I worked myself to the bone to become a saint, and survived on a deserted island with a stunning pri

"I was blind..." Ling Zhennan sighed.

"What are you planning to do next?"

Upon hearing Ling Zhennan's question, Chu Nan couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"The situation in the capital is unclear. We only have five thousand men. Although I am confident that we can fight the Imperial Guards, the most important thing now is to ensure the safety of my family."

Ling Zhennan nodded. His wife and children, except for Ling Hanxue, had all been arrested.

He's just waiting to be executed in the autumn.

The other side could easily use hostages to threaten us. Even if we win the fight, we'll lose our families.

"Your divine weapon is indeed powerful. If everyone had one, a mere 20,000 Imperial Guards could be wiped out with a snap of the fingers!" Ling Zhennan said with some envy.

"Kid, what's that divine weapon called?"

"Dad, that's called a flintlock rifle!"

Ling Hanxue stepped forward to explain: "This was researched by Chu Nan. It uses the explosive power of gunpowder to propel iron projectiles into the air. The power is enough to pierce through gold and shatter stone. Current armor and shields simply cannot withstand it."

"Only an iron plate thicker than one centimeter could withstand it."

"But if we have this kind of iron plate, we have a secret weapon!"

Chu Nan chuckled.

The next morning, unable to contain himself, Ling Zhennan dragged Chu Nan, who had crawled out of his daughter's bed, to the training ground.

"What is that secret weapon you mentioned yesterday? Show it to me quickly," Ling Zhennan said impatiently.

Chu Nan shrugged: "General Ling, what's the rush? I haven't eaten yet."

"You brat, I'm your father-in-law, is that more important than eating?" Ling Zhennan glared, puffing out his beard.

Chu Nan was somewhat speechless: "So, you're saying you agree to let her marry me?"

"nonsense!"

"They're practically ready to have grandchildren, what can they do if I disagree?"

At this point, Ling Zhennan grabbed Chu Nan by the collar, glaring at him angrily: "If I find out you're treating my daughter badly, I'll beat you up!"

"Ah, yes, yes, Father-in-law is right." Chu Nan quickly smiled apologetically.

There's nothing I can do; he's my father-in-law!

Urged by Ling Zhennan, Chu Nan ordered Wang San and others to bring out their secret weapon.

This is a car made of two rubber wheels.

On the vehicle was a long iron pipe, about the size of a human head, which appeared to be painted.

"What is this?"

"You can think of it as a more powerful version of a flintlock pistol."

"Wang San, target the pine tree on the mountaintop three kilometers away!" Chu Nan ordered.

Wang San immediately gave a military salute: "Yes, sir!"

Immediately afterwards, Wang San fiddled with it for a while, then aimed and lit the fuse with a fire tinderbox.

"Cover your ears!"

Chu Nan roared and covered his ears first.

Wang San and the others also covered their ears.

Only Ling Zhennan frowned: "What?"

The next moment, he was dumbfounded!

Just as the fuse was burning out, a deafening roar erupted, making his ears ring.

Then Ling Zhennan saw a black object fly out of the cannon barrel.

With unparalleled power, it slammed heavily onto the distant mountain peak!

Ling Zhennan even felt the mountaintop shake.

"What happened?" Ling Zhennan was dumbfounded.

Chu Nan slapped his forehead: "Sorry, it's too far away, I can't see clearly."

Wang San beckoned over and handed over a long tube.

"This is a telescope. You can adjust the distance by extending or shortening it. Use this to take a look, and then I'll fire another shot," Chu Nan explained, handing the telescope to Ling Zhennan.

Ling Zhennan took the binoculars and placed them over his eyes as Chu Nan had instructed.

"Hiss... The Thousand-Mile Eye! This is the legendary Thousand-Mile Eye! It's so clear!" Ling Zhennan exclaimed.

"Continue launching!"

With Chu Nan's order, Wang San loaded another shell.

The roaring sound rang out again.

Ling Zhennan clearly saw that a large pine tree on a distant mountaintop was hit by a shell, followed by the surrounding rocks flying and cracking.

The entire pine tree disappeared, replaced by a huge pit!

"Heavenly might! This is heavenly might!" Ling Zhennan was dumbfounded.

If he had such a weapon, those southern barbarians and southern Yue peoples would be nothing but chickens and dogs!

Ling Zhennan remained sitting there, somewhat dazed, until it was time to eat. Only when Ling Hanxue urged him did he hastily shovel a few mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.

"My dear son-in-law!"

As soon as Ling Zhennan spoke, Ling Hanxue blushed.

"Father! What are you saying!" Ling Hanxue was extremely embarrassed and simply left and went back into the house. Ji Menghan also followed her back, finding it somewhat amusing.

"What exactly happened?" Chu Nan asked, puzzled.

Ling Zhennan said in a low voice, "My dear son-in-law, could you get me two of those cannons?"

Chu Nan smiled and said, "I can, but..."

Ling Zhennan frowned: "Just say what you have to say. I've lived most of my life, and I'm not afraid of anything!"

Chu Nan sighed, "Father-in-law, as you know, there are over five thousand people in the village now, and we can't even manage them all!"

"Hanxue is working non-stop every day, without even time to rest. It breaks my heart..."

"besides……"

Chu Nan kept rambling on and on.

Ling Zhennan's face darkened upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but say, "You can shut up now! You just want to make me your laborer!"

"I absolutely did not mean that!"

"I can tell you're all talk!" Ling Zhennan snorted. "So what if it's just five thousand men? I can lead hundreds of thousands of troops with ease; five thousand is nothing!"

"Thank you so much, Father-in-law!" Chu Nan said, his face full of gratitude. "Then I'll entrust my family's wealth to you."

"Leave everything to me, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to sleep!"

Chu Nan waved his hand.

Ling Zhennan couldn't help but laugh and curse, "That brat..."

……

With one of the most outstanding commanders of the Great Zhou personally leading the troops, Chu Nan completely gave up.

During the day, I would wander around Qinglong City and occasionally go out hunting.

I'll go home tonight and chat with the two women, talking about our ideals.

Life couldn't be more comfortable.

Ling Zhennan was shocked!

Although he had previously subdued all the bandits in Chu Nan and transformed 5,000 bandits into a regular army.

But in Ling Zhennan's mind, bandits were just bandits, a bunch of rabble. If it weren't for those guns and cannons, Ling Zhennan was confident that he could kill these five thousand bandits with just a thousand men.

However, after he took over, he was shocked to find that the team was even stronger than he had imagined!

Especially those eight hundred men, who were the elite of the elite.

Both their individual skills and teamwork far surpassed Ling Zhennan's experience.

Ling Zhennan even compared these 5,000 men with his own elite troops and was astonished to find that if they fought with only cold weapons and no firearms, these 800 men could at least take down his 10,000 men!

"Incredible!" Ling Zhennan exclaimed.

As a general who had led troops for half his life, he immediately fell in love with it.

So Ling Zhennan stopped going back to Chu Nan's home and simply stayed in the military camp.

For this reason, Ling Hanxue even didn't let Chu Nan sleep in her bed one night.

Chu Nan had no choice but to go find Ji Menghan.

Another three months have passed.

Ling Zhennan truly lived up to his reputation as a renowned general of his time. With the assistance of Ling Hanxue and the training methods Chu Nan used in his previous life, the strength of the five thousand men increased rapidly.

Chu Nan even renovated Qinglong City, bringing over some of his experiences from his previous life.

In less than half a year, Qinglong City became quite prosperous.

Seeing such a magnificent scene, even Ling Zhennan couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

"My son-in-law is truly a man of great talent!"

As the snow fell heavily and the year drew to a close, the population of Qinglong City exceeded 100,000.

Inside Chu Nan's mansion, there was a red clay stove and a copper basin on the table filled with spicy red soup.

This is a hot pot "invented" by Chu Nan, and the two women and their father-in-law enjoyed it very much.

"Father couldn't possibly have been unaware of what's happening in Qinglong City. The fact that he hasn't reacted at all is very strange!" Ji Menghan frowned.

Chu Nan took a bite of tripe: "It's still early before autumn, and the Ling family is fine for now."

"Then what should we do?" Ling Hanxue couldn't help but ask, as she was very worried about her mother and younger brother who were far away in the capital.

Ling Zhennan seemed carefree, enjoying hot pot and drinks, looking incredibly happy.

"Dad, aren't you in a hurry?" Ling Hanxue glared at her father.

Ling Zhennan waved his hand: "What's the rush? Isn't our son-in-law here?"

Ling Hanxue was speechless.

Just then, someone came in to report.

"Reporting to the chief, after my investigation, it seems the emperor is under house arrest."

"The one currently in charge of the court is Crown Prince Ji Chen."

"Is it Third Brother?" Ji Menghan's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.

"As expected, something unexpected happened!" Chu Nan snorted coldly and stood up.

He had anticipated the changes in the capital. During this period, he had only sent his spies to investigate the capital and made sufficient preparations here.

"We can't wait any longer. We must raise an army immediately and march on the capital to defend the emperor."

"Father-in-law, how is the situation in the Southern Frontier?" Chu Nan asked.

Ling Zhennan patted his chest: "Although many of my old subordinates have been captured, the hundreds of thousands of troops are still my direct troops. Even the captains below them are not something Ji Chen can command."

"They will respond immediately as soon as we start something."

"Very well, in that case, we shall immediately raise an army and march on the capital to defend the emperor in three days."

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and in Qinglong City, nearly 1 troops were ready to go.

Everyone was wearing lightweight bulletproof vests.

They also had nearly 2000 guns, which formed a powerful firearms battalion.

In addition, these 1 people also had nearly 5000 warhorses.

Both light cavalry and heavy armor are available.

In addition, there were nearly 2 supply troops and laborers who cleared roads through mountains and built bridges over rivers.

This is the wealth that Chu Nan has accumulated over the past year or so.

Ten thousand men, with cavalry in the rear and infantry in the front, charged toward the first pass ahead.

The first pass is Lingshui Pass, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

However, that was in the traditional way of fighting. After Chu Nan fired two cannon shots, the city gate was blown to smithereens. Ling Zhennan personally led his troops into the city and killed the defending general.