Chapter 168: Business

Among the high-level cultivators of the Primordial Palace, there was no lack of experts who understood military strategy, such as Behind Bao Yun. With her there, Wei Yuan, a master of military strategy, did not need to show off for the time being.

How to position the mortal army was the primary issue.

Ever since the Azure Void's miraculous "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng" was activated, Behind Bao Yun had been thinking about this problem, and now she had a train of thought: "We assume that 'Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng' can be maintained for thirty minutes, then the task of ordinary mortals is to deal with those ordinary Shaman soldiers. They are numerous but mediocre in combat power; if the mortals after being blessed can trade one-for-one with them, that would be a great victory."

Although Shaman warriors were cannon fodder, cannon fodder were still warriors, not civilians. Only about one in ten Shaman civilians would become a warrior. And most of the human race in the realm were truly mortals; without the "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng," one Shaman warrior would be more than enough to fight a dozen mortals. If one mortal could trade for one Shaman warrior, any famous general of the human race would wake up laughing in their dreams.

The physical strength of ordinary Shaman warriors was only equivalent to a human who had just cultivated into the Blood Merging Realm, not as good as the Northern Liao, so Behind Bao Yun had a response: muskets.

But Xiaoyu said: "I think bows and arrows are better. After these mortals are blessed, they are already equivalent to Blood Merging; drawing a bow is easy. Besides, they only fight for thirty minutes, so even burst shooting is no problem, and the power of bows and arrows is greater than muskets."

Behind Bao Yun shook her head: "Bows are too expensive, and self-made ones take time. Moreover, drawing a bow and shooting requires training, while muskets don't; just hold it steady and fire."

Xiaoyu gently nudged Cui Yu and asked in a low voice: "How long does it take to make a bow?"

Cui Yu had been leading troops for several years and was well-versed in military affairs, so he said: "A top-quality bow takes over a decade, and an ordinary one takes three to five years. I'm talking about ordinary bows, not magic tools."

Xiaoyu fell silent.

Ji Liuli said: "Then what kind of muskets should we equip?"

Wei Yuan thought about the time the Shaman tribe might attack next, and recalled the combat experience during this period, saying: "Time is very tight now, tens of thousands more mortals will be coming soon, and the Shaman tribe might attack back at any time. So we can't make those delicate things; the simpler to build and the faster to see results, the better. I have a rough idea, it's like this."

Wei Yuan drew two diagrams, which were two iron pipes, one large and one small. The large one was a foot and a half long and as thick as a fist. The small one was a foot long and about as thick as an apricot. The rear end of the small iron pipe had a small hole with a fuse extending from it.

The large iron pipe was for cultivators equivalent to the Body Forging Great Completion after being blessed; they could directly use Dao power to detonate the gunpowder. The small iron pipe was for true mortals; even if they were blessed by the "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng," they had no Dao power, so they needed to use ordinary fire to ignite the gunpowder.

The power of the two types of muskets was also different; the former held half a liter of gunpowder, while the latter could only hold two teacups.

The projectiles were evolved; Wei Yuan's design was iron sand wrapped in oil paper.

Using iron sand instead of refined iron bullets was an inspiration Wei Yuan got from the shotgun mentioned by Xu Wenwu; this kind of gun didn't need much aiming, just roughly point in the direction and blast, which was perfect for those mortals who couldn't even read.

In addition, the preparation of iron sand was quite easy; it was the first step when Ji Liuli demonstrated the refining of refined steel last night. That is, first crush the ore, then extract the iron powder and condense it into many small clusters, simply melting them together with fire; there was no need for the subsequent steps of melting, removing impurities, balancing physical properties, etc.

Because the quantity of iron sand needed was huge, skipping one or two steps would greatly increase production, and the consumption of Dao power was less than one-tenth of that for refined iron bullets.

As for the muskets themselves, Wei Yuan felt that two bare iron pipes were enough; there was no need for those flashy things, at most let the mortals wrap some cloth strips themselves to prevent slipping. As the Realm Lord, Wei Yuan himself used two steel pipes fitted with a spearhead, so there was even less need for those mortals to be particular.

Wei Yuan's plan was to equip each mortal with two iron pipes; once the battle started and the two sides closed the distance, they would fire. Injuring one Shaman was a profit, and killing one was a huge profit. After firing two shots, the two sides should have started a melee, and at this time, they should take out their swords and hack.

The vast majority of mortals were farmers without any training, so even with the blessing, it would be good if they could finish firing two shots.

What Wei Yuan truly pinned his hopes on were those cultivators who had finished Blood Merging and could reach Body Forging Great Completion after being blessed. Those who cultivated to Blood Merging basically had combat training, so Wei Yuan equipped them with larger iron pipe guns, expecting them to deal with middle-tier troop types like Poison Lizard Knights and Armored Warriors.

Battles above the Dao Foundation level would still be conducted according to each person's habitual way.

The biggest problem with gunpowder weapons was insufficient power. Wei Yuan's own two steel guns were filled with gunpowder in the barrels, and even so, the power could only cause minor injuries to the Dharma Form Realm; the effect on the Dao Foundation was considered obvious, but it also relied on Wei Yuan first using the gun to pierce the armor defense, and then the gunpowder could show some effect on the flesh.

Therefore, many flashy weapons proposed by Xu Wenwu, such as machine guns, were ignored by the high-level cultivators. No matter how high the rate of fire was, hitting a physical body like Wei Yuan's was just a massage.

But gunpowder did solve the key problem of arming mortals, it just required a large quantity.

In terms of gunpowder preparation, Ji Liuli was originally the only expert, but now there was also Sun Yu. When it came to pharmacy, although Sun Yu was not as good as the Creation Temple, he was much stronger than those who switched halfway like the Heavenly Mechanism Hall.

Sun Yu had also finished reading what Xu Wenwu wrote these past two days, and now hearing everyone discuss gunpowder for a long time, he said: "I see the principle of this gunpowder is nothing more than rapid expansion after ignition, pushing the projectile to fly and produce killing power. The more one liter of gunpowder expands, the faster it ignites, and the greater the power. If ignited by a fuse, the gunpowder has to burn from the fuse to the whole, and the expansion is a step slower. But Dao power ignition can ignite all parts of the gunpowder at the same time, the expansion is faster, and the power is greater."

Except for Ji Liuli who made the gunpowder, the others hadn't thought so carefully, and in terms of improvement, they only thought about how to proportion, how to make the particles uniform, and how to balance the physical properties.

Sun Yu added: "So if you want to increase the power, it's nothing more than greater expansion and faster burning. I pondered a formula and improved it slightly."

Sun Yu took a little gunpowder, added a spoonful of white powder, and ignited it with Dao power. With a boom, the flame sprayed directly to the roof, and the power was at least half greater than the original!

Wei Yuan's eyes lit up, but after asking for the formula, they dimmed again. This spoonful of powder contained two quite expensive medicines; just this spoonful of powder was more expensive than several shi of gunpowder. To equip tens of thousands of mortals with weapons, the gunpowder consumed would be counted in tens of thousands of jin, and even a little bit more expensive would mean a massive amount of silver flowing out.

However, Sun Yu's research on this formula was not for mortals, but purely to increase power so that gunpowder could also play a role in the Dao Foundation Realm. He readjusted the proportion, this time using a one-to-one ratio of powder to gunpowder, and the result was a direct doubling of power.

This immediately aroused everyone's interest. With this power, if Xiaoyu's hollow magic sword was filled with medicine, the power of the gunpowder alone could pierce lower-grade magic artifact armor. If it were Wei Yuan's long spear, even mid-grade armor could be pierced.

Sun Yu added: "Actually, in the final analysis, the principle of gunpowder is just how to burn faster and expand larger. If it is based on this principle, why must we use gunpowder? Can't Dao power expand? Can't magic treasures expand? There are thousands of things that can expand instantly, which can actually be regarded as gunpowder; it is the so-called 'Great Dao is simple'."

Wei Yuan felt as if he had been enlightened, his train of thought instantly broadened, and he immediately simulated it in his Dao Foundation. A moment later, he took out a golden tripod, and a pagoda tip protruded from the tripod mouth. This tripod was thin and long, looking a bit strange.

Wei Yuan pointed the tripod mouth diagonally at the roof, and with a bang, a four-fold small pagoda shot out from the tripod, blasting a large hole in the roof.

Seeing this, everyone had a fountain of strange ideas, so they dispersed and went to study on their own, not to mention.

Wei Yuan estimated that the small lake below the peak should have some scale by now, so he went down the peak to inspect it. At this time, the place where the jade bowl was placed had become a water surface of several zhang, about two feet deep, and there were already over a hundred colored stones at the bottom of the water. The water surface rippled, faintly with light flickering, and looking from afar, it was like a night-luminous lake, truly an earthly paradise.

Wei Yuan used Dao arts to turn earth into stone, built a water channel to the medicinal garden, and once the small lake was full of water, it could flow to the medicinal garden by itself.

There were also two Heavenly Star Dragon Kuis in the medicinal garden, which were considered top-grade among Dao Foundation spiritual plants. Wei Yuan originally planted both of them, one growing naturally, and the other secretly adding destiny, and then letting Xu Wenwu take care of it.

!.

Now Wei Yuan could clearly feel that the vitality of the naturally growing one was very lively and vigorous, and it should be sprouting in these few days. But the one Xu Wenwu took care of had an obscure and deep aura, and now its vitality was less than half of the naturally growing one, obviously having undergone unknown changes.

Wei Yuan didn't know if this change was good or bad, but even if it was changing in a good direction, Wei Yuan was running out of destiny from beyond the heavens.

Just as he was worrying, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something: what about the heaven and earth gift for killing the Blood Eye? Why had so much time passed, and there was no movement at all?

Although the heaven and earth gifts were all intercepted by the Azure Void, now the Azure Void was Wei Yuan, and Wei Yuan was the Azure Void; whoever got it was the same. Furthermore, the Azure Void was nourishing and advancing, and the realm was expanding, so the range of Wei Yuan's activities had also increased significantly.

Now the Azure Void Realm was 115 li, and Wei Yuan could run up to 11,000 li away at his limit, and his strength only began to decline after 5,000 li. In other words, Wei Yuan's combat power had improved throughout the entire Shattered Domain, except that he couldn't go on long journeys, he could walk sideways at his own doorstep.

The heaven and earth gift was mysterious and unpredictable; Wei Yuan knew that he couldn't be anxious and could only wait.

Several days passed in a flash, and the human offerings resold from the Xu family were also transported to the realm.

The offerings were transported in specially made horse-drawn carriages, totaling over fifty, with the carriage compartments covered so tightly that not even a breath of air could get in, and even the ventilation holes were opened at the bottom of the compartments.

When Wei Yuan arrived, Cui Yu had already led people to concentrate the carriages in an open space by the forest. This area was far from the towns where mortals lived, and no cultivators came and went, so it was very quiet.

Three of the carriage compartments had a blue mark painted on them, which was the sign of an Upper Offering.

Wei Yuan came to the carriage compartment and slashed open the compartment door with his sword. Inside the compartment were two-foot-square grids, filling one side of the compartment. Each grid contained a person, head out and feet in. In this way, a carriage compartment was filled with exactly forty people.

Everyone was lying quietly in the grids, with only weak breathing. Wei Yuan swept his spiritual sense over them and found that their sea of consciousness was almost undefended and could be entered at will. However, everyone had light in their sea of consciousness, and one could faintly see various Dao Foundations floating and sinking, but the light was dim, barely maintaining their cultivation.

This carriage was all Dao Foundation cultivators, but they were all human-rank Dao Foundations.

Wei Yuan ordered people to split open the carriage compartments and lift the people out one by one, placing them on the grass nearby. Everyone's hair and beards had been shaved off, and they only wore a short hemp shirt, with no clothes inside, and their bodies had been cleaned quite cleanly.

According to Xu Jingfeng, these people were drugged before transport and would sleep for ten days before waking up. In this way, they wouldn't make trouble on the road, and there was no need to take care of their eating and drinking. Each carriage brought two spare horses, so people rested and horses rested, and the carriage didn't stop, allowing them to be transported thousands of li in one go.

Except for the three carriages of Upper Offerings, the other offerings didn't have such good conditions; the grids were much smaller, and some burly people were almost forced in, with over sixty people stuffed into one carriage compartment. These people were also shaved of their hair and beards, cleaned, and also smeared with spices, and there was no strange smell in the carriage compartment.

From the first day he arrived in the Western Domain, Wei Yuan had heard countless times about the head business. But until this moment, looking at these people who were processed cleanly and arranged neatly, as well as the efficiency of transporting thousands of people thousands of li away at once, Wei Yuan seemed to truly see the word "business."

How many people had been transported to form such a simple and efficient procedure?

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 169 =====