Longzang

Chapter 68 Night Attack
After Fang Hetong finished explaining the local defense, it was Wei Yuan's turn to explain the defense deployment of the Taichu Palace.

The Taichu Palace has thousands of years of experience in resisting alien races, and its defenses in the two prefectures form a self-contained system. First, the True Lords stand high above, overseeing heaven and earth; then, the various True Persons each guard their respective regions, acting as pillars of stability; powerful Dao Foundation cultivators like Zhang Sheng roam the various places, checking for gaps and providing timely reinforcements; finally, disciples like Wei Yuan, who have achieved the Great Perfection of Body Forging or are newly promoted to Dao Foundation, are scattered in various strongholds as defensive anchors.

Taichu Palace had essentially laid a vast net across the two prefectures, using stillness to counter the relentless attacks of the Northern Liao. This plan also contained a element of strategic maneuvering; if the barbarian tribes could capture the outer strongholds, the forces they deployed would inevitably be above the Dao Foundation level, making them easy prey for Taichu Palace to seize and devour. Wei Yuan was well aware of this, but he had no complaints. War is inherently a matter of choice; victory inevitably comes with sacrifice.

After discussing the defense situation with Fang Hetong, Wei Yuan quickly chatted with the militia for a while. The men had finished their work and were using the dried meat Wei Yuan had brought to cook a large pot of meat soup. They were eating it with brown rice, enjoying the steaming broth. They had been hungry for several days, and the soup was actually made with one piece of dried meat for every four people. Each man only took a small bowl; no one fought over it, and no one asked for more.

People who have been starving for a long time are easily sick when they suddenly eat a large meal. These farmers didn't know this principle; it was Fang He who taught them. The principle is easy to say but difficult to do. The dried meat rations of the Taichu Palace army would be considered a delicacy even in the mortal world. But the fact that several hundred men could restrain themselves, without disorder or looting, showed Wei Yuan that this was already a well-disciplined army.

Fang Hetong truly possessed great talent to transform a group of illiterate farmers into a disciplined army in just a few months.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan, these simple men were filled with gratitude and all stood up, but they dared not speak, answering whatever Wei Yuan asked.

Night fell in the blink of an eye, and the men went back to rest after drinking the meat soup. The special military rations made by Taichu Palace could make ordinary people see at night after eating them for two days, but this was only the first day, and they still couldn't see very well at night.

If the body forging is successful, the five senses will naturally improve. While not necessarily having lightning-fast eyesight, at least being able to see what a fly looks like from several dozen feet away will not be a problem. However, Fang Hetong only led them in training for two months, and it was only through Liyan's ability that they were able to make some progress. At this point, they were only stronger and more resilient, and they had not yet developed their five senses.

Fang Hetong hadn't slept in a long time, so Wei Yuan told him to go to sleep first, and that he would keep watch for the first half of the night and relieve him in the second half. Fang Hetong didn't refuse and went to rest.

Wei Yuan stood atop the wall, gazing northward. Night was deepening; in the distance, only a vast expanse of grassland could be seen, with a few solitary trees standing on the plain. Beyond that, the surging darkness obscured everything.

Wei Yuan frowned slightly. He had always possessed keen senses since childhood, and after achieving mastery of body tempering, he was even more powerful. To him, even a sliver of daylight was almost like daytime. Disciples of similar cultivation level, even using the Daoist technique Thousand-Mile Vision, could not see as far as Wei Yuan with his naked eyes.

Outside Quyang County lies the grassland, stretching for at least seventy or eighty miles, if not a hundred. But now, with no sandstorms, Wei Yuan can only see for thirty miles, and beyond fifty miles, the swirling darkness obscures everything.

After watching for a while, Wei Yuan vaguely felt that the night seemed to be alive, intentionally concealing something. As it approached midnight, the darkness surged and spread, and nothing could be seen more than twenty miles away.

Wei Yuan looked up and saw a crescent moon overhead, along with a few sparse stars. With the moon, there was a faint light, which was enough for Wei Yuan to see more than twenty miles.

Wei Yuan picked up a rectangular iron box and placed it on the wall. With a gentle tap, a short gun popped out of the box. Wei Yuan held the gun in his hand, staring into the churning night.

"The Liao barbarians are here." Fang Hetong also appeared on the wall, his expression solemn.

"Why didn't you sleep a little longer?" Wei Yuan asked. "I'm used to keeping watch at night, I can't sleep. Besides, I feel uneasy if the Liao barbarians are coming, so I thought I'd come up and check." Fang Hetong was carrying a large bow, with several runes on the bow that faintly glowed with a blue light. However, there was only one magical long arrow in the quiver, the rest were ordinary iron arrows.

Looking at the night sky in the distance, Fang Hetong said, "Liao barbarians usually launch night raids in small teams, about seven or eight riders. If the defenders are careless and they break through the wall, they will send a signal, and the main force will arrive quickly. However, there's not much to gain in a small place like ours, and the Liao barbarians don't like to come here much. As long as we can hold off the probing teams, there won't be any problems."

As they were talking, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, sensing something rapidly approaching in the darkness!

As the night deepened, a rider suddenly leaped out of the darkness, like a flying fish emerging from the water. This rider soared several meters, landing without a sound!
The light was dim, but Wei Yuan could still make out the cavalrymen in an instant.

His armor was made of animal hide, adorned with square iron plates, and fur was visible through the open collar. His helmet was also made of leather with plates, revealing two pointed ears. He gripped a short bow in his four-fingered hand, and his eyes were disproportionately large, their gray pupils almost entirely filled with their sockets. In addition, his nose was flat, with two nostrils pointing forward, resembling a bat's.

The warhorse ridden by this Northern Liao cavalryman was about the same size as a human warhorse, appearing somewhat small beneath the tall knight. However, the horse had two tusks in its mouth, giving it a particularly ferocious look. A cluster of breathing holes on its flanks occasionally emitted puffs of white vapor.

This is a unique warhorse of the Liao people of the Hanhai region. It inhales through its nose and exhales through its belly. These horses are naturally fierce, grazing on both grass and meat. Their speed is similar to that of human warhorses, but their endurance and load-bearing capacity far surpass those of human warhorses. Superior human warhorses can run a thousand miles in one go before needing to rest. Liao horses, however, can run three thousand miles before needing to rest, and after a full meal and drink, they can go for more than ten days without food or water.

Therefore, on the northern grasslands, human cavalry were no match for the Liao people. Without the support of cities and fortifications, if they lost a battle, they would have no way to escape. The Liao cavalry could chase them for a thousand miles until their warhorses died of exhaustion.

The rider who leaped out from the darkness was a typical light cavalryman of the Northern Liao Dynasty, wearing short armor, with a quiver hanging on one side of his saddle and a saber and javelin on the other.

One after another, Northern Liao light cavalrymen leaped out of the night, and in the blink of an eye, twenty riders appeared, galloping unhurriedly towards Shayang Village. Only then did Wei Yuan hear the faint sound of hooves. An ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator would not have heard any sound at all, and could only judge the approach of someone by the tremors of the ground. However, the ground tremors when the Northern Liao iron cavalry galloped were much less than those of the human race, more like the movement of wild beasts at night, making them difficult to detect.

Fang and Tong had already cast an invisibility spell, concealing their figures. Then they picked up several straw dummies and placed them behind the battlements. From outside the wall, it looked as if someone was crouching in the middle of the battlements, keeping watch.

However, Wei Yuan still had some doubts. According to the records, the Han Hai Liao Clan possessed extraordinary eyesight, seeing at night as if it were daytime, with eyesight equivalent to four times that of an ordinary person, comparable to a human cultivator who had reached the Great Perfection of Body Forging. Fang Hetong's straw figures were crudely made; how could they possibly fool anyone?

As Wei Yuan wondered what was going on, he saw Fang Hetong take several sheets of straw paper and stick them onto the face of the straw figure. The straw paper was covered with lifelike human faces, which showed that Fang Hetong was quite accomplished in calligraphy and painting, two of the six arts of a gentleman. The straw paper was also yellowish-brown, and since only the head of the straw figure was visible, it was really hard to tell that it was a fake in the dark.

In the blink of an eye, the Northern Liao scouts had reached a hundred paces away. Several men ahead drew their bows and nocked arrows. The arrows flew silently. Wei Yuan had just heard the sound of the bowstring when the sharp arrows pierced through the straw man's head!

(End of this chapter)