Wei Yuan stood quietly, his eyes fixed on the ground three inches ahead of his toes, motionless.
Immortal Monarch Yanshi was silent for a moment, let out a heavy snort, muttered, "Take care of yourself," and vanished.
Wei Yuan was utterly bewildered, unable to fathom why Immortal Monarch Yanshi had suddenly grown upset. He turned to Ji Liuli and asked, "Why is the Patriarch angry?"
Feng Tingyu also asked, "Why can't the Patriarch stand the sight of Wei Yuan?"
The two asked almost at the same time, and then every eye landed on Wei Yuan. Ji Liuli snorted and said, "It would be a miracle if the Patriarch actually liked the look of him!"
Immortal Monarch Yanshi had departed in a hurry, leaving Wei Yuan no time to discuss dispatching troops to the Northern Mountain Gate. Even so, Wei Yuan had already pondered the matter for months and drafted a complete contingency plan; it could be deferred no longer.
Seizing the opportunity of Immortal Monarch Yanshi's visit to transform Qingming into a treasure land, Wei Yuan finally made up his mind to march on the Northern Mountain Gate and reclaim the lost territory!
When Immortal Monarch Yanshi departed, he left his flying boat behind. Wei Yuan brought Yu Zhizhuo aboard and began thoroughly studying its various mechanisms.
This was an ordinary flying boat of the Palace of Grand Beginning, thirty zhang in overall length. Its structure and formations were not complex; the Hall of Heavenly Craft held complete blueprints for ordinary flying boats as well as refining methods for spirit treasure flying boats. It was merely that the necessary materials and formation diagrams were hard to come by, meaning even this ordinary vessel was equivalent to a large magic treasure and quite costly.
After inspecting every corner of the flying boat's interior, Wei Yuan conferred with Yu Zhizhuo and the cultivator tasked with piloting the craft. They decided to dismantle the partitions in the lower cabins to make room for massive cargo crates.
Afterward, Wei Yuan loaded ten cannons and fifty thousand shells into the vessel. Burdened to its limit, the flying boat set out ahead of the rest toward the Northern Mountain Gate.
Wei Yuan then chartered three large flying boats from merchant guilds and requisitioned two more from the Palace of Grand Beginning, assembling enough transport for five thousand troops and their full gear to head for the Northern Mountain Gate.
Under normal circumstances, five flying boats could carry twenty thousand men, and Wei Yuan had initially assumed they would be more than sufficient. To his surprise, when departure arrived, he discovered that the First Army's equipment and supplies were extraordinarily voluminous—and this was before even loading military provisions.
In the end, the five flying boats transported only five thousand warriors. The arms and ammunition for each warrior weighed nearly twice as much as the man himself, and together with the accompanying infantry guns, they packed the vessels completely full.
Wei Yuan stayed behind in Qingming to continue handling various affairs. With Qingming expanding so rapidly, every cultivator was frantically busy.
Old Daoist Chuhe worked day and night without rest, scouring every corner of Qingming to survey new farmland while searching for his adoptive father along the way.
Yu Zhizhuo was away from Qingming during this period, having just departed for Red Sand Oasis. A small mineral vein had recently been discovered underground there, and Yu Zhizhuo needed to assess its potential.
Raw silk flowed steadily from Western Jin into Qingming, while return trips carried away machine brocade. Over half the brocade shops across the eight commanderies had collapsed, leaving the artisans abandoned and forcing them to switch trades.
Thanks to Qingming's purchasing power, silk prices stayed persistently high. Although grain prices also hovered high, so long as silk prices did not fall, farmers and major clans continued converting arable fields into mulberry groves.
Even the most stubborn, such as the Mi family, had quietly converted several thousand mu into mulberry groves after their family head was ambushed at Hanyang Pass and killed by horse bandits, going so far as to plant every single mu with ice mulberry.
With that change, the new family head suddenly realized he was earning more than ever before. He promptly closed all his brocade shops and began purchasing land on a massive scale to grow mulberries and raise silkworms.
Once everything in Qingming was on track, Wei Yuan dispatched several more flying boats in succession. Calculating that the first detachment was nearing the Northern Mountain Gate, he brought out a small flying craft and took the cultivators along toward the north.
Up north at this time, spring was just filling the land, and fresh sprouts were breaking ground everywhere.
After Wei Yuan touched down, an armored Daoist stepped forward to greet him, bowing respectfully. "Greetings, Senior Brother Wei! I am He Fang, currently commanding the Seventh Garrison of Dao Soldiers. By order of the True Monarch, I have come to assist you. Your defense sector has already been demarcated. Please come with me; military matters can only be examined in the vanguard grand hall."
Wei Yuan returned the bow. "Please lead the way, Senior Brother He."
He Fang released a light magic treasure boat, took the cultivators aboard, and flew northward. In less than half a day, they arrived before a fortified city. Only after the Dao soldiers on the walls verified their identities did they open the grand formation to admit the group.
Wei Yuan then proceeded to the main hall, where three other dharma idol cultivators stood guard. Once the magic treasures controlling the city's defensive formation were handed over, Wei Yuan had officially assumed command of the Seventh Garrison's defense sector.
Afterward, Wei Yuan entered the hall of military affairs. In the center stood a massive terrain basin several zhang across, with the mountains and terrain for a thousand li around mapped out upon the sand table. The defending Dao soldiers had also laid countless tiny alarm formations outside the city; the moment Liao Clan cavalry approached, the formations would activate and transmit an alert to the city.
The Northern Mountain Gate had fought against the Liao Clan for years, enduring years of particularly bloody warfare until the Liao Clan halted their offensive just a few months ago. Even so, the Liao forces had not withdrawn, maintaining heavy garrisons along the border in a tense standoff with the Northern Mountain Gate.
At present, the Northern Mountain Gate spanned only five thousand li across, having surrendered vast stretches of land. Yet the loss of that final thousand li had cost the Liao Clan millions of elite casualties, degrading three medium-sized tribes in the process.
The city where Wei Yuan now stood was held by the Seventh Garrison of Dao Soldiers, which fielded a standard force of ten thousand Dao soldiers, three hundred Dao Foundations, and five dharma idol cultivators to protect a three-hundred-li perimeter.
Wei Yuan's purpose in taking over the Seventh Garrison's defense sector was to use it as a fulcrum to reclaim lost lands. His elite forces had certainly not come all this way merely to defend.
Directly facing Wei Yuan, the Liao Clan had constructed two satellite citadels that formed a mutual defense, each garrisoned by forty thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry.
After surveying the terrain, Wei Yuan drew a circle around the left satellite citadel, then drew a line between the two to sever their connection. Turning to He Fang, he said:
"As soon as my troops arrive, we strike. You will lead one thousand Dao soldiers, use Dao arts to mask your military qi, pose as ten thousand, and advance on Citadel Two to pin down its garrison.
"In addition, assign seven thousand Dao soldiers to coordinate with my forces, setting up defenses between the two citadels to cut off reinforcements from Citadel Two. I will personally lead the assault on Citadel One."
With these simple preparations complete, the First Qingming Army arrived three days later. After resting for a day, Wei Yuan led his forces out to attack.
This so-called grand army comprised only seven thousand Qingming troops and ten thousand Dao soldiers. Wei Yuan left just two hundred to guard the city and deployed all the rest, marching out against a "weak" opposing force that numbered merely a hundred-odd thousand.
Nor was the city truly vulnerable. Though there were only two hundred ordinary soldiers left behind, Martial Uncles Sun Yu and Feng Chutang remained within. One was a master of poison and the other had accumulated considerable karmic debt; should the Liao soldiers attempt an assault, their fate would be miserable indeed.
Northern Liao scout cavalry soon spotted Wei Yuan's army, but before they could turn back to deliver their report, a shroud of black mist engulfed them and knocked them unconscious.
Wei Yuan's army closed in behind and captured these elite Liao scouts.
Seeing that Wei Yuan dared to take the offensive despite his inferior numbers, the Liao commanding general grew exceedingly cautious, opting to hold fast behind his fortifications.
Looking at the earthen fortress, which stood barely two zhang high and little more than a zhang thick, Wei Yuan made a sweeping gesture with his hand, and from the central army rolled out ten infantry guns.
Chapter 693