Chapter 948: Chapter 4: Heaven’s Mandated Heroes, Heavenly Strategy!
He set down Shaking Light and reached out to brush the dust off the young girl’s clothes.
Li Guanyi lowered his eyes, sensing the aura over there, his gaze calm.
Nangong Wumeng left the Qilin Army’s mark along the way to guide Fan Qing and others, then said: "So, General, what did you do to that monk? It can’t just be because these foreign monks took your golden pearls, right?"
Li Guanyi informed Nangong Wumeng that these foreign monks were said to be from the Demon Sect.
The Qilin Army, unaware of Shaking Light’s past, knew that the Demon Sect was a unique problem of the Western Regions. If they wanted to establish themselves here, they would certainly face these issues, and upon hearing this, they said: "The Demon Sect, huh..."
"I have long heard that the Demon Sect has spread its branches in the Western Regions, assuming different identities."
"I did not expect these monks to be part of it."
Li Guanyi nodded slightly, planning to follow these marks later to find the Demon Sect’s branch, to follow the vine to the melon, making some preparations in advance, and after chatting briefly with Nangong Wumeng, the Qilin Army members all arrived.
Li Guanyi took this place as the Heavenly Strategy Mansion, and the group discussed the situation.
Pan Wanxiu said: "The construction of this city’s walls is entirely different from the Central Plains. At first, I thought it was made of rammed earth and not very solid, but upon investigation, I discovered that the materials for the city’s rammed earth bricks have mixed objects like straw, which actually increased the strength of the city walls significantly, and they are sealed with millet porridge, making them extremely sturdy."
"The water wells, windproofing, and architecture each have their own characteristics."
"They can withstand storms."
"These are unique buildings born within the climate of the Western Regions."
Gongsun Huaizhi and Xu Tiange also discussed from the perspective of mechanical defenses and agricultural products, sharing their insights. Li Guanyi nodded slightly and looked at Fan Qing, who, even in this place, sat upright, his spine straight.
Although dressed in gray Western Regions attire, he had the solemn grandeur of wearing armor with Qilin Patterns and the Civil and Military Sleeves robes.
Li Guanyi asked: "Fan Qing, how are you?"
Fan Qing returned the courtesy and said in a deep voice:
"Lord, this place is always on the verge of rebellion."
"Internally, people are divided into nine classes, with a large number of ordinary people’s flesh and blood sustaining the upper echelons’ nobles, high-level Martial Artists, and monks. The top layer of people, clad only in rags, whereas the royal nobles use the exquisite silk of [Adilais]."
"The upper class has extreme punishments for the lower class such as gouging eyes, chopping feet, cutting hands, pushing off cliffs, and drowning. Overall, the royal nobles enjoy everything, while all the middle-class people rely on the upper class and recognize the lower class as filth."
"When the lower-class slaves die, the ordinary people will become the new lower class."
"Meanwhile, the brother, teacher, and samurai of the upper echelon become the new middle class, in a top-down order, extremely strict and severe."
"The royal nobles use millet porridge to make the city walls stronger, while the lower class uses trees to satiate their hunger."
"The area is filled with extreme injustice, providing fertile ground for igniting the Qilin Fire."
Fan Qing took out a scroll, pointed at its text, and said: "A few hundred miles north of this city lies the Great Dragon Pond, where it is rumored that dragons change shape and mate with mares, thus giving birth to Dragon Colts. I suspect there might be large herds of wild horses with Exotic Beast Bloodlines there."
"Furthermore, [there is a city that says, without wells, it draws water from the Great Dragon Pond, where dragons transform into humans to conceive with women, begetting children as brave and fast as running horses, hence gradually mixed, enforcing with power, disobeying royal decrees]"
"[The king thus led the Turkic people, slaughtering the city’s inhabitants, young and old alike, leaving the place desolate]"
"It’s said that the city’s people drank the water, attracting dragons that turned into men and fathered children with them, these people did not obey royal decrees, thus the Turkic people were brought in to kill them all, this is a legend."
"Using legend to veil the truth of the royal massacre of the city."
"But even the most brutal tyrants of the Central Plains would not kill their own city, showing the intricate internal conflicts."
"I deduce that the kings of the Western Regions bewitched the people with Buddhist Sect legends, and after the city’s massacre, they linked these stories to the legend, fooling the public, which is why the kings allowed the Buddhist Sect to spread wildly here."
Fan Qing sat there, his spine straight.
"This area, with its internal contradictions, massacres its own city, and uses Buddhist Sect legends to delude the people, they are not united from top to bottom, once we raise an army in the name of righteous resolve, it can be captured in a single strike."
"The people will not support their king."
"With this military might, my Lord, it could be the first place to capture."
Nangong Wumeng: "..."
Pan Wanxiu began discussing the city’s issues, Xu Tiange talked about farming, grain, logistics; Gongsun Huaizhi considered targeted siege equipment, while Fan Qing expressed hope for rescuing the oppressed people there, to spare them from becoming slaughtered provisions.
In an instant, these merchants of the Central Plains revealed their true nature.
Stern, serene, domineering, they were fully aware of their purpose here.
Like the edge hidden within a sword scabbard.
Swallowing thousands of miles, pacifying all directions, Jiangnan’s Heavenly Strategy Mansion.
Even though they had been traveling together for a long time, sometimes Nangong Wumeng still felt delusional, unable to discern which was truly them; the ones hoping for a sneeze from the Divine Dragon, or the ones frowning at salty milk tea while conversing with tribal commoners.
And now, with just a few words, they exuded such a killing and chilling aura.
Which one was truly them.
She heard herself instinctively reply: "I have recorded all the city defense layouts and structures."
This stunning beauty of the Martial World sighed.
It turns out I am the same.
When Changsun Wuchou and Batuer came back, these people had already begun earnestly assessing the value of what Nangong Wumeng brought back, and finally, Changsun Wuchou appraised it, finding its value tripled.