Kays Translations

Chapter 82: Are you kidding?

Li Xian was overjoyed, “Good things come in pairs!”

However, before his excitement subsided, he saw Ling Zhi rush in, covered in dust, “Young master, there’s big trouble! On my way here, I suddenly had an ominous premonition and calculated a divination. The hexagram shows that the young master’s fortunes have peaked and are now on the decline, with disaster lurking within. Calamity is imminent in the coming days!”

What?!

Li Xian gasped, “Is it true?”

Xu Ren also looked at Ling Zhi, “Can you perform another divination?”

“I can. I was planning to recalculate it anyway. Young master, please provide a strand of hair.”

“Here!”

Ling Zhi took the hair, held it in his palm, and muttered incantations under his breath. He then wrapped the hair around a piece of charred tortoise shell, performed a spell, and a ball of flame appeared.

The fire roasted the tortoise shell, and the hair curled but didn’t break. After about a minute, the tortoise shell cracked with several lines, yet the hair remained unbroken.

Ling Zhi visibly let out a sigh of relief but still seemed a bit uneasy, “Young master, within three days at the latest, there will be a calamity, though there is no danger of total ruin. The hexagram shows that the disaster comes from the north, like a dark cloud pressing down on the city. However, the reading also suggests that it may not be as dangerous as it seems.”

“A dark cloud pressing down on the city?” Li Xian was puzzled.

“A massive army at the border!” Xu Ren’s face changed, “Young master, the worst-case scenario has happened.”

Li Xian looked at Ling Zhi, “Is there a risk of the city being breached?”

Ling Zhi shook his head, “The situation is unclear. The young master will need to put in his best effort. The hexagram can only be used as a reference.”

Li Xian took a deep breath, “Summon everyone for a meeting. Song Xing, you make a trip to the Qingyun Valley and inform everyone to halt all work for now and fully prepare the motorcycles, guns, explosives, and so on.

Additionally, notify Tang Rong that all war artifacts that have been repaired should be brought over, regardless of the cost of spirit stones.

Notify the mechanical branch to forge the strongest crossbow carriages using steel and cast more crossbow bolts with iron, then mount them on the war artifacts.”

“Yes.” Song Xing accepted the order and left.

“Chen Jinbing, head to Kaiping County and notify my elder brother to help with the defense.”

“Yes.” Chen Jinbing also galloped away on horseback.

After a while, Wang Jian, Chang Lin, Cheng Jiming, and Liu Lei just arrived one after another.

“Gentlemen, the situation has changed. We may be facing a full-scale counterattack from the state of Cai. Everyone, be prepared. In addition, Cheng Jiming, select the best archers and provide them with urgent firearm training. Pick those who are highly skilled and courageous to prepare them for operating the war machines and handling the giant crossbows.

You have two days—everyone has only two days.

Also, send out scouts to investigate the situation.”

Xu Ren, being more meticulous, added, “Pay attention to recording the state of Cai’s weapons. For them to dare launch a counterattack, despite our sniper rifles and their crushing defeat last time, they must have found a way to counter our advantage.”

“Understood,” the four acknowledged and left.

Anyang quickly entered a state of heightened readiness, far more tense than the last time! Everyone could sense that if the state of Cai dared to launch a counterattack, they must be fully prepared.

For the first time, Li Xian felt regret, “I should have just negotiated back then.”

“No, you did the right thing.” Xu Ren gave Li Xian the strongest and firmest affirmation. “Even if you hadn’t done that, Cai would still have counterattacked. After suffering consecutive defeats, they would want to regain their pride no matter what.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

“Haha, I knew I couldn’t be wrong!” Li Xian boasted again.

Xu Ren: …

Up until now, Li Xian hadn’t asked outright, “Is Ling Zhifeng’s divination accurate?” To be honest, Li Xian still had some doubts in his heart, but he chose to believe it. In situations like this, it’s better to believe it than not. Besides, if it turned out to be wrong, they could simply treat it as a drill.

By evening, 27 war artifacts flew in from the sky, bringing along a large number of supplies.

The 27 war artifacts ranged in size, the smallest about two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) wide, and the largest over three zhang (about 9.9 meters). They floated in the sky like millstones and descended like a “stone cloud” in front of the city lord’s mansion.

Li Xian looked and saw that the war artifacts had been equipped with new steel crossbow beds. There were also bundles of thick, seven-foot-long black crossbow bolts as thick as a person’s arm.

The crossbow bolts were all cast from pig iron, making them hard yet brittle and prone to breaking upon firing, ensuring they could not be used by the enemy. Although foundation-building experts could “melt” certain metals with true essence, it would consume a large amount of true essence, which was impractical on the battlefield.

Tang Rong jumped down, “Young master, we have already repaired 27 war artifacts, and we expect to repair another 10 to 15 tomorrow. The remaining ones are too damaged to be fixed.”

“Tell me about the situation with the war artifacts.”

“There are several aspects to consider.

First is the issue of spirit stones. At least one spirit stone is needed to start the machines, which can run for about one and a half to two and a half hours. A maximum of ten spirit stones can be used simultaneously.

With one spirit stone, the maximum speed is only ten kilometers per hour, similar to walking speed.

With ten spirit stones, the maximum speed can reach over fifty kilometers.

Then there’s the altitude: one spirit stone can float to a maximum height of 30 meters, while ten spirit stones can reach up to 200 meters.

Additionally, there is the true essence shield, which can defend against attacks from late foundation-building experts but consumes two to three spirit stones per hour.

Third is the weight capacity. According to our calculations, with ten spirit stones, the war artifacts can carry up to ten tons, and with one spirit stone, it can carry two tons.

I calculated that if we activate the true essence shield and run at full speed, even with ten spirit stones, it can only last for two hours.”

“Indeed, these are war artifacts! It seems that the state of Cai only used one or two spirit stones at most.” Li Xian gasped; burning spirit stones was not something an average person could afford.

“That’s right,” Tang Rong nodded.

Li Xian hesitated for a while, finally gritting his teeth, “Equip all the war artifacts with ten spirit stones and let the soldiers adjust them themselves.”

The preparations for war were hasty and busy, with a large number of pig iron crossbow bolts being sent from the rear. They had manufactured a total of 100,000 of these cast iron bolts, along with 500 all-steel crossbow platforms.

In addition, the number of mechanical vehicles had increased to 60 in just two days, a considerable amount that could barely support a small-scale war.

There was still no time to study machine guns, but they had crazily produced 200 of the best sniper rifles and 100,000 bullets. To meet the deadline, the personnel from the explosives and armory departments had not rested, working tirelessly for two days; it looked like they would have to keep it up.

Furthermore, Tang Rong had successfully repaired 40 war artifacts, and Li Xian allocated 400 spirit stones for the task.

During these two days, the busiest people were Beichen Yuqing and Fang Shijing. Beichen Yuqing managed military affairs with all his might, while Fang Shijing exhausted himself arranging various operations.

After Ling Zhifeng finished his divination, he went to inspect the feng shui, specifically to see which sections of the city wall had poor feng shui; these areas needed special attention—such as strengthening defenses or adding more crossbow platforms.

On the morning of the third day, news came from the front lines: they finally spotted the Cai state army!

Xu Ren was the most relaxed, but it was only relatively so, as information kept flowing in from the front lines and within the country, all of which required analysis.

Finally, while Xu Ren was examining a drawing sent from the front, he became puzzled, “A fire-spouting iron tube? What is this thing?”

Li Xian took the jade slip and looked at it, his expression changing dramatically. “What the hell, it’s a cannon!”

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