"What's this meeting about commander Tusai?"

"Baron's order."

"Huh! the young-Baron never interrupts us during duty."

"Is something wrong on the battle-front north of here?"

"That's general Lian Laoci, humph... nothing could stop his advancement!"

"Maybe Lord-Feng is unsatisfied with our progress."

"T-this..."

Ba Tusai : "Quiet now, just take your seat and save your energy, when the Baron arrives we'll naturally know everything."

The words from this short and frighteningly-strong man caused the captains to become like mute stone-statues, soon afterwards Night's ears stood at end and he looked towards the door of the big conference-room before making a faint whining sound, seconds later Zhu Feng entered while being flanked by Harmony and Thunder! the one-hundred and forty-three squad-captains, thirty-five platoon-captains, nine company-captains, the three battalion-commanders, and single brigade-commander all stood at attention and greeted their young-Baron by saying : "Greetings Lord-Feng." Their united voices almost caused a shockwave in this conference room.

The three battalion-commanders are of course Xi Qiqiang, Niu, and Li Canglai who finally reached the rank and gained the title that he always wished to receive, not from the army this time but from his Baron and Canglai's own son is serving under his father after graduating with flying grades from the Light-House Institute, specifically the militaristic and logistic class which Li Konglai dominated! each of the three battalion-commanders is responsible for three senior-captains which lead their own companies, these nine company-captains each lead at least three platoon-captain each, meanwhile each of these thirty-five platoon-captains each lead four squad-captains, finally each one of these one-hundred and forty-three squad captains is responsible for fourteen of Zhu Feng's elite soldiers.

Zhu Feng : "Be seated." The young-lord took his seat and looked towards his men in silence for a few seconds before saying : "Gui family... Gui Lei," After saying these words the Lord-Feng looked around at the faces of his men especially the ones who belonged to the garrison of Rock-City before joining his ranks, "Whoever knows any solid information about either of these topics then please tell me everything you know." However, the young-Baron was feeling disappointed after seeing nothing on the faces of these men until his eyes fell on one of his battalion-commanders and that young-man avoided eye-contact while sweating! before Zhu Feng could say anything about it his highest-ranked follower extended his hand below the table to squeeze his gently before shaking his head which seemed to be saying : 'Not now m'lord, not here in front of this gathering.' And the young-lord nodded before sighing and saying : "Then, forget it... it isn't that important anyway."

The captains frowned after hearing their Lord-Feng being so careless and nonchalant about this "rumor" and thought to themselves : 'Certainly the Baron didn't order for an urgent-meeting just to say this, right!' Before these men could exchange looks and see the confusion in the eyes of their colleagues and superiors the man himself continued to speak and say : "Commander Tusai. What's the current state of the trade-road north? how far has the work progressed?"

Ba Tusai : "M'lord the project was halfway before winter but, in this month and half of winter the staff struggled with the weather and the pathways of the rocky-maze being blockaded with ice, so far they're about a few kilometers inside the rocky-maze are still working on applying the layer of metal-sand on both sides of the maze-walls." The short man explained the situation and noticed how the Baron frowned.

Zhu Feng : "Well... there's nothing to hide from my men so listen well, the Crown orders for us to send men and supplies to general Lian Laoci while the City-Lord of Obsidian-City and current Lord-Protector of the west... the Third-Prince is going to take care of the rest and provide all the required armaments to the general and his two thousand men of the silver-guard, we need to prepare enough food and whatever other supplies that they may require for at least four months once we join them, plus enough for ourselves during the journey and during our stay of at least four months in enemy-territory! let the logistics-team plan for our journey from this moment and refine your plans to the degree of preparing for any kind of situations, we need to meet the general and his men within two months or my head is going to fly and fall on some rusty spear then be left to rot somewhere where everyone can watch it. Tusai."

"Yes m'lord." The stocky commander sensed the urgency in the situation and understood that this next order needs to be completed.

Zhu Feng : "Halt the work on the southern trade-road and redeploy everyone north to speed things up, lend them warhorses and my own Shadow if you have to, take the wolves and all these men to work or ask for me if I'm needed... before we're to move north you need to carefully choose who to stay and who to leave with me however, battalion-commanders Xi Qiqiang, Niu, and Li Canglai are coming with me! whether you need to stay or join us is entirely up to you Tusai, Liwei leaving is out of the question though, apologize to him for me." The Baron got-up from his seat and walked towards Ba Tusai's office while saying : "Niu, Tusai... you two come with me."

The captains quickly dispersed from the conference-room however, the look within their eyes had some wild and untamed-excitement flowing from them while these men thought : 'We're going to fight along-side Baron Zhu and hero general Lian Laoci! I'm certainly not staying while others have that honor.'

*****

"You're still keeping your silence?" Once Ba Tusai entered his own office behind the young-Baron he waited for battalion-commander Niu to enter before closing the doo behind him, he immediately noticed how the young and muscular man is nervously looking around him as if he's in some sort of cage! especially the worried looks he kept giving Harmony and Thunder it caused the regiment-commander to fume with rage, he rewarded his underling with a slightly heavy slap at the back of his head while saying that to awaken him from his daze.

Niu : "I..."

Zhu Feng : "Do you think that I'd be frustrated or angry after hearing what you have to say?"

"En." Niu immediately nodded repeatedly which caused Tusai to glare at him.

"Then I promise you in front of Tusai that whatever you have to say wouldn't cause you to be harmed, it wouldn't leave this office." The young-lord said so and gestured for the nearby seat and said : "Sit and speak, don't do it if you trust that my words are wind and... just leave. I won't ever hold it against you." Then Lord-Feng relaxed on his seat and shook his head to stop the short brigade-commander from saying anything.

The muscular young man looked directly in the eyes of this sixteen years old young man whose body shares a long history with him that's more than a decade worth of years yet somehow the soul within that body doesn't know Niu at all! finally after a few seconds of saying and doing nothing the ex-mercenary took his seat and began to speak : "You're the bastard son of Gui Nianzu and indeed your name is Gui Lei, it happened more than ten years ago...." Battalion-commander Niu didn't withhold anything and when the scar on the back of Feng's hand was mentioned and the incident that caused it the Baron raised his right-hand up in front of his face and looked at it while imagining that bastard Gui Lei and what he must felt after being betrayed by his own father, how he must've been shunned-away by everyone else around him everywhere he went, according to Niu's tale then the time Zhu Feng got sent into this body the boy who once owned it was just fourteen-years old which means now Zhu Feng is in the body of a sixteen at most seventeen years old! he endured these one-hundred lashes at fourteen, tamed Storm at fourteen, had his first and second encounter with a cultivator at fourteen, first warhorse, first sword, first kill, first taste of women, so many firsts... "Afterwards I met you when I passed my junior-captain test and you didn't recognize me despite everything that happened between us, in the beginning I doubted that you're merely acting but after spending more than a whole year with I just know that you're not Gui Lei anymore, you're Zhu Feng and I'm your subject... you treat me fairly and I treat you with respect! you take care of my family and I protect yours with my own, no need for me to ask where did you come from or how did you do it, I suspected that you might be some cultivator who possessed Lei's body but, cultivators don't care about us mortals at all. My Baron, m'lord Feng... I relieve you from your earlier promise, please administer your punishment with a relaxed conscience! all I ask is for you to take care of little-Ling and our child that she currently carries within her." Finally Niu got-up from his seat then kneeled on both knees before kowtowing and keeping that embarrassing position.

Brigade-commander Ba Tusai was so shocked by what he just heard to the degree where he remained seated while looking in a daze at his young-Baron, at fourteen this kid caused miracles to happen and now at seventeen he's about to lead men to the battlefield but, he's still calm despite having one of the biggest secrets of his short life being exposed at such a critical-timing!

Thunder : "Awoo'oo..." Suddenly the grey wolf moved and covered the kowtowing man with his body before howling towards their two-legged friend, the most annoying wolf seemed to be protecting Niu and demanding that he be forgiven.

Harmony : "Woof..." The brown wolf seemed to be admonishing his big-brother for intervening in the affairs of these two-legged ones but, in-fact the sweetest wolf was commending his brother for doing the right thing.

Actually Thunder made a move because little-Ling always asks him to secretly protect this two-legged one who keeps bullying her at night, well... she seems to like it though so, it's none of his business as long as Thunder gets his treats! however, if he's dead then the other two-legged one might be too sad and forget to give him the treats, in that case it would be Thunder's loss if this idiot lost his life.

Zhu Feng : "Well... since Thunder said no then there's no punishment for you."

Thunder : "Woof!..."

Harmony : "Awoo..."

"Zip-it! are you two morons? didn't I say that whatever he says I wouldn't let harm come to him? didn't I say that it wouldn't leave this office? who do you think I am? do I look like someone who farts from his mouth or something? there's more important things for me to worry right now, like... my own life for instance, the life of my family, tsk. You're missing the big-picture here you... idjuts!" The young-Baron gently slapped the snouts of the two wolves while lecturing them, Niu raised his head from the floor and looked up at this scene and felt like his head is going dizzy, "And you! the biggest idiots of them all, why'd you think that I'd do anything to you now? huh!... I don't even know that Lei, yes... I admit that you were a real piece of work back then but, you never acted this way after being recruited to my ranks. Fuck that Gui Nianzu, if there's a chance? then... I'll avenge both you and his bastard son." Lord-Feng got-up from his seat and patted Niu's shoulder before walking towards the door while saying that.

Zhu Feng : "Tusai."

Ba Tusai : "Y-yes m'lord."

"I trust that everything would be alright, this is my head we're talking about here... not the head of this idiot Niu." The young-lord gave the young and muscular man a ridiculing side-glance when he said that especially after noticing that Thunder is still drooling all over the helmet of the dazed battalion-commander.

*****

Bo Biyu : "W-war!" His wife covered her mouth and the expression of panic was all-over her face.

Zhu Feng : "Unfortunately... yes," The Baron held hands with both of his women and sighed before sitting and pulling each one of them gently by the waist to seat them on his thighs, "I never wished to be entangled in the matters between our Shi Kingdom and the surrounding Kingdoms and Empires, honestly... I just can't remember anything at all before the day that I got saved by aunty Qing's niece Qing Liling, the name Zhu Feng... I wasn't sure if it's my real name it just sort-of came-up in my head you know! now after I received these direct orders and severe warnings from the royal family then I can't disobey them otherwise the lives of my family would be in danger, I confirmed everything about this identity of mine from someone who met me more than once in the past ten years, it seems like I'm not Zhu Feng... I'm Gui Lei the bastard son of Gui Nianzu the traitorous former City-Lord of Sand City. However, the crimes of that man are his own choices, meanwhile... I never betrayed this Shi Kingdom! for my son Fang, my daughter Meili, the ones who're yet to join us, and you two... that's why I need to go and assist general Laoci." Despite feeling apologetic in having to lie to his two wives, Lord-Feng seemed to be encouraging himself with these words.

Hui Lanfen : "Humph. You're still our husband, Baron Zhu Feng! bestowed this title by the King Shi Bojin after the royal decree was revealed to all witnesses to see, who's that Gui Lei... tsk, you're going to join hands with hero general Lian, you should be proud about it. Just make sure to return in one piece and raise your kids, plus... your skin is already thicker than most city-walls so I'm confident in big-sister Meirong's opinion about you, just run like hell if you ever meet any cultivator and everything should be alright." The Baroness held her sister's hand and gently squeezed it once to calm her before proudly raising her head and puffing her chest out.

"Thank you Lanfen, I'd really throw all this away and take you both and our kids to go live in some mountain if I could but, all these people outside would suffer the wrath of the royal family in our place, maybe there's a chance to avoid this scenario if I go deliver these supplies! I promise to leave there and return once the first chance presents itself to me, hopefully I'll be be able to return before you give birth to our children, Fu Liwei and Ba Tusai are going to be here to take care of everything while I'm away but these people need their Baroness to take care of them in my place." The young-lord led his women towards the balcony and the three of them looked from their elevated-position at the busy, bustling, and cheerful streets of their Villa, despite it being winter and snow covering practically all the land outside their walls... these streets are clean and snow-free while the roofs of these buildings are the same! one of the wonders and comforts that their Baron gave them, heating-systems which are mainly fueled-by animal-waste from all the farms.

"We know... but you still need to go, this Baroness has always been for the time she gets to exert all that authority, I can't wait for the time I get to order people around!"

"Whoa there! what exactly are you going to do?"

Bo Biyu : "Heh. Sister is going to give them hell."

Hui Lanfen : "Humph. They dare give my husband all these silly nicknames! I'm telling you it's because you're making them too comfortable, a few years ago all of them were struggling everyday to keep hard-bread on their tables. Now you feed them meat everyday, give them the most amazing shelter in the form of new furnished homes, give them appropriate clothing, give them honorable work opportunities, give their children very decent free education, and perfect health-care! plus the chance to further improve themselves in their own craft within the Light-House and they do what... ridicule my man. Now I'm regretting not asking the general for his whip! I heard it's made from the leather of a Slippery-Snake." The more the Baroness spoke the more Feng's neck shrunk into his shoulder, being close to this Baroness right now felt dangerous.

Zhu Feng : "J-just... try and... well, I'm sure that my beloved Lanfen knows when to stop." The young-Baron felt sorry for the fools who enjoyed making fun of him before, the Baroness seems intent-on upholding justice for her man.

*****

One week after notifying his men of their journey, Zhu Feng received a list from brigade-commander Tusai.

One-thousand and eight elite-soldiers, seventy-two junior-captains to lead a squad of fourteen elite-soldier each.

Eighteen platoon-captains to lead four squad-captains each.

Six senior-captains to lead three platoon-captains each.

three battalion-commanders to lead two company-leaders each.

Finally brigade-commander Tusai to lead this one-thousand one-hundred and eight strong army! however, Zhu Feng had to rain on the short commander's parade and "relieve" him from this duty because he's needed here in the Villa more than there in the battlefield, plus... this fellow seemed a bit too eager to "contribute" to his kingdom and whatnot.

The Baron has to be in-control of this whole thing and make sure it doesn't spiral out of control, they're delivering supplies and that's the mission, these men are needed to protect the "cargo" until it's given to the shameless general and his silver-guard, these men need to keep their head in the game until they're all back safe in the Villa! Zhu Feng doesn't care about which Kingdom or Empire kicked its neighbor in the nuts first, he cares about his family and nothing else.

The shorty sulked for a couple days before it wore-off, he understood that nobody but himself would be able to keep the work on the unfinished-projects going smoothly plus... he heard from the young-Baron about how the Baroness plans to wreak havoc on the naughty citizens once he's away! certainly Ba Tusai wouldn't allow lady Lanfen to destroy the work that he's been building for years now.

Among the family of wolves Night, Thunder, and Harmony are joining this army, while Shadow is going to lead the horde of warhorses and carry that army of knights! Joy, Wind, and Rain are staying in the manor to protect the family.

The required supplies are tents, blankets, clothing, cooking-ware, lots of rations, lots of medicine, lots of dried-meat, lots of salted-fish, a few thousands of warhorses, etc.

Ba Tusai didn't seem to feel bothered in anyway during the whole process and prepared everything during the first week, some personnel with specific professions were required by the general and judging by their jobs Zhu Feng guessed that these people are needed to take care of the damage his men leave behind in the battlefield after their fights with the Yan-armies are over, thankfully the Crown is paying for these supplies otherwise, poor Feng would've preferred to just take his family and make a rung for it! however, Lord-Feng needs to take care of the requirements of his own army, providing these supplies to his men from the moment their journey begins until they return to Sword-Villa is his responsibility.

Zhu Feng, his three battalion-commanders, and his six company-captains all have their own full-body attire of ZhuQing material! meanwhile Ba Tusai, Fu Liwei, and the remining of the senior-captains... the three company-captains plus two of the very best platoon-captains have their own full-body attire of ZhuQing material.

The brigade-commander focused his effort on the northern-project and speeding-up the construction of the trade-road by increasing the work-force and providing all the required materials, while also ensuring that every shift at work is well taken care of and is well-rested to prevent mistakes from happening, the best craftsmen from the Light-House Institute built all the carriages for the supplies from the best materials, while specifically taking into consideration the cargo itself and the type of terrain these carriages are needed to cross through with the best efficiency without straining the beasts themselves! having all these experts discussing every issue and gradually solving them together or coming-up with better and more efficient ideas was a sight to behold actually, these carriages even received a small upgrade that caused these craftsmen to gawk at how smooth and comfortable the ride became on the roads their young-lord ordered to be created, for them it's commonly-known that the wheels of any carriage are either made from wood or metal.

Their young-Baron commented very "nonchalantly" after seeing the upgraded versions of the supply-carriages and said : "That's it?" Most of the craftsmen frowned and maybe if the Baron wasn't a generous and bright person among the nobles, an intelligent person who encourages and appreciates innovation since his territory is full of novel and unique creations, then... these men and women would've cursed at him for being an ignorant and ungrateful noble who doesn't know how hard it's to come with something new! however, Lord-Feng seemed to notice that he's being misunderstood and asked these "specialists" and "innovators" if there's any sort of material that's slightly inflatable yet tough enough to withstand friction and being compressed with extreme weight for long durations, after further explanation about the use of such material the eyes of these researchers brightened like torches and they practically ran back into their Institute to research for a suitable materials for these "tires" until they came-up with an excellent replacement.

Way back when he first got Sword-Villa, Zhu Feng thought about attempting to research for a method to make cement however, he discovered that there's a replacement that already exists in this world which is "metal-sand" it's slightly dark and there's a lot of it in the northern-desert of the Mu kingdom, people hate that material because it hardens once it gets sprayed with water then gradually crumble back into black sand once it's dry! immediately the young-Baron asked for some of it and made a few quick experiments with it before feeling like he just hit the jackpot, during the first experiment Feng mixed some metal-sand with some soft clay and the powdered limestone was sprinkled on-top then left it all to dry in the sun, one day later that simply brick endured twenty-three hits from a sledgehammer being swung by Xi Qiqiang.

Immediately afterwards it became commonly-known in the area that this Baron-Feng could cause that metal-sand to really become in a sense... stronger than metal, all the foundations of the buildings within Sword-Villa were made from that material which their young-lord calls "Metal-Cement" plus the streets, maybe except his own manor which wasn't completely renovated! of course the shameless general took the formula of that material but, the young-Baron made sure to keep the improved formulas and the results of all the researches being made within the Light-House Institute under a strict hold, thankfully there's Biyu and her master Baozhai plus old Donghai to act as Feng's hands, eyes, and ears there.

Anyway, seeing tires on the wheels of these supply-carriages caused a smile to appear on Feng's face, he decided to bestow them with another addition that would make travelling much more comfortable on his roads... springs... boing boing boing.

*****

Ba Tusai : "M'lord. Everything is prepared according to your wishes, the logistics-team spent the last month perfecting everything and taking countermeasures for every step of the road there and back, the horses, the people requested by the general, the supply-carriages, and our men are awaiting your arrival outside the Villa-walls! this subordinate wishes you a safe journey." The short-commander saluted his young-lord at the manor-gates once the Baron finished kissing his children and saying his goodbye to his Baroness and mistress before mounting Shadow who's currently the biggest, strongest, fastest warhorse in the whole territory and leader of an entire horde of very sexually-frustrated male warhorses and extremely sexually-satisfied female mares! they're all currently in their late stages of their pregnancy though, just like Joy who's currently saying her goodbye to her brothers while being accompanied by Wind and Rain who learned to keep close the Zhu Feng's family.

When the brigade-commander looked at the rare sight of his Baron in his red full-body armor that's made from Indestructible-Steel while armed on both sides of his waist by a top-quality sword be that Wolf-Flower or Moon-Wolf, the only thing that doesn't fit in the image is the young-lord's blue-boots however, almost every one of these men know by now that their young-Baron might change his attire and wear normal clothes, his green leather armor, or do whatever in his tight-fitting ZhuQing material but, he doesn't take these blue-boots off, he probably only does it when he's in his private quarters! since the young-man isn't wearing the Indestructible-helmet or the soft-helmet right now... he's capable of charming whoever gets to see him riding this black warhorse.

Zhu Feng : "Then I'm off, I leave everything here to you." The Baron said then gestured for the three wolves to follow, Shadow just moved on his own since there's need for his owner to say or do anything to guide his intelligent mount.

"Give them hell!"

'My friend... I probably think that "hell" my pregnant wife is going to show it to you all soon.'

"Baron-Zhu is going to beat the Yan-hyenas."

'Well... only a fool would go to war against a whole kingdom with one-thousand something of men, this is a delivery mission.'

"Kill them all, kill them all..."

'Brainless idiots! I hope Lanfen roast you all in her hell.' Zhu Feng thought while rolling his eyes at the excited crowd who blocked his way forward before saying : "Make way everyone, I only have one month to reach the general and his men," But none of the citizens moved and they kept fueling the excitement of one another with even more of the crowd-riling patriotic-words until the young-lord lost his composure and shouted : "Night. Open a path through these morons for me, if there's any courageous fools then... bite their butts!"

Night : "Grrr..." The black wolf snarled and increased his pace slightly to move ahead of his two-legged friend while opening his frightening jaws and letting drool run freely to the ground.

"Whoa!"

"Run!"

"Quickly move out of the way, Night is coming this way!"

Immediately the crowd dispersed and the Baron just harrumphed while squinting his eyes whenever he looked left and right at the orderly lines of people, once he exited the Villa's gate the young-Baron witnessed the long line of supply-carriages being flanked on each side by his men, Feng's soldiers are a brigade of heavy-cavalry now! they're fully-armed and each of them is holding a four meter spear, tower-shield, cavalry-saber, and a sword, they're armored in a red-colored armor that has been created by Da Donghai and his disciples after the forge of the Light-House Institute has been created they've been working day in and day out on tasks that Tusai gave them.

Zhu Feng : "Move-out!"

"Yes sir!" The synchronized answer from his men frightened the Villa's citizens and the people in the nearby market when they heard it and shocked them when they witnessed the following scene, usually such missions would move so slowly and carefully in-order not to damage any of the supply-carriages because when it happens it slows the march and delay the entire group behind schedule, if they want to keep going quickly without much delay fixing that carriage they either abandon that carriage or unload its containments in another carriage which burdens said carriage with all the extra weight! yet their Baron's mount the famous "horny", "long-legged", and "five-legs" Shadow is moving ahead in a hard gallop next to the Baron's brown wolf that's almost its match in size, behind the baron there's the three battalion-commanders and two of these battalion-commanders have one wolf running next to them, the black wolf is taking Qiqiang's side while the grey wolf is taking Niu's side... because little-Ling gave him lots of treats and "politely" requested that he takes care of her fool.

Seeing the uncommon-design of these carriages and noticing that each supply-carriage is being pulled by six warhorses caused the merchants to frown and roll their eyes at the extravagance of this Baron however, once Lord-Feng gave the order to his men to follow... these heavily-loaded supply-carriages moved like the wind and so smoothly without any trouble in sight or the coaches having any difficulty driving them at such speed! seeing such orderly and swift method of transportation despite the cargo itself being in a huge quantity, it cause these merchants to drool and quickly request and audience with commander Ba Tusai but, these greedy merchants met the pregnant Baroness and Lady Biyu instead... plus the pregnant she-wolf who's feeling very annoyed at her mate who isn't going to witness the birth of his first pups.

Poor merchants didn't stand a chance against all these extra hormones!

*****

"Halt!..."

"I'm Baron Zhu Feng. I come here under the orders of his highness the Third-Prince to collect some armaments, send the word to the Lord-Protector about my arrival." Lord-Feng already received the report from his scouts a couple hours earlier, Shi Bolin ordered for the southern-gate to be closed yesterday, clearly the Third-Prince is denying him entrance in-order to cause Feng to lose face in front of his men! however, Zhu Feng really appreciated the current City-Lord's efforts since it saved him the trouble of having to waste time that he could use to travel north instead of groveling.

The leader of the soldiers that's currently stationed on-top of the southern-walls clicked his tongue after noticing the top-quality mount of this young-looking Baron and the Low-Grade Demonic-Beast next to him plus the other two behind him next to two if his higher-ranked men, then he snorted before gesturing for one of his men to send word to the Third-Prince.

After about an hour or so the sound of clopping hooves could be heard before a column of armed knights appeared, each of these knights is mounting an armed-warhorse of the finest quality, ahead of the column is a white-armored man who's shoulder-length hair kept fluttering behind him, behind that column of cavalry there's about a hundred or so carriages which are fully-loaded with spears, swords, bows, quivers full of arrows, axes, shields, etc. Behind these hundred carriages there's about a hundred more which are loaded with armor-sets and each set is numbered on the inside and labeled with the name of the user it was created with their measurements in mind, behind these carriages there's two other carriages which are loaded with pieces of ZhuQing material! judging by the way these pieces are scattered in such a messy order... they don't seem like complete sets or, they're intentionally being mixed to cause mischief.

Shi Bolin : "Open the gate."

"Right away your highness." The leader of these soldiers immediately moved and sent his men to open the gate before looking down towards the Baron who never seemed to be disturbed by the wait, the same goes for his men who relaxed after spending the whole day and night riding without stop and thought : 'This young-Baron Zhu Feng is not a simple man, even his men are not ordinary men.'

*****

Zhu Feng : "Greetings your highness." Feng dismounted and bowed politely to the Third-Prince before raising his head and looking towards this man who scolded him in a letter one month ago, this Third-Prince is at most thirty years old and riding a fine horse that doesn't seem any worse than Shadow maybe it's a slightly better steed! immediately the young-lord glared towards his prideful mount and the message was clear : 'Cause a scene and I'll fuck your life.'

The black horse just shook it's head while ignoring the haughty red-horse in front of it, meanwhile the Draconic-Horse did seem like it's making it difficult for the Third-Prince to control it until he tugged at its reins with force.

Prince Shi Bolin : "En. Baron-Zhu, you're here."

"The Crown commands, this subject obeys." Zhu Feng cupped his fist while saying that then kept his silence.

"Good. There's two-hundred supply-carriages' worth of armaments, along with the other supplies that you were tasked to collect, you're to deliver everything to general Lian within a month and accompany him until the third month of summer, afterwards you're free to return and receive the reward from this campaign. The Crown ordered for two supply-carriages' worth of ZhuQing armor for your brave men, you're to retrieve every single piece if any one of your men happened to lose their life in the battlefield and return them before going back to your Sword-Villa." Shi Bolin kept looking down from above his Draconic-Horse at this young-Baron, then towards the side at the brown wolf and behind him at the other two Demonic-Beasts before finishing his orders and leading his mount towards the city, actually the Third-Prince didn't have to make this trip at all and could've just sent these armaments here without allowing Zhu Feng to see him at all but, Shi Bolin wanted to meet the young-man whom the shameless general Lian Laoci called a "lone wolf" and judge him by himself! however, despite being more than a decade younger than himself, despite being discriminated-against, victimized, persecuted, tormented physically for a few months at a very young age then socially-shunned for a few more years before getting dishonorably discharged from the military, that young-Baron still contributed greatly to the Shi Kingdom and helped both the military and economy to thrive, his subjects are singing praise and adore their young-lord, after the Third-Prince called him a bastard and clearly notified him of his past and pressed a "venomous-knife" at some "old" wounds... that Baron seemed nonchalant about it when they met for the first time, he really didn't seem to be holding a grudge at all.

'I probably lost in that exchange, sigh.' Shi Bolin thought to himself then remembered the following words from the shameless general at that day... Lian Laoci said in the end : "The game of who's my friend and who's my enemy could be very exhausting."

'Does that mean that he isn't an enemy? did I just make an enemy for myself? the old fucker really never ceases to cause trouble for me, just what did big-brother BoLei do to gain his trust?' The Third-Prince shook his head after having this thought before looking to the side at his personal-guard which is the commander of this thousand-strong battalion of royal-guards and said : "Battalion-commander Yao."

"At your command your highness."

Shi Bo Lin : "That Baron-Zhu... how strong are you compared to him?" The Third-Prince himself isn't a person to be trifled-with and have superior attainments in the path of martial-arts however, a member of the royal family needs to be knowledgeable about literature, geography, politics, history, economy, and the art of leading itself! this battalion-commander Yao is a pure-bred militaristic individual, this school of thought emphasize power, strength, leadership in the battlefield, and knowledge on the art of formations.

Commander Yao : "Well... it's hard to say your highness."

"Elaborate"

"If it's a one-on-one duel? then, I feel like my chances of winning are less than ten-percent."

Shi Bolin : "Hmmm. What if it's your battalion against the Baron's men?"

Commander Yao : "Then it's a sixty-percent chance for our royal-guard to win."

"That still means that these men have a forty-percent chance to overcome an entire battalion of the Crown's royal-guard."

"They'll still lose."

Shi Bolin : "These men barely served the Baron for less than two years, remind me again... how long does it take to create the finest elites amongst elites of our men?" The Third-Prince merely shook his head after noticing the frown on battalion-commander Yao and said : "I need to make a short trip a couple days later, I need to see that Sword-Villa and judge by myself, there's some mystery around that Gui Lei."

*****

"Unload these weapons and armors into our own carriages first, bring me the best tailor among our staff of craftsmen." Zhu Feng moved towards the two carriages of ZhuQing material after throwing that order and began to examine the craftsmanship of these pieces, they're not thick or dotted-with much of the purple spots like his own but, at least they're going to provide his men with an extra layer of safety when needed! as for that haughty Third Prince and his nonsensical act from before, Lord-Feng doesn't care about his face and never has so... why start now?