Chapter 773 – A Good Plan
Zhao Hai didn't know about the contents of the Divine Race army's meeting. The Divine Race used a formation in order to isolate the space surrounding them. This magic was quite effective against the Space.
Zhao Hai was currently looking into the Demons. He was afraid that the Demon Race would get any news and proceed to attack. He already had the troops in Rising Sun City show themselves regularly on top of the walls, hoping that the Demons would not suspect anything. But if the Demons did attack, these troops will immediately turn into cavalry units and proceed to harass the Demon army.
The current Demon army was no less than the Divine Race. They also numbered around 20 million troops. Moreover, more people were still coming from the Demon Realm.
At the same time, the continent's armies were also quite numerous. Although there weren't a lot of elite troops, the local armies were still collectively large . The local armies have now been promoted to 9th rank, their abilities shouldn't be too far from the elite troops.
Besides the Human army, there was also the Elves, Dwarves, Beastman, and Fishman armies. All in all, the Ark Continent had about several tens of millions of usable troops. This was especially true for the Fishman race. Nobody knew how large the endless sea was, but one could be certain that the amount of Fishman tribes were a lot. The entire Fishman army, once they left the seas, will become huge war machines. Even the Mermaid Clan was unclear about their total battle prowess.
There were still many others who hadn't taken the spatial water and were yet to be promoted. But Zhao Hai couldn't do anything about it. Although he said that everyone can drink the spatial water, there will come a time when it would lose its effectiveness and just turn into normal water.
What Zhao Hai needed to do right now was to unveil the maximum warring potential of the Ark Continent and use it against the Demons and the Divine Race. It can be said that this was part of the Ark Continent's evolution.
Right, the Ark Continent needed to evolve. Zhao Hai thought about it because of the recent changes to the continent. In the past, the Ark Continent was just a lower realm compared to the Divine Realm. But now, the Divine Race just removed that division. This meant that the Ark Continent and the Divine Race now had similar laws. Under this situation, if the Ark Continent's people failed to adapt, then they will certainly be eliminated.
If Zhao Hai didn't have the Space, then this evolution would certainly be impossible. But Zhao Hai had the Space, providing them with the ability to evolve. Because of this, Zhao Hai decided to use this war to improve the entirety of the Ark Continent.
However, the situation with the other races was very different compared to the Humans. The Humans lived in a relatively concentrated manner, and their government had almost reached a perfect state. Take the Rosen Empire, for example, their governance was already first-rate. Their control of the population had even reached the tiniest unit, villages being governed by the village heads. On the other hand, the other races were different. The Elves and the Dwarves had it the best, living close to each other. However, the same cannot be said for the Beastmen.
The Beastmen lived in the Prairie, a place that was too big. Because of this, the Beastmen lived a fairly nomadic lifestyle, moving about in small tribes of several tens to several hundreds of households. In this case, wanting to concentrate them would be very difficult.
The Beastmen were just a tad less problematic compared to the Fishmen. The Fishman race lived in the endless sea, a place much bigger than the prairie, and much more difficult to manage.
In fact, the management of the Fishman Race was very relaxed. But all of them knew that the Mermaid Clan was the ruler of the entire sea. However, since the Mermaid Clan doesn't care too much about taxes, the management had become too loose and neglected.
This caused Zhao Hai a headache. The Fishman Race was just too dispersed despite being the largest group in terms of population and war potential. Additionally, the Fishman Race weren't too used to fighting on land.
Because of this, although there were a lot of Fishmen who had become 9th ranks, they were still not suitable for land battle. They were on the rear, training on top of the mounts that Zhao Hai gave.
At this time, the number of troops in the Buddha Empire numbered less than 10 million. But there were still more troops coming from the rear.
In fact, if Zhao Hai's tactics were used, they really don't need so many troops. However, Zhao Hai still wanted to see what a full on fight with the Demons and the Divine Race looks like.
Zhao Hai looked at the situation in the Demon Camp. Fortunately, it was still the early days of the Divine Race's attack. Because of this, the Demons were yet to receive any news. However, Zhao Hai knew that word would soon reach their ears.
Seeing no movements from the Demons, Zhao Hai turned to look at what the Divine Race were doing. Upon seeing the Divine Race, Zhao Hai couldn't help but stare. The Divine Race army were cutting trees down and gathering stones. He was confused at what these people were doing.
However, he soon found out what this action meant. After cutting trees down, the Divine Race unexpectedly made javelins out of them. Although these javelins were simple, looking just like a sharpened wooden club, they were still quite lethal once thrown by the Divine Race army.
It was quite obvious that the Divine Race wanted to use these javelins to retaliate against the Ark Continent's attacks.
After thinking up to this point, Zhao Hai's brows couldn't help but wrinkle. Although the strength of the Divine Race's javelins were inferior to the ones with the blood lightning beads. The large number of the Divine Race army alone was something that cannot be underestimated.
Zhao Hai couldn't help but shiver after imagining 20 million Divine Race soldiers throwing javelins simultaneously. Zhao Hai couldn't forget the scene from the movie 'Hero' where a rain of arrows was seen going down on a city. He reckoned that the Divine Race's javelins would be more frightening compared to the Qin army's arrows. [1]
The Buddha Empire had a lot of trees, and for the Divine Race, they wouldn't be very hard to cut For them, making javelins should be very simple.
Zhao Hai also understood what the stones were for. Judging by the sheer number of the Divine Race army, the javelins made would surely be insufficient. These stones were not only portable and easy to find, they could also deal significant damage once thrown. If these were thrown by any average person, then they might not be a threat, but in the hands of God ranked experts, they would surely be lethal.
Zhao Hai frowned, the Divine Race were too quick to think. Do they intend to deal with the cavalry attacks with this method?
As Zhao Hai was calmly thinking about it, Laura walked in and sat by his side. After seeing the monitor, she was puzzled so she asked Zhao Hai. "Brother Hai, what's happening? Why are those soldiers gathering stones and wood? Do they want to build a city?" Zhao Hai bitterly smiled and said, "They're preparing to counter our cavalry attacks. The wood are made into javelins while the stones are to be thrown."
When she heard Zhao Hai's answer, Laura couldn't help but frown. Zhao Hai's cavalry units were yet to utilize their full 9th rank strength. Additionally, throwing javelins weren't their speciality. Zhao Hai didn't even order them to be accurate, throwing the javelins and then retreating was his only order.
Because of this, the cavalry units weren't very skillful in their job. If they were attacked by these javelins, the only way they could survive was to abandon their mounts. And if they won't, they would only be eliminated by the Divine Race.
Moreover, once the Divine Race uses this tactic, the harassment methods that Zhao Hai's side had thought of would become useless.
Laura turned her head to Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, what do we do now? Under these javelin and stone attacks, our cavalry units would be unable to continue their job. Using shields to block the Divine Race projectiles would not be enough." Zhao Hai nodded as he sighed and said, "I'm also worried about this matter. God rank experts are much stronger compared to 9th ranks. God ranks are very difficult to deal with, especially those who already have Domains. The javelins thrown by the Divine Race would surely be strong. Only a few armies in the continent are able to block their attack."
Laura frowned, but then her eyes shone, then she said, "Brother Hai, do you remember the magic formation disks used by the Radiant Church? If we make more of those, I think they can be used."
Zhao Hai stared, "Formation disks? So what if we make formation disks?" Laura smiled and said, "Defensive formation disks. Major cities of the continent might have defensive formations, but these formations are very complex. If we shrink them down, then they can be used with formation disks. Each squad can carry a set of these disks and use it with crystal stones when they face the Divine Race. This should make the stones and javelins very useless."
For those curious, here's a clip from youtube.Chapter 774 – I Have a Way
When he heard Laura, Zhao Hai's eyes lit up. He nodded and said, "That method is good. We should have them made as soon as possible. However, we still need to test these magic formations. They can't be too big nor too small. Too big and they waste too much energy, too small and they become useless."
Laura smiled and said, "This should be easy to do. At this point, your word is already law in the continent. Moreover, father has been researching magic formations for a very long time. I can hand the task over to him. We should expect results to come up soon."
Zhao Hai nodded, "Alright, then we'll hand it over to father-in-law. Tell him that we need it and we prefer them to be made as soon as possible."
Laura nodded, "I'll take care of it. But Brother Hai, we cannot stay put in the following days. How about we adjust Lizzy and Megan to face the center army. The javelins and stones might be a threat to the cavalry, but to the undead they should be less harmful."
Zhao Hai nodded, "Alright, I'll tell them after they deal with the heavy cavalry unit."
Just as Zhao Hai said that, Lizzy's voice was heard, "It seems like me and Megan came in at the right time. Big Brother Hai, the heavy cavalry unit has been taken care of."
Zhao Hai turned his head to look and saw Lizzy and Megan's excited faces. Zhao Hai immediately smiled at them and said, "You already took care of the heavy cavalry? How many people did they have?"
Although the majority of the reinforcements were composed of the Divine Race, the winged pegasus cavalry, and the rhinoceros heavy cavalry, there were also other races included in the mix. This time, these extra races weren't included in the Divine Race's center army. Instead, they were used to supplement the heavy cavalry army in attacking the other cities of the Buddha Empire. What Zhao Hai was asking about was the total number of people included in the heavy cavalry army, including those supplemental races.
Megan smiled and said, "There were a lot of them. You couldn't even imagine. There were 5 million of them, 5 million."
Zhao Hai immediately became ecstatic when he heard Megan, he said, "That's fantastic. Then this means that we have 5 million additional undead. That is a huge harvest. Hahaha. And since the light cavalry unit have more people in comparison, our numbers will be greatly strengthened. Good, good. You two have a good rest before you deal with the light cavalry. Right, hand some of those undead over to me. I'll use them to deal with the Divine Race's center army."
Lizzy and Megan nodded. Then they thought back to how difficult it was to deal with the heavy cavalry unit. The opponent wasn't weak at all. Moreover, with their numbers, dealing with them in such a short time was very hard.
However, Lizzy and Megan had thought of a way. They would have Dwarves would dig some holes on the ground, making the heavy cavalry stop their advance.
The heavy cavalry's greatest asset was their charge. Once their charge gets stopped, then they’re overall power would drop. The Dwarves' traps were precisely used to stop them.
Once the heavy cavalry unit saw the traps, they quickly knew that it was set up by the Dwarves. It didn't take too long for them to shoot out earth magic towards the ground. This magic had the effect of hardening the ground. It would last for an hour or so, making them unafraid of any attacks coming from the Dwarves.
However, their decision this time was very mistaken. Lizzy and Megan didn't plan to attack them from the ground. Instead, they used the time where the enemy was using earth magic to surround them with undead. Then the undead began to attack the heavy cavalry.
These undead were quite strong, they were 9th ranks after all. Because of this, even before the heavy cavalry can respond, they were already eliminated.
This method can only be used because Zhao Hai's side had the Space. They have the method of making the undead appear wherever they want. Lizzy and Megan used this feature to surround the heavy cavalry with undead. Catching them off guard and making the operation easier than it should be.
The plan might look simple, but it wasn't. Fortunately, not a lot of people were aware of this capability.
Some of the undead were handed over to Zhao Hai while some remained in the control of Lizzy and Megan. The winged pegasus army were fast, and could fly, so they would need a much better plan to deal with them. This needed to be thoroughly thought out.
While Lizzy and Megan rested, Laura went out to discuss the formation disks with Karen. Meanwhile, Zhao Hai stayed in the villa in order to monitor the Divine Race.
Besides monitoring the Divine Race, Zhao Hai also busied himself with resupplying the cavalry units with more javelins..
There were currently a lot of places in the Ark Continent that took on the job of making javelins. In addition to wooden ones, there were also a lot of bamboo-made javelins. Those javelins made of bamboo were found out to be more powerful and convenient to use.
At this point, Zhao Hai planted a lot of bamboos in the Space, specifically for the manufacturing of javelins. Making bamboo javelins was simple. A single person would be able to make a lot of javelins in a single day.
Supplying the cavalry units was also a unique matter. Zhao Hai placed the supplies somewhere on the continent, then he would just lead the cavalry units there in order to take their javelins. At the same time, the cavalry could also eat and rest there.
These places varied, some were in cities of the Buddha Empire while some were in rural areas. The areas weren't too complicated and the supplies present there were only enough for one or two batches.
Zhao Hai had also given the captains of these units a spatial bag each. Each bag can carry about a thousand cubic meters. In addition to the messenger fish, the bags also stored things to eat and drink. Zhao Hai didn't want them to be starved during times where he was unable to teleport them from place to place.
Now that the cavalry units had received their supplies, they proceeded to take a rest. At the same time, the Divine Race army were also taking a rest. The blood devouring mosquitoes had made them suffer heavily.
Although the mosquitoes were upgraded, they still needed 24 hours in order to be re-released. But when the time comes, those new mosquitoes would be stronger than the ones before.
After being upgraded, the strength of the mosquitoes had doubled compared to before. Zhao Hai believed that the mosquitoes would deal a much heavier damage to the Divine Race the next time they attack.
Although the Divine Race army were composed of God-rank experts, Zhao Hai can still see weary looks on their faces. Those who had acquired their javelins and stones immediately took a rest. It seems like they were very tired.
However, there were still some of them who stood guard in the surroundings. Therefore, attacking them at this time wouldn't be so easy. Still, Zhao Hai wasn't worried. If he really wanted to deal with the Divine Race army, he could just send some undead into the middle of the army. That would certainly catch them off guard.
But Zhao Hai didn't want to do that right now. The Divine Race was different compared to the light and heavy cavalries. The Divine Race army have God-rank strength, making them much stronger than the two other armies. Even if the undead appeared in the middle of the army, their only choice would be to self destruct using blood lightning beads. Dealing with the Divine Race army using the methods used on the heavy cavalry would be a foolish decision, the strength disparity was just too much.
For Zhao Hai to not use it doesn't meant that it was useless. On the contrary, this trick would be very useful. However, this trick can only be used once. The next time, the Divine Race would be prepared for it. Because of this, Zhao Hai planned to use it only when it is crucial.
Since that was his plan, Zhao Hai didn't send people to harass the Divine Race right now, allowing them time to rest. But Zhao Hai also believed that even if they were resting, they would still keep one of their eyes open, fearing that an attack would come at any time.
After seeing that nothing was happening in the Divine Race's camp, Zhao Hai felt relief. He took some time to head back to the Black Wasteland. At this time, many people who specialized in magic formations had been sent over. Karen was present there as well. Zhao Hai had a laboratory made for them so that they can research weapons and formations much easier.
After the plan for making formation disks were passed on to Karen's group, they immediately started on their research. They were quite familiar with defensive formations. In fact, they already have ideas on how to proceed.
Ever since the Demons and the Divine Race started to invade the Ark Continent, these people were already thinking about these types of formations. Because of this, after Zhao Hai's word was sent, they didn't fumble around and just proceeded to shift their research towards Zhao Hai's needs.
In the past, they have been researching ways to make more defensive and energy saving formations. This time, they only needed to make the formations small enough to carry around. Their research were focused on huge formations, so they had a certain understanding when it came to areas and their energy consumption. What they needed to do now was to make formation plates that have ample defensive strength for the cavalry units.
When he saw how smooth the research was going, Zhao Hai felt relief. It seems like it would only take a few days before the formation plates to be made.
Chapter 775 – The Demon Race Moves, War On Two Fronts
Zhao Hai had also changed his methods from before. He now reported everything that happened in the frontlines. He would have Cai'er manufacture written documents to be given to the various powers, detailing what happened. This will give them a more direct understanding about the situation in the frontlines.
This would also make the various powers feel more involved in the fight and not too distant to what was happening.
While the Divine Race and Zhao Hai's army were resting, the Demons were doing the contrary. The Demon Dragon King had received word that the Divine Race had already made their move. Upon receiving this information, the Demon Dragon King immediately convened his officers and notified them about the Divine Race's action.
When they heard that the Divine Race had made their move, the various officers couldn’t help but be excited. One of them said, "Good, the Divine Race finally attacked! Your Highness, when do we advance?"
The Demon Dragon King was also smiling, he replied, "It has already been a few days since the Divine Race advanced. We might not know what happened, but there was no movement in Rising Sun City. I suspect that those left there are only the human army. Zhao Hai shouldn't have the time to block our advance. Our opportunity has arrived!"
The group cheered. The Demon Dragon King looked at the group and said, "The sooner we dispatch the troops, the greater the advantage we can gain. At the same time, we must prepare to deal with the Divine Race. Just as Zhao Hai said, they might not agree to divine the Continent. We don't agree to divide it as well. The strength of the Divine Race is no less than ours. Everybody should prepare well."
The group simultaneously made a shout. However, each one of them still had their happy expression. The Demon Dragon King faintly smiled and said, "Go back to your armies. After one hour, we depart. Our target, Rising Sun City!" The group gave another loud shout before they turned around and left.
There was no Demon who came to the Ark Continent that didnt' want to attack. This was because all of them wanted to make the Ark Continent their territory as soon as possible. After staying here for one day, nobody wanted to return to the Demon Realm.
After one hour, the Demon Army was fully prepared. And with the command from the Demon Dragon King, close to 30 million Demons left the Demonic Abyss, heading straight towards Rising Sun City.
However, the moment the Demons moved, Zhao Hai already ordered everyone inside Rising Sun City to leave. Nobody was left inside as they transitioned into doing guerilla tactics.
Using their harassment methods on the Demons should be more convenient compared to the Divine Race. This was because the Demon army didn't have as much God-rank experts, so not a lot can support a Domain to block the blood lightning beads. Because of this, Zhao Hai held more confidence in dealing with the Demon Race.
Before long, the first round of harassment came. The Demons were not like the Divine Race, they don't have as much God ranks. However, the abundance of God ranks and their Domains made the Divine Race think that long ranged weapons weren't that important. On the other hand, since the Demons had 8th to 9th ranks, they equipped themselves with bows, javelins, and other throwable weapons. After losing more than ten thousand people in the first attack, the Demon Dragon King immediately made an adjustment. Those with ranged weapons would be placed on the outskirts of the Demon Army. Moreover, as soon as they saw the Humans, they immediately threw their weapons. This arrangement actually caused some casualties among the Human Race's cavalry.
This caused Zhao Hai a headache. He didn't expect the Demon Race's archery to be this strong. Moreover, their firing distance was quite far. Because of this, Zhao Hai was very dissatisfied. Although they were still causing trouble for the Demons, Zhao Hai was still not happy.
This move by the Demons further pushed the importance of the formation plates. Zhao Hai discussed the matter with Karen, making them produce a working prototype as soon as possible. And with the Dwarves' help, they need to make one at the quickest time possible.
Shortly after the Demons moved, the Divine Race had finished their rest and continued to charge towards the heart of the Ark Continent.
This time, Zhao Hai has to face enemies on two fronts. However, he was already prepared for this outcome. He immediately sent the undead that was handed over to him and harassed the Divine Race. On the other hand, there was no substitution for the Demons. The cavalry units still attacked them. Even if the damage made was low, at least the Demons weren't advancing smoothly.
At this time, Lizzy and Megan led the undead and the other armies of the continent to deal with the light cavalry army.
The number of people assigned to the winged pegasus cavalry was about 7 million. Because of how fast the light cavalry units were and the fact that almost nobody can catch up to them, there were no other race that was placed in this army.
Zhao Hai actually wanted to use the winged pegasus as a mount for the cavalry. This was because they were very mobile.
However, Zhao Hai's Space had just acquired some winged pegasus. It would be impossible to fit every cavalry unit with one. Although the Space can speed up the breeding of these winged pegasus, to reach a proper number was still far off.
Thunder Yun noticed that Zhao Hai had changed his way of attack. Before, their attackers were composed of Human soldiers, but now they were replaced by undead. These undead were also very fast, and their usage of javelins was actually more proficient and lethal compared to the Human soldiers.
Naturally, Thunder Yun wasn't aware that the armies of the continent had just been promoted to 9th-rank, so they weren't too proficient with their strength. On the other hand, the undead had already underwent battles in their current state, so they were more used to their bodies compared to the recently promoted soldiers. It was no wonder that the undead were more proficient in using the javelins.
But what worried Thunder Yun the most was how quick Zhao Hai was able to adjust. Zhao Hai was just too fast, it was as though he immediately figured out that the Divine Race had a way to deal with the Human cavalry. Just as Laura said, the javelins and the stones might be effective against living cavalry, but were less useful against the undead. Unless the javelin or stones hit exact places, the undead would remain unscatherd. The projectiles would just go through their bones as they continued to fight.
Moreover, Zhao Hai's undead had self regeneration and pseudo-vitality. As long as their souls weren't extinguished, these undead would stay immortal. In this case, the javelins and stones were rendered close to useless.
Thundery Yun didn't know whether Zhao Hai was aware of their actions or this arrangement was just done in pure coincidence.
If Zhao Hai knew that the Divine Race planned to use javelins and stones, and promptly used his undead, then this meant that Zhao Hai had means to constantly look into the state of the Divine Race army.
While thinking about this possibility, Thunder Yun couldn't help but be startled. He immediately scouted the surroundings, looking for places where people could hide.
However, they found nothing. This action only made their march slower, which allowed Zhao Hai more time. What Zhao Hai needed is time, time to eliminate the winged pegasus army, to research magic formations, to finish constructing the defensive line at Accra Mountain, and to promote more people to God-rank.
Naturally, Zhao Hai will not let the Divine Race go just because they slowed their advance. The undead cavalry remained and continued to harass the Divine Race army. Because the undead were never tired and didn't need to eat nor drink, they attacked non-stop. And as soon as they reached the Divine Race's line of fire, Zhao Hai would immediately take them into the Space. He would release them once more when their turn to attack comes.
Thunder Yun's army was now advancing at the speed of a turtle. It would only need about three to four hours if one were to fly from city to city. However, it has already been five hours since Thunder Yun's army left Upper Bank City, yet they were still halfway to the next city.
Zhao Hai was very satisfied with this result. He was currently making every effort he could in order to delay the Demon and the Divine Race. After Lizzy and Megan eliminates the light cavalry army, Zhao Hai would then be able to allocate more resources into crippling the advance of the two enemy parties. At the same time, Zhao Hai had a more sinister idea in his mind. He would go and attack their rear!
As long as manpower gets available, Zhao Hai will have the undead winged pegasus army attack the cities in the Radiant Empire in the guise of zombies. When that time comes, Zhao Hai wanted to see whether the Divine Race would retreat or not.
Naturally, Zhao Hai didn't think about driving the Divine Race back to the Divine Realm, that was just impossible to do. After seeing the giants, the winged pegasus, and the heavy armor cavalry, Zhao Hai knew that the Divine Race had already conquered several smaller planes. And in their operation in the Ark Continent, it was certain that they had made the proper preparations. To drive them back to the Divine Realm in such a short time was just not possible.
However, attacking the Radiant Empire still had its own advantages. First, they could compel the Divine Race army to retreat. Second, they would be able to acquire those large magic cannons and have them researched. And third, they would be able to get some green skinned creatures and ask them about the matters of the Divine Race.
But all of these relied on time. As long as Zhao Hai had time, he can make sure that the Divine Race never reached Accra Mountains.
The construction in Accra Mountain had increased a lot. It will become a permanent defensive line, so Zhao Hai's requirements for it were very strict. Not only does it need magical formations, the materials needed to be selected properly as well. In addition to being resistant to physical damage, the materials needed to resist magic attacks as well as have magical effects. That is to say, using magic to break these materials was just plainly impossible.
Take Upper Bank City, for example. The city had a very good defensive formation, providing the walls with defense against magic. However, after the formation was broken, the walls were susceptible to being turned into golems by using earth magic. The walls will become weapons to attack the city's defenders.
This situation needs to be prevented in Accra Mountains. Instead of stones, Zhao Hai asked for concrete to be used in making the walls. This concrete was different to the concrete back on Earth. The materials used for Ark Continent's concrete comprised of things like gravel, rice milk, and some other things. Naturally, combining these things would need magic.
In the Ark Continent, magic-mage materials weren't rare. There were a lot of materials that can be made using magic, but they weren't used much in the past years. Only in making Imperial Palaces did these materials appear. Making concrete using magic was an idea that Zhao Hai had proposed.
Moreover, Zhao Hai had another requirement for the Accra Mountains. The defense lines must be done outward. This meant that the defense will be focused on the Buddha Empire. As for the Lyon Empire's side, no defense shall be made.
The reason that Zhao Hai made this decision was because he was afraid that if Accra Mountain fell, then its defense would be turned against the Ark Continent. If Zhao Hai made both sides of the mountain defensive, then the Divine Race or the Demon Race might use it as a forward base against the Ark Continent. When that time comes, reclaiming the land would become much more difficult.
This method had its advantages and disadvantages, but Zhao Hai can only do it. Before doing so, he also discussed this matter with the Buddha Emperor. He wanted to make it clear that this arrangement wasn't against the Buddha Empire, but to the invaders instead.
Chapter 776 – Skill
In the past, Zhao Hai didn't consider the people of the Ark Continent in his decisions. The only things in his mind was the Buda Clan, everything is for the betterment of the clan.
But in his current position, he found out that there were more things to consider. Just take the matter with the Accra Mountains, for example. If it wasn't properly taken care of, then it might result in the dissatisfaction of the Buddha Empire.
Although the Buddha Empire had moved to the Lyon Empire, Zhao Hai had to hand a city over to the Buddha Emperor. This was done in order for the Emperor to be able to rule his people. One could see how sensitive matters like these were to the Buddha Empire's people.
Even if they were forced to leave their country, this only intensified their feelings about it. By making a demarcation in the Accra Mountains, Zhao Hai just cut the continent into two. The internal part would start from the Lyon Empire and then moving forward. The outer part would be the Buddha Empire and the Radiant Empire. Those people in the internal part naturally wouldn't have any issues with this. After all, this was done in order to combat the Demons and the Divine Race.
On the other hand, this decision would make the people of the Buddha Empire feel bitter. Cultivating the Accra Mountains as a wall made the people of the Buddha Empire think that Zhao Hai had already abandoned their home. This was akin to handing the Buddha Empire over to the Demons and the Divine Race.
This didn’t even include what the Buddha Emperor would think. If Zhao Hai were to repel the Demons and the Divine Race one day, then the Accra Mountain defense could be seen as a protective guard against the Buddha Empire.
Because he was afraid of the Buddha Emperor having this idea, Zhao Hai talked this matter with him when the construction started. He even promised the Buddha Emperor that once the Demons and the Divine Race were expelled, the Lyon Empire would not place any garrison troops inside Accra Mountains.
All of this was made in the name of stability. Only when everything was stable would the fight in the frontlines be smooth.
Although the Buddha Empire's people were living under refuge right now, their influence was still quite significant. This was because they had given up their country for the sake of the Ark Continent. Because of this, Zhao Hai needed to give them preferential treatment. Otherwise, the other nations would feel that Zhao Hai had been unfair.
The various Emperors were on the side of the Buddha Emperor. How Zhao Hai treated the Buddha Emperor right now would be how he would treat them in the future. These Emperors knew how strong the Demons and the Divine Race were, so they were aware that repelling them wouldn't take a short time, it was just impossible.
They were afraid that a day would come where the invaders would rush over Accra Mountain's defensive line. They were afraid that they would have the same fate as the Buddha Emperor. If Zhao Hai didn't treat the Buddha Emperor well, then they wouldn't be expecting Zhao Hai to treat them well in the future. Maybe they would even think that Zhao Hai would just eliminate them and consolidate control over the entire Ark Continent.
Although Zhao Hai's present strength allows him to dethrone the Emperors and control the continent, he didn't want to do this. The Emperors and Great Nobles had been ruling their respective subjects for several thousand years. It can be said that their influence in the continent had already been ingrained in the hearts of the people. Wanting to abolish their rule wouldn't be very easy.
The reason why Zhao Hai was able to quickly control the Lyon Empire was because their Royal Family was killed by the Dragons. The strength of the Dragons had also left a huge impression on the commoners. So after Zhao Hai eliminated the Dragons, the Great Clans of the Lyon Empire had no choice but to become his subjects, otherwise they would face ruin in the hands of the commoners.
Because of this, Zhao Hai decided to tell the people of the continent about his arrangements. He had no choice, otherwise the aristocrats of the continent would unite against him. When that time comes, the whole continent would be plunged into chaos. Not to say about the Demons and the Divine Race, the continent might even disperse because of infighting. Zhao Hai had no choice but to consider all of these whenever he made a major action.
The reason why Zhao Hai can say that there would be no Lyon Empire garrison on Accra Mountains in the future was because he was still the Emperor of the Lyon Empire. One shouldn't forget that the Buddha Empire and the Lyon Empire were divided by the Accra Mountain.
Not having garrison on the Accra Mountains might also mean that the defense would be handed over to the Buddha Empire. Naturally, the Buddha Emperor have no problems about this.
Actually, Zhao Hai didn't want to hand the Accra Mountain over to the Buddha Empire nor would it be under the hands of the Lyon Empire. After they repel the Demons and the Divine Race, Zhao Hai plans to hand the defensive line over to the Dwarves and the Elves.
The passage between the Dwarf Mountain and Elven forest passes below the Mountains. If either the Buddha Empire or the Lyon Empire takes control of the mountains, then this would mean that they would have a certain influence over the Elves and the Dwarves.
Naturally, he wouldn't tell this plan. He just told the Buddha Emperor that there would be no Lyon Empire soldiers stationed on the mountain after the war. However, he didn't explicitly say that the mountain would be handed over to the Buddha Empire. If the Buddha Emperor thinks so, then that won't be Zhao Hai's problem anymore.
This was a type of deception, a deception that must be used since it was necessary. After all, the Buddha Empire wasn't loyal to Zhao Hai. Therefore, some small deceptions needed to be made in order to achieve certain goals.
Besides the frontline and backline matters, Zhao Hai also took care of the reports that Cai'er would send. In addition to the heads of the powers, these reports would also be read aloud in various cities. This would allow the commoners to know about the situation in the frontline.
Zhao Hai still continued to stabilize the spirit of the people. Just like how he needed to appease the heads of states, he also needed to make sure that there weren't wrong rumors going about among the populace. Rumors like 'the frontlines couldn't defend, 'Zhao Hai is heavily injured', and 'The Demons and the Divine Race have come' needed to be quelled.
Nonsense rumors like these would only cause anxiety to the people. Moreover, there were also a lot of soldiers in the continent that were originally commoners. Therefore, these people needed to be made aware of the war's progress.
The reason why Zhao Hai didn't bother doing this before was because he was yet to transfer troops from the continent into the Buddha Empire at a large scale. At that time, the people involved in the war were only those who were from the Buddha Empire, some armies from the three Empires, and groups from the other races.
However, now was different, Zhao Hai was mobilizing the entire Ark Continent. Although he had improved the strength of the soldiers, it was still impossible for them to not be worried about the frontlines. Therefore, Zhao Hai decided to read out the reports to the civilians, informing them about the war.
Zhao Hai was not afraid that his plans would be exposed to the Demons and the Divine Race. After all, what he was doing was just stalling the enemies. It was a kind of information that nobody can make use of. The enemies might know about his plan, however, what can they do about it?
Whether it be the Demons or the Divine Race, both of them were subjected to Zhao Hai's delaying tactics. Zhao Hai used his undead for the Divine Race while the cavalries were used against the Demons. This arrangement was right. Although the strength of the Demon army wasn't that great, they were beings completely unafraid of death. With their powerful life force, even general 9th ranks from the continent would be unable to play around with them.
Although using the cavalry against the Demons caused some lives to be lost, it was still better than facing the Divine Race. Zhao Hai can imagine the large losses that would be met if he continued to use the cavalry units against the Divine Race.
The javelins and stones from the Divine Race were very lethal. Even undead fell to them, much less actual living people.
Actually, the heavy cavalry unit can be said to be the most appropriate enemy against the Divine Race. Their inborn strength would bring them more throwing distance compared to the others. They might even compare to the Divine Race's projectiles.
However, Zhao Hai cannot send them right now because he needed to deal with the winged pegasus cavalry. Once Zhao Hai sends the heavy cavalry, the Divine Race would know that Zhao Hai was planning on dealing with the winged pegasus cavalry next. This would allow the Divine Race to adjust their strategy, making the situation unfavorable for Zhao Hai. Therefore, Zhao Hai could only use the undead to deal with the Divine Race. Fortunately, the undead were already enough to slow the advance of Thunder Yun's center army.
The Demons and the Divine Race were still advancing, but their rate of advancement was horribly slow. The Divine Race wasn't expecting this move from Zhao Hai, they didn't bring too much supplies when they left the Radiant Empire. Although their supplies can lest them for another one or two days, it was already clear that their supplies wouldn't last for too long. When they decided to get supplies from the Radiant Empire, then that would be the time where Zhao Hai's undead cavalry would make their attack.
Zhao Hai has been paying attention to the moves of the two armies. Now, 24 hours had almost passed by, Zhao Hai was preparing to unleash the blood devouring mosquitoes once more. When the time is up, the mosquitoes would be released immediately. This time, the blood devouring mosquitoes wouldn't only assault the Divine Race, they would go for the Demons as well.
Chapter 777 – Thunder Yun's Thoughts
It was more advantageous to use the mosquitoes during the night. Since it was still daytime, Zhao Hai only gathered them in the Space. When night comes, he would unleash them to deal with the Demons and the Divine Race.
Honestly, the time of day didn't really affect the Demons and the Divine Race too much. However, even a small advantage needed to be used, so Zhao Hai chose to wait.
This time, he wouldn't have the blood devouring mosquitoes attack on their own. Instead, Zhao Hai planned to have his cavalry carry on attacking as well. It was necessary to exhaust the Demons and the Divine Race as much as possible. When Lizzy and Megan eliminates the winged pegasus cavalry, then Zhao Hai would have more chess pieces to move on the board.
Eliminating the winged pegasus army would provide Zhao Hai with millions more undead. Once that gets accomplished, Zhao Hai would have more things to do with the cavalry. For example, he could completely disrupt the supply line of the Divine Race, he could even go and harass the Radiant Empire. On the other hand, there was no need to be afraid of the Demons. Although they were strong, they weren't much stronger compared to the undead. If an undead dies, it would definitely take another Demon along with it. This trade of losses wasn't something that the Demon Race can withstand.
Zhao Hai looked at the monitor while making orders towards the cavalry units from time to time. At the same time, he would also lead the undead in making their attacks.
Zhao Hai currently felt like he was playing a computer game back on Earth. On the screen were green and red dots. The red dots would be his people while the green ones represented the enemy. At this time, groups of red dots were advancing and retreating on the monitor.
There was also a huge mass of green dots. The smaller group of red dots would come in contact with these green dots once in a while, some green and red dots would vanish at each encounter.
Zhao Hai didn't feel too much after seeing the red and green lights vanish. Although he knew that each dot that disappeared meant a life was ended, he understood that this was war. Loss of life was inevitable in these situations.
Aside from the Demons and the Divine Race's camps, Zhao Hai was also paying attention to Lizzy and Megan. This didn't mean that he was worried about their success, he knew that the two of them would succeed in this operation. What he was paying attention to was how long it would take to eliminate the winged pegasus army. The sooner they get killed, the more advantageous it would be for Zhao Hai.
But he didn't urge Megan and Lizzy to go faster, he knew that the two were already doing their best. There was no benefit in making them anxious about their success.
The skies slowly turned dark, and Zhao Hai knew that the time to dish out huge damages had come. He immediately had his cavalry units withdraw for some time so that they would be in their best condition when night came.
Actually, these cavalry units weren't very tired at all. After a group attacks the Demons, they would just retreat and resupply while at the same time taking a rest.
Zhao Hai's arrangement was to keep them in the best condition. And now that casualties were happening, Zhao Hai took their corpses and kept them, not turning them into undead. On the other hand, the dead ferghana horses were turned into undead. Not only would they keep their strength, their endurance would also be improved by a lot.
As the skies turned dark, the Divine Race were also beginning to get their guards up. First was because undead creatures can display 120% of their strength during the night. Second, because the Divine Race were expecting the blood devouring mosquitoes.
They were terrified by yesterday's attack. Although they had thought about means to deal with the mosquitoes, the mere idea of the attack made them extremely uneasy.
After seeing the wave of undead retreat, Thunder Yun turned to Fei'er and said, "Fei'er, how many attacks did we receive today?"
Fei'er turned to Thunder Yun and smiled bitterly, "Forgive me master, I lost count."
Thunder Yun smiled bitterly as well, he couldn't blame Fei'er. The undead attacks that they received was just too much. Just as one ten thousand troop retreated, another would come. In this case, it would be strange if they had kept count.
After watching the sky, Thunder Yun immediately said, "Spread this order, immediately find a place to rest and arrange sentries. Have everyone be extra careful. If the blood devouring mosquitoes are indeed under the enemy's control, then they would come back this evening."
Fei'er nodded and then went to arrange it. Thunder Yun looked at the horizon with a worried look. Since their advance was slowed, Thunder Yun took the chance and observed the undead.
After looking at the teams of undead that Zhao Hai sent, Thunder Yun had discovered that there weren't a lot of them, probably about a few million. Thunder Yun was assured of this conclusion because he can see the same faces among the undead from time to time. After his calculations, Thunder Yun reckoned that there shouldn't be more than 5 million undead.
However, from the information that he acquired from Cloud Ying, Zhao Hai had a minimum of 20 million undead. He only used 5 million this time, where did the others go?
More than 10 million undead wasn't small, but they haven't appeared yet. Thunder Yun thought of the various implications of this information.
After the Divine Race army stopped, they immediately built rooms with earth magic. Thunder Yun also had a command center made. Once inside the hall, Thunder Yun had Fei'er sound the drums.
When all the generals arrived, Thunder Yun glanced at Cloud Yi and said, "Cloud Yi, sit on the third row."
Don't underestimate this change of seating, this was essentially a promotion. When Cloud Yi heard Thunder Yun, he immediately stood up and sat on the third row. Everyone in the hall looked at Cloud Yi, but nobody said anything. Cloud Yi came up with the method to restrict the harassment. Although it wasn't completely useful, it still played a big role. Getting a promotion at this time was normal.
Seeing that nobody opposed to it, Thunder Yun moved on, "Everyone should have noticed, the Ark Continent had changed from cavalry soldiers into undead. Does everybody know why?" The people in the room all frowned. Then Cloud Ying said, "There are two possibilities for this. One was coincidence, and the other is Zhao Hai knowing our plan. If it is the former, than we'll be fine. But if it is the latter, then this means that every move we make would be known to the other party. And that isn't good for our future plans."
When the generals heard this, their brows couldn't help but wrinkle. They were experienced war veterans, but since they were too preoccupied with thinking about the undead, they had missed this point. After hearing Cloud Ying, all of them immediately understood.
Although they can understand what this meant, this was still very bad news. Knowing all of their actions wouldn't bode too well for this conquest.
Thunder Yun nodded and said, "Right, and I suspect that the second possibility is true. Our moved are under Zhao Hai's surveillance. As for his methods, I have absolutely no idea. But there is one thing worries me more." After saying that, Thunder Yun scanned the group. All of them had unclear expressions aside from three people. They were Silver Shuke, Cloud Ying, and Cloud Yi.
Thunder Yun couldn't help but nod after seeing the expression of the three. And among these three, the one who he favored the most was Cloud Yi.
Cloud Ying and Silver Shuke had fought with Zhao Hai before, so they were very clear about his strength. For them to discover the strangeness of the undead was quite normal. But Cloud Yi was different, he had not fought with Zhao Hai. In addition to his understanding now, he also managed to formulate a way to deal with the cavalry harassment. This meant that Cloud Yi had a powerful gift of observation.
However, Thunder Yun kept himself from asking Cloud Yi. He knew that if he asked Cloud Yi about this matter, then the others would think that he favored Cloud Yi and was planning to promote him even more. This wasn't good for troop morale.
Cloud Yi's promotion was because of his advice, so nobody would oppose this point. But if Thunder Yun were to blatantly give a promotion, then it would attract the envy of other people. When the time comes, Cloud Yi might even be bullied in the future, hindering his talent from growing any further."
Therefore, Thunder Yun turned to Silver Shuke and said, "Silver Shuke, tell me, did you notice anything strange about Zhao Hai's action?"
Chapter 778 – Thunder Yun's Plan
Thunder Yun decided to ask Silver Shuke and not Cloud Yi. This was because in the first fight with Zhao Hai, Silver Shuke was the first to fail, and he had been feeling bad about it.
In the beginning, Thunder Yun didn't look too highly on Silver Shuke. But after these few days, Thunder Yun changed his mind. Zhao Hai really did have the strength to cause them losses. In this case, it wasn't surprising for Silver Shuke to fail.
Because of this, Thunder Yun decided to help Silver Shuke out. He used this opportunity to ask him the question, giving him some credit and making it known that Thunder Yun wanted to use him in the future.
Silver Shuke didn't expect Thunder Yun to say his name. He was stunned for a moment before a flash ran by his eyes, he immediately replied, "Yes, General. I noticed something strange."
After seeing Thunder Yun choose Silver Shuke, Cloud Ying and Cloud Yi couldn't help but have a momentary look of disappointment in their eyes. Although their faces were serious, the change didn't escape the eyes of Thunder Yun.
Thunder Yun didn't say anything, he just looked at Silver Shuke and said, "Tell me."
Silver Shuke immediately replied, "General, from what I can see, the number of undead this time isn't right. Zhao Hai has more than ten million undead, but the ones attacking us right now seem to number in the few millions. The number was just too small, and the others were nowhere to be seen. I think there are only two possibilities for this, the first one being the undead attacking our headquarters. Now that our army has departed, the forces back in the Radiant Empire wouldn't be as good compared to before. Even if they couldn't break the camp, they could at the very least cause some damage. However, we haven't had any rescue letters in the past couple of days. This might be because the base hasn't been attacked, or they couldn't send a rescue letter. I think the former is more plausible. We still have a lot of strong soldiers in the camp, and it would be impossible for them to be unable to send a letter in case of the attack. Therefore, the base is still safe."
"The other possibility for the undead's disappearance might be because they are dealing with the barbarians and the winged pegasus people. If they could indeed see our actions, then it is possible that they are already aware of the two armies. If that is really the case, then we might be in even more trouble."
Thunder Yun nodded, Silver Shuke's analysis coincides with his own. But Thunder Yun discovered that Cloud Ying was still frowning, he probably had some words to say.
Thunder Yun looked at Cloud Ying and said, "Cloud Ying, do you have any other ideas? Say it."
Cloud Ying looked at Thunder Yun and nodded, "General, I have thought of another possibility. We know that the Demons have also come to the continent, and their fighting strength is also quite good. It's certain that the Demons would dispatch their troops once they discover that we have made out more. Zhao Hai might have brought his undead to deal with the Demons."
Thunder Yun looked at Cloud Ying, then he smiled faintly and said, "That is correct as well. However, you have missed something. Zhao Hai replaced those cavalry units with the undead. And where are those cavalry units now? It would be impossible for Zhao Hai to just have them lying around. If he can harass us, then why can't he do the same with the Demons? It's more plausible that he had the cavalry deal with the Demons while his undead goes on and attacks the barbarians and the winged pegasus people. Zhao Hai's only enemies are us and the Demons. And this time, I'm sure the Demons didn't split their army like us. They arrived in the Ark Continent much earlier than us, so they should be more experienced when it came to Zhao Hai's capabilities. And I also heard that the Demons aren't as strong as us, therefore they couldn't afford to split up their army. At this moment, in the Buddha Empire, Zhao Hai has four groups of enemies. The strongest two of those four are us and the Demon Army, the weaker ones are the barbarians and the winged pegasus army. Zhao Hai would surely eat the weaker ones first before going to deal with us. This is his safest and most beneficial method right now."
Everyone who listened to Thunder Yun's breakdown started to believe his words. After all, Thunder Yun already had the qualifications to make speculations like these. Although he had eaten a loss lately, his status remained unchanged in the hearts of these people.
Therefore, everybody nodded at Thunder Yun's analysis, nobody voiced opposition. Cloud Ying said, "The General is right, forgive me for being wrong."
Thunder Yun just waved his hand. Although he just said that the barbarians and the winged pegasus people were going to eliminated, he still had a calm look on his face. This made everyone confused.
Cloud Ying looked puzzled at Thunder Yun's expression, so he asked, "Isn't General worried about the barbarians and the winged pegasus army? Is the General confident in them beating Zhao Hai?"
Thunder Yun actually laughed before he answered, "How is that possible? Although I haven't we haven't had a true clash with Zhao Hai, his recent actions are already proof enough to how strong he is. How could the barbarians and winged pegasus armies be able to beat a person like him? If I haven't guessed wrong, then the barbarians should have already been eliminated while the winged pegasus army shouldn't last for long. However, this is exactly what I want."
Thunder Yun's words made everyone present stare. Some of the more intelligent among them immediately understood what Thunder Yun meant.
Thunder Yun smiled faintly and said, "Does everyone understand? Cloud Yi, tell them. You look like your ass is on fire, you tell them what I mean." As soon as they heard Thunder Yun, the group couldn't help but chuckle. The heavy emotions that they carried all this time seemed to slowly vanish.
Cloud Yi stood up and bowed to Thunder Yun before saying, "The general is talking about how vengeful both the barbarians and the winged pegasus people are. After the Divine Race subjugated them, they were still quite resistive to our rule. Therefore, when we asked them for troops this time, they initially refused. Although they gave us some troops, they only gave us two of their ordinary armies, no elites were included. But now that Zhao Hai had killed their people, these two would surely bear a grudge and send their elites over. When that time comes, we would be more relaxed in dealing with the Ark Continent."
Thunder Yun laughed and said "Good, correct. Just as Cloud Yi said, both the barbarians and winged pegasus clans bear deep grudges. They will surely retaliate against Zhao Hai now that he has killed their people. Once they send their forces, then we would have more powerful cannon fodder for our army."
The people in the hall smiled, their low morale had surged up. On the other hand, both Cloud Ying and Cloud Yi were looking at Thunder Yun with admiration. They knew that Thunder Yun's purpose today was to raise morale.
Cloud Ying also understood Thunder Yun's idea, he looked at Thunder Yun and said, "General, what do we do next?'
Thunder Yun's voice turned serious as he said, "In the last two days, the Ark Continent showed that they don't intend to go directly against us, just resorting to harassment tactics and forcing us to be on the defense. Because of this, I plan to withdraw the troops tomorrow and see if the barbarians and winged pegasus people are indeed killed. If they are, then I will immediately send word to the two races, making them dispatch their troops. The winged pegasus mounts are insanely fast, there would be no way the mounts of the Ark Continent's cavalry would catch up to them. Moreover, the barbarian elites are vastly stronger than the people in the Ark Continent. As long as the elites come, then we can deal with the Ark Continent in one go!"
If Thunder Yun hadn't said his plan, then the morale might've drop when he suggested retreat. But since he made a cushion for himself, the situation became different. Now, instead of dropping, the moral actually increased. Those present were thinking that their retreat this time was done in order for them to mount an even stronger attack. They had been feeling suffocated from the attacks coming from the Ark Continent. Now, they couldn’t wait to go all out, this was the result that Thunder Yun wanted.
Being a good General doesn't only depend on how many wins one can get, it also depends on how one deals with their adversary. Cloud Ying and Cloud Yin knew that if they were in Thunder Yun's shoes, then they wouldn't have a spectacular result as this. There were some times where a strategic defeat meant losing. But their retreat this time was different, they would retreat only because they were preparing to launch a better attack.
An example of this happened in the civil war after the Sino-Japanese war. It was when the party had to give up the headquarters at Yan'an. This might look like a big defeat. But this retreat had conserved the party's strength. Moreover, it didn't affect their morale at all. In the end, this move was marked as the party sacrificing Yan'an in order to acquire the whole of China.