That night, Lin Wanwan didn’t return to Lin Family Manor but rested directly in a room at the mountain base.

The next day, upon getting up, she took her newly-sworn brother on a tour of her base.

Although they had sworn brotherhood, intelligent people are often suspicious. Lin Wanwan feared that Ma Zhou might have other thoughts about her mountain base.

After all, the sensitive contraband had already been moved, so Lin Wanwan might as well let him have a good look; it made her seem more forthright and also prevented him from blindly guessing and accidentally stumbling upon the truth.

This hidden building in the mountains was neither the traditional brick-wood structure of the Great Tang nor a modern bunker structure but a Tang-style fortress entirely designed by Wang Dulei.

Apart from the reinforced steel and cement Lin Wanwan had used, the fortress walls were inherently robust, made from a special river mud mixed with ox and sheep blood and glutinous rice, poured over stone and blue bricks.

A sword couldn’t pierce it; only a landmine could possibly damage its foundation. But trying to collapse it in one blow wasn’t easy either because the walls were very thick.

The windows on the fortress were double-layered bulletproof glass.

In an era of cold weaponry, a fortress like this provided a strong sense of security.

Ma Zhou, upon seeing Lin Wanwan’s crystal bead curtains and hair crown the previous night, already understood that the fortress owner was a wealthy magnate.

After touring the fortress today, he was even more shocked. The sister he had sworn to last night was not just any wealthy person; just the Western Glass (in Great Tang, glass was called glaze) on all the windows around was an astronomical figure.

Moreover, the perimeter of this place was arranged with formations, clearly the work of a master.

If it hadn’t been for seeing the formation, piquing his curiosity and desire to explore, he might not have entered the base.

After all, the fortress was concealed behind the woods, making it difficult to see the full view from the outside. Most people who saw it would think it was some landlord’s secluded mountain village.

Building manors in the mountains was very popular among the Great Tang nobility, used for summer retreats, hot springs, and various other functions.

In the future, in the eighth year of the Zhenguan era, Li Shimin would build the Yong’an Palace, also known as the Great Ming Palace, on a mountain for Li Yuan to retreat in the summer.

So the location of Lin Wanwan’s base wasn’t surprising.

Only upon approaching did one realize that this structure wasn’t the conventional brick-wood manor but the fortress shape usually seen at passes.

From the exterior of this structure, one could tell it wasn’t merely for summer retreats or hot springs but also served a defensive function.

To forcefully assault this fortress from the outside, the only potential breakthrough might be the Western Glass windows around it.

However, the millennium gap led even the clever Ma Zhou to misjudge, thinking these "Western Glass windows" were the fortress’s weak point.

But in fact, these glass windows’ defensive power was stronger than the walls, being double-layered bulletproof glass, and regular landmines could hardly damage them.

Even in modern times, these glass windows are expensive; only someone as wealthy as Lin Wanwan could afford them.

After the tour, Lin Wanwan invited Ma Zhou to visit Lin Mansion at Lin Family Manor.

However, Ma Zhou had duties to attend to and declined her invitation. He still had to travel around and complete his inspection tasks.

Lin Wanwan gave him a calling card, telling him that if he went to Xiaoxi Town, he could use the card to stay at her residence. There were plenty of houses and servants to accommodate his party.

Unsurprisingly, Lin Wanwan was also planning to go to Xiaoxi Town in a couple of days to listen to the monthly reports from various shopkeepers and review the store accounts for the month.

After leaving the mountain base, they saluted each other and went their separate ways.

Lin Wanwan led her people for a stroll outside before returning to the base.

She still had to move back the batch of weapons hidden in the modern era last night.

These crossbow arrows and great blades were regulated items in the Great Tang, and the same in the modern era. If discovered, Lin Wanwan would be in trouble.

Once again, she locked herself in the warehouse, opened the Space-Time Gate for transport, and only after causing herself a dizzy spell did she give herself a few acupuncture needles to relieve it.

Acupuncture truly is a rapid therapeutic method in traditional Chinese medicine, with symptoms disappearing as soon as the needle is applied!

After finishing the acupuncture, Lin Wanwan summoned Baye Feng and gave him some instructions before leaving.

Baye Feng’s ability to train the battalions was better than Lin Wanwan’s. After all, Lin Wanwan was only quoting books verbatim, while Baye Feng had grown up in a chaotic world of survival of the fittest, frequently battling with warriors from his tribe against others, gaining much experience.

Now with the book, it was a combination of practice and theory, integrating knowledge and action, definitely better than empty talk.

Although the battalions Lin Wanwan recruited from Chang’an and brought back weren’t elite yet, their morale had transformed dramatically, unrecognizable from their initial state.

They now at least looked like soldiers instead of a rabble panicking at the sight of water bandits.

Lin Wanwan also assigned Baye Feng the task of learning to swim. By the sea, one must know how to swim, or they’d be like an angel with clipped wings!

When the time is ripe in the future, Lin Wanwan even planned on secretly forming a fleet and sweeping the seas!

The power of the Great Tang was such that even sending a small official abroad to learn sugar-making techniques could result in easily conquering one or two small countries and even changing their dynasties.

Indeed, the era was full of capable individuals!

The Great Tang could confront whomever it wished, a contemporary hegemon.

Neighbors of the Great Tang had to present tributes and seek harmonious alliances.

The Turkic people were pressured by the Great Tang and fled to Europe, wreaking havoc across Europe and altering its historical trajectory.

So Lin Wanwan wasn’t considering rebellion; the internal power was too strong. Instead, she had some interest in heading overseas.

Currently, both the east and the south were not formidable threats.

Should the day come when she could no longer thrive in the Great Tang, establishing a small island overseas as an Island Master would also be a good proposition.

For instance, many small southern nations in later generations were established by Chinese who had left Huaxia. Now, still in a tribal society with no complete established order, occupying a place or two shouldn’t be difficult for Lin Wanwan.

As for the ships, Lin Wanwan already ordered ten from the Yangzhou Shipyard, expected to be delivered sequentially by the next summer, then allowing Baye Feng to manage them under the guise of a trading fleet.

Given that people from the Western Regions coming for trade was perfectly normal, Lin Wanwan had already arranged a very assured future for Baye Feng.

As for the ten-year agreement with Baye Feng?

Hehe, previously she could use a pack of poison powder to make Baye Feng work for her for ten years, and she could naturally do the same afterward.

Once you’ve boarded her pirate ship, getting off easily is quite hard.

As long as the benefits are sufficient, Lin Wanwan believed this junior would stick with her.

As for Liu Rushi and others, although no time limit was mentioned and they even gave Lin Wanwan their indentures, she still didn’t quite trust them and needed time to observe.

Because they were cultivated by Xiao Chong through the power of the Xiao Family, who knows what complex and intricate relationships they have behind the scenes with the strategists and the Xiao Family.

For now, they certainly aren’t completely loyal to Lin Wanwan, so this group of people could only be used as knives for now but needed further observation.