After the fairy disappeared

Chapter 2707 Absurd things often have reasons that aren't absurd.

Zhong Shengguang rubbed his forehead. His daughter was fighting a guerrilla war behind enemy lines, and the pressure was mounting. It would be strange if he, as her father, wasn't worried.

"With multiple new armies rushing to the battlefield, logistics are indeed strained, so the Demon Emperor simply ordered that all transport be by sea!"

"What does this mean?" Wen Daolun found it unbelievable. "Bega wants to bypass the Maohe Plain and transport supplies directly from its own ports to Sanda Port without landing? It doesn't seem impossible, but... that distance is five times that of land transport!"

Shanda Port was the landing point where Bega's army landed and invaded the southern part of Panlong Wasteland.

However, since Longhou Pass has already fallen, the theoretically optimal route for both the Bega army and logistics should be to cross the Maohe Plain and directly attack the Panlong Wasteland to the west.

The shortest route, the flattest terrain, and the least transport losses—except for the elusive and troublesome Red General.

If Bega decides to take the sea route from its own seaport to the southern seaport of the wasteland, it will be a long detour—a huge loop.

"The Lingxu Royal Court was in an uproar over this, but the Qinggong National Preceptor and the Grand Minister of Agriculture strongly supported the Demon Emperor, pointing out that land transportation was also very inefficient, and although sea transportation would be slower, the delivered supplies would be complete. Furthermore, Bega's granaries, weapons, and resources were not inexhaustible and should not be wasted on the Maohe Plain."

"Just a little slower? That's a very euphemistic way of putting it." Despite the increasingly tense situation on the wasteland, He Lingchuan's lips still curled up slightly. "If we choose sea transport, the coastline is too long and inefficient. The Demon Emperor couldn't possibly be unaware of that."

"Besides our own spies in Bega, Lingshan also sent us several messages. Their scouts in Qianshan Bay of Baoshu Kingdom and Liaoshan Port of Bolang Kingdom have recently observed a large amount of supplies being concentrated in these two ports and then loaded onto ships for transport. The official roads outside the ports are extremely busy every day, and all the large ships in the ports have been requisitioned, with more than a dozen large ships setting sail every day."

"Only a dozen or so ships?" He Lingchuan noticed the discrepancy in the numbers. "Both ports are deep-water harbors in excellent locations. There should be more than a hundred merchant ships of all sizes entering and leaving every day. Now that the government has requisitioned them, how come only a dozen or so ships are setting sail each day?"

“Yes.” Zhong Shengguang was slightly taken aback when he heard this.

He Lingchuan was absolutely right. With the capacity of these two ports, at least fifty fully loaded ocean liners could sail out every day. But this is official grain transport, and the war in the west is practically Bekaa's top priority. How come only a dozen or so ships are going out each day?
This efficiency is far too low.

However, Zhong Shengguang found it a bit strange that He Lingchuan seemed to know where the two ports were as soon as he heard them, and even knew that they were deep-water ports and how much throughput they had each day.

The world is so vast, and Bega has such a long coastline and so many ports that you couldn't count them all even if you put your hands and feet together. How could He Lingchuan possibly explain their situations so clearly? General Tiger Wing is currently the overall commander of the Panlong Wasteland campaign, so busy every day that he has no time to remember such trivial matters.
Zhong Shengguang was unaware that these two ports would continue to be used in later generations. Qianshan Bay was the only port for Baoshu Kingdom to access the sea, and all maritime trade with Cangyan passed through here; while Liaoshan Port was originally bustling with thousands of sails, but since the maritime trade route between Chiyan Kingdom and Cangyan developed rapidly, Liaoshan Port's business was almost completely taken away. As a result, Bolang Kingdom went to Lingxu City to complain no less than five or six times, and Fushan Yue also complained to He Lingchuan.

Of course, this fleeting thought only crossed Zhong Shengguang's mind; after all, the most important thing they were discussing right now was the main topic.

He continued, "These are only the two ports that Lingshan has noticed. We haven't received any intelligence yet about whether there have been large-scale voyages from other bays in Bega."

Wen Daolun found it somewhat amusing: "Moreover, the wind is blowing against us right now, so even if they sail close to the coastline, their speed is comparable to that of a tortoise."

The war in the southern part of Panlong Wasteland has lasted for more than two months. Supplies have been transported by land, and even when they had to get past General Hong, they didn't choose waterways. Was it because Bega wanted to make things difficult for himself? No, it was because water transport was too far, and the wind direction was wrong.

Now, however, the Demon Emperor is defying all opposition and insisting on choosing such a complicated and inefficient transportation route.

"It seems this is also the Demon Emperor's countermeasure." He Lingchuan marked the start and end points of this transportation route on the sand table with chess pieces. "Absurd things often have reasons that are not absurd."

The Demon Emperor could not object to the Heavenly Demon's request to reinforce its forces westward. It had originally used the pretext of conquering Panlong to force the Heavenly Palace's vassal demon kingdoms to commit their main forces. Now that they had sent their main forces, the Demon Emperor could not forcibly stop it.

But it also knew that the consequences of the Bega army's all-out attack on Panlong would only be detrimental to itself. With Panlong destroyed, the Great Fanghu seized, and the Spirit Void Saint Venerable descending to the mortal realm, how could the Demon Emperor possibly stand?

At this point, all the Demon Emperor could do was outwardly comply while secretly undermining the efforts.

As the saying goes, "An army marches on its stomach." Feeding hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people is no small matter.

The logistical problems of the Bega army being held hostage by General Red on the Maohe Plain have remained unresolved. The Demon Emperor's plan to open a second transport route sounds absurd, but its implementation is even more so. Coupled with various unfavorable factors, the first batch of supplies will not arrive for at least fifty days!

If a million reinforcements were to arrive in the wasteland first, would they be able to get by just drinking the northwest wind?
Therefore, there are only two solutions to this problem: either kill General Red, or delay the departure and arrival of the million-strong reinforcement army in the wasteland, and wait until Bega's supplies arrive at Sanda Port before attacking Panlong Wasteland.

In this practical matter, neither the Heavenly Palace nor the Heavenly Demons behind it could easily contend with the Demon Emperor. After all, they didn't directly control the military. Even if they could persuade those few demon kings to send troops as soon as possible, the practical problem of insufficient supplies was undeniable. How to solve it? They didn't have any other good solutions.

Just then, a gust of wind suddenly blew outside, and He Lingchuan smelled a familiar, sweet fragrance.

"The Emperor's Dew is coming again." He and Wen Daolun both subconsciously took a deep breath. "Such a strong fragrance, this rain is going to be quite heavy."

"In short, what's coming will come. Bega will find a way to overcome these supply problems. The powerful battle groups of the Twelve Demon Kingdoms will be dispatched to reinforce the Panlong battlefield in several batches. The fastest batch will arrive in about half a month, and our pressure will increase rapidly." Zhong Shengguang looked at He Lingchuan and said in a low voice, "If you need anything, just ask me."

This is Panlong's do-or-die battle.

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(End of this chapter)