Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 84 seems to be something extraordinary.
It was late at night, and neither Yun Ce nor E Ji were asleep. They covered the windows tightly with thick blankets, and E Ji even completely covered the cracks in the door before cautiously peeking at Yun Ce.

The dog was still in the box, and no matter how much he called, there was no response. Yun Ce wanted to throw the Dragon Ball into the box as well, but the Dragon Ball didn't seem interested either.

Under Eji's expectant gaze, Yun Ce opened the box.

The light that had been seen not long ago was gone, and a golden dragon was placed on the black base. Not only was it golden, but the entire dragon was also carved to be lifelike. Even the finest details of the dragon's whiskers, scales, and tail were depicted with perfect precision.

"Oh no, the bead has melted."

Eji pointed to the base that originally held the beads and said to Yun Ce.

Yun Ce stared at the dog that had turned into a pool of silver liquid, completely bewildered. What had happened this time?

When Eji tried to touch the pool of silvery water with her finger, Yun Ce slapped her away. After examining the golden dragon closely, he realized it was just a piece of gold, nothing strange about it.

It seemed the glowing bead was the real treasure. Yun Ce took out the base from the box and examined it carefully. Finally, he saw a line of text at the bottom of the base: 'Golden Dragon gives birth to people, the realm spans a thousand miles, where the people dwell, the domain extends to the four seas.'

Eji also saw the words and asked, "What does it say?"

Yun Ce said, "The divine dragon protects the people, and the land is a thousand miles wide. The people live in peace and prosperity, and one day the territory will reach all corners of the world."

Hearing such a boring explanation, Eji picked up the golden dragon, kissed it, and said, "I like this thing. Give it to me. It will melt tomorrow, and I'll have several more gold ingots."

Yun Ce glanced at the golden dragon. The value of this thing lay in its craftsmanship, not in the gold itself. Analyzing from those four sentences, this thing must have been used for sacrificial purposes, so it could not be kept.

Eji's idea of ​​melting this thing into a gold ingot might not be a bad idea. The most urgent thing now is to wait for Gouzi to wake up and find out the origin of the bead.

The gold was no longer a big deal for Eji. Seeing that Yun Ce was still staring blankly at the silver liquid in the box, she struggled to move the golden dragon away, not wanting it to fall on her thoughtful husband's feet.

When Yun Ce touched the dog, the dog climbed up his fingers and eventually curled up on the wristband, where it stopped moving.

Yun Ce called the dog a few more times, but the dog seemed to be fast asleep and didn't respond at all.

Only an eyesore box remained in the room, which Yun Ce promptly disposed of to cover up the crime.

After a long day of work, Yun Ce saw that E Ji had finished playing with the golden dragon, so he took the dragon, put it on the table, and prepared to go to sleep.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard Eji say in his ear, "Smash the golden dragon. It wouldn't be good if someone recognized it."

Yun Ce turned over irritably and said, "Go to sleep early, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

"No, you should smash it quickly, and I'll help you warm your bed."

Yun Ce got out of bed in a fit of rage, took the Golden Dragon and went to a secluded place. He took out a giant shield, placed it on the ground, threw the Golden Dragon onto the shield, and then took out a large hammer and smashed it down on the Golden Dragon.

Yun Ce was very strong, and the hammer was very heavy. After the gold came into contact with these two things, it quickly turned into the shape of a gold ingot that Yun Ce had hoped for—thin in the middle and thick at both ends. He casually threw away the tattered giant shield and went back to his room.

Eji hugged the gold ingot and kissed it again triumphantly, showing off to Yun Ce, "Gold should be judged by its weight; fancy decorations are meaningless."

Yun Ce, feeling a headache coming on, pulled the blanket up to block out his sight and hearing.

Yun Ce was asleep, but no one on Moyan Ridge could sleep, not even Hong Guniang, who was pretending to be a corpse and drifting with the waves, Pei Chuan, or Zhou Chengming, who was holding a blood-dripping long knife.

They both stared wide-eyed. The former was racking his brains to find an escape route for the two, while the latter's eyes turned bloodshot and frightening after inspecting all the tribute carriages.

"Reporting to the Captain, all the tributes we could find are here, but the 'Ode to the Divine Dragon' that you requested is nowhere to be found."

Having just fought a fierce battle, Zhou Chengming looked at the empty tribute carriage, leaned on the carriage, and asked weakly, "Are there any survivors?"

The lieutenant cupped his hands and said, "It's dark now, and the battlefield terrain is complex, so it's inevitable that a few bandits will escape."

Zhou Chengming abruptly turned to his deputy and asked, "Have you captured any prisoners alive?"

The lieutenant shook his head and said, "The military order for this battle is 'No prisoners of war will be spared.'"

Zhou Chengming sighed painfully and said to his deputy, "Search the battlefield again and make sure to find the 'Ode to the Divine Dragon'."

The lieutenant hesitated for a moment, then immediately said, "Captain, we still need to travel another 500 li tonight to catch up with our previous journey."

Furthermore, I estimate that Izumo Castle already knows about the hijacking of the tribute, and I believe that an army will arrive soon. It is truly unwise to linger here.”

Zhou Chengming slammed his fist on the carriage and gritted his teeth, saying, "Retract the previous order. The entire army shall immediately pack up the tribute and depart in one hour."

The lieutenant punched himself in the chest and said, "Yes, sir."

In the middle of the night, Yun Ce pulled a rough gold ingot from his waist and threw it aside. He then grabbed a blanket from E Ji's side and continued sleeping.

Hong Guniang and Pei Chuan shakily climbed onto the platform where Yun Ce had once stood, took off their clothes and embraced each other, their faces paler than the full moon in the sky.

"Why would an army appear?" Pei Chuan asked Hong Guniang in a suppressed voice. Hong Guniang replied tremblingly, "No one could have imagined that Tiger General Zhou Chengming would be involved in the robbery."

Pei Chuan asked, puzzled, "Isn't this a scheme by Chuyun City?"

Hong Guniang bit her bloodless lips and said, "If it were a scheme by Chuyun City, we would definitely know. It's obvious that Tiger General Zhou Chengming was greedy and wanted to take the benefits after learning of our victory."

"Was it Liu Chang'an who tipped them off?"

"no!"

"How can you be so sure that he's a scoundrel who won't do anything without personal gain?"

"Don't talk, hold me tighter. We asked Liu Chang'an to kill Zhao Ling, and he did it. He took his rightful reward, which is fair."

"Matchmaker, I want to see that person."

The girl patted him on the back and said, "Don't think about it. I've only heard his voice, but I've never seen him."

"We followed his orders, and as a result, our entire army was wiped out."

"Hold me tight and don't say anything. This was an accident."

The two chattered on and on, afraid of falling asleep in the cold. But Pei Chuan's question put Hong Gu Niang in a difficult position. She wanted to end the conversation and brave the cold, but Pei Chuan refused and continued his rambling.

Zhou Chengming's men finally left. Hong Guniang and Pei Chuan also climbed down from the tree, peeled two sets of relatively dry clothes off the corpses, quickly put them on, and hurriedly chased after Zhou Chengming's troops. In fact, there was only one road, and at this moment, a large army must be rushing towards them.

Yun Ce woke up late. When he got up, E Ji and Jin Ting were gone. An Ji brought water for him to wash his face. After Yun Ce washed up quickly, he asked...

What should we eat for breakfast this morning?

"Rice porridge, flatbread, and pickled vegetables. Manager Qiu from the Hunting Camp sent over two nice fish, and Shaojun said he'll stew them for lunch."

"Go ask Manager Qiu if the Hunting Camp has any special products from Gaoliang Mountain. If so, buy some at market price."

Angie agreed and then hurriedly left.

Yun Ce filled a large bowl with white rice porridge, added some chopped pickled vegetables, and then carried the bowl to Peng Zeng's resting room.

It must be said that Peng Zeng was indeed a hero when he didn't speak. Although he had fractures in both sides of his ribs, this tough guy could still quietly lean against the wall and eat porridge spoonful by spoonful.

Yun Ce slurped his porridge along with him, and after both of their bowls were empty, Yun Ce said, "You're pretty good. Be my slave."

Peng Zeng looked at Yun Ce and said, "Even if you ruined me, I would rather die than be your slave and be at your beck and call."

Yun Ce tapped his rice bowl with his chopsticks and said, "You can't bear to die. You've gritted your teeth and survived countless desperate situations. Now that you're about to see the light, how can you bear to die?"

Peng Zeng continued to look into Yun Ce's eyes and said, "I will not be your slave."

Yun Ce's gaze gradually turned cold. He looked at Peng Zeng, though he didn't understand why this guy, who cherished life so much, was acting so tough today.

"If you don't agree, you'll die."

Peng Zeng saw the murderous intent in Yun Ce's eyes, but he still stubbornly said, "I will not be your slave!"

Yun Ce was furious and was about to give the guy another beating when he saw E Ji walk in from outside, carrying a plate with a large fried egg on it. As she was putting the fried egg into Peng Zeng's empty bowl, E Ji said to Yun Ce, "From now on, Peng Zeng is my retainer. Don't threaten him with the words of a slave. In this house, he only listens to me."

Seeing that Peng Zeng was only focused on eating his fried egg, Yun Ce looked at his own rice bowl and angrily said, "Why don't I have any fried eggs?"

As Eji pushed Yun Ce away, she said, "The eggs were just delivered by the Hunting Camp. I didn't expect that birds would lay eggs in the dead of winter."

"I only gave you one. Peng Zeng is injured and weak; he needs to recover quickly. If you want some, we can talk about it tomorrow."

Yun Ce tossed the bowl to E Ji and said, "I never thought I would be inferior to your household servants. Also, I would like to ask, can a woman have household servants?"

Eji said with a smile, "I asked Feng An, and he said that Princess Chaoyang had a thousand retainers and participated in many famous events back then."

The later Princess Linhai also had six thousand retainers. They floated on large logs at sea, drifting with the waves, and it is said that they caught many, many large fish.

"You're not a princess."

Eji laughed and said, "Feng An said that there's no need to think about becoming a princess of the Han Dynasty. Over the years, countless small countries have been destroyed by the Han Dynasty. We can just spend some money and buy a princess title."

Upon hearing this, Yun Ce glanced at Feng An, who was reading in the living room. Feng An then covered his face with the book and slipped out along the wall.

(End of this chapter)