DLWAV CH104

One day later, the Great Qian army broke camp once again and marched toward Wuchang.

However, after their grand celebration, for no apparent reason, a trace of unease suddenly arose in the Duke of Zhenguo’s heart.

And before long, this unease grew stronger and stronger, to the point where he couldn’t help but raise his hand to order the grand army to a halt.

His deputy general immediately asked, “Commander, what is it?”

The Duke of Zhenguo replied, “Don’t you think our journey has been a bit too smooth?”

The deputy general immediately laughed, “Commander, we hold a great killing weapon like the Divine Maiden Cannons in our hands. Unless the Yang rebels have gone mad, they would never face us head-on.”

“If it were me, no matter the cost, I would send people to destroy these cannons,” the Duke of Zhenguo said. “Because as long as these cannons are destroyed, the Yang rebels would still have room to maneuver.”

“But up until now, the Yang rebels haven’t made the slightest move.”

The deputy general said, “Commander, the main reason the Yang rebels were able to fight their way to the capital in less than half a month back then was because they held great killing weapons like muskets, catching us off guard. Leaving weapons aside, they are simply a disorganized mob.”

“But now, we also have firearms. And even at a generous estimate, they only have a hundred thousand men. The absolute maximum they can send to the battlefield wouldn’t exceed sixty thousand.”

“Yet we have a full three hundred thousand troops.”

The others also chimed in, “Most importantly, we are currently on the Jianghan Plain. You can’t even see a steep slope taller than a person anywhere around us. What could they possibly use to ambush us?”

“Exactly.”

The Duke of Zhenguo thought about it, and it seemed to make sense.

So his hanging heart slowly settled back into his stomach.

The large army set off once again.

But what they absolutely did not expect was that they hadn’t even marched a hundred meters when a scout suddenly rushed back frantically: “Commander, a large number of Yang troops have been spotted ahead!”

“What?” The Duke of Zhenguo violently pulled his reins.

The deputy general immediately said, “Quickly chase them, don’t let them escape!”

But the Duke of Zhenguo suddenly interrupted his words, staring straight ahead. “Is it there?”

The deputy general followed his gaze.

Only to see that five or six miles away, at the bottom of a slope, amidst the lush green grass, a massive, dense cluster of black dots had abruptly appeared.

If nothing unexpected happened, that should be where the main force of the Yang Army was located.

And the Yang Army should have already discovered them as well.

But, why weren’t they running?

Unless… they were intentionally waiting for them here—

At this moment, let alone feeling a little uneasy, the Duke of Zhenguo’s eyes practically split open in terror as he screamed hoarsely, “Defense! Defense—!”

However, it was too late.

Almost at the exact same time, roaring shouts echoed from the distance.

“Fire!”
“Fire!”
“Fire!”

But soon, these voices were masked by rapid whistling sounds tearing through the air.

The Duke of Zhenguo and the others looked up, just in time to see countless black dots flying toward them.

“It’s cannonballs—” someone cried out in horror.

“The Yang rebels actually have cannons too!”

But this was no longer important.

Because the next second, those cannonballs crashed straight into the large army.

In the minds of the Duke of Zhenguo and the others, only one sentence remained: It’s over.

Some even directly closed their eyes.

But to their surprise, they waited for quite a while and didn’t hear the sound or feel the impact of the cannonballs exploding.

They subconsciously opened their eyes and looked down.

They saw that the cannonballs were merely emitting plumes of white smoke; they hadn’t exploded at all.

But they couldn’t smile in the slightest.

Because a moment’s thought told them that this white smoke was definitely nothing good.

“Disperse, quickly scatter!”

The Duke of Zhenguo immediately roared, “Where are the Divine Maiden Cannons?! Fire back, fire back!”

The artillerymen immediately reacted.

They scrambled and crawled, opening the nearby ammunition boxes. They grabbed a cannonball, shoved it into the barrel, and directly lit the fuses.

Accompanied by bursts of blinding flashes, cannonballs whistled out, flying straight toward the Yang Army in the distance.

But what they completely failed to expect was that before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, they saw those cannonballs fall straight to the ground just two miles away.

And that spot was at least four or five miles away from the Yang Army.

Seeing this scene, the expressions of the Duke of Zhenguo and the others froze once again.

Only then did they remember that the effective range of the Divine Maiden Cannons was only two miles.

But since the Yang Army’s cannons could fire six or seven miles away—

No wonder Zhou Ruize dared to raise an army in rebellion.

No wonder the Yang Army dared to wait for them here.

How were they supposed to fight this?

Most importantly—

Didn’t the Divine Maiden say that the formula for these cannons was given to her by her master, Taishang Laojun?

But why was it actually inferior to the cannons manufactured by those evil ghosts?

So was she truly a divine maiden?

Was she really the disciple of Taishang Laojun?

In an instant, all the soldiers who had previously firmly believed in those rumors fell into deep bewilderment.

But these things were no longer important. What was important was that they were going to die.

—In just this short amount of time, three or four more batches of cannonballs landed at their feet.

As the white smoke around them grew thicker and thicker, their bodies gradually became weak, and their vision increasingly blurred.

The infantry in the areas with the thickest white smoke were the first to fall, followed by the infantry in other areas, and then the cavalry on horseback…

In just a few short minutes, half of the soldiers in the formation had fallen…

In the end, even the commander’s flag that had been standing tall at the front collapsed.

Seeing this scene, the Duke of Zhenguo, who had been forcing himself to stay awake, instantly had bloodshot eyes.

“Heavens, are you truly going to destroy my Great Qian?!”

After saying this, he violently coughed up a mouthful of blood and then fell straight down.

Aside from a few cavalrymen at the edges of the army formation who managed to run away, the vast plain instantly fell into a dead silence.

But compared to the grief-stricken and indignant Duke of Zhenguo, the middle-aged man and his companions were incomparably joyful.

“Wait a bit longer. Wait until the knockout gas has completely dispersed before heading over.”

That’s right. Their cannonballs were not filled with explosives, but tranquilizer gas.

It was still the same principle: they didn’t want to cause too many casualties.

So only after the white smoke completely dissipated did they rush toward the unconscious Great Qian soldiers.

“Form groups of three, advance in an orderly manner.”

“Capture the Duke of Zhenguo first, then capture all the other generals.”

“If you encounter any resistance, kill on the spot.”
“If you encounter any resistance, kill on the spot.”
…

Squads of soldiers charged toward the distant Great Qian army with forceful strides.

But the number of Qian troops was simply too large, so even though their speed was fast, in the end, quite a few Qian troops managed to shake off their unconsciousness.

But looking at the densely packed Yang Army in the distance and the overwhelming battle cries coming their way, a touch of terror inevitably rose in their eyes.

They could only obediently squat back down with their hands on their heads.

However, the excitement in the bottom of their hearts eventually overpowered their panic.

Because, at the very least, they had survived.

Due to his old age, the Duke of Zhenguo didn’t wake up until the next morning.

Seeing him open his eyes, his subordinates immediately surrounded him: “Commander.”

“Commander, you’re finally awake.”

The Duke of Zhenguo sat up with difficulty: “You all?”

His eyes couldn’t help but turn red: “I didn’t expect that we could still gather together after death…”

Hearing this, his subordinates repeatedly said, “Commander, none of us are dead.”

“Commander, we are currently in the Yang rebels’… the Yang Army’s military camp.”

The Duke of Zhenguo: “What?”

“Commander, it seems the cannonballs the Yang Army fired at us weren’t filled with explosives, but knockout gas…”

His subordinates immediately explained everything they had guessed.

“We are now… all prisoners of the Yang Army.”

To be precise, Great Qian’s last 300,000 elites had all been captured by the Yang Army.

Great Qian was finished!

The Duke of Zhenguo couldn’t help but close his eyes.

“But since the Yang Army didn’t kill us, they must have the intention of using us. So there’s absolutely no need for you to panic,” the Duke of Zhenguo comforted his subordinates, as well as himself.

After all, with just the Yang Army’s 100,000 troops, how could they possibly govern such a vast empire? Not to mention there was still the Western Rong eyeing them covetously from the north.

As long as the Yang Army wasn’t stupid, they would try their best to recruit them.

Even though at this time last year, it was they who led people to the Huaiyang temporary palace to release Emperor Zhangwu, and it was they who were the first to lead troops into the imperial palace.

But who could have thought that upon hearing this, his subordinates would smile bitterly instead: “Commander—”

The Duke of Zhenguo followed their gazes, only to discover that they were all bound in chains, and he himself was no exception.

This was absolutely not the treatment given to worthy men they wished to recruit—

The Duke of Zhenguo’s pupils shrank.

Just at this moment, a mocking voice rang out.

“Pfft, continue to use you guys?”
“Are you even worthy?”

Following closely, the middle-aged man walked in with a dozen soldiers.

“As for the Western Rong, why would you think we would still fear a measly Western Rong?”

The Duke of Zhenguo’s face completely froze.

Because the middle-aged man was right; with such a massive killing weapon in the Yang Army’s hands, why would they need to fear the Western Rong?

—Clearly, Zhou Ruize had been holding a grudge against them, so much so that he would rather disregard the stability of the state just to exact revenge on them.

The Duke of Zhenguo tried to struggle: “I want to see the King of Yang.”

He said, “Back then, it was truly because the King of Yang was gravely ill and had no royal sons. We… we were all thinking for the sake of Great Qian’s rivers and mountains, for the billions of commoners in the world, and even more so for the inheritance of the Zhou clan, that we wanted to welcome Emperor Zhangwu back to the throne…”

Hearing this, a young man couldn’t help but roll his eyes: “We know, we know, you are all loyal subjects. Although you betrayed Emperor Jianxing, you didn’t betray Great Yang. Those things you did before truly didn’t have the slightest bit of selfish motives—”

How could that be possible?

If the Duke of Zhenguo and the others had cared even a fraction for Emperor Jianxing back then, they wouldn’t have launched the Palace Gate Coup to restore Emperor Zhangwu when Emperor Jianxing was severely ill. One must know that at the time, Emperor Jianxing’s mind was still clear.

They could completely have asked Emperor Jianxing to issue a posthumous edict in advance, and waited until Emperor Jianxing passed away and was buried in the imperial mausoleum before welcoming Emperor Zhangwu to ascend the throne.

Taking ten thousand steps back, they could have entirely bypassed Emperor Zhangwu—a foolish ruler who obviously wouldn’t spare Emperor Jianxing once in power—and chosen a suitable candidate from a collateral branch of the imperial family.

Yet they specifically chose that time to restore Emperor Zhangwu.

What could they have done it for?

It was simply because Emperor Zhangwu promised them enough benefits.

After Emperor Zhangwu was restored, he conferred over a hundred noble titles in one breath—that was the best evidence.

The middle-aged man finally just said, “So the King of Yang will grant your wish, letting you be Great Qian subjects for a lifetime.”

After saying that, he directly shouted to the guards, “Take them away.”

The soldiers he brought immediately stepped forward, gagged their mouths, dragged them out, locked them in prisoner carts, and brought them to the front lines.

Then the middle-aged man directly placed his saber against the Duke of Zhenguo’s neck.

Because their sniper rifle bullets and knockout gas had been used up, and the Hua Nation government hadn’t airdropped new supplies yet.

Fortunately, they had thought of another good method.

He looked toward the defending general on the city wall—who was the Duke of Zhenguo’s second son—and said, “General Wang, look who this is?”

“I’ll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to open the city gates and surrender. Otherwise, your old father will be going to see the King of Hell a dozen years early.”

General Wang’s eyes on the city wall instantly turned red: “Damned Yang rebels!”

But he clearly didn’t want to open the gates and surrender.

After all, if he didn’t surrender, he might still be able to preserve his freedom. But if he surrendered, he feared the Duke of Zhenguo would be his precedent.

But no matter what, the Duke of Zhenguo was his biological father.

The Duke of Zhenguo’s back was originally standing straight, but watching the time tick by little by little, and seeing that General Wang showed no signs of preparing to open the city gates, he immediately became anxious, and more and more sweat beaded on his forehead.

Seeing this scene, the middle-aged man beside him raised a hand and pulled out the gag in his mouth.

The Duke of Zhenguo practically blurted out, “You unfilial beast, do you really want to kill your father?!”

After saying this, he finally realized what words had just come out of his mouth.

But since things had come to this, what else could he do?

He completely ignored his subordinates’ incredulous gazes and continued, “You unfilial beast, the King of Yang is a hundred times wiser than that foolish ruler Zhangwu! Are you still going to be stubborn and refuse to realize the truth?”

General Wang fell silent for a moment, and ultimately ordered his men to open the city gates.

With the Duke of Zhenguo setting this precedent, when it was the other generals’ turns, they were much more cooperative, directly helping the Yang Army shout the city gates open.

Just like this, the Yang Army marched into Shanxi as effortlessly as entering an unpopulated land.

What else could the middle-aged man say?

“Truly worthy of being Emperor Zhangwu’s subjects.”

After all, back when Emperor Zhangwu was captured by the Western Rong, he had similarly led the Western Rong army to the foot of the capital’s walls.

And most of Great Qian’s vassal princes were enfeoffed in Shanxi and Henan.

Learning that the Great Yang army had arrived at their city walls, those vassal princes naturally panicked.

“What should we do?”

“Why don’t we surrender? Zhou Ruize is also surnamed Zhou anyway. Is he really going to kill us princes of the Zhou family?”

“Surrender, let’s surrender.”

Just like this, the Yang Army effortlessly conquered the Shanxi and Henan provinces.

Upon learning this news, Ao Ruize—who had been at the Liu Manor teaching Third Master Liu how to ‘play the flute’ for over a month—instructed Lu Dang, who was waiting outside the door, while putting on his shoes.

He said, “Prepare the carriage. We are going to Luoyang.”

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