Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 9 [Every Bush and Tree a Warrior, Bamboo Armor Spearmen]

In a side courtyard of the Xue family mansion, there is the Langhuan Pavilion.

The copper water clock dripped until the first quarter of the hour.

On Jiang Xingzhou's desk in his study, there was a copy of "Qimin Yaoshu" on yellowed hemp paper. He turned to the "Rattan Armor Military Techniques" chapter and read it carefully.

He planned to cultivate the art of "seeing enemies in every bush and tree," a literary technique of the "Agricultural School" among the Hundred Schools of Thought.

As the name suggests, this art of writing is about infusing talent into plants and trees, transforming them into puppet soldiers.

But you should know that there are tens of thousands of varieties of grass and trees in the world, and the puppet soldiers transformed from different grasses and trees are completely different.

The "Essential Techniques for the Common People" from the Great Zhou Dynasty recorded the methods for making various kinds of plant and wood puppet soldiers.

The "Qimin Yaoshu: Rattan Armor Weapon Chapter" states:

Take a three-year-old purple vine, soak it in a cold pool for seven days, and then expose it to the sun between the hours of Yin and Mao (around 3-5 AM).

By simmering green ox tears over a low flame to create a glue, wrapping it with twelve layers of rattan leaves, and casting the [All Plants Are Soldiers] spell, one can obtain a rattan-armored soldier. Clad in rattan armor, this soldier possesses unparalleled toughness, impervious to blades and weapons, and extremely high vitality. This is the pinnacle of rattan-armored soldiers!

Jiang Xingzhou looked at it and immediately shook his head.

"No, the material for the rattan armor soldiers—three-year-old purple-gold rattan—is rare and hard to find."

Moreover, the process is too complicated and requires advance preparation.

Let's use a different type of plant material!

How could he have the time to search for such materials?
Continue browsing.

The "Bamboo Armor Weapon Chapter" of the "Essential Techniques for the Common People" states:

Select nine sections of jade-green bamboo, bury them in a snow cellar for seven days, and then quench them with the morning dew at dawn. Melt pine resin and pine gum, wrap them with three layers of ice silkworm silk, and you can forge armor that is impenetrable by arrows—the finest bamboo spear and armor for soldiers.

"Hey, this one's not bad!"

Jiang Xingzhou found a type of bamboo material, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but glance out the study window at the lush grove of phoenix tail bamboo in a corner of the courtyard.

Bamboo is a material that can be found everywhere, including in the Langhuan Pavilion courtyard.

According to the records in "Qimin Yaoshu", if the bamboo and wood materials are carefully prepared and refined, they can be transformed into top-quality bamboo spears and armor.

of course,

If you encounter a hasty battle and there is no time to refine materials, you can even take a piece of bamboo from the wild and use the [All Plants Are Soldiers] spell to transform it into a bamboo armor spearman.

Just then, the moonlight pierced through the lattice window, illuminating the annotations and secret instructions of this book on farming and grain management so clearly that they were clearly visible.

In the corner of the yellowed pages of the *Qimin Yaoshu*, a former official in charge of agriculture and grain wrote a fine annotation in cinnabar—

"However, according to the secret teachings of the farmers, one must borrow the spirit of the moon to ignite the spirit of the bamboo, forming four commands: 'Armor Growth,' 'Qi Circulation,' 'Leaves Transform into Arrows,' and 'Roots Connecting Formations'—which can make bamboo spears and armored soldiers appear just like real people!"

"This means that when practicing agricultural decrees and spells, it is best to borrow the moon's essence to draw upon the vital energy of plants!"

Jiang Xingzhou pondered for a moment, then went into the courtyard. His boots rolled over the scattered bamboo shadows on the ground. He locked the bronze door of the side courtyard, and the latch made a clear, resonant clanging sound in the silence.

To prevent outsiders from entering the courtyard and interrupting his practice.

In the corner of the courtyard, a lush grove of asparagus fern casts fragmented shadows on the blue brick ground. The silvery moonlight climbs over the courtyard wall, draping the asparagus fern in a frosty veil.

"Damn it!"

Jiang Xingzhou issued an imperial edict.

He made a sweeping motion with two fingers of his right hand, and a burst of azure light suddenly shone from his fingertips, striking a bamboo stalk.

In an instant, the asparagus fern arched its trunk, the mottled bamboo joints cracking in the green light, and the bamboo joints sprouted armor, growing to more than seven feet in a short time, vaguely taking on the shape of a shell!

"Wood~!"

Jiang Xingzhou decisively shouted again, and a second stream of literary energy burst forth from his fingertips.

In an instant, the asparagus fern was suspended in mid-air.

The bamboo stalk, which had grown to about ten feet tall, suddenly stopped growing. The green light and energy that had been flowing between the veins of the leaves began to weave together the body and the veins.

At the same time, with the help of the power of the moon,

The ten fingers, knees, and spine are connected by protruding joints and wood grain, with energy flowing through the body cavity. The bamboo branches are like arms, subtly revealing all the facial features.

Two ink dots embedded in the main stem suddenly blinked like eyes—a bamboo puppet soldier gradually took shape. "All soldiers!!"

Jiang Xingzhou held his breath and made a hand seal, beads of sweat sliding down his neck and into his collar, before finally shouting.

Suddenly,

With a loud bang, golden patterns burst forth from the bamboo joints, resembling interlocking links of a black iron chain.

The phoenix-tail bamboo trembled, and its slender leaves arranged themselves in the air like a formation of arrows, their cold light condensing into a long spear.

The gnarled bamboo roots transformed into shanks, and the bamboo branches twisted into a seven-foot-long steel spear, with a sharp bamboo leaf still hanging from the spearhead.

Its body is lean yet robust, covered in a sturdy bamboo armor, and it wields a sharp bamboo spear, making it a soldier armed with a spear and bamboo armor.

The seven-foot-tall bamboo and wooden puppet landed with a thud, but as it turned around, it thrust its spear forward!
"Hiss—~!"

The bamboo spear whistled as it cut through the wind, piercing the stone pillar three zhang away. Flying pebbles grazed the boy's ears and exploded into fragments on the whitewashed wall behind him.

After releasing his literary arts, Jiang Xingzhou leaned against a pillar, panting.

A single four-character incantation nearly consumed almost half of his talent.

Continue to refine and operate the bamboo armor spearmen.

Several hours later, the waning moon of winter had shifted its position and was shining obliquely on half of his handsome face, making his eyes appear as clear as water.

A light drizzle began to fall in the courtyard, and a chill filled the air.

Jiang Xingzhou, still not quite satisfied, dispersed the "All Plants and Trees Are Soldiers" literary technique.
The bamboo and wooden puppet bent its fingers and gave him a crooked and clumsy cupped-hand salute before immediately disintegrating and dissipating into the night mist.

Jiang Xingzhou hid in the study of Langhuan Pavilion and lit a basin of fine charcoal fire to keep warm.

At this moment, Jiang Xingzhou rubbed his hands and feet over the charcoal fire, staring intently at the jade slips, when a string of information popped up:
Jiang Xingzhou, Langhuan Pavilion, performs rural literature.

Farmer's Literary Arts: [Every Bush and Tree a Soldier] *Puppet Soldier Literary Arts.

Materials: Asparagus fern (common).

Bamboo armor spearman: one.

Grade: Common.

Life: 90.

Gun-type penetrating damage multiplier: 1.8x.

Consumes: 40 strands of talent.

Time Limit: Can be maintained for a maximum of twelve hours, then disintegrates within a limited time.

Proficiency: 1/100 of the first-class skill level in the Meng Sheng Habitat.

Quickly upgrade grade: Consume 1000 points of cultivation to quickly upgrade the proficiency of [Bamboo Armor Spearman] to the maximum level of Meng Sheng Realm.

Improved bamboo armor spearmen's power: Using Bilang bamboo tempered with autumn frost, individual soldier combat power can be increased tenfold.

"A mere bamboo armor spearman is this powerful? If it were made with materials refined according to the 'Essential Techniques for the Common People,' it would probably be even more formidable!"

Jiang Xingzhou gasped in astonishment when he thought of the stone pierced by a single spear.

Before we knew it, the sudden rain had stopped.

The sound of a bamboo clapper came from outside the window, and before we knew it, it was already dawn.

Jiang Xingzhou spent nearly half a month browsing through various classic texts in the Langhuan Pavilion, familiarizing himself with the writings of this world.

At the same time, he cultivated the [All Plants Are Soldiers] peasant puppet soldier technique to the maximum level of 100/100 in the Mengsheng Wen position.

At this point, the bamboo-armored spearmen were extremely agile, like battle-hardened soldiers, fearless and undaunted.

"This is already the maximum level of [Every Plant and Tree is an Enemy]. If you want to further increase its power, you can only use the tempering method recorded in the 'Essential Techniques for the Common People' in advance, prepare a batch of bamboo materials that have been tempered for seven days in a frost-snow cellar, and prepare some pine oil, pine resin, and ice silkworm silk."

Alternatively, only by breaking through to the level of a junior scholar (童生文位) can one improve their bamboo soldier rank.

Jiang Xingzhou's literary technique has reached perfection and can be easily used at any time.

He pondered that tomorrow was the county-level examination for candidates for the imperial examinations, and he should prepare the necessary examination materials and go to the county academy to take the exam.

(End of this chapter)