Chapter 41: Ma Qiu! Return My Army!

"Beast~"

"Damn beast~~"

"Actually using fire attack~ utterly devoid of conscience~~~"

Ma Qiu, watching the battle from afar, eyes splitting with rage, looked like a mad tiger.

Every armored cavalryman of the Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army was elite among elites.

Truly picked from thousands, these were the fierce warriors selected.

Their total number was only three thousand cavalry.

In the Heavenly King's eyes, this armored cavalry was his heart's flesh.

On the distant city tower, groups after groups of clay pots ablaze fell in parabolic trajectories.

Every clay pot that landed burst into great flames that swallowed the figures of several nearby armored cavalrymen.

Man and horse alike, once touched, could not be extinguished.

Life passed so easily; in the time it takes to drink a cup of hot tea, they were burned to nothing.

But cultivating and training them was so difficult!

"They eat refined rice, refined rice~~~"

Ma Qiu's knees went weak, and he knelt on the ground wailing.

The losses were too great; these elites' annual consumption was more than ten times that of ordinary soldiers.

More importantly, the losses were too great, and replenishing them was very difficult.

Watching them fall in batches into the sea of fire, Ma Qiu was going mad.

"Clang clang clang clang~ clang~~"

A clear and highly penetrating Jin Ming sound reached the battlefield.

The struggling remnants of the Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army heard the Jin Ming sound.

They turned their horse heads in disarray, backs bearing arrow rain, and desperately rode away to escape the sea of fire.

The smarter armored cavalrymen knew to run dodging the fire.

The foolish ones simply spurred their horses straight through the great fire.

The result was they caught fire and cried for their fathers and mothers as they burned.

Lin Dao on the city tower raised the walkie-talkie in his hand.

"Qin Lang, send troops."

The Qi Huo Army cavalry exiting from another city gate marched mightily around the city to attack.

Before, facing the Qi Huo Army cavalry, Ma Qiu wouldn't even glance at them.

But now it was different; the Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army had suffered heavy losses, and many had not returned.

In terms of military heart and morale, they had suffered a heavy blow.

Especially those armored cavalrymen who fled back with fire on their bodies but could not extinguish the flames no matter what.

They rolled and wailed before everyone's eyes, watching themselves burn to death.

Comrades who came forward to help instead caught the Extinguishing Divine Fire, causing those who tried to save them to also be burned.

The Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army had almost no morale left.

Ma Qiu's eyes turned red; he mounted his horse and shouted for retreat.

The situation was unclear; run first, talk later.

Fire attack, too shameless!

"Using the terrain advantage, array with backs against the city wall."

"Long spear formation to withstand impact, with threaded steel spear formation."

"Liangzhou Great Horses flank attack; Qi Huo Army also has cavalry to pursue and kill."

Lin Dao nodded in satisfaction: "The records in the Historical Records are indeed useful."

The Jiehu fled far away, and the city gate opened wide.

Large numbers of civilian laborers carrying stretchers rushed out of the city gate to search for and treat the Qi Huo Army wounded.

As for the Jiehu, whether dead or alive, take their heads, strip their armor, collect their weapons, and drag away their horses.

Headless corpses were thrown into the moat outside the city to be buried; after inspecting and registering the heads, they were sent to the side of the Avenue to build Jing Guan.

Dead and wounded warhorses were dragged away to be processed into meat to reward the soldiers.

Uninjured warhorses were gathered and handed over to the cavalrymen to tame and ride.

Not even one hour later, Qin Lang returned with the cavalry.

"Lord Lang."

Qin Lang stepped forward with a shameful expression to salute: "End Commandant is incompetent and failed to gain any harvest~"

The cavalry he brought were not many, and mainly light cavalry.

After all, the Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army was Shi Hu's Imperial Guard; once their morale recovered somewhat, they could be driven back.

It was just that the Jiehu were busy fleeing; if they launched a large counterattack, who knows, they might have to bite back.

"It's fine."

Lin Dao waved his hand indifferently: "Not a crime of war."

Insufficient strength, losing to others is normal.

"Right."

Lin Dao skipped this matter: "How is your learning to operate the Mechanical Beast?"

Mentioning the Mechanical Beast, Qin Lang's eyes lit up immediately.

"It started! Just crashed a few times, might be damaged~~~"

"As long as you can drive it." Lin Dao smiled calmly. "There will be even larger Mechanical Beasts in the future, let you learn to drive them."

"Not just you learning it yourself, you also need to pick a batch of bold, careful, and quick-witted people to follow you and learn."

Qin Lang couldn't imagine what kind of Mechanical Beast could be larger than a tricycle.

But since the Lord spoke, he just had to agree.

"Today we drove off the Jiehu, mainly relying on terrain advantage and Molotov Cocktails."

Lin Dao seemed to mutter to himself. "They've suffered a loss, so they won't fall for it again."

"To defeat Armored Cavalry in a field battle, the best method is still heavy armor against heavy armor."

The Qihuo Army of Guangzong County also has Cavalry.

It's just that these Cavalry are mostly the kin and vassals of the various Settlement commanders and generals, their core strength.

They are not on the same path as Lin Dao.

Cavalry requires long-term, strict training.

Not just equipment and horses, people are also very important.

Without long-term and strict training, at best they count as Mounted Infantry, called Horseback Infantry?

Lin Dao made two-pronged preparations.

On one hand, increase investment in training Cavalry.

On the other hand, purchase era-transcending industrial products from the Modern World to counter Armored Cavalry.

Tractors, trucks, excavators, even Armored Vehicles and Tanks.

Civilian Products are easier to explain, just need money.

Armored Vehicles and Tanks carry greater risk.

In the information age, going abroad to purchase isn't actually difficult.

The difficulty is, touching these things will inevitably attract attention and investigation.

What Lin Dao fears most is investigation.

If his secret as a Transmigrator is exposed.

Then for the rest of his days, he can only stay in Yonghe Spacetime forever.

"Take these things slowly, Civilian Products should be enough."

Rewards and banquets after victory are naturally indispensable.

Lin Dao personally distributed rewards, and attended the banquet to drink with the Soldiers.

"Are the weapons in hand and armor on body superior or inferior?"

While drinking, Lin Dao verbally asked about the effectiveness of the new Equipment.

"The Armor is very sturdy, even the Jiehu's Armor-piercing Heavy Arrows can't penetrate."

"Just that quite a few brothers were injured by collisions, bone fractures and vomiting blood."

"The Hammers are very useful, one hammer to a Jiehu's head and they never get up again, just slaughter them."

"The Steel Spears are too heavy~~~"

"Feel the Steel Spears are a bit soft, the front end still wobbles and droops."

Lin Dao noted it down seriously, planning to go back and consult the omnipotent netizens for improvements.

Netizens truly know everything.

For the several issues Lin Dao posted, there were many replies very quickly.

Lin Dao screened them and selected a few opinions to adopt.

"Armor suffering impact causing internal injury, can add inner lining."

"Best is Chain Mail Armor, plus Silk Lining or Cotton Armor both work."

"Solid Threaded Steel is definitely heavy, can use Seamless Steel Pipe."

"32mm (outer diameter) Seamless Steel Pipe, one meter is just over three jin."

"Three meters long, weight can be controlled within ten jin, just fit a spearhead."

"This absolutely won't wobble, and won't have head droop."

Lin Dao seriously accepted netizens' pointers, decided to upgrade the Qihuo Army's Equipment again.

This time, he found another Machinery Processing Factory and entrusted them with OEM.

"Manager Fang." Lin Dao handed the printed requirements to the Sales Manager. "Can the requirements I proposed be done?"

Three-meter-long Seamless Steel Pipe, double-layer thread at one-third position (increase palm grip friction).

The other end's tip, cut left-hand thread, for screwing on spearhead.

Additionally, each Seamless Steel Pipe comes with one machined spearhead.

Technically speaking, definitely no difficulty.

Not contraband either, and it's for export, so the order was signed quickly.

"Out of money again."

Paid the deposit, Company Account drained again.

Lin Dao took out his phone to book a flight ticket to Hong Kong City. "Still have to keep selling gold."

The gold he has now was all captured after breaking Xiangguo City.

Whether Ancient world or Modern World, whether Nomadic Tribe or Agricultural People.

Everyone's love and recognition of gold never changes with the passage of time.

The Gold Cakes and various Gold Vessels Lin Dao captured in Xiangguo City, including those confiscated from raiding Scholar-gentry homes, were melted and cast into over four hundred Gold Bars.

Undoubtedly a huge sum, almost enough to buy a hundred-square-meter apartment in the most prosperous central area of Hai Gang Cheng.

Truly a huge sum~~~

After leaving the airport and getting into a taxi, on the way to the company, Lin Dao kept thinking in his mind about how to optimize his business.

"The gold shops here definitely have enough digestion capacity."

"But selling gold bars through scattered sales all the time will eventually attract attention."

"If I had a gold mine~~~"

Lin Dao couldn't even afford a luxury mansion in Hai Gang Cheng, let alone a gold mine.

But if it's an abandoned gold mine whose mining vein has already been dug out, it would be much cheaper.

All he wants is this pretext, so he can transport gold through official channels and sell it to this gold shop and that gold shop.

"Need to find time to go abroad."

Lin Dao spent several days selling gold in small batches multiple times.

The depleted account funds became affluent again.

Besides gold, he also seized many good things in Xiangguo City.

Such as precious medicinal herbs and timber, various furs, Ling Luo Luo Duan, jewelry, and so on.

They just lack proof of origin, making them hard to sell.

Yonghe Spacetime, Ye City.

"One thousand cavalry? One thousand cavalry!"

The enraged Shi Hu, with red eyes, stepped forward, grabbed Ma Qiu's collar with one hand, and shook him hard.

"Ma Qiu! Return my legion!"

The Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army had only three thousand cavalry in total.

But lost over a thousand under Xiangguo City.

Equivalent to losing over one-third of its strength in one battle.

These were all Shi Hu's Imperial Guard.

If not for all the ministers rushing to save and persuade him, Ma Qiu would certainly have been waist-chopped.

Shi Hu was extremely angry and had become desperate.

"Order: Ji, Qing, Xu, Bing, and Yong States, conscript three out of five from Wubi!"

"Order: State, province, and county granaries, send four out of five to Ye City."

The ruthless Shi Hu was willing to pay any price this time to wipe out the Beggar Army within Xiangguo City.

"Heavenly King~~~"

Gold-Purple Grand Master of Palace Ming Cheng hurriedly stepped forward, his expression urgent, "No~~~"

"It is spring plowing season; if all able-bodied men are conscripted for combat, spring plowing everywhere cannot be completed."

"After autumn, the whole world will surely fall into chaos~~~"

"Subject requests the Heavenly King to withdraw the order~~~"

Shi Hu, with a face full of fat, narrowed his pair of long, narrow, slanted eyes and scanned Ming Cheng with a knife-like gaze.

"Someone~~~"

"Drag him out, waist chop!"

PS: Thank you to book friend Xiao Xiao Ye Yu Mu Gui Chen for the 100-point reward support, deeply grateful, thank you!

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