69novels Chapter 245 Dangerous Journey
Chapter 245 Dangerous Journey
Chapter 245 Ten Dangers and Eight Crossroads
The so-called Eighteen Formidable Passes have a more precise name within the Douling Empire: Ten Perilous Passes and Eight Crossroads.
The so-called Ten Perils are the Duanji Mountains, the last natural barrier before the Douling Empire relied on the western river valley plains. It took thousands of years of painstaking effort to carve and build the death chains on the treacherous mountain range, which resembled the spine of a giant dragon.
These ten formidable passes, like the menacing bone spurs on the back of a giant dragon, rely on the terrain, valleys, and passes, and are connected by hidden plank roads, forming a vast, three-dimensional defense chain that stretches for hundreds of miles, with each layer advancing and supporting the others.
Attacking any point may simultaneously expose you to reinforcements and firepower emerging from above, the sides, or even from the mountainside behind you.
The Eight Vertical and Horizontal Fortresses were eight colossal fortresses built by the Douling Empire at the confluence of the three great rivers—the Nutao, Qingshui, and Panlong—after breaking through the Ten Dangerous Passes and entering the relatively open but densely networked western river valley plains.
These eight fortresses not only possessed formidable defensive capabilities, but were also interconnected by a vast network of waterways, forming a massive network covering the plains.
If any one city is attacked, the other seven cities can provide efficient and powerful mobile support via land and water routes in a very short time.
Although the number of troops stationed at the Eighteen Fortresses and the reserves of soul-guided devices are not as great as those at the Iron Triangle Fortress, their defensive resilience is by no means ordinary, thanks to the ten natural barriers and the eight vertical and horizontal networks built by human effort.
Based on thousands of years of experience, even if the Heavenly Soul Empire were to take down the Iron Triangle Fortress with all its might, it would inevitably suffer heavy losses and need a long period of management and accumulation of strength before it could hope to conquer these eighteen formidable passes.
This time difference is enough for the Douling Empire to unite with Shrek Academy and even engage in diplomatic negotiations with the Xingluo Empire to force Tianhun to relinquish the Iron Triangle Fortress, a piece of meat that was already in their mouths.
In fact, the Douling Empire has been doing this for thousands of years since the Tiandou family split.
However, this time, history did not repeat itself.
The Heavenly Soul Eastern Army's rest period in the Moyun Mountains was so short that it terrified the Douling high command.
As if carrying the deep hatred of Gu Tian's self-destruction, they stabbed at the first gate of the Ten Perils, Dragon Tooth Pass, with lightning speed!
Traditional military marching methods inevitably face significant obstacles when encountering dangerous passes.
The generals guarding Longya Pass had originally hoped that the rugged and complex terrain would slow down the army's advance.
But when the overwhelming cluster of flying soul-guided devices, like a steel cloud, pressed down on the sky above Dragon Tooth Pass, their confidence crumbled instantly.
Thanks to the groundbreaking high-altitude reconnaissance soul guide technology brought by Xuan Ziwen, the Tianhun Eastern Army had a clear understanding of the terrain near Longya Pass, the deployment of the garrison, the location of the soul guide artillery emplacements, and even the exit of the hidden passage in the mountain.
This left the generals of Longya Pass momentarily unsure whether they were facing the Heavenly Soul Empire or the Sun and Moon Empire.
This is not a sporadic reconnaissance or harassment by flying Soul Masters.
Instead, it is a well-organized and large-scale air assault force!
After losing five hundred Soul Saints, the Douling Empire simply couldn't muster the strength to defend against such an aerial attack.
Currently, the number of Soul Saints that can be openly controlled by the Douling Royal Family is only about five hundred.
Moreover, each of these five hundred Soul Saints has their own agenda.
Whether they can obey the orders of the Douling royal family is already in doubt.
At least from the current situation, when the news of the fall of Longya Pass was sent back to Lingdou City, only about 150 Soul Saints came to provide support.
And when these 150 Soul Saints arrived, the Heavenly Soul Eastern Army, with overwhelming force, successively conquered the two passes of Falling Eagle Gorge and Iron Rock Pass.
If their soul tool reserves hadn't been exhausted by the relentless bombardment, they probably would have lost even more passes.
At that moment, in the marching camp of the Heavenly Soul Eastern Army, the Eastern Army Commander-in-Chief Li Kongming laughed heartily: "That's great!"
"Azure Dragon King, I've fought battles my whole life, but this is the first time I've experienced saturation bombardment! It's truly devastating!"
"It's a pity that the resources of the other two continents are currently being used to develop new soul tools while also supplying the Western Army to defend against the Sun Moon Empire."
"Replenishing this ammunition is just not satisfying enough!"
Huo Yuhao stood in front of the huge projection soul tool, his finger tracing the three-dimensional projection of the Broken Ridge Mountains. Instantly, the data projection obtained through the high-altitude reconnaissance soul tool changed.
"It's alright," Huo Yuhao said, looking at the Dragon Throat Gorge, the fourth level. "Li Shuai, the breakthroughs in the first three levels are enough to intimidate the Douling and disrupt their defensive deployment."
"Let's leave the rest of Dragon Throat Gorge to Tianhe Wuchen and the Holy Dragon Brigade."
After watching the 3D projection, Huo Yuhao directly forced his mental probe into a straight line and scanned Dragon Throat Gorge several kilometers away, sharing its specific structure with Tianhe Wuchen and the members of the Holy Dragon Brigade who had come from Qinglong City.
Dragon Throat Gorge consists of two towering, steep peaks that resemble a giant dragon bowing its head, standing opposite each other with only a narrow gorge less than thirty feet wide between them.
Here, the surging tributaries of the upper reaches of the Nutao River are squeezed together, transforming into two violent, silvery-white waterfalls that converge and collide at the entrance of the canyon, forming a natural waterfall barrier.
On the steep cliffs on both sides of the canyon, firing holes were densely carved.
Countless soul-guided cannons, gleaming with a cold light, were aimed at the only possible passage below.
A traditional all-out attack would be tantamount to suicide here.
"After a short rest, we will seize Dragon's Throat Gorge at 7 PM tonight."
Because of the existence of shared mental detection and heartstring resonance, Huo Yuhao's army did not experience any inconveniences during nighttime marches.
After listening to Huo Yuhao's battle plan, Li Kongming said, "The Eastern Army will assist you in launching the battle."
"By the way, the Azure Dragon King."
Li Kongming suddenly said, "We just received news yesterday that Dai Hao has forcibly seized Wolong Pass in the southern part of Douling."
Huo Yuhao looked surprised upon hearing this: "He took over Wolong Ridge so quickly?"
"That's right," Li Kongming nodded, "Dai Hao mobilized three heavily armed Soul Master regiments in an attempt to blow up Wolong East Mountain."
"However, Long Tianming, the garrison commander of Wolong Pass, had already hollowed out the East Mountain," Li Kongming said with a hint of amazement. "When Dai Hao blasted open the East Mountain of Wolong Ridge, the Douling garrison was not buried as expected."
"Following the contours of the mountain, Long Tianming hollowed out the mountain to construct an extremely sturdy passageway and supporting structure."
Dai Hao's explosion blew down the surface of the mountain, revealing the honeycomb-like fortress of the defending troops inside.
The Star Luo Empire's assault legion was caught off guard by the sudden counterattack from the Hive and suffered heavy losses.
"However, Dai Hao is, after all, the Duke of White Tiger," Li Kongming shook his head. "He immediately changed tactics, and although the price he paid far exceeded expectations, he still managed to take over Wolong Pass."
"As for Long Tianming—he committed suicide to serve his country."
Huo Yuhao listened and remained silent for a moment.
His fingers tapped lightly on the 3D projection of Dragon Throat Gorge: "It seems that the Douling Empire is not without its own problems."
"Our advantage in launching a strong attack on Dragon Throat Gorge tonight lies in our large numbers and the fact that our combat power far exceeds that of ordinary Soul Masters."
"Since Long Tianming was able to use the mountain's terrain to hollow out Dongshan to counter Dai Hao, we can also use the terrain of Longhou Gorge itself."
"General Li," Huo Yuhao turned to Li Kongming, "as planned, the Eastern Army will create a feint attack on the front of the canyon at 7:00 PM."
"Your soul-guided artillery fire will cover the area below the middle section of both cliffs, drawing the defenders' fire and creating chaos."
The operation should be large-scale, but there's no need to commit a significant number of troops to forcefully storm the canyon entrance.
"As for Tianhe Wuchen and the Holy Dragon Brigade, since they have just arrived, they can catch Dragon Throat Gorge off guard."
"Our goal is to smash the dragon's throat from the top of the rock face, above the dragon's head!"
The key to Huo Yuhao and Li Kongming's plan lies in speed, accuracy, and ingenuity—to seize control of the Dragon Throat Gorge garrison before they can react!
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