Chapter 411 Confused

Chapter 411 Confused

Chapter 411 Confused
A tall city suddenly appeared on the horizon.

The soldiers escorting the vehicle watched from a distance and were quite shocked.

Many of them were refugees from Bingzhou and Jizhou. They crossed the river many years ago and settled in Yunzhong, Kinmen, Tanshan and Gancheng Siwu to reclaim wasteland.

There was no such city at that time!

After walking for a while, we got closer and the whole picture of the city gradually appeared in our sight.

Carpenters are building a huge city gate.

The servants are digging a moat.

Workers are installing the capstan to drive the suspension bridge.

There were also people coming in and out, constantly delivering bricks, tiles, wood and stones to improve the city defense facilities such as parapets and battlements.

"Heyang South City." Shao Shen read out the four large characters written in powerful strokes on the south city wall.

His handwriting is quite good, better than my second uncle's.

There were several camps outside the city, and they were all familiar faces: either the Silver Spear Army, or the garrison troops recruited from various places or even the hereditary soldiers of Xuchang.

Perhaps there was no need to train today, so they began to go to the fields to harvest crops.

The crops planted in the field were beans, which disappointed Shao Shen as he thought there wouldn't be much of a harvest.

However, in this chaotic world, it is good enough to be able to harvest some grains. Don't think too much.

After two rounds of inspection, the convoy was allowed to go on the road.

They passed through the newly built post road on the east side of Heyang South City, and arrived at the ferry in less than a hundred steps, and then stepped onto the floating bridge.

"This bridge is too big..." Shao Shen was a little shocked.

During wars, it was common to build simple floating bridges, but none of them were this big and this - solid.

Yes, this floating bridge only has a slight shake and is very smooth to walk on.

The hull was painted, and it was obvious that a lot of money had been invested in it; it was not a temporary floating bridge that would be abandoned after the battle.

The wind on the river was very strong, with a faint fishy smell.

After a stick of incense had passed, the floating bridge began to shake a little more, but overall it was still stable.

After walking for about half an hour, the shaking became smaller and the river bank was already in sight.

Another city with three big characters "Zhongyun City" written on it.

My goodness! The cities are one after another.

Compared with the South City, the Zhongyu City is slightly smaller, but it has all the necessary facilities, such as the urn city and the horse face, and the Yellow River is its natural moat.

The city is in the shape of a long strip, with two gates in the north and south.

After passing the South Gate, we walked about a mile and soon came out of the North Gate, where a brand new floating bridge greeted us.

The floating bridge is still under construction, but judging by the busy craftsmen, the progress should be fast.

Standing outside the north gate, Shao Shen looked around and found that if nothing unexpected happened, the city itself would be difficult to break through head-on.

The reason is very simple: Hezhu is not big. After the city was built, except for small plots of farmland, orchards and vegetable plots on the east and west sides, there was very little open space outside the north and south gates, and a sheep and horse wall was built to feed cattle, sheep, horses and mules.

If the enemy attacks, there will be no place to stand, and they will not be able to deploy their troops at all, let alone attack the city.

The convoy stopped outside the north gate.

The clerk went to deliver the supplies to the garrison, while Shao Shen sat down and slowly admired the beautiful scenery on the river.

"Where is Mr. Chen?" He sat for a while and felt bored again, so he pulled a clerk and asked.

The clerk knew that he was Mr. Chen's nephew, so he pointed to the west and said, "Over there."

Shao Shen opened his eyes wide and looked, only to see dozens of boats going upstream on the wide river, slowly approaching another river island in the west: Mazhu.

The boats are not big, and each can carry at most twenty people.

The boatmen rowed hard, and the boat swayed like a drunk man, slowly approaching Mazhu.

A moment later, the drums began to beat.

A group of lightly armored soldiers jumped off the boat, waded through the muddy river water, and moved slowly forward in the mud.

Shao Shen could see that they had tried very hard, but wading through the water was not an easy thing. If they were not careful, they would be trapped in waist-deep water and unable to move.

As the ships approached Mazhu, more and more soldiers jumped into the water, wearing only leather armor or no armor at all, and struggled forward.

A horn sounded on Mazhu.

Shao Shen was very familiar with martial arts performance, and this was the order for archery.

"Alas! After this round of rain of arrows, few of those who rush to the island will survive." Shao Shen slapped his thigh and sighed repeatedly.

"It will be better at night." The clerk was also fascinated by the scene and said casually.

Shao Shen nodded slowly, then shook his head.

It is actually very difficult to do this under the enemy's nose, whether it is day or night. "Is Mr. Chen going to attack the north bank?" Shao Shen asked.

"I don't know either." The clerk smiled bitterly, "But they have indeed been collecting boats recently, and the number is no less than a hundred. Lord Chen even ordered carpenters to cut wood and build boats temporarily. It doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as it can ferry people and horses across the river for him."

Newly cut wood is obviously not suitable for shipbuilding. Over time, the boats will suffer from leaks, deformations, rot and other problems. In serious cases, the boats may even fall apart in the middle of the river, which is purely harmful.

But it’s fine for temporary use, since you don’t expect to use it for long anyway.

"What you said should be true." Shao Shen pushed the clerk aside and rushed to the bushes on the shore. He raised his head to look at the Silver Spear Army soldiers who were landing and fighting.

It took them quite some time to finally reach the river bank and set up their formation on the spot.

The big shield is in front, the long spear is pointing outward, and the archers are lined up at the back, pretending to draw their bows.

They even threw something in front of the battle line. Shao Shen guessed that it was a simple deer antler made of branches, which could be carried by one person and used to temporarily block the cavalry charge when there were no vehicles or chevaux de frise. In fact, as long as you think carefully, there are always more solutions than problems.

After the first group of people went ashore, the following boats slowly came over and the second group of soldiers began to land.

"This battle is too troublesome. It's really frustrating." Shao Shen was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks. He wished he could jump onto Mazhu himself, wield a long-handled axe, kill all the enemies, and expand the defense line.

"Boom boom boom..." Drum sounds came from the other side.

Shao Shen immediately turned his head and saw teams of soldiers getting up and heading towards the boat.

That's not the Silver Spear Army!

"The Black Jade Army," the clerk explained softly, "originally there were 1,200 men, and two more were added ten days ago, so now there are more than 2,400 men."

"What Black Army? They don't even have iron armor and are holding a black 'wooden stick'. What on earth do they want to do?" Shao Shen was a little surprised.

"They are going to die." The clerk gloated, "The army was formed not long ago, and their skills are not yet mature. In the future, they will be the first to cross the river to the north and fight."

"Why do you think so?" Shao Shen asked, "If such a sparsely populated army is forced into the river by the enemy, it will be embarrassing for Lord Chen, right?"

"They are just refugees. We can take as many as you want. We won't feel bad if any of them die." The clerk sneered and said, "More than a hundred boats can just carry these 2,400 people."

"Didn't you say you were still building new ships?"

"Indeed." The clerk replied, "Perhaps another batch of garrison troops will be deployed in the future."

Shao Shen stopped talking.

Crossing a river is really cruel, as it is easy to be attacked halfway across the river.

In his opinion, it would be better to wait until winter when the river is frozen solid before sending troops north.

However, this also has problems. It is inconvenient to collect soil in winter, which makes it troublesome whether setting up camp or building a city.

"I don't know what my second uncle is thinking, alas." Shao Shen paced back and forth anxiously.

"The emperor has issued an edict, so we have no choice but to head north," the clerk explained.

"Huh?" Shao Shen was a little surprised. He really didn't know about this.

"It happened seven days ago." The clerk said, "The angel arrived at Zhongyu City and read the imperial edict in public. After receiving the order, Lord Chen informed the entire army. If we wait a few more days, I'm afraid the Xiongnu will know about it."

"No wonder, no wonder!" Shao Shen stamped his feet and sighed, "No wonder I heard people talking when I passed by South City."

In fact, there was more than just discussion, there was also a faint sound of crying.

Even a fool would know how risky it is to cross the river and attack Zhamatai directly.

There are Hun scouts and spies on the south bank of the river. You can find out by asking around.

"Why should we care about the emperor's order?" Shao Shen said angrily, a little angry.

The clerk shook his head and smiled bitterly.

It is true that one can pretend to obey the emperor's decree, but this time Mr. Chen did not seem to intend to refuse. The reason is probably that he is worried that the longer the night, the more trouble he will have. Anyway, this is the matter above, he does not know much, and he can't figure it out, so let him do it.

Shao Shen felt indignant and was too lazy to watch any more.

When they returned to the city gate, the escorted supplies had already been delivered: jerky, cheese, and pickles sent by Guang Chengze.

There was also a small amount of rice, which was sent by Empress Hui, Yang.

Uh, there are also two sets of winter clothes that Princess Xiangcheng asked him to send privately.

Second uncle is really...

After waiting for Shao Xun in Zhongyu City for a whole day without seeing him, Shao Shen returned with his convoy.

On August 16, they stayed overnight in the south city. The next day, they saw thousands of soldiers from Xuchang break camp and set off towards the east, accompanied by a large number of craftsmen.

When asked what they were doing, no one was willing to tell the truth. However, the "wise" Shao Shen had already seen through it, and they must be going downstream to find a place to build a temporary floating bridge, because they brought a lot of bridge-building tools.

But - after the Mengjin section, not only is the river wider, but the water is also quite turbulent. Can a floating bridge really be built? He was a little skeptical.

This battle made him a little confused.

After thinking it over, Shao Shen was so anxious that he stopped immediately. He asked his men to take the convoy back, and he went straight to Zhongyu City to persuade his second uncle.

(End of this chapter)