Chapter 301: I Came To Chang’an With Only One Person
Few people think their own perseverance is wrong, especially for someone like Wu Tong who has a resolute mind and a certain degree of wisdom; he is even less likely to.
They are already very confident, plus the sunk cost accumulated over time; even if the initial perseverance turns into later stubbornness, they won’t notice the change. Even if they hit a wall, they won’t regret it even at the cost of their lives.
Yun Ce has seen many such people. Sometimes it’s due to unfavorable circumstances, sometimes the wind is not blowing right, sometimes wrong team alignment, and some even charge to their deaths in the opposite direction of the rolling dust and smoke of the era’s advance.
The fates of these people are all not good; some have fates that can be called tragic.
Yun Ce does not want Wu Tong to end up with such a fate, because this person is very much like Xun Yu at the end of the Eastern Han, and also very much like that someone…
Wu Tong’s problem is that he always pledges loyalty to the wrong person.
Therefore, when taking the secret passage of Zhou Situ, it was just right to use this family’s fate as an example for Wu Tong, to see if he could reflect, and re-examine his past.
Anyone who has worked knows that when you first enter a workplace and feel very uncomfortable, then it’s certain—this place is not suitable for you, run away quickly.
Anyone who thinks they can slowly adapt is cutting their own feet to fit the shoes; the pain is only suffered by themselves.
South Mountain Waterfall at some unknown time from a ribbon of water turned into a tattered piece of cloth with wisps of threads; through this broken curtain, Chang’an City was at their feet.
1 At this time, Chang’an City was full of infantry in black clothes and black armor everywhere; they were omnipresent, like ants going in and out of the houses in Chang’an City. From a distance, they couldn’t hear the screams in the city, only see the dilapidated houses in the city continuously catching fire, with thick smoke enveloping the entire Chang’an.
1 Imperial Palace Mountain was also rolling with thick smoke; the fire Wu Tong set was still not extinguished, but dark clouds had drifted over from other places, wrapping a black belt around Imperial Palace Mountain.
1 Dragon God Hall was not affected; those ant-like black armies stayed at the foot of the mountain, and occasionally one or two low horn sounds could reach South Mountain.
1 “A doomsday-like scene.”
1 Hearing Yun Ce say this, Wu Tong gritted his teeth and said, “Is that all you have to say, just a sigh?”
1 Yun Ce smiled and said, “Considering that these things here are all caused by the people in this city themselves, I feel there is no need for me to grieve or be angry.”
1 Wu Tong unknowingly had tears streaming down his face, choking as he said, “Your heart is so hard.”
1 Yun Ce waved his sleeve and said, “To me, this is just a page in the history book; it’s hard to generate empathy. If I were in the ancestral land at this moment, and supposing my eyes could see what is happening in Chang’an City right now, this scene would be history to me. After all, by the time these events are transmitted to my mind through my gaze, who knows how many years have passed.
1 So, Wu Tong, once an event is interpreted in the dimension of history, you will feel that the calamity happening in Chang’an City right now is just a splash in the long river of history.”
1 Wu Tong said, “I understand what you mean, but that’s too heartless. I can’t turn a blind eye, nor treat the people of the world as grass dogs.”
2 Yun Ce thought such a person was very suitable to be a subordinate.
2 South Mountain Waterfall had become smaller; this was greatly related to the daily rainfall landing on South Mountain. Now, with fires everywhere in Chang’an City, the sentient Chang’an Shehuo had no choice but to direct the limited rainfall as accurately as possible onto Chang’an City.
2 Yun Ce, Wu Tong and the others stayed behind South Mountain Waterfall for five days. In these five days, their external injuries had fully healed thanks to a bit of Peng Zeng Brand Rapid Growth Liquid, but the injuries to their internal organs had not improved much.
2 Unfortunately, the foundation of their martial power was internal breath, and internal breath came from the five viscera and six bowels. If the five viscera and six bowels were not healthy, it greatly affected the operation of their internal breath.
2 These days, besides practicing, Huo Wudi and Lei Ming had been fooling around with the Red Date Horse; they were also very curious why the Red Date Horse had become so full of spirituality.
2 Unfortunately, no matter how the two tempted and deceived it, they couldn’t wake the Red Date Horse from its current silly state. Huo Wudi even took a spike and poked it toward the Red Date Horse’s eyes; the Red Date Horse immediately lay down and neighed loudly, its voice utterly miserable. Thus, Huo Wudi received a beating from Yun Ce.
2 While beating her, Yun Ce warned Huo Wudi that a little girl should naturally be kind and not resort to any means to achieve her ends.
2 On the fifth day, the Black Feathered Eagle that Yun Ce had been waiting for flew in, also bringing a letter from E Ji. The books in hand had been distributed, and they were preparing to ride albatrosses back to Yun Clan Villa.
2 The albatrosses were borrowed by E Ji from Cao Kun; Liu Changsheng had also gotten the Grand Marshal to guarantee that the albatrosses could land and take off safely. The departure date was set for tomorrow morning.
2 The next morning, Yun Ce stood at the South Mountain Waterfall mouth where the waterfall was no longer visible, looking at the distant Dragon God Hall. At the moment the sun came out, three albatrosses appeared in the sky from the east side, circled three times over Chang’an City, and finally landed at Dragon God Hall.
3 Half a shichen later, the three albatrosses struggled to take off from Dragon God Hall, flying slowly eastward under the escort of a small black dot.
3 “The albatrosses are overloaded; they probably can’t fly to Yun Clan Villa in one go. Your wife loaded so much gold; that’s very dangerous.”
3 Yun Ce felt that Wu Tong did not understand E Ji.
3 “Based on my cognition of my wife, she would only take my two sons on an eagle. My other wife would take people on one albatross, and the backs of the other two albatrosses would carry the gold.”
3 After hearing Yun Ce’s explanation, Wu Tong breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Good thing Madam knows to put people first.”
3 Yun Ce said, “This has always been our family’s stance.”
3 E Ji also told Yun Ce in the letter that Cao Kun hoped Yun Ce could search for Zheng Tianshou’s whereabouts. Although Yun Ce estimated that Zheng Tianshou, as a vassal lord envoy targeted by the Grand Marshal, was probably already dead, Cao Kun swore that Zheng Tianshou was still alive.
3 After reading the letter, Yun Ce had the Black Feathered Eagle take the letter back. As for returning to Chang’an City to search for Zheng Tianshou, Yun Ce thought it was not feasible.
3 After all, he was now at best at the strength of a thousand-man general; going to Chang’an City would be suicide.
3 He planned to return to Yun Clan Villa, have Doggy properly condition his body, and by the way, also fix Wu Tong’s battered body. Only when both were at peak condition could they confront the crippled He Junnian.
4 Otherwise, once He Junnian learned that Yun Ce was Liu Chang’an who sniped him at Dragon God Hall, Yun Clan Villa would turn to ashes in an instant.
4 However, this secret probably couldn’t be kept much longer; quite a few people on the Great Wall Defense Line knew that Yun Ce was Liu Chang’an.
4 After descending South Mountain, the four people and one horse headed east.
4 Yun Ce even bought a horse carriage for the Red Date Horse to pull, so they could hurry home along the main road day and night without stopping.
4 Though said to be day and night without stopping, they couldn’t go far in a day and night—not because the Red Date Horse pulling the carriage was too slow, but because there were simply too many people heading east along the road.
4 Speaking of which, Chang’an City only had so many people; even if all died, it would be at most seventy or eighty thousand. The so-called Chang’an people were actually those radiating out in a hundred-li radius centered on Chang’an City.
4 When Huo Qubing built Chang’an City back then, besides settling civil and military officials, the imperial palace, and priest halls in the city, he forcibly relocated the wealthiest thirty thousand households from the entire world to Chang’an.
4 This created Chang’an City’s deformed prosperity. Now, with Chang’an City destroyed by warfare, the two million people dependent on Chang’an for livelihood had lost their mainstay.
4 Without the strong consumption from those rich people, the livelihoods of the two million people around Chang’an were gone. The population had gathered with the construction of Chang’an City, and now scattered with its fall.
4 If over two million people scattered in the southeast, southwest, and northwest directions, it wouldn’t be a big problem; such chaos would soon stop as the people migrated everywhere.
5 The Grand Marshal forbids it!
5 This ban carried strong intent; rich people could still go in any direction, but poor people could only head east.
5 The joys and angers of rich people change with their profits. When they find that their wealth still works, they show great tolerance toward the regime.
5 Ordinary people are an exception. Chang’an City’s destruction hurt the ordinary people dependent on it the most. Without livelihoods, they wished to eat the Grand Marshal’s flesh and drink his blood.
5 Banning these people who already hated him to death from entering the states near Chang’an, and blocking the roads in the southwest and north directions, left the people with no choice but to go east.
5 “We can find a way to guide these people to Yun Clan Villa.”
5 After traveling with the convoy like a long dragon for two days, Wu Tong made this suggestion to Yun Ce.
5 After hearing this suggestion, Yun Ce realized that Wu Tong was still somewhat simple in seeing things.
5 “Do you know why these people can only go east?”
5 Wu Tong said, “Garrison the border.”
6 Yun Ce looked at Wu Tong in surprise and said, “You know?”
6 Wu Tong said, “Do you think I shouldn’t know?”
6 “I thought you would say this is a brilliant plan by the Grand Marshal against the Eastern Vassals.”
6 Wu Tong shook his head and said, “Everyone knows the Gui Fang people are coming. Driving these useless Chang’an people to the Great Wall Defense Line can greatly increase the strength of the guards.”
6 “Do you think it’s feasible?”
6 Wu Tong gritted his teeth and said, “Of course not. Whether it’s the Great Han army or the Gui Fang army, they are currently undergoing elite reorganization. The two sides have fought for thousands of years and clearly know that armies composed of ordinary people are no longer effective.
6 Only armies mixed with a large number of warriors have true combat power; this view has become the consensus of the Great Han and the Gui Fang.
6 Yun Ce, do you have enough elite army on hand?”
6 Yun Ce smiled and said, “I have obtained three thousand Tiger Guards.”
