Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 359 is like a well-prepared meal being spilled.
The onlookers, civilians, and soldiers had no idea what the officers were going to do.

Large Kongming lanterns are generally used to scout enemy positions, but since the main enemy force is already close by, there is no need for further reconnaissance.

Moreover, dozens of "large Kongming lanterns" have already disappeared into the clouds. How can they exchange military intelligence with friendly forces?
Zhao Erhu was also puzzled and couldn't figure out the generals' fighting tactics, but in front of the two bewildered brothers, he still acted quite knowledgeable and quickly revealed the answers that the other veterans had given him.

"This is a pre-battle ritual for generals, using dance and music to pray to the God of War to bless the army with repeated victories."

"You can dance on that?"

“Yes, the generals have many dance steps.” Zhao Erhu paused, imagining himself huddled in a small bamboo basket, barely more spacious than a latrine. “The generals must have their own ingenious methods…”

The two brothers exchanged a skeptical glance, comparing the bizarre behavior of their own loyal units to the similarities in the cases, which only strengthened their belief that the enlightened masters of the three units were indeed fellow disciples from the same school...

The Red Turban soldiers and civilians on this side were only slightly surprised and curious, but the government troops on the other side were on high alert, as the bandits had actually ambushed other bandits in the mountains.

The official in charge of setting up the "exorcism array" was filled with anxiety. "This is bad! Ordinary filth is useless against the bandits, and their soldiers still have time to play around. But when our soldiers set up the array to exorcise the evil, the bandits used the 'Zhuge Furnace' to counter it. This shows that although the evil Taoist's magic is strong, his power has been broken by the chanting of the array, and he has become truly angry. Now that the evil Taoist is angry, he must be going to use his ultimate technique to fight the sorcerers!"

"Quickly escort more exorcising items to the sorcerers to subdue this fiend!"

With a wave of his hand, Yang Wenyue sent over a hundred soldiers pushing buckets of excrement, talismans, glutinous rice, and women's menstrual cloths to follow the "magic array," making the "magic array" hundreds of paces away look quite imposing and intimidating.

"If the evil Taoist priests use the 'Zhuge Furnace' to ascend to heaven and descend to attack our army, how can we defend ourselves? It would be safer for us to ask the masters to return to the main camp and take charge."

"No, no, no!" the official in charge of the magic array suddenly shouted, "You've got it wrong! The evil Taoist is definitely not in the heavens."

"Why?"

"The sorcerer initially hid behind the scenes, only summoning Zhuge Lu after being provoked. He must be a coward who values ​​his life. How could someone who fears death personally lead the charge? He must have used evil magic to bewitch people's hearts and minds, descending from the sky to harass the army—for example, back then at the foot of Yanzhou City, the Red Turban rebels bewitched flesh and blood, 'voluntarily' sending themselves to their deaths, throwing human bullets at the city walls,"

"Today, the enemy soldiers will use the 'Zhuge Furnace' to unleash their flying bullets once again!"

Upon hearing this, the high-ranking officials were immediately thrown into a panic.

People bewitched by evil magic no longer fear life, death, or pain. Even a "solid bullet" falling from a great height can injure people through the shards of their broken limbs.

Officials and generals immediately ordered their shield bearers to gather and form a human wall, protecting the high-ranking officials under the shield formation.

Even though Yang Wenyue felt it was not dignified, he couldn't bring himself to refuse, after all, the bandits' "miraculous skills" had already deeply impressed him.

Some officials felt the human wall was not secure enough, so they ordered the extra sidecars to be overturned so they could temporarily take refuge inside.

Some officers hurriedly jumped into the trenches in front of the lines, raising their shields overhead to reduce the contact area with the impact of the bullets.

Just as the officers and soldiers had made all the necessary preparations, the thick clouds overhead suddenly burst forth with a thunderous white light.

"The sorcerer's magic is astonishing; he really is going to use human bombs to descend from the sky..." Looking up at the sky through the gaps in the human wall of shields, his words revealed a sense of pride in his foresight.

Sure enough, as dozens of "Zhuge Furnaces" emerged from the clouds and drifted into the distance, hundreds of muscular men dressed entirely in black emerged from the clouds and attacked at high speed.

Inside the sweltering human wall, Yang Wenyue looked up at the sky through his telescope. The hundred or so bandit "death warriors" were full of energy, showing no fear of falling to their deaths, but rather a wild joy as if they were about to go to paradise.

Some people, using some unknown method, suddenly set themselves ablaze, instantly transforming into shooting stars in the sky, just to gain a moment of brilliance.

Some people even suddenly started spinning around, holding a "cylindrical bottle" in each hand, releasing red and black smoke that enveloped them.

His comrade, who was falling alongside him, raised his hands in a "lock-on gesture" as if to absorb the other's soul.

Lacking experience in air combat, the officers and soldiers were unable to predict the relative altitude between themselves and the enemy, and simply shouted orders based on their naked eyes, "The enemy is coming!"

The warning orders made the soldiers tense, and the next moment they heard the sound of flesh and blood hitting the ground.

The muffled thud of splattering flesh was like an arrow piercing his heart. Yang Wenyue shuddered, then heard a faint scream, "Damn it... the... weapons... group's... defective... product... I... ran into..."

Yang Wenyue looked in the direction of the sound and saw a bandit lying on the ground, his flesh mangled and bloody. The sight of his internal organs soaking in blood made him want to vomit.

But before the nausea brewing in his chest could materialize, the subsequent impacts of flesh and blood erupted with deafening roars. The violent sounds assaulted the officers' eardrums, and the powerful impacts threw mud into the ground, forcing Yang Wenyue to swallow a mouthful of mud.

Some bandits, their bodies ablaze, even burst into the camp, instantly turning the camp into a scorching "torch."

The madmen, who were not afraid of death, disappeared one after another, either entering the "exorcism formation" to kill the master, or specifically targeting the dense shield wall to blast it apart.

Yang Wenyue originally thought he was protected by the fortune of the Ming Dynasty, but he did not expect to be randomly hit by a "thief bullet".

With a deafening roar, the shield wall was ripped open. Even though he was four or five people away from the shockwave, he was still shaken so badly that his chest felt congested and his ears were ringing.

The "rain" of blood and fire lasted only a moment before it ended. Even though the officers and soldiers had made preparations to defend themselves, they were thrown into chaos by more than a hundred "madmen," and there were smoldering embers everywhere from the bombardment of "human bombs."

More than a hundred bandits perished, all reduced to scattered, broken limbs on the ground.

The casualties among the officers and soldiers were not significant, with a rough count of less than three hundred. The mages had also taken cover near the side wagons in advance, so the number of dead and wounded was less than one-tenth. However, the morale of the soldiers was severely damaged by the "human bombs" and "air raids".

Everyone is used to defending against enemies by land and sea, but today we have seen the world and found that enemies are coming from the air.

The soldiers were filled with anxiety, while the officers and soldiers hiding in the trenches were in the best condition.

Perhaps the bandits' "bombing skills" were poor, as almost no one hit the trench directly; instead, they landed outside the trench and sent a clump of dirt flying into it.

The soldiers in the trenches didn't know what "trench warfare" was, but they experienced firsthand what it felt like to be covered in mud. Amidst the crisis, there was a sense of security, just like huddling in a bed indoors during a storm.

Some of the bolder soldiers raised their swords to the sky and roared proudly, "Brave bandits, bring on whatever tricks you have up your sleeve! I already know how to dodge your ultimate moves!"

After standing there for a while to catch his breath, Yang Wenyue finally came to his senses.

He turned his head and saw the corpses of bandits scattered all around. The bloody scene reminded him of the mad bandit in Gaowan County who had charged into the wall and blown himself up, constantly shouting "kill, kill, kill!" He was truly possessed and unable to extricate himself.

Yang Wenyue sighed inwardly at the evil magic of the sorcerer, which had caused great harm, turning perfectly good young men into madmen who were desperately trying to die.

With his fists clenched and hanging down at his sides, Yang Wenyue gritted his teeth in hatred, determined not to allow such unorthodox methods to exist in the world, otherwise even more innocent people would perish at the hands of these evil sorcerers!

No sooner had Yang Wenyue thought of it than he saw dozens of "Zhuge Furnaces" drifting into the distance slowly landing more than ten miles away.

The bandit cavalry, who had been monitoring the troops from behind, quickly rushed over, then helped the friendly forces land smoothly and retrieved the Zhuge Furnace.

Damn!

The bandits' mastery of raising and lowering the Zhuge Furnace was so superb that it could float more than ten miles away and still land safely! It was even more skillful than manipulating a kite.

The officers and soldiers dared not loosen their grip on the rope holding Zhuge Lu, fearing that the messenger in the bamboo basket would drift away.

The shame of being outmatched in skill welled up in his heart; Zhuge Furnace had become a "treasure ship in the sky" in the hands of the bandits!
Yang Wenyue thought to himself that things were going to get bad, and the other civil officials who witnessed Zhuge Lu's autonomous landing were also shocked.

In this way, the bandits would not need to engage in close combat or bombard the enemy with cannons. They could simply transport the "treasure ship in the sky" back to the mountains and take off again to repeatedly carry the "madmen" to bombard the government troops' positions.

They didn't even need madmen; instead, they brought in a large number of "thunderbolts" to bombard the officers' and soldiers' positions.

These days, most countries haven't even figured out how to conduct naval and land warfare, yet the bandits have brought the "air combat concept" to the battlefield. Isn't that incredibly ahead of their time?

The difference in tactics caused Yang Wenyue and Du Cang to lose their minds. It was like a top scholar showing off his literary talent in front of a junior scholar, who only knew that the gap between them was as wide as an insurmountable chasm.

Should we take advantage of the bandits' preparations for the next "air raid" and use the remaining power of the mages' formation to charge into the enemy's ranks in one fell swoop?
As Yang Wenyue was pondering, he heard the exclamations of the soldiers in the command post, "Heavens! From the sky!"

Yang Wenyue looked up and saw that the leaden clouds had become even more gloomy, as if a bucket of black ink had been poured in and stirred for a long time, and then a deafening thunderclap boomed, spreading a dull tremor in all directions.

Moments later, a summer downpour began. The sudden rain soaked the grain sacks and ammunition, extinguished the muskets and the fuses of the muskets, and seeped into the bottom of the cannons along the sloping barrels.

Yang Wenyue was immediately dumbfounded, and even Du Cang, who was familiar with the bandits' ways, was so shocked that his jaw dropped.

The clear blue sky just moments ago has suddenly been transformed into a torrential downpour!
Is this a coincidence, or is it deliberate?
If it's a coincidence, it's too much of a coincidence. Even the heavens seem to be helping the bandits weaken the government troops' firearms.
This coincidence is like many key moments in history, where the side with the absolute advantage is always hit by a meteorite, blown away by a gale, or the commander-in-chief is shot dead by an arrow from an unknown soldier...

Is the fate of the Red Turban rebels sealed? Is Heaven destined for them to seize the world?
But if one doesn't believe in fate, then it's man-made.

Before the battle, the sorcerer performed a ritual, and the bandits ascended to heaven on clouds. Every detail "helped" Yang Wenyue lead to a "human-made" result.

He doesn't understand what science is; he only knows that it's impossible for humans to control the wind and rain!
The fact that Zhuge Lu, who was only a bandit, had just disappeared into the clouds is something anyone with a brain would know is the result of the bandits adding variables.

The hundred or so bandits who descended from the sky were not bullets used to attack the government troops, but rather offerings to the Dragon King by a sorcerer who summoned wind and rain!

Those bandits who sang, danced, and stirred in front of the battle formation, completely unaffected by the "exorcising objects," were the protectors of the "rain-seeking ceremony" ordered by the sorcerer!

"The bandits really do have an enlightened master!" Yang Wenyue felt as if his liver and gallbladder were about to burst, and his three souls and seven spirits seemed to have circled around outside his body before returning.

He had fought for many years and seen countless charlatans with petty tricks, but he had never seen a "half-immortal" who could cast spells to bring rain.

What he saw at that moment shattered his long-held belief that "Confucius did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits."

Nothing is more awe-inspiring than a miracle performed on the spot, and Yang Wenyue was awestruck twice!

The sorcerers who had set up altars and performed rituals in front of the formation were stunned when they saw the torrential rain.

As if by some unspoken agreement, they stopped chanting scriptures and burning talismans, staring intently at the seemingly ordinary rain clouds in the sky, feeling the gentle patter of raindrops on their faces.

The unseen "master" merely hid among the bandits and used a little magic to cause the Dragon King to send down a torrential rain.

The Celestial Master possesses profound cultivation that allows him to summon wind and rain; how could these "minor monks and Taoists" possibly rival him?
If we don't leave now, we'll probably be blasted into dust by the ensuing lightning attack.

So the seemingly steadfast Master Huipao immediately put away his magical artifacts and peach wood sword, bent down and came to the side of the carriage, facing the enemy's position, and the mountain master repeatedly kowtowed in submission.

The tears that occasionally welled up in the corners of his eyes were washed away by the heavy rain. The gray-robed Taoist priest kowtowed and admitted his mistakes, claiming that he had been blinded by greed and should not have accepted money from corrupt officials and opposed the Celestial Master.

If he has offended anyone, he humbly begs the Heavenly Master for forgiveness, promising to do good deeds for the rest of his life. Even if his life is spared, he begs the Heavenly Master to spare the lives of his disciples and grand-disciples.

Seeing the old master's actions, the other monks and sorcerers rushed to the front of the car and knelt down in unison, begging the Heavenly Master to be magnanimous and spare their lives.

With tears streaming down their faces, they poured out all the dirty deeds they had committed in their lives, raindrops rolling away strings of snot bubbles on their faces.

The profound power to command wind and rain spread rapidly through the army as the rain fell.

The "mages" with their extraordinary skills all knelt down, while the soldiers' legs went weak and they were mentally broken. Most of them stared wide-eyed, their mouths half-open, their stiff, fixed faces as if they had fallen into a daze.

Some clever soldiers had already learned from the sorcerer and knelt down neatly, kowtowing repeatedly to apologize to the sorcerer.

Meanwhile, the people who stayed in the mountains to watch the battle were overjoyed. They screamed, jumped and cheered, and even knelt on the ground, rubbing their hands together and begging the Heavenly Master to bestow blessings.

Even the three brothers, who had witnessed the various "ingenious tricks" of the rebel army, had their eyes opened once again.

There really are "masters" in this world who can summon wind and rain like in fantasy novels!
Seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of the soldiers and civilians, the officer, who knew the inside story, simply said casually, "It's just artificial rain, nothing magical..."

But to Zhao Erhu, these slightly accented words sounded like "Ren Gong will bring rain."

He had heard of the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess, but he had never heard of someone like Ren Gong before. Perhaps that mysterious Celestial Master was actually surnamed Ren...

In an instant, many people who had misheard the story knelt down one after another, praising Lord Ren and chanting, "May the Heavenly Master bless you, and may the Great Immortal grant you ten thousand blessings!"
(End of this chapter)