Catching Monsters

Chapter 509 Let's Prepare for the Final Battle

Soon, Jiang Yun and Xu Xiaogang took a carriage and brought Ye Xiuyuan to the manor outside the capital where cannons were being developed.

Qi Hede and Hu Leqi have been extremely busy lately. Beside a sweltering furnace, Qi Hede is sitting inside, studying how to make the iron of the cannons even stronger.

Upon hearing that Lord Jiang and Duke Xu Xiaogang had arrived, they hurried out to greet them and also saw Ye Xiuyuan, dressed like an old farmer, beside them.

Upon arriving at this place, Ye Xiuyuan immediately spotted the cannons placed there.

"These are the cannons you produce?" Ye Xiuyuan stepped forward and examined them carefully.

Xu Xiaogang explained the power of the cannon from the side, and then quickly had Hu Leqi and Qi Hede come over to fire the cannon for Ye Xiuyuan to see.

This place is almost a tourist attraction, but of course, neither Hu Leqi nor Qi Hede has any complaints.

I've recently met a lot of important figures. When I was working at the Ministry of Works, I never had this opportunity, and I even got to meet the Emperor in person.

Soon the cannon fired, billowing thick smoke. Ye Xiuyuan squinted, stepped forward to examine it carefully, and said, "It is a rare item. If used on the battlefield, its power will be considerable."

"However, this item must be kept strictly confidential." After saying this, Ye Xiuyuan quickly led Jiang Yun and Xu Xiaogang to a secluded spot in the manor.

"Use their own methods against them."

As soon as he sat down, Ye Xiuyuan calmly said, "If we lure the rebels to a decisive battle and bombard them with artillery, we still have a good chance of winning."

Xu Xiaogang said, "But the problem right now is how to get the rebels to come and fight us. If I were a rebel general, I would definitely adopt a strategy of slowly absorbing them."

"As long as we actually occupy the major cities in the southern part of our Zhou Kingdom..."

“It’s very simple,” Ye Xiuyuan said calmly. “I can help Duke Xu with this matter, but General Xu must completely trust me.”

“Of course.” Xu Xiaogang nodded emphatically: “Since I’ve come all this way to personally invite Mr. Ye…”

"As far as I know, there are 300,000 new recruits in the south, right?" Ye Xiuyuan said slowly. "Secretly send a message to the north, asking 100,000 of these 300,000 new recruits, including the border troops under the command of the three marquises, Marquis Weiwu, Marquis Mingyu, and Marquis Beiding, to be transferred south."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaogang paused slightly, then nodded and said, "You mean, spread the news?"

Ye Xiuyuan shook his head and said, "On the contrary, we must keep the news under wraps and not deliberately leak it, otherwise it will be too obvious."

"If you want to deceive others, you must first believe it yourself."

"Lord Xu, with the addition of 300,000 new recruits to the border army, you have a total of 400,000 men. Do you think the rebels haven't sent spies to keep an eye on things?"

"With 400,000 people on the move, it would be easy to detect."

"In addition, expedite the production of artillery. The timeframe is five days. Produce as many as you can within five days, then seal them and transport them to the front lines."

"Then I ordered 100,000 garrison troops to guard a city, but the city walls should not be too high; they should be in a relatively easy-to-break location."

Jiang Yun, standing to the side, stroked his chin and couldn't help but ask, "In that case, what will happen when the 300,000 new recruits and border troops arrive...?"

“Those new recruits have only been training for about a month. Once they get to the battlefield, they might not even be able to understand the command flags. They'll just be a hindrance.” Xu Xiaogang shook his head. “They can only scare people.”

Soon, Xu Xiaogang went to the Imperial Study to consult Xiao Yuzheng about the matter. Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuzheng's face turned serious. Mobilizing 100,000 border troops was no small matter.

Moreover, the need to accelerate the mass production of artillery means that the matter of artillery will inevitably become known to many people.

However, after hearing this, Xiao Yuzheng pondered for a moment before saying, "I agree to mobilize 100,000 border troops and send new recruits south, but we need to produce artillery."

"If too many craftsmen were to become aware of the production process..."

Xu Xiaogang seemed to have anticipated His Majesty's concerns, and said, "Mr. Ye has also seen cannons and said that their manufacturing process is not complicated."

"Its main core components were produced by a few craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, such as Qi Hede, while the other components were produced by those who could keep the secret."

"Have nearby provinces and counties transport death row inmates overnight. If there aren't enough, arrest local thugs and vagrants to make up the numbers."

"After the production, make sure these people can't speak." After saying that, Xu Xiaogang took a deep breath. He knew exactly what Mr. Ye meant by "make them unable to speak"—it simply meant killing these people.

This way, the artillery could be kept largely unknown to outsiders.

“Feng Yu,” Xiao Yuzheng said in a deep voice.

Inside the imperial study, Feng Yu, who was serving nearby, hurriedly stepped forward, nodded, and said, "Your Majesty, this servant is here."

"Let's do as Mr. Ye suggests, and get on it quickly!"

"Yes."

Fortunately, the Ministry of Works had three ironware factories in the capital. At Qi Hede's request, the largest factory was temporarily occupied to urgently produce cannons.

The following morning, more than 300 death row inmates, along with more than 200 notorious thugs, were brought in.

Furthermore, the three Marquis of Weiwu, Marquis of Mingyu, and Marquis of Beiding in the north, upon receiving the order, immediately assembled an army of 100,000 men and set off with 300,000 new recruits, marching south in a grand procession. According to the plan, they would arrive at the southern front in twenty days.

……

The snowflakes of Minor Snow fell slowly.

Unlike the thick layer of snow in the north, the snow in the south falls on the branches, making them look as if they have been given a new coat.

Xiao Min'er stood under a tree and gently patted the branches. Instantly, snow fell from the branches, landing on her.

She squatted down, gathered her hands together, and shaped them into a white snowball. She then secretly went to the courtyard gate, just as Wang Longzhi walked in.

She suddenly threw a snowball, which hit Wang Longzhi's armor.

Seeing this, Wang Longzhi smiled and said, "Min'er, you have such leisure and refined tastes."

Xiao Min'er tightened her white fleece cloak around her neck: "After we push Xiao Yuzheng off the throne, and after you ascend the throne as emperor, let's go to the snow-capped mountains in the north to enjoy the snow. Then we'll take a boat south to see what the end of the sea looks like."

Upon hearing this, Wang Longzhi and the other person looked into each other's eyes and embraced tightly in the snow. Wang Longzhi said, "I have no intention of becoming emperor. This world belongs to the Xiao family. After conquering the world, it is your turn to become emperor."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Min'er laughed and said, "Since neither of us wants to be emperor, then whoever wants to be emperor can be emperor. Let's travel around and enjoy ourselves. Zhou Kingdom is very large, and there are many places we haven't been to yet."

Wang Longzhi nodded, but couldn't help but wonder: "If that's the case, why are we expending so much effort?"

Xiao Min'er: "It doesn't matter who becomes emperor. What matters to me is that Xiao Yuzheng and his descendants don't become emperor."

After the two had been exchanging sweet nothings, Wang Longzhi remembered the important matter and said, "By the way, the northern border troops and 300,000 newly trained soldiers have already set off south."

"As expected." Xiao Min'er responded calmly, her eyes gleaming slightly as she slowly said, "What about the movements of the remaining 100,000 Zhenchi troops? We need to surround and annihilate this army as soon as possible; that's the important thing."

“The investigation is still ongoing,” Wang Longzhi said immediately. “In addition, there are some other minor matters.”

As he spoke, Wang Longzhi took out several letters and handed them over, saying, "These are all the information I gathered in the capital, as you requested."

After flipping through a few pages, Xiao Min'er's gaze immediately fell on one of them: "A group of death row inmates and local ruffians were secretly transported to the capital? And they entered the Ministry of Works' factory, which was heavily guarded?"

"Producing armor? God-slaying crossbows? No, these thugs and death row inmates have no experience in producing ironware. Normally, we wouldn't use people like that..."

"Unless, the product being produced requires strict secrecy, and the people involved must die after production."

For a moment, Xiao Min'er became interested, but she quickly shook her head. Now was not the time to focus on such matters.

The priority is to find and eliminate the remaining 100,000 troops of Zhenchi Army.

"Find 100,000 garrison troops, then dispatch a large army to prepare for the decisive battle."

"If all goes well, winter will pass and spring will come. When the city is full of flowers, we should have already entered the capital."

(End of this chapter)