Lord of the Desert

Chapter 591 The War of the Oracles
The heavy rain continued, and moisture rushed into the hall.

Kou Fei didn't rush to speak. Instead, he rhythmically tapped the iron handrail with his knuckles, the crisp sound of which drowned out the sound of the rain.

After a few breaths, Peng and Huo regained their composure.

"Do you have more concrete information about the scale, battlefield, and start and end dates?"

Peng Guan asked.

"The details are still unclear, but we know that the battlefield will include the entire borders of Hezhou, Qingzhou, and Hejian Kingdom."

Kou Fei gazed at the flowers and plants outside the palace, which were weighed down by the wind and rain.

"But no matter what the imperial court's proclamation says, we all know the reason for the great war—the great array set up by the gods encompasses heaven and earth and isolates external evils, and to power it, it naturally requires the consumption of a vast amount of life force."

Upon hearing this, all three martial artists present unconsciously glanced at the sky.

Curiosity is a natural human trait.

After gaining the ability to traverse the void, they all attempted to explore the outer universe and sensed the life-giving array that enveloped the planet at the edge of the spiritual energy layer.

Magnificent, precise, and cold.

"War must be fought, people must die, and enough people must die. What a war with no winners..."

Huo Zhan coldly mocked.

From his perspective, the "mercy of the gods" in the temple prayers is merely wishful thinking on the part of the dependent; they do not actually care about the life or death of their kin.

The key is that death must have value.

Perhaps divine retribution arose precisely for this reason.

"Brother Huo is mistaken."

Peng Guan clasped his hands loosely.

"We can win this battle by losing as little as possible. The more enemies die, the more lives we can have. Besides, the war of the oracle will inevitably involve territory. If we are defeated, we may have to give up most of the Three Guards."

"I understand. Heaven takes from the poor to give to the rich; which place in the Nine Provinces doesn't receive its wealth in this way?"

Huo Zhan smiled arrogantly, grabbed a teacup from the table, tilted his head back and drank it all, already intending to leave.

"Brother, please calm down, there is one more thing."

Kou Fei raised his hand and made a pressing motion.

"Xiao Long carries His Majesty's oral decree, which requires the establishment of a unified command structure, including the Zhenbei Guard, for this battle. For this reason, the Hezhou camp will exchange account books with us for the next six months to check logistics and storage; the Martial Arts Academy will come north to take over the martial arts judicial system."

If the news of an impending great battle was a bucket of ice water, then the above statement was a raging fire.

"What is this? Is this taking advantage of someone's misfortune?"

Peng Guan's face tensed, and he clenched his fists.

The three generals had long anticipated the future of Zhenbeiwei, but they never expected the changes to come so quickly and so violently.

"It can't be considered pure profiteering. Without proper accounting and communication, it's impossible to coordinate operations and ensure smooth logistics during wartime."

Kou Fei sighed deeply.

"The key is that we don't have the ability to survive independently, so naturally we can't maintain our independent status. Let me put it more clearly—Wei Zhaoli privately informed me that the headmaster hopes that after this battle, at least one of the Three Guards General's Mansions will have to change its banner and surname."

"What a fine country bumpkin from Qingzhou!"

Huo Zhan's voice was like gnashing teeth.

"We're the ones who have to fight! We haven't even crossed the river yet, and you're already thinking about dismantling the bridge?"

The three families in the northern frontier have monopolized the position of the Three Guards General for nearly two hundred years, which is a legitimate ancestral legacy; how could he accept that it was suddenly going to be cut off in his hands?

"Judging from Brother Kou's words, are you perhaps planning to magnanimously comply with their wishes?"

Peng Guan questioned.

To everyone's surprise, Kou Fei actually nodded.

"Alright, Brother Kou is very generous. If I may ask, which one do you think we should switch to first?"

Huo Zhan didn't get angry; instead, he laughed, a hint of fierceness in his eyes.

He was the weakest fighter present, so his suspicions were naturally the strongest.

Kou Fei sneered upon hearing this.

"We've come this far, why are you still being so petty?"

He sat upright with his back straight, looking down at those around him.

"Soon the Zhenbei Guard will no longer exist. Why should we argue about who should resign first? Why did Fengjianke defy the world to storm the Heavenly Gate? Because the Martial Saint is the only one who can go against the tide. No one below the Martial Saint has the right to go against the tide."

The two were speechless for a moment.

"Wouldn't that be a disgrace to our ancestors?"

After a long silence, Peng Guan still felt indignant.

"What's there to feel ashamed of?"

Kou Fei leaned into the bear skin, and did so with complete confidence.

"If our Kou clan had produced a Martial Saint two hundred years ago, there wouldn't have been so many troubles. Our foundation as a second-rate family couldn't support the airs of a prince. Is this our fault?"

After saying this, he left the throne without any hesitation and walked out of the palace.

"Brothers, please don't be troubled. After we defeat the giant spirit, my Kou family will give way first..."

The last sentence came through the downpour, then disappeared into the chaotic white noise.

An hour later, the Right Guard fell into Eagle City.

Peng Guan stood facing the cliff, watching the clouds and mist rise and fall.

"Stop all those things we did to target Hong Fan in order to restore the Iron Palace," he suddenly ordered.

"This... General, how are we going to explain this to Chief Zheng?"

Those around him asked in surprise.

"Tell Zheng Qian that the Iron-Melting Palace is beyond saving, and tell him to make plans as soon as possible."

Peng Guan replied casually, his gaze passing over the mountains and landing on the giant spirit's majestic frontline fortress.

······
Time flies by like an arrow.

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, in Guangji City.

Kaimingxing's new factory area.

The bluish-gray brick kiln blocked out the roar of the rotary cutting machine; orange-red flames spewed out distorted air from the furnace mouth.

A slightly astringent smell, similar to calcined limestone, wafted from Hong Fan's nose.

"My lord, this is an old-fashioned gun barrel made using a process of simmering bone meal and scraps of skin."

Sun Pingbo handed over an old gun barrel that had been cut open.

Hong Fan took it and ran his fingertips over the even and fine spiral rifling. He saw that the cross-section was mottled with carbon-colored infiltration, and the depth of the infiltration layer varied, with a depth of about 0.5 millimeters.

"Our factory's newly developed process uses a mixture of barium carbonate powder and oak charcoal powder, which increases the carbon gas penetration rate by three times and the penetration depth to 1.2 millimeters."

Sun Pingbo explained while demonstrating.

He opened the earthenware jar, poured the grayish-white fine powder into a plain gun barrel that had not been heat-treated, pressed it down, and sent it into a double-chamber reheating kiln.

Through the observation hole, Hong Fan saw the gun barrel glow with a uniform cherry red color in the stable kiln fire.

"With the help of stone powder, the carbon gas seeps into the soil like a gentle rain, slowly and evenly. Please take a look, my lord."

Sun Pingbo took out a new gun barrel that had been dissected beforehand. Its cross-section presented a completely different scene—from the inner wall outwards, the silver-gray carburized layer was dense and bright, with clear boundaries like ink lines, and its thickness was more than twice that of the old method.

"The old-style gun barrels are made of softer steel. Although they have a lifespan of 400 rounds, their accuracy drops significantly after firing a few dozen rounds. The new high-carbon steel gun barrels not only have better dispersion, but also have a lifespan that is more than five times that of the old process."

Sun Pingbo said.

"The only drawback is that high-carbon steel is brittle and has a bending rate of slightly more than 10%, but this is not a big problem with manual correction by a martial arts master."

"Guangji Factory really gave me a pleasant surprise."

Hong Fan exerted force with his fingertips, his fingernails digging into the inner wall of the gun barrel.

"The production line is expanding at full speed. We don't need to worry about sales. We'll produce as many as we can."

Two months ago, he received a personal letter from Xiao Chu, informing him that the great battle with the Giant Spirit was imminent; since then, Fengsui City has been operating like a machine, aiming to double its army within the year.

Under the scorching sun, Hong Fan left the heat treatment workshop accompanied by Hong Fu, Wen Zhongguan, and Qian Hong.

"How's the loan going?"

he asked in a low voice.

"Everything is ready."

Hong Fu replied.

“We borrowed 300,000 strings of cash from Baishihang and 250,000 strings of cash from the other Liangzhou aristocratic merchants, for a total of 550,000 strings of cash; the annual interest rate was 3%, and the loan was to be repaid in ten years with the group’s equity as collateral.”

"well done."

Hong Fan nodded and continued.

"There's also the matter of the Iron Melting Palace."

As the trade route through Juehou Mountain surged, the conflict between Rongtie Palace and Tiannan Travel intensified. Seeing no hope of direct competition, they even resorted to coercive measures to prevent external competitors from importing products into Zhenbei Right Guard.

The turning point came in June.

After the Right Guard General's Mansion drew a clear line and withdrew its consistent support, the blockade of the Iron Palace quickly collapsed, and it finally softened its stance and sent people to Fengsui City to seek peace.

Unfortunately it's too late.

“I’m not interested in their people or their channels, but those mines in Zhongwei and Youwei have some strategic significance. You could try to acquire them at a low price.”

Hong Fan gave instructions to Wen Zhongguan.

The city guards of Guangjicheng were already waiting outside the factory gate. The next item on the itinerary was to inspect the Xijing-Guangjicheng railway under construction.

Two months later, Rongtie Palace collapsed as scheduled, and Tiannanxing successfully acquired three iron ore mines at a low price.

In the latter half of the thirty-fifth year of Zhenghe, countless supplies were transported from south to north, and troops were being trained and city defenses were being strengthened everywhere from Hezhou to Hejian Kingdom.

As pressure intensifies from top to bottom across the entire northern border region of Greater China, news of an impending major battle gradually spreads.

Suspicion, fear, excitement...

The Spring Festival of the thirty-sixth year of Zhenghe passed quickly, and on the sixteenth day of the first month, a proclamation shattered all people's illusions.

PS:

In summary, this month has been a case of "haste makes waste," and the more rushed one is, the less energy one has.

Looking back over the past two or five years, I have been exhausted time and time again in the pursuit and internal friction, but I still haven't learned to let go and be content.

I sometimes think back to my childhood when I wasn't like this, and I can't help but wonder, did depression and anxiety change me, or is this my true self?
For the past few days, I've been experiencing belching and stress-induced insomnia. My muscles are as stiff as an iron shell. I especially remember the morning before yesterday at eight o'clock, after not sleeping all night, I could only lie in bed and repeatedly give myself positive self-talk.

Nothing is something you absolutely have to do.

Ironically, as I write these words, my heart is still burning with pent-up frustration, feeling that I have wasted my time and let down everyone.

No matter how.

Dear readers, Happy New Year!

(End of this chapter)