Chapter 340 — The Iron-Blooded Frontier General
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Nothing but old bones there, and both stinking and hard.
If you go to Little Jade Capital, you may not be able to talk them round.
" The Lame Elder was so excited he rubbed his hands: "Little Jade Capital — I have never been there!
If I have never stolen from that holy ground, my life cannot be called complete!
A pity old Master Huo is not here.
.
.
" Xiong Qi'er looked up at the Lame Elder and said earnestly, "Grandpa Lame, you will be beaten to death if you steal. " The Lame Elder doted on the little girl.
He stroked her head and said with a smile, "Does Qi'er want to be the third greatest master hand under heaven? " "I do!
" the little girl said in a loud voice.
In Helan Pass, the various armies were setting their equipment in order, and the commanding generals reported their losses to the Jingping Imperial Preceptor. This time, with the tower ships and gunboats opening the way, the armies' casualties had not been severe — fewer than in an earlier small engagement — and the various elemental soldiers lost and the grain and spirit medicines needing resupply were not many either.
The Jingping Imperial Preceptor blurted out, "What? " "Impossible!
" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor rose abruptly: "The medicine stones laid in aboard the tower ships this time were three months' worth.
How could they be gone in a single day? " Jiantang spoke little: "Fired away by the cannons.
" Yuyuan Chuyun said, "Jingping Imperial Preceptor, the cannons after Doctor Shen's improvements consume enormous energy, and the improved pill furnaces need even more medicine stones.
In the battle just now, every cannon fired a hundred times as many shots as before! The consumption was a hundred times as great! That is how the medicine stones were fired away.
" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor steadied himself: "Then the pursuit of the enemy cannot be entrusted to the New Army.
Let the cavalry and the flying cavalry pursue.
Your New Army shall rest and reorganize first; when the medicine stones arrive, I will have other tasks for you. " Yuyuan Chuyun said, "Jingping Imperial Preceptor, the New Army still has no name.
We beg the Jingping Imperial Preceptor to bestow one.
" "It is not proper for me to bestow a name; the Emperor must bestow it. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor waved his hand and sent them off, thinking, "How could they all be fired away? The things Master Shen improved seem to spare no cost — piling on energy desperately, as if afraid the firepower might prove insufficient. .
. " Just then, a flying cavalryman came with urgent word, whistling in; a nine-headed eagle landed, rolled on the ground, and became a divine-power cultivator who knelt on one knee and cried, "Report — Jingping Imperial Preceptor, General Bian begs Doctor Shen to come to the front at once! " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor's heart stirred.
This time all the armies were resting; only Bian Zhenyun, leading the army of Qingmen Pass, was pursuing the enemy closely, preparing to strike straight at the Mandi Kingdom's capital, Huanglong Prefecture.
Bian Zhenyun had long guarded Qingmen Pass and knew the grasslands well.
This time he led his elite troops straight for Huanglong Prefecture; speed was the essence of war, and cutting off Huanglong Prefecture outright was well within his reach. "Doctor Shen has already gone to the Daoist sect and is not here. What has happened?
" "Witch poison! " The cultivator suddenly tore open his clothes and bared his chest, and there upon his body were corpse spots and vast ulceration. He said in a hoarse voice, "Every young man of ours in the army has taken the witch poison; many brothers are already dead!
The military physicians of the Imperial Academy say a Great Witch poisoned the water! " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor's face went grim.