World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 863 - 408: Zhi Li ultimate path! Turing Tuo betrayal!_2

Chapter 863: 408: Zhi Li ultimate path! Turing Tuo betrayal!_2

"Even a pig wouldn’t have lost so miserably, would it?"

But after listening to the report from the court samurai, Zhi Li was utterly astonished!

Jian Ze was not a pig but rather a fierce tiger!

"Count Jian Ze’s right-wing army had climbed Tianlang Pass three times, even once breaking through entirely, occupying the peripheral city walls and assaulting the hinterlands of Tianlang Pass. However, ultimately, Queen Yan Chuo and Yan Yan leading the Rock Thieves Corps defeated them, and Tianlang Pass was also recaptured!"

After hearing this, Zhi Li abruptly stood up!

This Jian Ze looked so ordinary, how could he be so brave?

While the Central Army’s Fenglei Fort battlefield and the north side Nu River battlefield were fought so tragically, how could the southern side Tianlang Pass battlefield be fought so fiercely?

...

Inside Fenglei Fortress, Suo Lun received the latest battle report, and cold sweat continuously broke out on his back, giving him waves of chills.

Unexpectedly, the north side defense line, which he thought weakest, turned out to be the most beautifully fought, almost leaving Chu Ye with no power to fight back and with minimal casualties.

Yet, the battlefield at Tianlang Pass, which he thought was robust and strategically crucial, turned out to be perilous!

The commanders at Tianlang Pass were the team of Queen Yan Chuo and Yan Yan.

On the battlefield, the two did not make mistakes, but they were still breached by Jian Ze thrice reaching the city walls of Tianlang Pass.

On the last occasion, even the outskirts of Tianlang Pass were lost, forcing them to fall back to the rear castle, then it took twenty thousand from the Rock Thieves Corps to defeat Jian Ze’s army that had broken into Tianlang Pass and reclaim it!

In the battlefield report, Yan Yan and Queen Yan Chuo both noted that Tianlang Pass was too narrow and that the city walls lacked firing holes, thus limiting the number of cannons and trebuchets that could be set up, failing to maximize the firepower.

Moreover, the cannons at medium range were less powerful than the giant trebuchets. To place more cannons, Suo Lun had reduced a significant number of trebuchets.

The most critical error was that the city walls were too narrow; soldiers operating the cannons and transporting ammunition occupied most of the space. Soldiers entering melee combat were severely lacking, leading to the eventual breach in the walls.

As for how Jian Ze assaulted Tianlang Pass?

Quite simple; he heaped lives onto it recklessly!

Like moths to flames, they continuously and wildly hurled themselves at the city walls, not in waves, but in an endless surge.

These soldiers could only push forward because if anyone dared retreat even one step, the twenty thousand supervising troops behind them would shoot arrows without hesitation.

Anyone who dared to retreat would face death!

On the first day, Zhi Li was too reluctant to use the fireproof cloaks, whereas Jian Ze sent twenty thousand soldiers wearing fireproof cloaks onto the battlefield.

All in all, under Jian Ze’s nearly mad, all-in assault.

The seemingly secure defenses of Tianlang Pass were nearly broken. Or rather, they were breached at one point.

Many generals of the Southwestern Legion were disciples of Turing Tuo; over the years, Jian Ze hadn’t completely mastered control over the Southwestern Legion.

Perhaps this was also why Jian Ze sent out his troops to attack the cities so recklessly, unlike Earl Chu Ye, who treated the Northern Legion as his own domain, grieving every soldier lost.

The Southwestern Legion, sharing the same will with Turing Tuo, aimed to completely annihilate Suo Lun, so they never conducted passive resistance on the battlefield.

Thus, on the first day at the Tianlang Pass battlefield, such an outcome was hard-fought.

Suo Lun could only mobilize one hundred-seventy thousand troops!

Ninety thousand for the Fenglei Fort defense line, under fifty thousand for the north Nu River defense line, leaving only just over thirty thousand troops for the Tianlang Pass defense line!

Queen Yan Chuo’s battle report didn’t elaborate much, but Yan Yan’s report expressed with the strongest undertones the respect and amazement for the Rock Thieves Corps.

And repeatedly emphasized that if it weren’t for the presence of the Rock Thieves Corps, Tianlang Pass would have been thoroughly breached long ago!

At that moment, Jian Ze’s several tens of thousands of troops surged into Tianlang Pass, and after suffering thirty percent casualties, the over ten thousand defenders began to disperse.

At the critical moment, it was the Queen Yanchuo leading twenty thousand Rock Thieves Corps who fought inside Tianlang Pass against twice their number of enemies!

These Rock Thieves Corps were truly like beasts on the battlefield; they headed wherever danger loomed, wherever there were more enemies. When stabbed by an enemy sword, they would sinisterly chop off their opponent’s head, and even make a cut on their own chest.

Against such beast-like troops, Jian Ze’s vigorous army was forced back step by step, eventually driven out of Tianlang Pass.

In the end, after over ten hours of fierce fighting on the first day, the Tianlang Pass defenders suffered over ten thousand casualties, with Jian Ze’s army nearly sixty thousand!

Having reviewed the two battle reports over and over, Suo Lun’s hands trembled slightly.

He realized he had indeed relied too heavily on weaponry, seriously underestimating the enemy.

Especially after the sea battle with Yan Mo, achieving a great victory due to the cannons, he believed in the omnipotence of cannons.

Thus, after placing over a hundred cannons at Tianlang Pass, he felt utterly secure. At the entire Tianlang Pass battlefield, he only dispatched just over thirty thousand troops, while facing two hundred thousand enemies.

As a result, due to the special geographical features of Tianlang Pass and the primitive and outdated structure of Tianlang Pass walls, the power of the cannons was far less than imagined.

Ultimately leading to peril at the Tianlang Pass battlefield, narrowly avoiding being completely overrun.

If not for the excessively fierce and formidable Rock Thieves Corps, Tianlang Pass would have been broken long ago, and Jian Ze’s hundred thousand troops would have already charged into the hinterlands of Tianshui City.