Early the next morning.

In golden armor, so imposing a figure, Ning Chen came out of his tent, swung into the saddle and rode to the front of the army.

A hundred and sixty thousand men had been ready for some time, gathered and ready to move.

On top of Shengguang City's wall Tantai Qingyue's cold, clear eyes narrowed slightly. The great battle was about to begin!

Xiliang's soldiers grew tense at once.

Because what they faced were the Great Xuan's troops, who had just wiped out a hundred and fifty thousand of theirs.

Ning Chen raised his hand slowly, then brought it down hard. "War drums — sound!"

Boom, boom, boom!!!

The war drums rolled, and the sound rang through the sky.

Qi Yuanzhong and Lan Ziyao led the army forward.

Ning Chen was the commanding general, and a commanding general cannot charge into the fighting.

The army came into bow range.

Arrows came down out of the whole sky, blotting out heaven and earth.

The two sides shot at each other for a spell, and both took losses.

On the Great Xuan's side, the front rank of shield troops suddenly opened out.

Thirty cannon were pushed up.

On top of these, Ning Chen had a secret weapon: Zhuge repeating crossbows.

More than a hundred Zhuge repeating crossbows were pushed to the very front.

Boom, boom, boom!!!

Thirty cannon fired together. The wall of noise drowned out the war drums, and firelight and powder smoke spread together.

The rounds came out of the barrels with a terrible sound of tearing air, sweeping all before them, blasting a road of blood straight through.

The Xiliang soldiers the rounds caught were smashed to powder and bone where they stood.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!

More than a hundred Zhuge repeating crossbows loosed together, and those bolts, like spears, went through shields without effort and strung men together like candied haws on a stick. (TL Note: 糖葫蘆 — candied haws threaded on a bamboo skewer and sold in the street, a common Chinese snack; the image is of bodies run through by one shaft.)