Chapter 141: People Must Rely On Themselves To Succeed
The territory of the Great Han Dynasty is vast and boundless.
If Ancestral Fire and Shehuo constituted the spiritual bond of the Han People, then the post stations have always been the chains connecting the entire nation, substantively binding the Great Han into a single entity. It is precisely because the Great Han has countless post stations that it appears as a complete dynasty rather than a loose tribal alliance.
According to the current Han Law of the Great Han, post stations must provide grain, lodging, and even transportation free of charge to those passing through on official business.
Yun Ce had traveled tens of thousands of li from Dragon Gate Post Station to Chang’an, relying on these post stations, although the supplies in some places were very poor, and even bribes to the post station staff were needed to get accommodation.
Overall, this post station system is still reliable.
Although Yun Ce’s group numbered over eleven thousand, fewer than two hundred truly needed post station accommodation.
Now, in a place only two days’ journey from Chang’an, someone from the post station was openly telling him that they could not accommodate them here.
“Is it because there are too many of us?”
Yun Ce stopped the angry Feng An, took out the pass token Wu Tong had given him, and smilingly asked the postmaster in front of him.
After seeing the pass token from the Grand Marshal’s Mansion, the postmaster’s eyes clearly flickered evasively, but this guy was also straightforward. Seeing that Yun Ce seemed to be the leader of this group, he cupped his hands and said, “Return to Chang’an. The road ahead is impassable.
1 If you stay at my Tongming Post Station, I cannot guarantee your safety.”
1 Yun Ce pointed to his long convoy and asked, “Is it the safety of the more than two hundred family members who need to enter the post station, or everyone here?”
1 The postmaster hesitated and said softly, “Return to Chang’an. I cannot guarantee anyone’s safety right now, including my own.”
1 Yun Ce looked up at the low village walls of Tongming Post Station and the relatively bustling market inside the walls, nodded, and ordered Feng An and the others to find a water source and camp in the wilderness tonight.
1 Seeing that Yun Ce and his group did not enter the post station, the postmaster shook out his sleeves, scolded the group of onlookers, and then ordered the post station gate closed.
1 The post stations of the Great Han wield great power. Some important post stations even have more authority than local officials, like those old brothers at Dragon Gate Post Station. The profits they reap each year are not necessarily less than those of high officials in the province.
1 The Tongming Post Station before them was clearly incomparable to Dragon Gate Post Station in terms of scale and importance, yet their audacity was even greater than those fat rats at Dragon Gate Post Station.
1 Because Yun Ce held a pass token issued by the Grand Marshal’s Mansion on this trip, which also represented the authority of the Grand Marshal’s Mansion, that is, the army.
1 Now, the postmaster of Tongming Post Station did not recognize the pass token issued by the Grand Marshal’s Mansion, which proved one thing: the Grand Marshal’s Mansion had lost jurisdiction over Tongming Post Station.
1 This was very interesting.
2 Zhang Min had said that the Grand Marshal’s Mansion valued Iron Enclosure Pass the most, followed by the Great Wall Defense Line. Logically, the area north of Chang’an and this road currently known as “Gui Chi” should be the most obedient to the military orders of the Grand Marshal’s Mansion, but the current situation did not match what Zhang Min had said.
2 When orders do not pass through, it is said to be a major event, but it is actually not a big deal. If it can be corrected in time, it is not a major event at all. If it cannot be corrected, it is over, and there is no need to correct it.
2 Feng An found an abandoned military camp with a water source, open space for pitching tents, extinguished fire pits, and piles of horse manure like mountains.
2 Yun Ce decisively chose this place as the campsite.
2 “This is where those large caravans we encountered on the road previously camped. The water source is a small river with flowing water.”
2 Yun Ce looked at Feng An’s grave expression and smiled, “Have you sensed the danger?”
2 Feng An said, “Liang Kun took people to scout. Preliminary findings show something wrong with the population at Tongming Post Station.”
2 Yun Ce said, “How is it wrong?”
2 Feng An said, “According to Han Law, a first-class post station like Dragon Gate Post Station or Ji Ming Post Station requires over ten thousand registered population to support the heavy corvée labor and ensure smooth operation.
2 Tongming Post Station is a fourth-class station. Such a post station also needs over a thousand registered population to operate. With over a thousand registered plus their families, Tongming Post Station should have at least five or six thousand people.
3 Liang Kun just reported that the current registered population at this Tongming Post Station is less than three hundred, but they all look very fierce, not like post station clerks, more like warriors.”
3 Yun Ce said, “So, where did the population of Tongming Post Station go?”
3 Feng An blinked and said, “I want to know too.”
3 It was not until the camp began serving dinner that Liang Kun hurried back, looking somewhat fatigued. After drinking two bowls of cold porridge, he set down his rice bowl and said to Yun Ce, “The population has been migrating north in a planned and large-scale manner.”
3 Yun Ce looked up at Liang Kun and said, “You mean the population here is not migrating toward the prosperous areas around Chang’an, but instead migrating north in a large-scale, organized way?”
3 Liang Kun said, “There should be large villages around the post station. These large villages are responsible for raising cattle and horses for the post station’s use, and they must also enter the wilderness for gathering to provide food and various supplies for the post station.
3 I took people and ran over a hundred li, found two villages, and not only were they empty, but some families had evacuated in such haste that they didn’t even take their pot and stove or grain.
3 From the traces they left, their direction of evacuation was north, and the evacuation time was no more than ten days ago.”
3 Yun Ce shook his head and said, “This is very unreasonable. Since when did everyone start valuing ordinary population like this? Weren’t they always left to fend for themselves before?
3 Be careful tonight. When people weren’t valuable before, no one cared about slaves. Now that people are valuable, someone might come to rob them.
4 I think that postmaster looks just like he’s about to come rob us.”
4 Feng An rubbed his hands anxiously and said, “More than half under our command are women and children, with weak combat power. If an army comes, we are no match.”
4 “Then let’s go rob them first.”
4 “Will Lord go alone?”
4 “No, we all move out.”
4 “Does Lord mean to use the bombs?”
4 “Yes, since this thing has been made, it should let everyone understand how extremely powerful we are. Tongming Post Station is perfect—not too big, not too small, with just the right number of people, ideal for practice.
4 By the way, have Chu and the others mastered the throwing technique?”
4 Liang Kun smiled and said, “Lord doesn’t need to worry about that. They are now obsessed with throwing bombs.”
4 Yun Ce nodded. As long as one is a normal person, they are actually quite obsessed with throwing bombs, because after the bomb explodes, the thrower associates the bomb’s power with their own ability, eventually forming a fixed mindset: it’s not how powerful the bomb is, it’s how powerful I am, the one throwing it.
5 When leaving Lantian County, Yun Ce followed the process given by Doggy, purified the stored sulfur and Glauber’s salt from the manor, then strictly followed the production formula and process, according to the charge amounts, and made many bombs of varying power.
5 The most powerful kind, about the size of a head, leaves no living thing within ten meters once detonated. There are over three hundred such bombs. After giving one each to E Ji, Zhang Min, Feng An, and Liang Kun, Yun Ce kept the rest.
5 As for those hand-rolled simple bombs, Yun Ce directly distributed them to his newly organized grenadiers.
5 The power of these bombs naturally could not compare to Doggy’s hand-rolled premium bombs, but a bomb loaded with one jin of black powder, once thrown by a strong man, could cause great harm to enemies with the iron nails, iron shards, porcelain pieces, and such inside.
5 Those with great strength use big bombs, those with less use small bombs. Even among the women, those with great strength who could throw bombs far were given bombs by Yun Ce.
5 Ever since Yun Ce equipped bombs to the level of sturdy women, incidents of harming women and children inherent in the slave camp decreased significantly.
5 After bombs exploded eight times in their own camp, especially after a child, unwilling to see his mother humiliated, lit the fuse of his mother’s bomb and hugged the man bullying her in mutual destruction, harming women, children, and men harming each other in the slave camp ceased entirely.
5 Because with bombs, it was no longer whoever was bigger and stronger wins, nor whoever had the bigger fist wins. Even a child now posed a great threat.
5 Yun Ce did not reform the slave camp much, only requiring everyone to clean themselves up and eliminate the parasitic insects on their bodies, with no further demands.
5 From slaves to people, they needed time to adapt. At least, only after bombs lifted their spirits could one talk about reforming their worldview.
6 After all, before reforming someone’s worldview, they must first have a worldview.
6 “Because the people at Tongming Post Station are coming to sneak attack us tonight and capture everyone to sell for money, tonight we will sneak attack them first before they can attack us.”
6 This was the motion Yun Ce issued to Chu and the group of commanders of a thousand, centurions, and ten-man leaders, and then this motion was quickly issued downward, becoming the motion of everyone in the camp.
6 Everyone felt that Lord was absolutely right. They must not be sold off again, or the women they had finally found, the families they had formed, and the children they had gained would once again not belong to them.
6 When the sun set, everyone could hardly contain themselves. The strong men even couldn’t wait for nightfall and walked toward Tongming Post Station with a bomb in one hand. Behind them were women also holding bombs. The children, though without bombs, picked up wooden sticks, bamboo poles, and stones, ready to fight the enemy to the death.
6 “Aren’t you going to command how they fight?”
6 Zhang Min watched group after group of disorganized teams, shouting loudly to bolster their own courage while surrounding Tongming Post Station, and couldn’t help asking Yun Ce.
6 Yun Ce shook his head: “This is their own war. They must adapt to war as quickly as possible. Only by adapting will they, in the near future, firmly protect their own property.”
