The repeating heavy crossbow stunned the prince's estate; an iron-blooded general fell prey to a clinging weakling

Zhen Meili raised her chin, glancing sideways at Murong Xue, who stood beside her with her hand on her sword, her expression extremely arrogant.

Murong Xue let out a half-snort through her nose.

"All that fancy talk is misleading. Military heavy weaponry is all about durability and sturdiness. All those fancy mechanisms will jam as soon as they get muddy on the battlefield—they're utterly useless."

Zhen Meili didn't bother arguing with her. She simply reached out and pulled off a thin hemp rope from her waist, then abruptly pulled the iron ring hanging below the trigger.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of extremely sharp, piercing sounds suddenly erupted in the training ground.

Fourteen jet-black iron-feathered heavy arrows shot out one after another along the two tracks like a torrential rain within just three breaths.

Fifty paces away, five sturdy wooden dummies, neatly wrapped in raw cowhide, stood in orderly rows. They didn't even last a blink of an eye; wood chips and sheet metal flew everywhere in a chaotic spray.

The first three dummies were instantly blasted into splinters by the raging rain of arrows, while the remaining two were impaled by pierced arrows and embedded in the earthen wall of the stockade behind them, the white feathers at the ends of the arrows still trembling rapidly.

The entire training ground was deathly silent. The morning breeze swept across the shooting range, leaving only a few wisps of wood torn apart by arrows swirling in the air.

Murong Xue's fingers, which were gripping the hilt of her sword, suddenly tightened, and her heels slid back half an inch in the mud. As a seasoned warrior who had led troops into battle for many years, she was a fierce and resilient woman of the grasslands.

She knew all too well what such a mechanism, capable of unleashing a torrent of heavy arrows in a narrow pass, meant.

The slight sense of contempt from before was shattered by this domineering storm of metal.

Lin Qingdai subconsciously took half a step forward, her gaze fixed on the brass mechanism box that was still emitting a faint burnt smell, her eyes shimmering with uncertainty.

"How about it? Can this fancy contraption of mine pierce the Tubo barbarians' chainmail?"

Zhen Meili patted the black ash off her hands, raised her chin so high it was almost impossible to look people in the eye, and looked as arrogant as could be.

Gu Moran sat down in the chair and picked up a warm teacup to moisten his throat.

" Uncle Fu, order the workshop to produce thirty units overnight according to these blueprints, and transport them all to Bronze Gorge."

After saying that, he turned to look at Zhen Meili and slowly added a sentence.

"The revised blueprints are quite good. As for that IOU for five hundred taels of silver, I'll waive fifty taels for you."

Zhen Meili's smug expression vanished instantly, and she glared at him, cursing him out.

"Hey Gu, have some decency!"

The wind and snow were even fiercer in the Tubo central army camp than in the previous days.

The once orderly and well-organized camp is now filled with an eerie atmosphere that drives people crazy.

In a drafty, dark corner at the back of the main camp, Chen Qing, wearing a tattered cotton-padded coat torn to shreds, huddled in a cage secured with ironwood nails.

Two dark hands gripped the thick wooden fence, his chin rested on the crossbeam, and his eyes were fixed on the guards patrolling in the wind and snow not far away.

"Young man, slow down! Watch your step, that thin layer of ice. If you slip and fall, the general won't be there to rub your knees."

Chen Qing, with a sticky, slurred voice, winked at the passing guards.

"Look at your little face, it's frozen like perilla leaves. In a few days, I'll definitely ask Prince An to get you two boxes of the finest mutton fat ointment to apply to your face. I guarantee it'll be a hundred times more moisturizing than the mutton fat from this snow mountain."

The patrolling Tubo soldiers got goosebumps all over their bodies, didn't even dare to draw their swords, and fled towards the central command tent with their heads down as if they had encountered a vengeful ghost.

In the open-air kitchen next to the cage, the fat cook, holding a rusty iron ladle, trembled like a withered leaf in the autumn wind.

"Hey! You in charge of cooking, did you think I'd just eat all the food I told you yesterday?"

Chen Qing suddenly raised his voice, pointing his finger through the fence at the large, bubbling iron pot, his expression one of deep anguish:

"Did you skim off the mutton fat? I've said it three times: you need to sauté the mutton with scallions first to remove the gamey smell."

You've gone this far, throwing a whole dead sheep, skin and bones, down the drain! How can the general's stomach possibly handle such filthy pig feed?

If you get an upset stomach, General, I'll risk my life to skin you alive and use you as a snack!

The fat cook's wrist trembled violently, but he couldn't even utter a word in reply.

These past few days, the soldiers and officers in the camp have been driven almost insane by this madman from the Central Plains.

Hit him! He'll be spitting blood while praising your incredible strength and saying you're a promising general.

Let him go hungry; even as he chews on rotten vegetable leaves, he still asks with deep affection whether the general slept well last night.

Kill him. He's a man of Great Yan Prince An of Dayan, and he'll affect the relationship between Tubo and Prince An.

From the centurion down to the lowest servant, everyone in the camp felt a tightness in the back of their head and a churning in their stomach upon hearing this man's voice.

"Bang!"

The thick leather curtain of the central command tent was violently torn open by a burst of energy.

With a full beard, Zhaxi Dawa charged over, carrying a rusty short knife. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was as furious as a wolf whose tail had been stepped on.

"Open the cage!"

Zhaxi Dawa stood in front of the cage, his chest heaving like a broken bellows, his large, iron-like hands gripping the hilt of a knife tightly, his knuckles cracking.

"If I don't shut you up completely today, I'm not a warrior from the snowy mountains!"

Two guards cautiously stepped forward and pulled the wooden bolt. The iron gate was barely opened a crack.

Chen Qing slipped out like an eel, not only refusing to kneel and beg for mercy, but also rushing to Zhaxi Dawa's knees with lightning speed, his two thin arms tightly embracing the mud-covered combat boots.

"General! You've finally come to see me!"

Chen Qing raised his thin face, covered in mud and bloodstains, and actually squeezed out two hot tears from his eyes. His voice trembled so much that it sent chills down one's spine.

"This godforsaken place is windy and snowy. It's a small matter if I freeze or starve to death; my only fear is that the general will ruin his health from overwork in military affairs."

"Feel my hands. Although they're covered in chilblains, the strength from massaging your shoulders is still there."

Zhaxi Dawa was struck dumb, his arm holding the knife froze in mid-air, and a wave of nausea surged up his throat.

"You... you let me go!"

Zhaxi Dawa raised his foot to kick him away, but Chen Qing was like a piece of broken plaster stuck with glue, climbing up his boots while muttering incessantly.

"General, don't kick! The soles of your boots are hard; you might hurt your foot bones."

To be honest,

The rebel Marquis of Dali left us three secret passages in Wild Wolf Valley, Prince An also planted five hundred assassins in Yi Prefecture City.

If only the general would heed my advice and lead his troops straight to the south gate of Yi Prefecture, I would gladly serve as the vanguard to pave the way for the general, until we have conquered this magnificent land.

This servant... this servant is willing to serve the general by his side, to serve him tea and water for the rest of my life!