"Has the Azi Kingdom reinforcements not arrived yet?"
Inside Tiannan Pass, the nine-foot-tall General of the Southern Wilderness, disregarding his injuries and without even bandaging them, immediately went to the rear intelligence department to anxiously inquire about this issue after the attack below was suspended.
"They're already on their way." The envoy from the Azi Kingdom was sweating profusely, because as soon as he finished speaking, he noticed that the generals from other countries around him all looked at him as if they wanted to tear him apart!
They can't be entirely blamed; who knew the offensive in Jiangnan would proceed so swiftly?
This expedition to the Central Plains is a coalition of seven kingdoms. Ever since the Wutu Kingdom built ghost Ghost Temple on a large scale to demonstrate its power, other kingdoms have been misled and followed suit. The major powers at the head of the Southern Barbarians now have at least a hundred Ghost Temple built in their capitals.
Even if they acted quickly, there wasn't enough time. Previously, the Southern Barbarians kingdoms all thought that after worshipping at the Ghost Temple, those generals who received the blessings of ghosts and gods would only need a thousand to sweep across the world. They were even eager to teach the Flying Dragon Army, which had oppressed them for many years, a lesson.
Unexpectedly, the Flying Dragon Army withdrew directly, which made them even more convinced that invading the Central Plains was inevitable.
This was indeed the case at the beginning. The Seven Kingdoms Alliance, with its vanguard alone, routed the Central Plains defenders. The powerful families in the southeast, whether of bloodline or sorcerer lineage, were no match for them. Many soldiers captured daughters of these powerful families and abused them at will.
When they first heard that Jiangnan was going to attack, even the officers at the front lines didn't take it seriously. The power of the supernatural was incredible; the vanguard force of several thousand men all possessed the strength of Third Rank martial artists. In the entire world, who could rival such military strength?
Not to mention the leaders, who have received the blessings of the gods and spirits, and whose personal power has reached an unbelievable level. Even if the once-renowned Duke of Qin of Qin Lu Ming, came, they would be confident of victory.
The result was achieved in just five days!!
The front lines were almost completely destroyed. The five southeastern cities that had been captured fell almost simultaneously within a single day, and not a single elite vanguard sent out from the front lines returned alive.
At that time, they realized that the soldiers in Jiangnan were not to be underestimated.
But by the time they realized it, it was too late. The Ghost Temple takes time to produce enhanced soldiers. At the current rate, it requires the sacrifice of twenty young boys and twenty virgins to grant a single soldier the blessing of the ghosts and gods. Even disregarding the resistance and negative effects encountered while collecting these items, just gathering enough to enhance one soldier would take at least ten days, and the scale would be limited.
A Ghost Temple can only support one blessing per day at most. That means that all the Ghost Temple in the entire Southern Wilderness combined can only produce a few hundred of these enhanced soldiers in ten days. In the event of a temporary shortage of troops, it is simply impossible to produce so many people in a short period of time!
The military strength of Jiangnan far exceeded their expectations. A large number of elite troops were killed or wounded on the front line, and the remaining soldiers were only enough to barely hold Tiannan Pass. If Jiangnan were to send reinforcements, it would only be a matter of time before Tiannan Pass was taken!
General Meng Yan, Wutu Gu hadn't slept for two days, asked anxiously, "How much longer? Can you give me an exact time? The situation at Tiannan Pass is extremely precarious; it could fall at any moment. To boost morale, we must use sacrifices to appease the gods and spirits and amplify our strength. But you all know the consequences if we use them prematurely!"
Upon hearing this, the generals' eyes grew even fiercer, and the envoy from the Azi Kingdom was sweating profusely.
Using offerings in advance can grant soldiers Second Blessing from the spirits, providing a significant boost to their power in a short period. However, this has side effects; their bodies will be exhausted for a time, leaving them unable to fight. It seems that this method is the only way to boost morale and stop the relentless attacks from Jiangnan.
However, if they do this and achieve a decisive victory, that's fine. But if they fail to achieve a decisive victory, they will need sufficient reinforcements to fill the gap in their defense during the subsequent period of weakness.
"I... I've written to urge them many times, and His Majesty has always said that preparations are being expedited. I... I also..."
"What do you mean by 'accelerating preparations'?" A general grabbed the man's arm. "Of the entire coalition, only your Azi Kingdom haven't sent any troops. Not a single one of your soldiers has died. What do you need to 'accelerate preparations' for? Just send people over, won't that be enough?"
"General, please calm down! Please calm down!" The messenger was so frightened he could hardly breathe.
"You'd better produce results today. Otherwise," Meng Yan of the Wutu Kingdom said coldly, "We'll use the people of your Azi Kingdom as sacrifices!"
Unbeknownst to the others, in an inconspicuous corner of the hall, a tiny, naked eye had witnessed everything!
"The opportunity has arrived."
At the military camp three miles away from Tiannan Pass, Shen Qi withdrew his spell and looked at the Human Dao.
Tian Heng immediately looked at Chen Qing. As a seasoned military talent, he naturally saw the opportunity for victory in an instant.
The key to victory in this siege lies not on our side, but in the contradictions within the enemy's ranks.
At this moment, Tian Heng suddenly felt a sense of admiration for Chen Qing. The other party had said three days ago that the enemy was a coalition. The advantage of a coalition is that resources can be shared, which can reduce costs, but the disadvantage is that if the war goes against them, or if the forces within the coalition have their own selfish interests, they are prone to disintegration.
Just as Chen Qing had predicted, there were indeed problems within the other side!
Chen Qing looked at the images transmitted by Shen Qiqian's eye technique and nodded slightly. He had actually anticipated that the enemy's forces were insufficient.
When the duel took place in the capital, the Wutu Kingdom had just risen to power. Even if other countries followed suit, there wasn't enough time to build the Ghost Temple, so the troops they could produce were extremely limited. Chen Qing naturally knew that the so-called Ghost Temple was not something that could produce such a magical effect simply by building a couple of statues and erecting a temple.
It requires a specific location, corresponding to the energy prepared in the Yin-Yang Road, and then using the resentment of a large number of sacrifices to open the passage and form a stable bridge between the two worlds. This process is not simple.
High-level Ghost Temple even have strict requirements for the materials used in their construction, because low-end materials are easily corroded by the energy of the Yin-Yang Road. Even if the cheapest materials were used temporarily for the purpose of mass production of troops, and a large number of sacrificial offerings were used to generate them, Chen Qing conservatively estimated that it would be considered fast for the Southern Barbarians to produce 30,000 high-strength soldiers in a short period of time.
Now it seems that this is indeed the case, so I am even more eager to take Tiannan Pass.
The current slow troop production rate is due to the insufficient number of Ghost Temple and the need to secretly prepare offerings, preventing large-scale sacrifices. Once the Ghost Temple forces reach a certain scale and the troop production rate increases, Chen Qing will not dare to take the land in the southeast, let alone establish Mountain God System there, without any strategic passes to defend it.
Just kidding. Conferring titles upon deities requires a large amount of faith. It usually takes two years for a single Mountain God to barely break even. Now, time is of the essence. If a large number of Mountain God are destroyed, and the pace slows down, even the foundation of Jiangnan could collapse.
"That Azi Kingdom has ulterior motives!" Tian Heng immediately judged.
Chen Qing nodded. He had recently learned a lot about the situation of the Southern Barbarians Kingdoms through Tian Heng. Among the seven great kingdoms of the Southern Wilderness, Azi Kingdom was the weakest and had a poor geographical location. A large part of its land was remote and impoverished, with low agricultural capacity. It was probably not that Azi Kingdom did not want to come to the Central Plains at the beginning, but because it was weak, the good opportunities were seized by other countries, and the people of the Azi Kingdom were sent to do logistics and other similar work.
But no one expected that Jiangnan could break through the Southern Wilderness front line in five days. At this time, the allied forces were short of troops and began to think of the Azi Kingdom in the rear. However, at this time, a large number of elite troops from various countries had died on the front line and were stuck at Tiannan Pass, unable to advance or retreat. How could the Azi Kingdom in the rear not have any ideas?
They ostracized me when we were eating meat, but now that something's happened, they remember me?
If it were Chen Qing herself, she would also deliberately make things difficult for him.
"My lord, do you know what the effects of the sacrificial offerings they mention are?" Tian Heng asked curiously.
"It can greatly boost the soldiers' strength in a short period of time, but it will leave them vulnerable for a considerable period of time."
As the designer, Chen Qing naturally knew what was going on. In the process of those evil spirits possessing human bodies, if the power given at once was too strong, the human body would not be fully transformed before it would be put under great strain. This was usually done in life-or-death battles, a method used only when one had to burn one's bridges.
Just as that guy named Meng Yan said, once there is no reinforcement, the vacuum period after the soldiers erupt could very likely lead to the fall of Tiannan Pass.
"I see." Tian Heng took a breath. "I know how to conquer Tiannan Pass now!"