Chapter 71: Hold On◇
The news Zhou Dai brought back was strictly sealed by Mu Qingni. No one knew about it except Han Qianhu and Zhou Jin.
The next day came in a blink of an eye...
The second day's battle to defend the city was extremely difficult. The Tartars started fighting non-stop from early in the morning...
The Tartars have a large number of people and can take turns fighting, but the number of people defending the city on Mu Qingni's side is limited. If they continue fighting like this, the soldiers on their side will be exhausted to death.
"Zhou Jin, Song Hu! Each of you will take 500 soldiers and go to support the four gates at all times. Go to whichever gate the Tartars are attacking most fiercely. Also, tell the captains guarding the four gates to divide all the soldiers there into three groups. No matter how intense the battle gets, they must take turns eating and resting!"
Mu Qingni used her sword to dispatch a Tartar who was attempting to scale the wall using a siege ladder, then she shouted to the side. She had to shout. The fighting on the wall was intense and chaotic right now!
"Yes!" Zhou Jin and another general Song Hu, who were sent to her left and right to obey her orders, responded loudly, then each selected 500 soldiers and went.
The remaining three hundred people continued to follow Mu Qingni to defend the city wall.
…
Thus, under Mu Qingni's command, the soldiers of Fuzhou City continued to resist tenaciously...
From the first day of the Tartar attack, Fuzhou City has been defending for ten days. The number of soldiers defending the city has also been reduced from more than 5,000 at the beginning to about 4,000.
Facing an attack by a Tartar army of nearly 100,000, they only suffered a few hundred casualties after defending for ten days, which was not a lot.
If it weren't for General Mu's proper command, there would definitely not be so few casualties. Han Qianhu and his men, who have fought on the battlefield countless times, are well aware of this. Therefore, they no longer dare to look down on their current superior Mu Qingni as they did when she first came!
"General, we only have enough arrows for one day at most. We're almost out!"
Several mid-level generals including Han Qianhu and low-level generals including Zhou Jin were taking advantage of the gap in the enemy's attack to hold an impromptu meeting with Mu Qingni, the highest commander of Fuzhou City, on the stairs beside the city wall. The general in charge of ordnance came over with a worried look on his face to report.
Oh! I'm out of arrows so quickly! What should I do?
Captain Han and his men were extremely worried after hearing this. If they lost the thunderstone and rolling log, they could move them to the riverside in the city, or at worst, demolish a few houses in the city to hold out for a few days. But if they lost the arrow, could they not make one on the spot?!
But without feather arrows, defending the city would undoubtedly be much more difficult.
"Don't worry, I have an idea. Go gather the people in the city and help me build a few hundred straw men! They just need to be simple and sturdy, not exquisite. The sooner the better. I need them tonight!"
Mu Qingni rubbed her forehead, which was aching from lack of sleep, and calmly instructed the general:
"Remember, when making a scarecrow, you must find a secret place to make it. Don't let the Tartars across the way see it."
"yes!"
The general in charge of the ordnance quickly responded and went down to prepare, leaving Captain Han and the others staring at each other in bewilderment. They wondered what General Mu was going to do with the scarecrow at this time.
Mu Qingni pointed at the still bright sky and laughed at them:
"I've observed the celestial phenomena today, and tonight the moon will be dark and the wind will be gentle. To keep the Tartars from getting bored, how about we give them a show called 'Borrowing Arrows from a Straw Man'?"
After laughing, he leaned against the city wall, sat on the cotton mattress donated by the people in the city, closed his eyes, and fell asleep...
Everyone...
…
"Alas! The general is too tired! Let her get some sleep!"
Captain Han looked at Mu Qingni, who had fallen asleep leaning against the city wall, and sighed as he led the way down the wall. As he walked, he asked Zhou Jin, who was now rarely seen:
"Ah Jin, do you think General Mu can really read the celestial phenomena? Tsk tsk! How can a little girl who looks like she's barely 20 years old be so capable?! She's skilled in martial arts and fighting, sure, but she can actually read the celestial phenomena?!"
In operas, that’s something only Zhuge Liang could do!
Zhou Jin thought:
What the hell does she know about observing the sky? The sky was so bright with fiery clouds just after sunset, and today is the second day of the Chinese New Year. Anyone with common sense would know that the moon would be dark and the wind would be gentle tonight. Why would she need to observe the sky?! I'm just trying to fool you fools!
But he couldn't say that, because now Fuzhou City was supported by the spirit and energy of the goddess stick, otherwise the morale would have collapsed long ago!
So he could only ask Han Baihu:
"Haven't you always looked down on her, disliked her because she was a woman, and refused to be controlled by her? Why, do you accept it now?"
"Hmph! Why do you always bring up things that are irrelevant to the topic?! Let me tell you, I only respect those who are more powerful than me! General Mu is even more ruthless than me when it comes to killing Tartars! She's also amazing at arranging troops and formations! I really respect her!"
Zhou Jin then asked with a malicious look, "Aren't you admitting now that you were wrong? Do you admit now that General Mu was right to hit you?!"
Captain Han...why does this guy keep harping on this?!
I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"That's right! I admit that I was wrong in the beginning. I didn't recognize Mount Tai. Isn't that enough?! After this battle, if I'm still alive, I will definitely take the blame for her, isn't that enough?"
Captain Han said this angrily, and without paying any more attention to Zhou Jin, he walked straight forward!
Zhou Jin shrugged when he saw this, thinking, "Why are you still angry? Is it so hard to admit that you're not as good as a girl?! Besides, there aren't many people in this city who can compare to that girl, right?! Why are you so shy?!"
Then he thought, what if his Kung Fu was better than that girl's? He admitted that his martial arts skills were definitely not as good as that girl's, but in actual combat, that girl might not be able to beat him!
Humph... No, he must compete with that girl tomorrow when he gets the chance!
………
That night, many scarecrows appeared quietly on the walls of Fuzhou City. When the Tartars were about to launch a new round of attack at night, the archers on the walls of Fuzhou City immediately drew their bows and shot arrows at them.
Of course, this round of rain of arrows was naturally much less than usual.
But it still succeeded in attracting a powerful counterattack from the enemy archers. The soldiers defending the city hurriedly hid behind the city wall, watching the arrows flying all over the sky. In an instant, the scarecrows around them were shot with arrows.
The soldiers quickly knocked down the scarecrow that was shot with arrows, and replaced it with a new one. They squatted on the ground and pulled out the arrows from the first scarecrow...
This went on twice until the Tartars launched a fierce attack. The straw men were removed and the real soldiers went up to meet them.
…
In the next few days, before each Tartar attack, Mu Qingni would do the same thing again. After a few days, they had collected enough feather arrows to last them half a month. But at the same time, their strategy of "borrowing arrows from straw men" was discovered by the Tartars and could no longer be used!
…
After holding out for a few more days, the Tartars outside the city became increasingly annoyed and their attacks became more and more fierce. Many soldiers in Fuzhou City were killed and wounded. By now, only about 3,900 people were still able to defend the city.
By this time, half a month had passed since their first day of defending the city!
The remaining guards were probably trapped in a crisis that hadn't been resolved yet, as reinforcements still hadn't arrived...
The heavy snow that had been falling a few days ago had stopped a long time ago, but Liaodong became even colder when the snow melted. However, the hearts of the soldiers in the city were colder than the weather in Liaodong.
During another meeting, even Captain Han and his men felt somewhat discouraged when they saw the massive Tartar army outside the city.
Everyone was worrying about how to fight against the Tartars next when Zhu Xi's voice came over...
"Sister Qingni, I have an idea!"
…
It turned out that Zhu Xi was really worried about Zhou Yu that day, so he took advantage of the truce between the Tartars to go see her. When he got there, he saw that she and other doctors were busy as always, and they looked extremely haggard.
In fact, there is no one in Fuzhou City who is not haggard. Being surrounded by tens of thousands of Tartars outside and under the tremendous pressure of being able to break into the city at any time to burn, kill and loot, one can imagine everyone's state. How can their mental outlook be any good!
Even Zhu Xi himself had become unshaven and covered in dust because he had been guarding the city with Mu Qingni all day long. His hands and face were covered with cracks from frostbite!
But Zhu Xi could only see his Ayu in his eyes. Seeing her haggard appearance, he felt so distressed that he wanted to find a place to make her a bowl of hot soup. However, he had only taken two steps when he saw an old woman who was helping the soldiers fetch water slip and fall, and the water spilled all over the floor!
Zhu Xi rushed to help, and after helping the old woman up, he hurried to help with the overturned bucket, but found that the water he had just poured out had already slightly frozen...
The sky in Liaodong is so cold that water turns into ice as soon as it falls!
Zhu Xi sighed in his heart! Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to his mind...
…
"Sister Qingni! I've got an idea!"
Zhu Xi just ran over and saw that Mu Qingni was surrounded by people. He quickly changed his words and said respectfully:
"General Mu, I have come up with a solution!"
Seeing that all the generals were looking at him, Mu Qingni also gestured to him and then spoke again:
"I think that since the weather is so cold now, we can keep pouring water on the city wall to turn it into an ice wall, and the entire Fuzhou City will become an ice city!
That way we can save most of the troops guarding the city walls and use them to guard the city gates!"
…
Everyone... is also right!!!
"Hahaha, this is a good idea!"
Captain Han clapped his hands and praised loudly.
Anyway, they were short of everything in the city right now, except water. There were still piles of snow in the city, and it hadn't melted yet! Besides, there were still many rivers, so if all else failed, they could just break the ice to get water!
So, a moment later...
All the people in the city were called together and formed into dozens of water-carrying teams. Countless buckets of water were poured on the city walls one after another during the intervals of the Tartar attacks.
After pouring water continuously for a whole day and night, a cold ice wall covered with a layer of ice as thick as two palms appeared!
Now, the Tartars' ladders and climbing ropes were no longer useful, and the pressure on the city wall was suddenly relieved a lot. Mu Qingni also divided half of the soldiers guarding the city wall to guard the four gates.
The pressure on the four gates was also relieved a lot because of the support...
…
Thanks to Zhu Xi's advice, Fuzhou City held out tenaciously for another ten days. The casualties among the soldiers were not too high, and there were still about 3,000 men able to fight. However, by this time, almost a month had passed since the Tartars besieged the city, and the food in the city was almost gone. Even with the donations from the people, the city could only hold out for a dozen days at most. However, the much-anticipated reinforcements still hadn't arrived...
The author has something to say:
Mu Qingni: Hey there! The weakest male protagonist in history is finally useful...
Zhou Jin: I've already said he's the weakest supporting actor in history! I'm the lead actor! Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided me with nutrient solution between 2022-07-12 08:56:05 and 2022-07-12 14:19:55~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: Krismile (smile) 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Lan, 21961011 10 bottles; Krismile (Smile) 2 bottles; Chenxi 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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