After waking up, Li Hui summoned someone to inquire about firearms.

The fact that he had not continued asking earlier did not mean he was not interested. Just by looking at the armor that girl had drawn, he knew that when it came to firearms, her understanding was probably quite limited.

Rather than forcing someone over uncertain information and straining the relationship, it was better to first let them lower their guard.

After all, he truly was quite curious about that world…

On Li Hui’s side, the craftsman officer who had been summoned in haste was confused.

After hearing the request from above, he hesitated and spoke, “Does the general want a batch of fire arrows? How many are needed? The army’s oil reserves are running low; the number we can make is limited.”

Li Hui shook his head, “No, not fire arrows.”

He frowned as he recalled the style of cotton armor. A large part of the armor was made of fabric, clearly designed not to defend against open flame. But since the thing was named “firearm,” it must have something to do with fire.

He paused, then described the rough structure of cotton armor and asked, “Among weapons related to fire, which ones could it defend against?”

The craftsman officer was stumped by the question, but a nearby guard spoke thoughtfully, “Is the general talking about thunder-crash bombs?”

Li Hui froze for a moment.

The guard quickly denied it himself, “No… no, that thing may make a big noise, but it is not very effective at injuring people. It’s more or less good for startling horses.”

Hearing this, Li Hui’s expression became thoughtful.

After a moment, he spoke, “Does the army have such things right now? Bring me one to take a look.”

Before the craftsman could reply, someone hurried in from outside.

The newcomer was in such a rush that he did not even notice the craftsman standing to the side. He cupped his hands toward the upper seat and quickly spoke, “The military supplies from Shuozhou have been delivered, General. Please come take a look.”

Although he said “military supplies have arrived,” the tangled expression on his face did not look like someone who had just received reinforcements.

Li Hui realized something, abruptly stood up, and asked in a deep voice, “Who is in charge over there in Shuozhou now?”

The man hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice, “…It is Commander An.”

Li Hui’s expression turned cold.

The Shuozhou commander, An Gongyi, whose birth name was Wu Shile, was the adopted son of An Sifan, the military governor of the northern frontier. Coincidentally, Li Hui served under the latter’s command; although he had not changed his surname, he still called An Sifan “adoptive father.” But in this kind of adoptive father–adoptive son relationship that was strictly hierarchical, there was no such thing as brotherly affection between Li Hui and An Gongyi.

If anything, there was quite a bit of friction between the two.

Li Hui hurried to the place where the delivered military supplies were stored.

The escort soldiers were still unloading goods. At a glance, the supplies seemed plentiful in grain and other provisions, enough that no one could find fault. But after inspecting for a long time with a dark expression, Li Hui asked coldly, “Where is the armor?”

The escort officer stepped back half a pace before stammering out, “Commander An said that the marshal is now pressing the attack on Xizhou and urgently needs military supplies. The armor will be sent there first. General Li is young, talented, brave in battle; surely you do not need such cumbersome external objects.”

Li Hui could not hold back and spat a curse.

Under his murderous glare, the escort officer’s fear deepened, but he still had to force himself to continue, “Commander An says he requests the general to take Huaiyi Town before the year’s end, seize the whole Yuzhou territory, and form an echoing position with the marshal, so that Jinping will request to surrender of his own accord.”

Li Hui had just wanted to curse when he heard the man continue, “This is also the Commander’s intention.”

Li Hui: “…”

He was forced to swallow the words that were about to come out.

His foster father truly was becoming more and more muddle-headed!

*

Lin Yijian sensed that this time when Li Hui came, his mood was bad.

It was quite obvious. After all, in most situations, the other party’s emotions were always high-spirited.

Although it was already vexing enough to have someone else beside her disturbing her thoughts when she was in a bad mood, this kind of heavy, suffocating feeling in her chest was also unpleasant.

Lin Yijian hesitated for a moment, but still asked: “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Li Hui clearly had no intention of talking much, only giving a simple reply: [Nothing.]

Lin Yijian did not ask further.

She had actually noticed that although the other party seemed careless and straightforward, in reality, his guard and wariness were very high. Clearly, it seemed like his mouth was never idle, chattering endlessly, but when Lin Yijian thought back, she realized her understanding of this person was actually limited to the information he had voluntarily revealed that day when they exchanged names.

To be honest, this slightly cool sense of boundaries instead made Lin Yijian feel relieved.

She was not very good at dealing with overly enthusiastic people, always feeling a kind of tension from not knowing how to respond.

Since the other party did not want to say, Lin Yijian did not press on, and continued to frown in thought at the drawing before her.

She still could not accept it!

The research on armor was done, but Lin Yijian still could not bring herself to let her male lead turn into a fool.

Come on! This was a romance comic!!

With this kind of male lead image, it would completely turn into a comedy series!

Lin Yijian tried hard to design movements to make the male lead appear a bit more handsome.

Li Hui did not want to keep thinking about those bothersome matters even in a “dream”. So at this moment, he also followed Lin Yijian’s gaze, trying to shift his attention.

After observing for a while, he finally understood what Lin Yijian was doing, and could not help but speak: [It cannot be done.]

Lin Yijian: “Hm?”

Li Hui: [Wearing full armor, such movements cannot be done. Do you know how heavy this set is?]

With fifty to sixty jin of weight worn on the body, even he found it stifling and swaying. Although ordinary marching and traveling would not be affected, to leap and stay suspended in mid-air like the girl had drawn… he would salute the other party as a true man.

Lin Yijian paused for a moment.

The next second, she spoke firmly: “As everyone knows, Newton has no authority over the world of comics.”

Li Hui gave a puzzled “Ah?”: [Newton? Who is that? A deity? Is he a god of war in your place?]

Lin Yijian painfully closed her eyes.

Why?! She just wanted to draw a little romance fluff!!

In the end, she reluctantly opened the search engine again and entered the keywords:

#Is there armor that is lightweight?#

Heavy cotton-padded jackets and trousers were out of the question!!

…

[Wait! Stop for a moment, that one just now—look at it more closely!]

Lin Yijian was in the middle of looking up information when she was suddenly stopped by Li Hui.

She froze for a moment, dragged the cursor back a bit, and what appeared before her eyes was a set of rattan helmets and rattan armor.

Lin Yijian silently stared at the picture for three seconds, and her emotions suddenly flared up: “Absolutely not!!”

It was not that she had any prejudice against the material of armor, but—

It was already hard enough to tolerate the male lead becoming a fool; now she had to make him into a simple-minded fool with a strong rustic air?!

This was a romance comic!

Sadness.jpg

Li Hui quickly spoke: [That’s not what I meant.]

He hesitated slightly, but still gave a brief explanation of his own situation over there.

Li Hui’s capture of Yuding was achieved by relying on a light-armored surprise attack. Who would have expected that the rear-guard’s military supplies would run into such a problem?

However, he did not tell Lin Yijian the complicated details behind this, only simply saying that he currently lacked armor.

[On the frontlines, having no protection is equivalent to courting death. I want to try—if rattan armor can be used, it would not be a bad temporary emergency measure.]

Lin Yijian was slightly stunned; she had not expected Li Hui’s side to be in such a situation.

To be honest, she could not feel much about it. It was too far from her life, so far that even her imagination could only be a vague silhouette from film and television dramas.

However, she still spoke: “Wait a bit, I will look up the method of making rattan armor.”

Li Hui: [Thank you.]

The wording was brief, but the tone was actually quite solemn.

Lin Yijian felt a little embarrassed: “…It’s nothing.”

After all, for her, it was just a matter of moving her fingers.

A short, light laugh came from within her mind.

Clearly the sound was directly echoing in her consciousness, yet her eardrums seemed to react, bringing a slight tickling sensation.

Lin Yijian could not help but recall her very first thought.

This person’s voice was quite pleasant.

*

Although Lin Yijian had voluntarily helped to search for information, the results were not optimistic.

Rattan armor was light and offered excellent defense; with such obvious advantages, the fact that it had withdrawn early from the stage of history clearly showed its fatal flaw. One of the reasons was its difficulty of production, with the process often calculated in years.

Feeling the heavy, sinking emotion in her heart, Lin Yijian also felt somewhat uncomfortable.

She thought for a moment, then spoke: “What if it’s a shield?”

Li Hui: [Hm?]

Lin Yijian: “When I was little in my hometown, I saw old women weaving baskets with branches that looked a bit like vines. If it’s just weaving a round shield, it would be even simpler than that. And shields don’t have as many curves as armor, so the requirements for the material are much lower…”

As she was saying this, she suddenly heard Li Hui laugh.

Lin Yijian felt inexplicably baffled: “What are you laughing at?”

She guessed that perhaps it was like the armor situation last time, where there was something wrong with her suggestion, and could not help feeling slightly annoyed.

But unexpectedly, the other party quickly replied: [Nothing, I was just being foolish.]

Clearly, there was such a simple and quick method, yet perhaps because he had been thinking about armor these past few days, his mind had not turned around in time.

In short,

[Thank you very much. If Yuzhou can be settled this time, it will count as your merit!]

Lin Yijian: “…Oh.”

The surge of annoyance that had just risen in her was cut off, and she felt strange in her heart.

This inexplicable sense of participation was like playing some sort of online domination game. The current “mission” was probably [Pacify Yuzhou · Pre-war Preparation]?

Lin Yijian shook her head, driving those messy thoughts out of her mind.

What mission or no mission? She did not even know the main map storyline.

Lin Yijian paused for a moment and spoke hesitantly, “Regarding the armor, I will check again.”

Li Hui, however, was quite at ease, instead making Lin Yijian feel she did not need to be too anxious.

[It is enough for now. Do you think full armor is so easy to obtain? The fully armored soldiers you drew are already the elite among the elite. If there can be a little over a thousand of them, that will be enough…]

Li Hui paused, swallowing the rest of his words, and naturally changed the topic.

Lin Yijian did not notice that slight abnormal pause. Amid the incessant background voice in her mind, she slowly shifted her gaze to her male lead.

Right, why did she want the male lead to wear a full suit of armor?

As the male lead in a romance comic, was his safety important?

Not at all.

What was important was being handsome!!

Besides, battle damage was clearly a sigh-inducing highlight.

Bare-chested, stripping away all defenses before the heroine, letting his beloved’s soft fingertips touch the skin around the wound, a muffled groan of pain slipping from his throat…

As the tension-filled scene in her mind became clearer bit by bit, Lin Yijian’s heartbeat quickened along with it. In her slightly rapid breathing, she bit her lower lip and picked up the pen beside her.

Li Hui had unknowingly fallen silent.

That strange emotion spread in his heart, making his whole body feel uneasy—it was just too strange!