Chapter 329

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The small and nimble Shisan was an anomaly of the West Continent, whether by weight or intelligence.

Back when he was in Yun Village, he earned his meal money by helping villagers and merchants negotiate prices. Now things were very different; his outstanding language talent even allowed him to learn Spanish in a short time, naturally becoming Chen Yi's most frequently used West Continent person. The Chen Group heir paid him a monthly salary of 10,000 RMB or 1000 copper coins, earning almost as much as the total income of an entire Xia Yun Village. Actually, if he were an Earthling, just knowing Chinese, English, and Spanish would be enough to make him famous at the Foreign Language Academy.

Shisan indicated a seat for Dayang, then naturally stood behind Chen Yi.

"Oh, you." Chen Yi didn't call out Dayang's name, smiling and waving his hand: "Let me introduce you, this is... you say it yourself."

"I am... uh, call me Sen." The heavily made-up Yin Senyong gave a wooden answer. Chen Yi was unwilling to tell lies, and of course he wasn't either. Everyone had to be honest.

Still Shisan said: "Lord Jin Sen, I am Sha Shisan. This is Lord Sun."

Lord Sun was former Special Forces Officer Sun Ruihe. He was still in a daze, fearing he was caught in some conspiracy, and had no time to speak.

"I am Mu Yang." Dayang took the opportunity to state his identity.

"Female sheep?" Chen Yi burst out laughing.

"There aren't many names to choose from." Dayang scratched his head. His hair was dry and brittle, the result of sleeping on straw for three days.

Very few Xia Village people would buy expensive bedding to take home; Dayang, to cover his identity and avoid discovery, could only sleep in the straw for a few days. Like 19th-century Chinese people who had just opened their eyes to the world, the formerly poor Xia Village people not only had too much in life needing improvement, but also too many poor relatives. Those who could work under Jiangning people were after all a minority; the villages that submitted early were better off, but villagers who joined later needed some luck to find a hard but rewarding job.

Chen Yi smiled kindly and asked: "On the way here, what do you feel?"

Dayang hesitated for a moment, then related everything he had seen and heard on the road; when he finally mentioned the city wall issue, he lowered his voice considerably and kept it brief.

Unexpectedly, Chen Yi was most interested in this, and pressed: "Do you think there is still a need to build city walls?"

"I think there is no need." Dayang thought for a full 1 minute before answering. That was a statement that would offend people. Building city walls was not only a good project for the Basic Construction Group, but also in the interests of the War Faction.

"What do you think?" Chen Yi turned to ask Sun Ruihe.

He neither approved nor disapproved of Dayang's opinion; for Divine Art Knights or Holy Knights, expressing a stance was a promise, an "oath," and failing to complete it would bring trouble.

Sun Ruihe came to himself as if waking from a dream, asking dazedly: "What?"

Chen Yi gave a light laugh and said to Dayang: "Tell him again."

"Yes." Dayang didn't know who Sun Ruihe was; he straightened his back and repeated it once more in a report-like manner.

Sun Ruihe frowned deeply, thinking.

Chen Yi let him let his thoughts wander. He himself was also trying to see if former Party members and officers could be used on the West Continent. Otherwise, even if they bought tanks, no one would know how to drive them.

This was also a side effect of Old Master Chen Zhongguo's good health; if it had been before, a controlled, forcibly retired former Special Forces Officer mysteriously disappearing might have caused a stir. But now, Chen Yi just had to say hello, and they almost changed his file.

Although he had not yet officially become an unscrupulous Prince Party member, Chen Yi was already slowly sensing the changes in those around him—Zhu Guangliang faced less pressure and worked more actively; Kong Qian, Yan Deputy Director and others feared having nothing to do, giving the green light to all kinds of documents for the Jiangjing Storage Area and Central Storage Area, even traffic control, and the officials handling matters even respectfully delivered them to the school. The Martial Arts Hall's relocation remained unchanged, but Mitsubishi suddenly promised to help with the renovation, and after Liu Shouyi signed the agreement, he also sent a 1-meter-high Jade Buddha, worth at least 5 million, saying it was a congratulatory gift for the signing—it had been a month since the signing, and his congratulations only just arrived.

The students in the Martial Arts Hall felt nothing, but those originally connected people within the system sensitively felt the change in water temperature; for example, among the officers, Sun Ruihe expressed his desire to follow Chen Yi, deciding to walk the same path with him to the end, otherwise Chen Yi wouldn't feel assured letting him come along.

Seriously speaking, Sun Ruihe still had some lieutenant colonel skills; after asking a few simple questions, he quickly answered: "If I were to choose, there isn't much difference between a 20-meter-high city wall and a 10-meter-high city wall. Of course, on the Frontline Battlefield, using explosives to destroy Ma La's city wall would be quite difficult."

Dayang was so scared his face turned green, saying repeatedly: "Speak softly, this is their turf."

"It's fine, they don't dare." Chen Yi smiled and said: "You don't need to think about their city wall; I've seen it, it's been empowered, and without the power of more than a dozen cruise missiles, it can't be dealt with."

Yin Senyong also laughed, saying: "Ma La was once on the Front Line; the city wall empowered by the Temple High Priest of the Temple must be able to withstand two high-attack Divine Art Knights."

For historical reasons, the West Continent abandoned those knowledgeable mages, lest these powerful and selfish fellows interfere with the development of the Temple and city-states. And within the Temple, the priests practiced spells similar to Alchemy, namely what Timothy Great Mage of the Holy Qiao Kingdom called "witchcraft."

Of course, as a very important city on the Temple's Front Line, Ma La's city wall was not only constructed by the Temple but also empowered with Alchemy spells.

The Xia Village people behind started telling Dayang to leave; he replied with one sentence and hurriedly said: "Chen... Lord, shouldn't you also hurry back? The Inside City is after all not safe."

"If they make a move, that's even better." Yin Senyong laughed first. Just a city-state; even if you gave them two guts, they wouldn't dare make a move against Divine Art Knights.

"If you still want to stay in the Inside City, may I follow you?" Dayang said, seemingly explaining: "I've been to Ma La once before, and I've made some preparations; if there is intelligence that needs to be delivered, I can also help."

Who wouldn't want to stay by the master's side? Just look at Chen Yi's Disciple Li Feng—his power was natural and effortless; wherever the banner pointed, all was invincible. Upon arriving on the West Continent, he was welcomed and followed, and even Yu Weichao had to give way three parts.

Dayang was also a good youth who wanted to advance.

"Alright." Chen Yi agreed and said: "Since you're coming with us, then I'll tell you too."

He habitually pursed his lips toward Shisan, who immediately spoke the words he found hard to say: "Our targets are two, but both are in one place, West City. There is the Temple's Slave Army main camp there. The Basic Construction Group plans to complete Ma La's 'Strategic Highway' plan with a total of 50,000 people; the initial phase needs 5,000 laborers, and they want to try whether slaves can solve part of it. Additionally, it is said that tens of thousands of hectares of Rubber Forest were discovered in West City; we need to confirm it."

Dayang's eyelids twitched. He had looked up data—what did tens of thousands of hectares of Rubber Forest mean? China's current Natural Rubber planting area was only over 600,000 hectares; even if the West Continent's Rubber Forest was sparser and yield per unit wasn't as high as artificial planting, tens of thousands of hectares was still a huge income. Especially since the West River Water Fortress currently couldn't provide more resources, it could be called a great Political Achievement. But such big news had actually bypassed him, the intelligence chief, and who knew who had reported it by skipping levels.

"I know West City; I went there last time." Dayang turned his brain as fast as possible and said: "Ma La's slaves are mostly spoils of war, with different languages; should I go get some Konjac again?"

Chen Yi retorted: "What do you need Konjac for?"

Dayang blinked his eyes and said: "To talk to the slaves."

Chen Yi laughed heartily and shook his head without speaking.

Yin Senyong said softly: "Slaves are slaves; can you let them choose to come with us themselves? This kind of thing needs to fall on the officers."

Dayang suddenly understood; since the City Gate Soldiers took bribes, the Slave Army Officers probably wouldn't be clean and honest. He hurriedly corrected himself: "Then I'll go find a cart. Get some small change."

Chen Yi pursed his lips, and Shisan immediately said: "We brought two sacks of Conch Shells."

A sack of Conch Shells on the West Continent was 40 pieces, but the gentlemen of the West River Water Fortress were used to packing 50. He handed them all to Dayang.

"Is it enough?" Chen Yi asked.

"At least exchange for 1200 pieces; plenty enough, afraid we'd need to hire a cart." Just like big and small money in ancient China, although the official exchange rate of Conch Shells was 1 for 10 Copper Coins, in the private sector it was 1 for 11 or 12; now that West River City Fortress was buying up Conch Shells on a large scale, that exchange rate was rising even faster.

"There are carts outside. I'll take you there." Shisan now spoke and acted with the flavor of a Jiangning person. His weak body had instead become a favorable condition, allowing him more time to move about outside.

The carriage Chen Yi and the others rode was drawn by two Mount Beasts; relatively speaking, it was the standard vehicle of a wealthy Manor Lord. If they were rural landlords or wealthy clan chiefs, they would ride carts pulled by Cattle.

Cattle had great strength and could pull goods; they were the best-tamed beasts below Mount Beasts in terms of physical condition.

One Copper Coin weighed half a tael; 1000 coins were 50 jin, truly not light.

After Dayang struggled to exchange for small change, he then discovered there were still two sacks of small change behind.

"Probably enough to buy 100 girls." Dayang finished speaking and spat twice; it was best not to look at West Continent village girls.

After everything was ready, another hour passed; Chen Yi and the others all boarded the carriage, Yun Shisan hung the bells, and directed the mount beast to trot slowly along the stone slabs — pedestrians hearing the bell sound automatically made way.

This is a world where the weak are prey to the strong; do not delude yourself with justice and mercy — that is a faith even Holy Knights would not choose.

The beautiful fire-red mount beast occasionally drew peeping glances from idle Temple Soldiers, but upon seeing Yun Shisan driving the carriage, and Sun Ruihe whose attire was obviously different, the soldiers also lowered their heads, pretending to be just passing by.

Yu Weichao and the others worried that Ma La would detain the West River Water Fortress people; the Elder Council nobles, for their part, were they not also worried that those people would use an excuse to stir up trouble?

Legitimate justification is not only important on Earth; on the West Continent it is the same.

Should one later request reinforcements from the Temple, the question of who struck first and who provoked must be made clear.

The carriage rolled past the plaque before the Elder Council; just then two nobles rode together on a Sand Beast of enormous build and forelimbs — they held their heads high arrogantly, waiting for the driver to stop and salute them.

However, Yun Shisan from Yun Village did not know this custom; Sun Ruihe even less so.

Thus, the jujube-red mount beast, for the first time before nobles, took light, quick little steps and walked straight past.

It looked as if even the mount beast's movements had become much happier.

The nobles on the Sand Beast turned pale with anger, but the bearded one suddenly realized and said in a low voice: "They are West River Water Fortress people."

"Jiangning people?" The reply came from a beautiful youth, standard West Continent noble styling, brightly dressed.

The bearded man hmphed: "Perhaps. Arrogant."

"And what about you?"

"Elders, elders — all are rotten old men."

"Wait a few more days; when the Temple War ends, we will naturally be able to free our hands."

"In my view, better during the Temple War to borrow a route of troops and kill them all in one sweep." The bearded man's tone was sinister: "Not many needed — just borrow one Temple Knight Order……"

The beautiful youth laughed heartily, cutting him off: "Listen to yourself — a Temple Knight Order? Even our Temple High Priest doesn't have that face. That is 300 Temple Knights."

300 Temple Knights, well used, can destroy a country.

Ma La's Temple Knight-level figures can muster nearly a thousand, but remove those great nobles, remove those other families' City-state Knights, then remove the officers and generals in the regular military, then remove those too old and too young, and the unruly ones — I fear they cannot even field 150 Temple Knights.

A Temple Knight Order detached for unified training is like a large company's working capital — its quantity can only be 20% of the company's capital, even 10% — usually this is also the most valuable part.

The bearded man knows this full well; he raged: "I am indignant, it is infuriating. What Jiangning people — clearly a band of bandits, scum!"

The beautiful youth merely suppressed his displeasure, sitting on the Sand Beast; he turned the thought over and said: "The people inside that carriage just now — their identities are probably not low; how about we follow and take a look?"

"Don't provoke a conflict." The bearded man is also all talk; he worries before doing anything.

The beautiful youth curled his lip: "Best if a conflict is provoked — then you can avenge the Grand Knight too."

"That won't do……"

"A joke — let's set out." The beautiful youth tapped the scales on the Sand Beast's neck, yet his face showed no trace of a joke.

The Sand Beast raised its long neck, extended its long forelimbs, and sprinted swiftly across the ground; especially magical was that its footsteps on the ground were remarkably light, like a long-necked elephant-deer dancing ballet. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets — your support is my greatest motivation.)