Firearms

Shen Jingchuan smiled and said, "I didn't bring any food, but I can take you to get some. Those so-called Four Great Lineages of Yuxi Prefecture all have their own manors outside the city, right?"

Hu Tieniu said, "Yes, and more than one. Could it be that you... intend to raid their estates?"

"You're right, let's do it."

Hu Tieniu frowned:

"I tried to take over the estates of the Huang Household and Pan Household before, but I failed. The Huang Household are big grain merchants. They own two or three tenths of the land in the entire Yuxi Prefecture. They store all their grain in their estates outside the city, hoarding it to sell at a higher price during famine years."

I had considered attacking them last year, and we tried twice, but we didn't have any proper equipment and couldn't make a dent. Later, they didn't want to offend us too much, so they gave us ten loads of grain. I figured I'd take what I could, so I led my men and withdrew.

"Although we are stronger now than before, with crossbows and spears, the stockade walls are high and the gates are sturdy, so we still can't take it down."

Shen Jingchuan hummed in agreement:

"I'll figure this out. You all focus on siege training first, and at the same time send people outside the city to find out the main estates of the Huang Household and Pan Household, including their defensive arrangements and manpower. Make preparations, and I'll be back as soon as possible."

Shen Jingchuan returned to the city, had dinner that evening, sat with Lin Qingyao and Bai Ruoli for a while, then said he was going to practice martial arts in the west courtyard and went there alone.

He sat cross-legged in the quiet room of the west courtyard and scanned his Storage Ring with his consciousness—all the pills he had put in before had been upgraded to the middle grade, their bodies lustrous and their color several times purer than before.

He took out a Qi Nourishing Pill and swallowed it, then immediately began practicing the Five Elements Qi Refining Instruction. The Cultivation Method the mutual generation of the five elements, and the Spiritual Qi circulated endlessly. After only one cycle, the medicinal power of the entire pill was completely refined, and his cultivation level improved slightly.

He then took out two more Qi Nourishing Pills and swallowed them, circulating his Qi through his body for two more cycles. He absorbed all the medicinal power and made significant progress.

It was already dawn when Shen Jingchuan got up and cast a Body Cleansing Instruction. He didn't return to the East Courtyard; with a thought, he directly traveled back to the modern-day West Mountain Separate Garden.

Sitting on the living room sofa, he began to consider how to attack the village walls—crossbows and spears alone wouldn't be enough; explosives would be the easier way. He checked his phone and found information about the black market for arms in Darra Town, Pakistan, and an idea came to him.

Hand grenades and explosive charges can be bought there, and he can easily travel back and forth, so there's not much risk involved if something happens.

The problem was that he didn't have a passport, let alone a visa. After thinking for a moment, he picked up his phone and dialed Elder Wen's number, saying that the person he had previously worked with to buy ginseng abroad had run into trouble and he needed to get there as soon as possible, asking if he could expedite the passport and visa application process.

After listening, Elder Wen didn't ask any further questions, only saying:

"This isn't difficult. I'll have Secretary Zhou coordinate with you, and we'll follow all the proper procedures to get it done for you as soon as possible."

Less than five minutes later, Secretary Zhou called, asking him to meet at the Beijing Public Security Bureau's Exit-Entry Service Hall, located east of the Yonghe Temple.

Over the next few days, Shen Jingchuan traveled back and forth between the two worlds every day, waiting for news of the documents while transporting various supplies to the other world.

On the morning of the fifth day, Shen Jingchuan had just returned to the modern world when he saw a missed call from Secretary Zhou on his phone. He immediately called back, and Secretary Zhou informed him that his passport and visa had been processed. Knowing that he was staying at West Mountain Separate Garden, she said that someone would be sent to deliver them to his door shortly.

After obtaining his documents, Shen Jingchuan immediately booked a flight for the next day. He purchased a first-class ticket for Air China CA943, a direct flight from Beijing to Islamabad.

I told the women from both worlds I needed to go away for a while. Sigh! Having women around is such a hassle—a happy kind of trouble.

The next day, around 2 p. m., he entered Capital Airport carrying two travel bags. After successfully passing through security and boarding the plane, he sat down in his first-class seat, and the plane quickly taxied onto the runway and took off.

After landing in Islamabad, Shen Jingchuan transferred to a domestic flight and arrived in Peshawar in just one hour.

He had done his research online beforehand; there were only two ways to find arms dealers:

You can either find a broker in the local area to deliver the goods outside the town, where the quantity is small and the price is high, but the advantage is that it is hidden; or you can go directly to the open market in Darra Town, where there is a wide variety of goods and they are cheap, but foreigners cannot enter on their own and must find a local guide to lead the way through the tribal checkpoints.

He chose the latter. He found a hotel to stay in. His English was already mediocre, and the receptionist's English also had a heavy local accent. The two of them tried to communicate with gestures and words for a long time but couldn't understand each other. Finally, Shen Jingchuan took out his phone's translation app, typed a few words and it became clear: he needed a familiar guide who could run to Darra Town, with a car and armed bodyguards.

The receptionist was unfazed and contacted someone within half an hour. It was $200 a day, with a deposit required, and guaranteed safe entry and exit without being questioned.

The next morning, the guide picked us up in an SUV. The guide was a local man in his thirties with dark skin. He introduced himself as Jimmy in broken English and handed us a simple business card with only his contact number printed on it.

The journey of over forty kilometers took less than an hour to reach Darra Town. The main street of the town was lined with gun shops and workshops, with rifles, grenades, and explosives displayed on the counters, just like an ordinary market.

Looking at the long and short guns and boxes of grenades and explosives all over the street, Shen Jingchuan thought to himself, "Since I'm already here, it would be a waste to just buy a few grenades and explosives." He found a shopkeeper who looked alright, opened his phone's translation app, and asked the shopkeeper if he had any heavy weapons.

The shopkeeper replied that they didn't have any in town; if you wanted that kind of equipment, you'd have to go to Spin Boldak on the border. They had all the heavy equipment left behind by the Soviet army there, and he could help make the connection, but it was a long way and the price was high.

Shen Jingchuan replied: Then I'll arrange it.

The shopkeeper glanced at him but didn't move. Shen Jingchuan understood what he meant, reached into his pocket, and took out a golden melon seed from his spatial storage, placing it on the table. This seed weighed about ten grams.

The boss's eyes lit up immediately. He picked it up, took a bite, confirmed it was real gold, and then immediately put on a smile, turned around, and made a phone call to arrange it.

Shen Jingchuan went outside and found his guide Jimi, and handed him a gold seed, saying that he would need to make another trip to the border, and this was extra money. Jimi accepted the gold and agreed without hesitation.

The car drove out of Darra Town and turned onto a winding mountain road. We passed several tribal checkpoints along the way, but the guides were all familiar faces, so they let us through after a quick greeting and didn't even check the car. After driving for more than two hours, the car stopped at the entrance to the market in Spin Boldak.

This place is much more chaotic and wilder than Darra Town.

Heavy machine guns and mortar barrels were placed directly on the open ground by the roadside, and boxes of ammunition were stacked high. Almost everyone who came and went carried a gun. No one maintained order or checked identities. It was all open-air trading where people inspected the goods and settled accounts on the spot.