Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 384 War and Peace, Busyness and Leisure

The deployment of the White Tiger unit did indeed successfully repel the elite hundred-man army, but as Wu Liangtian said, this was only the beginning.

Wei Zhuang then dispatched more troops to scout ahead.

These soldiers were naturally no match for the elite squad that was initially sent out. They couldn't even handle some of the simple outermost traps and were all caught off guard and killed.

However, the death of each Qin soldier meant that a mechanism set up by the Mohists would become ineffective or be discovered.

Wei Zhuang, Gongshu Chou, and Zhang Han did not care about these lives and continued to send Qin soldiers to their deaths.

Even with numerous defensive mechanisms set up near the city, they would be rapidly depleted under such a life-or-death probing situation.

Gao Jianli quickly made a decision to abandon all the simpler mechanisms, but repair the more complex ones.

However, this meant that people had to be sent out. To this end, Gao Jianli formed several teams around the mechanical White Tiger, with each team consisting of a mechanical White Tiger and many Mohist disciples.

After leaving the mechanical city, they quickly arrived at the repair point to repair the complex defensive mechanisms, while the mechanical white tiger provided cover.

But at this point, a problem arose.

The White Tiger formation isn't enough!

Among the four sacred beasts of the Mohist school, the White Tiger is a pure weapon of slaughter, the only one focused solely on warfare.

However, this design concept completely violated the Mohist school's principles of non-aggression and peace, so there were not many mechanical White Tigers in the Mohist mechanical city.

Even if we take out some older models, repair and reuse them, the total number can still be counted on one hand.

In other words, less than ten White Tiger Squads could be formed.

However, the Qin army was numerous, with dozens of scout teams coming to explore.

Moreover, repairs are inherently difficult due to the damage, resulting in the repair speed of the mechanical city being far slower than the Qin army's destruction speed.

Gao Jianli was not stupid; he quickly changed his objective from repairing the mechanism to killing the Qin army.

While this relieved some of the pressure, it was only a slight relief in the face of the overwhelming force of the Qin army.

Meanwhile, a series of operations are also underway within the city.

Food collection and management.

The deployment of defenses in various secret and strategic locations.

We also need to be prepared to retreat.

The black Qilin watched all this silently, a cold smile creeping onto its lips.

He was unaware that the Mo family's mechanical city was collecting food in order to force him out.

But that doesn't matter, because he's far from being short of food.

He moved through the city like a ghost, observing the actions of all the Mohist disciples.

Of course, he also tried to approach and ambush several leaders, especially the only master mechanic among them, Master Ban, but after being reminded, the leaders all took their safety very seriously.

Master Ban also hid the construction diagram of the Mo Family Mechanical City in other places.

Even if he hadn't been attacked, it would have been impossible to get the blueprints for the mechanical city from him.

The fact that this didn't happen is naturally because the Black Qilin realized the situation was hopeless and chose to give up.

However, this did not affect his intelligence gathering.

So what if we can't get the core construction diagram?
He can now move freely throughout the entire mechanical city. His eyes can sketch a rough structural diagram, which he then transmits to Wei Zhuang via a flying bird.

"It seems the ending isn't so easy to change..."

Throughout the entire Mechanized City, only Wu Liangtian knew the Black Qilin's every move.

When he saw that the Black Qilin had marked all the key points of the mechanical city on the construction diagram, especially the central pool, which was specially marked, he knew that Wei Zhuang's actions could no longer be stopped.

It's normal that the black qilin knows about the central pool.

Because everyone in the entire city knows that place is called the Central Pool.

If this place is called by this name, how could it not be important?

Moreover, Master Ban had strengthened the defenses of all the key points in the city, setting up various defensive mechanisms, with the central water pool being the most crucial.

Based on these actions, Black Qilin could tell at a glance that the central pool must be extremely important to the Mo Family's Mechanical City!
This cannot be stopped.

Should we ask Master Ban to remove those defensive mechanisms?

Hehe, doesn't that give Black Qilin an even bigger chance?

The destruction of the Mo Family's mechanical city was inevitable.

It has far too many flaws and loopholes.

All the Mohist disciples loved peace and followed the principles of non-aggression and universal love, yet they insisted on taking an anti-Qin stance.

They had already decided on their stance, but they were too naive and made no preparations to oppose Qin.

Putting everything else aside, there are only a handful of these deadly weapons, the Mechanical White Tiger, in the entire Mechanical City.

Yes, the Mohists loved peace.

But is it peaceful now?
Not only was it not peaceful, but the Mohists themselves actively participated in the vortex of war!

You're talking about peace at this point?
Ordinary Mohist disciples were one thing, but even Yan Dan was completely unprepared.

When Jing Ke attempted to assassinate the King of Qin, Yan Dan had already inherited the position of leader of the Mohist school, and it had been more than ten years since then.

If the Mohists had made sufficient preparations over the past ten years, they could have created at least a hundred mechanical White Tigers.

But they didn't!
Yan Dan was a master of political maneuvering, but clearly, he was no good at warfare!
Wu Liangtian decided not to cause any more trouble.

The Mo Family's Mechanical City has too many loopholes; no matter how much effort is put into it, it's useless.

The most significant drawback is that the number of personnel is too small, and the combat strength is too weak.

This is the most fatal point.

No matter what Wu Liangtian does, it's impossible for the Mo family to gain several thousand more people and dozens more mechanical White Tigers in such a short period of time.

Although Zhou Ming could, he was unwilling.

What kind of class is the Mohists? Do they think they're worthy of me sending people?

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wu Liangtian also made his move and acquired many of the Mo family's treasures.

The first to be looted was Master Xu's collection of rare iron.

The same applies to the other swordsmiths in the city.

Although these people's collections were not as extensive as Master Xu's, they were still quite substantial when combined.

Of course, Wu Liangtian also left a projection after taking action to avoid being discovered immediately.

After the looting, there was only one place left in the entire Mo family that he hadn't visited yet.

That's the forbidden area of ​​the Mohist school!
The truly precious treasures are hidden within the forbidden area of ​​the Mo family, especially the supreme weapon that embodies the essence of the Mo family's centuries-old mechanical arts—the Non-Aggression!
The forbidden area is riddled with traps and mechanisms, a test that all the leaders of the Mohist school had to undergo throughout history.

Only by clearing the forbidden area of ​​the Mohist school can one be qualified to become the leader of the Mohist school. This can be seen as an insurance policy made by the ancestors of the Mohist school for their descendants, to avoid the emergence of a leader who is skilled in political maneuvering but only knows how to manipulate people's hearts, and has no real ability.

Those who can pass through the Mo Family's forbidden area, no matter how poor their abilities are, can't be that bad.

Even if they lack ability, they are certainly blessed with good fortune.

Wu Liangtian did not enter the forbidden area.

Since arriving at the Mo Family's Mechanical City, he had been able to sense that a deep and extremely hidden power lurked within the forbidden area.

The Mohist school has been passed down for hundreds of years, so it must have some profound foundation.

This power may be the essence of the Mohist school.

Out of fear of this power, Wu Liangtian did not go in directly, even though he knew that there were many treasures in the forbidden area.

"When Tianming and the others enter the forbidden area, observe them through the markings first, and then decide whether to take action!"

Although Zhou Ming now wields considerable power, he is naturally not arrogant enough to believe that he can run rampant in this world.

Putting aside other things, the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden and Nuwa are real people in this world.

Other gods and demons can also be identified through the Tong clan's inherited books.

With Zhou Ming's limited power, he could easily sweep away all the countries in the current Nine Provinces and Four Seas, but he would be nothing compared to those ancient gods and demons.

The origins of modern mechanical engineering can be traced back to ancient times.

The existence of the War God demonstrates the immense power of mechanical engineering in ancient times.

The mechanical arts of the Mohists may have been inherited from ancient times.

If Zhou Ming were to act recklessly and rashly trespass into the Mo family's forbidden area, and an ancient god or demon suddenly appeared from within, he would be completely flustered.

We should be very careful.

However, even knowing that this force existed, Zhou Ming still didn't think that the Mo Family Mechanized City could hold out.

How many centuries has the Mohist school been passed down?

Haha, the Qin state was actually established by the Zhou emperor, and its lineage can be traced back to the Yin and Shang dynasties.

If the Mohist school, a mere martial arts sect, has such profound foundations, how could the mighty Qin state not?
Moreover, Zhou Ming didn't think the Mohists would use this much of their knowledge.

It's even possible that even the Mohists themselves were unaware of the existence of these hidden strengths.

After looting, they reaped quite a harvest.

But these gains weren't enough to make Zhou Ming happy; at most, it was like picking up a hundred yuan from the ground—not a lot, not a little... but it still made him genuinely happy.

Of the many different irons, only a small portion with special properties were sent to the Loulan base for research. The others, which only possessed ordinary properties such as hardness and sharpness, were directly used by Wu Liangtian in his mechanical creations.

Inside the mechanical city, trivial matters abounded, but they did not affect Wu Liangtian's creation of his own mechanisms.

Because the persona Zhou Ming assigned him was that of a pure mechanic, with extremely high talent in mechanics, but no talent in martial arts.

Currently, their strength is only at the level of the day after tomorrow.

It can be said that among the many projections that Zhou Ming arranged on the Qin side, it was the weakest.

The only one whose strength was lower than his was Master Yoda, who was later sent to the Qin state.

However, Master Yoda's character is based on falling off a cliff and being seriously injured, which is why his strength is low, but his actual martial arts level is not low.

In terms of martial arts skill level alone, Wu Liangtian is the lowest.

This is mainly because the Mohists do not particularly value strength; by improving their mechanical skills, they can also gain a relatively high status within the Mohists.

In contrast, whether it was the Qin court, or the Taoist, Yin-Yang, or Confucian schools, all had considerable needs for strength in order to improve their status.

Despite his low strength, Wu Liangtian holds a high position within the Mo family. Therefore, Gao Jianli would definitely not choose him for any missions outside the city. As for missions within the Mechanized City, there is currently no need for a Mechanist.

Even if there were any, Wu Liangtian could easily resolve them.

That's why there was plenty of time to continue manufacturing the mechanisms.

In the city, the only people who were more leisurely than him were probably outsiders like Gai Nie.

Tianming, Shaoyu, and the others were still strolling around the city.

Gai Nie, on the other hand, stayed in his room to recuperate and heal his injuries.

He was ignorant of mechanisms, only skilled in swordsmanship. Although he was strong, firstly, Gao Jianli did not trust him, and secondly, at this moment, the Mo family had not yet reached the point where they needed outside help.

In the original story, Gai Nie rested well at Mirror Lake Medical Manor for a period of time. When he arrived at the Mechanized City, even if he wasn't at full health, his health bar was still over 80%.

However, Gai Nie here fought his way from Crescent Moon Valley to Loulan, and was then chased all the way from Loulan to Mirror Lake Medical Manor.

Then, after receiving treatment at Jinghu Medical Clinic for only a few days, he was chased back to the Mechanical City.

Although his injuries have been greatly relieved and he is no longer in mortal danger, his health bar is still very low.

At this moment, it's uncertain how much of their strength they can unleash.

In this time when everyone else is busy, but these two are the only ones having leisure, the situation is also changing rapidly.

The construction blueprints sent by the Black Qilin naturally ended up in the hands of Gongshu Chou.

The Gongshu family and the Mo family have been enemies for hundreds of years. They have studied the existence of the Mo family's mechanical city for countless years and have long since figured out that the power source of the Mo family's mechanical city is the water that is always flowing.

Gongshu Chou himself was also one of the most outstanding mechanical geniuses in the Gongshu family over the past few hundred years.

The moment he saw the construction plan, he determined that the central pool was the very core of the mechanical city.

The water here will flow to every part of the entire mechanical city, thus driving the operation of countless mechanisms.

"Unfortunately, it's just a structural diagram drawn by Lord Wei Zhuang's subordinates based on their own observations... It would be even better if we could obtain the actual structural diagram of the Mo Family's Mechanical City..."

Gongshu Chou was still not satisfied and thought to himself.

This construction diagram, while it could help the Qin army break through the mechanical city, was of no benefit to him.

He had also heard of the Mo family's forbidden lands and knew that they were the essence of the Mo family's mechanical arts.

The reason he was willing to come here in person to help the Qin army break through the mechanical city was to obtain the essence of the Mo family's mechanical arts.

"It seems we can only try to enter that forbidden area after we've breached the Mechanized City..."

Gongshu Chou sighed inwardly, and then told Wei Zhuang his analysis.

Then, Chi Lian took out a small bottle of 'Zhen Yu Qian Ye'.

The process of refining this poison is extremely complex, requiring a thousand nights to complete.

The reason it must be at night is because this poison is activated by sunlight, and it cannot be exposed to any sunlight before it is refined.

Once refined, its toxicity is terrifying and astonishing.

They were known for their 'slaughter of the entire city at midday'!
If it is used to attack an ordinary city, the poison will spread on its own once it is activated.

However, the Mechanized City is a three-dimensional city. If the poison were to simply circulate on its own, it would likely be discovered by the Mo family after circulating within a certain area, and they would then activate the mechanisms to seal it off.

Therefore, this poison must be placed in the central pool of the mechanical city, first allowing it to circulate throughout the entire city, and then activated by sunlight!
(End of this chapter)