Chapter 629 [Second Update]
Liu Tan looked at the shocked faces of the crowd and said, "It's not a special method. It's just a different way of using the powder keg."
Everyone was confused again. Should we try another way?
Ever since the powder keg appeared, the only way people know how to use it seems to be throwing it.
After being thrown out, it will cause a large-scale explosion attack, and then your side only needs to clean up the battlefield, and basically do not need to do anything else.
But now that Liu Tan said there were other ways, it really made them interested.
Liu Tan waved his hand and had a map of Shanggu County brought out. He pointed at it and said, "Now that Shanggu County is occupied by the Xiongnu, attacking the city from the outside will undoubtedly consume a lot of manpower and resources, and the results may not be good. So I decided to use gunpowder barrels to blast a tunnel underground, then sneak into Shanggu County and launch a surprise attack directly from the inside. I'm sure the Xiongnu will never expect us to be able to drill out from underground. Taking advantage of their unpreparedness, we can do a lot of things."
Everyone stared at Liu Tan in amazement. Miao Rui couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, can a gunpowder barrel really blast a tunnel underground?"
Liu Tan nodded: "Yes."
Someone asked bluntly, "Why didn't Your Highness use this method when we attacked Liaodong County?"
Liu Tan: ...
Where did this naughty kid come from? He is bringing up all sorts of issues. He only thinks of special methods when he is at the scene, which means that he can only think of them when he is exposed to these things. If he had not been exposed to anything and stayed in the Weiyang Palace from beginning to end, he would probably just be a rich man now.
But facing everyone's admiring gazes, Liu Tan couldn't admit that he hadn't thought of this before, so he spoke calmly, "It's mainly because this thing requires a high level of technical content. Although it uses gunpowder barrels, I actually just found a way to explain it so that everyone can understand. When you actually do it, you need to prepare black powder on site, bury the required amount, and detonate it. Because we're digging a tunnel, we can't use too much, otherwise it will directly blow the ground apart, and we can't use too little, otherwise the black powder won't be able to exert its power."
Seeing that everyone seemed to understand but not quite, Liu Tan thought for a moment and said, "Actually, black powder isn't needed all the time. It's only needed when encountering rocks or areas that are very difficult to dig. Normally, other areas still require manual excavation."
It sounds like black powder isn't needed much, but in reality, digging a tunnel directly into the city wouldn't work without it. How would one dig through the rock? Using ancient techniques, one would either use manpower to break the rock, or use hot water to break it apart using the principle of thermal expansion and contraction.
Either way, it takes time.
In order to prevent the enemy from noticing, Liu Tan also planned to have his soldiers launch feint attacks from time to time, and then pretend to retreat as if they were unable to attack.
The casualties should not be too great in a short period of time, but if it drags on for too long, the casualties will be what he doesn't want to see. What's more, the most important thing is that his attitude of wasting time and not making up his mind to attack directly is not in line with his character and will easily arouse people's suspicion.
Of course, the most important thing is that digging a tunnel is not an easy task. Because of underground water sources or other reasons, the direction and direction of the tunnel need to be determined bit by bit.
Liu Tan does have such talents under his command, so he wanted to discuss this meeting more with everyone.
Determine the direction of tunnel excavation based on strategy, tactics and geographical location.
This was the first time that everyone used this method to attack a city, or it could not be called an attack on a city. If the city was not their own, this method would be no different from robbing someone else's house.
But no one thought there was anything wrong with it. As long as they could win, sometimes people didn’t particularly care about the means.
What's more, Liu Tan's method is already very gentle, and it is the one with the least casualties among all methods.
After extensive investigations, several locations were selected, and we were just waiting for Liu Tan to make the final decision on a location before we could start excavating.
Liu Tan pointed at the map and was about to choose a place he liked, but before he spoke, he suddenly paused and turned around and said, "How about this, everyone vote for a place, and the one with the most votes will be the one that gets chosen."
Someone asked in confusion, "Your Highness, why don't you just decide directly?"
Liu Tan smiled shyly and said, "Well... I'd better not show off my expertise. After all, I rarely lead troops in battle, so my judgment on these things is not very accurate. Moreover, these places were originally the result of everyone's collective efforts, so it's good to decide on them together now."
Everyone felt very comfortable after hearing this. They were originally generals of the Northern Territory and had no objection to Liu Tan. They had already made preparations and would just listen to whatever the King of the Northern Territory said.
Anyway, judging from various events, the decisions made by His Royal Highness the King of the North are generally not wrong, but those who do not listen to his orders suffer.
Seeing that everyone started voting with great enthusiasm, Liu Tan couldn't help but sweat in his heart.
He actually had a favorite place, but before deciding on that place, he suddenly thought of his inexplicable passive skill and abruptly gave up.
He didn't want to suddenly dig up a piece of ore while digging a tunnel. It was not a good sign at this time, right?
If there is a mine in that place, it means that the whole area cannot be used. The location they chose is actually not much different in that part. Not only will they have to choose a worse place again, but the key point is that a lot of time is wasted.
After everyone's votes came in, a place was finally chosen based on everyone's opinions.
After sending people over to start exploratory construction, Liu Tan thought to himself: There won’t be any more mining this time, right?
Anyway, even if the mine is dug out, it’s not his problem.
Fortunately, there was no problem this time. After confirming that there was only soil and rocks underground, he felt relieved.
While Liu Tan was ordering his men to launch a feint attack on Shanggu City, he was also keeping an eye on the digging of the tunnel and anxiously communicating with Jicheng. He now had to ensure Liu Ku's safety.
However, since Shanggu County was the only road leading to the State of Yan, it was blocked and he could only rely on carrier pigeons to send messages there. With dozens of pigeons flying over, he didn't know how many would reach their destination. Even if they did reach their destination, Dou Sibo and others would have to use carrier pigeons to send the message to Shuofang City and then Huo Guang would deliver it to him.
There was no other way. The pigeons that could communicate with him on the Yan side were all brought by him from Shuofang City, and carrier pigeons were used to send messages by relying on the pigeons' ability to recognize their home.
In other words, the correspondence was basically semi-fixed, at least the place where the pigeons were received was fixed and could not be taken away manually.
So, although carrier pigeon messaging is good in every way, it’s just not smart enough.
At this point, even if Liu Tan was anxious, it would be useless. He could only take down Shanggu County first and then see how the situation would develop.
The excavation of the tunnel went very smoothly. Although the use of black powder was somewhat dangerous and often injured people, there was no danger to life.
During this period, after the Xiongnu discovered that every attack by His Royal Highness the King of the North had ended in failure, their fear of the King of the North had been reduced to the lowest point. They even learned to mock Liu Tan in Chinese.
They said he didn't live up to his reputation and had been lying before, so they did whatever they could to irritate him.
Liu Tan was patient at first, and then when he felt the situation was about right, he would occasionally show up to let the other party see his anger and helplessness.
After returning to the middle tent, he regained his composure.
Miao Rui and Bi Gao, who were following Liu Tan, felt deeply that their prince had suffered a great injustice and could not help but say, "Your Highness, the tunnel has been dug and we can send people in soon. Why not start the siege now?"
Liu Tan ate slowly while saying, "You all said we were almost done digging. If we lose our patience now, all our efforts will be wasted. I'm not angry, so why are you angry? We're all old, so be calm."
"My Lord, they... they are really going too far!"
Liu Tan smiled slightly: "The happier they are now, the more surprised they will be later. Let them be happy for now. It doesn't matter. After all, the one who laughs last laughs the best."
He was just scolded a few times, which was not a big deal. The other party even restrained himself and did not dare to scold his whole family - probably because he was afraid that if he scolded too harshly, Liu Che would find an opportunity to send out the army directly.
In fact, if it wasn't for paralyzing the other party, how could Liu Tan cooperate with the acting?
The happier the other party is now, the more they think he is incompetent, the more relaxed they will be, and the easier it will be for him to succeed when the time comes.
No matter how smoothly the tunnel is dug, it cannot offset one thing, that is, not too many people can go through at one time, the tunnel cannot be dug too wide, and time does not allow it. In fact, this is also very dangerous, so Liu Tan can only do his best to make the other party less guarded against them, and the later the discovery, the better. Especially when the tunnel is dug into the city, black powder is also needed to not arouse the other party's suspicion.
After entering the city, the tunnel will be divided into several passages, leading to different places. The first place to be controlled is the armory, and then the county magistrate's office.
There are also a few other scattered places left, which were determined by Liu Tan based on the previous distribution of Shanggu City. I don’t know if they are useful.
Just as Liu Tan was thinking about this, Bi Gao walked in and said, "Your Highness, everything is ready."
Liu Tan took a deep breath, a little nervous, but he managed to remain calm. With a hint of a smile, he said, "We'll start tonight at three quarters past midnight."
Bi Gao took the order and went down. Only after everyone in the tent had left did Liu Tan let out a nervous sigh.
He didn't know whether this method would work, but the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. Moreover, this was the only solution.
Liu Tan imagined what it would be like for the vanguard troops to sneak into Shanggu City, and even thought that those people might be discovered as soon as they showed up, and then use their lives to buy time for their comrades.
Many already very blurry movie clips flashed through his mind.
He thought of many possibilities, but he never expected that what should have been a thrilling war film would be turned into a comedy by his men.
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