Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 563 - 454 - 300 Miles Range _1

Chapter 563: Chapter 454 - 300 Miles Range _1

In the following time, Wang Yuan, as promised, cooperated wholeheartedly by mobilizing the civilians to reinforce the city walls.

——When it came to understanding the defense system of Nankou Pass, no one in this pass city had a better grasp than him.

Meanwhile, Li Xuan was both arranging the defenses and busy writing letters to the cabinet in Beijing, the Ministry of War, the Central Army Dudu’s Mansion, and the Jingtai Emperor who was fighting in Tangshan.

The saying goes that ’if your status is improper, your words won’t be heard’. Although all the army generals from the Youji General Wang Yuan down were submissive to him at this moment, complying with his every order, this was actually out of the ordinary.

For Li Xuan to issue orders to the armies as easily as he would his own hand, to rally the force of ten thousand armies, and even mobilize the human and material resources of Nankou Pass, he still needed to obtain authority from The Court.

The response from Beijing was extremely quick. Less than an hour passed after Li Xuan sent his stamped letters before a reply came.

A ’Fire-Eye Crow’ raised by the royal family flew in, turning into a streak of light, and delivered the letter jointly signed by ’Shi Lang of the Ministry of War, also a Daxueshi of Zuochun House, deputy minister of the cabinet’ Shang Hong, and ’Dudu Tongzhi, Marquis of Wuding’ Cao Yi, as well as a stamped letter of a Canjiang, all to Li Xuan’s hands.

Shilang of the Ministry of War, Shang Hong, not only appointed Li Xuan as the Canjiang of Nankou Pass but also granted him the authority over all military matters at Nankou Pass, as well as the power to mobilize manpower and resources of the cities and counties south of the pass city.

In the early Jin Dynasty, the so-called ’Zongbing’ and ’Canjiang’ were just names for missions without any official rank; they went into battle with their seals and handed them over when it ended.

It wasn’t until after Yu Jie’s military reforms following the Tumu Fort Incident, that some frontier areas started to recruit soldiers and part of the Zongbing and Canjiang became permanently stationed military officials in the Jin Dynasty.

The Ministry of War had only given Li Xuan a temporary mission to be Canjiang of Nankou Pass, without any official rank. But for Li Xuan, this was already enough.

The reply from Jingtai Emperor came a little later. The decree was brought by Princess Changle Yu Hongshang herself.

"Xuan, my father wants me to ask for your honest opinion. Can Nankou Pass truly be defended?"

This was the first thing Yu Hongshang said to Li Xuan when she saw him. Her face was pale, and her whole body’s aura was somewhat chaotic.

This was because of the Battle of Shanhai Pass. She had followed the Jingtai Emperor to snipe at Mengwu’s army, suffering for seven shichen. Consequently, the Yin-yang Counterflow that had been previously suppressed in her body had shown signs of recurrence, and she had not fully recovered until now.

"If I say it can be defended then it can be. I would not dare ask for His Majesty’s order without trust." While Li Xuan was answering, he unfolded the decree handed to him. He immediately sensed the unparalleled murderous intent within. Seeing the handwriting, he realized it was personally written by the Jingtai Emperor.

The content of the decree was similar to the Ministry of War’s letter, granting Li Xuan the authority over all soldiers and horses in Nankou Pass.

The difference was that Jingtai Emperor also gave Li Xuan the privilege to act at his discretion. He could execute the officials below the 4th-rank civil or military officials first and report later. He also handed over his own sword for Yu Hongshang to bring to Li Xuan.

Behind all these, was what Li Xuan wanted the most——The Emperor ordered Dudu Tongzhi of the Xiuyiwei, Zuo Daoxing, to lead five thousand Xiuyiwei and elite soldiers of the inner chang to reinforce Nankou. In addition to this, there was also a large amount of military equipment from the Bingzhang Institute in the inner palace.

The Xiuyiwei and inner chang were similar to the Liudao Division. They had strong individual combat capability, but they were not well versed in the array.

It would be a disaster if they were to be used in an array, easily crushed by one wave of the Mongolian Iron Cavalry. But they were all experts when it came to defending the city.

This emperor was much more straightforward and clear than the cabinet and the Ministry of War. He was also very firm and decisive. The Ministry of War had only given him a title of Canjiang of Nankou Pass, Li Xuan hadn’t received any of the military equipment or manpower he wanted.

In contrast, Jingtai Emperor spared no efforts.

This caused Li Xuan’s eyes to light up slightly and his morale to double:"Shang’er, when will the seven thousand firelock rifles written in this letter arrive?"

"They will be brought over by the left Dudu. They’re already on their way."

Yu Hongshang took a light breath, then brought a five-foot-long knife to Li Xuan: "This is the sword my father asked me to bring to you."

At first, Li Xuan didn’t pay attention to it, thinking it was just an ordinary Shangfang Sword.

There were more than a hundred swords stored in ’Shangfang’ by the royal family. On normal days, two or three dozens of them were given to the ministers to use.

But when Li Xuan took a closer look, he found that this ’Shangfang Sword’ was shaped like a Tangdao, but the scabbard was exceptionally long.

Moreover, within this weapon, there was an incredibly sharp and intense Qi of Gengjin.

"Shangfang Zhanmajian?"

Surprise appeared in Li Xuan’s eyes.

He knew that the shape of the Shangfang Swords forged in each dynasty was different. The earliest name of the Shangfang Sword was Shangfang Zhanmajian, and the Shangfang swords before the Han and Tang Dynasties were all in the form of knives.

What surprised Li Xuan was not this, but the fact that this precious sword was an immortal soldier!

"Its name is ’Kaiyuan’, said to be an immortal soldier forged by the order of Xuan Emperor of Tang. It’s also an Emperor’s sword, and it’s currently the weapon of my father."

Yu Hongshang’s voice turned serious: "He said he trusts you."

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan immediately looked solemn and reverently took the sword into his hands.

First, he drew this ’sword’ that was styled like a knife halfway. The sharp aura that was released was indeed extraordinarily incisive.

Then, Li Xuan tried to gather the ’force of ten thousand armies’ with this sword. Immediately, a grand force enveloped his body, and smoke and the scent of blood curled around him.

Inside his ’Wuqu Pojun’, there is the remnant spirit of Ji Gang, the fourth commander of the Xiuyiwei. His ability to control power is more than ten times stronger than that of ’Master Feng’ Lin Ziyang.

Back then, Lin Ziyang led an army of 20,000 but was unable to step into the threshold of the False Heavenly Position. Li Xuan, on the other hand, has only over 10,000 troops, but is already able to conjure strength close to the ’heavenly level’.

This is also related to the more elite army at Nankou Pass. Whether it’s the 3,500 cavalries brought by Li Xuan, or the thousands of border troops stationed at Nankou Pass, their combat power is incomparable to the southern soldiers under Lin Ziyang.

It is expected that after the reinforcements from the Baoding Government and the 5,000 troops commanded by Zuo Daoxing arrive, this ’Power of Ten Thousand Armies’ can rise again.

Shortly after this, Xue Yunrou and Jiang Yunqi also arrived together.

The successive arrival of these three ’Heavenly level’ fighters also cheered up the inside army.

Even Master Lingjie of Jingjue Temple was much more reassured, thinking that although the Marquis of Jingan is savage, his influence and power is unusual, especially the powerful female cultivators around him; they come one after another.

When Xue Yunrou piloted the shuttle into the city, Li Xuan, Luo Yan, Yu Hongchang and others were watching Leng Yurou assembling parts on top of the hill.

In addition to doing it herself, Leng Yurou also commanded ’Kongque Qianji’ and ’Fumo Vajra’ to help.

It’s as if they were functioning like work robots, with highly accurate movements of the two Organ Puppets.

Li Xuan also wanted to help, but Leng Yurou found him clumsy and told him to just stand by and watch.

At this point, the ’Super Electromagnetic Cannon’ was starting to take shape, a barrel measuring fifteen meters was pointed towards the sky.

The barrel was overall gray-black, with dark red runes engraved on it, like coiling dragons.

Underneath the barrel was a huge array.

Leng Yurou could design and build accelerators and rail guns, but not the batteries or unipolar generators needed for the electromagnetic cannon.

But these can be replaced by arrays. Leng Yurou had someone design a huge ’Jiuxiao Thunder Array’, which is divided into 173 array disk modules, and they can be assembled together during use.

This ’Jiuxiao Thunder Array’ can not only extract the Power of Thunder between heaven and earth but can also store electricity.

At this moment, there were lines of red thunderbolt, writhing inside like thunder snakes.

"Is this the electromagnetic cannon you mentioned?"

Xue Yunrou flew to Li Xuan’s side. She looked at the gun barrel shining with cold light, her eyes filled with curiosity: "Can this thing really shoot down Zhang Guanlan’s Yunzhong warship?"

As the former Heavenly Master Qianyuan is her family’s sworn enemy, Xue Yunrou was extra concerned.

"Yurou tested it out at Peacock Manor, the range is 350 miles. As for the power..."

Li Xuan looked up at the sky: "She isn’t a Thunder Style cultivator, and can’t unleash the full power of this electromagnetic cannon. But at that time, one shot was able to blast through a wall five feet thick and fifteen layers deep 300 miles away. Five of those layers were made of Vajra rock and the rest of the ten layers each had three layers of steel plates."

Immediately raising her eyebrows in surprise, Xue Yunrou thought this penetrating power was impressive. It was more than enough to severely damage the Yunzhong warship 300 miles away, and her eyes also revealed her expectation: "So what about the firing speed?"

The key is the firing speed, if the speed is not enough, no matter how powerful it is, it’s useless.

The shells of the five Yunzhong warships are enough to give even the Heavenly level fighters a hard time intercepting them. And it’s fifteen shots at a time, leaving the Jingtai Emperor helpless.

Li Xuan estimated slightly and then spoke: "The muzzle velocity should be three times that of your Nine Heavens Ten Earths Pimo Divine Shuttle."

That is, 150 machs, reaching 50 kilometers per second.

In his world, this was unimaginable, the electromagnetic cannons of the Lighthouse Nation were only 11 kilometers per second. But in this mysterious world, it can be achieved with the help of the array.

This also has to do with the shell forged by Leng Yurou. The Wind Walking Talisman embedded on it allows it to ignore most of the air resistance; the piercing talisman on the shellhead gives it unparalleled penetration.

"Three times? Really?" Xue Yunrou was just speaking when she heard a faintly roaring sound coming from afar.

Li Xuan’s expression tightened immediately, and he took out a telescope to survey the sky.

Based on the sound, the distance from here should be at least 300 miles, so the ’Tao-protecting Eyes’ are useless.

But relying on this twelve-fold telescope in his hand, along with Li Xuan’s own Spirit Eye, he was still able to observe the general scene 300 miles away.

He searched in the air for a moment, and finally found the traces of the five Yunzhong Warships.

These five ships were 320 miles away, at a height of eighteen thousand zhang (Chinese unit of length).

Considering the distance, those Yunzhong gunships should have broken through Badaling and were bombing the city walls of Shangguan City.

At the bow of the ship, a burst of fire flashed, cannon fire roared, and fifteen cannonballs of immense power were fired.

What Li Xuan didn’t know was that at the time he was observing the five Yunzhong warships, on one of the ships, several people were also overlooking the ’Nankou Pass’ from a high position.