My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 294 May has passed!

Shanglin Bowang Garden is located southwest of the garden's west parade ground, next to an artificial shallow ditch.

It was midnight, the moon was dim and the stars were sparse. Even Sichen's rooster was still drowsy in the chicken coop.

On the opposite side of the artificial shallow ditch, about 180 steps away from the shallow hook, there are cattle and sheep pens modeled after the Xiongnu style.

Inside the pen, cattle and sheep were lying on the ground, sleeping with their eyes closed.

It was at this time of night that silent figures began to emerge from the bushes on this side of the shallow ditch one after another.

Judging from the clothes they were wearing, these people were obviously soldiers, but they were not the common infantry or cavalry of the Han Dynasty.

They wore round helmets on their heads, but no armor on their bodies, only neat military uniforms;
His trouser legs were tied up with leggings and he was wearing shoes made of unknown material, but he made no sound at all as he walked among the bushes, soil and rocks.

At first glance, there didn't seem to be many people sneaking out of the bushes.

But in the blink of an eye, the entire side of the shallow ditch was occupied by densely packed human figures.

What’s terrifying is: there is no sound!
No sound or noise!
These people are like ghosts piercing the darkness, no one knows where they came from or where they are going;

What makes one's heart beat faster is that at a glance there are thousands of people gathered together, not only without any noise, but they are even divided into groups in an orderly manner and start working on something.

At first, long logs half as thick as waists were carried on the shoulders of the "ghosts" in rows to the shallow ditch.

Then, hemp ropes as thick as wrists were used to tie the long logs together as if by magic. In no more than half an incense stick of time, hundreds of flat surfaces made up of long logs appeared above the shallow ditch.

Then came the most unbelievable scene.

——The originally independent planes were connected into a giant net ten feet wide and dozens of feet long by the clever combination of ropes by the "ghosts"!

Then hundreds of people quickly walked to the other side of the shallow ditch, pulled the rope together, and spread the huge net flat on the shallow ditch.

If there was water in the shallow ditch, the 'ghosts' probably wouldn't have to work so hard.

But despite the effort, the ghosts finally completed this sensational task.

Finally, a 'ghost', obviously dressed in ordinary clothes, stood on a high place, lit a torch and held it high.

At the same time, little flames began to light up around the rows of cattle and sheep pens on the other side of the shallow ditch...

"The martial arts performance is over!"

"It took about three quarters of an hour and an incense stick of time!"

No cheers.

When the command officer read out the time taken for this performance, all the 'ghosts' just breathed a sigh of relief, and then sat down on the ground, unable to hide their fatigue.

After a while, a tall and strong general came to the shallow ditch. Although he walked onto a temporary platform, he also imitated the ghosts and sat down on the spot.

Then, the flames around the cattle and sheep pens began to gather in the direction of the general, and gradually one "ghost" figure after another emerged.

Finally, it was the ghosts who walked back from the cattle and sheep pens who announced the most critical assessment indicator of this martial arts performance.

"Nanjia No. 7 pen, ten sheep, four of them woke up;"

As soon as the words fell, a group of 'ghosts' on the south side of the shallow ditch lowered their heads and sat up with a look of humiliation, ready to accept criticism and reprimand.

"Zhongding No. 1 pen, two cows, fifteen sheep, one of each was awakened;"

Another call was made, and another team of 'ghosts' in the corresponding position lowered their heads.

"Round 9, Beiyi, one cow and eight sheep."

"——Everyone wakes up!"

At this moment, several teams of 'ghosts' at the corresponding positions stood up directly from the ground, opened their clothes to expose their upper bodies, and waited for the expected military whip.

On the high platform, the young general finally stood up, walked up to several huge copper trumpets, and began the summary meeting of the martial arts performance.

"Thank you for your hard work, soldiers!"

"Three quarters of an hour and one stick of incense. Compared to the standard of one hour required by your majesty and the generals in the court, it is nearly a quarter of an hour shorter!"

“This is amazing!!!”

The general's majestic mobilization did not rekindle the ghosts - or rather the dimmed eyes of the soldiers in Suiying - with the fiery lights.

The big guy still lowered his head with a depressed look on his face, with a look of despair written all over his face.

——For this project, the captains of Suiying A and B units, totaling 10,000 soldiers from Suiying, trained repeatedly for nearly half a year!
I have been practicing almost from February when spring just started, all the way to June now!
Until now, everyone still doesn’t know the significance of practicing this project and why they should spend so much time practicing this project specifically.

The professional knowledge of Suiying soldiers made everyone vaguely realize that this project was to train Suiying's ability to quietly build a pontoon bridge before a night attack.

There are three key assessment items.

——The shorter the time, the better!

——The more solid the floating bridge is, the better!

Also, the less noise, the better.

But everyone really doesn’t understand why we should practice this project.

Wouldn't it be a better and more reasonable training plan to practice it every now and then, or to split this project into parts and train the speed, quality, and secrecy of building a pontoon bridge separately?

It was so extreme that everyone didn't practice other sports for half a year;
Such targeted training would be fine if it had a targeted effect.

But this shallow ditch simulating a river is in the north-south direction!
Is there any strategic location in the world today that has a north-south river that can pose a major threat to the strategic location as long as it is crossed quietly?
It really does.

——Hangu Pass!

The direction of the river outside Hangu Pass is north-south, rather than east-west, which is extremely rare in the Shenzhou continent.

But the problem is: the commanders of the two divisions, Suiying Jia and Yi, are the central armed forces that were reorganized directly by the imperial decree issued by Emperor Rong himself!

Even if the sun rose in the west, it was impossible for Liu Rong to order the Suiying Duwei, who was directly under the central government of Chang'an, to launch a night attack from outside Hangu Pass and build a pontoon bridge quietly at night?

what's going on?

Could it be that Emperor Rong of the day was afraid that the rebels would reach the outside of Hangu Pass in the future and would be helpless against the natural barrier of the river in front of Hangu Pass, so he trained a Sui camp with targeted training in advance to prepare for the rebels to attack Hangu Pass in the future?
Isn't this pure nonsense...

Without knowing the purpose of the training, everyone’s enthusiasm will naturally not be that high.

But he was a soldier after all, and there was military law designated by Liu Rong himself: obeying orders is the king of soldiers, which echoed in his ears three or five times a day.

Even though they didn't understand, the captains of the A and B divisions of Camp Sui still put in all their efforts and practiced seriously for three months.

——Even if this project is meaningless, it is the emperor’s decree!
——Whether it makes sense or not, you must practice this project well!
Before today, the above was the voice of the vast majority of Suiying soldiers.

But now - after this final exam-level martial arts performance, tens of thousands of Suiying soldiers have lost their fighting spirit due to repeated setbacks.

The speed has been increased;

The quality is definitely not bad.

But the last and also the most important indicator: movement and stillness, still cannot be suppressed.

When this project was first issued to the Suiying Duwei, the officers of Suiying quickly reached a consensus: the focus of this project was on the concealment of the operation.

In order to ensure the concealment of the laying of the pontoon bridge and the suddenness of the subsequent raid, the focus of this training program must be on "reducing noise"!
When it is impossible to take into account speed, quality and concealment at the same time, in principle, we can sacrifice some time and even sacrifice the quality of the pontoon construction to a certain extent to try to minimize the "noise and movement".

That is: laying the floating bridge can be done slowly;
——The court requires one hour, we can do it in one and a half hours, or even two hours.

The quality of the floating bridge can also be relaxed. The court requires that the floating bridge should be free of human damage and should be used by the people for at least one month after being used by the troops to cross the river.

Let's take it easy: as long as we can hold out for one night, the vanguard of the surprise attack can cross the pontoon bridge without missing a single one.

Even if the pontoon bridge shatters after the last soldier reaches the other side, it’s okay!

But the premise of all this is: the noise must be small!
Sacrificing time and doing things slowly is to avoid people being anxious and wanting to go faster and causing a commotion;
Sacrificing quality and doing relatively poorer work is also to avoid someone taking quality too seriously and causing trouble.

It all comes down to four words: Don't make any big noise!

But the final result made everyone despair.

——There’s no way this wouldn’t cause a commotion!
Use hemp ropes to tie the long logs into a flat surface, and then use traction to pull them onto the shallow ditch - the friction sound between the hemp ropes and the long logs is enough to make people frown!

Not to mention the knocking sounds caused by the long wood rubbing against the bottom of the shallow ditch.

Some people may say: There is no water in this shallow ditch, so it makes the sound of long wood hitting the ground;

But the officers of Suiying knew very well that something that could make a sound when hit on the soil would make even louder noise when hit on a horizontal surface - especially on a flowing water surface!
The big commotion meant that the most important point of the project: secretly building a pontoon bridge to facilitate surprise attacks by troops crossing the river, became a piece of empty talk.

There's no way to hide!

This temporary bridge is being built right now, and the enemy might be ready to attack on the other side!

What kind of surprise attack is this? A surprise attack...

"I heard someone say that this shallow ditch is a big river."

"On the other side of the shallow ditch is Hangu Pass!"

"The cattle and sheep on the other side of the shallow ditch are the Han Dynasty's Hangu garrison?"

"Ah……"

···
"Half a year~"

"The soldiers have been training in this Bowang training ground - in this shallow ditch - for a full six months!"

“Even if a child does something over and over again for half a year, he or she should be able to ask his or her father: Sir, why do you want to do this?”

"Today, I will tell the soldiers."

As he spoke, the general slowly turned sideways and faced diagonally towards the soldiers of Suiying who were slumped in the shallow ditch.

The long sword in his hand was still in place with its scabbard, and his hands were resting on the top of the hilt. His serious gaze was fixed directly on the huge plane made of long wood and hemp ropes.

“This ditch is indeed a big river.”

“——But it’s not the big river outside Hangu Pass!”

"And then, the great river east of Henan..."

"Why have the soldiers been practicing laying a pontoon bridge from east to west for the past six months?"

"Because my Han family is located east of Henan, across the great river that flows north and south from Henan."

"If we want to build a floating bridge into Henan, our soldiers can only build it from the east bank of the river to the west bank..."

···
"That's right!"

"Henan Land!"

"——The other side of this shallow ditch is not Hangu Pass, but the pearl of the frontier that has been lost for a hundred years: Henan!"

"The cattle and sheep on the other side of the river are not soldiers guarding Hangu Pass, but cattle and sheep raised by the Xiongnu in Henan and on the west bank of the Yellow River, as well as livestock, running dogs, and hawks - or even directly Xiongnu people!"

"In the past six months, the soldiers have been repeatedly practicing to lay a pontoon bridge for our Han army to conquer Henan on the eve of the war, so that the army can sneak across the river and attack Henan!"

"Moreover, the day when the soldiers can put their knowledge into practice is not far away..."

……

As the general spoke these words, the soldiers stayed where they were.

Henan land?
Huns?
……

Henan land!
The Huns!!!
In an instant, the captains of Camp A and Camp B were all excited, and even burst out with unprecedented passion and fighting spirit from their tired bodies!

But soon, everyone lowered their heads as if they had lost their parents.

——Since we are fighting against the Huns, we should be successful!

However, the result of the military performance showed that among the tens of thousands of soldiers in Suiying, there was not even one person who had the confidence to "fulfill the mission and quietly lay a pontoon bridge for the army."

The general ignored all this and continued in a rhythmic voice: "May has passed!"

"The Huns have already ended their one-off Julin Conference in Longcheng."

"——In this conference, the Xiongnu Chanyu and his officers will receive many young and strong brave men."

"After the conference is over, it will be time for the military officials to lead their troops eastward and attack Shangdai..."

···
"Soldiers;"

"——The Xiongnu army has already set out towards the northern border of our Han Dynasty."

"At least a month, at most two or three months - the war will definitely break out completely on the upper and lower fronts!"

"By then, the comrades and warriors from Shangjun, Daibei, and even Yunzhong will do their best to buy time for my northwest division."

"And can my Northwest Division recapture Henan with lightning speed before the main force of the Chanyu Court arrives to provide support?"

"The key lies in this floating bridge of our Suiying soldiers!"

At this point, the general was already very excited. He turned sideways to look at the "floating bridge" and suddenly raised his finger!

"Three quarters of an hour and one stick of incense!"

"A floating bridge that can support thousands of troops for three days!"

"The noise made could not even drown out the sound of the rushing water of a mighty river;"

"Soldiers, are you going to continue to act like a daughter?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the area within a few miles around the shallow ditch fell into a long and strange silence.

But on the high platform, the general straightened his clothes and hat very seriously, and hung his sword back to his waist meticulously.

Then he suddenly drew his sword!

clang! ~~~
"Captains A and B of the Sui camp, listen to my orders!"

"The exercise project has been changed from dark and fast-laying floating bridges to fast-laying multi-sided floating bridges!"

"Standard: 20% of the cattle and sheep on the North Shore should not be awakened!"

"Five in number!"

"Time limit—three quarters of a second!"

(End of this chapter)