Chapter 202: Chapter 140: Another Free Haul; Sothing Big Has Happened
Cheng Zongyang didn’t ask any more questions for the mont and imdiately moved the corpses in the sacks into the small courtyard. After he was done, before Cheng Zongyang could even ask, Li Lu spoke up first.
"Sorry, sothing urgent ca up and I was delayed! I ran all the way here. Also, sothing big has happened!
Early this morning, the County Magistrate received an urgent ssage from the Commandery City. It said the Thirteen Royal Families dispatched a surprise force of Upper Three Grades Martial Artists. They launched a surprise attack on Dan Yang County Town, which is just before Qianye Commandery City. After seizing the city gates, they conquered Dan Yang overnight.
Dan Yang is the County Town closest to Qianye Prefecture. Beyond it, the terrain is a flat plain all the way to Qianye Commandery City! Qianye Prefecture is in danger!
If Qianye Commandery City falls, you could say the entire territory of Qianye Prefecture will be conquered by the forces of the Thirteen Royal Families!"
Hearing this sudden news, Cheng Zongyang’s expression turned grim. "How is the County Magistrate handling it?"
"There’s nothing he can do."
Li Lu gave a bitter smile. "The County Magistrate just summoned us for an ergency eting to discuss counterasures. That’s when I learned that the Three Mansions of Linchuan, Xiangyang, and Xichuan are all facing attacks from the Thirteen Royal Families.
The Martial Artists of the Thirteen Royal Families are attacking recklessly, as if they have a death wish. The Border Army has almost no strength to resist!
They’re tearing through our defenses like a hot knife through butter. More than half of the territory of the Three Mansions has already fallen into their hands.
In this situation, unless the Court steps in and gives them what they want, it’s only a matter of ti before the Three Mansions fall completely into the hands of the Thirteen Royal Families."
Cheng Zongyang’s heart pounded with fear as he listened. ’Even the Court is no match for the Thirteen Royal Families? Just how powerful are these families?’
"What about the situation in the north?" Cheng Zongyang pressed.
Li Lu sighed. "Da Liang is focusing all its strength on a counter-offensive against the Jin Kingdom’s army in the north. The County Magistrate says that compared to the Thirteen Royal Families, the Jin Kingdom is a greater threat. There’s no geographical barrier like Tianduan Mountain up north. If the north falls, they could march almost unopposed all the way to the National Capital in Yangzhou Prefecture."
Cheng Zongyang looked at Li Lu. "If the County Town falls, what will you do?"
Cheng Zongyang felt helpless. ’I was planning to invest in Li Lu, waiting to send my people into the County Town later and use his position to quickly establish a foothold, set up business, and start comrcial operations.’
’Who would have thought sothing like this would happen?’
’It’s just one damn thing after another.’
Li Lu let out another deep sigh. "What else can I do? I’ll just have to take it one step at a ti. I heard the various Noble Families have already mobilized people to provide support. We don’t know what the outco will be yet."
Just then, Cheng Zongyang suddenly rembered sothing and couldn’t help but ask, "You just said the Court should give them what they want. What is it?"
Li Lu shook his head. "I don’t know. I just heard the County Magistrate ntion it once. It seems even he isn’t sure."
Cheng Zongyang nodded, but for so reason, he was reminded of the fireballs falling from the sky.
’For the Thirteen Royal Families to act so recklessly, just to demand sothing from the Court... it must be sothing that all of the Thirteen Royal Families need, right?’
"Could there be a connection?" Cheng Zongyang muttered.
"Lastly, about the dried fish. The County Magistrate isn’t in the mood for this right now, so he told
to handle it with the Household Departnt. I’m on good terms with the head of the County Magistrate’s Office’s Household Departnt, and we’ve already agreed. The Household Departnt is willing to buy it at a price of fifteen cents per pound. We can settle the paynt in gold."
Hearing this, Cheng Zongyang nodded. He wasn’t particularly overjoyed—it was a no-cost business for him anyway. He said imdiately, "Alright, then I’ll wait for you Outside West City Gate early tomorrow morning, okay? Bring the money, and we’ll settle it on the spot. The quantity is three thousand pounds, maybe more, but not less!"
"Three thousand pounds... that is... how much is that again?" Li Lu was a little fuzzy on the numbers.
"Forty-five taels of silver, which is four taels and five mace of gold. I want gold," Cheng Zongyang reminded him.
"Done!"
Li Lu nodded and said:
"Then I’ll head back first. I still have a lot to arrange. As for these people, I made up an excuse to have them all killed. They’re all yours." After speaking, Li Lu started to walk out.
"Alright, thank you." Cheng Zongyang cupped his fist.
"Don’t be a stranger." Li Lu waved his hand dismissively, then left, pulling the handcart.
After closing the door, Cheng Zongyang looked at the sacks on the ground with a grave expression.
After waiting for a quarter of an hour and hearing no noise from outside, he moved all the sacks into the Wilderness World.
He returned to the inner room, ignoring what had just happened. He entered the Wilderness World, preparing to first reshape the twelve corpses into six new Soul Slaves to help Ma San and the others with their work.
After a series of actions, twelve corpses of Martial Artists, all marked with Ninth Grade Cultivation, were arranged in pairs at the entrance of the small hut.
Unfortunately, Wang Tianfeng was not among them; that guy had been taken away by people from the Reincarnation Bureau.
Six Soul Crystal Stones were placed in front of their heads.
With a thought, the six Soul Crystal Stones began to transform.
This ti, he simulated six male protagonists from ani in his mind.
Emperor Ye, Emperor Huang, Han Mo, Wei Zhuang, Jing Xuan, and Wang Lin.
’Yep, they’re all working for
now.’
Half a quarter-hour later, six new figures appeared.
He didn’t bother coming up with special nas for them, just naming them after the characters.
He then checked their Attributes and Talents, and one by one, copied his own Skills onto them.
---
Emperor Ye: Intensive Cultivation (Increases crop yield by 20%), Archery Specialization
Han Mo: Great Pharmacist (Increases pharmaceutical effectiveness by 30%), dicine (Beginner Level)
Emperor Huang: Master Craftsman (Increases the beauty and strength of crafted items by 20%), Archery Specialization
Wei Zhuang: Trap Master (Traps have an additional 30% concealnt), Archery Specialization
Wang Lin: Tracking Expert (Increases accuracy by 30% when tracking clues), Archery Specialization.
Jing Xuan: Extraordinary Creation (Increases item developnt success rate by 20%), dicine (Beginner Level).
---
Looking at the stats of these six, he nodded in satisfaction. ’Although my own dicine Skill is only at the Beginner Level, it pairs perfectly with Han Mo’s Talent.’
"Including Ma San and his group of four, that makes ten people in total." Cheng Zongyang glanced at the plot of golden rice paddy not far away, which would be ready for harvest soon, and smiled. "Perfect. We can harvest the rice in a few days."
Then, he said to Ma San, who had been watching from the side:
"You’ll be in charge of arranging things for these six. You’re still the captain. Both Emperor Ye and Li Xingyun have the Intensive Cultivation Talent..."
Cheng Zongyang also explained the Talents of the six newcors to Ma San, letting him assign their work accordingly.
After listening, Ma San imdiately cupped his hands and said, "I understand, my lord. I will not disappoint you!"
Cheng Zongyang nodded. "Also, pack three thousand, one hundred and fifty pounds of dried fish for . Have it ready before six o’clock. I’ll need it later."
He had already hung the Solar-Powered Wall Clock by the door and had taught Ma San and the others how to tell ti. It was far more precise than the ’hour’ system used outside.
"Yes, I will arrange it at once," Ma San replied and imdiately went to fetch so large baskets.
These large baskets were woven by them for holding fish.
Cheng Zongyang glanced at the ti. There were only a little over two hours left until the trade. It wasn’t that early anymore.
He imdiately changed into Night Clothes and left the Wilderness World. Leaving his residence, he made his way to a spot beneath the city wall in the West City, used his Body Technique to propel himself up onto the wall, and scaled down the other side when the patrolling soldiers weren’t looking.
Now that he had a Body Technique, he no longer needed to crawl through holes.
He left the city and headed for a stretch of forest next to the main road that had long since been burned clean by a wildfire and had not yet recovered due to a lack of water.
After a flurry of activity, he had the sacks filled with dicinal Materials ready. At the sa ti, back in the market hut, he prepared supplies like rice, at, vegetables, a large pot, and several big barrels of water.
He just needed to take them out tomorrow morning. When that group of refugees ca out at noon, they could eat a al here before continuing on their journey.
How many would co would depend on their choice.
After all, not everyone was willing to leave the County Town they had worked so hard to enter. They were afraid that once they left, they would never be able to get back in.
Cheng Zongyang didn’t wait foolishly in the cold wind. Instead, he entered the Wilderness World, went into the Cultivation Room, and spent 120 minutes on Cultivation.
Multi-party combat!
Once again, he faced the Exotic Beast Tiger King and the Exotic Beast Wild Boar King!
This was extrely effective for improving his Wind-Stepping Step, Great Strength Vajra Palm, and Basic Saber Technique.
But it wasn’t suitable for the Body Refining Skill. The progress was slow, and compared to the Points spent, it wasn’t worth it.
In the blink of an eye, it was six in the morning.
[Cultivation complete. Your Wind-Stepping Step proficiency
81 points; Your Basic Saber Technique proficiency
41 points; Your Great Strength Vajra Palm proficiency
168 points;]
Cheng Zongyang looked at the increase in his proficiency and was very satisfied.
He first went out to check his surroundings. Seeing no problems, he began taking out the baskets of dried fish.
He couldn’t be bothered to worry about what the people from the County Magistrate’s Office might think about how the dried fish was transported.
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