Chapter 130: Meeting of generals

Long Tao's demonstration managed to shock the soldiers to the core. They never saw something like this. "The grenade is effectively a piece of equipment that helps to create a blast within a small radius around it. You don't need to know the details about its creation. What you are going to help me with is the components."

A list of ingredients was provided to the soldiers. "These are the ingredients used to make the fuel of the grenade. You will be collecting these things according to the mentioned quantity, in addition to the herb list for pills."

"as per the manual job, I need your help in odd jobs. Divide yourself into five teams." After the division was done, Long Tao allotted the tasks. 

"The first group will be responsible for creating the outer kernel. The mould prepared by me will be available for your use. You will be melting metal and pouring it according to the mentioned quantity. Mistakes will not be tolerated. One hundred lashes for each mistake of yours."

"The second group is tasked with the preparation of one of the herb composites. The procedure of creation will be shown to you. It would be best if you created the mixture in the mentioned quantity. Any mistake will result in a blast which ends with your death. The composites will be submitted to e after creation."

"The third group: Creation of another mixture from the second set of herbs. The method and material will be allotted to you. The instructions are the same. Don't be careless while handling the mixture. You might put your team's life in danger."

"The fourth group will be the compiler. Your job is to fill the kernel with mixtures. You will be doing the most dangerous job of all. Good luck."

"The last group will not have any creative task. You will do a much more tedious job. You will be in charge of creating the range and testing the grenades out. Handling those grenades is a necessary matter of concern. When in bulk, if a single one of them explodes, all of us will die."

"Your job will be to take data regarding the blast efficiency, the damage done, and the range of exposure. We will be devising the usage plan according to the data provided by you. A set of instructions will be provided. " 

"You need to relax your mind before beginning the creation. This device will be a game-changer in the war. We aim to arm each soldier of the army with at least ten of those." 

With the goals set, the process began. 

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Tamar-

The general called out a meeting of all the high officials in the military. The vice-generals, along with their subordinates, were present.

"The Chu military has already started regrouping with their reinforcements from other parts of the country. Due to the change in the leadership, peace between our nations can no longer be held firm. We need to start the training and staging of our troops near the borders."

One of the vice-generals said." Are you entirely sure about there being no chance in us being able to negotiate peace terms with the Chu nations."

"I hope the vice-generals know about the recent events in the royal capital." Long Tao spoke out. The vice-generals had some ideas regarding it.

"The former king died in an assassination attempt by the rebel forces. How did they manage to sneak into the royal palace without anyone knowing."

"My theory was that the rebels had quite a deep reach within the prime organizations of the royal clan. It requires a lot of funding to execute such a large plan. No force present in the Jiao country could execute that."

"The only other explanation is them having someone's support for this venture." Long Tao paused and passed a set of documents to the dignitaries present.

"In the purge which I undertook, the number of traitors was numbered around 200 within the palace. There were also the Merin merchant company, the Bai clan, and about 30 other small guilds and groups. All of them were stationed at Jiao royal city."

The vice-generals were shocked after reading the report. It understood that in case a rebellion took place, the royal clan would have been wiped out already. 

"The Chu country has gone through the same set of changes. According to my assumptions, the group in the dark already controls the Chu royalty. Their objective is to gain control of the Jiao country through this war."

The battle was inevitable.

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The general had already marked various locations on the map of the border areas. "Each of the areas will be guarded by a battalion. If my thoughts are correct, they will be attacking all of these locations."

"Given Long tao's assumptions are correct, they should have a boost in their workforce. The reinforcement received from the force backing them would be huge. Can anyone come up with a plan to counter them?"

"I think we need to set an ambush beforehand. That is the only valid option we have. We need to cancel as much workforce as we could." 

It was a solid plan. The problem lied with the fact that they need to make the arrangements. If the enemy needs up knowing about it, matters will get worse.

"I have an idea which might prove to be beneficial." Long Tao took the mantle.

"My troops will be the stakeout team for this war. We will begin with the elimination of enemy spies within the forest regions. A topographical analysis will be presented daily to the council. You need to make arrangements according to it."

"Will vice-general Dragon be not partaking the role of commander in the war?'. One fo the vice-general spoke out. Long Tao's achievement was known to all. 

"My team and I will be the first line of offence. After eliminating most of the spies, we will be carrying out two sets of tasks."

"First will be the assassinations of enemy leaders. My troop will give its best to eliminate as many as possible. We will be starting on the mission after ten days." Performing an assassination mission during the times of war was a dangerous mission.

"The next phase is our task with setting up the ambushes. I would like to propose something to all the vice-generals. Hope you would accept it." 

Long Tao forwarded his proposal regarding the battle plan. The forecasted results were quite impressive. If executed as designed, the war is sure to win the battle. 

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The Black-buck squad was undergoing a training regime. It helped the soldiers to improve their capabilities by a large extent. The number of resources allocated to them was tremendous. Long Tao was always concocting pills for cultivation, recovery, physical boost.

It was around five days before the end of the month when Su Menqi arrived at the dwelling. The atmosphere around her had changed. Every soldier could feel it.

"You managed to achieve a break-through" Long Tao was elated to find that Su Menqi managed to break-through the Qi general level. A tremendous burden was lifted from his shoulders.

"Report your break-through to the general office. It should come as good news. The addition of a new vice-general to the ranks. We can discuss the future proceedings after you return." Su Menqi left for the merit hall.

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Crimson Lord world-

"What do you plan to use her for?" The Keeper referred to Su Menqi in this matter. 

"She is an efficient leader of the masses. Her break-through will serve as an inspiration for my men. She would be stationed along with Jiao Bo's troop in one of the marked regions. Her task would be to lay the second set f traps for our enemies."

"The grenade you created wouldn't be able to do much of damage in case of such a large army. The number required would be too high."

"I am not talking about using grenades. I have another set of designs. It is a more formidable version of grenades and perfect for our objective." 

The design plan was laid out. The Keeper verified it. The ideas were ingenious. If laid correctly, the blast would take out a group of 30 people at the same time.

"If the design is perfectly executed, the mentioned machine can be remotely accessed and control with the help of a control formation. I am thinking of giving the task to Su Menqi."

" You need to concentrate on the creation of the object first. We have to perform the trials after that. Only after being certain can you start the mass production. The time available is too less."

" We need to work on this together. You need to help with the composition of the fuel used. The combustion mechanism is through the insertion of Qi with would kick-start the chain reaction."

" We need to design a storage section and path for the Qi. We then need to create an activating switch which would be connected with the formation. I will be working on the shell, you need to work on the fuel." The keeper accepted the set of task.