Chapter 1195: Fights (1/2)

Nan Ruohuai replied respectfully, “The city lord of Expansive is my second brother’s maternal grandfather, who also happens to be his biggest supporter.”

He was rather calm while saying this, but Qianye seemed to have figured something out. “Is there some enmity between you two?”

“He’s my brother, so it’s not a hatred as deep as the oceans.” Nan Ruohuai took a deep breath and said through clenched teeth, “The person I liked the most died in his residence!”

Qianye nodded. “What do you want me to do?”

Nan Ruohuai fell to his knees and said in a deep voice, “Just hand him to me and my life is forever yours.”

Qianye said calmly, “Is it not mine right now?”

Nan Ruohuai looked up. “I have some meager talents if I do say so myself, and I have not been wasting the past twenty years of my life. I know your intentions for raising me up to the position, but if I follow you wholeheartedly, I will make Zheng flourish on my own accord. You will not have to worry about this small place. There’s a difference in putting a puppet on the throne.”

For a while, Qianye looked intently at Nan Ruohuai, at the prostrating man’s grey hair and neck. There was no change in his emotions, but he was somewhat moved.

The prince didn’t look up, yet in that posture, he was even calmer and more collected than in his past interactions with Qianye. After a while, Qianye laughed. “Zheng is small?”

Only at this point did Nan Ruohuai heave a sigh of relief. “This place is the world to us, but to you, it’s probably just a corner. Not to mention Zheng, even the entire Fort Continent is just a big springboard for you.”

Qianye broke into a laugh. “Your confidence in me is pretty strong.”

“The truth is that I have never seen, or even heard of, someone like you.”

Qianye stood up and walked to the window, gazing at the void over the yonder horizon. “Do you know what I’m doing?”

Nan Ruohuai hesitated briefly, then said in due honesty, “To be honest, I don’t.”

Qianye sighed. “I actually don’t have any big objectives. I’m just playing things by ear.”

Nan Ruohuai was stunned. He found this rather incredulous but didn’t ask further, knowing that he was in no position to make Qianye spit out his secrets.

He really had no idea that Qianye had no personal ambitions. What he wanted to do was protect his brothers and help one person up the Sacred Mountain.

This island was now Qianye’s first springboard and forward base on the Fort continent, so he attached a fair bit of importance to it. After the first batch of soldiers arrived, Qianye ordered his men to send word back to Dark Flame. They were to prepare a number of engineering airships and recruit technicians, and fly them to Eastern Sun.

Several days later, after all forces were in position, Qianye led his forces toward Expansive.

Ten thousand soldiers arrived on the island, but only four thousand left with Qianye. The island wasn’t small, and the minimum recommended garrison should be around ten thousand. He couldn’t leave any less than six thousand, or the mercenaries themselves might just quit.

Expansive was home to fifty thousand people and could be considered a big city. Transportation was easy as the place was built close to the riverbank, and there was a black stone mine outside providing the factories with an endless supply of energy. The first thing Qianye saw upon arrival wasn’t the city but the black chimney stacks above the walls.

What lay behind the rolling smoke was a stream of gold coins. Expansive boasted established factories and, more importantly, large batches of skilled technicians who could be put to use in the Imperial factory systems with a bit of training. Zheng had been imitating the Empire in many aspects, so their factories are also quite similar. It was just that they were at the Empire's standards from fifty years ago.

An ear-piercing alarm rang throughout the city as the airship approached the city airspace. Even Qianye, who was in the battlecruiser, could hear it quite clearly. He walked up to the deck and looked down. There, he saw a tall steel tower, valves open and gushing steam as it produced an ear-splitting whistle.

A kinetic tower with a steam whistle?

Qianye was a bit surprised at how well-equipped this city was. That kinetic tower might be an older model, but it was a kinetic tower nonetheless. Many cities in the neutral lands didn’t even have one. Although it was an older model, its specs and output were rather high.

Did this mean there might be a high-power cannon turret in the city?

Qianye’s expression froze as he caught a strange whistling sound. A dark-colored tower opened up in the distance and fired a large ballista bolt. The projectile drew an arc in the air as it flew toward the battlecruiser.

If this wasn’t an attack from the enemy, Qianye would be rather inclined to praise the perfect timing of the shot. The descending battlecruiser had no time to accelerate, and there was no way such a big airship could outrun a homing bolt anyway.

The entire ship trembled with a loud boom, the intensity of which surprised Qianye somewhat. This bolt was a bit more powerful than he had anticipated.