Lord of the Desert

Chapter 543 Undeterred by Tribulations
August 19th, Jinhaicheng.

The sky is high and wide, the sweltering heat has gone, and the west wind carries the chill of autumn.

At the city defense training ground, more than 300 new recruits stood in neat rows, undergoing formation training under the command of their instructors.

"We have already recruited most of the 500 positions in Jinhai. They are all healthy and from good families. We should be able to fill all the positions in three days."

Hong Lie followed beside Hong Fan, who was on an inspection tour.

"The Jin Hai youths are accustomed to cooperating with the Hong family, and they hold their captains in high esteem, so training their discipline will be effortless. That's good. Once the basic training is complete, we can depart ahead of schedule for the Liangzhou camp, where Commander Xu will oversee unified training."

Hong Fan replied.

"How is Hong Sheng's situation?"

"The money that the father and son embezzled has all been returned, and they have been sent to manage Black Hair Village."

It was Hong Li who spoke.

He turned seventy-one this year, and his face looked increasingly aged; but as the elixirs used by the Hong family to rise in recent years have become better and better, his physique has become stronger than before, and he has even put away the cane he used for many years.

"Has anyone in the clan voiced any dissent regarding Hong Fu's punishment of him?"

“Hong Sheng dared to reach out in ways he shouldn’t have, so naturally the clan cursed him for deserving it.”

Hong Fan nodded upon hearing this.

The Jinhai City Defense Command Training Ground is located outside the city. From the general's platform, one can see the South Gate and the official road outside. In the years since Hong Fan left, this road has been widened twice, but it is still crowded with carriages and people.

With the further deployment of breech-loading rifles, the walls of Jinhai City have been idle for several years, and the snake-people tribes on the eastern border of the Great Swamp have also retreated even further inland.

But this only means that the buffer zone between the two races is being squeezed further toward the Serpent People, not that the conflict is over.

As long as the human race's pursuit of wealth and the snake people's pursuit of blood continue, the two ends of the Golden Sea Desert will never be at peace.

"How did the talks with them go?"

Hong Fan withdrew his gaze from the distance.

The "they" here refers to several powerful clans in the western border of Liangzhou that had close ties with the Hong family—the Jin Haichi family, the Li family, and the Tongguang Palace family.

"It's all settled."

Hong Lie replied.

"The Chi family contributed ten experts, led by Chi Xinshi; the Gong family contributed fifteen, promising to bring their own equipment, but requiring them to be directly subordinate to Gong Pengyun; the Li family contributed six experts, which, although fewer, is the maximum."

"Chi Xinshi hasn't reached the point of communion with heaven and man yet, has he? That is the thirty-one interconnectedness and the one complete unity."

Hong Fan confirmed.

By this time, the "Red Sand Army of Fengsui City" that he had established had taken full shape.

The total strength of the army is 2,000 men, including 200 artillerymen and 1,800 infantrymen. The army is expected to be equipped with more than 2,300 rifles and six heavy artillery pieces weighing 10 jin each.

The three innate individuals are Hong Fan, Xu Yuntao, and Lü Yunshi.

The seventeen individuals who had reached the state of perfect harmony between heaven and man were Hong Lie, Hong Bo, Gao Junxia, ​​Yi Hong, Xue Chi, Feng Qing, Gan Deshou, Niu Laoba, Chi Xinshi, Gong Pengyun, Zhu Tiangang, Shen Feiche, and five rogue cultivators.

There are 116 people at the Transcendent Realm, including 30 from the Hong family, 15 each from the Shen and Gong families, 10 each from the Zhu and Chi families, 6 from the Li family, 5 from the He family, and more than 20 other Transcendent Realm martial artists from the common people who either wish to make contributions or are willing to follow.

Normally, one in fifty men in Dahua practice martial arts, and the ratio in the army is usually thirty to one. However, the ratio under Hong Fan's command is fifteen to one, making them elite troops.

After the army was formed, Xu Yuntao was appointed as deputy colonel, in charge of all military affairs; Lü Yunshi was appointed as military commander, assisting in military affairs and strategy; Hong Lie was appointed as marching commander, in charge of logistics, provisions, horses, and armor; Yi Hong was appointed as garrison commander, responsible for criminal cases, discipline, and guarding in the army; Hong Bo was appointed as commander of the personal guard; Gan Deshou was appointed as commander of the artillery battalion; and the remaining six, each leading three hundred men, were Feng Qing, Xue Chi, Gao Junxia, ​​Gong Pengyun, Shen Feiche, and Zhu Tiangang.

In addition, both the Ming Shen and the Red-faced Suanni will accompany the army northward, giving the entire army five innate-level combatants.

If the purpose was only to defend a city with a population of 70,000, this configuration would be too ambitious; however, for both the imperial court and Hong Fan, the purpose of this trip was not merely to honestly defend the city.

boom!
On the other side of the training ground, a thunderous roar came from the target range enclosed by rammed earth platforms.

It was the sound of a musket firing, but far more muffled and deafening than the standard rifles Hong Beom was familiar with.

"It must be Hongbo and the others practicing shooting."

Hong Lie said.

“Let’s go take a look.” Hong Fan started walking.

There were guards stationed at the shooting range gate. After passing through the gate, he saw more than a dozen people practicing shooting. The face of the person who had just fired was both familiar and unfamiliar to Hong Fan. After a moment of recollection, he remembered that it was Gong Zheng, the servant son of Zhu Yiqi, who had joined the team in the same class as him.

He was firing a very heavy long-barreled shotgun at a target. Each shot he fired was as big as a flying weight, enough to shatter a granite target with a diameter of thirty centimeters in one shot.

Hong Bo stood by the gun rack with his hands behind his back, supervising. When he saw Hong Fan coming over, he quickly forced a smile, stepped forward, and saluted.

Tell me about Gongzheng's gun.

Hong Fan asked.

Based on his expertise, he could roughly assess the gun's performance—a muzzle velocity of 400 meters per second and an excellent trajectory at a distance of 50 meters.

"Reporting to the Second Young Master, Gong Zheng's single-barreled smoothbore gun weighs twenty catties and uses black iron-coated copper bullets. Each bullet weighs nearly two ounces and has a dispersion of nine centimeters at a distance of one hundred meters. At a distance of fifty meters, it can be said to hit exactly where it is pointed."

Hongbo replied.

Hong Fan was taken aback.

In the past, a conventional automatic rifle bullet weighed no more than four grams. Two liang (one hundred grams) is equivalent to twenty-five times that, and at a muzzle velocity of four hundred meters per second, it can carry more than eight thousand joules of kinetic energy.

This is almost the performance limit that a black powder smoothbore musket can achieve.

While rifled guns have a longer range and higher accuracy, they require more barrel maintenance, have a shorter lifespan, and most importantly, are incompatible with various types of shotgun shells—in extreme situations, if you run out of bullets, you can still fire by stuffing some small stones into a smoothbore gun.

"This gun's performance far surpasses the standard version. When did the Kaiming version come out?"

Hong Fan asked.

"His gun wasn't made by Kaiming; it was modified by a gunsmith in the city."

Hongbo replied.

"There have been private gunsmiths in Jinhai City for three or four years. In the past two years, the market has expanded and several martial artists from other places have come to join the business. Their design ability is certainly not as good as that of Kaiming, but their processing ability is not weak, and they are incredibly bold. As long as the buyer has requirements, the barrel length, accuracy, gas tightness, and bullet type can all be modified. In addition, by using a lot of rare materials, they can modify guns that are several times better than the standard ones."

"Gong Zheng's 'Blazing Fire' is not bad, but it's not the best in the city. I also had someone make a 'Wave Breaker' myself, which cost 270 guan. The barrel is plated with copper, and it can break a steel target with one shot."

He couldn't resist showing off.

"Bring it here so I can see it."

Hong Fan said.

Hongbo had been waiting for these words, and immediately trotted over to the gun rack to respectfully bring it over.

This "Breaking Waves" weighs thirty pounds, with a thick barrel and a huge powder chamber. It is more like a hand cannon than a gun, and its buttstock is engraved with a four-character inscription.

Undeterred by setbacks.

"How many custom-made guns were used in this northward expedition of the clan?"

Hong Fan asked.

"About 70%."

Hong Lie answered.

"Those who love guns find it hard to resist spending money, and the few who use standard-issue guns are those who prefer close combat."

"understood."

Hong Fan nodded.

He was pleased to see the increased power of firearms, because the giants were different from other races; their bodies were mostly composed of inorganic matter, and ordinary bows, crossbows, and bullets were insufficient to kill them.

"Go to the Weapon Crafting Bureau and order more chalcedony-coated steel bullets. I will then fill them with my true essence."

Hong Fan gave his final instructions.

With Shen Tiexin's investment, his cash reserves have become much more abundant, enough to add some hidden luxury items.

(End of this chapter)