Chapter 75: Blitzkrieg

“Good stuff!” Upon seeing the war artifacts, Li Xian’s eyes lit up. “I must get one to play with!”

But the battle situation was too dire. Twelve war artifacts and nearly fifty powerful crossbows made from beast bones were bombarding a section of the wall. On the war artifacts, over a hundred foundation-level experts were using spells and flying swords to attack. Below, countless soldiers from the Cai Kingdom and some ground-mounted crossbows were firing. It seemed they wouldn’t rest until this section of the Great Wall was brought down.

On the An Yang side, the soldiers were also holding their ground and counterattacking. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, and the area was like a meat grinder, with bodies piled up to a height of about ten feet, and several lakes of blood forming around. Some of these lakes had broken pieces of crossbow carts floating on them.

Li Xian felt an unreal sensation, as if his whole body was floating.

“Get out of the way!” Xu Ren quickly pulled Li Xian aside as a powerful crossbow bolt flew past, creating a whistling wind.

“What the heck!” Li Xian jumped in fright, finally snapping back to reality.

“Little brother, you finally made it! How’s it going?” Li Liang no longer called him “Xian Di,” looking rather disheveled. The shiny stainless steel armor was now tarnished, with numerous cuts and scars. As Li Liang approached, the stench of blood was overwhelming, with blood constantly dripping from him.

“Big Brother, we’ve won! That’s why I came to support you. We wiped out the four thousand elite troops from the Cai Kingdom, with only one golden core general escaping.

I’ve brought 144 gunmen; where should I deploy them?”

“Where else but over there!” Li Liang pointed to the war artifacts. The twelve war artifacts were incredibly fierce, and at that moment, another section of the wall crumbled.

“Bang…” A light sound echoed as the formations on that section of the wall finally collapsed!  

“Kill!” The morale of the Cai Kingdom soldiers surged.

“Block them! Block them!” Li Liang threw Li Xian aside and rushed over, leading the charge to seal the breach.

Li Xian no longer hesitated; the 144 gunmen immediately aimed at the crossbows and men on the war artifacts.

A cacophony of popping sounds erupted on the brutal battlefield as one foundation-level expert after another was shot down, caught completely off guard. At this moment, the war artifacts were too close to the wall, nearly eliminating the need to aim.

The sudden turn of events left the Cai Kingdom generals in shock; in that brief moment of distraction, seven men on the war artifacts were slaughtered. The now uncontrollable war artifacts crashed to the ground, each impact resulting in a dozen or twenty casualties.

Li Liang shouted, “Let’s kill them back; our reinforcements have arrived!”

“Report, Commander! Wang Jian has returned!” In the distance, Wang Jian shouted, with five thousand elite soldiers approaching under the sunlight, their armor shimmering dazzlingly!

As the five thousand reached the city wall, the gleaming armor was particularly blinding. Over a hundred prisoners were also brought along.

Seeing the prisoners, Li Liang was overjoyed. “Hang the prisoners up!”

On the Cai Kingdom’s side, General Yan Zhengqing, who was full of confidence and believed he was about to break through the border defense, suddenly heard the familiar sound of popping shots. Then he saw seven war artifacts topple instantly.

“This is bad! How could so many new weapons suddenly appear?” Yan Zhengqing’s expression changed, and an unimaginable outcome surfaced in his mind.

The military strategist Xiang Bowen replied bluntly, “It’s a failure!”

A failure; this operation had failed, and Wang Qisheng’s actions had also failed!

In a matter of moments, a row of wooden sticks extended from the city wall, each hanging a prisoner who had soiled himself.

“General, let’s withdraw the troops!” Xiang Bowen proposed the best course of action.

Yan Zhengqing looked at the battlefield, which had completely turned against them. He watched as two more war artifacts fell and several young generals and squad leaders went down. Hearing the increasingly dense popping sounds made his veins bulge with anger. Yet, he had no choice but to order a retreat.

As the front lines began to fall back, Yan Zhengqing clenched his fists tightly. “Send people back secretly to investigate; we must understand the new weapons of the Xia Kingdom. These weapons pose a certain threat even to golden core cultivators, and for foundation-level cultivators… they are almost lethal!”

At that moment, Yan Zhengqing saw the head of a foundation-level expert explode. What he had intended to say about the significant threat to foundation-level cultivators turned into “almost lethal.”

Meanwhile, on the An Yang side, as they watched the Cai Kingdom’s army retreat like a tide, cheers erupted like a tsunami. They were just a breath away from having their defenses breached, yet at a critical moment, the tide turned, and the scales of victory shifted instantly.

Li Xian was also cheering, thinking, look, as soon as my brother arrived, all troubles were solved…

Li Liang was smiling, exhausted against the wall, panting, his whole body covered in a purple-red hue, even his teeth stained blood-red.

Seeing that the two brothers Li Xian and Li Liang were still in the mood to catch their breath, Xu Ren grew anxious. “Young masters, aren’t you going to pursue the victory? The enemy is currently in total disarray, their morale shattered, their soldiers lost, and their commanders missing! If we don’t attack now, when will we? Do we really want to wait until the enemy regains their breath and reorganizes their forces?”

“Hurry and chase them down! Drive away the defeated troops and strike their rear positions! We absolutely cannot give the enemy a moment’s respite!”

“Right!” Li Liang jumped up immediately. “Open the city gates and pursue! We’ll reward one tael of silver for every Qi Refinement enemy killed and five taels for every Foundation Establishment enemy!”

“Hah…” The soldiers were instantly invigorated, not even waiting for the gates to open. Some young generals cast spells and led their soldiers to jump down from the city walls. For these young generals, money was not as important as military merit.

“Kill!” The cries of battle erupted, and the Cai Kingdom’s army fell apart like a mountain collapsing, completely lacking any chance to regroup.

A large number of fleeing soldiers were eager to shed their burdens, tossing aside their armor and weapons; they surged like waves into the Cai Kingdom’s rear encampments. The carefully assembled personal guards of Yan Zhengqing were severely affected in an instant.

Fortunately, Yan Zhengqing proved to be a capable general. With a single command, his prepared personal guards opened up gaps like a dam bursting, allowing a massive wave of fleeing soldiers to rush through.

At this moment, several city gates along the An Yang border swung wide open, with thousands of elite soldiers pouring out.

Among them, five tricycles roared out of one gate. Seeing these for the first time, many soldiers from An Yang were filled with curiosity.

Leading the five tricycles was Liu Leigang. Despite having only one hand left, he still sat at the front of the first vehicle.

Each tricycle had three people: one driver and two sharpshooters at the back.

Driving for Liu Leigang was Wu Peng, a clever new recruit with a spirit for adventure, maneuvering the tricycle skillfully; alongside Liu Leigang was Yin Hairui, another new recruit with great talent for sniping.

“Today, we’re going to experiment with the lightning war tactics the young master mentioned!” Liu Leigang’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Utilizing his true essence and a little magic to assist, Liu Leigang was proficient with the sniper rifle.

Yin Hairui grinned, “Captain, I might not match your cultivation level, but I’m better with the gun!”

“Hey, we’ll see about that!”

Wu Peng, driving at the front, called out loudly, “Attention, we’re within range; prepare to turn left.”

The five tricycles swiftly approached within fifty to sixty feet of the Cai Kingdom’s formation; the soldiers in formation were Yan Zhengqing’s elite personal guards, the very soul of the army.

There weren’t many personal guards—only about three thousand—but they were as formidable as a dragon, their momentum like a mountain.

“Fire!” With Liu Leigang’s command, gunfire erupted.

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