Two days later, Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu had become proficient at driving the solar car, handling acceleration, deceleration, and turns with great coordination. They had also figured out many key issues on their own.

For example, when driving on bumpy roads, it was best to reduce speed a little, otherwise going too fast could easily tip it over.

If there was a ditch on the ground, they could not recklessly drive into it; otherwise, the wheels might get stuck, and they would have to offer some food as a reward to labor offenders to help pry it out. But if the ditch was narrow, less than a third the width of the wheels, they could just drive straight over it.

If they encountered a large pit that was truly impassable, they should not be stubborn; they should stop the car first, move rocks and soil to fill the pit, and then drive past.

Of course, the most important thing was: they definitely needed light!

Li Daoxuan saw that the two had practiced skillfully and decided to test them on a crucial matter.

That was the question of “whether they could drive out of the box.”

He had already tested it himself; if he controlled it remotely, or if he pushed it with his hand, nothing could be forced out of the box. For instance, a car he personally controlled would hit the glass wall of the scenic box and stop.

But could the little people drive the solar car he provided and go beyond the box?

“Yiye, go tell Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu to drive the car along the official road for three li, then come back.”

When the order was delivered, Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu did not care what it meant; they always obeyed commands without asking why, as the Deity’s decree should just be followed.

“Let’s go, drive along the official road for three li,” shouted Gao Chuwu, gripping the steering plow. “Daniu, open the sunshade.”

Zheng Daniu replied, “Onward.”

The sunshade was opened, and the solar car started quickly, soon driving onto the official road.

Yellow dust flew up; the solar car ran much more smoothly on the official road than on rough ground and quickly reached the edge of the scenic box in no time.

Li Daoxuan watched the glass wall of the scenic box intently…

Anything he controlled remotely would stop upon hitting the wall.

However…

Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu were not bound by this restriction; the solar car passed through the glass wall without any obstacle and vanished from sight in a flash.

“Hey, it worked!” Li Daoxuan felt a little happy, like a scientist whose experiment succeeded. “Indeed, my own remote control is unreliable; making tools that the little people can operate is really the way to go.”

The three li journey flew by; soon, a shadow moved near the edge of the scenic box as the solar car returned. Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu had excited expressions and laughed heartily in the car, saying, “We’ve completed the Deity’s decree.”

Li Daoxuan thought: Yiye, go tell those two fools that next they’ll need to expand the driving range a bit more, at least ensuring travel back and forth between Gaojia Village and Bai Family Fortress first.

Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu received the order and immediately looked up at the sky. Good, it was cloudless, and today’s sun was scorching, so there was no worry about light running out halfway to Bai Family Fortress.

The two bowed toward the sky and said, “We’re heading to Bai Family Fortress right away.”

“Go on, and bring Bai Yuan some more food,” Li Daoxuan’s pet-owner instincts kicked in; he worried his little people might starve. “Take him rice, flour, and also salt and sugar.”

“Right-o,” the two fools sprang into action, loading several hundred jin of food onto the solar car. It covered a small corner of the solar panels, reducing power by at least 10%.

Seeing this, Li Daoxuan thought to himself: this solar car was designed as a toy without considering cargo capacity; for the next one, I need Cai Xinzi to add a compartment, and place the solar panels on top, so they won’t be blocked during shipments.

Okay, time to act on it!

He quickly opened the shopping website and found the previous shop owner. “I want more solar cars. Do you have smaller or larger sizes?”

The shop owner was thrilled. “Dear, no smaller ones, but we have larger ones, like 5-centimeter and 14-centimeter ones.”

Li Daoxuan was pondering internally: putting a 5-centimeter model into the Ming era would make it 10 meters long, like a bus. A 14-centimeter one would become 28 meters, akin to a massive truck—both could be useful.

“Fine, send me three 14-centimeter ones, ten 5-centimeter ones, and thirty 3-centimeter ones. Make sure each is good quality; I don’t want damaged goods in the shipment.”

Upon hearing this big order, the shop owner was overjoyed. “Dear, rest assured, I’ll test each one properly before shipping.”

While Li Daoxuan was placing the order, Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu had already loaded the food onto the solar car and were ready to head for Bai Family Fortress.

Bai Family Fortress was quite far from Gaojia Village, over thirty li away. Walking would take two hours, but with the magical car, it was no trouble; they even felt excited.

Zheng Daniu asked, “Chuwu, do you remember how to get to Bai Family Fortress?”

“Of course I remember,” Gao Chuwu replied. “I’m stupid, but remembering routes is something I can do.”

“Let’s go!”

“Open the sunshade fully and hit maximum speed!”

…

Meanwhile, in the mountain forest.

Patrol Officer Cheng Xu had just spotted a bandit army.

A few days ago, he left Gaojia Village to pursue Wang Er into the northern mountains and quickly found the cave where Wang Er’s group was staying. But it was futile; Wang Er had fled further north with people from Wangjia Village.

Cheng Xu only found several corpses of villagers from Wangjia Village, killed during Zheng Yanfu and Zhuang Guangdao’s rebellion.

With a Donglin Party county magistrate arriving soon, what could be done?

Cheng Xu had a crooked idea. He picked one of the Wangjia Village corpses at random, cut off the head, smeared it with blood and mud to obscure the face, and then claimed it was Wang Er’s head, hanging it above the city gate of Chengcheng County.

Surprisingly, the trick worked.

News of Wang Er’s beheading spread instantly through Chengcheng County, terrifying all rebel armies.

Things began to calm down everywhere. Many bandit chiefs across the county abandoned their posts and ran off, while numerous rebels put down their weapons and went home to dig up grass root for food.

This made it much easier for Cheng Xu to clean up; he just needed to crush the few remaining bandit armies to declare that he had turned the tide and made amends.

Now he was targeting one of the remaining bandit armies.

This bandit army’s chief was named Little Overlord, a common nickname and weak in combat, with fewer than two hundred bandit troops under him. Cheng Xu could defeat such a foe with no effort.

He led over a hundred officers and hid in the trees beside the official road, watching Little Overlord and his slow-moving bandit army on the road. A cold smile curled his lips: “Wait till they get closer. At my command, charge out, go straight for the bandit chief, and be sure to chop off Little Overlord’s dog head.”

The soldiers chorused, “Understood!”

Cheng Xu’s gaze was fixed on Little Overlord, unaware that on the distant official road, a strange large vehicle was approaching at 80 kilometers per hour, heading straight for them.