Chapter 213: The Path To Life And The Path To Death
Cao Kun frowned and said: “This is a method only used by down-and-outs.”
Yun Ce tied up his weapons while saying: “Am I not obviously down-and-out enough already?”
Cao Kun also found a relatively clean corpse to sit on and said to Yun Ce: “Pingzhou is about to be dismembered. You’ve got Xiangcheng—do you have any further intentions?”
Yun Ce moved Yan Fei’s head aside and sat back down on that corpse claimed to have broad shoulders, capable of bearing a king. He picked up the wine pot there, took a sip, and said to Cao Kun: “The Yun Clan Villa side is the production base, Jingkou Pass ensures the Yun Clan Villa has a reliable escape route in times of crisis, and Xiangcheng is a window for the Yun Clan to do business outward.
Right now, the development on the Yun Clan Villa side is far from complete. Although the construction of Jingkou Pass is of utmost importance, not even a single brick or stone has been replaced yet. Now we’ve also taken Xiangcheng and need to rebuild the market.
These three places, though connected, form a fine self-sufficient little kingdom. How many years do you think I need to truly link these three places and achieve the vision I imagine?”
Cao Kun thought for a moment and said: “Thirty years.”
Yun Ce sighed and said: “You and I both know that the Gui Fang people marching south is imminent. Do you think they’ll give me thirty years?
Also, Pingzhou is about to splinter into five parts. When that happens, the relationships here will be extremely tangled. Do you think I’ll still have a peaceful development environment like last year?
Brother Cao, I’m not you. You have a massive family backing you up. Whatever you want to do, just give the order, and the family will provide the people, the money, the connections—you don’t need to worry. You just need to earnestly do what you’re supposed to do, and you’ll succeed.
1 Even someone like you thinks it takes at least thirty years to properly manage this place. Do you think that besides being able to fight, I also have the ability to turn stone into gold or make people bow their heads in submission upon seeing me?
1 When I came to Jingkou Pass, your Cao Clan hadn’t yet extended its reach to the Great Wall Defense Line, so it’s not a matter of the Yun Clan encroaching on your Cao Clan’s territory.
1 I just happened to choose this place as the new rising ground for the family.”
1 Yun Ce spoke these words very sincerely. When talking to someone like Cao Kun, only the truth and real words have the weight to be taken seriously for weighing gains and losses.
1 If it’s lies or empty words, people will see through them at a glance, then respond with even more false, formulaic words. In this regard, no one can compare to the scions of noble families.
1 Don’t believe it? Go flip through the history books, from Li Si’s Expulsion of Guest Remonstrators to Touching the Dragon’s Remonstrance to the Empress Dowager of Zhao, On Accumulating Stores, Longzhong Pair, Chen Qing Biao, Remonstrance to Emperor Taizong’s Ten Thoughts, Teacher Say, Presentation to Emperor Renzong on State Affairs, On Public Security…… and so on—these successful famous pieces all start with truth, are built on genuine emotion, and end with ‘I’m saying this for your own good.’
1 Words must be logical and true to have weight; otherwise, no matter how much you say, it’s just farting.
1 The words Yun Ce said to Cao Kun were all plain facts. Yun Ce didn’t even hide his ambition to build a great family, because only saying it this way aligned with the worldview of scions like Cao Kun.
1 As for deeper things, it’s not that Yun Ce didn’t say them, but people like Cao Kun simply couldn’t understand—at least they’d never grasp what it means to ‘serve the people.’
1 Cao Kun smiled and said: “Was this battle hard?”
2 Yun Ce picked up his removed armor piercing gear, tossed it in front of Cao Kun, and said: “See for yourself. Every hole in this represents a time I nearly died.
2 Others might think it’s not that bad. Old Cao, you’re not going to say that to me too, are you?”
2 Cao Kun looked at Yun Ce’s armor that was practically full of holes like dotted clothing, then at the Yi Tree Cloth undershirt on Yun Ce stained with blood, and shook his head: “I won’t say that. I’ll only say you did well. If I were in your position, I’d do the same.”
2 Yun Ce looked up at the setting sun and said indifferently: “Whether a family rises or not, individual effort is actually negligible. It mostly depends on luck.
2 Back then, when Xiang Yu fell in battle at Gai Xia, a fine merit of slaying a general was divided among many people. Among them was an nameless soldier named Yang Xi who chopped off Xiang Yu’s thigh. Just by picking up that thigh after Xiang Yu’s suicide, he was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Chi Quan. The noble family established by such an nameless soldier, by the time King Huo came to the Great Han side, that man’s great-grandson Yang Chang was already Prime Minister.
2 Cao Kun took the wine pot from Yun Ce’s hand, took a sip, and said: “Your family seems very familiar with ancestral land matters.”
2 Yun Ce said: “What else can we do if not familiar? Many things passed down from the Yellow Emperor have problems. Even something as good as the ‘well-field system’ was lost. Our ancestor once said: ‘Ancestors are not to be imitated.’ So our whole family had to go to the wilderness and become wildmen.”
2 Cao Kun frowned and said: “At least finish the whole saying.”
2 Yun Ce smiled: “I was telling it as a story for you to hear. If you want to take it out and say it, I won’t acknowledge it. Listen carefully—the full saying is: ‘Fear not changes in Heaven, imitate not ancestors, heed not the words of men.'”
2 Cao Kun looked at Yun Ce and said: “Hearing you say that, I truly believe your ancestors were once truly prominent.”
3 Yun Ce said puzzled: “I’m from a poor scholar family—what’s there to be proud of?”
3 Cao Kun shook his head: “No, it’s that your behavior inherits the words your ancestor said, passed down in one line. Mountain wilderness spirits don’t have that ability.”
3 Yun Ce frowned: “How did I become a mountain wilderness spirit?”
3 Cao Kun pointed to the corpses everywhere and said: “They think this feat is beyond human capability.”
3 Yun Ce said: “When King Huo battlefield beheaded twenty thousand back then, why did no one question it?”
3 Cao Kun said: “You killed three thousand, right before their eyes. King Huo’s twenty thousand battlefield beheadings were far on the horizon.”
3 Yun Ce looked at Cao Kun silently. Cao Kun continued: “Taking the name of a kill god to buy yourself some development time—this might be the best method available right now.
3 I understand—a family wants to develop, expand, rise. As a scion who’s seen prosperity, you’re certainly eager to restore your ancestors’ glory.
3 But, I advise you not to rush. Posing as a lone wolf is fine, but whatever you do, don’t really become one. Otherwise, your dream of restoring ancestral glory will completely come to nothing.
3 You slew Yan Fei—the merit of slaying a general, no one dares profane. So Xiangcheng is yours. But taking Xiangcheng—you, Yun Ce, are not the only meritorious official.
4 So…”
4 “So, what can I keep?”
4 “One city, some people, some money and grain.”
4 Yun Ce crossed his hands and rubbed the dried blood scabs in the crevices of his fingers. Watching the blood powder fall in flakes, Yun Ce said: “For the sake of our brotherhood, leave me a bit more.”
4 Cao Kun stood up and said: “Ten days from now, you can take over Xiangcheng. Until then, Xiangcheng belongs to everyone.”
4 Watching Cao Kun leave, Yun Ce continued cleaning the battlefield alone, busy for a full night.
4 When the sun came out, the red date horse herded a group of warhorses carrying more armor and weapons back to Jingkou Pass. Yun Ce slept soundly for half a day alone on the sunny slope.
4 At noon, he got up, looked at Xiangcheng not far away, and walked over.
4 City breaking—actually two extremely cruel words. Not much better than massacre the city, and often even more brutal.
4 Normally, the Emperor or a prestigious commander doesn’t allow massacre the city—it harms their reputation.
5 But the officers and soldiers below have fought bloody battles to succeed—this city is actually their wealth. Under no massacre the city conditions, generals usually declare under the name of public security how many days of pacification, and during the stipulated time, burning, killing, looting are all permitted. Once time’s up, pacification ends immediately.
5 Of course, some generals issue seal the blade three days later, some six days later seal the blade. Of course, there are also nine days, twelve days seal the blade. During the Five Barbarians Chaos, when Shi Hu took Handan, it was three months before seal the blade. By then, Handan City had basically no living people left besides their own—finally, the remaining women were eaten as two-legged sheep.
5 Xiangcheng, ten days later seal the blade…
5 The city was very chaotic, soldiers everywhere, people like headless flies everywhere.
5 Seeing the people in misfortune, Yun Ce didn’t intervene, quietly passing through the city.
5 Finally, seeming fatigued, he found a crossroads, sat down cross-legged. Because he hadn’t bathed, his appearance was still very terrifying, his killing aura so thick it nearly dispersed. Even sitting there, with two meteor hammers dyed red by blood in front of him, those in the city who didn’t know him didn’t dare approach.
5 A young woman holding an infant stumbled out of a house, chased by two grinning Cao Clan soldiers. With no way out, the woman suddenly gained sentience and knelt before Yun Ce hugging the child. Those two soldiers, mustering courage from who knows where, actually passed Yun Ce to drag away the mother and daughter.
5 The meteor hammers on the ground flew up like spiritual snakes, carrying the two soldiers’ bodies, smashing heavily into a thick brick wall. The meteor hammers pierced through their bodies and smashed through the wall. When the meteor hammers suddenly retracted, people could see through the two soldiers’ corpses into that household’s clean little courtyard.
5 Seeing this, the woman just covered the girl’s eyes, her body involuntarily moving behind Yun Ce.
5 The killing in the city continued, but the people behind Yun Ce grew more and more, eventually lining up over five hundred meters long.
6 Outside the city, there was a blood-and-flesh blurred road, also over five hundred meters long, full of dead people. Today, this five-hundred-meter street was full of living people.
6 For ten days, Yun Ce never left this crossroads. Many commanding generals heard of it and came to watch. When they saw Yun Ce sitting right at the front, they turned and left, not willing to stay a moment.
