Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 78 Powerful Vitality
He was still very interested in making money. He had been living in Chuyun City recently and had earned a total of thirty-five taels of gold. This was after living in a lodging and feeding more than a dozen people. Feng An and Liang Kun were also going to use his money to help him make connections. Seeing that he was spending money like water, Eji had already issued a frugality order.

Yun Ce had had enough of drinking bean porridge, eating flatbread, and wild vegetables all day long.

Now, when Hong Gu Niang asks him if he wants to get rich, he naturally does.

"What, you think you can cause chaos in Izumo Castle?"

"Don't always think about taking advantage of our misfortune. We don't have the ability to take down Izumo Castle."

Upon hearing that he couldn't take advantage of the chaos to rob the rich, Yun Ce lost interest in the idea of ​​getting rich that Hong Gu Niang had mentioned.

"You know that Izumo Prefecture is a tributary prefecture, right?"

"I know, so what?"

“The tributary states have to pay tribute to the Han emperor every ten years. This tribute is enormous. We plan to rob them halfway through the journey, so we can have money to raise horses and forge weapons…”

"Wait, you've only talked about how you guys got rich, how can I get rich?" Yun Ce had no psychological barriers to robbing the imperial convoy, and was even a little excited. After all, he wanted to do what the Water Margin characters had done.

"You are responsible for intercepting and killing Zhao Ling, the Commandant of the Imperial Guard. Once Zhao Ling is dead, you can choose a vehicle to take him away."

"Time and place!"

"Six days later, Moyan Ridge."

When Yun Ce returned to his room, he found his bed full of little girls, leaving him barely two feet of space to sleep.

Although they all longed to sleep with the man who was as warm as a fireplace, as Sister Eji had described, today it's snowing heavily and so cold, and unfortunately, that man is gone.

Yun Ce entered Feng An and Liang Kun's room, pushed the two of them in a bit, and then went straight to sleep on the edge of the big bed. Just as he was about to go to sleep, he heard Feng An say, "I saw Miss Hong."

Yun Ce laughed and said, "They are planning to rob the tribute from Chuyun Prefecture to the emperor at Moyan Ridge, and they want me to kill someone."

"Who?"

"Zhao Ling, the military commander of Chuyun Prefecture!"

Upon hearing this, Feng An immediately said to Liang Kun, "Haven't you already memorized the official register?"

Liang Kun closed his eyes and pondered for a moment before saying, "Zhao Ling, the military commander, is eight feet tall with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He has burn marks on his left cheek, which he heard were sustained during a battle in the north. However, some people believe that he was subjected to the punishment of being blackened, and that he had burned his face with charcoal to cover up the black marks."

Legend has it that this man was selected from humble beginnings by Governor Han Du, rising step by step from a lowly border soldier to his current position as Commandant of the Imperial Guard. His rise has been arduous, marked by bloodshed at every turn. He is one of the most formidable generals in Chuyun Prefecture. Although he has never formally fought against Commandant Han Chengming, in Chuyun City, they are generally considered to be the most powerful and valiant generals in Chuyun Prefecture.

Upon hearing this, Yun Ce pulled the blanket tighter around himself and said, "Go to sleep."

Feng An sighed and said, "It's not a good time for you to take risks right now."

Yun Ce said softly, "When you have nothing, you have to risk your life."

Feng An shut his mouth, but he couldn't seem to sleep. Yun Ce could hear him tossing and turning all night.

When Yun Ce was away, E Ji always got up very early. By the time Yun Ce woke up, she had already prepared breakfast and loaded everything onto the four sheep carts, just waiting for the three of them to finish eating so they could immediately set off for the royal hunting grounds to take up their posts.

The three hurriedly drank their porridge, but when they went out, they found they couldn't get out. The streets of Chuyun City were full of people seeing off their loved ones. After Feng An went out and asked around, he came back and told Yun Ce that today was the day the Tiger Legion was going to the north to change garrisons, and the streets were full of people who came to see off their own sons.

Upon hearing this, Yun Ce immediately returned to the inn, intending to wait until they left before setting off again.

Zhang Min pushed open the gate and walked in, looking at the four sheep carts that were ready to depart in the yard. She looked at Yun Ce and said, "No matter how good I am to you, you still don't want to be with me, right?"

Yun Ce smiled and said, "As you can see, I'm surrounded by women and children, or scholars who can't lift a finger. If I die, you can imagine what will happen to them."

"You'd rather go to a remote place like the royal hunting grounds than risk your future?"

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "What I have now is all earned with my heart, and I can't afford to gamble it away."

Zhang Min sighed and said, "You'd rather lie low than join us. It seems you've never respected us from the beginning."

Yun Ce chuckled and said, "Why should I risk everyone's lives for a group that can't even protect its own interests? You're too likely to lose." Zhang Min was a straightforward person after all. After Yun Ce had exposed her like this, she didn't say anything more, but just smiled and said, "I wish you a bright future."

Yun Ce said, "If you have some free time, please come to the Royal Hunting Ground for a meal. I will cook many, many delicious dishes, and I think you will like them."

Upon hearing Yun Ce's words, E Ji quickly asked Feng An, "My lord, are you reluctant to part with that woman?"

Feng An shook his head decisively and said, "Your husband is just reluctant to give up all the high-level information that woman can give him."

After hearing Feng An's words, Eji looked up and noticed that Zhang Min seemed somewhat reluctant to part with her husband, so she asked Liang Kun, "Is that really the case?"

Liang Kun replied, "He will treat this woman very well as long as she is still of use to him."

"what about me?"

Feng An rolled his eyes at E Ji and said, "You are the young master of his family."

Even though they were reluctant, once the military order was given, the army left Izumo City along the main road. The procession was very long, with horse teams and caravans stretching for three miles.

The army left the city, and Yun Ce took his family away from the inn where they had stayed for more than a month. E Ji really wanted the furnishings in the house, but the innkeeper refused to give them to her and only wanted to sell them to her at a high price.

Eji and her group of women were truly reluctant to leave Izumo City. This was related to women's innate desire for stability, not to mention that these women had recently experienced some really bad things, so it was normal for them to linger.

Ten miles away from Chuyun City, the city walls disappeared on the horizon, and the population gradually thinned out. In addition, the vast wilderness with its boundless sky and boundless plains was just a stone's throw away. Eji was happy. At least, Zhang Min was not fortunate enough to accompany her husband to the royal hunting grounds to take up his post.

Yun Ce rode his chestnut horse ahead to scout the way. Suddenly, his huge hooves trampled on a dark, humanoid figure. Yun Ce dismounted and washed the mud-covered figure's face with water from his jug. He then realized that this person was Peng Zeng, who had been thrown into the mud pit by Zhou Chengming.

Looking back at the path he had come from, Yun Ce saw some crawling traces. He had to admit that Peng Zeng's vitality was remarkable. In order to avoid being buried by heavy snow in Chuyun City, he was able to crawl for more than ten miles despite having six broken bones.

After thinking for a moment, Yun Ce decided to help Peng Zeng reduce his fever first. He carried him around for a long time before finally finding a clear stream that had not yet frozen over. Seeing that his lips were chapped, he threw him into the stream.

Seeing Peng Zeng gulping down ice water, Yun Ce couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, because even in his almost unconscious state, he was able to catch a fish with his bare hands and even knew how to bring it to his mouth to tear it apart.

"Are all the people here so resilient?"

Yun Ce asked Liang Kun, who had caught up with them.

Liang Kun didn't know how to answer; he was also stunned by what he saw.

Seeing that the clear stream had washed away the filth from Peng Zeng, Yun Ce felt that such a person with the vitality of wild grass should not die in obscurity. So he pulled him out of the stream, and Feng An and Liang Kun helped him change into dry and warm clothes. They then fed him some cold leftover rice porridge and threw him onto the last cargo cart to fend for himself.

Along the way, Yun Ce could vaguely hear the words, "You beast!"

Two hundred miles, and it's a main road. If he doesn't rest along the way, he can reach the royal hunting grounds an hour after dark. Yun Ce had a premonition that taking over the royal hunting grounds wouldn't be so easy, so he set up camp an hour before dark.

In this way, he can easily reach the royal hunting grounds tomorrow morning and have enough time to deal with the messy affairs there.

Sixty years is enough time for a local tyrant to grow in the royal hunting grounds. The deaths of the previous three stewards were not unjust at all. They always thought that just because they held the title of Grand Steward, they were truly the Grand Steward who had everything under control.
The "Sitting Tiger" has a million ways to make you, the chief steward, die without a burial place.

For a power structure, a "sitting tiger" is like an incurable, inescapable skin disease. Keeping it is unsightly, but removing it is equally unsightly, as exposing the bloody wound would only make it worse.

Yun Ce decided to implement the military management methods that Professor Yun Linchuan had given him.

In the past, when he listened to Yun Linchuan talk about it, he thought the old guy was a pervert, a person full of hatred for you. How could he be educated into the most loyal person to you and the most resolute in carrying out orders?
The campsite was easy to set up. Four sheep carts were used to create a square open space. Then, cloth curtains were used to cover the drafty areas under the sheep carts. Finally, the canopy that Yun Ce had given to E Ji was hung on the roof. In the wilderness, there was now a campsite that could provide shelter from the wind and rain.

Everything tastes delicious in the wild. Eji casually cooked some bean porridge, added some salted meat and a handful of dried vegetables, which whetted everyone's appetite.

Something fell off a sheep cart with a thud. Just as Yun Ce put down his rice bowl and was about to go look, Peng Zeng suddenly crawled out from under the sheep cart and even made a big hole in the cloth curtain.

His mind was probably not very conscious yet, because his crawling target was the boiling porridge pot. Yun Ce was surprised to find that even when the guy's hand touched the burning charcoal, he didn't make a sound; his target was still the porridge pot.

Yun Ce placed his bowl of porridge on Peng Zeng's inevitable path. Peng Zeng's nose twitched constantly, and he decisively grabbed the huge bowl with both hands, burying his head in it and licking it like a wild beast.

(End of this chapter)