Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

"How's the plan going? What's the attitude of the Refiner's Association?"

"After Li Qing returned to the Refiner Association, he never left the Refiner Association building again. The few times he appeared were in the Refiner Association's members' hall. He had people handle all his properties in Zhongyuan City. Even when his wives and concubines ran away, he was never seen leaving."

Later, our people inquired at the Refiners' Association and learned that he had been removed from his position as vice president and was confined to the association for a year, forbidden from leaving even a step outside. The video footage we provided to him hasn't been released either. It's likely been suppressed by the Refiners' Association. They want to distance themselves from the matter.”

“That won’t do. How can we let such an important piece become invisible?” Mo Yuming said.

"Apart from the unexpected incident on the Liqing route, everything else is proceeding smoothly as planned. The news is already spreading throughout the city, and there are several versions of it."

Sun Min said.

"How's the City Lord's Mansion reacting? Have there been any unusual signs these past few days?"

"The rumors have definitely reached the city lord's mansion. Although on the surface there is not much reaction in the city lord's mansion, the soldiers who patrol every day are obviously much more vigilant, and the defense on the city wall has been increased. In addition, the checks on people entering and leaving the castle have been strengthened."

"How are the city's defenses? What is the combat effectiveness of the garrison within the city?"

"There are fewer than 30,000 soldiers patrolling the city walls every day, and only a few thousand soldiers on each section of the city wall. With such a small number of soldiers on a city wall that is more than ten miles long, they are basically not very effective in combat."

The city walls are only fortified with defensive formations at the city gates. However, there is a magic crystal cannon positioned every mile along the walls. Based on combat capabilities, only these magic crystal cannons can inflict any damage on our army.

Seventy percent of the garrison in Zhongyuan City is stationed around the City Lord's Mansion. The garrison camp outside the mansion is built of stone, with watchtowers on the rooftops, each equipped with magic crystal cannons. Therefore, the City Lord's Mansion is the toughest nut to crack in Zhongyuan City.

"Have the Shadow Guards infiltrated the City Lord's Mansion?"

"An inside agent has already infiltrated the area responsible for the city wall defenses. However, the military camp responsible for the city lord's mansion area has not yet been able to enter."

"Alright, let's continue as planned tomorrow, and try to gather as many weapon refiners as possible so we can go to the Weapon Refiners Association for some fun. If you want to stay out of it, then I'll drag you into it."

After Sun Min left, Mo Yuming contacted Jiang Yuheng again and learned that the 30,000 troops had already set up camp in the mountains thirty miles from Zhongyuan City. The deserters were estimated to have reached the vicinity of Zhongyuan City by now.

The supply corps should arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. The messengers sent to spread the word in the surrounding cities have also replied. News of Wu Ji's collusion with the criminals has spread to the four cities surrounding Zhongyuan City. For self-preservation, these cities, formerly under Wu Ji's jurisdiction, have issued statements denying any involvement in the collusion and publicly declaring that if the situation is true, they will sever ties with the Great Red Kingdom and have no further dealings with Wu Ji.

The Black Dragon Stronghold's army has been surrounded, and all bandits and soldiers entering or leaving the stronghold will be suppressed. The locations of the other two army corps have also been scouted, and the cavalry regiment has already set off; results will be available tonight.

Based on the information he had gathered, Mo Yuming estimated that they would encounter some resistance when attacking the city lord's mansion. Therefore, he suggested that the arsenal should rush to produce phosphorus wax bullets during this period. The phosphorus wax bullet was a projectile designed by Mo Yuming to be launched by a catapult. The spherical shell, about one foot in size, was made of ordinary iron. The bullet was filled with phosphorus wax and animal oil. Then, a small piece of magic crystal was embedded in the seal using the method of making magic-breaking arrows.

When these phosphorus wax projectiles are launched by catapults, they explode wherever they hit due to the magic crystals. The phosphorus wax and animal oil inside the projectiles ignite, splattering everywhere. Wherever the animal oil and phosphorus wax are splashed, a raging fire breaks out. Although not highly lethal, it is extremely difficult to clear and extinguish, disrupting and weakening the enemy's fighting capacity. However, ordinary soldiers splashed with animal oil and phosphorus wax cannot extinguish the phosphorescent flames on their bodies and can only quickly remove all their clothing; otherwise, they will be burned alive.

Phosphorus wax bullets are much more effective than magic-slaying arrows, serving as a weapon for large-area attacks. More importantly, phosphorus wax and animal oil are both cheap, readily available, and very easy to process.

Just as Mo Yuming finished contacting Jiang Yuheng and was about to meditate and cultivate, the hotel manager came to deliver a message: a large group of deserters outside the city were clamoring to enter, but the guards refused, and chaos had broken out at the city gate.

Mo Yuming already knew about it, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly. So he instructed the shopkeeper to send people to keep an eye on the movements of the city lord's mansion and see how the city lord's mansion would deal with these deserters.

This "fishing in troubled waters" tactic was a difficult move deliberately set up by Mo Yuming for the city lord of Zhongyuan City. These 10,000-plus deserters were secretly transferred by Wu Ji from various cities to attack the Great Xia Empire. Before the battle even started, they were defeated by the enemy's preemptive strike, leaving only these 10,000-plus deserters from an army of nearly 100,000.

With rumors spreading throughout the city, and the city lord of Zhongyuan City presumably racking his brains trying to figure out how to quell the situation, the deserters will only make things more difficult for him.

If not handled properly, these deserters will cause trouble and further disrupt the city. If they are all incorporated into the city, it will require a great deal of financial expenditure, and land will need to be found for their resettlement. Furthermore, it's necessary to prevent further disturbances by the deserters. It's likely that the city lord of Zhongyuan City won't be able to sleep soundly tonight.

"Go ahead and cause as much chaos as you want, we'll have plenty of entertainment tomorrow!"

Mo Yuming smiled slightly and then sat down to meditate and cultivate.

The next day at dawn, the hotel manager personally delivered breakfast and informed him that all the weapon refiners he had contacted had arrived at the designated location and were just waiting for Mo Yuming to arrive.

More than a dozen weapon refiners, along with many practitioners of profound arts and merchants, had gathered in the lobby on the ground floor of the Refiner Association building.

Ah Hao had already delivered Mo Yuming's message to the Ji family. The Ji family also had guest weapon refiners, which they could naturally utilize. This had no impact on them whatsoever. They were probably arriving soon.

The main hall on the first floor of the Refiner's Association is used to entertain merchants and sell refining materials. Because the Refiner's Association is very wealthy, the hall is decorated very luxuriously, with various exquisite ornaments.

Mo Yuming mingled in the crowd and did nothing but watch how things unfolded. After all, he wasn't a member of the Refiner Association and had no say in the matter.

"President Zhuang, I believe you understand why we've come today. Please have Vice President Li come out and explain," a white-haired weapon refiner asked, bowing respectfully.

Zhuang Chenyue, the president of the Zhongyuan City Refiner Association branch, was surrounded by dozens of people in the hall and could not get away.