All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 495 - 110 Preparation for War (1/3)

Chapter 495: Chapter 110 Preparation for War (1/3)

An Jing was unaware of what exactly the Virtuous King was thinking; after taking Protector-General Song’s head, the other party just stood there silently by the side, eyes clear and seemingly detached from the situation.

He guessed that the Virtuous King’s true form was reporting back on his work, while Zheng Mo, having not received further instructions, could do nothing but stand still, lost in thought.

But An Jing was different. He was busy with a multitude of tasks and couldn’t rest.

First and foremost, the leadership team of Linjiang City, headed by An Jing, received notification from the reinforcements of Da Chen’s Qinghai State Prefecture Government, led by Hang Mofeng. An Jing led a reception party to welcome them from a hundred miles away to show hospitality, and the citizens of Linjiang City came out to greet the Heavenly Army with food and drink, even requesting that the Martial Army enter the city to be hosted.

General Hang Mofeng of the Martial Army expressed his opinion on this: The residents around Broken Blade Mountain welcoming us with such enthusiasm is truly a joyous occasion. However, blessings come with hidden dangers, and misfortunes rest on blessings. The reason the citizens warmly welcome the Da Chen Heavenly Army is precisely because they have been plagued by Iron Li and the Frost Calamity!

A benevolent army should do what is right, not just yearn for enjoyment. The warm hearts of the people of Linjiang City are our greatest encouragement. Please retract those banquets, for our hearts aspire only to battle, to drive the despicable enemy from our soil without mercy!

Upon hearing this, An Jing, the City Lord of Linjiang, felt deeply ashamed. He couldn’t help but reflect: How could an army that clearly understands the situation, is untouched by any temptation, and is wholly committed to defending its people ever fail? I yearn to become a person like General Xing. Thus, he withdrew the invitations and chose an Earth Pulse Node near Broken Blade Mountain as the encampment for the Martial Army.

After officially receiving Hang Mofeng and the Martial Army, An Jing began to prepare for logistical matters.

Though it may sound harsh, in Embracing the Void, there’s a universally true saying: once real war begins, the lives of ordinary people are but numbers. Whether they are citizens or Militia, they can at best operate machinery to some extent during city defense. In decisive confrontations, only the victory or defeat of the Martial Army can tilt the scales of the battlefield.

Linjiang City had few people and could scarcely muster a few genuine inner-strength Martial Artists, let alone a Martial Army. An Jing could only select twelve martial disciples who specialized in metal Martial Skills from the guards supported by Hanlang Escort Agency and the Bright Mirror Sect. Dressed in ’Cang Armor’, they acted as guardians of the city, safeguarding key areas and warehouses to prevent the enemy from possibly launching surprise attacks, seizing control of Earth Veins, and cutting off supplies.

For these tasks, Bai Qinghan and Xu Tai were sufficient; both had experienced much practice and were utterly trustworthy in this regard.

In addition to this, An Jing loaned his Tengshuang White, a high-speed flying shuttle, to the scouting team where Cang Linzu served temporarily.

This, too, was trustworthy, having received approval from the esteemed General Gu Yunzhi.

The Children of Calamity team had long established a complete set of intelligence coordination systems, with some delving deep for exploration, others guiding the return, some deploying smoke bombs, some relaying signals, and some conveying information... Although An Jing also understood, he was clear that he had not practiced his experience in Embracing the Void; thus, he let the professionals handle professional matters.

And the Tengshuang White, capable of flying, clearly held more significance for them than merely a means of transportation for An Jing.

Especially since An Jing, with his Three Divine Abnormalities and Five Forbidden Skills, now consumed nearly zero energy while running; the Tengshuang White had no significant advantage in speed—it was just about looking cool and not having to think.

"How fast!" This was Cang Linzu’s astonished exclamation upon his first attempt to operate the Tengshuang White: "Even faster than a Wind Chasing Horse!"

"In the future, when elder brother has money, I’ll ensure every one of you has a set of professional equipment. Everyone will have a flying shuttle and an Iron Kite!"

An Jing wasn’t just boasting; in the Tianyuan Realm, the so-called professional exploration equipment was actually quite affordable. Equipping all twelve brothers and sisters wouldn’t cost much in terms of Good Deeds but could greatly increase their survival rate.

Those who were most loyal to him, even willing to follow him in defecting from Hanging Fate Manor, were all precious. An Jing wished to provide each of them with their own Cultivation Technique. Sadly, the Taibai Luminous Godly Ban wasn’t something ordinary people could learn, not even the Houtu Skills.

It’s no wonder that the Tianyi Demon Sect didn’t choose the Houtu Skills as widespread Cultivation Techniques, for they entail intricacies of various minor meridians and energy operations. It’s not difficult for people like An Jing and Huo Qing who have a foundation and a certain talent, but for the foundationless Children of Calamity, it’s still a bit too challenging.

"Seems like we will have to wait a few more years, when they have accumulated enough knowledge in martial skills, then they can be taught."

An Jing thought as much.

The tasks of people like Cang Linzu, besides scouting the movements of Iron Li’s cavalry, also included finding their supply lines.

The deeper into the enemy-occupied area the war at the Northern Border penetrates, the longer the supply lines get, especially for cavalry. Since the Frost Calamity and since Da Chen’s side are all strongholds, as long as they don’t quickly conquer their targets, their supplies will become very vulnerable. By that time, just by destroying the enemy’s supply lines, one could force the Iron Cavalry to retreat without fighting, or force them into a premature final battle, seizing the chance to eliminate the enemy’s living forces entirely.

With the strong mobility of unmanned drones and Tengshuang White’s like Cang Linzu, this task is well within their reach.

Take care of logistics, take care of defense, take care of intelligence – that’s about it.

After that, An Jing’s work as the ’City Lord’ is finished completely; afterwards, there’s only the ’Martial Artist’ left.

It sounds simple, but in truth, it is also because Linjiang City has good conditions.

The three cities around Broken Blade Mountain mainly produce from the Spirit Fields around the Earth Pulse Nodes and the produce of Broken Blade Mountain’s Main Mountain itself; in other words, it is actually a city upheld by the hunters of numerous Hunting Manors and the herb pickers of Medicine Manors.

In the public eye, hunters and herb pickers are often seen as small team operations, but in a true deep forest spiritual forest like Broken Blade Mountain, it’s not the case.

The hunting and herb-picking business in Linjiang City is a vast and complex industry with upstream and downstream coordination, where a group of elite Martial Artists specially go into the deep mountains teeming with Demon Beasts and Ferocious Beasts to hunt and collect Spiritual Medicine. The quantities of game they get are so large that they need to organize a team specifically for transportation.

After being transported back, there will be a whole group of people needed to identify, cut, slaughter, and differentiate various materials and Spiritual Medicines from different wild beasts. The scale of advantage in this batch processing of goods is the strength of the longstanding brands around Broken Blade Mountain, and when these processed goods are transported out of the city, a special team is also needed to transport them to various major cities in the Northern Border.

What sound like the lightweight activities of ’hunting’ and ’herb picking’ are actually related industries in Linjiang City. The complexity of their organization and the sheer number of people involved is already comparable to a genuine army.

Besides, anyone who has been to the mountains knows that villages can erupt in large-scale fights over water and roads. The conflicts between Hunting Manors and herb pickers are even more intense. Their rich experience in conflict can be seen from how the old Hunting Manor that surrendered to the Heavenly Demon can almost seamlessly transfer into elite followers of the True Demon Sect.

The several logistics officers who were appointed by An Jing, as well as the officials organizing manpower, are all old hunters. With this group of talented individuals, An Jing can afford such ease.

And An Jing, who dared to employ them, is indeed a qualified leader.

After all of this, An Jing found an excuse to lay down his ancestors and leave the crowd, heading off to Tianyuan Realm to purchase more wartime supplies.

But upon arriving at Tianyuan Realm, An Jing got news from Huo Qing, not sure if it was good or bad.

"Due to the exploration of Ancient Immortal Ruins gradually starting, the prices of various combat Magic Artifacts have all risen somewhat."

Huo Qing said somewhat helplessly: "Self-destructing drones, landmines, Sword Boxes, all kinds of bullet Artifacts are the same, even the Bulletproof Poncho has increased in price by two Good Deeds."