Wei Zhao was bombarded with questions from various ministers throughout the night about the progress of the new weapon. Pressed relentlessly, and knowing it was a confidential matter, Wei Zhao dared not reveal it to them. Therefore, he had no choice but to turn back and head to the palace.
Si Xitong received him.
Wei Zhao quickly asked her, "Your Highness, since we've both brought out the Rainbow Sword, why not use it to retaliate?"
"General Ma, there is no need to retreat this time."
Si Xitong raised her hand slightly to signal him not to be nervous.
She said, "Minister Wei, war is not something that can be decided by a single moment's victory or defeat."
Wei Zhao said, "The Xiongnu army seized Luochuan and controlled the northern region by relying on their weapons and momentum. Why don't we follow suit?"
“Minister Wei, the Northern Hu and Xiongnu are not to be feared,” Si Xitong said. “At least they are no longer a threat to the Central Plains.”
Wei Zhao was puzzled.
Si Xitong stood up and walked out of Jianzhang Palace step by step. Looking at the magnificent buildings of the palace, she said in a firm voice, "Our enemy is in the outer sea!"
"They possess weapons that are far more powerful and several times more numerous than those of the Northern Hu and Xiongnu."
Wei Zhao felt that since there were both internal and external troubles, the internal troubles should be dealt with first. "Your Highness, we don't even know who the enemy is in the outer sea. Why don't you deal with the present one first?"
Si Xitong said, "I know. I know who it is."
"And it won't take too long. Let Ma Hong gain some experience on the new battlefield first."
After all, not everyone can have the same level of military expertise as Xie Bing.
Wei Zhao was about to ask a question when a guard rushed over to report, "Your Highness, Miss Anluo and the Anluo envoy request an audience."
Si Xitong sent someone to invite him in. Si Xitong turned and stepped into Jianzhang Palace, telling Wei Zhao along the way, "Anluo is the strongest country on the other side of the outer sea."
There is now less than a year left until the sea monster's time.
Xie Lanzhi had considered this factor and had reminded Xiao Fenghuang beforehand.
The Phoenix's current focus on defense is actually a good thing. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, if they can hold on for a year, they can unleash their full potential when the Seagulls arrive and erase the stain on their history!
While Xie Lanzhi sent people to inquire about Li Li's whereabouts, she also discussed border defense matters with the officers in the Xie family's military camp.
News soon came from Li Li's side that he had used Type 94 cannons and mortars to launch a surprise attack on a Xiongnu camp, killing a thousand enemy soldiers. Li Li's side was doing well for the time being.
Li Li was indeed very successful, so successful that his easy annihilation of a thousand Xiongnu soldiers made him a thorn in the side of the Xiongnu.
Al-Na personally led his troops back to defend the area and formed an encirclement to cut off Li Li's retreat. Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Li led his men to break through part of the encirclement and head straight for Niliubei.
Just as Li Li was about to breathe a sigh of relief as he approached Niliubei, a different kind of Xiongnu army suddenly appeared.
These thousand Xiongnu soldiers were all lightly armored and carried a firearm in their arms. Moreover, the rate of fire of this firearm was more advanced than that of modern ones.
A series of gunshots, like thunder, rang out across half the sky.
Upon hearing the sound, Xie Bing, who was stationed on a high mountain east of Niliubei, immediately ordered his men to check from the lookout tower. Xie Bing, who was also on the lookout tower, waved a flag and shouted, "Fire!"
The artillerymen on either side of the Changhong cannon hastily opened fire, and with a bang, a clump of Hungarian soldiers, already drenched in gunfire, were killed. The leader calmly looked at the dead men at his feet; he lifted his helmet, revealing himself to be Dalila. He shouted, "Retreat!"
If he wasn't mistaken, the opponent's run had already traveled a full kilometer.
Finally, five hundred Xie soldiers rushed over to search and found the barbarian soldiers who were still alive. The barbarian soldiers told Xie soldiers that the prince was nearby. They didn't know where he had run off to avoid the hail of bullets.
Xie Bing searched for a long time, and it was almost dark when he finally found Li Li unconscious in a valley.
He got dizzy after rolling down the valley and hitting his head.
Xie Bing quickly escorted Li Li to the main palace of the Lu Kingdom. Soon, Xie Bing learned from the barbarian soldiers that Li Li had once led a thousand men to secretly infiltrate deep into enemy territory, and he discovered that Arna's troops had somehow gained many more firearms operators.
Arnaud's 50,000 troops likely comprised more than one artillery battalion. Perhaps at least half of them were artillerymen.
Xie Bing wondered why the Hun people didn't bring it out from the beginning.
This matter was reported to Xie Lanzhi.
Xie Lanzhi quickly guessed the purpose of the firearms hidden on Alna's back. It turned out that while the New Tianjing was testing the Hu Xiongnu's trump cards, the Northern Hu Xiongnu were also testing the New Tianjing's trump cards.
Now that they see Ma Hong has a hundred types of Type 94 weapons, Arna is no longer hiding his strength. After half a month on the battlefield, the second half is finally about to begin.
Xie Lanzhi immediately ordered: "Counterattack Arna's troops!"
There was also the group that ambushed Li Li. Xie Lanzhi ordered someone to investigate.
In August of the third year of the Jin Dynasty, Xie Lanzhi ordered a counterattack.
Arna's troops advanced along the front lines, forcing Ma Hong's forces back through two city gates. Until they had nowhere left to retreat, Ma Hong's men finally completed the construction of a fortified position, mounting five long-range cannons.
When Arnaud led 40,000 men in, the five Changhong cannons immediately opened fire, unleashing a barrage of fire at a rate of five shots per minute, creating the effect of a hundred cannons firing simultaneously.
The cannon barrels of the Changhong cannon were replaced with two. A barrage of fire was unleashed, a carpet bombardment.
The shadows of the trees mingled, sand and stones flew, broken trees and branches scattered, and smoke filled the entire forest. The battlefield was a scene of devastation, with bombings continuing unabated.
When Ma Hong finished firing 150 shots, all five cannon barrels were destroyed.
He dared to stop, and couldn't help but wipe his sweat: "Am I being too wasteful of... the cannonballs His Highness gave me?"
Ma Hu chimed in from the side, "His Highness has already said that you can do as you please. General, there's no need to worry. I don't see that the enemy hasn't attacked again, but I wonder what the situation is?"
Ma Hong was still worried, after all, Al Na's troops had far more than just one or two thousand firearms; perhaps his troops even possessed tens of thousands. However, this was just his speculation.
"By the way, where's Xie Ying?" Ma Hong suddenly asked.
Ma Hu shook his head. How would he know where a mere centurion was? He could just keep watch nearby.
Ma Hong's eyelids twitched immediately: "She wouldn't..."
Meanwhile, Xie Ying led his hundred men through the back valley to the route that Alna's troops were bound to take. They didn't find Alna's troops and assumed the general had run out of ammunition.
When she led a hundred people to within three hundred meters, all she saw was devastation. A forest fire had broken out, and countless corpses lay piled up on the ground, still in the same state they had been in life, jostling and trampling each other.
At another intersection, the road was densely covered with corpses. Beneath the corpses lay firearms bent by explosions.
There were quite a few firearms.
Xie Ying immediately focused her gaze, roughly counting the corpses on the ground. She then went to search for the Xiongnu generals, finding three lower-ranking guards and two middle-ranking guards. She calculated the number of Xiongnu soldiers who had died based on the number of generals' heads.
Each lower-ranking defender has 1,000 men, and each middle-ranking defender has 3,000 men. A total of 10,000 men!
Compared to the 500-meter stretch of city wall ahead, and the 10,000 people who died in the forest, most of whom were armed with firearms, Xie Ying's expression changed. It turned out this group had been lying in ambush nearby, waiting to launch a surprise attack.
Fortunately, the general fired the first shot. Otherwise, it would have been questionable whether they could have held the city gate.
"Go, take the bodies of these high-ranking officials and hand them over to the General." Xie Ying gave the order and hurriedly returned with a hundred men.
No sooner had Xie Ying and his men left than Alna's troops arrived, only to find that the ten thousand men they had sent earlier had all perished beneath the city walls. Enraged, Alna fell from his horse on the spot.
Seeing the horrific deaths of ten thousand men, the main force dared not advance another step. The remaining thirty thousand men retreated from the Three Kingdoms.
Arna dared not covet this place again.
No one expected that Ma Hong, who seemed defeated after frequent retreats, would launch a counterattack at the last city gate, showcasing the formidable firepower of Tianjing.
When Xie Lanzhi learned of this, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She then issued another order: "Begin clearing out the Hunnic troops from the Central Alliance!"
The remaining two small countries also breathed a sigh of relief, no longer having to live in fear of national ruin and displacement.
Upon Xie Lanzhi's order, Xie's troops in various regions and the capital's guards began a pincer attack on the Alna troops in the middle.
The battle raged fiercely, and Ma Hong's army began to master firearms and artillery. Ma Hong's tactic of luring the enemy deep into his territory for bombardment was recorded as one of the exemplary achievements of this new battlefield.
No one expected that Ma Hong's capital guards were even more formidable than Xie's army. Xie's army had just crossed the border of Lu State when they received news that Alna was retreating north.
Arna amassed troops to confront the capital's garrison, leaving only 5,000 men to deal with the border of Lu. These 5,000 men were equipped with guns and cannons.
Xie Lanzhi went to Niliubei herself. As soon as she arrived, she felt light raindrops hitting her head, and dark clouds gathered in the sky. Thunder and lightning were brewing among the clouds.
Xie Lanzhi frowned: "It can't be such a coincidence, can it?"
The words had barely left his lips.
With a loud bang, a shell exploded two meters to her left.
The gust of wind from the explosion made her bangs fly wildly. She took the opportunity to lie down to the right, and a shell quickly fell where she had just been standing, leaving a trail of smoke.
Soon, Xie Bing, who was stationed on the eastern mountain, heard the sound and immediately opened fire, firing into the dense forest. A smoke ring immediately rose from the forest.
Xie Lanzhi took the opportunity to stand up, and soon she could feel the danger approaching again.
She jumped off the spot again, rolled a few times, and hid behind a boulder. Ash was blasted out from the spot where she had just stood.
"There's a cannon aimed at her the whole time?!"
Xie Bing, stationed on the eastern mountain, was also searching for cannons in the dense forest. The enemy was cunning; they fired one shot and then went silent. The next moment, another shot was fired from a different location.
Xie Lanzhi felt unsafe even behind the boulder. And indeed, she was right; with a loud crash, the boulder behind her shook, and dust rained down on her head.
This time, Xie Lanzhi finally lost her temper. There's a limit to how outrageous things can get!
First came cannons, then sniper rifles. Now, could it be that even long-range telescopes have been invented by the Northern Huns?
Xie Lanzhi felt she couldn't stay behind the boulder. She looked around and gazed towards Pinggu. With a determined heart, she bent over and rushed towards Pinggu.
Meanwhile, high in the dense forest, a Xiongnu soldier immediately reported to Dali Luo beside him: "Xie Ying has gone to Pinggu!"
Dali Luo instantly crushed the pebble in his hand, his hateful eyes filled with the satisfaction of revenge: "Very good!"
"Wave the flag to signal the people of Pinggu to prepare! Once Xie Ying falls into the trap, kill him immediately!"
Xie Lanzhi was still running in the distance. With each step she took, she felt her steps become heavy at first, then gradually lighter.
She felt a familiar sensation. The next moment, her senses compelled her to move closer to the tree. She quickly climbed up and jumped behind another tree. As the tree behind her exploded, she stood there, stunned.
Xie Lanzhi touched her dantian with her right hand, feeling it gradually burn. Her breathing also became quiet as she felt a solid weight in her abdomen.
She unconsciously held her breath and leaped upwards.
Whoosh! She leaped straight out of the treetop and then plunged into the foliage.
The Xiongnu soldiers in the dense forest and high mountains used a two-meter-long telescope to see Xie Lanzhi suddenly leap out of the branch in an abnormal manner, and then fall down.
The Huns found it a bit strange.
Dali Luo stood nearby, arms crossed, his whole body trembling. It was the excitement of Xie Ying closing in on his trap, the thrill of prey falling into his hands. He trembled with excitement.
Where is the person now?
The Xiongnu soldier exclaimed, "Xie Ying is about to fall into a trap!"