Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Han Xin now leads his troops to station on the edge of Lingnan New Road.

On the one hand, they were responsible for guarding the key gates of Xindao to prevent people from running over from Lingnan - it would be fine if ordinary people came over, but the main thing was to guard against the Baiyue army.

On the other hand, it is also responsible for supervising the remaining roads.

Although the large tribes south of the Five Ridges, such as Nanyue, Xiou, and Luoyue, have not yet been conquered, part of the road can be repaired, at least the most critical part.

The reason why this part is the most critical is that as long as this section of the road is under the control of the empire, the army of the Central Plains can easily go straight to the south of the Five Ridges and cross the most critical natural defense line in the Lingnan region - that is, the Five Ridges and Three Rivers.

This is also the main reason why Gu Xun sent him here, otherwise there would be no need to send him to Lingnan.

The war in this place isn't over yet, but it's almost as good as over.

As long as the Lingqu Canal was completed, supplies from the Central Plains would be continuously transported to the Baiyue. The already devastated Nanyue and Xiou would be unable to stop the arrogant Zhao Tuo, and the remaining Luoyue would be unable to support themselves, and their fall would be only a matter of time.

If you want to gain military merit, Lingnan is no longer a good place. Even the north, which is only invaded by scattered nomadic tribes, is better than here.

After Gu Xun sent Han Xin to guard the main transportation routes, Nei Shi Tengdu simply abandoned all military burdens and focused on governing the internal affairs of Minzhong County and consolidating the rear.

"Han Xin, I never thought you could become like this!"

Inside the central military tent of Han Xin's camp, Zhongli Mei's voice was heard with loud laughter.

Han Xin sat in his seat, looking at his friend with a pair of dead eyes, as if he couldn't hear the other's laughter at all:
"You don't seem to be much better than me."

"Much better than you." Zhongli Mei replied with a smile.

He was making fun of Han Xin's current appearance.

In his impression, Han Xin was like a lady from a wealthy family who never left the house, as if she had never seen the sun. Her skin was pale and her expression was listless, and she always looked as if she had not woken up yet.

Now, Han Xin's eyes are still lifeless like dead fish eyes, but his skin has become at least eight shades darker and more than one level rougher, with a hint of red in the black!
He went from being a patient with kidney deficiency who could never wake up to a coolie who had just escaped from a coal mine.

The environment in Lingnan is really bad. Han Xin came here to lead the troops. It is impossible for him to stay in the tent forever. Naturally, this kind of destruction is inevitable.

Zhongli Mei, who came all the way to find Han Xin, was similar, also much rougher, but still much stronger than Han Xin.

Han Xin no longer paid attention to this topic - he has always been indifferent to unimportant things, and his appearance is one of the unimportant things.

"Why did you come to me?"

"Isn't there going to be another war in Lingnan? I'm coming here to help you." Zhongli Mei replied happily.

"No matter how intense the war in Lingnan is, it has nothing to do with me." Han Xin rolled his eyes and replied, "If I'm lucky, I might be able to pick up some leftovers, but if I'm unlucky, I can only honestly build roads."

"You were sent by the Imperial Master himself, but you can only stay in the rear to build roads and can't even go to the front line!?" Han Xin's answer was completely beyond Zhongli Mei's expectations.

"The imperial master's reputation is not effective everywhere." Han Xin replied with a dry laugh, "Ren Xiong and Zhao Tuo are very ambitious. They are determined to swallow up the fat meat of Lingnan."

"Besides, the fact that I was sent to guard the key roads in and out of Lingnan has already seriously irritated them. Do you still expect them to share some soup with me?"

"What do they two want to do?" Zhongli Mei immediately understood the deep meaning in Han Xin's words and asked with a serious expression.

Han Xin sneered, "It's hard to say now... What they want to do depends on what they can gain from this Lingnan battle."

"If they are allowed to gain enough benefits, I'm afraid they will have the final say in the area south of the Five Ridges."

"How dare they? After conquering Lingnan, do they think no one can control them?!" Zhong Li Mei found it hard to believe.

Han Xin was much calmer and replied calmly, "After staying in this damn place for a long time, it's normal to have some extra thoughts. This place is too remote and isolated from the world."

"As long as we guard the pass of the Five Ridges and Three Rivers, Lingnan will once again cut off all ties with the empire."

"If we want to fight back, without 200,000 or 300,000 people, there's little hope."

"Even so, the emperor will not forgive them!" Zhongli Mei replied immediately.

Ying Zheng hated betrayal the most. If the arrogant Zhao Tuo really dared to secede and establish his own regime, he would not show any mercy or hesitation even if he had to attack Lingnan again.

Han Xin shrugged, "I didn't say they had to rebel."

"They are not fools. It is impossible for them to really go against the Empire. They just have some small thoughts now."

"Hmm..." Zhongli Mei shook his head and stopped worrying about Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo's loyalty. He was now a 'traitor to the empire' and it was not his place to worry about such things. "In this case, you are stuck here like a nail. I'm afraid you will become a thorn in their eyes and a thorn in their flesh."

"They can't do anything until the war in Lingnan is over." Han Xin didn't care at all.

"What about after the war is over?"

"By that time, the pass will be almost finished," Han Xin replied. "I have 20,000 men under my command. I will defend the pass. If he can take it within three months, I will change my surname to yours."

"Of course, the most critical issue for them is not how to take down my pass, but how to solve the problem of food and drink."

Although Lingnan is poor, it is a vast land with abundant resources, and its area is almost as large as half of the empire. It is nonsense to say that it cannot support hundreds of thousands of people.

But without two or three years of hard work, the possibility of achieving self-sufficiency here is zero.

Before this, the entire Lingnan needed supplies from the imperial court to survive, and all supplies had to be transported through the pass guarded by Han Xin.

The logistical supplies were in Han Xin's hands, so he was not worried at all that Zhao Tuo would turn against him.

Of course, he had to guard against the other side's small moves, such as assassination attempts against him and infiltration and corruption of his officers.

In short, it is to prevent oneself from being breached from within.

However, in this regard, Han Xin is very confident and there is nothing to say.

"Well...how can I help?" Zhongli Mei saw that Han Xin knew what was going on, so he didn't ask any more questions and instead talked about the purpose of his coming here, which was to help Han Xin.

"You..." This question seemed to stump Han Xin. He blinked his lifeless eyes a few times and reluctantly replied, "How about helping me train the soldiers?"

Han Xin's men were not new recruits, but veterans who had survived the First Lingnan War. However, training troops is like rowing against the current, and if you don't advance, you will retreat, and you cannot stop for even a moment.

Since he has no war to fight now, he can only ask Zhongli Mei to help him train the troops.

They had come from afar with their families, so he couldn't let Zhong Li Mei make a wasted trip.

Zhong Limei also knew that he was destined to make a wasted trip. Fortunately, his purpose was not just to help Han Xin. Just doing something to kill time would be enough. "Okay, let's train the troops."

………………

That night, in the East China Sea, outside the foggy area.

In the pitch-black ocean, the mirage was brightly lit, and the entire deck was shrouded in bright yellow flames.

A large number of personnel were transferred to the three Cloud-Breaking Crossbows to make preparations for launching.

This crossbow looks like it has a lot of high-tech content, and in fact it does have a lot of high-tech content, but it is not fully automatic, and it is not even semi-automatic.

Every shot requires manual aiming, and the aiming process requires a large number of people to assist in steering. The resetting work after shooting also requires external force to complete.

All in all, the whole process requires a lot of manpower.

While the work on the deck was in full swing, the Toad Palace at the highest point of the Mirage was also busy.

The Moon Goddess took the sisters Ehuang and Nvying directly to the top of the Moon Palace. In front of them was the astronomical instrument that had been modified according to the drawings provided by Donghuang Taiyi.

The entire instrument looks simple yet complex. The material used looks like metal but does not have the luster that metal should have, and looks like wood but lacks the unique texture of wood.

Simply put, the main structure of the astronomical observatory is several overlapping hollow rings of different sizes surrounding the same center, and a base that is nothing special.

The complicated part lies in the placement of these rings. The overlapping angles seem to be very particular and cannot be moved at will. At the same time, there are very special patterns engraved on them whose purpose is unknown.

"Ready to begin."

The Moon Goddess gave an order to the sisters Ehuang and Nvying, who immediately walked to the left and right sides of the observatory.

The Moon Goddess walked to the base below the observatory.

On the periphery, Xing Hun and other remaining high-ranking members of the Yin-Yang family gathered together, ready to watch the fun.

Their level of astrology was more half-baked than the other, and they came here just to have fun. The Moon Goddess was too lazy to chase them away, so she just let them do what they wanted.

Following a look from the Moon Goddess, Ehuang and Nuying took action at the same time, overlapping their hands and forming seals to output their true Qi. The aqua blue and icy white true Qi instantly poured into the astronomical instrument.

The observatory that received the "energy" also changed immediately. The patterns engraved on it began to glow faintly, gradually filling all parts of the instrument.

Right below the observatory, the Moon Goddess had already knelt down. She did not make many movements. She just stretched out a hand and pressed it on the base of the observatory, injecting a weak stream of true energy into it.

I don’t know which of her movements stimulated the stargazer, but the stargazer, which had been motionless, finally moved.

Those hollow rings began to rotate at high speeds at different angles around the center of the circle, and the faint light lingering on them also flickered, as if they had turned into layers of dim light balls.

The Moon Goddess raised her head and quietly looked at the layers of dazzling light, and spots of glow seemed to flash in her eyes.

Soon, the rotation speed of the ring slowed down, and the faint light that was connected by points and surfaces under high-speed movement also dispersed and returned to isolated strips and pieces of light.

As the ring's speed continued to decrease, the light emitted from the notches on the observatory became brighter and brighter, but it was still far from being blinding.

After a moment, the ring stopped completely, and then the light trace on it suddenly lit up, projecting a series of rays of light, forming overlapping light spots, or light points, in the spherical area surrounded by the ring.

After the light spots in the spherical area stabilized, the light traces on the ring began to fade, and the projected light dissipated, but the light spots formed by the overlapping and impact of the light remained.

In the remaining faint light, against the backdrop of the night, those points of light looked like stars, together forming a complex star map, just like the scene inside the Nine Palaces Observatory in Shendu, the headquarters of the Yin-Yang Family.

On the top of the Fusang sacred tree in the distance, Gu Xun folded his arms and looked at the situation on the top of the Toad Palace from afar.

"interesting……"

Gu Xun had to admit that although the Yin-Yang School was always dealing with mysterious things, they were indeed the best in the field of metaphysics.

Of course, this astronomical observatory is not particularly mysterious.

All the changes it has just undergone are essentially caused by the infusion of true energy from the outside, including the star map that is now presented, which seems to be achieved with the help of a three-dimensional virtual display function.

It's all just true energy.

It’s just the use of true energy that is very peculiar and has already gone beyond the scope of martial arts.

This is due to the special structure of the observatory and also to the special material of the observatory.

In the Qin world, there have always been some strange and special materials that Gu Xun had never heard of before. These materials generally show peculiar reactions to true Qi.

Famous swords in sword manuals generally use this type of material, thus possessing corresponding special effects.

For example, the famous Taoist sword Xue Ji, and Gao Jianli’s Shui Han - of course, the materials of the seven swords are also very special, even more special than those in this world.

But what really deserves attention right now is not the observatory - although it is very special, as an instrument, it is enough to know that it works.

What Gu Xun is more interested in is, can the Moon Goddess achieve her goal?
Gu Xun was also proficient in astrology, and the distance from the Fusang sacred tree to the Toad Palace was as good as non-existent to him. He could see the star map in the observatory clearly at a glance and got his own result.

The good news is that astrology can really be used to locate the mirage beast hidden in the fog.

The bad news is that it is difficult to intuitively express the location of the mirage beast to the outside world.

Astrology is not about making a wish to God. You ask a question and it gives you a clear answer. All you can get is a vague feeling, similar to inspiration or divine revelation.

If the information you want to know is very specific, such as a person's name, a place name, or a time, then it is basically equivalent to getting the answer directly.

But if the information itself is somewhat abstract or vague, it can be hard to tell.

For example, the location of the mirage beast that Yue Shen had obtained at this time - the location was in her mind, very clear and definite, but she was not sure about its position relative to the mirage. At most, she could only point out a rough direction, and could not tell how far away it was.

If the weapons on the ship were cannons, they could try to bluff them with a covering attack, but they only had crossbows.

The crossbow arrows used by the Poyun Crossbow are very large, but compared to a cannon, their killing range is far less, and the probability of hitting the target is zero.

The Moon Goddess felt a little uncomfortable.

She got the answer, but it was not a standard answer, and she would most likely not get any points if she answered it...

Unwilling to give up, and with no other options, the Moon Goddess could only continue to observe the stars and try to further locate the mirage beast and get a more accurate "answer". (End of this chapter)