Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 327 Unstable in Stability

During the two-plus months that Yun Ce was away, the population of Yun Family Manor once again grew significantly.

The campsite, originally located at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, has expanded into a small town that can accommodate 100,000 people.

The Han people defined security as a city; only by surrounding themselves with walls could they feel truly safe.

So, without Yun Ce saying anything, a low stone city wall was rising from the ground.

Their method of building the city wall was quite interesting. Every person who went out to work would bring back a stone when they returned. At first, the stones were simply left outside the village. This time, when Yun Ce returned, he discovered that these people had unknowingly built a six-foot-high, wide-base city wall.

Judging from the base, which is three zhang wide, the wall will be at least twenty meters high after it is completed. This height is nothing compared to the sixty meters of the Iron Enclosure Pass, but it will be the tallest wall in the wilderness north of the Great Wall.

Yun Ce did not stop these people from building their own cities, nor did he tell them that hundreds of millions of Gui Fang people had already moved south, and that no matter how high the city walls were, they would not be able to stop them.

Whether it was Yun Ce, Wu Tong, Feng An, or Liang Kun, they all agreed that the Guifang people's southward advance was unstoppable, no matter how powerful the Han army was.

Because this southward migration of the Guifang people was not a war, but a migration.

Just like the wildebeest migration in Africa, they will encounter lions, hyenas, leopards, crocodiles, and venomous snakes along the way. Nature will also arrange obstacles such as hail, heavy rain, rivers, and mudslides to harm them.

No matter how many wildebeest die along the way, they will eventually reach their destination and begin a new life.

The same thing happened with the Guifang people's southward migration. Since the Han people couldn't muster the strength to resist as a whole, they were defeated and invasion became an inevitable outcome.

Wu Tong even believes that the purpose of the Guifang people's southward journey may not be to conquer the Han Dynasty, but to completely integrate into the Han Dynasty.

When he said this, he deliberately lingered his gaze on Huo Wudi's face for a moment.

His meaning is clear: if the Guifang people, who also speak Han language, wear Han clothing, and follow Han etiquette, enter a densely populated Han Chinese area and destroy all the original order and records, and then claim to be Han Chinese, then who will be able to tell whether they are Han Chinese or not?

Of course, Han Chinese and Guifang people are completely exposed in the eyes of a grandmaster like Yun Ce, but how many grandmasters and experts are there in the whole world?
What grandmaster or expert would have the time to go and distinguish who is Han Chinese and who is Guifang?

Of course, the above speculation is based on the assumption that the Guifang people were completely defeated and their people were scattered and wandering. If they had won, a new dynasty might have emerged.

With this assumption in mind, Wu Tong, Feng An, Liang Kun, and others became less motivated to resist the invasion of the Guifang people.

Since the banner of national resistance was no longer effective, the Yun Family Manor had to devise a secondary strategy.

Feng An thought that since the Guifang people wanted to integrate into the Han Dynasty, then perhaps the Yun Clan Manor could do the opposite, for example, actively transform the Yun Clan Manor into the appearance of the Guifang people... He even used the proverb "Heaven helps those who help themselves, and three thousand Yue soldiers can conquer Wu" to persuade Yun Ce, hoping that he would bow down and lick the Guifang people's boots.

Then, develop your strength stealthily, and once you're powerful enough, raise the banner of rebellion and turn the hell upside down.

The discussion couldn't continue at this point because Feng An was held down by the irritable Liang Kun and Lei Ming, and given a sound beating right in front of Wu Tong, who had first proposed the integration concept.

Zhang Min's suggestion to join in and kick the ghost a couple of times, thus gaining an early advantage, was ruthlessly rejected.

Of course, Feng An's plan was quite reasonable. In a shameless manner, this was indeed the least harmful way to Yun Family Manor, even if it meant risking becoming like Wang Jingwei and being infamous for eternity.

Yun Ce believed that once the Gui Fang people entered the Great Wall at any cost, many families would choose this path.

The Yun Clan Manor couldn't win a direct confrontation with the Gui Fang people, so at this point, their only option was to fight behind enemy lines.

The Yun family manor is now very wealthy.

When Yun Ce entered the Dragon God Hall of the Yun Family Manor to see the folk performances they were performing, he could fully appreciate the wealth of the Yun Family Manor.

Because even though there was only one piece of firewood in the hearth, the bright yellow flame inside was still burning hot and bright.

The old servant guarding the Dragon God Temple bared his teeth and held up a finger to Yun Ce.

"What do you mean?"

The old servant said proudly, "One piece of firewood can burn for a whole day, Master, our Shehuo (a type of folk performance) is amazing."

After chasing away the talkative old servant, Shehuo jumped out of the dragon ball, enveloping the bright yellow flame as if embracing its own child. The two flames danced in unison.

Yun Ce said to the dog who jumped out at the opportunity, "Wasn't Feng An's suggestion this morning a test of the fighting spirit?"

The dog climbed onto Yun Ce's shoulder, clinging to his clothes, and shook its little head, saying, "When strategists offer advice, they always have an ulterior motive. How can we know if it's not their true thoughts?" Yun Ce replied, "The reason why the Great Han seems to have favorable weather, abundant livestock, and lush vegetation is fundamentally due to the Shehuo festival. With Shehuo, even a remote and impoverished place can become a land of plenty. Without Shehuo, even a land with abundant water and grass will become barren if over-harvested."

I recently visited the Qingshui Plateau, and to be honest, the environment there wasn't bad at all. In many places, for example, the natural conditions in Beifeng City were even better than in Izumo City.

The overpopulation of the Guifang people in recent years has led to environmental and natural crises, forcing them to migrate south.

Therefore, I believe that the focus of the Guifang's southward journey is the Shehuo (a traditional folk performance), but it remains to be seen whether the Shehuo will bring blessings to the Guifang people.

Gouzi asserted, "Impossible. You can tell from the strong pressure that Yun Shuo and Yun Tui exert on a witch like Huo Wudi that Shehuo has a strong Han Chinese character and could not possibly protect the Guifang people."

Yun Ce gritted his teeth and said, "I'm still wondering why the Shehuo performance was placed in the Dragon God Temple?"

The dog, mimicking Yun Ce's mannerisms, gasped and said, "Yeah, why is it placed in the Dragon God Temple? Given the status of Shehuo, it wouldn't be a problem to place it alone in the Shehuo Hall."

Even the ancestral fire, as you know, is placed in the Dragon God Temple, making it seem like the Shehuo (a type of folk performance) is subservient to the dragon?

After hearing what Gouzi said, Yun Ce reached out and tore off the head of the clay dragon statue on the wall, then threw it far away.

Looking again at the mother and child embracing and dancing in the fire pit, they haven't changed much. It seems that this has nothing to do with dragons.

Logically speaking, since Yunshi Manor has a large amount of human activity, which led to the creation of Shehuo (a traditional folk performance), there is no reason why it cannot be done elsewhere.

Yun Ce wanted to build another fire pit at Jin Suo Guan.

After Yun Ce left, the old servant returned to the Dragon God Temple. Seeing that Yun Ce had destroyed the head of the dragon-shaped clay sculpture on the wall, the old servant picked up a hammer and chisel and destroyed the remaining dragon body bit by bit.

After he removed the dragon's tail that was sticking out of the hall, he found that the firework in the hearth seemed to be even more mischievous. It had actually broken free of the wood and was about to be blown by the wind to the edge of the hearth.

The old servant quickly closed the door and squatted by the fire pit, saying to the leaping firecrackers, "You mustn't be naughty anymore. If bad people find out, they'll come and snatch you away, and I can't protect you."

The firework seemed to understand what he said, and obediently squatted on the firewood and continued to burn, as if this firework was really a flame produced by the burning firewood.

The changes at Yun Family Manor are not significant. The population has increased, and people seem more energetic, with their lives slowly improving. Before coming to Yun Family Manor, simply getting enough to eat was enough to exhaust the strength of many of the refugees here.

Now, things are different. Even if a wisp of meat aroma wafts from the iron pot in the house, it's considered a normal thing.

There were even more newborns at Yun Family Manor. Almost every household had a newborn. Every night, the constant crying of babies made it impossible for anyone to get a good night's sleep.

Having more children is a sign of a region's prosperity, but Yun Ce didn't care much about it. Under the rule of the resource-rich Han Dynasty, as long as there was no excessive taxation, the people could live well on their own, and at least, having enough to eat wasn't a problem.

If we open up some business opportunities for them and they can exchange some profits, their lives will be quite good.

If people have enough to eat and clothes to wear, and the officials aren't thinking of taking their ugly wives and daughters back to be maids or servants, then basically no one will object to you.

The Yun Family Manor is like that; there are very few people in charge of management. Most of them manage themselves. As it stands, they manage themselves very well, to the point that many former refugees have forgotten their refugee status.

Yun Ce was happy to see this scene. People need to rest and recuperate. Even the most unlucky person can become a human again after two years of recuperation in a good environment, regardless of whether he was human before.

Having seen so many places in half a day, Yun Ce returned home to find it already dark. However, tonight was a full moon, and the moonlight had already begun to spread before the sunlight had faded.

Eji's homemade noodles with meat sauce tasted great, especially with the addition of some shredded wood ear mushrooms, which gave the noodles an extra crunchy, chewy texture, like having a mouse in your mouth.

What is Zhang Min up to?

After finishing his bowl of the special braised noodles, Yun Ce put down his bowl and asked E Ji.

Eji feigned anger and said, "Can't it be me who flatters you?"

Yun Ce grabbed E Ji's hand and patted it lightly twice, saying, "You don't have the habit of currying favor with me. The only person who would make you take action is Zhang Min. What does she want?"

"You still remember Zhou Chengming, right?"

"I remember, the captain who went to Tiewei Pass."

Eji sighed and said, "Zhang Min told me that if you have the chance to see him, you should bring him back."

(End of this chapter)