Chapter 143: A General Can’t Be Chosen Too Old
Whenever a woman starts telling her own story in the way of the manor, she will immediately make a very big demand.
So, Yun Ce looked at Zhang Min very, very cautiously, fearing that this woman wanted him to go to her tent to sleep tonight.
“Give me a thousand people, then give me half a year, and finally, give me ten thousand bombs. When you reach the place north of the Great Wall and prepare to establish fields, I guarantee to give you an army sufficient to guard you.”
“If you like playing with armies, go play, but what’s the point of you covertly saying that your beauty is useless?”
Zhang Min was stunned by Yun Ce’s straightforwardness, then became somewhat annoyed and ashamed by Yun Ce’s words, and raised her hand to take off her clothes.
Yun Ce grabbed Zhang Min’s hand and said, “I know clearly how beautiful you are, no need to take off your clothes to prove it to me. However, let me make it clear first: you can have an army, but you only have training rights and command rights during battle. In daily life, this army’s food, clothing, housing, and transportation should listen to E Ji.”
Zhang Min angrily said, “E Ji knows nothing, how can she counsel military affairs?”
Yun Ce pulled over E Ji, who was already about to get angry, and the two together looked at Zhang Min and said, “She doesn’t need to know any military affairs; she just needs to take good care of the army you command.”
Zhang Min said, “You still don’t trust me.”
Yun Ce laughed and said, “Someone who casually hands over an army to others because of trust is called a foolish ruler, or a fool—it’s the same thing.
1 Let me tell you, an army is essentially a violent organization. On this violent organization, it’s best to bind several ropes.
1 This has nothing to do with trusting or not trusting you; it only relates to the regulations we will implement in the future.”
1 Although Yun Ce explained in great detail, Zhang Min was still fuming and fiercely pushed Yun Ce onto E Ji, saying, “You just pamper her well. When you pamper her into the appearance of Imperial Consort Yu, don’t blame me for watching the joke then.”
1 E Ji mischievously pecked Yun Ce on the lips, then hurriedly got up and said to Yun Ce, “I need to go watch her.”
1 Yun Ce’s convoy traveled another three days on the main road, and the same thing happened twice at Tongming Post Station.
1 Clearly three post stations had mysteriously disappeared, yet no one inquired about it. Even when Yun Ce entered Cao Wo Post Station with the pass token from the Grand Marshal’s Mansion, the postmaster here enthusiastically received him and, according to the pass token, arranged accommodation and meals for the more than two hundred people Yun Ce brought.
1 As for those slaves, naturally they had to find a place outside to set up camp themselves.
1 But this time, Yun Ce did not exchange too many pleasantries with this postmaster, and several times, Yun Ce preferred to let his gaze fall on this simple postmaster’s cuff rather than on his enthusiastic face.
1 Yun Ce discovered that robbery can actually be addictive, and during the robbery process, a large amount of dopamine is secreted, keeping people in a state of excitement forever, and precisely in this excited state, people’s memory is the best.
1 After three robberies, the slave camp under Yun Ce had now become experienced bandits. On days without robbery, they cowered one by one, able to endure humiliation, beatings, and even spitting from others calmly.
2 Only at the moment of robbery did they instantly transform into blue-faced, fanged villains one by one.
2 “The gunpowder consumption these past few days has been very high. We’ve already traveled a long way, so we should find a stable place nearby to rest the team, and by the way, distribute the stockpiled gunpowder for them to load themselves and make into bombs.
2 Also, after three consecutive successful robberies, these people have been extremely arrogant lately, thinking that having bombs means they can unscrupulously rampage. There are already cases of people secretly killing at night after being humiliated during the day.”
2 “Then severely punish them. An army is an organized, disciplined violent organization. Organization and discipline are above violence. If there is any more undisciplined, unorganized behavior, just kill them.”
2 “Huh, no warning or anything? Directly chop off heads?”
2 “If not like this, it won’t form enough deterrence.”
2 Feng An’s execution ability was very strong. By evening, three heads were hanging from the big tree next to Cao Wo Post Station.
2 After hearing that the dead were slaves who had killed a caravan, the postmaster changed from panic to admiration.
2 “Cao Wo Post Station isn’t worth robbing. Besides some provisions and livestock for changing mounts, there’s nothing here.”
2 After Liang Kun returned from outside, he told Yun Ce about the situation he had scouted.
3 Yun Ce said softly, “Dark-colored dragon scale changing pattern silk undergarments. An Ji said that such silk is very rare even in wealthy families, and only some wealthy families have one or two bolts in their daughters’ dowries.
3 An Ji said that whoever has this in their dowry is without exception someone with immense wealth.”
3 Liang Kun was silent for a moment, ignored Yun Ce’s words full of implication, and directly said, “I always feel like you’re deliberately cutting off the post stations from Iron Enclosure Pass to Chang’an.”
3 Yun Ce nodded and said, “I do have that thought. Since chaos has appeared here, I don’t mind making this chaos even bigger.
3 After this chaos creator achieves victory this time, he might be busy rebuilding the post stations and won’t have so much energy to manage us pitiful people who are going to farm in the wilderness.”
3 Cao Wo Post Station, as the name implies, is a post station standing on a wasteland where only grass grows, no trees. It is far from cities on both sides. Without building such a post station to provide convenience for passing officials, messengers, and such, those people would have to spend the night in the wild, which would be very dangerous.
3 During the daytime while the convoy was traveling, Yun Ce saw a beast covered in stripes with giant teeth in its mouth. This beast lurked in the wild grass, and Yun Ce could feel the malice it hid not very well.
3 Through Zhang Min’s introduction, Yun Ce learned that this thing was the third on the wilderness deadly wild beast rankings—Abandoned.
3 Ferocious carnivorous beasts generally do not appear in areas covered by Shehuo. Since this thing has appeared now, it means that this area of Cao Wo is not within Shehuo’s protection range.
3 After Liang Kun left, Yun Ce took out Shehuo from his bracer. Sure enough, without other Shehuo interference, Yun Ce’s Shehuo flame blazed brightly. Under Doggy’s support, it changed from a candle flame into a torch burning fiercely.
4 The flame’s temperature was not high. Even if one put their hand in the flame to roast, this flame didn’t seem to hurt much. Of course, with the unchanged left arm put in, one could only feel warmth. When Yun Ce transformed his left arm into dragon form, Shehuo’s flame immediately turned into a cone shape, viciously attacking the dragon arm.
4 Yun Ce only persevered for a few breaths before taking the dragon arm out of the flame. Looking at the dragon arm faintly emitting hot air, Yun Ce felt he might have been careless just now and almost roasted this arm.
4 Sure enough, after it returned to a normal arm, he saw a large string of blisters on the skin, the largest one even the size of an egg, filled with liquid inside.
4 Undoubtedly, this was the result of a severe burn.
4 Seeing Yun Ce self-harming, E Ji was very worried but didn’t come to stop him. As early as at Fanzi Mountain, she knew Yun Ce had an arm that could transform into dragon form. She thought it was the result of Yun Ce swallowing a dragon pearl—actually, that was also what Yun Ce was willing to let her know.
4 After all, the two slept together every day. Rather than her discovering it, better for her to know early.
4 “That arm is very powerful. Why does Young Master want to ruthlessly destroy it?”
4 Yun Ce gritted his teeth and used a knife to burst all the blisters on the arm. Once the water from the blisters drained, he took out a bottle of Peng Zeng brand fast-healing medicinal liquid for E Ji to apply on his arm, which was already unrecognizable.
4 When the medicinal liquid touched the arm, a cool breath circulated on Yun Ce’s arm. An hour later, Yun Ce’s arm burned by Shehuo had recovered as good as new.
4 Just as Yun Ce wanted to summon the dragon arm to compare the change, Feng An hurriedly came in and said to Yun Ce, “This time we’re in trouble. Cao Wo Post Station has already become a bandit nest.
5 Nearby, there are nearly three thousand cavalrymen ambushed on the grassland, ready to sneak attack us at any time.”
5 Yun Ce laughed upon hearing this and said to Feng An, “Has Zhang Min captured that postmaster?”
5 “Yes, she’s interrogating him now. Lord, we need to prepare quickly, or else these over ten thousand people won’t withstand a charge from the cavalry.”
5 Yun Ce nodded and said, “All enter the post station and use the post station walls to hinder the cavalry. When the cavalry get close, just throw bombs.”
5 Seeing Yun Ce’s calm and composed face, Feng An couldn’t help saying, “The cavalry have crossbow bolts and grappling hooks. I’ve seen that Cao Wo Post Station’s walls are mostly made of wood; they can easily drag down the stockade walls, and the crossbow bolts will cause heavy casualties to our people.”
5 Yun Ce laughed and said, “They’ve succeeded in three robberies already; it’s time they taste chewing on a hard bone. If they can withstand this time, even win, they’ve basically qualified to become proud Yun City residents.”
5 Before the words finished, Liang Kun hurriedly came in and said, “Lord, the problem is serious. Zhang Min just finished interrogating and found out that this group actually comes from the Great Wall garrison army.”
5 Yun Ce nodded and said, “Yes, only they have the ability to seal off this main road, and only they can put enough pressure on Chang’an. All things have omens.
5 But the good thing is, they don’t openly support any one side in the Chang’an chaos. It looks like they want to sit on the fence and watch, helping whichever side gains the upper hand.”
5 Zhang Min walked in while wiping her hands. She had heard everything Yun Ce just said, quickly dried her hands, and asked Yun Ce, “Don’t they have the idea of wiping out both sides in one net?”
6 Yun Ce laughed loudly and said, “Who is the Great Wall garrison commander?”
6 Zhang Min quickly said, “Grand Governor Zhao Shu.”
6 “Very old, right?”
6 “Yes, ninety-one years old this year.”
6 Yun Ce sneered, “So old he’s lost his courage. Don’t worry, he’s just sitting on the fence watching. If his courage were a bit bigger, he wouldn’t have left three thousand cavalry in a place like Cao Wo Post Station.”
