Chapter 80: I can do it too

In the backyard of the military fortress, Liao Jingwu was hosting a banquet, eating and drinking with several generals until their faces were red and hot.

"I'll toast the General first!" Captain Wang Delu was not in the county town at this time, but in the military fortress. He drank it in one gulp and then asked, "General Liao, are we really not going to save General Li?"

"Who's going? You?" Liao Jingwu glared.

Wang Delu shrank his neck and said with a smirk, "I don't know how to lead cavalry. What if I run into a large group of Liao cavalry? Wouldn't that be suicide?"

"That's it! If you don't dare to go, shut up!" Liao Jingwu drank the wine in his cup in one gulp, spat out the smell of alcohol, and said, "The Duke of Southern Qi can't control us here! These Immortal Sect disciples are just here to gild themselves and earn some reputation; in the end, they have to go back to where they came from. My soldiers are not many to begin with, and these will be my capital in the future. If they are all killed, who can I find?"

A captain echoed, "The General is absolutely right! We have military merits now, so why work so hard? If you ask me, just guard peacefully until winter, and the Liao barbarians will naturally retreat. If you insist on fighting, what if you run into a large group of Liao barbarians? That would really cost your head! Besides, Sun Chaoen is not stupid; Quyang County can still be defended. As for those people outside the city, if they die, they die. The Liao barbarians won't retreat without getting some sweetness."

Wang Delu didn't say anything more. Although he also wanted to cling to Li Zhi, he absolutely couldn't lead troops to attack on his own.

Another captain said, "General, although the imperial court's military pay has arrived, the shortfall is still very large. What should we do?"

"How much is missing?"

"Thirty thousand taels actually arrived. According to the old rules, you take half, and the officers take half of the remainder. Now the owed military pay and pensions are seventy thousand taels, still short by more than sixty thousand."

Liao Jingwu was a little irritable: "Go, go, go! Don't talk about this disappointment! Do what you did in the past! Distribute a little first, and owe the rest. If there are troublemakers, arrest them, and behead the leaders! Drink!"

The generals toasted each other again, and the meal lasted from the afternoon until dark.

After Wei Yuan and Li Zhi returned to Shayang Village, reinforcements from all sides arrived one after another. In the next few hours, people kept coming, the farthest even rushing from two hundred miles away. In the end, a total of nine groups of reinforcements gathered in the small Shayang Village, totaling more than eight hundred people. Li Zhi finally regained his confidence.

It was just that Shayang Village was too small, and the reinforcements also had their own territory to guard, so after exchanging pleasantries and favors, they dispersed. Those nearby returned to their defense zones, and those far away spent the night in Quyang County before leaving.

Shayang Village Ancestral Hall.

Wei Yuan sat shirtless, with medicine, bandages, etc., placed beside him. Li Zhi was personally treating Wei Yuan's wounds.

Wei Yuan had been hit by three arrows, and at the time, he had just used Daoist techniques to cut the arrow shafts and continued fighting. After returning, he had to be treated. Many types of Northern Liao arrows had serrated arrowheads and could not be pulled out at will.

Wei Yuan's body lines could be called perfect, with a tiger's back and a bee's waist, and his skin faintly revealed a precious light. It was originally flawless, but the three arrowheads stuck in his body were like three dirty spots, particularly eye-catching.

Li Zhi first used his spiritual sense to probe the shape of the arrowheads, then used his magic power to change their shape, smoothing out the barbs and serrations. Then he grasped the exposed arrow shaft and used his magic power to vibrate, separating the flesh from the arrowhead, before carefully pulling the arrowheads out.

After the arrowheads were pulled out, a hole the size of a teacup remained on Wei Yuan's body, and blood immediately surged out.

Li Zhi's other hand glowed with white light, intending to cast a Rejuvenation Technique on the wound, and then add a healing talisman produced by the Four Sages Academy. With both methods, such skin wounds usually healed in two days.

Just as the Rejuvenation Technique was about to be cast, he saw the blood flowing from Wei Yuan's wound turn pale pink, like a lump of jelly, actually squirming and crawling back into the wound on its own! Subsequently, Wei Yuan's muscles squirmed, sealing the wound, leaving only a small pale pink dot. After a while, the dot also disappeared.

Li Zhi silently dispersed the Rejuvenation Technique and directly pulled out the remaining two arrowheads, not even dealing with the serrations. After the two arrows were pulled out, the blood flowed back the same way, and the wounds sealed themselves.

Li Zhi looked at the arrowheads for a long time, but in the end, he didn't believe in evil. He stretched out his tongue and licked one, and then his mouth went numb, his brain dizzy, his Dao foundation dimmed, and his breath became floating. He hurriedly poured a large mouthful of antidote for himself, and only then did he recover.

Li Zhi finally confirmed that the three arrows of the Liao barbarians were indeed not cutting corners; each one was poisoned, and even a Dao foundation couldn't withstand it. Li Zhi himself had also been hit by an arrow, but his armor was of such a high grade that the arrow only scratched his skin after piercing the armor, and all the poison was cleared by the armor's own ability when it pierced, so Li Zhi didn't feel anything at the time. Now that he had licked it himself, he knew the power of the Liao barbarians' poison.

Li Zhi threw the arrowheads aside, put a robe on Wei Yuan, and couldn't help but say, "Brother Wei, how many body-refining sacred medicines have you eaten?"

Wei Yuan counted them one by one: "Peiyuan Pill, Blood Flower Pill, Bone Forging Pill, and God-Nurturing Pill."

The two had gone through a bloody battle together, and their friendship was no longer ordinary, so Wei Yuan didn't hide anything and told Li Zhi everything. However, Wei Yuan didn't know what medicine the Eldest Senior Sister used for washing and refining, and the process of washing and refining was somewhat unclear, so it was not suitable for outsiders to know.

Hearing the names of the pills, Li Zhi's expression was strange: "They are just ordinary pills to replenish spiritual energy and speed up progress. Brother Wei, you only eat these?"

Wei Yuan nodded.

Li Zhi stretched out a finger, pointed at the skin on Wei Yuan's back, and slid down slowly. Sensing the touch of his fingertips, Li Zhi tried to input a little magic power, but it was all bounced back.

Li Zhi sighed: "These ordinary pills have almost no help in improving the physical body's rank. Brother Wei must have suffered a lot of grievances in the Taichu Palace, and being able to cultivate to this day is all thanks to yourself. In fact, not to mention the things prepared for me at home, the academy alone took out two copies of the sage's handwriting to accompany my cultivation, and there was no shortage of precious medicines to improve physique. My foundation was originally only eight feet, but it was pulled to more than nine feet bit by bit. But even with the help of external objects, in terms of physical body, I am still far inferior to Brother Wei. Losing to Brother Wei back then was truly not unjust!"

Wei Yuan thought Li Zhi would be recruiting again, just like back then, but after the emotion, Li Zhi said: "With Brother Wei's great talent at this moment, you will soar in any place, even in the Taichu Palace. After all, the Taichu Palace is an Immortal Sect. No matter how blind they were back then, they will definitely give Brother Wei enough resources now, so I won't talk nonsense about transferring to the Four Sages Academy. However, seeing Brother Wei again, I do have an idea."

Li Zhi looked at Wei Yuan and said sincerely: "When Brother Wei builds a Dao foundation, according to the rules of the Taichu Palace, it should be the time to establish merit. If we talk about merit, there is nothing higher than expanding territory. I was lucky enough to take a step forward in cultivation and have been training in the army for several years, so I have some insights into expanding territory. If Brother Wei is interested after achieving a Dao foundation, we can fight side by side again, just like today!"

Wei Yuan also had a youthful spirit, and hearing this made his blood boil, so he said, "Good!"

"Then it's a deal!" Li Zhi reached out and high-fived Wei Yuan, which was considered an agreement.

During this battle side by side, Wei Yuan had been observing Li Zhi.

Li Zhi could lead by example, fight to the death in a bloody battle when facing a strong enemy, and have no fear. Wei Yuan was hit by three arrows, and Li Zhi was also hit by an arrow and slashed by a knife, with not-so-light injuries. When the Northern Liao reinforcements appeared, Li Zhi was calm in the face of danger, made a prompt decision, and retreated toward Quyang County according to Wei Yuan's meaning. Back then, during the martial arts test, it could be seen that Li Zhi liked military strategy. Now, ten years later, Li Zhi was no longer the child who only knew how to talk about military strategy on paper, but had truly led troops in bloody battles, and his various performances already had the prototype of a famous general.

It was just that for some reason, Wei Yuan always felt that Li Zhi's fighting was still a bit lacking, but Wei Yuan couldn't say exactly where it was lacking. After all, Wei Yuan's talent as a master of military strategy was only exerted during the martial arts test back then, and in the ten years of cultivation that followed, he had no chance to use it, so it slowly fell into disuse.

At this time, Li Zhi imagined the days when the two of them would lead a large army to conquer the east and west and kill through endless enemy troops, and he was fascinated, so he asked somewhat self-effacingly: "How does Brother Wei think I lead troops?"

"I always feel that something is missing. If I were to do it, it should be much better." Wei Yuan almost said this sentence. Fortunately, he hadn't been in the Tianqing Palace for long, so he just thought about it in his heart and didn't really say it.

Wei Yuan pretended to be thoughtful and then said: "Brother Li can lead by example and be calm in the face of danger; he can be called a famous general!"

Li Zhi was overjoyed, and in addition to his surprise, he was a little shy, so he hurriedly said: "Brother Wei overpraises me! I'm just at the level of knowing military strategy."

Li Zhi didn't know that when Zhang Sheng taught Wei Yuan back then, the meaning of "can be called" and "comparable to" in history books meant that it was still far behind.

With Wei Yuan's level of military strategy, although he couldn't say where Li Zhi was not good, it didn't prevent him from feeling that he would definitely be better than Li Zhi.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 81 =====