Dragon Canon

Wei Yuan earned seven Heaven Merits from this battle.

Although it was a small number, its significance was extraordinary. It meant that a Great Warlock had sustained damage to their essence. The only question was whether it was the one seated on the altar or the one who had burst forth from the underground. Personally, Wei Yuan leaned toward the former. After all, the spurt of blood had been spectacular.

While hiding on the city walls, Wei Yuan had gained a clear view of the situation within the city. The bombardment had caused nearly 10,000 soldier casualties, and between 60,000 and 70,000 civilian casualties. That was a full third of the city’s civilian population. Naturally, the loss would have a massive impact on the city’s future repairs or construction.

It was worth noting that no one sent to the Shaman city was elderly or infirm. They were all able-bodied people who could be deployed to the battlefield with minimal training. Losing nearly 100,000 of them in a single round of bombardment had to hurt even for a major tribe.

Wei Yuan had also exhausted his entire stockpile of gunpowder. He would not be able to launch a second round of bombardment in the immediate future.

At the moment, the city-wide defense array and the altar had been completely destroyed. The three Great Warlocks were wounded, and a significant number of able-bodied people were lost. It was going to take time for them to recover.

Wei Yuan was only bleeding the Shamans, though. He had no intention of actually destroying the city. In a few months, when the Shamans had transformed the city into a mighty fortress, and Qingming’s range had extended all the way to its front door, the Great Warlocks would surely be in for a shock.

With the threat from the Shamans temporarily neutralized, Wei Yuan seized every moment to drill his cultivators. The realm was teeming with vitality right now, so the number of people he could empower with Outlawed by Heaven and Earth had increased.

At the moment, Wei Yuan could empower 300 cavalrymen normally and boost their strength by 50%. As for the 50 core calvarymen who required a blessing of fortune, he could double their strength outright. As for Wei Yuan himself, depending on the consumption of his fortune, he could boost himself in every aspect except his Dao energy. However, he did not know exactly how much he could boost himself.

The cavalry unit personally led by Wei Yuan had steadily expanded from the initial 16 cavalrymen to 50, then from 50 to 300. In the Great Realm, his quantity of blue fortune had grown as numerous as cowhair, and it was still increasing every day. However, although Outlawed by Heaven and Earth had not reached their limit, the cultivators within the realm had.

At the moment, mining, farming, firing the cannons, and even forging required Dao Foundation-stage cultivators. Dao Foundation-stage cultivators were needed everywhere. They weren’t mortals after all; a single one could do the work of a hundred mortals.

Wei Yuan had long wondered why there were so few Dao Foundation-stage cultivators. Even now, the realm only had a little over 600 of them.

Wei Yuan’s cavalry unit rarely trained; they were preoccupied with all kinds of tasks. However, he didn’t think they needed training, especially the core 50 cavalrymen. Once he empowered them with fortune, he could literally fight their battles on their behalf. With his formidable primordial essence, controlling 50 cavalrymen simultaneously was effortless. Even 300 only posed a slight burden.

Wei Yuan had equipped all his cavalrymen with standard-issue spears, battle sabers, and heavy armor. This arrangement was quite unsettling for those cavalrymen who were used to free-form combat, not to mention they had to undergo extra training to master these weapons. There were a lot of objections, but Wei Yuan ignored them all. A military force was meant to be uniformly equipped anyway. Thus, the cavalrymen had no choice but to practice obediently.

In truth, Wei Yuan insisted on standardizing weapons for one reason only: it was easier for him to control. Otherwise, if some men wielded choppers, while others gripped double hammers, he would have to learn the saber and the hammer to control them efficiently, wouldn’t he?

Besides, spears were much simpler to handle on the battlefield—just thrust. They were way faster than any sword or axe. If you land a thrust, you’ll be promoted and rewarded. If you miss it, just try again.

While Wei Yuan was drilling his cavalry unit, Yu Zhizhuo was also giving his all to forge the armaments. Now that they had a ton of iron forging machines, and given Wei Yuan’s urgent demand, Yu Zhizhuo decided to construct several special anvils. When a steel plate was placed on a special anvil, the iron forging machine would hammer it directly into two curved pieces—one for the front and another for the back. A cuirass was formed just like that.

The leg and arm armor were treated similarly. As a result, his cavalrymen looked like they had several iron barrels strapped to their torso and their limbs. The bare steel tubes weren’t exactly a pretty sight, so Wei Yuan had no choice but to add another step to the process and paint them all black. It was only then they looked the part.

Meanwhile, news had arrived from Sun Chao’en: the Zhao delegation had already departed and would enter the Shattered Realm in a few days. Upon receiving the news, Wei Yuan intensified the training. The cavalrymen all knew this was going to be a new operation, and the new recruits especially were torn between fear and excitement. Every single one of them trained themselves to the point of exhaustion.

The Xiang Marquis wanted to see Wei Yuan’s true strength, so he would demonstrate it with 300 Dao Foundations. He only hoped that it would be enough to impress the old man.

Looking at the delegation’s planned route, Wei Yuan’s ambush would have to happen roughly 4,000 li from the realm of Qingming. Since Qingming’s domain had expanded to 130 li, the range at which he could perform at his full strength had likewise increased to 6,500 li. It was more than enough.

Capital of Bianning Commandery.

In the garrison camp, a stern-faced general was sitting upright and scanning the commandants gathered inside his tent. His expression was cold as he asked, “Where is General Yue Qilin? I have taken up my post, yet he is nowhere to be found. How are we to conduct the handover?”

A commandant to his right stepped forward and said, “General Yue packed his belongings yesterday and left the city to go hunting. We do not know when he will return. He has already handed over the official seal and military token to me, and I am to pass them on to you, General Feng.”

General Feng rose to his feet, walked up to the commandant, took the seal and token he was holding, and examined them for a moment. Then, out of nowhere, he kicked the commandant in the stomach and sent him flying out of the tent!

It was an extremely vicious kick. Fresh blood spewed out of the commandant’s mouth, and he was unable to get up for a moment.

General Feng acted as if nothing had happened, scanning the commandants on his right one by one. The commandants on the left side of the tent were all men he had brought with him on this expedition, while those on the right were originally under Yue Qilin’s command.

General Feng said slowly, “I’ve heard that General Yue is a skilled warrior, leading a force of arrogant and fierce soldiers. Seeing you today, I believe the rumors are true. There is no explaining the glares you lot are shooting me otherwise. What’s the matter? You don’t like this arrangement?”

General Feng stopped in front of a bearded commandant and reached out, slapping his face. The commandant could not contain himself and swatted General Feng’s hand away with a sharp slap of his own.

General Feng smiled and said, “Assaulting a superior officer as well! That’s an even greater offense. Guards, throw him into the water dungeon and starve him for ten days! As for the rest of you—you’re all his accomplices. Take them all away and lock them up as well! I’ll interrogate you when I have the time.”

A group of personal guards rushed into the tent, pinning down and binding all of Yue Qilin’s former subordinates. One defiant commandant yelled, “Don’t get cocky just yet, surname Feng[1]! When General Yue returns, he will claim justice on our behalf!”

General Feng burst out laughing and said, “How many demoted officers have you ever seen climb back up the ranks? If it weren’t for his good uncle, he wouldn’t have lost his post either.”

The bearded commandant flew into a rage. “You bunch of scum! While Commander Yue fights a bloody battle on the front lines, you’re here stabbing him in the back! Aren’t you afraid that the heavens will end your bloodline for committing such wicked deeds?”

Feng Lin walked over to him and kicked him in the face, sending several teeth clattering against the ground. A strange smile spread across his face as he said, “I don’t know if my bloodline will end, but you probably won’t survive these next ten days.”

Feng Lin felt cheerful to his bones after ordering Yue Qilin’s former men to be taken away. He said, “Sound the drums and muster the troops! I would like to see what kind of soldiers Yue Qilin has left behind.”

A ke later, Feng Lin looked at the dense crowd of soldiers packed on the drill ground while feeling a chill running down his spine.

A trusted commandant standing beside him exclaimed in shock, “How... How is this possible? Are there really eight thousand of them?”

Feng Lin’s face was as dark as a storm cloud. He hadn’t expected Yue Qilin’s troops to be at full strength. For instance, he had supposedly brought 5,000 men with him to take office, but in reality, there were only 1,800 in his original camp—though, every military position had been filled as if he had 5,000 men.

Feng Lin suddenly recalled something, and beads of sweat instantly broke out on his forehead. “Take me to the granaries!”

The granaries were all located in a corner of the camp. Feng Lin directly used his Dao energy to open all of the doors at once. His heart gradually sank as he looked at the half-full bins of grain inside.

Before taking office, he had sent a trusted commandant ahead of time to inspect the equipment and provisions. At the time, the commandant had deemed everything to be normal and signed the handover documents. If Yue Qilin was here today, the only item requiring handover would be a single military token and a seal.

At the time, Feng Lin had also found the grain and supply figures reported by the commandant to be normal. The problem was that Feng Lin’s perception of “normal” was based on the general conditions of Western Jin. Practically all armies of Western Jin were understaffed, with troop levels typically ranging between thirty and forty percent of their reported strength.

Feng Lin had assumed that Yue Qilin’s forces were more or less the same. Even assuming the highest possible number, which was forty percent, there were still enough provisions to go around. However, he never imagined that his forces would be at full strength!

This immediately created a massive shortfall in military provisions.

Several commandants realized the gravity of the situation immediately. Feng Lin slapped the one who had signed the handover documents across the face, sending blood spurting from his nose and mouth.

Another commandant tried, “Maybe some of these soldiers are just fillers....”

He couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence. They had been commandant for years. How could they possibly fail to distinguish between soldiers and civilians? Every one of these 8,000 soldiers was tall and burly. It was obvious at first glance that they had already attained the flesh-tempering stage. They would have been qualified soldiers anywhere in Western Jin. If these men weren’t fed properly, a mutiny was inevitable.

Cold sweat broke out of every commandant’s brows at the thought of the consequences of a mutiny.

Feng Lin immediately ordered, “Saddle the horses! I’m going to request grain from the commandery administrator and vice administrator!”

Two hours later, Feng Lin returned to the camp with a face so dark it looked as if a storm was about to strike. The two old foxes, Lee Weisheng and Sun Chao’en, had refused to budge no matter what he said and wouldn’t part with a single grain from the official granaries.

Feng Lin had spent nearly two hours playing tai chi[2] with them until he could bear it no longer and returned to the main camp. Those two could afford to beat around the bush all day, but he couldn’t.

The commandants could tell from Feng Lin’s expression that things had gone poorly. Though his mood was terrible, Feng Lin forced himself to keep his temper in check and sat in his tent, deep in thought.

Once his initial anger had subsided, Feng Lin began to suspect that the official granaries were mostly empty as well.

After pondering for a long time, an evil look slowly spread across Feng Lin’s face. He summoned a commandant to his side and said, “Leave the city immediately and seek out Brother Xu. Tell him to bring as many private troops as possible. In a few days, when we escort the Zhao delegation north, have him pose as horse bandits and ambush them. As for the rest of you, take a careful headcount of the soldiers in the camp and identify those who are poor, have no family connections or are troublemakers. They will join us in escorting the delegation.”

The commandants exchanged glances, and one of them asked cautiously, “General, do you mean....”

A murderous look flashed across Feng Lin’s face. “Yue Qilin dares to set a trap for me, so why should I play by the book? If there isn’t enough grain to go around, then we’ll simply reduce our troop count until there is enough.”

1. Have I mentioned this before? I translated this this way because just Feng doesn’t really properly convey the contempt. Like, for most of you being called by your surname “Robinson” or “Parker” isn’t insulting at all, but add a “surname” in front of it, and suddenly it bites. Or at least, that’s what I think. ☜

2. Meaning a pointless argument going round and round. ☜