Chapter 151: A Great Sucker Has Arrived
In the beginning, it was the beasts of the wilderness who sought out Yun Ce. They thought that by eliminating Yun Ce, the guard dog, there would be over ten thousand delicious meals behind him.
Later, they discovered they couldn’t defeat Yun Ce and were captured, then tied up with iron chains. Every day, this man would whip them with a steel whip, breaking their bones and sinews, whipping them until they dared not resist any longer, only then would he release them.
Each beast that was released, after their shackles were removed, the first thing they did was flee from Yun Ce’s location, not daring to look back.
After repelling the first wave of beasts, Yun Ce used the doggy’s ability to track the fleeing beasts, find their lairs, and bring out other beasts from their families that Yun Ce hadn’t beaten yet, and beat them again with the steel whip, not sparing even the young ones.
He searched den after den, beat them den after den. Those with tender meat he killed and ate, and those with soft fur he skinned. By the time the Deep Winter Month arrived, near the Tuntian farm, no beasts could be seen, and even the doggies hid far away.
Entering the region north of the Great Wall, Yun Ce felt he had completely entered that “primordial era where heaven and earth are not benevolent and treat all things as straw dogs.”
It is said that the ancient former kings used to drive away beasts that threatened the people far away, and also capture poisonous insects one by one, peel their hides to make drums, and then beat these drums so that beasts and poisonous insects would not harm the people in the settlements.
When Yun Ce saw this part of history, he thought it was just a saying. It wasn’t until it was his turn to establish his own territory in the wilderness that he realized he was doing what the ancient former kings had done.
It is like a reincarnation of history, with a very clear path, and you can only follow this path.
The first snow of the Deep Winter Month fell, sealing the entire land. E Ji watched Yun Ce ride a Red Date Horse into view from amidst the swirling snow.
She called out loudly, laughing, throwing off her cumbersome cape, and plunged into the snowstorm. She roughly pressed down the stubborn head of the Red Date Horse, then stepped on its head and neck, finally throwing herself into Yun Ce’s embrace.
“Do you have a gift?” After kissing Yun Ce’s head fiercely, E Ji immediately began to ask for a gift. After all, they hadn’t been together for fifteen days, and she really wanted to know if Yun Ce had missed her.
“Yes!” Yun Ce said, pulling out a large, flawless white hide from the saddlebag on his back and placing it in E Ji’s arms. With a casual blow, a small vortex appeared on the hide, a mark of top-grade leather.
“It will be better after tanning, it can wrap me from head to toe, cough cough…” E Ji, holding the hide that had only had its fat scraped off, did not care about the fishy smell. She sniffed it deeply, choked by the pungent odor.
Yun Ce didn’t know whose hide it was. He only knew that when he was whipping a qilin with his steel whip, this creature stood not far away, looking very unfriendly.
Yun Ce wanted to catch it, but it ran very fast. If the Red Date Horse hadn’t charged out from the side and hit it, it might have escaped.
With such fur, Yun Ce naturally couldn’t bear to whip it with his steel whip. After skinning it, he spared its life, as it was still alive after being skinned.
In the world of beasts, there is never any mercy. At least, Yun Ce believed that if he fell into this creature’s hands, it would savor every piece of his flesh and would absolutely not do something as absurd as letting him live.
In the wasteland of the Deep Winter Month, except for collecting firewood on clear days, most people were in hibernation.
Previously, the slaves also hibernated. Back then, hibernation was real hibernation, because they didn’t work, their food rations were very small. In the cold Deep Winter Month, they could only rely on consuming their meager stored fat to get through the winter.
Although Yun Ce’s camp also reduced food rations, it was reduced from three meals to two. Not only were the slaves’ rations reduced, but Yun Ce’s food was also reduced.
With relatively abundant food, and nothing else to do in the Tuntian Camp but sleep, many women soon became pregnant.
When Yun Ce heard this news upon his return, he had E Ji restore the pregnant women’s two meals to three.
“Doing this will lead to more women getting pregnant,” E Ji said, greatly displeased with the pregnant women who ate insatiably.
Yun Ce took a sip of soy milk, put down the bowl, and said softly, “It’s alright, our provisions are quite sufficient. Recently, caravans have also transported a large amount of grain for fodder and beans to Jingkou Pass in exchange for beast hides from us. The beasts I and Zhang Min have hunted are enough to cope.”
E Ji stretched her neck to look out the window and said, “The children living here, even the youngest, no longer cry for their mothers.”
Yun Ce said, “It’s not that we want to sever the connection between mothers and children, but to sever ignorance, to sever all the bad habits passed down in this world.”
“Prepare rich food for the younger children, find teachers for the older children, and teach them to be clean, to go to bed and wake up early. Young Master, can this really teach a group of very capable talents?
Also, Feng An said that much of the content in the books you gave him is something he has never heard of and cannot understand. How can these children be taught?”
Yun Ce comfortably placed his feet on E Ji’s plump thighs and sighed, “Feng An and Liang Kun will naturally have to learn first. Once they have learned enough, they can teach the children. Don’t worry, it’s all simple arithmetic, physics, and geometry. They both claim to be geniuses, and they will naturally master it by progressing from the simple to the complex.”
“Leave everything to time. With time, the path will naturally open.”
As they were chatting idly in the warm house, Zhang Min entered from outside, covered in snow. Seeing Yun Ce and E Ji’s intimate demeanor, she became furious. She threw off her thick cape and kicked off her boots, then strode onto the bed. Without a word, she mounted E Ji and shoved her cold hands into E Ji’s embrace to warm them.
Without the little milk dog and with Zhang Min using a bit of force, E Ji had no power to resist and could only be bullied by Zhang Min.
Seeing Zhang Min’s impetuousness, Yun Ce couldn’t help but ask, “What happened at Jingkou Pass?”
Zhang Min squeezed E Ji’s chest fiercely and turned to Yun Ce, saying, “Wu Tong, in his busy schedule, has gathered a large batch of provisions. He hopes you can escort these provisions to Iron Enclosure Pass.”
Yun Ce pulled E Ji out from under Zhang Min and shook his head, “The only two people we have who can truly handle things are you and I. Why did he choose me instead of sending you to lead the team?”
Zhang Min leaned into Yun Ce’s embrace with some dejection, “There are always Gui Fang people scouting near Iron Enclosure Pass, and I might not be able to defeat them.”
“Who used to deliver provisions to Iron Enclosure Pass before?”
“The army from the inland would deliver them to the Great Wall Garrison, and then the Great Wall Garrison would send a large force to Iron Enclosure Pass.”
“Although the Great Wall Grand Governor Zhao Shu has fled, there are still many, many loyal soldiers on the Great Wall. Why don’t they escort them?”
Zhang Min tilted her head and greedily inhaled Yun Ce’s neck before vaguely saying, “They often lose the materials. It’s very difficult to get even two out of ten safely delivered.
Many times, we can’t figure out if the Great Wall Garrison swallowed the materials or if they were really looted by the Gui Fang people.”
“So, Wu Tong would rather trust an outsider like me than the Great Wall Garrison?”
Zhang Min looked down at her chest, which had been opened by E Ji, and was unconcerned about the pair of snow-white mounds exposed to Yun Ce’s gaze. She leaned to the side and hugged Yun Ce’s waist, saying, “Young Master, why don’t you go to Iron Enclosure Pass and see? If Iron Enclosure Pass weren’t truly lacking in provisions, he wouldn’t do this.”
Yun Ce shook his head, “I cannot go. If I go this time, then in the future, the transportation between Jingkou Pass and Iron Enclosure Pass will permanently fall upon us.
I don’t believe Wu Tong lacks talented people under him. If he proposed this, it must be because he has hidden many experts in the team. His intention is for us to take over the future provisions transportation task. It’s highly possible that in the near future, once we cultivate enough grain, they won’t have to pay any price and can have us directly transport the produced grain to Iron Enclosure Pass.
We can only have transactions with Iron Enclosure Pass, not give it away for free.”
Zhang Min got up in surprise, tidied her clothes, and looked at Yun Ce, saying, “Young Master, are you saying this is another test from Wu Tong?”
Yun Ce chuckled, “To see if I would use the provisions supply to win over the Iron Enclosure Pass garrison.”
Zhang Min shook her head, “The garrison at Iron Enclosure Pass are all ambitious. They are there for the honor of their families and personal glory. They won’t be like the Great Wall Garrison, pledging allegiance to someone for a small favor.
So, Young Master is not going this time?”
Yun Ce shook his head, “I must go once. It will also let me witness the benevolent and righteous people you speak of, and it will allow me to assess if Iron Enclosure Pass is truly as impregnable as you say.”
Zhang Min leaned back into Yun Ce’s embrace again, saying, “Young Master will not be disappointed.”
Yun Ce nudged Zhang Min with his shoulder, who was about to fall asleep, “When do we leave?”
“The provisions will be escorted by the Feathered Forest Guards, led by a Captain. It is said to be the Eldest Young Master of the Cao Clan of Qiuhe Prefecture, and this batch of provisions was also prepared by the Cao Clan in Qiuhe Prefecture.”
Yun Ce frowned, “In that case, I am essentially the bodyguard for this Cao Clan’s Eldest Young Master, right?”
Zhang Min chuckled, “Wu Tong’s order is very clear, everything is subordinate to you.”
Yun Ce smiled silently, tapped Zhang Min’s nose, and said, “The provisions are theirs, the soldiers are theirs. If I go to the barracks alone, who do you think will listen to me?”
