February 28th, noon. The southwest sky was adorned with clouds unfurling in the wind.

Above the mountain foothills, hot air balloons rose one after another. The largest-scale blocking battles were unfolding in two locations named Xiukou and Shiling. The assembled Huaxia Army soldiers, relying on artillery and mountainous terrain, were resisting the fierce attacks from the Jurchen Boli Speed ​​and Saba tribes. The smoke and flames rising from the war were clearly visible from several miles away.

Ten miles southeast of the Shiling battlefield, the terrain was characterized by gentle hills, but mostly flatlands, with a small river formed by converging streams flowing through it. Passing through here after leaving Zizhou, one would enter the mountains after crossing a stone bridge, where the roads became rugged. Merchants transported goods from the outside world to Zizhou year after year through Jianmen Pass, and then transported Sichuan goods out of these mountains. Thus, the stone bridge over the river was named Wangyuan Bridge, meaning "Looking Far."

The warring parties had already gathered south of the stone bridge.

Ning Yi, leading only six thousand men, did not resort to any tricks. Because of this, Xiebao, commanding an army of thirty thousand, had to advance. His army was already arrayed along the riverbank, with thirty thousand soldiers and three thousand cavalry, their banners fluttering in the wind. Above them was a rare sunny day at the end of February in the southwest.

On the opposite hills, six thousand Huaxia Army soldiers were within sight, including the long-rumored figure—the Mind Demon Ning Yi, standing on the frontmost hill. Wanyan Xiebao breathed a sigh of relief. With thirty thousand against six thousand, he didn't intend to give this man any chance to escape.

"The surrounding grass is fresh and doesn't appear to have been dug up, so there are probably no landmines," a deputy general said. Xiebao nodded, recalling his past intelligence gathering on Ning Yi—the most outstanding figure among the Han people in the past thirty years, skilled not only in strategy but also willing to risk his life on the battlefield for a chance of survival. Several years ago, at a gathering in the Jin Dynasty, Gushen commented on him, saying, "Observing his inner essence, he resembles a mountain of treasure."

Six thousand men, risking their lives, for a chance of survival... Facing this foolish behavior, Xiebao felt both bewilderment and immense insult. He was not Yelü Yanxi.

Of course, this insult also made him exceptionally calm. The correct way to counter such a situation was not to be angry, but to strike the opponent down into the dust with the strongest attack, leaving no time for his backup plans to take effect. Kill him, slaughter his family, and then spit on his skull!

Under Xiebao's command were currently four major generals. Xilie and Wanyan Gulu were originally generals under the God of War Lou Shi. After Lou Shi's death, Yanshan Guard was mainly led by these two generals. In addition, Nake and Wensa, who were under Cibu Shi, were also survivors of the Northwest War. Now, Nake led the infantry, and Wensa led the cavalry.

The army under his command had the memories of humiliation and revenge etched into their bones. Their flag was white, representing their determination to never retreat or surrender. Years of training had been for this moment—to face Ning Yi, this despicable rat, and completely bury the Huaxia Army.

On this morning, the generals, realizing that the decisive battle was at hand, brought out the clothes and hats of the former two great marshals of the Jurchens. Thirty thousand men silently paid their respects, then tied white headbands before marching to the opposite side of Wangyuan Bridge. Ning Yi refused to cross the river, wanting to place the battlefield on this side of the river. That was fine; they would grant him his wish.

At this noon, this army with white headbands was no less imposing than the army at Hubu Dagan more than twenty years ago.

The generals were running in front of the formation, but without shouting; more needed not be said.

****************

"So the most critical... the most troublesome thing is how to teach children."

"I think you just beat them."

"That's why you guys... don't understand education. It's a very delicate matter. What if you break them? Children have self-esteem, what if you leave them with psychological trauma? What if they rebel and run away from home? You can't just beat them casually. It'll affect their future..."

"My two are fine..."

"Mine too."

A gentle breeze blew from the mountains. After receiving a message, Ning Yi was speaking softly with Du Sha and others beside him.

The atmosphere of the battlefield was tense. Over the past few days, intense discussions had been taking place within the Huaxia Army, including Han Jing and Qu Zhengyan, who had some doubts about the entire operation.

"Six thousand against thirty thousand, what if something goes wrong? You are the backbone of the Huaxia Army. If we lose this battle, the Huaxia Army will be defeated."

Or:

"Even if we have a certain degree of certainty, is it a bit of a waste to spend it on Wanyan Xiebao? Otherwise, let's wait until Zong Han fully appears before engaging in a head-on battle. After all... we might not be able to completely annihilate Xiebao."

Two days prior, when Zong Han appeared in the Boli Speed Army, Qu Zhengyan had suggested whether they should modify the strategy. Ning Yi considered it for a while but rejected it. Zong Han's appearance was to distract Xiebao. The ones who would be charging in the front would always be Xiebao's troops. If he didn't fight, Zong Han wouldn't provide another ideal opportunity.

In these discussions and doubts, another matter had been weighing on Ning Yi's mind. Since the twenty-third, the front lines had temporarily lost contact with Ning Ji. Although many teams had temporarily lost contact during the Jurchens' first wave of interdiction, it would be too cliché if Ning Ji fell into the enemy's hands at a crucial moment.

He had considered and planned for many things, but he hadn't thought that such a critical loss of contact would occur at the critical moment. It wasn't until today that news came from the front lines that Ning Ji and others had beheaded the Liaodong general Yin Han, rescued Mao Yishan's regiment, and then spent several days wandering in the mountains in search of an opportunity. The day before yesterday, they ambushed a Han army team and re-established contact.

During these days of wandering, it was said that Ning Ji was ruthless and dark-hearted, having killed two enemy generals... This was truly troubling and worrying news. What had his family turned a thirteen-year-old child into?

He needed to end this war quickly, or his family would produce a murder demon...

His mind was at ease in the bigger picture. He put the news of Ning Ji's safety in his pocket and exhaled, "But it's also good." He looked up at the imposing thirty thousand strong army across from him, their flags like a sea, "Even if I die here today, at least the children at home will continue down the road."

"Our two children, we've been beating them since they were young, beating them to death, and it's still like that now. They're sensible..."

"...Brutes."

The brief conversation ended with Ning Yi's helpless expression. He asked about the time. Two quarters past noon. The sound of drums thundered, and on the opposite side of the battlefield, the first wave of Jurchen troops, about five thousand men assigned to probing, began to move forward, with infantry in the front and artillery on the flanks. On the other side, three thousand elite cavalry slowly circled towards the south side of the battlefield.

The main force in the rear also advanced slowly.

The movement of thirty thousand men made the earth roar like thunder.

Ning Yi raised his hand and gave the order. The army advanced simultaneously.

At this moment, the front lines of the two sides were 1,200 meters apart. The vast array of thirty thousand men extended almost a mile wide.

The maximum range of bows and arrows was two hundred meters, with effective killing range within one hundred and twenty meters. The range of artillery was also similar now. One hundred and twenty meters—an adult could run that distance in no more than fifteen seconds.

There were also ballistae and specially-made strong bows of the generals, with a killing range of up to three hundred meters.

Generally speaking, a distance of a hundred zhang (approximately 330 meters) was the first line where a major battle was prepared to draw blood. More strategic methods and tactics fluctuated on this line, such as advancing slowly and then suddenly pressing forward, or choosing to divide the troops and hold firm, forcing the opponent to react accordingly. Once the distance was reduced to a hundred zhang, the battle would begin.

With a distance of one kilometer between them, the two sides, marching in formation, still had some time to make adjustments and preparations. The battle formation of thirty thousand men gradually expanded in sight. The Huaxia Army's front line formed a long line in the front, with three rows interlaced. They all held long-barreled firearms in their hands. The firearms in the front row were equipped with bayonets, and the soldiers without bayonets carried broadswords on their backs.

A total of four thousand five hundred people held firearms, with cannons interspersed in the ranks.

On the flanks of the formation, protected by a group of gunmen, was a team with the "Huaxia First Military Industry" banner. The main body of the team consisted of more than ten box-shaped four-wheeled carts. Lin Jingwei and Gongsun Sheng, who were currently the chief engineers of the Huaxia Army's technology department, were among them.

Accompanying the team were technicians, soldiers, and workers. Many people's hands, bodies, and uniforms were stained with strange yellow colors. Some people's hands and faces even showed signs of burns and corrosion.

The Huaxia Army's First Military Industry Institute, the Rocket Engineering Research Institute, received the greatest support from Ning Yi during the difficult early days after the establishment of the Huaxia Army. From another perspective, it was also an institution whose research direction was directly controlled and guided by him. Many of the technicians were veterans.

Ning Yi had long ago transferred some soldiers with strong hands-on skills and strong thinking abilities to this field. Now that basic education was still insufficient and manpower was tight, allowing these soldiers who participated in the manufacturing process to operate them personally could reduce the losses incurred in training new recruits to some extent. Of course, if the war situation was tight, they would be further involved in the battle.

Ning Yi followed this team forward. At eight hundred meters, Yu Hang, the deputy chief engineer specifically responsible for the rocket project, was next to Lin Jingwei and Gongsun Sheng. He was a pure technical person with messy, curly hair and a bald spot on the right side of his head due to a burn from an explosion, nicknamed "Curly Baldy". He turned his head and said, "A-almost there."

The vehicles stopped.

"Are you confident?" Ning Yi, who was looking forward with binoculars, couldn't help but ask worriedly.

"A-after all, the e-experiments we've done are not enough. According to N-Ning-teacher's words, theoretically, we... we still have the possibility of problems. N-Ning-teacher, please stand f-f-further away. If... if the most unexpected situation occurs, one percent of the p-p-possibility, this place suddenly e-e-e-explodes..."

"Alright, stop, I understand."

Ning Yi's expression was wooden, and he pressed his palm in the air. Some people even laughed, but more people were doing things in an orderly manner.

Five four-wheeled carts were disassembled. Each two wheels were paired with a lattice-shaped iron frame, placed diagonally on the ground in front, and workers used iron rods to prop them up and fix them. On the other five carts, three-meter-long iron cylinders were lifted out one by one and placed on the I-beam launch racks with several grooves.

The battle formation was still advancing. Ning Yi rode forward, surrounded by many familiar members of the Huaxia Army.

Ning Yi had been preparing for this war for more than ten years, and he had also endured it for more than ten years. In more than ten years, many companions like the soldiers of the Huaxia Army around him had died. From Xia Village, to the three years of Xiaocang River, and now, he had buried countless heroes who deserved to live. He himself couldn't count how many.

As a smarter and more capable person from a better world, he should have had more superiority, but in fact, he didn't have much superiority in front of these people. Over the past ten years, many people like Li Pin thought he was arrogant and had the ability but didn't save more people. However, those people around him, those whom he tried his best to save, eventually died one by one.

At Xiaocang River, he buried countless comrades. In the Southwest, many people went hungry, sending fat meat to the research institute to extract a small amount of glycerin. Soldiers in the front died in battle, and many of those in the research institute in the rear were killed or injured by explosions. Some died from chronic poisoning, and more had their skin corroded by toxicity.

In one explosion accident, a soldier's legs were broken, and he fell into a pool of blood. The skin on his face was gone. The last thing he said was, "They'll suffer..." He was referring to the Jurchens. His entire family had long since died under the Jurchens' knives.

Now everyone was quietly putting these results on the shelves.

During the process of advancing scientific research, Ning Yi first wanted to break through nitroglycerin. After the laboratory method was successful, he wanted to industrialize mass production, but the foundation could not be achieved, and even caused many accidents. The direction later chosen was picric acid, but it still hadn't paved the way for large-scale industrial production.

The overall volume and manpower were still too small.

So he had to slowly improve and explore manual methods. After making them, he chose to use them in rockets. In fact, the basic design ideas of rockets already existed in the Wu Dynasty. In another period of history, Song Dynasty rockets flowed into India, and were later improved by Europeans, becoming Congreve rockets. Ning Yi's improvement ideas were actually similar to them. Better explosives, longer range, and more accurate paths.

Over the years, on this day of the confrontation between Wangyuan Bridge and Wanyan Xiebao, the total output of this type of iron rocket with a three-meter balance pole was six hundred and seventeen. Some used TNT explosives, and some used picric acid filling. The finished product was named "Dijiang" by Ning Yi.

The vanguards of the two armies were seven hundred meters apart. Wanyan Xiebao raised his binoculars and saw the racks being set up: "I knew they had a conspiracy..." But no matter what conspiracy, no matter how powerful the thing, at this moment, all he had to choose was to use the thirty thousand strong army to crush everything of the opponent.

At the same moment, the entire thirty thousand Jurchens on the battlefield had been completely incorporated into the range.

The Jurchens' forward-pushing front line entered the 500-meter line, and the main force of 30,000 men also entered a range of about 600 meters. The Huaxia Army had stopped, lined up in a three-row formation. The soldiers in the front row rubbed their hands and feet. They were actually all battle-hardened warriors, but this was the first time everyone had used firearms on a large scale in actual combat - although there had been a lot of training, they were not clear enough whether it could produce huge results.

Light white clouds flowed across the sky. Wangyuan Bridge, the twenty-eighth, three quarters past noon. Someone heard the encouraging whistling sound of the wind coming from behind, and light streaked across the sky from the side. Red tail flames with thick black smoke shot into the sky.

Each I-beam launch rack had five launch slots, but in order to avoid accidents, everyone chose a relatively conservative launch strategy. Twenty rays of light shot out in different directions. The moment he saw that light, Wanyan Xiebao's scalp tingled. At the same time, in the five-thousand-strong army array pushed to the forefront, the general waved his saber.

"Charge—"

Two rays of light fell into this army array. The main body of the explosive was the newly prepared picric acid. The moment the tail flame penetrated into the crowd, the roaring explosion poured flames with a temperature of over 3,000 degrees into the crowd...