Castle of Black Iron

After visiting the factory of Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs, Commander Cheng visited the Fiery-Oil production bases, airplane manufacturing plant, engine manufacturing plant, vehicle manufacturing plant and Air Cavalry Training Academy within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.

One Fiery-Oil production base within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had been officially put into use, 6 more were going to be put into use. In the following 2 years, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be able to produce 4 million tons of Fiery Oil per year. Being corresponding to it, the arable land in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be further expanded; especially the corn planting area would be doubled each year. In this critical period, they planted corns not only for food but also for the holy war.

The airplane manufacturing plant within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could produce 70 air cavalry type-I airplanes a day, the type of which had been completely fixed. This capacity was constantly growing. When showing Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi around the airplane manufacturing plant, Zhang Tie generously admitted that the daily production of 70 airplanes was far from his anticipation. Zhang Tie expected that this airplane manufacturing plant could at least produce 100,000 various airplanes a year within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. It meant that he should expand the current capacity by 4 times so as to meet his demand.

Besides air cavalry type-I, they were also developing air cavalry type-II which was larger in size, longer in flying range and heavier in load.

The engine plant in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could already produce 4 types of engines: one dual-drive engine for air cavalry airplanes, one dual-drive engine for vehicles, two for tanks and armored vehicles.

It only took them a bit more than 2 hours to look around all the important places in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory under the guidance of Zhang Tie.

After visiting the Air Cavalry Training Academy, Commander Cheng posed to take a look at the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps. Zhang Tie then took them over there.

Over 300,000 fighters were being trained in the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps.

Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi were both shocked at the sight of over 300,000 fighters training spear throwing skills in the training field which covered almost 24 square miles.

Although there were spear throwing elites in the official corps and troops of Taixia Country, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had never seen such a grand scene before.

On the training field, almost all the fighters only wore one pant and a pair of field boots. Under the hot sunlight, hundreds of thousands of male fighters were sweating heavily. Due to long-term exposure to the sunlight, everyone’s upper body had been dark red. Many newbies’ skins were cracking. After tearing off their skins, their flesh looked like being hurt by boiling water.

The dust over the training field changed the look of those fighters. Their sweat caused clear gullies on their chests and backs…

“Thunder…” With the roar of a coach, a matrix of 900 fighters threw out their spears in standard gesture, which fell onto the land over 100 m away while the greater part or those spears entered the soil.

“Wind…” With another roar on the other side of the training field, a row of 100 fighters moved forward rapidly in tidy steps. After rushing over 10 footsteps ahead, they threw out their spears towards afar almost in a line in a lower angle of elevation.

Soon after that, this row of fighters squatted down at once. In the following 2 seconds, the second row of 100 fighters had rushed out and come to the front of the first row before throwing out their spears. Closely after that, the second row of fighters squatted down. The third row of fighters repeated the same process and the like. When the 9th row of fighters finished their action, the first row of fighters had taken out their second spears and prepared for the second round…

This was called 9-section spear strike. In this striking state, a spear striking matrix could build a steel wall in front of them in a short period.

With the roar of “electricity”, a matrix of hundreds of fighters on the other side of the training field threw out their spears, all of which hit the mound over 200 m away precisely…

On the training field, over 100,000 fighters were throwing spears in different patterns. At the same time, more fighters were gritting and doing a martial-art squat while

There were many other training methods and battle skills…

…

Standing on a hillside nearby the training field of Fire-Dragon Corps and watching those fighters receiving tough and special training, Commander Cheng became silent for a short while before suddenly turning around and looking at Zhang Tie, “Who developed these training methods and spear battle skills?”

“Ahem, ahem, I have a bit knowledge about spears. I compiled the training outlines for these Fiery-Oil spear fighters!”

“Do you prepare to turn all these people into Fiery-Oil spear fighters?”

“Of course not, a basic requirement for becoming a Fiery-oil spear fighter is that they could throw a spear over 200 m away. Not everyone could do that. Through such a training, I intend to select Fiery-Oil spear fighters and have all the members of Fire-Dragon Corps to be familiar with the main combat mode of the corps in the future. The combat mode of Fire-Dragon Corps is utterly different than that or the other corps!”

“How?”

“In the cases where common fighter’s battle strength couldn’t match demon fighters, I only have one request to Fire-Dragon Corps, namely, throw all your weapons onto the demons’ heads and evacuate as fast as possible so as to survive themselves…”

“You treat them as cavalry archers!”

“Yes, however, cavalry archers ride horses; the fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps should realize the mechanization through steel and technologies…”

“Are you preparing to fight or what? If not in the holy war, I would have already accused you as an insurgent!”

Zhang Tie let out a sigh, “I’m indeed preparing to fight. I don’t believe that Commander Cheng didn’t know that demons would never spare too much time for Taixia Country to make preparations. From now on, demons might appear in Taixia Country at any time. If not make preparations at this moment, what if demons suddenly launched a strike towards Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?”

“It’s just a small problem. Even if all the provinces and prefectures across Taixia Country are suffering from a crop failure, Taixia Country’s storage is enough for 10 years’ demand across the country. Why are you so confident?” Commander Cheng asked calmly.

“Commander Cheng, based on your identity and position, you must know how Xuanyuan Hill is preparing to resist demons!” Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he moved his eyes onto the training field and said, “Starting from Pingsha Valley, the moment those bloody seas were discovered across Taixia Country, they would be immediately taken over and demolished by the supreme court and the military of Taixia Country. The catastrophe of bloody figures broke out suddenly; however, I think Xuanyuan Hill must have got the time for bloody figures to grow mature in bloody seas spontaneously from those dead bloody figures or bloody seas. In my opinion, those bloody figures would have grown mature completely at most this June, namely now. Perhaps Commander Cheng is the first one who has received the notice from Xuanyuan Hill about this. Am I right?”

Cheng Honglie’s eyes gave out a shrewd light at once as he fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie.

“Commander Cheng, relax. I’ve not arranged any mole on your side. It’s unnecessary for me to do that. However, now that Xuanyuan Hill could get the intelligence, it doesn’t mean that the others couldn’t get it across Taixia Country!”

Commander Cheng frowned as he suddenly recalled something. After that, he let out a sigh, “You’re really qualified to be Qianji Hermit. I believe that you didn’t get this news from Zhang Taixuan because even Zhang Taixuan didn’t know that. Now, I really wonder about the heavenly knight on your back who helped you exterminate the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire. Did you get the news from those old d**chebags from Heavens Fortune Sect?”

Zhang Tie shrugged. He didn’t make any explanation about that. Since he returned to Taixia Country with so many wives and kids, all the people across Taixia Country were guessing about the identity of that heavenly knight on the back of Zhang Tie. Many people guessed that the heavenly knight on the back of Zhang Tie should be a grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect because only Heavens Fortune Sect could be so close to Zhang Tie. Many people wondered what benefits had Zhang Tie promised to Heavens Fortune Sect for having a grand elder give him a favor.

Zhang Tie didn’t care about such gossips and speculations at all. Because he could never clarify it. Additionally, if he intended to clarify it to the others, they would feel that he was covering something. If he didn’t explain it, everybody would feel that there was a heavenly knight on his back. With such a powerful reliance, no ordinary people would dare offend him from then on.

“Now that the time when bloody figures would grow mature is inconsistent with that of the grains crisis, why do we still believe that demons would spare time for Taixia Country and allow Taixia Country to deal with them leisurely after solving these problems and recovery in about 10 years? When alchemist’s bombs explode at the same time, they would have the greatest destructive power; similarly, only when these crises facing Taixia Country were detonated at the same time could demons make Taixia Country flurried and more chaotic. Therefore, Taixia Country have less time left in preparation for the coming demons. If I were the demon general, after knowing that the bloody figures in bloody seas were exposed in advance, I would definitely plan ahead in case of sparing any chance for Taixia Country to train its soldiers leisurely!”

After hearing Zhang Tie’s words, Commander Cheng’s eye light recovered back to normal. After looking at Zhang Tie for a short while seriously, he suddenly opened his mouth, “You’re right, demons are coming soon. They’ve already found the way to Eastern Continent after detouring the Lion Fortress in Earth-elements Realm. Few people know this news. According to Xuanyuan Hill’s judgment, demons would arrive at the Eastern Continent at the end of next year at most!”

After hearing Commander Cheng’s words, Zhang Tie’s heart pounded as he asked, “How did Xuanyuan Hill know that?”

“It was told by Han Zhengfang when he fought Meng Shidao in Sincerity Garden. In that case, Han Zhengfang would never lie about this thing for the sake of the dignity of heavenly knight no matter which side he was on. After receiving this news, Xuanyuan Hill had already contacted Lion Fortress and had Lion Fortress investigate and prove it. Last month, Du Guyi the Demon-Suppression General wrote a letter to Xuanyuan Hill and revealed that demons indeed have found the method to enter Taixia Country by detouring Lion Fortress. You could never imagine what suggestion had Du Guyi proposed to the imperial court.”

“What suggestion?”

“Du Guyi wants Lion Fortress to destroy itself so as to block the tunnel from the Military Province to the Earth-elements Realm. After that, have all the human knights in Lion Fortress fight demons before breaking into the underground demon’s world unexpectedly…”

As Zhang Tie had been in the Lion Fortress in the Earth-elements Realm, he was dumbfounded by the Demon-Suppression General’s opinion…

Watching Zhang Tie’s shocked look, Commander Cheng finally had a strange feeling. After being shocked by Zhang Tie for so many times today, it was finally his turn to see Zhang Tie’s shocked look.

“Xuanyuan Hill would never agree with that!” Zhang Tie shook his head.

“Of course not. If they drop tens of thousands of human knights into the Earth-elements Realm like dropping a dice, they have to bear the great stress from human countries, major clans and sects.

Zhang Tie replied with a frown, “Commander Cheng, why did you tell me about this?”

“Because I want to make a deal with you!”

“What deal?”

“Help me train 10,000 military officials. I request these people to be as same as your military officials in Fire-Dragon Corps when they leave. Additionally, give me 10 Fire-Dragon Corps’ war preparedness equipment!” Commander Cheng said straightly. As a far-sighted man, he had already seen the value of Fire-Dragon Corps; especially the special training method of Fiery-Oil spear fighters.

“I could help Commander Cheng train 10,000 military officials. But the capacity and equipment in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory should meet the demand of Fire-Dragon Corps ahead of the outside demands. If you want to match troops of 5 million people with these ware preparedness equipment, you might need to wait for a few years…”

“If so, expand the capacity!”

“But I’ve not got enough people!”

“I will assign one most powerful arm corps of engineers within the northeast military region to you. Additionally, I will allocate 100,000 technicians and engineers to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from Aibei Prefecture, Yanzhou Province. With this manpower, you could build a powerful industrial production base in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in the shortest period. As for the resources, I don’t think that Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Youzhou Province lack resources…”

Aibei Prefecture was the industrial center of the northeast military region. It gathered the most excellent industrial elites across the northeast military region. Wherever these people were, they were always popular.

“That’s a deal!” Zhang Tie nodded at once. After thinking for a few seconds, he added, “However, if the industrial production base in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory wants to survive, it has to produce blood itself. The later trades shouldn’t be one-way blood output, we have to follow commercial rules. Of course, all the equipment that I provide to Commander Cheng will be sold at cost price.”

Commander Cheng wanted 10 Fire-Dragon Corps’ “war preparedness equipment” instead of “equipment”. The two terms were sharply different from each other. The prior required at least 3 times military supplies of weapons and ammo of that of the later. It indicated that Zhang Tie should produce more Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs and Fiery-Oil incendiary spears so as to make Commander Cheng satisfied. It was definitely an astronomical amount of cost. Fewer than 5 clans within the northeast military region could afford it, including Zhang Tie’s clan. Additionally, they had to suffer a great loss.

Commander Cheng left a good impression in Zhang Tie’s mind; however, it didn’t mean that Commander Cheng could make Zhang Tie suffer a great loss and work hard until death for the benefit of the official only by one sentence.

Commander Cheng waved his hand with a smile as he said, “If you give me these things, I will have all-purpose medicament enter the purchasing storage contents of the top 6 warehouses within the northeast military region!”

Zhang Tie looked at Commander Cheng while still feeling like suffering a great loss. No matter what, he always felt the black face of Cheng Honglie was very cunning. After a while, he finally nodded forcefully as he said, “That’s a deal!”

After being solemn for quite a while, Commander Cheng finally revealed a faint smile. However, the faint smile flashed over at once and was soon replaced by an expression which felt like suffering a great loss. Commander Cheng then told Zhang Tie with a faithful look, “Don’t feel that you’ve suffered a great loss. How about this? From today on, I will hand the best 120 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture in Yanzhou Province to you. You rent it for 100 years. You know that so many major clans and dignitaries in Xuanyuan Hill liked to rent those official fields through relationship, but I didn’t agree with them. They’re the best official fields in the northeast military region. You only need to submit 50% of the grains output on those fields last year to the northeast military region headquarters each year as a rent. That’s a deal! Here’s a remote-sensing communication device; you can contact me with it. I have to go now!”

After throwing a remote-sensing communication ring to Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng immediately flew off before Zhang Tie opened his mouth. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared in front of Zhang Tie. After blinking his eyes towards Zhang Tie, Gao Tianqi also rushed into the sky and disappeared…

Not knowing why, seeing Commander Cheng leaving so hurriedly, Zhang Tie always felt being screwed…

…

Only after a short while, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had returned to their airboat. The moment they entered the airboat, Commander Cheng had ordered the pilot to return to Youzhou Province as fast as possible.

Not only small figures felt being guilty as thieves.

“Commander, why did you…”

Gao Tianqi looked at Commander Cheng with a curious expression.

“Ahem…ahem…” Commander Cheng pretended to cough twice. The benefit of having a black face was that people could not see his blush. He replied, “His byname is Qianji Hermit. Erm…someone might give you a surprise if you force him to do something!”

Gao Tianqi became speechless as he could only pray for Zhang Tie inside. The farming rent in Ninghe Prefecture was at most 40% of grains output last year. Previously, many major clans and dignitaries indeed wanted to rent the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture; however, they were all scared away by the rent of 50% of grains output last year in the mouth of Commander Cheng…

However, Ninghe Prefecture suffered from a crop failure this summer…