Chapter 27: Taoist Lü Bu
At night, Black Bear rode his dry horse towards Langdang Canal.

This time, with the guidance of Li Feng and Lai Ping, we chose to go north along the Chidao Road to Changsha, and then go east from Changsha to Langdangqu.

Before and after the imperial court moved to Xudu, the area around Changsha was a prosperous place.

Not only are the waterways unobstructed, but the land routes are also well maintained.

But crossing the river was still a problem, as he could not get assistance from the docks when walking at night.

This time, on the return journey, he would take the Galloping Road. He only needed to sit tight and control the horse to gallop as fast as possible.

Even if the river was five or six meters wide, they would gallop on their horses, jump into the center of the river, fall into the water, and then swim to the other side.

He rode his horse at full speed for most of the night and arrived at the Langdang Canal at midnight, then controlled his horse to head north along the west bank.

After another half an hour, the fleet was seen anchored on the west bank.

There were two bonfires burning on the shore, probably because they had suffered great losses at the hands of black bears before.

Now Xuan Liang only lit a bonfire to provide illumination to prevent sneak attacks by thieves, and did not arrange any guards to guard the fire.

Life in the cabin is not good, and we can only be patient for now.

Approaching the fire, Black Bear jumped off his horse, and scattered a stack of cards in his backhand to the ground. Two black warriors and seven black servants appeared.

After refining Lu Bu, there was immediately a huge height difference between the seven black servants when they stood together.

The black servant refined by Lu Bu is nine feet tall, a head taller than the others.

"Black servant, agile, good at riding, can be strengthened and combined."

As he pondered, Black Bear took out a burning piece of wood from the campfire and held it close to reflect Lu Bu's face, and then carefully observed the faces of the other black servants.

Although they are all mummies, their facial bones are different, and there are still some differences after the facial muscles have dried and tightened.

Each time the body is strengthened, its bones and muscles become stronger, and its flesh and skin become thicker… but its head and abdominal cavity are still empty, and even if its limbs’ dry muscles expand, they still look very thin, just skin and bones.

Now there are twelve points of black mana, and Black Bear immediately throws two to Lu Bu.

Within sight, Lu Bu's withered muscles began to swell, and his body could no longer support itself and broke apart. When he was summoned again, his withered muscles were noticeably more swollen.

Black Bear frowned as he looked at it. If one estimated the time of Lu Bu's burial, his body would have already decayed and melted, leaving only dry bones.

The other black servants were refined corpses, their moisture evaporated, and even their intestines, stomachs, lungs and internal organs were dried up; the likes of Lu Bu and Yuan Shu should be skeletons, but they actually had a layer of flesh on the surface of their bones.

This shows that the reinforcement sequence is single, and moving mummies seem more reasonable than skeletons.

"Black servant, agile, strong, good at riding, can be strengthened, and can be combined."

Looking at the dried corpse of Lu Bu with an extra entry, Black Bear resisted the urge to continue strengthening it and tried to order Lu Bu to ride on the dried horse.

Without the need for stirrups, Lu Bu could easily ride on the motionless and unresisting horse's back with his long legs.

Like a monkey riding a dog, Lu Bu's toes were almost hanging on the ground.

In order to complete the final combination, Yin Gan Ma should use another twenty points of black mana to strengthen it by one level. I always feel that this is a bit of a loss.

This Yin Gan horse has limited qualifications, and it takes a total of thirty-five points to strengthen it to level three. The effect may be similar to the second and first level effects of the divine horse.

Perhaps the third-level enhancement has stronger toughness and explosive power, but Lu Bu is too tall, and it is a waste to pair him with this ordinary dried horse.

While Black Bear was thinking, the black-sailed boat paddled to the shore, and Xuan Liang and Xu Lin each went ashore holding a lantern.

They were delighted to see their leader return as promised, but when they saw him inspecting the ghost, god and Taoist soldiers, they did not dare to approach rashly.

"Let's talk about it when we get back to the boat."

The black bear waved his hand to dismiss all the summoned creatures, and after the Yin-dried horse disappeared, a pile of debris fell to the ground.

Several people helped to carry the things to the wupeng boat, and then returned.

Main ship, deck.

Black Bear continued to study the next round of strengthening for Lu Bu, and some prepared materials had been moved in front of him one after another.

In the future, the Black Warrior should change his name because he plans to equip all warriors with white, plain silk linings and cloaks.

The reason is simple. In his opinion, white does not absorb light and can minimize the wear and tear caused by daytime sunlight.

At this moment, he began to use his white mana to wash and tailor the plain silk inner garments, cloaks and the like. Unlike his tense black mana, he still had a lot of white mana reserves.

It took fifteen points of white mana and four points of black mana to finally strengthen Lu Bu into a black warrior.

Except for the brown-red leather armor, Lu Bu's clothes, pants, scarf, headscarf, cloak and gloves are all made of plain white silk.

In order to ensure that Lu Bu's body can fully wear the armor, Lu Bu is now wearing a five-layer sleeveless vest made of fine linen.

Anyway, standing in front of him was a tall swordsman wearing a black iron helmet, brown armor with iron trim, black leather boots, and the rest of the body was all white.

The sword assigned to Lu Bu was a two-handed six-sided Han sword, a typical Jingchu long sword, and one of the high-end gifts given by Xu Kun to Cao Hong.

The iron halberds on the ship are suitable for ordinary brave military officers. They are a bit light and short for warriors of Lu Bu's level. Lu Bu should use a heavier halberd with stronger chopping power.

Even if there is no Fang Tian Hua Ji, we must make one.

Controlling Lu Bu to raise his hands and remove the two layers of silk face cloth, he could see that the dry muscles on his face became two or three points fuller and fuller.

If it is strengthened twice more, it can almost restore its appearance before death.

After sending Lu Bu away, Black Bear breathed a sigh of relief. What he needed to do next was to find a strong horse or a complete horse skeleton, as well as iron armor and Fang Tian Ji.

When you strengthen it next time, you need to gild the iron armor and weapons.

The silver robe and golden armor give off a righteous look, and their excellent appearance can naturally eliminate many misunderstandings, so as to avoid being misunderstood as a demon.

Xuan Liang and Xu Lin on the side almost watched their own leader refine the Taoist soldiers with their own eyes. Looking at the tall white-robed Taoist soldier that disappeared, the two had some ideas.

Xuan Liang, who had followed for a longer time, was very clear about one of the purposes of his leader's trip to Xu Du, and Xu Lin, a military officer from Xia Pi, felt that the white-robed Taoist soldiers were somewhat familiar.

With a little curiosity and yearning, Xuan Liang asked: "Do the Taoist soldiers refined by Qu Shuai have any memories of their previous lives?"

"If you have complete memories, wouldn't that be another kind of immortality? Is there such a shortcut in the world?" Black Bear asked back. Seeing that Xuan Liang had gained enlightenment after deep thought, he continued, "I don't know what the future will be like, but now these Taoist soldiers only have instinctive memories."

"I only hope that when I die, you will show me love and allow me to serve you forever."

Xuan Liang expressed his opinion again and smiled with relief. How many powerful people in ancient times have pursued the preservation of corpses?

"Same as X!"

Xu Lin followed suit and expressed his opinion. Black Bear just smiled and said, "As long as your bodies are still there, I can refine them into Dao soldiers."

He thought about it and changed the names on the Black Servant Card and the Black Warrior Card to Servant and Taoist Soldier respectively.

It takes a year to generate more than 700 points of black magic power. A primary Taoist soldier needs to be strengthened three times for a total of 7 points of black magic power; the second strengthening of the Taoist soldier is 15 points, and the next level of Taoist soldier is 35 points... Including the Yin Gan horse, a top-level Taoist soldier at the cavalry level with human and horse equipment needs more than 100 points.

We can only gather seven Taoist soldiers at the level of cavalry generals in a year, and there is still a long way to go.

Even though the revived Lu Bu is not as strong as he was in his prime, his endurance is much stronger now, and his morale fluctuates almost without any fluctuations, so his performance is very stable.

Ordinary corpses have limited qualifications, so we should save resources to create powerful top-level Taoist soldiers.

Only equipment and instruments refined from white mana can be used to arm Taoist soldiers. If you take the elite route, you can save a lot of white mana.

In fact, up to now, the servants and Taoist soldiers have only been melted by the sun and have not experienced true death in battle.

Sunburn means the body is broken and can no longer support itself and turns into a card. Battle damage also means the body can no longer support itself.

The consequences of damaging these two should be the same, turning into cards again, waiting to be summoned again.

Then Black Bear asked about what the fleet had seen and heard during the day. Xuan Liang also wanted to make a report, so he said, "I have something to report to the commander. Perhaps the commander is famous in Liang and Pei. Therefore, the court summoned Yuan Huan, the commander of the southern part of Pei, to the court and appointed him as the prime minister of Liang."

"Yuan Huan? The name sounds familiar. Who is he?"

"This man is from Fule, the state of Chen. Today he left Xudu, passed through Changsha and returned to Fule. He did not return home, but said goodbye to his relatives and friends at the ferry, and then took a boat northward along the Langdang Canal. He should be heading to the Chenliu camp to listen to Cao Gong's instructions in person."

"From what you said, Yuan Huan is not far upstream?"

"Yes, if you are interested, you can pursue this gentleman and bring him under your wing."

Xuan Liang then told the other information about Yuan Huan. Yuan Huan was an important person, and it was obvious that Xuan Liang had investigated Yuan Huan's information before his mission to Xu Du.

Yuan Huan's father was one of the Three Dukes of the Imperial Court and was Cai Yong's uncle, so Yuan Huan was Cai Yong's cousin, and the age difference between them was quite large.

Therefore, Yuan Huan had a rich experience. He was recruited by the government, ranked high, and was appointed magistrate of Qiao County. When Liu Bei was the governor of Yuzhou, he was selected as a talented person. Like Yuan Tan, he was a disciple of Liu Bei.

Things like recruiting officials and selecting outstanding talents by government offices are ways for officials to examine famous and capable young people, and are also a test of the officials themselves.

For example, Yuan Tan and Yuan Huan, if someone else became the governor of Yuzhou and recommended them as talented people, they might not necessarily agree; if they agreed, it would be equivalent to becoming the other party's disciple.

During the period when Liu Bei served as the governor of Yuzhou, he recruited and employed many children of noble families and heroes from humble backgrounds; for example, Chen Qun was one of Liu Bei's former officials.

Yuan Huan had richer experience. While he was avoiding the chaos in Huainan, he was forcibly appointed an official by Yuan Shu. Later, he fled to Lu Bu. After Lu Bu's defeat, he attached himself to the court in Xudu and was appointed the commander of the southern part of Pei State.

Listening to Xuan Liang talking, Black Bear just felt that Xuan Liang was very envious of Yuan Huan.

Wherever Yuan Huan went, he was appointed an official... This was probably the foundation of the noble family.

The opponent is now not far upstream, and with a little effort, we can grab it.

How could Cao Cao let it go after he kidnapped such an important person?

Besides, what can Yuan Huan do for himself?
There is no practical benefit in kidnapping someone, and killing them is even more harmful to both you and them.

It's just that Yuan Huan can be regarded as the leader of a first-class family of the time, similar to Chen Deng and Chen Qun, only slightly inferior to the Hongnong Yang family and the Runan Yuan family.

Such a person's understanding of the world is obviously different from that of most people.

If you can keep them around you, you will definitely be able to come up with a lot of constructive suggestions.

She was somewhat worried that she would gradually be influenced by Yuan Huan as they spent more and more time together, and become a bargaining chip in his hands.

People achieve mutual success, help each other, and use each other; Yuan Huan has too many channels at his level, and even if he bows down to them, it is still uncertain who will work for whom in the end.

But if we miss this opportunity, it will be very difficult to rob Yuan Huan next time.

Anyone who has experience in poaching people knows that the difficult part is getting the opportunity to strike, and then breaking out after the strike.

The Langdang Canal leads directly to the Yellow River. After the plunder, they could sail into the Yellow River day and night, and see the vast world.

Black Bear pondered the pros and cons, and seeing Xuan Liang looking forward to it, he asked, "Do you really want me to recruit Yuan Huan?"

"Yes, Mr. Yuan is gentle and honest in his attitude towards others, and he is indeed a good assistant to the times. I think Cao Cao is very powerful, and even if Mr. Yuan doesn't want to, he dare not go against Cao Cao's wishes."

Xuan Liang said seriously, "I thought Yuan Jun was happy to get away with robbing him."

This is just for reference, but there is some possibility. After all, Yuan Shao is still alive, and the four states in Hebei are under great pressure from the Xu Du court. The prospects of the Xu Du court are not very bright.

Xu Lin, who was standing next to him, saw Black Bear looking sideways at him and said, "I also met Mr. Yuan when I was in Xia Pi. It's a pity that Yuan Shu and Marquis Lu Wen were unable to make full use of his talents."

Hearing this, Black Bear stood up and thought, looking at the two men: "If I really want to kidnap Yuan Huan, then I will be Sun Jian's nephew from now on, and will not be loved by Sun Quan. When I am on a diplomatic mission to Xudu, I will seize the ship and lead the people to surrender to General Yuan in Hebei."

Xu Lin didn't know the inside story, Xuan Liang thought about it and nodded again and again: "This is very good."

When Sun Ce died, Sun Hao, the eldest son of Sun Jian's younger brother Sun Jing and the General of the Central Army, led his troops from Wucheng and headed straight for Kuaiji, attempting to compete for the right of succession.

Sun Jing and his three adult sons all held military power. Their combined strength was greater than that of the brothers Sun Ben and Sun Fu, and second only to the three brothers Sun Ce.

After the power grab failed, Sun Jing and his son Sun Hao lived in seclusion, and the military power was divided between the second son Sun Yu and the third son Sun Jiao.

Pretending to be Sun Jing's bastard son...even if it's fake, Hebei will publicize it as if it's real!

Sun Quan couldn't explain this kind of thing clearly.

"In that case, I am Sun Jing's illegitimate son, Sun Qian, without a courtesy name."

"If Hebei asks again and again, I will say that I am a descendant of Lu Kang, the former governor of Lujiang County. I seized the ship and headed north to avenge my clan's blood feud in order to alienate Sun and Cao."

Revenge is naturally the most just act in the world.

(End of this chapter)