Chapter 361: Chapter 325: Setting Out (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Before Sang Que could say anything, He Buning moved slightly closer and whispered to Sang Que.

“The tongue of the Yin Child will be brought to Qinzhou with the reinforcements. When the tide of the battle turns, I’ll think of a way to help you. As for the heart of the Yin Child, it has been kept at the Shengjing Exorcism Bureau, and retrieving it is difficult; we must plan carefully.”

After speaking, He Buning straightened up and resumed a normal distance from Sang Que.

“Do you know how to lead troops?” He Buning asked Sang Que.

Sang Que shook her head. She had led bandits before, about two hundred, but had never led two thousand elite soldiers.

“Come here.”

He Buning called Sang Que over to the sandbox and patiently explained the potential scenarios when the Qianshou Army attacked Dongyang County, and the route Sang Que would take to lead troops on a flanking raid on Tangyuan County.

When Sang Que was training those bandits, she had also read some modern military manuals, so she could keep up with He Buning’s explanations and even offer her own opinions.

The two gradually moved from He Buning’s one-sided explanations to a joint discussion, continuing from morning to afternoon. Only when Xiao Liu brought new military intelligence did they stop.

He Buning initially wanted Sang Que to copy down the military strategy books she read and give a copy to him. He was curious about his mother’s and sister’s hometown, but felt a deep fear of the place, afraid that digging too deep would lead to an unbearable outcome that would shatter his beliefs.

So, He Buning ultimately said nothing and did not inquire about anything related to Sang Que’s hometown.

The troops in Dongyang County remained still; Qiao Ling sat in a city clinic, diagnosing the illnesses of the townsfolk, with Xia Chan by her side as an apprentice.

Qin Ze, along with a few Day Traveling Envoys from the city, was busy dealing with various Evil Spirits.

The farmland behind Dongyang County continued normal cultivation, with the wheat in the fields outside the city already ripe, marking the time for harvest.

But during such times, Wheat Evils would always appear in the wheat fields. Sang Que would help during the day by catching them all and collecting them in a painting.

At night, she would take the Yin Child into the painting to merge the Wheat Evils with the previously collected corpses, giving those White-haired Zombies the ability of Wheat Evils. With just a touch, they could cause wheat spikes to grow layer by layer inside a person, inflicting excruciating pain until death.

Sang Que had brought out fifty Corpse Mud Zombies from Bright Moon Mountain, and in just a few days, she gathered more than forty Mai Chong Zombies. The remaining over five hundred corpses were ordinary White-haired Zombies.

She also went to the mountains to catch some wild beasts, having the Yin Child attempt to merge them with Wheat Evils, but all attempts failed.

Sang Que contemplated the reason, realizing that all Evil Spirits and Evil Ghosts in this world seemed never to attack domestic animals or wild beasts, except for the Gu in Yunzhou; nearly none had been seen mutated.

Perhaps wild beasts do not possess the ability to harbor ghostly powers. Next time, she would need to try with live humans directly.

On this day, there was a heavy rain in the morning, during the peak of the summer heat. By the afternoon, thick fog enveloped the area around Dongyang County, reducing visibility to less than a hundred meters.

The guards on the city wall couldn’t see the situation around Dongyang County, relying on their ears, but the fog was eerily silent.

Nan Zhongyun stood on the southern wall, digging at his ear, suddenly sensing something was wrong.

He always had excellent hearing, capable of catching the sound of insects chirping hundreds of meters away. Yet now, there was no sound at all in his ears. The thick fog shouldn’t be muting even the insect sounds around.

Nan Zhongyun shuddered, immediately shouting, “Crossbowmen, fire arrows!”

Although Nan Zhongyun’s voice was loud, none of the two rows of crossbowmen on the wall made a move. Only he could hear his voice; even the crossbowman standing next to him didn’t hear anything.

Seeing this situation, Nan Zhongyun hurried to the nearest cannon, pushed away the artilleryman, loaded, and fired the cannon himself towards the outside of the city wall.

Boom!

The cannon fire blasted a hole in the mist, revealing the Qianshou Army silently approaching within the dense fog. They wore black cloth turbans and carried ladders, rapidly advancing, now less than three hundred meters from the city wall.

Everyone on the city wall saw the sparkle of the cannon’s explosion, saw the Qianshou Army bodies torn apart, heard their wails, but still didn’t hear any sound.

It was at this moment that everyone realized what was happening.

Luckily, He Buning had anticipated this; the Order Flag Holder on the wall immediately picked up the pre-arranged signal flags, directing crossbowmen and artillerymen to alternately attack the Qianshou Army outside the city.

Nan Zhongyun ran to the gatehouse, put down his long spear, picked up the drumsticks, and rhythmically beat the war drums to alert the city garrison of the incoming enemy.

The surface of the drum ’silently’ vibrated, sound waves cutting ripples through the air. An itch in Nan Zhongyun’s ear was quickly followed by a bug crawling out, and in that instant, all sound returned to his ears.

Ignited arrows flew densely across the sky, cannon fire erupted on the wall, dispersing the fog in no time. The first wave of the attacking Qianshou Army suffered heavy casualties, and the second wave, shield in hand, continued to advance.

A great battle was about to unfold.

Drumbeats from all three sides of East Town County’s city walls signaled that enemies were on all three sides, a classic surround-three-sides-leave-one-open tactic.

With the outbreak of war, He Buning found Sang Que; the two thousand elite troops had long been ready, waiting for this very moment.

Sang Que, in black clothes, donned silver-white armor, slung on her longbow and arrows, tightened her red hair band, and stepped out of the room.

He Buning waited outside and handed her a long knife.

“This is my cherished blade, called ’Hundred Refinements’. It functions similarly to that previous knife of yours, creating Evil Qi from blood absorption, harming ghosts. But it’s even stronger. To some extent, it’s alive, capable of absorbing the power of ghosts in addition to blood. Once it’s full, it turns red and can injure fifth-layer Evil Ghosts with a single strike.”

“You’re giving it to me?” Sang Que took the knife, its blade pure black, resembling a Tang Cross Blade without any gaudy patterns, an epitome of simplicity.

He Buning nodded, “Yes, it’s yours, and this too.”

He Buning took out his flintlock gun, intending to give it to Sang Que, but she laughed and declined.

“No need for it, it’s too outdated. I’ll give you something new.”

Sang Que handed over a cloth-wrapped, short-barreled shotgun she had prepared, updating his equipment. She still had one for herself.

Along with it came a large bag of ammunition Sang Que had made in advance.

“These bullets should be enough for this time. I’ll prepare a set of tools for you to make more bullets later. Also, lend me a flame.”

He Buning, puzzled, watched as Sang Que drew a knife and slashed his hand, causing Xiao Liu to tremble in shock. If it weren’t for Sang Que, Xiao Liu would have drawn a knife.

Blood oozed from He Buning’s hand, igniting a green yin fire, which Sang Que swiped at, replicating the flame.

Completely baffled, He Buning received no explanation from Sang Que, “Time is running out, I’m off. Be careful.”

He Buning stood stunned with the gun and ammunition; shouldn’t he, as the elder brother, be the one offering words of caution to his sister headed to battle?

“Little Chan, we’re off!”

“Coming!”

Meow~

Sang Que mounted her horse, reaching out to pull Xia Chan up to ride together, with Xuan Yu in Xia Chan’s cross-body bag.

Sang Que nodded to He Buning one last time, cracked the whip.

“Move out!”

Two thousand elite soldiers followed Sang Que in grand procession out of the city. He Buning watched them until they vanished from sight, then withdrew his gaze and opened the cloth bundle.

He had studied flintlock guns for years; just holding the shotgun for a few moments, he quickly grasped its workings. Discovering it more convenient and powerful than the flintlock left He Buning in a storm of awe.

The Xuan Dynasty Firearms Bureau had researched for nearly twenty years yet remained unable to mass-produce flintlock guns. But in Sang Que’s homeland, there were already superior firearms. This realization struck He Buning with relief—relief that his sister chose to stay by his side, aligning with his goals.

“””

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep