476: Advanced combat readiness meeting

Northern Battlefield, Shanhai Pass. The gale winds howled, and the chill was bone-piercing.

This pass stood twelve to thirteen zhang high, with its highest point reaching twenty zhang. To ordinary people, it was like a natural chasm that was impossible to cross. However, for Xuanwu experts, it was not an impenetrable barrier. Some experts who had Cultivated movement techniques could freely scale such walls, making them impossible to guard against.

Therefore, besides its strong hardware, the soldiers guarding Shanhai Pass had to be on high alert to avoid any unnecessary mistakes, ensuring that this pass remained a truly mighty fortress of the Great Ming!

Recently, due to war preparations, many sections of the wall had been reinforced, and many Sharp Weapons of war had been deployed. For instance, Tiangong Group had delivered three giant god cannons. These new types of giant cannons were stationed at the North, East, and South gates, which could be said to be a massive investment!

In addition to the giant god cannons, there were many High Grade Profound Weapons. These Profound Weapons were in the hands of experts, greatly enhancing their combat power!

At the same time, the soldiers at Shanhai Pass were practicing the "Ten Thousand Soldiers Gathering Profound Formation" day and night. There were a full thirty of these Formations!

In other words, the number of troops stationed at Shanhai Pass was at least over one million, because only with such a massive base could they select three hundred thousand elites to Cultivate such a Formation.

In fact, the million-strong army was merely the basic foundation of Shanhai Pass's combat power. Surrounding this million-strong army were at least three million reserves, ready to step up at any moment to replenish war losses. At the same time, there were countless logistics personnel within the city, serving these main forces and reserve soldiers. When necessary, countless among them would also need to fill in for war losses. It could be said that the entire Shanhai Pass was a massive machine, and every step of its operation meant a huge consumption of manpower, material resources, and wealth!

War, to a large extent, was about attrition. This point held true in many worlds. However, there was a prerequisite to this: one must possess high-end combat power.

Because in high-martial worlds and immortal cultivation worlds, powerful individuals appeared who could change the entire battle situation with their own strength. If one were defeated in the high-end battlefield, no matter how good the logistics were, how sufficient the supplies were, or how ample the reserves were, it would be impossible to reverse the decline transmitted from the high-end battlefield...

In the center of the city stood a towering high tower, which was the highest point of the entire city. On the top floor of the tower was a grand hall, with transparent floor-to-ceiling glass windows all around, allowing one to overlook the surroundings and the distant scenery.

At this moment, the commander of the Northern Battlefield, Xu Yanran, was holding an Advanced war readiness meeting. Except for those carrying out missions, the other experts in the army were gathered here, and the atmosphere was quite serious.

Xu Chuanwei and Xu Chuanxin, the elders of the Xu Family who had rushed over to assist, were mixed in among them, but their identities were secret and they would not reveal themselves unless it was absolutely necessary.

Several super clans and large families from Shuntian Prefecture had sent experts to assist, and combined with the official generals, the aura here was extremely powerful. Ordinary people would likely feel restless here, and might even suffer inexplicable injuries if they were not careful.

Since this battle excluded Prince Rui, Prince Lu, Prince Ding, and Prince Gong—the princes competing for the throne—it meant these four Sharp Weapons of the Great Ming could not be used. Therefore, new combat power was needed to fill the gap. The Xu Family naturally became the focus of reliance; after all, the Xu Family was also the super clan that the royal Family trusted the most.

Besides several experts from the Xu Family, other famous figures present included Liu Xihe, Sect Leader of Kunlun Sect; Daoist Master Tianyi of the Shangqing Temple; Great Master Zhishen, the abbot of Fahua Temple; and Master Qing Yuan, the head of Qilu Academy. Each of these individuals had an aura like an abyss, bottomless, making it difficult to discern the depth of their cultivation.

As for other clans and newly risen families, they had basically all sent experts. For example, Tang Zhenbei of the Tang Family, Chang Hanlu of the Chang Family, Chu Cangming of the Chu Family, Fang Qice of the Fang Family, Ye Haonan of the Ye Family, Fu Changhong of the Fu Family...

These people were certainly not weaklings. They not only represented their own families but also themselves. Many of them were even hoping to make a name for themselves in this great battle and write a brilliant chapter for the rise of their own families!

At this moment, light screens were displaying images above the four sides of the grand hall. The scenes on them were situations from the front lines: some were repairing city walls, some were digging traps, some were distributing equipment, some were training soldiers, and some were preparing various defensive supplies, and so on.

Xu Yanran stared at one of the screens, her brows furrowed, and she sighed, "The excavation progress of the outer tunnels is not ideal! So far, only the tunnels at ten kilometers and twenty kilometers have been completed, and the tunnel at thirty kilometers, which was in the plan, has just begun. But that is our most important interception distance! I wonder which generals are willing to go and oversee it? We need three people, responsible for the North, East, and South areas respectively!"

"I wonder when the Sea Clan will arrive?" Chu Cangming asked aloud.

Upon hearing this, everyone raised their heads to look at Xu Yanran. This information was extremely important, but no one knew how Xu Yanran had determined it, because the difficulty of obtaining this information was immense. Therefore, everyone believed that the official authorities must have paid a huge price to obtain such valuable information.

Xu Yanran took a deep breath, concentrated for a short moment, and finally said, "Currently, the Fusang People are in the lead. Their giant ships are about five hundred kilometers away from our coastline. Based on their speed of advance, it is estimated that they will arrive in one day!"

"Only one day left..." The expressions of everyone present sank slightly, and they all had various thoughts in their minds.

Chu Cangming stood up and said, "I am willing to be responsible for one side!"

Fang Qice and Ye Haonan also stood up one after another, indicating their willingness to be responsible for one side each.

Xu Yanran nodded, threw a token to each of them, and said, "Thank you three for your great assistance!"

"For the Great Ming!" The three shouted and turned to leave...

Xu Yanran stared closely at a screen in her hand, and after a while, she said, "Tiangong Group has a new batch of crossbow bolts and artillery arriving. This batch is mainly allocated to the ambush troops. Two experts are needed to go and take charge of receiving them and transporting them to the ambush area!"

The two female generals here, Chang Hanlu of the Chang Family and Fu Changhong of the Fu Family, looked at each other and stood up together, indicating their willingness to be responsible for this matter.

Xu Yanran nodded, threw two tokens to them as well, and the two quickly left...

"The Sword Saint of Fusang, Yokota Ichiro, has superb sword skills. It is said that his blade aura has Advanced further than before, reaching nearly one zhang. This time, Fusang is colluding with the Sea Clan with him as the leader, acting as the vanguard for the Sea Clan. I wonder who is willing to be responsible for dealing with this person?" Xu Yanran spoke again.