lethal arsenal

Chapter 292 The Owl of Minerva

The beef bones are rolling in the cauldron, and the milky white soup is rippled.

Ma Xinyi first got a bowl of soup for Lin Dong, then took a sip from the spoon and said, "It's okay."

He smashed it in his mouth, and then said: "It's just a little less salty. I remember doing it this way. Maybe it's because my mood is different after eating it. Back then, when there was a demon disaster in the Yuanbu, the vast desert could be seen at a glance. It’s yellow sand that makes people breathless.”

"It takes a lot of effort to get such a mouthful of soup."

Ma Xinyi stirred the cauldron while recalling the past, and added some spices that Lin Dong had seen but couldn't name.

The soup turns milky white, and at the end, you tear off some vegetable leaves. It tastes very delicious, and you can also rinse some thin slices of mutton.

"Master Zuo, aren't you coming?"

Lin Dong took the soup bowl and took a sip, the aroma reaching his nose.

He twisted up a pinch of spices and smelled it. It smelled a bit like garlic, ginger, and yes, there was also some vanilla, but it was pungent to the nose after a few more sniffs.

The fire in the stove was burning brightly, and the remaining light of the flame lengthened the shadows of the two brothers.

"I called him a long time ago, but he didn't come. He said it was because of important military matters and he was thinking about the route of bringing grain and grass into the Western Region."

"In addition, the forces under Zeng Guofan are still not very willing to listen to advice."

"Thirty percent of the troops and horses went into Mr. Zuo's pocket, [-]% waited and watched, and half of the remaining [-]% wanted to join Li Hongzhang. After all, this man is also a top leader in the Hunan Army, has a lot of navy, and can make money. The remaining half is going to Luo Bingzhang..."

"It seems that because of you, Shi Dakai was destroyed. His large army stationed in Sichuan was flooded by Luo Bingzhang's water from the Huanlong River and was killed to a rout."

"A few days ago, the military newspaper reported that Luo Bingzhang had robbed Ma'anshan, and that the Taiping Army's west road had completely lost its food route and was not far away from destruction. Now, the government wants to appoint Luo Bingzhang as the crown prince's eunuch. Of course, you will do the same. The Crown Prince and Taibao, as a favor, will reward you with the hereditary title of Captain of the First Class Light Chariot, and wear a double-eyed flower feather..."

Ma Xinyi rambled on about the reward given to Lin Dong by the imperial court.

In the Battle of Suzhou City in the Linhuai Army, most of Lin Dong's credit was shared with others, and Ma Xinyi always felt guilty in his heart.

With this in mind, Lao Ma, who was now able to speak in the court, planned to make up for the third brother. In addition, killing Shi Dakai this time was a real and huge contribution, so he was rewarded with a hereditary title.

It was also because of the current turmoil in the court that even the new master was elected. Otherwise, in terms of Lin Dong's contribution, it would not be an exaggeration to promote him to a first-class Qilin pattern.

"It's boring. By the way, how much dragon energy is there?"

Lin Dong interrupted Ma Xinyi and asked, Dragon Qi was the focus of his concern.

"Enjoy an additional 64 moments on top of what you already have."

Ma Xinyi scooped up a spoonful of meat slices and spoke in a straight voice.

"64 Carved Dragon Qi, just this, how about sending a beggar away?"

Lin Dong raised his eyebrows. Calculated, it was only an official position of less than third rank.

"The first-class captain of light carriages is hereditary."

Ma Xinyi nodded.

"Is it useful to us?"

Lin Dong asked back.

Ma Xinyi opened his mouth but made no sound.

After thinking about it in his head, Ma Xinyi said: "Yes, it is of no use to us."

The two brothers' antagonism at this time has reached the point where it is obvious and undisguised.

Even Yuan Sanjia, who was thousands of miles away, could faintly see some signs.

Of course, from Yuan Sanjia's point of view, what he was thinking about was whether the two brothers wanted to become the most powerful officials in the world... rather than rebel.

In this era, unless someone is naturally rebellious, the biggest idea of ​​becoming an official is usually to become a powerful prime minister and cover the sky with one hand in the temple.

There are not many people in the imperial court who have the desire to rebel, and they are used to being like dogs.

Among the Hunan Army, which had been fighting fiercely with the Taiping Army for several years, a few capable men, such as Peng Yulin, Zuo Zongtang, some of Zeng Guofan's former troops, and madmen such as Zeng Guoquan still had some thoughts of overthrowing the bannerman Jiangshan. Restore Han orthodoxy.

"How is the recruitment going here?"

Putting down the oil dish and wiping his mouth with a piece of silk cloth, Ma Xinyi quickly asked again.

Major military operations cannot cover it up.

Zuo Zongtang meant to set out in the spring. The troops were so fast that they could not wait for the Hongfu Khanate to react, so there was not much time left for Lin Dong.

"We have recruited two great masters, Tong Hu and Yang Wudi. Their peak strength is not enough to describe them. If not for the lack of luck, any one of these two would be able to compete with Shi Da."

Lin Dong showed some pride on his face, stirred the milky white soup in the pot with a spoon, and added another bowl for himself.

"You are still very powerful. You can recruit such a master. In this way, Mr. Zuo's safety is guaranteed, but is it enough?"

Ma Xinyi poured a glass of wine for Lin Dong and asked again, there was something in his words.

"What? Two peaks of strength are not enough?"

Lin Dong was puzzled.

Ma Xinyi said without changing his expression: "What I mean is that apart from high-end combat power, there are no other soldiers and horses in the Western Region except Agubai's demon army. When the Yuanbu demon disaster happened, the White Flame Tiger's team also retreated there. In the vast expanse of sand, Baiyanhu and Agubai believe in the Buddha Mother Peacock Mingwang religion..."

"During the Han and Tang dynasties, all the Western Regions were Buddhist lands. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Anshi Rebellion caused the Western Regions to be lost. Until the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Gaochang Kingdom in the Western Regions, the last piece of Buddhist land was lost, and the Peacock King Sect flourished in that land."

"When there was a demon disaster, the White Flame Tiger clan knocked on the door from door to door... You may not understand that in the Xiangchu area, the Miao people are divided into raw and mature seedlings. It is not easy for outsiders to distinguish between them. Local people can tell the difference between green seedlings and mature seedlings just by looking at where they live, without speaking a word.”

"The same is true for the Tiger Head Army. Among the Yuan clan, there are those who are of the same mind as the banner people and the Han people. But more often than not, there are those who are not in the same mind. The Yuan clan does not differentiate between relatives by blood, but by faith!"

"Congregants who believe in the Peacock King Sect are one family."

"If you don't believe it, even if your body has the same blood as theirs, they won't regard you as a clansman. And you can tell at a glance whether you believe it or not..."

"In the northwest, people's livelihood is poor and the environment is difficult. The rebels led by Bai Yanhu called the evil disaster a holy war. The war was serious and painful. In fact, it was even worse than the Taiping rebellion..."

"In the northwest, there are records in every county chronicle. The White Tiger Army directly massacred villages and knocked on doors. Even those who were members of the Yuan clan. Those who believed in the religion would join the army, and those who could not do so would be turned into zombies."

"This is just the beginning... The local Han people, who were not members of the same ethnic group, were uprooted from village to village and massacred regardless of men, women, old or young."

"In Lychee County, Shaanxi Prefecture, more than 1 people were massacred in one morning..."

"Black robe, black hat, black beard, high nose bridge, deep eyes, holding the Peacock King Sutra in hand, standing in the pool of blood and corpses everywhere, singing their hymn..."

"Heinous cruelty!"

"What Bai Yanhu wants to do is to permanently change the local population structure. As early as the period when Emperor Qianlong pacified the Hezhuo area, a large number of landless refugees migrated from the south to the northwest and the Western Regions."

"There are few banner people in that area, but there are not many Han people and Yuan people. But when I followed Zuo Gong into the Gansu and Shaanxi areas, it was actually very late..."

"It is speculated from the later county chronicles that during this disaster, not 1000 or 1 people were massacred, but [-] or [-]."

"But the entire Han family was slaughtered for 2000 million people. Ten houses and nine empty houses cannot be described as tragic... This is why I resolutely sold my family property and joined the army."

"If you find the White Flame Tiger, don't let him go. It's not an exaggeration to say that the White Tiger Army will be crushed to pieces!"

"In addition, now that White Flame Tiger has joined the rebel forces in the Western Region, he now has at least thousands of armored corpses in his hands. It is natural for you to only bring elite troops and behead the enemy..."

"You only have a small number of soldiers and horses now. Although the soldiers are elite, the problem is that if you are not careful, you can easily fall into the siege of an endless zombie army."

"Those armored corpses are extremely powerful, two to three times that of ordinary warriors, and their skin is extremely hard. It is undoubtedly an exaggeration to say that they are comparable to gold and iron. But they can also affect ordinary weapons, except for the Green Gun that is filled with yellow gunpowder. In addition to the extremely beneficial damage caused by artillery, it is difficult to deal with them with other means."

Ma Xinyi reminded me.

And Lin Dong also woke up from the war disaster he just mentioned.

"How did you defeat the White Flame Tiger in the first place?"

Lin Dong frowned and asked with a solemn expression. It seemed that his opponent this time was a little more difficult.

"us?"

Ma Xinyi rolled his eyes, and then said after a moment: "Zuo Gong used a trick to lure these rebels to a valley, and used explosives and yellow flames to eliminate the main force of the White Flame Tiger. Then he fought steadily and drove out the people behind the White Flame Tiger. This area was handed over to Doalon to gradually eradicate the rebels."

"That's enough, let's wait for the news."

Lin Dong raised his eyebrows.

"Afraid of fire? Then let the White Flame Tiger have a taste of my Nine Fire Divine Dragon Fist."

Lin Dong thought to himself.

A few days ago, he attained enlightenment at the top of Yuquan Mountain, and the blessing progress reached 100%. The birth of the Bull Demon, and the Prison King's Demon Suppression Palace. Together, the two affixes can produce the Fire Dragon Fist that truly symbolizes the power of the supreme martial arts.

With one punch, the fire dragon took off, as if it could burn through a hole like Mount Tai in the sky.

"Don't be careless."

Ma Xinyi kindly added one more point.

"Afraid?"

"I haven't paid much attention to the White Flame Tiger, but speaking of it, if we only take Fengzi Camp, the troops with less than a thousand people are indeed not impressive enough. Brother, I have an idea, it depends on you how to think?"

Lin Dong rolled his eyes and deliberately used words to trick Ma Xinyi. "how?"

Ma Xinyi asked back.

"Can you completely control him now?"

Lin Dong glanced at Ma Xinyi's left shoulder.

Ma Xinyi naturally understood what Lin Dong meant. The extra head on the left shoulder was Wuping Lake!

The head of the Wu family has always been a hidden danger.

"It's okay."

Ma Xinyi shook his head and then took off his specially made top without changing his expression.

Lin Dong's pupils couldn't help but shrink. The white-bearded old man on Ma Xinyi's left shoulder turned into a sarcoma.

"how did you do it?"

Lin Dong's eyes were uncertain, and he looked at Lao Ma with some suspicion.

"He has swallowed enough dragon energy and is now in the process of some kind of evolution. He sleeps most of the time every day. Don't worry, I am still me from beginning to end. There is no change at all. I am the one who shares a bowl with you. The big brother of broth.”

Ma Xinyi said solemnly.

Only then did the suspicion in Lin Dong's eyes dissipate a little.

His voice rose a little higher, "But this will also pave the way for you in the future?"

"It doesn't matter, I also have the means."

"Now Zuogong has opened up grain roads and roughly collected four purchase and transportation routes. One is from Liangzhou and other places, passing through Ganzhou Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, out of Jiayuguan, and directly to Hami, transporting grain from Liangzhou and other places to Anxi.”

"The purchase cost of one hundred kilograms, plus freight, is about 11 taels, and when you get to the ancient city of the Western Region, it is almost [-] or [-] taels, so the collection on this route can only be used as a temporary supplement."

"The second option is to take Baotou and Kobdo to reach the ancient city. A hundred pounds of food and grass on this route costs about seven taels."

"The third is to purchase a batch of military rations from the Rakshasa people. Now that the Rakshasa and the sun never set are competing, there is room for us to make a detour. Of course, these cannot be counted on. Rakshasa is like a wolf, and the sun never sets like a tiger. None of them are reliable."

"The last step is to recruit powerful people. The Wu family is the leader of the Thirteen Lines. At this time, it is natural for them to do their part. I have discussed it with Wu Pinghu. They plan to raise more than four million dans of grain and grass to supply the soldiers and horses. It is more economical to establish the General Administration of Grain and Grass in grassland areas.”

Ma Xinyi spoke from the bottom of his heart.

In fact, it can be imagined that in order to raise more than 400 million tons of grain and grass, he must have paid a heavy price.

Although the Wu family is extremely wealthy, one can imagine the difficulties involved in supporting a military war, especially a war spanning thousands of miles of territory.

When Zuo Zongtang went to the Western Regions, he wanted to fight not only Aquba, the lord of the seven cities of the Hongfu Khanate, but also the many secret hands of the Rakshasa Kingdom. The dark hand is also like a turbulent undercurrent.

"Don't take the Gansu-Shaanxi line?"

Lin Dong thought for a moment and asked.

"From the Hexi Corridor to Barkol, the total length is more than 2000 miles, and the Gobi Desert is crisscrossed. The road is difficult and dangerous, and the losses are huge. Even if we take away food, it will not be too much."

Ma Xinyi took out a map from his sleeve and unfolded it for Lin Dong to see.

There are four prominent red transportation routes marked on the land, which are rugged and winding, and none of them are easy.

This is just transporting grain and grass, but to conquer the Western Regions, how much yellow sand, desert, and Gobi will these soldiers face along the way...

"It's not easy."

Lin Dong held the picture in his hands and let out a long sigh.

"So we can only win but not lose!"

Ma Xinyi said sonorously.

"That's inevitable."

Lin Dong's answer was equally powerful.

"Brother, since you can control the Wu family to a certain extent, I will say one more thing."

"Oh, what do you want? Golden body and ashes?"

"Yes."

During the conversation, Lin Dong finally revealed the purpose of his trip. Now everything was ready, all he needed was the east wind.

Lin Dong himself had thought about it for a long time. If he directly threatened Wu Pinghu's son, he would undoubtedly destroy the network established by Ma Xinyi.

But the golden ashes are quite important in his plan.

The upper limit that Yin Earth can currently carry is about a hundred killers.

If the ashes of the golden body can expand the area of ​​​​Yintu several times, he can lead a thousand cavalry and kill soldiers, which is enough to travel across the Western Region.

The ghost soldiers marched extremely fast, and they did not eat food or grass, and there were no burdens such as horse chews.

The lethality is enough to crush any army in the Qing court. The more such excellent troops, the better.

The importance of this golden ashes is also revealed.

"This……"

Ma Xinyi became unusually silent after hearing this.

Lin Dong saw Ma Xinyi's ugly face and knew that there must be some difficult reason, "Is there anything we can't talk about between us brothers?" The interests between Lin Dong and Ma Xinyi were bound to a level beyond ordinary people's imagination. To a profound extent.

"Hey, I won't hide it from you anymore."

"The Wu family does have golden ashes. Firstly, the quantity is not large. Secondly, this item is actually used as a bridge of consciousness communication between me and Wuping Lake."

"The ashes of the golden body can stabilize the soul, so that Wu Pinghu will not have a rejection reaction when he appears in this body."

"What I'm wearing now is human skin. Half of my body is made of gears, and buried under my muscles are steel oil pipes... Half of my daily vitality relies on the mysterious transformation machine No. [-] to transport oil and survive. The other half is Ingest food normally, eat meat and drink alcohol and convert it into flesh and blood kinetic energy.”

"And when organic matter, inorganic matter, blood and oil, steam power pumps, heart, gears, tendons, etc. are connected with each other, especially when a strange soul is inserted into the torso, it is like a mess. The toy made up of items will fall apart when touched... and the reason why it has not fallen down yet is because the ashes of the golden body control the rejection reaction of the soul, like strong glue on the toy."

"If you take away the glue, won't the toy collapse?"

"Without the golden ashes, at least for now, I will be in an extremely dangerous situation."

Ma Xinyi said this.

Only then did Lin Dong understand why when he first asked about this thing, Lao Ma would directly say no.

"If that's the case, then forget it."

Lin Dong scratched his neck and said awkwardly.

"It's not like there's nothing we can do."

At this time, the tumor on Ma Xinyi's shoulder suddenly made a dull sound.

"Ok?"

Lin Dong's brows raised.

"The Steam Conference will definitely not be held now. Emperor Xianfeng is dead, Shi Da has opened the door, and is about to go to the Western Regions again. In this time of chaos, no one will remember this bullshit conference anymore."

"But merchants coming from other regions will easily suffer losses, especially the large caravans."

"I know about an expedition caravan. They came from the Rakshasa Kingdom with the purpose of chasing the Emperor of Qin's Huanbu. I heard that they would appear at the Steam Conference. But looking at the current situation, no one knows about the Huanbu. Where is Huanbu?"

"In the name of adventure, this caravan of spies is actually working for King Rakshasa to gather information about various countries. They have an extremely precious item in their hands, which is not inferior to the golden ashes."

"That's the owl statue of Minerva!"

"In the Western myths and legends of Bactria, the owl is the sacred bird of the goddess Athena. It never flies in the blue sky with the rising sun. It only flies quietly when dusk falls to protect the sleeping Bactria."

"And it is this owl statue that has the ability to balance, reconcile, and integrate all things."

"When I crossed the ocean in my early years, I joined the Oak Church."

"I have experienced the light of the oak tree at close range. It is the soft light that bursts out from the harmony between nature and all things, which can make the soul extremely comfortable. At the beginning, the white-robed priest of the Oak Church said - Minerva's The owl has the power to harmonize all things, greater only than the light of the oak tree.”

"If you can find Minerva's owl, what's the harm in giving you the golden ashes?"

"Now, that expedition team is in the capital. Their leader's name is Sosnovsky. He graduated from the Rakshasa Military Academy. He is a descendant of the general of the Rakshasa Kingdom. He is an extremely dangerous person."

"I don't advise you, but if you have thought it through and plan to take action, you can ask Zuo Jigao for help and meet with you. But you don't want to force yourself. Those people came to meet Zuo Jigao this time, and they will take advantage of the opportunity. Rakshasa Kingdom, discuss the matter of borrowing grain from the Qing court."

Wu Pinghu, who turned into a sarcoma, gave mature and prudent advice.

Lin Dong's eyes were downcast, he thought for a moment, and said with some reluctance: "Then I'll give it a try, brother, don't worry, I won't go too far."

Ma Xinyi touched his forehead with his palm and sighed heavily.

(End of this chapter)