Longzang

Chapter 573 They really dare to fire!

The bandits below numbered only a hundred or so, but they were working with great enthusiasm, as if they were determined to settle down here and make a name for themselves.

The problem is that the location they chose for their stronghold is only twenty li away from the famous Hanyang Pass. This isn't just lurking under the noses of the government troops; it's practically jumping around in their faces.

A thought suddenly arose in the minds of the elders: In this day and age, even bandits are so arrogant?
But then they thought about it again and it didn't seem so strange. Wasn't there a similarly arrogant bandit gang called Zhan Tian Gang before? They even managed to take down Hanyang Pass.

The many Dharma Elders watched as the hundred or so bandits below busied themselves, yet none dared to make a rash move, nor did any of them fly into a rage.

At this moment, a shadow fell over everyone. The elders turned around and saw that Wei Boyang's flying boat had returned at some point and was hovering above them. Wei Boyang stood at the bow, watching the bandits below with great interest.

An awkward silence fell over the world, broken only by the loud shouts and clamor of the bandits below.

An elder approached and asked, "Do you have any documents proving that you have established this village here?"

This question was quite ridiculous. Why would bandits need documents to set up a stronghold? The elder was just making conversation for the sake of it, which is why he asked that question.

Unexpectedly, a bandit leader replied, "Of course we have one! We have a document personally approved by the prefect, allowing us to choose any place in the prefecture to establish our stronghold! Our leader studied feng shui with the old Taoist priest in the mountains for forty-nine days, and after traveling all over the prefecture, he finally set his sights on this treasure mountain. From now on, this treasure mountain, within a radius of twenty li, belongs to our Extinction Heaven Gang!"

The elders of the Xu family were all shocked. Even Wei Boyang was full of surprise. He quietly got off the flying boat and stood behind the elders.

The elder then asked, "Aren't you bandits? What documents do bandits need? Besides, would the prefect issue land deeds to bandits?"

The junior leader rolled his eyes at the elder and said, "Looking at your age, I can tell that your understanding is still stuck decades ago and you can't keep up with the times. Let me tell you, bandits also need to grow bigger and stronger, they can't always be a disorganized mess."

With the land deeds, our Extinction Gang will now be licensed bandits, allowing us to gradually expand. Even government troops can't easily come and suppress us! Of course, government troops are poorly paid these days, so who with any sense would want to join them? Only by joining our Extinction Gang can one realize their ideals and ambitions and achieve great things.

As for how the land deed came about, is that even a question? As long as the money is right, we can fill in any information on the deed, and then just have the prefect stamp it with his seal. Hey, you don't even know this basic common sense? Have you never been an official before? Even if you haven't, you must have seen it, or at least heard of it, right?

The elder was scolded until his face turned pale and then red, unable to utter a single word in reply. Wei Boyang and Xu Lanshan, on the other hand, were pondering the phrase "out of touch with the times," feeling that although the words were a bit blunt, they held a deeper meaning.

The elder composed himself and continued to ask humbly, "May I ask, brave warrior, does the Extinction Heaven Gang only have about a hundred of you?"

The leader rolled his eyes at him again and said, "Old man, we are determined to become the number one bandits in the Great Tang Dynasty. How can we only have so few people? With just this small number, we won't even be enough to send people to various places as county magistrates in the future."

The elder was shocked once again. The bandits were even going to establish prefectures and counties?
The elder could no longer contain himself and said, "Brave warrior, the Great Tang is still the ruler of the world. What you are doing is rebellion!"

"Who said we're rebelling? You old geezer, you're really wicked! Our leader said that the motto of our Zhan Tian Gang is to respect the King and expel the barbarians! And this King refers to the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty."

The elder then asked, "Who is that Yi?"

The foreman said, "Whoever attacks us is a barbarian!"

These words left the elder speechless. After a moment, he said, "What if no one comes to attack you?"

"Is that so? It's simple. Our leader said that if no one comes to attack us, we just need to climb to a high place and look around. All we'll see are barbarians!"

"What if the Tang Dynasty sends troops to suppress the bandits?"

"Such perverse and perverse actions? Then we must purge the court of corrupt officials."

The elder was speechless. These bandits were clearly more learned than he was; they had all their slogans crystal clear. The issue of legitimacy and righteousness was resolved; now it depended on whether they were truly capable of fighting. Right now, there were a full 500,000 troops inside Hanyang Pass!

A fierce glint flashed in the elder's eyes, and he asked casually, "Since you have such a strong and well-equipped army, where are the rest of your troops?"

The foreman pointed into the distance and said, "Isn't that it coming?"

In the distance, dust billowed at the end of the road, as thousands of bandits surged forward with astonishing force. Above the bandits, black mist gathered into clouds, and within these clouds soared a giant eagle with outstretched wings!

The elders, including Xu Lanshan, were all taken aback. The bandits had even developed a military bearing?
Moreover, this is a high-grade military aura that has condensed and materialized, indicating that the army below is a rare elite force that can rely on this military aura to fight across thousands of miles in enemy territory without needing to replenish its strength.

Although the Xu family has 500,000 men within Hanyang Pass, none of them can compare to the bandits before them. Looking across the entire Xu family, there is only one army with such military might, and it numbers no more than 10,000 men, half of whom are stationed in the ancestral lands and the other half stationed in the northern frontier.

As for the troops inside Hanyang Pass, judging by their morale alone, even if they were outnumbered ten to one, they might not be able to defeat these bandits.

Soon, a strange force emerged from the dust, led by five hundred cavalrymen, each cloaked. But through a glimpse of their open clothing, one could see heavy armor gleaming with a bluish-green light beneath. This army of five hundred was composed entirely of rare, heavily armored knights!
One of these heavily armored knights cost the equivalent of ten light cavalry or hundreds of infantrymen; only powerful families could afford to support them. Behind the heavily armored knights were three thousand infantrymen, each clad in medium armor and armed with muskets and scimitars. Their perfectly synchronized steps revealed them to be an iron-blooded army. Behind the column were dozens of large wagons, some carrying such enormous loads that they were towed directly onto flatbeds. Most striking were two thick, round steel cylinders, gleaming with a faint blue light, hollow inside.

Wei Boyang was greatly surprised, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

Most of the Xu family members had no idea what the purpose of the thick pipe that was ten feet long was, but suddenly an elder had a flash of inspiration and exclaimed, "It's a cannon! Those two are cannon barrels!"

The bandit leader below said with a look of disdain, "As expected, a bunch of ignorant country bumpkins! This is clearly a musket, just a bit big and thick. But no matter how big or thick it is, it's still a musket."

The elder who was close to him couldn't help but point out, "Brave warrior, you're mistaken! This thing is called a cannon, not a gun. A cannon requires several people to operate, while a gun can be used by a single person."

The gang leader said impatiently, "This thing is ours, we can call it whatever we want! Here, it's a gun! If you don't like it, go home and buy a few yourself. Call it whatever you want, even 'Dad' if you want, nobody cares."

The elder was almost unable to catch his breath, but he had already extracted a lot of information from the petty leader, so he patiently asked, "May I ask, brave warrior, where did these two... guns come from?"

"Isn't that simple? Just slip some silver to the warehouse guard, and he can take as much as he needs."

The elder finally realized that the little leader was talking nonsense, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger, wanting to reprimand him. As for taking action, he dared not do so.

At this moment, the leader took the initiative to speak for the first time: "Old man, let me ask you, are there any powerful forces around here? Our boss heard that there is a military governor in this area, and he seems to be quite difficult to defeat. Do you know this person?"

The elder was in a bad mood, and he had fought with Wei Yuan before. He was seriously injured by Wei Yuan's jade mountain in a single exchange, and he had always held a grudge against him.

Hearing the junior leader ask this question, the elder said irritably, "So you're talking about Wei Yuan! Let me tell you, his greatest reputation isn't anything else, it's all about his skills in bed!"

The foreman perked up and hurriedly said, "Is that so? Tell me in detail!"

The elder then said, "This man is lustful and greedy, yet he is almost impotent. It is said that he can only have sex with one woman every seven days, and each time he only has three thrusts. Tell me, what are those three thrusts: in, stop, withdraw!"

The face beneath the leader's mask instantly twisted and filled with murderous intent. Wei Yuan kept repeating to himself: "A small act of impatience can ruin a great plan." Only then did he suppress the urge to attack.

The main problem is that Wei Boyang is watching from above. If he discovers that Wei Boyang tried to use others to praise himself but ended up shooting himself in the foot, the general will probably laugh so hard he'll fall from the sky.

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth, waved his hand forcefully, and shouted, "Everyone, work harder and make the area bigger! The advance troops will be here soon!"

The elders in the sky trembled again. It turned out that the more than 5,000 people who came were just the vanguard.

However, considering the background of the Extinction Heaven Gang, they weren't surprised. It's just that when Wei Yuan fought the Heavenly Gang, he would at least put on an act, but in the Extinction Heaven Gang era, he didn't even bother to pretend anymore, and directly brought out heavy knights, cannons, and arrayed infantry.

In the blink of an eye, the follow-up troops arrived. The hill wasn't high. The heavily armored knights dismounted, and several knights carried a cannon barrel, easily lifting the tens of thousands of pounds of cannon to the top of the hill. Next came the gun carriage, various parts, and cannonballs.

In a short while, two cannons appeared on the hilltop position, their muzzles pointing directly at Hanyang Pass.

Throughout the entire process, the elders of the Xu family watched silently. Xu Lanshan remained silent; they wouldn't be foolish enough to step forward recklessly. Wei Yuan was notoriously ruthless; he had killed many Dharma Aspect cultivators when he was still at the Foundation Establishment stage, and now that he had achieved Dharma Aspect status, he slaughtered his peers like dogs. This guy was always insidious; he was probably hiding in some dark place right now.

Xu Lanshan frowned slightly. From the moment she emerged from seclusion, two subtle yet chilling killing intents had been locked onto her. Her intuition told her that if she dared to act rashly instead of remaining fully vigilant, the two assassins lurking in the shadows would instantly cripple her. If she were seriously injured now, she didn't know when she would be able to break through to the Imperial Realm.

Even with Xu Lanshan's keen senses, she couldn't detect the two assassins' hiding place, which shows that they were not only powerful experts at the Imperial Realm, but also professional-level assassins.

With the cannon installed, several soldiers loaded shells and began calibrating and measuring various data. The foreman, however, waved his hand and shouted, "Men, go mark our boundary!"

The bandits readily agreed and headed towards Hanyang Pass.

They went straight to the gate, and in front of the guards, drew a line ten feet outside the gate, planted a flag, and said, "Don't say I didn't warn you! From now on, this area is our Extinction Gang's territory. Anyone who dares to cross the line will die!"

Several bandits swaggered away, and only then did one of the guards spit on the ground and curse, "What are you so arrogant about, bandits?! I'm going to cross the line anyway, what are you going to do about it?"

Having said that, he crossed the line, stopping about ten feet across. He then hopped around a few times, turned back, and laughed, "See? Nothing happened. These bandits are just bluffing..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a strange shriek, and before he could react, his body was engulfed by the flames of the explosion!
This shot was extremely powerful, and it also killed more than a dozen soldiers guarding the city gate.

(End of this chapter)