Chapter 62

In the Flying Tiger Team, the only idle person, besides Du Qian, could be no one else. He was brought in by Fei Xue and Zhao Hui, and the office and seal were arranged by Zhao Hui.

Once the arrangements were made, Zhao Hui forgot about it. Someone like Du Qian, who mixed with the Flying Tiger Team, was absolutely unprecedented. The Flying Tiger Team was different from the patrol police; you couldn't just stuff anyone in. Even if the city lord spoke up, it wouldn't work.

In fact, the four city lords would never do such a thing. The Flying Tiger Team was their sharp weapon; how could they destroy their own fortress?

Du Qian's situation was too special. His backing could exist or not exist at any time. The problem was that this backing was too strong, strong enough to make the four city lords speechless. Putting him in the Flying Tiger Team was like raising a pig.

"Understood." Du Qian's legs immediately returned to normal, and he ran into the building, feeling several guns following his steps. He didn't know which bastard was fooling around.

Not until he entered the office did Du Qian relax. It was really scary. Wasn't it said that the Flying Tiger Team didn't like to use guns? When he got his gun, the armory was full of long and short guns, and it was clear that no one had taken them.

Who would have thought that today he would see guns again, and in such large numbers.

But those guns...

Alright, those things were called guns, but in Du Qian's eyes, they were far beyond the scope of guns. Twin-barreled, quad-barreled, nine-barreled, thirteen-barreled, with barrels so wide that he could stick his arm in. Were those still called guns?

These weapons, in the field army, were considered heavy weapons. Units below the battalion level wouldn't be equipped with them due to their weight and the number of personnel required. Small units couldn't carry them.

But in the hands of the cooks and cleaners of the Flying Tiger Team, these things were like toys. On average, two people had one, and within a few minutes, the headquarters of the Flying Tiger Team had over a hundred heavy weapons.

Du Qian didn't know much about martial cultivators, but he had personally experienced that the police guns used by the patrol police were not even toys. Any martial cultivator wouldn't fear them. But what about these heavy weapons?

No matter how much Du Qian guessed, he couldn't figure out their power. At least ordinary battle spirits wouldn't dare to face them head-on.

"Whatever, I can't figure it out anyway. It's none of my business. I'll just focus on my own work." Du Qian shook his head, locked the door, and took out a spirit horn.

After absorbing the spirit horn, Du Qian began to condense energy threads. This time, he planned to make one first. He was curious about what these three spirit components were for, but no one taught him, and the knowledge he had learned didn't cover this area, leaving him at a loss.

Before noon, Du Qian received a text message from Yao Jing. Even if he hadn't received it, he would have known that today's activity was canceled. The Flying Tiger Team was in a state of tension, and there was no time to go out for a meal.

'Ring...' The phone on the desk rang. Since Du Qian came to the Flying Tiger Team, the two phones on the desk had never rung before.

"Hello, this is the Information Department of the Flying Tiger Team."

"Alright, I know it's you. Someone is looking for you outside, saying he's the manager of the Snow Drift Trading Company, Gu Zhengdao. I let him in, you receive him." Zhao Hui said. This kind of trivial matter was usually fine, but today it was really annoying.

But this Gu Zhengdao had some connections. Someone above him spoke up, so he had to let him in. After all, he was just a manager of a trading company, with no combat power, and his belongings had been checked, so he wouldn't pose any threat to the Flying Tiger Team.

At Zhao Hui's level, he vaguely knew that the Snow Drift Trading Company was quite complicated. In fact, not only was Snow Drift complicated, but the Zhou Mountain Trading Company was also complicated. The Lei Mo Trading Company... well, it seemed complicated too.

Wasn't that obvious? To become one of the three major trading companies of the Zhou Mountain Empire, it would be strange if they were simple. This time, the pressure on Zhao Hui came from the secretary of the city lord's office, the personal secretary of the city lord. The secretary of Pingchuan City, though not very high in rank, had real power and could always talk to the city lord. Who would dare to underestimate him?

"Manager Gu, what a rare guest." Du Qian opened the door and welcomed Gu Zhengdao into the office.

Gu Zhengdao was still dressed as he was at the Fisherman's Wharf, with a sea smell, carrying two oil paper packages, looking like he was visiting relatives.

"Xiao Qian, you're doing well. Your promotion is not just a little fast. This place is spacious, with plenty of space, and even has a differential machine. It's really good."

"Manager Gu, you're too polite. You came, so why bring anything?" Du Qian let Manager Gu sit down. Manager Gu saw there was only one chair, so he sat on the floor.

"Come, sit together. We're old acquaintances, no need to be polite. I brought you some seafood. I know you like it. Don't be polite with me. You know, there's not much profit at the wharf, just a lot of fish."

Du Qian naturally wouldn't open the two oil paper packages in front of the guest, but his eyes lit up. The specially brought gift couldn't be too bad. It had to be at least two spirit fish. This gift is good, I like it.

Don't look at him having over a hundred spirit horns, but he never had enough. However, why did Manager Gu come?

He said it nicely, but both of them knew that Du Qian had only worked at the Fisherman's Wharf for three or four days and hadn't even recognized everyone. Talking about being old acquaintances was pure nonsense.

Du Qian made tea, and the two of them chatted on the floor for a while, mostly about the affairs of the wharf.

"How is the wharf today?" Du Qian asked. The Flying Tiger Team was in chaos, so the Fisherman's Wharf couldn't be completely unaffected.

"Under martial law. All the ships are in Treasure Bay, not allowed to enter or leave. It's a mess. I heard it's pirates, combined pirates." Gu Zhengdao looked mysterious and whispered in Du Qian's ear.

"Pirates? Doesn't the navy handle it?" Du Qian asked in surprise.

Pirates weren't uncommon; where there was sea, there were pirates. But just 40 kilometers outside Treasure Bay was a naval base, where the Zhou Mountain Navy was stationed. Almost all ships leaving Treasure Bay could see naval warships.

It was said that pirates were rampant, but with the navy around, how could they be so arrogant? In the sea, they could jump around, but when they met the navy, they were nothing.

"You don't know? The navy left the port ten days ago, leaving only two small frigates, each about 2,000 tons. Even if they are warships, they are too small. The pirates' ships are old, but there are many of them."

"The navy left the port? What's going on?" Du Qian sat up straight. Since he entered the Pingchuan Orphan School, he had never heard of the navy leaving the port.

The navy stationed in Treasure Bay was the Sixth Fleet of the Zhou Mountain Empire, with over 70 ships of various sizes. Their relationship with the Pingchuan City tax and criminal police was very tense. Everyone wanted to get a piece of the smuggling pie, so their relationship couldn't be good.

Gu Zhengdao shook his head: "I don't know, it's a military secret. But from our trading company's channels, it seems the sea borders are not peaceful."

The sea borders are not peaceful...

Alright, that's a more official way of saying it. In layman's terms, it means the borders of the three countries are tense, and a conflict could break out at any time.

"Really? Could it be?" Du Qian was startled. This joke wasn't funny at all.

For nearly a century, the three countries had been relatively peaceful. Border conflicts were inevitable, with tens of thousands of military deaths each year, which was considered normal and acceptable.

If a real war broke out, just thinking about it was terrifying. As a war orphan, Du Qian was more familiar with and concerned about the military, soldiers, and war history than ordinary people. Each war was a hell on earth.

Millions of deaths per year were normal. Wars usually only stopped when everyone was too exhausted to continue, or when a country was destroyed.

What made it impossible to continue? Lack of money, resources, or even people...

In school, Du Qian learned that human history was a history of war, progressing and growing with war.

It seemed that humans were either at war or preparing for war. This century of peace was actually a time to accumulate strength for the next war.

Analyzing the modern history of the past thousand years, it was not difficult to see that the wars between the three major countries occurred approximately every hundred years, with the longest interval being 120 years and the shortest 85 years.

Each war lasted from 4 to 26 years. The shorter the war, the more brutal it was, often entering a white-hot state without even a warm-up.

The biggest reason for the inability to continue was not the lack of money or resources, but the lack of people...

In modern history, the most tragic year was called the Dance of Death, which occurred in 62822. In that year, the three countries lost a total of 2.4 billion people.

An unimaginable number. The population of the three countries was large, but 2.4 billion still exceeded the limits of human endurance.

These 2.4 billion people were not all soldiers; civilians made up the majority, with only one-twenty-fourth being soldiers.

The death of 100 million soldiers, compared to civilians, was actually very few. But a closer look at the number revealed its significance.

Taking the Zhou Mountain Empire as an example, the standing army in peacetime was 12 corps, each with about 300,000 people, totaling 3.6 million. Adding the Three Public Blood Guards, military and political commissions, and air forces, the total military strength did not exceed 4 million.

Adding ten times the city defense forces, the total number of soldiers in the Zhou Mountain Empire, including field armies and city guards, was about 44 million.

The other two countries were similar. In peacetime, no one wanted to maintain a large army, as it was not conducive to accumulating strength. Sending more useful people to appropriate positions could quickly improve national power.

Based on this number, the total military strength of the three countries was only about 100 million. In the year of the Dance of Death, it was equivalent to wiping out the armies of the three countries.

In peacetime, the focus was on accumulating strength. The strategies of the three countries were similar, all hiding soldiers among the people. They strongly promoted cultivation, increasing the number of martial cultivators and helping high-level martial cultivators improve their strength.

They also conducted basic martial training among the civilians...