Tang Dynasty: The Holy Prince, the Dragon that Reigns Over the World

After seeing everyone off, Li Chengqian sat alone in the bedroom.

"Host, the mission has been completed. Do you want to claim the reward?" asked the system elf.

"Receive it. By the way, don't call me host in the future, since we share life and death. From now on, you can call me brother. And I will call you Ling'er from now on." After Li Chengqian finished speaking, the system fell into silence.

"Why, you don't like it?" Li Chengqian asked with a frown.

"Ling'er thanks Brother Qian for giving her the name. Please accept the reward, Brother Qian." The system elf's voice was slightly choked.

After saying this, Li Chengqian suddenly felt a surge of power flowing into his body, and an extremely exquisite halberd technique flooded into his mind. Li Chengqian felt the surge of power in his body and couldn't help but shout out happily, "Awesome!"

"Brother Qian, you feel good, right? But Brother Qian, I suggest that you should consider recruiting soldiers?" Ling'er said with a smile.

"Why, is this also a mission?" Li Chengqian asked puzzledly.

"Yes, the mission content: Train more than 1 soldiers within one year and you will be rewarded with 2 system coins. For every additional 20 soldiers, an additional reward of 1 system coins will be given. If the mission fails, the host will die. This mission is the main task and cannot be refused." Ling'er said.

"Sister, you can't refuse, you will die immediately. That's cruel enough. But it's time to train the troops. The great man in the past said that political power comes from the barrel of a gun. It won't work without an army, but how to do it?" Li Chengqian said speechlessly. Military power has always been a sensitive topic. Although Li Yuan loved Li Chengqian very much, as a founding emperor, no matter how much he loved his grandson, he would never let a 7-year-old child recruit and train soldiers. What's more, this child is the son of the King of Qin who is at odds with the crown prince.

Furthermore, the food, drink, armor, weapons, and fodder for 2 troops are all huge expenses. And Li Chengqian is just short of money. Besides, where can he get the generals to lead the troops and train them? Li Chengqian rubbed his head with a headache.

"Well, let's take it one step at a time. I heard from my father that many refugees have come to Guanzhong recently. We can use this as an excuse to ask Grandfather Guan for a farm outside the city. But how do we get the equipment and horses?" Li Chengqian said in a dilemma.

"Well, Brother Qian, have you forgotten that you still have a system?" Ling'er reminded.

"Aren't you unable to provide troops? I asked you for a division's worth of modern equipment, but you said you didn't have it." Li Chengqian asked.

"I don't have the hot weapons you want, but I have equipment from the cold weapon era, even those beyond this era or that didn't exist in history, tactics, and rare ores from the cold weapon era."

"I'm going to go earlier. Give me equipment for 10 people first." Li Chengqian said generously.

"Haha, the money is not enough. The cheapest set of armor in the system costs 5000 system coins. And it's iron armor." Ling'er hit him mercilessly.

"Swindler!" Li Chengqian said angrily.

"You can buy the blueprints and the ore to make it yourself. The finished products are very expensive, but the ore in the system is very cheap. I just checked, the Black Dragon Heavy Cavalry blueprints and the ore needed to equip 1 people, add up to 6 system coins. The Black Tortoise Heavy Infantry blueprints and the ore needed to equip 5000 people add up to 5.6 system coins. Including the matching tactics, a total of 15.6 system coins are required. Brother Qian, this is your first purchase, so I'll give you a discount of 15 system coins. However, I have to state first that due to the current technological level, the system cannot guarantee whether it can reach the level of the system finished product and how much it can reach."

"Are you here to help me, or to cheat me? Why do I feel like you are calculating against me based on my mission reward? Forget it. In the era of cold weapons, armor is very important, and I don't want to sacrifice my life for it. Let's exchange it. Where is the thing?" Li Chengqian asked.

"The tactics and blueprints are on the desk in the bedroom. As for the ore, you will find out if Brother Qian goes outside now. And there will be a surprise." Ling'er said mischievously.

Li Chengqian shook his head and walked out of the Qin Palace, but saw a group of people gathered not far from the palace. Li Chengqian walked over curiously, through the crowd, and saw two big men kneeling on the ground, with "Selling body to bury mother" written on the wooden board on the ground. Li Chengqian asked curiously, "Two strong men with strong bodies, how could you fall to the point of selling body to bury mother?"

"My dear young master, my brother and I are from Guanzhong. Recently, our family suffered a disaster and we fled here. Our mother died of a sudden illness on the way. When she was alive, my brother and I were unable to show filial piety to her. We only hope that after she dies, we can sell her body to a kind-hearted person. With money, we can bury her and show filial piety." Seeing that the two men's finger bones were thick, as if they had practiced martial arts, Li Chengqian went back to the mansion and called the housekeeper to take the two men into the mansion. He gave them 5 strings of money and asked them to go back to bury their mother and come to the palace later. The two men looked at the money in their hands and saw that Li Chengqian neither asked for their names and addresses nor arranged for anyone to follow them. There was a hint of determination in their eyes.

Seven days later, the two men braved the heavy rain and rushed back to the palace. After entering Li Chengqian's bedroom, they shouted "Master" and bowed down. Li Chengqian stepped forward and helped them up.

"I saw you two selling your bodies to bury your mother in the past, which was a great filial piety. After the seventh day, you two rushed back to the palace in the heavy rain, which was a sign of trustworthiness. It shows that you two are filial and righteous people. Although I, Li Chengqian, am still young, I admire filial and righteous men very much. I won't mention the master and servant. I wonder what your names are?" Li Chengqian said.

"My brother and I sold ourselves to bury our mother, which means we have received money from our master. We two brothers are his servants. Our master is noble and righteous, how can we brothers be ungrateful? My name is Deng Yinlong, and I am 15 years old this year. My brother's name is Deng Xiaohu, and I am 13 years old this year. My father was a general of the previous dynasty and died in battle on the border of Goryeo. My family was well off in my early years, and I read books for a few years and practiced martial arts for a few years." Deng Yinlong said.

"Good, very good. I have something urgent to entrust to someone. Do you dare?"

"I am already the master's servant. As long as the master gives an order, I will die for it." Deng Xiaohu answered while kneeling down.

"Okay, I want to train soldiers, and I have a method to train them. But I don't have anyone to lead them. But this is secretly training private soldiers. Do you two dare to do it?" Li Chengqian asked seriously.

"The master has entrusted us with an important task, which shows the trust he has in us. I am only afraid that I cannot fulfill the trust he has given me, so why should I fear life or death?" Deng Yinlong said while kneeling on his knees.

"Okay." Li Chengqian smiled and helped the two of them up.

"Master, when my two brothers were rushing back, we found an abandoned manor at the foot of Mount Li. We went in to rest. We discovered a secret passage in the manor that led directly to a cave at the foot of Mount Li. There were countless minerals of various kinds in the cave." Deng Yinlong said in a low voice.

"You are really good at arranging the system." Li Chengqian thought to himself.

Arranged the two to study warfare. Find a time to enter the palace. On the pretext of taking in refugees and calming the hearts of the people, asked Li Yuan for the manor at the foot of Mount Li. Seeing that Li Chengqian was still concerned about the country at a young age, Li Yuan was overjoyed and rewarded Li Chengqian with a large piece of imperial manor land and money to calm the refugees. Officials were sent to assist Li Chengqian in leading 15 refugees into the manor. Li Chengqian returned to the palace and reported to Li Shimin and Zhangsun Wugou, and then asked the Deng brothers to enter the manor to appease the people.

Build 1 Flying Dragon Heavy Cavalry, train them with the Black Dragon Heavy Cavalry tactics, and Li Chengqian will be the commander. Build 5000 Black Tortoise Heavy Infantry, train them with the Black Tortoise Heavy Infantry tactics, and Deng Xiaohu will be the commander. Build 5000 Flying Wing Archer Cavalry, train them according to the contemporary archer cavalry tactics, and Deng Yinlong will be the commander. This time, they will train secretly in the manor day and night, and secretly recruit craftsmen to build weapons according to the drawings day and night.