Chapter 297: Bad Luck
Wu Tong descended the Imperial City mountain step by step, and when he reached the foot of the mountain, he stopped.
Although he had rested in the Dragon God Hall for a few days, his physical condition was still extremely poor, with three penetrating wounds, displaced internal organs, disordered veins, and chaotically surging internal breath, making this decisive man, while enduring the pain, filled with resentment toward the emperor he had once painstakingly tried to protect.
Now, the Imperial City was empty. Two months ago, the emperor had taken his newly wed Gui Fang concubine to the Eastern Palace six hundred li from Chang’an to avoid the cold.
This was an emperor with no sense of responsibility whatsoever.
People throughout the world had suffered heavy casualties for him…
Wu Tong only thought of a beginning, then choked up and could not continue, because his heart ached terribly too. In that fierce battle five days ago, when metal fragments like heavy rain and pear blossoms pierced his body, he felt he was about to die, feeling that as long as he too fell in battle, he would have done right by anyone, including those who died at He Junnian’s hands due to weakness.
Now that he had survived, his mindset was different.
So, he took out an incendiary bomb and threw it into the dilapidated Meridian Gate by the roadside.
This Meridian Gate was made of wood, the corridors on both sides were also wooden, and with the wooden Meridian Gate, wooden corridors, plus the wooden palace, it was a perfect arson site.
When the Meridian Gate burst into flames, Wu Tong did not look, continuing to walk forward step by step. As for where exactly he was going, Wu Tong did not know; right now, he just wanted to keep walking forward.
1 Panxing Tower had become a pile of ruins. Despite the light rain falling in Chang’an City every day these past days, green smoke was still rising from the Panxing Tower ruins.
1 In the evening, the light rain arrived as expected. Wu Tong saw a guqin in the rubble pile; its tail was charred, but the rest was still intact, just missing one string.
1 Missing one string meant missing one note. Wu Tong cut off a lock of his hair and quickly wove it into a string, tied it to the tuning peg, tuned the pitch slightly, then sat in the muddy water, placed this scorched-tail guqin on his knees, plucked the strings, and the qin tones wafted softly. But ultimately, it was missing one note; the string he had supplemented with hair was ultimately dull and silent, making the tune discordant.
1 “Your hope has been shattered, hasn’t it?”
1 Hearing Yun Ce’s voice, Wu Tong turned his head to glance at him, then turned back.
1 “To be honest, I’m really surprised you’re still alive.”
1 Wu Tong continued to pluck his strings ding-dong, ignoring Yun Ce’s greeting.
1 “Is Panxing Tower done for? There should still be some foundation left. Why don’t you join me?”
1 Hearing this, Wu Tong turned around and looked at Yun Ce. “There are so many heroes in the world; why should I join you? Just because your Yun Clan has a million mu of farmland and a hundred thousand servants?”
1 Yun Ce laughed. “Isn’t that enough?”
2 Wu Tong shook his head. “Not enough. Great Han has five hundred military prefectures. Though Chang’an is destroyed, there is still Luoyang to serve as capital. Merely the two hundred sixty-seven northern military prefectures alone would take the Gui Fang people at least thirty years to occupy. For the Gui Fang to annex Great Han’s southern military prefectures and achieve unification would take at least another fifty years.
2 And this eighty years is still measured by the Gui Fang people’s eighty years of invincible battles and unstoppable conquests.
2 As the Gui Fang people continue pushing south, their combat power will surely disperse; the further south, the more dispersed their combat power becomes. Occupying the prosperous south will certainly take even longer.
2 I don’t think the Gui Fang people can maintain a hundred years of vigorous fighting spirit.
2 As for your Yun Clan Villa, on the front line resisting the Gui Fang, with Iron Enclosure Pass breached, the next is the Great Wall Defense Line. How can your Yun Clan Villa, between the Great Wall Defense Line and Iron Enclosure Pass, withstand the Gui Fang elite troops fresh from the mountains?”
2 Yun Ce dismounted with Lei Ming’s support and came to Wu Tong’s side. “You, you’re just too rational. Let me tell you, people with dreams are noble, and those who single-mindedly strive to realize their dreams are great.
2 For example, I want to build a city, a city I call Yun City. I want to recreate the glory of the ancestral land there, so I don’t miss my homeland excessively.
2 Wu Tong, actually, I envy you all for still having the opportunity to ‘trample the heavenly streets over the bones of dukes and ministers,’ to push down and rebuild everything bad, decayed, foul, and unjust.
2 And the opportunity to establish a brand new, hopeful, even clean society.
2 So, I welcome Great Han’s current rebellion, current infighting, current uprisings, and current chaos.
3 Destroy what’s bad, and we’ll build a new and good one. That’s no big deal.
3 Just as you said, the chaos won’t stop for now. The Gui Fang people need time to annex Great Han. Since there’s time, we have the opportunity to rearrange. The world is not yet settled; we still have a chance.”
3 Wu Tong looked at Yun Ce. “So, does that mean the ancestral land will no longer have chaos like Great Han’s?”
3 Yun Ce nodded. “With science constantly advancing, it’s no longer an era where whoever has more people has the advantage. The power of weapons can easily erase numerical disparities.
3 When I was wandering in Chuyun Prefecture Wasteland, I once saw a group of ragged refugees. While dancing, they used crude weapons like bamboo poles and wooden forks to defeat a cavalry unit. I was thrilled at the sight. So, even though Great Han society is far inferior to the ancestral land, I still cheer for you because you still have the chance to start over.”
3 “Is the ancestral land not good?”
3 “Very good, extremely good, even the best society in five thousand years.”
3 Wu Tong laughed. “You want to reform Great Han into the ancestral land’s likeness too?”
3 Yun Ce laughed. “Yes, we can work together on it.”
3 “For your Yun City?”
4 “For all our Yun City.”
4 “Very well, I can go to Yun Clan Villa, but first, heal this broken body of mine.”
4 “Eh? Where’s Peng Zeng?”
4 Wu Tong set down the guqin, hugged his knees, sighed, and said, “During the warfare in Chang’an City, there were many wounded, and high-ranking people suffered heavy casualties. For Peng Zeng, this humanoid great medicine, do you think there was any chance of survival?”
4 Yun Ce sighed. “He’s dead?”
4 Wu Tong shook his head. “He was taken from Panxing Tower. I heard every inch of his body was put to use, divided up completely.”
4 Yun Ce smacked his lips. “Actually, I kind of miss him.”
4 Wu Tong coughed twice. “I miss him more than you. Every dying person in Chang’an City misses him greatly.”
4 Yun Ce took a small round-bellied jade bottle from his bosom and handed it to Wu Tong. “This is the last memento Peng Zeng left me.”
4 Wu Tong opened the bottle and carefully applied the medicinal liquid inside to his wounds. Feeling the burning sensation of the liquid soothing them, he sighed again. “I really miss him.”
5 Yun Ce said, “Chang’an City is sealed off. Unless riding an eagle, you can’t get out. Do you have any way?”
5 Wu Tong smacked his lips. “I originally did, but unfortunately, I just destroyed it.”
5 Yun Ce looked up at the blazing Imperial City and said dispiritedly, “The Imperial City has an exit?”
5 “Of course the Imperial City has an exit. The Grand Marshal’s Mansion has one too. Want to go kill the Grand Marshal, then leave through the tunnel?”
5 Yun Ce laughed. “Chang’an City has existed for thousands of years. Since there are two exits, I think there should be more. Don’t you think that’s logical?”
5 Wu Tong nodded. “Good logic. Once my wounds heal, shall we explore Situ Mansion? For many years, among the Three Dukes, Situ Mansion had the least family assets and the most modest residence.
5 Logically, someone ranked among the Three Dukes couldn’t be poor, but this Situ, even after death, the rebels only found over a hundred taels of gold and tens of millions of green money in his home. This amount of money doesn’t match his status at all.”
5 Yun Ce had Lei Ming help Wu Tong onto the back of the red date horse, then dragged Huo Wudi’s hand and, led by Wu Tong, headed straight for the legendary Situ Mansion.
5 When they arrived at Situ Mansion, Yun Ce felt a bit bored.
5 Because the dilapidated two-story building before him was the place he had previously stayed overnight.
6 “This is Situ Mansion?”
6 Wu Tong said in a nostalgic tone, “Zhou Situ was upright and frugal like water his whole life, renowned throughout the world for his moral articles, indifferent to fame and fortune, eating Yi Tree Powder, wearing Yi Tree clothes, and known as the Yi Tree Situ.
6 Unfortunately, such an upright gentleman ultimately died at the hands of barbaric rebels.”
6 Yun Ce laughed. “How many years was he upright?”
6 “Sixty years, one full cycle of sixty. Alright, put me down. Let’s search carefully for that tunnel Zhou Situ built with his family fortune, connecting to outside Chang’an City.”
6 Yun Ce laughed loudly. “You’re starting to suspect this moral exemplar?”
6 Wu Tong nodded. “It’s time to suspect. For someone at his position, there’s little personal desire for money, but to say he left only over a hundred taels of gold and a pile of green money after death, I still don’t believe it. I always feel this deceased Situ lord might not have been as incorruptible as I thought.”
6 Returning to the dilapidated little courtyard, even though their bodies were unwell, Yun Ce and Wu Tong began pacing in the courtyard.
6 Every time their feet landed, the ground would tremble slightly.
6 Thus, after walking less than a hundred steps, Wu Tong was drenched in sweat and sat on the ground.
7 Yun Ce was no better; after persevering through the front courtyard, he too sat exhausted beside Wu Tong.
7 Wu Tong glanced at Yun Ce. “So you were badly wounded too?”
7 Yun Ce said, “He Junnian was really too hard to kill.”
7 Wu Tong sneered. “Lost an arm, missing a leg, lost an eye—the Gui Fang people always admire the strong. As a deity, he can’t shed a drop of blood; once he does, he’s no longer a deity and will be pulled down from the altar by the Gui Fang people who revere him.
7 Not to mention, he himself is a Great Han person; how could the Gui Fang people keep trusting him forever.”
7 Yun Ce laughed. “Didn’t you hear what he said before leaving? He’s going to launch the Gui Fang war against Great Han. Only that can save him from the assassination vortex five days ago.”
