As soon as he finished speaking, Su Lie's voice rang out over the communicator: "Shut up, old man. Do you think I don't want to inform you? After Lin Yuanwu mobilized for war, he took control of the communications in the fortress. Except for their military's dedicated channel, all other channels were blocked."
Chu Yan was stunned for a moment: "Then where are you now?"
"Of course, we were outside the city. After Duan Guanshan was imprisoned, I was worried that Lin Yuanwu would target the Duan family and show his displeasure to other families, so I brought Duan Guanshan's children out. I escorted them for a while, and when we reached the territory of Qingtian Fort, I let them go to Qingtian Fort on their own. They could go to the Yun family for help."
Hearing Su Lie say this, the old commander shouted: "What do you mean, you don't plan to come back?"
"Why should I go back? Lin Yuanwu suddenly wants to start a war. It must be instigated by Yuan Shu. That old guy Yuan Shu might still be hiding in the city. I want to find that old guy and not go back." Su Lie answered on the communicator.
Chu Yan walked to the window, shook his head and said, "But there are only a few top fighters left in our Sky Fort. Yuan Shu is gone, Fei Mei is gone too, and now the only ones who can be used by the fortress military are an old man like me and Cao Gang."
There was silence for a moment in the communicator, and then Su Lie's voice continued: "Isn't there still the old man from the Yun family? I heard that he is very strong now. With him in the fortress, what are you worried about?"
Chu Yan said: "Yun Hai is indeed very strong. Back in the 'Netherworld Secret Realm', he single-handedly stopped the Black People's army. But he is not a member of the military after all. We cannot order him around. Whether he takes action depends on his own will."
“Let’s take a step back and say that even if Yun Hai takes action, it won’t be a good thing for the fortress. The power of the family is too strong, and the branches and leaves overwhelm the trunk. If the priorities are reversed, it will easily cause trouble.”
Su Lie laughed into the communicator and said, "What can I change if I go back, old man? I am a person who cannot stand the light of day. If my identity is exposed, the War Church will definitely intervene, and then even the fortress will be implicated."
Chu Yan snorted and said, "Things are different now. It's not as easy for the Church of War to interfere in our affairs as it was seventeen years ago."
Su Lie reminded him, "Don't forget, the Golden Council is also paying attention to Skyfort, especially at this moment when Yuan Shu has not been caught yet. If they knew that a guy who has been in the Reverse Realm for 17 years has now come back, do you think the Golden Council will just ignore it?"
"If the Golden Council intervenes, the pressure will only be greater than that of the Church of War. So, old man, I can't go back. Going back will only make things worse, but I can do what I can, such as finding Yuan Shu and beating him up before handing him over to you to deal with."
Chu Yan frowned: "This..."
"Don't be so fussy, old man. You were not like this before. Let's put it this way. If you are really in trouble, I will help you secretly, but I can't appear in the sun. This is not only for the sake of the fortress, but I also have to think about my son. Don't you agree?"
Chu Yan snorted, "Alright, alright, I'll listen to you, okay? You just want to be lazy, you've always been like this, all the shameful things are just excuses!"
"It's pitiful that a person of my age still has to work so hard all day long. You young people don't know how to share the burden. I'm working so hard!"
After complaining for a few words, Chu Yan ended the call and threw the communicator back into the drawer. The old man used his mechanical arm to touch his hair: "From the perspective of time, it has been several months since Lin Yuanwu launched the war mobilization.
It was days ago, this should be after the border conflict. "
"What on earth is this old guy Lin Yuanwu thinking? It was just a fight, but he wants to use it as an excuse to start a war? Moreover, in that conflict, it was our people who were injured. Damn it, is this old guy crazy?"
"No matter whether Lin Yuanwu is crazy or not, Su Lie just said that after Jingtao Fort launched the war mobilization, all communication channels except the military channel were blocked. Why did he block the communication? Is he afraid of information leaking?"
"Could it be..."
"Has Jingtao Castle already started to take action?"
Chu Yan took a deep breath, called his secretary, and ordered: "Have the heads of all the outposts in the border area contact me immediately. I want them to report to me in person in 10 minutes."
"Also, notify the Storm Legion and have them assemble and advance towards Fort Storm and station themselves at the main traffic routes."
"Also, ask Cao Gang to come see me as soon as possible."
After that, Chu Yan, in his capacity as the Night Walker Commander, issued an assembly order to the Night Walker Headquarters, asking the Night Walkers still in the Reverse Realm to rush back immediately. As for those in Skyfort, they needed to be on standby 24 hours a day.
After doing all this, Chu Yan leaned on the windowsill with both hands, feeling the warmth of the sun falling on his body, and sighed softly: "I hope I am just worrying too much, and I hope that old guy Lin Yuanwu won't mess around."
... ... ... ..
Castle of Storms.
In the city lord's office, Lin Yuanwu put his hands behind his back and looked at the map projected on the wall. On the map, you can see some arrows distributed on the border area of Qingtian Fort, and each arrow represents a troop.
Now, the army of Castle Jingtao is breaking up into small groups and quietly invading Castle Qingtian from different areas.
Currently, almost all of Qingtian Fort's border outposts are in a paralyzed state. Lin Yuanwu believes that Qingtian Fort will discover the problem soon, but as long as he can buy a day or two, when Qingtian Fort finds out something is wrong, Jingtao Fort's troops will have been delivered under the enemy's nose.
By then, when the army has completed its assembly, it will be able to catch Skyfort off guard.
In addition, Lin Yuanwu also deployed a naval fleet. When the war on land breaks out, this fleet will launch an attack from the sea, assaulting the rear of Skyfort, making the enemy vulnerable to attack from both front and back.
Footsteps sounded behind Lin Yuanwu. The Lord of Jingtao Castle turned his head slightly and saw that it was his son Lin Canghai. He smiled and said, "Canghai, you will be the commander of Crazy Shark at that time."
He pointed to the sea on the map and said, "Once we have attracted the firepower of the Skyfort on land, you will take the Crazy Shark to launch an attack from the sea and catch the Skyfort off guard."
Lin Canghai nodded, and then said: "Father, I just went to the Duan family. Duanxue and Duanlang have already left the city secretly."
Lin Yuanwu was not surprised at all and laughed: "They are quite smart. They knew that my father was imprisoned. I wanted to use them as a sacrifice, so they packed up and left the city early."
"But they probably didn't expect that I had already arranged people to wait for them on the road. If they wanted to go to the Skyfort, they would be sending themselves into an irretrievable situation."
Lin Canghai frowned slightly and said, "Father, since you have already predicted that the Duan brothers would escape, why didn't you set an ambush outside the city gate?"
Lin Yuanwu said calmly: "Firstly, I don't want to force the Duan family to fight to the death with us; secondly, this is to give the Duan family a chance to choose."
"As long as they don't go to Skyfort to tip off, there is no place in the world that they don't have a place to stay. I won't bother with these two youngsters, but if they don't know what's good for them, don't blame me for being ruthless."
After listening to this, Lin Canghai said softly, "So that's how it is."
Lin Yuanwu turned around and asked: "What do the people from other families say?"
Lin Canghai shook his head and said, "Except for the Li family and the Zhao family, the other families are still waiting and watching."
"Wait and see?"
Lin Yuanwu sneered: "I imprisoned Duan Guanshan just to let them know Lin's determination and let them see the consequences of going against me."
"They are still watching at this time. It seems that Mr. Lin's methods are still too gentle."
Lin Yuanwu waved his hand and said, "Pass on my order. Ask the people of the major families to follow the instructions I issued the day before yesterday. Ask them to contribute money, effort and manpower. If they fail to meet the requirements, their family heads will be held accountable."
"Imprisonment at the least and execution at the worst. No leniency!"
Lin Canghai's eyes changed, and he said softly: "Father, isn't this too much?"
"Pass?" Lin Yuanwu laughed. "For all these years, I have been swallowing my anger and giving in whenever I can in order to maintain peace in the fortress."
"Now, let those guys see the ferocious methods of me, Lin. Besides, the war is urgent, so there is no room for them to bargain."
"They have also received a lot of benefits from the Fortress over the years. Now, it is time for them to give back to the Fortress."
Lin Yuanwu glanced at his son and said, "Canghai, you must remember that a person must be able to bend and stretch. You must be able to give in when you should, and be strong when you should be strong. You must follow the trend and stand firm according to the trend."
Lin Canghai bowed slightly: "Canghai is grateful for your advice."
Lin Yuanwu then nodded slightly and waved his hand, saying, "Go, tell those old guys that they can't just sit there and watch this mess!"
A day passed like this.
Although it was only one day, the troops from Jingtao Castle that infiltrated the enemy area had already crossed the border area and were pressing towards the center of Qingtian Castle's territory.
The bay area is mostly plains with endless wilderness, and the coastline road connecting several nearby forts is unobstructed.
If they didn't camouflage, the troops of Jingtao Fort would be immediately discovered in this flat terrain.
In order to cover up, the troops that infiltrated the Skyfort territory took great pains.
They disguised themselves as caravans or refugees, trying their best to hide their tracks.
According to the intelligence obtained by Jingtao Fort, the Storm Troops responsible for the security of the fortress's territory are scattered all over the place. This was confirmed yesterday.
The teams from Jingtao Fort advanced hundreds of miles without encountering any obstruction or the Storm Army.
It was morning when a Jingtao Fort troop, disguised as a caravan, was advancing along the coastal highway. Their caravan was indeed carrying Jingtao Fort's specialty products.
But hidden underneath those goods were various controlled firearms and weapons, which they had to secretly deliver to the assembly point.
It was almost noon, and suddenly, the commander in the front car saw a roadblock on the road in the distance, and vaguely saw the shadows of a row of tanks.
The commander's heart skipped a beat. He took out his electronic board and looked through the intelligence, but he could not find any information that the Storm Army was stationed in this place.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over his heart...