Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

Chu Ze walked out of the secret room that imprisoned the old Taoist priest and also imprisoned a deadly lie.

He didn't turn around.

Darkness was left to the last "loyal subject"; and he, in turn, was to build a magnificent stage for this "loyalty".

The garrison commander's residence, study.

The flickering candlelight cast Chu Ze's long shadow on the wall. He didn't sit at the table, but stood quietly by the window, gazing at the sprawling warehouse district in the city.

That place is Amin's hope, and also his grave.

Before Chu Ze, on a semi-transparent screen visible only to himself, was the official forum interface of "Iron-Blooded Jiangshan".

His slender fingers swept across the air, and a brand new window marked "urgent" popped up.

It's time to release a mission update announcement.

He pulled up the edited footage that he had just recorded from the city wall.

The scene opens in deep darkness, with only the dripping sound of water seeping from the stone wall echoing in the empty passageway, carrying a chilling sense of oppression. The camera slowly zooms in, revealing blurry figures clad in Later Jin armor, crouching low, silently slithering through the narrow, dark passage. They grip scimitars, each face etched with a suppressed, bloodthirsty excitement.

The narrator's voice was deep and magnetic; it was Chu Ze's own voice acting.

"When the bustling city sinks into slumber, can you hear the malevolent whispers from the depths of the earth?"

The scene suddenly changes!

The camera bursts out of the dark tunnel exit, instantly zooming in above Guangning City! A brand-new bastion, constructed of gray-white cement, resembles the skeleton of a prehistoric behemoth, menacing and cold. Atop the city walls, the Chosen Legion, clad in brand-new plate armor, conducts their daily drills, a forest of spears, their killing intent soaring to the heavens.

"When an overconfident hunter quietly lays a trap..."

The camera switches again!

The dark muzzle of the "Second Generation Modified Red Cannon" filled the entire screen, cold and exuding an aura of destruction. A 30-pound exploding shell was slowly pushed into the cannon barrel.

"...unaware that he himself was already a caged beast!"

The image finally freezes.

The enormous, blood-red characters suddenly appeared in the center of the screen:

[Iron-Blooded Empire V1.2 Event Preview: Whispers of Hell Pipes]

[Event Introduction: Foolish enemies, in their desperation, have grasped at a straw they believe is all they can find. They've discovered an abandoned tunnel and are attempting a laughable surprise attack. Now, brave chosen ones, it's time to shine! Show them what true trapping is all about!]

[Event Format: Large-scale PvE Defense Dungeon]

[Event Rewards: Massive amounts of Merit Points! Limited-edition Titles! Special Equipment Exchange Access!]

We need your strength!

Chu Ze looked at the trailer he had edited with satisfaction. He clicked the "Publish" button.

The next second, the forum, which had just been flooded with posts about "Prince's flight experience", exploded as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped on it!

[Pinned][HOT][Version Update] "Iron-Blooded Jiangshan" V1.2 Version Event Preview: Whispers of Hell Pipes!

The moment the post was published, the number of clicks began to skyrocket at an alarming rate.

"Holy crap??????"

"New...new quest? New dungeon?"

"Am I seeing things? We just finished one battle and a new event is already here? Does this game company live on the servers? Hardcore gamers are ecstatic!"

"Whispers of Hell's Pipes? Holy crap, that name sounds so exciting! GM, I love you!"

"Stop going crazy, upstairs! Watch the video! Holy crap! This CG! This quality! Is this game CG? This is even more exciting than Hollywood blockbusters!"

"Those furtive Tartars in the trailer, could they be the suicide squad Amin is sending? The GM is amazing! He even predicted the enemy's tactics? Is he a GM or a prophet?"

"I declare that Chu Ze is forever a god! No arguments allowed!"

The forum has completely gone mad.

Countless players who missed the grand spectacle of "the execution of the prince" during the second closed beta test were filled with regret and despair. Like sharks smelling blood, they frantically left comments below the post, eager to join the fight.

"Damn it! I missed the firing last time, I can't miss it this time!"

"PVE dungeons, right? Defense, right? Perfect match, brothers! I work in security in real life!"

"Looking for a team! Anyone want to team up for a dungeon run? Need a tank and a healer, I'll take care of the DPS!"

"I don't care! I don't care! Even if I die this time, I'll die in the dungeon! I'm going to get the exclusive title!"

Looking at the frenzied atmosphere on the forum, Chu GM's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile.

Instead of shutting down the forum, he immediately launched a series of brand-new "preparation missions" with astonishingly high rewards, in the name of the garrison commander's office.

【Urgent Mission 1: The 'Hellish' Renovation Team】

Task Description: The warehouse area in the west of the city has been in disrepair for many years and poses a significant fire safety hazard. We are now recruiting professional construction engineers to carry out an emergency "fire safety renovation".

Task requirements: Must be proficient in civil engineering, structural engineering, ventilation and other related fields.

Task Rewards: 8000 Merit Points, Special Title [Infrastructure Master] (provides bonuses to construction skills).

Person in charge: Zhou Keke.

[Urgent Mission Two: The Fragrance Mixer]

Task Description: To cope with the impending severe cold, a batch of highly efficient and potent "special combustion accelerant" needs to be produced for heating and lighting.

Task requirements: Applicants must be proficient in chemistry and materials science, and those with research experience in ancient manufacturing processes will be given priority.

Mission Rewards: 8000 Merit Points, Special Title [Explosives Genius] (provides bonuses to alchemy and explosives skills).

Person in charge: Cheng Huaxue.

[Emergency Mission Three: The Grim Reaper Reaper Team]

Mission Description: A group of "lost sheep" will stray into a trap. Top hunters are needed to ambush and catch the "escaped fish" in the designated area.

Task requirements: Players ranked in the top 100 in PVP will be given priority.

Mission Rewards: 10000 Merit Points, Special Title: [Head Harvester] (Slight bonus to damage against enemy targets).

Person in charge: Qin Jue, Xiao Ran.

The release of these three core missions caused a complete uproar among the player community.

"Holy crap! 8000 merit points! How many Tartars would I have to kill to earn that much?!"

"Damn it, I regret not studying civil engineering properly in college! Sister Zhou! Sister Zhou, do you need someone to tighten screws? I'll do it for free!"

"Explosives genius! Wow, that title is so cool! Sister Cheng! I'm a PhD student in chemistry! Please accept me!"

For STEM enthusiasts, this moment is the time for their celebration!

……

Abandoned warehouse area in the west of the city.

Zhou Keke rushed over almost immediately. In her hand was a "design requirement" that Chu Ze had just sent, which consisted of only one sentence: not sturdiness, but no ventilation and extremely flammable.

A blush of excitement, typical of a professional, appeared on her delicate face, which was always smudged with a little dirt.

"Fire safety renovation? Ha!"

She chuckled softly, instantly understanding Chu Ze's true intentions.

This is not a modification.

This is the construction of a massive, man-fired... kiln!

"Come here, all of you!" She waved to the group of equally excited "civil engineering dogs" behind her and spread a huge sketch on the ground.

"Look here! Our goal isn't reinforcement, it's partitioning!" Her fingers flew across the blueprints. "Using planks and oil-soaked hay, we'll divide these core warehouses into individual, interconnected, narrow compartments! Creating a maze!"

"And here, seal all the windows with cement! Leave only a few specific vents!" She drew several heavy circles on the drawing with charcoal. "These vents must be built precisely according to my calculated angles! We need to create a 'chimney effect' inside! To ensure that once the flames are ignited, they can spread directionally and rapidly to every corner in the shortest possible time!"

One player was stunned and couldn't help but ask, "Sister Zhou, isn't this...a bit too harsh?"

Zhou Keke looked up, pushed up her non-existent glasses on the bridge of her nose, and answered seriously, "This is science."

On the other side, inside a makeshift chemical laboratory.

Cheng Huaxue was staring intently at the thick, black liquid being slowly stirred in a ceramic jar in front of her.

The air was filled with a pungent smell, a mixture of coal tar and rosin.

"Perfect...so perfect..." she murmured to herself, as if admiring a masterpiece of art.

Chu Ze's requirements were simple: just one thing—oil that was extremely sticky, could not be extinguished by water, and could stick firmly to armor and flesh and burn.

This is practically a freebie for a modern worker.

During this time, she used the coal tar extracted from the blast furnace coking process to mix with rosin scraped from pine trees, and added a certain amount of sulfur powder to lower the ignition point.

Thus, a kind of "homemade solidified gasoline" that could be described as a devil's creation in this era was born.

"Sister Xue, is this thing... done?" an assistant asked cautiously.

Cheng Huaxue did not answer. She used an iron spatula to lightly dip a little of the black, viscous liquid and then brought it to the brazier next to her.

"call--"

A ball of orange flame suddenly shot up from the top of the iron shovel! The flame was small, but it was unusually stubborn, emitting a nauseating black smoke.

The assistant quickly brought over a basin of water and splashed it on the surface.

A bizarre scene unfolded.

The water, instead of extinguishing the flames, seemed to react like boiling oil hitting cold water, producing a series of crackling and popping sounds! The ball of fire instantly exploded, turning into more than a dozen smaller sparks that splashed onto the surrounding ground and walls, continuing to burn tirelessly and turning the cement floor black.

All the players in the laboratory gasped in shock.

If this gets on someone...

OK.

Cheng Huaxue looked at the small flames that were stubbornly burning on the ground and revealed a satisfied smile.

Meanwhile, in the blacksmith shop, Gongshu Ban was yelling at several burly blacksmiths, spitting as he spoke.

"How many times have I told you! Sealing is key! This leather bowl you made is like a sieve; the pressure simply won't build up! How are you going to breathe fire? With your mouth?"

Before him lay a peculiar device, composed of copper pipes, a leather bladder, and a wooden piston. It was a simple yet ingeniously constructed pump, specifically designed to spray the viscous kerosene produced from melted snow.

These killing machines, representing a dimensional reduction attack, are being created one by one in the hands of players, ready to deliver an unprecedented "barbecue party" to the "lucky ones" who are about to emerge from the dark passage.

……

Compared to the bustling activity of these technical jobs, the tasks of ordinary players seem simple and unpretentious, even somewhat... boring.

Under Wang Han's unified organization, thousands of players accepted the equally rewarding "porter" mission.

They neatly piled bundles of thoroughly dried thatch, buckets of firewood soaked in inferior grease, and bags of pungent sulfur powder and saltpeter into the converted core warehouses, following the white markings drawn by Zhou Keke.

Shi Dali carried two bundles of hay taller than himself, walking briskly while shouting loudly.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Don't slack off! Finish early, and the cafeteria will add more meat tonight!"

Qian Lele started a live stream with a rather eye-catching title: "My Days as a Warehouse Keeper in 'Iron-Blooded Jiangshan'".

As she laboriously dragged a bundle of firewood into the warehouse, she complained to the camera:

"Brothers, look at this, this game is getting more and more grindy! At least it used to be about fighting and killing, but now it's like going back to a construction site! You have to be a warehouse manager before you even start a battle. Do you think this is fair?"

The live stream chat was filled with jubilation.

[Hahaha! Don't cry, Rainbow Cat! Stand up and keep carrying!]

[My poor cat, with such a small body, can it even lift this?]

[I had a feeling this task wasn't going to be simple. Look at all this hay and oil! This isn't a fire safety renovation; it's clearly a major fire hazard inspection!]

[You're absolutely right! I suspect Boss Chu Ze is planning to wait for the Tartars to come in, then roast them all alive!]

Holy crap! That makes sense! This is building hell!

As the players worked, they chatted and joked in the live stream, completely unaware that every bundle of hay and every bucket of oil they carried in was adding the final fuel to the impending infernal feast.

Night deepened.

The warehouse district in the west of the city was quiet yet eerie under the torchlight.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary warehouse.

But only Chu Ze knew that behind those tightly closed warehouse doors, a huge, complex labyrinth filled with death and fire had already taken shape.

All the traps are in place.

All the actors have entered the venue.

Chu Ze stood at the highest point of the south city wall, gazing towards the direction of the Later Jin camp, where the flames seemed more intense and restless than usual.

He knew that the wounded beast could no longer restrain itself.

He slowly raised his hand, and on the GM panel in the void, the icon representing the "Hell Pipe" dungeon was flashing a scarlet countdown light.

"bring it on."

He spoke softly, his voice fading into the cold night wind.

"Let me see the look of despair on your faces."