Chapter 86: Treasure By My Side
The male members of Wei Dun’er’s family have all disappeared, which is a very serious matter for the government officials. They will investigate this matter thoroughly.
It has been eleven days since Yun Ce’s document was delivered to the Prefectural Office of Chuyun City. By rights, someone specifically to investigate this matter should have arrived today. However, Yun Ce waited all day and no one came.
Anyone who has worked in the yamen knows why Wei Dun’er’s family disappeared. Even if the new Chief Manager didn’t kill them, he must be somehow involved.
Therefore, investigating this matter at the Royal Hunting Ground is definitely a lucrative assignment. After all, the person sent to investigate has no intention of finding any conclusive results. If the Chief Manager is smart, they can report Wei Dun’er’s disappearance as an accident, caused by wild beasts.
If the Chief Manager is not smart… well, until now, there hasn’t been an official in Chuyun City who is that unintelligent.
In the evening, Yun Ce learned from a hunter in the Hunting Ground Camp that a serious armed conflict had occurred less than forty li from the Royal Hunting Ground.
Yun Ce rode his red date horse to the scene of the conflict and found that many people were dead there.
The deceased were wearing government official uniforms. It appeared to be a squad leader and twelve yamen runners, a standard infantry squad, totaling thirteen people including the squad leader.
Now, all thirteen of them are dead, arranged neatly, with words written on their faces in red ink: “Repay our money.”
This was clearly murder. Yun Ce ordered the men from the Hunting Ground Camp to load the bodies onto sheep carts and drag them back to the Royal Hunting Ground. Because the weather was very cold, the bodies were frozen stiff by the time they reached the hunting ground. Yun Ce found a sheltered eaves and piled the bodies there.
He wrote another document, planning to send it to the Inspector’s Yamen of Chuyun Prefecture once things outside calmed down.
Currently, the outside world is very chaotic, especially with the constant attacks targeting officials, causing people in the government to dare not wear their uniforms when going out.
This disturbance is clearly unrelated to the rebellion initiated by Miss Hong and her group. It carries a strong sense of revenge, and the targets of retaliation are obvious and direct.
The tribute of one hundred million is gone.
However, the imperial tribute cannot be short. Therefore, this tribute of one hundred million must be spread across every person in Chuyun Prefecture.
The document Yun Ce found on the squad leader indicated that he, as the new Chief Manager of the Royal Hunting Ground, was responsible for a tribute of eighty taels of gold. The document clearly stated that the next official inspection would be eight years later.
The message was clear: the disappearance of Wei Dun’er’s male family members would be dropped once Yun Ce paid the eighty taels of gold tribute. It also stated that for the next eight years, he could do as he pleased within the Royal Hunting Ground.
Feng An chuckled after reading the official document and said to Yun Ce, “The Royal Hunting Ground only has palaces, and you can’t tear them down to sell. Therefore, the only ones who can be exploited are the Hunting Ground Camp and Wei Family Village. However, these two villages have less than three hundred people, who normally make a living by hunting and gathering.”
Unless all these nearly three hundred people are sold as slaves, and the surrounding commoners are allowed to hunt and gather in the Gaoliang Mountain hunting grounds, with taxes collected on their entry, their hunted and gathered goods would not fetch eighty taels of gold, not even in eight years.
The fact that we received this document means that other places received similar ones. The reason the squad leader died on the road might be the doing of the surrounding villagers.
Anyway, if he’s dead, he can just say he never received it.
Yun Ce also felt that the local people did a good job. If the government still hadn’t sent anyone by the time these bodies thawed, he planned to drag them out to feed the doggies.
Dog skin is actually the basis for attracting beasts to Gaoliang Mountain. They reproduce easily, and in one or two years there will be a large group. Although their existence is a disaster for the small wild beasts in Gaoliang Mountain, large predators will also be attracted by the thriving population of dog skin.
As a Royal Hunting Ground, having more beasts will naturally increase the value of hunting, which would be very beneficial for Yun Ce to continue serving as the Chief Manager of the Royal Hunting Ground.
E Ji and the others were indeed very tired from their travels. They seemed to have had enough of their precarious lives. Although the Royal Hunting Ground was remote, life here was very peaceful and tranquil. Even E Ji, who disliked the wasteland the most, had recently gained some weight.
As the government began to exploit every city, and even extending its exploitation beyond the cities to the villages, the entire Chuyun Prefecture became a powder keg ready to ignite.
Yun Ce believed that rebels like Miss Hong and Zhang Min would not let this opportunity to control Chuyun Prefecture slip away.
Therefore, staying in the remote Royal Hunting Ground was actually quite good.
The only thing that made Yun Ce uneasy was Gouzi. Ever since that guy swallowed the glowing bead, he had fallen into a deep sleep, or rather, into an endless internal calculation. Gouzi was not malfunctioning; it occasionally released a silver thread or two into the Dragon Pearl, as if it were charging.
At the same time, a silver thread was also inserted into the military mobile phone. The phone screen kept flickering, and it was scalding hot, as if it would explode at any moment.
The greatest support seemed to be busy with something extremely important. Yun Ce also had to calm down. Encountering a super expert at this time would mean he wouldn’t have any silver threads to help him.
Once a person loses their backing, anyone with ambition will strengthen themselves. Yun Ce was like this. He had been practicing martial arts for longer these days, training for four hours every morning, rain or shine.
Peng Zeng’s body was incredibly strong. Two days ago, he could only eat in a bizarre posture. Two days later, he could sit calmly on the bed and eat, looking quite refined as he took spoonfuls.
Four days later, he no longer needed the old woman’s service. He started walking around the room, hunched over. Six days later, he left the room and began walking around the courtyard, his posture becoming straighter and straighter.
He watched Yun Ce practice martial arts, and his expression at the time was extremely complex, filled with regret, unwillingness, and mostly, a sense of dejection.
E Ji added an egg to his rice bowl and asked proudly, “Isn’t my husband’s martial arts good?”
Peng Zeng looked sadly at the fist-sized boiled egg in his rice bowl and did not answer. Instead, he lowered his head to eat, but he never touched the egg.
That night, many people heard Peng Zeng’s extremely suppressed sobs.
“How could I possibly lose to him… How could I possibly lose to him? Why did I lose to him?”
His three consecutive questions lasted the entire night.
The next day, when he saw Yun Ce practicing martial arts again, his expression was so distorted that Feng An and the others worried he would rush into the courtyard and fight Yun Ce to the death.
“My husband will beat him to death,” E Ji, as always, had full confidence in Yun Ce.
“Why do I feel like Peng Zeng is regretting something?”
“I don’t just think he’s regretting, it seems more like hatred.”
Yun Ce also saw the change in Peng Zeng’s expression. He just smiled slightly, feeling that the opportunity to truly win over Peng Zeng was approaching.
He knew that his clumsy martial arts, which relied entirely on instinct, were full of openings in Peng Zeng’s eyes. The man was probably still fantasizing about defeating him.
People who know martial arts have this one drawback: they tend to respect those who are more skilled in martial arts than themselves, and those who hold high positions. Those whose martial arts are inferior to theirs but are expected to obey them are considered enemies.
Three more days passed, and Peng Zeng could already walk steadily. He even secretly practiced punches in his room. As he punched, his bones would crackle. With each crackle, his spirit would improve a little. After nine consecutive crackles, he sat quietly on the bed, lost in thought.
The next day, after leaving his room, he no longer squatted by the door to eat. Instead, he sat squarely on the wooden stool Yun Ce usually sat on, looking at Yun Ce with a provocative gaze.
Yun Ce sighed and said, “Why must you do this?”
Peng Zeng said indifferently, “A warrior puts martial arts first. Defeat me, and I will be your vassal.”
Yun Ce stopped E Ji, who was about to scold him, and smiled, “Do you think my martial arts are not good?”
Peng Zeng sneered, “Apart from some reckless strength, I haven’t seen anything special.”
Yun Ce smiled, “I am just a wildman, so my martial arts being rough is normal. I will ask you again, do you really want to challenge me?”
Peng Zeng said, “I want to kill you, or be killed by you.”
Yun Ce nodded, “Alright, eat first, and after you eat, I’ll give you what you want.”
Feng An said worriedly to Peng Zeng, “You can’t beat him.”
Peng Zeng shook his head, “I wasn’t prepared in the previous encounters.”
Liang Kun also looked at Peng Zeng and said, “You finally survived, why are you seeking death again?”
Peng Zeng picked up a flatbread and took a bite, saying to Yun Ce, “This time, I will only kill you.”
Yun Ce also took a bite of the flatbread and said, “Eat more.”
E Ji glared fiercely at Peng Zeng and said, “We treated you so well for nothing.”
Peng Zeng just buried his head and chewed, saying nothing.
After Yun Ce finished his last sip of soup, Peng Zeng leaped into the center of the courtyard and beckoned to Yun Ce, “Show me your wildman skills. You can use weapons too, I will only use my fists.”
With that, he struck his fists together, producing a faint metallic clang.
Yun Ce took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and slowly walked next to Peng Zeng without speaking. He lunged forward with his right fist. He expected Peng Zeng to block it, but Peng Zeng sidestepped and simultaneously swung his left fist with the sound of wind towards Yun Ce’s ear.
He thought Yun Ce would also dodge this critical blow and thus paid no attention to Yun Ce’s right fist striking towards his abdomen.
Just as Peng Zeng’s left fist was about to hit Yun Ce’s ear, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his abdomen. Moreover, his body was sent flying backward by a powerful force. He couldn’t understand why he was hit first when his punch was launched earlier.
