Chapter 137: A Noble’s Fury, Four Thousand Floating Corpses
When the Emperor has a harem of three thousand, it is a very pleasant thing.
When a breeding boar has three thousand beauties, that is not a good thing at all.
Every thing has a saying about excess leading to deficiency, and with Doggy speaking so viciously and giving such disgusting examples, Yun Ce naturally was unwilling.
At this point, Yun Ce’s last shred of fondness for Great Han Chang’an was completely worn away by the vile human methods of breeding pigs.
At this time, Yun Ce was filled with guilt toward Peng Zeng; putting himself in his shoes, he knew that the person Peng Zeng most wanted to kill right now was him, Yun Ce.
A person is a person and cannot be raised like a pig.
“Why suddenly bring up Peng Zeng out of nowhere?” Zhang Min, who had just filled a bowl of rice for Yun Ce, deliberately leaned down, letting her long hair fall on Yun Ce’s face, perfectly blocking the line of sight from E Ji opposite, making it convenient for Yun Ce to peek into her neckline.
Yun Ce shook his head to flick away Zhang Min’s hair and said seriously, “I suddenly realized that the life arranged for Peng Zeng doesn’t seem like a good life.”
Zhang Min straightened her hair and saw E Ji glaring at her fiercely, so she deliberately tugged at her collar before casually saying, “You’re not Peng Zeng, how do you know he doesn’t like his current life? Let me tell you, he now has six wives, three of them with big bellies, not to mention eating in fine silks and jade every day; even Chang’an City’s top nobles treat him with great respect when they see him.
I heard that in Chang’an City, people wanting to give him women, money, houses are as numerous as cows’ hairs. I think Peng Zeng really likes his current life. A few days ago, he even watched a top song and dance performance in Chang’an and received favor from countless beauties. Your worries are purely unnecessary.”
1 Yun Ce nodded; since Peng Zeng’s days were going so well, he no longer needed to feel guilty.
1 Meanwhile, Zhang Min planned to invite Peng Zeng over for a meal at home in a while, so Yun Ce could observe him up close.
1 While Yun Ce was waiting for the beans to mature, right outside Yun Ce’s home, on Dragon Lake, an exceptionally fierce naval battle broke out.
1 This was the first time in Yun Ce’s life he had seen so many ancient warships fighting each other on the lake surface.
1 It started with small-scale arrow volleys probing, then face-to-face charges; signal arrows flew like locusts, with ear-piercing whistles, followed by silent arrow rains, fairly distributing the arrow rain to every warship.
1 Although most of the arrow rain was blocked by giant shields, wooden shields, and other obstructions, some still fell into gaps and finally pierced into bodies.
1 Trebuchets are truly terrifying; head-sized stones were hurled high up; although most fell into Dragon Lake due to accuracy issues, many stones still landed on the ships, and then Yun Ce saw through the telescope the horrific sight of blood flowing like rivers.
1 If trebuchets killing people still involved probability, once the huge ramming pole was pulled up and then suddenly released, that thing fell heavily like a flyswatter, swatting people like swatting flies; each strike could kill many people, and when the ramming pole was pulled up again, the deck would have many very flat corpses.
1 After the sharp and sturdy warship rams pierced into each other’s warships, people from both sides jumped onto the opponent’s ship; a batch died upon jumping, then another batch came to continue jumping.
1 Those who jumped onto the ship fought the enemy extremely fiercely, like mortal enemies; it seemed they wouldn’t stop until they killed every last one of the other side.
2 Looking at the dense floating corpses on the lake surface, Yun Ce decided that at least for the next five years, he didn’t want to eat fish from Dragon Lake; if the fighting continued, he planned to sell off this manor here. In any case, after this bloody great battle, Dragon Lake would surely be polluted.
2 “This is the might of the Grand Marshal.” Peng Zeng stood with hands behind his back in the pavilion at the highest place of Yun Clan Manor, sighing with emotion.
2 Yun Ce put away the telescope and looked at Peng Zeng’s extremely robust back, saying, “Whose forces are the ones being attacked?”
2 Peng Zeng said proudly, “Can’t say.”
2 Yun Ce said, “Then it’s the Emperor’s. A scene of a minister battling the Emperor—it’s something you see once and won’t see again.”
2 Peng Zeng suddenly turned around to look at Yun Ce and said, “Yu Heng asked me to pass a message to you: she doesn’t want to be your enemy. Last time at Ren Family, she just used a common political tactic of Chang’an nobles and didn’t really want to harm you.”
2 Looking at Peng Zeng who had once again veered off-topic at a critical moment, Yun Ce bowed and said, “This is my honor.”
2 Speaking of Yu Heng, Peng Zeng’s eyes immediately softened, and he continued, “Yu Heng also said that your relationship should have been much closer; she thought about making amends to you, but seeing your misunderstanding of her deepening day by day, she could only sigh inwardly.
2 Yun Ce, Yu Heng is a very good person; you should be more understanding of her difficulties.”
2 Yun Ce couldn’t figure it out now: did Peng Zeng have the ability to learn from experience? After going through so many cruel and brutal things, how could he still maintain a pure heart?
3 “Mm-hmm, you’re right. But soon, I’m going north of the Great Wall to establish settlements, so we won’t meet much in the future. Please apologize to Yu Heng for me, say that Yun Ce is a wildman from the outskirts, not yet adapted to Chang’an life for the time being; if there were any offenses before, please forgive me, Yu Heng.”
3 Hearing this, Peng Zeng was overjoyed and pulled out a stack of vouchers from his bosom, placing them in Yun Ce’s hand: “That’s how it should be, that’s how it should be. These gold vouchers are what Yu Heng entrusted me to give you; she also said she is grateful for your life-saving grace.”
3 Yun Ce didn’t look at the stack of vouchers but looked seriously into Peng Zeng’s eyes and said, “Do you like your current life?”
3 Peng Zeng laughed, “The glory and wealth I couldn’t get with martial arts, I easily obtained with my body. Though the path is different, the result is the same, so I’m very happy.”
3 Yun Ce smiled and said, “Don’t you feel humiliated?”
3 Peng Zeng shook his head: “If I obtained this glory and wealth with martial arts, would you think I wouldn’t be humiliated by others anymore?
3 Look at the scene before you; even the Emperor and people like the Grand Marshal have to risk their lives to fight for an outcome.
3 Yun Ce, I know why you’re asking this. To tell you the truth, they flatter me on the surface for precious medicines, knowing it’s fake, but I’m still joyful. As for how they comment on me behind my back, I don’t care.
3 This kind of life is already good enough for me.”
3 Hearing Peng Zeng say this, Yun Ce, who had wanted to invite him for a real bowl of oil-splashed noodles, immediately dropped the idea.
4 Clearly, this person was not qualified to eat his oil-splashed noodles.
4 The war on Dragon Lake continued until the sun set in the west before the gong sounded to withdraw troops. At that time, the dim yellow sunlight shone on the rippling lake surface, dyeing it golden; playing a tune 《Fisherman’s Song at Dusk》 would be most fitting, but unfortunately, there was just too much garbage on the lake surface.
4 When a noble rages, four thousand floating corpses…
4 Only at this moment did Yun Ce understand why, in this country with eternally favorable weather, there were still so many people living miserably.
4 This country seemed calm on the surface, seemed to keep the strong enemy Gui Fang people outside the borders, but in reality, the internal fighting was as fierce and ruthless as war, if not even more so.
4 From Hekou Village, Pingyuan City, Sheyang City, Chuyun City, to now Chang’an—these places were chaotic not because of Yun Ce; they were already chaotic to begin with, not chaotic only after Yun Ce appeared.
4 Having figured these things out, Yun Ce, upon discovering the huge bean pods starting to dry, immediately sent people to harvest.
4 This time, Yun Ce had planted yellowish yellow beans; he always felt that baby beans as white as pure white jade were not quite real.
4 Baby Beans grow in hard triangular bean pods; just touch the bean pod with a finger, and a lifelike chubby doll pops out from inside.
4 This thing is actually not bad eaten raw; at this time, its fat hasn’t liquefied yet—bite into it and it’s crispy, soft, and fragrant; apart from a slight bean flavor, no other flaws can be found.
5 Yun Ce was no longer very concerned about the yield, because no matter how he calculated, the final result would far exceed his expectations.
5 He was preparing to leave, because he realized that as long as he stayed in Chang’an, everyone in his household would eventually be corrupted by Chang’an’s bad customs.
5 Chang’an was beyond saving; Yun Ce now dared to bet that if Miss Hong’s rebel army came to Chang’an at this moment, no matter how strong the military forces here were or how brave the soldiers, in the end, victory would surely go to Miss Hong and her people.
5 Because the nobles here hated each other more than they hated the rebels.
5 “The difficulty of rebellion has drastically decreased; don’t you want to give it a try?”
5 Doggy asked this after hearing Yun Ce’s Chang’an social investigation report.
5 Yun Ce said indifferently, “Dealing with them really doesn’t require rebellion.”
5 Doggy’s voice immediately turned cold as well.
5 “Without rebellion, there’s no breaking the old social order. Without breaking the old social system, what you do is meaningless, because after you die, the old social order will rebound.
5 You should understand: you’re telling people to reform nature, conquer nature, and that self-reliance leads to survival, while others tell people that following nature—aka lying flat—allows them to continue living. Do you think your theory still has a foundation?
6 You’ve seen Peng Zeng’s outcome too: he was originally a proud warrior, a proud wandering knight; he worked hard to use his martial power to fight for a life full of glory, but unfortunately hit walls and obstacles repeatedly. Now, he lay flat, and a good life came naturally.
6 Yun Ce, I ask you: without major social reform and great purge, how can you thoroughly implement your ideas?”
6 Yun Ce laughed, “Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. Different environments require different countermeasures; we can’t rigidly apply things one-size-fits-all—that’s our consistent work style.
6 Doggy, you’re too dogmatic.”
6 “What? Me, dogmatic? I can recite Instructor’s every article backwards and forwards; I know all the commentaries on Instructor’s articles; what I say is true principle selected from the best and recombined.
6 In terms of study, who can surpass me?”
