Jiuxi

Chapter 684: 682 [Picturesque Landscape]

"Why do you want to train assassins?"

When Lin Xi asked this question, it was already the next morning.

She and Lu Chen rode their horses slowly, leaving Guxian County and heading north.

Lu Chen suppressed his smile and said, "Senior Sister, you actually waited until now to ask."

"You also said...you acted recklessly as soon as Uncle Qi left."

Lin Xi was both angry and amused, but her eyes were full of spring.

As the saying goes, a short separation is better than a new marriage. Moreover, the two of them were separated suddenly after their wedding. How could Lin Xi not miss him? Therefore, she had almost no ability to resist Lu Chen. After Qi Lianfu finished talking about business and left, Lu Chen gently pulled her and she threw herself into his arms.

What follows is a life-and-death struggle, the details of which cannot be told to outsiders.

It was not until midnight that she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, she didn't dare to think about the scene of last night, and even felt it was a little absurd.

If Lin Jie hadn't suddenly sent someone to Gu County and asked her and Lu Chen to go to Baotai Mountain as soon as possible, she might have refused to see Lu Chen today, because what happened that night was too embarrassing.

Lu Chen continued to joke, "Did you sleep well last night, Senior Sister?"

Lin Xi looked back and saw that the 300 soldiers led by Qin Zilong were dozens of feet behind and could not hear their conversation. He felt relieved and rolled his eyes at Lu Chen gently, and asked, "You haven't answered me yet, why do you suddenly want to train assassins?"

Lu Chen put away his flirting thoughts and said calmly: "Because I have encountered several assassination attempts over the years, why can't I give them a taste of their own medicine? Although I am not afraid of some undercurrents of struggle, it is naturally better to avoid intrigue. Now I understand one thing, there is no need to be moral when dealing with some people, in the end it will be a life-and-death outcome."

Lin Xi said: "These words sound very touching."

Lu Chen briefly recounted the conversation he had with Wang Chulong before leaving Ruyin.

Lin Xi frowned slightly and said, "The emperor is so crazy."

"There is no empirical evidence yet, so we cannot make a definite conclusion."

Lu Chen's eyes were slightly cold, and he said in a deep voice: "I asked Uncle Qi to train assassins for another reason. Since assassins are good at assassination in secret, they naturally know how to protect. I asked Chu Long to send people to investigate Li Zongben. There will inevitably be many open and secret struggles in the future. In addition, the Jiangnan clans are not happy with me, and there are powerful enemies in the north who are eyeing me covetously. It is not easy for these enemies, whether internal or external, to deal with me through open means. Maybe they will use treacherous means."

Lin Xi couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

Lu Chen continued, "Even if they can't do anything to me, it is possible that they will target someone I care about, so it is imperative to train a group of elite assassins."

Lin Xi didn't have the saber with her at the moment, but her eyes were as sharp as a knife, and she said softly, "I'm here."

Lu Chen was attracted by her heroic demeanor and said with a smile: "It's good to have a top ten female warrior in the family, but..."

"how?"

"Lady Hero seemed unable to hold on last night."

Lu Chen laughed loudly, then spurred his horse forward.

"Don't run!"

Lin Xi bit her lips lightly, smiling, and whipped the horse to chase after him.

Three days later, the two men and their personal soldiers passed through the base of the Seven Stars Army Infantry at the former headquarters of the Seven Stars Gang and headed east to the depths of the mountains. There was a vast valley surrounded by mountains. The entrance was hidden between two mountains and was extremely secretive with twists and turns.

Most of the personal soldiers stayed outside. Only Qin Zilong and a dozen of his most loyal men followed Lu Chen and Lin Xi through the secret passage and entered the valley under the watchful eyes of the secret sentries.

Lin Jie was standing on the side of the road more than twenty feet away, smiling at the young man and woman who were walking towards him hand in hand.

"I pay my respects to Master Taishan."

"Meet Daddy."

When they came forward, Lu Chen and Lin Xi saluted side by side.

"Okay, okay, we are family, no need to be polite."

Lin Jie's appearance has not changed much. Although practicing martial arts will not make one immortal, it can indeed delay aging. Therefore, although Lin Jie is older than Lu Tong, he looks younger.

Lin Xi was finally able to take off her dignity and reserve as a county lady in front of him. Her face was more relaxed and comfortable. She took his arm and said, "Dad, why did you call me and my husband here so urgently? I wonder why?"

Lin Jie smiled but said nothing.

Lu Chen's eyes had already fallen on the flat ground in the distance, and he murmured, "It seems that Master Taishan has quietly prepared a big surprise."

Lin Jie raised his empty left arm towards the distance.

On the flat ground, more than ten people were waiting eagerly, and immediately became busy after seeing the gesture.

The family of three stood in a row, looking at that place with different moods, while Qin Zilong and others were full of curiosity.

Not long after, the dozen or so people suddenly ran away and hid behind the mounds that had been built in advance.

After a seemingly long but actually short wait, a thick cloud of black smoke suddenly exploded in the distance, followed by—

"boom!"

Smoke and dust filled the air, yellow soil splashed, and a loud noise arose from the ground, like thunder!
The horrifying noise made people's scalps numb, and they could almost feel the ground shaking beneath their feet at that moment.

Qin Zilong and the others turned pale, as if they had seen a miracle. Of course, they knew about the existence of gunpowder. They had followed Lu Chen to fight in the north and south over the years and had witnessed the power of gunpowder in person under the city of Heluo. However, unlike the noisy battlefield at that time, this moment was in a relatively calm environment. Suddenly seeing such an exaggerated movement, even veterans would be shocked.

Lin Jie let out a long sigh.

Lu Chen felt a little dazed.

The scene just now directly awakened his memories of his previous life, as if he was on the training ground, feeling the roar of artillery fire.

It is true that the gunpowder of this era is far from comparable to that of his previous life, but there are some vague similarities.

A middle-aged man came trotting over with three men. He first glanced at Lu Chen, then saw Lin Jie nodded slightly, and immediately saluted Lu Chen and said, "I am Liao Jichang, a commoner, and I pay my respects to you, sir!"

The middle-aged man named Liao Jichang's ancestors were all skilled craftsmen, and he himself is even better than their ancestors, with particularly exquisite skills.

At the beginning, Lu Chen commissioned Lu Tong and Lin Jie to recruit craftsmen from all over the country. Finally, they found more than 40 people. Liao Jichang was the best among them. He gradually became a leader in the process of studying how to use gunpowder.

In this era, craftsmen have a very low social status and have long been regarded as menial laborers. Therefore, even though Liao Jichang had great ambitions, he was still nervous when he met Lu Chen. This was because his research on the application of new gunpowder was progressing slowly, and he was afraid that the young man of noble status in front of him would be dissatisfied.

However, to his surprise, Lu Chen took the initiative to step forward and helped him up, praising him: "Thank you for your hard work, old man."

Liao Jichang said with fear and gratitude: "I...I have done a bad job, please punish me, sir."

Lu Chen shook his head and said solemnly: "For thousands of years, people have regarded craftsmen as menial labor, but I don't think so. Without the hard work of craftsmen, where would the farm tools come from? Where would the weapons come from? Where would the cities come from? It is precisely because of people like this old gentleman who put all their energy and efforts into research that people can live a better and better life."

As soon as these words were spoken, Liao Jichang and the three middle-aged men standing behind him all had tears in their eyes and were so moved that they couldn't utter a word.

Lu Chen consoled him and said, "Old sir, should we have made a breakthrough in the research on landmines?"

Liao Jichang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, sir, please take a look."

He took a small package from his waist, spread it out, pointed at the black particles and said, "This new type of gunpowder is more stable than the gunpowder used to make fireworks and firecrackers. The power of the landmines made with this gunpowder is at least three times stronger, but..."

Seeing the embarrassment on his face, Lu Chen understood and asked, "Is saltpeter hard to obtain?"

Lin Jie, who was standing next to him, nodded and said, "Indeed."

Lu Chen said gently, "Don't worry, old man. I will take care of this matter. Now you just need to follow the direction of the land mines and continue to think about how to make the gunpowder more powerful. I have a few rough ideas here, let's talk about it slowly."

Seeing him walking towards the open space with several craftsmen, chatting happily along the way, and even showing excitement and excitement that was completely different from usual, Lin Xi couldn't help but say to Lin Jie: "Dad, have you noticed that my husband seems to have become a different person now, and has become a bit childish."

Lin Jie smiled and said, "Xi'er, you don't understand what earth-shaking changes will be brought to this world once all the ideas in his mind become reality."

Although he did not understand the mysteries of the craftsmanship, because he had been in charge here for a long time and occasionally chatted with Liao Jichang and others, he could naturally learn about Lu Chen's extraordinary qualities from them.

Lin Xi looked at Lu Chen's gradually receding back and nodded gently, her eyes calm and affectionate.

In the next few days, Lu Chen and Lin Xi lived here. He spent most of his time with the craftsmen, telling them as much as possible about what he had learned in his previous life and discussing the possibilities of every new thing with these skilled craftsmen.

Although the winter was cold, there was a raging fire in his heart.

On the day of the Little New Year, Lu Chen finally put down the things at hand, took Lin Xi away from this secret valley, and returned to the headquarters of the Seven Stars Gang dozens of miles away.

After meeting with several generals of the Seven Star Army stationed here, Lu Chen brought Lin Xi to her biological mother's grave.

"Senior Sister, I still remember what you said to Master Taishui when you stood here that day."

Lu Chen held Lin Xi's hand and said solemnly, "Please rest assured, Master Taishui, I will treat your daughter well in my life and will never owe her anything."

Lin Xi had a smile on her face but tears in her eyes. She leaned silently against Lu Chen.

The ground is covered with snow, but unlike the silver-clad area in Dingzhou, lush green can be clearly seen in many places in the mountains.

Lin Xi said softly: "We should go back to Ruyin."

Lu Chen nodded slightly, then lowered his head and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

The two had just walked a dozen feet when several personal soldiers and a thirty-year-old man came up to them. The man said respectfully, "Sir, I am Xu Jiyuan, the inspector of the Textile Bureau, and I have come here to report urgent information on the orders of Yang Jianxiao."

Lu Chen stopped and said calmly: "Speak."

Xu Jiyuan's tone was slightly trembling, and it was unclear whether he was panicked or excited. He quickly said, "My Lord, a secret report came from Jingguo Dadu that Jingguo's crown prince Alihe Nalan died suddenly. It is suspected that the fourth prince Alihe Haige and Changshan County Prince Qing Yugong conspired together! The situation in Jingguo's court is now turbulent, and there are signs of civil unrest in Dadu! Yang Jianxiao begs my Lord to return to Ruyin as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation in order to deal with this rare opportunity!"

After hearing these words, Lu Chen's expression did not change much, but Lin Xi and the soldiers around him all changed color.

The Crown Prince of Jing State unexpectedly died a violent death, and it is even possible that it was caused by the collusion between the Fourth Prince and Qing Yugong. How could the ambitious Emperor of Jing State tolerate this?
Maybe this is the opportunity for Da Qi to seize the opportunity, stabilize the situation and sweep the world in one fell swoop!
"Husband..."

Lin Xi looked at her husband with great concern.

Lu Chen gently patted her fair palm and smiled, "I was born to be a hard worker. I thought I could have some free time, but it didn't work out. But it's okay this way. Some things need to be solved sooner or later."

He turned calmly and confidently and looked north.

All I see are endless mountains and rivers, and a vast world.

……

(Hello, book friends. The sixth volume, "A Gentleman Is Not an Instrument", has been completed. The seventh volume, "A World of Great Contention", will begin tomorrow.)
(End of this chapter)