Space-Time Task Force

Qin Ning approached, and Wang Er quickly made room for him to sit down.

"How come you have time to drop by?" Qin Ning asked curiously, glancing at Zhou De.

"There were some matters in Liushi that needed my personal attention, so I made a detour to come see you. I might as well share some governance experience with these young princes here," Zhou De said with a smile.

Hearing this, Qin Ning was momentarily taken aback.

Zhou De, imparting experience to Zhu Biao and the others?

At first, it sounded a little odd, but upon second thought, it made perfect sense.

After all, Zhou De was now the top official of the Western Province.

In the modern era, a single province could be home to over a hundred million people—far more than an entire ancient kingdom.

When it came to governance and administrative skills, someone like Zhou De from the modern world was undoubtedly far more capable than most ancient emperors.

"By the way, Elder Liu is also here. He’s selecting personnel over at the border defense unit. I expect he’ll come pay his respects to Young Master Qin once he’s done," Zhou De added.

"Selecting personnel?" Qin Ning looked intrigued.

Zhou De explained with a smile, "Our country is powerful now, and the responsibility of maintaining world peace naturally falls on our shoulders. You might not know this, Young Master Qin, but over the past few months, we’ve already dispatched several peacekeeping units to various regions around the globe, firmly taking on the role of the world’s police force."

"Right now, we’re preparing to send troops into a few small countries in the southeast. You should know those places—they’re a lawless mess. Losing a kidney there is as common as can be. Even the Desolate Heavenly Emperor would leave behind his supreme bone if he went."

"Oh? Those small countries—are they planning to deploy troops from the Western Province Military Region?" Qin Ning asked.

"Yes. Since it’s a peacekeeping mission, there’s no room for error. That’s why Elder Liu came in person, bringing along plenty of high-tech equipment. After selecting the right people, they’ll undergo training and then deploy."

As they were chatting, they heard hearty laughter coming from not too far away.

Qin Ning knew without looking that Elder Liu had arrived.

"Qin Ning, long time no see. When do you have time to come to the capital and have a few drinks with Elder Zeng and me?" Elder Liu was different from others.

Ever since they first met, Qin Ning had always shown great respect toward him and Elder Zeng.

This had nothing to do with cultivation or status.

"Elder Liu, you’re blaming me unfairly. I’ve made quite a few trips to the capital recently. I even asked Elder Zeng for quite a few things, but I never managed to see you. It’s just that you’re always so busy, traveling everywhere," Qin Ning said with a laugh.

"Haha, it’s because I’m feeling healthier than ever, so naturally I want to do more. To be honest, I was ready to retire before, but ever since you helped improve my health, I feel younger by the day. I haven’t the faintest idea when I’ll actually retire now."

Soon, Wang Er and Xia Fei personally prepared a few dishes to go with the drinks and brought them over.

Qin Ning stayed with Elder Liu and the others, drinking until midnight before leaving.

During the gathering, he secured a three-hundred-man squad from Elder Liu—fully armed—and planned to take them along when he traveled back to the Tang Dynasty.

Though there were only three hundred of them, a fully armed modern squad of that size would be more than enough to handle an enemy force of a hundred thousand on an ancient battlefield.

...

Time passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, three days had gone by.

It was finally the day of departure.

Early in the morning, the three-hundred-man team gathered in the square of the villa district.

“Deputy Army Commander Qin, Li Yunlong of the ‘Time-Space Special Forces Team’ reporting for duty!”

When Qin Ning appeared, team leader Li Yunlong quickly ran toward him.

Qin Ning had already held the rank of major general for some time, equivalent to deputy army commander.

“Your name is Li Yunlong?” Qin Ning was slightly surprised and couldn’t help taking a closer look at the man.

“Reporting, Deputy Army Com—”

“Just call me Mr. Qin,” Qin Ning said.

“Yes, sir.”

Li Yunlong replied loudly, then continued, “Reporting, Mr. Qin. My name is Li Yunlong. I was given this name at birth. Any resemblance to the Li Yunlong of Italian cannon fame is purely coincidental.”

“Then do you know Wang Yousheng?” Qin Ning asked with a smile.

“I do. We… were college classmates.”

“Uh…”

Qin Ning paused for a moment, then chuckled. “This world sure has a lot of coincidences.”

“You said earlier that your team is called the Time-Space Special Forces Team?” he asked again.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Li Yunlong nodded. “Elder Liu himself gave our team that name.”

“Did he tell you what the name means?”

“Or did he mention where you’re supposed to go?”

“No.”

Li Yunlong replied, “Elder Liu just said that we’re to follow all of Mr. Qin’s orders—even if it means going to our deaths, we have to do it.”

To be honest, apart from Li Yunlong himself, no one else present truly understood the purpose of their team. There had been no missions, no instructions. Elder Zeng simply told them to come here and obey a man named Qin Ning without question.

Before today, they hadn’t even known who Qin Ning was. This was their first time meeting him.

Most importantly, Li Yunlong had told them last night that Qin Ning held the rank of major general. They had assumed he would be an old general like Elder Liu. Who would have guessed he was such a young man?

Judging by his appearance, Qin Ning couldn’t be more than twenty-two or twenty-three years old—much younger than most of them.

A major general that young was something you only saw in films, TV dramas, or novels, right?

And yet, here they were, standing before one in the flesh.

As these thoughts ran through their minds, curiosity about Qin Ning’s background and origins grew even stronger.

“Good morning, Mr. Qin.”

Just then, Zhu Biao, Li Chengqian, and Fusu jogged over from not far away, dressed in athletic leisurewear.

In the time they had spent in the modern world, they had kept to a very regular routine—every morning, they would first go for a run to exercise.

“Morning. Going for a run?” Qin Ning asked with a smile.

“Yes, Mr. Qin.”

The three of them replied respectfully.

They all understood one thing clearly: they could show disrespect to anyone—even their own emperors—but never to Qin Ning.

The great Tang, Qin, and Ming dynasties owed their current development and transformation entirely to Qin Ning’s efforts.

“Mr. Qin, you’re busy. We three won’t disturb you any longer.” Li Chengqian glanced at Li Yunlong and the fully armed soldiers behind him, realizing that Qin Ning would be setting out with these men today, heading to the dynasties that came after the Tang.

“Alright.” Qin Ning nodded in acknowledgment.

After the three of them had scurried away, he turned back, glanced at Li Yunlong, and then looked at the fully armed soldiers. "Those three—one is called Li Chengqian, one Zhu Biao, and one Fusu. You’ve likely heard of their names, haven’t you?"