Longzang

Chapter 983 The Path of the Holy Warrior
The fleet of floating boats and airships arrived at Guantun County, bringing a total of 30,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) of goods, the vast majority of which were grain.

Originally, the floating boat was designed to carry only 5,000 shi of cargo per vessel. However, Qingming has a tradition of excellent craftsmanship and solid materials, so as it was being loaded, it was discovered that the flying boat could still carry more after reaching the limit. Before they knew it, the cargo capacity had increased from 20,000 shi to 30,000 shi, and the flying boat's structure could still hold up. Only the sprayers would get a little tired, so Zhang Sheng brought two more sets.

The population of Guantun County now exceeds 400,000, with a large area extending from the county seat into the mountainous regions. The three million jin of grain transported here is far from sufficient to support hundreds of thousands of people. Fortunately, the second batch of floating boats has been built and set sail. This fleet consists of ten boats, escorted by Ji Liuli and Feng Chutang.

Zhang Sheng had already swept through the route, severely injuring a mountain dweller named Yu Jing, giving Yu Jing of the Longguo Duke's Mansion a small punishment as a warning. Then, he killed six Dharma Masters along the way and captured four more. After Zhang Sheng's journey, there might still be some small fry left, but they should all be too afraid to show themselves at the sight of the Azure Nether Banner.

Zhang Sheng was injured in the battle with the mountain dweller Yu Jing, but it was nothing serious and he only needed a month of rest.

Although the amount of grain transported this time was not large, half of it consisted of high-quality military rations compressed and sealed in iron drums, and the other half consisted of cured meat and salted fish, which were far more filling than regular grains. This high-quality military ration was enough to sustain Guantun County until the next wave of airships arrived.

When they met again, Wei Yuan felt as if he had been separated from Zhang Sheng for a very, very long time.

However, with so many matters to attend to, it wasn't the time for intimacy. Wei Yuan quickly handed over all the affairs in Ji State and then left the matter to Zhang Sheng. Afterward, Wei Yuan took her to the south gate of the county town.

The ground here is warmer, so Wei Yuan ordered his men to level all the original houses and dig pits that looked like tombs, arranging them neatly and then setting up formations around them.

Upon entering the formation, a chilling wind swept through, as if entering a dead of winter, devoid of any life. In each pit within the formation lay at least seven or eight starving people, all on the verge of death and unconscious.

Wei Yuan had used this method when Qingming was in its most difficult time. He placed ordinary people who were temporarily useless into the deep pit of the formation, slowed their life force, and put them into a semi-dormant state. In this way, they only needed to eat one meal every seven or eight days.

In Zhang Sheng's memory, this scene seemed to have happened a long time ago, but he never expected to see it again today.

Wei Yuan said, "There are 200,000 ordinary people lying here. I plan to let them lie here for another two months. That way, both the rebels and the government troops will get the news and will surely think that I have run out of food."

The less intelligent ones will attack directly, hoping to gain an advantage. The not-so-dumb ones will continue sending people to us, trying to bankrupt us with these refugees. Either way, we don't need to flee ourselves; we just need to pretend we're about to collapse.

Zhang Sheng said, "On my way back, I heard that the State of Ji recently produced a Duke of Long, who seems to have some expertise in military strategy."

Wei Yuan said, "He just defeated the rebels. I have collected all his battle reports, so there is nothing to worry about. In fact, the Western Jin Dynasty has many famous generals, but they still cannot save the kingdom from its crisis. For countries like the Western Jin and Ji, no matter how many famous generals they have, it is useless. No matter how much they win, His Majesty can send them away."

"Alright, I'll leave this to you for now. I need to return to Qingming to deal with the Zhao Kingdom. I'm afraid we won't see each other again until after this battle."

Seeing Wei Yuan's hesitant and somewhat helpless expression, Zhang Sheng walked over, gently touched his face, and whispered, "There are immortals in Zhao too. Don't be careless. If you can't beat them, run away."

Wei Yuan relaxed and said, "Don't worry, I will. Anyway, time is on our side. We can settle accounts with them slowly after we ascend to immortality."

Zhang Sheng suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, right, on my way here I casually beat up Yu Jing from the Duke of Longguo's mansion. He had a very interesting trick up his sleeve, one that allowed him to escape without hurting his invincible spirit. It was like this..."

Wei Yuan listened carefully, then pondered for a moment before summoning a Dao soldier. After adjusting it three or five times, the Dao soldier finally became exactly like Wei Yuan, even its expression and tone were very similar.

Leaving this soldier behind to make empty promises makes it harder for others to discover him, and allows him to stall the enemy for a few more minutes, buying time for his main body to escape. This is a superior tactic compared to that old man's.

Once everything was ready, Wei Yuan returned to Qingming from the secret realm. As for the four young masters that Zhang Sheng had captured, Wei Yuan didn't care at all, and he was even less interested in Zhang Sheng's idea of ​​extorting ransom.

My teacher is good in every way, except that he's obsessed with making money, and he hasn't been able to change that over the years.

At this time, the garrison in Guantun County numbered only two thousand, but twenty cannons, over a hundred rotary machine guns, and nearly a thousand high-powered flying sword guns had been successively delivered. For a small county, this level of firepower was extremely ferocious, but it lacked endurance; its ammunition reserves were at most enough for one major battle.

Wei Yuan was helpless. With Qingming's current military system, the amount of supplies needed for a single battle was simply too enormous. The limited transport capacity of the secret realm portal was woefully inadequate, and most of the transport was used to deliver food. They would only be able to operate more freely once the floating boat and airship fleet reached a certain size.

After bidding farewell to Zhang Sheng, Wei Yuan traversed the secret realm and released his personal flying vehicle, returning to Qingming in less than two hours. By this time, both legions had completed their assembly and were ready to depart.

The First Legion was a typical heavily armored legion, mainly composed of heavily armored infantry, equipped with heavy tanks and armored wagons. The Second Legion was relatively more mobile, with some cuirassier riflemen, but its skill level was no less than that of the First Legion.

All the warriors of the new city were formed into a separate army, reorganized, and established as the Azure Nether Legion, becoming the first legion with its own name. This time, Wei Yuan did not use the Azure Nether Legion, allowing the Xu family youth and the sacrifices to live and thrive in the city, while he focused on expanding the legion's size.

Wei Yuan's aircraft landed in the military city, where Cui Yu, Xiao Yu, and others were already waiting. Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised by Xiao Yu's enthusiasm. It seemed that after Xiao Yu's trip to Ji State last time, her personality had changed drastically, becoming much more proactive, which Wei Yuan found a little unsettling.

Wei Yuan preferred the arrogant and stubborn Xiao Yu of the past; writing letters to him back then was much more meaningful. Once seated, Wei Yuan asked, "How is the situation in Zhao?"

Cui Yu said, "The King of Zhao's reply arrived long ago, and the contents of the letter... were as expected. In addition, the King of Zhao has sealed off all of Zhao's borders and is carrying out a large-scale arrest of our people within the country. Tens of thousands of people have already been arrested, many of whom were just business associates of us."

The second matter was that King Zhao declared Qingyuan (a type of cinnabar) a contraband, prohibiting its use throughout the entire Zhao state. All Qingyuan in the hands of the people had to be surrendered. Anyone found hoarding it would not only have it confiscated immediately, but the possessor would also be punished.

The third issue is that recently, several groups of Zhao cavalry have been active on the border, repeatedly intruding into our territory, burning, killing, and looting, resulting in over three hundred deaths and injuries.

Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised. The King of Zhao's reaction was unexpectedly intense. Well, that's good. The few corpses he had painstakingly prepared were now useless.

Xiao Yu said, "King Zhao is heartless and insane, acting perversely and utterly unreasonable! We should issue a proclamation to the world, listing King Zhao's crimes, so that we have a legitimate reason to fight. Furthermore, this battle should continue until King Zhao sincerely apologizes and compensates for the losses before it ends."

Wei Yuan said, "An apology? No, we don't need the King of Zhao to apologize."

Xiao Yu was puzzled: "The King of Zhao has done so many things, how can we not make him apologize?"

Cui Yu, standing nearby, said, "Even if King Zhao apologizes, it will only be in private. And this will only make him hate us more. It would be better not to mention this and instead ask for more compensation in silver."

Wei Yuan said, "Whether King Zhao apologizes or not, whether he truly admits his mistake or not, is completely unimportant. Whether he hates us or dislikes us, whatever he thinks, I don't care. As for sending a proclamation to the world, in my opinion, it's completely unnecessary. I don't even plan to reply to his letter."

What I need to do now is to send a massive army to the border and strike at the heart of the enemy! We won't waste time talking to them, let's just get to work!

Xiao Yu said, "This... is against etiquette, isn't it? I'm afraid it will be criticized."

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "Didn't we discuss this issue back then? Once we defeat the Zhao state, great Confucian scholars will naturally come to debate the classics for us."

Xiao Yu smiled wryly: "Even great Confucian scholars have their tempers. What if they refuse?"

Wei Yuan said, "This is a good question. I've thought about it carefully and come up with a solution: only those who debate the classics for us will become great Confucian scholars. As for those who refuse to stand on our side, we'll find ways to smear them!"

The time is almost right. After this war, we'll first establish a government office for the development of various states. I'll allocate some Qingyuan (a type of currency) to support academies and scholars, focusing on the Zhao state. We'll hold poetry gatherings regularly, and reimburse the food and lodging of students from humble backgrounds who wish to attend. Those with status and who are willing to speak up for us will receive Qingyuan regularly and specifically. Before long, no one will speak ill of us anymore.

Oh, and send the Thirteen Literary Protectors over there too, to run a few more academic journals and incite scholars and writers to oppose King Zhao. If King Zhao undertakes water conservancy projects, say he's wasting resources and manipulative; if King Zhao wants to strengthen the military, say they don't want the tyranny of the Spring and Autumn Period, they only want the dignity of the common people…”

Wei Yuan became more and more excited as he spoke, but Xiao Yu finally had to remind him: "The King of Zhao will cut off heads!"

Wei Yuan slammed his hand on the table: "Isn't that perfect? ​​It'll make us famous in history!"

Xiaoyu was speechless.

Wei Yuan realized he had gotten carried away and quickly steered the conversation back on track: "Alright, alright, that's for later. Let's talk about the war first! How did Li Chengfeng perform this time? Should we make an example of him?"

Cui Yu said, "He was very agitated and issued nine proclamations listing our thirty-six major crimes."

Wei Yuan was taken aback: "Have we done so many bad things? Show me these manifestos later, I want to study them."

Then Wei Yuan laughed and said, "This guy is quite clever. If he hadn't been so reckless, King Zhao would probably have been the first to execute him. But anyway, since he's so disobedient, we'll start by crushing him in this campaign of benevolent rule! Issue the order: the vanguard will move out immediately, and the main army will set off in sequence!"

Cui Yu received the military order and was about to leave the palace to make arrangements when Wei Yuan stopped him again, saying, "Forget it, we've had a pretty good relationship in the past, it would be a bit awkward to just roll over it like this. This time we'll change to the path of the sages, so let's send someone to tell him before we roll over it."

Seven days later, the Azure Nether army rolled across the Green Waters and continued its surging forward.

In this battle, Li Chengfeng mobilized the entire army of his territory to fight. After half an hour of fierce fighting, more than 100,000 were captured, 30,000 were wounded, and 30 died.

　Due to travel fatigue, the update will be changed to 12:00 AM tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)