World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 842 - 401: Questioning Turing Duo!

Chapter 842: 401: Questioning Turing Duo!

Zhi Li’s army of eight hundred thousand was already too many, and now it had to be reinforced with an additional one hundred thousand from the Southeast Rebel Army.

Neither at Tianlang Pass nor Fenglei Fort Defense Line could accommodate so many troops when combined.

Therefore, Zhi Li ordered the combined army of nine hundred thousand to launch a pincer attack on Tianshui City from three sides—north from Linhai City, west from the Fenglei Fort Defense Line, and south from Tianlang Pass!

Duke Turing Tuo, commanding the Central Army of four hundred and fifty thousand, would spearhead the assault on Fenglei Fort Defense Line. The main composition of this army included the Dragon Guard Legion, the Allied Army of the feudal lords, and the army of various young nobles.

Commander Jian Ze of the Southwestern Legion would lead the right-wing army of two hundred thousand to attack Tianlang Pass. This force was primarily made up of the Southwestern Legion, along with one hundred thousand from the Southeast Rebel Army.

Chu Ye, commander of the Northern Legion, would lead the left-wing army of two hundred and fifty thousand, starting from Nujiang Province to attack Linhai City. Once Linhai City was taken, they would then march south and cross the Nu River to attack Tianshui City. This army was mainly composed of the Northern Legion, as well as the allied forces from ten provinces.

Whereas, Suo Lun had the Silver Wolf Legion plus the Tianshui City Guard at his disposal, an expanded force of over fifty thousand.

With Ashi Liren leading as reinforcements from Rou Ran City, totaling over twenty thousand.

The captives from the previous grand battle, Zhi Wei’s army, combined with the Gui Xingfu allied forces and after reorganization, the new legion amounted to over eighty thousand.

There were also newly restructured Rock Thieves Corps, more than fifty thousand strong.

And the reinforcement of fifty thousand from Hai Gang of Yingzhou Island.

Suo Lun was able to directly command an army reaching two hundred thousand. As for Hai Gang’s fifty thousand reinforcements, Suo Lun could not fully trust them just yet; he converted the entire naval force to infantry and sent them to guard the Chaos Stone Salt Field on Chaos Stone Island.

Within this two hundred thousand-strong army, Suo Lun also had to allocate thirty thousand to maintain maritime order, as he was, after all, the newly risen overlord of the East Sea.

Suo Lun’s actual force that could be committed to battle was merely one hundred and seventy thousand, not even a fifth of Zhi Li’s forces.

As for the defenses of Heavenly Water Main City, along with the many workshops and storehouses, it could only rely on thirty to forty thousand second-line militia for maintenance.

This decisive battle involved total forces of both sides reaching up to one million one hundred thousand, over twice the number of civilians living within the tens of thousands of square kilometers of Tianshui City’s land area.

...

One major reason why Zhi Wei’s Southeast Corps suffered total annihilation in the last great war was because their retreat was cut off, with all the bridges over the Tianshui River destroyed, and the river defense camp totally wiped out.

This time, Zhi Li would definitely not make such a mistake.

He had mobilized tens of thousands of people to literally flatten the Tianshui River.

You read that right—the river surface, several tens of meters wide and four li long, was directly flattened!

How was it flattened? By connecting countless wooden bridges together, covering the entire river surface!

Thousands of thick trees were used as bridge piles, driven deep into the riverbed, and long trees of several tens of meters were used as bridge girders. Three-inch thick wooden planks were used as decking!

This was no longer simply a pontoon bridge; it was as solid as a metal cauldron. Not only could warhorses cross smoothly, but even large siege engines could pass without obstruction!

To flatten this four-li-long stretch of river, tens of thousands of Zhi Li’s men spent around ten days’ time and hundreds of lives.

Furthermore, Zhi Li dispatched troops to build watchtowers on the mountain tops on both sides of the river, each equipped with more than a dozen top-level archers!

Should Suo Lun’s griffins dare to fly in for a bombing raid on the river bridges, they would surely be shot down one by one.

Zhi Li also spent an astronomical sum to hire several dozen dragon archers from the Dragon Temple, Sky Star Hall, and Underworld Society, specifically to counter any possible aerial assaults from Suo Lun’s griffins.

Not only that, but Zhi Li had also prepared dozens of massive wooden towers, each holding a super-strong crossbow. These crossbows had a range of six to seven hundred meters, and the enormous arrows they launched would burst in midair, releasing a deadly toxic smoke.

Even with these extreme measures, Zhi Li still couldn’t be at ease and borrowed five griffins from Yin Zhou, Demon Continent, and the Dragon Temple.

While the number was not high—only one-third of Suo Lun’s griffin count—at least Suo Lun’s griffins wouldn’t have free rein anymore.

In short, Zhi Li used every means possible to ensure complete air control over the entire army.

...

One of the main reasons for the complete annihilation of Zhi Wei’s Southeast Corps in the last battle was the fire attack.

Thousands from Duke Turing Tuo’s great army also perished due to Suo Lun’s oil warfare.

Once the armies reached the city walls, astronomical amounts of flaming oil would be poured down from above. In each major battle, Suo Lun could use several million jin of oil.

And Zhi Li had also prepared for Suo Lun’s oil warfare tactics.

Through borrowing from Yin Zhou, Zhi Li purchased a tremendous amount of fireproof cloaks from Demon Continent!

Why these cloaks were fireproof? Nobody knew, but they were indeed magical; the cloaks seemed no different from normal fabric, but even if placed directly on fire, they would not burn.

This was an exclusive technology from Demon Continent, naturally extremely expensive.

One fireproof cloak cost three Gold Coins, equivalent to forty-five thousand renminbi.

Zhi Li, in one breath, bought one hundred and thirty thousand fireproof cloaks.

Of course, this number was still not sufficient to equip the main force. Therefore, Zhi Li bought a huge number of heat-insulating shields and an astronomical amount of fire-extinguishing powder.

Although this could not fully fend off Suo Lun’s sea of fire tactics, hopefully, it would not pose a problem in conquering Tianshui City—it would just mean higher casualties.

Of course, Zhi Li knew that Suo Lun had another secret weapon, the thunderclap bomb, which is gunpowder.

For the time being, this weapon was unsolvable!

But based on past battles, Suo Lun’s catapults had a very low firing rate, and although the thunderclap bombs were incredibly powerful when they exploded, in terms of lethality, they were far less than flaming oil.

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