Chapter 284: Cao Clan Civil Strife
As long as there are frequent wars, the appearance of refugees is inevitable.
If there is war on the east side, refugees will automatically flow to the south side, west side, and north side.
If there is war on the left side, refugees will naturally go to the right? side.
This is a very simple problem.
So when there is war south of the Great Wall, refugees will proactively go north of the Great Wall. Although there are Gui Fang people north of the Great Wall, after a thousand years, haven’t the Gui Fang people been blocked by Iron Enclosure Pass from coming south?
Seeing more and more refugees around him, this made Yun Ce involuntarily think of Walk to the West Pass and Rush to the East of the Pass on the ancestral land.
Speaking of it, it is somewhat heroic, and singing it is somewhat moving, but when seeing it with one’s own eyes, it really isn’t heroic or moving at all.
This is nothing more than a spontaneous self-rescue behavior by the common people, just like Walk to the West Pass and Rush to the East of the Pass on the ancestral land—not walking or rushing means they can’t survive, but taking a chance might save their lives.
Tiger Guards have tall and sturdy figures, and after putting on heavy armor, they give people an invincible appearance. Moreover, they never rob refugees of their possessions, only requiring food to be pooled together for unified distribution. Clearly tall and sturdy one by one, yet they do not bully the women among the refugees. Even on the food distribution issue that worries refugees the most, they strive to achieve fairness and justice.
Therefore, when Yun Ce led the refugees to arrive at Dragon Head Pass, the first pass of the Great Wall, the number of refugees around him had long exceeded fifty thousand.
1 After Tiger Guards removed their armor, they blended into the massive crowd of refugees, practically disappearing for real.
1 Entering Dragon Head Pass basically means entering Qiu He Prefecture, which is the Cao Clan’s old nest. Yun Ce flew the King of Changsha banner precisely to borrow this name to enter north of the Great Wall via Dragon Head Pass.
1 In the end, he was rejected by the garrison commander of Dragon Head Pass, Cao Zhen.
1 He not only rejected Yun Ce’s request to pass through Dragon Head Pass to go north of the Great Wall, but also arrogantly rejected Yun Ce’s request to continue east along the Great Wall and enter north of the Great Wall via their own Jingkou Pass.
1 “I thought we were allies, friends!”
1 Yun Ce stood below the city and said to Cao Zhen on the city wall.
1 Cao Zhen stood on the city wall and mockingly said: “You are not qualified to be allies of my Cao Clan, let alone friends.”
1 Yun Ce sniffed and said: “I am brothers with Cao Kun, so you should be my brother too.”
1 Cao Zhen burst into laughter: “Are you referring to that bastard of my Cao Clan who watched his brother fall in battle yet did not go to his aid?”
1 Yun Ce looked at Cao Zhen seriously and said: “You don’t know how formidable Cao Kun is. If you let me enter north of the Great Wall today, Cao Kun might remember this in the future and spare your life.”
2 Cao Zhen laughed heartily: “You might not know that the bastard has already been stripped of his title as Eldest Son by the patriarch, and people have been sent to escort him back to Qiuhe City to face clan ancestral hall punishment.”
2 Yun Ce looked at this excessively honest Cao Clan general and sighed: “I am saving you, do you know that?”
2 “Cough—spit—”
2 Yun Ce saw a big glob of thick green phlegm fly out of Cao Zhen’s mouth, lose momentum after flying three zhang, and finally arc down to land less than two zhang from the Red Date Horse.
2 Yun Ce looked at the still-bubbling green phlegm and slightly furrowed his brows.
2 Doggy roared in Yun Ce’s mind: “Can’t tolerate this.”
2 Yun Ce said: “Looking at his phlegm-spitting skill, this guy is just a stupid Hundred-man General. How could the Cao Clan entrust such an important pass to him for defense?”
2 Doggy said: “Don’t know. Don’t ask me about matters concerning human hearts.”
2 Yun Ce nodded and looked at Cao Zhen, who was already on the city wall with swords drawn and crossbows loaded, saying: “Is there a lot of grain in the pass?”
2 Cao Zhen smiled and said: “Enough to support these beggars for a month.”
3 Yun Ce turned back to look at the Tiger Guards who had already gathered together, and sincerely said to Cao Zhen: “Actually, my family has plenty of grain. You here only need to have ten days’ worth.”
3 Cao Zhen sneered coldly and immediately ordered to loose arrows.
3 Seeing arrows already flying densely, Yun Ce felt he had sufficient reason to confront Cao Kun about this. Braving the arrow rain, he tiger-leaped from the Red Date Horse’s back, flying five zhang, with ten fingers like hooks digging into the stone wall, instantly climbing onto the city wall.
3 The Black Feathered Eagle sitting on the Red Date Horse’s buttocks took the opportunity to fly up, flapping its wings to fan away all the arrows above the Red Date Horse’s head. And while Yun Ce climbed the wall like a gecko, it flew to the city wall first.
3 Ignoring the city wall, the distance between Yun Ce and Cao Zhen was only five zhang. Until Yun Ce climbed onto the city wall, he still couldn’t figure it out: his God-Slayer reputation was so renowned along the Great Wall line, so why would a fool like Cao Zhen think that standing on the city wall made him untouchable.
3 Tiger Guards stood in the arrow rain bathing for a while; arrows pierced their outer robes and clattered on their heavy armor before falling to the ground.
3 Before Yun Ce flew to grab Cao Zhen, he specifically glanced at the Tiger Guards and discovered that from this height on the city wall, their obvious height advantage wasn’t apparent at all—after all, from high ground, everything looks like ants.
3 Cao Zhen, apart from having no brain and no martial power, was still decent in loyalty. At least, he dared to swing his long saber wildly at the Black Feathered Eagle, with sparks flying from collisions between the long saber and the eagle’s wings, yet he fought to the death without retreating.
3 It wasn’t just Cao Zhen who looked down on Yun Ce; the warriors under Cao Zhen’s command also launched attacks on the majestic-looking Black Feathered Eagle at the first moment. For a time, crossbow bolts flew around the Black Feathered Eagle, and blades and spears, swords and halberds of various weapons took turns beating it, leaving no chance to rescue Yun Ce, who was surrounded by soldiers.
3 Facing a group of soldiers with fuzz still on their lips, Yun Ce felt killing them would be improper. Despite their strong desire for military merit, Yun Ce spared them, jumping over their heads to land below the city wall. Alone, he faced a group of shield soldiers, pushing them into the city gate tunnel, then with a shove flipped over one turtle shell after another.
4 While the shield soldiers were thrown into chaos, he took the chance to open the city gate, letting the Tiger Guards already at the city base enter through the gate.
4 Seeing Tiger Guards enter the city gate, the civilian militia following behind them gave a shout and rushed into Dragon Head Pass.
4 Cao Zhen was smacked down by a wing of the Black Feathered Eagle, half his body hanging over the city wall. Only then did he realize his pass mouth had been breached by Yun Ce.
4 Everyone knows the Great Han’s Great Wall passes are outward-facing, not inward.
4 Correct, the walls facing north of the Great Wall are very high and the terrain extremely perilous, but the walls facing south of the Great Wall are very low. Most importantly, per Great Han military law, no moat is allowed under the walls on this side.
4 This makes Dragon Head Pass, though the first Great Wall pass, easy to take when attacking from south to north.
4 Cao Zhen immediately howled, calling on the soldiers below the city—who were being killed by Tiger Guards into fleeing like rats—to not run. But the current Tiger Guards far surpassed the former in agility and cleverness; how could ordinary soldiers resist them? In a moment, heads rolled, and they fled in panic.
4 Seeing more and more refugees rushing into Dragon Head Pass, even some sturdy women picking up a knife and hurriedly charging into the city to loot Dragon Head Pass.
4 Desperate, Cao Zhen removed his helmet, closed his eyes, and fell straight down from the city wall.
4 Though the south wall wasn’t high, it was three zhang. Falling straight down while wearing heavy armor would certainly be fatal.
5 After waiting a long time without feeling his body hit the ground, Cao Zhen opened his eyes to see Yun Ce’s impatient face.
5 “I don’t like holding men.”
5 With that, he threw Cao Zhen to the ground.
5 Cao Zhen sat up in a kneeling position, looked at the refugees looting everywhere, glared at Yun Ce angrily, and said: “Is this how you act as the Cao Clan’s ally and friend?”
5 Yun Ce sat helplessly on a rolling log opposite him and said: “Those seem to be my words from earlier. And you spat phlegm at me. By the way, let me ask you something: you, a barely competent Hundred-man General, what merit or ability do you have to serve as garrison commander of Dragon Head Pass?”
5 Cao Zhen said: “If the patriarch hadn’t transferred a large batch of warriors back to Qiuhe City, do you think you could have breached the pass so easily?”
5 Hearing this, Yun Ce sighed and said: “It’s over. Why are you nobles all like this? In the Battle of Chang’an, over a hundred thousand elites died. Now, is Qiuhe City going to lose several more tens of thousands of elites?
5 Or do you think internal struggle is far more important than defending some key passes?”
5 Seeing Yun Ce had no intention of killing him, Cao Zhen quietly uncrossed his legs from kneeling to sitting cross-legged, looked up at Yun Ce, and said: “Eldest Son is in great danger this time. You should cut ties with him early. Otherwise, the patriarch will definitely trouble you later.”
5 Yun Ce rolled his eyes at this odd fellow.
6 “After breaking the pass, looting for half a day shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
6 Cao Zhen immediately stood up and said: “Just half a day?”
6 Yun Ce nodded: “We’ll leave after four more hours of looting. Can you hold out?”
6 Cao Zhen grimaced: “Just don’t loot too ruthlessly.”
6 Yun Ce slapped Cao Zhen’s forehead and said: “I originally didn’t want to break the city, but you said you had enough grain here to support fifty to sixty thousand people for a month.
6 Alright, no more talk. You cover up the looting for me, and I’ll cover up the city breaking for you. We’ll let this matter pass. Anyway, the Cao Clan will be in chaos for a while. As long as you can control your subordinates from reporting it, no one in the Cao Clan will have the extra energy to investigate you.”
6 The Red Date Horse finally sauntered into the city. Seeing Cao Zhen, it chewed a clump of grass, swallowed it when sticky, regurgitated it into its mouth, tilted its neck, and spat it onto Cao Zhen’s face.
6 Dragon Head Pass isn’t long but very wide, with no gates east-west, only north-south city gates. At this time, the north city gate was also opened by Tiger Guards. From the south gate, one could see straight to the wasteland outside the north gate.
6 The Red Date Horse’s stomach acid is corrosive. After Cao Zhen removed the grass clump spat on his face by the Red Date Horse and washed his face dozens of times with clean water, he barely opened his pair of swollen red eyes to look around.
6 Only then did he discover that Yun Ce’s men and horses had already left Dragon Head Pass, snaking in formation into the wasteland.
7 “We repelled the enemy army, close the city gates—”
7 Cao Zhen returned to the city wall and shouted to the routed soldiers who had just gathered.
