Shushan: Extinction

Chapter 239: Opportunities of 14 Causal Points

There is no doubt that such a generous gesture by Chen Yunsheng also made Ming Zhenzi, who got it for free, particularly happy. He thought to himself that this trip was not in vain, and that he would be able to help if there was any problem in the Marquis' Mansion in the future.

Ever since Chen Yunsheng returned, undercurrents have been surging in the Marquis' Mansion.

It’s just because although the Crown Prince Chen Feidi returned safely, it is obvious that he is not worthy of his position.

Even King Wei Qu once said that he was ambitious but incompetent. In addition, Gong Tianwu, the seventh son, was usually busy with his own affairs and never interfered with the affairs of the palace.

Therefore, the remaining sons of Chen Yunsheng must have been showing off and competing with each other, and for a while, the mansion was in a chaotic atmosphere.

However, ever since Ming Zhenzi met Chen Yunsheng, the mansion suddenly became much quieter.

Even Mrs. Wang was in despair—this Old Seven was already clearly much stronger than the others, and now he was even worshipping as a disciple of a Taoist master. How could he compete with her? How could he compete with her?
It's like that classmate of yours works really hard all the time, and then you find out that he's actually a rich second-generation. This completely makes you lose the courage to compete.

Another benefit of Ming Zhenzi's appearance is:
Gong Tianwu can now take bigger steps. If anyone questions him, he can justifiably push the blame onto Ming Zhenzi.

And when he comes up with something new, he can also let Ming Zhenzi take the blame.

Immediately afterwards, on the tenth day after Ming Zhenzi met with Chen Yunsheng, the Marquis' Mansion officially dispatched troops and headed straight for the Yanzhi River Valley!
This was the end of spring and the beginning of summer, when the horses, cattle and sheep on the grassland were the fattest and strongest. Theoretically, this was also the time when the Hu people had the strongest fighting power.

Moreover, there are three Hu tribes in the Yanzhi River Valley, with a population of more than 40,000.

Theoretically speaking, the Marquis' Mansion had not even recovered from the previous chaos, and indeed only dispatched less than 4,000 people.

Four thousand to forty thousand, the Hu people were still fighting against them at home, and they had to travel hundreds of miles to attack. This was destined to be ready when they arrived at the battlefield.

Therefore, this was a battle that no one outside was optimistic about, but the outcome of this battle was a complete victory.

Even the speed of victory surprised Chen Yunsheng, who was used to fighting battles!
The four words "arrows rained down like rain" perfectly describe everything that happened on the battlefield.

This is the generational gap in weapons, also known as dimensionality reduction attack.

The sabers, ox-horn bows and bone arrowheads used by the Hu people VS the two thousand improved crossbows equipped by the marquis' army, the outcome was decided in just ten seconds.

The grassland warriors who dared to charge at the front were killed by the terrifying crossbow shooting. The remaining large groups of old, weak, women and children were stunned and could only cry out to Changshengtian with tears in their eyes.

What’s even more terrifying is that this was a one-sided beating, a crushing defeat with zero casualties!
This sounds outrageous, but according to Hasar's evaluation, after the soldiers of the Marquis' Mansion are equipped with the newly produced repeating crossbows, they can almost have the strength of half an archer.

And there are no more than a hundred monsters like the Eagle Shooter that are so powerful on the grassland! !
This has happened many times on Earth:

Sun Wu used advanced ideas to establish the first professional army, which formed a half-generation gap with the military forces of other countries, so he is called the ancestor of military strategists.

During the Warring States Period, Qin Birds set aside half a generation gap with the other six countries, and Qin unified the six countries.

Of course, if there is a war of a whole generation gap, it is the famous Battle of Baliqiao:
Senggelinqin led 30,000 Manchu and Mongolian cavalrymen to fight against 8,000 British and French troops. The Manchu and Mongolian cavalrymen were defeated and 7,000 to 8,000 of them died, while the British and French troops only lost 5 people! !

After this battle, both Chen Yunsheng and some generals with foresight realized one thing:

A new era of war is about to begin.

In this era of war, extreme long-range attack capabilities will be pursued!

The battle in Yanzhi Valley directly shocked half of the grassland. It can be said that such a record has not been seen in the past ten years.

This time, the Marquisate swallowed up three entire tribes in one go, replenishing them with a large number of private armies, population, livestock, and wealth, making up for at least 30% of the previous losses.

After this battle, the reputation of Marquis Zhenbei spread far and wide again, causing many tribes on the grassland that had been ready to make moves to quickly become obedient, and the tribute that had been delayed was immediately submitted.

The Naiman tribe and Che Mingguo had already begun to conspire and planned to join forces to attack Sansheng City, but after the war report came, both sides were also surprised and planned to find out the situation of this battle.

Gong Tianwu had no objection to his father's gaining fame. At this moment, he just wished he could keep a low profile as much as possible.

With the entry into the Yanzhi River Valley, an important matter was put on the agenda, which was to build a workshop in the abandoned mining area here.

The workshop's external justification was to survey the abandoned mining area to see if there were any spiritual veins that had been missed - although such things were rare in the wilderness, they did exist.

However, in reality, the purpose of this workshop is of course to mine the sky crystal inside and use it to refine industrial spiritual liquid.

In order to ensure the safety of the entire workshop, the construction workload of this workshop is actually very large, because first a complete defense system must be built to protect the entire mining area and workshop, and then the workshop can be built.

Fortunately, all ethnic groups on the grassland have a long-standing problem in attacking strongholds. Moreover, if the Yanzhi River Valley is built along the terrain, an extremely complex mountain fortress system can actually be established, and combined with powerful crossbows with a generation gap, defense will not be a big problem.

***
After half a month,
Gong Tianwu and Cai Yuanchang stood on the cliff. Behind them was lush green grassland, but under their feet was a cliff more than ten meters high. The Yanzhi River meandered under the cliff like a snake, scouring out the extremely complex landforms here.

The two sides of the valley are steep, with exposed rock formations that look as if they were cut by a knife or an axe, and there is only a narrow rift for passage.

The bottom of the valley was covered with jagged rocks, lush vegetation, and piles of thorns with small red fruits swaying in the wind. In the distance, several collapsed ruins could be vaguely seen, indicating that this was once a battleground for military strategists.

Gong Tianwu's eyes slowly swept across the valley. The wind whistled and slapped his face, causing a slight pain.

The wind from the river valley carried fine sand and gravel, which rustled on the robes of the two men. In the distance, a team of ant-like craftsmen were working on the cliffs on ropes, and the sound of chiseling as they dug the plank road echoed in the canyon like thunder.

"This project is handed over to you."

Gong Tianwu's voice was mixed in the wind, and his fingers traced the valley topographic map:

"Within three months, the Hu people will not dare to act rashly. After three months, it is hard to say. The remaining power of the Marquis' Mansion in this battle will dissipate, and there will definitely be tribes coming here to spy."

"After all, the Yanzhi River Valley is rich in water and grass, which is the lifeblood of herders."

"Three months?"

Cai Yuanchang narrowed his eyes, then nodded slightly:

“That’s enough.”

Cai Yuan was now much darker and thinner, but he exuded an aura that was completely different from before.

This is the confidence that comes from holding great power.

The corner of Gong Tianwu's mouth twitched slightly.

This person is indeed a strong man with S-level talent. He matured very quickly. When he first came, he looked timid and unconfident. Now facing this huge project assigned by him, he didn't even bargain. Suddenly, there was a sound of rubble rolling down the cliff. The two looked down and saw a team of craftsmen hanging a huge tree across the rift with ropes. The ropes swayed in the wind, and the figures above the cliff swayed into black dots.

"Your improved pulley system?"

Gong Tianwu suddenly asked.

“Save 30% of manpower.”

Cai Yuanchang untied the leather bag at his waist and took a sip. Water droplets dripped down his chin onto the sandstone and were instantly sucked away without a trace.

"If we use Qingao wood instead of pine wood, the load-bearing capacity can still be improved."

Before he could finish his words, a cry of surprise suddenly came from afar. A section of the cliff collapsed with a loud bang, and the yellow dust that was raised like a huge wave engulfed half of the construction site.

Cai Yuanchang had already rushed towards the plank road, and his voice floated back against the wind and sand:
".Add 20%."

Gong Tianwu looked at the figure disappearing in the dust and mist, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Such a genius would be a waste of talent if used on a construction site - but rules are rules, fame and fortune must be earned with blood and sweat, otherwise how can one convince others?

Soon, Cai Yuanchang returned and said:
"Fortunately, nothing serious happened. Only three slaves died. If we want to build a fortress here, we need to invite a few craftsmen with relevant experience to come here."

"In addition, we need to keep up with the salt. These people have put in a lot of effort and they all eat a lot."

Gong Tianwu nodded and said:
"I will provide you with all the things you want. I just want to see the fortress completed on time."

Cai Yuanchang narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze wandering along the river valley, and the drawings he had seen before also emerged in his mind.

Gradually, it corresponded to the real scenery in front of it and began to take shape - built against the mountain, guarding the throat, with hidden corridors, and workshops deep underground, covered by the mountain. Even if outsiders break into the valley, it is difficult to find the real key points.

Seeing Cai Yuanchang staring at the mountain in a trance, Gong Tianwu praised him and said:
"Do your best. I heard about your plan to get a wife. After this is done, I will get you a position as a Chengyilang."

It turned out that Cai Yuanchang's mother liked a girl in the city and wanted to marry her to her daughter-in-law. However, the girl was from a wealthy family and refused her outright. They also said that their daughters would only marry officials and asked the Cai family not to have such wishful thinking. This became a laughing stock for a while.

So Gong Tianwu thought about making it up to him and letting him get married.

Unexpectedly, when Cai Yuanchang heard Gong Tianwu's words, he said excitedly:

"I will do my best to live up to your expectations."

Then, before Gong Tianwu had time to react, he suddenly discovered that this guy's loyalty, which had been rising very slowly, suddenly dropped from over sixty to eighty points!
You know, even though Gong Tianwu had talked to Cai Yuanchang, rewarded him with money, and gave him medicine, Cai Yuanchang's loyalty still increased very slowly. Once it increased by four points, and then dropped by three points the next day.

This made Gong Tianwu sigh for a long time, and he felt that it was really difficult to attract such top talents.

However, Gong Tianwu finally understood now - it turns out that this bastard is a fan of officials! !

What's so hard about getting back to your mind? It's just that you haven't found the right method! Look how happy a little Cheng Yi Lang makes him.

You should know that the administrative model of Langshan State is that positions and titles are separated, that is, official titles are only used for grading, and positions are the actual work content of officials.

Taking the modern system as an example, Gong Tianwu got the equivalent of a deputy section-level salary, and Cai Yuanchang was extremely happy.

Gong Tianwu was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed again. It turned out that a message popped up on his retina again:

"The loyalty of Cai Yuanchang, your subordinate, has exceeded 80 points."

"You have triggered a special opportunity: Wenqu has arrived, but where is Wuqu?"

"Excuse me, do you want to consume 14 causal points to activate this opportunity?"

After seeing this news, Gong Tianwu almost spat out a mouthful of blood. If possible, he wanted to grab Kang's neck and question him, asking him if he knew what the 14 cause and effect points meant! !

But after some hesitation, Gong Tianwu still chose to consume it. After all, he had no shortage of causal points now, and he also wanted to see why this opportunity was worth 14 causal points.

As usual, Gong Tianwu knew that this opportunity would not take effect immediately, so he calmed down and did something else.

What he didn't expect was that after only half a day, the ripples caused by the 14 consumed causal points began to take effect.

"What? Hasar was assassinated?"

Gong Tianwu was shocked. After all, Hasar was the only person under his command who could be called a talented general. If he died, the military system he had painstakingly built would collapse in an instant.

What? Are you talking about my second uncle Cui Zicheng?

Gong Tianwu's evaluation of him is that he is a version of Mi Fang with weakened martial arts value and enhanced execution ability.

You can expect him to transport food and supplies, gather intelligence, and maintain public order, but he is definitely not capable enough to be a general.

So Gong Tianwu rushed over as soon as possible and came directly to the temporary tent where Hasar lived.

There was a strong smell of medicine in the tent. Hasar had his eyes closed, half leaning on the couch. His right leg was wrapped in thick linen, which was faintly bleeding, and his face was still quite haggard.

"What's the situation?" Gong Tianwu asked the doctor next to him.

The doctor said in panic:
"To answer your question, although the injury is serious, the poison was removed and the bleeding was stopped immediately, so it is only a flesh wound. It will not endanger life, and it will not leave a root of disease in the future."

After hearing this, Gong Tianwu nodded slightly and felt a little relieved.

At this time, Hasar also woke up and grinned. Although his face was pale, there was still ruthlessness in his eyes:

"Thank you for visiting, Master. Don't worry, the leg is not broken. It can still kill people after a few days of care."

Gong Tianwu sat down beside the couch, lifted up a corner of the sackcloth and looked at the wound before he felt relieved:

"What's happening here?"

Hasar restrained his smile, and a trace of solemnity flashed in his eyes: "We are not in the same group."

"Hmm?" Gong Tianwu frowned.

(End of this chapter)