Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 609 The Qin army, slow as a forest, swift as the wind, and fierce as fire!

Inside and outside the training ground, only the sounds of panting and the huffing of warhorses could be heard.

Everyone outside the arena held their breath and stared wide-eyed at the scene.

Xu Jiyang and his men retreated to the side, clenched their fists, and stared at the two military formations in front of them.

Compared to this military formation, their previous formations were clearly child's play.

In the training ground, Wen Liu slowly raised the long saber in his hand. The cold light surging from the blood groove on the blade combined with the murderous aura, as if to cut the training ground in two halves, light and darkness.

The thirty black-clad riders simultaneously bent down, the rustling sound of their armor scales rubbing together like the hiss of a venomous snake.

Thirty riders were as good as one!
"fire."

Onew pointed his long sword forward and let out a long shout.

"fire--"

"fire--"

"fire--"

Thirty soldiers shouted, their voices booming like thunder!

The Qin army is as slow as a forest, as swift as the wind, and as fierce as fire!

The two armies clashed and charged straight into the enemy lines!
Before the shout had even finished, thirty black waves crashed into the Xuanwu Shield Formation!
"boom--"

A visible shockwave exploded from the point of impact, causing a sharp pain in the eardrums of all spectators within a radius of tens of thousands of feet.

The blood-red Xuanwu phantom raised its head and roared, and three hundred heavy black iron shields overlapped layer upon layer amidst Chen Wu's furious roar, transforming into a moving mountain.

The cloud pattern on the shield glowed with a dazzling blue light, and the defensive array pattern engraved by the Ministry of Works was fully activated!
The array, composed of vital energy and malevolent energy, is no different from the power of immortals and demons!

This is the true essence of the Great Qin martial arts battle formation, capable of contending with immortals and demons, and slaying immortals and destroying demons!

Mountains collide with torrents, and the surrounding fields tremble.

At the last moment, Wenliu's war cavalry suddenly scattered into a goose-feather formation, and thirty horse-slaying swords cut into the gaps in the shield formation.

Sparks from the blades clashing against the shields coalesced into a long, crimson dragon, illuminating the sky above the training ground in a blood-red hue.

"change!"

Chen Wu's roar pierced the clash of metal, and three hundred soldiers spun counter-clockwise in perfect unison.

The eighteen-foot-long broadsword that emerged from the gap in the shield formation drew an arc with a spinning slash, and the blue light on the blade surged three inches!

"when--"

"when--"

"when--"

The blades of the seventeen horse-slaying swords had chipped off with gaps the size of bowls, and the blades trembled, emitting a humming sound like a dragon's roar.

Seven warhorses plowed deep trenches in the rammed earth with their iron hooves. The riders used the momentum to leap over the shield wall, but were forced to stagger backward by the interlocking and extending longswords the moment they landed.

Tens of thousands of people outside the drill ground held their breath, while several old women carrying vegetable baskets had their bamboo baskets suspended in mid-air.

They stared wide-eyed as the black-clad riders' blades flashed like lightning, tearing through the shield formation's blue light, only to be forced back outside the formation by layers upon layers of cold, sharp blades.

"This is... the real iron wall that can withstand attacks!" On the city wall, Marquis Yongkang Cao Xuan dug his fingertips into the blue bricks of the crenellations, and memories of the bloody battle in the northern frontier twenty years ago surged in his eyes.

When he first joined the army, he watched as those bandits who roamed the Northwest were torn to pieces by the Xuanwu Formation, their blood and iron filings splashing all over his head and face.

The sect leader of Matsubara Takemyouji clenched his fists, his breathing becoming so heavy that he almost stopped.

The scene he had witnessed firsthand—the massacre of three thousand disciples of the Nanli Sword Sect by eight hundred Qin warriors in a Mo Dao formation—was vivid in his mind's eye.

At that time, the armored torrent spun like a millstone, and the cold light of the long swords emerging from the blood mist was exactly the same as the trajectory of the shield formation's spinning slash!
This is the true battle formation of the Qin Dynasty!
Xu Jiyang's Adam's apple bobbed, and his hands and feet felt icy cold. Only now did he realize that when he charged forward, the shield formation had held back three-tenths of its strength.

If the army had used even a fraction more force when slashing with their shields, I would probably have been caught in the center of the formation, armor and all.

Suddenly, a sound like a dragon's roar echoed through the training ground, and twenty heavy shields rose up with a bang.

The steel gears that popped out from the shield's spine spun wildly, blocking all of the Black Knights' subsequent attacks. Wen Liu's pupils contracted sharply; he slammed his broadsword against the shield, using the momentum to leap into the air, shouting, "Disperse—"

Thirty soldiers retreated, scattering like stars in the sky. They pressed their long swords against their saddles, lowered their bodies, and hid between their horses' bellies. Their warhorses galloped, leaving long trails of dust.

All the Black Knights held the reins in one hand and placed the other hand on their waists.

That's where the Thunderfire Crossbow is hung.

Within the shield formation of three hundred soldiers, five crossbows emerged from the gaps in the shield formation.

The crossbow bolts, wreathed in crimson aura, faced off against the armor-piercing lightning bolts at the Black Knight's waist.

Throughout the training ground, warhorses galloped, and the battle formations fell silent.

The clash of bloodthirsty auras, though numbering only three hundred soldiers, resembled an army of thousands.

Outside the training ground, the onlookers—the civilians, the new soldiers, the members of aristocratic families, and the martial artists—all stared wide-eyed, their bodies tense.

"stop."

The voice coming from the city wall was very soft, but it made the hearts of 100,000 spectators stop.

Marquis Zhang Yuan of Qingyang waved his hand.

Led by Wen Liu, the thirty black-armored cavalrymen retreated like the wind.

Three hundred heavily armored soldiers slowly regrouped and silently withdrew from the training ground.

The empty training ground was filled only with lingering malevolent aura and drifting dust...

Chang Gu staggered and fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

Only then did he realize how reckless his previous act of charging into battle alone had been.

If he had faced such a military formation head-on, he would have died eight hundred times over.

Chongwu Hall.

The starlight hanging from the dome flowed across the light screen, making the silver strands on the goatee of Chu Ting, the Vice Minister of Works, stand out clearly.

He lightly tapped the rosewood table with his fingertips, his voice carrying the meticulous tone characteristic of the Ministry of Works: "The trajectory of the Mo Dao's slashing motion matches the peaks of the array's qi and blood with a 97% accuracy rate. Each round of strangulation can save 30% of the true essence consumption. The Ministry of War should have completed the calculation of this reform plan in half a month."

The Ministry of Works has clearly taken the lead over the Ministry of War this time, Chu Ting said with a hint of pride.

The memorial from the eastern border reporting on the training of the new army had just arrived in the capital when the first batch of military equipment transported by the Ministry of Works was already loaded onto ships and departed from the dock outside the capital.

Thanks to the coordination of Yuyuan Trading Company in recent years, the Ministry of Industry operates at an extremely fast speed.

Moreover, Chu Ting comes from the Chu family of Sanmiao and has always been concerned about matters in the Eastern Territory. When news of the Marquis of Qingyang taking charge of Donghan County came, the Chu family had already sent a message.

"Marquis Qingyang implemented the new training method at Black Ice Platform six months ahead of schedule." Grand Councilor Sun Qi raised his hand and brushed it across the constantly changing shield wall in the light screen. The three hundred soldiers' steps were off by no more than half a foot.

As a Grand Councilor, Sun Qi's speaking at this moment indicated that the Grand Council was aware of the matter.

"This training method was reported to the Ministry of War by Marquis Qingyang three years ago when the Black Cavalry was being trained in the Northwest," said Li Si, the Vice Minister of War, who was standing to the side.

Li Si and Zhang Yuan's friendship began on Qingtianzhou.

Back in Bailu Mountain, Li Si and his group had discussed with Zhang Yuan how to reorganize the army.

His speaking at this moment indicates that the Ministry of War knew about these matters earlier than the Ministry of Works and the Grand Council.

Everyone else in the hall wore smiles, oblivious to the open and covert struggles between the three parties.

Commander Zhao Duo of the Imperial Guards reached out and measured the thickness of the shield formation in the void, his calloused hands sparking with tiny bursts of energy: "The formation change is three breaths slower than the Golden Guards, but the defensive strength is about 80% of the Imperial Guards' level."

While the Imperial Guards of the Great Qin might not claim to be the most elite among all armies in the land, they are certainly among the top tier.

Anyone could hear the arrogance in Zhao Duo's words.

Marquis Han Guangyuan, who has been stationed at the Great Wall of the Northern Border for many years, looked up and smiled: "If this formation were replaced by veteran soldiers of the Great Wall of the Northern Border, their shield formation could grind the Snow Wolf Cavalry, armor and all, into mincemeat when they slash."

(End of this chapter)