tors. Not only Third Young Master who spent all his time at the camp not daring to return home; Fourth Young Master and Fifth Young Master also fled to the north for most of the year without returning...403. King of a Hundred Weapons

403. The King of the Hundred Weapons

Ignoring everyone's curious glances, Ye Li calmly put the pistol back into her sleeve and said with a smile, "We should leave now, or we'll be surrounded." They looked at the soldiers from Xi Ling who were running towards them and promptly packed up their belongings and left. There was another side of the mountain road where they had already prepared swift horses at the foot of the mountain. By the time those people came around, they would have long been gone on horseback.

After leaving the cliff, everyone galloped all the way to Feihong Pass and only relaxed when they arrived there. Feng Zhirao couldn’t help but burst out laughing; others also had broad smiles on their faces. Since Mo Xiurao disappeared, even though everything was still in order throughout the army, everyone couldn't help feeling a little anxious, naturally creating an atmosphere of some suppression. Today was the most carefree day since those days.

Han Mingyue looked at Ye Li and asked softly, "Your Excellency, could I borrow your… concealed weapon to play with"

"Concealed weapon" Ye Li raised her eyebrows and casually handed over the pistol. Han Mingyue carefully accepted it after thanking her, not waiting until he returned home but looking at it while walking. Feng Zhirao and Han Mingxi also stretched their necks to look. However, they were far from as knowledgeable about these things as Han Mingyue, so they weren’t in a hurry to grab them. Only Qin Feng, who had always followed Ye Li, showed no surprise whatsoever on his face; he not only knew what this was but where it came from and thus wasn't curious like everyone else. But today after seeing the destructive power of this concealed weapon used by the duchess, he felt a bit eager to try.

Han Mingyue frowned as he thought about it while his hand continuously explored the object in his hands. He even imitated Ye Li's manner and held it up trying to figure out where the trigger was. When faced with the black gun barrel, Feng Zhirao’s head instantly broke out into a cold sweat. Although he didn't know what this thing was, he certainly hadn’t forgotten that the projectile which injured Lei Zhenting came from that small hole. He hurriedly moved aside and said, "Han Mingyue, be careful!"

Han Mingyue raised his eyebrows with a smile and said, "It's useless." Although he now knew where the trigger was, when he pulled it nothing shot out. Han Mingyue also realized this wasn't the time to talk about such matters and merely played with it in his hand.

The moment they entered the estate, Han Mingyue immediately handed the pistol back to Ye Li; everyone looked at her longingly as well. Ye Li smiled faintly, inserted a black magazine into the pistol, opened the safety catch, and shot towards the sky.

With a bang, a sparrow fell from the sky. Upon seeing this, everyone noticed two bullet holes on the little bird's body. Clearly, that concealed weapon had passed through it directly.

"A fine thing!" Han Mingyue praised. Although they could easily hit a sparrow with stones as martial artists, he also realized that just now, the speed of this concealed weapon was far faster than ordinary ones and even better than the best archer in the Black Cloud Cavalry. More importantly, such concealed weapons didn’t seem to require any inner strength or physical condition from the user; accuracy alone mattered.

Ye Li shook her head and said, "The sound is too loud." Advanced weapons couldn't be found easily; suppressors were also something she couldn't solve immediately. Therefore, if they wanted to launch a night attack, this thing would not be as useful as an arrow. However... A trace of nostalgia passed through Ye Li's eyes. When she first regained her memory, she had never imagined that in this life, she could encounter such things again; even in the previous life, these were old antiques worthy of being displayed in a museum.

"Your Excellency, can I try" Han Mingyue asked. A scholar like him was naturally very interested in unknown objects.

Ye Li casually passed it over, and Han Mingyue looked around before pulling the trigger at a hanging lantern under the eaves. After a loud bang, the lantern remained in place while the bullet embedded itself into the wall beside it.

"Hahaha!" Feng Zhirao could not help but burst out laughing. "Han Mingyue, did you lose your touch over these years"

Although Han Mingyue was exceptionally intelligent, he knew immediately what the problem was after trying it once. However, he did not say anything and passed the pistol to Feng Zhirao with a smile. "Young Master Feng is also renowned for his archery skills, why don’t you give it a try" Feng Zhirao shrugged indifferently. "Alright then!"

"Bang!" The white lantern swayed slightly in the breeze as Feng Zhirao’s face twisted into an odd expression. Ye Li took over and said with a faint smile, "This indeed does not require inner strength or physical robustness. However… there is still recoil force involved. So… if you want to master it well, it will take some effort." Did these people really think that they could hit the bullseye on their first try just because they were good at throwing sharp objects

"Jun Wei… Jun Wei, we have such a close relationship… can you give me one" Han Mingxi’s eyes lit up as he looked at Ye Li with pleading eyes. This thing might not be much for someone who was skilled in martial arts, but for someone like Han Mingxi who had top-notch lightness kung fu and mediocre inner strength and skills, it was a divine weapon.

Ye Li glanced sideways at him and casually tossed the pistol to him. "Come back later and find Qin Feng to teach you how to use this thing properly." Be careful… if this hits an important organ, it would be much more troublesome than arrows or sharp objects."

This was not Ye Li trying to scare Han Mingxi; even if he didn’t hit a vital spot but just hit the body, there would be nothing wrong if the bullet went straight through. However, if the bullet remained in his body, it could cause quite a bit of trouble trying to remove it. As for infections after being shot, because gunpowder was slightly contained within the bullets and because the wound penetrated deep into one’s body, the chances of infection were definitely many times higher than those caused by ordinary blades or swords.

Han Mingxi had seen its power before; he naturally held it carefully.

Seeing Han Mingxi easily obtain such a precious sharp object, Feng Zhirao and Han Mingyue also felt tempted. "Lady Wang…"

Ye Li felt her scalp tingle slightly as she helplessly said, "Don’t ask me; there are only three of these right now. You’ll have to wait for some time." Of course, there were many defective ones too, but Ye Li did not dare give those to Feng Zhirao and others in case they accidentally set them off. She reckoned that within a maximum of two or three more years, the standard pistol could be mass-produced, possibly even improved. Ye Li was unsure whether bringing firearms into an era dominated by cold weapons would have been right, but given she had these things now and the foundation left behind by the previous dynasty’s emperor, she naturally couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Whether it was from cold to hot weaponry, this was always the overall trend of human progress; it wasn’t bad for them to be a step ahead.

Seeing that they could not obtain these things, Feng Zhirao and Han Mingyue were somewhat disappointed but understood that there was nothing they could do about it. They could only make an agreement with Ye Li to request priority when more were produced. Ye Li had no choice but to agree.

Han Mingxi looked at his brother and, reluctantly, handed the precious sharp object he just obtained to Han Mingyue. "Big Brother, you can play with it first." Han Mingyue reached out to take it, spun the pistol around in his hand, then raised his arm again for another shot; this time hitting a lantern under the eaves.

Feng Zhirao frowned and said, "This thing is too noisy." If it could be completely silent, it would certainly be an essential tool for killing people, setting fires, secretly attacking, or stealthily stealing. In Feng Zhirao’s opinion, if one suddenly fired a gun at close range or multiple people did so simultaneously, even someone of Thunder Lightning’s level might find it hard to escape unscathed.

Ye Li raised her eyebrows; although there were silencers available, they could not be produced for the moment.

Han Mingyue listened to Feng Zhirao's words and looked down at the item in her hand, lost in thought.

"Speaking of which, we still don't know what this weapon is called," Han Mingyi asked. Such an impressive dark weapon must have a splendid name worthy of it.

Unfortunately, Ye Li's answer greatly disappointed him: "This thing…is a gun, specifically a pistol."

"A gun! How does that look like a gun" Feng Zhirao objected first. A gun is the king of all weapons and an essential weapon on the battlefield. Just as Mo Xiurao mostly uses swords now but was also known for his dragon-headed silver spear in his youth, which struck fear into enemy soldiers. Ye Li smiled sweetly: "In short, it’s a gun." She waved her hand to indicate that she didn't want any further discussion about it; she had no intention of giving her beloved possession some strange name.

Without giving Feng Zhirao the chance to oppose, Ye Li waved her hand and walked away. They had just fired several shots here and were likely already attracting attention from others. She didn't want a crowd of people糾纏著她。Han Mingyue was curiously playing with the object in his hands, looking like he wanted to take it apart and study its internal workings. Unlike Feng Zhirao, Han Mingyue had no fixation on weapon names; even if Ye Li called this a knife or sword, he could still consider it such as long as it was useful.

Ignoring Feng Zhirao's protests, Han Mingyue held the newly acquired weapon and walked away without looking back. All that was left were Han Mingyi and Feng Zhirao staring at each other in bewilderment. After a while, Feng Zhirao asked: "Do you think this name is fitting"

Han Mingyi smiled and looked at him: "I haven't used the gun you mentioned, so I think… The Duchess' name for it must be very appropriate."

Feng Zhirao rolled his eyes blandly; he shouldn’t have asked Han Mingyi. Apart from his brother, Han Mingyi was most obedient when it came to the Duchess’ words.

Seeing Feng Zhirao's deeply disappointed expression, Han Mingyi patted his shoulder and comforted him: "The name doesn't matter. The Duchess' dark weapon is called a gun; does that mean your guns aren’t guns" Therefore, throughout the entire conversation, Ye Li had forgotten to mention— it wasn't actually a dark weapon.

In the Western Capital's large camp twenty li away from Feihong Pass, because they were suddenly attacked by Duke Ding's forces with such an odd weapon, even the mighty Lei Zhen霆 was seriously injured. This left the formerly aggressive Western Capital army like a goose that had just been choked; it struggled for breath. Because they didn't know if the Black Feather Army also possessed this kind of strange weapon, the Western Capital troops did not dare to camp too close to Feihong Pass and withdrew ten or so li away.

In the military encampment, inside Lei Zhen霆's tent. The clothes on Lei Zhen霆’s shoulder had already been removed, and several doctors who were treating him all frowned in worry. There was a blood hole below his right shoulder, not particularly large but certainly significant. This posed a challenge for even these skilled doctors. If it had been an arrow or a normal dark weapon, they could have directly pulled them out. Dark weapons usually wouldn’t penetrate too deeply into the body; however, Duke Zhen南現在的傷口已經深入體內，差一點就打碎了他的肩胛骨。這還不算，他們雖然不知道那是什麼暗器，但是能感覺到東西不大，並且似乎棱角並不十分分明。想要在不傷害鎮南王的情況下取出那個東西，更是難上加難。

另一種辦法就是運用內力將裡麵的暗器逼出來。可是有這樣深厚內力的人目前軍中就隻有雷震霆一人而已。而雷震霆的左手……二十多年前就已經被墨流芳砍去了。

Lie Zhenting remained calm, frowning as he stared at the blood hole below his shoulder but showed no sign of pain on his face. "What do you think"

A physician thought for a moment before stepping forward and saying, "We are unable to identify this projectile weapon."

"If we forcefully remove it, what will happen" Lie Zhenting asked.

The doctor cautiously replied, "Since Your Highness is skilled in martial arts, if the bullet is forcibly removed, as long as proper care is provided there shouldn't be any serious consequences. However... I fear that for several months to come, Your Highness's right hand will..." The physician left his words unsaid; he knew Prince Zennan would understand what he meant. But since Prince Zennan only had one arm and could now no longer use his right hand, wouldn't it mean that he was rendered useless

Lie Zhenting's gaze darkened as he thought deeply for a long time before asking, "What if we don’t remove it temporarily"

"That’s absolutely impossible," the doctor quickly said. "Your Highness must not do so. Although we haven't identified this projectile weapon, leaving it in your body is definitely unwise. Aside from the potential harm an unknown object could cause to your health, the wound is too deep and might result in internal infection, causing Your Highness to lose the use of your shoulder entirely. In severe cases... death."

Although this was putting a lot of pressure on the physician to tell Lie Zhenting so bluntly, if Prince Zennan died due to improper treatment, they would only suffer even more. Therefore, although the physicians were staring at Lie Zhenting with intense gazes, they all agreed with their colleague.

Lie Zhenting remained silent for a long time; as someone accustomed to decisive action, he wouldn’t back down or become nervous despite his current situation. After quickly assessing his circumstances in his mind, he asked, "If we forcefully remove it now..."

"We will do our utmost," the physicians chorused.

Lie Zhenting sighed and said, "Then let's proceed this way." It wasn’t that Lie Zhenting didn't want to try other methods. But there weren’t many people in the world who could expel a projectile weapon from his body without causing significant harm using their internal energy alone. Originally, he himself was one such person; now it would be Mo Xiuyao, Ling Tiehan, and Mu Qingchu. Others like the former Eastern You, Ren Qining, or Han Mingyue might also attempt to do so, but Lie Zhenting couldn’t find any of them at this moment.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the physicians to prepare while sighing alone in the tent. Just after setting out to battle and suffering such severe injuries... Ye Li… I underestimated you. For some reason, Lie Zhenting suddenly felt an ominous premonition deep within him.

In this moment, Lie Zhenting was surrounded by several physicians removing a bullet from his shoulder. These doctors were skilled but had never seen a bullet before. Moreover, the bullet was deeply embedded in flesh and bone, making it nearly impossible to remove without causing further injury. Despite their utmost care, they eventually managed to extract the bullet from Lie Zhenting’s shoulder, yet this worsened the injury. It would likely take three to five months of convalescence for him to recover, and even then, there might be lingering effects that would affect his ability in the future. At least among the Four Great Masters, Lie Zhenting may now find himself at the bottom.

Although Xiling’s army was on the brink of besieging the city, they suddenly retreated after a loud explosion, leaving behind only blood and corpses. This puzzled the soldiers stationed at Feihong Pass as well. Inside General Yuan Pei's mansion, Ye Li was cornered by Old Marshal Yuan Pei. After hearing what happened from Ye Li, Yuan Pei burst into laughter, exclaiming, "Great! Truly Heaven is aiding our Mo family army!"

Feng Zhirao rolled her eyes and said, "Elder Yuan, what kind of divine assistance are you talking about The items were clearly made by the Queen Consort herself." If the heavens had truly been aiding the Wangfu all this while, the Dingwang Fu would not have suffered such misfortune over these years.

Yuan Pei stroked his beard and laughed repeatedly. "Indeed, indeed. It really is thanks to the Queen Consort. Your Highness, do you still have any explosives like that" Ye Li shook her head in regret and said, "Today was the last of all we had left over from those past two years." After all, it would take a large quantity even to blow up tens of thousands of people with modern-day technology, not to mention that there were no obstructions on the open terrain at Xi Ling's military camps. It would be purely a matter of setting off the explosives directly and blowing them up. With current technology, if they made grenades or something similar, it would already be good enough for one grenade to kill two people. If placed together and set aflame, their explosive power would still be quite significant.

Feng Zhirao said, "It’s always advantageous to us when Leizhenting is unable to personally come onto the battlefield."

At least because of today’s matter, the morale of Xi Ling’s army will definitely drop for a while, and they won’t be able to regain their fighting spirit in the short term.

Ye Li smiled and said with a nod, "Indeed. Since this is so, please make good preparations. Flyonguan will have to trouble all of you."

The crowd stood up and said, “We’re at your service!”

On another front, the original garrison commanders in charge of Changxing in Xi Chu’s capital city, Leng Huai and Lyu Jinxian, also met outside of Liyang City where Mo Jingli’s army was stationed. After Mo Xiu Yao died, the entire battlefield shifted westward to the northwest, and the once strategically important Han Valley Fort was left unattended. Mo Jingli blocked Liyang City to stop Mo Family Army from going further. However, Leng Huai and Lyu Jinxian were eager to return to Flyonguan to reinforce Dingwang Fu. Both sides refused to back down, leading to several battles within a few days with casualties on both sides. In the end, Mo Jingli closed the city gates and did not come out at all. He had no intention of eliminating Lyu Jinxian or Leng Huai; he just needed to defend Liyang City and prevent them from passing through.

This tactic of avoiding battle was even more infuriating for Lyu Jinxian and Leng Huai than facing off against each other directly. Storming a city took a lot of time, as the Northern Border had taken half a year to conquer Zi Jing Pass back then, after which it also took over three months to attack Xi Chu’s capital city. However, they were currently lacking in time. Even though Leng Huai and Lyu Jinxian were calm and collected people, they couldn’t help but curse Mo Jingli for his despicable tactics.

Inside the main tent of the Mo Family Army, Lyu Jinxian paced back and forth with a frown, while Leng Huai and He Su on the side had tightly knitted brows. Leng Huai put down his teacup and sighed. "General Lyu, stop walking around; you’re making my head dizzy."

Lyu Jinxian was stunned for a moment before he could only sit back down again. With a heavy expression, he said, "Within half a month, Leizhenting has already amassed tens of thousands of troops and is marching towards Flyonguan. Moreover, Xi Ling’s border regions are constantly sending reinforcements northward as well. I really fear…" He was truly worried that the Queen Consort wouldn’t be able to hold on.

Aside from the old general Yuan Pei, all the commanders in charge of Flyonguan were young officers. Although General Yuan Pei was skilled and experienced in battle, he had already passed seventy years of age; how could anyone not worry about that

Leng Huai said, "If Flyonguan really can’t hold on anymore, then the Queen Consort will definitely recall Nanhou and General Mu once again. At that time, we would be able to hold out for a few days at least. All we need to do is break through Liyang City as soon as possible; otherwise… even if Flyonguan falls right now, we can only worry here."

“Mo Jingli has been acting like a turtle in its shell these past few days, refusing to come out no matter how much we taunt him. What do you want us to do about it” Yun Ting angrily said. Of course, his anger was directed at Mo Jingli for hiding inside the city and not coming out to fight.

Xu Qingfeng frowned and said, "Why don't I lead a team to infiltrate the city secretly Then we can coordinate from within and outside..."

Lyu Jinxian shook his head. "No good, Liyang City is naturally difficult to attack but easy to defend. Moreover... there are 800,000 troops inside the city. Mo Jingli doesn't lack manpower now; even though Qilin are formidable, it's unlikely they can accomplish anything by sending too many people in." If a city defended by 800,000 soldiers still had vulnerabilities, then Mo Jingli might as well bury himself alive.

Liáng Huái raised his eyebrows and suddenly said with a smile, "Right... 800,000 men... do you think how much food does Mo Jingli have in Liyang" Liyang wasn't an especially large city, and more importantly, it wasn’t a primary grain-producing region of the Great Chu. Therefore, there couldn’t be too many stored supplies inside. However, even one day’s worth of rations for 800,000 men would not be a small number.

Hearing this, Yun Ting raised his brows and said with a smile, "We can still help him! We can't infiltrate too many people, but sending some experts to set fire should be possible."

Xu Qingfeng got up and nodded. "No problem. I'll take care of it."

Such matters could naturally only be handled by Qilin—the most skilled and versatile soldiers in the Mo army. Lyu Jinxian nodded, saying, "Tribute to your efforts, Commander Xu. Mo Jingli surely wouldn’t leave no defense at all; Commander Xu must be extra cautious."

Xu Qingfeng nodded. “Gentlemen, just wait for good news.”

Xu Qingfeng didn't waste words and took his leave from everyone to exit the tent. Liáng Huái sighed and said, "I hope Commander Xu achieves success swiftly."

He Sū pondered for a moment before asking, “Do we still need to send forces to intercept the Great Chu’s supply convoy”

Lyu Jinxian waved his hand. “No need for that. If Mo Jingli has supplies coming from behind, let them come."

Although everyone didn't know what Lyu Jinxian was planning, seeing him so calm suggested he had a plan; thus, no one asked further.

"To report to General Lyu and General Liáng, outside the gate is a Mister Ye requesting an audience." The guard reported from the doorway.

“Mister Ye Who’s that” Everyone was clueless.r; everything in the Chu encampment will depend on you now.”Yao Ji nodded and said, “You can rest assured. By the way,” she pulled out a hairpin from her head and placed it in Qin Feng's hand, "This i...