Chapter 1262 - 312: Using a Butcher’s Knife to Kill a Chicken (Part 2)

Chapter 1262: Chapter 312: Using a Butcher’s Knife to Kill a Chicken (Part 2)

Dreams remain full, but reality is slender and hard.

At this moment, the city in front of Lord Zheng and Li Fusheng is Anhuh City.

The city walls are not particularly tall, incomparable to Town South Pass, and certainly inferior to Snow Sea Pass.

Yet, small as it may be, it is complete with all essentials. If the Yan people’s talent lies in weapon forging, then Jin people’s gift lies in city construction.

Tiannan Pass, Town South Pass, Snow Sea Pass, and other such fortified towns are the benchmark works of Jin people, unfortunately:

Though the passes still stand, Emperor Jin is nowhere to be seen.

According to Lord Zheng’s orders, the Yan army is divided into three parts.

The main force of the central army is under Anhuh City;

One part, led by Jin Shuke and Keyan Dongge, has begun raiding the pastures and headquarters of these tribes.

The warriors within their tribes have mostly been driven and besieged here, making their tribes inevitably empty, so breaking into their pasture headquarters is not difficult;

While another part continues to keep an eye on Tadie City, driving back the wild people soldiers there whenever they show intent of breaking out.

With sufficient troops under command, actions are executed with much more ease.

"Brother, please."

Lord Zheng invites Li Fusheng to join him in ascending an arrow tower.

If it were a real war against Chu State, Lord Zheng would not come up here, because once a siege begins, both sides’ trebuchets will relentlessly attack each other, and the main targets of the castle’s trebuchets and the giant crossbows on the walls are the arrow towers of the attackers.

But now that the wild people have just been driven inside, it’s impossible for them to possess such equipment.

The view is vastly improved from atop the arrow tower.

Li Fusheng reaches out to touch the iron on the enemy-facing side of the arrow tower, and remarked:

"Brother Zheng, I’ve seen the siege devices crafted by the craftsmen over at Ying Capital City and Fengxin, but yours here is noticeably finer and more meticulous."

Zheng Fan responds, "They were initially trained by my people."

During the second battle of Wang River, when Lord Jingnan led the expedition, Zheng Fan was still General of Shengle, went there to receive command, thinking they would attack Jade Plate City, so Xue Three brought along some craftsmen to create some devices, which Tian Wujing also noticed, leading him to hand over the people from the Tianji Pavilion to Zheng Fan later.

"Brother Zheng, I truly don’t know how to describe you. I always thought you were talented, but never expected there would be a person like you in this world.

Thankfully, Brother Zheng, you are one of our Yan people, if you were born in Qian State or Chu State, we Yan would really have headaches."

Hearing this, Zheng Fan laughed:

"Were I born in Qian State, I wouldn’t have joined the military, I’d have gone for the imperial exams, singing at Donghua Gate, that’s what makes a good lad, right?"

"Hahahaha, that’s right, that’s right."

The battlefield is already laid out.

The army presses forward, the arrow towers and trebuchets are ready, but it’s still far from a real siege, with laborers and auxiliary soldiers starting to dig moats and build fortifications.

The city’s defenders will often pre-set traps and clear the moat for defense, but the attackers also need to prepare thoroughly, to prevent the defenders from charging out suddenly for a counterattack.

Currently, the preparations are primarily led by the troops from Snow Sea Pass, while the ones brought by Li Fusheng are watching over by the side.

Seeing this, Li Fusheng immediately orders:

"Order officers above captain rank in my corps, anyone not on perimeter guard duty here, to gather for observation."

After giving the order,

Li Fusheng instinctively rubs the arrow tower rail,

exclaiming:

"Brother Zheng, looking at how orderly everything is below, you truly have inherited our Prince’s teachings."

Tian Wujing’s use of troops pays extreme attention to detail and precision, most directly demonstrated through the orderly coordination among the various arms and divisions.

In Li Fusheng’s view, Zheng Fan is Tian Wujing’s direct disciple, and similarity in strategy is a normal phenomenon.

But Li Fusheng doesn’t know, these troops’ training is actually all organized by Liang Cheng.

It can only be said, Liang Cheng and Tian Wujing are alike, or rather, a truly powerful army inevitably values tactical discipline.

But Lord Zheng has long been accustomed to taking the credit for the achievements of the demon leaders,

presently,

merely nodding lightly,

pointing forward,

and says:

"Brother, look, the first round of throwing is about to begin."

The trebuchets begin to throw, yet the first round does not yield the desired results—apart from a few hitting the city walls, a majority fall outside the walls, with a small portion dropping inside.

Overall, it hasn’t been very effective.

"This is test firing," Zheng Fan explains to Li Fusheng.

Li Fusheng nods, though he hasn’t attacked a city before in a desert, as a general commanding troops, he hasn’t eaten pork but has seen the pigs run.

However, from the perspective of Zheng Fan and Li Fusheng, the first round of test firing may not achieve great results, but inside Anhuh City, the wild people are frightened by the falling stones.

After all, Anhuh City is just a castle, after a large number of wild people squeezed in, it seems quite crowded, so the stones falling beyond the wall cause significant damage, the targets are so dense that hitting inside likely brings rewards.

Right after the first round of test firing ends, four or five wild people knights inside Anhuh City hoist white flags made from unknown torn cloth, waving as they head towards the Yan army outside the city.