Chapter 279

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Not only did cavalry rush to the water fortress, but dozens of paddle boats also appeared on the river surface; Muse's corpse transport ship hadn't gone far before it was seized, and then temple priests pinching their noses inspected it, then questioned everyone one by one.

They weren't real knights to begin with, and before temple priests they dared not act big; a whole group of knight attendants were locked in a dark room writing reports, like obedient little mice.

Only Muse remained on the deck, secretly relieved he had retrieved the corpses; otherwise he wouldn't have passed this checkpoint.

"Pat pat pat" — the sound of footsteps on stairs came from the stairwell; a young Red-robed Priest walked over and said: "Matters here can be left to us; please accompany the Standard Bearer to the West River Water Fortress and stand by."

This is stealing credit!

Muse didn't dare talk back, but he was unwilling to hand over command, so he yielded softly: "We carry the Elder Council's orders; we dare not trouble the Priest. If the Standard Bearer has need, he can send a few attendants familiar with the situation."

"When told to rest, you rest — where's all this nonsense coming from?" the Priest shouted. If you're not eager picking the fruit, you'll really starve to death.

"I have the Elder Council's orders." Muse hesitated, then said: "If you intend to take over command, please sign a transfer document."

On the transfer document, it would naturally have to state clearly what Muse had done; as long as it was confirmed he recovered these corpses, that huge merit would be inescapably his.

The young Priest was furious, thinking: If I sign you a transfer document, why would I waste time coming to take the ship? The stench of corpses is hardly pleasant.

But Muse insisted on not letting go, and the Priest couldn't use force; the two sides deadlocked, the fleet was about to disappear from sight, yet the corpse ship remained stationary; seeing it wasn't working, the Priest glared fiercely at Muse, then wrote an ambiguous document and handed it to Muse.

The other party was, after all, a temple Priest; no matter how displeased Muse felt, he could only transfer command, and the ship full of corpses was taken over by them.

"Return to Ma La. Prepare small boats for them to see Standard Bearer Tige." The Young Priest looked a bit smug; this merit calculated out would be enough for him to use for a year or two.

The more Muse thought, the more meaningless it felt; he thought: Do I still have to go back and beg that guy?

Just as he was staring blankly, a burst of dense, heavy booms came from the direction of the West River Water Fortress.

"What was that?" At least five or six Priests scrambled out of the cabin; the big ship visibly shuddered a few times, followed by shrill whip cracks and scolding — clearly the paddlers below had fallen into disorder.

"Machine Cannon!" Muse almost enunciated each syllable of this term he had only heard of. The money he spent during his time at the water fortress wasn't for raising idlers.

"What is a Machine Cannon?"

"Heard it's a very powerful weapon, like a siege engine."

"Is it Alchemy?" the Priest who stole his command asked excitedly. The West Continent hadn't heard the name of heretics in quite some time.

Muse glanced at him, silently cursing the fool: Even during the Heretic Flame Era years ago, if they didn't kill all the alchemists, they'd have long fled to other temple jurisdictions; why would they stay locally waiting to die? Besides, such a great merit — could it possibly fall on a minor Priest like you?

He shook his head and said "Don't know," while his brain spun frantically.

Though the Ma La-State was poor, due to its reputation for producing good soldiers, the temple's power here was considerable, and the legions it organized were not few; randomly drawing a few might well be enough to conquer an ordinary weak state. Judging by the Priests' demeanor now, the High Priest had clearly been persuaded; consequently, the West River Water Fortress was likely doomed.

Yet in his heart, Muse felt the water fortress still had the power to resist; his confidence came from those copper bullets. Killing with copper coins — he didn't understand how it was done, but the fact it could be done meant there was real power. Muse had once tried throwing copper bullets at trees by hand to see how deep a mark they could make. Needless to say, as a second-rate knight who didn't even count as Fighting Qi level, at any distance he couldn't even embed the bullet into the trunk; the power didn't even match an ordinary bow and arrow. And in war, bows and arrows are often the weapon peasant armies use against peasant armies, city defense armies against slave armies — killing heavy infantry is a pipe dream.

But the West River Water Fortress could somehow use such small copper bullets to kill heavy infantry, and even punch bowl-sized holes through their multi-layer leather shields... Heavy cavalry definitely wouldn't work!

Elite cavalry... might take a few hits, maybe several dozen... When Muse thought this, his heart gave a sudden jump: What if the water fortress wins?

He recalled Chen Yi's words: "Soon there'll be more money-deliverers." Could he be referring to Ma La's army?

"He really dares to dream!" Muse smiled wryly; wasn't he thinking the same? Watching the Temple War about to start, if Ma La loses more heavy cavalry and elite cavalry, they'll have no choice but to recruit and appease, just like those slave legions that ran away in those years; then wouldn't he be entrusted with important tasks?

Muse smiled until his face twisted sideways.

Among a group of Priests he was the only knight, so naturally he remained the center of attention; that rat face of his smiling like this actually displayed a kind of rat-like bearing, so brief it made one's heart chill and tremble.

"Scum among knights." No need to think further; based on this face alone, the Priests reached a conclusion. Those who serve in the temple are mostly wealthy households from city-states, or merchants' sons, or knights' illegitimate sons, perhaps fallen nobles' sons; with a hundred years of inheritance, just marrying beautiful wives makes their descendants increasingly handsome — a rat-faced knight is naturally not well-regarded.

"Knight Muse, prepare to board the ship and go help the Standard Bearer." The credit-stealing Priest said coolly.

"Yes."

"Tell everything you know about the Machine Cannon properly; if it's of use, you'll count as a great merit." These words carried a fair bit of sarcasm, but Muse could only pretend not to hear the latter half and gave a rough description of two points.

In fact, none of them had ever seen a Machine Cannon fire; it was the native soldiers who had observed the Machine Cannon's operation drills, yet they hadn't gotten to use them either. Only three Machine Cannons total, over 12,000 shells at 10 per base number, but the Machine Cannon's power had spread through the West River Water Fortress.

The Priest was just asking; he didn't believe the claim about shattering hard stone, and only had him report to the fleet Standard Bearer, then took the corpse ship and left in high spirits.

Temple paddle boats, minus the paddlers, could hold under 200 people; the small boat Muse and the others boarded was naturally even smaller, barely seating twenty; if not for frequent accidents on the West River, such a life-saving small boat wouldn't exist at all.

Right now too — a group of knight attendants thrown on the boat like exiles, not even a slave assigned, so they had to strip off leather armor, roll up sleeves, and row themselves; truly a disgrace.

Fortunately, just after leaving the West River Water Fortress, the distance wasn't too far.

The corpse ship could no longer be seen in the distance; Muse slowed his rowing and said casually: "Take it easy, everyone; rushing over now would just be delivering yourselves to death."

Everyone hurriedly let go. They'd all seen the wrecked ships that ran aground transporting the Third Infantry Battalion — thick hardwood planks full of holes, as if rammed by a large ship's prow; the newly arrived temple paddle boats were no better; if things go badly ahead, they'll likely hit an iron plate.

Fulaosi said quietly: "If the fortress falls, going over now still has some profit."

"Can it be taken?"

"Who knows."

"Paitu took several dozen sets of half-new leather armor and left; the money's with him too." Muse suddenly said, and added: "When he returns, the money gets split evenly; I don't want any."

Those words warmed hearts, and instantly everyone's smiles returned.

However, though the boat sailed full speed, the scene on the river's south bank remained faintly visible.

The Machine Cannon's booms came intermittently, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind — speed truly not slow. This reminded Muse of the "vehicles" that had once led him or escorted the masses — all steel, veritable Iron Turtles; unknown if a Combat Skill Level knight could pierce them.

"Get closer to shore."

"Too dangerous, right?"

"If we don't know the front line situation, how do we know when to find the Standard Bearer?" Muse countered, which also showed he had made up his mind.

The bow twisted slightly, turning over.

After rowing a stretch, the trees on the riverbank thinned out. Muse's spirits lifted; he knew those were cut down to build the "Highway."

A squad of knights in bright leather armor passed by proudly, seemingly tracking something, not even noticing the small boat on the river. A squad of light infantry holding shields, carrying javelins on their backs, desperately chased behind the knights. Fulaosi had served as heavy cavalry; he immediately froze and asked: "Why are light infantry following behind knights?"

"Not the same battalion?"

"Chaos!" Several knight attendants exchanged glances, all somewhat disbelieving.

In their eyes, war demanded neat formations; what use was a scattered squad of light infantry besides hunting down farmers?

Muse looked at the sky; at most one-twelfth of a day had passed since he left, and if it were a siege, preparations wouldn't even be complete yet.

The "rat-tat-tat" of automatic rifles rang out crisply; from far ahead, only the sound of machine cannons could be heard, then the automatic rifles, which actually felt familiar.

"Their tree-top fortresses seem to be set up only along both sides of the 'Highway.'"

Muse said coldly: "That means they were driven back before reaching the fortress; we go ashore."

Don't look at his rat-faced calmness as if he had a toothache; inside he was burning as if he wanted to feast on cat meat.

The boat stopped near the shore, and the remaining sixteen knight attendants stepped onto the muddy bank, then put on half-body leather armor again, each holding their long spears and walking toward the West River Water Fortress.

They passed through a forest tangled with roots, found the unfinished highway foundation, and then advanced slowly. Some passing cavalrymen were in a hurry, while the infantry paid them no mind; when they got closer to the fortress and more and more people arrived, some cavalrymen came to question them.

"I am Mu Si Jue Shi, reporting military intelligence."

A knight attendant checked his letter, then had a large cart brought so everyone could ride, and they slowly moved forward.

"Is there no danger near the highway?"

"A few hunters were killed." The knight attendant said it lightly, but it was far from the truth; Muse could see half-blackened tree-tops above, which must have been attacked by experts wielding battle qi. Using a powerful knight for one person was surely a losing trade.

Muse asked again: "Are the enemies defending the city?"

"No." The knight attendant hesitated, then said in a low voice: "They harass in the forest."

"Like serfs?"

"Mm. Just not using bows."

The masters of the water fortress regretted their labor's fruits, so they tried not to fight near the highway. Although Humvees couldn't travel through the primitive forest, there were always wide open plains in the delta near the water fortress, so they charged in and out all the way, harassing the attacking Ma La cavalry.

She Lei also left a native squad armed with automatic rifles to prowl through the jungle; they were all Hunter Villagers, and with optical sights and camouflage suits added, their killing power was surprisingly excellent, keeping Ma La's military pinned outside the highway line for a full two hours.

Muse inexplicably grew excited; to him, the West River Water Fortress's victory represented a qualification—the title of knight most familiar with the West River Water Fortress would surely be remembered by many elders.

He secretly clenched his fist.

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