Chapter 194: Preparing for Battle and Changing Equipment

Everyone teased him: "Just this one bear gall, is it enough to handle the bride price for your third brother to marry a wife?" Door Panel patted his shoulder: "Do you want me to add some? But say it first, the wife also has a share of mine."

"Enough, enough, there is no share for you." The thin person didn't care, carefully took the box and packed it.

Teammates all know that he is the eldest in the family, with four younger brothers and two younger sisters below, among whom the second brother lost a leg in the battle and couldn't do the work of supporting the family.

After his parents passed away, the thin person as the eldest brother had to take on the responsibility of the father, and now with the bear gall in hand, his confidence was very full: "Let's see what the in-laws dare to ask for this time!"

Everyone was about to part ways and go home to rest, when Fire Leader Liu Tong walked back: "Don't disband yet, the next task is here."

Door Panel was stunned: "Doing it now?"

From tracking, ambushing to fighting, they were busy for more than ten hours before killing the bear demon; they should rest their energy now.

"This is a mandatory task, there is no room for bargaining." Liu Tong's expression was solemn, "Go and treat your wounds, then prepare five days of supplies, and gather at the Nanmen Square in an hour and a half; this time it is a legion battle!"

Everyone was shocked, talking all at once: "We also have to participate in the legion battle?"

"Finally it's our turn?"

"Meeting is good, military merit is given more!" Making money is also making more, the thin person licked his mouth, "Killing demons is already boring."

He He Lingchuan asked: "How many legions are participating?"

"Don't know, this is a secret." Liu Tong told everyone, "Time is limited, hurry up to replenish food, water, elixirs, arrows, and other weapons. Take your horses back to the stable to rest, I will transfer a batch of warhorses to replace them. After leaving the city, we might have to march long distances."

Door Panel's expression was serious: "Is it going to Puxiegou?"

"Don't know." Liu Tong left in a hurry.

Willow Strip twisted her neck, making a few "clack" sounds: "Horses can rest, but people don't have this treatment." They stayed up for more than ten hours to hunt, returned to the city full of fatigue, and as a result, they had to set off immediately. "I'm going back to sleep for a while."

The thin person had to rush home to hand over the harvest to his family, but didn't forget to ask his teammate before

Door-Panel frowned: "You buy from your brother-in-law every time, can't you get a discount?"

"For you guys to eat, my family uses good flour and plenty of oil. Don't you feel it's extra fragrant and oily when you eat it?" The skinny man counted on his fingers, "Even so, every pancake is still one copper coin cheaper than the market price. This is the teammate price, the conscience price!"

"Then why is the meat in the pancake a bit sour?" another teammate leaned over to ask, "What kind of meat did you put in it?"

"Good meat, it's all perfectly legitimate good meat!" The skinny man looked serious, "I watched them make the pancakes with my own eyes. Don't worry, there's absolutely no cutting corners."

"I even found a fly in the pancake." The teammate was unconvinced, "Since you were watching the whole time, didn't you see the fly fly in?"

"A fly just means a bit more meat; it's crispy and crunchy, why bother picking it out?"

Everyone booed him, but they tacitly agreed to keep buying dry rations from his family. The skinny man had a whole family to support and was always short of money, so he wouldn't let even half a copper coin slip by. Anyway, the scallion meat pancakes all tasted the same; buying from anyone else was the same, and at least the skinny man wasn't wrong about one thing: the pancakes his brother and sister-in-law made had more oil, making them more filling.

After everyone else had left, the skinny man asked He He Lingchuan: "Broken Blade, do you need anything else?"

"Give me another five jin of beef jerky. Make it dry and hard; don't make it soggy."

"Got it!" The skinny man knew that a bachelor like He He Lingchuan had no family to support and only needed to feed himself, so he was definitely more generous with his food and drink expenses.

Cattle were such precious means of production; who would be willing to slaughter them unless they were injured, sick, or old? The price of beef jerky was at least three times that of cheese.

He He Lingchuan emphasized: "No cat meat, no civet meat; I want legitimate beef."

"Understood, understood." The skinny man chuckled and turned to run, but was called back by He He Lingchuan, "Help me get a few Ghost Shadow Cicada Shells as well."

"Ghost Shadow..." The skinny man was startled, "This stuff isn't cheap."

"It's more expensive to trade for it with military merit." Every city had an underground black market, and even one as strict as Panlongcheng was no exception; some good things not commonly seen on the market circulated there. If it weren't for the fact that Hu Min and A Luo were both away, He He Lingchuan wouldn't have bothered this guy.

Ghost Shadow Cicada Shells were the essential "seeds" for casting the Li Dai Tao Jiang technique. After He He Lingchuan learned this divine ability, as long as he threw it on the ground beforehand, he could freely swap positions with it within a range of five zhang.

Although the cooldown was as long as three hours, it was a divine skill if used well.

After the skinny man left, He He Lingchuan returned to the Pengcheng Office and used his accumulated military merit to redeem the Li Dai Tao Jiang technique.

Then, he found a nearby inn and opened a room. The shorter the gap between battles, the more one needed to seize the time to recuperate.

Hu Min had left yesterday afternoon without saying where he was going. Coincidentally, A Luo was the same, so He He Lingchuan inferred that they had rushed to the Panlong Wasteland a step ahead of him.

During these few times he entered the dream, he also diligently collected intelligence and soon discovered that Panlongcheng and the Baling Army had already traded blows several times on the battlefield of Puxiegou. Facing the harassment tactics used by the Baling Army, Panlongcheng took the big and let go of the small, and didn't wait idly for the rabbit; they only sent troops to guard the flanks when crops were being harvested in bulk or when merchant caravans left the city.

After several ineffective harassments, the Baling Army simply sent more men to plunder the merchant caravans.

After all, the local specialties of Puxiegou were truly valuable.

Before today, the Baling Army had successfully plundered three times and failed four times, with the most recent one being three days ago.

Within a short two months, they had mobilized troops to rob seven times in total, which showed the extent to which both sides were competing.

For this kind of medium-scale, high-frequency combat, relying solely on the Great Wind Army certainly wouldn't work; it had its own missions to execute, so the Patrol Guard Army was supplemented in time, becoming one of the main forces for the Puxiegou escort team every time.

Many patrol squads had already gone, and this time it was finally the turn of the squad He He Lingchuan was in.

Just as he lay down on the couch, the exhaustion of the past dozen hours came crashing down, dragging him into a dream.

During his past few missions, He He Lingchuan was surprised to find that he could actually fall asleep in his dreams.

It was just that this kind of rest didn't involve dreams within dreams, but rather a deep, unconscious sleep; upon waking, he would feel full of spirit and completely recovered from fatigue.

At this time, there were still two quarters of an hour until the assembly time. He He Lingchuan walked to a small eatery nearby, ordered a basin of white-cut mutton, two massive, dense steamed buns, and a large bowl of wonton soup, and began to wolf it down.

Among all foods, meat was the most filling. He He Lingchuan thought the later he ate the skinny man's scallion meat pancakes, the better.

However, probably only patrol guards could eat like this in a small eatery. Others would have to hesitate for a long time just to order a bowl of mutton soup with only oil droplets floating on it.

The child nearby was almost tempted to tears, stealing glances at his bowl while slowly gnawing on a bun.

He He Lingchuan just focused on eating his fill.

The waiter brought two filled water skins and handed them to He He Lingchuan diligently. Many patrol guards ate here, and the shopkeeper would provide whatever services they could, such as helping people replenish ready-made dry rations and fresh water.

He He Lingchuan stood up, paid the bill, and pointed at the soup bowl, asking the child: "Do you want this?"

The child nodded wildly. There were still a few large wontons in the soup, along with scallions and a layer of oil droplets floating on top.

The child's mother watched longingly; it seemed like it had been two months since her family last ate meat.

He He Lingchuan placed the bowl on the child's table and turned to walk out.

Panlongcheng Nanmen Square.

When He He Lingchuan found his squad, seven or eight hundred people had already gathered in the square; judging by their attire, they were basically all Patrol Guard soldiers.

The skinny man arrived with his second brother's wife, distributing dry rations with one hand and collecting money with the other.

The young woman was fair-skinned and had a bit of beauty; she carried two baskets in her hands, inside which were freshly made scallion meat pancakes that still radiated heat through the oil paper. She smiled at everyone she met, not minding at all when the men cracked jokes with her or said lewd things.

Door-Panel said to the skinny man: "Next time you want me to buy again, unless your sister-in-law comes to deliver the pancakes herself."

The skinny man rolled his eyes at him: "Then you'll have to live past today." After saying this, he gestured with his chin toward Willow.

Door-Panel turned his head to look, and Willow was glaring at him fiercely, her willow-leaf eyebrows almost standing on end; he couldn't help but lower his head and cough twice.

Liu Tong came over and pulled all the team members into a nearby small alley, where someone had delivered sets of light leather armor.

He He Lingchuan was startled, and Door-Panel had already shouted out: "Ah, aren't these Great Wind Army uniforms?!"

The standard equipment of the Great Wind Army was different from all other units and could be distinguished at a glance.

To be drafted into the Great Wind Army and wear this set of military attire—how much honor was that for many people?

"What are you shouting for? Are you afraid others won't hear you?" Liu Tong made a gesture for silence, "Change into them right here, hurry up."

Everyone stopped asking questions and changed quickly and nimbly, and there were people to take away their patrol uniforms all at once.

Door-Panel stroked the Great Wind Army uniform on his body, his eyes full of emotion: "Are these sets of equipment being given to us?"

These pieces of equipment were neither new nor old and should have been worn by their original owners for some time; He He Lingchuan even found dark red bloodstains on the sleeve armor.

Pies don't fall from the sky, even if they've been nibbled on. Willow doubted: "What is this asking us to do?"

"Why ask so much as a soldier?" More people brought horses over; they were all sleek, spirited, and their coats were brushed very clean, with their own rations hanging behind the saddles.

For this kind of forced march, horses could eat the water grass on the wasteland, but if you wanted them to have endurance and stamina, the cavalry had to bring some concentrated feed themselves.

Everyone looked at this and exchanged glances.

If there wasn't a tough battle to be fought later, why would the preparation work be so thorough? Liu Tong called everyone to lead their horses back to the square.

The wounds on Willow and the others had already been treated with medicine; the spiritual medicine of Panlongcheng was exceptionally effective for external injuries, and now it basically didn't affect their movements.

At this time, over a thousand people had gathered in the Nanmen Square, and a large man clad in heavy armor stood up and began to mobilize the entire army.

He He Lingchuan heard people say that this was General General Nanke.

(End of chapter)