CHAPTER 822: CHAPTER 501: A CENTURY AHEAD IN FIREPOWER

"What did the lord say?"

Commander Yuan, with a square face, asked. The mountain wind was strong, and Zhao Douan’s muttering was too quiet for him to hear clearly.

"Nothing much," Zhao Douan smiled, suddenly reached into his sleeve, pulled out a golden pear, and began to eat while gazing at the rebel camp: "The so-called ’Evil’ is hidden within the enemy camp?"

Regarding the ’secret weapon’ of the Qingzhou Army, Zhao Douan had learned a little from the message delivered by the Flying Eagle during his journey.

He knew that Prince Heng used ’Tusk Beasts’ to pull chariots to defeat the Five Army Camp.

"Indeed," when mentioned Evil, Yuan Feng and the leading generals all appeared apprehensive: "We never knew before that Prince Heng’s mansion had secretly raised more than ten Tusk Beasts, which caught us off guard."

Saying this, as if worrying that Zhao Douan might not understand, Yuan Feng further explained:

"South of Yunfu, within the mountains, outside Yu Country’s territory exists an alien race called the ’Liao Clan.’ Their bodies are robust, far surpassing those of us Great Yu People. The exotic beast known as ’Liao’ is a specialty of the Liao Clan. It is much stronger than tigers and leopards, extremely fierce. Once warhorses get close to the Liao, their limbs become weak, making it difficult to fight. Our Great Yu named this alien race ’Liao Clan’ because of this creature."

Zhao Douan "hmm"ed, responding:

"The Southwest Border Army led by Zhao Shixiong has been stationed on Yunfu Road for years, not only to quench banditry but to also prevent the Liao Clan’s incursion. Though I have never been to Yunfu, I am aware of these matters. According to your view, is it possible that the shadow of the Liao Clan lurks behind Prince Heng’s mansion?"

Yuan Feng shook his head:

"Geographically, Qingzhou is too far from Yunfu, moreover if colluding with the Liao people, it makes no sense for there to be only Tusk Beasts in battle, yet no Liao people. Therefore, I believe it is likely that Prince Heng’s mansion had disloyal intentions for a while, quietly catching Tusk Beast cubs from Yunfu far away, then carefully raising them, and secretly training a matching chariot army, unexpectedly deployed, catching us off guard. The lord must be cautious, once those Evil charge into battle, they run rampant, arrows are difficult to harm them, once soldiers from the steel-forged chariots rush into our military formation, their destructive power is immense."

Zhao Douan took a bite of the pear, juice splattered, it was unclear if he truly listened, but he curiously asked:

"Since these creatures are so useful, why hasn’t the court captured and tamed them?"

He couldn’t understand why this strategic weapon wasn’t equipped in the Capital Camp.

Yet a rebel managed to accomplish it.

At this moment, an officer angrily said:

"The lord may not know, raising Tusk Beasts is extremely difficult, not to mention the danger in capturing them, merely raising them requires huge funds, and someone knowledgeable in taming... But these factors aren’t the key, the key is, to provoke the beastly nature of Tusk Beasts, they must eat human flesh and blood, without it, they are no different from regular tigers and leopards."

Zhao Douan’s action of eating the pear paused, he looked at him blankly: "Eat humans?"

Yuan Feng nodded bitterly: "Exactly. Because taming this beast goes against the natural order, the court strictly forbids raising them, hence the military naturally doesn’t have them."

Zhao Douan fell into silence.

This was a bit of cold knowledge he wasn’t aware of.

Thus, raising those dozen Evil by Prince Heng’s mansion, who knows how many lives were spent. Even if those used as food were death row prisoners, feeding fellow humans to beasts...

"Hmph," Zhao Douan forcefully swallowed a bite of the pear, muttering vaguely: "Deserves death."

No one responded.

Only the cold wind blowing across the hill, rustling the green trees, the clouds in the sky growing darker.

...

"Boom boom boom..."

The war drums sounded, Zhao Douan gazed afar, only to see the enemy camp opening wide, a large group of Qingzhou infantry carrying military flags marched out in formation, and at the forefront of the queue.

Unexpectedly, there were more than a dozen gigantic war chariots constructed of solid wood and wrapped in iron sheets.

At the front of each chariot, there was a two to three meters tall, six to seven meters long exotic beast.

Their size like elephants, their heads resembling lions and tigers, their bodies like water buffalo, sharp, thick twin horns protruding from their heads, eyes blood-red and bloodthirsty, covered in crocodile-like hard scales, tails dragging on the ground, with protruding joints forming spikes along the spine to the end of the tail.

Right now, each Evil stomped powerfully on their massive hooves clad with horseshoes, snorting hot white steam from their nostrils.

"Prince, the people across have come out, huh, weren’t the soldiers of the Five Army Camp already demoralized?"

Within the Qingzhou Camp, on the Observation Tower erected.

The pampered Prince Heng led his strategists and civil servants, standing here to watch the battle.

At this moment, a strategist formed his hand into a visor, remarking in surprise.

An astute-eyed Personal Guard General frowned: "Those aren’t soldiers from the Five Army Camp! Judging by the flags, they’re clearly troops from the Divine Mechanism Camp!"

Divine Mechanism Camp? Reinforcements? So... Zhao Douan is probably for real?

Prince Heng felt his heart skip, squinting his eyes, although from this distance, he could observe the battlefield, he couldn’t see the words on the flags and the soldiers’ specific attire clearly.

Annoyed, he demanded: "Where’s the Thousand-mile tube?"

A retainer searched for a moment and quickly apologized: "Forgive me, Prince. There was one with the Young Master. I shall fetch a new one immediately!"

"Hurry up, then?!" Prince Heng was furious, nearly kicking out, prompting the retainer to scramble and rush down the Observation Tower.

Prince Heng’s face clouded, he once again looked ahead at the battlefield, only to see the wide-open Five Army Camp, a troop of highly spirited Divine Mechanism Camp soldiers exiting in formation.

Due to the presence of Evil, neither side deployed cavalry, mostly infantry.

However, within the Divine Mechanism Camp formation, there were several officers riding warhorses of extraordinary lineage, capable of resisting the Tusk Beast’s oppressive aura.

The most conspicuous among them wore a silver helmet and silver armor, wielding a long spear with outstanding valor.