Chapter 59: Engineering Vehicles

"Shi Hu, Shi Hu, timid as a mouse~"

"You should change your name, call yourself Shi Shu~"

"I have a robe, rouge and green stone~"

"Gift you women's clothes, dance gracefully~"

Hundreds upon thousands of Gluttonous Army Soldiers shouted in unison from the city tower, their voices shaking several miles.

The men shouted again and again, accompanied by laughter and joy echoing incessantly.

Shi Zhao Da Ying.

Listening to the ballads transmitted from the distance, everyone bowed their heads in silence.

Shi Hu on the golden imperial carriage, his expression unchanged, picked up a wine cup.

The once sweet alcohol, at this moment tasted sour, astringent, fishy, and bitter upon entry, difficult to swallow.

The Great Zhao Heavenly King's face had been trampled into the mud by the Gluttonous Army!

At this moment, Shi Hu really wanted to kill everyone in the city.

Not just people, but everything alive — chickens and dogs not left, even egg yolks would have to be shaken apart.

Earthworms in the soil would have to be dug out and split vertically in half!

Only thus could the hatred in his heart be resolved.

But he could not do it, nor could he act this way.

Outside Xiangguo City, a Jia Guan built from several thousand severed heads had been piled up.

Deterrence of military heart!

Previously the Gluttonous Army left the city to invite battle.

Over ten thousand elite Jie People High-Power Imperial Guards launched a frontal strong assault.

Result: they fell into the iron wire net and struggled in vain, suffered defeat and rout, those beheaded numbered nearly five thousand.

Xiongnu Flying Cavalry forcibly flanked and charged to rescue, likewise fell into the iron wire net formation.

Gluttonous Army Soldiers coordinated with the City Top Guard Army to annihilate them, Flying Cavalry left over a thousand corpses, fleeing in sorry state.

Looking at it, it seemed merely a loss of several thousand people.

Relative to Shi Zhao's enormous army numbers, not worth mentioning.

But people differ from people.

The High-Power Imperial Guards and Xiongnu Flying Cavalry were all Shi Hu's core combat strength under his command, all Regular Soldier armored soldiers.

Placed in the late Ming, those would be elite Household Servants.

Even the nearly warlord-separatist Li Cheng Liang had only eight thousand Household Servants.

Back then Emperor Wu of Han lost seventy thousand armored soldiers in one battle, still had to issue a self-blaming edict and shed tears, the nation shaken and unstable.

Fu Hong in the Shi Zhao army, tunnel sneak attack lost over a thousand Di People Courageous Warriors, directly cried until fainting and was sent back to Ye City to recuperate.

One battle lost nearly seven thousand armored soldiers, Shi Hu vomited blood on the spot.

These armored soldiers were Shi Hu's bottom-of-the-box strength to pressure the Various Departments.

Excessive losses, the Various Departments would inevitably become unstable.

Just like the historical Former Qin.

Its million-strong army is said to have been defeated by Eastern Jin, but in truth more collapsed due to the internally ambitious Various Departments.

Shi Hu had no choice but to withdraw troops and leave.

The greatly morale-boosted Gluttonous Army left the city daily to invite battle, yet Shi Hu acted as if he heard nothing.

He had long since made up his mind: unless the Gluttonous Army detached from the city wall and positioned on the wilderness.

And simultaneously there were none of those weird long scroll thin iron things by their side, otherwise he would absolutely not charge.

Unexpectedly, the Gluttonous Army actually compiled such disgusting ballads to slander, Shi Hu was also enraged to the point of exploding lungs.

"Wait and see, there will come a day when I will surely exterminate you all!"

The defeated dog's distant howl emitted by Shi Hu, the Gluttonous Army could not hear, and Lin Dao far away in the Modern World could hear even less.

'Flight to Johannesburg now boarding, please all passengers proceed to~~~'

Lin Dao stood up, pulling Su Tongtong beside him, walked toward the boarding gate to check tickets.

After one transfer, nearly twenty hours later, finally stepped onto Africa's land.

Took a taxi to the reserved hotel, ate, showered, slept to adjust jet lag.

Lin Dao also found time to make a trip to Yonghe Spacetime to check in.

Next day early morning, the previously contacted Local Gold Mines Company dispatched a vehicle to the hotel, picked up Lin Dao and them and headed straight for the Mining Area.

The urban area was fine, but after leaving the urban area, Road Condition gradually deteriorated.

Sat in the car for most of the day to Arrival at destination, Lin Dao's Legs were jolted numb.

"Welcome~~~"

Mining Area people came forward to receive, switched to Mining Area vehicle, headed straight for the agreed-upon abandoned Gold Mine.

Another bout of jolting, finally arrived at an unnamed abandoned Mining Area.

"Here although the main Mining Vein has been mined out, with careful searching and increased Investment, still able to Refine quite a lot of gold~~~"

Mining Area people were very Enthusiastic.

After all, an already scrapped abandoned Mining Area that can still be sold to make a sum of money, who could Refuse this kind of business?

As for those unlucky bastards holding bargain-hunting thoughts to buy abandoned mines, whether they would lose their entire family fortune because of it, no one would care.

Really think mining Capitalists are all fools?

The diggable gold was dug clean long ago, using the remaining scraps to attract Scapegoats is also a technique of turning waste into treasure.

"Good, good, good~~~"

Lin Dao responded casually, surveying the environment as he looked around.

The mining area was extremely desolate; the most conspicuous things were several abandoned engineering vehicles, covered in rust, their thick tires long since dried up and deflated.

"Lin Dao."

Su Tongtong stepped forward, her delicate brows furrowing slightly. "This place has long been abandoned."

"Wanting to restart operations, the investment would be a bottomless pit!"

Applying for mining permits, running the paperwork, recruiting workers and experts, purchasing mining machinery, and so on.

All the work kept them busy going full circle, the investment huge enough to sink into the sea.

Moreover, this is still a foreign country; the locals' covetous eyes, just a few petty tricks, could make the investment go down the drain.

"I understand."

Lin Dao held her fragrant shoulders, comforting her gently. "Trust me."

Under normal circumstances, it would indeed go down the drain.

But with Lin Dao here, the situation is not normal.

Essentially, this place is just a front.

A front used to launder Time-Space Trade.

Su Tongtong's eyes were bright; after gazing at him for a moment, she parted her cherry lips lightly. "I'm just worried about you; earning money isn't easy."

Lin Dao deeply agreed with this.

It really isn't easy; he even encountered legendary assassins.

Ordinary commoners, where would they have such heart-pounding encounters?

"I understand."

That very night, they checked into the hotel in the mining area's living quarters.

Perhaps it was acclimatization issues.

After eating dinner, not long after returning to the room, Lin Dao felt his stomach unwell.

He got up and went to the washroom, lifted the toilet lid, and reached out to take off his pants.

The next moment, his hand froze.

A colorful long snake was actually coiled inside the toilet!

Lin Dao's whole person froze.

He had never imagined he would encounter this kind of situation.

As if startled, the snake leaped up its upper body, lunging at Lin Dao.

Subconsciously reaching out, he grabbed the snake's neck in one hand.

That sticky, slimy feel made his hair stand on end.

Seeing the snake head still struggling and flicking its tongue, Lin Dao's figure suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Yonghe Spacetime.

Lin Dao let go; the motionless dead snake fell to the ground.

Bringing a living thing across, it arrives dead.

Lin Dao braced his hands on his legs, slowly backing away, finally sitting on the couch.

His eyes stared fixedly at the unmoving dead snake, his face flushed, heart pounding wildly.

When he hammered the Qianghu before, he had never felt such fright.

Today, he was truly scared by this long worm.

After calming for a while, Lin Dao called out, "Liu Hu!"

Heavy footsteps sounded, and the burly Liu Hu rushed in.

"Young Master~~~"

Pointing at the dead snake on the ground, Lin Dao instructed, "Take it away, mince it and feed it to the dogs, then drag the dogs to the dry latrine and slaughter them."

Liu Hu's eyes went round; how could there be a snake in the Young Master's palace chamber?!

Outside, realgar was clearly sprinkled, and inside the palace interior, mugwort had been burned to fumigate.

"This matter must not be spread." Lin Dao waved his hand. "Without my summons, no one is allowed to enter."

Liu Hu saluted, picked up the long snake, and left.

Having caught his breath and calmed his mood, Lin Dao returned to the Modern World.

Walking out of the washroom, under Su Tongtong's doubtful gaze, he picked up the phone and dialed the front desk.

"I XX you OO~~~"

"There's actually a snake in your hotel room?!"

Staff arrived at the room.

Although Lin Dao said the snake had already burrowed into the toilet and fled.

The staff still completely believed his words, because this kind of thing wasn't the first time it had happened.

Apologizing repeatedly, changing the room, arranging camphor balls and other snake-repelling medicines.

By the time all this was done, it was already late at night.

"Scared me to death~~~"

Su Tongtong held him tightly, her delicate body trembling slightly.

"Scared me so bad I couldn't hold it; accompany me to the toilet, I don't dare go alone~"

Lying on the bed, tossing and turning unable to sleep, always feeling as if something was moving around in the room; where was there still any mood for pile-driving.

"Lin Dao." Early the next morning, Su Tongtong, sporting dark circles under her eyes, yawned, "Let's just go back."

She hadn't seen the long snake, yet she was more afraid than if she had seen it.

"We'll finish the business as fast as we can and then go back."

Since it was a rare trip, Lin Dao wanted to accomplish as much as possible.

Over the next few days, they completed the formalities as quickly as possible and bought an abandoned gold mine mining area.

"These vehicles." Lin Dao reached out and pointed at several scrapped engineering vehicles. "Whose do they count as?"

The mining area people, faces full of smiles, said, "Please dispose of them as you wish."

Lin Dao stepped forward, walking around several rust-streaked engineering vehicles, surveying them.

Heavy transport trucks for hauling ore and waste rock.

Excavators for leveling the site and clearing waste rock.

Tunnel boring rigs for mine shaft excavation, and so on.

Especially the mine-specific heavy transport trucks and large excavators — they were truly extremely massive, like steel behemoths.

If buying new, the formalities and such need no further mention.

The price alone is enough to make one grimace in pain.

As for these scrapped ones, Lin Dao observed closely; the main components were actually all there, and they could be repaired.

Of course, after repair they could not continue to be used in the mining area; that would be disrespect for the miners' lives.

Lin Dao never planned to go dig any waste mine in the first place.

These vehicles, he intended to take every single one to Yonghe Spacetime to wage war.

The Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties period was the peak era of Armored Cavalry.

These iron canned foods on the battlefield possessed terrifying impact force.

Against Han Family armies primarily composed of Foot Soldiers, their suppression was too strong.

Even wearing Heavy Armor, being rammed resulted in broken bones and severed tendons.

As for forming formations to meet the enemy with Long Weapons.

The Hu People were cruel, yet not stupid.

The Cavalry basically all carried bows and arrows, and some even carried Strong Bows and armor-piercing arrows.

Relying on mobility advantage, they dragged it out until the Foot Soldiers were dragged to death.

Lin Dao couldn't bring horses to Yonghe Spacetime, so he would use steel behemoths to deal with the Hu People's Armored Cavalry.

In his mind emerged the scene of heavy trucks ramming and crushing Hu People Armored Cavalry.

Excavators swinging their buckets, smashing Hu People Armored Cavalry into the sky.

Lin Dao also curved his mouth upward, laughing out loud.

"You're not thinking of getting ideas about these scrapped vehicles, are you?"

Su Tongtong came over to remind him, "Even if they can be fixed, they can't be used."

"The labor union organizations here will sue you into bankruptcy."

Lin Dao nodded. "I understand; they don't just hand out labor protection supplies."

Reaching out to put his arm around the girl, he said, "Business is about done. I'll keep you company for two days, then we'll go back."

(End of Chapter)