Chapter 232 “start!!”
When Guptad brought Du Wei over to the unfamiliar unit, the other side quickly got up and formed a defensive formation. Looking closely, the soldiers in front even had their hands on their sword hilt, ready to draw their blade at a moment’s notice.
“Insolent! This is Duke Tulip!” Guptad cries out: “Have your captain come out!”
At his demand, a middle-aged man stepped forward from the crowd. Wearing a standard military armor commonly found on the knights of the empire, this new entry is of medium height with a strong looking build. Based on his walking posture, it’s obvious he is both firm and collective in his way of handling matters: “Everyone lay down your arms and rest.”
With that, this person then came up to Du Wei’s presence and performed a proper knight salute: “Captain of the third cavalry division of Bohan province’s second local police force, Yaluoer pays his respect to the Duke of Tulip!”
Du Wei nodded in return and then carefully looked over this officer claiming to be Yaluoer.
A cavalry captain is considered a lower mid tiered officer inside the military because they are usually left in charge of a unit consisting of 1000 soldiers. Adding in the fact that this guy had a 4th rank warrior badge on his chest, it’s quite clear this person’s strength is considered exceptional within the military.
“Knight Yaluoer, please tell me your reason for coming here today.” Du Wei is still somewhat wary of Governor Bohan. Since the day he stepped into the Northwest, he had already suffered at the governor’s hand. Now that a whole cavalry unit made their way into his Desa Province, Du Wei isn’t certain if these guys are coming with good intent or simply bad will.
“Your Dukeship….. ” This Yaluoer is clearly the conservative type when doing things. Though his face looked slightly exhausted and his voice coarse, the way he spoke still sounded powerful: “I’ve come here at Governor Bohan’s order.”
After a pause, he continued to speak: “We of the second local police division was stationed along the border between the two provinces. Due to the annual spring drill, our unit was frequently moved around….. As for the purpose, I’m sure your lordship already knows…..”
Du Wei smiles at the remark.
Of course he knows. It’s all in order to prepare for the Northwestern Army.
Talking about this, Governor Bohan really is pitiful. Though Bohan’s jurisdiction consists of the entire Nuling province, but due to the influence of the Northwestern Army, he only truly controls half the land in his name. The cause for this is no other, the main headquarter of the Northwest Army is within his borders.
For this reason, Bohan was especially annoyed by Du Wei’s arrival. It was bad enough he only controlled half the Nuling Province, even the second province under his jurisdiction – Desa Province – was snatched away by a kid.
Now that the Northwest Army is getting active again during the spring drill, Governor Bohan can’t possibly let his own garrison forces lay idle now can he?
“You lordship, we received word two days ago saying there were traces of native cavalry troops in your territory! When Governor Bohan got wind of this, it just so happens he was busy overseeing the military drills near the border. Considering the urgency of the matter and the fact that we got confirmed sightings of the enemy in three locations, Governor Bohan immediately sent you a letter….. But it was sent to Loulan City….. Since you’re here, I’m assuming the letter never reached your hands. Governor Bohan said this is an emergency so we can’t adhere to the rules during these times. He also knows you just came to the Northwest and might not have enough troops to quell this attack by the prairie natives, therefore, without your permission, our third cavalry division of the second police force was ordered to search out the native peoples trail inside your territory.”
Speaking up to here, this Knight Yaluoer gave Du Wei a glance: “Although this act of crossing into your territory is improper, but the interest of the overall situation is too important to ignore….”
Du Wei waves his hand in response, his face already donning a sincere smile: “its fine Knight Yaluoer, you don’t need to say more. I’m grateful for your coming! What Bohan said is correct; we should put aside the rules for the situation at hand.”
Unable to stop his emotions, Du Wei really had to hand it to this Bohan. Although they had some small quarrels before, but this guy really is a true patriot to the empire.
At the very least this Bohan would send aid the very moment he gets word of Du Wei’s predicament. For this reason alone, it’s enough to earn his respect.
If it was changed to a jerk in this situation, Du Wei can already imagine the guy snickering behind his back and watching him fall.
Looking at this Knight Yaluoer, Du Wei suddenly noticed this guy only had approximately five hundred to six hundred men in his command, many of whom still had blood residue and battle scars on their armor: “You guys…..”
Yaluoer replies in a calm voice: “Sir, we were already over the border two days ago. On the way here, we came across an enemy cavalry unit and had a brawl with the natives. Fortunately we outnumbered the enemy and was able to repel the invaders. If not for the run in with commander Guptad, we might not have been able to find our way to you.”
Although the knight was downplaying their ordeal, Du Wei can already speculate how savagely brutal the battle was based upon their losses. Starting from a thousand strong, they nearly lost half their men; it’s obvious the causalities were quite serious!
Watching these soldiers from the Nuling Province in silence, Du Wei found that although these men remained quiet as they stood there, they all had a glint of determination in their eyes despite the fact that some of them were still injured.
“We lost over 300 brothers along the way while some were seriously injured. In order to not affect our combat capabilities, we could only send a part of our forces back early.” Yaluoer sounded a little sad in his voice.
Hearing this, Du Wei had his emotions run high. Suddenly, he faced the brave men before him and gave a deep unwavering bow: “The Tulip Family will forever remember your deeds today!”
“You do not need to be so polite Duke.” Knight Yaluoer gave a thoughtful smile: “Our governor said…… Everything is for the empire!”
Being able to let go of small little grudges during critical times have left Du Wei with a different image of Bohan.
” Knight Yaluoer, while we may not have any fine wine here presently, but I guarantee that by this evening we will victoriously enter Anglia City! By then, I will personally host a celebratory banquet for all the brave warriors of the Nuling Province!”
Finishing his words, Du Wei then tasked Guptad to care for these guests while he quietly left with the 28 magic students. Moving a mile away from the forest where a low lying terrain was, he and the students held a secret meeting.
Taking off his wizardry robe, Du Wei then unbuckled his storage bag and began pouring everything out.
Clang… Plop….. Clang….
Gasping at their respected Dean’s action, these students can only watch on as a rainfall of brooms appear before their very eyes!
That’s right, a bunch of brooms! Several dozens of brooms were stacked into a neat pile.
Some were simply left frozen, unsure why the Dean would take so many brooms out. Can it be that he expects them to PK with the Natives using a bunch of brooms?
“These will be your … … ‘mounts’! Come on, try your new mount!” Du Wei declared aloud: “Everyone pick one…. No need to be picky and take one, they are all the same.”
Once every student finished picking their broom with a face full of curiosity, Du Wei also picked one up for himself.
“The method to use these things are very simple. You guys see the six point star symbol on the handle? Insert your magic, that’s right, like a wand. Come on, give it a try. However, make sure you don’t add too much magic at once, if you do, don’t blame me when you break your head! Then put the broom between your thighs….. Like how I’m doing right now…..”
With that, Du Wei was already doing it himself and making a live example of himself….. It must be mentioned that he’s actually quite nervous. Prior to setting off with the brooms, he never actually had the chance to test them himself.
“Like me … … insert your magic….. Then give your legs a slight push off the ground……”
The second he said this word, all the students had the pleasure of witnessing their dean shoot into the air like a meteoric star!
“AH!”
In a blink of an eye, Du Wei’s bodily image was lost before everyone’s eyes as he continued to soar into the horizon, thus leaving behind only the faint echoing cries of an alarming scream.
“What’s the Dean doing?” Some of the students were gawking at the sky, unsure what to make of this.
“No idea … … But he sure flew into the sky FAST!”
By the time Du Wei managed to come back down to the ground, his hat was already lost into the air by the gusting wind.
Bloody hell! He injected his magic way too fast and way too much! If he wasn’t so quick in responding, he would have already smashed into a hilltop!
But when he was coming back, Du Wei already figured out the proper method of controlling the damn thing.
When he landed, Du Wei kept up the pretense of being calm: “You see that….. The thing in your hand can help you fly, no spell required! This is a magic item.”
At this, all the students became strongly interested.
“Ahem … … But be careful. When starting, be sure to hold back your magic and make sure to inject your magic slowly! Otherwise…..” Du Wei pauses, his tone a bit awkward: “You will end up like me before. Remember to hold onto your broom handle. Pulling up is up, pushing down is down, and I’m sure I don’t need to explain what left and right will do. Also…. The more magic you insert, the faster your speed will be!”
This thing really isn’t that hard to operate. At the very least, no other student ended up darting ou into the horizon like he did earlier.
Perhaps the reason was his little mishap earlier was due to his overly high magic reserve…..
In merely one hours’ worth of time, every magic apprentice have pretty much mastered the basic flight maneuvers, while some could even pull off some acrobatic moves.
It must be mentioned that these guys really are talented. It’s like Gargamel said: “As long as one knows how to ride a horse, they can ride these brooms.”
“All right, everybody quiet down!”
When the apprentices came back from their one hour of free flight, what welcomed them are standing piles of dark clay pots with a vine like root coming off the side of each lid.
“What I’m about to say next is extremely important!” Du Wei became serious in his tone: “These brooms I’m giving you are not for fun because in a little bit…. You will be riding them to risk your life! This operation will be extremely dangerous! If any of you want to quit now, I will not stop you! You are my students, not warriors of my family! You have no obligation to die for me.”
None spoke.
Seeing this, Du Wei was very satisfied as he gave this group of faithful students a gratifying look: “Now, take a look at these pots. They are no ordinary pot….. They are lethal weapons!”
With that, Du Wei gently ignited one of the flower vines and then threw the certain pot out into the distance…….
When the devastating sound of that huge explosion drifted into their ears, everyone had a face full of shock and disbelief!
In these students’ eyes, the strength of this pot filled with gunpowder is more than comparable to a low level fire based spell for even the ground was blown to smithereens, leaving behind a shallow pit in its wake!
“From now on, you will be the first……” Du Wei deliberately paused to let his next words sink in: “Aerial combat unit under my command! In simple terms… … Air force! Ladies and gentlemen, please remember this day because your existence will forever change the way we fight wars in the eons to come!!”
After a good moment of silence, every student soon had a face full of unbearable excitement.
“This evening we will ride these brooms over the native’s camp and blow these prairie wolves to dust!” Du Wei’s yell was both empowering and motivating: “You will forever be remembered as the first air combat unit on this continent….. For that, you will get a name. Whenever an enemy hears your name, they will shake, they will tremble, they will FEAR!!”
“You Lordship, what’s our name!” Ziggy excitingly asks.
Du Wei chuckles, his smile unbelievably sinister……
When the sun finally began to set towards the west for the day, Knight Robert felt like his last ounce of strength was drained from his body because the prairie people just launched a frenzied attack that nearly overtook the city.
Looking at the bodies littered across the ground below the wall, Robert could only let out a long gasping breath.
Fortunately, his soldiers’ morale remained intact due to Du Wei’s appearance. Towards the Duke, these people all had a trust bordering on the line of fanatics.
With only one-third of the soldiers remaining to defend the city, Robert knows the final moment has come!
When the last ray of the setting sun left the rampart, Robert finally gave the command to light the shining beacon to hail for help! Under the raging flames that seem to reach into the very heavens, the Tulip Flag continues to bloom under the searing heat!
Further away and fluttering in the night’s breeze, Du Wei has been quietly standing atop of a hillside not far from the enemy’s base camp.
Taking in a deep breath, he then suddenly floated into the air with arms open wide: “Let’s go! Tonight is the night we break the enemy!”
Behind him, a black wall consisting of the 28 magic apprentices awaited his command.
Letting a little grin slip, Du Wei shouted aloud:
“Deceptions, rise up and fly!!”