Otherworld Advance Team-Chapter 1775 - 1768: Heart Trouble

"So, what does Young Mansion mean by this?"

Ichuan Fei sat back down opposite and leaned forward, saying seriously, "The Grandmaster should be aware of the regulations of the Heavenly Army?"

"Not very clear," Luo’er shook his head and replied.

"No matter, let me explain to the Grandmaster," Ichuan Fei gestured and continued, "The Heavenly Army has always been divided into civil and military structures. The military generals are brave but hard to control a myriad of troops. Civil Captains may struggle but can also lead armies and plan strategies. This combination of civil and military powers is the system of the Heavenly Army."

"However, because the military often involves the interests of the Wu Family, once the Wu Family has ambitions, they will threaten the Emperor and the Imperial Court with the army, initiating unjust wars. This situation should have ended after the War of the Western World."

"So, what is the current state of the Dongsheng army?" Luo’er asked nonchalantly.

"The Imperial Court intends to remove all military personnel from the army to restructure the Heavenly Army regulations," Ichuan Fei stated.

"If all military personnel are removed, wouldn’t the combat power of the Dongsheng army be significantly weakened?" Luo’er queried.

"Exactly," Ichuan Fei slapped the table and said earnestly, "So, the Heavenly Army urgently needs a force strong enough to counterbalance the military personnel and ensure its combat power is not weakened by their removal."

"Let me guess, it’s firearms?"

"The Grandmaster is indeed extremely intelligent, hitting the mark with one thought," Ichuan Fei showed a satisfied smile.

"No need to flatter me, anyone with a bit of thought would know, the best way for ordinary people to counter cultivators is firearms, just like Western Europe knights encountering musketeers," Luo’er said dismissively.

"I don’t quite understand the Grandmaster’s meaning, but, if the Grandmaster helps the Demon Clan build powerful firearms to defeat the formidable Heavenly Army, such weapons used by the Wen Family would make the Wu Family no longer a concern," Ichuan Fei explained.

"I’m very curious," Luo’er said, "Wasn’t the Demon Clan army familiar with firearms before we arrived? Haven’t the Dongsheng army realized the power of the Demon Clan’s firearms over the past century?"

"Of course, they noticed," Ichuan Fei nodded, "The Demon Clan’s firearms, though strong, ultimately lacked a system and were insufficient to challenge military generals. It was only through your emergence that the Demon Clan was able to form a structured firearm army and subsequently defeat the Heavenly Army."

"So, from the day we set foot on the Continent, you had already decided to have us assist you in advancing military reform?" Luo’er asked.

"Exactly, if the Heavenly Army can be reformed to remove the military power, not only could the West Outer Heaven be avoided, but all four sides could share peace. If the Grandmaster truly wants the Empire to never repeat the Western World, you must help us reform the military and avoid being manipulated by the Wu Family," Ichuan Fei expressed his true thoughts.

"Can I trust your promises?" Luo’er took a deep breath and asked.

"The military acts with force as the foundation. The civil acts with credibility as the standard. If we break our promise, the consequences could be far more severe than the Manor Lord imagines," Ichuan Fei replied.

"So you want to replace the Wu Family’s power with firearms..." Luo’er lowered his head, lost in thought.

As expected, the Wen Family does not care about the so-called Nascent Soul but places all their hopes in the field of firearms.

For them, no matter how strong the Nascent Soul is, it ultimately belongs to the domain of the Wu Family. Their real aim is to completely separate from the Wu Family and eliminate its influence from various fields to revive the Wen Family’s rule.

This shows they haven’t considered firearms, it’s just that the Demon Clan’s firearms have always struggled to take shape, forcing them to seek other solutions.

However, with the involvement of the Western Continent people, the Demon Clan established a modern military force centered on firearms, and subsequently defeated the Dongsheng army.

The Wen Family was not angry about this but rather overjoyed, seeing it as an opportunity to completely eliminate the Wu Family’s power.

Therefore, after the war in the West Outer Heaven ended, the Wen Family immediately began reforms in the army under the guise of downsizing. In this wave of reforms, firearms from the West undoubtedly became the focus of the reform.

Now, with the arrival of the Advance Team at Shengyuan Qilan, the Wen Family’s Imperial Court is even more excited. They clearly knew the role the Advance Team played in the war in the West Outer Heaven and how their presence could greatly advance military reform.

That’s why they spared no expense and escorted the Advance Team to Shengyuan Qilan.

"What does the Grandmaster think?" Seeing Luo’er remain silent, Ichuan Fei appeared anxious and asked cautiously.

"Shall we discuss the Empire’s pressing concerns?" Luo’er lifted his head and smiled.

"Very well, let’s talk about it," Ichuan Fei breathed a sigh of relief.

The two of them had an in-depth discussion on this part, and Luo’er gained much knowledge, finally understanding the situation faced by the Dongsheng Empire and the Wen Family’s strategies.

In simple terms, from the Wen Family’s perspective, the Dongsheng Empire faces two major concerns. One is the nomadic Yipa tribes in the northwest of the Empire, and the other is the Beichang Empire across the sea to the northeast of the Empire.

The Yipa tribes live in a tribal form, generally divided into three major tribes: Chiwo, Hezhe, and Nalan. The three tribes of Yipa often raid the Empire’s borders and might even join forces with the Yingzhao Clan from the Demon Clan to launch a massive invasion into the Empire’s states and counties.

The defense against the Yipa tribes is led by the Jiuyun Clan in the Northern Province, which holds the Empire’s most elite Nine Thousand Battalion. Of course, it is unrealistic to rely on the Jiuyun Clan’s forces to fight the Yipa tribes to the end, so when faced with a large-scale invasion, the Imperial Court also needs to dispatch troops to support the Northern Province.

For the Wen Family’s Imperial Court, the Yipa tribes, though a concern, are not an insurmountable problem.

Nomadic people loot the agricultural empire’s borders to seize essentials like salt, grain, and iron tools. So, appeasing them is relatively easy; just opening up the borders and allowing the tea-horse fair, most Yipa tribes would be placated.

Thus, the Wen Family desires to solve it isn’t too difficult, but clearly, the Wen Family’s Imperial Court has its intentions.

They aim to complete military reform and first target the Yipa tribes, subdue them, and then discuss trade, hence delaying the border opening.

If the Yipa issue does not yet pose a true threat to the Wen Family’s Imperial Court, the Beichang Empire’s problem really grinds their teeth with hatred.

The Beichang Empire is located on the northwest peninsula of the East Continent, with territories extending into the Continent. From the northeast of the Empire’s Yun State, one can enter the territory of the Beichang Empire through the Snow Boundary Pass.

The name Beichang bears some similarity to Dongsheng, with Beichang’s ’bei’ and Dongsheng’s ’dong’ both being directional terms.

Just as the Demon Clan in the West Outer Heaven refers to the Tiansheng Empire as the Dongsheng Empire, the residents of Kyushu call the northeast Chang Empire the Beichang Empire. In the Wen Family’s official documents, it is referred to not as the Beichang Empire, but as the Pretender’s Regime.

This is because the Wen Family’s Imperial Court of the Dongsheng Empire believes that the Beichang Empire usurped the legitimacy of the Dongsheng Empire and belongs to the Pretender’s Regime. Hence, whenever this country is mentioned, members of the Wen Family’s Imperial Court are gnashing their teeth in anger.

The Beichang Empire’s predecessor was actually the Chang Dynasty of the Dongsheng Empire. After the Chang Dynasty was overthrown, the exiled royal family of the Chang Dynasty fled to the northeast peninsula, where locals immediately reinstated them to rebuild the Chang Empire, claiming themselves the legitimate successors of Kyushu.

This oddly resembles the effect of a Third Roman Empire, causing the Dongsheng Empire to loathe this regime, which it neither recognizes nor calls it pretender’s regime.

In fact, such rhetoric from the Beichang Empire is merely bluster, according to the Wu Family’s solution, it’s best to ignore them. If they genuinely manage to invade Kyushu, discussing legitimacy wouldn’t be too late.

But clearly, the Wen Family’s Imperial Court does not think so; they place particular emphasis on legitimacy, so Beichang Empire’s declarations appear as provocations to them.

Generations of the Wen Family’s Hundred Chiefs have pledged to cleanse Beichang and overturn the pretender’s regime, launching several large-scale wars.

But history proves that the Beichang Empire isn’t just empty talk. It’s a standard Wu Family governed nation, with martial virtues reaching their peak, and several campaigns by the Dongsheng Empire not only failed but also resulted in losses, wasting the Empire’s national power, becoming a sore spot for all members of the Wen Family.

The latest campaign against the Beichang Empire happened around a decade ago. The Dongsheng army set out from the Snow Boundary Pass but ended up ambushed by the Beichang forces, leading to a complete defeat of the expeditionary force. Emperor Wu donned mourning clothes to receive the returning troops, while Shengjing mourned for three days, the losses were undeniably severe.

Since then, the Dongsheng Empire has abandoned the idea of attacking the Beichang Empire. But the hatred for this pretender’s regime has only grown.

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