Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 160 The First Batch of Gunpowder Weapons

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Beijun.

Skylight City.

Lu Chen, dressed in brown armor, stood on the city wall, gazing at the distant, swirling snow.

Many of the scouts from the north have returned, and this time, many of them are barbarian soldiers.

It must be said that the barbarians had a great advantage on the grasslands, especially in reconnaissance.

At this moment, Xiao Pengtian leaped up from the city wall and landed beside Lu Chen. "Your Highness, judging from the gathering speed of the various tribes in the northern grasslands, it will probably take another month before they can head south."

"Furthermore, I estimate that the number of barbarian soldiers that the Northern Xian King can summon by issuing a summons order is no more than 150,000."

Hearing this, Lu Chen pondered for a long time.

Fifteen hundred thousand barbarian soldiers dared to march south and attack Beijun in winter?

What exactly was the Northern King thinking?

At this moment, Lu Chen asked, "Have our spies found out why the King of Northern Xian chose to march south in winter?"

Upon hearing this question, Xiao Pengtian immediately replied, "Your Highness, some soldiers have indeed heard about the reason for the Northern Xian King's southward march in certain small tribes, but they only heard the news from those small tribes, and I do not know if it is true or not."

Many of the spies they sent out were barbarian soldiers from the original Sirius King tribe. In addition to being familiar with the grasslands, they had a significant advantage: they could communicate with other barbarian tribes and thus gather more information about the various barbarian tribes on the grasslands.

After hearing Xiao Pengtian's words, Lu Chen immediately said, "I can tell the difference between the real and the fake. Just tell me what you've found out."

Xiao Pengtian immediately said, "According to the soldiers who returned, the reason why the Northern Xian King went south in winter was because he felt that you had stolen his queen, and he couldn't swallow this insult."

Hearing this, Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

If he hadn't defeated the Sirius King's 300,000-strong army, Xiao Wenyao would indeed have married the Northern Xian King in the end. However, Lu Chen still felt that sending troops to attack the Northern Prefecture for the sake of a woman was a bit far-fetched.

Lu Chen continued, "Is there no other reason?"

Xiao Pengtian said, "There is another reason, which is that the Northern Xian King believes that the 300,000-strong army of the Tianlang King tribe has severely damaged the Northern County, so the Northern County is now powerless to resist their southward advance."

Speaking of this, Xiao Pengtian's emotions were somewhat complicated. He had also participated in the battle to attack Beijun, but in the end he was captured by a general under the Northern King.

At this moment, Lu Chen chuckled and then said, "This is probably what the Northern Xian King really thinks. No wonder they went south in winter."

At first, Lu Chen couldn't understand why the Northern Xian King would march south in winter, since the barbarians had never marched south in winter before.

Even the Sirius King's tribe had never marched across the grasslands in a blizzard before, so the Northern King's decision was far too audacious.

If they were marching in winter, many of the barbarian soldiers might have already died before they even reached the northern region, which would be extremely disadvantageous for the barbarians.

Just as Lu Chen was about to say something, a man dressed in black and red brocade guard uniforms came up to him.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

Upon seeing this Imperial Guard, Xiao Pengtian's face instantly darkened, and he even felt an urge to draw his sword.

The Jinyiwei soldier in front of me is none other than Wu Yuan, the merchant who once infiltrated the Tianlang King tribe.

Now the entire Sirius King tribe has moved to the Northern Prefecture, and there will be no more Sirius King tribe from now on. Wu Yuan was promoted to commander of the Imperial Guard because of his merit in collecting intelligence on the barbarians and because the Imperial Guard has been expanding its recruitment recently.

Although Xiao Pengtian has submitted to Lu Chen and is now Lu Chen's subordinate along with Wu Yuan, he still feels an urge to kill Wu Yuan whenever he thinks about what happened in the past.

Lu Chen asked, "What is it?"

Wu Yuan replied, "Your Highness, the craftsmen have already made the first batch of what you need, and we have already secretly transported it to Beijun."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen's eyes lit up. The craftsmen from Dayu City had only been in Beijun for a short time, yet they had already produced what he needed.

Lu Chen then continued, "Have you Jinyiwei tested its power?"

Wu Yuan replied, "We've tested it. It's not as powerful as a howitzer, but it's not far off. And based on your suggestion, we've added a lot of metal fragments, which will make it even more lethal."

Upon hearing the words "howitzer," Xiao Pengtian, who was standing to the side, shuddered.

He had been with North County for some time now, so how could he not know what a "howitzer" was? Although he wasn't qualified to handle a howitzer yet, he knew that the terrifying weapon that had bombed them was called a howitzer.

Upon hearing that Bei Wang and his men had actually created a weapon with power comparable to a howitzer, Xiao Pengtian felt a chill run down his spine.

So, is the era of martial artists really coming to an end?

I have no idea where the Northern King and his men got such terrifying weapons!

If the Sirius King tribe had known that the Northern County possessed such weapons, they wouldn't have attacked the Northern County, much less been annexed by it.

But none of that mattered anymore; Xiao Pengtian could only sigh inwardly.

At this moment, Lu Chen said, "General Xiao, come with me to see our new weapons."

At this point, Lu Chen jumped down from the city wall. At that moment, Xiao Pengtian stared wide-eyed at Wu Yuan.

Seeing Xiao Pengtian staring intently at him as if he wanted to devour him alive, Wu Yuan smiled and said, "General Xiao, we're practically on the same side now, so you don't need to look at me with such hatred, do you?"

Xiao Pengtian snorted coldly and said, "Limp!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Pengtian jumped down from the city wall and followed Lu Chen to see the new weapons.

Wu Yuan shrugged, completely unconcerned. His Embroidered Uniform Guards were, after all, lackeys of the Northern King, and Xiao Pengtian's words were not wrong. Moreover, he did not feel that this was an insult to him at all.

In the eyes of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, being called the lackeys of the Northern King was actually a compliment.

Soon, Lu Chen and his group arrived in front of the convoy transporting military equipment.

Lu Chen immediately ordered his men to open the boxes and then inspect the gunpowder weapons that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had brought.

Because these were the first gunpowder weapons made by the craftsmen, they were quite rudimentary; basically, an iron ball filled with gunpowder was considered a bomb.

Moreover, there were no cannons, and the only means of launching them was with catapults.

To manufacture artillery, further development of materials is needed; it cannot be done so quickly, and Lu Chen was well aware of this.

Lu Chen then said, "Take two to the grasslands first; I want to test their effects myself."

It just so happens that Tianguang City is currently only a military fortress, with no civilians and only stationed soldiers in the entire city.

Outside of Tianguang City lies an endless grassland, making it the perfect place to test these gunpowder weapons.

Upon hearing Lu Chen's order, some Imperial Guards immediately loaded a weapon containing a bomb onto a wooden cart and pulled it toward the grassland.

Seeing those round iron balls, Xiao Pengtian couldn't understand why these were the same iron balls that had defeated the 300,000-strong barbarian army in the Wanning River Valley.

Isn't this just an iron ball?

Why does it have such great destructive power?

Could it be that this iron ball contains the life's worth of power of a grandmaster?

(End of this chapter)