Six days later, more than forty airships landed on an open stretch of ground south of the Wei River.
As the airships touched down and their hatches opened, squads of fully armed Torch Dragon Legion Warriors marched out. Following them were brand-new dark-green wheeled armored vehicles, driven out through the opened rear hatches of the airships.
Unlike the ordinary armored vehicles of Great Xia, these vehicles were larger and flatter. Two antenna-like steel tubes protruded from their roofs, while beneath the armor plating at their rear sat enormous fuel tanks. Once they started moving, they were remarkably nimble. There was none of the black smoke produced by traditional steam-powered armored vehicles—only the pleasing, deep roar of their engines and waves of heat blasting from their exhaust ports...
A brand-new battle fortress stood not far from where the airships had landed. It was the new camp of the Torch Dragon Legion Warriors. The soldiers who had disembarked immediately began unloading equipment from the airships and reinforcing the camp, bustling about in a frenzy...
In just one hour, a full fifty thousand men had formed five ten-thousand-man square formations and stood before Zhang Tie in a display of formidable strength and impeccable military bearing, awaiting his inspection.
"Zhang Wumu, commander of the Torch Dragon Legion's First Corps, leads the fifty thousand officers and soldiers of the First Corps in greeting the Legion Commander..."
On an open patch of ground by the Wei River, a fierce general over two meters tall stood at the very front of the formation. Clad in heavy armor and carrying a battle bow taller than a man on his back, he loudly saluted and reported to Zhang Tie.
This tiger-like general was no stranger, but an old acquaintance. He was Zhang Tie's former "senior brother" from his