Chapter 778: Final Mobilization

The order arrived at midnight.

There was no messenger, no document.

The dark blue light from Hetu Ala's central reaction core surged upward, illuminating half the night sky.

All deeply bound individuals, wherever they were, heard an icy, unmodulated voice in their minds at the same moment.

【The time is ripe.】

【Execute the final agreement: overthrow the Ming state.】

【Activate the global war command. Priority: absolute.】

On the observation platform, Nurhaci knelt on one knee, his crystallized body trembling slightly.

Not fear, but an overload of energy surging through him.

"I will obey the master's command."

He whispered, the last trace of human complexity in his eyes extinguished completely.

The order, with the core as its origin, instantly propagated along the dark energy network.

Twelve soldier nests simultaneously emitted a sharp hiss, like a creature's mournful cry.

The entrance gates stood wide open, slime pouring down like a waterfall.

The hatching speed was pushed to its limit.

Iron-bone battle slaves, burrowing beasts, poison mist sprayers… streamed out in ranks, forming silent battle arrays on the sunken plaza.

Their pupils glowed with intense dark light, and their crystal armor crackled faintly from energy overload.

In the western cabin area, all gates slid open at the same moment.

Reserve auxiliary troops were driven out, under the watch of dark energy battle slaves, receiving simple weapons—mostly roughly forged bone blades or crystal-embedded sticks.

No one clamored; only numb footsteps and suppressed breaths.

They would fill the first wave of attack, consuming the Ming army's ammunition and stamina.

"Provisions concentration complete."

"Crystal ore reserves have been fully unsealed."

"All contamination fields have entered active state, beginning to release interfering mist."

Huang Taiji stood in the newly built command tower beside the core pit, before several dark energy crystal screens flashing with data streams.

His voice was swift and precise, like reciting a preset procedure.

"Eastern route, under Ajige's command, troops depart from Liao Yang, directly assault the outer forts of Mountain-Sea Pass."

"Central route, with Daisan as main commander, advancing along the Great Ling River Valley, launching a frontal assault on Brocade Prefecture."

"Western route, Amin's forces flanking Tranquil Distance to sever its rear connections."

"Three routes advancing together, within thirty days we must lock the Ming Liao East main force in the Brocade Prefecture-Tranquil Distance-Mountain-Sea Pass triangular area."

He paused.

"The main force of burrowing beasts is already in position in the underground network. When the ground offensive draws the Ming army's attention, we will launch simultaneously, targeting the main wall sections and ground emitter arrays."

The order was accepted without objection.

Amin received the order in his own command cabin.

He looked at the crystal screen marking the detour route, which would pass through a known high-concentration contamination marsh.

That meant paving the way with flesh and blood.

He fell silent for a few breaths, hand pressed to his chest where the crystallized sting reminded him constantly.

"Bordered Blue Banner, obeying."

The darkest moment before dawn.

The gates of Hetu Ala burst open.

No war drums, no horns.

Only countless dark blue pupils, converging in the darkness into a silent torrent, surging outward.

The ground trembled.

That was not horse hooves, but the heavy, uniform steps of tens of thousands.

And, from deeper underground, the synchronized digging and scraping sounds.

Almost at the same time.

Chen Chao Observatory, the alarm wailed shrilly.

On the monitor screen, the curve representing Qing dark energy activity shot straight up, instantly breaking all historical peaks.

"All-out attack! Qing has launched an all-out attack!"

Zhang Cheng's face turned ashen.

"Energy readings……are more than three times the previous 'dark energy surge'!"

"Their target is clear; all forces are pointed at the Ming Liaodong defense line!"

Yue Fei stepped forward to the screen, his eyes like lightning.

"Can we give early warning?"

"Impossible! The light curtain turbulence is too strong; sending any signal now would only become meaningless noise!"

Zhang Cheng gritted his teeth.

"But we have detected that the activity of at least seven major contamination fields inside Qing territory is skyrocketing; they are releasing some kind of interfering mist……Ming's observation and communications will be severely weakened."

"They can only rely on themselves."

Yue Fei clenched his fist, gazing westward.

Beyond that light curtain lies endless darkness, and the devastating surge rushing forth in the dark.

On the walls of Jinzhou.

Zu Dashou was shaken awake by his personal guards while sleeping.

"Commander! Outside the city! Quick, look outside!"

He rushed onto the city wall.

No need for a telescope.

On the horizon, a faint blue line was slowly rising, widening.

That was not dawn light.

It was the light gathered in the eyes of countless mutant beasts and war slaves.

They surged like a tide, flooding over the hills, filling the ditches, silently and resolutely advancing.

The air began to suffuse with a faint smell of fishy sweetness and metallic rust.

That was the vanguard of the polluted mist.

"Beat the drums! All troops, to the walls!"

Zu Dashou's roar tore through the silence.

"All cannons in position! Activate the generator arrays at full power!"

"Send a messenger by fast horse to Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan to report the emergency."

"Also send carrier pigeons back to the capital..."

He paused, gazing at the ever-closer, seemingly boundless blue tide line.

"Tell His Majesty..."

"They're coming."

"They've all come."

Yingtian, Wuying Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang was startled awake by the hurried footsteps.

He hadn't been deeply asleep anyway; he rose and put on his clothes.

The Commander of the Northern Garrison Office burst in, kneeling to deliver an urgent report.

"An 800-li urgent report from Liaodong! The main Qing forces have been spotted simultaneously outside Jinzhou, Ningyuan, and Shanhaiguan."

"Unprecedented scale! The frontline reports that the edge cannot be seen."

"All the beacon fires in every fort have been lit."

Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the outside of the hall and gazed northward.

The sky remained pitch black.

But he seemed able to see that suddenly rising blue halo, representing war and death.

"Issue the decree."

His voice was unusually clear in the cold morning wind.

"The entire nation, enter a state of war."

"All armory workshops shall work nonstop."

"Along the railway, all civilian transport must yield priority to military supplies."

"Tell Xu Da and Tang He to execute Plan Number Three."

"Tell every soldier on the front line..."

He paused, then spoke each word deliberately.

"I am with them."

"The Great Ming is with them."

War, at this moment, has shed all probing and pretense.

It reveals its most naked, cruel true face.

One side is a silent advancing blue-energy torrent.

The other side is a roaring, burning iron nation.

The stake is the survival of civilization.

The countdown has already begun.