1895 Planning Far Ahead
“Times change, and people change.”

Meng Chao smiled. “When the Holy Light faction and Chaos faction first started fighting, the Baroque Territory was still sandwiched between the four territories that were directly under the Holy Light Temple. The Duke of Raging Lions’ strength was far from enough to challenge the temple’s authority. If he showed any signs of rebellion, the Holy Light Temple could easily kill him. After that, they could just find ten successors from his family who were more loyal than him.

“When that happened, the Duke of Raging Lions could just bravely advance, face death unflinchingly, and exchange absolute loyalty for the Holy Light Temple’s trust and support.

“But now, as we advance triumphantly on the battlefield, both the Holy Light Temple’s own strength and the pious vassals who are absolutely loyal to the temple are decreasing. Even if we have to fight to the death, they will die with the temple.
“The Duke of Raging Lions relied on his strength, luck, and my intentional indulgence to gradually become one of the strongest factions under the Holy Light.

“How can his ambition, which has been lurking for a long time, not surface?

“I see!”

The disciples of Battle God Palace came to a sudden realization.

The young man named Shaoyu contemplated for a moment and said, “We clearly created opportunities to severely injure the Raging Lion Legion several times, but you asked us to pass them by, Palace Master. At that time, many people didn’t understand your operation. It turns out that you were deliberately trying to create a rebellious and ambitious warlord in the Holy Light faction!”

“That’s right. Don’t think that there is only factional estrangement and conflicts of interest in the Chaos faction. The Holy Light faction is a pious hotbed of conflict.”

Meng Chao sneered, “There are all kinds of complicated clashes between the temple priests and the mages, between the Holy Light humans, the elves, and the dwarfs, as well as between the mages and the lords. They are as many as the hairs on an ox, and they haven’t been resolved even after tens of millions of years!”

“However, in the past, the Turan orcs never paid attention to strategy or rules. When they arrived in the era of glory, they rushed to the Land of Holy Light like a flood and destroyed everything they saw. They were unreasonable, and there was no room for negotiation or compromise.

“Such irrational killing caused the various interest groups within the Holy Light faction to temporarily put aside their conflicts and work together to face their enemy.

“After they repelled the attacks of the Turan orcs, the Holy Light faction suffered countless casualties. This freed up a large amount of land, titles, and other resources. Hence, their internal conflicts had more room to shift.

“In a sense, the Turan orcs not only played the role of ‘destructors,’ but also the role of ‘buffers.’ This is probably one of the reasons why the Turan orcs still lost in the wars during the past ten thousand years. They had unparalleled steel bones and totem armor that could change forms at will and store their battle experience, yet they failed.

“Ever since the war in the Other World broke out, we’ve formed an unprecedented alliance with the tribes living on the edge of the Other World and launched an unprecedented offensive. This is especially so after the Chaos faction’s establishment. What I’m most worried about is not tactical or even strategic failure, but victory, unparalleled victory.

“The reason is simple. The Holy Light faction has ruled the Other World for ten thousand years after all. They have deep roots and are definitely not something that can be completely destroyed in just a few years with a few great victories.

“At the beginning of the war, the gains and losses of a city or a land, or even the death and survival of several hundred thousand soldiers, cannot determine the final victory or defeat.

“If we beat the Holy Light faction until they’re in pain and miserable at the beginning of the war, it will trigger the great fear that has been lurking in their hearts for ten thousand years. As such, they’ll completely abandon their internal conflicts and unite as one to fight against a common enemy. The war that follows will be ten times harder. Even if we tragically win, it will take decades or even centuries to clean up the mess.

“That’s why, when the war just broke out and our army won one victory after another, I ordered the flood of steel in Dragon City to slow down and even stop their attack on many battlefronts. Instead, I asked them to invest a lot of resources into Dragon City’s construction. It was to make the enemy believe that although I was ambitious, I had no intention of annexing the world. Thus, internal conflict might erupt among our enemies.”

The young man named Shaoyu had a great look of reverence in his eyes. “So there’s such a grand scheme behind the decision to build Dragon City. You are far-sighted, Palace Master. I’m afraid we won’t be able to gain even one percent of your knowledge even if we learn from you for another hundred years!”

Meng Chao smiled faintly. He placed his hands behind his back and stepped into the air. Then, he slowly walked into the courtyard that had a height of five hundred meters.

He did not fly down but hovered all the way. Soon, he arrived at the crystal dome at the highest point of Superstar Company’s headquarters.

The many disciples of Battle God Palace, including Shaoyu, followed him closely.

The seemingly flawless crystal dome above everyone’s head cracked open layer by layer. As it blossomed like a crystal flower, it revealed the starry sky.

There was a huge but complex tarmac area on the headquarters’ top floor. It could hold almost a hundred aircrafts of different sizes at the same time. On top of that, they could load and unload the armored airships that numbered in two digits there, as well as perform simple maintenance work.

After half a day’s modification, they could even anchor a sky fortress like the Golden Roc half a century ago.

The usually crowded and endless parking was unusually quiet today.

A bulky, old-fashioned armored cargo airship was slowly entering the harbor in the air route nearby before the gazes of Battle God Palace’s disciples and the Broken Star Club’s members.

The passengers on this armored airship were from the Land of Holy Light’s Baroque Territory. They were part of a secret envoy that represented the Duke of Raging Lions.

In the future that Meng Chao had carefully designed, they would act as daggers dipped in poison and deliver a fatal blow to the Holy Light faction. This would influence their victory or defeat.

The pilot waved a staff of spirit light on the tarmac with familiarity and sent out complicated instructions with the afterimages of spirit energy.

Right then, a “fathead” slowly entered the harbor. It deactivated its optical camouflage, which revealed its clumsy, old appearance.

However, it was replaced by the ferocity of a tiger shark and the swiftness of a swordfish. Not only was it equipped with a new type of intelligent liquid metal armor, but it was also equipped with six jet crystal engines. Not only could it break the speed of sound in five seconds, but it could also sail silently for a long time and even become invisible, carrying out stealth, infiltration, and reconnaissance missions. It had a sharp and elegant design.