novelraw Chapter 71 : The Military Strength of Anxi After Ten Years
Chapter 71 : The Military Strength of Anxi After Ten Years
Chapter 71: The Military Strength of Anxi After Ten Years
Except for those born with great fortune—
What drew even greater attention were the powerful ones personally “forged” by Jiang Zhaoming!
Within the Prince’s manor, his 354 personal guards, who had followed him through life-and-death struggles, were his most painstaking creations.
Over these years, he had spent 239 strands of White Fortune and 69 strands of Green Fortune to defy fate for these loyal and valiant men, reshaping their aptitudes.
With the domineering tempering of Body-Tempering Demon Crystals, he forcibly pushed all three hundred and fifty-four of them to astonishing heights.
Aside from Chen Kang, twenty-three of the guards had successfully broken through the barrier of the Divine Power Realm and advanced.
The remaining three hundred and thirty had not yet reached that stage, but all had stepped into the pinnacle of the Blood Refining Realm.
Although the threshold of Divine Power was as insurmountable as a heavenly chasm—
Jiang Zhaoming’s goal remained crystal clear.
He aimed to forge an elite personal guard of Divine Power Realm experts.
Even if they could not yet compare to the mighty Qin Halberd Guards, they would surely become the sharpest and most loyal blade in his hand.
Beyond that—
The divine efficacy of Body-Tempering Demon Crystals and Vein-Purifying Crystals had carved a glorious mark into the very bones of Anxi’s military power.
Among the forces of Anxi Prefecture, the Anxi Army and Yili Army had both been expanded over the years.
While increasing in size, both armies managed to maintain their proportion of Blood Refining Realm soldiers.
The Anxi Army had grown to 380,000 soldiers, and the Yili Army to 80,000.
Do not underestimate the mere increase of 20,000 men between them—for among those 20,000 were many cultivators of the Blood Refining Realm.
Apart from these two elite forces—
The rest of Jiang Zhaoming’s armies, excluding the garrison troops of each county, had undergone earth-shaking changes.
The Queshe Army, for example, now numbered one hundred thousand cavalry.
Aside from Aruba, seven other Divine Power Realm generals commanded them.
Of those, over ninety thousand Queshe Warriors were of the Tempering Bones Realm, and only a few thousand had reached the Blood Refining Realm.
As for the Black-Armored Army, Jiang Zhaoming maintained their previous organizational structure, dividing them into the Black-Armored Vanguard Battalion and the Infantry-Cavalry Battalion.
The Vanguard Battalion was led by Qin Qiong, who commanded five Divine Power Realm generals and eighty thousand Black-Armored Cavalry.
The Infantry-Cavalry Battalion was under Cheng Yaojin, who had five Divine Power Realm generals under his banner, along with thirty thousand Mo Blade Soldiers, twenty thousand Black-Armored Arbalests, and thirty thousand Black-Armored Cavalry.
Among these combined one hundred thousand troops, most were of the Tempering Bones Realm, while only four to five thousand soldiers in each army had reached the Blood Refining Realm.
As for the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry—they were the strongest among the three armies.
At their head stood Zhao Shuijiao, a commander of the Myriad Phenomena Realm, along with Zhu Mei and three other late-stage Divine Power experts.
In addition, nine new Divine Power generals had joined the ranks.
The Guan Ning Iron Cavalry had reached a total of one hundred and twenty thousand troops, among whom over thirty thousand were of the Blood Refining Realm.
Of these thirty thousand, over twenty thousand had originally been summoned by Jiang Zhaoming, while nearly ten thousand were newly recruited.
Moreover, the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry had established two new divisions specialized in siege warfare—the “Infantry Battalion” and the “Artillery Battalion.”
The Infantry Battalion possessed fifty thousand Fire Lance soldiers, while the Artillery Battalion had twenty thousand soldiers and several thousand Hongyi Cannons.
These three armies had transformed tremendously, earning brilliant military achievements during the campaign to unify the eastern prefectures.
Thus, young men across Anxi Prefecture now eagerly sought to enlist in these forces.
Yet, these three were not the most transformed armies in Anxi.
The army that had changed the most was the Pacifying Rebels Army.
Over the past decade, the Pacifying Rebels Army had expanded to nearly three hundred thousand troops, with sixty thousand Blood Refining Realm warriors and the rest all at the late Tempering Bones Realm.
At present, the Pacifying Rebels Army had become, in effect, the second-strongest force in Anxi Prefecture.
Within it were eight thousand Moon-Howling Wolf Riders—composed entirely of Blood Refining warriors mounted on Moon-Howling Wolves.
There were also one hundred and twenty thousand fully armored Heavy Cavalry equipped with second-grade warhorses, and one hundred and fifty thousand Pacifying Rebels Infantry armed with firearms and heavy armor.
In addition, the army possessed two unique elite units—twelve thousand Giant Elephant Heavy Cavalry and fifteen thousand Griffin Air Cavalry.
……
[Wonder · Earth Elephant Nest]: A wonder from the Shiva Plane capable of producing five Earth Giants daily, each with the strength equivalent to the eighth layer of the Blood Refining Realm.
[Wonder · Griffin Nest]: A wonder from the Green Forest Plane capable of producing five Griffins daily, each comparable to the sixth layer of the Blood Refining Realm.
Both of these wonders had been found by Jiang Zhaoming ten years prior, each costing him one strand of Purple Fortune.
However, this long-term investment only grew more valuable with time, yielding boundless returns.
Furthermore, aside from the Queshe Army, nearly every force in Anxi Prefecture had adopted firearms.
Every city within the prefecture was also guarded by Hongyi Cannons, granting them immense firepower.
Excluding the county garrisons, the six major armies of Anxi—Anxi, Pacifying Rebels, Yili, Black-Armored, Guan Ning, and Queshe—now totaled 1.23 million elite troops.
Among them, at least all were of the Tempering Bones Realm, while the number of Blood Refining Realm soldiers had reached an astounding 420,000.
Of these 420,000, 330,000 belonged to the original Anxi and Yili Armies.
The remaining 90,000 had joined within the last decade.
For Anxi Prefecture to produce ninety thousand Blood Refining warriors in just ten years—this feat relied not only on Vein-Purifying Crystals and Body-Tempering Crystals.
At least sixty thousand of these men came from within the Great Zhou’s borders—descendants of martial halls and noble clans.
Over these years, the wastelands of Anxi had steadily diminished, replaced by spreading greenery across this once-barren frontier.
This transformation owed not only to Jiang Zhaoming’s continual use of Wonder Cards to rejuvenate desolate lands—
But also to Xu Guangqi, the chief initiator of this great change.
From altering Anxi’s climate, to upgrading military weaponry, to supporting the Prefectural Academy—his influence was everywhere.
He served as Anxi’s Grand Minister of Agriculture, Overseer of Armaments, and Grand Scholar—the greatest driving force behind Jiang Zhaoming’s reform.
As the cool evening wind blew, Jiang Zhaoming slowly rose, preparing to return to his sleeping quarters.
Just then, he felt the Communication Talisman in his sleeve grow warm.
Jiang Zhaoming took it out.
It was not an urgent message from within the prefecture—but from the imperial capital of the Great Zhou.
“Jin invaders Wanyan Kang and Pucha Yanghui secretly broke through to the Profound Core Realm several months ago. Last night, the Jin army launched a surprise attack and captured Shanhai Pass and the northern county of the Yan Prefecture.”
Jiang Zhaoming’s pupils constricted sharply—utter disbelief flashing in his eyes.
The Great Jin had actually produced two Profound Core experts in such a short time?
If such powerhouses led the army, even the Princes of the realm could not stand against them.
The explosive news spread quickly throughout the Great Zhou, causing unrest among the northern feudal princes.
Jiang Zhaoming grew increasingly tense—for with Canglong Pass and Zhenlong Pass nearby, Anxi Prefecture might very well be the Jin’s next target.
Should they harbor such ambition, they could break through both passes and send their cavalry straight into the Great Zhou’s heartlands.
“Damn it!”
Jiang Zhaoming cursed in the language of his previous life, then immediately wrote to his Emperor Father requesting reinforcements.
After finishing the letter, his consciousness instantly sank into the River of Fortune.
Sitting and waiting for death was never his way—he had to arm himself to the teeth!