"But how do we get back? Youming Valley, Youming Valley, it's easy to enter, but hard to get out," Yang Xinhong asked when Zhou Fugui mentioned they could go back.
"The vengeful ghost clouds couldn't do anything to us, nor could the swamps stop us. Can a mere snow mountain stand in our way?" Zhou Fugui pointed at the snow mountain and replied.
"General Zhou is right," Yelihu said. "But I truly have no idea what lies beyond the mountain."
"You don't know?" Zhou Fugui asked, looking at Yelihu.
Yelihu shook his head.
Yelihu was familiar with the area before Youming Valley, but he knew nothing beyond it. It was likely that very few people in the world knew, because no one who entered Youming Valley had ever been known to come out.
"You don't know, but I do," Zhou Fugui said. "Beyond the mountain, there are green hills, clear waters, fertile lands, vast grasslands, herds of cattle and sheep, fine wine, delicious food, and beautiful young women..."
Cao Mengde of the Three Kingdoms, when he thought of plums, made his soldiers' mouths water, and they managed to reach their destination. Zhou Fugui, in a similar vein, or perhaps by rote, offered them the vision of cattle, sheep, fine wine, delicious food, and beautiful women to whet their appetites. With desire, they would naturally have the motivation to cross the snow mountain.
In reality, what was beyond the mountain? Zhou Fugui had no idea. It might be a case of escaping one wolf's den only to fall into a tiger's mouth.
However, Cao Mengde's strategy of thinking of plums was successful because he was the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty and the commander of the army. His soldiers had no choice but to believe him.
Zhou Fugui's words, on the other hand, were met with disbelief, with most thinking he was trying to deceive them.
These people were not fools. Without the coercion of power, why would they easily believe Zhou Fugui's words?
So, Xue Wentai, a devout monk from Guanzhong, asked with half a mind, "Is there really fatty meat and fine wine? Zhou Jia Erlang, are you deceiving this monk?"
Xue Wentai was not interested in beautiful women, only in wine and meat. He was a true monk of wine and meat...
"And beautiful young women..." Xu Mancang licked his lips and said, "Brothers, if you don't believe me, I do. But Brother Fugui, will you allow us to... you know?"
The White Tiger Battalion had strict military discipline back then, strictly prohibiting the violation of women, which was why Xu Mancang asked.
"You know what?" Pan Jianguai said with a laugh. "You just miss women, don't you? Are your heads filled with nothing but these unspeakable things?"
"Old Ghost, how is this unspeakable?" Xu Mancang said angrily. "Continuing the family line is a major event for my Xu family. My father said that this thing needs to be used often, otherwise it will go bad."
"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter, with many lewd chuckles among them.
Many dared to think but not to do, or dared to think and do but not to say. The same was true for the Hu people, but most of them dared to think, do, and say.
At the same time, the impression of the honest Xu Mancang greatly improved among the Hu people, feeling like they had met an old friend in a foreign land.
They were all rough men, not scholars full of benevolence and righteousness, so it was not uncommon for them to talk about lewd matters.
"Pfft!" Zhou Fugui hit Xu Mancang on the head and said, "Let's fill our stomachs first. Only when one is full can one think of lust. You, in this situation, still haven't forgotten beautiful young women?"
Speaking of this, Zhou Fugui was extremely distressed. It was the same back then, and it was the same now.
Zhou Fugui's ideal army was a righteous and upright force, one that would not take even a single autumn leaf, and that included women.
But now, Zhou Fugui could not do it, nor could he possibly do it. The current situation was even worse than during the Yan army's White Tiger Battalion days. Back then, the three thousand soldiers of the White Tiger Battalion were so repressed that their faces turned red, but at that time, the Yan army had camp prostitutes, and when they could no longer bear it, they could go to the prostitute camp to satisfy their needs.
The current situation was that Zhou Fugui not only could not establish this military rule, but he could not go against their wishes, otherwise, it would immediately cause a mutiny. At least these nearly two hundred soldiers would likely part ways unhappily, leaving them scattered.
In this wilderness, they had to unite as one to survive.
Therefore, Zhou Fugui also tempted them with beauties, and Zhou Fugui himself found it difficult to bear.
They were all young, vigorous, and rough men, so it was perfectly normal for them to have such thoughts.
"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter again.
Their conversation made the hearts of many thump wildly.
"Great lecher Xu..." Xue Wentai, the monk from Guanzhong, gnawed on horse meat, leaned on his saddle, and squinted at Xu Mancang, saying with a smile, "In my eyes, no matter how beautiful a woman is, she is just a painted skeleton, a mere foul-smelling skin. Why not become a monk with me? Chant Buddhist scriptures and eat vegetarian food, and curb your lewd thoughts."
"Haha..." Xu Mancang laughed. "You wine-and-meat monk who kills without blinking, become a monk with you? Aren't you afraid of defiling the pure land of Buddhism?"
"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst into laughter again.
Their lively conversation attracted some of the sleeping Yan army soldiers to gather. On one hand, they could keep each other warm against the cold, and on the other hand, they could join in the fun and pass the boring time.
"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?" Pan Jianguai glared at everyone and said in his usual sarcastic tone, "Wine, meat, and beautiful young women are all illusory. If you want wine and meat, or beautiful young women, you need to get over this mountain first."
"Really!" Xu Mancang shouted and turned to look at Zhou Fugui.
Although Xu Mancang said he believed Zhou Fugui, he was still half-believing in his heart.
Pan Jianguai's words made sense, so everyone turned to look at Zhou Fugui.
"Old Ghost, are you so sure it's illusory?" Zhou Fugui glared at Pan Jianguai and said, "Do you still remember when we first entered the valley? The vengeful ghost clouds almost sent us to the afterlife. I fell into a coma then. I'll tell you the truth today: I wasn't unconscious, but my spirit roamed an immortal mountain. There were immortals on the immortal mountain, and they told me that beyond this snow mountain lies the place I described: fertile land, green grasslands, herds of cattle and sheep, fine wine, delicious food, and beautiful young women... What? You don't believe me? The Heaven-Shaking Dragon Spear, you should believe that, shouldn't you?"
Since there was no power to force them to believe, Zhou Fugui used the supernatural to make them believe.
After all, almost everyone in this world believed in deities, whether they were Han or Hu. The only difference between Han and Hu was the deities they believed in.
"The divine weapon, the Heaven-Shaking Dragon Spear, cannot be fake," Li Qing finally said in a low voice.
"I believe it, why wouldn't I believe Brother's words?" Xu Mancang finally believed, becoming the second person among them to believe Zhou Fugui's words. He then took the lead and loudly agreed, "Only Old Ghost, this insidious fellow, doesn't believe. Do you believe?"
Xu Mancang glared at Pan Jianguai with his bull-like eyes. Pan Jianguai responded with a wry smile.
"How could we not believe General Zhou's words?" Baimawu, Hugujin, Tang Simo, and a group of Hu people nodded repeatedly.
If what Zhou Fugui experienced in his dream was nonsense, then the matter of the Heaven-Shaking Dragon Spear was something many of them had witnessed with their own eyes. At that time, they had all regarded Zhou Fugui as a god or a disciple of a god, so how could they not believe?
The words of an immortal or a disciple of an immortal were like imperial decrees. Not believing them would bring divine punishment and disaster, a deeply ingrained belief for everyone, especially the Hu people.
Among those who believed in deities, to gain their trust, one had to first become a deity. Once people regarded you as a deity, you could command the wind and rain at will.
"Haha, I knew Brother Zhou's words were not false!" Xue Wentai, the monk from Guanzhong, who had been skeptical just moments ago, now turned to absolute trust in Zhou Fugui...
"Crossing this snow mountain is our only way out," Zhou Fugui said with a nod.
"Camp leader, after crossing the snow mountain, can we go home?" Yang Xinhong asked.
Yang Xinhong's question was what everyone wanted to know, so they all looked at Zhou Fugui.
"Home? Where is home? Where is there a home?" Zhou Fugui said with a cold laugh. "Xuelin City? Youzhou? The Great Yan Kingdom?"
"General Zhou, what do you mean by this?" Baimawu asked.
"This brings us back to that matter, why did we come to this place?" Zhou Fugui replied.
"Why?" Baimawu frowned.
The others knew that Zhou Fugui would not say such things without reason, so they listened attentively, anticipating his intentions.
Could he be planning a rebellion? Some people even thought this.
"To survive," Zhou Fugui said slowly to everyone. "Not just to survive, but to live well, to live like a human being! Baimawu, leading the rear guard, do you live like a human? Dàchéng, do you? Mancang, do you? And you, you..."
Zhou Fugui named over a dozen people, all of whom shook their heads.
What Zhou Fugui said was absolutely true. In the Yan army, except for the Xianbei people, everyone was like a servant, being ordered around daily. It was one thing to be ordered around, but on the battlefield, they were the first to die, and when there were good things, they had no share. Their status was extremely low, whether they were Han or from ethnic groups other than Xianbei.
The situation in the border army was slightly better, thanks to the efforts of the border commander Hu Yan Sheng. However, Hu Yan Sheng could not fundamentally change the situation in the Great Yan Kingdom, and the reasons were self-evident.
"Brother, just say it, what should we do? Rebel? I..." Xu Mancang asked fiercely, his eyes glowing with ferocity.
"Shut up!" Zhou Fugui hurriedly interrupted Xu Mancang. "Dàchéng was right when he said you have a loose tongue. You should shut that mouth of yours that talks nonsense."
Rebel with just these few people? What was the difference between that and suicide? Zhou Fugui thought to himself.