Chapter 1552: He Lingchuan's Preparation

He Lingchuan looked at the dark circles under his eyes and didn't expose him. This guy must have been doing research day and night, which was why he looked so kidney-deficient.

"Where is she then?" He Lingchuan frowned, "She didn't stay in Jucheng, did she?"

For Xiao An, that place was not safe; for the commoners there, Xiao An was not safe.

"No." Was he, Dong Rui, such a careless person? "I took her to the Ghost King's Underground Palace in the Howling Forest and left her a few Dragon Punishment Pillars. That place is large, convenient for her to play hide-and-seek with ghosts—yes, she can easily see ghosts without needing to drip ox tears."

Even He Lingchuan had to admit that that place was truly good.

The Howling Forest was shrouded in evil spirits, and ordinary living creatures and practitioners avoided it, so Xiao An's "father" definitely couldn't get in, and the girl was safe there.

The Ghost King's Underground Palace was originally Dong Rui's secret laboratory, where he had stored plenty of daily necessities, food, and drink.

"That child is obedient and likes the underground palace; she won't run out casually." As long as she wasn't stimulated to turn back into her original form, Xiao An was an obedient and smart little girl.

"Was this month of research fulfilling?"

"Fulfilling, fulfilling, a great harvest!" At the mention of research, Dong Rui's eyes lit up, "Originally, my research had been stagnant for a long time, but Xiao An gave me great inspiration again."

He Lingchuan smiled without warmth: "What about the things I entrusted to you?"

This guy would throw serious matters to the back of his mind as soon as he started research.

"Handled, handled." Dong Rui said repeatedly, "There are a few more Yangshan boys who are outstanding, leading teams out with style, for example, that Lao, Lao..."

"Lao Wensong?" He Lingchuan knew his subordinates like the back of his hand.

"Right, he screened seven or eight grass-roots armies that were being wanted, all flying the banners of the Black Dragon or the Nine Nether Great Emperor to do good, but they were being hunted down by the locals and were almost at the end of their rope. Then, we took action against their pursuers." Dong Rui laughed, "Satisfying, truly satisfying! The Ghost Ape even ate a county magistrate."

The Ghost Ape grinned. That fat county magistrate didn't taste as good as the sugar beans.

He Lingchuan pointed at it: "Didn't expose yourselves, did you?"

Dong Rui bared his teeth and smiled: "Rest assured, no survivors left. Hmm, in a few days, I have to change its appearance."

"Anyway, by the time I left, the story of the real Black Armor Army rescuing the fake Black Armor Army was already circulating on the Shanjin Plain." Needless to say, the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce was pushing the waves behind the scenes. "Those grass-roots armies were encouraged and very excited. Within this month, your imitators have at least doubled again."

These spontaneous "Black Armor Armies" had weak initial strength, and once they were surrounded and suppressed by local areas or armies, they were easily wiped out. In such times, He Lingchuan didn't mind lending a helping hand to help them take out the pursuers.

He Lingchuan also laughed: "I received news here that some grass-roots armies seem to have started merging?"

He had indeed received several flying messages here.

"Not bad." Dong Rui drank another mouthful of tea, "Do you still remember the Weng brothers?"

"Of course." He Lingchuan had agreed on a three-month period with the Weng brothers, and it was almost up.

"These two months, they defected to a Cangzhou team whose leader is named Bo Shili, who has a business mind and seems to have experience in leading troops." Dong Rui laughed, "This team only had a hundred people initially, picking on a few bad gentry and evil officials, but as a result, the number of people grew the more they fought. Not long ago, they even merged with the Pang brothers of Ru Hai, and the team suddenly expanded to nearly a thousand people, with quite a momentum!"

"Several places wanted to surround and suppress them, but Bo Shili broke through the encirclement and escaped, not even needing us to take action."

"Great waves wash away the sand; the ones left are the usable talents." He Lingchuan knew, "Such people only lack time and opportunity. We give them the opportunity, and they will naturally stand out."

Sparks grow from small to large, from weak to strong. Today, the true Black Armor Army's function has shifted, and the focus of the mission has changed to cherishing these seedlings and sparks.

"By the way." He thought for a moment, "Let Lao Wensong go to Julu Port personally. If the Weng brothers' original intentions haven't changed, incorporate them directly into the Black Armor Army!"

This was the first group of Shanjin people incorporated by the Black Armor Army.

He Lingchuan knew very well that this step had to be taken. In the near future, the main force of the Black Armor Army would be Shanjin people.

The Yangshan Archipelago and Bailie were both too small. Only this vast land of Shanjin could carry his ambition and hope, and could continuously explode troops for him.

"By the way, the Allied Forces won two more victories recently, Pixia's defeat is set, and they want to negotiate with the Allied Forces." Dong Rui brushed his messy hair aside, "Boss Situ He refused, probably wanting to take advantage of the Yao Nation's inability to pay attention and take Pixia in one fell swoop."

Boss Situ He was carrying national hatred and family enmity, wanting to settle accounts with Pixia together.

"They also discovered that the Yao Nation is not right?"

"Discovered long ago." Dong Rui said, "Just as I returned to Jucheng, Boss Situ He came to visit, wanting to know what you have been doing recently. I only picked one or two things to say casually, such as you killing He Yang and mixing well in Tianshui City, and he was full of admiration, saying that it is worthy of Island Master He, specializing in things that ordinary people cannot do."

"He became the commander of the Allied Forces, grew up very fast, and his mind is much more flexible than before."

He Lingchuan had always been paying attention to Boss Situ He, paying attention to the transformation of his mind.

The Boss Situ He of the past, even if he had talent, mostly acted on a burst of hot blood. In just a few months, he had become steady and thoughtful.

The furnace of war; some people go in and can only become fuel, while others are tempered into precious swords.

Dong Rui remembered another thing and took a booklet from his bosom: "And this statement, Jiang Lishui didn't dare to use a flying message to send it to Tianshui City, fearing it would be intercepted halfway, so he entrusted me to bring it directly to you."

He Lingchuan took it and flipped through it, then nodded: "Not bad, this information is too important to be obtained by outsiders."

"I see some merchant houses and numbers on it?" Dong Rui had a headache as soon as he saw these commercial things.

Strangely enough, if these numbers appeared in his research experiments, he could understand them clearly.

If they appeared in He Lingchuan's commercial account books, he would see stars.

"These are the fifty-five merchant houses I arranged in various places on the Shanjin Plain." He Lingchuan explained while flipping, "Of course, these don't all fly the banner of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, or rather, most of them have nothing to do with Yangshan on the surface."

"What for?" Dong Rui clicked his tongue, "How many brains do you have to handle so many things at the same time?"

Just dealing with the Youhu Villa and the Tianshui eastern expansion project would exhaust ten ordinary people, yet He Lingchuan still had to remotely take care of the Yangshan Archipelago's business on the Shanjin Plain, and at the same time seemed to have started new plans for the next stage?

Of course, he didn't know that He Lingchuan also had to enter the Panlong world at night, throwing himself into intense and fierce battles to fight against Beijia there.

He Lingchuan smiled: "This is being prepared for a rainy day. Taking advantage of the autumn harvest in various places, first collect a portion of materials and store them locally in case of emergency. This booklet is a directory, marking the locations of the warehouses of each merchant house, as well as the quantity of grain, weapons, and medicines stored inside, for later verification."

"What is in case of emergency?" Dong Rui scratched his head, "It seems to be all over Shanjin."

"Except for the Yao Nation and the northern part of Shanjin, there are some layouts in other places. The eastern part of Shanjin is also relatively few." He Lingchuan flipped to the second half of the booklet, "The storage situation of each merchant house is not satisfactory; in some places, they really can't collect them, and in some places, Yangshan's power still can't get in. Time is a bit tight; we must speed up."

The difficulties on the Shanjin Plain were far more than elsewhere.

Dong Rui was also curious, why did Yangshan want to store materials all over Shanjin? He Lingchuan was methodical; what kind of preparation was he making? But He Lingchuan put away the account book and stopped explaining, instead looking at the eaves where the rainwater was dripping, and said to Dong Rui: "You came back just in time, shall we go out for a trip?"

Dong Rui stood up and stretched: "Let's go."

The two returned to He Lingchuan's courtyard together.

His residence was guarded by Yangshan guards, and idlers were not allowed near.

Dong Rui understood his intention: "Where to?"

"Enter the city."

A major benefit of moving to Yongquan Villa was the freedom of movement, using the Snail Toad to come and go conveniently, unlike in the Sanmentou Post House where he couldn't display his skills and was everywhere under other people's surveillance.

He Lingchuan's backyard was filled with trees, the courtyard was deep, and looking down from a high place, one could only see the dense canopy.

He used the Soul-Consuming Mirror to confirm again and again that there were no monsters or supernatural powers watching nearby, only then did he let Dong Rui summon the Snail Toad.

In the rain, the Snail Toad dived into the ground, smooth and incomparable.

Tonglin Ji.

The night rain was lingering, and Gu Lin was still checking the accounts, not yet asleep.

Tonglin Ji's business had been so good recently that there were more orders transferred from Yangshan than they could finish.

Of course, for the sake of secrecy, Yangshan didn't only connect with Tonglin Ji, but distributed the needs of the Youhu Villa to dozens of merchant houses to do, so the share Tonglin Ji got was actually small and not very eye-catching.

Gu Lin calculated the accounts for a while, his eyes a bit blurry, so he stood up and walked a few steps to stretch his muscles and bones.

There wasn't a ghost shadow in the merchant house on a rainy night, not even the wild cats that loved to visit, and the old man watching the door had long since fallen asleep to the hypnotic sound of the rain.

The three wind lamps under the eaves swayed lightly in the wind; the middle one was dark, and the other two were still resisting the wind and rain with faint light.

With a "puff" sound, the one on the left went out.

Regardless of the wind and rain, Gu Lin hurriedly went out to light it up.

It couldn't be extinguished; this was a signal, a secret signal indicating that he himself was in the merchant house and that everything was safe here.

Gu Lin had just turned to walk back when he felt something different behind him, as if a breeze had brushed past.

He turned around, and there was a person behind him without a sound.

Gu Lin was not panicked, but pushed the door open and whispered: "You are here, please come in."

The visitor was He Lingchuan.

The door on the side opened, and Wang Fubao flashed out—he was now specifically taking care of Gu Lin, and would come out to check if there was any disturbance.

He Lingchuan waved at him, and the loyal guard walked under the eaves to keep watch for the two.

The two entered the room and closed the doors and windows. He Lingchuan casually set up a sound-insulating barrier before sitting down.

His first sentence made Gu Lin pause: "The capital expansion is booming; have you taken the opportunity to invest in a few plots of land?" ===== CHAPTER 1553 =====