Chapter 00194: Preparing for Battle and Changing Attire
# Preparing for Battle and Changing Attire
Chapter 194
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 194: Preparing for Battle and Changing Attire
The crowd laughed at him: "Is this bear gall enough to cover the betrothal gifts for your third brother's wedding?"
Menban patted him on the shoulder: "Do you want me to add a bit more? But I must say, I want my share of that bride too."
"That's enough, enough. There's nothing for you guys."
The thin man was unfazed as he carefully took the box and packed it away.
His teammates all knew he was the eldest at home, with four younger brothers and two younger sisters, among whom the second brother had lost a leg in battle and could no longer do the heavy work to support the family.
After their parents passed away, the thin man, as the eldest brother, had to take on the responsibilities of their father.
At this moment, with the bear gall in hand, he felt quite confident: "I wonder if the in-laws will dare to ask for anything this time!"
Just as everyone was planning to part ways and head home to rest, Liu Tong returned: "Don't disperse yet; a new mission has come."
Menban was taken aback: "Are we doing it now?"
After tracking, ambushing, and fighting, they had worked for over ten hours to slay the bear demon, and now it was time to recuperate.
"This is a mandatory mission; there's no room for negotiation."
Liu Tong's expression was serious.
"Everyone, go treat your wounds and prepare five days' worth of supplies. After a rest of one and a half hours, gather at the South Gate Square. This time, it's a military operation!"
Everyone was taken aback, chattering among themselves: "Are we also participating in the military operation?"
"It's finally our turn?"
"A military campaign is great; the military merits will be plentiful!" The thin man licked his lips, "I'm tired of killing monsters."
He Lingchuan then asked, "How many legions are participating?"
"Not clear; that's classified."
Liu Tong instructed everyone, "Time is limited, hurry up and replenish food, water, pills, arrows, and other weapons. Bring your horses back to the stables to rest; I will fetch a batch of warhorses to replace them. Once we leave the city, we might have to march for a long distance."
Menban's expression turned serious: "Are we going to Puxiagou?"
"Unknown."
Liu Tong hurriedly left.
Liutiao twisted his neck, making a few cracking sounds: "The horses can rest, but we don't have that luxury."
They had endured over ten hours of hunting, returning to the city exhausted, only to be told they had to set out again.
"I’m going back to sleep for a bit."
The thin man needed to rush home to hand over the day's harvest to his family, but before leaving, he didn’t forget to ask his teammates: "Hey, there's only one hour left; you guys don’t have time to shop, right? Let’s do it like last time, twenty scallion meat pies and five blocks of cheese for each of you?"
Menban frowned: "Every time we buy from your sister-in-law, it’s not any cheaper, is it?"
"For you guys, I always use the best flour and put in extra oil. Don’t you think they taste oily and fragrant when you eat them?" The thin man counted on his fingers, "Even so, each pie is still a copper coin cheaper than the market price. This is the teammate price, the conscience price!"
"Then why does the meat in the pies taste a bit sour?" another teammate chimed in, "What kind of meat did you put in?"
"Good meat, all genuine good meat!" The thin man said seriously, "I watched them make the pies myself, so rest assured, there’s no skimping on the ingredients."
"I even found a fly in the pie."
A teammate protested, "Since you were watching the whole time, didn’t you see the fly fly in?"
"More flies mean more meat; crispy and crunchy, why bother picking it out?"
Everyone hissed at him, but they also tacitly agreed to continue buying provisions from his family.
The thin man had to support a large family and was always short on money, not letting even half a copper coin slip away.
After all, scallion meat pies all tasted the same; it didn’t matter whose family they bought from.
At least the thin man wasn’t wrong about one thing: his sister-in-law’s pies had more oil, making them more filling.
Once everyone else had left, the thin man asked He Lingchuan: "Duan Dao, do you need anything else?"
"Get me another five pounds of beef jerky, make it drier and tougher, not soggy."
"Alright!" The thin man knew that He Lingchuan, being a single man without a family to feed, would definitely be more generous with his food and drink expenses.
Cattle were precious production resources; who would be willing to slaughter them if they weren’t sick or old? The price of beef jerky was at least three times that of cheese.
He Lingchuan emphasized: "No cat meat, no raccoon meat; I want proper beef."
"Understood, understood."
The thin man chuckled, turning to leave, but was called back by He Lingchuan, "Get me a few Ghost Shadow Cicada Shedding."
"Ghost Shadow..."
The thin man was taken aback, "That stuff isn’t cheap."
"Use military merits to exchange for something more expensive."
Every city had an underground black market, and even a strict place like Panlong City was no exception, where some rare items not commonly found on the market circulated.
If it weren’t for Hu Min and A Luo not being around, He Lingchuan wouldn’t have bothered this guy.
Ghost Shadow Cicada Shedding was essential for using the Li Dai Tao Jiang technique.
After He Lingchuan learned this divine ability, as long as he threw it on the ground in advance, he could freely swap positions within a radius of five zhang.
Although the cooldown lasted three hours, if used well, it was a divine skill.
After the thin man left, He Lingchuan returned to the Pengcheng Office and exchanged his accumulated military merits for Li Dai Tao Jiang.
Then, he found an inn nearby and rented a room.
The shorter the intervals between battles, the more he needed to seize the time to recuperate.
Hu Min had left yesterday afternoon without saying where he was going.
Coincidentally, A Luo had done the same, so He Lingchuan deduced that they had likely rushed to the Panlong Wilderness ahead of him.
In the past few times he entered the dream, he had been diligently collecting intelligence and soon discovered that Panlong City and the Baling Army had already exchanged blows several times on the battlefield of Puxiagou.
Facing the disruptive tactics employed by the Baling Army, Panlong City adopted a strategy of focusing on the big picture while letting go of the small details, not waiting idly for opportunities but instead sending troops to suppress during the concentrated harvest of crops and when merchants left the city.
After several ineffective incursions by the Baling Army, they simply increased their manpower to plunder merchants.
After all, the local specialties of Puxiagou were indeed valuable.
Before today, the Baling Army had successfully plundered three times and failed four times, the most recent being three days ago.
In just two months, there had been a total of seven military operations for plundering, indicating how intense the competition between both sides had become.
Such medium-scale, high-frequency battles could not rely solely on the Da Feng Army; it had its own tasks to execute, so the Patrol Army was timely supplemented, becoming one of the main forces of each Puxiagou escort team.
Many Patrol squads had already been there, and this time it was finally the turn of the team He Lingchuan was in.
He had just laid down on the couch when the exhaustion of over ten hours hit him like a tidal wave, dragging him into a deep slumber.
In the past few missions, He Lingchuan was surprised to find that he could actually fall asleep in his dreams.
However, this kind of rest did not involve dream within a dream; instead, it was a deep, heavy sleep, and when he woke up, he felt refreshed and fully recovered from fatigue.
At this time, there were still fifteen minutes until the gathering time.
He Lingchuan walked to a nearby small eatery and ordered a bowl of white-cut lamb, two enormous steamed buns, and a large bowl of wonton soup, devouring it all.
Among all the food, meat was the most filling.
He Lingchuan thought that the later he ate the scallion meat pies from the thin man's family, the better.
However, only Patrol members could eat like this in a small eatery.
Others would have to think for a long time before ordering a bowl of oily lamb soup.
A nearby child was almost drooling, slowly nibbling on his bun while stealing glances at He Lingchuan's bowl.
He Lingchuan focused on filling himself up.
The waiter brought over two filled water pouches and handed them to He Lingchuan.
Many Patrol members dining here received such considerate services from the establishment, such as replenishing ready-made provisions and clean water.
He Lingchuan stood up, paid the bill, and then pointed to the soup bowl, asking the child: "Do you want some?"
The child nodded vigorously.
There were several large wontons in the soup, along with scallions, and a layer of oil floating on top.
The child's mother looked on eagerly; it seemed like the last time her family had meat was two months ago.
He Lingchuan placed the bowl on the child's table and turned to leave.
At the South Gate Square of Panlong City.
When He Lingchuan found his small team, there were already seven or eight hundred people gathered in the square, and judging by their attire, they were mostly Patrol Army members.
The thin man arrived with his younger siblings, distributing provisions in one hand while collecting money with the other.
The young woman was fair-skinned and somewhat attractive, carrying two baskets filled with freshly made scallion meat pies, still steaming through the oil paper.
She smiled at everyone and didn’t mind the men joking with her or making lewd comments.
Menban said to the thin man: "Next time, if I buy again, it’s only if your siblings come to deliver the pies."
The thin man rolled his eyes: "Then you better live through today."
After saying that, he gestured towards Liutiao.
Menban turned to look, and Liutiao was glaring at him fiercely, almost raising her eyebrows in anger, causing him to lower his head and cough a couple of times.
Liu Tong came over and gathered the team into a nearby alley, where someone delivered a set of light leather armor.
He Lingchuan was taken aback, and Menban exclaimed: "Ah, isn’t this the Da Feng Army uniform?!"
The standard equipment of the Da Feng Army was different from that of other units and could be recognized at a glance.
To be incorporated into the Da Feng Army and wear this armor was a glory pursued by many.
"What are you shouting about? Are you afraid others can’t hear?" Liu Tong made a shushing gesture, "Change here quickly."
No one asked any further questions; they quickly changed their attire, and someone collected their Patrol uniforms in return.
Menban touched the Da Feng Army uniform on his body, filled with emotion: "Are we really being given this set of equipment?"
These pieces of equipment were semi-new, having likely been worn by the original owner for some time.
He Lingchuan even discovered dark red blood stains on the sleeve armor.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, even if it’s been nibbled on.
Liutiao questioned: "What are we supposed to do with this?"
"Why ask so many questions as a soldier?" More horses were brought over, all shiny and spirited, their coats brushed clean, with their own rations hanging behind the saddles.
In such a rapid march, the horses could eat the wild grass of the plains, but to ensure they had stamina and endurance, the cavalry had to bring some concentrated feed.
Everyone exchanged glances.
If it weren’t for the tough battle ahead, why would the preparations be so thorough?
Liu Tong called everyone to lead the horses back to the square.
Liutiao and the others had already treated their wounds; the spiritual medicine of Panlong City was particularly effective for external injuries, and now it basically didn’t affect their movements.
At this time, the South Gate Square had gathered over a thousand people and horses, and a heavily armored man stood up, beginning to mobilize the entire army.
He Lingchuan heard someone say that this was General Nan Ke.
(End of Chapter)