Dasiming then took out several Qiankun bags and threw them to Yu Jianshen, "In addition, I have brought from the Outer Taixu 12,000 rune flintlock musket rifles and over eighty pieces of field artillery. They are all replicas of Jin Dynasty’s modern firearms, and they’re all inside these bags."
The expression on Yu Jianshen’s face, however, slightly disappointed, "Only 12,000 rifles?"
Added to what he already had in hand, it amounted to no more than 35,000 rifles. Yet the Jingying Forbidden Army, along with the army of Weisuo, had up to 500,000 flintlock musket rifles.
It was said that Shenqi Union was now supplying the Court with firearms at a rate of 200,000 rifles per year, including the even more powerful ’Weixin Type II’.
Dasiming was equally troubled by this production rate.
There were nurous mines in the Outer Taixu and many craftsn. The several lords she had contacted were also willing to aid Prince Yi’s army in Xi’an, in order to suppress the ever-growing influence of Jin Dynasty and Li Xuan.
Theoretically, their costs and production capacity should have been superior to that of Shenqi Union.
Yet to this day, the craftsn from the Outer Taixu still couldn’t grasp how Shenqi Union managed to manufacture firearms on such a large scale, nor how they forged so many high-strength alloy gun barrels, as well as how they reduced the cost to less than 600 silver yuan each.
They were also unable to investigate further, as Shenqi Union concentrated the essential casting processes in Tianjin.
With Tianao standing guard and Luo Yan’s "Xinling" rule in place, their several attempts to probe had resulted in losses of both n and material.
However, Dasiming’s face remained inscrutable as she shook her head slightly, "They are working to improve their craftsmanship and studying copying techniques. I believe that within a maximum of half a year, the production capacity will increase. And for now, our army doesn’t need to confront the Court head-on; for the purposes of defending the city, this should be sufficient."
She pointed in the direction behind her, "We can lure the elite Jin Army into Xi’an and let them shed every last drop of blood in street combat, and also capture a great many firearms from them."
At the ti, behind them, the streets and barricades of Xi’an City stood prominently, filled with a great number of sturdy bunkers and various statues of Buddha throughout.
Prince Yi, Yu Jianshen, hesitated slightly, "But this trap was originally prepared for Li Xuan."
Dasiming’s face turned imperceptibly gloomier, "Let’s first repel the Court’s large army. If we can lure and kill Shaofu Yu Jie, it will also be like cutting off one of their arms. As for Li Xuan, we have other thods."
Yu Jianshen thought there was no other choice and then curiously asked, "Your Highness, Palace Master, may I know how things are in Yunnan Luchuan?"
One of the greatest taboos in city defense is having no external reinforcents.
Currently, Yu Jianshen’s only hope lay with Luchuan. He hoped that the Luchuan Tu Division could divert more of the Court’s attention.
But now, his grasp on intelligence from the outside world had once again been weakened, preventing him from controlling the state of the battle over in Luchuan.
"The situation there is still alright, Jin Dynasty’s 350,000-strong army of Weisuo is still locked in battle with them, and they remain unable to claim victory," she responded.
The expression on Dasiming’s face grew even more awkward.
The truth was that Jin Dynasty had also adopted the strategy of ’rotational warfare’ in Yunnan, constantly deploying the Weisuo army in rotation, exhausting the Luchuan Tu Division’s manpower bit by bit.
Dasiming knew that the Luchuan Tu Division initially planned to spread an epidemic in Yunnan to decimate the Jin army.
However, Li Xuan had obtained sothing called ’Golden Chicken Nashuang’ from Nanyang, which had miraculous effects on treating malaria.
Furthermore, those Weisuo military commanders, eager to please Prince Fenyang, regarded the "FenYang Army Book" handed down by him as an absolute standard.
They refused to drink water in the lands of Yunnan unless it was boiled, and they would spread a large amount of quickli around their camps. Inside the camps, they would regularly fumigate with mugwort.
Consequently, the nurous attempts by Luchuan failed, resulting in their own deaths from dysentery, amounting to thousands.
Dasiming estimated that Luchuan would not be able to hold out much longer; they would likely collapse within one or two years.
The Si’s Tu Division of Luchuan had completely lost the trust of their people, and only because Prince Fenyang was deceitful, wanting to exhaust the population of the Si’s Tu Division to death, he consistently refused to accept their surrender, sustaining the standoff.
However, if this war continued to drag on, the incensed populations under the Yunnan Tu Division would surely not endure it.
Sooner or later, they would kill all their leaders and tribal division heads, simply wishing to beco submissive citizens of Jin Dynasty.
Dasiming knew that the local nobility of Tu Division in Yunnan and Guizhou had been scared silent by the military might of the Court.
Last year, she was still able to exchange so food there, providing support to Luchuan Si’s Tu Division. But now, she could not obtain even a single grain of rice.
Just then, Prince Yi Yu Jianshen beca montarily dazed, his puzzled gaze drifting into the distance, "What is that?"
He noticed that from the enemy’s camp, a total of two hundred and eighty strange large vehicles had begun to erge.
Their bodies were covered head to toe in heavy steel, and although there were no animals in front to pull them, they could move forward at a pace not inferior to ox carts.
Atop these steel war chariots billowed black smoke, with a large cannon at the front that could fire while on the move.
Beneath were five pairs of steel wheels and iron tracks, which seed to effortlessly traverse the ruin-strewn, complex terrain littered with heaps of rubble and gaping holes as if on flat ground, disregarding the deep pits and trenches as if they were nothing.
Following them, a large number of Forbidden Army Soldiers advanced.
The military generals of Prince Yi’s army, without waiting for Yu Jianshen’s orders, began to spontaneously organize fire from artillery and firearms against these steel war chariots.
However, the outco caused Prince Yi Yu Jianshen’s face to turn pale, as their bullets were completely ineffective against the steel war chariots. Even the heavy artillery could, at most, smash shallow pits into the chariots and fail to destroy them.
Under the cover of these two hundred and eighty steel war chariots, a full nine thousand Forbidden Army Soldiers were able to safely breach the city walls and occupy a nearby area of land.
They did not advance further, but instead began to dig trenches and fortifications, using the steel plates they had brought with them to construct permanent positions and artillery emplacents, covering for more Jin Army troops to enter the city.
At this ti, both Yu Jianshen’s and Dasiming’s expressions had turned slightly pale with the realization that their street-fighting tactics might not be effective.
Dasiming’s expression turned even gloomier, as she had been more guarded against Li Xuan’s Taixu Battleships and had even conspired with the Changsheng Emperor of the South and Randeng to develop counterasures.
If Li Xuan dared to deploy the Taixu Battleships against the defenses of Xi’an, they were confident they could destroy over half of his fleet.
The Taixu Battleships are difficult to deal with in the Outer Void largely because of their high cruising speed—a single breath could cover a distance of fifty li.
In such circumstances, they were difficult to be accurately hit by long-range weapons.
But in the mortal realm, as long as they made thorough preparations, they could completely destroy those Taixu Battleships one by one using the twenty-four Dinghai Pearls of Randeng Buddha, in combination with the corresponding Arrays, and with the power of several Emperors.
Yet the appearance of these steel war chariots was beyond Dasiming’s expectations.
However, before Dasiming could co up with a plan to break the situation, Wenshifei, the lord of Zii Palace, brought her news that made her heart tremble even more.
"Palace Master!"
The face of Wenshifei was grave as still waters, "Strange events have occurred at Li Mountain, Li Xuan leads fifty-seven Taixu Battleships, and one hundred and eighty thousand heavenly soldiers and armored warriors, surrounding the northern foot of Li Mountain!"
Dasiming’s mood suddenly beca as somber as ice.
She knew why Li Xuan had co, he had already discovered the location of the "Book of Jinque".
Dasiming knew that this day was inevitable, but her mood was still at an all-ti low.
Li Mountain was to the east of Lintong City, rely a hundred li away from Xi’an City.
Dasiming glanced in the direction of Li Mountain and sighed softly, clasping her hands together in a respectful salute towards the depths of the city, "I ask the two great Buddhas to accompany to Li Mountain to help eliminate this great demon scourge."
"The Princess’s request puts us in a difficult position," ca the response.
At that mont, a Buddha with a broad face, large ears, and a round belly, wearing a warm smile, appeared on the city wall.
He held a gourd in his hand, drinking from it while shaking his head, "All our preparations were made within Xi’an City, and furthermore, it’s said that even Gouchen and Kunpeng have fallen to the might of the Mysterious Yellow Emperor."
His implication was that slaying demons and defending the faith was easier said than done,
Leaving Xi’an to engage in battle with Li Xuan at the northern foot of Li Mountain was too risky.
Dasiming, expressionless, said, "The two great Buddhas do not know, the Book of Jinque has been hidden by in Li Mountain. Once it falls into Li Xuan’s hands, the consequences will be dire."
The amiable Buddha was montarily stunned, his smile gradually stiffening.
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