Longzang

Chapter 697 Corpse Goods
The city wall of the earthen city rose with the light of an array, and then a heavy arrow shining with a dazzling red light flew out from the top of the city wall and shot towards the Qingming Army formation, which was still three miles away from the city wall.

The heavy arrow drew a clear trajectory in the air and finally landed less than a hundred feet away from the infantry cannon.

These were the Liao arrows used to mark the range of their shots. At the command of the Liao general on the city wall, the array's light shone even brighter, and another arrow was fired. This time, with the array's enhancement, the arrow's range was much greater. It flew three miles in one breath and landed in the center of Wei Yuan's army formation.

A sword flashed from the army formation, intercepting the arrow. But the next moment, the Liao soldiers, having already determined the arrow's range, unleashed a volley of arrows, a whistling rain of arrows hurtling towards Wei Yuan's army.

At this moment, the Liao army opened the city gates, and nearly ten thousand cavalrymen rode out of the city and formed ranks below the city walls. In terms of sheer numbers, this cavalry force could easily overwhelm Wei Yuan's small and weak unit.

Arrows rained down into the air, and Wei Yuan finally gave the order to fire. Infantry cannons roared in turn, shells exploding among the Liao cavalry, sending countless Liao riders and their horses flying into the air. Although the Liao horses were fierce, they had never encountered such a deafening explosion. Many warhorses were immediately terrified and began to charge and leap wildly, their riders struggling to keep up.

At the same time, the military spirit of Wei Yuan's army surged, and countless earth magic spells flew out to meet the rain of arrows coming from mid-air. These spells, enhanced by the military spirit, increased in power by thirty percent, transforming into a cloud of yellow.

The heavy arrows pierced through the yellow clouds, their shafts instantly becoming as if coated with heavy sand, nearly doubling in weight. They then plummeted downwards, landing in front of the battle lines.

Although Wei Yuan's army only has a few thousand people, there are more than a thousand Dao Foundation cultivators! Although the vast majority of them are template Dao Foundation cultivators, template Dao Foundation cultivators are still much stronger than those who have reached the Great Perfection of Body Forging.

Wei Yuan stabilized his army's formation, refraining from counterattacking while the Liao army was in disarray. Instead, he continuously bombarded the Liao cavalry that had ventured out of the city. After bombarding them for a while, seeing that his elite Liao cavalry had suffered over two thousand casualties, the Liao commander realized something was wrong and hurriedly withdrew his cavalry back into the city.

During the retreat, Wei Yuan concentrated his artillery fire on the city gates, inflicting heavy casualties on the Liao cavalry. In the end, the cavalry leader had no choice but to lead his troops around the city and enter the camp through the rear gate.

Wei Yuan immediately ordered the cannons to be raised and bombarded the city. Shells pierced through the light barrier of the city's protective array, causing the array to tremble violently. Upon landing, they exploded violently, each shell capable of destroying all buildings and tents within a ten-zhang radius.

It was only here that the Liao generals realized that the defensive formations that reduced the speed of the cannonballs were completely useless; the cannonballs would still explode as they always had. They couldn't use the same strategy as the ballistae and heavy arrows to defend against cannonballs.

Wei Yuan remained still, simply continuing the artillery bombardment. The defensive array of the Liao tribe's fortifications generally served two functions: first, to defend against magical attacks, and second, to slow down incoming projectiles and crossbow bolts. Even the giant arrows fired from ballistae were greatly reduced in power after being slowed down by the defensive array.

However, this kind of city defense formation cannot defend against artillery. After the cannonballs slow down, it still requires the intervention of Dharma Aspect cultivators to intercept them. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator acts rashly, they will easily be injured by the explosion.

The cannon fire continued incessantly. Wei Yuan was determined not to attack, but to rely solely on artillery bombardment. After bombarding for half an hour, the Liao army had suffered more than five thousand casualties. Finally, the commander could no longer restrain himself. The left and right city gates were opened wide, and more than ten thousand light cavalry rushed out from each gate, charging towards Wei Yuan.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan's left and right armies had already set up flying swords and muskets, waiting for the four Dharma Masters to wield rotary cannons, forming a crossfire on the left and right.

Moments later, the Liao army abandoned over ten thousand corpses, and the remaining soldiers did not return to the city, but instead fled around it. Subsequently, the Liao commander defending the city also led his troops to abandon the city and flee.

The commander was a shrewd one; he knew that the city was constantly under artillery fire and could not be defended, so he decisively abandoned it. Wei Yuan did not pursue, nor could he catch up anyway, and led his army into the city, capturing this formidable city that could hold an army of 100,000.

Gunfire could be faintly heard in the distance; the reinforcements sent by the Second Guard City on the right had encountered a defensive line composed of Taoist soldiers and three thousand Qingming soldiers. At this time, a small number of Taoist soldiers were using firearms, but most were still accustomed to using bows and arrows.

On the other hand, the Qingming Army consisted entirely of flying sword spears, which were powerful and had a long range, as well as more than a dozen infantry cannons.

The Liao reinforcements launched several attacks, but failed to break through the defensive lines and were forced to retreat, leaving behind thousands of corpses. On Wei Yuan's side, only a few hundred were wounded and a mere hundred were killed.

Wei Yuan immediately gathered his troops and arrived at the No. 2 garrison city. He first set up a circular defensive position in the north, and then opened fire on the west gate.

After half an hour of continuous bombardment, the defending troops finally could not withstand it and fled from the west and east gates. However, the Liao army did not expect that the firepower coverage of the circular defensive position was also over a thousand feet. So, they left behind thousands of corpses during their retreat before they were able to escape.

Then came the cleanup of the battlefield and the tallying of the spoils. To be honest, Wei Yuan wasn't very satisfied with these two battles. The two sides had killed less than 40,000 enemies in total, and most of them escaped back.

This was unavoidable; Wei Yuan's forces were insufficient, and their mobility within the Liao territory was far inferior to that of the Liao light cavalry. The two Liao generals at the front were also astute; seeing the unfavorable situation, they immediately retreated.

The fact that they were able to engage in a protracted struggle with the northern mountain gates for many years and force them to retreat step by step shows that the Liao generals on the front lines were no pushovers.

After capturing the two military fortresses, Wei Yuan did not give up. Instead, he directly deployed defenses in the existing cities and notified the rear to send people to clean up the Liao corpses.

He Fang was now completely in awe of Wei Yuan. In this battle, the Qingming Army's firepower was extremely fierce. They barely broke a sweat and inflicted heavy casualties on the Northern Liao, capturing two military strongholds in succession. He truly deserved to be called the man who went to the Western Regions alone and single-handedly built the vast Qingming empire.

However, Wei Yuan's handling of the Liao corpses was rather strange. He ordered his men to strip all the clothing, armor, and valuables off the Liao corpses, leaving not even their underwear, until only naked bodies remained. These bodies were then packed into large boxes, sealed, and transported to the rear.

He Fang found it strange. In the past, they would pile up the Liao corpses and burn them with their Dao power. How come in Wei Yuan's hands, these corpses seemed to be treated like cargo? Not to mention, the crates were all brand new and uniform in style, each capable of holding hundreds of corpses.

However, since Wei Yuan now held absolute power, He Fang couldn't ask too many questions. Moreover, Wei Yuan seemed to take these corpses quite seriously, personally overseeing the packing process for a while.

What He Fang didn't know was that after the corpses were packed into boxes, they were transported to the mountain gate, loaded onto the airships that were already waiting there, and then transported to Qingming. After the airships returned to Qingming, they would be used to transport new ammunition and troops.

Wei Yuan's plan was to transport the entire First Army of Bao Yun over, as such an elite force was well-suited for attack. However, the First Army was equipped with a considerable number of war chariots, making their transport extremely troublesome.

(End of this chapter)