Chapter 130: Such Decay

Zhao Hengyi was highly satisfied with the power and performance of the "conscienceless cannon." Driven by an inherent fear of insufficient firepower, he had quite honestly embarked on a path of pursuing ever-larger calibers and greater destructive force.

Lacking both the necessary technology and skilled personnel, Zhao Hengyi knew that even if he could draw up blueprints for breech-loading firearms, the current level of the Yushu Bay smelting workshop would be unable to manufacture them. Since he was unwilling to take unnecessary detours and held no interest in matchlock guns, continuing to optimize the "conscienceless cannon" and expand its applications became the logical choice.

In reality, it was not that Zhao Hengyi was obsessed with perfection. Rather, he knew that once he had mastered a superior gunpowder formula, the gap between the nascent Yushu Bay industrial system’s ability to produce matchlocks or other muzzle-loaders and its ability to manufacture qualified breech-loaders would not be vast. Understanding the history and trends of firearms development, he was naturally unwilling to waste time on inferior designs.

Although he could not yet produce true, advanced firearms, Zhao Hengyi did not feel discouraged. No matter how rickety the Great Yan Dynasty currently appeared, it was still managing to hold on, and the only armed forces he and Yushu Bay had to face were the bandits who had already been thoroughly swept out of Dangyang County. Even without mentioning the prowess of his own guard and hunting teams, the mere existence of hand crossbows had, to a certain extent, filled the gap left by the lack of firearms.

After all, while the fire-musket Zhao Hengyi had tinkered with possessed considerable power, its limitations in actual combat were glaringly obvious. His initial success in taking down "No Shadow" with that musket had been entirely due to the element of surprise—a sucker punch from the dark. The reason he had been forced to use the musket against "No Shadow" in the first place was that the man’s movements were ghostly; even a master archer like Wang Dahu could not hit him with a crossbow at a range of ten meters.

But how many experts like "No Shadow" existed in this world? And among those martial artists who had mastered internal energy, how many specialized solely in evasive footwork? Therefore, for the guard and hunting teams, until a true technological breakthrough in firearms was achieved, the hand crossbow remained far more practical. Yet, Zhao Hengyi never wavered in his conviction: firearms were the ultimate future.

The continuous field testing and improvements of the "conscienceless cannon" had resulted in all the bandits in Dangyang County perishing under what the locals called "the Mountain God’s drumbeats," and even bandits in neighboring counties had met their ends in the same fashion.

This simple, easy-to-produce, and high-power artillery piece would not see any major changes for a long time to come. Zhao Hengyi looked forward to the day the "conscienceless cannon" would appear on the battlefield against the barbarians. However, that wish could not be fulfilled for the time being.

Although several rounds of rain had significantly eased the drought, all of the Great Yan Dynasty’s border defenses, save for the Yonggu City line, had collapsed. The barbarians, who had moved south due to the drought, had not retreated after ravaging the countryside. Under these circumstances, Yonggu City had become an isolated bridgehead deep within barbarian-controlled territory. While it had not yet reached the point of being a completely besieged city, its logistics and supply lines were severely compromised.

A month ago, Zhao Hengyi had received the last letter from his elder brother, Song Ying'an. The letter stated that all border army camps, including the Xuan Battalion, had withdrawn into Yonggu City, and that barbarian scouts were frequently appearing on the land behind Yonggu City that had once belonged to Great Yan.

Song Ying'an expressed deep concern about the supply lines being cut off by the barbarians. Fortunately, thanks to the merit earned by using the various devices Zhao Hengyi had invented to deal a crushing blow to the army led by Tuoba Dewang, the city had been able to stock up on supplies before the situation worsened. It was not in immediate danger of being overrun, but any hope of taking the initiative to strike back was gone.

More than a month had passed without a new letter from Song Ying'an, presumably because communication between Yonggu City and the rear had been severed. The reality was that there were simply too many incompetent allies; even with the great victory achieved by the border troops, they could only protect the local populace.

By now, the reputation of the Yonggu City border troops among the barbarians was immense. After all, Tuoba Dewang was a formidable commander held in high esteem. Having suffered heavy losses before Yonggu City, the barbarians were still unwilling to assault it again, even though they had by then figured out the pitfalls, barbed wire, and catapults.

The other defensive lines of Great Yan were no different than before—the soldiers were as weak as lambs on the grasslands, and the generals as foolish as sparrows too stuffed with seeds to fly. The moment the iron cavalry of the grassland warriors arrived, these quail-like men would collapse like an avalanche. With such easy prey available, who would want to gnaw on the hard bone that was Yonggu City? Moreover, the barbarians who had broken through the defenses were busy burning, killing, and looting across the Great Yan territory; they had no desire to engage the force that had defeated Tuoba Dewang.

Countless commoners were displaced. Even in a major rear-area city like Jiangling, the number of refugees outside the walls was surging. It was clear that the deterioration of the war in the front lines was causing immense suffering for the innocent.

Zhao Hengyi knew all of this, and his heart ached, but he was currently powerless to intervene. The military decay of Great Yan had not happened overnight. If even the so-called elite border troops were unable to withstand the barbarian cavalry, one could only imagine the state of the local garrison forces.

In Jiangling, Zhao Hengyi had seen the Ningwu Army under the command of Prince Qi. It was said that the army had three thousand men on the rolls, yet there were fewer than eight hundred soldiers actually in the camp. Even so, those common soldiers were ragged and emaciated, no better than beggars. The personal guards Prince Qi kept by his side, while officially on the books, were in fact his own private house staff. The blue-clad brute who had chased Lu Jiuniang on Changrong Street was one of these long-cultivated guards; while his combat effectiveness was decent—due to being well-fed and trained—there were fewer than fifty such men.

Jiangling was a prosperous city, and Prince Qi was a royal prince; if this was the state of his troops, the condition of the garrison forces elsewhere was all too easy to guess. In Zhao Hengyi’s view, even if armies like the Ningwu were equipped with muskets and cannons, they would likely still suffer crushing defeats on the battlefield, and their weapons would very likely be sold to the barbarians for a high price.

The collapse of the Great Yan military was no longer just a problem of weaponry; it was a problem of people. Civil officials stifled the military, military officers were cowardly, soldiers did not act like soldiers, and generals did not act like generals. When encountering the enemy, they would flee at the first sign of trouble. A defensive line held by tens of thousands of men would be breached by the barbarian cavalry in half a day—even if they were tens of thousands of pigs, the barbarians wouldn't have been able to charge through that quickly!

The only force Zhao Hengyi could trust, the Xuan Battalion in Yonggu City, was now out of reach. Delivering the "conscienceless cannons" to his brother, Song Ying'an, would have to wait. But Zhao Hengyi wondered: he could afford to wait, but could the Great Yan Dynasty afford to?