It was what would have been the thirty-eighth year of Zhaoning.
By this time, the Tang imperial house had already shrunk back into the palace, forbidden from stepping half a foot outside. The imperial capital was occupied by Southern Qi, and the King of Qi had already renamed the dynasty to Tang; his posthumous temple name would surely be either Gaozu or Taizu.
Meanwhile, the King of Jin of Southern Jin had abdicated, and Master Huaipu took the throne, changing the dynastic name to Song and styling himself Mingzu, the Bright Ancestor.
Li Zhi had not yet declared himself king, continuing to campaign under his title as Military Commissioner of Zhenshan, leading the world to dub him the Mountain King.
That year, Li Zhi dealt Southern Jin a crushing defeat, wiping out five hundred thousand men in a single battle and capturing eight hundred thousand, leaving only a few tens of thousands to flee back to the Southern Jin capital. Master Huaipu flew into a thunderous rage, beheading every officer who returned and assigning all surviving soldiers to death-sworn battalions. Across the entire court, not a single person spoke up to dissuade him; the civil officials of Confucian background all felt it served them right.
Sun Weike, the only one who might have had a word to say, lay bedridden at home, gravely wounded beyond recovery.
Li Zhi gathered up the captured soldiers and promptly organized several hundred thousand of them into the Zhenshan Army, swelling his force back to two million. He personally led a primary force of one million to lay siege to the Southern Jin capital. Within the capital remained a million imperial guards alongside several hundred thousand troops hurriedly mustered from across the realm, yet their morale was rock bottom, and they lacked food and clothing.
The famous and veteran generals of the court were all deployed on the northern front facing Southern Qi.
In truth, not one of these generals was willing to face Li Zhi; they vastly preferred to confront Southern Qi's elite troops and ferocious champions. The foremost reason was that Southern Qi, though strong, fought within reason. The willpower of the Zhenshan Army, by contrast, defied all logic.
The Zhenshan Army would not break with ten percent casualties; it would not break with thirty percent; it would not break even with fifty, sixty, seventy, or eighty percent losses. In many localized engagements, positions were lost only when the very last soldier fell.
This placed crushing psychological pressure on every general who faced the Zhenshan Army. When the opposing side would fight to the death without retreating regardless of casualties while one's own side was on the verge of collapse at any second, how could such a battle be fought?
Having arrived before the capital, Li Zhi grew unhurried instead. The Jin capital had been cultivated and fortified for nearly two thousand years; its walls were high and thick, its grand formations profound and formidable, allowing no rushed assault. Li Zhi erected encampments to press upon the city while sweeping away any forces from the surrounding lands that dared to come to the sovereign's rescue. Meanwhile, Sun Chao'en managed the rear, funneling a steady stream of recruits, provisions, and ammunition to the front. He also organized a formidable force to fight westward along the border, aiming to open a land corridor to Qingming.
***
At that very moment, Wei Yuan stood deep within the mountain territory. Floating before him were two boundary stones, and he needed to choose one as the cornerstone for the second node city, which would also serve as the core of the entire arc-shaped defensive line.
Both boundary stones possessed two divine wonders, their quality nearly indistinguishable. One was an Earth-phase boundary stone. Its first wonder was the ability to bless the boundary city and its inhabitants with Earth-phase power, enhancing defense. Its second was the ability to siphon the Earth-phase power from the territory's surroundings to replenish its own reserves.
These two divine wonders complemented each other: siphoning external Earth-phase power would noticeably weaken the Mountain Folk, while channeling another wonder would reinforce one's own side—a true unity of offense and defense. Placed here to directly face the pressure of the Mountain Folk, nothing could be more fitting.
The other boundary stone also held two divine wonders: first, gathering the surrounding earthly forces to generate new earth veins; second, continuously elevating the quality of existing earth veins. In other words, planting this boundary stone would ensure an endless supply of high-grade, bountiful mineral resources.
The surrounding cultivators all believed the first stone, "Panshan," to be the most suitable. The second, "Primordial Earth," lacked offensive and defensive capabilities and offered no aid in warding off the Mountain Folk.
Once all the cultivators had voiced their opinions, Wei Yuan smiled faintly and lowered "Primordial Earth" into the ground, laying the foundation of the second city.
The moment Primordial Earth touched the ground, rolling clouds of sand and dust immediately rose all around, and deep-yellow Earth-phase qi converged toward it. As the boundary expanded, layers of Earth-phase qi transformed into waves of dust and mist, surging in layer after layer and merging into the territory. A new earth vein took form at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the existing earth veins were constantly purified, rising in quality.
Wei Yuan's choice took everyone by surprise. He looked around and said, "Do not forget what Qingming relies upon to overcome its enemies. We do not rely on one or two fortified cities, nor do we rely on a few invincible battalions of offense and defense. What we will rely on in the future is a never-ending supply of war chariots, endless flying swords, more Golden Cores than the enemy has Dao foundations, and countless ordinary folk who can lecture at the academies.
"If we view this place as a frontier, then Panshan would be a fine choice. But if this place is to be a regional center, or even the deep rear, then Primordial Earth is the only choice."
This place lay twenty thousand li from the City of Five Peaks and nearly thirty thousand li from Qingming, even farther from Yizhou. Yet a location planted so deep in the heart of foreign lands was, in Wei Yuan's mind, not a front line at all, but the rear. Only now did the surrounding cultivators gain some grasp of the grand territory mapped out in Wei Yuan's heart.
Once Primordial Earth was established, well-practiced plans were ready for the subsequent construction: countless floating barges arrived in rapid succession, and a city began to rise from the earth.
Meanwhile, in Qingming, another of Wei Yuan's avatars stood before a colossal, newly completed immortal skyship, gazing up at the mountain-like titan.
Beside him, Yu Zhizhuo personally introduced it: "This vessel is five hundred zhang long, fifty zhang high, and eighty zhang wide, capable of traveling thirty thousand li a day. In a single voyage, it can transport an army of one hundred thousand. If used entirely for cargo, it can carry five hundred thousand tons. An immortal skyship of this scale is unprecedented. Factoring in the sheer workload, even if the nine states of Great Tang in the past had mobilized the full might of their nations, it would have taken more than thirty years to construct just one.
"Yet here in Qingming, an initial batch of four was laid down simultaneously. After this one, the remaining three can be finished within half a year. Then we can begin cutting materials for the next batch of four."
Looking upon the mountain-like skyship, Wei Yuan could only sigh in admiration: "A mighty instrument of state!"
For a colossus of this scale, many were not needed; once this first batch of four was completed, it would suffice to support Qingming's war across the mountain territory.
***
Within the immortal city, Wei Yuan, clad in a dark robe lined with red, sat high in the grand hall, discussing recent trade with the Shaman Clan alongside a gathering of civil officials. A Nascent Soul cultivator who appeared barely in his thirties reported, "The Shaman Clan has submitted a new request. A portion of their military supply payments for this cycle might be delayed by a few months."
Wei Yuan asked, "A deferred payment? Have they shown any willingness to relent on the immortal materials they refused to sell us?"
"No, the embargoed items remain the same."
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before speaking: "It seems the Shaman Clan is nearing its limits as well. Inform the Shaman Clan that we will raise our purchasing price for flesh and blood essence by ten percent, and drop a quiet hint that we will no longer inspect what sort of flesh and blood essence it is."
The civil officials all exchanged meaningful looks. This was, in truth, encouraging the Shaman Clan to sell the flesh and blood essence of their own people. Previously, at Tianyu's request, Wei Yuan had refused to purchase flesh and blood essence from the Shaman Clan itself. What Tianyu had feared was that once this floodgate was opened, the Shaman Clan nobility would deliberately send slave soldiers and lower-caste commoners to their deaths.
Wei Yuan had originally agreed and strictly enforced the restriction. But ever since Jiumu had intervened to obstruct his ascension, Wei Yuan's stance had softened; from time to time, lesser Shaman nobles secretly sold the flesh and blood essence of their own kind, and Wei Yuan turned a blind eye.
Now that the Shaman Clan was encountering difficulties in paying for their military supplies, Wei Yuan simply seized this opportunity to lift all restrictions entirely.
Chapter 1478