Castle of Black Iron

In the same room, facing the same person, Zhang Tie didn’t feel anything different than that when he met Zuoqiu Mingyue here for the first time. After more than half a year, Zuoqiu Mingyue was still like a spirited immortal except for some imperceptible wisps of pale hair near his temples. Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside.

Commoners could not imagine how great stress was this old man sustaining whose figure was not imposing. He had to face the great stress of a multitude of demon knights and demon corps while sustaining the expectation of hundreds of millions of commoners across the entire empire. Within days, the frontline near Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River had already become the focus of both humans and demons in this holy war. Even the iron man might be collapsed mentally facing such great stress. However, this old man didn’t fall inside. After stabilizing the western line of defense, Zuoqiu Mingyue still stood here and accepted the coming storm frankly.

In the past half a year, although Zhang Tie was not in the frontline, he also knew that the demon army was approaching the human line of defense. During the same period, human knights and frontline battle fortresses had made great achievements under the guidance of Zuoqiu Mingyue in “sawtooth tactics” by separating the vanguards of demon army into parts. Under the general guidance of Zuoqiu Mingyue, the vanguard of demon army gradually slowed down their marching speed while those separated demon knights troops and ground corps had to combine with each other on a large scale once again so as to respond to the counterattack from Taixia Country…

“Commander-in-chief, Zhang Tie the Weiji General of western theater of operations is coming…” Zhang Tie still bowed towards Zuoqiu Mingyue politely in case of being regarded as fickle and arrogant because of Zuoqiu Mingyue’s favor.

Zuoqiu Mingyue revealed a very warm smile as he threw a tender yet sharp glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he slowly nodded as he said, “Hmm, not bad, very good. I’ve not selected the wrong person!”

Zhang Tie was not familiar with Zuoqiu Mingyue; otherwise, he should have long been excited after hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue’s praise. Only those who were familiar with Zuoqiu Mingyue knew that the commander-in-chief barely acclaimed any person usually. He would comment someone as “not bad” or “very good” at most. It was really his first time to speak highly of someone using “not bad”, “very good” and “I’ve not selected the wrong person” together. Nobody else across Taixia Country had ever gained such an acclamation from Zuoqiu Mingyue.

“I’m overpraised and embarrassed by such praise, commander-in-chief!”

“You’re too modest…” Zuoqiu Mingyue burst out into laughter, “I’m clear about your achievements as Weiji General. Everybody else has known what you’ve done for the theater of operations. Take the Fiery Oil weapons that you sent to the 7 corps near Helan Mountain Range and the performance of the students of the pilot academies in the four provinces as an instance, soon after that, I’ve received reports from hundreds of corps leaders of provincial armies and top 4 armies. All of them have been jealous about that and urged me to replenish the latest Fiery Oil weapons and air force for each corps. Look at you, a single action of yours would bring me a lot of troubles…”

Although Zuoqiu Mingyue’s words sounded like complaining, his tone implied he was very happy. Therefore, these words could also be regarded as praise.

After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue’s words and looking at the pale hair near his temples, Zhang Tie could only decline politely, “Benefited from the concerted efforts of soldiers and commoners and the spirit of sacrifice of officials in these provinces, I made such a bit achievement by fortune…”

“The total population of corps of Taixia Country within Peacewest Military Region has almost reached 500 million. As Weiji General of the theater of operations, you have the biggest right to speak on some issues. How long do you think it will take for these corps in the theater of operations to accomplish its first weaponry update?”

“At least 22 months!” Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly. As Weiji General, Zhang Tie might not interfere with all the details, he was very clear about the productive capacity of weaponry of the 4 provinces within Peacewest Military Region. This figure was calculated by the Peacewest Agricultural Bureau.

“22 months?” Zuoqiu Mingyue slightly frowned.

“The arsenals across the 4 provinces have been producing weaponry by 3 shifts. I’ve already told my subordinates to have mill owners and major clans participate in it in terms of bidding. Now, all the Fiery Oil bases in the 4 provinces have been put into production. All the provinces are releasing their productivity. This figure was an optimistic estimation that has excluded the demon army’s influence on the productivity of those provinces.

In the following year, the productivity in each province could increase 30% more. The weaponry update of Taixia troops within the 4 provinces could also be finished 4 months earlier; however, the outcome is that the quality of Fiery Oil weaponry would not be guaranteed while the yield rate of each kind of weaponry would degrade by 2 levels. Many weaponry’s problems might not be exposed unless in use. Because skilled workers couldn’t be trained in one day. Otherwise, we might suffer an unexpected loss. Even the troops’ confidence about Fiery Oil weaponry would be weakened…”

Zhang Tie said calmly while watching Zuoqiu Mingyue, “The same plan has been posed by some officials in the Peacewest Agricultural Bureau. However, I’ve vetoed it. I am experienced in the grassroots of troops. I know that what sort of weaponry does a fighter need. As for all the fighters in the frontline, unreliable weaponry means a high risk of losing their lives. Weaponry of poor quality would even weaken fighters’ morale instead of enhancing it. At the critical moment, we’d better not use such poor-quality weaponry. According to the plan on matching corps with Fiery Oil weaponry, corps in Military Province and in the east of Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province and Ningzhou Province would be matched with Fiery Oil weaponry. Generally, it will not play a negative role in the defensive line near Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River…”

After hearing Zhang Tie’s statement, Zuoqiu Mingyue slightly frowned for a couple of seconds before nodding.