Chapter 1425 The inevitable war!
Yunnan and Qian are located in the southwestern hilly area, with more mountains than plains and countless mountains. However, surrounded by mountains in the central part of Yunnan and Qian, there is a narrow plain. The Jinshui River, the largest river in Yunnan and Qian, also flows through here, creating this fertile plain!

In a region like Yunqian, which is mountainous with few plains and where arable land is extremely scarce, such a fertile plain with abundant water resources is as precious as gold, so this plain was named Jinzhi Plain, meaning a place woven with gold!
In Yunqian, the Jinzhi Plain is synonymous with grain and has always been coveted and watched by various powerful people. However, in the past three hundred years, the Jinzhi Plain has only had one owner, and that is the local chieftain of the Li family!

Although the Li family has experienced some ups and downs during these three hundred years, they have always firmly controlled the Jinzhi Plain, a Feng Shui treasure land in Yunqian.

However, today, the Li family is facing the biggest threat since its establishment, and they are from the Daqian First Army!
At this time, at the Gray Snake Ridge in the east of the Jinzhi Plain, deafening shouts of killing were heard. Countless Tusi soldiers, under the command of their respective clan leaders, were launching an attack on the camp of the Daqian army. Standing in an open space in the rear, a middle-aged man with somewhat dark skin and ordinary looks was being treated like a star by a group of Tusi clan leaders.

He is Li Huan, the patriarch of the Li chieftain family, who is known as the number one chieftain in Yunnan and Qian!

Li Huan raised the telescope in his hand and looked at the battle in the distance. At this time, a short and fat chieftain beside him kept begging:

“Chief Li! I beg you, please let the warriors of our tribe withdraw. The firearms of these Daqian troops are too powerful. My people can’t even rush forward and are beaten to death one by one. If the fighting continues, all the men in our tribe will die…”

"Please, Chief Li, have mercy on us!"

Li Huan glanced at the fat man crying in front of him and said indifferently:
"I don't care whether all the men in your tribe, Jimu Congwu, are going to die. I just want to tell you that you must hold on. The gunpowder carried by these Daqian troops is not unlimited. It rained last night, and their gunpowder must have been affected. As long as you hold on, you will win!"

Seeing that Li Huan didn't care about the life and death of his people, Jimu Congwu wanted to say something, but Li Huan waved his hand to stop him and said coldly:
"Don't say anything now, you must persevere! As long as you hold on for half an incense stick, we will be able to capture Grey Snake Ridge. I will give you 10,000 taels of silver, 100 women, and I will give you one third of the captured muskets!"

Hearing the price offered by Li Huan, Jimu Congwu, who was begging for mercy for the warriors of his tribe in the last second, immediately flickered in his eyes.

Seeing this, Li Huan also made another offer:

"I'm giving you an extra 500 shi of food. Don't be too greedy!"

"Patriarch Li, are you serious?"

"When will my words not count?"

Seeing that Li Huan confirmed his promise, Jimu Congwu also said directly:
"Patriarch Li, be careful. Our chieftain's warriors will definitely hold out for half an incense stick of time!"

Li Huan nodded slightly when he heard this:
"Very good! You go and command!"

"Yes!"

After dealing with the matter of Jimu Congwu, Li Huan raised the telescope in his hand again and observed the changes on the battlefield...

At this time, the Daqian army's camp was still firing muskets and cannons, making it difficult for the chieftain's soldiers to get close. However, Li Huan keenly noticed that the Daqian army's firepower was significantly weakened compared to just now.

Previously, the firepower of the Daqian army made it difficult for the chieftain's soldiers to get close to the camp, even within three meters. But now, under the protection of their shields, the chieftain's soldiers are getting closer and closer to the camp of the Daqian army!

Li Huan, who noticed this, relaxed his tense expression. He knew that the humid and rainy weather in Yunqian would definitely have an impact on the firearms of the Daqian army, making the gunpowder of the Daqian army damp and unusable. Without the support of firearms, the combat effectiveness of the Daqian army would be greatly reduced. This was also the opportunity that Li Huan wanted!
As a legendary figure in Yunqian who was able to bring together the once fragmented Li family and make the Li family the largest chieftain in Yunqian today, Li Huan's judgment and analysis of the situation here is still very sharp!
Although Yunqian is in a remote corner, Li Huan has actually been paying attention to the changes in the situation in the Central Plains. When the world was in chaos, he was very optimistic that Shangguan Hongyuan, the ZZ military strongman of the Great Zhou in the past 20 years, would be able to unify the world, establish a new dynasty, and become the founding monarch!

For this reason, Li Huan, who has always wanted to unify Yunqian, also had contact with the Luoan court, hoping to get Shangguan Hongyuan's support!
However, the sudden rise of Ye Mingsheng disrupted all of Li Huan’s plans. Facing the strong challenge of the Fengwu Army, the Luoan court had no time to take care of Yun Qian and could only go all out to deal with the Fengwu Army...

Without the situation of the Luoan court, although Li Huan wanted to unify Yunqian, he did not have the strength to do so. He could only accumulate strength silently. While lying dormant, he was also paying attention to the war situation in the Central Plains!
Li Huan had never expected that Shangguan Hongyuan, whom he admired and seemed invincible in the battles of the south and the north, would lose his former invincible aura in front of the Fengwu Army! After Shangguan Hongyuan's death, the Luoan court quickly collapsed under the attack of the Fengwu Army. During this process, the firearms used by the Fengwu Army also began to become famous and known to people all over the world!

After learning the news, Li Huan was a little skeptical at first whether the firearms of the Fengwu Army were as powerful as rumored. Although he was living in southern Xinjiang, he was no stranger to things like muskets. The Li family itself was equipped with some traditional muskets such as bird guns and three-eyed guns.

Li Huan had also used these muskets and had some understanding of them!
Therefore, in Li Huan's opinion, although these firearms are good, they are also limited by factors such as the gunpowder is easily affected by moisture, the shooting accuracy of the musket is not high, and the gunpowder loading speed is too slow.

Therefore, he was skeptical at first about whether the firearms of the Fengwu Army were as powerful as rumored. In order to verify whether the firearms of the Fengwu Army were not as powerful as their reputation or whether their reputation was true, he spent hundreds of taels of silver and obtained several Fengwu Army's muskets from some gray channels!

After getting the Fengwu Army's Po Lu Cannon and Weiyuan Cannon, Li Huan also used these muskets himself. He only used them once, but the powerful power of the Weiyuan Cannon and Po Lu Cannon left a deep impression on Li Huan. This also made the patriarch of the Yunqian Li clan determined to develop firearms...
Initially, Li Huan still tried to buy firearms through other channels, but later Li Huan also tried to imitate the Fengwu Army's muskets within the Li chieftain clan. In this way, step by step, accumulating bit by bit, the Li family has established a musket team of 3,000 people today!

As for the production of muskets, although Li's small workshop had various problems with quality control, it was basically able to deliver more than ten muskets every month!
These firearms also gave Li Huan confidence and made him start to make moves. In fact, if it were not for the Daqian court led by Ye Mingsheng, which showed interest in Yunqian and made Li Huan feel threatened and pressured, he might have declared war on Yunqian's other two chieftains, the Mu family and the Xiong family, trying to develop the wish of the Li family's patriarchs to unify Yunqian!

As the chieftain of Yunqian, Li Huan was actually not opposed to submitting to the Daqian court. After all, all the chieftains of Yunqian, big and small, had done so in the past few hundred years.

However, compared with the past monarchs of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who believed that Yunqian was a poor and remote village and just needed submission, Ye Mingsheng was not satisfied with just nominally controlling Yunqian!
What Ye Mingsheng wanted more was to actually control Yunqian, which was obviously unacceptable to the chieftains of Yunqian. So when the wills of both sides collided and no one could convince the other to make concessions, war became the only inevitable option...
As early as when the negotiations between the two sides reached a deadlock, Li Huan keenly realized that with Daqian's usual strong style, if he couldn't get what he wanted at the negotiating table, he would get it on the battlefield!

Despite the great reputation of the Daqian army, Li Huan and other chieftains, both large and small, were not actually very worried. After all, Yunqian had unique geographical advantages, and its humid climate and frequent rainy days were factors that limited Daqian's firearms.

In the past, there were many examples of dynasties in the Central Plains invading Yunnan and Qian, suffering heavy casualties and returning empty-handed!
Therefore, Li Huan and other chieftains of Yunqian, big and small, wanted to replicate everything their ancestors had done!
Therefore, the plan of chieftains such as Li Huan is to use the geographical advantage to fight a protracted war with the Daqian army and drag down the Daqian army. Among them, the natural barrier of Yaonan Mountain is a very important part of their plan!
However, their thoughts were good, but the reality was cruel!
Because the First Army had made sufficient preparations before invading Yunqian, under Zhang Meng's careful planning, the dangerous Yaonan Mountain did not become an insurmountable natural barrier for the Daqian army as the Yunqian chieftains had imagined. It was conquered by the First Army in just a few days!

After hearing the news, Li Huan and other Yunqian Tusi were shocked. They had not expected such a thing to happen. The demise of the Xiong family also caused some vacillation in the Tusi camp that had originally resisted firmly. Everyone’s will to resist was affected...
After realizing that his family would become the next target of the Daqian army, Li Huan actually reconsidered surrendering. However, after careful consideration, Li Huan still did not want to give up. He still wanted to give it a try!
Because the Xiong family's defeat disrupted the deployment of the Yunqian Tusi, Li Huan, who still wanted to resist, needed to redeploy. So in order to buy time, the patriarch of the Li Tusi chose to feign surrender to delay the speed of the First Army and paralyze Zhang Meng's mind!

Taking advantage of this short period of time, Li Huan quickly reached an agreement with the Mu chieftain and obtained his reinforcements!
In addition to obtaining reinforcements, Li Huan also wanted to take advantage of the Daqian army's complacency and carelessness to wipe out the Fengwu army's vanguard in one fell swoop and restore the morale of the Yunqian chieftains so that everyone could strengthen their beliefs and resolutely resist the invasion of the Daqian army.

During this period, due to the sudden defeat of the Xiong family and some inducements from the Daqian court, many of the Yunqian chieftains had other ideas!

Li Huan knew very well that if this continued, the situation would become even more unsustainable. The Li family alone could not resist the powerful Daqian army. If he wanted to win this battle, he had to unite these chieftains of Yunqian!

He must let everyone know that the Daqian army is not the heavenly soldiers and generals, and is not invincible!
Only after boosting morale in this way could he continue to unite and lead these chieftains to continue resisting···············

Precisely because of this idea, Li Huan also had high hopes for this battle. He knew that the Daqian army's firearms were powerful, and he had no way of competing with the Fengwu army in firearms. All he could do was to mobilize his own advantage in military strength!

This time, in order to be able to swallow up the 5,000 Daqian troops in Huisheling in one fell swoop, Li Huan not only assembled 10,000 people from the Li family, but also summoned 20,000 people from other Yunqian chieftains, totaling 30,000 troops in order to win this crucial battle!

Li Huan originally thought that with the absolute superiority of his own military forces, the battle at Grey Snake Ridge would be very simple!
But the current situation is that the Tusi coalition forces under Li Huan, after suffering nearly a thousand casualties, barely consumed the Fengwu Army's gunpowder and bullets and rushed to the Daqian Army's camp.

Although the process was more difficult than imagined, as long as they reached the camp, they would win and their military advantage could be brought into play.

Soon half an incense stick of time passed. Seeing that the Daqian army had consumed a lot of gunpowder, Li Huan replaced Jimu Congwu's troops as agreed, and then sent his trump card to the battlefield!
As this 3,000-man musketeer team appeared on the battlefield, the Daqian army in the camp also felt obvious pressure.

Because they learned from Zhang Meng that the Li family was going to surrender, they relaxed their vigilance and did not expect to be suddenly attacked by these Yunqian chieftains!
However, due to the continuous journey, their gunpowder was not well preserved, and most of it had become damp in the rainy weather in Yunqian.

All these have taken their toll in today’s battle, but the battle continues...