Chapter 310: Flames of War
Anyang, near the border of Wuyang County— Beichen Yuqing stood atop the city wall. In the distance, banners fluttered in the wind. Xiao Liming’s army of 200,000 had already reached the border and was now in a standoff.
In his hands, Beichen Yuqing held several intelligence reports. As a commander, he had to constantly stay informed of all intelligence in order to make the best strategic and tactical decisions.
First report: The allied forces of Guangling County and Songzhou County had already captured approximately 300 li (approx. 150 km) of territory in Nanyang County. At present, Nanyang had lost about one-third of its land.
Second: Nanyang had deployed hidden tactics and temporarily held off the attack from Guangling and Songzhou. Both sides were locked in a brutal stalemate. The use of weaponry resulted in heavy casualties — over 50,000 dead on both sides. The rivers turned red, and the corpses had even clogged the waterways.
Third: Anyang refused to support Nanyang County.
Fourth: Nanyang surrendered to Jin Kingdom, which chose not to hold past grievances. The 250,000 Jin soldiers who had previously been captured in Nanyang were released and redeployed to the front lines, preparing to join the Nanyang army in resisting — or even driving out — the forces from Guangling and Songzhou.
Fifth: Cai State had attempted to blackmail Anyang but failed. Now, enraged and humiliated, it was sending an army of 500,000 south to attack Anyang.
Sixth, a top-secret internal report from Anyang: Anyang is preparing to form a blood pact with the Dragon Palace, and the process is already underway. Once the pact is completed, Anyang’s great maritime plan will begin. Development on land was simply too slow — requiring diplomatic relations and strong infrastructure, like roads. Maritime trade, on the other hand, was much simpler and far more profitable.
“So chaotic!” Beichen Yuqing rubbed his temples and looked up again at the 200,000-strong army that had already reached the border. For a moment, he felt a heavy sigh in his chest.“We cannot lose.” He issued a command: “Pass down the order — deploy the fortress cannons.”
Soon after, three heavy cannons were lifted onto the city wall using magic and set upon specially reinforced platforms. Seeing these brand-new cannons, the morale of Anyang’s border troops soared.
These were the latest fortress cannons, each with a 240mm caliber. Compared to the naval guns, these had barrels only half as long, but a cannon is still a cannon — the sight of such massive weapons brought reassurance, even if that reassurance didn’t extend to the enemy.
Ahead, Xiao Liming brought his 200,000 troops to a halt ten li (approx. 5 km) before the border of Anyang, no longer advancing. The two sides faced each other across the open plain. Ten li — this was exactly the maximum range of Anyang’s newest cannons.
Even at such a distance, Xiao Liming and Beichen Yuqing locked eyes across the field. Their gazes pierced the space between them.
Suddenly, Xiao Liming sent a personal guard forward. Moments later, three personal guards flew across the ten-li distance and hovered in the air before Anyang’s border wall, directly meeting Beichen Yuqing’s gaze.
One of them unrolled a scroll and began to read aloud:“I, Xiao Liming, have come to Anyang today to ask you this: Your generals of Anyang have been selling arms everywhere, leading to disastrous consequences, horrific injuries, and even inhuman slaughter. After a single war, corpses pile up in the millions, and rivers run with blood.
Such wickedness — what punishment does Anyang deserve?”
Beichen Yuqing laughed as he heard this. “You didn’t have to use them. Ah, you don’t know — to reduce casualties, we even raised the prices of weapons by several times, trying to limit your killing. Yet even that couldn’t restrain your bloodlust. sigh… sigh… If you seek to punish, you’ll always find an excuse. If you want war, then let it be war! Anyang does not fear you!”
Xiao Liming’s guard continued, mimicking his tone: “Refusing to repent — today, I, Xiao Liming, shall enact Heaven’s punishment, exterminating the evil-ridden Anyang! I will seek justice for the world!”
That was a formal declaration of war, and Xiao Liming had found a somewhat passable excuse for himself — although Beichen Yuqing found the excuse laughable.
Upon hearing this, Beichen Yuqing laughed again: “Such empty talk. If you want to fight, then fight. This nonsense only makes you look pathetic. Soldiers! Since Baofeng County has declared war, let’s show them what Anyang is made of! All cannons, prepare to fire — shoot at will once the enemy enters range. Pass word to the rear — the aircraft may now launch.”
Behind him, Beichen Yuqing’s personal guards sprang into action. But they didn’t rush about; instead, they took strange melon-sized devices from their packs and began speaking into them.
These were Anyang’s latest invention: portable Lingtong Baojian (Spirit-Link Treasures of Communication). The reason they were so large was that the internal computer chips could only be miniaturized to palm-size — any smaller and it wasn’t yet feasible.
To reach even that size, Xiao Yuquan, head of computer research, had worked incredibly hard. He was still striving to develop fingernail-sized computer cores.
With the Lingtong Baojian, Anyang’s military command efficiency multiplied. Beichen Yuqing no longer needed to relay information through messengers; communication and coordination were direct. For someone like Beichen Yuqing, this was a dramatic boost to command capabilities — a terrifying force multiplier.
The one who felt it most clearly was Xiao Liming. As his army advanced, he immediately sensed something wrong. He saw that tens of thousands of border troops in Anyang were moving in perfect unison, with no need for flags or messengers. The soldiers moved like a single organism, without the slightest flaw.
“How is such command possible? Even the best generals would face delays commanding such a large army. Ten thousand troops are not a single person.
To command like this — as if an arm responding directly to the will — this is the true mark of mastery. Beichen Yuqing, huh? So Anyang really has such talent! This small Anyang truly hides dragons and crouching tigers.”
At that moment, Xiao Liming already considered retreating. Truth be told, he had only come to stir up a bit of trouble — if there was no opportunity, he would retreat swiftly. But now that his army had begun its charge, retreating rashly could bring disastrous consequences. Two hundred thousand troops aren’t twenty people — they can’t just run at will.
As Xiao Liming’s army advanced, Anyang’s border cannons began to fire. However, the cannon fire seemed less effective than expected — Xiao Liming wasn’t a fool. He had seen how much artillery affected the battlefield and had, of course, prepared a response.
Spells shot into the sky, forming a barrier dozens of meters above the army, intercepting the incoming shells. The shells exploded in midair. After traveling that distance, the shrapnel no longer posed a threat to cultivator troops.
A strange scene appeared on the battlefield. Beichen Yuqing also ordered the planes to halt their takeoff.
On the Anyang side, the cannons kept firing, but on Xiao Liming’s side, a simple spell was enough to form solid barriers like rocks or ice blocks to block the shells. These spells didn’t need to be powerful—only wide enough to cover the incoming cannon fire. That was the weakness of ordinary artillery shells!
Bursts of smoke and fire exploded in the sky, but they did almost nothing to harm Xiao Liming’s army. They seemed more like fireworks for celebration and welcome. Morale soared on Xiao Liming’s side, and the thunderous shouts of 200,000 elite soldiers surged forward like an unstoppable tidal wave, rolling toward Anyang’s border defenses.
The charging army stretched over more than thirty li (about 15 kilometers), and Anyang seemed to tremble beneath this mighty surge.
The cannons that had always brought victory and glory to Anyang had unexpectedly become ineffective. The morale of Anyang’s army began to waver.
Beichen Yuqing stood proudly atop the city walls, calmly gazing into the distance, silently observing the 200,000-strong army as if they were nothing.
“Commander!” A personal guard beside him couldn’t help but “remind” him—was the commander stunned with fear?
“Kill!” The 200,000 troops at the front roared as their battle cries shook the heavens. The vanguard had already launched their assault under the cover of spells and magical weapons. Their early success had greatly boosted the invaders’ confidence.
Following closely behind were the invaders’ cannons, guns, and even heavy crossbows.
Upon seeing this, many soldiers on Anyang’s side began to sweat nervously.
Beichen Yuqing slowly raised his right hand, then suddenly slashed it downward. The communication officer behind him immediately pressed the final command symbol. At the same time, generals and captains all across Anyang received the order.
“Fire!” “Fire!” …
Almost simultaneously, a cloud of “black mist” suddenly appeared on the walls of Anyang. No—it wasn’t black mist, but clouds of smoke and explosions erupting, as more cannon shells were launched.
This time, the artillery was concentrated, especially the 240 mm cannons which began to unleash their power, instantly changing the tide of the battle.
A large number of shells exploded—while the first wave of attacks might be blocked, the violent shockwaves scattered the enemy’s formations and left everyone dizzy and disoriented. Then the second wave of shells would send them flying through the air.
As for the 240 mm cannons, even if the shells were blocked, the explosive shockwaves were still beyond what ordinary Qi Refining soldiers could endure—many suffered internal injuries and bled from all seven orifices.