Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 609: Chapter 609. Khode’s Strategy

”So, what’s our move?” Zue Siao asked after Xuang Feng sat at the commander’s seat.

”We stick to the plan. We push in using our advantage in numbers while the force from Steam Water City assails the enemy from behind,” Wai Kung stated. He turned to Xuang Feng and asked, ”What do you think?”

”If it is before, I will be confident with this approach,” Xuang Feng replied. ”But after today, I must admit I’m not so sure.”

”I’ve read the report and questioned the surviving soldiers,” Wei Zhuang said. ”I still find it hard to believe what was reported.”

”I saw the entire exchange. I myself still have trouble believing it,” Wai Ling uttered.

”They placed the Yuanxu Cannons on the wall of the Tusha Mountain Range? How did they achieve that?” Wai Kung asked. ”The wall is steep as hell, and there is little space to place the cannons, much less assemble them.”

”I am more intrigued by their elemental mines,” Xuang Feng said.

”The factory in Surly Gate Town is one of the main manufacturers of those mines. It is not surprising they possess an abundance of elemental mines.”

”It’s not the fact they have the mines that baffles me, but the way they use those mines,” Xuang Feng said. ”The elemental mines are perimeter defense tools used in conjunction with the Faxien Radars. The mines assailed large-sized objects whose movements are detected by the radars. They don’t differentiate between friends or foes. Yet, in today’s battle, the enemy used these mines as offensive tools.”

”Could they have planted Faxien Radars along the valley before you arrived?” Wai Kung asked.

”That was my thought during the battle. I used a revealing talisman on the ground near the ravine where they used the elemental mines, but I found no Faxien Radars. Furthermore, even if there were, it didn’t answer the question of why the mines only attacked our troops. The enemies who released the elemental mines never stopped moving. In theory, the mines should target them as well.”

”In the report, it was mentioned that those enemies were accompanied by battle puppets,” Wei Zhuang said. ”Maybe instead of a Faxien Radar, those mines were linked to the battle puppets.”

”Battle puppets used their vision to differentiate between friends and foes. That might be how they achieve the feat,” Wai Kung agreed.

Xuang Feng shook his head. ”In theory, that might be possible, but the setting required to program the elemental mines will be extremely complex. I know this because I have a decent expertise in puppet making. I imagine if there is a puppet maker who can do that, the person’s expertise must be on the level of our supreme councilor.”

”In other words, we can’t utilize the same tactic using those elemental mines...,” Wai Kung uttered.

”A lot of trials and errors must be performed before we can,” Xuang Feng said. ”We can’t do that in our situation. We will have to wait until this war ends before we can do that.”

”Wait, the enemy successfully did that. Does that mean they have someone on their side whose expertise is on par with our supreme councilor?” Zue Siao asked.

”How can that be? They come from a country with inferior puppet-making ability,” Wai Ling added.

”I also doubt that is the case,” Xuang Feng said. ”There may be a crucial point we are missing, but we have no time to delve deeper into how to imitate their achievement. What we must focus on is how to break through their barricade without losing too much of our force.”

”According to my calculation, our original plan can still work,” Wei Zhuang said. ”We will suffer more losses during our push, but if we coordinate well with the force from Steam Water City, we can defeat them using our superior numbers.”

”I don’t disagree,” Xuang Feng said. ”I only wish we could limit our troops’ losses...”

”Nevertheless, I think we should prepare for a contingency plan,” Wei Zhuang suggested.

”What contingency plan?” Xuang Feng asked.

”We should split a fraction of our force and travel West to circle the mountain range.”

”Haven’t we discussed the difficulties of taking that route?”

Wei Zhuang nodded. ”We have, but I have a feeling defeating the enemy in this valley will be a slow endeavor. We will send a small force that can move fast, and they will only carry sufficient supplies until they reach Steam Water City. With our main force taking the enemy’s attention, they won’t notice we have split our force.”

”How many soldiers do you suggest for these shock troops?” Xuang Feng asked.

”Twenty thousand,” Wei Zhuang answered. ”We should split them further into two legions so that each traverses different routes.”

Xuang Feng and Wai Kung looked at one another. Wai Kung nodded his agreement to the proposal.

”Alright, we will do it as you suggested,” Xuang Feng said.

The discussion continued with the details about the routes the split legions would take. They also discussed the preparation to assault Tusha Valley. After the meeting, Xuang Feng sent a message to Mayor Shi Zhang in Steam Water City, informing him about their strategy and requesting that he prepare to send out his forces.

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”They will attack in two days,” Amon said. He was inside his command tent with Zhong Yuan and his regiment leaders. ”They will be coordinating with the force from Steam Water City. It takes around one day to travel from that city, so the force from Steam Water City will move out tomorrow.”

”How did you... uh, General, know about this?” Zhong Yuan asked. ”It didn’t sound like General was making an assumption.”

”Because I was not,” Amon replied. He turned to Yong Baili and said, ”Baili, send a message to Wuming and tell him to prepare.”

”On it,” Yong Baili said. He immediately took out a message talisman and started writing the message.

”Mind telling me how you know the opponent’s plan?” Zhong Yuan asked.

”I have someone in the enemy’s camp,” Amon answered.

”If you do, that person won’t last long. Khode has battle puppets with a military database. These battle puppets can point out someone not registered in the database with a simple glance. You had better tell your spy to get the hell out.”

”I know. You did the same to our battle puppets here to detect enemy spies. I do not doubt Khode employs the same method,” Amon replied. There was no urgency in his tone.

”Then...?”

”You don’t need to worry about this matter. Our spy is fine,” Amon said.

”Yeah. If you were not aware, we also use a spy to deal with the first enemy army that sieged Surly Gate Town,” Xu Bao told Zhong Yuan.

”We did? Well, I was busy inside the factory that time,” Zhong Yuan said. He turned to Amon, expecting to get further explanation, but Amon gave him none.

”They also sent two split legions to circle the mountain range,” Amon informed. ”They would require a long time to arrive here, but I still want to stop them mid-way.”

Amon pointed at the map that was laid out on the war table. ”Based on the routes they took, I saw several spots we could use to set up a trap and block their advance. Their number is ten thousand each legion. I will send half their number for this task.”

”I will make the arrangement,” Yong Baili said.

”No. We will not use our troops here,” Amon said. ”I will give the task of blocking these two legions to Wu Di. We just received a large number of reinforcement troops from Fort Fresh Maw. Combined with the soldiers we left behind in Surly Gate Town, Wu Di has sufficient troops for the task.”

”Is it okay to leave Surly Gate Town unattended?” Xu Bao asked.

”Xia Yan will remain in that town with two thousand troops,” Amon answered. ”Based on recent reports, it should be fine. The Vagrant Sect and Charger Guild had agreed to cooperate with us. They can help maintain the security in that town.”

Xu Bao nodded. He said, ”I know we have made all preparations to cover our rear, but should we still bolster our rear in case the force from Steam Water City gets past Wuming?”

”They will not,” Amon replied. ”The enemy has reacted as we predicted. We will maintain our plan. Everyone is dismissed!”

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The next day, Shi Zhang spent the entire morning mobilizing his force. He had made the announcement the day before because Xuang Feng had informed him before departing for Tusha Valley. Hence, it didn’t take long for him to organize everyone this morning.

Zee Min and Xuang Chao had a combined force of four thousand soldiers after surviving the Echos Army’s pursuit. They were the first to volunteer to answer Xuang Feng’s call to assault the enemy’s rear.

As for the militia Shi Zhang had gathered, they numbered thirty thousand. Shi Zhang thought he should be able to persuade more people to join, but decided not to. He thought this number should be sufficient. He didn’t want to impose.