Chapter 1228: The Runaway's Anger (Part 2) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
As Qi Cang listened to Shen Tang's off-key tune, the veins on his forehead bulged uncontrollably. Despite his self-proclaimed status as a rough and unrefined man, he did have some aesthetic sense, though it paled in comparison to the refined scholars from aristocratic families.
I never imagined that there would be someone in the world even more vulgar than myself.
This person's identity is also suspected to be related to Shen Youli.
Qi Cang's face fell, as if he had just had a failed facelift, his eyebrows and eyes showing deep disgust: "What great deity did you offend with your voice? I have committed many evil deeds in my life, but after listening to your song, I'm afraid it will all be wiped clean."
It was so bad it was torture!
“General Qi, I respectfully address you as General, how can you lie through your teeth?” She pointed to herself, incredulous.
Shen Tang hadn't heard Qi Cang launch such a relentless attack and slander in years, and she immediately wanted to lash out, denouncing Qi Cang for failing to appreciate the essence of her art. Slander! It's all slander! Qi Cang's level of defamation is absolutely worthy of being reported to the authorities!
While Qi Cang chuckled, he also had some doubts and wavering.
Opinions about Shen Tang are mixed. Among all the negative things she's been accused of, not one claims she's illiterate in literature and music. After all, she's now the ruler of a nation; if she didn't understand before, she'll be urged to catch up after establishing the country and ascending the throne. Putting everything else aside, just consider this: if Shen Tang's music theory is so terrible, how could she possibly understand the elegant music played during major festivals, palace banquets, and sacrificial rites?
How can you not understand something and still get ridiculed for your lack of education?
She didn't mind being mocked for being illiterate, but wouldn't the courtiers around her mind? Wouldn't those aristocratic families, who had been repeatedly punished by Shen Tang over the years and harbored resentment, secretly make sarcastic remarks about her? Qi Cang met Shen Tang's eyes, which were filled with anger: "I don't lie."
I will not change my name or surname!
At this moment, Shen Tang had the urge to draw his sword and cut Qi Cang to pieces!
To hell with this bullshit about prioritizing the greater good! No one can slander her music theory skills! Shen Tang's heart was in turmoil, but on the surface, she was radiating murderous intent. Qi Cang had thought she would break off all pretense and take action—no matter how he tried to subtly test Zhong Li Fu, she remained calm and composed, as if her facade was welded to her face. He never expected that she would break down over such a small detail.
This truly broadened Qi Cang's horizons.
She's even easier to break through than Zheng Qiao.
The commotion at the southeast camp was merely a feint by the Kang Kingdom. This fire ox formation, while seemingly imposing and intimidating, was ultimately ineffective. Aside from the initial charge of the fire oxen, the rest were just for show!
The first to discover this was an Allied cavalry unit.
They realized something was wrong with these fire oxen. Some charged with incredible force, while others were limp and powerless; even ordinary low-ranking nobles could withstand them with their bare hands, let alone these heavily armored cavalrymen. A single slash could pierce through three or four fire oxen in their path. The fire oxen's bodies exploded with a sound that wasn't the dull thud of a blade entering flesh, but rather like splitting open some kind of wood.
There's something wrong with these things!
The cavalry at the forefront noticed something amiss.
The oxen in the Fire Ox Formation are, after all, creations of the Word of Power. They possess the appearance of living beings, but in reality, they are merely inanimate objects formed from a mass of martial energy. Martial energy is their body! Once the martial energy is broken and unable to maintain a stable state, the Fire Oxen's form will be forcibly dispelled, transforming back into pure heaven and earth energy and returning to the earth!
After they disappeared, they left no trace. The process from breaking apart to dissipating took anywhere from a breath or two to more than ten breaths! The fire oxen that were cut up and devoured by the cavalry left only "corpses" scattered all over the ground, with the earliest ones already having exceeded the time limit.
As if to confirm the cavalrymen's suspicions, the fire ox carcasses on the ground suddenly exploded, producing a thunderous roar, followed by blinding white light and a tremendous shockwave that blasted around them! This explosion was like a signal, and one after another, they followed!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom—
The cavalrymen who rushed into the fray were too late to escape the blast radius.
Qi Cang's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
He turned his head sharply, staring intently at Shen Tang: "What is this?"
Shen Tang stroked his chin and said, "This is not a pure fire ox formation. It must be that the people of Kang Kingdom did something to it."
Like the more than a thousand straw figures and wooden figures hidden at the bottom of the river.
Allied generals mistook them for an ambush and launched attacks, blasting fish and firing rockets. After all their efforts, they only managed to hit dummies, losing many skilled swimmers in the process. They were also sprayed with countless amounts of dung by the Warrior Totem Orca, suffering a double blow to both their physical and mental health.
The same applies to the fire ox formation in the southeast camp.
A batch of these are genuine Fire Oxen Array artifacts, mixed with not only illusory Fire Oxen to fill the ranks, but also incredibly realistic wooden Fire Oxen. Hidden within the bellies of these specially crafted Fire Oxen are masterpieces by the head craftsmen of the Imperial Workshop—they're guaranteed to explode!
Any work produced by Mo Jia Bei Qiu of Jiangzuojian is guaranteed to be a masterpiece!
We guarantee there won't be a single dud inside!
This thing isn't powerful enough to kill soldiers protected by martial aura; at most, it might injure them with flying shards or cause their internal organs to be violently shaken. But it's hard to say about ordinary soldiers. If they aren't in formation behind a morale shield, they're certain to die!
Even if one survives, they will be crippled. Given the current lack of medical resources, such injuries are not worth treating with medication.
"Indeed, they tampered with it..."
Taking advantage of the chaos, Qi Cang slipped into the battlefield and glanced at the ruins, inwardly gasping for breath. The soldier at his feet was unlucky; he had been surrounded by two problematic fire oxen, one on each side, and had been blown to pieces. His armor was tattered, his exposed skin a filthy, bloody mess, and the charred flesh emitted a strange, foul stench.
Qi Cang looked closely and found that there were shards stuck in the wound.
He suppressed his nausea and pulled out a piece to examine it closely...
After seeing it clearly, I immediately threw it back on the ground.
He rubbed his thumb and forefinger back and forth, as if trying to shake off some filth. The reason was simple: this fragment was unclean; it not only had something resembling rust or copper rust on it, but also a sticky, foul-smelling substance—probably feces.
To be more elegant, the fragments were soaked in golden liquid.
Unfortunately, some clueless remnants of the Fire Bull tribe came looking for trouble with him.
Qi Cang didn't care whether the opponent was a creation of the Fire Ox Formation or a wooden puppet mixed in with it. He raised his hand and conjured a weapon, unleashing a burst of energy from several feet away. The Fire Ox exploded in response. The blinding white light and the shockwave stopped half a foot in front of Qi Cang, leaving only a wisp of foul-smelling wind that relentlessly penetrated his nostrils, disgusting his senses.
With a snap.
A splash of warm, brownish grime landed on his boots. A nerve in Qi Cang's brain snapped, his eyes widening in fury, his hair standing on end. A surge of powerful martial energy erupted from his body, creating a vortex that could easily fling boulders into the air, let alone the fire bulls. With a thought, Qi Cang compressed the air in a specific area to its limit with his martial energy. The fire bulls in the air bellowed in agony, exploding into fireworks. Immediately afterward, countless fragments inflicted with tetanus and some liquid dripped down.
As if she had anticipated this, Shen Tang gracefully opened an umbrella.
Cui Mi slipped gracefully to the side and hid under her umbrella.
He remarked, "Kangguo really knew how to make use of waste."
While the Allied forces were still figuring out how to pollute their upstream counterparts with excrement and urine, Kangguo had already used all of these treasures, sending every last drop to the Allied forces.
Putting aside its lethality, its disgusting power is absolutely off the charts.
Shen Tang said, "After all, there is strength in numbers."
Using local materials can also save money.
Ever since Shen Tang informed the Ministry of Revenue that Kangguo would be engaged in foreign wars for the next few years, with the outcome uncertain, Xun Zhen, that old rascal, became even more stingy, racking his brains to save every penny. Single-handedly facing off against the entire court, aside from normal expenses, no one could possibly squeeze a single penny out of him.
With the successive annexations of Beimo and Gao, Beimo was split into Beizhou and Mozhou, while Gao's original territory was reduced to Tangzhou, Dizhou, Chenzhou, and Wuzhou. Suddenly, six more prefectures were added. Each prefecture and county government needed sufficient staff, not to mention the unstaffed positions within each government unit… just ensuring basic operations at the grassroots level nearly doubled the size of the royal court!
The extra officials all needed to be paid their full salaries, so the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue was immense. In the first year, Xun Zhen practically lived in the Ministry of Revenue. Other court officials submitted several petitions to increase the number of officials in various ministries, but Xun Zhen rejected them all, even resorting to dishonest tactics.
Expanding the workforce is fine, but you'll have to pay for the salaries yourselves!
[Damn it, today you come asking for a few more positions, tomorrow he'll want a few more, and you all keep talking about loyalty to the emperor and loving your country, about sharing the emperor's burdens, but who knows if you old fogies are just trying to form cliques for your own benefit! Your Majesty, I have a memorial to present!]
When Xun Zhen couldn't win an argument, he sought help from allies.
Expand from a single point to a broader scope, turning minor issues into major ones, and major issues into catastrophic ones.
The number of government officials is fixed; how can it be expanded arbitrarily? For now, we can afford to support them, paying their salaries on time every month. But what if one day there are too many officials, and their salaries exceed tax revenue? Who will solve the problem of redundant officials? I fear that with more people, there will be more people taking advantage of the situation.
Xun Zhen infuriated the entire court.
Some court officials with ulterior motives dared not defy the law.
A small number of people do think that recruitment should be expanded, but there are also those who want to use the expansion to win over more allies and bring in their family members.
Xun Zhen didn't care; he just killed them all.
The thought of money made Shen Tang sigh.
To be honest, over 60% of the gold syrup needed for frontline operations is produced domestically, while the remaining 40% is collected from civilian sources.
"Since we paid for it, let's take a closer look..."
Looking at the exploding fire bull in the sky, a trace of heartache flashed in Shen Tang's eyes. He cursed Qi Cang a thousand times in his heart—that damned Qi Yanqing, there weren't many "bombs" in the fire bull puppet's belly.
The Allied strategists were no pushovers either. They quickly discovered the weaknesses of the fire bull golems and ordered their troops to change formation, shifting from a piecemeal approach to a drive-and-encircle strategy. They concentrated the golems in one place, used their morale to create a thick defensive wall, and then detonated them all at once.
This will minimize the harm.
Qi Cang's split kick accelerated the process.
A cursory glance afterwards revealed that the Allied casualties exceeded a thousand, which wasn't a huge loss, but it was a pity for the several layers of military defenses set up in the southeast of the camp. The enraged Fire Bull only knew how to charge recklessly, and the Allied forces had to exert effort to stop it. The combined force resulted in the once-impregnable defenses now being riddled with holes, looking like they'd been chewed by a dog.
What's even more infuriating is that, so far, they haven't seen the main force of the Kang Kingdom's ambush, except for that foolish martial spirit totem!
Qi Cang slammed his sword into the rock at his feet.
He spat and said, "Those bastards from Kangguo!"
He's far more cunning and shrewd than ever before!
No, back then, during the campaign to slay Zheng Qiao, the forces of Longwu County were known for their "gentlemanly" style, comparable to Gu Ren's—honest to the point of being clumsy. Who would have thought that years later, these people from Kang State would dare to use any underhanded tricks?
It's not very lethal, but it's excellent at messing with people's mentality.
Shen Tang echoed, "Indeed a bastard, but war isn't child's play. Doesn't it always say 'all's fair in war'? It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat. Similarly, regardless of how elegant or crude the methods are, winning the battle is the most important thing."
"Zaizhong" is a compliment.
This means that the enemy is helpless except for shouting insults.
Shen Tang was not ashamed, but proud. Qi Cang's veins, hidden under his helmet, throbbed violently. Cui Mi added fuel to the fire, asking in confusion, "With such a commotion here, how come there are no other high-ranking military officers besides General Qi?"
In particular, there was Gongyang Yongye, the nineteenth-rank Marquis of Guannei.
He was nowhere to be found on the riverbank or in the southeastern camp.
Qi Cang looked up and gazed into the distance. He realized that he had underestimated the Kang Kingdom's ability to manipulate people's mentality. Almost as soon as the fire broke out in the southeast camp, the energy of heaven and earth also began to stir in the southwest, northeast, and due south directions. A faint blush appeared on the horizon, like the shy earlobe of a beautiful woman, which aroused the desire in people's hearts.
"Sinking! Young! Pear!"
His premise for enjoying the amusement is that he is not the one being fooled.
Shen Tang beside him silently replied in his mind: 【I'm here.】
Even the Allied forces, in their "Dragon Slayer Plus" mode, were driven to the brink of mental collapse by the actions of the Kangguo side. The ambushes were completely unexpected, the damage was a mix of real and feints, and their aim was clearly to gain an advantage. The Allies knew Kangguo's tricks, but which of them dared to take the gamble?
I can afford to gamble, but I can't afford to lose.
If a mistake is made, a poor start will inevitably lead to a drop in morale.
They had no choice but to adopt a purely defensive approach.
The King of Qi crushed his pipe, revealing a sharp blade hidden inside, and tucked it into his waistband, saying, "Let them come!"
At the same moment, Shen Tang reached out his hand.
Taking advantage of the thick fog, a mocking smile curved her lips: "Fog and rain, it's time for snow."
This rain and fog was just a small appetizer.
Gongyang Yongye, who was wiping his longsword inside the tent, suddenly opened his eyes, got up, and lifted the tent flap. A howling wind, mixed with snow and rain, mercilessly swept away the warmth from inside the tent. Winter seemed to descend upon the world in an instant, the pervasive chill seeping into one's collar.
He lowered his eyes to look at the ground.
Rainwater freezes the moment it approaches the ground.
Each droplet-shaped icicle shattered into pieces, sending ice droplets flying.
Puddles turned into ice crystals, raindrops condensed into hail, and even the falling snow transformed into countless fine blades, falling on exposed skin and cutting a thin, thread-like gash of blood. Gongyang Yongye's eyes were icy cold as he looked up at the thick clouds that seemed to be crushing the camp. He released his aura, soaring into the sky and tearing open a vast expanse of heaven and earth.
He's waiting for someone to come here!
Dozens of clear dragon roars came from the sky.
A white, graceful figure swooped down, riding an ice dragon.
Before the person arrived, the gunshots were already there.
(灬)
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