Chapter 43 Lei Feng and the Bull Demon King
Very good, Li Chengqian was completely at a loss when he was robbed for the first time. He just stared with his eyes wide open and let out a strange cry of protecting his food. Yun Ye had already practiced excellent skills of robbing food at school. He gently stroked Li Chengqian’s buttocks, and the grapes in Li Chengqian’s arms fell into Yun Ye’s hands.
The royal guards, holding the hilt of their swords, were unsure whether to execute the daring thief on the spot. In the midst of the chaos, Yun Ye, holding a large bunch of grapes in his hands, left the bedchamber in the midst of Li Chengqian’s screams, and was carried away in a panic.
No one was punished, and no one recovered the stolen goods. Li Chengqian was used to this kind of game, and he had already robbed Yun Ye of his food more than once. He could only lie on his bed and beat his chest and feet, vowing to avenge the shame of the stolen grapes.
Yun Ye’s simplified design of the unicycle was mass-produced. This one-person transport vehicle amazed Niu Jinda. If a person can walk on the road, the unicycle can also walk on the road. The old ox with infinite strength allowed people to load 500 catties of grain on the unicycle, hang a sail, and gallop back and forth on the school grounds, as if a young child had received a new toy. In fact, Yun Ye did not make any major changes. This transport vehicle from the Shu region during the Three Kingdoms period had already evolved quite well. Yun Ye only added iron axles, made the round wood wheels into light wheels with spokes, and added an adjustable sail to make it easier and more energy-efficient to travel by wind power. Even if the other soldiers did not have the abnormal strength of the old ox, it would be no problem to carry two stones of grain. Cheng Yaojin had prepared early to turn the entire Zuowei into a grain transport brigade. With the exception of the necessary guard force, he planned to take 100,000 sacks of grain at a time when the army returned to the capital.
Yun Ye had unknowingly accumulated a lot of wealth. Because of his appearance at the commendation meeting of His Highness the Crown Prince, the great families of Longyou were very concerned about this Marquis of Whatever. The luminous cups from Jiuquan were sent in pairs, which made Yun Ye’s brother, who was a man of virtue, shiver with pain.
Yun Ye looked at the four black, flat and uneven cups and thought about throwing them in the trash. In later generations, a pair of thirty dollars is much more exquisite than this. You can see the shadows of people through the walls of the cups. You can take it away for twenty dollars, which is still a friendly price.
You’re going straight to the meat, and I don’t mind paying in real money. The expressionless face made these local tyrants uneasy. The marquis from the capital had an extraordinary appetite, and he didn’t even care about the 500-guan cups. So the Persian silver pot was sold in sets, and the jade from Hotan was sold in boxes. After receiving two pieces of agate the size of a human head, the marquis finally smiled, which made everyone in Longyou breathe a sigh of relief.
He hummed the tune of “I’m rich, I’m rich” as he returned to his tent, only to find Li Chengqian, Cheng Chumo, Changsun Chong, and Li Huiren dividing the loot. He was so angry that he shouted, startling four hungry wolves. The four of them scattered in all directions, not knowing which evil spirit had intentionally or unintentionally touched Yun Ye’s buttocks with his knee. Amidst his cries of agony, the bandits returned home with their loot, leaving the heartbroken Yun Ye in tears…
The army set up camp and returned to the capital. Officials from the Longyou Road came to see them off. After drinking a farewell toast, Niu Jinda, dressed in a hemp shirt and a single coat, pushed a wheelbarrow and shouted, “Let’s go!”
Five hundred fully armed cavalrymen thundered forward in front, with Cheng Chumo and Li Huiren riding side by side in the rear, leading the way back to the capital. Yun Ye led the logistics battalion, followed by hundreds of horse-drawn carts and ox-drawn carts loaded with food and supplies.
Niu Jinda, disregarding his noble status, followed closely behind with five thousand wheelbarrows. Old Cheng and the crown prince were in the rear camp, transporting the captured spoils of war and ready to assist Niu Jinda’s wheelbarrow team at any time, and if necessary, they could take turns pushing the wheelbarrows.
Fifty li, this is the distance the army set before setting out. From sunrise to noon, they took a break for an hour and a half, and then continued marching until they reached their destination. Since they were traveling by cart, the logistics camp had to be faster, and they prepared food and hot water at the campsite, waiting for Niu Jinda’s caravan to arrive.
Zuowei and Yun Ye suggested that the soldiers eat together. They cooked together, with a hundred or so people lined up in a row in a large pot with a diameter of one meter. A spoonful of meat and vegetables, a spoonful of broth, and a huge dry cake were all the soldiers had for dinner.
Yun Ye limped over to Niu Jinda, who was eating, holding a gourd wine bottle in his hand. He filled the bamboo cup with strong liquor and handed it to Niu Jinda. Niu Jinda drained the cup in one gulp. Yun Ye knew that Niu Jinda liked strong liquor, so he filled the cup again and said, “Uncle Niu, have another drink to relieve your fatigue.”
The old ox did not even raise his head, but said in a gentle tone, “Military regulations forbid it. One glass of wine every night is already a violation of the order. How can I, as a military judge, break the law myself? Do any of the other brothers have any?”
Old Niu was still a stickler for rules and regulations, which was probably why he had punished countless soldiers for breaking the rules without anyone holding a grudge against him.
“Everyone has a bowl. This one is for my nephew. Please do it for me.”
Lao Niu didn’t say anything, and he gulped down another large cup, returned the cup, waved to Yun Ye, and turned to inspect the camp.
The distance between Lanzhou and Chang’an was 2,300 miles, which took a whole month and a half to march at a speed of 50 miles a day. Less than three days after setting off from Lanzhou, they plunged into the vast mountains. The road was rugged and winding, with the front team reaching the top of the mountain and the rear team reaching the foot of the mountain. The road barely large enough for a carriage was already a guarantee of convenient transportation in the Tang Dynasty.
I used to be disappointed when I read about the Tang Dynasty losing control of the Western Regions, and I was saddened by the weakening of the Great Tang’s control. Now I know what a price Chang’an had to pay to control the distant Western Regions.
The stubborn people of the Tang Dynasty went to the front to die for generations to expand their territory. The poor bones by the Wuding River are still the dream of a woman in a deep room. I don’t agree with the poet’s opinion. He only saw the bones by the Wuding River, but he didn’t see the prosperity of the Silk Road. Without a strong army to protect it, how can we talk about the Tang Dynasty’s golden age?
The shepherds of the foreign lands are barbaric, with no sense of right and wrong, no sense of propriety, no sense of shame. The law of the jungle has given them a strong physique, but it has not given them the instinct to create or work. They grab food from the sky, the earth, their neighbors, and if necessary, they are not averse to grabbing food from their own parents. They eat everything, including people, as long as their genes can be passed on, fists and curved swords are the basis of their interests.
The old ox’s neck was bulging with veins, and the sack on the wheelbarrow was as heavy as a mountain. After all, he was old, and the food on the wheelbarrow was too much and too heavy. He had overestimated his own abilities. The clothes of this fierce general, who had vowed never to let another person starve to death, were soaked with sweat. Yun Ye silently pulled the rope in front of the wheelbarrow over his shoulder and trudged up the hill step by step.
“Who would have thought that a state official would be pushing a cart and a marquis would be pulling it?” Yun Ye asked Lao Niu breathlessly.
“Shit, there are so many noblemen and lords in the world, and no one has grown an extra bird. People can’t be too comfortable. If you’re comfortable, your heart will go numb. What’s the difference between that and a salted fish? In my life, I’ve rebelled, killed many people, slept with countless women, so what? If it weren’t for that thought, I don’t know what I would have become. Your Majesty has been very kind to me, and I will sell my life to you. In my early years, my parents and siblings starved to death. I hated myself for not dying. My eldest brother handed me the last piece of bran dumpling, and I swallowed it without thinking. I lived, and my brother died. What he gave me was not a bran dumpling, but my life! This life of mine is not just for myself, but for my entire family of 13. How dare I not live a righteous life? One day when I die, I will see my brother in the afterlife, and I can tell him that I have lived a wonderful, free, and righteous life. I have not wasted the life you gave me, not even for a single day.
Oh my god, Lao Niu has become a saint. Yun Ye swears that he saw golden light shining from Lao Niu’s body. The golden light stung his eyes and made his heart shrink. He had heard of saints like Lei Feng before, but always thought they were fake. Now it seems that it is not them who are fake, but that he himself is living a fake life. The villain under the leather robe is talking about people like him.