The Current You is Enough
Ban Zou, who was also helping Feng Yu Heng take care of the injured, did not like hearing this. His eyes became fierce and immediately replied: “This great one will knock down your Qian Zhou’s capital. Do you believe it or not?”
The people of Bin City were even braver than those of the North. The people acted naturally, and not even a battle that had tens of thousands of fatalities fazed them. Feng Yu Heng had noticed it long ago. When the army began setting up camp, the citizens had begun poking their heads out of their homes out of curiosity to take a look at the situation.
Da Shun’s army had already received Xuan Tian Ming’s order to attack Qian Zhou and view the enemy army along with the Feng family as an enemy; however, they could not harm the innocent citizens. That was why the soldiers kindly greeted the citizens, instead of harming them.
Compared to this, the citizens of Qian Zhou were far more unreasonable and imposing. Occasionally, they would bring the corpses of mountain beasts along and would shout at the soldiers from Da Shun to get out of the way.
At this time, everyone had gathered around the city lord’s manor to watch the events unfold. They lost it, as a brave man loudly shouted: “What are you kicking up a fuss for? Just winning in Bin City is enough to get you feeling arrogant? Have you never fought a winning battle before?”
The person that had spoken first about Da Shun advancing another two cities at most also fiercely said: “You ignorant little thing! You’ve only entered Bin City, and you’ve already had a bunch freeze, yet you still want to enter the capital city? I’ve said it, yet you’re unhappy. If you have the ability, just go now! What are you getting all uppity in the southernmost Bin City for!”
Ban Zou wanted to take action, but was stopped by Feng Yu Heng, who shot him a glare. Dragging him behind her, she took a few steps forward and said to those people while looking up: “Thank you, elder brothers for the reminder. In regards to Qian Zhou’s frigid temperatures; however, it was us that did not plan things carefully enough. That is what resulted in some soldiers dying from the cold. My subordinate was not considerate when speaking and ended up offending you. I hope that you will not take it to heart. I will give you some recompense.”
When a small girl like her spoke like this, those brave men felt a little embarrassed. A girl that spoke so politely and in such a refined manner could not be found in Bin City. The girls here were all like brave men. They were capable of carrying all sorts of things. If they heard anything that was not to their liking, they would immediately begin fighting with their husband on the street. That would be a fight, not an argument. The women here all believed that if they could fight, it would be better than arguing. How could they be compared to the pretty girls of humble birth from the central region.
The men were seeing a girl like this for the first time, and she was far prettier than the girls of Qian Zhou. She also knew medicine, and they had heard that she was an imperial daughter from Da Shun. For a girl with such status and appearance to speak like this to the men, no matter how unreasonable they were, they felt too embarrassed to continue acting rude.
The first person to speak scratched his head and said: “It’s fine. It’s a mere trifle.”
“Right!” Another person also said, “You won’t know without fighting, right! You’ve already fought your way into Bin City. Haven’t we also gotten to know each other in this way.”
Feng Yu Heng had heard long ago about the personalities of the people from the North. They spoke straight from the heart. It seemed now that it really was the case. She smiled and nodded, giving thanks once more. Only then did she ask: “I wonder just how cold is Qian Zhou’s capital?”
The people of Qian Zhou naturally knew about Qian Zhou’s matters. One of the men rushed to say: “Let’s just say it like this! Do you see this rabbit?” He raised a fat rabbit above his head for Feng Yu Heng to look at, “This is one that I hunted to the North of the city. In Bin City, there is still a need to hunt them. In the capital, all one needs to do is dig in the snow, and some that had died from the cold could be found.”
“That’s right!” Someone agreed, saying: “I went once when I was young, and I nearly froze to death over there. It really is not suited for people to live. It really is not suited for living!”
Ban Zou was confused. He had already forgotten about the earlier insults and went to ask: “Then how has Qian Zhou’s imperial family and the citizens that live there survive? Are they not afraid of the cold?”
The citizens laughed loudly, as an old man said to him: “Little one, if your family’s ancestors lived in that sort of place for generations, and you have been raised in that sort of place from a young age, you could also survive.”
Feng Yu Heng understood. This was a matter of becoming accustomed. The people that had not become accustomed to living in that sort of cold weather would naturally not be able to handle that sort of weather, but for people that had spent generations getting accustomed to it, their bodies would have adjusted naturally to the cold. It would be a matter of genetics. The people born in Qian Zhou had a superior ability to endure the cold. They naturally were not afraid of that sort of cold.
There was another citizen that said: “Over here, we wear cotton clothes, but the people near the capital wear clothes made from animal hides. Large animals can be hunted in that area. They had thick furs, and the court will organize annual hunts. The animals that are hunted are sent to professional skinners to be skinned. The furs are then treated by professionals then turned into clothes. When wearing clothes like that, the person ends up looking like a beast. If the beast can survive, they can also survive.”
The citizens continued one after another, and they spoke about a number of matters in Qian Zhou. Feng Yu Heng had her suspicions that Qian Zhou should have a climate similar to that of modern Northern Europe, but Qian Zhou had people that were of similar descent as Da Shun. This meant that the continent did not stretch out that far. Since this was the case, there was one question that arose from such a vast difference in the two climates to exist on just one continent: This Qian Zhou had once experienced many shifts extreme shifts in the earth’s crust, which led to a vortex of extremely cold air building up in Qian Zhou. This threw the former cycle of life into chaos, resulting in the current situation.
She did not speak for a long time. It was Ban Zou that had begun chatting with the people. At this time, she heard one of the citizens suddenly pose the question: “I heard that your Da Shun does not see any snowfall? You can see the sun?”
Once this question was asked, there was someone else that immediately added: “I heard that your trees are green?”
The people were puzzled, green trees? They had never seen it. Qian Zhou’s trees were all bare. Not a single leaf remained, aside from those on pine trees. But after a decade, even the pine trees were losing their pines. Large patches were dying from the cold. These people had never once passed through the Northern gate. To them, the world was like this. Everywhere was completely barren without a blade of grass growing. But they also knew that Da Shun was extremely good. Nothing grew in the ground in Qian Zhou, and the grains that they ate were all imported from Da Shun. They could only be purchased with a large amount of money. Those that could not afford it could only rely on the men of the family to enter the mountains to hunt. Many people died while hunting, were buried under the snow or were eaten by the animals being hunted.
Feng Yu Heng could see the looks of expectation in these people’s eyes. She thought for a bit then reached into her sleeve, pulling out a vegetable that she had been keeping in her space. It was nothing more than a common vegetable, but the green leaves were still able to daze the citizens.
Everyone shifted forward to look at it carefully. There were even some that reached out to touch it, but they pulled their hands back after reaching out a little. They said to themselves: “This must be something valuable. If we ruin it by touching it, we could not afford to pay for it.”
Ban Zou laughed loudly and took the initiative to take the vegetable from Feng Yu Heng’s hand. He then removed leaf after leaf, distributing it to the crowd. While doing this, he said: “This isn’t anything valuable. In our Da Shun, a large basket of this can be bought for just a small amount of money. This is also something that people in the city pay money to buy. The citizens that live in the country and mountains have these things growing all over the place. They can be picked and eaten all year round.”
Ban Zou’s words were not an exaggeration in the slightest, but to the citizens of Qian Zhou, it was as though he was bragging. Nobody believed it. Since Da Shun had such a great thing, why did they still want to attack Qian Zhou? There was even someone that voiced their question: “Da Shun sells grains to Qian Zhou, but since you have such cheap food, why do you not sell it together with it to us? We can only eat meat every day. We feel disgusted just from smelling meat.”
Ban Zou smirked. Who knew who was feeling resentful of whom.
Feng Yu Heng smiled wryly and said: “This vegetable was something that I stored using a secret technique, but very little could be preserved. If we relied on large amounts of people to transport these vegetables here, I fear that they will end up frozen on their way here.”
The people looked at the vegetable leaves in their hands. Indeed, the place where the leaves had been split had already begun showing signs of freezing. They were a little distressed and gathered together. One person even held it in their embrace. Looking at Feng Yu Heng pitifully, they asked her: “Can you give these to us? We have never eaten these things before.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded, “I can. It’s just that there’s too little. In the future, I will think of a way to transport more up to Qian Zhou.”
The people were very happy. The gloomy atmosphere that had filled Bin City was gradually replaced with joy.
Feng Yu Heng struck while the iron was hot, frankly telling them about Da Shun’s four seasons. She spoke about the beginning of Spring and the end of Autumn. She spoke about how the leaves changed from a beautiful green to a withered yellow during Autumn. There was also the beautiful snow that fell in Da Shun unlike the heavy snow of Qian Zhou.
Slowly, she managed to successfully arouse the people’s desire to visit Da Shun. There was even someone that could no longer endure and voiced their thoughts, “Can we go to Da Shun to live? Since Da Shun has already conquered Bin City, can we be considered Da Shun’s people? Can you help get us out of Qian Zhou to live in Da Shun?”
The people of Bin City were far more pragmatic than the people of the northern provinces. They truly understood Xuan Tian Ming’s logic. Whether a piece of land belonged to one country or the other, it was something that did not matter to the citizens. What the citizens truly cared about was whether or not these people would be able to provide them with a good life. They had been enticed by the description of the four seasons in Da Shun. They wanted to go to Da Shun with her. This was what they were thinking.
Ban Zou had no choice but to admire his master’s abilities. With just a few words, she was far more persuasive than the entire army had been.
Feng Yu Heng promised the people: “When we have finished conquering Qian Zhou’s capital, we will bring you to Da Shun. From today, you will not need to risk your lives to go hunting in the heavy snow. Everyone knows that you can grow the food that you want to eat, and girls can wear beautiful clothes that they want. They also play in the rivers during the Summer. They can roll up their pant legs and try to catch fish. Don’t worry, Da Shun will give you a good life. It will treat you as a proper citizen.”
These people could no longer be held back. They began cheering and running around, beginning to spread the word to other people.
The crowd dispersed; however, there was still one person that stood there with their arms crossed. With their winter clothes blocking the snow, the gold mask on their face continued to glow despite the lack of light. He smiled while walking forward. With both hands in his pockets to keep warm, he said: “The current you is sufficiently good.”