Longzang

Chapter 984 Silent Battle
Deep within the Zhao palace, King Zhao sat in his study. The lamp above his head only illuminated a circle around his desk, while the rest remained hidden in shadow.

King Zhao preferred to review memorials in this environment. Occasionally, when he got tired, he would look around, and the darkness would give him an unreal feeling of being in the void. When he was very young, the Immortal Ancestor took him on a journey through the void, letting him witness the magnificence of the various realms, thus planting the seed of cultivating immortality in his young heart.

However, his elder brother, who was to inherit the throne, died unexpectedly, leaving no heir. Being young at the time, he didn't understand what had happened and was placed on the throne of Zhao. Only as he grew older did he gradually realize that his brother must have been the victim of a scheme by a hostile immortal, which was why his death was shrouded in mystery.

After understanding this, King Zhao would often wonder why the immortal hiding in the shadows wanted him to take the throne.
The older King Zhao grew, the more he learned, and the more he realized how terrifying that immortal was. Even his own ancestral immortals couldn't find his origins, so they could only suppress the matter.

Why was he chosen to sit in this position? Did the immortal believe that the Zhao state, with its thousand-year history, would be ruined in his hands? After having this thought, King Zhao became extremely diligent in his duties, sleeping only three hours a day, fearing that he might fail in any way and let down his ancestors.

But after decades of being on edge, he suddenly feels a bit tired.

King Zhao rubbed his face and continued reading the memorial. This particular memorial had its margins marked in red, indicating it contained important military information.

The memorial came from the Azure Waters, reporting that the Azure Nether army had passed through the area, and that Li Chengfeng's troops had fought a fierce battle, ultimately succumbing to defeat after days of bloodshed. A total of 50,000 were captured, and the casualties amounted to nearly 150,000. Li Chengfeng refused to retreat, fighting to the very last moment before being defeated and captured.

The King of Zhao, unusually, did not get angry. Instead, he stared at the memorial for a full quarter of an hour before gently ringing the small bell and ordering, "Summon Cui Shutong."

A moment later, Cui Shutong, who had been promoted to Minister of War, entered the study. It was nearly dawn, and Cui Shutong had simply gone to sleep fully clothed, ready to arrive at a moment's notice.

King Zhao said, "Bishui has already fallen, and Yuyang County is next. You should return to your territory and lead your troops to defend it. I will send 150,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry to assist you in the defense, all under your command. In this battle, we will have a good showdown with Wei Yuan and see if he is as powerful as the legends say."

Cui Shutong accepted the order and left.

Before he even left the palace, he saw the Sixth Princess walking briskly towards him, seemingly heading out. Cui Shutong immediately stepped aside to let the princess pass. However, a woman in red beside the princess suddenly stopped and said, "Commander Cui?"

"It is indeed your humble servant." Cui Shutong bowed, displaying the etiquette expected of someone meeting a superior.

In fact, he had already been granted a noble title, and the Minister of War was a second-rank official, a much higher position than the woman in red. However, the woman in red came from a distinguished family and was a close friend of the Sixth Princess. She was known for her domineering nature, so Cui Shutong dared not be negligent.

"Has Commander Cui just received the imperial decree?"

Cui Shutong then vaguely relayed the King of Zhao's decree. He refused to say that the troop movements could be easily detected by the Crown Prince and the Sixth Princess's spies within the army, so it was better to do a favor now.

Upon hearing the King of Zhao's decree, the woman in red's eyes lit up, and she said to the Sixth Princess, "We can command the cavalry!"

The sixth princess nodded slowly, and Cui Shutong secretly realized something was wrong.

……

Wei Yuan did not send only one army; in addition to his main force, three other troops advanced towards the border between Qing and Zhao, immobilizing the Zhao border garrison. At the same time, Wei Yuan also used his authority over the southern military affairs to order the garrison of the five southwestern commanderies of Western Jin to move towards Zhao territory to contain the Zhao army.

Qingming's army moved at an extremely fast pace. Cui Shutong had just returned to Yuyang County when Wei Yuan's vanguard had already arrived and captured two outer counties without bloodshed.

Cui Shutong was a shrewd military strategist. He chose the prefectural city and a neighboring county town as his base, and set up a large number of fortifications between the two cities to build fortified villages for defense.

The terrain here is narrow, making it difficult for the army to maneuver. However, the starting position is flat and open, so if Wei Yuan fails to break through Cui Shutong's defenses, he is vulnerable to a surprise attack by Zhao's renowned iron cavalry.

Wei Yuan only rested for one day before launching the attack the next day. Cui Shutong secretly groaned, wondering if the Sixth Princess and the Red-Clad Female General's iron cavalry could arrive in time.

As dawn broke, the overwhelming aura of the Azure Nether army could be seen rolling in from the city walls. The aura was so concentrated that it was terrifying to behold. When the Azure Nether army came into view, Cui Shutong's pupils constricted!

This Azure Nether Army was different from any he had seen before. The vanguard consisted of massive steel fortresses that slowly drove in. Behind each fortress followed a large number of heavily armored infantry. Among the infantry units were some strange vehicles carrying thick steel pipes, which appeared to be cannons, but they were different from the cannons Cui Shutong had seen before; they were much larger and more intricately designed.

The Qingming Army stopped a thousand feet away, and then one by one, the artillery vehicles deployed their shovels, set up their vehicles, and aimed their cannons at the county town.

Suddenly, Cui Shutong felt a chill run down his spine!

He immediately retreated, only to see several cannonballs whistling in and landing on the city tower, directly blasting the wooden gatehouse to collapse! Judging from the power of the explosions, if Cui Shutong hadn't dodged quickly, those few shots would have injured him.

Cui Shutong was both shocked and furious. How could Qingming's cannons have suddenly become so powerful? In the past, cannon fire was only effective against Dao Foundations, but now the power of the cannonballs has increased several times. Even Dharma Aspects dare not intercept them, let alone take them head-on.

Immediately following, Qingming unleashed a barrage of cannon fire, with hundreds of high-powered cannons bombarding the city relentlessly, injuring the four Dharma Aspects who were trying to intercept the cannonballs in less than a moment. Without the intercepting firepower, Wei Yuan then blasted the city gate relentlessly. Half an hour later, the towering city gate, along with a section of the surrounding wall, collapsed with a deafening roar, creating a huge breach in the city's defenses.

The Yu Yang garrison was prepared and immediately organized troops to transport earth, stones, and timber in an attempt to seal the breach. However, the Qingming artillery began to bombard the breach with concentrated fire, causing casualties, and within moments, several thousand men had fallen around the breach.

Wei Yuan stood in the air, silently calculating the consumption of artillery shells. They were currently firing old shells, soon to expire. After this battle, Yu Zhizhuo would likely have far fewer complaints, and the merchant caravans supplying Qingming with gunpowder would be all smiles. In a few months, the number of merchant caravans would increase again…

An hour later, the Azure Chariots and cannons began to move, clearing the defenders from the city walls with cannon fire. They bombarded any figure they saw, regardless of whether cannonballs or soldiers were more valuable. Many defenders, seeing the cannons pointed at them, simply jumped off the walls and disappeared without a trace.

Seeing that defeat was inevitable, Cui Shutong had no choice but to grit his teeth and personally lead 10,000 elite troops out of the gap, intending to launch a surprise attack on the Qingming cannon cart.

However, all the artillery pieces are equipped with rotary cannons. Qingming now has a considerable number of Dharma Aspect cultivators and has even developed a lightweight rapid-fire cannon that can be used by anyone who has reached the late stage of the Foundation Establishment stage, making it extremely powerful.

At this moment, dozens of machine guns fired fiercely at the breach, and flying swords rained down, reaping whatever came out. Even heavy shields were blasted apart by the powerful flying sword bullets. Cui Shutong himself was at the forefront, barely holding on for half a quarter of an hour, but after being hit by more than ten bullets, he had no choice but to retreat.

His retreat caused the morale of the defending troops to collapse, and they were forced back into the city.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Cui Shutong had no choice but to lead his remaining troops out of the city and withdraw from the battlefield. In less than two hours, Cui Shutong had been defeated. Before the great battle, he never imagined that he, leading 100,000 elite troops to defend a fortified city, would be defeated so quickly.

But if they didn't withdraw, these veteran soldiers who had followed him for many years would all perish in the city. Cui Shutong knew very well that he was able to hold onto his position as the garrison commander of Yuyang not because of his friendship with the Prince of Zhao, but because of these veteran soldiers who only obeyed his orders.

So a city can be lost, and even a son can be born again, but Cui Shutong would be heartbroken if any of these veterans died.

With the city falling, the defenses and camps naturally followed suit. In half an hour, the Sixth Princess would lead her cavalry into the battlefield for a flanking attack. But no one expected that Cui Shutong wouldn't even last three hours.

Now, Cui Shutong could only pray silently for the Sixth Princess, hoping for her good fortune.

Wei Yuan also had a very unpleasant battle. The fighting was dull, with artillery bombardment from the start to the end. The enemy commander didn't even have a chance to come out and challenge them, and the generals didn't even have time to utter a single harsh word before they were all wounded by the bombardment.

From beginning to end, Wei Yuan could only watch from the air and didn't have a chance to say anything harsh.

Fortunately, at this moment, the earth shook violently, and military might rose from the horizon, with countless cavalry appearing on the mountain ridges. The air was filled with chaotic energy, and one space stood out from the rest, clearly concealing a royal palace.

Wei Yuan's spirits lifted. After recognizing the cavalry's banners, his spirits lifted even higher!

(End of this chapter)