Chapter 384: Contempt

After the people from the Shangshu Department received the order, they quickly left the office to find the Ministry of War. Xuanyuan and his companions, however, were very uneasy and pressed Baifeng, asking: "What exactly are you going to do? What is a Military Exercise?"

Baifeng sat steadily in his chair with an imposing air: "A Military Exercise is simply fighting a war without real enemies. Of course, I don't intend to make a big fuss this time; I just want to show you our strength. You don't need to be afraid, we won't hurt you. I just want you to reconsider your words from earlier and whether you really want to go through with it."

After hearing this, Xuanyuan said nothing more, only staring at Baifeng, wanting to see what he would do.

Before long, Yishang hurried to the office, wanting to ask about the procedure for this exercise, as they had never held a temporary Military Exercise before, only emergency assemblies and emergency training.

Chi, as the current supreme commander, was already issuing orders non-stop from his office. All Soldiers, except for those currently at their posts or executing missions, were to assemble in the camp. After the orders were issued, he himself began to put on his battle armor.

Baifeng said without concealment: "Don't be too nervous. I just intend to show Tribal Chief Xuanyuan our military strength so that others won't look down on us. There is no imaginary enemy this time; you just need to display our military equipment. All Weapons can be shown; there is no need to hide them."

Yishang glanced at Xuanyuan, then replied that he understood and trotted out to report back to Chi. Baifeng deduced that with their current capabilities, they could have everything ready in twenty minutes. If it were a sudden outbreak of war where not all equipment was needed, the Soldiers could assemble within ten minutes.

The order had been issued. After waiting quietly for a few minutes, a Soldier reported at the door and then informed Baifeng that they were mostly prepared and ready for viewing.

Baifeng stood up with a smile and said to Xuanyuan: "Tribal Chief Xuanyuan, we are ready now. Come with me to take a look. If it were before, I would have kept these hidden and never let you know, but now I realize that I seem to have hidden them for too long, which has instead made you look down on us too much."

Xuanyuan said nothing, stood up, and followed Baifeng out of the office, though he did not know where Baifeng was taking him.

Baifeng led Xuanyuan all the way to their training ground. It was not far from the military camp, but it was separate from it because the camp square could not accommodate training like shooting and military formations, as it was where everyone lived and relaxed, and contained some exercise equipment.

During the time Baifeng and the others were walking, the entire army had finished forming up, and all Weapons and equipment had been positioned. However, although Baifeng said they could be displayed, they still used bodies and Trenches to hide some of the more important ones, such as the catapults and Heavy Crossbows. This way, they could demonstrate the power of the Weapons while keeping their structural principles hidden from others.

When Baifeng brought Xuanyuan to the training ground and saw only a sparse thousand or so people, he felt even more contempt. He felt his guess was absolutely correct; Baifeng seemed to hold his own strength in too high regard and knew too little about the strength of the Xuanyuan Tribe and the Suiren Clan. With a casual effort, they could muster an army of ten thousand.

However, after Xuanyuan walked closer, he was shocked by the equipment of these Soldiers. Most of them were actually wearing Iron Armor that shimmered with light. This was Baifeng's configuration for elite units; their professional soldiers had all switched to Iron Armor, though a considerable portion of the construction was still Crocodile Skin, while the garrisoned soldiers and Militia were all wearing Crocodile Skin Armor.

Besides the Iron Armor, everyone held Iron Weapons of different styles: Spears, Knives, and some tall, imposing Weapons he did not recognize but which looked fierce at a glance.

Moreover, those holding different Weapons stood together, divided into several units. The ranks were neat, the equipment uniform, and there was not a sound; they were quiet and motionless.

At this moment, Xuanyuan was also somewhat amazed at Baifeng's grand gesture. This was definitely a very powerful unit, but it was a pity there were so few of them. Still, these men could put up a fight against five or ten times their number. If he had such good equipment, let alone the Lieshan Clan, he could even conquer the Shennong Clan.

Aside from envy, Xuanyuan did not feel that Huaxia was all that powerful; these things could not make up for a numerical disadvantage of more than ten times.

Baifeng vaguely sensed Xuanyuan's contempt; after all, such a small number of people really did not look like much in front of Xuanyuan.

Baifeng then stood in front of the army and said loudly: "Soldiers! I have received news that some tribes want to attack us and seize our food and land because they think we are too weak and can be bullied at will. Therefore, I want you to show our combat power to this Tribal Chief of the Xuanyuan Tribe. We cannot let them look down on us. Can you do it!"

Everyone shouted in unison: "We can! We can! We can!"

These shouts shocked Xuanyuan; they were too uniform, and the discipline was truly excellent.

Then Chi stepped out of the ranks: "King! The troops are assembled, please give instructions!"

Baifeng waved his hand: "Begin the exercise!"

The troops then let out a shout: "Kill! Kill! Kill!" and began to disperse and shift formations, quickly changing into their optimal battle formation.

At this time, Soldiers from the Phylum of the Secretariat brought chairs for them to sit on. Baifeng invited Xuanyuan to be seated, then sat down himself.

Xuanyuan felt that everything about this army was exceptional, arguably unrivaled; it was just that the numbers were truly too small.

Opposite the entire formation stood a field of straw men, used to simulate the enemy.

Following an order from Chi, the formation opened a gap in the center. An order was issued from the center of the formation, and then several objects like Spears flew out at extreme speed, piercing through several rows of straw men opposite and pinning them to the wall.

Xuanyuan stood up instantly, unable to believe it. He did not even know what had happened. Several Spears with such great power could absolutely not have been thrown by human strength; it was impossible.

Another order was issued within the formation, and the same long Spears flew out, pinning the straw men to the wall and directly shattering them into straw debris.

Xuanyuan stared fixedly at the center of the formation, but because he was blocked by the Soldiers, he could see nothing.

His contempt for Huaxia was instantly pinned away by these two waves of inexplicable flying Spears; the unknown was the most terrifying.

The formation then ceased its attack and remained motionless. A group of people arrived on the opposite side, quickly replacing the ruined straw men and planting a new field of straw men.