Chapter 652 [Second Update]
To be honest, Liu Tan sincerely praised King Zuo Tuqi because he was the first person who was not frightened by gunpowder and insisted that it was a miracle.
They really analyzed the properties of the powder keg seriously, and then came up with their own countermeasures based on this property. It's really something.
It's a pity that he is an enemy, otherwise Liu Tan would definitely pull him into the Northern Kingdom's academy and work hard to cultivate him into a scientific successor.
Lu Xuan obviously hadn't thought about it that much. He wasn't panicked by this sudden situation, but he wasn't happy either. He looked at Liu Tan and asked, "Do you want to choose another solution?"
Liu Tan asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Lu Xuan said calmly, "Go up the mountain, rolling stone."
This is a method they often use. It is not particularly novel, but it is easy to use. The only problem is that there seem to be no such large stones on Mount Yanran.
Liu Tan said, "King Zuo Tuqi must have taken precautions against this, so this method may not be that easy."
Of course it's not easy, so conflicts are inevitable. This is not the first time Lu Xuan has done this, and he has ample experience in this area.
But after thinking about it, he still didn't say anything, but just said: "Then tell me what method to use, I'll listen to you."
It was obviously a very ordinary sentence, but for some reason it struck a chord with Liu Tan, making him feel his ears hot.
He thought for a moment and said, "Actually... the mines can be used."
Lu Xuan was stunned for a moment: "What? Didn't they say that the mines are not completely safe yet?"
Liu Tan smiled slightly. "Yes, but we can add something to the mechanism so that it will ignite when it encounters a strong collision."
Although it's called a landmine, he still has the final say on how to use it.
At that time, just throw the mine out, and when the mine falls into the water, the mechanism will be triggered to ignite the fuse.
As long as the shell is waterproof.
You don't even need particularly strong waterproofing, just make sure the fuse isn't extinguished before the explosion.
To be honest, Lu Xuan had already forgotten about landmines. His thinking was as simple as everyone else's. Landmines, landmines, they were only used when setting up an ambush.
Unexpectedly, Liu Tan came up with such a solution.
Of course, this was just Liu Tan's plan. Whether it could work or not depended on Gongshu Can and the others.
Gongshu Can has been worrying about landmines these days and his hair has turned white. He really wants to get the finished landmines out as soon as possible, but the problem is... the triggering of the landmine can never be very accurate.
Although the King of the North had not looked for him before, he was under a lot of pressure. Now when he heard that the King of the North was calling him over, Gongshu Can couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart. He was ready to be scolded when he went there.
Unexpectedly, his prince not only did not scold him, but comforted him not to be too anxious and also mentioned his own needs.
Gongshu Can couldn't help but cheer up after hearing the latest needs of the King of the Northern Territory. Isn't it just to make the triggering of landmines more sluggish? And it doesn't need to be very precise, as long as it doesn't explode during transportation.
Gongshu Can patted his chest and said, "Your Highness, rest assured. I will do whatever you ask. If I cannot do it, I will bring my head to you!"
Liu Tan quickly said, "Not really."
If he can do it, he will do it. If he can't do it, he will think of other ways. This thing just came to his mind suddenly. Scientific research should be done in a quiet place. Now, if these people are asked to migrate with the army while conducting research, we can't expect fast progress, not to mention that the precision must be so high.
Gongshu Can felt a little ashamed. This was the second task assigned to him by His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory. The first task did not seem easy at the moment, so the second task must not be missed.
After a rough estimate, Gongshu Can suggested that it would take five days.
Liu Tan couldn't help but ask doubtfully, "Is five days enough?"
Gongshu Can explained, "Your Highness doesn't want to cause a landslide, so the gunpowder in each mine won't be too much, and the number of mines needed won't be too many. Five days will be enough."
Gongshu Can felt a little sad when he said this. Although it was still called a landmine, this landmine did not do what a landmine should do.
Liu Tan trusted him, nodded and said, "Go ahead, and report back if you need anything."
Gongshu Can left in high spirits. After he went back and told everyone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Well, I hope you don't blame me.
Just five days, which is nothing in a large-scale war. Wars these days usually last for years, and even the preparation period alone can take many years.
It just happened to give the soldiers below an opportunity to adjust and rest.
While he was making preparations, King Zuo Tuqi felt that the Northern King must be stumped by him. Standing in front of the tent, he looked out and said, "Hmph, the so-called invincible Northern King... is nothing more than this."
The guards beside him also followed his gaze, but... saw nothing.
Their view was blocked by Mount Yanran.
As a leader, King Zuo Tuqi certainly would not be in the valley, but he did everything he could. As long as he defended the valley and waited for winter to come, the Han Dynasty would definitely withdraw.
Thinking of this, he felt a little emotional. Back then, they were not satisfied with just the Han army withdrawing. They had to kill more of the enemy's soldiers, or take them as prisoners.
But now it seems that no one dares to say that they can get any benefits from the King of the North. They don’t even ask to win, as long as they can hold on.
This person... is indeed very weird.
King Zuo Tuqi calculated the time, turned to the person next to him and said, "Go back and tell my father that we have..."
Before he could finish his words, he felt a vibration under his feet.
At the moment of the vibration, King Zuo Tuqi originally thought it was an earthquake, but when he smelled a special smell of sulfur, he subconsciously looked towards the valley.
Then I found that the valley in the distance was covered with thick smoke.
He had some understanding of this situation. It usually happened when the powder keg exploded.
King Zuo Tuqi couldn't help but widen his eyes: "This... is impossible!"
The guards beside him were also stunned and didn't come back to their senses for a long time.
King Zuo Tuqi's expression suddenly changed. He turned around and ordered, "Quick, withdraw the troops back to Longcheng!"
Of course he would try his best to delay, but... facing the other party's incredible means, he no longer had the confidence to stop Liu Tan's footsteps, and those people in the valley... were probably no longer able to do it.
King Zuo Tuqi now only hopes that the solid Dragon City can withstand the enemy's advance.
Fortunately, the other party didn't seem to be in a hurry to catch up.
In fact, it’s not that Liu Tan didn’t want to chase, but... there was really no way to chase. After all, no matter how hard he tried, the ground in the valley was still bumpy after the bombing, and this was their only way to Longcheng.
Liu Tan was not in a hurry. They were already very close to Longcheng. The more they were at this time, the less anxious they should be. Anyway, they did not expect to destroy the Huns.
Fortunately, before the explosion, part of the water pit dug by King Zuo Tuqi was filled, otherwise Liu Tan would have to ask people to transport various sand and gravel to fill the pit.
Now he just needs to fill the gap with the rocks blown down from the mountains on both sides.
This was done mainly to pave the way for the baggage train that followed. If Liu Tan had not been unsure of being able to capture Longcheng and was afraid of making things difficult for others, he would have sent people to the Northern Border to transport cement.
During this process, the soldiers dragged over all the copper plates that King Zuo Tuqi had laid out earlier.
Liu Tan took a look and found that in order to prevent tunnels, King Zuo Tuqi made the copper plates very thick and large, roughly estimating that there were dozens of them.
After doing some calculations, Liu Tan said happily, "I didn't expect to have an income. Not bad, not bad."
This is really all money.
Lu Xuan felt a bit amused and helpless when he saw him like this. The money earned from these copper coins was not even enough for the Emperor to give him a gift once. Was it necessary to be so happy?
However, in Liu Tan's view, this was unexpected wealth. The imperial court had sent a large amount of food and fodder before. Liu Tan knew at a glance that Chang'an had high hopes for him to capture Longcheng.
Even though Liu Tan was under a lot of pressure, now... he finally got some money back, and at least he could explain something.
While Liu Tan was having his men busy filling the road, Xulihu was preparing to run away.
After Zuo Tuqi Wang and his men returned to Longcheng, Xulihu was furious when he heard about it: "Didn't you swear before that you could stop him?"
King Zuo Tuqi lowered his head and said nothing. In fact, what made Xulihu most angry was not that his son failed to stop the other party, but that after discovering that the first method did not work, his son did not have the courage to try again.
Xulihu suddenly realized that the King of the North had reached a level of fear that their people had. It might not be said that he was terrified, but he did put them under pressure.
Xulihu said in a deep voice, "If we can't stop them, Dragon City will be in imminent danger. Is there anyone willing to fight?"
Wherever his eyes passed, everyone bowed their heads. He didn't dare to look at Xulihu at all.
Xulihu's heart sank. He was also a brave and warlike man. In this situation, he knew that if he forced people to fight, it would only deplete their resources.
At this time, the Right Tuqi King looked at the Left Tuqi King and said, "Your Majesty, the destiny is not with me now. Why don't we retreat eastward?"
Xulihu's face turned pale: "Are we just going to hand Dragon City over to someone else?"
The Right Tuqi King said slowly, "Don't we have the Left Tuqi King? He made such a promise before. Why not hand Dragon City over to him and let him guard it?"
King Zuo Tuqi's face turned pale and he looked up at Xulihu. Before he could say anything, Xulihu slowly nodded, "Yes."
So when Liu Tan finally arrived at Longcheng without any obstructions, the only one who challenged him was King Zuo Tuqi.
Lu Xuan had brought this news, and he asked curiously, "Where's Xulihu?"
Lu Xuan smiled and said, "I was scared away by you."
Liu Tan: ??? As the mighty Xiongnu Chanyu, could you please stop being such a coward!
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