Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1794 Retreat to the Cliff

Earlier, Li Ce, having determined the strategy for counterattacking, had already ordered a partial evacuation of the stronghold, leaving behind only combat personnel and relatively light supplies and equipment.

Now that it was confirmed that the Undead forces had begun their operation, and their emperor had not yet arrived at the front lines, Li Ce gave the order without saying a word and turned to leave.

Li Ce was not the kind of stubborn general who was single-minded. He knew which strongholds needed to be defended to the death and which strongholds could be abandoned.

An excellent commander should learn to make choices, take a long-term view, and not be concerned with short-term gains or losses.

The troops at the Oasis outpost were all prepared, and upon receiving the order, they acted with lightning speed.

During this process, the giant eagle riders flew high in the sky, monitoring the undead forces' every move.

The enemy directly dispatched skeleton cavalry as scouts, advancing through the desert while searching for the location of the Great Zhou stronghold.

Under normal circumstances, skeleton cavalry are slower than regular cavalry.

It is unclear whether ordinary warhorses, when galloping through the desert, would be affected by the extreme desert environment, leading to accelerated evaporation of body water and severe exhaustion, while the skeleton warhorse was completely unaffected by these environmental factors.

Considering all factors, the skeleton cavalry are actually more efficient at moving medium to long distances in the desert.

Upon noticing this, the giant eagle knight hurriedly brought the information back.

After confirming the intelligence, Li Ce's expression turned serious.

Because they couldn't solve the undead's 'supplies' problem, and because they hadn't originally planned to use this force, they hadn't yet moved their Great Zhou's undead forces to the desert for testing.

Limited paper-based analysis inevitably leads to oversights.

It now appears that the undead have an even greater advantage in the desert than we anticipated.

This only reinforced Li Ce's belief that he could not engage in combat with the enemy in the desert.

We should first establish a sufficient advantage at the troop level through defense and counter-attack on their home turf, and then completely secure the victory through subsequent pursuit and offense.

On this point, Zhou Xu and Li Ce shared the same idea.

Thanks to the intelligence advantage of the Eagle Knights, the evacuation operation at the Oasis outpost went very smoothly. By the time the undead forces discovered the area, it was already deserted.

The undead army, having come up empty-handed, was naturally not going to give up easily.

A thorough search was launched around the stronghold, and the existence of the Rakshasa border was quickly discovered.

The main reason is that the towering cliffs are so eye-catching; they can be seen from a great distance.

With their location exposed, the undead army arrived in a flash.

As they advanced, the Undying General soon discovered that the surrounding environment was changing, and the sand beneath his feet was gradually turning into grassland.

At first glance, a small grassland appeared in the distance, planted with many plants that I did not recognize.

However, Li Ce did not intend to fight the Undead army on this grassland. Instead, he gave up this small piece of grassland and led his troops to retreat to the cliff, where they set up a defense at the mountainside camp.

Since he's going to play a defensive game, he naturally wants to maximize his defensive advantage.

The soldiers under his command naturally had no objections to this; for them, the greater the defensive advantage, the better. However, the people in the sand control department were all cursing under their breath after receiving the notification.

The worst fear is that if this battle breaks out, all their previous efforts will have been in vain. Just thinking about this made the head of the desertification control department feel his blood pressure rising.

However, they could distinguish between what was important and what was urgent. Despite their annoyance, they were still very efficient in their retreat.

As the Undead army entered the grassland, the leader gazed at the distant cliffs, and the Undead General immediately understood the situation.

When he was alive, he was a general under the Immortal King. He had spent his life on the battlefield and had a wealth of experience in military campaigns. Naturally, he could see how great the opponent's defensive advantage was.

The cliff in front of us is practically an insurmountable barrier!
If the enemy's defenses are fully deployed, it would be difficult to make a breakthrough for a normal army without ten times the number of troops.

In comparison, their undead forces were in a much better situation; at least they wouldn't be wiped out in large numbers by a single volley of arrows from the enemy.

From the perspective of the Undying General, the best way to deal with a defensive fortress of this level is to charge in directly as a top-tier fighter, break through the enemy's defenses, and dismantle their defensive deployment.

This would allow his undead forces to advance faster and break through the enemy's mountain defenses.

However, there is a problem now: the opponent also has a strong opponent of the same level, and previously crippled him with a single blow.

Even now, the Undying General still feels lingering fear when he recalls that attack.

If I rush in and get crippled by the opponent again, I'm afraid I'll really be doomed on their turf.

With this in mind, the Undying General did not act rashly this time, but prepared to wait until the Undying King officially arrived at the front line before making any moves.

Of course, before that, he didn't intend to be idle either, and directly commanded his undead army to launch a probing attack.

Don't forget, one of the great advantages of the undead is that as long as they have enough undead energy, they can launch attacks without rest, and even if they are broken up, they can reassemble themselves.

The sun was about to set, which was perfect for the undead race.

Humans do not have night vision, but the undead are not affected by this, because the undead fundamentally do not have sight. They identify targets by sensing souls and energy, not by sight.

As night fell, braziers for lighting were quickly lit at the campsite on the mountainside.

Meanwhile, the undead forces that had already gathered at the foot of the mountain began their advance.

Up to this point, the opponent's actions were basically within Li Ce's expectations.

Behind the defensive line, the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty lined up with their Thunder Rifles and opened fire quickly.

The continuous, intense gunfire could be heard even at the foot of the mountain.

Upon noticing the attack from the opposite side, the Undying General, positioned at the foot of the mountain, was taken aback.

This was clearly a weapon he had never encountered before.

However, the Thunder Rifle was much less effective against the undead soldiers, as the skeletons were mostly hollowed out, which greatly increased the probability of the bullets missing their mark.

Even if you hit them, how much impact would it have on the undead if you broke or pierced a few bones?

From the perspective of the undead, at this moment, there really wasn't much difference between the bullets from the Thunder Rifle and the arrows from the bow hitting them.

(End of this chapter)