Chapter 245: Have The Gui Fang People Gone Invisible?
People from Yun Clan Villa were very busy harvesting beans, which was much more difficult than harvesting wheat, mainly because wheat stalks are hollow and easily cut by sickles.
Bean stalks are solid. Although they are also herbaceous, their stems are as tough as tree branches, especially Great Han beans, which differ greatly from ancestral land beans. Stems that are barely tough in the ancestral land are here so tough that to break them, one can only chop.
Doggy did not allow Yun Ce to pull out the bean roots, as they grow many nitrogen-fixing nodules, which are fundamental for next year’s wheat planting. With these nitrogen-fixing nodules, next year wheat will have a good harvest.
One hundred thousand mu of beans was a hard labor for everyone.
Yun Ce wielded his knife tirelessly, easily severing bean stems. Zhou Chengming stood beside him, also swinging his knife to chop bean stems. The two were like tireless machines, easily clearing two paths to walk in the bean field.
After the two swung their knives to clear two long alleys, splitting the endless bean field in half, Yun Ce straightened up and said to Zhou Chengming: “If things go wrong, you can retreat here.”
Zhou Chengming shook his head and said: “Since childhood, I have yearned for Iron Enclosure Pass. Upon arriving there in my youth, I fought for it. Later, after leaving Iron Enclosure Pass for three years to train cavalry, it was only to return there in better form.
Yun Ce, I will not leave Iron Enclosure Pass, just as you are unwilling to leave this land you have cultivated.”
Hearing Zhou Chengming say this, Yun Ce stopped persuading. Everyone has their own path to follow; there is really no need to worry about others’ futures, especially since he knows what he will face and what his end will be.
Otherwise, it would just annoy people.
1 With the three thousand cavalrymen brought by Zhou Chengming helping, the harvesting speed of Yun Clan Villa’s one hundred thousand mu of beans increased greatly.
1 After drying for two days, the dry bean pods burst open on their own without people touching them. Standing in the threshing ground, watching beans continuously fly into the sky and fall back down was still very spectacular.
1 Zhou Chengming reached out to catch a bean, rubbed it constantly in his palm, and said to Yun Ce: “If I have a future, I will also find a place, plant nothing else, just beans.
1 Having a bean field in hand gives such a solid feeling, full of hope. Even if it fails once, next spring, sowing can be done again. Even if the second time fails, as long as one is alive, there will always be hope.”
1 Yun Ce disliked this death-wish attitude he showed and interrupted his nonsense: “These beans have strong vitality. No need for you to plant; their seeds will scatter themselves. As long as there is sufficient sunlight and dew, they can grow well on their own.
1 The reason we plant them collectively here is just to avoid running far to gather them.”
1 People from Great Han have this flaw.
1 Compared to ancestral land people, they are much more naive and romantic. No matter what they do, they want to link it to ideals, dreams, aspirations, and such words.
1 They all like to narrate small things in grand terms. Sometimes, with a heated mind, even if it’s a fire pit, as long as it suits their taste, they jump in without hesitation.
1 Yun Ce inexplicably thought of Zhao Qi, Xiao Man, and those few. If all of Great Han were such people, Yun Ce would not mind becoming one himself. Unfortunately, thinking of this, Yun Ce disdainfully glanced at Zhou Chengming and turned to continue harvesting beans.
2 Better to harvest a few more bundles of beans than think so much.
2 Yun Clan Villa took only ten days to harvest wheat, but fifteen days for beans. Even so, many beans could not be harvested in time, causing bean pods to burst and scatter beans everywhere.
2 No way around it. After harvesting beans, everyone in the manor went into the fields to pick up beans.
2 When Zhou Chengming escorted the endless convoy away from Yun Clan Villa, many people stood on tiptoe to watch the convoy leave, somewhat reluctant to part.
2 These days, with her husband in a bad mood, E Ji imitated Feng An’s tone, very doggily leaning to Yun Ce’s side: “See, the laborers still care about the safety of Iron Enclosure Pass.”
2 Yun Ce looked at E Ji’s eyes, which were very much like puppy leather, and said: “They are looking at the grain they labored to grow. No one is looking at those cavalrymen.”
2 Not getting the expected praise, E Ji immediately pulled a long face: “You have to tell the truth when you should tell lies.”
2 Yun Ce tucked her under his arm, regardless of how others looked at him, and returned to the manor like that.
2 This woman, since pregnancy, has become plump and chubby, quite amusing.
2 “Have I gotten heavier?”
3 “No, very normal.”
3 “Then why did you slip down twice when you tucked me earlier?”
3 “That was because I was afraid of hurting your stomach, so I didn’t dare use force.”
3 E Ji stroked her stomach: “No problem, the child is sitting very steadily. I like you carrying me like this while running.”
3 Overall, Yun Ce was satisfied with his current life. These two wives, in Cao Kun’s view, were not very suitable for him as Heir Apparent of the King of Changsha, but Yun Ce knew there were no better wives in the world than these two women.
3 The reason Cao Kun said that was entirely because he wanted to marry one of his nineteen sisters to Yun Ce as a wife. From his tone at the time, from nineteen years old to nineteen days old, any would do.
3 Anyway, his family had them all.
3 Marriage alliance is actually a very boring thing, one of the most tasteless things done by noble and wealthy families.
3 If profit is small, no need for marriage alliance. If profit is large, marriage alliance is useless. Look at those great families and big groups; when doing things, do they consider the married-off daughters or sons?
3 Not to mention marriage alliance, even old comrades-in-arms or old friends must be sacrificed when necessary in the face of profit, like early Tang meritorious official Tang Jian. Li Jing knew he was negotiating in the enemy camp, but the weather that day was too suitable for a raid. Li Jing unhesitatingly issued the raid order, and the army swept through.
4 If Tang Jian were not also a hero, digging a pit in the tent and covering it with a carpet to make the enemy think he had fled, he would have been dead for sure.
4 Later, Tang Jian spent his life dealing with Li Jing. Someone asked Li Jing if he regretted it, and Li Jing said—no regrets.
4 If Tang Jian’s matter is not convincing, look at what Han Gaozu Liu Bang did. Xiang Yu captured Liu Bang’s father and demanded surrender, or he would stew his father into meat soup. What did Liu Bang say? He said, when the meat soup is ready, remember to share a cup with me.
4 At that time, Xiang Yu should have really stewed Liu Bang’s father into meat soup and sent it to him. If he had done that, later generations would not treat what Liu Bang did and said as a beautiful story.
4 Recently, the various noble clans north of the Great Wall have been busy with weddings, all sensing something bad and thinking to marry off their daughters, so that when the time comes, everyone is family and can watch out for each other.
4 From the beginning, Cao Kun did not set a good example. His good fiancée first died one, and the later one was said to be true love, but unfortunately, her father steamed her into a mature person and sent her over.
4 Then, Cao Clan and He Clan nearly beat each other’s brains out.
4 Yun Ce did not believe those actively pursuing marriage alliances later would have good ends.
4 He Tian’s strength was ultimately inferior to Cao Clan. Cao Kun’s father Cao Bing, bringing his third son Cao Ying and ninth son Cao Ben, took half a month to finally break through He Tian’s defense line at Qingshui River. Now they have built seven bridges over Qingshui River and formally entered Lingzhou with three hundred thousand troops.
4 The pretext was to avenge his eldest son Cao Kun.
5 If Cao Clan is allowed to take Lingzhou, then Qiu He Prefecture, Pingzhou, and Lingzhou will connect into one piece, and both Great Han’s east side and Great Wall Defense Line will become Cao Clan’s territory.
5 Compared to the previous attack on Pingzhou where followers were numerous, this time attacking Lingzhou, only a few local nobles led their family armies to follow, and none of the stronger powers followed, not even the dozen nobles on Great Wall Defense Line sending troops.
5 Not only that, the surrounding other prefectures, like coastal Eastern Province, Tai Prefecture backed by Mount Tai, and Hai Prefecture owning the entire peninsula, were openly and covertly supporting He Tian in Lingzhou.
5 “So, Cao Clan might occupy seven or eight cities in Lingzhou this time. To annihilate Lingzhou in one battle is absolutely impossible.”
5 Qin Shu put down the wooden stick in his hand, summarized, then said to Yun Ce: “General, shall we still follow the original strategy of ‘build high walls, accumulate vast grain, slowly claim king’ to bide our time and nurture strength?”
5 Yun Ce looked up at Qin Shu: “Do you think we should be more aggressive now?”
5 Qin Shu picked up the wooden stick again, pointed at Dragon Mouth Pass, and knocked heavily: “This subordinate wants Dragon Mouth Pass. After taking Dragon Mouth Pass, our Jingkou Pass, Jin Suo Pass, and Dragon Mouth Pass can form a system. Advancing, we can drive straight to Iron Enclosure Pass; retreating, we can directly enter Qingshui River from Dragon Mouth Pass via water transport.
5 As for the manpower General always mentions, this subordinate has spent most of a year training the Yun Clan’s sixteen hundred family soldiers to have some combat power. They can replace us to guard Jingkou Pass.”
5 “Family soldier leader Chu is just an ordinary person without cultivated internal breath, and his sixteen hundred under him are just selected from slaves. To be honest, I have no hope at all for their ability and loyalty. Qin Shu, what makes you think they can shoulder heavy responsibility?”
5 Qin Shu glanced at his wife He Qingfang, but He Qingfang did not speak, just gently shook her head.
6 Yun Ce said to Qin Shu: “I know what you want to say. You think having bombs can make up for the gap in combat power? I tell you, good weapons in the hands of a cowardly army is just aiding the enemy.
6 Moreover, bombs are currently only in the hands of a few people and should not be expanded further. Dragon Mouth Pass connects to Qingshui River and is indeed a strategic key point, but it is not something we must have now.
6 Qin Shu, once Iron Enclosure Pass falls and Gui Fang people come south, the more territory one has, the more painful it will be.”
