Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 65 A Dead End (Three chapters, please vote and subscribe)
With the support of the wealthy woman Eji, Feng An and Liang Kun bought many books.

The paper here is yellowish-brown and somewhat soft. When you put a brush on it, it bleeds into a large blotch. Unless you write your characters big enough, it will just be a blob of ink and won't be usable for writing.

It's not even good for using in the toilet; if you use a little force, it will tear and get your genitals all over your hand.

It is rarely seen on the market and is a niche product. It is mainly used by witches and shamans. Its purpose is to transmit their thoughts onto paper and then burn it.

Silk is not good for writing either, as it is too smooth and does not hold the ink well. Unless you use a special type of silk for writing, which is thicker and coated with an unknown liquid that can hold the ink very well.

Of course, this thing was ridiculously expensive, and Eji refused to buy it.

Wooden slips and bamboo slips were favored by Eji because they were sturdy, durable, and relatively inexpensive. Therefore, Feng An and Liang Kun went to buy books with a sheep cart.

When I came back, I brought a car full of books, which filled the house like firewood.

Yun Ce looked at the catalog of books Feng An bought. There weren't many works before the Han Dynasty. Confucianism was mainly based on the Gongyang Commentary, Mohism was dominated by "miscellaneous books," and Legalism had the most books, most of which existed in the form of legal codes.

Dong Zhongshu's "Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals" is clearly regarded as a classic, but it is clearly under attack from the Gongyang School of Confucianism.

Yun Ce was most interested in the local history book, called "Liu Yun". He thought this history book could trace back to the source of history. After all, the Han people here had not gone through the barbaric era. Unexpectedly, "Liu Yun", the most authoritative history book, still had a very vague record of the Yellow Emperor, only referring to him as the ancestor.

There was only one ancestor, and there were no Yan Emperor or Chi You. This proves that the myth of the Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven on a dragon is true. After all, Yan Emperor and Chi You did not have the opportunity to ride a dragon.

The records in "Liuyun" are not many about the Yellow Emperor. It only says that the Yellow Emperor led his people and ministers to drive away poisonous snakes and fierce beasts, capture wild animals and tame them to serve humans, and build the most primitive city walls to protect the people. Of course, all the praises end with the mention of the dragon.

Historians devoted more and more space to dragons, clearly recording the time and place of their appearance, as well as their majestic appearance soaring through the sky.

It even specifically describes how to worship the dragon god and what to do to please the dragon god. The worship includes, but is not limited to, human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, statue sacrifice, and object sacrifice.

In the 985th year of the Shenlong calendar, the human leader at that time, after defeating the Guifang, ordered 727 Guifang slaves to be buried alive with the Shenlong.

The term Guifang was not unfamiliar to Yun Ce. Guifang was also described in the Records of the Grand Historian. Therefore, Yun Ce guessed that the name Guifang must have been given arbitrarily by the human leader, and all alien races could be called Guifang.

The later the records, the more radical people's accounts of the dragon became, with historians attributing any human achievement to the dragon.

The scale and frequency of the sacrifices grew larger and more frequent until worshipping and praising the dragon became the most important part of people's daily lives, at which point things changed.

Because worshipping the dragon god was very important, a class naturally emerged in the population that made a living by worshipping the dragon god. They would often use the dragon god's will to force people to do things they did not want to do.

Although the entire book "Liu Yun" expresses gratitude to the dragon in a positive and uplifting tone, Yun Ce keenly senses from between the lines that excessive sacrifices have already caused great harm to the people of that time.

The strongest warriors' proudest profession is to become guards of the Dragon God Temple; the most beautiful women's proudest achievement is to become the lamplighter of the Dragon God Temple; and even the richest people consider it an honor to contribute their entire fortune to the Dragon God Temple.

This resulted in humans occupying a very limited territory on this planet for over a thousand years, and repeatedly losing in the war against wild animals, which prevented the population from increasing rapidly.

Yun Ce was willing to describe this period of history as the dark Iron Age, which lasted for 1,700 years. Yun Ce had roughly calculated that, according to Earth's calendar, it should have been around 2,600 years.

For a long period of time, gathering and hunting were the main ways of life for people. Agriculture was not the mainstream, let alone industry and technology.

The chariot invented by the Yellow Emperor is still in use today, and some of the life skills he taught people are still in use today. The saying "calling a sheep a horse," which has been criticized by Yun Ce, also originated from the Yellow Emperor.

Two thousand six hundred years have passed, and the leader has changed his surname many times, but the worship of the dragon has been passed down as always. Unfortunately, there has been almost no significant development in politics, economy, culture and technology.

Of course, the 2,600 years of struggle in the dark Iron Age were not in vain. In the long and arduous struggle against nature, they evolved a strong physique, and some brave and wise people were able to hunt the most ferocious beasts with simple tools.

Until the year 1700 of the Shenlong calendar, on the ninth day of the first month of spring, Huo Qubing was sent by the Shenlong, and from then on, the book "Liuyun" was divided into two volumes.

After spending two hours reading through the three hundred jin of bamboo slips in his room, Yun Ce wanted to continue reading, but found that he had no more books at hand.

Seeing Yun Ce reading so quickly, Feng An, who was reading a book, shook his head and said, "Reading should be done with appreciation, not like a stupid pig chewing on food."

Yun Ce shook the bamboo slips in his hand and asked, "What's next?"

Liang Kun rolled up the bamboo slips in his hand and said, "The Biography of King Huo is a very long book, and the money that Young Master gave me is not enough. Besides, you read it too fast."

Yun Ce ignored the two men's taunts and called out towards the door, "E'e, I want to read!"

Eji wiped her hands and walked in, saying, "Then let's take a look."

Yun Ce tapped the low table with the book in frustration and said, "I'll buy more after I've finished reading this."

Feng An quickly said, "The Biography of King Huo has 1,687,452 characters. Are you sure you want to buy it now?"

Yun Ce looked up at the roof and also thought the idea was unreliable. 1.68 million characters of bamboo slips could probably be piled up as high as a mountain. "What do you think?" Putting himself in their shoes, Yun Ce believed that Feng An and Liang Kun, two poor people, probably wouldn't have the chance to read such a monumental work.

Feng An sighed, exchanged a glance with Liang Kun, and said, "I haven't seen him, but the tutor has. He was summoned by the government and spent two years coming to Chuyun City to read this book. All that we know about King Huo comes from the tutor's oral instruction."

"If you want to keep this book at home, you'd better become a marquis first."

Eji stared at Yun Ce with bright, sparkling eyes.

Yun Ce turned his head, somewhat annoyed, and said, "I want to read."

Eji's disappointed look drew laughter from Feng An and Liang Kun. Yun Ce put down the book in his hand, feeling dejected. He felt that paper and printing technology had to be developed. Otherwise, it would be a real headache for someone as knowledgeable as him to want to read a book but have nothing to read.

"If I have a great invention and want to present it to the Emperor of Han, who should I ask?" Yun Ce asked Feng An, picking a fruit that looked good from the fruit plate that E Ji had brought over and popping it into his mouth.

Feng An laughed and said, "Just hand it over to the magistrate, and you can wait."

When will we hear back?

"There will never be a response in this lifetime."

"Should we hand it over directly to the governor?"

“If it’s not important, the governor will use your valuables for business. If it’s important, the governor will send someone to kill you, or kill your whole family. Oh, you only have you and Eji in your family. It doesn’t matter if you die, but Eji can’t be harmed.”

"You mean you won't offer it?"

Liang Kun said, "What he said is already very clear."

Yun Ce scratched his head and said, "What would be the consequences if we did it ourselves?"

"If your invention is similar to cakes or your fried beans, and you earn no more than a thousand green coins a day, you can make it yourself. If it does not meet the above criteria, I advise you not to do it."

Yun Ce glared at Feng An and Liang Kun and said, "So what can I do?"

Feng An laughed and said, "You can be like us, content with a simple life, study diligently, and hope to be noticed by a benefactor so that you can rise to prominence."

Liang Kun then said, "You can learn from Feng An and seduce the women of noblemen. If you serve them well, you might have good luck."

However, to be fair, most of the noblewomen you seduce are insatiable; ordinary people can't play the role of such a charming gentleman.

Yun Ce sighed and said, "No wonder Miss Hong and the others wanted to rebel. There's no way to live in this world."

Liang Kun said coldly, "Miss Hong, Pei Chuan and the others will only face death. It's not wise to gamble with their remaining lives for a moment of pleasure."

Yun Ce said to Feng An, "You should go and seduce the noble ladies."

Feng An shook his head and said, "I used to have that idea, but not anymore."

"What's wrong? Is that lady from the noble family too ugly to kiss?"

"No, you are the best benefactor we can curry favor with. The reason we seduced the lady of that noble family was to find a way out for you. As for the two of us, we'll just follow you."

"You're not participating in the competition?"

This was the first time someone had bowed down in worship to him, and Yun Ce was somewhat excited.

"Participate? Why wouldn't we participate? How can we prove we deserve the money that Young Master Eji gives us if we don't participate?"

"Isn't it only right that Eji gives you money?"

Feng An sighed, took out a money bag made of tree bark from his sleeve, and shook it, making the sound of coins clinking inside.

"A full moon cycle is worth a thousand green coins. Young Lady Eji was too young and ignorant, and gave her too much."

Liang Kun didn't speak, but simply bowed with his hands clasped in greeting. His face was calm and expressionless, showing no resentment or sense of humiliation. It seemed that this was the proper way for the three of them to interact.

Yun Ce accepted their greetings, but when he sat down again, Feng An and Liang Kun placed the prayer mats on either side of him.

(End of this chapter)