Chapter 49 Plane Situation
According to the instructor's instructions, the first step of advent is various preliminary preparations, which can be omitted.
You can go directly to the second step, reconnaissance of the alternate dimension.
Because of the particularity of the plane, no matter what the resources of the plane are, whether it is suitable or not, you have to go through it. The first stage is skipped and you can go directly to the base establishment stage.
Li Qing plans to establish a temporary base here.
The main base will definitely not be placed here, but this location is very suitable for landing and leaving. A temporary base can be established here, and used as a foundation to scout around until a suitable place to expand the divine domain is found.
This will take at least one month. If you are slow or unlucky, it may take two or three months. A temporary base is still necessary.
After the gate to the divine realm was opened, a large number of laborers were mobilized to start cutting grass and wood.
The edge of the plane was affected by the edge void, the grass and trees were sparse and not tall, and a large area was quickly cleared.
But it took almost two days to clear out a large enough open space far enough from the edge of the plane.
Li Qing was not idle during the past two days. Accompanied by Long Shou, he observed the terrain back and forth and found a suitable place to build a base seven or eight hundred meters away from the edge of the plane, above the right side of the large river valley that was more than one kilometer wide.
The place is close to the edge of the valley and the terrain is flat. On the left and west side of the valley is a steep cliff with a slope of more than 40 meters.
Although it is uneven with two places where you can climb, it is not a big problem. After a little trimming, it will become a cliff.
Then they cut down all the trees above the valley to clear a space and began digging the foundation.
This base is very simple and does not even require stone walls. Instead, it is a wall made of thick, high-density solid wood pillars and thick wooden boards. It is only three meters wide and five meters high.
The foundation is dug, the wooden walls are buried, and the soil is filled in, and it's done.
The completed base is rectangular, 30 meters long from north to south and 20 meters wide from east to west near the edge of the valley.
There is only one gate on the east and south sides close to the edge of the plane, and then six slightly modified arrow towers are prepared, four of which are placed at the four corners, and the two extra ones are placed on both sides of the east gate.
Then some wooden houses were built in a row on the west side of the base. In addition, there were soldier caves and excavated space inside the arrow tower, which could be used as a barracks and store a large amount of supplies.
Li Qing named this newly built outpost the outpost base and immediately ordered the troops to move in after its completion.
A fire was lit on each of the six arrow towers, and in the center there was a large fire pit with a huge bonfire inside that illuminated the small outpost.
With the protection of the wall and the warmth of the flames, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and the sense of urgency disappeared instantly.
Only when you are safe can you have time to think about other things.
In the private room, Li Qing stood in front of the desk with a simple topographic map in front of him.
This is a topographic map of this large plane with their base as the center, the river valley and a radius of ten kilometers to the east. It was scouted by three stalkers over the past few days.
The topographic map roughly depicts the terrain of the winding river valley, as well as the surrounding general terrain, including forests, mountains, rivers, etc. are marked.
Li Qing's eyes fell on three places marked with skulls. Those were the locations of the three alien races' gathering places that they had detected.
One is a large tribe of murlocs gathered in a large lake where many rivers converge at the bottom of a large river valley nine kilometers away in the north. The other is also in the north, about five kilometers away, a tribe of forest trolls gathered in the forest above the river valley.
The third one is located about nine kilometers to the east. There, in the lush jungle, there is a forest mountain range consisting of several hills of one or two hundred meters, where a group of human-faced bird monsters live.
The harpy is one of the harpies' close relatives. Unlike the harpies who mostly live in dangerous mountains, the harpies live in forests and are a humanoid species slightly larger than humans.
It can fly and is very agile. Its main attack method is to use its sharp claws to pounce on the enemy.
Only a small number of highly intelligent bird-like creatures can use weapons and sing ecstasy songs. Similar to sirens, they can charm other creatures, but their power is not as strong as that of sirens. If the willpower is high enough, it is easy to force an exemption, or they can wake up through the exemption after suffering a certain amount of damage.
The location where Li Qing landed was the direction corresponding to the plane where his mentor was. Except for a few apprentices, no other mentors and apprentices came for the time being, so these alien tribes had not been disturbed by them.
If there were any good things in these alien tribes, they must still be there.
Li Qing tapped the desk lightly with his fingers, flexed his knuckles and slid them back and forth on the map, and finally landed on the forest troll tribe and tapped lightly.
There is no choice but to choose this.
First of all, the harpies in the east are all flying units, so they will be at a disadvantage in a fight.
The murloc tribe in the lower reaches of the valley is too far away and too large. Preliminary reconnaissance suggests that the number could be over ten thousand. That large lake alone is dozens of square kilometers, plus there are several rivers around it, so it's no problem for tens of thousands of murlocs to survive.
In addition, the fish-man can swim, so it is difficult to catch him once he hides in the river.
Among the three targets, only the forest trolls are easy to deal with.
But one thing is certain, after defeating the trolls, we still have to deal with the murlocs.
Such a big lake is surrounded by flat river beaches and valleys, which is really suitable for farming. It is a great place to build a base.
With a target in mind, three stalkers were sent north along the edge to begin a comprehensive investigation of the situation of the forest troll tribe.
At the same time, Li Qing was not idle either. He began to calm down and prepare siege weapons.
During the previous rough reconnaissance, it was discovered that the forest trolls had their own tribe, built along the river, and were even larger than the previous gnolls. In particular, the logs were extremely thick and difficult to break open even with a catapult.
He had to modify the trebuchet to make it more efficient.
After flipping through the design drawings of several catapults several times, Li Qing already had an idea.
It was not a new design. He had bought standard design drawings before, which included some formulas for special alloy steels, including a special steel that could be used to make alloy crossbows.
Also known as spring steel, it is a special alloy spring steel with extremely high yield strength-to-yield ratio, high elastic limit, and metal fatigue resistance. Some of them will also have various heat resistance, corrosion resistance, and other effects added as needed.
It is generally used to make alloy springs, and can also be used to make alloy bows and crossbows.
Li Qing has the materials for synthetic spring steel and can rub it out by hand.
The essence of smelting alloys is to rearrange elements through technological means, so as to forge alloys with various properties. The space in the palm of the hand can decompose the materials into the most basic particle state, and then arrange and synthesize alloys according to his will. It is essentially the same as a furnace, but more sophisticated.
When the materials in the right proportion are broken down into molecules, they are evenly blended together.
After repeated attempts and adjustments, Li Qing successfully put together an alloy column that could be used to make the arm of a giant counterweight trebuchet.
With the same diameter and size, its endurance is more than ten times that of wood, which means it can withstand greater weight, and the stones it can project are heavier and have a longer range.
Then, according to the formula, a frame of a giant counterweight catapult was made using high-strength alloy, and then equipped with four detachable wheels.
Now comes the key point. The design of the counterweight catapult he purchased used the gear lever principle to lift the counterweight hammer. The rotation of multiple gears brought greater force, and dozens of tons of counterweight iron could be raised again with only two of his men.
It is easy to make the frame, just copy the design.
In less than ten minutes, a complete giant counterweight trebuchet was successfully built in one piece.
Then I followed the same method and made another one.
It’s not that we don’t want to build more, it’s mainly because steel is limited.
After making these two, Li Qing took out a crossbow cart design drawing and looked at it.
The crossbow is extremely powerful and is specifically used to snipe and kill large creatures.
There must be powerful monsters in this plane. Indigenous alien races like this one like to raise powerful creatures.
For example, kobolds and gnolls like to raise dire badgers, some like to raise ogres, orcs like to raise wargs, murlocs like to raise various large aquatic creatures, and trolls also like to raise ogres.
The firepower of two archer heroes alone is still insufficient, and these archer heroes are not his subordinates, so he cannot force them to do anything. If they are unwilling to fight, they can be replaced by crossbows.
“Boom boom boom!”
Just as Li Qing was absorbed in his research, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Come in!"
He put down the design drawing and looked up to see that it was An Erqiu who came in, followed by Xie Jin who was supposed to be out for reconnaissance.
He wondered:
"The reconnaissance is over so soon?"
Xie Jin shook his head and said:
"The reconnaissance is not over yet. We ran into another apprentice's reconnaissance team on the road. The two of them continued their reconnaissance and asked me to come back and report."
Li Qing showed a hint of surprise:
"Where was it found? Whose owner is it?"
"About five kilometers away from the base, at the edge of the river valley, is the reconnaissance team of Lord Cao Wenyuan. They seem to have discovered the forest troll tribe as well."
"Cao Wenyuan?"
Li Qing paused. Judging from the time, if they had set out right away, they would have arrived at this plane by now.
This area happened to be opposite to the plane where the mentor was. All seventeen of them gathered in this area, so it was not surprising that they met.
"Did you come back alone?"
"No, one of Mr. Cao Wenyuan's men from the reconnaissance team followed us and is just outside the door."
Li Qing pointed at An Erqiu:
"Go and ask him to come in."
An Erqiu nodded, turned and went out. In less than ten seconds, the door was pushed open again, and a young woman dressed in black, with a black cloth mask, a slim figure, and extremely light steps walked in. She was a stealth hero.
She clasped her fists and bowed to Li Qing, saying:
"On behalf of my lord Cao Wenyuan, I would like to say hello to His Excellency Li Qing."
Li Qing nodded and asked:
"When did you come here?"
"The day before yesterday, but we just started scouting around today."
"Well, we arrived two and a half days earlier than you did. We have already scouted the area within and discovered three gathering points of alien races, including a tribe of forest trolls, a large tribe of murlocs, and a tribe of human-faced bird demons."
After hearing this, the woman replied in a clear voice:
"I will tell my lord."
"Um!"
Li Qing nodded:
"According to the agreement between the seventeen warlord apprentices, I have priority. I plan to attack the forest troll tribe, so I need you to change your target."
The woman's face remained calm as she replied:
"My lord has already told us of this agreement. I will convey your words to my lord."
"Also, I wonder what your attitude is towards the tribes of bird monsters and fishmen?"
"We'll give up on the Harpy Tribe. I have some ideas on how to deal with the Murloc Tribe, but they are too powerful. I can't do anything about it alone."
Li Qing paused for a moment, thought for a moment and said:
"This fishman tribe is too big, and it is located in the lake. None of us can do anything about it. I suggest waiting for a while. When everyone arrives, we can unite and destroy it."
"I will convey Mr. Li Qing's proposal!"
"Um!"
After asking some simple questions and confirming the location of Cao Wenyuan's base, the woman turned and left.
Five seconds later...
"Snapped!"
Li Qing slapped Xie Jin on the forehead as he was following a slender figure:
"Everyone has left, what are you still looking at?"
Xie Jin chuckled, revealing an expression that all men understand.
Waving his hand to signal the two to go out to work, Li Qing returned to his desk to continue his research.
To the east of the base, in the jungle about four kilometers away, there is a small ridge that is only more than thirty meters high and several hundred meters long. At this time, the trees on the west side of the ridge have been cut down, and a two-meter-high wooden fence surrounds a large open space.
Four arrow towers were lowered to guard the four directions, but the camp was still empty.
Cao Wenyuan couldn't build the house in one piece like Li Qing did. He had to ask his men to drive pillars into the foundation one by one and nail boards one by one, which was very inefficient.
Fortunately, I bought the arrow tower. Without it, I would have been unable to do anything in the first week and would have been busy building base defenses.
At this time, Cao Wenyuan and several of his men were sitting in front of a fire, roasting meat and discussing their next plan.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a curvaceous woman in black pushed the door open and a servant immediately brought her water.
The woman pushed the water away, bowed to Cao Wenyuan in the center of the crowd, and told him everything about her encounter with Li Qing.
After she finished speaking, Cao Wenyuan gestured for her to sit down and said:
"It's just a tribe of forest trolls. If he gets here first, let him go. But the murloc tribe is a problem."
He picked up the pen and drew a few simple strokes on the map, marking the places she had just mentioned. He touched one of the big circles with the tip of the pen and said:
"To build a base, we must have a water source and a stable food source. This place is very good."
At this time, a man sitting next to him said:
"This place is indeed nice, but others will surely take a fancy to it. And considering the size of this tribe, we definitely can't take it all. Even if all of us unite, we may not be able to take it."
Cao Wenyuan nodded:
"It is indeed difficult, but everything depends on human effort. Nothing in the world is smooth sailing. Since this is such a tough nut to crack, others will definitely not be able to do anything about it. There is no need to rush. At this stage, we should first collect resources and capture one or two indigenous tribes to gain some benefits."
