The progress of the cleanup was slower than Xu Lai imagined.
The demons indeed deployed a large number of ambushes in Ashenvale, but ambushes are only effective if the enemy does not know about them.
Brandy and Eric originally went to hunt down these ambush soldiers.
They had already expected the ambush and had made arrangements for the soldiers, so naturally they would not be really frightened.
Even if they were really frightened and caused chaos for a period of time, after all, they had too many advantages in terms of numbers and attributes, and there was nothing to be afraid of.
The main trouble lies in the terrain modified by the devil and the traps that are triggered from time to time.
The complex terrain and the magma flowing everywhere made the troops advance extremely slowly.
But fortunately, Xu Lai has intermediate pathfinding skills, and most of the difficulties on the terrain have been offset.
In most cases, Xu Lai's intermediate pathfinding skills are sufficient, and he has no intention of going on an expedition to hell or to a swamp.
If the intermediate pathfinding technique could be upgraded to advanced level earlier, the impact of lava terrain on the troops could be completely eliminated.
In addition to the effects of terrain, there are also traps, whether natural or set by demons.
Coupled with the constant harassment from ambushes, it is understandable that the advancement speed is not ideal.
After all, the Qingfeng Legion is composed of new recruits and lacks experience and training.
Not to mention arriving at the camp first, there is almost no organization and discipline, and a lot of time is needed for training such as formation.
The fishmen and the Naga Guards can be regarded as regular troops, but after all, they have been in the sea for a long time and are actually very unfamiliar with land.
But at this time, Xu Lai couldn't leave yet and had to sit here.
Without him in charge, without defense skills, path-finding skills and resistance, he was really worried about clearing the hillsides on both sides.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long. Good news came from Reina. The main force of the Qingfeng Legion also advanced into the Pafix Plains.
Excluding the logistics troops led by Wang Chao, it is expected that Reina will be able to join him within a week.
When the time comes, Xu Lai will be able to leave the Valley of Ashes to Reina, and he will run back to Qingfeng City to see the pregnant woman at home.
A week later, Jian Yuan took the lead in completing the cleanup task and cleared away nine spell traps in the valley.
Soon after, the main force of the Qingfeng Legion led by Reina arrived at Little Gray Castle one day later than expected and stationed themselves outside Little Gray Castle.
Originally, she was supposed to arrive a day early, but the devil suddenly sent out a large number of wing demons, intending to attack Wang Chao's logistics army.
Fortunately, Lena did not throw away the logistics troops and kept them within her attack range at all times.
Let Yan Feng lead the cavalry to intercept, while she led the main force to return reinforcements.
The Winged Demon's combat effectiveness is actually not high. Wang Chao and his logistics team, who followed Reina and Xu Lai in their expeditions to the north and south, are already at a high level.
This army, compared to others, can already reach the level of the main force.
However, they were mainly responsible for transportation and did not wear weapons and equipment, so they were damaged in the hasty attack.
Including Leina's attack on other places, because time is tight and the task is heavy, damage and sacrifice are inevitable.
Originally, Xu Lai planned to leave after Reina arrived.
But the Qingfeng Legion has been fighting for so long, and Reina's side is not as relaxed as Xu Lai's side.
The Qingfeng Legion is mainly infantry. Although it has fleet support and helps with transportation, after all, the logistics cannot be provided directly by Qingfeng City.
Basically, Rena and the Qingfeng Legion have not stopped running for a day in the past two months, and there is even a record of two battles in one day.
Due to emotion and reason, Xu Lai cannot be a hands-off shopkeeper at this time.
He first ordered the entire Qingfeng Army to rest for three days, and then gave the room he had personally cleaned in Little Gray Castle to Rena.
Elvi, Yu Lan, and even Anna were all ordered out by him.
It is impossible to bring servants with you when you go out to fight. The only person around you who can be used is Roland.
It was idle anyway, so Xu Lai took matters into his own hands and cleaned out a few rooms.
These rooms have been occupied by demons. If they are not cleaned properly, they will be uninhabitable.
Although Leina knew clearly that Xu Lai was selling favors, she had no choice but to do it.
She had been imprisoned by Moriel for decades, but the elves only searched extensively for her at the beginning, and then there was no news about her.
But when she came here in Xu, she was treated with great courtesy and trust from the moment she came out to pledge her allegiance.
Xu Lai was able to hand over the ultimate treasure to a stranger he had just met.
And handed over all the main legions to her without saying a word.
And, except for strategic needs, Xu Lai never interfered with her control of the Qingfeng Legion.
Although the elves do not insist on soldiers dying for their confidants, when Xu Lai came here, Reina really didn't know how she could repay him other than working for Xu Lai.
In addition to giving the best room to Reina, Xu Lai also took Roland and the others to the army in person with the food and wine prepared in Qingfeng City.
Xu Lai has issued large-scale bounties several times.
These big-headed soldiers have also eaten the dragon meat that is hard to find, and the wives and children at home have also been settled well.
Therefore, despite running and fighting continuously for more than a month, no one would complain after seeing Xu Lai.
Xu Lai held the sergeants' hands cordially, handed them a bowl of wine, and said softly, "Thank you for your hard work."
No matter how tough and tenacious the veteran is, he bleeds and sheds no tears, but he still has to choke and look up to the sky.
Xu Lai knew he was putting on a show, even the soldiers knew it.
But you know, you know, the empire has ruled for nearly a thousand years. Have you ever seen a king who would fight with the soldiers and toast ordinary soldiers?
Not to mention the king, even the nobles in the territory have always looked down on them from above.
If Xu Lai is willing to condescend and despise them, they will be willing to sacrifice their lives for Xu Lai.
The morale lost from the hard work of running around for days gradually increased with Xu Lai's hard work, until it returned to full value again, or even exceeded it.
Xu Lai spent three days working on this.
In the past three days, Brandy and Eric failed to completely clear the slopes on both sides.
After all, the Ash Valley stretches for thousands of miles, and is bordered by countless mountains. If you want to clear out every inch of the hillside, you won't be able to do it for a few more years.
However, they have cleared a safe passage that can lead directly to Graycastle.
This is enough.
Xu Lai originally wanted to leave the matter of attacking Gray Castle to Reina and let her and the Qingfeng Legion rest for two more days before setting off.
But just when Xu Lai was recharging his energy and planning to fly back when his stamina was full, Crimson Bishop Duer sent the latest battle report from Lion Heart City.
Lionheart City has been besieged for several months. Xu Lai has been fighting in the Western Empire for as long as Kerrigan has been fighting in Lionheart City.
Relying on the hell demons constantly summoned by the Gate of Hell, almost all the catapult ammunition and archer's arrows in Lionheart City were consumed.
Although the food reserves are still sufficient, they ran out of ammunition a week ago, leaving the devil to bombard Lionheart City indiscriminately. The commander of Lionheart City at the time, Duke Loisen, was not willing to sit back and wait for death, and led the most elite Royal Knights in the imperial capital to launch a charge against the devil.
Specific battles and detailed battle reports cannot be transmitted through magic communication.
Anyway, what Xu Lai got was the entire Royal Knights, more than 50,000 serious level 6 knights, plus 5,000 level 7 knights, heroic knights, and commander Loisen. All lost in one battle.
By the next day, the walls of Lionheart City were completely lost.
Hundreds of advanced arrow towers, spell towers, and turrets were all bulldozed.
Under the cover of the Angel Legion, some nobles and troops withdrew into the City of Holy Angels, the city within the city.
Although the City of Holy Angel is known as a city within a city, it is not a real city after all.
Successive emperors could tolerate the construction of city walls in Holy Angel City, but they could not tolerate the construction of high-end arrow towers in Holy Angel City. At most, there were only a few watchtowers.
But fortunately, the priests had a strong restraint effect on the demons, and coupled with the desperate charge of Loisen and the Royal Knights, the demons suffered considerable losses.
Krigan did not attack the City of Holy Angels with all his strength for the time being. Instead, he personally led the demons to attack the palace of High King Aled.
Durr told Xu Lai that once Kerrigan completely captured Lionheart City, he would find the heart of the castle in Lionheart City.
With the million-level population in Lionheart City, it can be completely transformed into a demon city in three to five days at most.
At that time, if another castle gate is built, the demon's armies can flow to each other at any time in large hell cities such as Lionheart City and Bristone.
There is no doubt that if Xu Lai failed to capture Bridstone before that, he would probably face Kerrigan directly.
Caught off guard in the decisive battle, of course Xu Lai cannot completely leave it to Reina.
Before attacking Bristone, they still had to overcome the difficulty of Graycastle.
Kerrigan has already broken through Lionheart City and captured the Royal Palace and Holy Angel City, which is only a matter of time.
And even if Kerrigan cannot take Holy Angel City for the time being, it is not difficult to take Lionheart City.
Because no king would bury the vital heart of the castle in someone else's home.
The reason why Kerrigan was eager to attack the palace was because he believed that the heart of Lionheart City's castle was buried under the palace.
With the number of demons, it won’t take long to capture the palace and dig three feet into the ground.
In other words, there is not much time left for Xu Lai, unless he gives up the Western Empire.
Xu Lai cannot guess in which direction Kerrigan will expand after taking over Lionheart City.
In theory, it was more profitable to go to the Northern Empire, and the Western Empire didn't even have much population left.
The problem is, Xu Lai has such a big grudge against others, and it is impossible to expect them not to retaliate.
Since we have to face it sooner or later, it must be that our side has the advantage and a favorable position.
No matter what else, even if it is too late to take down Bristone, guard the Ashen Valley, and attack Bristone's bridgehead, we must win it.
At the moment, Xu Lai did not dare to let the Qingfeng Regiment rest any longer. Instead, he directly ordered the two Qingfeng Regiments to return to their positions and put them all under Reina's command.
Looking at the maps of Ashen Valley and Gray Castle drawn by Brandy and others in the Jian Yuan Dynasty, the terrain on the left side of Ashen Valley is relatively flat, and larger troops can be deployed.
Therefore, the left side of the Gray Valley is handed over to Reina and the Qingfeng Legion, who will become the main attacking force in this battle.
At the same time, Anna will lead all the priests and priests to support the Qingfeng Legion.
The hillside on the right side of Ash Valley is high and steep, and directly borders the city wall of Gray Castle.
In this part, Xu Lai left it to Eric and Emilia to create opportunities for the feint attack troops and the main attacking Qingfeng Legion.
Xu Lai led the knight corps and the logistics trebuchet troops to launch an attack from the front, which was also a feint attack force.
He no longer expected to be able to rely on catapults to slowly blast away Graycastle.
If time does not wait for us, we can only give it a go and no longer worry about casualties, except for the Angel Legion.
With two assistants and one leader, the pressure on Reina is not ordinary.
However, she only glanced at Xu Lai lightly and firmly agreed to the job.
After capturing Gray Castle, Xu Lai and the others can go straight to Huanglong and attack Cregan's home base of Bristone.
As long as they can surround Bridgestone faster than Kerrigan expected.
Then, even if Kerrigan also possesses the gate of time and space, he still cannot return.
When the time comes, Kerrigan will have no choice but to bring troops to help.
No matter Xu Lai wants to capture Bristone, completely destroy the Gate of the Abyss, and eliminate the demon's reinforcements.
Xu Lai will decide whether to surround the point for reinforcements or to set up an ambush to eat Kerrigan's main force.
The initiative in the war returned to Xu Lai's hands.
Even if that doesn't work, he can still retreat to Graycastle, not without any escape route.
The great movements of the human army naturally cannot be hidden from the eyes of the devil.
Although Brandy and the others have cleaned up several times, it is still impossible to leave everyone behind.
Reina led the Qingfeng Legion, a total of hundreds of thousands of mid- to high-level troops, and rushed towards Gray Castle.
No need to guess, any demon who is not blind will know what this army is going to do.
But after knowing the number of human troops, the garrison heroes of Graycastle were not panicked.
He knew very well the terrain of Graycastle, and no matter how many human troops there were, they would not be able to expand.
Although he is not as good as Ferris in terms of city defense, he still possesses ultimate ballistics.
Graycastle's city defense equipment can exert exponential power in his hands.
The hillsides on both sides are difficult to navigate, and there is lava everywhere. Even with the blessing of Xu Lai's speed talent, the speed is still not fast.
On the contrary, Xu Lai and the others, who were walking from the valley, were still the first troops to reach the gate of Graycastle even though they were dragging a heavy catapult.
Only listening to the reports from his subordinates, Xu Lai didn’t know much.
Until he saw with his own eyes this behemoth that rose more than 20 meters in height, he couldn't help but feel a sense of despair in his heart.
With a whoosh, a huge crossbow arrow suddenly shot out from the city wall and headed straight for Xu Lai.
Xu Lai frowned. At this range, even with the blessing of ballistics, it would not be very powerful.
Sure enough, Roland just knocked lightly with his arm shield, and the terrifying crossbow arrow was knocked away.
However, this crossbow arrow was not originally used to kill Xu Lai, but to attack the morale of the human troops.
Ultimate ballistics, plus the only magical ballista with ultra-long range enchantment.
Coupled with the towering city walls built by human craftsmen over several years, this could give Xu Lai a wake-up call within the terrifying range of several kilometers away. (End of this chapter)