Chapter 338 Mortar

"When will you return to Earth?" the empress asked Ren Baqian just as they sat down in the courtyard.
"I will return tonight," Ren Baqian replied instantly.
"Bring back some alcohol, popcorn, candy, chocolate, and television series for me..." The empress folded her fingers as she named the items she wanted.
Ren Baqian was incredulous.
Your Majesty, we are in the midst of a war! Can you be more serious?
The metal chain rose from Ren Baqian's head and twisted itself. Just when it formed an S shape, the metal chain sensed the empress's movement and hurriedly retracted. However, the empress still managed to grab the top of the metal chain and tugged at it.
"What is this?"
"Eh? Your Majesty, gentler, gentler. You must never break it. Otherwise..." Ren Baqian spoke halfway and found that something was amiss. He quickly retracted his words and hiccupped due to the hastiness.
"What will happen to me?" the empress suspiciously asked.
"Otherwise, something bad will happen to me," Ren Baqian promptly answered. Subsequently, he used the fastest speed to talk about the history of the metal chain.
"It actually turned out like this." After listening to Ren Baqian's summary, the empress was also surprised.
Soon enough, however, a playful look appeared on her face, and she pulled the metal chain out bit by bit. Only after she pulled out about seven to eight meters of the metal chain did Ren Baqian feel an indescribable pain from an unknown area in his head. As he headed toward the empress, the pain made him scream out, "Ouch, ouch!"
"So, it's just this long." When the empress saw the limit of the metal chain, she loosened her hand and it retracted into Ren Baqian's head at the speed of lightning. At the same time, she conveniently touched his head.
"Your Majesty..." Ren Baqian wanted to cry, but no tears were shed.
How was this a Heaven-grade weapon? Why didn't it bind others?
Why do I feel like I have been tied up by a dog chain just now?
"Your Majesty, is there any problem with the food supply in the city?" Ren Baqian asked.
The empress somewhat frowned when this issue was brought up. "It can sustain for another month."
"So little time?" Ren Baqian was slightly taken aback.
He still thought that the city had enough food to last a year and a half.
"This is already considered a lot." On the contrary, the empress actually found Ren Baqian's reaction a little weird.
"My commoners mainly survive on meat, and naturally, there isn't much left in the city. If it weren't for the fact that Ziyue City had been destroyed and that those soldiers as well as commoners incited the strongholds to contribute their livestock, the rations wouldn't even be this much. However, the rations can only last for a month because the amount of food each person consumes is being reduced," the empress said indifferently.
"What about the rations at Tiesuo Pass and Shun City..." Ren Baqian immediately recalled.
"Originally, we had already considered that Tiesuo Pass might be besieged by the Great Xia army. Livestock are stored in half of the city, so they will be able to sustain for slightly longer than us. However, it isn't significantly much longer," the empress continued.
"It seems like this war cannot last for too long. Now that the defenses have been fortified and the crops have been cleared in the north, the amount of food and livestock have also been greatly reduced. If the war is prolonged, I'm afraid that we won't be able to sustain," Ren Baqian said as he thought.
"Make them retreat in a month!" the empress answered matter-of-factly.
"How do we go about doing that?" Ren Baqian jolted up. It seemed that the empress had her own opinion.
"Before you came, I was thinking about it..."
"..." Ren Baqian was speechless.
"Since you came, it's your turn to think..."
Ren Baqian remained speechless.
"Let's think of a method to burn all of Great Xia's rations?" An idea immediately emerged from Ren Baqian.
I don't require much rations, I just want your rations to be decreased.
Great Xia was here with an army of 170,000 soldiers. The food they needed wasn't a slight amount. Moreover, their supply line was also long, and it would be impossible for them to receive supplies daily.
As long as the rations of the Great Xia army were burned, they wouldn't be able to sit still anymore.
Of course, protecting their own rations would certainly be Great Xia's top priority. It wouldn't be an easy task if Dayao wanted to burn them all.
"Sure!" the empress answered straightforwardly.
In addition to the burning of Great Xia's existing rations, Dayao also had to cut the supply line to Great Xia's further rations.
Immediately, Ren Baqian excluded the winged cavalry from seeking out Great Xia's resupply forces.
With the winged cavalry's ability, it was entirely possible for them to spread their other forces out and investigate with teams that consisted of two or three. Only when these other soldiers located Great Xia's supply forces would the winged cavalry then join them in burning the supplies.
"Li Qianqiu has already sent someone to locate the route that Great Xia uses to bring in their supplies," the empress gently said.
Ren Baqian finally felt relieved. It seemed that the aboriginals' brains weren't filled with only muscles. After all, to be able to reach the position of Protector General, Li QIanqiu was certainly not someone ordinary. The things that immediately came to his mind were impossible for others to think of.
However, Great Xia would presumably think likewise.
Ren Baqian felt that he required some good items.
After chatting with the empress for a while, Ren Baqian talked about the time he ran into that troop of Great Xia soldiers as well as their cannon. Then, he heard from the empress that the Protector General of the North had long since known about the cannon. However, they didn't take it seriously because it wasn't very powerful.
"As far as a sturdy city is concerned, the cannon might not be powerful, but with regards to the strongholds in the wilderness, its power can't be considered weak at all. The other party can completely utilize their cannons to destroy the strongholds before dashing in and killing the commoners. This will reduce the number of their casualties too."
Ren Baqian spoke this way only because he grew up on Earth. He knew about the usefulness of gunpowder from an early age and also knew about the power of gunpowder. Therefore, he looked at it with a high degree of certainty.
On the contrary, however, in the eyes of the empress and the other commanders, those Great Xia practitioners seemed to have it harder.
The population of the aboriginal strongholds were generally small. Furthermore, they usually fought independently. As a result, those Great Xia practitioners would actually be able to bring out the full strength of the strongholds.
Even after they had firmly established themselves, the role played by the Great Xia practitioners in the siege shouldn't be underestimated.
...
That very night, Ren Baqian immediately made a call to Yang Sen when he got back to Earth.
"I want a nuclear warhead!"
"Impossible!" Yang Sen quivered.
Why are you being like this again?
"Sarin gas!"
"Impossible!"
"White phosphorus bomb!"
"That is also impossible!" Yang Sen's forehead was hurting.
Can the things that you require not be so dangerous? I can't give you a single one of them.
"We are in the midst of a war! Can you hear clearly? It's a war! If you cannot give me anything, how can we continue this collaboration?" Ren Baqian slammed the table and replied at the top of his lungs.
"I can give you guns and bullets. For example, the heavy machine gun that I gave you previously. Or, a conventional item like a rifle."
Even though he had already listened to Ren Baqian's explanation, Yang Sen still felt that it was too unlawful for cultivators from paradise to actually still require what commoners used.
"Mortar and napalm bomb!"
Yang Sen hesitated for a while because the power of these weapons weren't weak either. Ultimately, he still nodded his head slowly. "What caliber do you require?"
"First, give me two PP-93 submachine guns and 70 napalm bombs that are 60 millimeters in caliber!" Ren Baqian immediately said. Sure enough, Ren Baqian asked for a sky-high price and Yang Sen only gave him a down-to-earth offer.
(PP-93: a submachine gun that was developed in the 1990's at the KBP Instrument Design Bureau in Tula as a non-folding version of the earlier PP-90 clandestine submachine gun for use by security and law enforcement units)
If he had asked for a mortar with 60 millimeters shells right from the start, he reckoned that Yang Sen would probably give him grenades instead. At that time, he would have to use a lot of saliva to persuade him again.
"I want the supporting manuals, firing tables, and a few better-quality night vision devices. Deliver them to me in two day's time!" Ren Baqian hung up the call and pondered for a while. These things should be sufficient.
A mortar which utilized 60 millimeter shells and had a range of 5564 meters could strike Great Xia's central barracks from the city wall.
The napalm bombs could kill and injure people who were within a radius of 20 meters. After the explosion, the steel bearings would wipe out everyone who was within the 20 meters radius. Besides, the flammable napalm was able to ignite combustibles that were within a 12 meters radius.
This would be the best option for burning the Great Xia rations.
At the thought of these items only being delivered to him after two or three days, Ren Baqian felt that he should buy a house in Shanghai. During that time, it would be much more convenient for him regardless of whether he needed to find Yang Sen or if he needed to settle other things.
Soon after, Ren Baqian took out a paper and pencil and began to calculate:
Each mortar weighed 22.5 kilograms, so two would weigh 45 kilograms.
Each artillery shell weighed 2.5 kilograms, so 70 would weigh 175 kilograms.
He also required two more drones, which was another 15 kilograms in total.
20 walkie-talkies weighed 20 kilograms.
Two walkie-talkie repeaters weighed 30 kilograms.
Two sets of small scale solar energy accumulators as well as two solar panels weighed 40 kilograms.
The total weight of all the above mentioned items already summed to 325 kilograms.
Currently, he should be able to bring back 340 kilograms worth of items. Since he could carry another 15 kilograms worth of items, he decided to also bring back some of the things that the empress had requested.