Longzang

Chapter 253 Not Enough to Eat

In the battle of Wucheng, Wei Yuan earned seven Heavenly Merits.

Although the Heavenly Merit was small, its significance was extraordinary, indicating that a Great Shaman had already damaged its very essence. It was unclear whether this was the one sitting on the altar or the one that burst forth from the ground. Wei Yuan leaned towards the former, given the spectacular spurt of blood.

While hidden on the city wall, Wei Yuan had already clearly observed the situation inside the city. The bombardment had resulted in nearly ten thousand casualties among the Wu tribe warriors, and sixty to seventy thousand civilian deaths and injuries—a third of the Wu city's population. From then on, both the repair and construction of Wu city would inevitably be severely affected.

Those sent to Wucheng were not the old or weak, but all were able-bodied members of the Wu tribe, ready for battle with minimal training. Losing nearly 100,000 men to Wei Yuan's artillery barrage would be a painful blow even for a large tribe.

Wei Yuan had also used up all the gunpowder he had on hand, making it difficult to launch a second round of artillery fire for the time being.

At this moment, the city's protective array and altar were completely destroyed, and the three great witches were all injured. The loss of their strong and capable members was severe, and it would be difficult for them to recover their strength in the short term.

In this round, Wei Yuan was merely bleeding the Wu Clan dry; he had no intention of truly destroying the Wu City. In a few months, when the Wu Clan had indeed built it into a magnificent city, and then saw the Azure Netherworld Domain looming overhead, one wonders what the Great Witches would feel.

With the threat from the Witch Clan temporarily eliminated, Wei Yuan seized every opportunity to train the cultivators. Now, the realm was teeming with life, and the number of cultivators that Wei Yuan could bless with his Heaven and Earth Madman ability had increased even further.

Currently, Wei Yuan can normally buff 300 riders, increasing their strength by 50%; the core 50 riders require the blessing of luck, which can double their strength. As for Wei Yuan himself, apart from his Dao power, depending on the amount of luck consumed, he experiences a comprehensive improvement in all aspects, with the exact multiplier of his strength unknown.

Wei Yuan's cavalry unit has steadily expanded from the initial sixteen riders to fifty, and now to three hundred. The azure energy within the vast land is as abundant as hairs on a cow, and continues to increase. However, while the Heavenly Madmen haven't reached their limit, the cultivators within the realm have.

In the Azure Netherworld, mining requires a Dao Foundation, farming requires a Dao Foundation, firing cannons requires a Dao Foundation, and even forging iron requires a Dao Foundation. Everywhere requires a Dao Foundation. After all, a Dao Foundation cultivator is not an ordinary person; one of them can do the work of a hundred ordinary people.

Wei Yuan had always wondered why there were so few Dao Foundations; there were only about six hundred in the entire realm.

Wei Yuan's cavalry rarely trained, mostly doing odd jobs. However, Wei Yuan felt his cavalry didn't really need training, especially the core fifty riders. With his enhanced luck, Wei Yuan could easily fight for them. With his powerful primordial spirit, controlling fifty riders simultaneously was effortless; three hundred would be a bit of a burden.

Wei Yuan issued all knights standard issue with long spears, swords, and heavy armor, which many knights accustomed to free combat found difficult to adapt to, forcing them to undergo additional training to master these weapons. However, Wei Yuan ignored all dissenting voices, and the knights had no choice but to obediently practice, since the army was to be uniformly equipped.

But Wei Yuan insisted on unifying the weapons for only one reason: it would be easier for him to control them. Otherwise, if some people were carrying machetes and others were wielding double hammers, wouldn't he have to practice both swordsmanship and hammer techniques?
On the battlefield, guns are much simpler; you just thrust, which is much faster than any sword or axe. A successful thrust brings promotion and wealth; a missed thrust means another shot.

While Wei Yuan was training this cavalry unit, Yu Zhizhuo was also working hard to forge equipment. Now that they had a forging machine, and given Wei Yuan's urgent need for the large quantity, Yu Zhizhuo made several specially made anvils. Steel plates were placed on them and hammered directly into two curved pieces with the forging machine. One piece in front and one piece on the back were thus made into breastplates.

The leg and arm armor were treated similarly, ultimately making the knights look like they had several iron barrels wrapped around their limbs. The bare steel barrels didn't look very good, so Wei Yuan had to add another step, painting them all black, which made the desired effect come about.

At this moment, news arrived from Sun Chaoen that the Zhao Kingdom's envoy delegation had departed and would soon enter the Shattered Domain. Upon receiving this news, Wei Yuan intensified his training, and the knights all knew that this was going to be a big operation. Many new recruits were both afraid and excited, and naturally trained like crazy.

Since Marquis Xiang wants to see Wei Yuan's strength, Wei Yuan will show him three hundred Dao Foundations. He doesn't know if they will meet the old man's approval.

According to the delegation's planned route, Wei Yuan's surprise attack was to take place approximately 4,000 li (about 2,000 kilometers) from the border. Now that the border has expanded to 130 li (about 650 kilometers), Wei Yuan's range of full combat power has also increased to 6,500 li (about 4,500 kilometers), which is more than enough.

In the garrison camp of Bianning County, a dignified general sat upright, surveying the officers in his tent. His face was cold as he said, "Where is General Yue Qilin? I took office, but he's nowhere to be seen. How are we supposed to hand over the reins?"

A captain on the right stepped forward and said, "General Yue packed his things yesterday and went hunting outside the city. I don't know when he will return. He has already handed over all the seals and military tallies to me, and I will pass them on to General Feng."

General Feng stood up, went to the captain, took the seal and military tally from his hands, looked at them, and suddenly kicked him, sending him flying out of the tent!

The kick was extremely powerful, and the captain immediately spat out blood and fell to the ground, unable to get up for a while.

General Feng acted as if nothing had happened, looking at each of the right-hand captains one by one. The captains on the left side of the tent were those he had brought with him, while those on the right were Yue Qilin's original subordinates.

General Feng slowly said, "I've heard that General Yue is very capable in battle and that he has trained many arrogant and fierce soldiers. Today, I see that it is indeed true. When they see me, they all look at me with fierce eyes. What, are you not convinced?"

General Feng stopped in front of a bearded captain and reached out to slap his face. The captain could no longer hold back and slapped General Feng's hand away.

General Feng smiled and said, "Very good. Attacking a superior is an even more serious crime. Men, lock him in the water dungeon and starve him for ten days first! You are all his accomplices, take you all away and lock them up. I will interrogate you slowly when I have time."

A group of guards rushed into the main tent and pinned down and tied up all of Yue Qilin's former subordinates. One of the captains protested, shouting, "Hey, you surnamed Feng, don't be so smug! When General Yue returns, he will surely uphold justice for us!" General Feng laughed loudly and said, "Have you ever seen many people who have been demoted and then climbed back up? If it weren't for his good uncle, he wouldn't have lost his position this time."

The bearded captain roared in fury: "You bunch of bastards! Marshal Yue is fighting a bloody battle in front, and you're ambushing him from behind! Aren't you afraid of being childless and having no descendants if you do such a despicable thing?"

Feng Lin walked over and kicked him in the face, several teeth falling to the ground. He gave a strange smile and said, "I don't know if I'll be childless, but you probably won't survive these ten days."

After ordering his men to take away all of Yue Qilin's former troops, Feng Lin felt a surge of joy and said, "Beat the drums and muster the troops! I want to see what kind of soldiers Yue Qilin left behind."

A moment later, Feng Lin looked at the soldiers standing densely packed on the drill ground and felt a chill run down his spine.

A trusted captain standing nearby exclaimed in shock, "This...how could this be? There really are eight thousand men?"

Feng Lin's face was ashen. He hadn't expected Yue Qilin's troops to be in full force. He had brought 5,000 troops with him when he took office, but in reality, there were only 1,800 in the camp. The officers, such as captains, were all assigned according to the 5,000-troop system.

Feng Lin suddenly remembered something, and sweat instantly beaded on his forehead. He said, "Take me to the granary!"

The granary was located in a corner of the camp. Feng Lin used his Dao power to open the doors of several granaries. Looking at the half-full granaries, his heart sank.

Before taking office, he had already sent a trusted captain to inspect the military equipment and provisions. At the time, the captain found the provisions to be normal and signed the handover documents. If Yue Qilin were here today, all that would need to be handed over would be a military tally and an official seal.

When Feng Lin heard the grain and fodder figures reported by the colonel, he thought they were normal. However, the problem was that Feng Lin's assessment of normalcy was relative to the general situation in the Western Jin Dynasty. Most armies in the Western Jin were understaffed, with soldiers typically numbering between 30% and 40% of their normal strength.

Feng Lin had assumed that Yue Qilin's troops were roughly equal in number, at most around 40% full, which would be enough to cover their supplies. However, he never expected that Yue Qilin's troops were at full strength!

This immediately created a huge shortage of military supplies.

Several captains realized the seriousness of the problem. Feng Lin slapped the captain who had signed the handover document, causing him to bleed from his mouth and nose.

Another captain said, "Could some of these soldiers be just there to make up the numbers...?"

But he couldn't finish his sentence. How could a few captains who had led troops year-round not be able to distinguish between soldiers and civilians?

These eight thousand soldiers were all tall and strong, with bulging muscles, clearly having reached the Muscle Realm and would be qualified soldiers anywhere in the Western Jin Dynasty. If these soldiers weren't starving, they would definitely mutiny.

The captains broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of the consequences of a mutiny.

Feng Lin immediately said, "Prepare the horses! I'm going to ask the prefect and the assistant prefect for grain!"

An hour later, Feng Lin returned to the camp, his face ashen. Those two old foxes, Li Weisheng and Sun Chaoen, refused to budge, not letting go of a single grain of grain from the official granary.

Feng Lin had been practicing Tai Chi with them for almost an hour, but he couldn't stand it any longer and had to return to the main camp. He knew that sitting there any longer would be useless; these two old foxes could chatter on and on all day, but he couldn't.

Several captains knew something was wrong when they saw Feng Lin's expression. Although Feng Lin looked displeased, he suppressed his anger and sat in his tent, pondering carefully.

After his initial anger subsided, Feng Lin began to suspect that most of the official granaries were probably empty.

After pondering for a long time, Feng Lin's face gradually turned sinister. He called over a captain and said, "You go out of the city immediately and find Brother Xu. Tell him to bring more private soldiers. In a few days, when we escort the Zhao Kingdom's envoy north, have him disguise himself as a bandit and rob us. You guys, take a thorough inventory of the soldiers in the camp and pick out the poor ones, those without family background, and the troublemakers. They'll come with us to escort the envoy."

The captains exchanged glances, and one of them cautiously asked, "General, what do you mean...?"

A murderous glint flashed across Feng Lin's face as he said, "If Yue Qilin dares to set this trap for me, then I don't need to be polite to him! Aren't we short of food? If we have fewer people, we'll have enough to eat."

(End of this chapter)