Chapter 739

In the Azure Void, the Dharma Form warrior who was meditating suddenly opened his eyes, summoned his spirit horse, and then mounted it to gallop toward the south.

After not seeing it for a while, the spirit horse's speed had increased a little; this progress was a bit fast. While galloping, the spirit horse suddenly said: "I heard you used to have a mount called Qing Ju? Why don't you pay attention to it anymore?"

Wei Yuan was startled; he had actually forgotten there was still this horse. That horse originally came from a mortal horse and relied on Xu Wenwu's feeding all the way to become a spirit horse. But after the Great Karma Curse, Wei Yuan's strength advanced by leaps and bounds, and now he basically didn't need a mount on the battlefield, so he handed Qing Ju over to Xu Yi.

If the spirit horse hadn't asked, Wei Yuan would have forgotten about this matter. At the moment, he was somewhat curious and asked: "How do you know about these things?"

"Hmph! That person named Xu Wenwu told me everything!"

"You two..." Wei Yuan was even more curious, wanting to know how these two guys got to know each other.

Little did he know that the spirit horse hurriedly interrupted Wei Yuan: "We just meditate and cultivate every day; we didn't do anything!"

"Hmm???" Wei Yuan instantly thought of words like "covering up."

The spirit horse suddenly stopped talking, burying its head and running. Wei Yuan was even more curious: "Why don't you talk anymore?"

"Too many words lead to mistakes."

One man and one horse galloped for half a day and finally arrived at the Bi Shui Realm. At the moment, a Dharma Form general flew out and blocked their way.

Wei Yuan's manifestation took out the Wei Wei Jiezhu's token and handed it over. The token was a jade plaque with Wei Yuan's aura left on it, and four large characters were engraved on it. The general scanned it at a glance and saw the four large characters "As if the Emperor were here in person"!

He was greatly shocked. "Zhen" (the Emperor) was a self-reference that only the Emperor of the Great Tang could use! Fortunately, he looked carefully again, and the handwriting on the jade plaque seemed clearer. Only then did he see clearly that the four characters were "As if I were here in person," all written in ancient script, and the writing was really not very good, which caused the general to be dazzled.

The general also recognized Wei Yuan's token and respectfully said: "So it is the Wei Wei Jiezhu's manifestation. Please wait a moment; the end general will go notify the Fourth Prince."

Wei Yuan nodded. After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, he saw Li Chengfeng flying at full speed, landing in front of Wei Yuan, and cupping his hands: "What instruction does Lord Wei have for coming here?"

Wei Yuan glanced at the Bi Shui Realm behind him and said: "Over two hundred li; it seems you've invested quite a bit!"

Li Chengfeng's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly said: "I was a bit anxious some time ago and invested some resources. It won't happen again in the future."

It was no wonder Li Chengfeng's attitude was so good; the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Zhao Kingdom that raided Hanyang Pass were completely wiped out, and his own troops didn't even have half their strength.

Originally, Zhang Sheng was invincible in field battles, but it was unknown how he was at attacking cities. But ever since the Azure Void began to use infantry cannons in large quantities, city defense was not of much use. This kind of crude weapon using gunpowder was instead the nemesis of the city-protecting grand formation. No matter how strong the grand formation was, it couldn't withstand the bombardment of hundreds of cannons day and night without stopping.

Wei Yuan then asked: "The Fourth Prince has the right to train troops, right?"

"Father King allowed me to organize and train two hundred thousand new troops, under my command."

"Among the princes, is there anyone with more troops than you?"

"The Crown Prince has three hundred thousand troops, among which fifty thousand are elite veterans, and his strength is far above mine. Second Sister also leads two hundred thousand people, but she has one hundred and fifty thousand elites in her army, and only fifty thousand new troops. Moreover, Second Sister's mother's clan also allocated two hundred Dao foundation officers to her, so her strength is also above mine."

This Second Sister, it was unknown what princess she was enfeoffed as. Wei Yuan suddenly thought of the two princesses, An Guo and Princess Ningguo, and his heart felt somewhat strange.

Wei Yuan continued to ask: "Since you are organizing and training new troops, you should have a place to raise grain and pay?"

Li Chengfeng said: "Currently, the money and grain of the three border commanderies are under my dispatch, and I can collect seventy percent of the taxes collected, to be used as military expenses. It's just that the Western Regions are barren, and the three commanderies combined have no more than seven million people, so there really isn't much money or grain."

Wei Yuan went through the relevant data of the Zhao Kingdom from the bottom of his heart and said: "Two of the commanderies are not very easy to collect money and grain from, right?"

Li Chengfeng was startled, then smiled bitterly: "Second Brother and Fourth Sister have always been at odds with me. These two commanderies were originally their places to raise troops, and now Father King has transferred them to me, but most of the grassroots officials are still their subordinates. So I can't collect anything."

Wei Yuan finally entered the main topic: "Are the equipment for the Fourth Prince's two hundred thousand-strong army ready?"

Li Chengfeng said: "Only fifty thousand people have complete equipment; the rest are still training."

Speaking of this, he looked at Wei Yuan faintly. It wasn't because the elites were wiped out by Wei Yuan in one go, and then a pile of bare-bottomed men were returned. Now it was easy to get people, but equipment was harder than reaching the sky; a set of elite armor and weapons was much more expensive than the warriors themselves, and all countries were like this.

Wei Yuan smiled: "I can give you a full set of equipment for one hundred and fifty thousand people. Do you want it?"

Li Chengfeng's voice suddenly became somewhat dry: "When can you deliver the goods?"

Wei Yuan stretched out a finger: "Deliver in full within a month. Each set of equipment is one hundred taels of immortal silver, equipped with Azure Void standard gunpowder guns and flying sword guns, roughly just a little better than what your Zhao Kingdom craftsmen make."

Li Chengfeng originally wanted to say something, but upon hearing it was Azure Void standard firearms, his entire body shook, and his face showed a struggle.

Wei Yuan smiled: "What is the Fourth Prince still hesitating about? With those few craftsmen of your Zhao Kingdom, when will they be able to build these one hundred and fifty thousand guns? Besides, now that Jin and Zhao are at war, there is no war in the Western Regions, so when will the new guns be your turn? The other princes and princesses are fighting on the front lines, and they are all arming their own troops."

Li Chengfeng smiled bitterly: "How could I not understand this truth? Maybe one day some brother or sister's army will cross the border and take my realm. But... where can I get so much money!"

Wei Yuan said calmly: "It doesn't matter if you can't take it out now; I can lend it to you. The Fourth Prince only needs to pay ten percent first."

Li Chengfeng's voice was trembling: "This, this... how can there be such a good thing? Then what do I need to use as collateral?"

"Fourteen million immortal silver, what does the Fourth Prince think is worth so much?"

Li Chengfeng was instantly speechless, finally sighing long: "Lord Wei should already have a plan, right? Please speak directly; I'll see if I can accept it. Or... should I betroth Chun Yi to you?"

Wei Yuan almost couldn't maintain the expression on his face and hurriedly said: "The Fourth Prince is joking; I am not that kind of person!"

Li Chengfeng was puzzled: "Why have I heard that Lord Wei has always been very interested in my sisters?"

Wei Yuan hurriedly coughed a few times and said: "Even for Princess Princess Ningguo, fourteen million as a dowry is too much. Let's talk about business, let's talk about business."

"Lord Wei, please speak!"

Wei Yuan said: "I want the taxes of the three commanderies as collateral. If the Fourth Prince can't collect them, I can help you collect them. Of course, my people will act in your name; the Fourth Prince just needs to prepare ten thousand sets of personal guard uniforms. Besides that, I also want the mining rights of the three commanderies for fifty years; that should be about it."

Li Chengfeng's heart jumped wildly, his face turning pale and green, and he smiled bitterly: "In this way, I, I will have completely fallen out with Second Brother and Fourth Sister."

Wei Yuan smiled slightly: "What's the big deal about falling out? On the road to the throne, where are there brothers and sisters, where are there beloved relatives and friends? If they cannot be used by me, they are mortal enemies."

Li Chengfeng chewed on these words carefully and actually felt they made a lot of sense.

Seeing him still hesitating, Wei Yuan said objectively: "The price I give you is not low, but in the current chaotic world, if you don't exchange immortal silver for swords, it's all money saved for others. Nothing is better than having a two hundred thousand-strong army fully equipped within a month!"

Li Chengfeng finally made up his mind: "What Lord Wei said makes sense! Let's settle it this way. I will go raise the first batch of immortal silver and come to the Azure Void to visit within three days with the contract and the immortal silver!"

Wei Yuan cupped his hands: "Then I wish the Fourth Prince success!"

Returning to the Azure Void, Wei Yuan was also quite satisfied with this trip. The new gunpowder would be developed soon, and two types would be developed at once. One was the gray stone liquid that Ji Liuli and Sun Yu had been researching to soak spirit plant cotton, supplemented with other ingredients. The ingredients were already complete, and the rest was just finding the best ratio and trying to reduce costs.

The other was the formula using ancient spirit charcoal to replace spirit wood charcoal, which could also greatly increase power. Once the two new gunpowders were developed, all gunpowder guns and ammunition would have to be redesigned and fully replaced. The previous gunpowder guns would become obsolete products. Instead of destroying them, it was better to sell them to Li Chengfeng.

Upon returning to the Azure Void, Wei Yuan wrote a letter to the Jin King, saying that he was preparing to go to the capital to meet him, and expected to arrive in the Jin capital in ten days.

The Azure Void's inventory of firearms was huge, and Li Chengfeng alone couldn't digest much. Wei Yuan prepared to lend a full set of equipment for five hundred thousand people to the Jin King in the same way.

(End of chapter)