Chapter 4 Reforging Swords and Soldiers

  Lei Meng appeared on the wall of the courtyard, letting out a light breath. Just now when he flashed away from his original position, he quickly circled around the courtyard and stabbed to death all those assassins who were stunned and slow to react.

  Under the starry night, all he saw was a group of figures rising and falling in the darkness, fleeing westward. These people retreated very decisively, now chasing after them would probably not kill many people. Lei Meng thought to himself, although he was furious, but his mind was still clear!

  Looking back at the hall with flames raging, he felt that the fiercely burning fire was mocking his naivety.

  "Are you not going to let me live? Have I offended you?" Lei Meng muttered to himself, his right hand tightly gripping the Tang knife, his fingers crackling with a popping sound, "Ask the knife in my hand!"

  When the large group of soldiers guarding the city arrived at the City Master's mansion, they saw Lei Meng with an arrow inserted in his left shoulder, holding Mr. Wen who had no breath, walking out of the gate from the courtyard where flames were soaring into the sky.

  Looking at the sorrowful face of Lei Meng, the soldiers did not dare to speak and knelt down on the ground in unison: being infiltrated by so many enemies into Hexi City was their dereliction of duty.

  Luoyang Tian and Huang Chu walked over from the other side with smiles, Luoyang Tian's proud voice ringing out: "I wonder who it is that Leiming has captured this time?"

  The sound was particularly jarring in the quiet of the night, with only the crackling of fire and the falling debris from within the castle responding to it, making the atmosphere a bit heavy.

  "No!" Huang Chu pulled Luo Yang and said, "Something's happened!"

  Luoyang Tian hastily rushed forward and arrived at the side of the kneeling soldier, seeing Lei Ming standing still holding Mr. Wen, with five or six arrows still stuck in his body.

  "Mr. Wen!……" Luoyang Tian Sha mournfully cried out, taking two big strides forward, and with both hands received Mr. Wen's corpse, his tiger eyes involuntarily dropping tears. General Tong Wen Zheng died of illness on the battlefield, while Mr. Wen was assassinated in the mansion! Could it be that this good man had no good reward, and an upright person should die unjustly?!

  "Rest in peace, Mr. Wen!" came the calm and composed voice of Lei Meng. Luoyang Tian raised his head slightly and nodded, but suddenly saw an arrow still lodged in Lei Meng's left shoulder. He was shocked and exclaimed, "Master, the arrow on your left shoulder..." This was the second time he had seen Lei Meng injured.

  Lei Meng casually pulled out the arrow on his left shoulder, bringing out a burst of black blood. He also felt some numbness at the wound. The arrowhead that had been shot unknowingly was actually poisonous, but fortunately, his internal strength was deep, and the poison did not spread.

  He applied pressure to push out the blood near the arrowhead, and with a few quick presses, stopped the bleeding. He lifted his head, looking at the concerned gazes of the crowd, and forced a smile that was even more painful than crying, saying: "It's nothing, this little injury won't matter."

  Then, unable to hold back his sorrow, he said with a low bow: "Poor Mr. Wen."

  After a flurry of activity, the soldiers extinguished the fire in the council hall, leaving behind only a pile of blackened remains. The identity of the deceased assassin could not be determined, but judging from the ferocity and tight organization of the attack, it was clear that the target was the Hua Tian Army, rather than the Jin Yuan Army or ordinary bandits. The city of He Xi began to impose martial law.

  Mr. Wen's body was cleaned up and placed in a coffin, to be buried the next day. Until now, no one knows Mr. Wen's full name, let alone contact his relatives. Luoyang Tian is deeply regretful about this.

  Lei Meng roughly wrapped his left shoulder and walked along the street with Luoyang Tian, patrolling inside Héxī City. Looking at the bustling soldiers on the streets, the unusually quiet houses on both sides with their lights out, Lei Meng couldn't help but feel a sense of surrealism, how similar was this to scenes from TV shows and movies back then?

  "What does Master plan to do about this from now on?" Luoyang Tian's slightly sorrowful and low voice came from the left side, still habitually addressing Lei Ming as "Master" in private gatherings.

  "Let's get down to business first, there are some things that need to be discussed with Yang Tian. " Lei Meng took two steps forward before responding, "Since we've already had the first time, the second time won't be far off either. It seems that this dispute is unavoidable for us."

  Luoyang Tian remained silent, he had gradually distanced himself from the military leadership core. Luoyang Tian felt a little ashamed of this idea, but had to admit that the new strategic and tactical thinking was not something he could control, only someone like Yang Tian who was unconventional could master it with ease, perhaps only when he became familiar with those strategies and tactics could he return to the core.

  Lei Ming saw Luo Yang's sky for a long time without speaking, fearing that he would think too much, and added: "Some weapons have great destructive power, I need Yang Tian's help."

  Patrolled through the night, nothing unusual was found. Perhaps the vigilant people had retreated with that group of people early on. Even if someone wanted to hide now, they couldn't be dug out. Only the patrolling soldiers were left to guard the night, while others rested and spent a peaceful night.

  The next morning, Lei Meng sent a messenger to quickly deliver the order to each city to be on high alert and also asked Huang Chu to choose an auspicious burial site. At noon, Lei Meng personally led the generals of the city to bury Mr. Wen, with only "Tomb of Mr. Wen" inscribed on the tombstone; Lei Meng led the generals of Hexi City to offer sacrifices, which moved the hearts of the generals and unintentionally won them over.

  They spent ten peaceful days, and then Yang Tian received a message to bring Old Man Yang and Yang Erwu to the west of the river. The reunion was joyful, which slightly alleviated Lei Meng's sorrowful mood.

  Lei Meng then took them to visit the auction hall, new farm tools such as plows, rakes, shovels, etc., try out new pulley carts, steel wire ropes... In short, everything that Lei Meng had renovated was browsed through.

  After seeing the new look of Hexi, Old Yang couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. Although Yangjiacun was clean, it didn't have such wide and tidy streets; although Yangjiacun had small carts, they were far less labor-saving than those here; the farming in Yangjiacun...

  He couldn't help but glance at Lei Meng and Yang Tian, bursting into laughter, his mouth unable to close: The two little kids who said they wanted to venture out back then, didn't expect they really managed to create a huge foundation, and built it even better than the small town on the border, much better.

  Yang Erwu was also like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, touching this and that, busy with joy.

  "Old man, from now on, you can just stay here, okay?" Lei Meng asked cautiously, seeing Yang Lao's persistent smile that showed his teeth but not his eyes, he was still a bit afraid that Yang Lao would refuse.

  "Alright, alright!" Old Man Yang replied with a smile. "However, I'd also like to be able to temper some metal tools. Could you arrange for me to have a furnace?"

  Lei Meng and Yang Tian exchanged a glance, indeed, his nature was hard to change, he just liked to tinker with these things.

  "In that case, let's go to Baishan City and live there. I have a steel furnace built there." Lei Ming suggested, "The steel refined from the furnace is already comparable to the iron that was repeatedly forged dozens of times before. Moreover, there are many blacksmiths in Baishan who can learn from each other."

  "Good, good!" Old Man Yang exclaimed repeatedly, his eyes shining brightly as he said, "Then we'll go to Baishan City, let's go to Baishan City!"

  "I'll take care of things here, and we can go to Baishan together tomorrow."

  At night, Lei Meng and Yang Tian lit the lamp in the room to discuss. Yang Tian lay on the bed, asking: "What's the background of the other party? They actually shot several arrows and sent Mr. Wen, who had gone through many life-and-death ordeals, to his death?"

  "Look at how they're marching in unison, and their martial arts skills are quite good and evenly matched. They should be military personnel." Leiming sat in front of the lamp, pondered for a moment, then looked up and replied, "Looking at the direction they went, it's possible that they're from Huatian."

  "But it's also possible that Jin Yuan is framing someone. So you can't make up your mind?" Yang Tian suddenly sat up, and now he realized the problem was big.

  "Hmm." Lei Meng nodded, "The real and the fake are mutually transformative; when one is used in reverse, it becomes the same as the other. Therefore, we can't determine where they came from. It's all my fault for being too impulsive at the time and killing those who couldn't escape."

  "Even if we knew, with our military strength, we would be powerless, stuck in the middle, and outnumbered..." Yang Tian lay down again, dejected.

  "I want to manufacture guns and cannons!" Lei Meng looked at Yang Tian with determination.

  Yang Tian sprang up, stood up straight and looked at Lei Meng's determined expression in surprise, saying: "Really? Not feverish?" After speaking, he wanted to reach out and touch Lei Meng's forehead, because Lei Meng had always been worried that manufacturing those powerful weapons would threaten the lives of the two of them.

  Lei Meng lightly brushed aside Yang Tian's outstretched hand and said, "Our development is too fast and too attractive. As long as we wait a little longer, our economy and military strength will be invincible in this land, and we will inevitably threaten their rule!"

  "Hmm, if I were you, I would also try to extinguish this uncontrollable power." Yang Tian paced back and forth on the spot, saying, "If we can't eliminate cores like us, then they will think of ways to uproot our foundation."

  Lei Meng nodded and said: "Giving up this foundation is not something you or I can do, so we will have to face their large army sooner or later. We might as well make preparations early."

  Yang Tian nodded heavily: "Then what do you want me to do?"

  "Modify the ammunition to make it more powerful. Keep it confidential!" Lei Meng tapped the table twice and added, "I'll be in charge of the gun barrel and scope. I'm going to make a sniper rifle and steel cannon!"

  "I think the mine on the side of Yangjia Village seems better. If not, I'll have someone transport some back?" suggested Yang Tian.

  "You were about to mention that, weren't you? The ore there is of very good quality, and our Tang knife has been used till now without any damage." Lei Meng's left hand tightened around the Tang knife, which he now carried with him at all times. "The special forces team will stay behind in White Mountain, that's our true foundation! As for the rest, you can arrange it yourself."

  The next day, Lei Meng told Luo Yangtian and Huang Chu about it, and then went to Baicheng with Yang Tian and others.

  Sitting in the comfortable, stable and fast carriage, Old Yang couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion: "I never thought that I, Yang the blacksmith, would have a day where I'd ride in a carriage." He finally had a day to relax and enjoy himself, but unfortunately his wife had long since passed away and wouldn't be able to see this wonderful day...

  Upon hearing this, Lei Meng, who was riding a horse alongside the carriage, couldn't help but break out in cold sweat. This was just an ironware transport, not a passenger one; Yang Lao had only been allowed to ride along because they were in a hurry. However, he didn't dare speak the truth, fearing it would dampen Yang Lao's enthusiasm.

  Yang Erwu sat in the carriage, looking around happily, and when he saw Lei Meng's embarrassed expression on horseback, he couldn't help but think deeply. He didn't think of anything, wanted to ask Yang Tian, but saw him with a straight face, as if everyone in the world owed him money; besides, he was his master, so it wasn't good to ask casually.