"How... how do we target them?"
The one who asked the question was Tian Heng. If we were to talk about military affairs, he should be ranked first among everyone present. Even someone as shrewd as Chen Qing would be a junior compared to a true marshal like Tian Heng in terms of military matters.
From a military perspective, he couldn't understand how to deal with the Heavenly Court forces that Chen Qing had just mentioned.
They can project soldiers down, but you can't climb the heavenly ladder. They know the terrain and layout below perfectly, while you know nothing about any of the arrangements above the Heavenly Court.
They can observe your every move, but you can't know what they're planning.
With its mobility and exaggerated observation capabilities, Tian Heng had no idea how such an army could possibly lose.
Targeting them proactively? What are you even doing?
Everyone looked at Chen Qing. Even Shen Shisan, who wasn't very knowledgeable about military affairs, knew that this kind of army was rather unscrupulous.
"Yes, that's possible. Everything in the world has two sides, and the Heavenly Court is no exception." Chen Qing squinted and said, "As human suffering accumulates, spiritual energy is about to erupt. Whether it's gathering future spiritual resources or vying for some of the most precious Dao artifacts in this world, they can't just stand by and watch from the heavens forever, or they'll be completely squeezed out of this era."
"Moreover, this time is different from before. The competition is much fiercer this time. The Outer Heaven Demon Statue are likely to arrive in this era. Whoever seizes the most resources will have the right to survive. They must understand this principle, so if they want to gain the upper hand, they can't just stay in the sky forever."
"Does the Lord mean they will take the initiative?"
Tian Heng's eyes lit up. If that were the case, the situation would be different. The Heavenly Court's strengths lay in its superior vision and mobility, which were practically two divine weapons for an army. But if the enemy was held back by something, and there was a clear target to identify, then things would be different.
Chen Qing nodded, " The Heavenly Court's deployment of soldiers consumes resources. Each deployment consumes resources. If we don't have any bases in this world, relying on deployments indefinitely would be counterproductive!"
Upon hearing this, Tian Heng immediately nodded. Indeed, the Heavenly Court's ability to teleport soldiers directly down must come at a cost. Teleporting the people is one thing, but what about the supplies? Are they going to keep relying on depleting their existing reserves?
Or should the supplies be sent back after each battle?
If they could use that ability without limit, the Heavenly Court would have already beaten the other three parties to a pulp.
To store up supplies, it is necessary to establish some strongholds in this world, preferably cities that are easy to defend and difficult to attack, can sustain themselves in the long term, and have a certain amount of resources.
"Does Your Majesty know who the Heavenly Court intends to attack?" Tian Heng asked hurriedly.
The Heavenly Court's military campaigns are swift; if they were to teleport directly, many cities would be unable to resist and could be captured by the Heavenly Court without resistance.
Especially in the early stages, before any major forces had emerged, the Heavenly Court's mobility and combat strength made it incredibly easy to quickly capture two stronghold cities.
The only way to strike at the Heavenly Court is through foresight!
Chen Qing nodded in satisfaction upon hearing the question. Tian Heng truly lived up to his reputation as one of the most renowned generals of the Great Jin Dynasty, managing to grasp the situation so quickly and understand that anticipation was crucial to targeting the Heavenly Court.
Jiangnan has been developing spatial arrays in recent years in order to teleport soldiers over long distances and launch surprise attacks on the enemy. If used well, this ability could deliver a devastating blow to the Heavenly Court.
Spatial teleportation requires setting up array coordinates in advance. After all, it involves the teleportation of a large army. Conservatively, it would require the support of dozens of top-level spatial array masters to quickly teleport tens of thousands of soldiers over.
Most space sorcerers are students with limited combat experience, so their safety must be ensured. If they are discovered in advance, the enemy can send a King Level expert to launch a targeted attack, which would put their side at a disadvantage.
Therefore, to counter the Heavenly Court, two conditions must be met.
First: Predict which earthly city the Heavenly Court will attack.
Second: We must hide those spatial sorcerers who have set up coordinates in advance!
If either of these two points goes wrong, all efforts will be in vain.
Chen Qing opened the map and said, "The cities that the Heavenly Court attacks are always far from other forces, have certain resources and population, are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and can still provide some resource support when besieged. There are actually not many such cities."
" Cloud Capital has been completely occupied by the Buddha Kingdom. Even if the Heavenly Court is bold, it wouldn't dare to confront Elder Liu now and abandon its mobility to fight against someone else's stronghold."
Tian Heng nodded. Giving up mobility to fight against someone else's base was something only a fool would do.
"Both the armies of Jiangnan and the Great Jin have sufficient resistance capabilities, especially Jiangnan. Every major city in Jiangnan has complete array formations, making it difficult to conquer in a short time. This does not meet their needs for quickly occupying cities, so they are unlikely to choose our location. The northern area is the location reserved by the Demon Domain Realm. In fact, most of the Heavenly Python in the Heavenly Python Palace were prepared in advance by the Demon Domain. The Demon Domain is the largest and strongest force among the four factions. Even though it has not fully recovered yet, the Heavenly Court will not be foolish enough to provoke this tough opponent first."
"Then there are actually less than three spots left!" Tian Heng immediately deduced. " Northern Wasteland, Southern Barbarians, and East Sea!"
"Not bad." Chen Qing smiled. "Actually, the Heavenly Court used to prefer attacking the Jiangnan and Southeast regions, then corrupting the Southern Barbarians or the Eastern Wastes, and finally forming a tripartite balance of power with other forces. But now the situation has changed. We have occupied Jiangnan and the Southern Capital ahead of time, and as for the East Sea, the King of Qin has the support of the Daoist School, plus the Four Saints Guard he just acquired. Even though his military strength is not as good as ours, he is not the Heavenly Court's first choice."
"Then what do you think the Southern Barbarians and the Northern Wasteland Heavenly Court will choose, Your Majesty?" Shen Er and the others, having listened for a long time, caught up with the conversation and asked curiously.
"From a resource perspective, the Northern Wasteland is more worthwhile to target," Chen Qing said, squinting. "Many ancient demons are frozen in the Northern Wasteland. Once they revive, many of Magic City become valuable blood essence resources, making it a place that all major powers will be vying for in the future."
"I see." Tian Heng looked at the map and thought to himself, "No wonder the lord was willing to tie the Fighter Army to the North Sea to guard the Northern Wasteland; it turns out he wanted what was inside."
"But Northern Wolf City is an isolated place, with no natural defenses, surrounded by plains. As a primary stronghold, it would likely be targeted by all forces, since other forces have been eyeing the Heavenly Court for quite some time now."
"So... it's the Southern Barbarians?" Shen Shiyi's eyes lit up.
The Southern Barbarians ' words are very advantageous to me. He's about to go to the Southeast Commandery to serve as Underworld. Attacking the Southern Barbarians will inevitably require expanding the Underworld's army, which would give me a chance to catch up with my second and third brothers.
"That's the theory," Chen Qing said, looking at the map with a somewhat enigmatic expression. "However, the Lord of Heavenly Court is someone who cannot be judged by common sense."
Elder Long is the most cunning person among the powerful and influential. Even Old Master Elder Liu has never gained an advantage over him. Back then, Pu Yunchuan's schemes were ultimately thwarted by him. This man probably doesn't play by conventional logic!