Chapter 1356 - 333: Bloody Battle (4)_2

Chapter 1356: Chapter 333: Bloody Battle (4)_2

Snow Sea Pass is actually waiting for an opening now, a chance to unlock the shackles around its neck.

The Blind Man knows my lord understands this in his heart too, but he still can’t sit down and spell it all out, because the biggest shackle around Snow Sea Pass’s neck right now has the surname Tian.

Seeing the Blind Man sink into thought, Gou Moli stopped talking.

After a long while,

The Blind Man let out a breath

and said:

"We’ll talk about what comes later when it comes. First we do the job in front of us well; otherwise it’s just aiming too high and chasing fantasies, everything turns into empty talk."

"Sir is right."

"My lord should agree to your request, but getting it done still depends on you. If it’s just pure dead men, it’s too slow, and too cheap."

"Yes, I understand. While dying in large numbers, we have to make those deaths count as much as possible."

A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of the Blind Man’s mouth,

Gou Moli also smiled,

It was a knowing smile shared by two old coins.

......

"This bow feels pretty good."

Inside the command tent,

Lord Zheng stroked the bow that the Chu assassin had used in the daytime to try to shoot him dead and sighed in admiration.

In this life, Lord Zheng has only trained in two weapons: one is the blade, the other is the arrow.

And Lord Zheng’s archery is actually quite decent, to which A Ming has contributed a lot.

This purple bow must be made from some special material, and the bowstring—who knows which demonic beast’s sinew it is—but regrettably, there aren’t really any runes on it.

But how to put it,

First, it looks flashy,

second, it looks flashy,

and third, it still looks flashy;

granted that the quality is top‑notch, the better it looks, the more people are naturally going to like it.

After playing with it for quite a while, Lord Zheng finally pushed the bow aside. Truth is, when it comes to an actual charge, he too carries a bow on his back. Although as his status and rank have risen, the chances he personally nocks an arrow to the string have become fewer, every time he goes to the battlefield, carrying one more weapon always gives him one more sense of security.

It’s a pity about this bow’s fine color, though. Need to find a way to dye it; it’s far too eye‑catching.

While Lord Zheng was toying with that bow, Liang Cheng reported today’s battle losses. Lord Zheng just listened to the numbers; as for replenishing after losses, part is requested from the King’s Tent, and part is transported from his hometown, Snow Sea Pass.

The logistics burden on the army is heavy, and Lord Zheng doesn’t feel right about opening the lion’s mouth completely at Old Tian. Old Tian already shows plenty of goodwill by not making him provide grain and armaments to support the host.

But again, how to put it, you don’t let a country’s advantages go unclaimed; what should be taken has to be taken. Besides, in his hands at least, he can guarantee they’re used to steady effect.

Also, with siege battles officially underway at every front, the second batch of civilian laborers rushing in from Yan and Jin has already crossed the Wang River; some of them will be selected as auxiliary troops.

National war is national war. Stripped down, what you’re really pitting against each other is national power—national power can be broken down into manpower and material.

"A Cheng, tell me, once we start the formal assault tomorrow, at the pace we had today, how long is this going to take?"

Liang Cheng shook his head and said:

"My lord, I must beg your pardon that I cannot answer that. In this kind of war, we can only do our own utmost; the rest, we can only leave to the other side.

They may persist with iron toughness all the way, or they may suddenly collapse.

If you talk extremes, they might fight down to the last man, or tomorrow one of our trebuchets might just smash their main general to death with a single shot."

"......" Lord Zheng.

Liang Cheng realized he seemed to have said the wrong thing.

Lord Zheng dabbed on some essential balm, rubbed it gently into the center of his brow, and said:

"Which is why this kind of war is actually pretty pointless to fight."

If it were open field battle, we could simply make everything revolve around us.

"My lord, if this kind of war could be fought in a way that was interesting, then the Yan State would’ve already marched south for a formal campaign against Qian."

"True enough. Anyway, we’ll just fight and see. What’s the plan for tomorrow?"

"Arrow towers and trebuchets—double the allocation we had today. Today I only had them fill in the moat and the defensive water channel; that blocking wall that stands at the city gate, I didn’t have anyone push it down, and I specifically ordered the trebuchets not to bombard it."

Lord Zheng nodded and said, "Mm, leave them something to cling to, otherwise they’ll seal the main gate completely."

"My lord is wise."

"Talk if you’re going to talk; mixing flattery in doesn’t help the effect."

Lord Zheng counts as ’battle‑tested’ by now, and with two great masters above his head, his ’armchair warfare’ skills are certainly no sham.

"Yes, my lord. Judging by the fact that today the Chu people sent heavy armored shock troops out to raid and also dispatched assassins, their mindset is actually still alright.

This mindset is built on the established impression that the Yan Army is not good at siege warfare.

Today may have put them under quite a bit of pressure, but people always have some wishful thinking in their hearts. That blocking wall we’re not knocking down today means tomorrow when we formally assault, the battering rams can perform to maximum effect.

Actually, if it weren’t for the way the Chu people arranged and designed their moat and defensive water channel so cleverly, directly pressing in for a decisive push today would probably have had the best effect."

That blocking wall is a hope deliberately left for the Chu side, so they don’t seal the city gate off completely from the very start.

Give them a road to come out by, and at the same time give ourselves a road to go in by.

"Tomorrow Gongsun Zhi wants to personally lead his guards in the assault on the walls," Lord Zheng reminded him.

"I heard from the Blind Man that his situation is pretty rough right now. After all, among the Yan people, he basically counts as a betrayer of Li Bao’s faction. So he craves military merit and showing effort all the more.