Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1880 Operation Unfolds
The desert's unique environment limited their movement efficiency, and coupled with the location of the Goblin Kingdom and the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was destined that each of their actions would take a considerable amount of time.

For a small troop to travel from the border of the Goblin Kingdom to the border of the Great Zhou, it would take two months one way, and for a large troop, it would take even longer.

A year and a half has actually passed since their Great Zhou clashed with the first exploration force sent by the Goblin Kingdom.

Although they only fought two small-scale battles during this period, the fact that the enemy could launch a follow-up offensive at any time meant that the Great Zhou Dynasty was in a state of war for a year and a half.

Compared to peacetime, more troops have been stationed on the border, new recruits are being steadily recruited and trained, and major military factories have increased their production capacity.

Although they did not engage in combat most of the time, maintaining these things alone required a significant increase in financial expenditure each month.

But there's nothing we can do about it. When two forces fight, to some extent, it comes down to who has the resources and strength to fight. There's no fancy stuff involved; it's just a matter of who can outlast whom. Being able to outlast someone is itself a manifestation of hard power.

Based on their current understanding of the goblin kingdom, the resource-poor goblin kingdom certainly cannot outlast them.

The other side will either abandon the idea of ​​sending troops altogether, or send a large force and gamble everything.

The slow, sustained fighting style of the past was nothing short of torture for the goblin kingdom, like being stabbed in the flesh.

The Goblin Kingdom has clearly realized this, and has begun to send a large number of troops into the desert. The purpose is self-evident: to gather its limited strength and decide the outcome in one fell swoop.

If they could conquer the Great Zhou and acquire a large amount of resources, they would be able to break through their current predicament.

Conversely, if they fail to conquer the Great Zhou, given the previous state of their goblin kingdom, it will only hasten their own demise.

Either way, I'm going to die, so at least this way I can die a quick and painless death.

From Li Ce's perspective, understanding the enemy's mental journey and thoughts is quite important.

After all, through these, you can predict the actions the other party might take next.

In response to the enemy's actions, the frontline personnel did not rush to engage in tactical discussions.

They had already discussed the grand strategy for dealing with the goblin army in detail before, and discussing it again now wouldn't yield any new insights.

The most important thing right now is to confirm the size and configuration of the opposing goblin army.

Even if we want to discuss tactics, we have to wait until we have confirmed the detailed intelligence.

Knowing this, Wei Qing immediately dispatched a reconnaissance team to confirm the detailed intelligence after receiving news that the Goblin Kingdom had sent a large army to fight.

The reconnaissance force consists of two parts: one part is the giant eagle riders in the air, and the other part is the gnoll scouts on the ground.

Under normal circumstances, the Giant Eagle Rider would not be able to perform long-distance missions like this.

Because the giant eagles have limited physical strength, and the giant eagle riders cannot carry too many supplies, this greatly restricts their range of activities.

But things are different now.

Since the battle against the goblin kingdom began, Wei Qing, as the frontline commander, has been busy. For the past year and a half, he has been directing reconnaissance troops to conduct in-depth explorations of the outer desert.

They were quite lucky; about six months ago, they discovered a small oasis in a relatively remote location. The oasis was small, and when it was crowded, it could probably only hold a team of about a hundred people.

As a base, its size was simply insufficient; it could only be used as an outpost.

Fortunately, all they needed was an outpost as a place to rest and resupply in the desert.

After being occupied by their Great Zhou, they immediately carried out some simple modifications to this oasis and dug an underground storage room to store supplies.

In this way, the giant eagle riders can rest here and replenish their supplies, thus greatly extending their range of movement.

In contrast, the gnolls don't need to go through so much trouble.

Back when they were recruited at the border of the Goblin Kingdom, they managed to carry their way to the border of the Great Zhou Dynasty, even under those conditions.

Now they are all strong and healthy, with enough nutrition and supplies, so they can easily cross the desert. This is a major advantage of the gnolls.

As the main force advanced, their movements became increasingly difficult to conceal, especially in the desert where there was virtually no cover.

On the new day, from a great distance, the giant eagle riders flying in the air spotted their 'old friends'—several goblin airships that were on a path-clearing mission.

This time, the goblin army seems to have really come out in full force. Unlike the previous situation where only one goblin airship was deployed, there are now a full eight airships clearing the way!
At present, air forces already possess a huge advantage, and can even be invincible when facing forces that do not have air units.

With a full eight airships, it's not something any random force can easily provoke. Judging from this display, it belongs to a genuine military power.

Unfortunately, they encountered the Great Zhou, which also possessed air forces and could perfectly counter airships.

This time, all I can say is that the Goblin Kingdom had terrible luck.

They could crash those eight goblin airships right now if they wanted to.

However, this mission was mainly for reconnaissance. Without orders from above, the Giant Eagle Knights dared not act rashly or alert the enemy.

The eight goblin airships have now spread out in formation, greatly increasing the goblins' reconnaissance area.

In order to avoid being detected by the goblin forces, the giant eagle riders quickly increased their flight altitude, flying over the reconnaissance area of ​​the goblin airships in an attempt to pinpoint the location of the main goblin ground force.

The whole process went very smoothly, and the large goblin army that had formed quickly came into their view.

The giant eagle riders carried limited supplies, and even with a supply point set up along the way for them to rest and resupply, their mission was still carried out with great difficulty.

After all, the giant eagle riders don't have the survival skills of the gnolls. Once their resources run out, they will face a life-or-death situation in the desert.

Now that they had successfully located the goblin army, the giant eagle riders all breathed a sigh of relief.

After quickly confirming the size and configuration of the enemy's main force, they couldn't wait to return and report the situation.

As for the ongoing surveillance, that task mainly falls to the gnoll scouts.

(End of this chapter)