Double penetration: This Three Kingdoms has dragon energy

Chapter 168 Two plans, proceeding simultaneously!
"One last question for you: do you know the current status of the Qingzhou Cauldron?" Ji Qiu asked finally.

Through the Imperial Seal, he determined that the Qingzhou Ding was located on Chuyun Island.

However, its exact location on Izumo Island is unclear.

After all, the Imperial Seal of the State could only determine the basic orientation of the Qingzhou Ding, not its exact location.

Therefore, he still needed to find out the exact location of the Qingzhou Cauldron on Izumo Island.

However, he did not believe that Ah Xiu knew anything about the Qingzhou Cauldron.

This was just a casual question.

After all, Ah Xiu was just a fox princess.

The internal hierarchy of the various factions on Izumo Island can be roughly divided into four levels.

First, a great demon.

Secondly, the ordinary demon race of the three king tribes.

Thirdly, the ordinary demon race of the Thirty-Three Generals.

Fourth, the various tribes and clans.

On Izumo Island, the human race, as a unified slave class, was divided among the thirty-six tribes.

Each demon tribe has its own human members.

For example, the fox-people are a human race belonging to the fox clan.

Overall, the various demon tribes still pursue sustainable development by exploiting the humans they enslave.

However, by periodically sacrificing male humans, female humans are usually given a chance to survive, and are used as tools to reproduce the next generation of humans.

But they were even less polite to other tribes of humans.

Even women from other tribes were sacrificed after being captured.

This is why those wolf soldiers would also push these fox-woman women onto the bronze altar.

However, although the humans belonging to various tribes were essentially slaves, a hierarchical division emerged.

Like queens and princesses.

This is partly because the human population is too large; compared to the demon race, the human race has an extremely strong reproductive capacity.

Therefore, even though all the men were sacrificed by the demon race, the number of humans enslaved by the various demon tribes was still more than ten times the number of demons.

Under such circumstances, the demon race would find it difficult to directly manage each human being, and could only create a hierarchy within the human race, allowing them to govern themselves.

On the other hand, this was also intentional on the part of the demon race.

The demon race also has an aesthetic sense, and it is similar to that of the human race.

Therefore, the demon race also dislikes human women who are considered ugly.

Through this system of classifying and stratifying people within the human race, they relegated women in the Izumo race who were not considered attractive to the status of lowly laborers.

Those who were beautiful were carefully cultivated as playthings for the demon race.

Therefore, the queens and princesses of the Izumo human race still maintained certain information channels.

This is also why the fox-woman princess was able to tell Ji Qiu so much information.

Even though she knew so much information, Ji Qiu still didn't expect her to know anything about the Qingzhou Cauldron.

After all, the Qingzhou Cauldron is considered high-level information from Izumo Island, and it shouldn't be something this fox princess could access.

To Ji Qiu's surprise, Ah Xiu actually provided him with specific information about the Qingzhou Cauldron.

"Qingzhou Cauldron? You mean the Wolf King's treasure, the Qingzhou Cauldron?" Ah Xiu asked.

Ji Qiu immediately raised an eyebrow: "The Wolf King's treasure?"

After further inquiry, it was discovered that the location of the Qingzhou Cauldron on Chuyun Island was not a secret at all.

The reason is that Wolf King, one of the three demon kings, actually used the Qingzhou Cauldron recently!
The three royal families of the demon race originally each controlled eleven generals.

And for hundreds of years, they have maintained a relatively balanced state of affairs on Izumo Island.

However, this balance was broken more than a decade ago.

At that time, the Wolf King actually led the main force of the wolf clan and the eleven generals under his command to launch an attack on the Eagle tribe.

This would have been impossible originally.

Because the three royal tribes were roughly equal in strength, none of them had an absolute certainty of defeating the others.

At the same time, any full-scale war between two parties will only benefit a third party.

Therefore, it is almost impossible for one side to mobilize all its forces.

But that's exactly what happened.

The outcome of that battle was even more astonishing.

The Wolf tribe not only defeated the Eagle tribe and occupied three generals that originally belonged to the Eagle tribe, but also defeated the Snake tribe, which was trying to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao, and seized one of the Snake tribe's generals.

As for the reason, it's because the Wolf King used the Qingzhou Cauldron.

The power of the Qingzhou Cauldron was truly immense, increasing the Wolf King's strength by at least two times.

This not only allowed the novice wolf king army to quickly defeat the eagle king army, but also enabled the wolf king army to return in time to reinforce and encircle the snake king army that came to launch a sneak attack.

After this battle, Qingzhou's fame spread far and wide.

At the same time, the internal balance of the Izumo demon clan was broken.

The Wolf Clan became the most powerful force among the Izumo demons, directly commanding fifteen generals.

The Snake Clan, which commands ten generals, has become the second most powerful force.

The Eagle Division, which commands eight generals, became the third major power.

The Snake Tribe and the Eagle Tribe had no choice but to join forces to fight against the Wolf Tribe.

Even so, they are still at a disadvantage.

The Wolf Tribe, possessing the Qingzhou Cauldron, still held the upper hand even when fighting two against one, or fifteen generals against eighteen generals!
"So that's how it is!" Ji Qiu thought to himself.

At the same time, I felt a little heavy-hearted.

Because Kong Rong once told him that the Qingzhou Cauldron, as a treasure used by humans to fight against demons during the first war between humans and demons, was theoretically unusable by demons.

But this is not absolute.

If the demon race can gradually remove the human race imprint from the Qingzhou Cauldron and imprint their own demon race imprint on it.

That way, we can gradually acquire the right to use the Qingzhou Ding.

Once the demon race gains complete control over the Qingzhou Cauldron, they will be able to tear a hole in the Nine Provinces Barrier.

Although they cannot completely destroy the Nine Provinces Barrier, they can ignore the barrier's suppressive effect on the demon race and invade the Nine Provinces!

Judging from the current situation, the Wolf King should not have obtained full usage rights to the Qingzhou Cauldron.

Otherwise, the Wolf Clan wouldn't just have an advantage on Izumo Island; they would have unified the island long ago.

However, it has already obtained partial usage rights.

So his time is very tight.

We must reclaim the Qingzhou Cauldron as quickly as possible!
Thinking of this, Ji Qiu left Dian Wei and eight hundred halberd warriors to guard the rescued fox people.

Then he turned around and went back to Beihai New City.

We've gathered pretty much all the information we need about Izumo Island.

The next step is to develop a concrete action plan.

Although Ji Qiu could formulate battle plans himself, everyone has their own expertise, and his ability to formulate battle plans was certainly not as good as that of the professional strategists in the Ministry of Military Affairs.

So it's time to go back and discuss the situation with your advisors.

...Military Affairs Department, Operations Room.

A biting cold air, accompanied by the buzzing of electronic devices, hit me.

A holographic projection screen covering the entire wall projects a three-dimensional sand table into mid-air.

This is a complete model of Izumo Island that has already been created.

In front of the central command console, several staff officers were leaning over the touch panel, their fingertips flying across the virtual keyboard, and command codes cascading down like a waterfall of pale blue light.

They wanted to gather all the latest intelligence about Izumo Island that Ji Qiu had brought back onto this sand table.

This will serve as a reference for designing subsequent strategies and tactics.

Ji Qiu's most talented individuals, highly skilled in strategy and tactics, gathered together.

There are five people: Xi Zhong, Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Xun You, and Fa Zheng.

"What do you all think is the best way to take down Izumo Island? This is our first step in expanding beyond Kyushu, and it is of utmost importance!" Ji Qiu asked.

Xi Zhong turned around, bowed, and said, "My lord, the overall strength of Izumo Island far surpasses that of our army."

If the thirty-six demon tribes on Izumo Island were to unite, we would have absolutely no chance.

However, they are currently divided and have great conflicts with each other.

Meanwhile, our troops remained hidden in the shadows, unnoticed by them.

This gives our army a great deal of room for maneuver.

My subordinates believe that our army should secretly instigate a civil war among them, and then take advantage of the situation.

"It's not just about the snipe and the clam fighting so that the fisherman can benefit; we also need to leverage the ideological and intelligence advantages of our army."

The subordinate suggested that the propaganda and intelligence departments jointly send elite believers to make contact with the various human tribes.

These Izumo humans are all slaves, oppressed by the demon race for a long time, and must have accumulated a lot of resentment, so they can easily stir up trouble.

At the same time, they share the same human lineage as us and have a natural foundation of trust.

Most importantly, their numbers are more than ten times that of the demon race.

Therefore, as long as the believers bring the Dragon Qi Secret Technique and resources, and organize and mobilize the Izumo human race, the foundation of the Izumo demon race's rule can be shaken from the root.

"At that time, we won't even need external force to destroy the Izumo demon race from within!" Jia Xu said.

The propaganda department and the intelligence department have been getting closer and closer lately.

Unfortunately, the publicity department not only had to carry out publicity work within the area covered by the autumn notification, but also had to go outside the area to do the same.

To conduct propaganda work outside the region, one needs intelligence provided by the intelligence department for protection.

At the same time, after establishing propaganda strongholds, the external followers of the Propaganda Department can also provide the Intelligence Department with a large amount of intelligence.

The two are mutually beneficial and naturally have a basis for cooperation, so they came together smoothly.

Ji Qiu pondered and said, "Yes, dividing and winning over, mobilizing the lower levels, are all good ways to deal with the Fu Yun Demon Clan."

Most importantly, these two methods do not conflict and can be pursued simultaneously.

"But where exactly should we begin?" Ji Qiu asked.

Xun You said, "The work of differentiating can start with the fox tribe!"
The Fox Clan is one of the thirty-three general clans of the demon race, and also a subordinate general clan of the Eagle Clan.

It is also the border command of the Eagle Tribe and the Wolf Tribe.

Therefore, the fox tribe was frequently attacked by the wolf tribe.

However, most of these attacks are small-scale, and there has been no large-scale attack to date.

If we could disguise ourselves as wolves and attack the fox clan...

If several large-scale attacks are launched in succession, the foundation of the fox clan can be shaken. When they can no longer endure it, they will have no choice but to ask the eagle tribe for help.

This way, they can gradually provoke a direct conflict between the Wolf Tribe and the Eagle Tribe.

“Yes, the Fox Clan is indeed a good target.” Ji Qiu nodded in agreement.

Guo Jia said, "As for the goal of sending believers to attack the Izumo people, I suggest focusing on the horse tribe."

This is one of the fifteen generals under the Wolf Clan, and its territory is located in the northernmost part of Izumo Island.

The three major forces of the Izumo demon clan are currently the Wolf Clan, which occupies the entire north, while the Eagle Clan and the Snake Clan each occupy half of the southern region.

The point of contention between them is located in the central area of ​​the entire Izumo Island.

We chose to launch an attack on the lower-level Izumo tribe in the Mabu region.

One reason is that this place is far from the sight of the demon race's higher-ups, so it won't attract too much attention in the early stages.

On the other hand, it is also to delay the time for the demon race to link our two plans.

As everyone knows, our biggest advantage in this battle is that we are in the shadows.

Currently, none of the demon tribes have become aware of our existence.

Of course, they won't remain unaware of our presence forever.

As our operations become more frequent and larger in scale, it's only a matter of time before we're discovered.

But we must delay this time as much as possible; every day of delay will bring us more benefits!

“That makes sense. Let’s make Ma’s group a target for harvesting and sending believers,” Ji Qiu nodded in agreement.

Fa Zheng stared at the entire screen and said, "Mr. Fengxiao is right. Our army's greatest advantage in this battle is that the enemy is in the open while we are in the dark."

Therefore, in an attack, we should take advantage of this by charging forward. We don't need to send out too many troops, but they must be elite enough.

Every attack must be carried out swiftly and decisively!

Therefore, I suggest that the troops deployed in this battle should have soldiers with a strength level no lower than the initial sixth rank!

"All soldiers must be at least at the sixth-rank primary level in terms of military strength? That's quite a high requirement! How many qualified soldiers does our army currently have?" Ji Qiu asked, frowning.

The demands of external wars are indeed bound to be higher than those of internal wars.

Sixth-rank, low-level elite soldiers—within the Nine Provinces Barrier, this is the core army of all forces.

A typical junior aristocratic family outside the city usually has 10,000 to 20,000 strong soldiers, but the number of sixth-rank junior strong soldiers in this family is no more than 500.

A typical mid-level aristocratic family outside the city usually has 30,000 to 50,000 strong troops, but the number of sixth-grade low-level strong troops in this family is no more than 2,000.

A typical high-ranking family outside the city would have 70,000 to 100,000 strong troops, but the number of sixth-rank low-level strong troops among them would not exceed 10,000!

Ji Qiu currently commands a strong army of 150,000, which, in terms of sheer numbers, naturally surpasses the ranks of the high-ranking families outside the city.

However, in terms of quality, it is probably not quite as good.

Improving the level of a strong military requires not only resources but also time.

Ji Qiu may not lack resources, but he lacks time.

In particular, advancing from the peak of the seventh rank to the initial stage of the sixth rank in terms of military strength is still a hurdle, requiring a certain level of cultivation aptitude.

If one lacks the necessary qualifications, even with abundant resources, it is difficult to directly promote them.

This is even more difficult.

Xi Zhong thought for a moment and said, "Our army currently has about six thousand soldiers who have reached the sixth rank or above."

Two thousand of them were the earliest halberdiers to follow their lord.

These are all individuals with high aptitude from the Lord's early troops. With the Lord's consistent investment of resources, they have all successfully advanced to the initial stage of the sixth rank.

The remaining four thousand men were the Imperial Guards of the world, which were the soldiers of the Luoyang Northern Army that the lord had subdued.

This army was painstakingly built by the late emperor, and it has had ample qualifications and time.

However, due to a lack of resources, level progression is slow.

However, after their lord provided them with ample resources, their leveling speed naturally increased significantly.

(End of this chapter)