Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 299 Insights on Brotherly Strife

"What, are you willing to give up this colorful flower-changing pavilion that could be passed down through generations?"

"I've figured it out. Even the best tortoise shell can't withstand an eagle's sharp beak. Sooner or later, the meat inside will be pecked out and eaten. Zhou Situ was such a cunning and shrewd man, yet he still died in this building."

Yun Ce nodded, then took the lead and stepped forward with the torch in hand.

The so-called Seven-Colored Flower Exchange Tower is nothing more than a gate built at the entrance of this secret passage, a smokescreen to hide the existence of the secret passage. After discovering the Seven-Colored Flower Exchange Tower, most people think they have uncovered Zhou Situ's fundamental secret and are only busy uncovering the secret of the Seven-Colored Flower Exchange Tower. They would never think that there is an even more important secret passage next to the tower.

After entering the secret passage, Yun Ce even felt a faint breeze blowing from the opposite side, which indicated that there were hidden ventilation openings in this tunnel.

Seeing a thin rope on the wall and smelling the grease on it, Yun Ce lit the thin line with a torch. Thus, a thin line of fire slowly spread into the depths of the dark cave. The light was not bright, but it could illuminate the path underfoot. The flame burned slowly, just the pace of an adult walking. The burning thin line could not be sustained indefinitely and went out after burning for five minutes.

This is a very reasonable mechanical technique.

The tunnel was originally very flat, but because there were too many dead people, the road was difficult to walk on. Huo Wudi, in particular, had to jump over the mummified corpses blocking her way every few steps, which was very troublesome. So, Lei Ming carried her on his back so that he could keep up with Yun Ce and Wu Tong.

Most of the mummies here were women and children, dressed in fine clothes, but their deaths were not very dignified. As he passed a boy's corpse with his head twisted back, Yun Ce suddenly asked, "Tell me, who killed all these people?"

Having already examined the body, Wu Tong sneered, "There was no sign of resistance; it was clearly an inside job."

Yun Ce chuckled and said, "Zhou Situ was cautious all his life, and in the end he even risked his life to cover the way for his descendants, using his old life to buy time for them. Do you think he didn't expect there would be internal strife?"

Wu Tong chuckled maliciously, "This big man, his son is a habitual killer of his father. Didn't your cheapskate father also poison the old priest?"

Yun Ce turned his head and said angrily, "That's not my father."

Wu Tong nodded and patted Yun Ce on the shoulder, saying, "Starting from the beginning, I understand. Many Han people, after killing their fathers, worry that their sons will kill them. And since you can't lose a son, they try to cover up the bad things they did in the past."

If you were in my Panxing Tower, you would often hear many stories of sons who couldn't bear their fathers' torment and were forced to rebel. What you said is not surprising at all.

By the way, do the people of our ancestral land also like to kill their own fathers, just like the Han Chinese?

Yun Ce thought for a moment and said, "Killing one's father is more common in noble families and extremely poor families. Ordinary people, who would kill their own father for no reason?"

Wu Tong sighed and said, "It's all about competing for resources. The former has too much, and the latter has too little. Neither is easy."

These words sounded very strange, but as they walked along, they found more and more corpses in the tunnel. With this evidence right in front of them, their words became extremely correct.

“Look, when we got here, the murderer was discovered, and the two sides started fighting. Look at this wound, it was caused by a long knife. This knife was extremely vicious, it went straight through the chest, leaving the other party no chance to survive.”

"What you're talking about is nothing. Look at how well this spiked club was used. One blow shattered the skull, and the second blow broke the neck. After killing someone, he wasn't satisfied and even slapped the man in the groin. If there's no dispute between these two over women, I must be blind."

"Yun Ce, I feel so much better when I'm with you."

"Right, a lot of people say that."

"Judging from your strategies, you are someone who plans to conquer the world. However, you yourself do not seem to take the matter of dominating the world seriously. Why is that?"

"This is called revolutionary optimism. If I want to dominate the world, do I have to be gloomy and think about this and that every day? A person like that is obviously a cunning old man. He hasn't even done anything yet, and people are already on guard against him. What can a person like that accomplish?"

We've devised a strategy, so let's take it one step at a time. If we succeed, we succeed; if we fail, we fail. We'll just try again.

In any case, given the current situation, this is not something that can be accomplished in one generation. We just need to strive actively while also educating our children and grandchildren well, and preparing for a long-term struggle. So, what we need to do is not as difficult as you think.

What is revolutionary optimism?

“A group of capable people were forced by the government to live in the wilderness, living in earthen caves and picking lice with their belts loose. Even in this situation, they were still discussing how to govern a broken country after victory.”

"Yes, such a person is indeed unbreakable. However, you must keep your course steady. I can eat and dress poorly, but I can't do things like loosening my belt to pick lice. If things get to this point, I might very well betray you and defect to the enemy."

Yun Ce smacked his lips and said, "Don't worry, if it really comes to that, I'll surrender faster than you." "So, everything you said just now was nonsense?"

"No, my great-grandfather did it, but later life got better, and as his descendant, I got used to a life of luxury, so I gradually couldn't do it anymore."

"So, you were also a nobleman in your ancestral homeland?"

"You should know very well what a dragon is. Do you think the average person has the opportunity to come into contact with a dragon?"

"Are you a prince?"

"No, there haven't been any emperors in our ancestral land for a long time. Oh, there were, but the last emperor was turned into a self-reliant researcher by them, specializing in the history of their ancestors. The palace was also turned into a museum that anyone can visit. Every day, huge crowds of people go in to see it, and they even charge admission fees, making a lot of money. Oh, that guy who was transformed into a researcher has to buy a ticket to go back to the palace."

Wu Tong stopped and slapped her forehead hard, saying, "I did something stupid."

"What stupid thing did you do? Tell me so I can laugh at you."

"When I came down from the Dragon God Temple, I looked back and saw the Imperial Palace. In a fit of anger, I set it on fire. It would have been better if I had kept it; I could have made money by charging admission fees in the future."

"Look at you all, what can I say? The history brought by Huo Qubing is very clear. Back then, Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, burned the 800-mile-long imperial palace of the previous dynasty to ashes."

I think you're all too influenced by them. If the emperor is bad, you should kill him or reform him. Why take your anger out on the palace? Wasn't the palace built with the people's hard-earned money?

Wu Tong nodded heavily and said, "You're right. The people's hard-earned money should not be harmed. From now on, let's do it this way. We've reformed the emperor, shouldn't we also reform the nobles?"

Yun Ce nodded and said, "Not only the emperor, but also the nobles, the wealthy, the landlords, and the scholars should be reformed. Otherwise, they will not be worthy of our newly built world."

Everything we have must be new, so that we can paint on a blank sheet of paper.

In Yun Ce's view, the so-called Seven-Colored Flower Pavilion was not as important as Wu Tong. He saw very clearly that Wu Tong was a very useful minister, but he was definitely not someone who could be put in charge of a region. In the past, when an emperor gave him orders, even if the emperor only gave chaotic orders, Wu Tong was still able to lead the Panxing Pavilion to prosperity. This was clear evidence.

Later, without the emperor, he became hesitant in everything he did, as if he had lost his sense of direction and was running around like a headless fly, to the point that even He Junnian could completely control him.

After walking for half an hour, Yun Ce figured he should have covered at least ten miles by now, but the tunnel still seemed endless. However, a relatively large space appeared in the open area ahead, where thin fire ropes converged into a huge pool. As the fire ropes burned around the pool, a hundred or so oil lamps lit up around the pool. It seemed that this was a place for temporary rest.

However, there are even more mummies here.

“Zhou Tingyun, Zhou Tingyu,” Wu Tong stopped and pointed to the two mummified corpses embracing each other in the middle of the hall, and said to Yun Ce.

"Who is it? The name sounds like someone from the Guifang region."

“Zhou Situ’s eldest son and second son.”

"It seems the eldest son was born on a cloudy day and the second son was born in the rain. Both of them have long beards, yet they still managed to fight to the death. That's quite remarkable."

Lei Ming and Huo Wudi also approached the two mummified corpses for a closer look. After a while, they took two short swords from the corpses' hands and showed them to Yun Ce.

Wu Tong glanced at Yun Ce and said, "The Zhou family's Listening Cloud Sword and Listening Rain Sword were made by Zhou Situ from a meteorite he obtained by chance. He asked the Fire Clan's Grand Elder to forge them by hand. The meteorite was not big enough to forge a long sword or a long saber, so it was made into two short swords. One was given to the eldest son and the other to the second son."

Yun Ce casually handed the short sword to Lei Ming and Huo Wudi, patted the dust off his hands, and said, "I understand. This is the reason why the Zhou family killed each other."

Just think about it, the father is never truly dead, and his two sons, already in their sixties, are still the young masters of the family. Now that the father is finally dead, wouldn't it be better to quickly settle things once and for all?

Wu Tong sighed and said, "Brothers are like enemies, the ancients were right. Now I just want to know, these two brothers have killed each other to this extent, and almost all of the Zhou family's people are dead. Even if someone wins, what difference will it make?"

Yun Ce's eyes lit up, and he said to Wu Tong, "In other words, there is something ahead that the two brothers are willing to fight to the death to possess alone. It can also be said that the thing ahead is more important than the lives of their entire clan."

Otherwise, the brothers would suffer a huge loss.

(End of this chapter)