Chapter 760: The Great Wealth of the Northern Frontier

After several days and nights of non-stop, high-speed galloping, that massive torrent of wealth—stretching over ten miles and composed of countless tall horses, fat cattle and sheep, and craftsmen tethered by ropes—finally appeared safe and sound on the gently undulating horizon outside Xiazhou City as the first rays of the morning sun spilled down.

The low, rumbling roar produced by the thundering of ten thousand hooves was transmitted along the dry, hard yellow earth from a great distance away, causing the very thick blue-brick walls of Xiazhou City to tremble slightly.

The commoners in the city who had risen early to work and the garrison soldiers who were changing shifts on the watchtowers were all startled by this sudden shaking of the earth and mountains, and they all surged up onto the high city walls.

When they saw clearly the group of supreme-grade warhorses surging toward them like a vast, earth-yellow sea wave, everyone's throat felt as if it were tightly blocked by a ball of cotton, and they were collectively struck dumb by the sheer scale of this heaven-defying wealth that could rewrite the fate of the nation.

Zhang Wenqian, wearing that slightly loose green official robe, stood dazed beside the crenelations at the very edge of the city wall.

His hands, which had spent years writing official documents, were now gripping the hard, cold gaps between the blue bricks so tightly due to extreme excitement that he did not even notice his fingernails being worn down until they bled.

This Deputy Governor of Xiazhou, who had always been known for his composure and shrewdness, looked at the endless foundation of livestock outside the city and was so moved that two lines of hot tears flowed wantonly down the gullies of his cheeks; he did not even bother to pick up the official hat that symbolized his authority, which had been blown to the ground by the autumn wind.

"The divine might of the Pillar of State! This is simply Heaven sending down sweet dew upon our Xiazhou."

Zhang Wenqian, abandoning all decorum as a high official, felt his knees go weak and fell heavily onto the rough city bricks with a thud; disregarding everything, he frantically kowtowed three loud times toward the majestic back standing at the highest point of the watchtower.

"With such a massive foundation of warhorses and craftsmen, even if our Great Zhou were to exhaust the strength of the entire nation and go without food or drink, it would take several years to barely scrape together such a collection. Today, our Xiazhou has truly stepped onto the center stage of this world."

Chen Yan, draped in a heavy purple robe embroidered with python patterns in dark gold silk thread, stood proudly at the peak of the watchtower like a god who ruled over the rise and fall of all living things, facing the biting autumn wind that whistled and roared.

On his face, which was as sharply defined as if carved by a knife and axe, there was not a hint of unseemly ecstasy despite this sudden influx of immense wealth.

In Chen Yan's extremely deep and dark eyes, there surged the waves of a violent hegemon who intended to trample all the nations of the world and every century-old clan under his feet.

He looked down below the city wall, where Lu Ming was holding his iron-forged horse lance—which was still dripping with the dark, black blood of the Rouran people—upside down in one hand, riding his horse toward the towering city gate like an undefeated war god returning in triumph from the Asura hell.

At the corners of Chen Yan's lips, a cold, mocking smile of extreme derision and condescension slowly curled upward, directed at all the pitiful prey in the world whom he held in the palm of his hand.

Accompanied by the extremely heavy sound of metal friction from the winches inside the city gate, the two massive, iron-clad gates swung open with a boom.

This shocking wealth, acquired through bloody plunder, was like the hottest and most vibrant fresh blood, crazily injecting itself along the wide official road into the belly of Xiazhou, a massive war machine currently in a period of rapid transformation.

Gao Jiong, dressed in pitch-black brocade clothing and clutching a pile of heavy account books just urgently compiled by the Mingjing Si, climbed the city tower with rapid steps along the stone stairs.

He walked behind Chen Yan and presented the booklet, which had the core results marked in cinnabar, with extreme respect; even his face, which was usually dark and cold, showed a rare, uncontrollable flush of excitement.

"Pillar of State, all the livestock and personnel have entered the city and been properly settled. Just these hundreds of top-tier Western Region blacksmiths we forcibly seized, who possess core forging skills, are enough to fill the final technical gaps in our workshops."

Gao Jiong's voice trembled slightly due to extreme excitement; he lowered his voice beside Chen Yan's ear and threw out a terrifying production figure that would make any feudal lord green with envy and madness.

"With their addition, plus the massive amount of money and grain we seized from the clans these past few days, the production capacity of the Xiazhou military workshops will directly increase several times over. From now on, there will be no technical or manpower bottlenecks for the mass production of curved plows and armor-piercing repeating crossbows."

Chen Yan casually flipped through the dense list of bills and tossed it to a trembling attendant behind him.

He strode down the watchtower and followed the horse path to stand before Lu Ming, who was surrounded by the civil and military officials of Xiazhou.

Chen Yan personally reached out and, with extreme solemnity, supported Lu Ming's dust-covered arm, steadily helping this peerless, fierce general who had turned the grasslands into a river of blood to his feet.

"Commander Lu, by venturing deep into enemy territory alone this time and uprooting the foundation of the grasslands without losing a single soldier, such an unparalleled feat deserves a great reward."

Chen Yan turned around, facing the pairs of eyes filled with awe and fanaticism, and issued a swift and decisive order for rewards and punishments in a voice with immense penetrating power.

"Pass on my order: reward Lu Ming with ten thousand taels of gold and a thousand acres of fertile land. All the soldiers under his command who participated in the battle are to be promoted two ranks and rewarded with one hundred taels of silver each. Let the soldiers eat their fill of wine and meat from the Xiazhou treasury for three days."

This domineering posture of rewarding without stinting, as if money were dirt, instantly pushed the morale of the entire city's military and civilians to a fanatical peak that was almost self-combusting. The sound of them shouting "Long live the Pillar of State" like a tsunami echoed over Xiazhou City for a long time, shattering the few drifting clouds in the sky.

Immediately afterward, Chen Yan's gaze, which was as substantial as it was oppressive, slowly crossed the crowd and swept toward Ye Zhuxi and Gu Yuci, who were standing in the back, their faces also flushed with excitement.

He extended his slender, powerful fingers and pointed at the two of them in the air, throwing out a massive, subversive plan for military expansion that could directly change the future landscape of the world's military power.

Chen Yan's voice, like a dull, rolling thunderclap, exploded without warning beside the ears of all the generals.

"Ye Zhuxi, Gu Yuci, take orders."

"Subordinates are here." The two immediately stepped forward by reflex, cupped their fists, and responded in unison.

Chen Yan pointed to the massive herd of horses outside the city that was being settled in a temporary pasture, his tone carrying an absolute power of control that brooked no rebuttal.

"I intend to allocate all fifty thousand of these Hequ warhorses to the Xiazhou camp under your command."

He stepped forward half a step, his aura, thick with ambition and decisive killing intent, tightly suppressing the two fierce generals before him.

"I give you half a year. Using this batch of excellent warhorses and all the new armor-piercing equipment forged by the Western Region craftsmen, train them to death for me. Train an invincible elite cavalry capable of taking on ten men each."

Chen Yan raised his chin with extreme arrogance, the light in his eyes so bright that people dared not look directly at him.

"I want this cavalry to become the sharpest blade that will eventually trample the Central Plains and flatten all enemy states of Qi and Liang."

When this extremely insane military order was dropped, the hearts of Ye Zhuxi and Gu Yuci felt as if they had been struck by a magnitude-twelve earthquake.

Without the slightest hesitation, the two slammed their knees onto the rough blue stone slabs and decisively signed a death-pledge military order, promising to bring their heads if they failed.

An extreme excitement at being about to personally witness history and participate in creating the world's most terrifying legion burned crazily in their chests, like dry wood doused in blazing oil.

The biting autumn wind rolled up golden fallen leaves and dry yellow sand from the ground, sweeping over the towering Xiazhou city walls.

Chen Yan walked alone to the crenelations of the city wall, his hands resting casually on the cold blue bricks.

His deep gaze, which was as calculating as a demon's, slowly crossed the vast yellow earth plateau that was currently bursting with vitality.

His line of sight seemed to pierce through endless space and the barriers of mountains and rivers, locking directly onto Jinyang, the prosperous capital city in the south that belonged to the Qi State.