Chapter 35: Planning Defense And Magic Battle
On the Yongji Pass city wall. During the afternoon truce after the first wave of attack ended, there was no victory banquet. After Wu Fei took off his armor, he directly supervised the various captains and camp leaders behind the city wall to temporarily reinforce the defensive equipment on the city wall. Rolling stones and nail woods, these traditional city defense essentials, were naturally indispensable. Now they needed to stockpile some new things.
So, after arranging the work, the group leaders directed the soldiers to carry various materials on their shoulders and in their hands toward the city wall.
…From the entire city wall to every brick and tile…
In the shelter rest area opened up behind the city wall, Wen Si found a spot in this crowded place and lay down. He thumped his waist, then heard his subordinates complain: “I thought that after leaving slave status, we wouldn’t have to do this kind of work. Now it looks like there’s no difference from being slaves.”
Wen Si immediately stood up. As the soldier who said this prepared to fawn with a smile, he directly slapped him: “What are you saying? What do you mean the same as slaves? In the past, we worked under the leather whip, tired without future prospects. Today, though it’s a bit bitter and tiring, it’s all our own.”
Wen Si gave this group of soldiers a wave of ideological education. The reason was simple: he wanted future prospects. If the troops weren’t united, they couldn’t earn merit, which would ruin his own future prospects.
In the previous battle outside the city, after seeing the individual strength of those Southern Border monsters, he knew that although the current work was tiring, in terms of earning merit, the cost-performance ratio was far higher than field battles outside the city. So what was there to complain about.
The good-natured Wen Si output a wave with fists and feet, then properly lectured these rookie soldiers on the principles of sharing life and death, getting rich together. Everyone fell asleep collectively after listening.
…The perspective shifts from the undulating snores in the plank houses to the brightly lit area in the middle of the city wall…
Wu Fei was pulling all the squad leaders to discuss tomorrow’s second wave of the black tide’s offense.
Why tomorrow! Because this daytime wave from the Southern Border was defeated, morale was low. Their leader couldn’t issue effective orders; the defeated soldiers needed to sleep through the night to reset their state. On Wu Fei’s side, due to the great victory during the day, his orders could be effectively conveyed to the soldiers below, who would obey 100%, thereby having sufficient organization to act at night.
Moreover, there were Wu Fei’s scouts outside the city now, continuing to create a surrounded-by-enemies situation on all sides.
Actually at this time, a general under Wu Fei suggested a night raid and confidently claimed it would definitely succeed. Wu Fei also believed such a night raid could produce sufficient battle results. Still, he held back their impulsiveness.
Returning inside the city wall, Wu Fei first asked about the state of the battle soldiers. They weren’t the ones working on the city battlement during the day; they had been resting and recuperating all day. Seeing Wu Fei, they all asked: “When do we go into battle.”
Wu Fei: “Everyone will have a chance, everyone will.”
Wu Fei thought silently in his heart: “If everything goes smoothly tomorrow, it still won’t be them fighting the city defense battle!”
The city wall battle still had to be fought by those soldiers who left slave status and became bricklayers! Because, Wu Fei: I want to liberate slaves.
…Is this noble? Heh…
After the last attempt to give human rights to slaves failed, Xuan Chong didn’t completely dismiss “slaves should remain slaves.” Instead, he thought maybe he could try a different approach.
As a student, he noticed several key terms in others’ problem-solving derivations, derived based on those key terms himself, then got stuck in a dead end. There were two possibilities: first, the answer was wrong; second, his derivation was wrong. With his long history as a poor student, Xuan Chong first assumed his derivation had issues!
That is, in social historical development, liberating slaves should bring huge returns. But he couldn’t just copy the answer; there needed to be a rigorous derivation process.
…System: You got this question right, giving you two academic credits…
For this Southern Border war, Wu Fei’s perspective was no longer limited to this immediate victory, but looked toward future rule.
War is the result of massive contradictions manifesting. Now the contradiction between Da Yao and the Southern Border was due to differing governance systems and unified values, leading to mutual plunder and suppression without arbitration. In short, to preliminarily resolve this contradiction, Wu Fei needed to push into the Southern Border in the future and establish his own order.
Establishing his own order required starting from economy and military. On the economic side, Wu Fei was already making maximum effort before, so now the focus was military.
He needed to maintain a powerful military force pressing down on the hundred Southern Border tribes!
Deriving to this point, if without the right method, a poor student would get stuck. Because the Wu Family, as military generals guarding the border these years, spared no effort in maintaining their military armament. But they could only maintain a basic level of periodically beating the Southern Border hundred tribes! Because their military strength wasn’t strong enough yet.
The Wu Family’s past solution to the Southern Border was similar to the Jin Dynasty’s control of the Mongols, constantly dividing the grasslands, weakening the small and striking the large. But the end result was during their own decline meeting the Mongols’ rise, plus a fool, and the Battle of Yehuling lost seven thousand heavy cavalry. Direct collapse.
Wu Fei decided to make the Southern Border thoroughly “singing and dancing in peace.” So he definitely needed to maintain military strength one level higher than the Wu Family’s current burst-soldier mode pressing on the Southern Border.
Building military strength requires money. The Wu Family’s current battle soldiers are too expensive and can’t be afforded in large numbers. That is, now he must find an “economical and practical” army to play a role.
In the end, after searching around, Wu Fei found the answer in the “Age of Discovery colonial history.” That is, at that time Great Ming and the West simultaneously explored the ocean, and even Zheng He’s voyages were far ahead of the West, but the result was Ming withdrew, and later historians analyzed why the East lagged behind the West in this link—some said Confucianism was backward and complacent, but actually the imperial examination system for selecting talent was far superior to Europe’s recommendation system at the time; some said monsoon reasons, as monsoons couldn’t reach the West, but failing to hold the backyard Southeast Asia invalidated that excuse.
And Wu Fei now, from a military strategist perspective, had another answer: the troops Great Ming brought were too expensive!
Joking aside, artillery, cavalry—these were top-tier troops in the world at the time, just finished accompanying Ming Chengzu conquering the empire, bearing merit corps. Such a corps could declare might, but for controlling areas and establishing order? It was like deploying sixth-generation fighters to mountains to compete with drones bombing tents, or a synthetic brigade kicking aside local proxies to personally fight security wars.
Undoubtedly, after the Taizong’s death, Great Ming withdrew its military presence from Southeast Asia, just like the lighthouse retreating from the empire graveyard.
In contrast, Europe found its own economical and practical armed forces. How about the combat power of those firearm soldiers in Europe’s colonies? The answer is third-rate among third-rates. Back in Europe facing firearm soldiers and knight orders trained by lords’ noble disciples, they would basically collapse at the first touch. As for facing Guan Ning Army and Eight Banners? (Of course before they degenerated.) If they could really withstand one charge, Spain would pull its colonial army back to Europe and directly steamroll England and France. In fact, Europe like Great Ming relied on generals and house troops like knight-order armed forces for support. These knight-order level armaments had first-rate combat will, but they were expensive.
The over a thousand elite troops that Wu Fei rotated out of the pass in this battle were like this: they could fight field battles, dared to be first to ascend. Wu Fei basically supported them one person with taxes from twenty households, and supported them to old age, arranged wedding leave, and set quota promotions for their offspring. After all, their sons were also willing to enlist, belonging to the Wu Family’s important assets. And if their offspring were slightly promising, squad leaders and various military officers would be selected from these family members. In the future if Wu Fei rises big, this core group won’t change, but will rise to heaven with him like chickens and dogs.
These officers and soldiers were Wu Fei’s stake for life-and-death decisive battles. For the current battle, Wu Fei wanted “economical and practical” troops to take the field. However, the key to “economical and practical” is “practical,” that is, usable.
Referencing the Age of Discovery process, the colonizers’ troops running into the South Asia circle could suppress local armed resistance.
Easterners who directly entered the Industrial Age without colonization had a mistaken cognition: that the most important asset of ocean civilization is sturdy ships and sharp cannons—this was a post-traumatic symptom from being bombarded by others’ ships and cannons. Actually, in the early Age of Discovery, the colonizers’ most important asset was local fortress strongholds. The fortress system overlooked from above, garrison could fight ten with one.
A few years ago when Wu Fei opened the Southern Border trade route, he clearly knew he was doing unethical colonial business. This job would cause trouble sooner or later, so he had long proactively selected some Southern Border locations, preparing to build fortress strongholds.
Besides having fortresses, there needed to be people to hold the fortresses.
Now, the three thousand laborer garrison on Yongji Pass had been specially taught a set of city defense battle tactics ten-plus days before the war started. And now it was actual combat. Wu Fei hoped they would integrate and apply what they learned half a month ago about early preparations for holding fortresses, and how to calmly inflict damage during enemy climbs in this “campaign teaching” site.
Wu Fei: After all, people teaching people won’t learn, but events teach and people learn immediately.
In the future, if a Southern Border fortress somewhere is besieged, as long as it can hold for a few days until the Wu Family Army field troops arrive, such economical and practical armies would be successful.
…Candlelight extinguishes, moon sets and crow rises…
After the black tide arduously slept one night under various surrounding harassments, they began the second round of siege battle under fear and oppression in the camp!
On Ang Ri’s suggestion, Jia Mude arranged true siege elites in this second day’s offense, accompanied by large numbers of miscellaneous soldiers able to ascend the city.
Ang Ri: If without the power to smash the city gate or crash the city wall, advancing together, the enemy’s city wall firepower would unscrupulously pour onto the “small ones” group, and after the small ones see no possibility of the city wall being destroyed, they won’t even have morale to charge to the foot of the city wall.
And Jia Mude was not unaware that “morale-less” small ones were almost impossible to take the city wall, but he hesitated: whether to pay sufficient cost to suppress those “big ones” to attack together? In the end, he helplessly called all big ones leaders to hear the imperial decree, ordering these big ones to rush to the city gate cave first thing tomorrow to smash the city gate.
Obviously, including Python People, Mountain Monsters, and dozens of other monster ethnic groups all shook their heads. Jia Mude looked at them and pushed open the bronze coffin.
The nearby Ang Ri was terrified. After a pleasant voice sounded from the bronze coffin, a pale hand stretched out. All big ones leaders wanted to run, but threads pierced through their heads, then these big ones first shriveled under red threads, afterward the threads turned black, and those shriveled big ones inflated like balloons, just with skin turned deathly pale.
During red threads, absorbing fresh red blood; during black threads, injecting unidentified black substance from the coffin into the victims’ bodies.
When the bronze coffin lid closed, a satisfied burp came from inside. And all big ones turned into eerie appearances with translucent skin and all-black pupils, then these big ones leaders obediently returned to their respective camps, beginning to convey the Sacred Fire’s orders.
Ang Ri: “This, this is?”
Jia Mude: “My ancestor’s concubine.”
Ang Ri: “You—”
Jia Mude: “Now the offense orders are unobstructed.”
The two didn’t notice the bronze coffin flickering with lamplight…
And inside Yongji Pass.
San Gu smiled, then continued drawing the talismans needed for battle.
…Battlefield horns…
The Southern Border’s second wave offense didn’t start early in the morning, but only after a dark cloud rose out of thin air, the black tide started again. This heavenly dark cloud was very strange, because upon reaching above Yongji Pass, it stopped, so Yongji Pass sky was still clear and bright.
Wu Fei looked at the large number of “small ones” bodies charging in this wave today, and the big ones each carrying “big hammers.” Obviously feeling different from yesterday: first, the formation was even more disorganized than yesterday, but more frenzied.
Wu Fei saw the frontmost guy obviously had a twisted leg, walking abnormally, but still twisted in unnatural posture charging forward, muttering: “This thing is a zombie, right.”
Although unclear what method the black tide used, wasn’t this perfect—his own camp also had a heterodox path practitioner, oh, a “yin-type magic” cultivator.
Wu Fei pointed there at San Gu and asked what the situation was.
San Gu: “Gu Worm!”
Wu Fei: “Hm?”
San Gu: “Southern Border sorcerers use gu descent. Thereby seeking wealth, but”
Wu Fei: “Say it all at once.”
San Gu: “Most descent gu worms, the finished product is just one or two, and different gu types mutually restrain, different gu-controlled people after losing self will harm and devour each other after losing self, just like gu worms in the jar back then. And these are at least fed the same gu worm to hundreds of people. This means the enemy has a wondrous treasure able to cultivate hundreds or thousands of descent gu at once.”
Wu Fei pondered: “You want this thing?”
San Gu smiled slightly. Wu Fei glanced at the individuals below: “If you obtain this item, will you act against me and my people?” Saying this, Wu Fei’s hand was already on his sword.
San Gu: “Absolutely will not act against Wu Family bloodline.”
Wu Fei: “Also not allowed to act against those loyal to me.”
San Gu: “Fine.”
Wu Fei stared fixedly, San Gu made a venomous oath.
Wu Fei agreed that after this battle, he would assist her in obtaining this item, and now she had to help.
When the first wave of descent gu climbed the city wall, flung out from the rear queue a full two hundred steps away, nearby San Gu said to Wu Fei: “Those hit by descent are like this.”
Wu Fei stared at these zombie-ized soldiers, nodding: “But they can’t obey commands, and have no tactical coordination ability.”
……
When the Da Yao crossbow soldiers on the city battlement who had reloaded aimed at these frontmost “zombie”-ized cannon fodder and shot, the city battlement command came to have them stand by temporarily. At this moment, a five-zhang-high vortex cloud disc appeared on the city building. Yao San Gu, oh, at this time an immortal maiden in everyone’s eyes, stood on this cloud disc floating in the checkpoint center.
Then, she clasped hands then charged energy, then aimed at these vanguard troops who rushed below the city wall and were trying to climb, spread hands and pushed a energy wave. The originally frenzied zombie-ized descent victims suddenly showed painful struggle in their eyes, then human souls began separating, souls turned into purple-black skeletons struggling in the skulls, while their own skulls trembled.
San Gu’s this magic directly turned the souls of these Southern Border cannon fodder trapped in mud palace acupoints by descent into lost souls, and after becoming lost souls they would control the skull gu worms to backlash. Soon, they stood stunned below the city wall, then under the gaze of garrison above and black tide barbarians arriving below, they just fell down.
After San Gu finished casting and wiped out this surprise attack queue, she leisurely returned to the city building.
Ang Ri in the Southern Border array looked at this “master” floating back to the city, enunciating each word: “Death soul-type magic.” He turned to look at Jia Mude, whose expression paused, obviously surprised by this targeted magic destruction.
And at this time no time to think more, the siege battle began.
On the city battlement, bed crossbows with wind control rune engraved long shafts aimed at those big ones charging toward the city gate outside. Egg-sized arrowheads with full one-meter arrow shafts shot from the city wall into those mountain monster clusters, immediately creating large patches of severed limbs.
And those small ones groups following the charge also suffered crossbow bolt shooting, like being singled out, as arrow shafts slanted in, one by one fell.
Compared to the first charge, since the big ones focused by crossbow bolts never routed, after paying forty percent casualties they reached the city gate, and with iron hammers smashed with banging sounds. The small ones groups, amid such gate-pounding noises, after paying over five hundred corpses, finally reached below the city wall and began climbing.
And once starting to climb, there was no retreat road, so the siege formally began.
Then various things rolling down from the city battlement suddenly smashed down, and Ang Ri could see, the city wall seemed coated with a layer of abnormal liquid. Causing small ones stepping onto the city wall to often slip down before standing steady.
