could settle in such remote areas were people who couldn't survive under the control of the Han government.

When the struggle between the Grand Marshal of Chang'an and the emperor began, the world was already in chaos. Local warlords and governors began to recruit soldiers, especially after Cao Kun unified the five eastern provinces. The governors in various regions recruited soldiers even more, and wars continued one after another.

Under the policy of prioritizing military affairs, the supplies brought by caravans could not reach the lowest levels of society. As a result, some people who could not make a living had no choice but to break away from the control of the Han Dynasty and go to the wilderness to seek a way to survive by gathering resources.

These people formed villages and fortified settlements to protect themselves, but their strength was weak. They not only had to cope with the harsh weather that the Shehuo festival could not provide, but also had to fight with wild beasts in the wilderness, living a precarious life.

In the wilderness, one can gather enough food to fill one's stomach, but to expect fairness is wishful thinking.

Fairness is the result of power. However, in the dog's database, the distribution of food is based on fairness. In an environment where food is obtained fairly, the wicked will inevitably be suppressed, and the majority of the weak will become the beneficiaries.

Among this force, the 2,600 Tiger Warriors were undoubtedly the most powerful. Many weaker people were willing to rely on them for survival. In ten days, it was only natural for a camp of 3,000 people to expand into a camp of over 10,000 people.

With more people, there are many disadvantages, but there are also obvious advantages. Two thousand six hundred Tiger Warriors are not so noticeable when mixed in with a force of ten thousand, especially after they take off their armor and put on civilian clothes, they are even less conspicuous.

After walking around the camp, Yun Ce prepared to accept the reality before him. However, although there were quite a few men here, most of them were the elderly, women, and children.

I don't know what's wrong with the men of the Han Dynasty. They all seem to have the same habit as Liu Bang: when they encounter danger, they abandon their children and run away with their wives. If these people flee with their families, Yun Ce might let them go.

However, these people have abandoned their wives and children without any compassion and run away. If they run away, who will support their wives and children in the future? Therefore, Yun Ce plans to wait here for a while, until those hidden men dispel their concerns and reunite with their wives and children on their own.

After riding his chestnut horse and leading five hundred elite soldiers around the camp, everyone in the camp now knows who the most powerful and influential person is.

When a group of people get together, there will inevitably be some who want to stand out and live a good life.

Moreover, these people don't need to be searched for; they will appear before Yun Ce one by one on their own.

Sure enough, when Yun Ce patrolled the camp again on horseback the next morning, he discovered some signs of poor management.

After Yun Ce appointed a woman who seemed the most diligent, capable, and able to lead a group of women to cook porridge for everyone as the kitchen manager, a group of people came to Yun Ce's tent in the evening. These people looked either wise, heroic, or shrewd.

Yun Ce accepted all comers without regard to their abilities, directly appointing them as centurions to manage the tens of thousands of followers in the camp.

Having managers is better than chaos. When Yun Ce asked them to register people and materials, a simple authority was established.

As the camp became more organized, more men came to search for their wives and children. On the third day, Yun Ce ordered the camp to break camp and head east.

There were still too few people in Yun Clan Manor. Since he had picked up so many people along the way, how could Yun Ce let them go? He no longer deliberately avoided villages in the wilderness, but led a large group of people like a whirlwind, sweeping through places beyond the control of the government. Wherever the camp passed, there was no trace of anyone.

Occasionally, the huge figures of the Xintianyou would glide across the sky. On several occasions, the Xintianyou would even lower its altitude to take a closer look at this large group of people.

When they discovered that it was merely a group of refugees traveling eastward under the banner of the King of Changsha, they immediately flew into the sky and never looked at the refugees again.

(End of this chapter)