Chapter 192: Sword and Shield Soldiers

The Great King left the manor and went to call Zhu Ti, ordering: "Take the money I gave you for selling horses, keep buying slaves—buy as many as you can."

Zhu Ti didn't understand: "The mine already has enough people; where would we put so many if we bought them?"

The Great King said: "First buy them. When I return, I'll make a trip to the opposite Liaodong Peninsula to hide them there if needed. We want all adult men and women; if it's a whole family, don't split them up—take them all. Later we can form a slave army from the adult men, which would be good, since the outside is chaotic and I need to prepare."

Zhu Ti nodded, "Should we expand the houses in the refugee village?"

"I almost forgot—we've been bluffing all along, but what if we really go there? First, build a batch for a scale of two or three thousand people."

"Or should we follow the previous rule? Free lodging for one year, and free for three years for families who join the army?"

"Yes, manage their housing, find them odd jobs for food, and later we'll still need to repair the city walls of several counties—work is easy to find, and if not, we can look at the coal mine. Speaking of that, how is our coal selling in the south?"

Zhu Ti spread his hands; this coal is hard to sell to the point that even a business genius would sigh.

"They're used to burning charcoal, so promoting this new thing is a bit difficult. But once the cold wave comes, it should improve."

After hearing Bai Yang's words, the Great King also relaxed: "No rush, we can just stockpile it for ourselves."

After Zhu Ti left, he again contacted Captain Chen Cang via an employment relation, setting a rough time to meet in East Sea Commandery and asking him to prepare the route in advance.

Everything was done, but this guy still hadn't rested, and went to set up a stall for a while at the Phoenix Market.

"I really am working hard!"

As soon as Qiao Yi arrived, he heard this guy boasting about himself……

"I haven't seen you in a long time—where exactly are you putting in the effort?"

The Great King said sadly: "I'm on the road every day, wind-eating and dew-sleeping, still getting stimulated; every day it's deep water and hot fire, today I stayed at an inn and immediately set up a stall—isn't that effort? Qiao Ge, you came at just the right time; Bai Ge just prophesied that our place will descend into chaos—do you have any suggestions? What useful items for troubled times do you have where you are to recommend to me~"

The Great King patted his much-thinned little chest: "I welcome all who come~"

This Qiao Yi really couldn't recall; their place isn't peaceful either, but it's not the same kind of unrest as the Great King's.

It's all unrest; he can earn money at the Phoenix Market, exchange it for resources, and quietly focus on studying alchemy in a corner, doing fine without getting involved in the sect disputes on the mainland—so the Great King has more to worry about.

"My weapons aren't useful to you, food and supplies…… Our grain is probably more expensive than at Bai Ge's place, and you can't stockpile Bigu Pill heavily, right? Maybe Hemostatic Pill for external wounds would be needed? Should we keep some on hand?"

The Great King's eyes lit up: "Surely the anti-inflammatory medicine at Bai Ge's place isn't as fast-acting as the pills, right?"

"How many ingots?"

Qiao Yi rummaged through his home's storeroom, pulled out a bottle and counted: "Ten in total, which converts to about 160 ingots? I can refine this basic one."

The Great King found this price acceptable: "Let's set it at three thousand! If we ever need to go to the battlefield, give them a life‑saving pill. You sell me a bottle first; later, when Meng Meng collects the price difference, you can sell the next bottle directly at that difference—this deal will be profitable."

Qiao Yi also became happy; the Great King's household is big, buying things in thousands, and if he refines them himself he can earn quite a bit.

The Great King was happily doing business when a passerby took a liking to the Immortal Crane Incense Burner on his stall. The Great King summoned all his spirit to persuade the new customer: "Bronze Auspicious Crane Stove, for exclusive royal use—buy it back to ward off evil!"

That person saw the incense burner's ancient shape and fine craftsmanship, and hearing 'royal' thought it couldn't be cheap.

When he asked the price, the Great King, following his principle of 'sell one, get one,' blurted out sixty thousand.

"'It's truly made inside the royal household—if it's fake you can complain at the manor, and taking it home to ward off evil would be great!' He'd learned this 'ward off evil' line from Bai Ge, and the Great King thought the phrasing was versatile."

"Vases ward off evil, incense burners ward off evil—here the Great King can ward off evil with anything."

That person looked at the 'Made in Great Jin' mark underneath—it didn't look fake—then saw the stall owner was a child; the Phoenix Market hardly has fakes, and a kid couldn't have too much moisture, so he offered fifty thousand. The Great King winced, hesitated a moment, and closed the deal.

After the person walked away, this guy jumped up shouting, "Buy pills, buy them all!" The incense burner he'd plucked for free at the Honglu Bureau netted him a pure profit of fifty thousand.

Qiao Yi pondered: "Your 'royal' really works; these people are superstitious about those two characters. Should I rename my Beast Feeding Pill to Royal Beast Feeding Pill, Royal Hemostatic Pill, Royal Bigu Pill?"

The Great King: "……That 'royal' sounds miserable—I can't even get a bite of anything good."

Qiao Yi: ……

The Great King set up a stall for one night, sold an incense burner, then just before closing sold a black porcelain flower vessel for two thousand ingots—equivalent to over fifty thousand taels of silver in one night's income, and when he left he walked with the step of someone who has no kin.

The owner of the shop that was fast becoming his private weapons depot saw him from afar, beaming, and welcomed him: "My Prince, it's an honor to meet you—I have something good to introduce to you!"

That smile made the Great King very wary; he tightened his empty money pouch for no reason: "Why so enthusiastic? I'm not buying anything!"

John Pu continued enthusiastically: "Your Highness, we're friends, aren't we? Not buying is fine—having this honor, please take a look at our store's new weapon."

The Great King thought, "Well then, I'll just have a look." He had just delivered ten thousand sets of armor and spears, and his military budget was nearly exhausted.

As soon as he entered the shop, the owner displayed two silver‑glinting shields: "Please look! This is our shop's cutting‑edge new product!"

Heaven help us—in a world where heavy machine guns can be sold, who would make shields? Something obsolete for hundreds or thousands of years.

Obviously this is a new product specially made to target the Great King.

The Great King didn't look at the big one; he examined the small round shield with a grip, picked it up curiously—it was light and nimble, looked not bad?

But the Great King's money isn't so easily fooled!

"Huh? You want to sell me a shield? But the armor you sold me isn't penetrable by ordinary blades or arrows—are you trying to trick me?"

John Pu immediately waved his hands: "No, no, no—I sold you two specifications of armor, both alloy and very sturdy. But you know, in war anything can happen; stray arrows are hard to defend against, and the fragile face and neck need protection. This shield is also alloy, sturdy and light, very handy for blocking—it really works well!" He picked it up and swung it twice to demonstrate to the Great King.

The Great King understood this point perfectly—he also had shields, but they were far inferior to this one. He was also short on money; because he had good armor he hadn't considered upgrading, otherwise he would have done so earlier.

Actually, in the age of cold weapons shields are important; the Great King knew that even after a thousand years, there would still be states relying on sword‑and‑shield troops to sweep the continent.

But he showed no reaction.

The Great King wrinkled his nose: "Pretty useless, huh? I also have shields, but yours will surely be expensive, and with my armor I actually don't need something this good."

John Pu hurriedly declared: "Not expensive, not expensive! I can give you a discount—we've cooperated for a long time, right!"

The Great King glanced at the spears and short cannons on the wall, not very interested, and asked: "How many ingots?"

John Pu looked at his expression: "…The small one is fifty, the large one seventy."

The Great King lifted his foot and walked out: "Fifty? Too expensive. I'm leaving now; I'll come back next time I need to buy armor."

John Pu grabbed him: "Thirty!" Don't go—it's custom‑made for you!

Great King: "No money, I'm leaving first……"

John Pu: "Twenty! Twenty!"

Great King: "Do you know what twenty means in my interface? I……"

John Pu cut him off: "Fifteen! Fifteen! But you have to buy ten thousand of them!"

Da Wang stared at his small face: "Ah! Let's sign the contract~"

Yuehan Pu was still there pulling him, nagging: "Really can't be missing... huh?" What? Sign the contract? He lowered his head to size up this kid, he... was he being played? You're really catching him off guard...

Da Wang looked at him with a clear, innocent, pure gaze: "What's wrong? Not selling again?"

Yuehan Pu: "... I must be overthinking it."

………………New chapter………………

………………New chapter………………

………………New chapter………………

The previous day Da Wang was listless, but the next morning he set off again as if recharged; Wei Shen saw this and felt much more relieved.

After entering Prosperous Prefecture's territory, they finally didn't need to hide; the vanguard unit also stopped to meet up with Da Wang, and the whole team felt much more relaxed. Wei Shen also became happy; he had left home over a year ago, he felt this trip had been quite fruitful, his martial arts had been completely transformed, and he couldn't be more smug.

After running halfway through Prosperous Prefecture's territory, he suddenly realized: "Why didn't they send anyone to meet us? Is that reasonable?"

Da Wang didn't understand: "Does your family come pick you up when you go out?"

Wei Shen fell silent; he hadn't gone far from home much, but he had been away a few days, yet he hadn't received this treatment... but he immediately declared: "Isn't that because you're here?"

Da Wang looked at their caravan attire, pondering: "Can you recognize us?"

Wei Shen: "... Probably? Our horses are quite eye-catching."

Just as his words fell, the vanguard cavalry up front made a sudden halt, hooves high and neighing; Da Wang opened his mouth wide: "Oh oh~ You Prosperous Prefecture folks also have bandits!" Clearly someone had set up a roadblock ahead.

Wei Shen was also stunned: "The heavens have been overturned! Who's so blind... definitely a misunderstanding!" His tone suddenly shifted.

He ran over and whipped towards the cavalry that had jumped out from the roadside: "Make it clear whose young master this is! What are you doing?"

"Second Young Master?"

The leader Tang Jiu finally recognized that this caravan was the target they were to pick up; the atmosphere instantly became comical, the group that had just been arrogantly blocking the horses fell silent like chickens.

They had come out with Wei Ke to pick up the Second Young Master; besides the Wei family, no one knew Da Wang was coming; this year Wei Shen had grown a lot taller, everyone was in caravan attire, so Tang Jiu failed to recognize Wei Shen in the middle of the troop, after all he had even changed his horse……

This bunch of soldiers immediately eyed the caravan's fine big horses, planning to stop them and swap horses!

Having been soldiers for a long time, these folks were already a bit lax; the horses' appearance was too tempting, really not like horses that could be found in the Central Plains; maybe they were a steppe caravan! Having made up their minds, they all agreed, thinking it was just a caravan—swapping horses wouldn't be a big deal, they could even add some silver; what did these people have to fear?

Now it's nice—they've ended up robbing their own people.

Wei Shen was angry at these embarrassing guys—didn't you see Da Wang's mouth about to split from laughing? "You really know how to lose face for this young master! Did my grandfather send you out to pick people up?" Old man, don't be so outrageous—doesn't Prosperous Prefecture have a single reliable person?

Tang Jiu hastily waved his hands: "No, no, we came with the Eldest Young Master! The Eldest Young Master is on another main road into the city—aren't we afraid of missing him?" He also didn't know why the Second Young Master's status had risen so quickly; going out and coming back, they'd mobilized a crowd to pick him up.

Wei Ke looked about eighteen or nineteen, appearing much more steady than the lively Wei Shen; he was tall, already bearing a hint of the graceful, wind-swept jade-tree demeanor. Hmm, that's what Da Wang hopes to grow up to be like.

The only person in the know, Wei Ke, saw Da Wang, dismounted and knelt to pay respects, startling everyone in Prosperous Prefecture.

Da Wang jumped down to help him up, saying, "You're a bit like me!" That was Da Wang's first sentence.

Wei Shen rolled his eyes: "Who's like whom, anyway..."

Da Wang continued: "Elder cousin is too formal; you should learn from the second cousin—he's not formal at all, the first time we met he called me 'fatty', and we almost started fighting right then~"

Wei Ke's sharp gaze swept over his brother; Wei Shen stayed as quiet as a chicken, imitating Da Wang by zipping his lips.

"Your Highness, please forgive..."

Da Wang cut him off, enthusiastically saying: "What forgiveness? I don't care; just be like Wei Shen, don't be so polite!"

Wei Shen: "That's what you said—when facing my father, ah~ you get it?"

Da Wang blinked hard; Wei Ke looked back and forth at them—Da Wang, do you have some leverage over him?

After meeting up with Wei Ke, in Prosperous Prefecture they were completely safe, all the way straight to the Marquis of Wei Ting's manor.

The news had already been sent back; when they arrived at the manor, everyone was there.

The Wei Manor opened its main gate to welcome Da Wang's party; after the gate closed, the leading old man stepped forward to pay respects to Da Wang, but Da Wang timely jumped forward to stop him.

"You must be my maternal grandfather! You look so young, you could still strive for another twenty years!" Crunch, five plus signs.

The Marquis of Wei Ting personally saw how much like his beloved daughter's grandson he was, a rush of mixed emotions instantly choked him—"... What twenty years?"

Wei Shen thought:... It's better you don't know; first, cherish the great-grandson.

Wei Peng wasn't so polite; he grabbed Da Wang and said: "Uncle, let me see—how did you get so skinny?!"

The Marquis of Wei Ting also came over: "Yeah, you didn't say he was a fatty? How did he get so skinny?"

Wei Shen finally couldn't keep up the solemn act, laughing loudly beside them. His mother had been watching his second son, who had grown a bit taller and seemed steadier, filled with mixed emotions; now she finally realized—this isn't still the same as before!?

Da Wang: "... I, I was a bit chubby as a kid..." This was Da Wang's first admission that he used to be fat.

Wei Shen: "Hahaha, you as a kid? That was last year, hahaha..."

Da Wang:...