176: Chapter 178 The Great Qin Iron Cavalry, a Fully Equipped Expeditionary Force!

After forming the two Expeditionary Force teams, Su Yang immediately began the upgrade process.

Unlike the previous method of upgrading units one by one, he now only needed to perform operations on an entire team.

Of course, the prerequisite was that all units within the team met the upgrade requirements.

Now that all upgrades for the Imperial Armor Camp had been unlocked, every unit met the requirements.

Su Yang focused his mind and invested command points.

"Confirm upgrading all units in Expeditionary Force 1 and Expeditionary Force 2 to the current maximum Rank?"

"Yes"

[command points - 95500]

[Expeditionary Force 1 upgrading]

[Rank 5 Great Qin Armored Elite Soldier * 50 upgrading...]

[Rank 5 Great Qin Thousand-Mile Scout * 5 upgrading...]

[Rank 2 Improved Blazing Colt * 5 upgrading...]

[Expeditionary Force 2 upgrading]

[Rank 5 Great Qin Armored Elite Soldier * 50 upgrading...]

[Rank 5 Great Qin Armored Crossbowmen * 30 upgrading...]

[Rank 5 Great Qin Thousand-Mile Scout * 5 upgrading...]

[Rank 2 Improved Blazing Colt * 5 upgrading...]

In the Wailing Mountains outpost, all selected units entered the barracks or vehicle depot one after another to undergo upgrades.

The upgrade of nearly two hundred units across the two Expeditionary Force teams cost a total of 95,500 command points, not exceeding one hundred thousand.

If charged at the original price, the cost of this upgrade would have been nearly two hundred thousand, which the territory's command points would not have been able to cover.

This was the astonishing effect brought about by the Great Qin Military System strategy.

With this strategy, the speed at which Great Qin's military power expanded had directly doubled!

Soon, the two fully equipped hundred-man Imperial Armor Troops finished their upgrades.

All Armored Elite Soldiers were equipped with full-body energy shields.

This was a type of shield that used a powerful electromagnetic field for protection.

By supplying electrical energy through a portable capacitor, it could provide an invisible layer of electromagnetic protection outside the armor.

When metal bullets or any charged ion beams were fired at the shield, they were subjected to the strong magnetic field, thereby weakening the damage or even reflecting it entirely.

Besides the difference in defensive mechanisms compared to armor plating, the energy shield's repair principle was also completely different.

Armor was a physically real material; when damaged on the battlefield, it could not be repaired in time.

It could only be repaired upon returning to the repair bay, provided that the armor Materials and maintenance facilities were fully available.

Energy shields, on the other hand, were not a material; they were composed entirely of energy. Theoretically, as long as there was an electrical supply, they could exist indefinitely.

Therefore, even if the energy shield suffered depletion on the battlefield, one only needed to wait for the magnetic field to reset, and the shield would recover to its original state.

The addition of energy shields not only gave the Elite Soldiers resistance to energy-based damage but also greatly enhanced their sustained combat capabilities.

Furthermore, it could reduce the consumption of Materials needed for logistics to repair the armor, because as long as they did not suffer massive damage within a short period, the energy shield could keep the Imperial Armor protected.

The addition of energy shields raised the strength of the front line to a new level.

In addition to the upgrades for all Elite Soldiers, the reconnaissance unit, the Scout, also received a brand-new upgrade—and this time, it was not just one.

First was the most critical Advanced mineral exploration capability; after unlocking the Radar Detection technology, Su Yang had selected the Advanced mineral scanner.

This was the key technology for upgrading the Scout to Rank 5, allowing Scouts to detect Advanced minerals located deep underground.

The titanium crystal insect stingers of the mutated Smasher reminded Su Yang that ordinary steel Imperial Armor was no longer sufficient.

To improve the physical defensive capabilities of the Imperial Armor in the next step, higher-Rank minerals were essential.

Besides the mineral scanner, the Scouts also received the biological information identification device developed by the Shennong Creation Institute.

This device allowed Scouts to accurately analyze various pieces of information about Xenomorphs.

Information such as Rank, species, affiliated faction, possessed abilities, and so on.

Previously, Scout reconnaissance could only observe the surface appearance or superficial details.

Specific details like what Rank, what species, or what abilities they possessed could only be obtained after fighting or even killing the opponent, making the information provided by reconnaissance minimal.

But after equipping the biological scanner, Su Yang could learn all the enemy's biological information in advance and make corresponding countermeasures.

It could be said that the biological scanner was a Divine Artifact for reconnaissance; Su Yang had wanted to unlock it the moment it became available.

Unfortunately, there was no Radar Detection technology at that time, so it had been delayed until now.

However, it was not too late, or perhaps it could be said that it was just right.

The biological scanner was not just for the insect race; it could scan any Xenomorphs or even plants.

In an era about to see cross-regional battles, understanding the Xenomorphs and abilities in other regions was of extreme importance for combat.

With all personnel upgraded and resupplied, Su Yang ordered General Li Xin and General Meng Tian to continue advancing in the northwest direction.

After leaving the Wailing Mountains, they would enter a brand-new region.

That would become the first territory the Qin Dynasty set foot in, aside from the Heart of the Hive.

General Li Xin and General Meng Tian led their teams out of the Wailing Mountains outpost and Advanced toward the new region with full force.

One thing worth mentioning was that after any outpost was established, Su Yang could set up defensive facilities within it.

Moreover, the defensive facilities of that outpost did not affect the Qin Dynasty territory.

Now that the Main Base was Rank 5, the limit for defensive facilities that could be placed in the territory was ten ballista towers, one skyfire tower, one storm tower, and one Radar Detection tower.

Of course, after unlocking automation technology, the ballista towers had been upgraded to electromagnetic ballista towers.

Just like the Crossbowmen, the redundant crossbow string mechanisms had been replaced with electromagnetic cannon barrels.

Furthermore, in addition to the electromagnetic cannon barrel that loaded giant crossbow bolts, the ballista tower also added two electromagnetic gun barrels that fired small crossbow bolts.

In other words, the ballista tower was now a defensive device that combined a machine gun tower and a turret into one.

Simply put, it was a multi-functional turret that could fire armor-piercing shells like a tank while also performing machine gun strafing.

The meaning of the territory and outpost defensive facilities not affecting each other was that as long as there were sufficient resources, Su Yang could completely set up the same defensive facilities in the outpost as in the territory.

After unlocking automation, Su Yang did not even need to send troops; he only needed to set up electromagnetic towers and automatic turrets to complete the defense of the outpost.

Not only could it defend against Xenomorphs, but if lords from other countries within the outpost did not obey, they could also be directly executed.

This saved both human labor and reduced the expenditure of Su Yang's energy, which was of great help to the future defense and management of Great Qin outposts.

Once resources were available, Su Yang planned to withdraw the guards from Spain and replace them with automatic turret defense.

The Wailing Mountains did not actually need defense; after all, not many Xenomorphs would visit such a harsh environment.

With the Expeditionary Force upgrade complete, the territory still had eighty thousand command points remaining.

Su Yang intended to use these eighty thousand to form Great Qin's first cavalry unit!

Great Qin Iron Cavalry!

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