Chapter 131: First Arrival in Northern Yan

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“Mr. Hao, you are actually asking me to use a honey trap on a man?” Lei Qing said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“According to intelligence, this Zhen Jimu likes walking horses and fighting dogs, eating, drinking, and having fun. He also likes making friends with bad companions and gathering crowds for amusement. He is a standard second-generation young master. Because of his good looks, he considers himself dashing and suave. His personality is loyal, and he would not hesitate to stab himself in the ribs for his brothers and friends.” Mr. Hao said leisurely, “Lord, does this intelligence seem familiar to you?”

“Mr. Hao, have you seen my previous intelligence?” Lei Qing laughed dryly twice and said.

“President Li Qianlong habitually thoroughly understands the intelligence of anyone he deals with, and plans before acting.” Mr. Hao said indifferently, “I was once one of his advisors, so it is only reasonable that I have seen the Lord’s intelligence. From the intelligence, both Zhen Jimu and the Lord are second-generation heirs, and their personalities and hobbies have many similarities. They should be birds of a feather.”

“Mr. Hao, you are a scholar. Can you use more elegant wording?” Lei Qing looked embarrassed.

“Then let us just say your interests align.” Mr. Hao chuckled lightly and said, “In short, if the Lord can become friends with Zhen Jimu, given his past character, he will help the Lord through thick and thin and resolve the obstacles set by Zhen Huan’er for the Lord.”

“Zhen Huan’er?” Lei Qing frowned and said, “Why does Sir think it is Zhen Huan’er who set the obstacles? And not Madame Zhen? Or Zhen Jimu?”

“Zhen Jimu is nominally the Family Head of the Zhen Family, but because he has an extremely strong and capable mother above him, he has absolutely no interest in managing the family industries. Towards his mother, he is both in awe and distant. Moreover, given his personality, if he wanted to target the Lord, he would definitely rally a bunch of men and start hacking away directly; he wouldn’t likely engage in secret suppression.” Mr. Hao analyzed eloquently, “If Madame Zhen wanted to deal with the Lord, her methods would not be so clumsy and immature. Analyzing from Madame Zhen’s personality and the effectiveness of her past methods, if she intended to deal with the Lord, she certainly wouldn’t be this obvious. Perhaps by the time the Lord noticed, he would already be deep in a desperate situation, with not long to live. The greater possibility is that even if the Lord perished, he wouldn’t know it was Madame Zhen who did it.”

“Indeed, that Madame Zhen is the most formidable and vicious woman I have ever heard of in my life. She is too difficult to deal with.” Lei Qing thought of that Poisonous Widow and couldn’t help but shudder violently. Her father-in-law, uncles, husband, and many concubines all died in unclear circumstances, yet she could still sit there perfectly fine, presiding over the Zhen Family’s big matters.

“Formidable, indeed, but not necessarily difficult to deal with.” Mr. Hao said indifferently, “In short, if the Lord wants to resolve this matter, he must connect with Zhen Jimu. I have said enough; as for how to handle it, I leave it to the Lord to decide.”

This place was over three thousand li away from the Zhen Family Ranch in the Northern Frontier. If they galloped all the way, it could be reached in a few days. However, if one took the risk of cutting through parts of the grassland, this distance could be shortened by more than half. Wuzhui was a Demonic Beast with amazing stamina. If allowed to gallop at a constant speed for an hour, it could cover approximately two to three hundred li. As long as it had opportunities to rest, it could arrive in as little as one or two days.

Immediately, Lei Qing called his subordinates for a meeting. Various affairs within the territory of Yehe Town could not stop for now. Recruitment had to continue until fifteen hundred men were recruited.

Training and patrolling certainly could not stop either. Yehe Town was a borderland. Although Lei Qing had made a grand gesture after arriving, sufficient to deter some petty scoundrels, there would always be some reckless bandits and Horse Bandits coming to cause trouble.

Moreover, the fact that Helian Bo escaped last time remained a major hidden danger. That man was cruel by nature, narrow-minded, and vindictive. He certainly would not let this matter rest. Perhaps now, after his injuries healed, he had already begun plotting in secret on how to kill me.

Therefore, Lei Qing needed to increase his strength in the shortest time possible. With strong soldiers and sturdy horses, even if Helian Bo dared to come, he would be seeking his own death.

Due to Lei Qing’s prestige gradually being established nearby, and the Black Flag Regiment’s settlement allowance and pay being high, in addition to people from Yehe Town and its villages constantly coming to join.

Even villages not part of Yehe Town had people continually hearing the news and coming to enlist in the Black Flag Regiment. This caused the number of men under Lei Qing’s command to increase day by day, and his momentum to grow gradually grand.

As for matters like ranches and farms, these were industries laying the foundation for the future economy and were urgent. Lei Qing entrusted Mr. Hao to oversee this matter and assigned him a squad of men for close protection.

He once again secretly instructed Xianyu Bao that if any major event occurred, he should discuss it with Mr. Hao and listen more to Mr. Hao’s advice. Lei Qing then immediately mounted his horse and set off to handle this matter; it was urgent. If the ranch could not get on the right track quickly, this year’s livestock plan would be ruined, which would affect his own development plans.

Lei Qing, wrapped in his cloak, galloped alone across the Huer Prairie. It was early summer, the grass was lush and fertile, covering the hooves of the horse. Wuzhui, on this boundless prairie, seemed to have arrived at a happy paradise, running joyfully with legs flying.

There was a lot of knowledge involved in traveling by horse. Horses, like humans, had physical limits. If forced to travel at a sprinting speed, within half an hour, it would be foaming at the mouth and dead.

The best method was to master the rhythm and physical limits of one’s beloved horse. Let it move forward in a way that was neither too fast nor too slow, consuming physical strength not too intensely.

This speed was far lower than the horse’s speed in a sprinting state, but it was the most effective way to hurry. In this way, after just an hour or so, letting the warhorse stop to drink some water, eat some grass, and rest, it could continue on the journey.

Actually, this was also a way to train a Demonic Beast-level precious horse, constantly consuming its physical strength and Fighting Qi, and then letting it recover constantly. If this cycle continued, the warhorse’s physical strength and Fighting Qi would also be enhanced. Perhaps Wuzhui might even have a chance to break through to the Bronze-rank. Although the probability was extremely small, it could not be completely ruled out.

Of course, there was another way to cultivate Demonic Beast-level warhorses, which was to feed them Crystal Cores of Demonic Beasts of the same attribute. For example, the Fighting Qi attribute within Wuzhui was the wind attribute.

This attribute was elusive and unpredictable, and its speed burst was very fast. This was also Wuzhui’s precious quality; it made it so that once it was in a speed burst, it would sweep past like a gust of wind. The downside was that its endurance would be inferior to those with earth or water attributes.

Warhorses of various attributes naturally had their own benefits. For example, fire-attribute warhorses usually had fiery and violent personalities, overflowing with dominance. They could carry their masters charging recklessly on the battlefield, majestic in all directions.

An Elementary-stage Black Iron warhorse was usually worth around three thousand gold, but a Mid-stage one was at least double the price. And Wuzhui was a Mid-stage Black Iron warhorse. If it were High-stage Black Iron or Peak-stage, it would be something ten thousand gold could hardly buy.

However, Demonic Beast warhorses had a much lower utilization rate for Crystal Cores compared to humans. Calculating based on one Elementary-stage Crystal Core being worth several hundred, even if Lei Qing fed it dozens, spending over ten thousand gold coins, it might not necessarily advance to High-stage Black Iron.

If he really had that much spare money, it would be better to use the Crystal Cores on the troops and cultivate more Black Iron elites. That would create an exceptionally strong army for himself.

Of the two hundred Crystal Cores of various Elementary-stage Demonic Beasts that Lei Qing extorted from the Li Clan last time, most had already been distributed. The old subordinates he brought from Fierce Tiger Ridge basically all received a share.

He believed that if they were willing to cultivate hard, with the help of an additional Demonic Beast Crystal Core, the probability of achieving Black Iron-rank was not small. In fact, recently, people had already started breaking through to Black Iron-rank continuously. Once the Crystal Cores were fully digested, the strength under Lei Qing’s command would surge a level.

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Lei Qing galloped freely on the vast prairie, which was like an ocean. The sky was blue and clear, cloudless for ten thousand li. The firmament truly looked like a curved lid, enveloping the earth on all sides.

He had stopped and started twice, estimating that he had gone several hundred li. Even on this sparsely populated prairie, Lei Qing had encountered several waves of herdsmen, either in groups of three or five, or directly as a small tribe.

Lei Qing also asked them for some horse and goat milk to drink. They refused to take gold coins. When they parted, they even gave him a sheepskin bag of mare’s milk wine and a roasted lamb leg. It could be seen that the grasslands were not all full of Horse Bandits; many grassland herdsmen were essentially simple and kind-hearted.

The greatest scourge on the grasslands was still some wolf packs. Although the wolf packs here were not as tall and formidable as the plateau snow wolves, they were extremely numerous, and various wolf packs would even unite to attack larger flocks of sheep.

On this journey, Lei Qing also encountered several waves of wolf packs. He slaughtered two and left as quickly as possible using his horse’s speed. Without Bronze-rank Demonic Wolves, Lei Qing could not be bothered to dispute with them.

Due to admiring the scenery along the way and chatting with the herdsmen, Lei Qing did not travel too urgently. But even so, in two days’ time, he had covered one thousand five hundred li and finally arrived at the location of the Zhen Family Ranch headquarters.

Even with his Fighting Qi cultivation, there was some fatigue in his eyes. Although it was a ranch, the Zhen Family was a proper large-scale power. The territory under their control reached a radius of several thousand li, and most of it was grassland.

There were also four major cities under their control. Their main city was Northern Yan City, located in the Northern Frontier. The Zhen Family was a super overlord in the region. Although they operated livestock, it was impossible for the whole family to live inside the ranch, right?

In fact, most of the Zhen Family members lived in Northern Yan City. Here was the center of power and economy in the Northern Frontier controlled by the Zhen Family Ranch. Here, the Zhen Family was the sky, the king, controlling everything in the Northern Frontier.

Lei Qing led Wuzhui, paid the city entry tax, and walked into the bustling and lively Northern Yan City.

This was a typical large city. The city walls were over ten zhang high, several zhang wide, and even had barbicans.

The easily defensible and hard-to-attack structure ensured the safety and generational inheritance of the Zhen Family line.

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