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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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They knew that the men standing on those walls with loaded repeating crossbows could, and absolutely would, annihilate them in an instant if they drew a blade. But of course, the cunning Hengyuan officials, acting on Chancellor Jia Xu's strict, incredibly perceptive psychological instructions, didn't pressure or punish them too much either for these initial verbal protests. Jia Xu knew that a cornered, desperate wolf was far more dangerous than a hungry one.
The civil administrators employed a delicate, highly calculated soft power approach. While they rigidly enforced the borders of the farmland, they also generously opened the imperial granaries, giving the nomads adequate, high quality food, thick winter clothing, and medical resources to survive the brutal winter.
This benevolence was entirely strategic, because the officials were deeply afraid that the barbarians simply wouldn't cooperate, or worse, would launch a desperate, suicidal rebellion if they were pressured, starved, and squeezed too much. A rebellion, even a doomed one, would burn the newly built towns and disrupt the fragile agricultural cycle, costing the empire millions in silver and delaying the integration process by decades.
By perfectly balancing the unspoken, ever present threat of absolute military annihilation with fair, surprisingly generous treatment and gradual cultural assimilation, Lie Fan engineered a sociological miracle.
The nomads began to realize that while they had lost their freedom to roam, their children were no longer starving in the winter snows. Slowly but surely, the wild, untameable northern steppes were being violently tamed, transforming from a frozen wasteland of endless war into the empire's greatest, most secure agricultural breadbasket.
As the empire's northern borders solidified into an impenetrable wall of agriculture and military might, the true test of Hengyuan's absolute supremacy was rapidly approaching the shores of the rising sun.
After a month of grueling, vomit inducing travel across the punishing swells of the eastern ocean, the misty, jagged coastlines of the Yamato archipelago finally broke the horizon.
The colossal Hengyuan armada did not approach under the cover of darkness. They did not attempt to sneak into a secluded bay. They approached in the blazing light of midday, a terrifying, highly visible manifestation of apocalyptic power.
The five hundred vanguard steam ships led the charge. The massive paddlewheels churned the coastal waters into a violent white froth, the thick black smoke from their iron funnels blotting out the sun and casting a long, ominous shadow over the pristine waters of the island nation.
Behind them, the thousands of heavy wooden galleons and transport ships formed a crescent shaped blockade so massive it seemed to stretch from one end of the world to the other.
On the deck of the colossal command flagship, the Black Leviathan, the high command gathered at the prow, looking out at the completely alien landscape of their impending conquest.
Zhang Liao stood with his arms crossed over his heavy, bespoke dark armor, his scarred face a mask of absolute, predatory focus. Beside him, Sima Yi narrowed his eyes, his brilliant mind already mapping the coastal topography, searching for the most efficient path to drive the heavy cavalry inland.
Guo Jia leaned against the wooden railing, a cup of warm wine in his hand, coughing slightly as the ocean breeze hit his lungs. "It is beautiful," he murmured, a chaotic, dangerous smile playing on his lips. "It is a shame we must burn so much of it."
"We only burn what refuses to bow," Jia Kui corrected him rigidly, his hands resting on the hilt of his ceremonial sword. "The Emperor desires a tributary state, not a wasteland. We must administer the ashes."
As the massive armada entered the territorial waters of Yamato, they did not go unnoticed.
The island nation, entirely isolated from the brutal, continent spanning total war that had forged the Hengyuan Dynasty, possessed no navy capable of challenging the leviathan that had just appeared on their horizon. However, they were a proud, fiercely martial people.
From the coastal cliffs and the hidden inlets, dozens of small, highly maneuverable native coastal defense ships darted out to meet the invaders.
They were beautiful, intricately crafted wooden vessels, rowed by dozens of men and carrying samurai clad in their distinctive, lacquered armor, brandishing long bows and curved blades. They moved with a desperate, suicidal bravery, intending to swarm the massive Hengyuan ships and repel the invaders through sheer martial spirit.
Up in the stone reinforced command tower of the flagship, Admiral Zhou Yu watched the approaching native vessels through a highly polished brass spyglass. He lowered the instrument, a look of profound, almost pitying calm on his incredibly handsome face.
He turned to the signalmen standing ready with their brightly colored flags.
"They intend to board us with bamboo ladders and swords," Zhou Yu stated, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "It is a brave gesture. Let us show them the era they have just entered."
Zhou Yu raised his hand. "Signal the vanguard. Prime the Fierce Fire Oil Cabinets. Target the lead vessels. Do not let a single man touch our hulls."
The signal flags snapped violently in the wind. The orders were relayed instantly across the vanguard line.
On the prow of the leading steam ships, the specialized engineering crews, their faces covered in thick leather masks to protect against the heat, frantically pumped the heavy pressure levers of the Fierce Fire Oil Cabinets.
The native Yamato ships closed the distance rapidly, the samurai on the decks nocking their arrows, preparing to unleash a volley at the towering, smoke belching monsters.
But before a single arrow could fly, the Hengyuan engineers turned the release valves.
FSSSHHHHH!
A dozen massive, highly pressurized streams of thick, dark liquid shot from the brass nozzles of the vanguard ships, arcing gracefully over the churning water. As the liquid passed over the ignition torches mounted on the prows, it instantly erupted into blinding, roaring streams of liquid hellfire.
The intense, chemical flames slammed into the advancing native ships. The effect was instantaneous and utterly devastating.
The sticky, highly refined petroleum coated the wooden hulls, the rigging, and the unfortunate men standing on the decks. The fire did not just burn, it consumed everything it touched with a ferocious, unquenchable intensity. The water around the ships caught fire, turning the ocean into a literal lake of burning green and orange flames.
The screams of the dying samurai were entirely drowned out by the roaring of the chemical fire. Within less than thirty seconds, the brave, intricately crafted coastal defense ships were reduced to blackened, sinking husks.
The men who threw themselves into the water to escape the flames found no salvation, as the liquid fire burned on the surface of the sea itself, incinerating them as they breached for air.
The rest of the native coastal defense fleet, witnessing the instantaneous, apocalyptic destruction of their vanguard, completely halted their advance.
The sheer, incomprehensible terror of a weapon that burned on water shattered their martial spirit in a matter of seconds. They desperately turned their ships around, rowing frantically back toward the safety of the coastal inlets, realizing that they were not facing an invading army, but a force of nature.
Gan Ning, watching the carnage from the deck of his own ship, let out a booming, savage laugh, slamming his fist against the railing. "Look at them run! They've never seen the dragon breathe!"
Zhang Liao, however, did not laugh. He turned from the burning wreckage, his face entirely unreadable. He looked at Sima Yi.
"The ocean is secured," Zhang Liao stated coldly. "The psychological decapitation has begun. Now, we take the beach."
Sima Yi nodded, pulling a translated map of the coastline from his sleeve. "Signal the transports. Prepare the heavy infantry and the Water Dragons for amphibious assault. The islanders will rally their land forces on the beaches. We will break them before the sun sets."
The massive, heavily armored transport ships began to push past the steaming, burning wreckage of the native fleet. The deep, resonant war horns of the Hengyuan Dynasty blew once again, a terrifying, mechanical sound that echoed across the terrified islands of Yamato.
The invasion had officially begun. The absolute, unyielding might of the mainland had finally arrived to cast its dark, permanent shadow over the rising sun, and the world would never be the same.
Emerging from the thick, clinging ocean mists that had veiled their approach, the colossal Hengyuan armada finally spotted the distant, jagged coastlines of the Wa archipelago.
The landmass rose from the churning sea like a sleeping dragon, its rolling green hills and dense, ancient forests completely untouched by the industrialized, brutal warfare that had forged the mainland empire.
The blast of the steam whistles and the deep, resonant booming of the war horns signaled the end of the crossing. As the massive warships, their prows still smoking from the apocalyptic destruction of the native coastal fleet, reached the shallower waters, they dropped their heavy iron anchors with a synchronized, deafening crash that seemed to shake the very foundations of the island.
The invasion truly began.
The sides of the massive transport galleons opened, and the landing ramps slammed down into the surf. Hundreds of thousands of heavily armored Hengyuan soldiers rapidly began to disembark from the transport ships. They did not pour out in a chaotic, screaming mob like the barbarian hordes of the north, they moved with absolute, terrifying military precision.
Column after column of black armored infantry waded through the waist deep water, holding their repeating crossbows.
Storming the sandy beach coastlines, they moved like an unstoppable tidal wave of steel, crimson banners, and disciplined violence. The sheer scale of the landing force was staggering, stretching for miles along the pristine beaches, completely overwhelming the horizon.
The vanguard units, led by seasoned captains who had broken the Fuyu infantry and survived the freezing trenches of the steppes, immediately began to push inland. Their first objective was to secure a massive beachhead.
They fanned out, their heavy boots crushing the sand, and began to encircle and swiftly take over the numerous small, primitive fishing villages that were sparsely present across the coastline.
The native islanders, fishermen and pearl divers who had spent their entire lives isolated from the grand, bloody politics of the continent, were entirely unprepared for the reality of a modern, industrialized army.
Seeing the towering, smoke belching ships in their bay and the endless tide of black armored soldiers marching into their hamlets, the terrified, defenseless native islanders could do nothing but cower in their thatched roof homes, clutching their children and praying to their local gods for mercy.
Zhang Liao, riding his massive, armor clad warhorse off a specialized heavy transport barge, splashed through the surf and onto the beach. He surveyed the chaotic, rapidly expanding beachhead with the cold, calculating eyes of a veteran warlord.
Seeing the terrified villagers being rounded up by his heavily armed infantrymen, Zhang Liao immediately rode out to the absolute frontlines of the vanguard. He pulled hard on his reins, his horse rearing slightly as he raised a gauntleted hand, demanding the immediate attention of his captains.
He gave out a strict martial order to all of his generals and frontline officers, his voice booming over the sound of the crashing waves.
"Hold your blades!" Zhang Liao roared, his legendary presence freezing the advancing infantry in their tracks. He firmly commanded them to ruthlessly discipline their men. "Any soldier caught looting, burning a home, or raising a weapon against an unarmed civilian will be executed on the spot by my own hand! We will reduce as much innocent civilian casualties as humanly possible during this pacification process!"
Some of the younger captains, fueled by the adrenaline of the landing, looked confused, having been trained to conquer and plunder. But Zhang Liao passionately declared the geopolitical philosophy of their Emperor.
"We are not here to pillage!" Zhang Liao shouted, ensuring his words carried down the ranks. "While we are here to bring these islands under the Emperor's banner and shatter their warlords, the common people of Yamato shouldn't see the Hengyuan army as bloodthirsty, slaughtering devils. If we slaughter the farmers, who will harvest the grain to feed this army? If we burn the fishing boats, who will map the shoals for our navy?"
He drew his heavy broadsword, pointing it toward the sky. "We are glorious conquerors, yes! We bring the light of the Hengyuan Dynasty to the edge of the world! But we are absolutely not mindless devils! We are the law! We govern the ashes! Secure the villages, disarm the men, but do not spill innocent blood!"
The order was relayed down the line by the signaling drums. The disciplined Hengyuan soldiers immediately lowered their weapons, shifting from a posture of slaughter to one of strict, martial occupation. After the rapid, almost entirely bloodless takeover of the coastal settlements was successfully being done, the terrified villagers were herded into central squares and placed under heavy, but non-lethal, guard.
Once the massive perimeter was fully secured by impenetrable shield walls and thousands of archers facing the inland forests, anticipating a counter attack from the native samurai that never came, that's when the true, staggering logistical might of the Hengyuan Dynasty was unleashed upon the beaches.
The landing of the infantry was only the first, easiest step. The real conquest was moving the mountain of iron and grain required to sustain them.
The entire mountain of food supplies, millions of pounds of salted fish, dried rice, and hardtack, along with sprawling medical tents, heavy timber for fortifications, and the massive, incredibly complex siege engines, were being carefully brought down from the towering ships.
However, Zhang Liao and Sima Yi, watching the wagons struggling to roll through the deep, wet sand, immediately recognized that the rough, natural beaches were highly inefficient for a possible prolonged full year campaign. If a sudden typhoon hit while they were trying to unload the fragile steam boilers or the volatile black powder directly onto the sand, the entire expedition could be crippled.
Without a moment's hesitation, the imperial combat engineers were deployed. Large scale, rapid construction was being done right away along the shores. Thousands of soldiers laid down their halberds and, alongside the dedicated engineers, worked tirelessly day and night. The sound of thousands of axes echoed through the air as they began to ruthlessly cut down the local, ancient coastal forests.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0