Chapter 2731

Zhong Shengguang pressed his forehead. His daughter was fighting guerrillas behind enemy lines, and the pressure was mounting; as an old father, it would be strange if he weren't worried.

"More troops have been added, rushing to the battlefield, and logistics are indeed strained, so the Demon Emperor simply ordered full maritime transport throughout."

"What does that mean?" Wendaolun found it unbelievable. "Bajia wants to bypass the Mao River Plain without landing, shipping supplies directly from its domestic ports to Shanda Port? It might not be impossible, but—but this distance is five times that of land transport!"

Shanda Port is where the Bajia army lands and invades the southern part of the Panlong Wasteland.

However, Longtou Pass has already fallen, so whether it's the Bajia army or its logistics, the theoretically optimal route is actually through the Mao River Plain, directly west into the Panlong Wasteland.

The route is shortest, the terrain flattest, and transport losses minimal—except for the Red General, this great troublemaker who appears and disappears unpredictably.

If Bajia decides to adopt the maritime route from its domestic ports to the southern wasteland port, it will have to take a detour—that is, a great big circle.

"The Lingxu Wang Ting argued fiercely over this, but the Qinggong State Preceptor and the Grand Minister of Agriculture supported the Demon Emperor, pointing out that land transport efficiency is equally poor, and although maritime transport is slower, the supplies arriving are complete. Bajia's granaries and weapons and materials are not inexhaustible and cannot be wasted recklessly on the Mao River Plain."

"Just a little slower? The wording is truly euphemistic." Despite the increasingly tense situation on the wasteland, He Lingchuan still curled the corners of his mouth slightly, "Choosing maritime transport, the coastline is too long, efficiency is low. The Demon Emperor couldn't possibly not know this."

"Besides our own spies planted in Bajia, Ling Mountain also sent us several messages; their scouts in Baoshu State's Qianshanwan and Bolang State's Liao Shan Port have recently observed large quantities of supplies concentrating at these two ports, then being loaded onto ships and sailing away. The official roads outside the ports are bustling with constant traffic, and all large ships at the ports have been requisitioned, with dozens of large vessels setting sail each day."

"Only a dozen or so ships?" He Lingchuan seized on the numerical inconsistency, "These two ports are both deep-water excellent harbors with excellent locations; just the number of large and small merchant ships entering and exiting daily should exceed a hundred. Now that the government has requisitioned them, how come only a dozen or so go to sea each day?"

"Yes." Zhong Shengguang, however, listened with a slight start.

He Lingchuan was absolutely correct; given the capacity of these two ports, at least fifty fully loaded ocean-going giants should depart daily. Now it's official grain transport, and the western war is almost Bajia's top priority externally—how come only a dozen or so ships set out each day?

This efficiency is simply too low.

But what Zhong Shengguang found somewhat strange was that He Lingchuan seemed to know, upon hearing, exactly where these two ports were, even that they were deep-water ports, and even the daily throughput of the ports.

One must know the world is so vast, Bajia's coastline is long, and there are so many ports that counting them would exhaust both hands and feet. How could He Lingchuan just open his mouth and clarify the situation of these two? The Tiger Wing General is now the overall commander of operations in the Panlong Wasteland, busy every day to the point of kicking his heels with his heels, how could he have the mind to remember these trivial matters?

Zhong Shengguang naturally didn't know, but these two ports have remained in use to this day. Among them, Qianshanwan is the sole seaport of Baoshu State, through which all maritime trade with Cangyan must pass; while Liao Shan Port originally had thousands of sails competing, since the Chayan State and Cangyan developed their maritime trade loop extensively, Liao Shan Port's business has nearly been snatched away, so Bolang State has filed complaints against Lingxu City no fewer than five or six times, and Seeing Fushan Yue has also complained to He Lingchuan about it.

Of course, this fleeting stray thought in Zhong Shengguang's mind was just a flash in the pan, after all, what they are discussing now is the most critical priority.

He continued: "This is only the two ports noticed by Ling Mountain; whether Bajia's other bays have large-scale departures, no intelligence has come through yet."

Wendaolun also found it somewhat funny: "Moreover, the current sea wind happens to be blowing against them; even if they sail close to the coastline, their speed is comparable to a turtle's crawl."

The war in the southern Panlong Wasteland has already lasted over two months, material transport has always been by land, and even if they had to pass the Red General's checkpoint, they didn't choose the water route. Is Bajia willing to give itself trouble? No, or is it because water transport is too far and the wind direction is unfavorable?

Now, however, the Demon Emperor overrules all objections and insists on choosing this so-called roundabout and inefficient transport route.

"It seems this is also the Demon Emperor's countermeasure." He Lingchuan marked the starting and ending points of this transport route with chess pieces on the sand table, "Absurd affairs often have non-absurd reasons."

Regarding the Western Heaven's demand for westward reinforcements, the Demon Emperor cannot oppose it. It originally used the pretext of conquering Panlong to let the Tianxu system's vassal demon states exhaust their main forces. Now that they have dispatched their main forces, the Demon Emperor cannot possibly shout to stop them forcibly.

But it indeed knows that if the Bajia army attacks Panlong with full force, the consequence will only be unfavorable to itself. If Panlong is destroyed, the Great Fanghu seized, and the Lingxu Holy Sovereign descends to the mortal realm, how can the Demon Emperor justify itself?

At this moment, what the Demon Emperor can do is to outwardly comply while inwardly resisting. Publicly giving strong support, secretly dragging its feet.

As the saying goes, the army moves only after provisions are ready. The food and drink for several hundred thousand to over a million people is no small matter.

The logistics problem of the Bajia army being choked by the Red General on the Mao River Plain has never been effectively resolved. The Demon Emperor seizes the opportunity to open a second transport route; hearing it sounds absurd, actual operation is even more absurd, with various adverse factors stacked, the first batch of supplies will take at least fifty days to arrive!

If the million reinforcements arrive first on the wasteland, drinking the northwest wind would be enough to fill them?

So this matter has only two solutions: either kill the Red General, or let that million reinforcements depart late and arrive late at the wasteland, waiting for Bajia's supplies to dock at Shanda Port before attacking the Panlong Wasteland—it would not be too late then.

In this concrete operational matter, whether it's the Tianxu or the Tianmo behind it, they find it very difficult to argue with the Demon Emperor. After all, they do not directly control military power; even if they could urge those few vassal demon kings to dispatch troops quickly, the practical problem of insufficient supplies would still be laid out on the table. How to solve it? They also have no better ideas.

Just then, a wind suddenly blew from outside, and He Lingchuan smelled a familiar fragrant aroma.

"The Emperor's Flowing Jiang is coming again." He and Wendaolun both unconsciously took a deep breath, "Such a strong fragrance, this rainstorm is not small in scale."

"In short, what should come will still come; these material problems, Bajia will surely find a way to overcome them. The powerful battle groups of the Twelve Vassal Demon States rushing to aid the Panlong battlefield will be divided into several batches, the fastest batch likely arriving in about half a month, and our pressure will also rise rapidly." Zhong Shengguang looked at He Lingchuan and said softly, "You need anything, just speak up."

This is Panlong's battle with its back to the water.

On the last day of the Spring Festival, what are you guys doing?

Thanks to the reward from book friend Miezhouyueying, we now have one more little master~

Thanks to the reward from Jian Dan de Dengdai.

(This chapter ends)