Chapter 269

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Chen Yi

In the afternoon, the students' first formal meal on the West Continent was charcoal-grilled large pomfret.

Large pomfret is a figurative term; they live in the deep waters of the river's center, either in groups of three or five or acting alone, feeding on other large fish, and generally showing little interest in animals smaller than their teeth.

However, because the little fatty Li Changning was very interested in pomfret, this flat-bodied fish, whose teeth and body were roughly the same length, was developed into various cooking methods, among which charcoal-grilling was the most outstanding, with delicious meat.

At the reception banquet, he raised a cup full of fruit wine with one hand and smiled as he introduced: "Don't look at the West Continent's large pomfret as fierce-looking; actually, the taste is unbeatable. How does the saying go? Herbivorous beasts taste better than carnivorous beasts, carnivorous fish taste better than herbivorous fish, poisonous snakes taste better than non-poisonous snakes. So, eat your fill."

Although they looked somewhat terrifying, under the guidance of the students who had come earlier, the new students still tasted the large pomfret with trepidation.

Before eating, many people sadly thought: from now on we'd have to eat this kind of thing.

After eating, everyone thought with relief: at least now there's something to eat in the future.

Student Zuo Yi was still a bit apprehensive about the large pomfret two or three meters in diameter; he randomly ate some side dishes, filled his stomach, and then asked to look around.

Yu Weichao arranged two natives to accompany him, while he himself pulled She Lei, Sang Chengqiang, Li Changning, and others to start talking heart-to-heart with the new students—this was naturally the manner of former unit leaders, which he had inherited well—heart-to-heart talks were still necessary; Martial Arts Hall students coming to the West Continent was like students who originally prepared for a picnic, excitedly arriving at their destination, only to be forced into survival training; everyone had felt this, and someone had to persuade and enlighten them so they could be driven like oxen and horses in the future.

Chen Yi, maintaining his status, sat to the side drinking fruit wine and reading Kaman's interrogation report. Since he had sworn the oath, Kaman basically told everything he knew, though not entirely truthfully—ordinary information about the continent, common news about Ma La, whatever was asked was answered; more secret matters, he often kept tight-lipped, answering quite euphemistically.

"Is he loyal to the Temple or keeping his oath?" Chen Yi thought in his heart, but he staggered toward the battlefield of that day.

Inside West River Water Fortress, hard cement had been laid, clean and tidy, somewhat like an ordinary town center in the 21st century.

The fortress walls were also expanding; judging by the exposed parts, they seemed to be reinforced concrete structures. At least 300 native workers were busy on the several-kilometer wall section on the south side. They were all villagers from villages near the Water Fortress, such as Yun Village, Shang Yun Village, Lie Village, Shi Cun, Mu Village, etc. Chen Yi had brought in a lot of money, and Yu Weichao paid generously; the villagers could get several times the pay of Ma La here, binding the interests of both sides, thus forming a not-so-tight community.

This was also the main reason Chen Yi agreed to Yu Weichao expanding the fortress. From the results and process of this battle, the dark fortress obviously played a greater role. West River Water Fortress relied on the power of thermal weapons, not cold weapons like bows and arrows; the sole function of tall, sturdy walls was to give archers a wider field of vision, but before combat-level experts, that also increased the casualty rate; training a native archer was not easy. However, using infrastructure to stimulate internal demand and stabilize public sentiment was a sophisticated invention of modern authoritarian regimes; Hitler made a great career out of this; Yu Weichao wanted to learn, and there was no need to stop him.

The Water Fortress was very small; while observing and thinking, he walked to the riverbank. On the wet mud, there was still a scarlet color, but with the rising and falling tides, it became increasingly faint.

The red in the river water had long since disappeared without a trace; on the wide river surface, it was as if a massacre of 3,000 killed in action had never happened.

Li Changning didn't know when he came to the riverbank; seeing Chen Yi gazing absentmindedly, he tiptoed over and smiled in greeting: "Hall Master."

Chen Yi grunted in response.

Li Changning seemed encouraged and said emotionally: "That day I participated in the entire battle; it was actually quite dangerous."

"Oh?" Chen Yi became interested. A firsthand account from a participant was different from reports seen later.

Li Changning began describing from the pitch-black ships he saw after waking up, all the way to entering the fortification, the scene of more than ten fire dragons tearing apart the heavy infantry square formation, only briefly skipping over the small matter of him sleeping while on duty, and then sighed: "Fortunately, the outside of the fortification was reinforced with steel plates; I remember when firing, at least thirty or fifty javelins, crossing a distance of 2 kilometers, hit the fortification. There was also a javelin stuck into the fortification's observation hole, nearly pinning the assistant gunner."

Speaking of the dangerous part, he paused and then said: "Our fortification's observation hole is straight, but the javelin was inserted diagonally; I don't know how they did it; if the angle had been a bit more precise, there would have been casualties that day."

Chen Yi nodded lightly. From Kaman's description, he knew that the soldiers of the Heavy Infantry Battalion were at least Body Technique Level 5 or above, meaning they were at the level of special forces combat experts. Given that the heavy infantry obviously leaned toward high muscle, high load-bearing, and high defense, one could imagine their cold weapon team combat was definitely superior to combat experts; their junior officers could often reach combat level; throwing javelins up to 2 kilometers was exaggerated, but after all, it was achievable.

Li Changning saw he lacked interest in this, racked his brains, and said again: "When I went back, I calculated; from the sentry discovering the enemy to us preparing the heavy machine gun to fire, at least 10 minutes were used. Those heavy infantry had to disembark first, then march on foot to form a formation, and only after they all started out did we fire. If it were cavalry, without walls it would indeed be dangerous."

Chen Yi finally raised his eyebrows and asked: "10 minutes?"

"Yes," Li Changning said solemnly. Having just arrived on the West Continent, his mood was quite bad, but just like Yu Weichao, Li Changning at this time had many thoughts. At least when on Earth, they were commoners of the social bottom; even after entering the Martial Arts Hall, they were still social commoners with some money. On the West Continent it was different; not to mention being able to manage so many natives, just the distribution of various supplies and the achievement of building a city naturally bred great ambitions in their hearts. One could imagine that officials who thrived in poor counties, adventurers and butchers who set sail in the Age of Discovery, all had such a mindset.

The current Li Changning urgently hoped to gain Chen Yi's further recognition, thereby mastering greater power. And as things stood now, he, who had participated in and commanded the battle from start to finish, indeed had the capital for this.

Chen Yi listened to his words and fell into deep thought.

According to the standards of the Saint Qiao Kingdom, a squad of 50 Positive Knights, from preparing for battle to engaging in battle, could have at most 5 minutes, among which skilled teams even had time to wipe their weapons and equipment.

Thinking this way, if Ma La sent their elite cavalry of that day to attack from the riverbank while he was absent, the short buffer of two or three kilometers obviously would not take 5 minutes. By the time the cavalry entered the Water Fortress, the role of the dark fortress would be negligible. Thus, even if they drove the enemy back, the Water Fortress would suffer a very heavy blow...

Chen Yi raised his head and asked: "You want to build walls on the riverbank?"

In the era of cold weapons, walls were the best weapon against cavalry; the Ming walls were built the most, which had a lot to do with the Mongols. Today's institutions like the Badaling Great Wall Tourism Company should thank minority friends for their long-term support and love; without their years of dedication and sacrifice, there would be no black tour guides and wild lily bulbs inside and outside the Great Wall today.

Li Changning, however, was not thinking of construction; he missed the crisp sound of 12.7mm copper bullets, and said softly: "I think there are two points to improve."

"Hmm?"

"First, imitate the Martial Arts Hall's Inspection Team system to establish our own armed forces, lest foreign mercenaries and natives learn weapons and rebel. At the same time, more dark sentries should be added to give the natives military education."

Previously, they didn't dare to educate them for fear of being beaten back; now, with the newly added students, they weren't afraid.

Chen Yi thought it was not bad and nodded in agreement.

Li Changning was greatly encouraged and said again: "Second, I think landmines can be laid and some warning devices installed, like those used in museums."

Chen Yi was still wondering where to get landmines when suddenly "plop, plop" water sounds came from ahead; several natives with beards full of hair crawled naked out of the riverbank, holding something in their hands, shouting excitedly.

"What's going on?"

Li Changning said somewhat embarrassedly: "They're looking for bullet heads."

"Looking for bullet heads?"

"Yes," Li Changning coughed twice and said: "Metal is expensive on the West Continent, and heavy machine gun bullet heads are heavy; we've recovered as many bullet heads on land as possible, but those in the water can't be."

"How many bullets have you recovered?"

"Less than about 100,000 rounds."

The M2 Browning is a large-caliber heavy machine gun, much heavier than general-purpose machine guns equipped after WWII. The bullets Chen Yi bought were NATO rounds, all copper bullet heads, weighing 42 grams; tracer rounds and armor-piercing incendiary rounds were slightly lighter, also 40 grams. In units familiar to Chinese people, it equals one tael per bullet.

In the battle on the riverbank, 19 heavy machine guns swept continuously for 20 minutes, using 200,000 bullets, equivalent to 8,000 kilograms; subtracting the recovered part, 4,000 kilograms remained. Not to mention native residents, even on Earth, 4 tons of copper would sell for quite a lot of money.

Seeing Chen Yi pondering silently, Li Changning hurriedly added: "The West River gets deeper toward the center; the deepest part is said to be nearly 100 meters, equivalent to the sea; only a few local natives can dive to 20 meters underwater... Now, it's said that some pearl divers from afar have come to collect bullet heads in the water."

Chen Yi laughed and cried, but on second thought, this wasn't such a bad thing. For him, recovering bullet heads had no meaning; heavy machine guns weren't suitable for reloaded ammunition, and 100,000 bullets was just one large truck's worth; the Jiangjing Storage Area had been open for a short while, and he could drive to the former subway station; now it was even less of a problem.

"Isn't Yu Weichao trying to make his own currency?" Chen Yi suddenly spoke: "Go tell him to find a way to recover the bullet heads and use them as material for copper coins or something."

"Ah? Okay."

"Also... the bullets I got this time should be stored first; in a few days, more will be brought; you students can use them for practice; collect the bullet heads, all to be used for making currency. I'll buy a set of minting machines tomorrow."

The two were talking when Yun Wu hurriedly arrived, speaking in half-familiar words: "The Envoy from Ma La has arrived."

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Oh? Let's go see."

Envoy Muse stopped three kilometers outside the city wall. It was a cavalry unit, wearing fine leather armor, with beautiful ram gauze cloaks, each riding an identical mount beast. It looked more ceremonial than combat-ready.

Despite this, the four heavy machine guns facing the South City Wall still opened their bolts and assumed aiming positions. Several students jumped up and down urging the native soldiers to carry the heavy machine guns, freshly greased from the warehouse, to the front city wall. Yesterday Kaman alone held off three dark forts' heavy machine guns; the students didn't know he was burning source energy, they only felt any Ma La officer was that terrifying.

Of course, for Ma La's military commanders, West River Water Fortress was the most terrifying place. The water fortress had their spies; yesterday's events spread to Ma La before lunchtime. How many years since a whole heavy infantry square formation battalion died — although the 1,000 heavy infantry and borrowed cavalry Kaman arranged at the front that day all returned to barracks unharmed, the Third Heavy Infantry Battalion existed in name only, cancelling its designation was practically inevitable. It was said the temple high priest threw silver tableware, 3,000 people far exceeded the non-wartime death limit, let alone organized deaths.

If possible, Ma La Temple would love to utterly erase West River Water Fortress; if possible, every dropout would be Bill Gates.

Chen Yi stood on the city wall, gazing at that 20-man cavalry unit in the distance, smiled, and said: "Did they send a message over?"

Yu Weichao took out a piece of mud cloth with chicken-scratch writing and gave it to Chen Yi, then said in a low voice to the rear: "You speak."

A local translator bowed and knelt: "The letter was written by High Priest Iyal. He demands we quickly release captured soldiers, return their armor, send back the remains of fallen soldiers, and finally demands the water fortress fortress master go to Ma La to explain the situation to the temple and Elder Council."

"What return do they offer?"

"None." The translator answered very accurately.

Chen Yi laughed: "Truly barbarians. I understand."

Finished speaking, he turned and descended the city wall.

Yu Weichao caught up: "How to handle what follows?"

"No return means nothing we want them to do; since they're asking us to do things... what's the rush."

Chen Yi returned inside the water fortress. Muse still flicked his beautiful ram gauze cloak, waiting for the water fortress people to summon him with fear and trepidation.

At least a superficial fear-and-trepidation summons.

However, he waited a long, long time, until the sky grew dark, and the water fortress gave no reply at all.

"Could they be illiterate." Muse thought it more and more possible, so hurriedly ordered: "Taibetu, you go shout under the city wall, read our letter's contents to them again."

Taibetu gave Muse a faint look, like a lonely resentful wife.

"Supposedly their bows and arrows can shoot very far."

"I believe you." Muse's firm gaze had charm, but if you looked beyond his eyes, you'd feel this guy looked just like a sharp-chinned rat.

After donning the red cloak, his shape was perhaps even more like a bat. Regardless, the job of coming to the water fortress to persuade was a hot potato; only someone as insignificant as Muse was fit to bear this heavy responsibility.

Smarter knights could all understand the Elder Council's order's true substance; only Muse didn't know, still fantasizing about the glories after achieving this great merit, yet never expected Chen Yi had long since entered the water fortress, doing his own things, even too lazy to acknowledge him.

Taibetu yelled outside the city wall like a madman for half the afternoon, until night's five searchlights swept over, then retreated in panic.

These police equipment, with Chen Yi's connections, were easy to borrow or buy from some Xingju Bureau Bureau Bureau warehouse, plus some repair costs — perhaps more expensive than the equipment itself, but performance was not bad.

Blazing bright light patrolled before the city wall, scaring Muse and company into panic, their douqi even surged out; the natives on the city wall were also puzzled, but having seen many things in West River Water Fortress, they just didn't shout.

Yu Weichao gently closed the window, also isolating the clamor and heat outside.

Chen Yi worked in a room not far from the city wall. At his side lay an intelligence booklet, containing mainly various public intelligence information. This booklet was collected and compiled by Yun Village people sent out after they learned Ma La used entry tax instead of poll tax. All authority in West River Water Fortress was held by martial arts hall students; so-called spies likewise could only collect public data; thus both sides' information became equal.

In this intelligence booklet, the most important and necessary to understand was Ma La and nearby city-states' absolute martial force — 7 flag bearers below douji level 5, 4 flag bearers below douji level 7, plus 4 Elder Council nobles of similar level, composed Ma La's highest martial force tier. In Water Dragon Temple's faith city-states, holy knights with divine arts numbered only 5, sacrificial priests equivalent to mages not exceeding a thousand.

Heavy machine guns cannot resist holy knights, but given Ma La's remoteness, even if the city-state fell, holy knights probably wouldn't care.

From temple scriptures copied by Yun Village people, Ma La relative to Water Dragon Temple was as distant as Hong Kong to Beijing. Since there was no Ma-Xiang Railway, in such a closed backward environment, one almost need not consider mage and holy knight threats.

"Build a highway leading to Ma La." Chen Yi finally finished reading the intelligence booklet. These public intelligences, many purchased from Ma La books, some temple-issued scriptures, Elder Council notices, accumulated over recent years to hundreds of volumes; what he held was the "important information" translated first.

Yu Weichao was shocked speechless, tongue-clicking: "Build all the way to Ma La?"

"Not enough cement?"

"No... yes, there's large amounts of volcanic ash nearby, can ship by boat. But... highway, how to defend?"

"I see West Continent clan concepts are strong; you just need good relations with nearby villages, naturally no one will target your highway. If that fails, use silver bullet offensive; they might even actively help you." Chen Yi only said this after seeing Shang Yun Village and Yun Village's relationship.

Yu Weichao knew a highway would be built sooner or later; if ancient armies fought it would be fine, Hannibal struggled on Roman land for many years. But modern army logistics must rely on highways and railways; otherwise just heavy machine gun bullets, human porterage and horse-drawn can't keep up. China civil war's wheelbarrows also pushed on roads, not grasslands and forests.

But thinking of Kaman chasing Chen Yi carrying heavy machine gun bullets that day, Yu Weichao said very uncertainly: "Ma La's army will interfere, right."

"Interfere and beat them back. Build highway on one side, you also learn to fight on the other." Chen Yi said this, lowered his voice and smiled: "If Ma La doesn't attack you, don't provoke them; otherwise, don't be polite either. Also, at most one month, I'll send 50 more students over."

Seeing it was Chen Yi's set policy, Yu Weichao could only accept, frowning and pondering countermeasures.

On the other side, Chen Yi asked again: "Do you now have a very stable West Continent native group under control?"

Yu Weichao set down his newly gained worry, sat straight: "Yun Village people are still trustworthy. Xia Yun Cun not bad either."

"What about Shang Yun Village?"

"Ma La's Shang Yun Village is the core of seven or eight nearby small and medium Yun Villages, more conservative." Chen Yi nodded slightly, turned and said: "Pick a few absolutely loyal candidates; I want to take them to Jiangning."

Yu Weichao listened dumbfounded, until Li Changning beside him nudged him, then sluggishly said: "Yun Five, Yun Eight, Yun Twelve, Yun Thirteen."

"Yun Five I've seen, the one with green headscarf? Yun Eight is the strong one, Yun Thirteen is a skinny little guy?"

"Yun Thirteen's language talent is very good; many books were translated by him." Li Changning quickly added: "He only used a few months to listen, speak, write Chinese; Yun Twelve is a native shooter, heavy machine gun main shooter."

Able to master heavy machine gun in water fortress, obviously had considerable trust. Chen Yi nodded, asked again: "Highway side, need any equipment?"

Yu Weichao pondered a moment: "Weapons."

"Oh?"

"Transport volcanic ash, construction etc., we can hire natives to do, but if defense is poor..."

"I'll think of a way." Chen Yi closed the PDA in his hand, signaling the evening small meeting's end.

Yu Weichao and Li Changning rose to bid farewell. Due to trust, She Lei did not attend today's meeting.

Next day early. Dressed like a mother bat, Muse wearing morning dew arrived at West River Water Fortress's main gate. Not that their courage increased, but today West River City Fortress reopened its gates, large numbers of native residents coming and going dispelled some of their doubts.

Of course, Muse's arrogance wouldn't change. He rode a tall horse, looking down on native soldiers, in his eyes "dirty commoners": "I want to see your village master."

"Please register." Native soldiers who received basic administrative education lowered spears, from the gate's right side duty guard booth took out a rough elementary school exercise book and a ballpoint pen, placed before Muse.

Another spear-holding "dirty commoner" pointed at the other side's "donation box": "Entry fee, one thin coin per person."

……(To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log in to www. qidian. com, more chapters, support author, support genuine reading!)