Chapter Eleven Conversation

  "It's okay, the kick from that guy won't leave any internal injuries, and your waist will be fine too. Just remember not to eat anything spicy for this month." Long Chen examined Niu Er's injury.

  "Thanks, Dragon Brother. I was worried that something would go wrong with my waist." Upon hearing that his waist was fine, a silly smile appeared on Niu Er's face.

  "Don't worry, this little injury won't affect your ability to have children." Long Chen comforted.

  "Niu Er, you've managed to preserve your seeds, but you also need land to sow them. Don't you see that our military camp is almost becoming a seed warehouse? It's just that there's no place to plant them. What a pity." Hu Meng began to mutter to himself on the side.

  Long Chen smiled and shook his head, seeing the two jars of wine in the corner of the wall.

  "This wine?"

  "Sir, this is something that we brothers chipped in to buy from the wine shop in front of the camp. It's to congratulate you on your promotion."

  "Then I'll take one away." Long Chen picked up a jar of wine and walked out.

  Long Chen left, and those soldiers who didn't see Long Chen make a move because they were watching Niu Er immediately surrounded Hu Meng, eagerly waiting for him to speak.

  Hu Meng also understood, one foot on the table, posing as a storyteller.

  "Let's just say that our boss directly kicked open the door with one foot, what a domineering presence. And then Li Qiang..."

  ……

  In the desolate mountain stream, a middle-aged man quietly leaned against the stone wall, with a long gun wrapped in black cloth placed beside him. One person and one gun, as if telling a kind of loneliness in this mountain stream.

  Long Chen slid down the rock wall sideways, this rock wall was relatively smooth, Long Chen's feet were wearing Hu Meng's broken thousand-layer sole, and could only rely on constantly changing footwork to control friction and center of gravity, if it was a military boot, it would be much more convenient.

  He saw himself coming, but Ruan Yi still didn't react at all. Long Chen smiled and tossed the wine jug in his hand towards Ruan Yi.

  At the moment when the wine jar was about to hit him, Rang Yi quickly stretched out his right palm and patted it on the side of the wine jar, canceling its inertia. Then he bent his arm and grasped the wine jar firmly.

  "How did you get here." Ruan Yi placed the wine jug beside him and only spoke after Long Chen had walked in.

  "I went to your place to look for you, but found that you weren't there. Your subordinate said you must have come here." Long Chen sat down beside Ruan Yi on a flat rock.

  "They are now probably under your command." A hint of self-mockery flashed at the corner of Rang Yi's mouth.

  "How can you say such a thing?" Long Chen found a flat place and sat down beside Ruan Yi.

  "What do you think? The officials have all been surpassed by you, can their mood be good?"

  "That's not necessarily true, I think you're not here sulking just because you lost your official position."

  "How can you be sure?"

  "You are very calm, and your mood has not been affected by this matter at all." Both of them were masters, and their sense of each other's mood was very keen. Long Chen had always felt that Rang Yi's mood had never changed.

  "My heart hasn't moved since I returned from Sa Er Hua ten years ago." Rang Yi straightened his body, as if he had returned to that magnificent era, smelling the bloody battlefield. Immediately, Rang Yi furrowed his brow, and with his thumb, he opened the wine jar's stopper, a strong smell of wine spreading out, seemingly diluting the bloody smell by quite a bit.

  "Let me think, it's almost been ten years since that battle." Long Chen remembered that the Battle of Sarhu was about eight or nine years ago. Since then, the offensive and defensive relationship between the Ming dynasty and the Later Jin had changed. The Ming dynasty went from being on the offense to being on the defense, with only enough strength to defend against the iron cavalry of the Jurchen-led Later Jin. After this battle, Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan, who succeeded him, could only repair and reinforce the Liaodong defensive line, adopting a passive defensive strategy.

  "It's almost like that. When we set out, all the brothers were full of grand ambitions, vowing not to return until the Eastern Barbarians were destroyed. Everyone wanted to make a name for themselves in this battle and escape their lowly status as fallen people!" Yan Yi's eyes gleamed with memories, and for some reason, he felt a sense of camaraderie with Long Chen, and began to speak about these things. "Alas, those brothers all died there, and even now, their descendants are still not treated with dignity, still bearing the shame of their ancestors. In that war, none of my comrades returned with me, only him did."

  Ran Yi glanced at the long spear beside him, and it seemed that the spear also emitted a melancholy aura.

  As soon as the word "nucai" is mentioned, everyone's first reaction is to think of the Qing dynasty. However, in the Ming dynasty, there was a group of people who were born into lowly status and could only engage in professions such as coffin makers, latrine cleaners, and other similar jobs. They were unable to take imperial examinations or achieve official positions, and their descendants continued to hold these occupations for generations. Those whose parents were slaves also became slaves themselves, generation after generation, and they too were unable to take imperial examinations. These people were all shunned by society, a product of the feudal social hierarchy system. By the end of the Ming dynasty, this feudal hierarchy began to loosen and collapse, allowing "fallen people" to escape their suffering through military achievements or other means. It wasn't until later, when the Qing dynasty came to power, that they branded the entire Han Chinese population as slaves.

  Long Chen didn't know what to say now, he could only quietly listen.

  "The bond of brothers, the righteousness of sworn friends, I couldn't let go. Since that one battle, I haven't taken anything to heart. You don't understand this feeling."

  "I don't understand?" Long Chen's mouth curled up in disdain, but before his eyes were the constantly flashing faces of his fallen comrades, those who had fought alongside him to defend the security of the Republic on the border, many of whom lay buried in the snowy mountains, their bodies covered by white snow; some had fallen in the tropical jungle, swallowed by the swampy mud; and others had bloomed with their lives on the plateau, writing a magnificent song.

  However, Long Chen never gave up the fight. In the Republican era, the effect of "political education" had been constantly weakened, and in the hearts of soldiers, there was a more profound sense of defending one's home and country, a kind of sacred feeling.

  Unconsciously, Long Chen's body emitted a bloody aura several times stronger than Rang Yi's. It was fierce and angry, with various negative emotions intertwined within, but there was still an emotion that suppressed these negative emotions. This aura was very firm and peaceful.

  Ran Yi was unfamiliar with that feeling, he had never been in contact with such an aura. Suddenly, his eyes widened, unexpectedly, this young man who was younger than himself, actually hid deeper than himself! So young, yet also came from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood? In this era, there were literati who were loyal to the king and country, and generals who would sacrifice their lives for righteousness. But for the common soldiers at the bottom, most of them joined the army just for that little bit of grain allowance. Since ancient times, good men do not become soldiers, the thoughts of the Chu Ba are actually very simple, if you talk to them about "the great righteousness of the king and country", it's a bit like playing the zither to a cow. That kind of people's army armed with thought, only someone like Mao Taizu who defied heaven could create.

  "I also have brothers, brothers who were born and died together. We trained together, fought together, many of them fell in battle. But I chose a different path, every time one of my brothers dies, I go crazy avenging him! Until all my enemies are destroyed, that's when I'll stop! In fact, Long Chen also had this personality, he disobeyed orders multiple times and led special forces into enemy territory to destroy the organization, otherwise his position might have been even higher."

  "Revenge?" Ruan Yi let out a breath.

  "I don't believe you're just a general flag, with your skills, now you can only mix up the overall flag." Long Chen knew that Ruan Yi was not as good as himself in martial arts, but he was far better than Liu Dezhong. How could such a talented person like a fierce general stay in the army for so long and still be just a general flag?

  "Just muddle along, being a general officer is enough for me to get by, but you're good, you squeezed me down again, it's really annoying, my life won't be so comfortable from now on."

  "Are you giving up just like that?" Long Chen couldn't understand Rang Yi's mindset.

  "Have you seen the strength of the Eastern Barbarians? They are a terrifying enemy where every single one of them can fight, an army that gets excited when they see a battle to be fought, a group of ferocious beasts that inspire awe!" A hint of savagery flashed in Ruan Yi's eyes.

  "I concur." Long Chen also nodded. This nation will concentrate the martial valor and blood of the next three hundred years into this decade, how can it not be formidable?

  Ran Yi didn't feel surprised. In today's Liaodong, the Jurchen army came and went as they pleased. It was not a difficult thing to see the Jurchen army.

  "Even if the Tartars are strong, I am not afraid. When soldiers fight and get paid, even if they lose their heads, it's just a big scar. But for this great Ming dynasty, I think it's hopeless, there is no chance of revenge."

  "The rise and fall of a dynasty is fate, there's no undefeated dynasty, but it depends on who defeats them." Long Chen didn't plan to discuss that battle with Rang Yi, this wasn't the purpose of his visit.

  "Anyway, this is none of our business."

  "Have you seen the golden tail of the mouse on Dong Yu's head?"

  "It's actually quite fun." Although he said so, a hint of disgust and anger still flashed in Rang Yi's eyes.

  "What if I also shave one for you, or for our future generations, would they all have queues?"

  Ran Yi fell silent for a moment, then turned his head and stared at Long Chen: "I have personally experienced the strength of Dong Yu, it indeed has the ability to seize the world, but what do you tell me this for?"

  "To be honest, I don't care about the survival of this dynasty, what I care about is whether our future generations can be human beings, rather than being slaves with a queue on their heads."

  "Can you really do it?" Yan Yi's eyes were filled with skepticism.

  "It's still you, after all. Besides, it's up to people to make things happen."

  "Hehe, let's drink first." Ruan Yi didn't want to discuss this with Long Chen anymore.

  "To be honest, after fighting with you, I found that if someone like you is buried, it's really a waste." Long Chen pressed down on the wine jar.

  "Aren't you my superior now?"

  "But I don't like using official power to bully people, just like you did just now." Long Chen retorted with what Rang Yi had said before.

  "I said I don't like using official power to bully people, but I didn't say I wouldn't listen to my superiors like you do. And another thing, are you going to let me drink this wine you brought or not?"

  Two men's bright laughter came from the mountain stream, Long Chen didn't expect to recall the old soldier's passion with just one conversation, but at least it made him not so cold anymore.

  PS (On October 13, 1635, Huang Taiji issued an edict, officially changing the tribal name "Jurchen" to "Manchu", marking the formation of a new ethnic community. Therefore, in this book, Houjin is still referred to as "Jurchen", and later it will be changed to Manchu. The term "Manchu" was used after the founding of the country, previously they were called Manzhou.)