Chapter 33: Great Scholars Naturally Argue the Classics for Me~~~

*Flap—flap~~*

Deep in the night, all was quiet; the sound of birds beating their wings was especially grating.

"Lord Prefect."

The attendant who had gone out to investigate returned to report, "It is a carrier pigeon."

By the candlelight, Xie Yi bent over writing swiftly with a brush, not even lifting his head. "No need to pay it any mind."

"Understood~~~"

Having spies planted inside the Relief Army — that was only to be expected.

Two hundred thousand men, women, old, and young; tens of thousands of able-bodied youths.

A force this powerful — no one would turn a blind eye to it.

That Relief Army Commander of mysterious origin had not yet accepted the Imperial Court's investiture.

As for the envoy mission here, there was naturally no need to meddle in idle affairs.

Xie Yi, writing swiftly with a brush, recorded in detail everything he had seen and heard in the Relief Army.

Even matters he found inconceivable were not omitted in the slightest.

He sat at the desk pondering for a long while, confirming there was nothing left out.

Xie Yi blew out the candle, rose, and went to rest.

Silvery moonlight poured through the glass windows of the prefabricated house, spilling across the floor.

Lying on his campaign bed, Xie Yi tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Meat dishes, egg soup, refined rice!

Even as a Prefect of a Province, he could not claim to have such fare at every meal.

Yet when he was in the canteen, he personally witnessed at least dozens, even hundreds, of personal guards and scribes receiving this kind of special meal.

Right before his eyes, they ate at those weird long tables and chairs.

A plate of meat dishes — oil, salt, sauce, and even spices.

The vegetarian dishes, though meatless, were coated in a layer of glistening oil.

Egg drop soup — at least one egg per bowl!

That hatched would be a whole chicken~~~

As for refined rice, this stuff has always been something only nobles are qualified to enjoy.

Merely qualified to enjoy it.

Among the scions of the various houses of Jiangzuo's high-ranking families, there were plenty who lacked the means to afford refined rice and lived day in, day out on millet and panicled millet.

Yet here in the Relief Army, everyone was actually eating it!

Xie Yi felt he had arrived at a bizarre, wondrous land.

Every corner here seemed shrouded in a mysterious halo.

"In this world where men eat men, how can there be such a paradise beyond the mortal realm?"

From the next room came the attendants' loud snoring.

Xie Yi frowned at first, then relaxed.

These attendants — growing up this big, they probably hadn't eaten pure refined rice more than a few times.

Today they ate their fill to their hearts' content.

If they hadn't been stopped, they could have eaten themselves to death!

With the attendants well-fed and sound asleep, it was understandable.

Xie Yi sighed, closed his eyes, and said, "This iron-skin house is pretty good, just the soundproofing is too poor."

Modern World.

Lin Dao accepted the invitation and came to the Machinery Processing Factory for a visit.

The Sales Manager accompanied him throughout, handling food, drink, and entertainment in a one-stop service, taking care of him extremely thoughtfully.

No helping it — these days factories are hard to run, the competition is too fierce.

A sucker boss like Lin Dao, willing to spend big money ordering steel plates, naturally had to be entertained well.

Inside a restaurant private room.

Three rounds of wine, five flavors of dishes.

Lin Dao got down to business: "This time I came mainly to ask your factory to help process a batch of parts."

"Boss Lin, our factory's technology — that goes without saying."

The Sales Manager made a sweeping guarantee: "As long as you can specify it, there's nothing our factory can't produce."

"Oh?"

Lin Dao paused a moment, then smiled and said, "Then can you make barrels with 5.56, 7.62 caliber rifling?"

"Boss Lin jokes." The Sales Manager's smile didn't fade. "It's not that we can't make them; we don't dare make them."

"Our factory is a legitimate factory."

Lin Dao smiled and waved his hand.

An illegitimate factory — even if they dared make them, he wouldn't dare go looking for one.

What if he gets reported?

Lately things have been gradually getting better; he doesn't want to go in for "further study."

"This time I want to commission your factory to process a batch of threaded steel."

Lin Dao spoke: "The quantity is a bit large."

"No problem." The Sales Manager poured him wine. "12mm, 14mm, or 16mm?"

This refers to the diameter of the threaded steel, the unit is millimeters.

"20 then." Lin Dao considered it, thicker is still better.

"Right, how heavy is the 20?"

"20 threaded steel, one meter is roughly five jin heavy."

"A bit heavy." Lin Dao thought for a moment "How heavy is the 18?"

"One meter four jin."

"This one." Lin Dao spoke calmly "Diameter 18, length use three meters."

"One end processed into a sharp angle, the stronger the penetrating power the better."

"Best if it can pierce through iron sheet."

The sales manager was also well-informed and widely experienced.

But he couldn't figure out what this boss wanted this stuff for.

It's not used on construction sites either.

The sales manager thought and asked "Pierce through how thick an iron sheet?"

Lin Dao was somewhat uncertain "One or two millimeters?"

"Then no problem."

"Good." Lin Dao decided immediately "First give me twenty thousand pieces."

This stuff is mainly used to equip the able-bodied men in the Qihuo army.

As for the elites in the army, they still use the welded steel pipe ice-breaking awls.

As for sidearms, besides swords, each person gets issued another hammer.

Round-head hammers, flat-head hammers, ram's horn hammers, whatever.

Ordered in the name of tools, this stuff is available in whatever quantity you want.

After finalizing the threaded steel business, Lin Dao continued "You know, that Western-style plate armor?"

As soon as these words came out, the sales manager's eyes instantly lit up.

This requires precision.

If this deal goes through, it can sell at artifact prices!

The hand holding the wine cup even trembled a little.

He wished he could just shout 'Boss, our factory can open molds for you overnight! Guaranteed as beautiful as you want!'

"No need to be that fine." Lin Dao said seriously "Just front and back two iron plates, concave a shape, punch holes for threading rope. Then press a similar helmet and it's done."

There, artwork instantly turns into rough machined parts.

"First twenty thousand sets."

"My order quantity is this large, your discount better be in place."

Lin Dao is ultimately not a person of Yonghe Spacetime.

In his view, weapons made of threaded steel, armor made of iron sheet are extremely crude, only fit for able-bodied men.

But actually in the cold weapon era, once equipped, this is twenty thousand armored soldiers!

Even more terrifying is.

He can, through Industrial Cthulhu, continuously, batch-equip armored soldiers!

Lin Dao now already has a bit of this kind of awareness.

But not much.

After all, transmigration time is not long, and he has always lived and grown up in a peaceful era.

Separated by over a thousand years, different worlds, difficult to adapt to that side's rules all at once.

With accumulation of experience, he now also begins to gradually reflect, many of the things he did before are obviously not in line with Yonghe Spacetime's rules.

Most typical is grain.

White rice, in the modern world, is the most ordinary food.

Lin Dao felt providing this food to the Qihuo army was very normal.

But after staying in Yonghe Spacetime long enough he learned, white rice is actually a superior grain only nobles can afford!

He now only wants to understand Yonghe Spacetime's rules as much as possible.

Especially since battle is about to start.

In war, many people's lives will vanish because of a few sentences.

Cannot help but be cautious.

Returned to Yonghe Spacetime.

Lin Dao found Xie Yi who was wandering around the camp gathering intel, expressed willingness to accept the Imperial Court's enfeoffment.

This was originally Xie Yi's purpose for coming here, naturally there would be no twists.

"Beat the drums, assemble the crowd!"

The purpose of going through procedure is to let everyone know.

With the drum sound rising, the crowd in the camp gathered over.

On the erected Jiangjiangtai, Xie Yi with a solemn expression, before countless people, completed the procedure.

Once the process finished, Lin Dao also formally became the Great Jin Dynasty's False Jiedushi, General Who Pacifies Bandits, Commander of All Military Affairs Inside and Outside Jizhou, Inspector of You Province, Protector-General of the Wuhuan.

Just like Shu Han, never called themselves Shu Han, but called themselves Great Han.

Eastern Jin also wouldn't call themselves Eastern Jin.

Shu Han Eastern Jin and such, are all words from historical records.

"Using the Eastern Jin's pretext, the appeal to the Northern Han should be useful."

"We can also legitimately ask for military rations."

"Open trade routes, earn their gold to serve as military funds."

"Once the north is pacified, then find a pretext to cross the river southward."

"As for what pretext to find, there will naturally be great Confucian scholars to argue the classics for me~~~"

Returning to the front of the main tent, Lin Dao looked at this tent before him that would emit a weird smell whenever the weather was hot.

Originally he had planned to tear it down.

But having decided to go to war with Later Zhao, he would certainly have to leave this camp, so there was no need to go to the trouble.

Walking into the main tent, his confidants, plus Xie Yi, were all seated separately.

Last night Lin Dao watched the TV drama Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

At this moment he imitated Zhou Yu's movements and bearing, displaying the Grand Commander's majesty.

"Gentlemen."

"Speak, how should we advance from here?"

At this time, Later Zhao was at its peak.

Almost the entire north belonged to it.

Several years ago, to campaign against Former Yan, Shi Hu gathered five hundred thousand troops and transported ten million hu of grain.

Such terrifying military power brought an extremely strong sense of oppression.

Having decided on war, how to fight became the critical question.

"Master."

Sun Dalang was the first to salute and speak: "Slave thinks we can take advantage of spring plowing, when troop mobilization is difficult everywhere, and head straight for Ye City!"

This move is shoot the man by first shooting the horse, capture the bandits by first capturing their leader.

Head straight for Later Zhao's capital Ye City, seize Shi Hu and the Later Zhao imperial clan, and it basically equals destroying Later Zhao.

"Impossible!"

Qin Lang immediately stood up in opposition: "Although during spring plowing, troops of the various provinces and counties are hard to mobilize."

"But near Ye City are concentrated tens of thousands of Qianghu elites."

"The High Power Imperial Guards, Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army, Palace Guard Flying Cavalry — all are the world's elite."

"Moreover Ye City's defenses are sturdy; if we fail to take the city, and wait until troops from everywhere close in, we might not even be able to escape."

Sun Dalang was unconvinced: "Then you say, where should we attack?"

"We should march south." Qin Lang clearly had prepared beforehand: "Go to the Huai River, back against the court."

Clearly, Sun Dalang's proposal was radical.

Although success would bring huge harvest, there was almost no possibility of success.

While Qin Lang's proposal was steady, backing against the Huai River to gain support from the court, able to advance and attack, retreat and defend.

Only, the Eastern Jin Court merely uses the Qihuo Army.

The purpose of using them is to use the Qihuo Army to draw Shi Hu's attention; how could they possibly let it march south?

Sure enough, Xie Yi, in his capacity as Shishi, first laughed heartily, drawing everyone's attention.

Then he stood up and spoke.

"Grand Commander, there is a good place close at hand, why not send troops to take it?"

Lin Dao, who had been sitting upright, opened his mouth to ask.

"Where?"

"The Qianghu secondary capital, Xiangguo, Jianping City!"

(End of Chapter)