Double penetration: This Three Kingdoms has dragon energy

Chapter 137 The mastermind has revealed himself!
April 18th, the first year of the Chuping era.

Avoid moving earth; it is advisable to send troops!
In late autumn, troops were dispatched to attack the Pu clan.

He transported all his civil and military officials, as well as his personal guard, Wei Wu battalion, Trapped Battalion, Mountain Battalion, Flying Feather Battalion, Wolf Cavalry Battalion, Iron Cavalry Battalion, and Artillery Battalion, totaling 60,000 troops, to the plains three miles outside Pu Shi Wu Fort, preparing to attack Pu Shi Wu Fort.

Two months had passed since Ji Qiu arranged for Zhuge Liang to use his astronomical divination techniques to predict the fortune of his trip!

The reason why it took so long to attack the Pu clan is...

On the one hand, it is necessary to streamline domestic affairs.

He will mobilize all his troops for this battle.

To prevent internal chaos from arising due to the loss of military suppression, stabilization efforts must be undertaken in advance.

On the other hand, it was also to find out the inside story of this battle and make full preparations.

Zhuge Liang's ability to predict good and bad fortune using his celestial divination techniques has been fully verified in past operations.

Ji Qiu naturally believed in this secret technique and its prediction of the outcome of this operation.

Since this prediction was so different from his previous assumptions, he naturally had to investigate where the problem lay.

Soldiers, the country's major events, the place of death and life, the way of survival, must be observed.

If he can't figure out where the problem lies, he'd rather abandon the operation than send troops out recklessly.

Fortunately, after two months of investigation, with the joint advice of many strategists, they have figured out the inside story.

Ji Qiu then decided to send troops to attack the Pu clan!
"All troops, form ranks and take your positions. Proceed to Pushi Wubao!" Ji Qiu ordered in a deep voice.

The generals replied, "Yes, sir!"

……

Pu's Wubao.

A private soldier rushed into the study of Pu Yuan, the head of the Pu family, and knelt on one knee, saying, "Master, an unidentified army of 30,000 men has been spotted outside the fort. They are all carrying banners with the character 'Ji' on them and are less than two miles away from Wu Fort!"

"Flying under the banner of Ji? That must be Ji Qiu's troops! Great, he's finally here!"

Pu Yuan jumped up from his chair, his face showing a relieved expression.

Two months ago, he received a notice from the immortal master that Ji Qiu would come to attack Pu's Wu Fortress and seize the Earth Spirit Secret Technique.

Following the instructions of the immortal master, he planned to use the Pu Clan Fortress to hold back Ji Qiu's army, thereby creating an opportunity to annihilate Ji Qiu's forces.

But to his utter surprise, just after he had made all the preparations, Ji Qiu seemed to have vanished into thin air.

I waited on the left, but it didn't come; I waited on the right, but it didn't come.

Two months have passed in the blink of an eye, and the army of Ji Qiu, which was supposed to attack Pu Shi Wu Fort, has still not shown up.

This put Pu in a dilemma.

Because they couldn't be sure whether Ji Qiu would actually come, they dared not lift the full alert.

The Nine Palaces Formation used to protect Wubao is always fully activated, absorbing a large amount of dragon energy every day.

Those 20,000 Wudang Flying Army soldiers also need to maintain a state of combat readiness at all times, which consumes a lot of resources every day.

This not only placed a heavy burden on the Pu family, but also continuously weakened their fighting capacity.

Pu Yuan had even made a decision that if Ji Qiu didn't come soon, he would not be able to hold on any longer.

The state of combat readiness must be lifted so that the soldiers can catch their breath.

But unexpectedly, just when he was about to give up and was about to be discharged from the state of combat readiness, Ji Qiu appeared!
At this moment, Pu Yuan felt both joy and sorrow.

They were happy because Ji Qiu had finally appeared, and they could proceed according to their original plan.

Moreover, with the process delayed by two months, the Immortal Master must have been much better prepared.

Pu Yuan was worried because Ji Qiu happened to appear at this crucial juncture, which made him wonder if Ji Qiu had noticed something.
If Ji Qiu really did realize something and took countermeasures.

That would be a catastrophe for the Pu family.

If this plan fails, the immortal master might still have a chance to escape, but the Pu family will surely die!

However, even without this plan, it seems that Pu was destined to die anyway.

According to the immortal master, since Ji Qiu intended to seize the Pu family's earth spirit secret technique, he had no intention of leaving the Pu family a way out.

Therefore, for Pu Shi, not resisting meant death.

Resistance might lead to death, but it might also offer a sliver of hope for survival.

This is the fate of ordinary people!
Pu Yuan gave a wry smile, then shook these distracting thoughts out of his mind and decisively ordered, "Pass down the order: all soldiers, ascend the city walls and prepare for battle!"

Immediately send a message to the Immortal Master, telling him that Ji Qiu has arrived and that he must send reinforcements immediately!

"Send reinforcements immediately? According to the plan, we should hold out for three days until Ji Qiu's army is demoralized, and then the Immortal Master will send troops to help us defeat Ji Qiu in one fell swoop?" Pu Yuan's son, Pu Fei, asked from the side.

Pu Yuan shook his head and said, "Ji Qiu delayed sending troops for two whole months, so he must have made full preparations."

If they launch a thunderous attack on us, we may not be able to hold out for three days.

The immortal master must send troops now!

"Yes, sir!" Pu Fei replied in a deep voice, accepting the order.

……

Three miles outside of Pushi Wubao, on the high platform of the late autumn camp.

Xun You gazed at the Pu Clan Fortress shrouded in a light mist, and with a flick of his finger, an image of the Nine Palaces Formation appeared in the air.

The image also contains energy bands of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, which meander and flow between the hexagrams.

"My lord, please look, this is the Nine Palaces Formation of the Pu Clan's Wu Fortress."

This formation can create fog, concealing the exact location of Pushiwu Fortress and making it impossible for the attacking army to discern directions.

The Pu's Fortress we see now is not the real Pu's Fortress, but a mirror image created by the Nine Palaces Formation.

"If we can't break the Nine Palaces Formation, we won't even be able to find where Pu's Wu Fortress is, let alone attack it," Xun You said.

Ji Qiu exclaimed in astonishment, "This Nine Palaces Formation is so powerful? If one doesn't know how to break it, wouldn't one be invincible!"

"Actually, it's not as powerful as you might imagine. Although the Nine Palaces Formation can confuse the siege troops' sense of direction, the more siege troops there are and the stronger they are, the more dragon energy the Nine Palaces Formation will consume."

When the number and strength of the siege force reach a certain level, the deceptive effect of the Nine Palaces Formation will naturally fail.

"This is the simplest way to break the Nine Palaces Formation, and also the most effective way to break the vast majority of dragon energy formations. It is known as 'one force can break ten thousand methods'!" Xun You said.

Ji Qiu nodded and said, "I see, that's a very reasonable setting."

However, deep down, Ji Qiu knew that if this method were used to break the Nine Palaces Formation, countless elite troops would have to be sacrificed.

Unless it's a case of overwhelming the enemy with superior numbers, using strength to bully the weak, and the disparity between the two sides is unimaginably large, this method should not be used lightly.

We still need to follow the normal procedure for breaking the dragon energy formation and break it step by step.

Fortunately, Ji Qiu had Xun You under his command.

Xun You not only came from a family with a long tradition of learning and knew most of the dragon energy formations, but he also possessed the secret technique of seeing through them, enabling him to see through the flaws of everything in the world.

It is precisely the nemesis of this dragon energy formation!

Xun You flicked his finger, and the Qian position on the Nine Palaces Formation lit up with a blazing white light. Then he said calmly, "Although the function of all the Nine Palaces Formations is to spread mist and confuse the enemy."

However, the methods and channels used to create fog are different for each of the Nine Palaces Formation.

Therefore, the method of breaking any Nine Palaces Formation is different, and specific formations need to be analyzed specifically.

The Nine Palaces Formation in front of us uses the Qian Palace as its core, absorbing a large amount of dragon energy. This energy is then amplified by the Xun, Li, and Kun Palaces, and finally creates a fog at the Kan position.

Therefore, the weakness and core of this Nine Palaces Formation lies in the Qian position.

Once the Qian position is breached, the supply of dragon energy to the Nine Palaces Formation can be interrupted, rendering it completely ineffective!

"Good! Then send an order to Xu He to have the artillery battalion concentrate its firepower and first bombard the Qian position of the Pu Clan Wu Fort Nine Palaces Formation!" Ji Qiu said with a light laugh.

Artillery battalion position.

A thousand M1 240mm howitzers stood like steel behemoths on the scorched earth.

The cannon barrel pointed skyward, the tracks cracked the earth into a spiderweb of furrows, the hydraulic system emitted a deep hum, and the twenty-ton cannon was slowly turning toward the target.

Ji Qiu's newly formed artillery battalion has 10,000 soldiers, and its commander is Xu He.

The reason why Xu He was appointed as the commander of the artillery battalion was that his rank was very suitable.

He was originally the Commander-in-Chief of the Taishan County Army and the Deputy Minister of Military Affairs, holding the same rank as the Artillery Battalion Commander, allowing for a smooth lateral transfer. Furthermore, Xu He's innate secret technique, "Ten Thousand Armies United in Harmony," was well-suited for commanding artillery units.

The "United Army Under One Pact" ability can increase troop coordination by 30%, which is crucial for artillery units that primarily suppress the enemy with long-range firepower.

Meanwhile, the main weapon of the artillery units is the M1 240mm howitzer.

This is a powerful heavy artillery piece used by the United States during World War II.

The initial motivation for developing this artillery piece was that, in the North African theater at the time, the Allies urgently needed a heavy artillery piece that could suppress the German forces in terms of firepower in order to destroy the German fortifications and strongholds. Thus, the development of the new 240mm howitzer was put on the agenda.

The cannon has a caliber of 240 mm, a barrel length of 8160 mm, and a barrel length-to-caliber ratio of 34.

With a maximum range of 23100 meters, it can effectively strike targets at long distances.

The maximum rate of fire is 1 round per minute, and the sustained rate of fire is 1 round per 2 minutes.

The elevation range is 15° to 65°, and the directional range is 45° to the left and right, for a total of 90°.

The artillery piece weighs 21645 kilograms, classifying it as a heavy artillery piece that requires a heavy-duty tractor for towing.

It primarily fires 360-pound high-explosive shells, which have tremendous explosive power and are highly destructive to enemy fortifications and cluster targets.

Technically, it has the following characteristics:

First and foremost, it possesses formidable firepower.

The 160-kilogram high-explosive shell, when fired, generates a huge shock wave and fragments upon detonation, which can effectively destroy important targets such as enemy fortifications, bunkers, and bridges, and is also extremely effective against infantry groups.

Secondly, it has high precision.

Despite being a large-caliber artillery piece, the M1 240mm howitzer demonstrated high firing accuracy in actual combat, enabling it to hit targets relatively accurately, which gave it a significant advantage when attacking specific targets.

Third, it requires relatively complex operations.

The assembly and disassembly of the gun required the use of an M2 20-ton crane for transportation, and a bunker excavator was also needed to dig a bunker before the gun was deployed.

The loading of shells and propellants is also quite complex and requires the cooperation of multiple soldiers.

However, because the basic skills of the soldiers in Dragon Kingdom were far superior to those of World War II soldiers in the modern world, Ji Qiu's artillery battalion did not need to use cranes for assembly and disassembly; the soldiers could complete these tasks by hand.

Fourthly, it has poor maneuverability.

Due to the large weight of the artillery, its mobility is relatively poor, requiring the use of M35 tractors based on the M10 and M33 tractors based on the M3 Lee as towing vehicles, and a long time is required for disassembly, transportation and reassembly when moving to a new position.

But this is not a drawback for Ji Qiu either.

Because the artillery battalion usually moves to a different position by having Ji Qiu open a time portal, there is no need for a tractor.

Fifth, it is inexpensive and easy to buy.

Modern Annam has just purchased the production line for this type of artillery, so Ji Qiu can produce this artillery and ammunition on his own without having to take the extra risk of purchasing it from the international black market.

In summary, this is a powerful heavy artillery piece well-suited to the current situation of the artillery battalion, providing strong fire support for the autumn troops.

Currently, artillery battalions are organized into squads of ten men each, with each squad responsible for operating one M1 240 gun. A total of one thousand M1 240 guns have been deployed.

drop by drop...

A sharp alarm sounded on the tablet in Xu He's hand. He opened the tablet and saw a diagram of the Qian position of the Nine Palaces Formation sent by Xun You, as well as a bombing order issued by Ji Qiu.

He was immediately jolted, then pulled on the bronze whistle around his neck, its sharp sound piercing the battlefield.

"Calibrate the parameters!"

The gunners operated like precision gears, with the eight-man loading team pushing 160-kilogram high-explosive shells into the breech, the copper cartridge cases clanging with a crisp, bell-like sound.

The rangefinder repeatedly checked the gyroscope, and the red laser beam pierced the twilight, condensing into a crimson dot on the watchtower of Wubao.

The moment Xu He pressed his thumb on the command button, the entire position fell into an eerie silence.

"Fire!"

A thousand M1 240mm howitzers roared in unison.

The intense muzzle flash instantly illuminated the entire position, as if it were daytime.

The 240mm shells, trailing long plumes of flame, streaked across the sky like a flock of angry firebirds, hurtling toward the Qian position of the Nine Palaces Formation.

As the shells pierced through the fog, they collided violently with the formation, emitting dazzling sparks and drawing brilliant trajectories in the fog.

The first shell accurately hit the Qian position rune, causing the rune to tremble violently and its dark blue light to surge instantly.

Immediately afterwards, a barrage of shells rained down, and the runes at the Qian position began to crack under the intense bombardment.

As if sensing the threat of death, the Nine Palaces Formation began to operate frantically, the mist thickened, and the runes shone brightly, attempting to repair the damaged parts.

However, the power of the artillery fire was too great. With a deafening roar, the energy core of the Nine Palaces Formation finally succumbed to the pressure and exploded.

A dazzling light burst forth from the Qian position, like a small sun rising from the mist.

The azure runes shattered inch by inch, turning into specks of starlight that dissipated into the air.

The once thick, almost tangible fog began to dissipate at a visible rate, revealing the dilapidated outline of Pu's Fortress.

Xu He watched the mist gradually dissipate, a sinister smile creeping across his lips.

"Continue the bombardment! Blast the Fort Pouch to smithereens!"

He raised his arm and gave a loud order.

Then a new round of artillery fire roared again, pouring down on the now-defunct Pu's Fort.

Pu's Wubao.

Seeing the Nine Palaces Formation destroyed almost instantly, Pu Yuan, Pu Fei, and everyone in the Pu Clan were momentarily stunned.

Pu Fei roared in horror, "What happened? How could the Nine Palaces Formation be breached? How did they know that the weakness of the Nine Palaces Formation was in the Qian position? How could they have the ability to break through the energy core of the Nine Palaces Formation in one strike!"

From the moment he was born, he was told that the Nine Palaces Formation was the most powerful defensive weapon of the Pu Clan's Wu Fortress, capable of withstanding any attack in the world.

How could this defensive artifact, capable of withstanding any attack, be so easily defeated in front of Ji Qiu?
At this moment, he recalled his father Pu Yuanfang's words and realized that his father's insight was indeed superior to his own.

It turned out that Ji Qiu's arrival was anticipated and must have been well-prepared.

Pu Shi could not hold out for three days, so he ordered the immortal master to come to his aid early on.

But Father, since you know that Ji Qiu is so powerful, why did you provoke him?

While the so-called earth spirit secret technique is important, what is more important than the lives of the entire Pu clan?

Since Ji Qiu wants it, why don't you just give it to him?

Why risk the lives of the entire Pu clan in a fight against Ji Qiu?

Pu Fei inwardly complained about his father, Pu Yuan, unaware that Pu Yuan was also filled with remorse.

Although he anticipated that the Pu Clan Wu Fortress would not last long against Ji Qiu, he never expected that in just the first encounter, the Pu Clan Wu Fortress's greatest reliance, the Nine Palaces Formation, would be directly broken.

Most importantly, Ji Qiu broke through the Nine Palaces Formation at almost no cost.

This is completely different from the ideas of Pu Shi and the immortal master behind him.

Their original intention was to use Pu's Wubao to hold off Ji Qiu and deplete his troops as much as possible.

But now it seems that this is simply impossible.

At this moment, Pu Yuan was filled with remorse, regretting that he should not have been so blinded by greed and cooperated with the immortal master to deal with Ji Qiu because of the immortal master's vague promise.

He should have begged Ji Qiu for mercy much earlier, otherwise he wouldn't have driven Pu Shi into such a desperate situation!

Now, all we can do is hope that the immortal master's reinforcements will arrive as soon as possible, so that the Pu family may have a sliver of hope to survive!

Hanzhong Commandery, the Office of the Commander of Righteousness.

Inside the main hall, Zhang Lu, the Inspector of Righteousness, sat facing the Immortal Master behind Pu.

After reading the letter of appeal sent by Pu Yuan, the immortal master threw it on the ground and said coldly, "This Pu Yuan is truly a piece of trash!"
I told him to hold out for three days, and after Ji Qiu's sharp edge had been worn down, he could come back for help.

He had barely spotted Ji Qiu's army when he immediately came seeking reinforcements. He's truly a coward, utterly useless!

"Hehe, Daoist Yu Ji, there's no need to worry. Neither of us had any hope for the Pu family; they were just a pawn to be discarded."

His role was merely to lure Ji Qiu over.

Now that Ji Qiu has shown himself, his mission is complete.

"Whatever he does next won't affect the overall situation," Zhang Lu said with a light laugh.

(End of this chapter)