Chapter 211: Campaigns And Hero Culture
When Silver Horn landed on the coastline, a chaotic horde of Horned People and twelve Triceratops surfaced from the sea. And two kilometers away, four enormous flying behemoths “slowly rose” on the flank of the Horned People landing on the beach.
These were Sky Boats suspended by eight large lanterns, each five zhang in diameter and ten zhang high. The size of these rows of lanterns was just like the storage tanks in twenty-first century national strategic oil reserves.
Such a floating Sky Boat was worth four thousand gold in total. Its core wind-control component, the “jade stone” air control rune system, alone cost eight hundred gold. This rune system could flexibly adjust air density.
Moreover, after arriving in the south and exchanging and learning with Liangtian Pavilion’s engineers, they adopted the Feather Tribe’s local “magic gemstone eight-pointed star array” to increase output efficiency.
The main weapon of this airship was a crossbow-fired rocket launcher, along with five machine guns in swivel mounts. Since they used black gunpowder charges, the barrel had to be cleaned every hundred rounds.
As for not using cannons, the reason was that the cannon’s instantaneous recoil after firing would cause the hull to waver, making the machine gun fire lose accuracy.
Speaking of which, Sky Boats have always existed in Da Yao, as a dharma gate of some Immortal Sects specializing in artifact refining. Their core manual has always been unknown to outsiders.
It was only after obtaining the Chi You Ship’s database that Xuan Chong deciphered the core secret of this “heretical magic tool.”
Previously, Xuan Chong couldn’t figure out why such a small airbag could support such a large airship base.
After careful study, he found that inside this sky lantern’s hot air balloon, under some mechanism, it was no longer “hot air” but “low-temperature ionized state” with even lower density and greater repulsive force.
Xuan Chong understood this with his shallow physics knowledge: the gas density inside the airship envelope was only a fraction of tens of thousands of the external air, yet separated by the sky lantern envelope, it maintained the same pressure. Even if the envelope was torn with several holes, the internal gas cluster’s low density could still be maintained.
It could be said that if this black technology existed in the first half of the twentieth century, the Hindenburg would not have crashed due to the American Empire’s helium embargo, and the aviation passenger transport tech tree might not be just the airplane branch.
Facing this exaggerated buoyancy reserve, Xuan Chong thought: After future industrialization here, the art style will be different from Earth’s, right.
…System: You can’t see the future here, you’re just history…
On the coastline edge, the Sky Boat was calibrating. The airship slowly focused its gun muzzles on the cluster of Horned People during landing.
The airship’s observer stood at the front of the gondola, pressing his eyes to the eyepiece of a one-meter telescope pointed at the Horned People’s coastline beachhead.
In the observer’s sight’s crosshairs, small black dots soaked in the sea tide were slowly advancing. After confirming the gun parameters, flames burst from below the airship, and the recoil immediately made the crosshairs in the lens sway up and down.
Around the Sky Boat, there were also some flying people, one of whom was Mu Yun Kuohai. At this time, besides his own wings, he had a pair of kite wings assisting his gliding.
Compared to his noble bloodline clansmen, his hovering ability in the air was less than one-third, but the Sky Boat gave him footing points in the air, with rows of bamboo poles hung on both sides where he could rest.
These commoner Feathered People who defected to Xuan Chong were allowed to consume honey sugar in air combat, then glide seven or eight kilometers using the kite’s lift, and climb back by flapping their own wings.
Moreover, in battle, they could directly obtain crossbow bolts from the Sky Boat, without landing on the ground and flying back up, wasting precious stamina.
On airship number three, Mu Yun Kuohai once again unfolded his silk gliding wings.
He greatly enjoyed the thrill of soaring in the sky, which was the feeling his father had once described, but as he was not of noble status, he lacked the “feather outfit” to enter the sky.
The importance of the “feather outfit” was like the ancestral armor and personal strongbow of a Da Yao general.
After circling the four airships in an “∞∞” trajectory flight, Mu Yun Kuohai completed another patrol.
After collecting observation parameters from the four airships and calculating with the protractor, he once again confirmed the position of the ragged wrecked ships behind those chaotic Horned People.
Immediately after, he opened the whistle on his kite wings in the air, and ultra-low frequency infrasound waves began transmitting back to the Sky Boat, which slowly adjusted its gun muzzle.
…Perspective shifts to the strike area…
One by one, rocket projectiles fell into the dense crowd of Horned People. Silver Horn watched his brought clansmen turn into corpses rolling back into the sea with the waves.
The sea waves licked the fallen Horned People into the ocean like greedy tongues.
Silver Horn roared in anger, then called the Triceratops giant beasts to form obstacles to withstand the firepower. He urged his subordinates to row faster, to rush onto solid land sooner.
After this thousand Horned People lost three or four hundred, they barely scattered on the beach when suddenly shadows came from the sky.
The disheveled Horned People’s bowmen had damp bowstrings, unable to shoot at the sky at this moment, and could only watch as three Guiche and fifteen Griffin Knights dropped blazing “fire blocks.” Their sampans ignited raging fires under the sea breeze.
The Horned People gazed at the flames behind them and the giant flying beasts drifting away. These terrifying existences ignored them after doing all this, as if they no longer existed.
In a daze on the beach, Silver Horn holding his staff realized this was a trap; now he could only be forced into a “back-against-the-water battle.”
Silver Horn sensed the troops were about to scatter and flee, so he flung his staff at the chaotic Horned People. The eyes of some small leaders turned ferocious, biting through the throats of those fleeing Horned People, resubjugating the chaotic troops through fear.
Silver Horn barely reorganized the troops, then used magic to unlock the shackles on the Triceratops in the sea. After conveying the message “follow and you eat” to the Triceratops, he charged headlong toward Ding Ling City with the chaotic troops without looking back.
The Griffin non-commissioned officers under Xuan Chong, based on the Horned People’s speed, signaled “one and a half hours remaining” to the rear.
Then along the way, this group of non-commissioned officers relayed surveillance of the Horned People troops, ensuring constant awareness of their movements.
…Perspective returns to the sky…
After the artillery strike ended, Mu Yun Kuohai called his teammates to take turns monitoring these Horned People.
Just as he prepared to return to the Sky Boat to rest, he glanced toward the seaside and suddenly spotted a Storm City Griffin flying over.
As Mu Yun Kuohai stared, the Feathered Person on the Griffin’s back crossed his wings in a signal, a “hand gesture” from Storm City families.
Thus, Mu Yun Kuohai guided him to the position where Xuan Chong was stationed. Xuan Chong met this “ally” envoy, and the two sides exchanged polite words.
This Storm City knight named Ka Wu landed before the earth barrier under the guidance of four Crow People. After he landed, ten Crow People flew up with nets, meaning Ka Wu’s Griffin was not allowed to take off.
Ka Wu soothed his Griffin, then quickly found Xuan Chong waiting in front of the barrier and explained the situation.
Xuan Chong, in the midst of the army, thanked the timely help from the Griffon City ally and reaffirmed their firm alliance.
After learning that the ally fleet was chasing enemies and couldn’t assist, Xuan Chong smiled without anger.
Because from the current outcome, their coming or not wouldn’t change anything, but saying so now gave his side a “template case.”
Eastern culture is “repay the enemy’s way upon the enemy.”
Xuan Chong invited Ka Wu to stay on the battlefield as a military observer to enhance understanding between the two armies. —Because Xuan Chong believed Ka Wu favored military union between both sides, belonging to the pro-Yao faction.
Xuan Chong carefully examined this Feather Tribe noble’s gear and finely inquired about the ally’s battle situation, extracting some intelligence.
Firstly, the Feather Tribe had slavery, with classes from top to bottom: royal family, nobles, commoners, slaves. This was extremely stable, with no promotion and rare demotion. As for why Mu Yun Kuohai’s family fell, there might be other reasons.
Xuan Chong was puzzled: With such a caste system, how could the Feather Tribe be convinced from top to bottom? How to regulate if the upper population keeps growing?
When Xuan Chong asked from another angle, about the bloodline differences between “nobles” and “royal family.”
Ka Wu solemnly claimed: The adult trials for kings and nobles are different. Noble trials require taming a griffin flock leader in a storm, while the “royal family” not only completes the partner taming trial but also crosses the sea to witness the stars when the aurora falls.
Ka Wu: Every trial claims proud lives. Those who retreat do not deserve to inherit bloodlines.
Xuan Chong was awed, then understood that the upper strata had a population control mechanism. Besides preventing upper degeneration, this mechanism created a high threshold recognized by the lower strata through “self-sacrifice.”
Specifically comparing history, before Da Yao’s “Bu” dynasty (self-claimed Cheng Dynasty), was the sacrificial dynasty, whose reign was much longer than “Yao” and “Bu,” indicating a more stable internal mechanism for mobilization.
Now, if Da Yao’s collapse came from the collapse of ritual and music, then the sacrificial dynasty’s collapse came from rampant “licentious sacrifices.”
Xuan Chong took a deep breath, roughly guessing the reason for the ancient “sacrificial” dynasty’s collapse, but he couldn’t verify this lesson himself.
Turning back to look at the Feather Tribe city-state, he understood the profound logic behind this equally ancient nation’s maintenance of the caste system while remaining stable for so long.
That is, the ruling logic of the royal family and nobles undergoing “trials.” Where there are “priests,” there are “sacrifices”; the upper class bears the “sacrifices,” while the lower cannot provide them, so they do not challenge upper status.
Once the royal family and nobles no longer “trial,” it’s like cutting off the “sacrificial victims,” and they can no longer suppress the millions of bowing subjects.
Xuan Chong, leading this army as outsiders, must respect the region’s traditional thinking, and while respecting, strive to use his own cultural terms to understand the logic behind their traditions.
…Military power display…
Ka Wu, jostling on the Griffin, scrutinized Da Yao’s southward land troops. He had to admit the Yao people’s combat strength was extremely elite. After viewing this steel armor troop, he turned to Xuan Chong, very curious what kind of hero Xuan Chong was to unite such a powerful force.
Suddenly, a huge shadow descended from the sky. Before Ka Wu, Xuan Chong summoned the peacock and gently stroked his mount.
Ka Wu stared at this massive flying giant beast, stunned, then gradually lowered his head—because this magic giant bird made his partner Griffin tremble in fear. One who could tame such a beast must be a great hero king.
Xuan Chong said to Ka Wu: After the battle with the Horned People concludes, for your trials, I’ll give it a try.
Ka Wu knelt on one knee and said understandingly: Respected king, your will shall remain forever in the sky.
…Name of the king…
When Xuan Chong announced in front of the Feather Tribe foreign envoy that he would participate in the trials, his worried personal soldiers quietly asked Xuan Chong after Ka Wu left.
Xuan Chong nodded, but soon heard whispers outside.
Soon, a group in the army, clearly worried about Xuan Chong risking himself, followed Xuan Chong on southern and northern campaigns—the Crow People soldiers said: My lord, to make them submit, it’s unnecessary.
Xuan Chong glanced at the personal soldier shrinking behind and smiled without speaking. This guy did it on purpose.
Meanwhile, a Crow People captain upfront began advising. Xuan Chong knew this one actually believed in the Moon Empress, so he said something to move his heart.
Xuan Chong said to the Crow People: After this battle, I will host a grand sacrifice, which besides sacrificing to heaven and earth, will also feature the Moon Empress. —Obviously, if Xuan Chong passes the trial, it would be easier to promote among local Feathered People.
This Moon Empress believer originally wanted to persuade, but was instead won over by Xuan Chong’s “deal.” He glanced at Ang Ri who had arrived.
Xuan Chong then said to Ang Ri: For “religious authority,” keep the fat in the family—I hope you hold it tight. Right, don’t forget to place my image in the shrine then.
Ang Ri met Xuan Chong’s gaze, felt crushed like by a mountain, and slowly withdrew.
…The southward expedition’s officers and soldiers all wanted to go back…
After one incense stick, Xuan Chong said to the returning Mu Yun Kuohai who diligently reported: If you want your ranks to be hereditary here, your heirs must still go through the trial rules!
Mu Yun Kuohai’s body shook, then he thanked him. He had never told Xuan Chong the secret: his grandfather escaped the trial, his father’s generation was stripped of trial opportunity, and he, born commoner, had wings weakened not by a little.
Hearing Xuan Chong expose this layer, Mu Yun Kuohai gritted his teeth and resolved to make his little ones flap their wings hard.
He, Mu Yun Kuohai, promoted by Xuan Chong to the “noble” seat, still felt bowed by the rules in his heart—his diligent reports these days were for this reason, actually knowing his unworthiness, fearing everything he had would be stripped.
After watching this guy fly away, Xuan Chong shook his head: Hope I’m raising an old eagle, not some weak bird.
After Mu Yun Kuohai left, Xuan Chong instructed the accompanying liberal arts officials nearby: “Record the situation.”
In front of the wooden table in the army, these twenty-plus young student bureaucrats began taking out pens to record. —This small matter actually didn’t need so many clerks.
They were all top students from Wu Juwang’s northern administrative academy exams.
Among them, thirty percent were from Xia Prefecture. Their notebooks recorded “Mu Yun Kuohai as a typical conflict between grassroots upstart and traditional nobles.” And for such issues’ various impacts, objective analysis of “how governors should manage contradictions.”
Having torn faces with sects and noble families, Xuan Chong was now like “Kublai Khan shooting an arrow into the Kong family temple.” Though militarily strong, he had to “rule the world with leniency.” Xuan Chong could only rely on students now.
Speaking of which, fresh graduates are clear-eyed yet foolish. If sent directly north for local work, not to mention else, these foolish students, encountering multi-generation noble family ladies on the road, would be scolded speechless by the ladies, and if married into great clans, controlled to death by those “fathers-in-law.”
Northern native scholar-officials exert “native cultural” oppressive force on the new school students they train.
But here, none! All administrative students interning here view Feather Tribe city-states and populace as “mere dogs,” and this attitude precisely allows entering the Dao.
Only with sufficient Dao cultivation can they confront the north. Confrontation isn’t about “strengths” but “weaknesses.”
…Ambush…
When the Horned People attack was one li away, the soldiers on standby at the earth barrier leaned against it—some sharpened spears on the spot, others used firearms with mountain sights to calibrate forward markers.
Meanwhile, the forward Griffin cavalry brought back several corpses killed by artillery. These corpses were surrounded by many squad leaders.
These Horned People were actually the same race as those in the southern border. But they looked vastly different.
Just like the size difference between northern and southern rats and cockroaches, southern border Horned People slightly further north were shorter: women three to four chi, men four to five chi (under 1.5 meters). Now these southern Horned People were all over seven chi tall, weighing over 150 jin, with canine teeth, charging with bone sharp weapons.
When Xuan Chong fully ruled the southern border, Horned People wore leaf clothes, gathered fruits, ate rotten wood bugs. Now northern Horned People tribes have become Tusi, planting rice, spinning hemp, digging ponds for fish—compared to these Horned People slaves, southern border Horned People are civilized.
The civilized Horned People warriors under Xuan Chong looked at these red-eyed berserk southern guys with tsk-tsk wonder, using “these things” in tone, without any sense of kinship.
This made Xuan Chong nod silently, fearing his Horned People had pity. He could guide speech to downplay the attackers’ “Horned People” identity, severing enemies from his camp.
Xuan Chong kicked a corpse brought by the Griffin: These things are mutations from Evil Moon pollution, physique constantly strengthening, but beastly madness grows greater.
Actually, most Wu Family Army didn’t know these formidable Horned People were ultimately the Feather Tribe’s fault.
As a caste system nation, even their own race is stratified; for slave races like Horned People, they naturally artificially selected. Weak eliminated, strong kept, breeding ignoring ethics with “selective breeding” and “inbreeding,” manually picking optimal strains.
After understanding, Xuan Chong frowned: Oh, such artificially bred humanoid livestock are functional population.
In Xuan Chong’s previous life, American tank loaders—black uncles with exceptional arm muscle talent—in plantation economy also underwent such “fine horse” breeding processes.
