Chapter 712: Recruitment Successful (III)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
"Many thanks, Lord Marquis!"
Although he was still a little doubtful, the Wushang Chief courteously gave his thanks. Whether or not this was all caused by the rock salt, his greatest concern and the more pressing task lay elsewhere.
"In addition, in addition… Although Lord Marquis has said that there is no more of this pill… can this decrepit one ask if Lord Marquis can tell us the recipe for this medicine and allow us to make it ourselves?"
It was the greatest taboo to ask a medicine master for the recipe of their pills, and the great clans would also rarely divulge their precious recipes. The Wushang Chief had just wanted to make an attempt, but to his surprise, w.a.n.g Chong"s reply was extremely straightforward.
"Okay!"
w.a.n.g Chong smiled, apparently having already predicted the Wushang Chief"s question. Without the slightest hesitation, he began to recite a large list of ingredients.
"The refining of this medicine isn"t very difficult, but the ingredients are rather troublesome. It requires mansha fruit of at least thirty years of age, sixty-year Goguryeon ginseng, one-hundred-year purple coral obtained from the seabed, three-hundred-year sandalwood pith, Arabian dates, pomegranates from the Western Regions, palm tree leaves from overseas ground into powder…"
w.a.n.g Chong gave out seventy or eighty different kinds of ingredients, and as the elders of Wushang listened, their faces grew more and more unsightly, their complexions ghastly pale by the end.
If it were possible, they had planned to take w.a.n.g Chong"s recipe and make the pills for themselves. But none of them had expected the recipe to be so complicated and troublesome.
They had not even heard of many of these things, much less seen them. Moreover, Wushang Village had been cut off from the outside world for many years and didn"t have any wealth to speak of. Even the simplest ingredients, the dates and pomegranates, were enough to make them despair, let alone the other ingredients.
w.a.n.g Chong"s bright eyes could clearly see the reaction of the elders, and he was not at all surprised. In truth, he was not making things difficult for them by giving them a fake recipe. On the contrary, w.a.n.g Chong had stated nothing but the truth. Each ingredient he had given was a true component of the pill.
The Wushang had been troubled by this ailment for so long that it was very difficult to treat. A normal recipe would have been useless. w.a.n.g Chong had to use his status as Grand Marshal of the world to gather a great number of experts and doctors, and they had needed eight years to develop a cure.
The immense time needed and the number of people partic.i.p.ating meant that the final recipe required a large number of ingredients. It was also because the partic.i.p.ants in this project were not solely the Tang, but the Tibetans, Mengshe Zhao, Goguryeons, Turks, Arabians, and even Characenians, that the ingredients were so varied and scattered all around the world.
But despite the complexity, there was one thing that was beyond doubt: the pill really was effective on the Wushang. Moreover, they only needed to continuously take it for three months to exterminate the illness at its roots.
By using the ma.s.sive influence of his clan and the resources and strength of the other great clans of the capital, w.a.n.g Chong had managed to refine one hundred of these black and brown pills in the short time given to him.
But the w.a.n.g Clan was a clan of ministers and generals. If this task was so difficult for it, it was essentially impossible for the isolated Wushang Village.
"This decrepit one has another question. Can this pill treat the root cause?" the Wushang Chief asked.
"Mm."
w.a.n.g Chong nodded and gave an affirmative answer.
The Wushang Chief couldn"t help but give a long sigh. It was only after last night that he had realized that everyone who had imbibed the medicinal water had a much steadier pulse.
Although the rules of the ancestors could not be abandoned, for his people, he could only make an exception.
"Lord Marquis, this decrepit one proposes an exchange that this one wonders if Lord Marquis would be interested in? Lord Marquis said before that you wanted to recruit soldiers from our Wushang Village. If Lord Marquis can a.s.sist us with gathering the ingredients and refining those special pills, a.s.sist our Wushang Village in getting rid of that pain and disease that has ailed us for generation after generation, this decrepit one can agree to Lord Marquis"s recruitment of the village"s warriors. But the number will be limited by the number of people Lord Marquis helped last night. It cannot exceed five thousand people!" the Wushang Chief said.
The moment he finished speaking, the eyes of Li Siye, Gao Feng, Nie Yan, and the other soldiers all brightened, pleasant surprise appearing on their faces. They had already had a personal lesson in the obstinacy of the Wushang.
No one had expected that just when they were at their most dejected, when they believed that the mission had failed and they needed to leave, events would take such a sharp and sudden turn.
It had been impossible to predict.
"Deal!"
w.a.n.g Chong grinned and immediately agreed.
Although it was only five thousand, to w.a.n.g Chong, it was a decent start. As long as the Wushang could break free of their traditions and allow him to recruit one batch of five thousand, he might be able to recruit a second, a third…
In the end, all of the Wushang would be available to him.
In the future, the entire world would be awed by the Wushang.
I"ve finally succeeded, my Wushang Cavalry!!
No one knew of the elation w.a.n.g Chong was feeling from all his efforts finally paying off, how deeply he wanted to sigh. Only those who had personally experienced it would know just how difficult it was to recruit the Wushang before the calamity.
To make the Wushang Chief relax his grip and release five thousand people was far too difficult. At this moment, when w.a.n.g Chong was feeling a deep sense of accomplishment, he had a very strange feeling.
Back then, he had only obtained the recognition of the adult Fang Xiaoyan and some other Wushang, but now, in this new life, as future commander of the Wushang, he felt like he had obtained the recognition of the Wushang Chief.
The latter was both the spiritual and actual leader of the Wushang.
"Congratulations to user! For completing the mission "Grand Marshal"s Summons", user is rewarded 600 points of Destiny Energy."
At almost the same time, w.a.n.g Chong"s mind rumbled and the Stone of Destiny"s voice rang out. The promised mission reward had finally been delivered.
w.a.n.g Chong"s operation in Wushang had met with great success!
"Wooooo!"
A burst of cheers came from behind w.a.n.g Chong as his followers celebrated. Although they had had their conflicts and disagreements with the Wushang, a man like Li Siye had to admit that the Wushang truly were the best warriors.
Being able to recruit them would be a great boon for w.a.n.g Chong.
With this exchange of pills for recruitment and w.a.n.g Chong"s a.s.sistance last night in preventing four or five thousand deaths, the entire village now had a very good impression of w.a.n.g Chong"s group.
The addition of the shame the villagers felt from injuring w.a.n.g Chong"s subordinates made the villagers even more friendly. Not even w.a.n.g Chong had expected this.
Given the isolationist, xenophobic, and conservative temperaments of the Wushang, winning their favor before the onset of the great calamity was an exceptionally arduous task. The Wushang were not ones to open up their hearts to outsiders.
But once they did and began to treat outsiders like their own, they were quite friendly and enthusiastic.
That night, Wushang Village held a feast of celebration.
"Come! Drink!"
"Gorge on meat and guzzle down wine! Come!"
"Hahaha, delicious, truly delicious!"
……
Wushang Village was filled with laughter and cheers, the guards and the villagers mixing together. On the table, a variety of chicken, duck, fish, deer, and seafood delicacies had been laid out.
"Ah! Give me another bowl of rice! I"ve never tasted anything so delicious!"
"This is duck? So crispy! Our Wushang Village should raise a bunch!"
"So this was fis.h.!.+ It"s so soft and slippery! It"s so good!"
……
The Wushang villagers had completely immersed themselves in the banquet. The food of the Wushang had always been extremely simple and plain. These chickens, ducks, fish, deer, and seafood naturally couldn"t have been provided by them!
w.a.n.g Chong had come very prepared on this excursion, and he hadn"t only brought the pills and the wujian gra.s.s. Each of his guards had been carrying a chest with them.
These chests had not been carrying treasures or jewels, but food: chicken, duck, beef, pork, sheep, deer… Not only that, w.a.n.g Chong had even brought a master army chef.
The pitiful Wushang were surrounded by mountains and were normally restricted to a diet of vines and tubers. When had they ever had a chance to taste such delicacies?
Such fine gourmet had the women and children of Wushang Village grasping with their fingers, their mouths dripping oil. Even the men were moved to tears when they drank the wine that w.a.n.g Chong had brought in from the outside world.
One only needed to imagine that these people had lived for decades eating the same foods, believing that the greatest foods the world had to offer were tubers and vines. Suddenly, they were now feasting on delicious foods. It was easy to imagine their emotional state.
In a single night, all the Wushang had developed a completely different impression of w.a.n.g Chong"s group.
While the recruitment had only been their chief"s idea at the start, everyone now felt a heartfelt kindness and favor toward w.a.n.g Chong.
"Come, a toast! No going back today unless you"re drunk!"
"Good brother, give me another bowl!"
"Haha, what"s one bowl? At least three! If you follow our Lord Marquis, then in the future, you"ll be able to drink fine wine and eat good food while conquering the world. That"s happiness!"
"That"s right! Such excellent martial arts shouldn"t be wasted in this valley. Come with us and conquer the world. That"s what a true man should do!"
"Haha, this is called making friends through fighting. In truth, we also want to try, but the rules of the village are there, and no one can defy them. But since Chief has agreed to relax them, everything is fine. If you need me, I"ll agree to enlist right away!"
"Haha, a true man! Another cup!"
……
On the plaza, the soldiers were mingling with the villagers, all boundaries between them blurring together as cheers and laughter filled the air.