Chapter 263 Xiao Zhuo's Request
"Father, listen to me," Xiao Beiheng stood in the general's tent, his armor askew and his belt loose, his hair disheveled. "I was reckless in this fight. I never thought Xiao Zhuo would resort to such tricks. If we fight again tomorrow, I will definitely win."
Xiao Ming looked up at the ceiling and did not respond.
He was very familiar with this scene, it had just happened yesterday.
His son had been yelling and cursing all day, and when his morale was at its lowest, he was suddenly attacked and completely led by Xiao Zhuo, resulting in over 3,000 casualties. Fortunately, he immediately sent reinforcements and repelled Xiao Zhuo's cavalry.
Xiao Beiheng remained unscathed. He was very clever this time. As soon as he saw the crossbows pouring out of Xiao Zhuo's camp and his own large shields thrown dozens of feet behind him, he knew he was doomed and turned his horse around to flee.
For an army of 100,000, 3,000 casualties wasn't a serious matter, but the impact of two consecutive defeats on morale couldn't be underestimated.
As one side gains strength while the other loses, it is almost foreseeable that if another battle is fought, Xiao Beiheng will still suffer losses.
He had heard that Xiao Zhuo had defeated Xiao Kai in Xiliang with only 50,000 men against his 200,000 men, and had beaten him back step by step. He had thought that Xiao Kai was too stupid, but now it seemed that it wasn't Xiao Kai who was incompetent, but that Xiao Zhuo was too clever.
"Bei Heng," Xiao Ming said after thinking for a long time, "We can't go on like this. We've lost all our shields, and the enemy's crossbows are so powerful."
The servant came into the tent to serve tea. Xiao Beiheng picked up the tea and drank it all in one gulp, then waved his hand to let the servant go out quickly.
After the servants left, Xiao Beiheng straightened his clothes and armor and said to Xiao Ming:
"Father, we are lions. Compared to us, Xiao Zhuo is at best a jackal. He was lucky enough to bite us twice. It's not serious. I can order the artisans in the army to make a large wooden shield..."
"Even if you build a shield, Xiao Zhuo will still have a countermeasure," Xiao Ming interrupted him with a wave of his hand. "If you want to win, you can't follow Xiao Zhuo's rhythm. That way you'll always be one step behind him."
Xiao Beiheng was a little confused: "What does father mean?"
"Send soldiers disguised as villagers to find out where Xiao Zhuo's food is stored."
Xiao Beiheng was stunned at first, then his eyes lit up: "Great plan, we can attack Xiao Zhuo's grain storage. If his food and grass are gone, the army will naturally be in chaos."
Xiao Ming said, "Food and fodder are the lifeblood of an army. When Xiao Zhuo led his cavalry to Leshan to rescue the King of Xiliang, he cut off the Xirong army's food supply. The 100,000 Xirong troops were forced to turn back to deal with Xiao Zhuo, which naturally lifted the siege of Leshan. If he had not chosen this strategy and instead led his cavalry directly into battle against the Xirong, he would have been doomed."
"I'll do it right away." Xiao Beiheng turned around excitedly and walked out of the tent.
"Wait," Xiao Ming raised his hand and called out, "Bei Heng, our actions must be secretive. Don't let Xiao Zhuo notice. If he finds out, this plan will be ineffective."
Xiao Beiheng agreed and selected several smart soldiers from the camp, disguised them as villagers, and went to investigate.
The next day, Xiao Zhuo sent General Qiu Liming to lead his army to fight. King Xiao Ming of Qi hung up a banner refusing to fight. Qiu Liming ordered his soldiers to shout and curse, but when he saw that King Xiao Ming's army was locked up, he withdrew his troops and returned to the camp to find Xiao Zhuo.
"My lord, I will go into battle today, but the Qi King's army will not accept the challenge."
Xiao Zhuo said, "I see. Then we don't need to go. Let's get the soldiers training."
Qiu Liming smiled and said, "After two battles, our infantry and cavalry have already clashed with the Qi King's army. Now the commanders of each camp are busy training their troops and preparing for the upcoming battle. My lord, there is no need to worry about it."
Xiao Zhuo stood up and said, "I'm going to the back tent to rest. General Qiu will take care of the military affairs."
Qiu Liming took the order and left, and Xiao Zhuo walked to the back tent.
Shen Yuexi was using tweezers to piece together the broken pieces of the jade pendant. Daxiong did not have the ability to observe, so if she wanted to restore the jade pendant, she had to find out its exact name.
Xiao Zhuo didn't say anything either. He walked behind her and sat down, watching her carefully put the pieces together.
This task seemed easy, but it was actually quite troublesome. Some of the fragments were the same size and would fit into the same opening, so they had to be compared piece by piece. And the fragments were so small that Shen Yuexi had to squint under the light to examine them carefully.
I've been putting the pieces together since morning, and it's almost noon now, and I've only finished one-sixth of the jade pendant.
"Don't block the light." She tilted her head and pushed Xiao Zhuo's face away with one hand. With the other hand, she used tweezers to pick up a piece of debris the size of a grain of rice and pushed it in carefully.
"My husband has already said that this jade pendant is called the Dragon Jade Pendant."
"I know, but the problem is that the Dragon Huan Jade Pendant has 561 different appearances, each with a different weight. If you manufacture it indiscriminately, either the result will be completely different from the original, or you won't be able to manufacture it at all."
As Shen Yuexi spoke, she stuffed the piece into the gap. Her hand trembled, and the one-sixth piece that had been put together fell apart.
"Oh," she angrily slammed the tweezers on the table and leaned back against Xiao Zhuo's chest, "it was all in vain again."
Only now do I realize that when I designed the universal manufacturing machine, I didn’t take many important things into consideration. It was a complete failure.
"Does it have to be restored to its original jade pendant?" Xiao Zhuo massaged her shoulders.
"This is the only relic my mother left me for my husband. If it's made into something else, it will lose its meaning." Shen Yuexi straightened up. "No, I'm fine anyway. I don't believe I can't put it together in ten days or half a month."
She was about to reach for the tweezers when Xiao Zhuo's large hand grasped her wrist and said, "Yuexi, there's no rush for this jade pendant. I want you to make me something that can make me angry."
"Can you get angry?" Shen Yuexi didn't react for a moment.
"It wasn't anger," Xiao Zhuo clasped his hands together and made an explosion gesture, "it was a bang, a huge fire."
"My husband is talking about incendiary bombs." Shen Yuexi clapped her hands, "I understand. Let me ask first."
She called out to Big Bear in her heart: "Big Bear, can you make an incendiary bomb?"
"Dear Master, Big Bear can make 901 kinds of incendiary bombs. Your name is too general. Please tell me the exact name of the incendiary bomb."
"We need a specific name." Shen Yuexi scratched her head.
She knew nothing about military affairs and had no idea what types of incendiary bombs there were. She had no choice but to ask Big Bear, "Big Bear, could you please list all the incendiary bombs that can be made?"
"Big Bear can make napalm incendiary bombs and white phosphorus incendiary bombs..."
"Wait, let's make a napalm incendiary bomb." Shen Yuexi interrupted Daxiong.
Big Bear paused, then his cheerful voice rang out again: "Dear Master, according to Article 6,249 of the Fifth Edition of the Interstellar Federation Human Rights Treaty, the Universal Fabricator cannot produce napalm."
"We can build cannons, so why can't we build this?"
Shen Yuexi was puzzled, but Daxiong said that if it couldn't be built, then it must not be built, and there was no room for compromise.
Xiao Zhuo watched her expression change from bright to gloomy with interest, and wondered what she was mumbling about.
"What about the white phosphorus incendiary bomb?"
"Dear Master, according to the Fifth Edition of the Interstellar Federation Human Rights Treaty..."
"I see, it definitely can't be made," Shen Yuexi helplessly interrupted Daxiong, "High-purity alcohol should be fine, right?"
Even if Big Bear doesn't allow her to build it, she will find a way around it.
Alcohol can also burn, though not as violently. Langya Pass City has readily available gunpowder, which can be made into detonators and detonated. This way, the alcohol will ignite and splatter everywhere, effectively acting as an incendiary bomb.
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