Chapter 376

In the army, transmitting messages is the swiftest.

Wu Tie cooperating with the fleets of the Yi Battalion and Ding Battalion, nearly annihilated twelve battalions of the Leopard Cavalry, except for a part of the Tai Cang Realm commanders who escaped, the other warships and soldiers were almost completely wiped out, and the news of capturing tens of thousands alive spread swiftly through the Divine Martial Army and the Leopard Cavalry.

Jiang Ping, the commander leading the great detachment of the Third Battalion of the C Character, laughed heartily "hahaha" as he rushed in grand numbers toward the blood-red battle flag, and slapped a palm onto the ship's bow railing.

"Marvelous, my luck is truly good, Jiang Ping!" Jiang Ping was so excited he danced with hands and feet.

According to the Divine Martial Army's regulations, the merit earned by Wu Tie would also be counted toward Jiang Ping. Although the main force was the Yi Battalion and Ding Battalion fleets that nearly annihilated the twelve battalions of the Leopard Cavalry, Jiang Ping still would receive a large share of this merit.

After calculating on his fingers, Jiang Ping happily discovered that the barrier blocking his promotion from fourth-rank commandant to third-rank general had been completely erased by this military merit.

As long as the commander of the Right Battalion of the Vanguard Army, Jiang Hu, sends a document to the military headquarters, and after the headquarters files it and issues an official document, Jiang Ping will be a legitimate third-rank officer of the Divine Martial Army, and he can rightfully become the commander of the Third Battalion of the C Character.

"Indeed, my luck has turned these days…… the bad luck of the past few years is all gone." Jiang Ping smiled, his eyes narrowing into slits, he lightly clapped and said in a low voice: "Send a message to Huo Xiong, tell him to watch his own safety, he must follow the main army's movements, and absolutely must not venture out alone."

Jiang Ping looked up at the sky and muttered to himself: "The Leopard Cavalry always repays grudges; a unit specifically targeting Huo Xiong's forces may have already set out..."

The urgent communication reached Wu Tie's hands, and Wu Tie, being honest and straightforward, proceeded together with the ever-growing fleet.

Gradually, more and more tower ships joined in.

Some battalion heads of the Jia Battalion, some of the Wu Battalion, some of the Ji Battalion… all the way to some battalion heads of the Gui Battalion.

On the flagship three hundred zhang tall, the commander flagships of the Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding battalions, each over five hundred zhang long, also joined in; the large and small tower ships were like a dark cloud, covering the sky and surging toward the blood-red battle flag.

On the third day after the appearance of the Three Nations Blood Flag, a flagship of the Divine Martial Army's Vanguard Army Right Battalion, nine hundred zhang in length, appeared in the fleet.

Jiang Hu issued an order, letting Wu Tie go to the right battalion's flagship for an audience.

The matter that caused Wu Tie to break down appeared: he had previously abandoned Niu Mang and others, leaving them behind to slowly catch up, all in order to protect these subordinates of his.

But when meeting Jiang Hu, after Jiang Hu gave him encouragement and waved his hand, he announced that Wu Tie had earned promotion through accumulated merit, skipping the sixth-rank commandant and being directly promoted to fifth-rank commandant; moreover, from the vast fleet, he directly allocated forty-some large and small tower ships, assigning nearly sixty thousand soldiers to Wu Tie's command.

Nearly sixty thousand soldiers, and under his jurisdiction were nine sixth-rank commandants, over seventy seventh-rank officers, and hundreds of eighth- and ninth-rank officers.

Wu Tie wanted to reduce his 'burden', but his performance was too conspicuous, and he ended up giving himself an even greater 'burden' and 'responsibility'.

The only benefit was that, upon being promoted to fifth-rank commandant and having earned such great merit in one go, Wu Tie also obtained a Nine-Refined Spirit Weapon, the Flying Thunderbolt, which is a super long-range single-target spirit weapon; in single-target attack power, it is slightly stronger than the solitary flying knives launched from the Ten Thousand Blades Cart.

Especially, the Flying Thunderbolt itself carries lightning attacks; upon hitting, it can paralyze the whole body, giving it excellent restraining power against many heretical divine abilities and techniques.

"Sir!" The nine sixth-rank commandants stood in a row before Wu Tie, looking at him with astonishment.

Wu Tie gave a dry laugh and waved his hand at these nine new subordinates, suddenly realizing he had nothing to say.

Having been promoted to fifth-rank commandant, this already counts as a core strength in the Divine Martial Army; whether it's the organization of his subordinates or the combat missions he is responsible for executing, everything has become much more complicated.

Of the nine sixth-rank commandants, three are Wu Tie's adjutants, responsible for assisting him in commanding the army and conducting external operations.

The other six sixth-rank commandants are responsible for military correspondence, enforcing military law, various logistical affairs, and assorted miscellaneous management tasks, etc.

Wu Tie hadn't even had time to become familiar with his new subordinates when the great battle erupted.

A fleet of equally massive size came roaring from the left front; the Leopard Cavalry's muffled war drums shook the void, causing dark clouds to scatter; at a distance of three hundred li, all the warships of the Divine Martial Army and the Leopard Cavalry positioned at the forefront opened fire simultaneously.

White and black beams of light tore through the void, fiercely plunging into the enemy's dense fleet formation.

The defensive prohibitions of countless warships violently trembled; egg-shaped shields twisted and shook violently, erupting in dazzling light curtains.

In the first wave of attack, both sides' warships emerged unscathed, obviously these ships' defensive prohibitions had withstood the first wave's test.

Then came a second volley, a third volley, a fourth volley…

Wave after wave of main gun beams of light howled, tearing through the void, leaving traces in the field of vision that lingered and could not dissipate…

Gradually, the defensive prohibitions of some warships burst open, and then the entire warship was blown to pieces by a single shot.

In the collapsing warships, large numbers of officers and soldiers leapt into the air, shouting loudly, and charged at the enemy's great fleet from a height of twenty zhang above the ground.

The dense troops of both sides became entangled in a melee.

The Tai Cang Realm commanders stood in the void, separated by a dozen or so li, facing each other from afar; since the other side did not act, they also refrained, and no one tore off their face or acted shamelessly to attack the opposing mid- and low-rank officers.

Soldier against soldier, general against general, formation against formation.

Terrifying beams of light whizzed past at a height of several zhang beneath the feet of the densely packed troops, bringing terrible heat and fierce gusts that slammed into the enemy. Above the dense beams of light, countless soldiers fought in a tangled mass, severed limbs and broken arms continually falling, blood spraying across the sky.

After only a moment's engagement—about a quarter of an hour—Wu Tie saw that at least a hundred thousand soldiers who had just entered the Chonglou Realm had their blood spilled on the ground, falling heavily from a height of twenty zhang.

A low, resonant bell rang far away; at the right-front position, a massive fleet appeared.

This was a fleet Wu Tie had never seen before—the Spirit-Slaying Army of the Great Martial God Kingdom.

The Spirit-Slaying Army's fleet was still several hundred li away, whereupon the fleets of the Great Jin God Kingdom and the Great Wei God Kingdom swiftly began to shift to the flanks, quickly breaking contact.

The three fleets kept hundreds of li apart from each other, silent, yet with tacit understanding they surged toward the direction of the Three Nations Blood Flag.

Beneath the battlefield where the two nations had originally fought, countless fallen soldiers lay on the ground, their blood staining the earth red for a radius of nearly a hundred li.

Farther away, even more fleets advanced toward the same direction.

Not mentioning the Leopard Cavalry and the Spirit-Slaying Army, the main force of the Divine Martial Army's rotation this time is its Vanguard Army, plus a portion of the Left Army's troops also rotating in.

The Divine Martial Army's Vanguard Army has five major battalions—front, rear, left, right, and center—each battalion containing twelve major battalion heads labeled Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, etc.; each major battalion head has forty-nine battalion heads numbered first, second, third, etc.; each battalion head possesses hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers.

Each seventh-rank officer commands fifteen or six hundred soldiers, enough to independently own the smallest tower ship, forming the most basic tower ship combat unit.

With hundreds of millions of elite soldiers, the number of tower ships can be imagined.

The fleet pressed on for another day and night; when a colossal flagship fifteen hundred zhang in length appeared on the horizon, all Divine Martial Army officers and soldiers simultaneously let out a earth-shaking cheer.

The commander-in-chief of the Divine Martial Army's Vanguard Army, who is also the Deputy Hall Master of the Divine Martial Hall of the Great Jin God Kingdom, Sima De, brought the central army's great battalion into the formation.

Even though they were hundreds of li apart, Wu Tie could sense the chilling aura emanating from that colossal flagship.

Massive, blazing, full of oppressive pressure, like a small sun hidden in the ship's hold. Sima De did not show his face, but his aura alone was enough to suppress people until they could barely breathe.

This fellow's aura is stronger than that of the Demon-Suppressing Hall Master Sima Jun and the Demon-Expelling Hall Master Sima Kuang.

Although Sima De is merely the deputy hall master of the Divine Martial Hall, his strength absolutely surpasses the heads of both the Demon-Suppressing Hall and the Demon-Expelling Hall.

Although somewhat reluctant to believe it, Wu Tie nevertheless subconsciously drew this conclusion—in the eyes of the Great Jin God Kingdom, the threat of the Fuxi God Kingdom is far less than that of the Great Wei God Kingdom and the Great Martial God Kingdom.

Therefore, the Divine Martial Army stationed long-term on the Three Nations battlefield is far more elite than the Demon-Suppressing Army and the Demon-Expelling Army; the high-level officials of the Divine Martial Hall are also far stronger than those of the Demon-Suppressing Hall and the Demon-Expelling Hall.

The soaring bugle call shook heaven and earth.

Sima De's flagship is extremely fast, far more than twice as fast as other tower ships.

The closer he got to the Three Kingdoms Blood Flag, the faster Sima De's flagship became, faster and faster, until gradually his flagship outpaced the entire fleet, jutting far ahead.

In the other two directions, similarly huge flagship vessels surged forward from the vast fleet.

The flagship of the Wei Divine State was about thirteen or fourteen hundred zhang long, slightly shorter than that of the Jin Divine State.

Meanwhile, the flagship of the Wu Divine State boldly exceeded two thousand zhang in length, being the largest in volume among the Three Kingdoms' flagships, and its sides bristled with countless long and short prismatic cannon tubes, making it akin to a hedgehog armed to the teeth.

Wu Tie's mind flashed with some memories he had obtained from Huo Xiong.

Among the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Divine State had relatively balanced overall strength, with a harmonious ratio of livelihood to military power; the Wei Divine State excelled at training elite sturdy soldiers but was weaker in warship forging and spell restrictions, with poorer equipment for its troops, putting it at a slight disadvantage in large-scale battles; whereas the Wu Divine State was like a madman's nation, frantically pursuing formidable martial force and willing to sacrifice much for ultimate killing power.

Just like the flagship before our eyes.

Outside the flagships of Jin and Wei, the light shield emitted by their spell restrictions was quite bright, smooth as a polished eggshell.

But the Wu flagship's volume was especially astonishing, its length, width, and height far surpassing those of the Jin and Wei flagships, and it carried more than twice as many light cannons. However, around this overly massive flagship, the light shield from its defensive spell restrictions was dim and flickering, uneven in many places, clearly indicating stagnant flow of the yuan energy circuits in the formation.

Such a flagship, once attacked, would suffer damage at an astonishing speed.

Yet when the countless light cannons on its hull opened fire, the destructive power they burst forth in a short time was also extremely terrifying.

The Wu Divine State is a typical madman's nation—either you kill me or I kill you; their conduct is overly extreme.

Among the Three Kingdoms, the Wu Divine State had the weakest overall national strength, the smallest territory, the fewest people, and the lowest level in formations, runes, elixirs, and forging; yet relying on that bone-deep frenzied, desperate spirit, it managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jin and Wei, entangled for countless years.

The three flagships simultaneously charged toward the soaring blood-colored pillar of light.

The three flagships did not slow down; instead, their speed kept increasing, clearly because the important figures on each flagship had issued orders to push the flagships' speed to the limit.

Jin's flagship was the fastest, Wei's flagship slightly slower by a margin, and Wu's flagship was about thirty percent slower than Jin's, but combined with its huge hull, its momentum while flying was the most astonishing.

Wu Tie and the others held their breath, while hundreds of millions of warriors from the Three Kingdoms stared wide-eyed at the three flagships flying past.

Closer and closer, it was unknown whether the three commanders had planned it, but the three flagships a thousand zhang apart simultaneously slammed heavily into each other.

A tremendous sound came, and the Wu Divine State flagship's surface spell restriction shattered first; a section of the bow over two hundred zhang long exploded into fragments, flames rose, smoke billowed, and it was impossible to tell how many soldiers inside the cabins were instantly blown to pieces.

The bows of the Jin and Wei flagships were like knives, deeply piercing into the Wu flagship's hull.

The bows of the two flagships slammed hard together inside the Wu flagship, sending countless fragments spraying out from the bows and wildly flying and striking along the Wu flagship's hull.

Flames burst through the hulls of the three flagships, spewing out hundreds of zhang from the cracks in their hulls.

Countless soldiers wailed as they rushed out of the cabins; some had just taken flight not far when they were burned to a mangled mess and fell headfirst to the ground.

The three flagships continually erupted in chain-linked massive explosions, and three resounding, powerful voices sounded simultaneously from within the flagships: 'Lads, unleash a great slaughter!'

From each flagship hundreds of figures rushed out, all exuding the formidable aura of the Tai Zang Realm, and they quickly formed into groups of three or two, tangled together.

On all sides, countless Three Kingdom warships opened fire at full power, their bow main guns firing fully, their side secondary guns howling as they fired wildly; countless beams of light tore through the void, warship after warship kept exploding, and countless soldiers together with their exploding ships burst into fragments.

Many soldiers who had lost their ships quickly rose into the air, escaping safely from the firelight; under the orders of their respective direct supervisors, they formed battle arrays and marched in mighty numbers to slaughter the two enemy nations.

The vast battle arrays were like dark clouds, quickly intertwining with each other.

All over the sky, soldiers shouted and killed, severed limbs and fresh blood continually rained down; in a moment, the clouds were dyed red by blood-colored battle flags, and the ground for a thousand li around was also stained crimson by the blood flowing from the soldiers' bodies.

Heaven and earth simultaneously turned blood-red.

Countless beams of light tore through the void, constantly piercing one lofty warship after another, constantly making the blood color richer and more viscous.