Chapter 558: Take the Initiative to Attack

Wei Yuan didn't explain it clearly, but Zhang Sheng knew that there was something wrong with this Dharma Form, so she didn't continue to ask.

She watched here for a while, and suddenly flew out an Immortal Sword Pseudo-Sun, nailing it to the Nether Iron wall. Then Zhang Sheng waved her hand again, and flew out seven more Immortal Sword Pseudo-Suns, forming a circle, and inserted them into the Nether Iron wall.

The pseudo-suns only inserted a little bit, barely maintaining not falling, and then Zhang Sheng pointed her finger, and a sword array diagram was added to the eight pseudo-suns, connecting them into one. With the addition of the sword array, the eight swords became one, and the power increased greatly.

Zhang Sheng's pseudo-sun quality was much higher than Wei Yuan's original version. With eight swords as one, a golden-red Solar True Fire ignited in the center of the sword array.

Zhang Sheng's use of the sword array had already reached perfection; she actually generated a Solar True Fire not weaker than Xiaoyu's with only eight pseudo-suns. Wei Yuan's eyes were bright, and he remembered the structure of the sword array, preparing to make a few Solar True Fires to play with when he went back.

The grade of this Solar True Fire was chasing the Dragon Eagle's Southern Brightness Separation Fire, and the Dragon Eagle couldn't help but glance at it a few more times.

Under the burning of the Solar True Fire, the Nether Iron soon softened, Zhang Sheng raised her hand to take the Fei Ye Zhu Xian Sword, and dug it casually, digging out a cylindrical Nether Iron.

At this time, Zhang Sheng didn't dig anymore, but pointed to the pile of Nether Iron waiting to be transported in the corner of the room and said: "This pile of Nether Iron is already hundreds of thousands of jin, and it's not enough to use just these. Why put energy and manpower on this? It's better to use it on how to deal with the Shaman tribe."

Wei Yuan explained: "I was moved here by the Shaman tribe's secret method. The Shaman tribe's intention was to suppress and kill me, or at least block the path to the Nether Cold Realm, so that I couldn't explore at will. So if I don't dig out, there is no freedom. And we should be in the kingdom of some One You Wu now; once we find the path, we will go to war."

Zhang Sheng said: "One You Wu kingdom? Then we really need to be cautious. But this environment doesn't look like it's in the One You Wu kingdom; it's similar to your Human World Fireworks."

Wei Yuan pointed to an Immortal Orchid in the corner and said: "It seems to be exceptionally adapted to the environment here, and it has expanded a realm on its own, replacing the original kingdom."

Zhang Sheng frowned and said: "The kingdom is the One You Wu Primordial Spirit. In this way, this One You Wu must have already noticed it; we must be on guard."

While speaking, Zhang Sheng always felt that the Immortal Orchid looked somewhat familiar, so she reached out and touched it; the feeling was also somewhat familiar, but she didn't know where she had touched it. The Immortal Orchid was trembling, wanting to escape from this natural enemy, but didn't dare to really escape from the ground. In such a small place, it had nowhere to escape.

Fortunately, Zhang Sheng had no interest in the Immortal Orchid, looked at the surroundings, pondered, and said: "This kind of Nether Iron is not something that even One You Wu can dig easily. I will try to see how thick it is."

Zhang Sheng shot a sword Qi at the Nether Iron wall, which rang with a "ding," possessing extreme penetrating power. But she listened intently and didn't hear an echo.

Zhang Sheng set up four immortal swords on the ground, added a sword array, and flicked her finger, and the four swords rang at the same time, overlapping and amplifying layer by layer.

Wei Yuan's head was slightly dizzy, and several Dao Foundation warriors who were working fell down one after another. This time Zhang Sheng finally waited for a response; she drew on the ground with her sword, calculated silently for a moment, and said: "The mountain wall is at least fifty zhang thick; dig slowly. If you want to open a path to get out quickly, it's better to dig Nether Crystals underground."

Wei Yuan said: "This Nether Mountain doesn't look like a natural object; I suspect it was slowly cultivated by One You Wu over thousands of years. So if I dig more, that One You Wu will be weakened by a bit. The environment here is harsh; is the teacher still adapted?"

"My dozen or so cold-attribute magic swords are slowly improving their quality here; it won't be long before an earth-rank flying sword appears."

Regarding Zhang Sheng's Dao Foundation, Wei Yuan had some doubts and asked: "Why does the teacher refine so many low-rank immortal swords? Why not have fewer in number and improve the overall quality? At least have one immortal foundation!"

Zhang Sheng smiled and said: "I got this realization from your Dharma Form. A sword, no matter how good it is, always has an end; at the peak, every small step forward requires a hundred or a thousand times the price paid before. But quantity is different; as long as you can afford it, you can increase as many as you want. So the righteous path is actually winning by quantity.

For this teacher to have these five hundred immortal swords, I dare not say that there is no one after me, at least there is no one before me. When refining to the sixty-fourth sword, I also hesitated whether to have an immortal foundation. But if I wanted it, I would stop at sixty-four. Actually, this is not difficult to choose; quantity is definitely first. If I throw out five hundred human-rank flying swords, even a Dharma Form will have to flee."

Wei Yuan also understood the truth that too much is as bad as too little. Zhang Sheng then said: "This place is very good for my Dao Foundation; I will sit here, and you go busy with military affairs."

Wei Yuan exhorted her to be careful and not to be brave, and so on, until Zhang Sheng was annoyed, and then he returned to Qingming.

At this time in the Rain Kingdom, Grandmaster Hongye had sent away a group of unkind Shamans, and at this time gathered all the subordinate One You Wu and several important Great Shamans, and was discussing the war.

Grandmaster Hongye played all the relevant war images again and then said: "A small Qingming can block our military edge; it was truly unexpected. They have heavy armor, and we have heavy armor too! From now on, conscript all armor casters, weapon refiners, and iron-forging craftsmen in the country, go to the front line, and go all out to forge heavy armor.

I want to see what a small territory can compare with my Rain Kingdom!"

Grandmaster Hongye spoke domineeringly, but in reality, the Shamans were somewhat uneasy. Although Qingming was small, it did block the Rain Kingdom's army, and Wei Yuan only received the support of tens of thousands of troops from the Zhenshan Realm, while the human Tang Kingdom and Zhao Guo were all watching the war without moving.

Obviously, they wouldn't really stay still forever; as long as the Shaman tribe showed signs of decline, or Qingming was about to be defeated, they would definitely intervene.

The Shamans had no objections, and the matter was settled. Half a day later, a large number of Shaman craftsmen were forcibly conscripted and escorted to the front line.

In the Political Affairs Hall of Western Jin, a sand table map was placed in the center of the hall. This was a treasure, and at this moment, the displayed terrain was Qingming, which would manifest on the map by itself after inputting all war data.

At this moment, the two sides were fighting fiercely on the map, and Prince Jin and a group of ministers were watching with full concentration. The battle image was a ten-thousand-man heavy armored warrior unit, advancing in formation, hitting the Shaman tribe with a barrage of fire, causing heavy casualties, pushing step by step into the depths of the Shaman army's battle line, until the Shaman army's morale collapsed.

(No errors in the original text!)

It was not until a great battle ended that Prince Jin breathed a sigh of relief and said: "This Wei Yuan is truly a genius of the world; such a strict military formation, I have only seen a few times in my life."

At this time, the Minister of War came out and played: "Holy King, as far as I know, many of these soldiers were refugees not long ago. Qingming

At this moment, the Minister of War stepped out and reported: "Your Majesty, according to what I know, many of these soldiers were refugees until recently. Qingming's population has only expanded significantly in the last year, so these soldiers have been trained for no more than a year at most. In less than a year, what kind of elite troops could they possibly be?

Therefore, I believe that this victory was won because of the muskets and the tactics. We have heavy armor, and now we have muskets too, and our soldiers are better trained than those in Qingming."

Prince Jin slowly said: "So, in your opinion, we can also win like this?"

The Minister of War loudly said: "If Wei Yuan can win, how could we possibly not win!"

Prince Jin nodded and said: "That makes sense. What does Prince Cheng think?"

Beside him, Prince Cheng sat motionless and said: "I think the Minister of War is right. The three new armies in the north have been training for half a year; what is there to practice with muskets? Beyond a hundred paces, you don't even know where the shots are flying. It mainly relies on concentrated fire and orderly formations. As for shooting, anyone can learn it in a few days.

Using musket formations to break cavalry—Wei Yuan already demonstrated this once before with Yue Jinshan's Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry. If we copy them, surely we can learn it, right?

So, this Prince believes it is time to take the initiative and teach the Liao tribe a lesson. Prince Ying trains his troops every day but never uses them; then what is the point of having these troops?"

The officials echoed his sentiments one after another. The reasoning was the same: since the Shaman tribe's elite were no match for the army Wei Yuan had trained in such a rush, the Liao tribe, who were being suppressed by the Shaman army, were even less of a match. The so-called new army led by Prince Ying was actually composed of battle-hardened veterans, with greater numbers and better equipment—how could they not win?

As the officials spoke, the topic drifted, and they began to mention some of Prince Ying's old affairs, implicitly accusing him of fearing battle and perhaps harboring treasonous intentions.

With things having reached this point, Prince Jin no longer hesitated. He drafted an imperial decree ordering Prince Ying to take the initiative and extinguish the Liao people's arrogance. At the same time, Prince Jin sent a copy of the Qingming battle footage to Prince Ying. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the meaning was already very clear:

Look at them, and then look at yourself!

Several days later, an urgent report came from the north: Prince Ying had led fifty thousand new troops north to fight a decisive battle against eighty thousand Liao iron cavalry south of Wolf Mountain, and the entire army was wiped out.

(End of chapter)