Longzang

Chapter 628 The New Law
In this battle, Wei Yuan defeated the Lei Ze tribe's army of over 100,000 with less than 10,000 men, killing 20,000 and capturing 50,000, while suffering fewer than 1,000 casualties himself. It was a glorious victory.

But Wei Yuan had another dimension to his calculations. If soldiers were converted into celestial silver, and cannonballs and bullets were also converted into celestial silver, then Wei Yuan's military expenditure in this battle was three times that of his opponent. This was a typical victory of steel and gunpowder.

Wei Yuan then returned to his army and joined forces with Cui Yu. The 100,000-strong Lei Ze army that had besieged Cui Yu had already withdrawn on their own when the battle report from the front arrived, and Cui Yu surprisingly did not pursue them.

Wei Yuan was also puzzled, feeling this wasn't like Cui Yu's style. After questioning him further, he learned that Cui Yu had encountered setbacks at every turn when facing Lei Dong, and all his plans had failed due to various factors. During the night raid, a soldier even clumsily detonated a shell, which resulted in the explosion of several truckloads of shells, killing over three hundred people nearby.

All of this had left Cui Yu with a deep psychological scar, making him extremely suspicious and paranoid, believing that Lei Dong was some kind of unparalleled military genius. When Lei Ze's troops withdrew this time, Cui Yu also suspected a trap and dared not pursue them.

Wei Yuan understood this perfectly, and together with Cui Yu, they rescued Xu Yi. As usual, Wei Yuan spent some time understanding the entire battle, while he listened to Xu Yi's account, and the Dao Foundation Warriors listened to the officers under Xu Yi's command. Soon, they pieced together a panoramic view of the battle.

Xu Yi's defeat was entirely due to being outnumbered. She was suddenly surrounded by an enemy force ten times her size. After several fierce battles, she lost more than half of her troops and ran out of ammunition and food. She had no choice but to find a dangerous and remote place to wait for rescue.

Including his baggage train, Xu Yi led a total of 7,000 men. However, on the day of the battle, a torrential downpour caused many muskets to become damp, significantly reducing the army's firepower. Ultimately, after several battles, Xu Yi lost nearly 3,000 men, while inflicting over 20,000 casualties on the Wu tribe.

At this point, Wei Yuan understood that Xu Yi and Cui Yu had done a good job. The two of them, with a force of more than 20,000, fought against Lei Ze's army of more than 200,000, losing 5,000 and inflicting 50,000 casualties on the enemy.

When facing a chosen one of destiny, the heavens and earth seem to be working against them, and many external factors will suddenly appear. For example, Xu Yi might be ambushed, or a torrential downpour might occur; or Cui Yu's ammunition might suddenly be blown up, and so on.

The explosion of Cui Yu's ammunition, in particular, put Wei Yuan on high alert. With the widespread use of firearms, the amount of ammunition would only increase. Wei Yuan had brought a full ten thousand shells, filling fifty large trucks, and they were all gone in a single battle. The amount of ammunition would only increase in the future; if it exploded, it would be a complete disaster.

At this point, Wei Yuan made a firm decision: upon returning, he would purchase a batch of feng shui array plates from the Heavenly Mystery Hall, and also invite several senior brothers and sisters from the Heavenly Mystery Hall to serve in the army. Wei Yuan even decided on the official title: Chief Feng Shui Officer, a fifth-rank official, equivalent to a prefect.

The three joined forces and, led by the Wild Ancestor Tribe, entered the Red Sand Oasis.

The Red Sand Oasis is situated on a plateau, an area spanning thousands of miles, characterized by a hot and dry climate, quite different from other parts of the Witch Domain. The Red Sand Oasis is actually a collective name for over seven hundred oases of varying sizes, surrounded mostly by desert and dotted with dark red weathered rock pillars, hence its name.

The climate here is quite harsh for the Wu tribe, so it was specifically designated for humans used as sacrificial offerings. In the eyes of the Wu tribe, humans are rough and easy to raise, and can survive anywhere.

Over the centuries, the human race in this area has multiplied and thrived, gradually growing from a few thousand to three hundred thousand, forming the four major families of Wang, Xie, Zhang, and Li. Each of the four families has its own strengths, but their common mission is to continuously contribute offerings to the Wu tribe's sacrificial rites.

The largest oasis here spans a hundred li in circumference, with several lakes nearby and a large city of over ten thousand people. Tens of thousands of members of the Leize tribe remain in this city; they haven't received news of the defeat and therefore haven't had time to escape. The entire oasis region has approximately tens of thousands of Leize shamans.

When Wei Yuan's army arrived, a small disturbance arose among the local Leize witches and guards. More than a thousand who resisted were instantly turned into corpses, and Wei Yuan successfully took over Red Sand City.

Upon entering the city, most of the priests on both sides looked bewildered, not understanding why the humans were walking alongside the esteemed and supreme shaman lord. But they were used to obedience, and even if they didn't understand, they wouldn't voice it. The shaman lord would naturally inform them of what he needed to know, and what he didn't inform them of was simply not something they needed to know.

After entering the city, Wei Yuan ordered Xu Yi to lead three thousand light cavalry to sweep through the surrounding Leize tribes. All Leize witches and civilians had to assemble outside the city within a limited time, or they would be killed.

Subsequently, Wei Yuan occupied the city lord's mansion and summoned the leaders of the four major sacrificial families in the city, as well as representatives of various forces of the Thunder Swamp Witch Clan who had not yet escaped, and brought them into the city lord's mansion.

The city lord's mansion is a typical example of the Wu ethnic style architecture, with an arched high roof and an exceptionally tall interior, reaching three zhang (approximately 10 meters) in height, to accommodate the large physiques of some Wu people.

At this time, the layout of the city lord's hall had changed. Two chairs were placed on the platform at the head of the table, where Tianyu and Weiyuan sat side by side. Several chairs were placed on both sides, with a group of wild witches on the left and military generals and cultivators such as Cui Yu on the right.

At this moment, a woman in red was sitting on the right. Although she was sitting in the back row, the intense heat emanating from the Great Wilderness Sun opposite her disappeared inexplicably when it reached her, and Cui Yu and others in the front row were also affected by it.

Both Da Huang Zhi Ri and the other Wilderness Witch had solemn expressions, their gazes fixed on the woman in red. The woman in red, however, didn't even raise her head, focusing solely on the storybook in her hands.

The shaman, intrigued, whispered to the Great Wilderness Sun, "What do you think she's looking at? It looks quite interesting."

The Great Wilderness Witch pondered for a moment and said, "Robbing is out of the question, but that little brat Tianyu is on good terms with the humans. I'll have him ask Wei Yuan about it later. If it's good, I'll get a copy for each of us brothers." "Great!" The Wilderness Witch's eyes lit up.

At that moment, a gentle and calm voice rang in their ears: "This storybook may be interesting, but you won't like reading it."

Both of the ancient witches were startled, their expressions becoming even more solemn.

On the high platform, Tianyu was unusually restless and quietly said to Wei Yuan, "Is it really okay for me to sit here? Maybe I should go down! There are two patriarchs sitting below, and I... I feel uneasy."

Wei Yuan whispered back, "Sit tight! Show some of your richest man's swagger!"

Tianyu said, "What good is being the richest man? If you can't beat others, aren't you just saving money for them? If the two elders get angry, I'm afraid I'll get beaten up."

At this moment, the palace doors opened wide, and the leaders of the four major sacrificial families and seven or eight members of the Thunder Swamp Witch Clan entered. Upon seeing Wei Yuan sitting in a high position, the Witch Clan members all changed their expressions, but wisely remained silent.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Wei Yuan said, "Lei Ze is a thing of the past, cast into the swamp of history. From this moment on, this land will once again be bathed in the scorching heat of the Wild Witches! Does anyone have any objections?"

Wei Yuan waited for a long time, and a sword aura was already in his hand. Unfortunately, no shaman from Lei Ze jumped out to object.

Anyone who would talk nonsense was killed before they even entered; those who are alive and standing here are all followers of the sorcerer.

Wei Yuan cleared his throat and continued, "From this moment forward, the entire Red Sand Oasis, along with the surrounding red clay plateau, belongs to the Wild Witches. All old laws of Thunder Swamp will be abolished on this land, and new laws will be implemented. The core of these new laws is to divide all inhabitants into four classes, as follows:"
The first tier is the Wilderness Clan. All those from the Wilderness Ancestor Tribe, approved and recognized by Lord Tianyu, are members of the Wilderness Clan and enjoy supreme rights. The second tier is the Azure Clan. This includes myself and my clansmen. We are Lord Tianyu's loyal and reliable brothers and partners, with rights equal to those of the Wilderness Clan. The rights of the first and second tiers are as follows…

The third class were the sacrificial priests, and the fourth class were the servants of the marshes. Their duties were as follows…”

Wei Yuan spoke at length, and in the blink of an eye, a code of laws with several hundred articles was produced. The main content was that the top two classes of noble families enjoyed various privileges, and if they killed a member of a lower-class family, they only needed to pay compensation. Lower-class families, on the other hand, bore various obligations, and if they offended a member of a higher-class family, they would be hanged.

The legal code was detailed and rigorous, leaving Da Huang Zhi Ri utterly astonished. He hadn't expected Wei Yuan to be so talented. Even if the Wild Witch wasn't particularly bright, someone who had cultivated to Da Huang Zhi Ri's level was far more intelligent than the average person, and he could immediately see from this legal code that Wei Yuan was truly a great talent for governing the country.

But for Wei Yuan, compiling a legal code based on the mundane details of human life was far too easy; he could compile thousands of codes without repeating any.

Next, Wei Yuan ordered his men to take the Leize witches away. Then Cui Yu left the palace and led his troops to search for the Leize witches in the city, confiscating all their property and putting them under centralized guard.

The sacrificial people remained largely unchanged. Wei Yuan, under the pretext of counting the sacrificial offerings, ordered the patriarchs of the four major families to send all eligible young men in their clans to the city lord's mansion for a centralized qualification test.

After the appropriate tests are completed, Wei Yuan plans to conduct tests on the entire sacrificial race, striving not to miss a single promising talent.

Having established the basic order, Wei Yuan ordered the legal code to be published. Then came the task of taking stock of property, personnel, and local resources, which would take some time.

Squads of scouts have already been dispatched to search for key locations and prepare to establish defenses.

By capturing the Red Sand Oasis, the caravans of the Desolate Ancestor Tribe heading deeper into the Witch Domain could avoid a major detour, saving at least several thousand miles. Furthermore, from there, capturing a fortified city a thousand miles north would block the westward trade route of the Thunder Swamp Tribe. Blocking the Thunder Swamp's trade route would essentially block the Xu family's trade route as well.

Over the next few days, Wei Yuan continuously established defenses at various key transportation points, while large numbers of cavalrymen arrived from Qingming one after another, and cargo caravans transported hundreds of carts of weapons and equipment. Wei Yuan also established forward camps north of the oasis, stockpiling military supplies, seemingly planning to advance northward.

A few days later, Tianyu finally couldn't help but approach Wei Yuan and said, "Didn't we agree that this land would be used for you to grow mulberry trees and produce silk? Why haven't you inspected the fields?"

Wei Yuan slapped his thigh, only then realizing that he had completely forgotten about this matter.

(End of this chapter)