Outside the Commander's tent at the Star Luo Camp. Dai Hao stood beneath the night sky, observing the celestial phenomena.
Tonight's moonlight was dim, shrouded by dark clouds. If they were planning a raid, it would undoubtedly be a heaven-sent opportunity.
But right now, it really wasn't the right time.
However, the problem was that there were less than three days left until the agreed-upon one-month deadline. Although there wasn't the slightest turmoil in the army, and it even maintained strict discipline and high morale, that was solely due to the promise he had made.
To put it bluntly, half of it was propped up by his reputation as the White Tiger Duke. Otherwise, if nothing else, there would at least be some minor murmurs.
Because of this, Dai Hao's inner mind was far from as calm as his exterior.
"Sigh—"
He sighed, turned around, lifted the tent flap, sat down at the commander's desk, and began reviewing recent small-scale clashes, along with strategic and tactical analyses of the Sun Moon Army.
Until someone came to report, "Commander, an unidentified individual wants to see you. He says he will only reveal himself after meeting you."
Dai Hao abruptly looked up and quickly asked, "From which direction did he come from?"
"I don't know."
Precisely because of this "I don't know," Dai Hao abruptly stood up. He was about to stride out of the tent with tiger-like steps but forcibly stopped himself.
"Quick! Invite him in."
He realized that outside the tent was not a good place for a meeting.
"Yes!"
The soldier left to deliver the message. Before long, he led a seemingly ordinary-looking man in black clothes into the tent.
Seeing this, Dai Hao waved at the soldier.
"You can leave us for now."
"Yes."
As the soldier slowly exited the tent, Dai Hao's soul power abruptly erupted, instantly enveloping the entire interior of the tent to ensure absolutely no sound could leak out.
"Why the delay, White Tiger Duke?"
The black-robed man spoke, his opening remark completely lacking any politeness. Moreover, he didn't bother disguising his voice at this moment. If an intent listener heard it, they would definitely be able to see through his disguise to his true identity.
Obviously, he knew there were no "six ears" (eavesdroppers) around before he dared to speak like this.
"You wrongly accuse me, Hall Master of the Hongchen Hall."
Hearing this, Dai Hao replied quite earnestly: "It's not that I refused to welcome you, but rather to prevent those with ulterior motives. I'm sure Hall Master Hongchen can understand this."
"That I can."
Jing Hongchen took off his hood and mask, revealing his unremarkable, unaged face to Dai Hao. As for his figure...
One could only say his disguise was excellent. This Hall Master of the Hongchen Hall had never been fat to begin with. The so-called "fatness" was just hidden soul tools. For this meeting with Dai Hao, his true physique served as a perfect disguise that even acquaintances would find hard to distinguish.
Furthermore, to successfully arrive at the Star Luo Camp this time, Jing Hongchen had prepared for a long time before finally finding an opportunity. After all, the Sun Moon Army was strictly guarded. If he wasn't a relative by marriage to the imperial family, the Principal of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, and the Hall Master of the Mingde Hall, possessing such esteemed identities that made betrayal seem impossible in the eyes of others, this trip of his absolutely wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
"Hall Master Hongchen, taking such a risk to come in person must mean you have reliable intelligence."
Dai Hao was sharp and direct, cutting straight to the point.
"Reliable intelligence indeed exists, and there are two parts to it."
Saying this, Jing Hongchen took a letter from his bosom and handed it to Dai Hao. Dai Hao took it and quickly scanned it; inside was undoubtedly information on Sun Moon Empire spies hidden within the Star Luo Army.
With just one glance, Dai Hao instantly broke into a cold sweat.
Because one of his own Army Corps Commanders, who possessed the cultivation of a Soul Douluo, was actually also a member of the Sun Moon Empire's spies. And this absolutely couldn't be a case of possession.
How did they infiltrate or turn him? You have to understand, this was an Army Corps Commander! A veteran who had lived and died with him.
Yet someone like this was actually a spy. This news hit Dai Hao like five bolts of lightning.
But he was, after all, a Commander who had experienced numerous battlefields and life-and-death crises. So, he quickly calmed down.
Then again, aside from the spy being an Army Corps Commander, he had indeed anticipated the presence of spies. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let Jing Hongchen reveal his identity only after entering the tent.
"This second piece of intelligence will definitely satisfy you as well."
Seeing this, Jing Hongchen didn't play games and stated frankly: "Our army's rations currently amount to only one month's supply. And all the remaining grain is stockpiled in the river valley south of the camp. The terrain there can be described as easy to defend and hard to attack. With the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Corps personally guarding it, it makes it even harder for anyone wanting to attack."
"However..."
Changing the topic, he said, "No matter how elite the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Corps is, having maintained strict vigilance for nearly a month has caused their alertness to drop slightly. This is an excellent opportunity."
"You can use the same method you used before to raid the supply lines—attack from the air, taking advantage of the gap to burn their heavy grain transports. Within three days, the Sun Moon Army will inevitably fall into disarray. By then, you can defeat them with one strike!"
Dai Hao felt a surge of joy in his heart, but he wasn't satisfied just yet.
If that was all, this intelligence wasn't worth much.
After all, both armies knew that if the enemy wanted to find their grain depot's location, it could easily be exposed. After all, in this era of soul tools, with high-altitude and ultra-high-altitude detection soul tools, deducing the location of the stockpile wasn't a difficult task.
In this light, this piece of intel was optional.
So what truly caught Dai Hao's attention was what Jing Hongchen might say next. The sheer audacity to guarantee their success in raiding the grain depot! Of course, he couldn't demand a hundred percent guarantee, but it had to be at least over fifty percent.
The location of the Sun Moon Army's grain depot was exactly as Jing Hongchen had just described, guarded by the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Corps. But in reality, it went far beyond that. Aside from other troops, there were soul tool formations and a series of alarm installations set up. As long as you dared to attack, it would sound the alarm!
With heavy forces guarding the place, no matter how divinely Dai Hao commanded troops, or how agile and decisive he was, the number of men he brought couldn't be too small. But what if they were discovered right after the attack? The Sun Moon Main Camp would know the situation immediately.
The two locations—the main camp and the grain depot—seemed far apart, but to them, it really wasn't a great distance.
One could say this operation was a race against time.
No matter how well you hid your tracks early on, once exposed later, the Sun Moon Main Camp would quickly send reinforcements. If that happened, it would be disastrous. Not only would the objective of this operation fail, but they might also get tangled up by the troops at the grain depot and dragged out until the main force of the Sun Moon Army arrived, wiping them out in one fell swoop! In that case, the losses would outweigh the gains.
"Does Hall Master Hongchen still have more to say?"
Facing Dai Hao's pressing question, Jing Hongchen merely smiled.
"Naturally. As the Hall Master of the Mingde Hall, many high-end strategic soul tools on the battlefield were developed by us. Therefore, I know a thing or two about them. I can't say we can crack them, but we do have a method to temporarily shield them."
"Secondly, I can guarantee that the Titled Douluos you send out this time will not be discovered by the Sun Moon Main Camp."
After speaking, the corners of Jing Hongchen's mouth curled up into a smile as he asked, "What do you think?"
Hearing this, Dai Hao was instantly overjoyed. "Good, good, good!"
Because with this, the plan had complete feasibility. It was the same old saying: Jing Hongchen was an imperial relative by marriage, and his other identities carried immense weight. No one would suspect him, nor would they set up too many defenses against him. At most, it would just be going through the motions.
In other words, Jing Hongchen's choice to intervene was the guarantee.
Think about it: if the premise was that the enemy couldn't detect their movements, and they completely blocked all alarm signals from the enemy's grain depot, then the entire grain depot would be an isolated island suspended overseas, only able to make contact at fixed intervals. What they were fighting for was that window of isolation.
"Old Gu, the trouble is on you again."
As soon as Dai Hao put down his teacup, Gu Tianchen sighed deeply.
When does this running errands end?
"Old Chen, what exactly are you trying to do now?" Gu Tianchen couldn't help but ask.
"Just a small errand."
"Get lost."
"Get lost yourself!"
Thus, the scene from before replayed.
One day later, inside Mingdu City.
"Old Gu, thanks for the hard work."
"Don't give me that nonsense."
Gu Tianchen snatched the cup of tea that had just been perfectly poured into Chen Junting's hands, ignoring the scalding temperature as he downed it in one gulp.
Tsk— ah, just make me run fewer errands next time.
Chen Junting didn't speak, only smiling continuously.
Running fewer errands was obviously impossible. With the convenience of spatial abilities, how could he not be made to run errands?
Seemingly seeing right through Chen Junting's thoughts, Gu Tianchen sighed helplessly.
Making bad friends!
The number of times he had sighed recently exceeded his entire life combined.
After Gu Tianchen rested for a bit, Chen Junting turned serious and asked, "How long do they need us to suppress them?"
Gu Tianchen's expression turned equally serious as he held up two fingers. "Are you sure you can maintain control?"
"Twenty days."
Without careful deliberation, Chen Junting decisively agreed.
"I can."
"With the Myriad Demon King controlling all the land outside Mingdu City, as long as a living being sees Mingdu, they will be directly controlled."
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