Chapter 94: Divine Machine Battalion

The fifty-three undercover agents from the Three Great Gangs returned to their nests with their tails between their legs, which left the leaders of the gangs completely baffled.

These people they had sent out had all undergone layers of disguise; some had even been lurking in the Refugee Camp before Meng Yifan and his group arrived in Luolong County. Even Lv Dazhi hadn't noticed them, so how had Meng Yifan managed to ferret them all out?

Inside an underground hall in Luolong County, the leaders of the Three Great Gangs gathered to discuss how to deal with Meng Yifan.

The leader of the Wuyou Gang was named Long Guxing; because he was blind in one eye, people in the martial arts world called him the One-Eyed Dragon.

It was just that no one dared to call him by this nickname to his face; those who dared to do so had all been hacked into mincemeat by Long Guxing and fed to the dogs.

At this moment, Long Guxing sat on his tiger-skin folding chair, while the leader of the Crocodile Gang, Jiang Tian, and the leader of the Axe Gang, Liu Sheng, sat on chairs below, fuming with anger. Beautiful maidservants brought them tea, but Jiang Tian and Liu Sheng were too preoccupied to drink.

Jiang Tian said angrily, "That brat surnamed Meng is truly a toad yawning—what a big mouth he has. Just by relying on that little bit of strength, he dares to tell our Three Great Gangs to get lost. We should give him a taste of our power and let him know who really runs Luolong County."

"That's right, even the County Magistrate Lv Dazhi has to cooperate with us obediently, otherwise his position as County Magistrate wouldn't be secure. That brat Meng Yifan is nothing but a rebel who hasn't even grown his hair out yet, yet he dares to clamor for our Three Great Gangs to get lost. It's too much," said Liu Sheng.

Although there were secret struggles between the Three Great Gangs, they had always stood together when it came to dealing with the suppression of the government. It was precisely because of this that these Three Great Gangs had been able to survive in Luolong County for decades and grow increasingly stronger, becoming behemoths that controlled Luolong County. Often, the orders of the County Magistrate were not as effective as the words of these three gang leaders.

The three gang leaders looked down upon the County Magistrate sent by the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, and naturally, they looked down even more upon Meng Yifan, who had started out by rebelling.

Long Guxing took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly, "Old Jiang, Old Liu, drink your tea, drink your tea. Both of you, calm down. That Meng Yifan was able to finish off Lv Dazhi and Zhang Butou; his strength is very high. If we go head-to-head with him, although we could finish him off, we would inevitably suffer heavy losses ourselves."

Jiang Tian was an impatient man and couldn't be bothered to drink tea. He said, "Old Long, now is the time when Meng Yifan and his group are at their weakest. If we want to finish them off, now is the perfect time to act. If we wait any longer, once he wins over the hearts of the people and trains that army, he will be even harder to deal with."

"That's right, you've seen it too. That brat Meng Yifan has huge ambitions, clamoring that Luolong County is his territory and even telling us old seniors to obey his orders, or else get lost. Damn it, when we were controlling Luolong County, that little doll Meng Yifan was still nursing. He actually dares to tell us to get lost; it's time to teach him a lesson and let him know how to respect his elders."

On the way over, Liu Sheng and Jiang Tian had already discussed gathering their men to finish off Meng Yifan and his group directly.

Long Guxing blew on his tea, took another slow, small sip, and then even closed his eyes to savor it for a moment, as if relishing the sweetness of the tea.

Jiang Tian watched, feeling his temper flare. He picked up his teacup and downed the whole bowl of tea in one go, smacking his lips and feeling that the tea was a bit bitter and not good at all.

A hero of the martial arts world should drink wine in large gulps and eat meat in large chunks; why bother pretending to be refined and learning from those poor, sour scholars by drinking this bitter tea?

"Old Jiang, that's not how you drink tea. Forget it, I've told you so many times, and you still can't learn." Long Guxing frowned and then said, "Let me tell you a piece of news: Dongchuan Prefecture has already dispatched a Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion to annihilate Meng Yifan. In five days, the Divine Machine Battalion will arrive in Luolong County. Our brothers must not show their heads at this time, lest the Divine Machine Battalion 'beats the grass to scare the snake' and wipes out our Three Great Gangs as well."

"A Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion!" Liu Sheng exclaimed. He knew that the Divine Machine Battalion was the trump card force in the hands of the Prefect of Dongchuan Prefecture. Their combat power was extremely fierce, and they were equipped with a large number of firearms, as well as many special firearms modified by the masters of the Imperial Observatory, which not only had a longer range than ordinary firearms but also greater power.

The reason why the great demons within the territory of Dongchuan Prefecture dared not lead their hordes to attack cities was precisely because they had suffered a great loss at the hands of the Divine Machine Battalion.

The Prefect of Dongchuan Prefecture, Zhang Yiqing, only had five thousand Divine Machine Battalion troops in total; they were the "needle that calms the sea" used to deter the demons and were not easily deployed.

This time, Zhang Yiqing was actually willing to send out a Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion to encircle and suppress Meng Yifan. It seemed this Prefect was truly enraged and determined to finish off this group of rebels led by Meng Yifan.

"Good heavens, the Divine Machine Battalion is coming. At a time like this, we certainly don't dare to show our heads." Even the reckless Jiang Tian felt a chill run down his back.

The prestige of the Divine Machine Battalion was forged through battle after battle; in front of the Divine Machine Battalion, the Three Great Gangs were just a bunch of rabble and not worth mentioning at all.

"Old Long, this time it's fortunate that you are well-informed. Otherwise, if our brothers had finished off that brat Meng Yifan first, the Divine Machine Battalion might have just finished us off while they were at it."

"Haha, Meng Yifan is so bold as to kill a County Magistrate and even recruit soldiers to build an army. He really is a brat who doesn't know the height of Heaven or the depth of the Earth. Let him stand in front and face the artillery fire of the Divine Machine Battalion."

Liu Sheng gloated. At this moment, he already viewed Meng Yifan as a dead man; why bother getting angry at a dead man?

Long Guxing put down his teacup and said, "Notify the brothers below: for these five days, everyone be honest and don't have any conflicts with Meng Yifan's group. Just let Meng Yifan be arrogant for five more days."

…………

After Meng Yifan drove away the fifty-three undercover agents, he selected a batch of people who had performed well from those who had persisted to the end in the earlier run, recruiting a total of one thousand soldiers.

Meng Yifan stood on a high platform and said to the soldiers below, "From this moment on, you are soldiers under my command. Those who have family members, bring them with you to enter the city later; I will make unified arrangements for your housing."

"Thank you, My Lord." Seven or eight hundred of these one thousand young men had family members. They had entered the Labor Camp and worked themselves to death just to support their families, and now that they could finally bring their families into the city, they were deeply grateful to Meng Yifan in their hearts.

The two hundred or so young men without families were not idle either. At this moment, they were the most popular people in the Refugee Camp; many refugees with daughters were willing to marry them off to such young men so that the whole family could follow them into the city to live.

Meng Yifan turned a blind eye to this on-the-spot formation of new families and did not stop it. Once the young men had family ties, they would train more diligently and fight the enemy with more courage.

Bringing more refugees into the city meant fewer people would die outside the city walls. Moreover, these refugees needed to be supported by the soldiers' rations, so it didn't cost Meng Yifan any extra money, and he could gain the loyalty of more subjects. Why wouldn't he do it?

Not long after, one thousand young men and their families poured into Luolong County.

After Lv Dazhi and Zhang Butou died, many of the gate guards of Luolong County had fled, but some had nowhere else to go and were reluctant to give up the rations of a soldier or yamen runner, so they remained and surrendered to Meng Yifan and his father.

Meng Yifan dispatched four hunters from Qinghe Village to serve as gate officers, leading the remaining guards to continue watching the city gates.