Lord of the Desert

Chapter 357: Standing in the Present
"According to my estimation, the distance to the embankment must be more than eighty feet."

Xu Yuntao stroked the scar on his face and said.

"Why does it need to be so high? The top of the city wall is only 50 meters high."

Qiu Yuankui asked.

"It's only five feet now. Li Xiqi is also a veteran and will not sit and wait for death."

Xu Yuntao shook his head.

"Otherwise, if the earthen platform is put together, the rain of arrows from above will be able to push the defenders down the city wall; if the shooting is blocked, it will be easy to climb the city."

"General Xu means that he is going to launch a surprise attack outside the city?"

Hong Fan interrupted.

"I've already prepared for a surprise attack. So he'll take off the building - the wooden heightening placed on the stone wall."

Xu Yuntao replied.

As he spoke, he pointed with his hand; Hong Fan looked carefully and saw that there was indeed a constant flow of people behind the parapet, carrying a large number of wooden planks and pillars.

"Duanli City is built with rammed earth walls, so there is no need to worry about it collapsing under the weight. As long as there is enough material, it is not difficult to temporarily build a five-zhang wooden fort on the five-zhang earthen city."

"What about us?"

Qiu Yuankui stroked his long beard and frowned.

"It would be best to build the earthen platform higher than them. If that is not possible, then put planks on the earthen platform and build a wooden city."

Xu Yuntao replied without hesitation.

"Why do you sound a bit like a child?"

Qiu Yuankui laughed when he heard this. Hong Fan didn't expect the answer to be so simple.

"Fighting is stupid most of the time, especially siege. There's not much room for cleverness."

Xu Yuntao glanced at the two of them, his voice as straight as ever.

"Both sides know the solution, but in the end, resources and execution will determine the outcome."

“Looking back at the history of wars, unless the army was led by a fool, the generals who were defeated were often not because they did not know what to do, but because they could not do it or failed to do it.”

"This is what is meant by 'a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle.'"

After hearing these words, Hong Fan and Qiu Yuankui seemed to understand something and were both solemn.

After Xu Yuntao finished explaining to the two outsiders, he signaled the messenger below the stage to come over.

"Order the artillery battalion to begin suppressing the city walls in an hour. No need to fire in volleys, two or three shots at a time, and make sure it's continuous."

The messenger repeated the order word for word and then trotted away.

Then he exchanged glances with Qiu Yuankui, and called Hong Fan off the stage alone.

"North City is working in four shifts overnight. By tomorrow, the top of the earthen hill should be three meters high, enough to block part of the view from the city."

After getting away from others, Xu Yuntao said.

"Once the earth platform is up to scale, I will have Longxu Shi take charge and dispatch the elite troops from the central army to dig tunnels underneath it, and make sure it's as quick as possible."

"And once they start, Young Master Hong, you can take action."

Qiu Yuankui took over the conversation in a low voice.

The action he mentioned was that Hong Fan alone would find another way to dig and bury the Wutai White Thunder God under the city in advance.

Only a dozen top leaders of the Baisheng Army knew that they possessed the White Thunder God. Now that it came to its specific use, they were obviously more cautious.

"The White Thunder God is precious, and only the Divine Capital Artifacts Supervisor can make it. It would have been better if we could have saved it for later..."

Qiu Yuankui spoke with regret and looked worried.

“One must think far ahead, but one must always focus on the present.”

Xu Yuntao hesitated for a moment and replied.

Hong Fan nodded to show that he understood, feeling unspeakably upset.

So he wondered where the newness of the ancient idea lay.

Just as he was about to ask, he saw Duanli shooting arrows from the top of the city wall, trying to kill the rammed earth workers behind the shield.

It was clearly a strong bow and iron arrow, but it was easily shattered by a few bursts of energy.

The three of them looked and saw a young man among the auxiliary soldiers standing up and looking angrily at the city wall, as if he was shocked and angry that his work was interrupted.

It is indeed an ancient style with a new twist.

"Ah, as Marshal Xu said, people must focus on the present." Hong Fan said in a trance.

As he spoke, Gu Yixin, who was at the front of the construction site, slowly shook his head at the person shooting arrows from the city wall, tightened his rolled-up sleeves, and bent down to continue tamping the earth with wooden pillars.

When the three people from Hong Fan, who were originally full of worries, saw this scene, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and smiled.

······
Two days later, September 14th.

After many days of sunny days, the first light rain fell outside Duanli City.

It was the hour of Chen and the sun was about to rise but had not yet risen, still shrouded in mist.

Three miles away from the city, there is a military market that is quite large and is half next to the Baisheng Army camp.

This is the economic activity that naturally forms around large-scale military operations.

It includes brothels, catering, letter and trophy delivery, and even the return of bodies, etc., and is managed by the market supervisor set up by the military commander Xiahou Ling, just like a small town.

At noon, Hong Fan, who had come to visit incognito, drank the donkey offal soup with Qiu Yuankui, used pepper to remove the dampness, and returned to their camp.

The battlefield changed its appearance in two days.

The earthen platform under the city is ten meters high, with two to three hundred square meters of flat land rammed out on the top, and a gentle slope extending over seventy meters behind it.

It's not just outside the city that's changing.

There are two-story towers on the top of the Duanli City, which are more than five meters high, making it look even more oppressive.

Braving the drizzle, Qiu Yuankui led Hong Fan through the earth pit used for temporary burial of bodies, and to the earth platform construction site which was surrounded by wooden boards and heavily guarded.

At the tightly covered tunnel entrance, Ryuxushi was waiting.

"Half a quarter of an hour late."

When he saw people coming, he complained with a little impatience.

"This time I have to rely on my brother to help me, please bear with me."

Qiu Yuankui stepped forward and hugged his arms.

"Being fake polite with me."

Longxushi curled his lips, but his complexion looked much better.

He held a torch and led the two men underground.

The tunnel was filled with the smell of damp earth mixed with sweat. It was more than two meters wide, and wooden supports with mortise and tenon structures were set up every ten feet. They were also laid along the center of the earth at the twists and turns.

Hong Fan himself was not very familiar with geotechnical and mining knowledge, but with the help of his perception of the sand world, he realized that these supports could disperse the ground pressure very well.

"The tunnel will reach the city in five days at the earliest, and it will take another two or three days to dig a large enough hole."

While introducing the two, Mr. Longxu gestured for them to walk close to the side and make way for people passing by.

These people have reached the level of penetration realm, their strength is at least equivalent to that of top mortal strongmen, and their endurance is far beyond that, one person can be as good as ten people.

"What's the problem?"

Qiu Yuankui asked with concern.

"With me here, there will be no difficulty."

Longxushi regained confidence.

"The giants are huge, not good at digging, prefer wearing heavy armor, and like to build cities on the mountains.

When I was in the northern border, I often used tunnels and gunpowder to deal with their fortresses, and I was always successful..."

When he said this, he glanced at Hong Fan out of the corner of his eye, seeming to be quite concerned.

The three continued to move forward in the tunnel for a while, and turned into an unmanned side road that was locked with a wooden door.

"This is it."

After delivering the goods here, Long Xushi unlocked the lock with the key, bowed to Qiu Yuankui as if he had completed his mission, and left without any reluctance.

Qiu Yuankui led Hong Fan into the house and lit the oil lamp hanging on the wall with his pure Yang Qi.

The firelight spread out, illuminating five boxes covered with black cloth in the fork in the road.

"This is the second key to this battle besides Brother Duan."

Qiu Yuankui patted the box lightly and spoke in a low voice.

He walked forward and lifted a corner, revealing the white paint on the box. It was undoubtedly the White Thunder God.

(End of this chapter)