Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 63 The enemy is very powerful, extremely powerful.

Izumo Castle truly lives up to its reputation as a prefectural capital; it is incredibly large.

The city wall stretches across the land. Standing at the city gate, you can't see where the walls extend on either side. In short, all you can see is the city wall.

The city wall is 30 meters high, and the city gate tower is at least 50 meters high.

The city wall of Xi'an is only 12 meters high, and the city wall of Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing is the tallest, but it is only 21 meters high. The parapet of Izumo Castle is definitely over 30 meters high.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the people here have higher climbing ability and combat strength than people on Earth; otherwise, why would they build such high walls?

There must be a reason why the walls of Izumo Castle are so high. Walls shorter than them would not be able to stop the enemy, so they are made to be this high.

The city wall was clearly made of huge stones, with very small gaps between them, so small that you really couldn't insert a blade. It was nothing like the pyramids, which were touted to be incredibly strong. When Yun Ce went to see it, he could fit his large hand inside, and there was still room for his wife's hand.

Each stone is two feet thick, four feet wide, and six feet long. It's unknown what method the people here used to stack so many boulders together.

Yun Ce really enjoys studying the construction projects here because they are closely related to war potential. On the battlefield, the key is to be higher, faster, farther, and more lethal. To achieve these goals, the tools must be powerful.

The true level of development of the Han Dynasty cannot be seen in Hekou Village, Pingyuan City, and Sheyang City. Moreover, these three places are actually the most remote cities in the Jimi Prefecture. They don't even have agriculture. Their livelihoods depend entirely on gathering and hunting, which is not much better than primitive society.

The so-called project consisted only of the city walls of the two cities. The pavilions that Pingyuan City was so proud of were just for ordinary merchants in the state capital.

Having lived on Earth for a long time, I always felt that building such high city walls was completely unnecessary and even hindered urban construction and development. But after seeing a pig as big as an elephant and a bear eight meters tall, Yun Ce thought that building a high city wall to isolate a safe living environment was still very necessary.

The worst thing about the Great Han Dynasty is that you have to pay a city entry tax to enter the city. It's not much, just two green coins per person. Maybe because there are so many people entering the city, it's the same price as Sheyang City.

Those without a travel permit must leave when the city gates are closed in the early morning, or they will be arrested as thieves.

Eji was rich.

He just couldn't bear to spend the money. He would buy a fried, grayish thing and then share it with Yun Ce. Of course, he wouldn't fight with a little girl for a bite of snacks.

Seeing Eji leading a chestnut horse, engrossed in looking at cheap jewelry.

Yun Ce saw something colorful cut out with a large knife, and it tasted good, so he bought two cuts in one go. But when the vendor saw that he was dressed poorly, he charged 100 green coins for one cut and 300 coins for two cuts. When Yun Ce tried to return it, the vendor refused and even brought two burly men to beat him up.

There was no other way, so Yun Ce begged that it wouldn't look good to beat someone up in the street, and suggested that it be better to take him to a secluded alley before beating him up.

After taking a beating, Yun Ce emerged from the alley, feeling refreshed. He grabbed the man selling colorful pastries and insisted on buying some more, offering ten dollars for one coin.

The pastry seller refused, so Yun Ce bent the knife in his hand. The pastry seller had a good eye and happily sold all the pastries on his stall to Yun Ce, spending a full two coins.

Eji, who ultimately couldn't decide to buy jewelry, saw that Yun Ce had bought a large tray of delicious cakes for two coins, so she insisted that Yun Ce take her there again. She felt that there were many girls in the family, and one tray of soft, sweet and sour cakes might not be enough.

When Yun Ce led his chestnut horse to the pastry stall again, the pastry seller started to cry. He took out another tray of pastries and gave E Ji a good price: one coin per tray.

The chestnut horse, also known as the Thunder Smoke Beast, is generally only supplied to the military. No one among the common people who can ride it is easy to mess with. The burly man selling cakes immediately packed up his stall after seeing Eji leave, deciding to hide for a few days and then see how things develop.

To avoid this couple coming to buy cakes again.

Having lived in a remote place for so long, seeing so many normal people all at once was a shock even to Yun Ce. He felt like a fish that had finally returned to its school.

Anything can happen in a school of fish. Even when he was being blackmailed, he was still happy. When he was wandering alone in the wilderness, he couldn't get such interaction even if he wanted it.

The pastry seller who liked to extort money from savages suddenly unlocked all his memories of the city. With just a casual glance, he saw swindlers, thieves, robbers, prostitutes, unscrupulous merchants, and scoundrels in the crowd. The appearance of these unique urban characters brought tears to his eyes.

Pingyuan City wasn't really a city; it was just a large outpost. The people there were divided into three categories: slave owners, savages, and the rest were all slaves.

The same applies to Sheyang City, except that there are more commoners.

In Yun Ce's eyes, the city of Chuyun before him finally began to resemble a city.

What is the most important symbol of a city?
It is the diversity of the economy. Although the most luxurious buildings on the street are brothels and the largest shops are gambling dens, at least Yun Ce knows that the common people here have spare money to go to brothels and also have money to gamble.

Yun Ce absolutely loves city life.

So he spread his arms and stood in the middle of the street, breathing in the city's polluted air. He had long since had enough of the fresh, cold, and clean air of the wilderness. Now, he wanted to plunge into the bustling world and experience all the joys and sorrows of life anew.

Pei Chuan saw a girl named Hong on the street corner, holding a broken bowl and covered in filth. Her appearance was similar to that of a loving beggar couple.

Despite the fact that there were quite a few people watching them, Yun Ce still walked over and generously tossed five green coins into the red girl's broken bowl.

The green coin fell into the broken bowl with a crisp sound, attracting the attention of the surrounding beggars.

The girl in red looked at Yun Ce with a half-smile, while Yun Ce smiled and said, "So many people died in Sheyang City, how come you didn't die?"

Hong Guniang said, "We seriously underestimated the enemy's strength, so defeat was to be expected. However, our two uprisings in Pingyuan City and Sheyang City still made the people of the wasteland realize one thing: if they want to live a good life, they must fight for it with their own hands."

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "It's not about seizing with your own hands, but about creating with your own hands. Those who are addicted to plundering will never have a good ending. In that case, you will not be rebels, but thieves."

The reputations of insurgents and bandits are worlds apart. Only by uniting all forces you can, persisting in doing what benefits your class, enduring loneliness and setbacks, refusing to compromise or give up, and persisting in armed struggle, can you ultimately see the dawn you desire.

Red Girl listened attentively, but after she finished, a strong sense of sarcasm appeared on her lips.

"Your social class? Liu Chang'an, what social class are you, and what social class am I? You're just a wild man from the wilderness, how much higher are you than me?"

Yun Ce laughed and said, "I tried to get rich through hard work in Hekou Village, but I failed. Now, in Chuyun City, I want to test the truth of the saying, 'From a peasant in the morning to an official in the evening.'"

The young woman smiled and said, "What if we fail again?"

Yun Ce frowned and said, "I will also try to verify the correctness of the phrase 'immediately be granted a marquisate'."

Are you planning to keep trying without addressing the root causes of these problems?

Yun Ce laughed and said, "Do you have the ability to solve these problems at their root?"

Red Girl laughed along, her face covered in filth, but her smile was still radiant. She said firmly to Yun Ce, "How do you know we can't do it if we don't try?"

Yun Ce pulled a handful of gold beads from his pocket and put them into the broken bowl of the girl Hong, saying, "This is my personal donation."

Red Girl poured the green coins and gold beads from the broken bowl back into Yun Ce's hand and said, "Since we're so poor that all we have left is a little bit of backbone, let's use that backbone to fight them."

Yun Ce looked at the gold beads in his hand and said to Hong Guniang, "In the wilderness, I encountered a cavalry force of three thousand men. Such a cavalry force could easily kill one hundred thousand of you."

The girl in red chuckled and said, "We've already seen the Black Armor Cavalry. My force of five hundred men only lasted thirty breaths. They are indeed elite. However, we have more people, and those three thousand elite cavalry can't be together every day."

Kill one today, kill one tomorrow; as long as we persevere, three thousand is not a large number. We have the ambition and confidence to kill thirty thousand.

Yun Ce straightened up, his fake smile vanished, and he said coldly, "I'll be waiting for that day."

Seeing Yun Ce storm off to Hong Guniang, Pei Chuan squatted down in front of Hong Guniang with his broken bowl and asked, "Did you make him angry?"

Hong Guniang laughed and said, "He is the born rebel. I just want to bring out the rebellious nature in his heart."

Pei Chuan asked in bewilderment, "He's about to participate in the grand competition. If he wins, the wine-loving women will turn him into a pile of mud. What's the point of talking about rebellion then?"

Hong Guniang shook her head and said, "People like him think too highly of themselves and like to act like superiors and give orders. Those who are already in a high position hate people like him the most. Even if he passes the exam, with his temperament, how can he tolerate the scheming and ruthlessness inside? His resistance will only be more intense."

Pei Chuan glanced at the gold beads Yun Ce had placed on the ground, picked them up one by one, and put them in his broken bowl. He then asked Hong Guniang, "Are you sure you don't want them?"

Hong Guniang sneered, "I just think he gave me too little. I'll ask for more when I have the chance. This money is our share anyway. If we hadn't attacked Lord Yu's mansion so relentlessly, how would he have had the opportunity to get so much gold!"

(End of this chapter)