Chapter 357: If I had an Excavator
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Defeat the wind valley?! Twenty Silver Horned Wolves?" Teng Shisheng had good military values. All along, he had the positive attitude of treating orders as his duty.
However, after hearing Fang Zhengzhi's words, he received a huge shock.
As a citizen of the Southern Mountain Range, he knew very clearly how dangerous the wind valley was. It was precisely due to him knowing this that led to him saying something as rare as this.
However, Fang Zhengzhi talked about overcoming the wind valley in such a casual manner.
Most importantly…
Using twenty Silver Horned Wolves to overcome the wind valley?
Is that possible?
Of course not!
At the very least, this was how Teng Shisheng thought in his heart.
"Let's go." After giving the order, Fang Zhengzhi turned his horse around once more and casually trod in the direction of the wind valley's entrance.
After a moment of stunned shock, Teng Shisheng finally regained his senses.
"Section one, follow me to… defeat the wind valley!" When Teng Shisheng said the words 'defeat the wind valley', his heart felt really empty.
The Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops following behind Teng Shisheng also felt that their hearts were just as empty.
However, the qualities of a soldier ultimately still came first. Hence, after Teng Shisheng gave the order, twenty Silver Horned Wolves stood out, almost at the exact same time.
After which, they followed behind Teng Shisheng and ran towards the direction of the wind valley.
When they witnessed this scene.
All the scholars stood completely rooted to the ground.
Among them, the person whose expression was the most vivid was naturally Wu Feng. When he saw Fang Zhengzhi turning his horse around, his heart was filled with self-confidence.
However…
Fang Zhengzhi seemed to have disregarded him once again.
Wu Feng didn't even know how many times this had happened to him. From what he could recall, from the moment he met Fang Zhengzhi, he had been disregarded without any reason by Fang Zhengzhi.
At the entrance of the Imperial Academy during the release of the Imperial Examination results, in the Intellectual Loft, until this moment in front of tens of thousands of troops.
He had been disregarded over and over again.
He could say that the things that happened in the past could more or less be explained. After all, Fang Zhengzhi and himself stood at opposing ends. However, this time, what was the reason? I am suggesting a strategy to him!
This caused Wu Feng's heart to feel extremely shaken.
Arrogance, confidence!
This was the first thing Wu Feng thought of. The second thing was, did something happen to this guy's brain? How can twenty Silver Horned Wolves overcome the wind valley?
Of course, the other scholars and Chen Feiyu also thought the same way. After seeing Fang Zhengzhi return, they had also assumed that Fang Zhengzhi would consult Wu Feng.
However…
In the end, he instead gave out such an order.
Each of the scholars gazed towards Fang Zhengzhi, who was casually riding towards the wind valley. They really couldn't understand where did Fang Zhengzhi's blind confidence appear from.
"Defeat the wind valley?!"
"Twenty Silver Horned Wolves? Isn't this a big joke?"
"What is this guy thinking."
The scholars couldn't understand. How was it possible that the natural landscape of the wind valley could be defeated? It could only be blocked. What was the meaning of using the word 'defeat'?
Don't tell me this guy wished to charge through the wind valley…
That's right!
This guy definitely wishes to bring along twenty Silver Horned Wolves and charge through the wind valley, then, control the huge rock at the exit of the wind valley.
But, wasn't this plan a little too naive?
The wind valley was the natural shield of the Icy Monkey Settlement. How could there not be heavy defences after the wind valley was crossed. If they really wished to charge across, why not bring along five hundred Silver Horned Wolves instead of twenty?
The scholars couldn't understand the reason behind this. However, they were extremely sure that Fang Zhengzhi was planning to target the rock at the exit of the wind valley.
However, very quickly, this belief changed.
Because, after reaching the entrance of the wind valley, Fang Zhengzhi didn't lead the twenty Silver Horned Wolves to charge through it. Instead, he began to stroll around the area of the entrance.
He looked as if…
He was picking something up.
On the other hand, the twenty Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops leapt down their wolves one by one, then bent their elbows and began to knock on the two sides of the mountain.
"What is this guy trying to do?"
"Don't tell me he's trying to knock down these two mountains?"
The scholars couldn't understand.
Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu couldn't understand either. However, when they saw the twenty Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops begin to knock on the mountain rocks, they finally laughed.
"Is this guy trying to be funny?"
"Shifting the mountain?"
"Can he not exaggerate it? If he really wanted to shift it, can he at least bring the forty-over thousand troops to shift it together? How long is twenty people going to take!"
As Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu laughed, they began to grow spiteful.
Afterwards, they calmed down.
They could almost predict that after Fang Zhengzhi finished knocking on the mountains, he would definitely return and modestly ask them for their opinions. When that time came, there would be more conditions.
…
Even though Teng Shisheng was participating in Fang Zhengzhi's "mountain moving plan", he still didn't understand what Fang Zhengzhi was trying to do.
Fang Zhengzhi's order was very simple.
Dig for stones!
That was all.
As for how many stones to dig, how much the stones should be, what should their shape be, he didn't specify. All he asked was for them to dig. Hence, they could only listen to their orders and dig.
"Guard Fang, actually, I have a plan to cross the wind valley." After a long moment of hesitation, Teng Shisheng finally spoke.
In his heart, the reason Fang Zhengzhi requested for him and twenty Silver Horned Wolves to come over was naturally not to dig for stones. Instead, it was to consult him for strategies in private.
He was a citizen of the Southern Mountain Range.
The wind valley had always been a solid natural barrier for the Southern Mountain Range.
And, even though Fang Zhengzhi had Princess Shan Yu's Cyan Stone Token, he was ultimately still of the Great Xia. Hence, by right, Teng Shisheng shouldn't be suggesting strategies to Fang Zhengzhi.
However, after interacting with Fang Zhengzhi for some time, Teng Shisheng's impression of Fang Zhengzhi had already changed. Most importantly, Fang Zhengzhi didn't ask him for a method to get past the wind valley in front of tens of thousands of troops.
Actually…
This implied that Fang Zhengzhi only wished to cross the wind valley, and didn't want to announce the method of crossing the wind valley to the rest of the people. Hence, this actually made clear his sincerity.
"I know." Fang Zhengzhi turned his head back and glanced at Teng Shisheng, nodded, then continued to focus his gaze on the stone walls on the two sides of the wind valley.
"Actually, there is a difference in the wind strength within the wind valley. If you can follow a certain specific route, it could prevent a heavy loss. Not many people know this path, but I…" When Teng Shisheng reached the end of his sentence, he hesitated.
"There are over forty thousand soldiers here. Even if you don't reveal the path, there would definitely be some soldiers with other motives among them who would memorise the path. Are you really prepared to reveal the path?" When Fang Zhengzhi heard this, he turned around once again to look at Teng Shisheng.
"This… I hadn't thought of this." When Teng Shisheng heard this, his expression changed slightly.
"Do you know why I asked you to come over instead of the soldiers of the Great Xia?" Fang Zhengzhi looked around at the busied Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops around him and asked again.
"Because, our Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops are stronger?" Teng Shisheng thought for a while and replied.
"It is just knocking a few stones. Twenty Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops can achieve this. If I get one or two hundred Great Xia troops, I can achieve the same thing."
"Then… is it because you want us to charge across the wind valley with you, then, control the rock switches at the exit of the wind valley?" Teng Shisheng guessed again.
"If I wished to control the rock switches of the wind valley, how could there be no heavy troops guarding it? Wouldn't using twenty Silver Horned Wolves to fight for control over the rock switches be asking for death?"
"Indeed." Teng Shisheng nodded, then lightly shook his head.
He really couldn't guess. Because, Fang Zhengzhi had indeed considered the situation from all angles. However, it was precisely due to Fang Zhengzhi having considered the situation from all angles that caused Teng Shisheng to be unable to guess Fang Zhengzhi's intentions.
"Because, you are of the Southern Mountain Range!" Fang Zhengzhi looked at Teng Shisheng again with a serious and firm expression in his eyes.
"Because we are of the Southern Mountain Range?" Teng Shisheng seemed to have guessed something. However, he still couldn't quite understand.
"Yes, today, I have no choice but to defeat the wind valley. However, I don't wish to cause the Southern Mountain Range to lose a natural defensive shield just because of this. Hence, it is best that as little people as possible know about this method to defeat the wind valley."
"You… You really intend to defeat the wind valley?!" Teng Shisheng was truly shocked this time.
He had always assumed that defeating the wind valley was only an excuse, or, it might be a joke. However, from Fang Zhengzhi's expression, he couldn't infer any signs that Fang Zhengzhi was trying to make a joke.
"Yes." Fang Zhengzhi nodded.
He knew that Teng Shisheng wouldn't be able to understand. However, due to having knowledge from his previous world, Fang Zhengzhi knew that there were laws governing the nature and speed of the wind.
Under normal conditions, wind blew from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The greater the difference in pressure, the faster the speed of the wind.
What Fang Zhengzhi wished to achieve was very simple. Change the pressure within the wind valley. This seemed very simple, but, was actually extremely difficult to achieve.
Without special environmental conditions, it was simply impossible to achieve this.
However, when Fang Zhengzhi heard from Teng Shisheng that the wind in the wind valley could be controlled by a huge rock, he knew that there would definitely be a pressure node within the wind valley.
As long as he was able to locate this node, then, use the unique pressure to create certain changes, he could, in theory, stop the wind in the wind valley.
Of course, this was only in theory.
Whether he could achieve this or not required experimentation.
Teng Shisheng indeed couldn't understand what Fang Zhengzhi was thinking. However, his military qualities decided that even if he couldn't understand, he would still choose to carry it out.
"Can you draw out the terrain within the wind valley?" Fang Zhengzhi initially prepared to investigate it himself. However, since Teng Shisheng understood the wind valley, he could cut back on this step.
"I can." When Teng Shisheng heard Fang Zhengzhi's words, he hesitated for a moment then nodded. The terrain within the wind valley wasn't exactly a great secret.
Anybody who had went through the wind valley once would be able to know this clearly.
"Alright, just draw it on the ground." Fang Zhengzhi pointed to the ground as he spoke.
Teng Shisheng didn't speak further. He immediately lifted the weapon in his hand and began to carefully draw on the ground. Not too long later, a geographical map of the wind valley was drawn on the ground.
Fang Zhengzhi gazed at the map on the ground and began to ponder carefully.
Time flowed past quickly.
After over an hour, Fang Zhengzhi stopped looking at the map on the ground and began to draw beside the map. A strange diagram was drawn on the ground by Fang Zhengzhi.
On the other hand, Teng Shisheng witnessed this by the side.
However…
He couldn't understand what Fang Zhengzhi was drawing at all.
Fang Zhengzhi didn't explain further to Teng Shisheng. Because, these things were related to physics and mechanics, it was too complicated. Without years of studying and gaining of knowledge in this field, it would be extremely difficult for ordinary people to understand this.
He didn't explain. All he needed was to know that Teng Shisheng would definitely execute it. That was actually enough.
After finishing the drawing, Fang Zhengzhi attempted to link all the diagrams together. As he began to link them, he nodded his head and shook his head from time to time.
After another moment.
Fang Zhengzhi finally stopped. Then, he pointed to the diagram on the ground and began to deliver specific orders to the twenty Silver Horned Wolves.
Dig at this area, dig at that area. Make this area deeper, make a hole in that area…
The stones which the Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops had previously excavated were all collected by Fang Zhengzhi and and pushed towards one side. At this moment, he was trying to use the walls of the mountain to create a pressure converter.
When the wind blew towards this pressure converter, it would travel through a special path and cause the wind to blow back into the wind valley. This would hence disrupt the flow of the air within the wind valley.
As for the stones that were previously dug out, it would be used to create a switch.
Having possessed the Dao of All Creation.
Changing the shape and matter within the stone wasn't something that was difficult. As the Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops were busying digging, Fang Zhengzhi also began to mold the shape of the stones.
…
Time flowed by quickly. After an hour, there were already dozens of gaping holes in the mountain wall.
The forty-over thousand troops as well as the military commanders and the scholars all gazed wide-eyed at Fang Zhengzhi and the Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops.
They really couldn't understand. What was Fang Zhengzhi trying to do?
"Digging holes?"
"Don't tell me he wishes to dig a tunnel in the walls of the wind valley?"
"Is his brain broken?"
"How long is he planning to dig?"
When the scholars saw this scene, they began to feel spiteful.
Wu Feng and Chen Feiyu also began to laugh when they saw this. They indeed respected Fang Zhengzhi's imagination. He even thought of digging a tunnel.
However…
Can it be more practical?
Of course, Fang Zhengzhi didn't bother paying attention to how the scholars thought. He was focusing on reviewing the holes in the two walls. He even occasionally walked inside the wind valley to experience the intense wind which was as cold as a blade.
"If I had a excavator, it would truly be perfect!" Fang Zhengzhi looked at the progress which was already nearing his end and began to imagine.
In reality, these Silver Horned Wolf Cavalry troops were extremely powerful.
If it wasn't for them, making such progress would take at least weeks for ordinary people of his past world.