Chapter 52: Open the Treasure Chest—Red Coat Cannon!

“Chief.”

“Chief...”

Agun threw himself onto Ahachu’s headless corpse and wailed in grief.

The entire clan was filled with sorrow.

“Why didn’t you protect the Chief?”

Agun, his eyes bloodshot, stared at the kneeling personal guards.

“General.”

“The Ming army attacked our camp. We had only a few thousand troops, and they... they charged with ten thousand warhorses—we couldn’t hold them.”

A surviving Battalion Commander said fearfully.

“Ten thousand warhorses charging the camp?”

Agun’s face darkened further.

These warhorses had originally belonged to his tribe; all ten thousand cavalry had been slaughtered by Zhu Ying, and the horses seized by him.

“Zhu Ying.”

“You deserve to die.”

“My tribe will fight you to the death.”

Agun stared at the Chief’s corpse before him and let out a deafening roar to the sky, brimming with hatred.

“General.”

“The Chief is dead.”

“What should our tribe do now?”

A commander asked respectfully.

“Our tribe cannot be without a leader.”

“Immediately go to the White Flag Tribe and fetch Shijianu, the eldest brother. Have him ascend as Chief and lead our tribe.” Agun said at once.

“Yes.”

One commander immediately took the order.

Without doubt.

After today, the Jianzhou Tartars would suffer heavy losses.

The clan was severely weakened.

The Chief was beheaded.

They had now completely lost the capacity to oppose the Great Ming.

Eastward, dozens of li beyond the Tartar clan’s encampment.

Zhu Ying led his army on a two-hour forced march, putting ample distance between them.

Even if the Tartars wanted to pursue, they could not catch up.

“Stop.”

Zhu Ying raised his hand.

The soldiers behind him reined in their horses.

They also halted the accompanying warhorses.

“Count the men,” Zhu Ying called out.

“First Battalion Commander’s unit—no one missing.”

“Second Battalion Commander’s unit—no one missing.”

“Fourth Battalion Commander’s unit—no one missing.”

“Fifth Battalion Commander’s unit—no one missing.”

Three Battalion Commanders and one acting Battalion Commander replied loudly.

“Rest in place for two hours.”

“Treat the wounded, rest if unharmed,” Zhu Ying called out.

“Your orders, sir.”

The soldiers chorused in unison.

Afterwards,

Zhu Ying dismounted and sat down on the ground.

“Attribute panel,” Zhu Ying thought.

Host: Zhu Ying

Age: 14 years

Internal Qi: 898 [Wu cultivator’s internal Qi—the higher the number, the stronger the Qi.]

Strength: 1985 [One point equals one jin of force.]

Speed: 1723 points [Fifteen times faster than an ordinary human.]

Constitution: 1582 points [Fourteen times stronger than an ordinary human; the higher the constitution, the greater the defense and the faster the recovery.]

Endurance: 1552 points [Fourteen times greater than an ordinary human; the higher the endurance, the more sustained energy and physical stamina.]

Spirit: 1593 points [The higher the spirit, the clearer the mind, the stronger the perception, capable of sensing lethal threats within a thousand li radius.]

Lifespan: 112 years, 3212 days

Storage Space: 19 cubic meters

Technique: Rugged Body Art

“Not bad.”

“Internal Qi increased the most—worth the charge.”

“Still, Ahachu’s full 200-point attribute boost was better.”

“And it rewarded me with a Tier One treasure chest,” Zhu Ying smiled with satisfaction.

“Open the treasure chest,” Zhu Ying said at once.

“Open Tier One treasure chest.”

“Obtained Huang Jie Mid-grade: Complete blueprints for the Red Coat Cannon,” the panel prompted.

“What the hell.”

“They gave me a Red Coat Cannon?”

“I can’t use this right now.”

Seeing what the chest had yielded, Zhu Ying felt a pang of helplessness.

Any martial art, technique, divine weapon, or elixir would’ve been useful—but this? Right now, it was utterly useless to him.

After all, he was still under someone else’s roof.

He relied on the Great Ming to grow stronger.

Developing technology was something for the future, after he was fully independent from the Great Ming.

Once he possessed real strength and deep foundations, Zhu Ying would never remain a subject forever.

The world was vast.

Zhu Ying had his own plans for the future.

“Fine.”

“If the Great Ming ever collapses, I’ll head south and found my own state, then bide my time—perhaps one day I’ll swallow the Central Plains whole.”

“Cannons are truth,” Zhu Ying thought, and immediately extracted the treasure chest reward into his storage space, sealing it away for now.

“Garrison Commander.”

“The battle report is ready.”

“Can we send the pigeon message now?”

Liu Lei approached, face alight with excitement.

The other Battalion Commanders watched with eager anticipation.

This time,

Zhu Ying led his troops in an assault on the Tartar clan’s encampment and slew their Chief—his battlefield achievements were immense.

The original orders had been to delay the Tartars, preventing them from launching attacks on the Great Ming or reinforcing the Yuan court.

But what was the actual outcome?

Zhu Ying hadn’t just held the Jianzhou Tartars in place—he had crippled them, leaving them utterly incapable of ever threatening the Great Ming again. With their Chief dead, chaos would erupt within the tribe; there was no chance they could reinforce the Yuan court.

Moreover, Zhu Ying had raided their tribe and destroyed their encampment—rebuilding would take considerable time.

“Send it.”

Zhu Ying nodded.

“Yes!” Liu Lei replied, thrilled.

Once this battle report reached the Great Ming, it would cause a massive uproar.

They would receive unimaginable praise.

As soldiers of the Great Ming, reaching such heights was unquestionably exemplary.

After this.

Their guard battalion’s name will spread throughout the Great Ming.

“Tell the brothers.”

“The Tartars have been slaughtered by us; they no longer have the chance to invade the Great Ming.”

“After today’s rest,”

“I’ll lead the brothers home.” Zhu Ying said, looking at the battalion commanders beside him.

“Yes.”

All the battalion commanders wore expressions of anticipation.

They had been campaigning and fighting on the northern frontier for over a month.

They were finally going home.

…

Liaodong!

Under Northern Yuan control: Kaiyuan City!

This city was the gateway to Liaodong.

It was also the border town adjoining Danning of the Great Ming.

Naha Chu held Liaodong, commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, and had received orders from the Northern Yuan Emperor to garrison Liaodong, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack the Central Plains and destroy the Great Ming.

Kaiyuan City was both a shield and the central hub for Naha Chu’s invasions into the Great Ming.

Yet,

Although Naha Chu had learned of the Great Ming’s troop movements and struck first, he had utterly underestimated the ferocity with which Great Ming soldiers defended their homeland—he failed to breach Danning’s border city, and with the arrival of the Great Ming’s main army, he was forced to retreat.

At this moment!

Before Kaiyuan City,

Hundreds of cannons stood in a row, positioned three hundred bu from the city wall.

“Fire!”

The officer in charge of the cannons shouted loudly.

Instantly,

Hundreds of Ming soldiers holding torches lit the fuses.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A deafening roar echoed across the land.

Hundreds of cannonballs slammed into Kaiyuan City.

The cannonballs struck.

They did not explode as expected.

Instead, many Yuan soldiers were pierced and crushed to death by the solid projectiles.

Because these were solid shot.

In this era, explosive cannonballs had not yet been invented.

If they had been, it would have been truly revolutionary, with far greater destructive power; solid shot could only be used for suppression or battering city gates.

These cannons could only serve to suppress and intimidate.

…

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(End of Chapter)