Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Chapter 394 Black Earth Fortress (Subscription Request, Monthly Ticket Request)

Lin Yi had no idea how big a sensation his disappearance had caused. Now he and Su Xiao were following the main force and were about to head to the front line.

Lin Yi and Su Xiao followed the silent army and felt the heavy atmosphere brought by the war.

The soldiers around, whether they were volunteers or conscripts, became numb in this brutal cold weapon war.

There was no fear on their faces, only indifference towards life and death, as if they had seen through the impermanence of life.

Becoming an imperial soldier, there is a saying among the people that soldiers are noble masters, tigers, beasts, and dogs.

After receiving the military pay, the noble lords drank and prostituted themselves, living a carefree life, just like noble lords.
Tiger beast is the name given to tigers by civilians. Civilians are afraid of soldiers, just like they are afraid of tigers, so they describe soldiers as tiger beasts.

As for dogs, when war broke out, a soldier's life was worth less than a dog's.

As the army marched, a spectacular scene gradually appeared before Lin Yi's eyes.

In the distance, a winding black "mountain range" stretched across the plains, separating the territories of the empire and the tribe.

This is the destination of their trip and also the upcoming battlefield - Black Earth Fortress.

Seen from a distance, the Black Earth Fortress looks like a giant dragon, winding and entwined on the earth.

It is 176 kilometers long and is made of hard obsidian. It is black in color and exudes a calm and mysterious atmosphere.

The fortress is blessed with as many as 6782 magic marks, which flicker with faint light, as if telling of the fortress's solidity and immortality.

The average height of the Black Earth Fortress is 40 meters, and the highest point is 60 meters high.

Standing below the fortress and looking up, it looks like a wall reaching straight into the sky, which is daunting.

The fortress has stood for 3600 years and has undergone no less than 30 renovations, with large-scale repairs and reinforcements required on average every hundred years.

After seeing the target this time, Lin Yi and Su Xiao started cursing in the war channel at the same time.

How did the empire lose this thing? You know, this thing can be said to be a defensive weapon in war.

As long as he puts 10,000 soldiers in the city, Lin Yi is confident that he can defend the city even if the enemy sends an army of 100,000 to attack the city.

So, to what extent was the Empire's army so corrupt that it could even lose a war fortress like this?
"Can this thing...really be attacked?"

A contractor who was closer to Su Xiao looked up at the Black Earth Fortress, with thousands of alpacas leaping through his heart.

At the rear of the army, Marquis Mark looked up at the towering Black Earth Fortress, a complex emotion flashed in his eyes.

He had not set foot on this battlefield for nearly twenty years. Now, facing this once familiar fortress again, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions.

"My Lord Marquis," the deputy commander of the Iron Blood Legion knelt on one knee in front of Marquis Mark's horse and handed over a report, "This is a report on the statistics of the number of soldiers and the storage of military rations, weapons, etc. The weapons promised by the Moon Elves have not been delivered yet, and now many soldiers' weapons are seriously worn out. In addition, our food reserves are running low, and there are also some problems with water sources..."

Marquis Mark frowned and interrupted the deputy commander's report: "Got it."

There was a hint of impatience in his voice.

Although these problems are thorny, in his opinion, what is more important now is how to recapture the Black Earth Fortress and restore the glory of the empire.

Marquis Mark was in a bad mood at the moment. On the one hand, it was because Lin Yi's disappearance had caused a series of problems. On the other hand, it was because his immediate superior, a duke, had sent him an order.

The emperor assigned the task to the Duke, but the Duke was unwilling to use his carefully trained troops to complete this war which he considered "useless".

Therefore, the Duke assigned this task to his subordinates. Among them, Marquis Mark was assigned the largest number of soldiers this time because he had not completed the Duke's task before.

Marquis Mark rode on his horse, looking into the distance with deep eyes, weighing in his mind how to deploy the army. He knew that this mission might be "useless" to the Duke, but for him, the Marquis, it was an important opportunity to show his ability.

The burly figure of the deputy legion commander Carlos standing next to him looked even more majestic against the backdrop of his blood-red armor.

The bloody smell on his body showed his past military achievements and contributions.

"Carlos, you just need to tell me if we can recapture the Black Earth Fortress before sunset." Marquis Mark was riding on his horse, his eyes fixed on Carlos with complicated expressions.

Even though he didn't like this person, he urgently needed Carlos's strength now.

"W...what?" Carlos asked in astonishment, he suspected that he had heard it wrong.

The Black Earth Fortress was famous for its solidity and difficulty to defend, and retaking it before sunset seemed like an impossible task.

"Your Excellency the Marquis is asking you whether it is possible for us to recapture the Black Earth Fortress before dark," the imperial official next to Marquis Mark explained with a disdainful look.

Although his official position was lower than Carlos, he was full of disdain for this deputy legion commander who was the son of a noble and a prostitute.

"My Lord Marquis, this seems... unlikely." Carlos lowered his head and said this with difficulty.

His heart was filled with helplessness and anger. He really had little respect for this waste who inherited the title of Marquis through the hereditary system.

He now really wanted to pull down the fat man riding on the horse three meters away, step hard on his face, and let him take a close look at the level of the war fortifications of the Black Earth Fortress.

The strength of the Black Earth Fortress is well known.

Since its establishment, no one had ever considered that it would be captured, let alone made a plan for a counterattack.

In everyone's opinion, this fortress was indestructible and it was impossible for the primitive people in the tribe to capture it.

Who would have thought that Marquis Mark would dare to directly embezzle the construction costs of the Black Earth Fortress, and the amount of embezzlement was not small.

It is reported that he took 70% of the construction costs, of which 50% was handed over to the Duke, which can be seen as a sign of his surrender to the Duke.

If it weren't for the Duke's protection, Marquis Mark would have been executed by the Emperor for such behavior.

Due to the severe shortage of construction funds, the Black Earth Fortress had loopholes in its defense in some key locations.

After decades of careful calculations, the goblins in the tribe finally discovered these loopholes and assembled a large army to launch a fierce attack on the weak links of the fortress.

At that time, Marquis Mark was overconfident and believed that the tribe would never dare to attack the Black Earth Fortress, so he only deployed less than 20,000 soldiers in the fortress.

In order to capture the fortress, the tribe paid the price of more than 100,000 lives and finally succeeded in occupying the Black Earth Fortress.

It can be said that if it were not for the flaws in the Black Earth Fortress's defensive tactics, the 20,000 soldiers could have continued to deal with the tribe, or at least could have held out until the arrival of reinforcements, without any major problems.

"If the war goes very smoothly, we can retake the Black Earth Fortress in about ten days." Although Carlos answered this way, he knew in his heart that this was actually an optimistic estimate.

In fact, even if everything goes well, it would be great if we could recapture the fortress within half a month.

And this is based on the premise that the Empire will continue to send additional troops to the Black Earth Plains and adopt the same tactic of piling up corpses to retake the fortress.

However, Marquis Mark was obviously dissatisfied with Carlos' answer: "Ten days is too long." His voice revealed an unquestionable determination.

Marquis Mark stared at Carlos and continued, "I'll give you one week. If you fail to retake the Black Earth Fortress, you will come to me with your head. Now I have become the laughing stock of Holy Dragon City. If you can't do it, I will find someone who can replace you."

Faced with such a severe order, Carlos could only bite the bullet and answer: "Yes, sir."

(End of this chapter)