Chapter 47: Words Not Of Benevolence And Filial Piety, Which Ghosts And Spirits Dare Not Hear
People’s knowledge is related to their cognition, as well as to the environment in which they live and the education they receive.
For someone like Yun Ce, he knows that destroying someone’s perfectly good country is not a good thing, and selling off their beautiful subjects is also not a good thing. Even if their country is really good and their subjects really beautiful, it must be done secretly in private at least. At the very least, getting some human trafficking gang to plug people’s mouths is also very good.
Among this group of people, aside from a few ignorant little girls and a few young girls who don’t really like treating themselves as people and always think of themselves as goods, Feng An is the kindest and most upright one in this group.
Yet even a scholar who received the most orthodox Great Han education like this approves of destroying countries and selling slaves. The reason he is angry is that he feels Great General Liu Xiang and the others did the job too crudely.
Sheyang City having such cognition and tradition means there must be many slaves in this city. This is the first label Yun Ce gave it before even entering Sheyang City.
After entering the city, Yun Ce’s premonition became reality.
Sheyang City’s roads are built very well and very wide. The stone-paved road in the very middle is for horse carriages, the two sandy dirt roads less than three meters wide on either side are for riding horses, and on the edges there are two more roads for pedestrians.
At this time, Sheyang City was in the afternoon. Because the weather was not hot, there were not many people riding in carriages or on horses, but the pedestrians on the two blue brick paths on the sides were somewhat dense.
Yun Ce noticed that many trees were planted along both sides of the pedestrian path. His gaze passed through the not-so-dense forest and he could still see even more people hurrying back and forth behind the forest.
Liang Kun saw Yun Ce looking toward the forest and laughed, “That is the slave path.”
1 Without needing this guy to continue explaining, Yun Ce immediately understood the meaning in his words: people walk on the people path, slaves walk on the slave path. It seemed Sheyang City was a city with strict laws.
1 The humanoid creatures on the slave path were far more numerous than those on the main road, which meant Sheyang City was a city with more slaves than ordinary people.
1 If Miss Hong and Pei Chuan wanted to seize Sheyang City, they should start from the slave group. If they did a good job on the slaves’ ideological work, in a place where even walking the road requires dividing into nine ranks, seizing Sheyang City would not be difficult.
1 E Ji had made another good deal. The large bird legs and dried meat strips that weren’t sold out on the road were all sold at a roadside eatery, and sold at a good price.
1 E Ji, clutching a big handful of green money in her hand, was happily about to take their group to the eatery for a meal. But after asking about the prices, E Ji came out crying and whining, and rudely demanded that Yun Ce go help her get back the large bird legs and dried meat strips that were sold, of course without refunding the money, because that shop boss had cheated her.
1 Yun Ce thought so too. Money earned by taking advantage of others’ ignorance is deception!
1 So, under Feng An and Liang Kun’s terrified gazes, amid the excited cheers of the group of girls, after negotiating with the shop boss, Yun Ce got the shop boss to agree to return all the ingredients that cheated E Ji to her, and even proactively invited their group into the shop for a big meal.
1 At this meal, Feng An ate with his heart pounding in fear, Liang Kun ate restlessly, Yun Ce ate to his heart’s content, and as for E Ji and the others, they naturally ate with a clear conscience.
1 Until they had eaten their fill and were about to leave, the shop boss and shop assistants that Yun Ce had stacked up still didn’t come out to see them off, showing a complete lack of service awareness.
1 Coming to the main street again, Yun Ce looked at the passing crowds and said to Feng An, whose eyes were still darting left and right, “In a city full of slaves, martial power is the greatest power, and I have nothing else but martial power since I’m poor in everything else.”
2 “So, you beat Peng Zeng, killed the Thunder Smoke Beast, and indulged E Ji and the others in stripping him into a bare pig, all to show off your martial power?”
2 Liang Kun saw things quite incisively.
2 Yun Ce explained, “Pingyuan City has fallen, even wandering knights like Peng Zeng know it, so the people in Sheyang City must certainly know it by now. The problem is, why is there no movement here at all?”
2 Feng An shook his head and said, “Mobilizing troops and dispatching generals is a complicated process that takes time.”
2 Yun Ce sneered, “I just asked the shop boss why food prices have skyrocketed like this, and the shop boss told me it was orders from the master of the house.”
2 Who is the master of the house?
2 It is Sheyang City’s clerk Han Dongcheng.
2 This person knows Pingyuan City has fallen and knows the bandits will definitely come to Sheyang City. The reason they have no actions is that on the matter of making money, while the rest of the city still doesn’t know the truth, they first stockpile a wave of provisions, then sell them when the bandits arrive to make a huge profit.
2 Making money is their top priority. As for an idiot like Peng Zeng riding alone to Pingyuan City claiming to exterminate the rebels and unluckily becoming a perfect excuse for them, when superiors ask, they can claim they sent people to suppress the rebellion.
2 Feng An looked at the sun overhead and said doubtfully, “We’ve only been in the city for less than an hour, and you’ve already figured out so much?”
3 Yun Ce laughed, “Let’s go, we’ll first find a place to rest. In a bit we still need to go to Sheyang City to change our travel permits. This matter must be done early, or if we’re late, they might not issue exit permits anymore.”
3 “We’ll stay at a guesthouse!”
3 E Ji really liked staying at guesthouses because the things in guesthouses were very useful, and if the guesthouse accidentally had some problem, she could take the guesthouse’s things away.
3 Sheyang City’s guesthouses had better conditions than Pingyuan City’s, and most importantly, the furnishings in the rooms were more abundant than in Pingyuan City’s guesthouses.
3 This time there were many people, so Yun Ce booked a small courtyard, instructed E Ji not to run around, and took Feng An and Liang Kun to the transit office.
3 As for the transit office, this place was still within Yun Ce’s understanding. Ancient dynasties emphasized keeping people in their native places and didn’t like commoners running around everywhere. If they ran around too long, they would either turn into bandits or rebels. The transit office was the place to issue travel permits to commoners; without a permit, they weren’t allowed to leave.
3 Of course, Yun Ce, Feng An, and Liang Kun were now scholars. Scholars had privileges. While commoners weren’t allowed to run around, scholars could connect everywhere under the name of study tours.
3 With Pingyuan City City Lord Zhang Gong Yaliang’s desperate recommendation letter, Liang Kun, who looked the easiest to talk to among the three, naturally received the respect of the county yamen’s main clerk at the transit office without hindrance and was specially invited into the adjacent public office to learn about the recent situation in Pingyuan City.
3 “Pingyuan City was massacred?”
3 After hearing Liang Kun’s introduction, the transit office clerk Peng Jing cried out in shock.
4 “Far more than massacred. The rebels set fire in Pingyuan City, burning the good western pavilion into a patch of white ground. Zhang Gong Yaliang also fell in battle under the western pavilion, beaten to death alive by a Pig Demon.”
4 “Pig Demon? Did you see it clearly?”
4 “Human body, pig head—what else could it be but a Pig Demon.”
4 Peng Jing pondered for a moment and said, “Pig Demons can’t speak. This old man heard that the Pig Demon once spoke to threaten Zhang Gong Yaliang.”
4 At that moment, Yun Ce’s somewhat anxious voice came from outside the public office: “Stamp it for me!”
4 Liang Kun was about to apologize to Peng Jing when he saw a woman in a long skirt dragging on the ground walk out from behind the screen blocking the inner room of the public office. He didn’t even have time to see the woman’s appearance clearly before she left the public office.
4 Peng Jing stood up to follow, and Liang Kun had no choice but to stand up and come outside the public office as well.
4 Yun Ce hated how government offices dawdled. The procedures were complete, the required money and grain paid—things should be done quickly and straightforwardly. Unexpectedly, after taking the procedures, they started drinking tea.
4 If this were Baiyin City on Earth… heh heh heh…
4 Now in Sheyang City, Yun Ce was still anxious and impatient, couldn’t help urging again: “Stamp it for me!”
5 The minor clerk impatiently rolled his eyes, wanting to continue drinking tea, but found a beautiful young girl standing between them. Thinking the young girl had come to deal with him, he hurriedly stood up, prepared to stamp Yun Ce’s travel permit, but heard the young girl say to Yun Ce: “Say that again!”
5 Yun Ce glanced at the young girl, pushed her away with his hand, came before the minor clerk, and said: “Stamp it for me!”
5 The minor clerk couldn’t figure out the situation, but the slick him still held back his anger and stamped the travel permits for Yun Ce and the other two. No matter what entanglement Yun Ce had with this young girl who seemed to have a big background, getting himself out first was best.
5 Then he heard the young girl Yun Ce had pushed away scream: “Pig Demon!”
5 Yun Ce turned back to glance at Feng An, then looked at Peng Jing and Liang Kun who had just come out, muttered “nutcase” under his breath, and planned to leave.
5 The young girl grew anxious, grabbed Yun Ce’s sleeve, and said to Peng Jing: “He is the Pig Demon!”
5 Yun Ce smiled at the young girl and said: “This one is Liu Chang’an. Whose young lady are you, so eager to get married?”
5 The young girl said to Peng Jing again: “He is the Pig Demon who killed my father.”
5 Yun Ce lifted his nose with his hand, imitating a pig snort: “Oink oink, I am the Pig Demon!”
5 Peng Jing pulled the young girl away and said to Feng An and Liang Kun, who had puzzled looks on their faces: “This is the young lady from Zhang Gong Yaliang’s household, named Zhang Min. Like you all, she just escaped back from Pingyuan City.”
6 As soon as Peng Jing finished speaking, Yun Ce, Feng An, and Liang Kun all let out a surprised “Eh?” together, and looking at the young girl before them, their eyes were full of contempt.
6 Zhang Min said to Peng Jing: “Teacher, it was this fellow who disguised himself as the Pig Demon and killed my father. This little woman saw it with her own eyes.”
6 Before Peng Jing could doubt Yun Ce, he saw him take out a white copper seal from his bosom and hold it in his palm. Peng Jing took it and saw it was unmistakably Pingyuan City’s city lord seal.
6 Zhang Min burst into tears, pointed at the seal, and choked: “This is the seal seized by the Pig Demon.”
6 Peng Jing was about to shout for the yamen runners to come out, but noticed the contempt on Yun Ce and the other two’s faces grow even stronger, so he suppressed the urge to call the runners, looked at Yun Ce, and said: “Do you have any explanation?”
6 Feng An said disdainfully: “When Zhang Gong Yaliang fell in battle, his four sons cowered in the horse carriage without a single one coming out to help their father. After Zhang Gong Yaliang fell, none of his children stepped forward to collect his corpse, letting it be trampled into meat paste by passing carriages and horses.
6 Words spoken by such unrighteous and unfilial things, even ghosts and gods wouldn’t dare listen to.”
