Chapter 5269: War Begins

Zhan Ying looked at the content of the report and fell into deep thought.

After the beginning of spring, the offensive of the Heavenly Army increased, which was within his expectations and not surprising.

What surprised him was the last paragraph of the report, which said that the Heavenly Army seemed to be collecting ironware from the human world.

This information seems simple, but it is chilling to think about it carefully.

Since the Heavenly Army was fighting away from home, they could bring as many weapons as they wanted. In all the catastrophes, only the human world lacked weapons in the war, and the Heavenly Army never lacked weapons.

The Gate of the Catastrophe was opened for only a few months, and the two sides only fought a battle near Longmen in the Western Regions, and the troops invested by both sides were not many. In the entire catastrophe war, the scale of the Longmen battle in the Western Regions was not large.

The Heavenly Army did not consume too many war resources because of this.

At the beginning of this catastrophe, it was even less likely that the Heavenly Army would lack weapons.

Since there was no shortage of weapons, why did they still need to collect ironware from the human world?

Zhan Ying thought of what Ye Xiaochuan had told him a while ago that the Heaven Realm had begun to develop new weapons in order to win this war.

The invented weapons include special siege ladders and special diamond umbrellas for breaking human arrows.

Zhan Ying has the diamond umbrella in his hand. That thing is like an umbrella frame without a rainproof cloth. Even if it is mass-produced, it will not consume too much iron.

It can be seen that Phantom collects iron not to refine diamond mulberry.

As for bows and crossbows, this possibility is not very high.

The six-winged cavalry regiment of the Heaven Realm is equipped with bows and crossbows.

The Heaven Realm Marine Corps, whether it is a madman or a giant, or the Skeleton Corps and the Nether Corps, are not suitable for equipping bows and crossbows.

What's more, the Heaven Realm has sent hundreds of thousands of Sky Fire Beasts down to the lower world this time.

This thing can spray powerful fireballs more than ten or twenty miles away. Equipping the Marine Corps with bows and crossbows will not play an effective role at all. As a military genius, Phantom will not be stupid enough to equip the Marine Corps with bows and crossbows.

So, what is the purpose of the Heaven Realm collecting iron?

Could it be that there are other new weapons in the heavens that require a large amount of iron?

A feeling of uneasiness came over him.

Zhan Ying inherited Li Tielan's military book, which records the conventional fighting methods and conventional weapons of the six legions.

Once new weapons appear in the heavens, the military book inherited by Zhan Ying will be of little use.

Take the Vajra Umbrella developed by the heavens, for example, which is specially designed to counter the rain of arrows in the human world.

The Vajra Umbrella has been placed in Zhan Ying's tent for many days, and Zhan Ying has not figured out how to crack it.

If there are new weapons in the heavens, Zhan Ying feels that future wars in the human world will be even more difficult.

Wanyan Ku shouted a few times beside him before waking Zhan Ying from his meditation.

Wanyan Ku said worriedly: "Marshal, what's wrong with you?"

Zhan Ying shook his head slightly and said: "Nothing."

Then he called the monks of the Royal Cultivation Academy who had been protecting his safety and asked them to immediately send a message to His Majesty and send out scouts to find out the real reason why the heavens collected ironware from the human world in the shortest possible time.

Now that Ye Xiaochuan is not in the human world, Zhan Ying always feels unsure and becomes cautious in doing things.

He has not yet realized that he is actually very dependent on Ye Xiaochuan.

If it weren't for Ye Xiaochuan, he would not have been valued by His Majesty.

If it weren't for Ye Xiaochuan, he would not have been able to obtain the new weapon black gunpowder in the human world.

If it weren't for Ye Xiaochuan, he would still be an unknown centurion in the Beiting cavalry.

Everything Zhan Ying has now and in the future is actually given to him by Ye Xiaochuan.

Without Ye Xiaochuan in charge of the human world, it would be difficult for Zhan Ying to obtain military supplies or confidential intelligence of the enemy.

A while ago, when Ye Xiaochuan was still in the human world, Zhan Ying dared to send troops to attack the garrison of the Heavenly Realm Army, and achieved a remarkable record, forcing the Heavenly Realm Army in Liaobei to retreat to some big cities and not dare to come out.

When he learned that Ye Xiaochuan had left the human world for the Sea of ​​Forgetfulness, Zhan Ying's tactics obviously changed a lot.

The commander of Shanhaiguan asked him to cooperate in the battle in Liaobei to contain the power of the Heavenly Realm Army to reduce the pressure on the front battlefield of Shanhaiguan.

But this request was ignored by Zhan Ying. He has been shrinking his troops recently and has not fought against the Heavenly Realm Army.

Now he even went to Liaodong for inspection.

The human army active in Liaobei is not strong, and Zhan Ying is waiting.

In addition to waiting for Ye Xiaochuan to come back, he is also waiting for Ye Xiaochuan's new weapons.

The wizard of Nanjiang secretly sent a message saying that before Ye Xiaochuan left the human world, he had commissioned Nanjiang and Tiannu Kingdom to secretly develop new weapons powered by black gunpowder, muskets and artillery.

It is said that these two kinds of black powder weapons are extremely powerful. Once they are equipped in large numbers in the army, they can greatly enhance the army's combat effectiveness.

Now Zhan Ying knows that the heaven is collecting ironware, which makes him even more afraid to act rashly.

As the saying goes, knowing the enemy and knowing yourself can ensure victory in a hundred battles. Zhan Ying will not send troops on a large scale before he finds out what new weapons that consume a lot of iron are being developed by the heaven.

Even if Shanhaiguan is broken and the capital is broken, he will not send troops.

The battle of Niangzi Pass was a few hours later than Yumen Pass.

It was almost dark, and suddenly the drums of war rumbled outside Niangzi Pass. The organized heavenly army assembled outside the pass.

The general manager of the Jinbei Road, the commander of Niangzi Pass, and the veteran Xu Kai.

At this moment, he is on the Que Pass of Niangzi Pass.

Although Xu Kai is nearly seventy years old, he is still energetic.

As an old man who has fought in the army for decades, he has rich combat experience.

From the beginning, Xu Kai knew that Niangzi Pass was the key to this catastrophe.

As soon as he received the report from the court today that there was a large-scale battle at Yumen Pass, he guessed that Niangzi Pass would also be attacked by the Heavenly Army in a short time.

He immediately climbed to the top of the city wall to observe the movements of the Heavenly Army.

As an old general, Xu Kai also made many strategic mistakes.

Especially last year, at the beginning of the catastrophe, his strategy and tactics made big mistakes. He did not withdraw all the troops to the pass like Zhao Zi'an, the commander of Yumen Pass, and Li Xianjing, the commander of Shanhaiguan.

Xu Kai chose to use the dangerous passes and fortresses in Datong, Taiyuan, Yangquan and other places to block the Heavenly Army layer by layer and consume the Heavenly Army's troops.

As a result, several prefectures outside Yumen Pass and millions of troops were slaughtered by the Heavenly Army within a few days.

Seeing the urgent situation at Yumen Pass, Zhao Zi'an had to allocate five million elite troops from Yumen Pass to support.

Now Xu Kai has become honest, and has withdrawn all 20 million troops to the Yumen Pass, showing an attitude of fighting the enemy to the death.

Xu Kai is old and his eyes are blurry. He stood in the watchtower, squinting at the dust rising from the north.

He said, "How many troops did the enemy send out?"

The deputy general beside him said, "According to the news sent back by the scouts in the sky, the enemy has sent out about 600,000 troops."

Xu Kai said hoarsely, "600,000, which is half of the number of enemy troops outside the pass. They are not friendly. Do they want to take down my Yumen Pass in one fell swoop?

Pass on my military order, beat the drums, raise the flags, and prepare to meet the enemy1