Under the force of the strong wind the hang gliders carried Suo Lun and the more than one hundred others and flew a full several thousand metres before slowly descending under the pull of gravity.
They even had to pull down hard with force in order to land a little earlier.
Everyone among these more than one hundred people knew martial arts. Even the seemingly delicate Suo Ning Bing had the level of an apprentice warrior, after all she had received martial arts initiation.
Therefore no one was injured during the descent. Of course minor scrapes meant nothing to them at all.
However because they had flown too far, when they landed the more than one hundred people were scattered quite widely.
Suo Lun took the bow from his back and shot an arrow into the sky. Then that arrow exploded fiercely in the air and sprayed out countless red powder.
This signal arrow ordered everyone to gather towards him.
Within a quarter of an hour Suo Ning Bing, Ye Jing Yu and the hundred family warriors had all assembled, not one missing.
At this moment everyone’s gaze towards Suo Lun was truly one of awe as if looking at a heavenly being. Especially Suo Ning Bing and Ye Jing Yu. As girls they were born with a romantic yearning for things like flying and often fantasised about turning into birds so they could soar in the sky and look down upon the earth from above.
And now Suo Lun had helped them achieve it.
Although at the beginning it had been extremely thrilling because they had to jump from a cliff several hundred metres high and the feeling of falling was rather terrifying.
But once the hang gliders fully opened everything became truly wonderful.
The feeling of flying was not very fast and was extremely stable.
To be honest if time had not been so pressing Suo Ning Bing would even have wished to stay in the sky a little longer.
The moment she saw Suo Lun a sentence almost burst from her heart: next time I want to fly again, and I want you to take me flying.
Because earlier in the air she had indeed fantasised that it would be wonderful if there were only her and Suo Lun, sharing one hang glider, and even flying while she nestled in his arms.
Thinking of that scene Suo Ning Bing’s heart even felt a tingling numbness.
The family warriors’ gaze towards Suo Lun was completely filled with fanaticism and admiration. It was as if they had transferred all their worship of Suo Han Yi onto Suo Lun.
Seeing this Suo Lun secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Perhaps the plan of creating life after a desperate situation just now was not achieving two goals with one arrow but three. Gaining the absolute loyalty of the family warriors before him was the third gain.
“I believe everyone has already heard of my wager with Prince Zhi Li, to retake Tianshui City within five months.” Suo Lun said loudly. “If after half a year we still have not retaken Tianshui City what will happen then, everyone should know very clearly.”
If rebellion appears in a feudal lord’s territory and the feudal lord is powerless to suppress it, the royal family has the right and duty to send troops to help suppress the rebellion.
Therefore if Suo Lun could not retake his territory after half a year the kingdom’s great army would station itself in Tianshui City in the name of suppressing the rebellion.
At that time the Suo clan would lose Tianshui City forever and Suo Lun would lose everything.
“And how many enemies will we face?” Suo Lun said. “There are the rebel troops led by Nur Dan, Zhi Ning’s secret elites, and Suo Han Yi. These three forces together will exceed thirty thousand troops.”
It was at least twenty or thirty thousand troops. Zhi Ning, in order to secretly control Tianshui City, would definitely station the secret armies she had raised into Tianshui City.
“And how many people do we have?” Suo Lun asked. “We have only one hundred people.”
As soon as these words came out the hearts of everyone present, which had been extremely excited and fired up because of the flight, instantly turned ice cold.
One hundred people in five months wanting to defeat twenty or thirty thousand troops and retake Tianshui City was truly harder than ascending to heaven.
Suo Lun said: “Within five months we must at least recruit nearly twenty thousand elite troops and need one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins for the cost of suppressing the rebellion.”
As soon as these words came out almost everyone present could hardly breathe. This was an even more impossible goal.
Zhi Ning and Zhi Li had spent a full one hundred thousand gold coins to plot this Tianshui City rebellion. And that money was only used to arm and reward Nur Dan and the others’ thirty thousand rebel troops.
Yet Suo Lun needed to recruit twenty thousand troops from nothing and then have this army suppress the rebellion, so he needed at least one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.
Then how much money was one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins exactly? It was nearly one year’s tax revenue of the southeast province and one tenth or so of the entire Nu Lang Kingdom’s annual tax revenue.
War had always been a gold-devouring beast. One hundred and fifty thousand gold coins was the absolute minimum needed.
“Jing Yu, how many gold coins do we have left now?” Suo Lun asked.
“Eight hundred.” Ye Jing Yu said.
Now Suo Lun had only eight hundred gold coins left in hand.
Previously dismissing the household servants, arming these one hundred knights, and making more than one hundred hang gliders had cost nearly three thousand gold coins.
And their group travelling from the royal capital to Bai Yun County had changed warhorses almost every two or three hundred li. Although they exchanged old horses for new ones it had still consumed more than two thousand gold coins.
Therefore the several thousand gold coins Suo Lun had earned had now been reduced to only eight hundred gold coins.
Suo Lun asked: “Then within the next five months we must use these eight hundred gold coins to earn back one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins and recruit twenty thousand troops. Do you all have confidence?”
Everyone’s hearts had already turned completely and utterly ice cold. Not to mention having no confidence, they did not even dare to think about it. It could not be achieved even in dreams.
“You have no confidence, but… I do.” Suo Lun pointed at his own head and said: “I have confidence, and I even have certainty. I already have a complete plan in mind. All you need to do is follow behind me and obey my orders.”
As soon as these words came out everyone present was shocked once again.
Including Suo Ning Bing and Ye Jing Yu, one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins was completely an astronomical figure. Even Duke Zhi Ting, who had operated for half his life, would not have more than one hundred thousand gold coins in hand at present.
Now Suo Lun actually said he would earn one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins within five months. This was enough to make people faint from shock completely. This sum of money was the total tax revenue of one province and several million people for one year. Even robbing the treasury would not yield such an astronomical amount of gold coins.
But not a single person felt that Suo Lun was talking nonsense. Because just moments ago he had completed a miracle. Surrounded by ten thousand troops he had flown out unscathed. And in the past few months he had already performed more than one miracle.
Suo Lun said: “Now Lin Hai City is our new battlefield. From this moment on you will follow behind me and go complete another miracle. You do not need to do anything, you only need to obey, obey, obey!”
“Understood.” Suo Mu knelt on one knee.
“Understood.” All the family warriors drew their treasured swords and planted them on the ground, then knelt on one knee.
“Set off, head to Lin Hai City!” Suo Lun gave the order.
Immediately the more than one hundred family warriors formed neat ranks and advanced towards Lin Hai City more than two hundred li away.
…
More than one hundred people ran on foot for a full half day and one night, covering two hundred li entirely on their legs.
The situation along the way was somewhat strange because Lin Hai City had not sent any troops to receive them, nor had any troops blocked them.
The entire Lin Hai City seemed as if it did not know about Suo Lun’s team at all.
However this was impossible. Because Suo Lun’s team of a full one hundred people had passed through many villages and small towns.
His cheap father-in-law Gui Xing Fu could not possibly be unaware that he had come, yet he pretended to know nothing at all.
This sign was not very good.
Moreover the sudden destruction of the suspension bridge over the Nu River appeared even more strange.
This was a giant suspension bridge more than one hundred metres long and several hundred metres high. One must know that building this suspension bridge had cost an unknown amount of resources and lives at the time. And in this section of the Nu River stretching more than one hundred li there was only this one suspension bridge.
Perhaps his father-in-law, including his fiancee, were very unwelcoming of his arrival.
After all a few months ago he had received a letter from his fiancee Gui Qin Shao saying that if he dared to mention her name in his mouth again she would kill Suo Lun.
But none of this was unexpected. Before coming to Lin Hai City Suo Lun had already prepared himself to be unwelcome.
However fighting with heaven brings endless joy, fighting with earth brings endless joy, fighting with people brings endless joy. Not to mention fighting with a father-in-law and a fiancee.
…
At dawn Suo Lun led the team and arrived outside the main city of Lin Hai.
The huge city ahead was Lin Hai City, belonging to his fiancee’s family. Like the Suo clan the Gui clan was also a semi-independent feudal power within the kingdom.
The main city of Lin Hai had a circumference of more than ten li and a population of ninety thousand, slightly smaller than Tianshui City.
Gazing at the high city walls the family warriors present could not help but feel uneasy and anxious.
Previously when they were surrounded on the mountaintop they had thought only of breaking through, escaping with their lives, and entering Lin Hai City.
Now that Lin Hai City was right before their eyes everyone began to worry again whether the Lin Hai City Lord Gui Xing Fu would be willing to shelter them, whether he would be willing to lend a helping hand, or whether he might even add insult to injury and strike mercilessly.
“Master, you hide first. Send one person to shout at the city gate. If Lin Hai City has any ill intentions you will not be in danger of losing your life.” Suo Mu said.
“I will enter the city first to scout the situation.” Suo Ning Bing said. “I am a woman, no one will do anything to me.”
Suo Lun shook his head and smiled: “No need.”
Then he walked directly to the gate of Lin Hai City and shouted loudly: “Kingdom Count, Lord of Tianshui City, Master of the Suo clan Suo Lun, has come to pay respects to my father-in-law!”
At this moment there were many people coming and going in and out of the city. Hearing Suo Lun’s words they were immediately stunned and opened their eyes wide to look at him.
So this person was Suo Lun, the notoriously famous frivolous wastrel of the entire Nu Lang Kingdom.
Because Lin Hai City was separated by the Nu River the news was relatively blocked. Moreover the royal capital was a full several thousand li away from here, so Suo Lun’s stunning performance in the royal capital had not yet spread here. In everyone’s minds Suo Lun was still that notorious wastrel.
And their city lord’s daughter Gui Qin Shao, whether in appearance, temperament or figure, was an exceptional great beauty one in ten thousand. Not only that, she also possessed a very high dragon bloodline talent, so her martial cultivation was also outstanding among her peers.
Such an outstanding beauty was actually going to marry a wastrel like Suo Lun. It was completely like a fresh flower stuck in cow dung.
Moreover there were faint rumours that the Suo clan family had already finished and their territory had been occupied by rebel troops.
No one had expected that this wastrel Suo Lun had actually survived. But even if he had survived he now had nothing and had become a homeless dog. There was a saying that a phoenix that had fallen from its perch was not even as good as a chicken.
The warriors on the city wall were stunned upon hearing this. They looked carefully at Suo Lun below the city gate. They had not seen this famous wastrel before but knew he was very handsome. Although the young noble before them looked a little dishevelled he was indeed very handsome and resembled the Suo Lun in the rumours.
Therefore the leader of the warriors on the city wall did not dare to decide on his own and said: “Please wait a moment, sir. I will go to the city lord’s mansion to report immediately.”
With that he quickly rushed down from the city wall, mounted a fast horse, and galloped towards the city lord’s mansion at the fastest speed.
Next came a slightly anxious wait.
Soon he would meet his cheap father-in-law and would also meet his fiancee Gui Qin Shao. That fiancee who kept saying she wanted to kill him, that former number one beauty of the royal capital academy.
Count Gui Xing Fu, the Lord of Lin Hai City, did not make Suo Lun wait too long. In less than half an hour he appeared at the city gate.
“My worthy nephew, my poor worthy nephew ah!”
The voice came before the person was seen.