Longzang

Chapter 741 Loan Equipment

Qingming, the Dharma Warrior who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes, summoned his spirit horse, mounted it, and galloped south.

After some time apart, the spirit horse's speed had increased slightly, which was quite rapid. As it galloped, the spirit horse suddenly said, "I heard you used to have a mount called Qingju? Why aren't you paying attention to it anymore?"

Wei Yuan was taken aback, realizing he had forgotten about the horse. The horse had originally been an ordinary steed, but Xu Wenwu had nurtured it into a spirit horse. However, after the Great Curse of Cause and Effect, Wei Yuan's strength increased rapidly, and he no longer needed a mount on the battlefield. Therefore, he entrusted the green steed to Xu Yi.

If Lingma hadn't asked, Wei Yuan would have completely forgotten about it. He was now somewhat curious and asked, "How did you know all this?"

"Hmph! That Xu Wenwu told me everything!"

"You two..." Wei Yuan became even more curious, wanting to know how these two guys got to know each other.

But Lingma hurriedly interrupted Wei Yuan: "We just meditate and cultivate every day, we don't do anything else!"

"Huh???" Wei Yuan immediately thought of phrases like "trying to cover up the truth."

The spirit horse suddenly stopped talking and ran silently. Wei Yuan was even more curious: "Why aren't you talking?"

"Too much talk leads to mistakes."

After traveling for half a day, the two of them finally arrived at the Azure Water Realm. Immediately, a Dharma General flew out and blocked their path.

Wei Yuan's avatar took out the Realm Lord's token and handed it over. The token was a jade tablet, imbued with Wei Yuan's aura and engraved with four large characters. The general glanced at it and saw the four characters "As if I were personally present!"
He was taken aback. "I" was a title only the emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty could use! Fortunately, upon closer inspection, the characters on the jade tablet seemed clearer, and he could see that they were the four characters "as if I were personally present." They were written in ancient script, and the characters were not very good, which was why the general was confused.

The general recognized Wei Yuan's token and respectfully said, "So it is the incarnation of the Realm Lord. Please wait a moment, I will go and inform the Fourth Prince."

Wei Yuan nodded, and after waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Li Chengfeng flew over at full speed, landed in front of Wei Yuan, and cupped his hands, saying, "Lord Wei, what brings you here?"

Wei Yuan glanced at the Azure Water Realm behind him and said, "Over two hundred miles, looks like they've invested quite a bit!"

Li Chengfeng's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "I was a bit too hasty and invested some resources a while ago. I won't do that again."

No wonder Li Chengfeng was so friendly. The hundreds of thousands of Zhao troops who rushed to Hanyang Pass were wiped out, and his own troops were less than half as strong.

Zhang Sheng was originally invincible in open field battles, but his effectiveness in sieges was unknown. However, since Qingming began to use infantry artillery extensively, city defenses became less useful. These crude weapons using gunpowder were actually the nemesis of defensive formations. No matter how strong the formation, it could not withstand the relentless bombardment of hundreds of cannons day and night.

Wei Yuan then asked, "Does the Fourth Prince have the authority to train troops?"

"My father has granted me permission to train a new army of 200,000 men, which will be under my command."

"Among all the princes, who has more troops than you?"

"The Crown Prince has 300,000 troops, including 50,000 elite veterans, making him far stronger than me. My second sister also leads 200,000 troops, but she has 150,000 elite soldiers and only 50,000 new recruits. Furthermore, her maternal clan has assigned her 200 Dao Foundation officers, so she is also stronger than me."

This second sister, I wonder what kind of princess she was bestowed upon. Wei Yuan suddenly thought of the two princesses of Anguo and Ningguo, and felt a strange unease in his heart.

Wei Yuan continued, "Since you're training a new army, shouldn't you have a place to raise supplies and pay them?"

Li Chengfeng said, "Now the money and grain of the three border prefectures are under my control. I can collect 70% of the taxes and fees collected and use them for military expenses. However, the Western Regions are barren, and the three prefectures together have only seven million people, so there is really not much money and grain."

Wei Yuan mentally reviewed the relevant information about the Zhao state and said, "Aren't there two counties where it's difficult to collect money and grain?"

Li Chengfeng was taken aback, then smiled bitterly: "My second brother and fourth sister have never gotten along with me. These two prefectures were originally their military bases. Now Father has transferred them to me, but most of the lower-level officials are still under their command. So we can't collect anything."

Wei Yuan finally got to the point: "Has Your Highness equipped your 200,000-strong army with all the necessary gear?"

Li Chengfeng said, "Only 50,000 are fully equipped; the rest are still training." He glanced at Wei Yuan with a meaningful look. The reason they couldn't gather enough equipment was because Wei Yuan had wiped out their elite forces, leaving them with only a bunch of naked men. Getting men was easy now, but getting equipment was incredibly difficult. A set of elite armor and weaponry was far more expensive than the warriors themselves; this was true for all nations.

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "I can give you the complete equipment for 150,000 people. Do you want it?"

Li Chengfeng's voice suddenly became a little hoarse: "When can we deliver the goods?"

Wei Yuan held up one finger: "Pay in full within a month. Each set of equipment costs one hundred taels of immortal silver and comes with a Qingming standard gunpowder gun and a flying sword gun, which is only slightly better than what your Zhao Kingdom craftsmen make."

Li Chengfeng was about to say something, but upon hearing that it was a Qingming standard firearm, he was immediately shocked, and a struggle appeared on his face.

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "What are you still hesitating about, Fourth Prince? With the few craftsmen in your Zhao Kingdom, how long would it take them to make 150,000 guns? Besides, with the war between Jin and Zhao, there is no war in the Western Regions. How could you possibly get new guns? The other princes and princesses are fighting on the front lines, and they are all armed with their own troops."

Li Chengfeng smiled wryly, "How could I not understand this? Maybe one day some brothers or sisters will send an army across the border and take over my territory. But... where would I get so much money!"

Wei Yuan calmly said, "It's alright if you can't pay it now, I can lend it to you. Your Highness only needs to pay 10% first."

Li Chengfeng's voice trembled slightly: "This, this... how could such a good thing happen? What do I need as collateral?"

"Fourteen million taels of silver, what does Your Highness think is worth so much?"

Li Chengfeng was speechless for a moment, then sighed and said, "Lord Wei must already have a plan, right? Please tell me directly, and I'll see if I can accept it. Or... I could betroth Chunyi to you?"

Wei Yuan almost lost his composure and quickly said, "Your Highness is joking, I am not that kind of person!"

Li Chengfeng asked in confusion, "I've heard that Lord Wei has always been very interested in my younger sisters?"

Wei Yuan quickly coughed a few times and said, "Even the dowry of 14 million for Princess Ningguo is too much. Let's get down to business."

"Lord Wei, please speak!"

Wei Yuan said, "I need the taxes from the three counties as collateral. If Your Highness can't collect them, I can help you. Of course, my men will act in your name. Your Highness only needs to prepare 10,000 sets of personal guard uniforms. In addition, I also need the mining rights for the three counties for 50 years. That should be enough."

Li Chengfeng's heart pounded, his face turning pale and then red. He said with a bitter smile, "In that case, I... I'll have a complete falling out with my second brother and fourth sister."

Wei Yuan smiled slightly and said, "What's the big deal about falling out? On the road to the throne, where are the brothers and sisters, where are the beloved relatives and friends? Those who cannot be used by me are my mortal enemies."

Li Chengfeng carefully considered these words and found them to make a lot of sense.

Seeing that he was still hesitating, Wei Yuan said frankly, "The price I'm offering you isn't low, but in these chaotic times, if you don't exchange your immortal silver for swords, then it's all money you're saving for someone else. Nothing compares to having a fully equipped army of 200,000 within a month!"

Li Chengfeng finally made up his mind and said, "Lord Wei is right! It's settled then. I'll go and raise the first sum of immortal silver, and bring the contract and the immortal silver to Qingming within three days!"

Wei Yuan cupped his hands and said, "Then I wish Your Highness a swift success!"

Returning to Qingming, Wei Yuan was quite satisfied with the trip. The new gunpowder was almost ready for development, and two types were already in production. One type, which Ji Liuli and Sun Yu had been researching, involved soaking spirit plant silk floss in limestone liquid and then adding other ingredients. The ingredients were now complete; all that remained was to find the optimal ratio and find ways to reduce costs.

Another method is to use ancient spirit charcoal instead of spirit wood charcoal, which will also greatly increase the power. Once the two new gunpowders are developed, all gunpowder guns and bullets will need to be redesigned and completely replaced. The previous gunpowder guns will become obsolete, and it would be better to sell them to Li Chengfeng than to destroy them.

Upon returning to Qingming, Wei Yuan wrote a letter to the Prince of Jin, stating that he was preparing to travel to the capital for a meeting and expected to arrive in Jindu in ten days.

The Qingming arsenal is vast, far too large for Li Chengfeng alone to handle. Wei Yuan plans to loan the Prince of Jin a complete set of equipment for 500,000 men in the same manner.

(End of this chapter)