This text is clearly a creative writing piece, a chapter from a "technological transmigrations" or "system" style fantasy novel. Translating it into English is a writing-related task.
Here is the English version of the text:
By the time Carson tossed away his crest, the Iron Column had already advanced ten kilometers.
The tank company did not stop.
Lin Yuan ordered the Griffin scouts to lead the way. Five Griffins swept across the wasteland at low altitude, soaring toward the Northern King City. Two hours later, the first reconnaissance report returned.
The King City was 160 kilometers from the battlefield. Its walls stood twelve meters high, reinforced with three layers of enchanted defensive arrays. The garrison consisted of approximately eight thousand men—mostly the elite troops Bart had left behind to guard his home. The city gates were already barred; scattered remnants of the defeated army had fled back to deliver the news.
Lin Yuan glanced at the report, crumpled the note into a ball, and tossed it out of the turret.
160 kilometers. In the snow, marching speed was limited; he estimated it would take over ten hours.
However, the tanks needed mana crystal swaps. The grenadiers were human, not summoned death-soldiers from the system, and they couldn't maintain that pace on foot.
Lin Yuan adjusted the march plan.
The tank company split into two echelons to advance alternately, stopping for fifteen minutes every two hours to swap mana crystals. All grenadiers boarded the vehicles, sitting scattered on the additional armor plates at the rear of the tanks. The physically superior Berserkers moved in alternating shifts on the flanks to provide cover.
The column carved a straight, jagged scar across the wasteland.
They covered a hundred kilometers on the first day.
They didn't stop when night fell. The tanks switched on their headlamps, and blue-white beams driven by mana crystals illuminated the snow three hundred meters ahead. From high above, the merged light beams of fifty tanks looked like a single blue line steadily advancing across the white void.
Before reaching the outskirts, the Griffin scouts returned with a final report.
the South Gate of the King City was open.
Eight thousand defenders were arrayed outside the walls, their magical formations fully activated. The blue runes of the three enchanted defensive lines glowed blindingly bright against the stone.
They had chosen to meet the enemy in the field.
Lin Yuan read the report and handed the slip to Karl.
Karl read it twice. "Young Master, they actually came out of the city?"
"Bart's inner circle," Lin Yuan said. "Their master is dead; if they don't fight to the death, they're just waiting for execution. Fighting in the open gives them a sliver of hope. If they huddle inside, they won't even get a chance to strike back before the shelling starts."
Karl thought about it and found it logical.
The following morning, the tank company reached the southern outskirts of the King City.
The silhouette of the distant walls rose from the horizon—grey stone wrapped in glowing blue inscriptions. Atop the gatehouse, Bart's blood-red wolf-head flag still fluttered.
Outside the walls, the eight thousand defenders were formed into three horizontal ranks: shield-bearers in the front, longbowmen in the rear, and five hundred light cavalry on each wing.
The arrays were active. Three layers of defensive runes wrapped the entire wall, their ethereal blue light flickering rhythmically.
Lin Yuan stood atop the lead tank's turret, peered through his binoculars for three seconds, and set them down.
"All units, halt."
The fifty tanks stopped a kilometer from the wall. The engines dropped to an idle thrum.
"Rotate turrets."
Fifty gun barrels turned simultaneously, all aiming directly at the front wall.
Not at the troops in the field.
At the wall itself.
The defending commander on the battlements saw this movement, his expression filled with hesitation.
Lin Yuan raised his right hand.
"First volley. City wall arrays. Fire!"
His hand dropped.
Fifty 120mm cannons roared in unison.
A violent shockwave swept across the plains, pushing the front-rank shield-bearers back half a step by the sheer force of the sound.
Fifty armor-piercing shells slammed with pinpoint accuracy into the same section of the wall.
The first layer of the array flared, its blue runes flickering frantically. The shells punched through the surface of the barrier, triggering instantaneous, violent explosions. Fifty points of impact covered the entire wall face, and the resulting shockwaves shattered the array into a spiderweb of cracks.
The first layer shattered. Blue fragments peeled away from the wall like glass, falling to the ground and turning into dust.
Eight seconds later, the second volley followed.
The second layer was thicker than the first. It withstood thirty shells, but the remaining twenty broke through. Cracks spread from the impact points, and the blue light across the entire wall began to flicker and die.
The third volley.
The third layer didn't even last a second.
Fifty shells pierced through every defense and slammed directly into the stone structure of the wall.
Explosions erupted from within the masonry. Boulders and shattered bricks were hurled dozens of meters away, crashing into the defenders' formations. A forty-meter-wide breach opened in the main wall, with dust and debris billowing out of the gap.
Three volleys. Less than thirty seconds.
The three enchanted arrays were scrapped, and the wall was breached.
The eight thousand defenders outside were frozen in shock.
Their commander stood atop the gatehouse, staring at the massive hole. The command flag slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
Lin Yuan's hand rose again.
"Full company, advance. Target: The city interior."
The engines of the fifty tanks surged to high RPMs. Treads ground into the frozen earth as the column charged straight for the forty-meter breach.
The defenders' formation collapsed. The front-rank shield-bearers threw down their shields and scattered; the arrows fired by the rear-rank bowmen pinged harmlessly off the armor. The light cavalry on the wings tried to wheel around for a pincer maneuver, but they were intercepted by the Berserker squads following the tanks.
The tanks ground their way through the breach and into the King City.
The treads crushed the cobblestone streets at the base of the wall, leaving two deep grooves behind. As the column entered the main thoroughfare, the gun barrels swung left and right, aiming at the buildings on either side.
They didn't fire.
There was no need, for now.
The streets were empty. Every door and window was bolted shut. Through his binoculars, Lin Yuan could see half a face peering out from behind a second-story curtain—a woman holding a child, huddled in the window frame, trembling uncontrollably.
The tanks advanced slowly over the stone road. The roar of the engines echoed in the narrow streets, making the glass windows of the buildings on both sides vibrate.
Grenadiers jumped down from the rear of the tanks, splitting into small squads and fanning out into the side alleys.
Their target was not the civilians.
Before setting out, Lin Yuan had established the rules: Do not touch the civilians, do not loot their goods. Target only the noble manors.
The noble district was in the north of the city. The nobles of the thirty-six territories all had estates there—some for vacations, some as warehouses for their hoards.
The Shadow Assassins arrived first.
They were faster than the tanks. After entering through the breach, they vaulted onto the rooftops and slipped over the walls of the noble district.
By the time the gates of the first manor were kicked open, the servants inside were still frantically hauling chests of gold coins into the cellar.
The Shadow Assassins didn't waste words. Those who stood in the way were cut down; those who didn't were bound and tossed into the courtyard.
Ten minutes later, the first manor was cleared.
Gold coins. Mana crystals. Enchanted weapons. The family wealth accumulated over generations was dragged into the street and piled into a small mountain.
The second. The third. The fourth.
The grenadiers worked in tandem with the Shadow Assassins, clearing manor after manor. Those who resisted met a volley of shotgun fire; those who surrendered were tied up.
An old noble in gold-embroidered robes jumped from a second-story balcony, clutching a gem-encrusted box.
"This is the heirloom of my branch of the Lin fam—"
A Shadow Assassin walked over and yanked the box from his arms with one hand.
The old noble stood slack-jawed for three seconds, then his legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees.
The raiding lasted for two hours.
Of the thirty-six noble estates, not a single one remained untouched.
Six mountains of gold coins sat in the streets, along with dozens of mana crystal crates and heaps of enchanted weapons and rare ores.
Standing atop his turret, Lin Yuan watched the numbers on his system panel skyrocket.
Gold Balance: 14.32 million.
Energy Points: 8.75 million.
Mana Crystal Reserve: 12,600 units.
He closed the panel.
Enough.
Central Square of the King City.
This was originally where Bart held his military parades. In the center of the square stood a flagpole flying the great blood-red flag with the black wolf head.
The flagpole was snapped in half by a tank.
Lin Yuan ordered the flag to be torn down and spread across the stone floor of the square.
Then, he did something else.
The Bone Dragon King, which had been hauled along by the army, was dragged into the square.
The Dragon King was bound by heavy chains. Four massive magical shackles were clamped onto its limbs, each engraved with suppression arrays. The Dragon King was three times larger than a tank, its grey-white bony scales covered in a thin layer of frost.
Lin Yuan had his engineers mount a golden throne, looted from Bart's manor, beside the turret of his command tank.
The Dragon King was harnessed to pull the modified tank, slowly entering the square.
The chains dragged across the ground, making a piercing metallic screech against the stone.
With every step the Dragon King took, the civilians hiding behind windows around the square recoiled further.
Lin Yuan sat on the golden chair, one leg crossed over the other.
The tank stopped in the exact center of the square.
It parked directly on top of Bart's flag. The treads ground the wolf-head emblem into the cracks of the cobblestones.
Lin Yuan stood up.
Karl handed him a tin megaphone, but Lin Yuan didn't take it. He turned to the amplification array set up next to his seat—captured from the enemy commander.
The array glowed.
Lin Yuan spoke, his voice covering the entire King City.
"The laws of the Empire are void in this land as of today."
Around the square, people poked their heads out from behind windows.
"The thirty-six territories of the North are hereby renamed the Grand Duchy of the Abyss. There are no lords, and there are no nobles. There is only the Law of the Abyss."
Muttering began in the alleys.
Lin Yuan continued.
"All commoners are exempt from taxes for three years. All noble privileges are abolished. Two percent of the profits from mines and factories will be distributed to the workers. Those who work well will be promoted. Those who do not will be replaced."
The muttering stopped.
People fully leaned out of their windows now.
"If anyone thinks my words are empty..."
Lin Yuan looked down at the shredded flag beneath his treads.
"Go ask Bart."
The square was silent for five seconds.
Then, a voice came from behind the crowd. It was small, but in the silence, it was clear.
"Long live!"
A second voice followed. Then a third. A tenth.
By the time the voices merged into a roar, the windows around the square were wide open.
It took three days for the news to spread.
The merchant caravans of "Money-Plenty" were the first to carry the intelligence out of the North. In every post station, tavern, and black market along the way, the same story was being told—the North was gone.
Blood Duke Bart was dead.
The hundred-thousand-man allied army was gone.
A "useless" fourth young master, exiled by his family, had swallowed the entire North in less than a month.
The Imperial Capital. Saint Laurent.
Emperor Charlie sat in his study, clutching a crystal chalice.
The intelligence officer stood across the desk, finishing the last line of the report.
"—The thirty-six territories of the North have all changed hands. The new regime calls itself the Grand Duchy of the Abyss. Lin Yuan has declared himself Grand Duke."
The crystal chalice shattered.
Shards and red wine splashed across the desk. Blood seeped from Charlie's fingers, but he didn't wipe it away.
"One hundred thousand men," Charlie hissed through clenched teeth. "A hundred thousand men couldn't take down a single tin shack?"
The officer lowered his head, not daring to speak.
Emperor Charlie stood up abruptly, his chair sliding back two feet.
"Bring me Lin Zhentian."
By the time Lin Zhentian arrived, Emperor Charlie had swept everything off his desk onto the floor.
"Your son," Charlie stared at Lin Zhentian. "You told me he was a waste."
Lin Zhentian's back was ramrod straight, but beads of sweat trickled down his temples.
"Your Majesty—"
"Shut up."
Charlie walked to the window, his back to Lin Zhentian.
"A hundred thousand allied troops ground into dust. Bart, a Gold-rank, shot through the head. You call that a waste?"
Lin Zhentian said nothing.
His right hand was hidden in his sleeve, his fingertips trembling.
That same day.
The Holy Mountain of the West. Headquarters of the Church of Light.
A cardinal in crimson robes sat on a white stone dais, flipping through a file.
The report had been sent from the capital's parish, arriving half a day later than the Emperor's.
The cardinal finished the last page and closed the dossier.
Beside him stood a young woman in white holy robes. Her golden hair fell to her waist, and a faint golden sacred seal marked the center of her forehead.
The Saintess, Alice.
"Lord Cardinal, the situation in the North..."
The cardinal placed the dossier on the table, tapping the cover twice with his finger.
"An armed force that does not rely on Divine Grace, building a nation in the Far North. No faith, no prayer, no trace of any holy magic."
He stood up.
"Heretics."
Alice lowered her eyes.
The cardinal turned, looking toward the Gate of Angels at the peak of the mountain, which emitted an eternal golden light.
"Let Her Highness the Saintess lead the Angelic Legion. Purify them."
Steel Fortress.
Lin Yuan had just returned from the King City. The Bone Dragon King, held fast by chains, was parked with the column at the fortress gates, the heavy metal clattering onto the ground.
He jumped down from his seat, intending to head to the munitions factory to check the production progress of the new batch of ammunition.
Suddenly, the system panel popped up.
It was red.
The entire border of the panel flashed crimson, an alarming sight.
[WARNING! High-dimensional holy magic lock-on! Large-scale spatial fluctuations detected—Angelic Legion is mobilizing. Arrival at current coordinates estimated within seven days! Threat Level: Extreme!]
Lin Yuan stopped in his tracks.
He stared at the red text for three seconds.
Then, he swiped the warning box aside and opened the tech tree panel.
At the very bottom of the Tier 3 tech tree, a grey icon had just been unlocked.
He clicked it.
[Mana Anti-Air Missile Array — Cost: 5 million gold & 5,000 units of High-grade Mana Crystals. Can intercept all flying targets. Maximum altitude: 12,000 meters.]
Lin Yuan rubbed his chin.
"Angels, huh?"
He closed the tech tree and turned toward the munitions factory.
"Old Karl, double the production at the mines. We have seven days. I want anti-air arrays covering every inch of the walls."
Karl jogged to catch up. "Young Master, anti-air... what are we defending against?"
Lin Yuan pushed open the heavy iron doors of the factory.
"Birds."