Chapter 174: Dealing With Nobles Harms Your Hidden Merits
Cao Kun’s seemingly casual words were actually premeditated long ago; he was just bringing them up now because it was the most appropriate time.
This scheme probably started from the time at Ghost King Mountain, when he claimed Yu Zhu’s head as his own kill, which was equivalent to telling Yun Ce that he owed Yun Ce a favor.
Then, out of a compensatory mentality, he decided to give Yun Ce a gift that he absolutely couldn’t refuse—eight thousand people composed of scholars, young women, and male and female children.
Once Yun Ce accepted this gift, it would naturally lead to a very serious problem—shortage of provisions and materials.
Moreover, it was now Deep Winter Month; the people sent over produced nothing, only consumed, which would further tighten the finances on Yun Ce’s side.
At this time, in order to feed the twenty thousand mouths in his own mountain villa, Yun Ce would have no choice but to seek other methods, and such methods were hard to find.
Jingkou Pass was still a considerable distance from the Gui Fang people’s territory, so Yun Ce couldn’t obtain supplies from the Gui Fang people through his usual method of requisitioning grain from conquered territories. Besides, in Deep Winter Month, the Gui Fang people were even poorer than the current Yun Clan Villa, so where would there be surplus materials for him to rob.
If he couldn’t openly obtain materials from the Gui Fang people, then for the sake of twenty thousand mouths, in Cao Kun’s view, Yun Ce only had one option: to resort to underhanded means.
However, Jingkou Pass was somewhat far from the prosperous lands of the Great Han, and because Yun Ce was also a Han person, the repercussions of sending troops to rob would be severe; he might even become a public enemy of the Han people.
At this moment, Cao Kun suddenly offered Yun Ce a relatively perfect solution. He thought Yun Ce would agree immediately, after all, he had laid the groundwork for quite some time, and Yun Ce seemed to have no room to refuse.
1 Just as he buried his head in the water again, giving Yun Ce a moment to think, Yun Ce suddenly smiled silently, picked up the wine pot on the stone strip, and took a mouthful straight from the mouth.
1 When Cao Kun lifted his head from the water with a smug look, blew a breath, and didn’t care that the water stains on his face blurred his vision, he hurriedly asked: “How about it? Should I have him send the grain and materials first to relieve your crisis?”
1 Yun Ce shook his head indifferently and said: “The five hundred cavalrymen under my command are an army. The duty of an army is to protect, to kill the enemy, to strangle all forces threatening the Great Han in the cradle.
1 They are not assassins, not bandits, and certainly not killers.
1 We do indeed need those provisions here to get through the grain shortage, but absolutely not by changing the nature of the army to obtain them. That would be the greatest disrespect to my subordinates and would turn a true army into a bandit army.
1 Brother Cao, as the heir of the Cao Clan, I think you understand that doing things will always leave traces. Even if others don’t know, heaven and earth, and oneself always do.
1 Once an army does something unworthy of its status and profits from it, there will be a second time, a third time; eventually, they will become bandits, no longer that proud, honorable army.
1 So, Brother Cao, I won’t agree to this this time.”
1 Cao Kun nodded, his expression unchanged, and continued smiling: “That’s fine too. After all, it’s not something easy to accomplish; it’s only natural that you have concerns.”
1 Cao Kun no longer mentioned having Yun Ce send troops, and Yun Ce naturally didn’t bring it up either. The two smiled as they bathed, complaining together about the Yun Clan maidservants’ lack of hospitality toward guests, until Yun Ce invited Cao Kun to eat a bowl of the famous Yun Clan oil-splashed noodles. Only then did Cao Kun leave riding the albatross.
2 After Cao Kun left, Yun Ce gathered everyone for a meeting to discuss how to face the current crisis.
2 “You see, it’s like this. I rejected Cao Kun’s invitation. Now, we should study how to get more grain from this wasteland to support our people.”
2 After Yun Ce fully explained the deal proposed by Cao Kun to everyone, Qin Shu stood up, gave Yun Ce a deep bow, and said: “We are not killers, not thieves. The general is not a robber leader, nor the head of bandits. You’re absolutely right; we are an army, a proper Great Han army.
2 If food is scarce, we can eat less. If there’s no food, we can go deep into the wasteland to find some. Though it’s not the autumn season with abundant food now, if we search carefully, we can always find some.
2 We can also go hunting, go fishing. General, this subordinate believes we can definitely endure this difficulty.”
2 Yun Ce looked approvingly at his deputy general. He was right; this grain shortage crisis might not necessarily be a bad thing for them—it could be an opportunity to unite everyone’s hearts into one.
2 Zhang Min then stood up and said: “Originally, we came to Jingkou Pass on orders from the court. Now that we’re short on grain, I think requesting grain and materials from the court is also a path, especially from Wu Tong. I feel the chances of getting provisions and materials from there are quite high.”
2 He Qingfang followed: “Due to the great brawl in Chang’an City, the inspectors and noble families everywhere have begun to drift apart from the court, encroaching on the various passes along the Great Wall Defense Line. At this time, as long as we show our intention to side with the court, I believe the court will be delighted to see us.
2 As long as the people above aren’t too stupid, too greedy, or already aligned with those inspectors and noble families, we should be able to gain the court’s full support.”
2 “Every Deep Winter Month, large herds of mountain sheep come down from the Qinghe Plateau to avoid the cold. Before the Great Wall, the mountain sheep’s tracks even reached as far as Qiu He Prefecture.
3 We once tried hunting them, but unfortunately, around the outside of the mountain sheep herds, there were always many beasts. Once we encountered a fierce beast ‘N’; after the general’s personal guards had three bitten to death, we gave up hunting the mountain sheep.
3 The previous general feared the fierce beast ‘N’. This official thinks that with the general’s bravery, even if a ‘fierce beast’ comes, its hide will become the general’s bedding.”
3 “Also, southwest of Jingkou Pass, there was originally a very good horse pasture, but later for some reason, a huge horde of rabbits came. They dug holes in the ground and ruined that grassland beyond recognition.
3 General, as long as you can drive away the surrounding beasts, give this official three hundred men, and this official is determined to use this bit of winter time to catch all the rabbits on that grassland.
3 First, we can get a lot of food; second, without the rabbits, that grassland will recover, and then it will be a fine horse pasture.”
3 The others also voiced their opinions one after another. Even Jingkou Pass deputy general Tan Kai, clerk Sun Li, and counselor Li Cheng all offered their suggestions, telling everyone how to obtain food from the wasteland in winter. After all, they had been at Jingkou Pass the longest and had the richest experience in hard times.
3 The meeting ended, and many methods to cope with the current crisis were proposed. Yun Ce also felt that as long as the meeting’s decisions were well executed, Jingkou Pass could overcome the current difficulties.
3 “Good, this time we’ll fight heaven for a path to survival.”
3 Yun Ce made the final decision.
3 Returning to the hot spring courtyard, Yun Ce saw E Ji gathering many women for a meeting. He roughly heard it was about leading the women to the wasteland to gather leftover autumn grain.
4 “Wife, there are doggies.”
4 E Ji twisted the tail of the milk dog in her arms, and the milk dog opened its mouth as wide as a cave, biting a table to pieces in one bite.
4 E Ji patted the milk dog’s buttocks and said: “This used to be the Doggy King; we’re not afraid of doggies.”
4 “Wife, I heard there are also abandoned beasts.”
4 “Not afraid; the general will catch all the abandoned beasts and skin them.”
4 “Wife, I also heard there are fierce beasts.”
4 “Scram. If we encounter a fierce beast, I’ll throw you over first. Once the fierce beast eats you and is full, we’ll be safe…
4 Now divide into teams: ten per group, a hundred per centurion team. We’ll form a hundred centurion teams, each team assigned two warriors for protection and one cavalryman to patrol back and forth. Choose different places each day, don’t forget to record them to avoid repeats…”
4 Seeing that E Ji was organizing people very methodically, Yun Ce didn’t go in and went straight back to the inner chamber.
4 These past few days, Doggy had been very silent, the Dragon Pearl showed no change, and only Shehuo was still burning quietly, serene like a gentle flame girl.
5 “Should we plant the Shehuo fire seed now?” Yun Ce asked Doggy.
5 “I’m researching how to make you and Shehuo fuse into one.”
5 “Me fuse with Shehuo? One is a carbon-based organism, the other is plasma—how to fuse?”
5 “I’ve already told you, don’t keep using Earth’s experiences to view things on this planet. That Yu Zhu fused with some energy body we don’t know about, turning from a good-for-nothing into a thousand-man general who could go toe-to-toe with you.
5 Yun Ce, you need to open your mind, learn to learn, and keep up with the times…”
5 After the political commissar Doggy appeared, Yun Ce basically lost all interest in talking to him. And this guy probably received too much political ideological education back then; no matter what, he could smoothly steer the topic to ideological education.
5 When Yun Ce returned home and prepared to take a bath, he then discovered that the red date horse’s massive body was already lying in the hot spring pool, with its buttocks blocking the water outlet. The water inside had been squeezed out quite a bit by its body, flowing all over the floor.
5 Yun Ce came to the poolside, stroked the red date horse’s big head, and said: “You’re so smart now; when will you become a spirit and stand up to help me?”
5 The red date horse seemed to understand Yun Ce’s words, rubbing its big head against Yun Ce’s hand, as if saying, “Not far, not far.”
5 When E Ji returned, Yun Ce was grooming the red date horse. Previously, it didn’t need grooming; it would shake itself dry. Now, it didn’t like shaking off its fur anymore, probably thinking it was stupid.
6 E Ji picked up another towel to groom the red date horse, and while grooming, said to Yun Ce: “Young Master could just sleep with Zhang Min first. Even if there’s something improper about the offspring, it’s just a concubine-born child.”
6 Yun Ce was startled and looked at E Ji as he asked: “How do you know there’s something wrong with my body?”
