Li Jing, Yu Chi Jing De, and the others were not faring any better.
Not long after Li Shi Min's side ran out of bullets, they too were forced to face the empty boxes.
By the time Fang Er arrived with the main force, the scene was a panorama of corpses, severed limbs, and countless wounded soldiers, all wailing desperately in the blood.
Li Shi Min and his group, seven vehicles parked together, seven individuals with dejected expressions, silently puffing on cigars.
Fang Er scratched his head, jumped off his tricycle, and walked over.
"Your Majesty, what happened?"
Li Shi Min glared at Fang Er with displeasure.
Niu Jin Da said from the side, "Brother, you're not being fair. You only brought this little bit of ammunition."
"Those Turkic soldiers were in full retreat, but then we ran out of bullets, and we could only watch them escape. It's so damn frustrating!"
"There were easily ten thousand who escaped! Those bastards ran like sheep, scattering everywhere, we couldn't even chase them!"
Fang Er was speechless and spread his hands.
"Your Majesty, you can't blame me for this. I told you before that we didn't have many bullets and that you should use them sparingly."
Li Shi Min retorted unhappily, "So you're saying it's my fault?"
Fang Er quickly smiled and said, "How could that be? You are the current Emperor; the fault lies with me."
With that, he walked to the back of the armored vehicle, pulled open the carriage door, and a section of ammunition belts scattered inside slid out.
He casually picked up two sections, asked Liu Meng for a bag of bullets, and then skillfully loaded the bullets onto the ammunition belts.
Once both sections of ammunition belts were full, he brought them together, applied force with both hands, and with a "click," they were connected.
"See, we can just replenish the bullets when they run out."
"However, let me make it clear, I only brought less than 500,000 bullets on this trip."
As Fang Er spoke, he handed the loaded ammunition belts to Liu Meng and held up four fingers to Li Shi Min.
"Less than 500,000? Spread among the six thousand Sky Fire Army soldiers, that's less than a hundred rounds per person."
"But just in that short while, seven machine guns fired fourteen thousand rounds."
"At this rate, 400,000 rounds wouldn't even last half a day!"
"Is it really that troublesome to produce bullets?"
Li Shi Min suddenly realized that he had only ever seen the Yun Yi-type bullet production. He had never actually seen the Yun Er-type all-metal bullets that were also compatible with the Wild Chicken Neck!
Fang Er took out a bullet, carefully unscrewed the primer, and showed it to Li Shi Min.
"Your Majesty, look, just this tiny amount of primer. The workshop's daily output is no more than one jin, which is only enough to make about ten thousand rounds."
"Ten thousand rounds a day, that's only enough to fire for a short while."
"Alright, Li Shi Min didn't understand anything about these technical matters. He looked in the direction where the routed soldiers were fleeing and said,"
"Chase! Send me another seventy thousand rounds, ten thousand for each vehicle! Have Qing Que and Ke'er come and load the ammunition for me!"
Fang Er was speechless, but who was he to argue when the other was the Emperor?
"Meng Zi, have the brothers share out two rounds of bullets each."
The bullets were carried by the soldiers themselves. Each soldier had been issued over eighty rounds when they set out. With Li Lao's request, each person had to contribute two rounds.
After Liu Meng went down to give the order, the officers of each battalion and company began collecting the bullets and sending them to the armored vehicles.
Li Tai and Li Ke were quite depressed. They had come to the grasslands with the Sky Fire Army to kill the enemy, but now they were reduced to being tool-men loading ammunition for their father.
After Li Shi Min and Li Jing were resupplied with ammunition, the convoy set off, pursuing the direction where the routed Turkic soldiers had fled.
They chased for an entire day.
Finally, they discovered with frustration that these bastards were incredibly fast runners. Moreover, by the end, Turkic stragglers were fleeing in all directions, and less than a thousand were killed.
With their pickup trucks stolen, Fang Er could only drive a tractor to Li Shi Min with a sense of frustration.
"Your Majesty, chasing them like this isn't a solution. Why don't we go straight for Black City?"
"Then let's attack it. I don't care about these matters; I only want Jie Li!"
Li Shi Min waved his hand at Fang Er, signaling him to make his own arrangements.
At this moment, he only wanted to shoot someone. His two sons were very capable; all four ammunition belts had been completely loaded and were neatly placed inside the vehicle.
Having received Li Shi Min's consent, Fang Er took out a map copied from Qi De Long, identified his bearings, and set off directly for Black City.
They were not far from Black City now. By the time the main force arrived, Ya Er Jin had already returned with his men.
His forces had suffered thousands of casualties from the Wild Chicken Neck's barrage, and with the trampling during the retreat and many soldiers disappearing as they ran, of the original thirty thousand men, less than twenty thousand remained.
Leading ten thousand men, standing on the earthen city walls less than three meters high, Ya Er Jin watched the approaching Tang army with a dilemma.
"General, why don't we surrender!"
A chieftain of a small tribe said to Ya Er Jin from behind, his expression solemn.
Ya Er Jin remained silent, continuously contemplating a strategy.
They could not win a fight, and escape was not guaranteed. To survive, surrender was indeed the only option.
However, the countless soldiers who had died in the past two days made him reluctant to surrender so easily.
It wasn't until thirty tractors arrived outside the city and turned around, aiming their thirty cannons at Black City.
Armored vehicles and pickup trucks parked side by side.
Li Shi Min and Li Jing switched vehicles. Six armored vehicles, three to the left and three to the right, protected Li Shi Min in the center.
They sat on the roof of the vehicle, preparing to witness the spectacle of another city being destroyed by artillery.
Suddenly, a group of people emerged from Black City, walking directly towards the Tang army.
"Lao Ba, wait a moment. Liu Meng, go and see."
Fang Er stopped Lao Lao Ba, who was about to fire, and sent Liu Meng with his men to investigate the situation.
(PS: The amount of primer used for one bullet is only zero point zero some grams.)
PS: First update.