Chapter 1204: Changing Attitude

Leaving the Taiping Cult's headquarters, Su Fan set off alone again, touring the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Jiuzhou.

As for that kid Zhang Liao, he was directly thrown to Zhang Jiao.

Zhang Liao's strength and cultivation are not bad; young as he is, he has already reached the Grandmaster level, and will soon break through to the Golden Core level. In the north, he can be said to be a young talent.

But in the Taiping Cult, it actually doesn't count for much. In the Taiping Cult, there are quite a few disciples who practice the Martial Dao and have reached the Grandmaster level.

Among Zhang Jiao's more than one hundred disciples, almost more than 70% are above the Grandmaster level. Of course, Zhang Jiao is of the Daoist school, so most of his disciples are practicing the Dao.

Of course, this does not prevent some disciples from switching to the Military Martial Dao, and these people have all reached the Grandmaster level, and most are even at the Martial Dao Golden Core level.

Such as Zhang Niujiao and others, they are all at the Golden Core level, and there are even several at the Spirit Refining level.

Zhang Liao is naturally proud, because in Bingzhou, there are not many who can compare with him. Even the Wang family, the number one family in Bingzhou, has many outstanding disciples, but in the same age group, there are not many who can compare with him.

So Zhang Liao has enough confidence to be proud.

But since being brought to the Taiping Cult, Zhang Liao's self-confidence has been hit quite hard. Although there are many people in the Taiping Cult stronger than him, and they are also quite a bit older, there are also several who are about the same age as him, but their cultivation is already at the Golden Core level.

And those people are still practicing the Dao.

Zhang Liao is not an ignorant novice. Compared to the Martial Dao, it is more difficult to advance in the Dao in the Jiuzhou. Those who can reach the Golden Core are almost all over a hundred years old, and some are even old monsters of several hundred years.

But those few are not old, yet they can cultivate to the Golden Core Realm, and looking at their daily behavior, it seems that this bit of cultivation doesn't count for anything at all. Most of them either go to teach people to read and write, or study that so-called science.

Zhang Liao is not very interested in that so-called science; for him, he prefers the army.

Of course, Zhang Liao is naturally curious about the newly built Firearm Battalion of the Taiping Cult. The power of those muskets and artillery—let alone the muskets, the effect of the artillery really shocked him.

After all, that artillery is even more terrifying than the bed crossbow, especially that so-called explosive shell; the power of the explosion is really very strong.

Even for him, facing the bombardment of dozens of cannons together, there is probably danger.

And hearing Senior Brother Zhang Niujiao say that the power of this artillery can still be improved, and can even be improved exponentially, this also made him even more shocked.

He naturally understands the deterrent effect of that artillery on cavalry. Once there are thousands of cannons, under the roar of artillery fire, the cavalry will likely suffer heavy losses.

After all, the current range of the artillery is over a thousand meters, and it takes at least twenty breaths for the cavalry to charge through this distance.

This is enough for those cannons to fire a round.

In fact, even more.

The power of that simultaneous eruption is enough to blast countless cavalry clean. Once the range and rate of fire of the artillery can be accelerated, then it is conceivable that the cavalry, as the king of the army, will probably no longer have its past power.

And this is the Taiping Cult's unique trump card.

Originally, he didn't care about the Taiping Cult. Although he followed the senior here, he didn't think the Taiping Cult had a chance.

But seeing everything in the valley, he also changed. It is not just the many powerhouses in the Taiping Cult, but more importantly, the foundation of the Taiping Cult.

Those factories are too terrifying, and he heard that the Taiping Cult's steel is simply endless.

Zhang Liao is naturally no stranger to steel.

After all, the armor on his body is forged from refined gold, and refined gold is refined from copper and iron.

It takes ten thousand catties of copper and iron to refine one catty of refined gold. His armor used at least dozens of catties of refined gold.

For this armor, the Zhang family spent ten years of income.

Of course, the defense of this armor is indeed terrifying, enough to withstand the attacks of Golden Core powerhouses.

Zhang Liao is very clear about the price of copper and iron, and the Taiping Cult's steel is almost infinite. That steel that can be seen everywhere, especially steel, is so much that it can be used for farm tools.

You must know that in many places in the north, they can't even afford iron.

Zhang Liao naturally knows that steel is better than iron; whether used for weapons or armor, it is much better in sharpness and hardness.

As the saying goes, "a hundred refinements make steel." Ordinary iron needs a hundred refinements to become steel, but the Taiping Cult can directly refine steel.

Saving the process of turning iron into steel, this technology alone is very precious.

That fifty-thousand-strong army, everyone is in steel armor; even if placed in the north, almost no army can compare.

That is steel armor. Of course, some leather armor combined with iron armor in the north does not have much worse defense than steel armor, but it is still a bit worse after all.

And Zhang Liao is clear that the steel armor and iron armor of the Taiping Cult are too easy to make. They don't lack steel, so forging iron armor and steel armor is even more effortless.

That military factory, if it goes all out in a month, is enough to forge ten thousand sets of steel armor or iron armor.

That water-powered forging technology really surprised him. Compared to the water-powered mechanical forging hammer, the human-powered forging hammer naturally has no advantage.

The speed and endurance of the former far exceed that of human power.

Whether it is armor or weapons, the Taiping Cult has too much of an advantage. In this regard, those veteran forces in the north cannot compare with the Taiping Cult.

Even the imperial court cannot compare. If it were the imperial court in its peak period, it would naturally not be a problem; relying on vast manpower and resources, surpassing the Taiping Cult would not be a problem at all.

But the current imperial court simply does not have such power; it can only influence the imperial court around the capital, and has no control over the local areas.

There are more and more ambitious people in the local areas; it is already good that they haven't stood up to rebel against the imperial court.

Zhang Liao followed Su Fan all the way and saw too many crises of the imperial court. The dynasty is declining; he finally understood.

Naturally, he also knew the preparations of the Taiping Cult and that senior. Of course, after witnessing everything in the Taiping Cult, Zhang Liao was naturally excited.

In his eyes, the Taiping Cult now only has fifty thousand troops, but he knows that as long as the Taiping Cult wants, it can increase its troops explosively at any time. Fifty thousand, one hundred thousand, or even five hundred thousand is not a problem for the Taiping Cult.

After all, whether it is weapons, armor, or grain, the Taiping Cult does not lack anything at all.

As for manpower, that goes without saying. There are too many people starving to death in the world; as long as they are given a bite to eat, there is no telling how many people are willing.

Not to mention he knows that the Taiping Cult's believers are all over Jizhou. ===== CHAPTER 1205 =====