Extreme Frontier Army: Starting from the bottom ranks, conquering the chaotic world

Just then, someone in the distance stepped on and broke a dead branch.

Lu Jing pressed down on the hilt of the knife with his right hand, while Liang Zhaoye remained squatting in place, his hand hanging by his knees tightening silently.

Both of them stopped talking at the same time.

A soldier wearing a tattered coat emerged from behind the tent, still sleepy-eyed, and staggered toward the edge of the camp, pulling up his trousers.

Halfway there, he coughed twice from the smoke and glanced towards the fire.

Lu Jing raised his chin.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen two poor bastards warming themselves by a fire?"

The soldier shrank back.

"Boss, I just needed to get up in the middle of the night."

"Stay away, don't pee in the fire."

The soldier responded and went around to the back of the earthen slope.

A moment later, the sound of rushing water could be heard.

The skinny monkey started whimpering again in the haystack.

"Chicken leg...don't take it...I licked it first..."

Lu Jing and Liang Zhaoye both glanced in that direction at the same time.

Liang Zhaoye withdrew his gaze.

"The people under your command have big ambitions."

"There's no other way. Since we can't get meat, we can only practice our licking skills first."

The soldiers behind the earthen slope fastened their trousers and walked away through the snow.

Only after Lu Jing and the others had completely disappeared from sight did he loosen his grip on the hilt of his sword.

Liang Zhaoye continued, "Twenty years ago, the old general left behind this batch of emergency military equipment. In those days, the northern barbarians kept knocking on the gates, and the imperial army's military equipment only arrived once every three months. The old general managed to scrape together eight hundred knives and two hundred suits of armor and hid them in the old warehouse."

"This batch of goods was not put into the new account. After the old general died of illness, the captain of the personal guard swallowed the key. That man later incurred gambling debts, sold his house, sold his horses, and even sold the land next to his ancestral graves."

"The key changed hands three times before finally ending up in Zhao He's hands."

Lu Jing picked up a piece of broken charcoal and wrote the character "Zhao" on the ground.

"Zhao He has eight hundred real swords, yet he's feeding his personal guards scrap metal?"

"He can't open the warehouse."

"Wrong key?"

"The key is real."

"What is he lacking?"

Liang Zhaoye looked at Lu Jing with a meaningful gaze.

Lu Jing used broken charcoal to dot the square frame of the old warehouse.

"There are other mechanisms outside the iron gate, or the weapons in the armory are stored elsewhere. Zhao He might be afraid that opening the gate would make a noise and alert Gu Changfeng. Or perhaps, he can't even find the entrance."

Liang Zhaoye asked, "Which one do you choose?"

I won't choose either of them.

Lu Jing circled the character "Zhao".

"Zhao He is greedy, lustful, and fearful of his life. He obtained an old key of dubious origin, and he certainly wouldn't just listen to the seller's word. He investigated privately and sent people to look for it. The fact that he hasn't moved the knife yet shows that he's stuck at the entrance."

Liang Zhaoye placed her hands down in front of her knees.

"reason."

"Eight hundred knives can support a private army. Zhao He even wants to seize the meager rations of the Eighth Battalion. If he really manages to get his hands on the armory, can he tolerate it for seven years?"

Lu Jing raised his head.

"He can resist lust, but not money."

Liang Zhaoye remained silent for a moment.

"The location of the entrance is indeed incomplete."

Lu Jing chuckled.

"Old man, you're testing my brain with half a message? Your wine isn't cheap."

The old scar on Liang Zhaoye's face was illuminated by the fire.

He squatted steadily, his back straight, his hands resting in front of his knees, his shoulders and elbows leaving room to exert force.

An ordinary old soldier will sag his back after squatting for a long time and will tuck his hands into his sleeves to keep warm.

Liang Zhaoye's posture suggests he could draw his sword at any moment or pounce on someone at any time.

The things this old man has hidden are probably more valuable than the old armory.

Lu Jing erased half of the simple diagram on the ground.

Why are you telling me this?

Liang Zhaoye countered, "How do you plan to get the key?"

"Killing Zhao He is the easiest thing to do."

"The person is dead, where is the key?"

"So we have to find his private accounts first. Since the key is something that came from an illegitimate source, he wouldn't display it on the table as an offering to his ancestors; it would most likely be kept with his shady accounts."

Liang Zhaoye nodded.

"Should we seize the tent first, or kill someone first?"

Lu Jing looked at the damp piece of wood in the fire.

The smoke was blowing into his face, and he raised his hand to fan it twice, but he still coughed from the smoke.

"Who said these are two separate things?"

Liang Zhaoye raised his eyes.

Lu Jing showed his teeth.

"Make Zhao He hand over the account book himself, then kill him."

Liang Zhaoye stared at him for a few moments.

The scar on his face was cut into several pieces by the fire, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes lessened, and he smiled.

"Killing someone is easy, but forcing a corrupt official to hand over his manhood is not easy."

"That depends on what kind of pressure they're using."

"Do you have any leverage?"

"We're missing one piece for now."

"What's missing?"

Lu Jing glanced at the haystack where the skinny monkey was sleeping.

"What Zhao He is most afraid of others seeing."

Liang Zhaoye picked up the wine gourd and stood up. His worn-out cotton shoes stepped lightly across the frozen ground.

"The third old locust tree has roots leaning westward. There are seven nail holes on the bluestone slab; don't dig the wrong one."

"The iron gate was locked with a copper toothed key, with one long and two short teeth, and a half-sun was engraved on the handle."

"Zhao He put it together with the private accounts of the money exchange."

Lu Jing asked, "Which money exchange?"

"You'll have to ask Zhao He for that."

Liang Zhaoye walked into the shadows.

Lu Jing called out from behind.

"Old man, what's your name?"

Liang Zhaoye turned his head away: "My surname is Liang."

He paused. "It's an old warehouse from twenty years ago. The keeper changed seven years ago, and it was even opened last year. You can even take out the waxed rope from the bundle of knives."

Lu Jing used his foot to push away the charcoal ash.

"Did you guard the knife, or did you guard that old general?"

Liang Zhaoye stopped: "After you finish your wine, remember to return the gourd."

The footsteps faded into the distance, soon merging into the soldiers' snores.

Lu Jing stared into the darkness.

The old man kept handing out price tags from beginning to end.

First, he tested their wariness with wine; then, he tested their courage with Qin's judgment; next, he tested their greed with the old armory; and finally, he tested their methods with Zhao He's key.

If Lu Jingruo chooses to force his way in, Liang Zhaoye's next few words will probably remain unspoken.

Eight hundred standard-issue knives.

Two hundred complete leather armors.

Once this batch of supplies is in hand, the Eighth Battalion will finally be able to truly grow teeth.

The cost is also on the table.

Zhao He is still alive, but no one knows where his private account is hidden.

If we act too soon, the keys will sink to the bottom along with the tent.

If they act too late, Gu Changfeng could silence Zhao He, this expendable pawn, at any moment.

Suddenly, a series of rapid clanging sounds of metal objects came from the direction of the camp gate.

Lu Jing suddenly turned his head.

Almost at the same moment, people woke up from several nearby haystacks and rustled towards their weapons.

Skinny Monkey also sat up, still holding the shield, his eyes closed, but he had already shouted.

"The northern barbarians are here?"

Lu Jing grabbed the broken knife stuck in the mud and listened for a couple of breaths.

The night breeze carried the muffled curses of the gatekeepers.

"Idiot, you managed to break the hook just by hanging a light!"

The other person muttered an apology.

It was a false alarm.

The soldiers who had just woken up shrank back into the haystack, cursing and grumbling as they wrapped their tattered coats tighter.

Lu Jing loosened the hilt and looked down at the crooked blade.

If any northern barbarian cavalry were to sneak in, this thing wouldn't even be strong enough to cut off a horse's hoof.

When he got up, the wound on his side ached terribly.

The skinny monkey huddled in the grass, clutching his shield, a thin snot hanging from his nose.

Lu Jing kicked his butt.

"Wake up."

The skinny monkey opened his eyes and looked around blankly.

"Have you eaten?"

"Eat your grandpa's ass."

"Then why did you call me...?"

"Sleep somewhere else. Tomorrow morning, write down all the outhouses, woodsheds, and abandoned wells near Zhao He's camp from the rear camp. Also, remember which of his men went to the Eighth Battalion after he retreated to the centurion's camp."

The skinny monkey's eyelids couldn't open.

"Brother Jing, are you trying to steal his chamber pot?"

"Ask less."

"oh."

The skinny monkey got up, clutching the shield, took three steps, and then turned back.

"Brother Jing, who gets the stolen goods?"

"It's yours."

"Then I don't want it."

Lu Jing kicked him back into the haystack.

The midnight watchman's clapper sounded from afar.