I really didn't want to burn it.

Therefore, it was only natural for the Imperial Guards of the capital to go here to quell the rebellion.

However, things always turn out in ways that exceed everyone's expectations.

At first, Ophelia thought this so-called expedition would be very easy.

After all, the actual commander leading this force was the great Norse hero Sigurd, along with Kadoc's servants and their two Master Mages, plus tens of thousands of Tang Dynasty Imperial Guards.

This war is probably just a simple armed parade.

Ophelia now just wants to slap herself hard for her naive ideas, to the point where her face is swollen.

This wretched place is a nightmare for large-scale army groups.

Although desertification was not as severe in Ophelia's time as it is in later generations, the rugged mountain roads and difficult terrain were still enough to make their journey difficult.

Such a geographical environment is fundamentally unfavorable for the deployment of large-scale troops; the winding mountain roads are comparable to the Minoan labyrinth. Moreover, although the Tang Dynasty had incorporated the Afghan region into its provinces for many years and invested heavily in infrastructure construction, it was still far from sufficient.

Some main roads are fine, but mountain roads are practically useless.

Under such circumstances, the number of soldiers or the size of the army doesn't make much difference; mobility is the key factor.

In this way, the Tang army's proudly armored troops were simply a decoration, even inferior to those lightly dressed enemies.

"It's really annoying."

Looking at the towering mountains outside the military tent, Ophelia bit her thumb and complained.

M78 Nebula 756365104

PS1: In this book, the fox saves Team A before the explosion, unlike in the game where Rafe saves them after the explosion.

Therefore, the captain did not experience the storyline of the simulated human restoration.

M78 Nebula 756365104

PS2: Wu Zetian is the reincarnation of a celestial fox in "Flowers in the Mirror", and the relationship between Yang Yuhuan and Yuzaoqian is not discussed further.

In this book, the fox is merely a fictional character borrowed from legends about Wu Zetian and Yang Guifei, using their names as a pretext.

Please don't confuse this with the characters Wu Zetian and Yang Guifei from FGO; their character designs are completely different. ╮(╯▽╰)╭

Chapter 289 I hadn't even used my full strength when the other side collapsed.

Ophelia sat down in the chair, looked at the map on the table, and sighed dejectedly.

"Well, now that I think about it, the garrison commander there couldn't be called an incompetent fool. At least after realizing that things were hopeless, he knew to ask the capital for help, which makes him far superior to those who deceive their superiors."

Now that I am a member of the Tang Dynasty's forces, I must consider issues from the perspective of the Tang Empire.

In fact, she overestimated the man who had already been dismissed.

The reason the other party agreed so readily was because he was from a prominent family.

In the Tang Dynasty, being a scion of a noble family was not a source of pride, but rather an ultimate debuff.

Excluding the current second-generation empress, Emperor Taizu Li Ang and Empress Wu Zetian could be said to have manipulated the aristocratic families to the point of ecstasy.

They never get any good opportunities; instead, they are assigned all sorts of dirty and tiring jobs. Poor and remote places like Afghanistan have always been good places for the imperial court to send these scions of noble families.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these scions of powerful families hold positions in undesirable places; if they make a mistake, the punishment can start at the death penalty.

In any case, in the governing philosophy of these two emperors, the aristocratic families were the root of all problems. If the aristocratic families were killed, then the problems would certainly not exist.

Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, commoners who committed crimes could at least get a trial and a chance to defend themselves, but members of aristocratic families were always executed first and then interrogated.

Of course, the two emperors dealt with crimes differently. Li Ang was the decisive type, killing people to get rid of them once and for all.

Empress Wu Zetian, on the other hand, took various forms of execution to a whole new level, even inventing a "double death penalty" policy. This involved dragging the bodies of aristocratic scions who died during the execution process to the court for interrogation, and then carrying out a second execution in front of a large public.

During the more than one hundred years that two emperors ruled the Tang Dynasty, it was considered a blessing from their ancestors that any scion of a noble family who fell into their hands would be executed immediately.

Having been trained under such high pressure for so long, the scions of aristocratic families naturally know how to handle problems.

What Ophelia didn't know was that the officer she was praising was currently clinging to the leg of the Protectorate Military District Commander, weeping and pleading, "For the sake of our noble families, please leave my brother a whole corpse!"

But it doesn't matter if you don't know, since Ophelia has no desire to understand the complex relationships among the natives of the Tang Dynasty anyway.

"Well, if the captain is here, he should be able to handle this smoothly."

As a member of Group A, Ophelia was well aware of Kirshtalia Wodim's strength.

If he were to appear in Afghanistan, a meteorite would strike and all the rebels and rioters would vanish into thin air.

"That stupid she-fox, she just had to make things complicated..." Kadoc complained disdainfully as he sipped his green tea.

Ophelia glanced at him and explained, "No, that fox isn't stupid; it's actually quite shrewd."

The contract between Group A and the female fox was signed by Kirshtalia Wodim, so they had to keep him under their watchful eyes at all times.

If we really let Kirshtalia Wodim go, what if this genius of the Clock Tower breaks the contract and then leads his team back to the capital Luoyang?

Don't forget, Chaldea Group A was originally formed to save humanity.

It seems that in the eyes of the foxy Koyanskaya, the tiger Kirshtalia Wodim should be kept more tightly bound.

"team leader……"

Ophelia looked at the Command Seal on the back of her hand, feeling deeply puzzled. She still didn't understand why the other party would agree to the female fox's request and sign a contract for it.

What made Ophelia even more uneasy was the malfunction of her Mystic Eye of Delay.

Despite possessing the ability to observe possibilities, she has a gem-level magical eye with futuristic vision—this is one of the reasons why Ophelia became the leader of the expeditionary force.

However, since arriving in Afghanistan, Ophelia's magical eyes have not seen the future even once, despite the enemy's frequent ambushes on her troops.

"It seems like someone is interfering. What is it...?"

boom!

Just as Ophelia was pondering, an explosion was heard outside the military tent.

"Enemy attack?!"

Upon hearing the commotion outside, Ophelia immediately thought of this.

A flash of white light appeared, and a silver-haired girl appeared in the military tent.

"Master, Lady Ophelia," the girl in the heavy robe said to the two, "Please stay here and do not move. Sab will handle the commotion outside. Your safety is the most important thing."

"Okay. Thank you for your help, Cast."

Ophelia nodded slightly and sat down with Kadoc.

Outside the military tent, several cavalrymen rode their warhorses out of the cavalry camp and headed towards the place where the commotion had occurred.

However, before they had run far, a light bullet fell from the sky and hit their formation, igniting a burst of fire.

The leading warhorse was injured in the explosion and crashed into the warhorse beside it.

The cavalry following behind were unable to dodge in time and also crashed into the commotion.

"what happened!?"

Several Tang soldiers were startled to see the cavalry charging together. They rushed to the scene of the accident to try to rescue the warrior who was trapped under the warhorse.

However, as soon as these running soldiers reached the road leading to the military camp, blood gushed from their chests, and the soldiers collapsed limply to the ground.

"Another sniper!"

The soldiers running behind stopped in alarm and looked around.

Unfortunately, the soldiers' vigilance was of no use against those high-speed bullets.

More bullets came from unknown directions, and several soldiers fell into pools of blood.

Immediately, pitiful howls echoed through the empty military camp.

"Don't go and save those people! They're bait!!"

Some people saw through the enemy's trick and tried to warn their companions.

But it was too late. Several soldiers who tried to use their speed to rescue their wounded comrades were mercilessly shot dead by the enemy.

The agonizing screams of the unattended wounded continued to echo throughout the base.

In an instant, the military camp turned into a bloody hell.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

On a hilltop far from the Tang army camp, someone was watching these things through binoculars.

"Sure enough, after all these years, they haven't improved at all; their minds are still so rigid." Li Ang, with a straw dangling from his mouth, spoke with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "To set up a large-scale army group in a place like this is just courting death, isn't it?"

"Father, is this alright?" Xiang Yu, who was standing beside Li Ang, asked worriedly, "Weren't they your former soldiers?"

Li Ang said nonchalantly, "Decades have passed, my soldiers have long since retired. Besides, if they were my soldiers, I would fight even harder! The tactics haven't changed a bit in nearly a century, what are these idiots doing! Where are their brains?!"

Hearing his father's roar, Xiang Yu awkwardly touched his nose.

The godfather's house was bombed and his maid was captured. Given the godfather's protective nature, it was already considered restraint that he didn't let the enemy escape directly.

"However, after so many days of attacks, these people have learned to be patient. Hasn't that Servant shown up yet?"

Li Ang lowered his binoculars, took a sniper rifle from a Qin soldier beside him, and aimed it at the warhorse of a man dressed as an officer.

Bah!

With a gunshot from Li Ang's side, the officer's warhorse fell to the ground, throwing the officer off the horse.

"Tsk tsk, this thing works better than a magic wand."

Li Ang examined the sniper rifle in his hand and said this.

"Huh? Why isn't it a bow and arrow?"

Xiang Yu, who didn't understand, looked completely bewildered.

Li Ang did not answer, but continued to fiddle with the sniper rifle in his hand.

Despite being called a sniper rifle, this gun actually has a rather punk design, resembling more of an excessively long stick.

Needless to say, this bizarre design is due to the firearm's construction incorporating a large number of runes and magical techniques.

To be honest, Li Ang prefers to lead his men in with submachine guns and spray bullets rather than using precision sniper rifles; it's much more satisfying that way.

Unfortunately, given the current technology of the Qin Dynasty, it's simply impossible for them to produce AK47s on a large scale.

Although the AK47 has always been known for its ruggedness, durability, simplicity, affordability, and ease of operation, many of these perceptions are actually misconceptions about this legendary gun.

In fact, the AK47 itself is not durable; it is the Soviet-made AK47 that is truly robust and durable.

The reason is simple: the Soviet Union spent a lot of money producing the AK-47, sparing no expense in terms of materials. Key components were chrome-plated to improve durability, and even the stock was made of high-quality mahogany.

The reason why such a high-quality AK-47 is inexpensive on the international arms market is not because of low cost, but because of its large quantity. According to incomplete statistics, the Soviet Union produced tens of millions of AK-47s.

The sheer number of AK-47s meant that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, arms dealers imported them not by the unit of "piece," but by the weight unit of "ton."

To put it bluntly, it's like a son selling his father's land without a second thought.

Li Ang and the current Qin Dynasty certainly couldn't achieve that level of precision. Therefore, when designing firearms, Li Ang's approach was to maximize accuracy, thereby sacrificing rate of fire.

What they ultimately got was this monster in Li Ang's hands.

For this expedition to the Tang Dynasty, Li Ang swept away all the sniper rifles produced by the Qin Dynasty and took them with him.

Li Ang originally thought that after so many years of development since his departure, the Tang Dynasty had likely entered the Industrial Revolution era, with its military equipment greatly improved, giving it a devastating advantage over the Qin Dynasty.

This is also because Li Ang chose Afghanistan as the entry point, fearing that the people he brought to settle scores would run into the enemy's elite forces.

However, the reality is that the Tang Dynasty did not make much progress after I left. Let alone the Industrial Revolution, it didn't even come up with the fire poker of the Age of Exploration.

On the contrary, the sniper rifle that Li Ang brought with him became a nightmare for the Tang army.

The fact that he went into battle fully armed only to find out that the opponent was just a pretty face made Li Ang both laugh and cry.

Chapter 290 What happened to the promised tacit understanding?

"but……"

Li Ang picked up the binoculars again and took a look, muttering to himself, "The nickname 'Graveyard of Empires' is indeed well-deserved. Which idiot let Tang occupy this place?"