Chapter 13: County Seat

In the time that followed, all the villagers of Qinghe Village were mobilized to search the entire village for tree trunks suitable for making Elm Cannons.

Those too thin wouldn't do, and those grown crooked wouldn't do either; in the end, they only gathered enough materials to make five Elm Cannons, which left Meng Dayong somewhat disappointed, as the scene he had longed for—dozens of Elm Cannons firing simultaneously—seemed to have fallen through.

The production of Elm Cannons required no technical expertise; for anyone who knew carpentry, a single glance was enough to learn how, so there was no issue of secrecy.

Meng Dayong led five villagers who knew carpentry to make the Elm Cannons, while Meng Yifan had people continue collecting Earth Saltpeter in the village, then returned to his room to refine it into Fire Saltpeter and formulate a new type of gunpowder.

Earth Saltpeter was widely distributed; it appeared not only on the low walls outside the latrines but also in old houses, pigsties, and beside sewage pits and similar places.

After a busy morning, the Earth Saltpeter in the village had all been collected, and Meng Yifan produced another fifty jin of black powder, which made Meng Dayong very excited, looking at the black powder as if he were looking at gleaming silver.

In the course of the morning, two damaged Bird Guns were repaired by Meng Dayong, and five Elm Cannons were also produced by the villagers; each was test-fired once, and none of the Elm Cannons had any problems.

At noon, the villagers were still eating at the Meng household; fifty or sixty people eating sparingly still consumed half a Big Dog Bear, which made Meng Dayong feel a bit of heartache.

In a year of famine, food was a thing more precious than silver; if it weren't for the fact that the Flying Tiger Demon and its minions could arrive at any moment, Meng Dayong truly would not have been willing to take out the bear meat for the villagers to eat.

In the afternoon, Meng Yifan led everyone to begin building defensive fortifications and mechanical traps.

Although the Elm Cannons and Bird Guns were sharp weapons, their numbers were still too few, and the gunpowder was not very abundant either.

The Flying Tiger Demon ruled over all the Wild Beasts of Jiguan Mountain, and its minions were countless; Meng Yifan did not know how many Wild Beast attacks he would face, so building more mechanical traps could be considered a precaution.

Near Qinghe Village, a pit was to be dug every few steps, filled with sharp iron spears; once a Wild Beast fell in, it would have no hope of coming out alive.

Animal traps were placed everywhere in the village, Wolf Tooth Boards were installed on the trees at the village entrance, and Rolling Stones were set up where there were slopes.

Every mechanical trap that could be made was installed, turning the entire Qinghe Village into a war-time Concrete Blockhouse, just waiting for the Flying Tiger Demon to bring its minions to their deaths.

While the Meng father and son were actively preparing for battle, inside Luolong County, in the backyard of the county office, a pot-bellied middle-aged man with a piece of brocade covering his head and his fat hands spread wide was playing hide-and-seek with five gorgeously dressed beauties.

"Haha, Yanyan, I smell the fragrance on your body, my little heart, I'm going to catch you; tonight, you will be the one to accompany me."

The middle-aged man lunged forward following the scent, but the beauty named Yanyan dodged nimbly and laughed, "Master, I'm over here?"

"The ones in front must be Jiaojiao and Fangfang, my little darlings, let's see where you can run?" The middle-aged man spread his hands wide, like an eagle catching chicks, and suddenly hugged the two beautiful women, excitedly groping them up and down while the beauties giggled coquettishly in his arms.

Just as the middle-aged man and the beauties were having a great time, a servant dressed in gray walked over.

"Master, Zhang Butou requests an audience, saying there is a matter of extreme urgency to report." The servant kept his head low, not daring to look at the wives dressed in such revealing clothing.

"You bastard, don't you see that your master is busy?" The fat middle-aged man had his mood spoiled, his anger flared, and he grabbed a teacup from the table and threw it.

The servant's head was cut open instantly, and blood flowed from the wound, but the servant did not dare to wipe it; he kept his head low and said, "Master, Zhang Butou said that if you do not see him, he will break in directly; your servant was forced by circumstances to disturb you."

Under the service of the five beauties, the middle-aged man wiped the lipstick marks off his face, put on a green official robe embroidered with mandarin duck patches on the chest, and then, with his hands behind his back, walked out with a steady, measured gait.

County Magistrate Lv Dazhi frowned and said with some displeasure, "This Zhang Butou is becoming less and less disciplined."

Lv Dazhi walked to the reception hall in the front courtyard of the county office and saw a sturdy man with bronze-colored skin, a lion-like nose and wide mouth, and thick eyebrows, pacing around the courtyard in great anxiety.

That sturdy man was none other than Zhang Butou of Luolong County, a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist; seeing Lv Dazhi come out, he hurriedly said, "My Lord, Qinghe Village has been sealed off by fog for a month, the nearby Liu Family Village and Shuanghe Village have been slaughtered by the Tiger Demon, and there are demons causing trouble in Xiaowang Village, Qingshan Village, and Sanchahe Village; I request that you allow me to take the yamen runners out of the city to exterminate the demons."

Lv Dazhi sat in the main seat, sipped his tea unhurriedly, and then said slowly, "I have long known about the situation you speak of; it is not just the villages you mentioned, but almost all the villages within the territory of Luolong County have discovered traces of demon activity."

"Since you know, My Lord, why didn't you send me out of the city to exterminate the demons sooner?" Zhang Butou was a bit angry, and his words inevitably carried heat.

He was a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist with keen hearing and sharp eyes; even while in the front courtyard, he could hear the sounds of the women playing in the backyard.

The common people were being slaughtered by demons, and as the father-and-mother official of Luolong County, Lv Dazhi still had the mood to play with women, which made Zhang Butou very dissatisfied.

Lv Dazhi slammed the table and stood up, scolding, "Presumptuous! Are you teaching me how to do my job?"

Lv Dazhi was the County Magistrate, while Zhang Butou was only a head constable, an Unranked clerk, not even considered an official; whereas Lv Dazhi was a Seventh Grade Civil Official appointed by the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, and he was fully responsible for all affairs, large and small, in Luolong County.

In terms of rank, Zhang Butou and Lv Dazhi were worlds apart, and he indeed had no qualification to criticize how Lv Dazhi did his job, but thinking of the common people who had died miserably, Zhang Butou was truly burning with anxiety.

"My Lord, your subordinate was reckless." Zhang Butou was not a hothead; he knew that he absolutely could not defy Lv Dazhi at this time. Without Lv Dazhi's order, he could not mobilize the yamen runners, nor did he have the authority to use the Binding Demon Rope Dharma Artifact; if he went out of the city to subdue demons alone, that would be going to his death.

"Hmph!" Lv Dazhi let out a cold snort and looked at Zhang Butou with some dissatisfaction. If it weren't for the fact that this brute was a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist and it was currently a troubled time with demons everywhere in Luolong County—a time when people were needed—he would have kicked Zhang Butou out long ago.

Lv Dazhi suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart and said to Zhang Butou, "Zhang Butou, with so many demons invading the various villages of Luolong County simultaneously, it is clear that they are being coordinated by a Great Demon behind the scenes."

"I suspect that the ultimate goal of those Demon Race is to attack Luolong County; their current harassment of those villages is merely a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain. When I send people out of the city to exterminate the demons, the demons will certainly take the opportunity to attack the county seat."

"The county seat is the fundamental stronghold; if the county seat is captured by the demons, both you and I will lose our heads, so what we need to do now is to defend the county seat with all our might."

"I have already sent people to Dongchuan Prefecture to request reinforcements; once the reinforcements arrive, we can wipe out all the demons and evil spirits in the entire county in one fell swoop."

Zhang Butou was stunned for a moment; Lv Dazhi's words did indeed have some logic, but could one really just let the demons slaughter the villagers outside the city simply because of a suspicion that they might attack the county seat? That didn't make sense either.

"My Lord, what about the villagers outside the city?" Zhang Butou asked.

Lv Dazhi said, "Our strength is limited, and I am powerless to help; I can only hope they rise up to resist and protect themselves."

Zhang Butou wanted to say more, but Lv Dazhi waved his hand and said, "Zhang Butou, the most important thing for you now is to hurry and repair the city's defensive fortifications and prepare to deal with a demon siege."

Zhang Butou sighed and could only accept the order to go about his duties.

Seeing Zhang Butou walk away, Lv Dazhi muttered, "As long as the county seat is held, I have not failed in my duty. Even if all the villagers outside the city die, it doesn't matter; they are just a bunch of commoners. If they die, they die; who would care about them?"

"The spring night is short, I might as well enjoy it while I can; Yanyan, Jiaojiao, Fangfang, Lianlian, and Xiangxiang must be getting impatient, right?"