MWC – Chapter 187 The Four White Flag Guards

I AM DROPPING THIS NOVEL. IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTINUE THEY CAN. IF POSSIBLE PLEASE SHARE THE LINK SO I CAN BINGE READ TOO.

Around ten in the morning the next day, the train arrived at Nigolo.

Shortly afterward, personnel from the United Matrix began coordinating matters related to attaching extra carriages to the train heading for Gravel City.

Due to the additional carriages, the train did not depart until after five in the afternoon.

During this time, Lu Ming visited the Eastern Sea Representative Office in the Western Alliance to inquire about Liu Laocai’s case.

However, the staff at the office informed him that after they had sent a telegram to the Eight Special City’s Council the day before yesterday, they had yet to receive a reply.

Lu Ming could only sigh—official channels were never as reliable as personal connections.

Fortunately, the owner of the Eastern Sea Telegraph and Telephone Company, his business partner, had helped him indirectly get in touch with a noble in Eight Special City, even though his communications business had yet to reach that area.

Still, all they could do was send a telegram to the noble, asking for assistance in locating Liu Shoufu’s whereabouts and specifying a meeting location, but there was no time to wait for a response.

Gravel City was the terminus of the western railway. Although the distance from Nigolo to Gravel City was only 500 kilometers, the train stopped at almost every station along the way. The cars were packed—people even sat on the roof—and the train moved at a painfully slow pace. Delays were the norm, and there was no such thing as a fixed schedule.

This train, for instance, had originally been scheduled to depart on time, but due to United Matrix’s request for additional carriages, it was delayed by six hours. Neither the transportation company, the station staff, nor the passengers found this unusual.

The 500-kilometer journey took over ten hours, with an average speed of just over 30 kilometers per hour.

By ten in the morning, the train finally arrived in Gravel City.

Beyond Gravel City, there were no more railways.

The Gravel City State had a population of over 300,000, with more than 100,000 residing in Gravel City itself—making it a major city in the western region.

United Matrix had brought armed pickup trucks, off-road jeeps, and even an armored vehicle. They also purchased seven or eight trucks in Gravel City to transport supplies—mostly ammunition and fuel barrels.

The trucks were bought from multiple transportation companies, one or two from each. As the endpoint of the western railway, Gravel City had a thriving truck transportation industry.

However, even second-hand trucks were outrageously expensive—twice the price of a brand-new truck in Eastern Sea.

Although there were no tariff barriers between the western city-states and the empire, transportation costs from the empire’s eastern regions were high.

When United Matrix’s helicopters took off, the entire city was left in awe.

The trade delegation chartered a bus that, according to the driver, could take them directly to Eight Special City. Along the way, there were refueling stations, but the last 100 kilometers were dirt roads—rough and bumpy. It was still manageable now, as it wasn’t the rainy season. During the rainy season, though, these roads would be completely impassable for a bus.

Lu Ming did not take the bus. Instead, he boarded one of the helicopters with Nicole, Sun Bo, and the rest of their entourage.

The three helicopters were not the armed models still in development at Sanmai but rather the medium-sized Hai Lang (Sea Wave) series helicopters.

These helicopters were designed with military applications in mind and were considered a necessary step toward developing fully armed models.

They had thick armor, special mounts in the rear cabin for machine guns, and could carry ten passengers or 1.1 tons of cargo, with a range of 450 kilometers.

The one Lu Ming boarded was purely for transport—it had no machine gun mounts or shock absorption modifications, and its rear cabin seating was quite comfortable.

Lu Ming, Nicole, Sun Bo, Luo Yi, Luo Er, and four black-skinned bodyguards sat in the rear cabin.

The moment he settled into his seat, Lu Ming let out a long breath.

The Hai Lang-1 helicopter’s specifications were comparable to the H-19 from the 1950s in his previous life. In the current era, it was among the largest helicopters in existence.

Actually, ten months ago, the shareholders of Sanmai Company had a heated dispute over the production of the Hai Lang-1 helicopter.

And for good reason—this type of helicopter was extremely expensive to manufacture, with a final selling price of 180,000 yuan. Although the shareholders didn’t know the exact final price at the time, they were well aware that it would be exorbitant and had little market demand. In fact, the prototype of the Hai Lang-1 had been shelved two years ago precisely because the company realized that the production costs would be astronomical.

And now, they were being asked to invest in further testing? To even start manufacturing the final product?

Hardly any of the shareholders agreed. But in the midst of this turmoil, Lu Ming emerged as the dominant force—he was now not only the largest shareholder of Sanmai but had also secured over 60% of the company’s shares. Madison held approximately 30%, simplifying the company’s ownership structure significantly.

Ultimately, the order from United Matrix for three Hai Lang-1 helicopters immediately resolved Sanmai’s financial crisis.

At the same time, the Eastern Sea military also began negotiations with Sanmai for a potential purchase of the Hai Lang-1 helicopters.

This marked the beginning of a new chapter in Sanmai’s development.

…

The distance from Gravel City to Eight Special City was said to be 500 kilometers, but in a straight line, it was only about 300 kilometers.

With a full tank, the three helicopters had a range of 450 kilometers, making the trip easily manageable.

A little over two hours later, the three helicopters landed in the outskirts of Eight Special City.

From the air, the city appeared as a rectangular mud-brick settlement enclosed by walls of varying heights. Inside, most of the buildings were made of earth and thatched roofs, though a few grand stone structures stood out—likely the palaces, residences, and estates of the nobility.

The entire Eight Special City State had a population of fewer than 50,000, with only about 20,000 residents living within the city walls.

After the helicopters landed—

A group of people hurried down from a grassy slope. Leading them was a middle-aged man in a silk robe. They all gazed in astonishment at the helicopters.

“Who is Mayor Lu?” The middle-aged man eyed the disembarking passengers, seeming to suspect that the young man among them held the highest status, but still uncertain.

Lu Ming smiled and made a gesture.

So, this must be the representative sent by the local Tusi family that he had contacted via telegram from Gravel City.

This family was the Eastern Sea Telegraph and Telephone Company’s representative in Nigolo and had helped him get in touch with the right people.

Eight Special City was governed by a city lord and various Tusi aristocrats.

The term Tusi was borrowed from his own homeland’s terminology—in essence, they were the city lord and large landowners.

In this city-state of fewer than 50,000 people, there were around forty or fifty noble families, including the city lord and Tusi rulers. The rest of the population, aside from a small number of merchants, craftsmen, and free citizens, were serfs dependent on these aristocrats.

The Tusi family Lu Ming had reached out to was the Boporo family, one of the more prominent noble families in Eight Special City. They owned vast tracts of land—tens of thousands of acres—and their estate had three to four thousand serfs working for them.

Besides the city lord, Eight Special City had four major Tusi families, and the Boporo family was one of them.

However, Lu Ming wasn’t sure about this middle-aged man’s exact status within the Boporo family.

The fact that he could speak Central Continent dialect—albeit in a thick, almost incomprehensible accent—suggested he held a relatively high position.

After all, in a small city-state like Eight Special City, not to mention the Central Continent dialect, even learning Western languages wasn’t a necessity for noble families, let alone their servants.

Moreover, for him to correctly determine the designated helicopter landing site showed that he had some level of education.

Lu Ming’s telegram had specified a location about three li (roughly 1.5 kilometers) north of Eight Special City, at a 30-degree angle, on a relatively flat patch of grassland or open ground.

He had initially worried whether the recipient would have an advisor capable of interpreting his instructions.

But now, it was clear—they had understood everything he had conveyed.

“Mayor Lu!” The middle-aged man, sporting a thick black beard, strode forward and placed a hand over his chest in a bow. “My name is Long Xiang. My father is the head of the Boporo family and one of the four White Flag Councilors of Eight Special City.”

Lu Ming nodded. The power structures in some Western frontier city-states were bizarre, and Eight Special City was definitely one of them.

Like the East, the city-state had a council called the Legislative Assembly, which functioned as both a legislative and executive body. The city lord served as the Speaker, while the four major Tusi held positions as the four White Flag Councilors. Thirteen mid-tier Tusi were designated as Yellow Flag Councilors, and the remaining twenty or so lesser Tusi were Blue Flag Councilors—essentially small landowners.

As he mused over this system, Lu Ming smiled at the middle-aged man. “Your Central Continent dialect is quite good.”

Long Xiang immediately beamed but quickly restrained himself, adopting an extremely humble demeanor. “I have admired the culture of the Central Continent and the Holy City of Eastern Sea since childhood. To be able to welcome you today, Lord Mayor, is an incomparable honor.”

Lu Ming nodded and then asked, “Our main force will only arrive tonight or tomorrow. We’ll wait for them here. Is there a cooler place nearby?”

It was midday, the sun was high in the sky, and the southwestern climate was scorching.

However, entering the city was not an option. Apart from his four black slave guards, Lu Ming had only about a dozen mercenaries, and some had to stay behind to guard the helicopters and supplies. If they entered the city and were ambushed, even though his team was highly capable in combat, they would still suffer casualties in a surprise attack.

The likelihood of such an event was minimal, but in an unfamiliar place, he had to prepare for the worst—even if the chances were slim.

Long Xiang’s deep-set eyes flickered as he said, “Lord Mayor, if you do not wish to enter the city yet, my family has an estate about thirty li west of here. The environment there is pleasant, and it has just been cleaned. All the furniture has been replaced with new ones. My father was planning to retreat there for ‘spring hiding.’ If you do not mind, you and your attendants are welcome to stay there.”

Lu Ming wasn’t sure what their custom of “spring hiding” entailed, but after a brief thought, he nodded. “Alright, let’s go there.”

It was an estate, and with a helicopter’s aerial view, everything would be visible. If there were any malicious intent, they would have ample warning.

…

This area was a plain, covered in vast stretches of neatly arranged green farmland. Over a hundred serf households lived in earth-walled and thatched houses, clustered together around the central grass-covered hill, atop which stood a stone fortress.

The fortress was encircled by two layers of wooden palisades. The outermost palisade enclosed the serfs’ homes, while the inner palisade surrounded the fortress and the hill.

The setup clearly indicated that this was not a peaceful land. In case of enemy attack, the two layers of defenses would serve as an inner and outer city, allowing the able-bodied serfs and guards to take up arms and defend their stronghold.

The helicopters landed right on the grassy hill.

By the time Long Xiang and his entourage arrived by horse-drawn carriage, the mercenaries had already fired warning shots, scattering the serfs.

Some serfs, clearly ignorant and belligerent, perceived these unfamiliar arrivals as intruders. Although they were frightened by the flying monsters, they still saw it as their duty to defend their lord’s estate. Even if it meant death, they were determined to drive these “demons” away.

Spurred on by a few die-hard fanatics, dozens of them gathered with farm tools, forming a makeshift mob. But after another round of gunfire—one of the most stubborn among them taking a bullet to the leg—pain made it clear enough. His agonized wailing sent the rest fleeing.

After Sun Bo extracted the bullet and bandaged the wounded man, Long Xiang and his servants finally arrived.

Sun Bo’s hands were steady. Having followed Lu Ming for some time, he had picked up a useful skill—learning basic wound treatment from the medics.

Of course, he had no real connection to science or medicine. His mindset was entirely different from that of a doctor. He had no hesitation in extracting bullets himself. But with no hospital nearby, Lu Ming simply let him handle it.

Upon arrival, Long Xiang immediately ordered a brutal beating for the injured serf, using a wooden stick. If Lu Ming hadn’t intervened, Long Xiang might have beaten the man to death.

It was evidently a routine occurrence. The serf showed no resentment toward his master—only fear and desperate pleas for mercy.

Watching this scene, Lu Ming wasn’t sure how to feel.

At the same time, he was grateful that both his past and present life had granted him an education that broadened his worldview. If he had grown up in the same environment as these serfs, he would have been no different from them.

Then again, if one were to examine the fundamental structures of human society, the vast majority of people weren’t much different from these serfs. They supported the ruling class as they were conditioned to, were exploited, and yet, trapped in their own information bubbles, expressed gratitude for their oppression—believing that they only needed to work harder.

In this regard, past and present, East and West, had never been much different.

Could he, in this world, break free from the cycle and enter that highest echelon—the class that truly set the rules of society?

As Lu Ming was lost in thought, Long Xiang approached again to apologize. He explained that the sudden arrangements and the mayor’s rapid airborne arrival left them no time to inform the ignorant serfs in advance.

Although there was a telephone inside the fortress, no one had dared to answer it.

Lu Ming simply waved it off. “It’s fine.”

Long Xiang then led him inside, introducing the estate’s layout.

The three-story earthen fortress had clearly been freshly scrubbed just a few days prior, and all the furniture had been replaced with new items.

From the first floor to the third, the windows were fitted with iron shutters that could be lowered, transforming them into narrow shooting slits.

The first floor contained storage rooms and servants’ quarters.

The second and third floors were the living spaces for the estate’s owners, complete with washrooms. Hot water was supplied by a large iron water tank on the roof of the fortress.

Lu Ming felt that, by the standards of the western city-states, these accommodations were quite decent.

The third-floor bedroom even had a telephone, and the device was brand new.

It seemed that the local nobility took this custom of “spring hiding” quite seriously.

However, the telephone was the crank-type model, where one had to turn the crank to reach a switchboard operator, request a connection, and have the call manually routed through multiple nodes before finally reaching the intended recipient.

It was an inconvenient system, but given the small number of telephones installed in the region, manual exchanges were sufficient to handle the demand.

“In Eight Special City, Central Continent tourists and investors are rare. You’re aware of Liu Shoufu, right? The telegram I sent this morning mentioned him. Where is he being detained, and what exactly happened?” Lu Ming asked Long Xiang as they reached the third floor.

A town of just twenty thousand people, under the control of the White Flag Tusi families—surely they would be aware of such an incident.

Eight Special City had four security stations, one near each city gate, with four security officers, traditionally appointed by the four major White Flag families.

Long Xiang nodded slightly. “To be honest, Lord Mayor, before you sent the telegram, neither my father nor I were aware of this matter. We knew that Mr. Liu was visiting our city, but when he disappeared in the past few days, we assumed he had already left.”

“After receiving your telegram, I investigated. Fortunately, I was able to find out that Mr. Liu is being held at the East Gate Security Station. As you know, Lord Mayor, the four White Flag families each oversee one station and one gate in case of an enemy attack. The East Gate is controlled by the Jingluo family, and my family has long had conflicts with them. Moreover, the Jingluo family has intermarried with the ruling family of Ding Mountain City, and Ding Mountain City is our city-state’s ally against White Deer City. Even the city lord himself…”

Long Xiang paused for a moment, gave a bitter smile, and then said, “But rest assured, my lord—”

Lu Ming nodded. “Thank you. In that case, accompany me to the East Gate Security Station. From this moment on, I am Mr. Liu Shoufu’s defense attorney. I must see my client. While Eight Special City has its own legal system, the differences lie only in specific laws—courts and lawyers must still exist according to the Imperial Constitution, correct? Furthermore, from what I’ve read of your city’s legal code, suspects have the right to meet with an attorney during their detention.”

Since Long Xiang’s words didn’t seem deceptive, Lu Ming figured that entering the city would not be an issue under these circumstances.

Long Xiang hesitated for a moment before responding, “Very well, I will make the arrangements immediately.”

_{I think I might need to reread this and start editing again, looks like I have mixed names, of places and of people.}