Starting as a centurion, he fought his way through the chaos of the world.

Chapter 85 Breakthrough
Led by Shen Tu Xiu, the Black Mountain bandits marched in a grand procession toward Zhelong Mansion.

Lu Ming, meanwhile, was busy arranging everything at his residence.

Early the next morning, he set off for the prefectural city with his wife and three thousand strongmen.

These people are the backbone of his forces.

Together with the Mo Dao soldiers and the Tie Fu Tu, they became the troops under the jurisdiction of the garrison.

They traveled in a grand and imposing manner.

This has attracted considerable attention.

Lu Ming had to admire Bai Yan's execution ability.

At the spot he marked, people had already started digging wells.

However, most importantly, no one dared to slack off at this time.

The people knew in their hearts that the only thing they could rely on now was the prefectural city.

Therefore, after the order was given, everyone rushed out to dig wells.

I really hope we can find water to irrigate our fields, otherwise this year's crops will be completely ruined.

Lu Ming looked at all this with a sense of satisfaction on his face.

If everyone works hard, this drought should be resolved, at least within Hongdu Prefecture.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days have passed.

Lu Ming, along with his family, also entered the city.

Inside the naval base, after arranging the warriors under his command.

Wang Yue had already arrived outside Lu Ming's courtyard.

He poked his head in and said, "Big sister, brother-in-law, my mother-in-law asked me to call you back for dinner."

Seeing his expression, Li Xirou couldn't help but chuckle.

"Come in quickly."

Wang Yue shook his head, clearly feeling somewhat reserved now that Lu Ming had become the garrison general.

“My father said that although we are relatives, in the military camp, we must maintain absolute awe and respect for my brother-in-law,” he said with a smile.

Lu Ming, who had just come out of the house, waved his hand and said, "Your father is right, but this courtyard is my home now. You don't need to do this. Come in."

After hearing his words, Wang Yue walked in.

Although this courtyard is located within a military camp, it is by no means small.

The courtyard has three sections, with a small training ground in the front yard and a row of houses for servants and guards.

Behind that was the master's and maid's quarters, and further back was a stable—everything was there.

At the very least, Li Xirou is quite satisfied with this place.

Outside the house stands a sycamore tree, its branches and leaves flourishing, resembling a giant umbrella.

She plans to have a pavilion built so that people can enjoy the shade under the trees in the summer.

At this moment, while instructing the maid to tidy up the room, he said with a smile, "I'll get ready and then go back."

This is the first time I've returned home in over half a year.

She felt inexplicably nervous and didn't come out until about 15 minutes after entering the inner room.

She had clearly dressed up on purpose.

She wore a white long dress with gold embroidery on the cuffs and hem, and a red gold hairpin was tucked diagonally into her updo.

She wore light makeup.

Her beauty was tinged with a touch of nobility.

Two maids were by her side.

"Shall we go back?" Just after we stepped outside, we noticed Lu Ming looking at us.

Li Xirou asked in a low voice.

"Okay, let's go back!" The other person nodded.

He and Wang Yue walked towards the door.

At the naval base's training grounds, the soldiers who had already moved in were also cleaning their barracks.

A large amount of supplies were also moved in.

Hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain and millions of taels of silver all need to be stored in the granary.

Guo Zhun, holding an abacus, was counting the items with his officials, their faces beaming with joy.

The treasury of the garrison headquarters has never been so well-stocked.

After seeing Lu Ming and the others come out, they prepared to come over and say hello.

However, the other party waved his hand to stop him.

Military affairs are the most important matters; everything else is just formality.

After leaving the garrison office, the carriage was already prepared.

After helping Li Xirou onto her horse, Lu Ming leaped onto his own warhorse and followed Wang Yue towards the Li family's residence.

Behind them followed Zhang Meng, who led more than ten soldiers.

The pomp and circumstance were undeniable, prompting people on the street to make way for them.

When they returned to the Li residence.

Li Xirou's mother-in-law, Zhao, had already prepared food and wine. Her two younger sisters held Li Xirou's hands, their eyes red and unwilling to let go.

Li Xun had already returned.

Looking at his younger sister, he couldn't help but show excitement.

After all, they were the closest of friends in the past.

Li Ren also arrived. Although he still had a gloomy face, he couldn't help but help his daughter when Li Xirou bowed.

Among those present, only Zhang Ming seemed rather reserved.

He naturally sensed Li Xirou's estrangement.

One can only sigh inwardly.

It wasn't until after several rounds of drinks that Lu Ming looked up at him and said, "Brother-in-law, I heard that our Li family has connections to purchase cotton wadding. The garrison is planning to order a batch. Do you think you can get some?"

At this point, everyone in the Li family turned their attention to him.

Before Li Ren could speak, Li Qi eagerly said, "Of course! Our Li family is involved in all kinds of businesses, so cotton is no problem for us. We even bought a lot last year."

Then, he looked at everyone with a big smile and said, "Look, look, it's still our own family that's on our side. With Lu Ming, our Li family has nothing to worry about."

His words were full of flattery.

Even Li Ren, unusually, did not refute it.

The Li family is not doing well these days either. The series of chaotic events has left them with almost no business recently.

This trade route for transporting cotton is relatively safe, so it's worth a try.

Zhang Ming glanced at Li Ren, and after seeing the other nod, he cautiously asked, "Cotton wadding can be purchased, but I don't know how much?"

"180,000 jin, that number should be about right." Now that Lu Ming has become the garrison commander, his soldiers will all be required to wear armor.

However, some of them already have A.

Therefore, 180,000 catties of cotton wadding is definitely enough, and there will even be a surplus.

The voice sounded.

Li Ren put down his chopsticks and said.

"Cotton is cheap now. One tael of silver can buy about five catties. 180,000 catties is 36,000 taels. I won't make money off you, but my men can't work for free. Just give them 40,000 taels of silver."

After speaking, Zhang Ming nodded and said, "That's true."

Lu Ming didn't stand on ceremony. He was genuinely short of money and naturally wouldn't pretend to be rich. He pulled out four silver notes from his pocket and stuffed them into Zhang Ming's hand, saying, "Then I'll trouble you. I'll send a team to accompany you. If there are any other goods, they can be transported together as well, and safety will be guaranteed."

Lu Ming said with a smile.

At this moment, everyone in the Li family straightened up. For them, this was the most important thing. The reason why their income was not good was not because they had no business. On the contrary, all kinds of businesses were doing very well. It was just that things were not safe outside, and they dared not go out.

Now that the garrison headquarters has sent people, there will be no problem.

They had all witnessed the strength of Lu Ming's soldiers; each one was elite, so ensuring the safety of the caravan was of course no problem.

If you could really go out and make a trip, you could earn a lot.

At the very least, it can relieve the family's current predicament.

Immediately, Li Qi and the others toasted Lu Ming.

The meal was quite enjoyable, and even Li Ren seemed to have fewer worries.

The banquet didn't end until after dark.

However, Lu Ming did not return to the garrison headquarters because his mother-in-law had invited Li Xirou to stay at her home. Therefore, he had no choice but to stay at the Li family's house as well.

Wang Yue and his wife did not leave either.

They stayed as well.

After dinner, Li Xirou and her sisters chatted with their mother-in-law, Zhao, about everyday matters in the house.

Wang Yue then accompanied Lu Ming to drink tea.

"What level are you at now?" the latter asked after taking a sip of tea.

"I've reached the peak of Blood Transfusion," Wang Yue said with a chuckle.

Such progress is indeed quite good.

Lu Ming was somewhat surprised, after seeing the doubt in the other person's eyes.

Wang Yue quickly continued, "Last year, my father sold a lot of our family property to buy some Bone Forging Pills and Qi and Blood Pills for me to break through, which is why I broke through so quickly. But now the pills are all used up, and the family has no money left."

"Then I'll have to cultivate it slowly."

He reminisced somewhat, saying that with the supply of elixirs, cultivation was indeed much faster.

Lu Ming couldn't help but laugh and said, "You've come at a really bad time. You're about to break through to the True Essence realm, and you're out of pills."

Wang Yue's face fell. "Relying on my own cultivation, I don't know when I'll be able to break through."

Qi and Blood Pills are not cheap; his father has spent almost all the money he has earned over the years on them.

This allowed both father and son to improve their cultivation levels considerably.

In their words, the world is about to descend into chaos, and it would be more worthwhile to improve our strength than to keep all this silver.

Lu Ming did not make fun of Wang Yue.

With a flick of his hand, two pills appeared before him. "Take these back. You and your father each take one, and that should be enough to break through to the True Essence Realm!"

He exchanged two pills from the system shop.

Both Wang Xun and Wang Yue have been actively trying to emulate me during this period.

The latter, in particular, had a good relationship with me from the very beginning.

After spending these days together, we've reached a new level.

Since they're both in the military, Lu Ming would naturally think about any benefits he might gain.

Upon seeing the pills, Wang Yue was taken aback. "Brother-in-law, you're really generous with your Blood Pills!"

Even Wang Yue and his son were only willing to buy some Qi and Blood Pills to improve their cultivation.

As for moving blood pills, they're too expensive.

Even the Wang family was somewhat reluctant to part with it.

Now, seeing the pills that Lu Ming took out.

Naturally, I was somewhat surprised.

"Put it away quickly and focus on your cultivation. The world is in chaos now; only by increasing your strength can you survive better."

"Okay, brother-in-law!" Wang Yue didn't stand on ceremony and immediately packed up the pills.

After sitting for a while, the two saw their wives come out and then went their separate ways.

The next day, Lu Ming sent Zhang Meng to the largest herbal medicine shop in the prefectural city to order medicinal herbs.

Putting everything else aside, the materials used in the Body Tempering Soup cost approximately 27,000 taels of silver each time they were purchased.

The soldiers in other counties have now been replenished, and Lu Ming has also sent several of Tian Fu's apprentices there, whose job is to brew the body-tempering soup.

Their money also needs to be allocated by the garrison headquarters.

This number can encompass everything.

However, this is only a single dose; if it is taken ten times a month, that would cost 270,000 taels of silver.

This was a huge pressure for Lu Ming, but he gritted his teeth and decided to buy it anyway.

In today's chaotic world, keeping money is useless; strength is the only true measure of power.

There's also the refining of the Bone Forging Pill. Although the quantity is small, intended for the Mo Dao soldiers and cavalry, there are still two thousand people involved.

A single purchase of medicinal herbs costs around six thousand taels of silver, and a month's supply is sixty thousand taels.

Lu Ming also waved his hand and allocated the funds.

In addition, he distributed a salary upon assuming office.

The bulk of the expense was the purchase of Xuan Tie. Even with a discount from the Baili family, it still cost a full 600,000 taels of silver, but it was the most anticipated item.

After doing all this, Lu Ming's silver had dwindled from over 1.9 million taels to just over 900,000 taels.

However, they can still manage to hold on.

Moreover, the effect of spending so much money was excellent; his soldiers now treated him with more affection than their own parents.

They're given pills to boost their strength, cultivation techniques, and now they're even paying them a generous salary.

In such a chaotic world, we encountered such a general.

They knew how difficult it was, so they trained with extreme dedication.

Even some of the captains were spurred on, urging their subordinates to train hard while secretly competing with the other captains themselves.

I'm just afraid of being left behind.

In the time that followed, Lu Ming spent his time not only cultivating himself, but also going to the training grounds to check on the progress of his subordinates' training.

Occasionally, I would go to the fields and villages to take a look.

Bai Yan's efficiency really satisfied him.

Wells and streams are being constructed in an orderly manner in various places.

It has gradually taken shape.

In some places, people have already started carrying water to save themselves.

Those who had waterwheels found it much more convenient.

However, in general, as long as you are willing to put in the effort, the crops can still be irrigated.

It's even better than usual.

After all, in the past, people relied on the weather for their livelihood.

But now, if you're willing, you can carry the water yourself to irrigate the fields.

This has given all the people a lot of motivation.

Meanwhile, news from Zhelong Prefecture continued to arrive.

In the first month, Prince Yong's heir conquered cities and fortresses, capturing three cities in succession.

In the second month, Prince Yong's heir and Lin Futong fought a decisive battle in Hongze County, Zhelong Prefecture. After a day of fierce fighting, Prince Yong's heir defeated Lin Futong, who fled. Prince Yong's heir led his troops in pursuit, achieving continuous victories.

The news reports greatly encouraged both the government and the public.

Lu Ming's brilliance was also overshadowed.

Prince Yong's heir has once again become the focus of everyone's attention.

The Imperial Advisor He Song has finally regained his composure, and recently, he has even raised his voice a bit more when he speaks.

On this day, the morning court session had not yet begun.

As soon as Li Yan arrived, the Imperial Advisor glanced around and then deliberately raised his voice with a smile.

"Fellow colleagues, I don't know if you've heard, but General Zheng Nan has forced Lin Futong into the depths of the Zhelong Mansion. I'm afraid it won't be long before this traitor's head is displayed in the Chaotian Hall. He was a master of the Innate Realm."

This time, let's see who dares to call him incompetent.

The implication of this statement was very clear, and the surrounding officials all echoed it.

For a while, it became quite lively.

Only Li Yan and Prince Yong stood still, their eyes fixed straight ahead, their thoughts unknown.

A moment later, the former said coldly, "Where is the Imperial Censor? There is a disturbance in the Imperial Palace, and no one has stopped it. What kind of behavior is this!"

As soon as the voice rang out, several imperial censors hurriedly stepped forward.

He Song snorted coldly and said no more.

However, he could hardly hide the smugness on his face.

On the other side, Lu Ming was cultivating in a secret room. In three months, he had honed both his physical body and true essence to a perfect state.

Today, I'm preparing for a formal breakthrough.

Once he reaches the Qi Refining Realm, he will truly possess the power to protect himself.

Even if they encounter a master of innate strength, they might still be able to kill them.

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(End of this chapter)