Chapter 611

Half a brick slapped onto his head, over three hundred elite Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers were dismissed with a clatter by Wu Tie.

Wu Tie continued walking around the moat of Demon-Suppressing First City.

After a quarter hour, a whole brick slapped Wu Tie's head; obviously, a brick's lethality far exceeds that of half a brick, and with a clatter, over five hundred elite Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers were mercilessly dismissed by Wu Tie.

After another little over a quarter hour, Wu Tie, still walking around the moat of Demon-Suppressing First City, was struck on the head by a stone the size of a human head.

A stone the size of a human head, hard and heavy, how many times greater is its lethality compared to a brick—five or six times at least?

Moreover, throwing such a large stone from that high on Demon-Suppressing City's wall, if it weren't Wu Tie, an ordinary person's head would surely be smashed; thus, nearly a thousand gathered Demon-Suppressing Army elites were angrily dismissed by Wu Tie.

After another half hour, Wu Tie, still circling the moat of Demon-Suppressing First City, was struck on the head by half a millstone.

After another large half hour, this time what fell was an entire millstone.

Although, why would a millstone, a kitchen utensil, appear on Demon-Suppressing City's wall……Anyway, it appeared, and it really slapped Wu Tie's head.

So, that evening when Zhao Bo returned to the city, he saw the barracks bustling.

Many mid-level officers and lower-ranking generals changed into casual clothes, leading large groups of auxiliary troops running to and fro in the barracks; the auxiliaries carried jars of aged fine liquor, bringing in food boxes filled with abundant exquisite dishes—not free provisions, but high-end banquets purchased with real silver and gold for the military kitchen.

The Demon-Suppressing Army's pay and benefits are top-notch in the Divine Nation, and the generals' stipends are especially generous.

Yet the food these generals enjoy in the mess hall daily is already of the level of dishes personally cooked by master chefs at high-end city restaurants; such delicacies are provided free of charge.

Meanwhile, those high-end banquets requiring extra purchase with real silver and gold, though genuine and worth their price, are exorbitantly priced; normally only those who have earned sufficient military merit, raised their rank, or received happy news from home will spend their stipend to get a harsh cut at the mess hall.

Soldiers, earning more but spending even faster—those officers with families must use their stipends to subsidize kin and exchange for cultivation resources for their kin……Thus, although the Demon-Suppressing Army's pay is high, in daily life those who get a harsh cut never spend generously.

Zhao Bo stood on the wall of his own commander's residence, wearing a dazed expression as he gazed upon the bustling, thronging barracks.

At a glance, there were at least a hundred-odd generals, hundreds of commandant-level officers, and two to three thousand captains carrying wine jars and food boxes, strolling about.

From the barracks came various rich aromas of delicious food, and the mellow wine fragrance was even more intoxicating.

"Damn it, a small jar of ten-year ferocious blood brew costs twenty taels of gold…… fifty taels for a small jar of twenty-year suffocated donkey brew…… two hundred taels for a small jar of fifty-year great wind brew……"

"What the hell, these bastards, have their brains gone bad?" Zhao Bo, at a loss, clutched his head in frustration.

In the barracks, actually these Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers basically have nowhere to spend money; thus, basically, aside from keeping a little for personal use, most of their stipend is sent straight home.

Not to mention their sudden generosity in drinking these frighteningly expensive fine liquors—where do these fellows get the money?

"Besides, good grief……secret-recipe Buddha Jumps Over the Wall……Eight Treasures Great Goose……clear-stewed swan……seven treasures flying dragon soup……" Zhao Bo vigorously flared his nostrils, seriously distinguishing the rich aromas of the dishes in the air.

Deadly, deadly, the taste of these dishes……

Damn expensive, damn expensive—even as the great commander of Demon-Suppressing First City, he can't bear to eat like this every meal.

The Zhao family is indeed a top military lineage, and it's true they poured huge resources into Zhao Bo, but those resources are all cultivation supplies, solely for Zhao Bo to enhance his own cultivation. In daily life, Zhao Bo merely lives off his salary and a tiny, insignificant share of family dividends; if he dared to squander those cultivation resources on feasting and drinking……hehe, the Zhao family's Elders could break his legs.

"These damn bastards, are they out of their minds? Or have they been possessed today?" Zhao Bo, at a loss, looked at the adjutant, staff officer, logistics officer, and records clerk standing behind him, and barked coldly: "Go ask, investigate—today, has our Demon-Suppressing First City encountered a ghost?"

All the auxiliary officers of Demon-Suppressing First City looked at Zhao Bo with embarrassed faces.

During the day, Zhao Bo ran outside to busy himself, helping Wu Tie urge other Demon-Suppressing cities to transport all the slaves over, so he didn't know what Wu Tie had actually done.

But they, they personally witnessed Wu Tie being smashed over a dozen times in a short afternoon by the strange oddities thrown down from the city wall.

Bricks, stones, millstones……and finally there was even a huge stone table, several zhang long and wide, weighing tens of thousands of catties, that squarely smacked Wu Tie's head, flattening his purple-gold crown.

A noble prince of the Divine Nation, ah, in Demon-Suppressing First City he suffered consecutive attacks over a dozen times……

A noble prince of the Divine Nation, ah, despite being attacked consecutively over a dozen times, he neither flared up nor lost his temper, nor ordered arrests and beheadings; he simply, in a calm and light manner, ordered the discharge from the camp of any soldiers suspected of attacking him……

What a broad mind, what a great tolerance!

He gave a dry laugh, and an adjutant quickly recounted the afternoon's events in full.

Zhao Bo's face twitched violently, twitching and twitching, he laughed angrily: "Heh, so these fellows, before An Wang kicked them out of the Demon-Suppressing Army……afterward, An Wang recruited them into his own Invincible Army?"

Zhao Bo's eyes reddened with anger, and he screamed hysterically: "How can one be so shameless as a person?"

The auxiliary officers remained silent……triple the stipend, triple—if they were like the Ying Claw, officers with special skills would see their stipend sextuple, and they'd even be granted immortal weapons!

Not to mention those bitter officers, even the core aides of the commander's residence feel a bit tempted.

After all, we all serve the Divine Nation—whether in Demon-Suppressing City or An'yang City, in the Demon-Suppressing Army or the Invincible Army, what's the difference?

Moreover, in Demon-Suppressing City, one must constantly face the invasion of subterranean demons, risking death in battle; furthermore, the defenses of Demon-Suppressing City are surrounded by barren wastelands where not even birds defecate—Demon-Suppressing City is a military city, with not a single pleasant leisure spot inside, not even a sow.

And what about An Wang's fief?

Yu Province and Zhuang Province, among the Nine Provinces, are the very heart and richest fertile lands of the entire Divine Nation.

It's said that the river waters of Yu Province flow with the scent of rouge. With sextuple the stipend, stationed in An'yang City or other prosperous metropolises……ah, ah, the Invincible Army is An Wang's private army; unless foreign enemies invade his fief, there's basically no chance of combat duty!

Get money for free, no work required—stationing conditions are at least a hundred times better than in Demon-Suppressing City!

A few adjutants and records clerks silently sighed; they're not from top military lineages, otherwise they couldn't be aides in the commander's residence—they'd have long since commanded their own armies.

Therefore, they sincerely wish to follow Wu Tie.

Zhao Bo looked at his subordinates, his mouth twitching from anger as he pointed at them and roared: "You never clarified things for these scoundrels……what about An Wang Sr.'s reputation?"

When mentioning the words 'An Wang Sr.'s reputation,' Zhao Bo also unconsciously lowered his voice.

The auxiliary officers looked at Zhao Bo as if he were an idiot; a staff officer mustered courage and whispered: "We did bring it up before, but……triple the stipend, and for those with special talents it's straight to sextuple……brothers, we're all scraping a living off the blade……right?"

Spreading his hands, the staff officer muttered softly: "Some brothers actually spoke quite thoroughly……perhaps An Wang Sr.'s bad reputation is merely slander from remnants of the previous dynasty? And even if An Wang……really did those things, the Invincible Army is his old man's private army……private army……commander."

Zhao Bo, puzzled, looked at the staff officer: "Right, it's his private army—then what?"

The staff officer gave a wry smile: "I, too, think the brothers make sense……An Wang Sr., no matter what, wouldn't harm the private army he painstakingly built at great expense……on the contrary……on the contrary……"

A surge of anger rose in Zhao Bo's chest; he lowered his voice and asked: "On the contrary?"

Then Zhao Bo slammed a fist into his own face, choking with rage, utterly miserable, anguished to the extreme, he howled: "Damn it, he is now……is……our……our Demon-Suppressing Temple Vice Master!"

"The commander actually hit the nail on the head—earlier some brothers hesitated about An Wang Sr.'s reputation, still a bit reluctant……but soon someone spelled it out, saying An Wang Sr. would surely not waste the private army he'd spent a fortune to build……but he is our Demon-Suppressing Temple Vice Master; if he truly goes to war, the forces under his command are also our Demon-Suppressing Army!"

"Whether An Wang Sr. is cruel and ruthless or wicked and heartless……whoever follows him suffers misfortune, but if he ever truly goes to war, our Divine Martial Army will be his direct troops." A adjutant said with a bitter face: "Commander, speaking frankly, we too are now a bit anxious……ah, what do you say……"

Zhao Bo's face twitched violently.

He recalled the matter of the Four Palaces Twelve Guards Forbidden Army……just one battle, and the Four Palaces Twelve Guards Forbidden Army died to the last man, not even a speck of ashes remained!

It truly is, truly is……

"This guy…… how can he be so evil?" Zhao Bao's chest fire grew stronger, until he finally spat out a mouthful of blood.

He gritted his teeth, spat a few mouthfuls of bloody saliva onto the ground, Zhao Bao closed his eyes and muttered: "Heart fire is rising, go brew me a big bowl of cooling tea, hurry and let me get rid of this fire…… these days, everyone be cautious, be careful, hurry up and attend to him to my satisfaction, then hurry and let him leave."

Zhao Bao muttered: "Can't afford to provoke him, can't afford to provoke him…… with the Nation-protecting Divine Artifact in hand, unless the Emperor wants to move him, no one can afford to provoke him…… might as well treat him like a plague god, hurry up and attend to him comfortably, hurry up and get him to scram."

He shook his head, Zhao Bao muttered: "Xingwen, transmit everything that happened here, no matter how big or small, to the Demon-Suppressing Hall, let the Hall Master have a headache."

Nothing happened all night.

In the barracks of Demon-Suppressing First City, the whole night was very lively.

In the Demon-Suppressing Hall, many generals came from Wu Tie's Nine Provinces Feudal State, and their numbers were quite considerable.

After Wu Tie subdued the families these generals belonged to, these generals naturally became Wu Tie's people. Just like Wu Xu, who came from a middling military family, these generals in Demon-Suppressing First City hooked up with each other, stirred up trouble, even directly took up knives and attacked, wielding their little hoes swiftly, happily digging out the corners of Demon-Suppressing First City's walls.

Dawn came, Wu Tie ran to Demon-Suppressing Second City for a quick round.

Just like what happened in the first city, big and small stones 'attacked' Wu Tie over a dozen times, and a group of quite elite Demon-Suppressing Army experts were forcibly dug out by Wu Tie.

On the third day, Wu Tie went to Demon-Suppressing Third City.

Then came the fourth city, fifth city, sixth city……

One has to admit, connections really can be useful sometimes.

Wu Tie had 120,000 Wu tribesmen forming the skeleton of the Invincible Army, conscripted Invincible Army soldiers forming the flesh, while these veteran soldiers and officers of the Demon-Suppressing Army were the nerves and tendons, organically integrating the skeleton and flesh.

With the addition of these battle-hardened elite soldiers, Wu Tie's Invincible Army could truly be considered a regular army capable of fighting.

Day after day, large numbers of captives were sent from the Demon-Suppressing Army's various prison cells to Wu Tie's transport fleet.

Young and strong warriors, along with large numbers of the elderly, weak, women and children, Wu Tie refused none; already over half of the transport ships were filled with people.

On the twelfth day arriving at Demon-Suppressing City, Wu Tie was standing at the gate of Demon-Suppressing Twelfth City when several third-rank generals on the gate tower held two spears, gesturing at Wu Tie, when suddenly a few streams of light flashed past in the distance.

"Your Highness, trouble, someone's come to steal business!" Far away came Huang Yu's angry roar: "Moreover, it's utterly lawless, utterly bullying and domineering, utterly not putting Your Highness in their eyes at all."

"That guy called Xiang Zhang is simply unreasonable…… he throws a punch at the slightest disagreement!"

Flowing Light leapt quickly a few times, several Fire Spirit Elders surrounded Huang Yu as they flashed to Wu Tie's presence; Huang Yu jumped down from a Fire Spirit Elder's hand, staggered over and ran to Wu Tie's front.

Wu Tie glanced at Huang Yu, and his face darkened.

Huang Yu's nasal bone was completely shattered, his nose hung like a rotten sausage on his face, continuously dripping blood and mucus downwards.

Half of his face was sunken in, and not a single tooth remained in his mouth.

Obviously he had just taken a healing pill; at this moment his cheeks were twitching slightly, the cheek bones, shattered muscles, severed meridians and so on were rapidly repairing themselves.

This was clearly an injury caused by being beaten with fists.

"Just hit him on sight? Hah, Xiang Zhang?" Wu Tie laughed: "Come, let's go see, how outrageous, nowadays who dares to act high and mighty before this prince? Hmm, could it be they're stirring up trouble to get revenge for the First Army? Tsk, tsk, that's harboring loyalty to the previous dynasty, harboring ulterior motives…… very likely they're plotting rebellion!"

"Have the brothers on standby, ready to fight at any moment."

Huang Yu's face twitched, he followed Wu Tie with a smiling face.