Chapter 32 Zhang Xun, we are here to deliver food via SF Express!
"What kind of drone is this? Is it like the unmanned harvester from last time? Can it carry a lot of food?"
[Hehehe, Erfeng, you also have blind spots in knowledge that you don’t understand!
This drone is completely different. I won’t tell you yet, you’ll see it tomorrow!
[That's right, this Er Feng is so mean, he never told us anything about his plans! Revenge! We have to keep him curious all night!]
These modern people have really learned bad things!
Li Shimin raised this issue with dissatisfaction, but everyone in Tianmu said that they learned it from his ancestor, which ultimately left Li Shimin speechless.
Li Shimin told himself he wasn't curious, but he tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. His heart felt like it was being scratched by a cat's claws, and he was extremely curious.
Therefore, the live broadcast started early the next day, and the recruited SF Express courier had already arrived.
[Help, help! Erfeng, your knife is at my neck!]
[Oh my god, delivering a package in the Tang Dynasty is life-threatening. I have to pay extra for this trip! Ugh!]
[Family members, who understands? We at SF Express are really risking our lives delivering packages!]
Although Li Shimin had informed the soldiers in advance, food and fodder were of paramount importance. By the time Li Shimin hurried over, over thirty delivery boys in obedient work clothes were already crouching together, trembling with fear.
"Woo woo, Erfeng, you guys are too violent!
If you had been a step later, my head would have been separated from my body!"
After finally meeting Er Feng Zhenren, the modern courier boy and girl surrounded Li Shimin with silly smiles, asking him to sign their clothes. They immediately took out a large bag of signs with "SF Express" written on them:
"Our boss said that we don't need Erfeng to pay for this trip, but we just want Erfeng to help us sign an autograph!"
This requirement was easy to meet, just a matter of picking up the pen. So Li Shimin rolled up his sleeves and was about to write in flying white script, when he saw the hundreds of signature papers.
Li Shimin: ...
The leading courier, Wang Yuanhangshun, immediately chuckled twice:
"Not many, just our boss's daughter, his wife, his wife's aunts, his second cousin's grandmother... they all want Erfeng's autograph!"
[Ahahahaha, you're planning to tire our Erfeng to death, right? SF Express boss, are you a spy sent by An Lushan?]
[Oh my god, was the boss bombarded with calls from relatives all night last night?]
Li Shimin was helpless and had to roll up his sleeves and sign next to him. There was even a courier who was not working to supervise his signing:
"Erfeng, this is how to write 'to'. If you don't know how, I'll teach you."
Li Shimin: ???
Li Shimin wrote a bunch of strange things, while the twenty-nine couriers next to him began to pack the food quickly, packing it according to the maximum weight that the drone could carry.
Of course, these food supplies are too large to be transported all at once. In addition to packing the food supplies, the SF Express boss also specially sponsored 500 boxes of compressed biscuits.
Soon, after the 10,000 portions of food were packed, Li Shimin finally finished signing. He shook his aching right hand:
"Remember to thank your SF Express boss for me when you get back. But, is this the drone you're talking about?"
Li Shimin picked up a strange black square object and looked at it. It was hard to tell what it was made of, but it looked as small and exquisite as a child's toy.
"This drone can transport food and fodder? How? It doesn't have wheels like the ones you had before."
Wang Yuanhang chuckled and quickly pressed the switch. Li Shimin saw the thing suddenly fly up from his hand, then landed steadily in front of a package, picked up the package and flew into the air.
"Our drone is actually a plane! It can fly!"
Seeing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but applaud in amazement:
"What a plane! It's exactly like the Yao Ying I raised before! It's amazing!"
Seeing is believing. The level of artifacts achieved by these descendants a thousand years later is truly extraordinary.
"But isn't the transport capacity of a small drone too small?"
“Actually, we have large transport planes that can be used for air transport, but you don’t have an airport that can take off and land planes here.
This small drone does have a limited payload capacity, but if it's not enough weight, we can make up for it with quantity!"
After saying this, Wang Yuanhang called the headquarters to start the operation.
Soon, suddenly, a thousand drones flew out of the boxes. They landed in front of the corresponding items, and with a buzzing sound, they lifted the boxes in an orderly manner and flew into the air.
The sight of a thousand drones taking off in unison made the Tang Dynasty soldiers nearby almost pop their eyes out!
Some people even dropped their swords in fear because their hands were shaking so much that they couldn't hold their weapons steadily.
Li Shimin looked at this scene and heard the strange and huge beeping sound of a thousand drones. He couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling, and a strange sense of fear surged in his heart:
"You modern people shouldn't just use drones for transportation, right? If this thing were used on the battlefield..."
This thing can take off and land by itself and find its target, so there is no need for people to fight on the battlefield.
Moreover, it seems that these descendants can easily produce a thousand units. What if they can produce ten thousand or even hundreds of thousands of units during wartime?
[Our Erfeng is indeed a strategist, and she hits the nail on the head!
But we Chinese have always been peace-loving. We only open our doors to trade with others to make money, not to fight. You understand.]
[Yes, we Chinese have been a peace-loving and courteous nation for thousands of years and have never liked fighting!]
Li Shimin: ...?
Are you sure that the thousands of years you are talking about are the same thousand years of China?
Being a country of etiquette does not affect the expansion of territory. What's more, nomadic peoples are inherently warlike. Even if the Tang Dynasty does not want to fight, it is forced to prepare for war.
And if there were no war, where would the Tang Dynasty have gained territory? Wouldn't the Turks have given it to him for free?
However, Li Shimin probably understood what they meant. Having such a terrifying weapon in hand could indeed directly avoid war.
This really made him, the Khan of the Tang Dynasty, a little envious!
"How long will it take for these express deliveries to arrive?"
"That's not bad. We're taking off this morning, so we'll probably arrive by noon. It's not too far anyway."
So fast!
This speed still made Li Shimin sigh. No wonder modern people always say that they are efficient.
In ancient times, it would take ten days or half a month for a horse and carriage to cross mountains and hills, but they only needed a few hours!
It really is a brand new world after a thousand years!
"In that case, I must set off quickly to help Zhang Xun capture Yin Ziqi as soon as possible!"
…
When Li Shimin led his army forward, Zhang Xun, who was far away in Suiyang City, had no idea about it.
Zhang Xun stood on the city wall of Suiyang City, observing the enemy situation. His stomach rumbled, so he tightened his belt again, trying to suppress the sound.
All the edible food in the city, including the horses in the army, had been divided up.
"The soldiers haven't had anything to eat for a whole day and night. Sir Zhang, if this continues, I'm afraid the soldiers won't be able to hold on!"
Xu Yuan, the governor of Suiyang, had been so worried these past few days that his hair had almost turned white. He gazed into the distance outside the city, still clinging to a last glimmer of hope:
"I just hope Ji Yang can bring back food!
Even if it's not much, it will help me out of this urgent need!"
"He's back! General Nan is back!"
Zhang Xun watched Nan Jiyun and a few others break out of the chaotic army, and immediately lowered the hanging basket to let them enter the city quickly.
A few days ago, Nan Jiyun led more than 30 people and risked their lives to break out of the enemy's encirclement and go to the Jiangling Jiedushi Helan Jinming, who was closest to them, to ask for food and supplies. Now they are finally back!
"How's it going? Are the food supplies arriving soon?
Wait, Jiyang, what's wrong with your hand? Quick! Call a military doctor! "
It was fine when he left, but when he came back, General Nan had a broken finger, as if someone had cut it off directly?
Xu Yuan was surprised. Before he could ask more questions, Nan Jiyun knelt in front of Zhang Xun with red eyes.
"It's all my fault, it's all my fault for being incompetent!
Helan Jinming detained our messenger, and he was only concerned with preserving himself, refusing to lend us even a single grain of food!"
After he stated his purpose, Helan Jinming held a banquet in his mansion. There were fish and meat on the banquet, and the food was more than enough for the whole table of people to finish in several meals.
He repeatedly mentioned food and grass, but Helan Jinming just ignored him and said that Suiyang City would be broken sooner or later, so it would be better for him to come and join him.
Nan Jiyun was extremely disappointed to see him enjoying the joy of singing and dancing with his beautiful wife and concubines accompanying him.
In anger, he cut off his fingers on the spot to show his determination, and finally had to return to Suiyang empty-handed, and defend to the death with Zhang Xun, Xu Yuan and others!
At the banquet that day, Nan Jiyun did not cry when he cut off his fingers. However, at this moment, in front of a group of hungry soldiers defending the city, the eight-foot-tall man cried like a child.
Three thousand brave men of Suiyang City were starving, defending the city for a whole day and night without food or sleep. But what about the princes and nobles?!
They were still enjoying singing and dancing and holding a grand banquet. There was wine and meat on the table, and they would rather throw away the leftovers than lend us a single grain of food!
On the walls of Suiyang City, everyone was silent amid the howling of the biting winter wind.
There are jackals in the town and dragons in the wild, the prince must protect his worthless body!
Zhang Xun was speechless for a moment.
After a long time, he helped Nan Jiyun up and wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed and said:
"Don't cry, now that things have come to this, you should think about what to eat next."
“I still have a few leather clothes in my house, and they can be cooked and eaten as winter clothes!
Oh, and there are those horse harnesses piled up in the treasury. They’re all made of leather and can be eaten after being boiled!"
"There are still many locust trees in the city. Although it's a pity that they have no leaves now, if we eat the leaves from these trees, we can still have a few meals!"
Listening to everyone's discussion, Zhang Xun was thinking, what if all this is eaten?
What if even grass seeds, tree bark, and leather clothing were gone? What would they do then? What would they eat?
Suddenly, a chilling thought came to his mind. He immediately clenched his fists and took a deep breath, trying to drive the idea out of his mind and forget it completely.
But if that time really comes, would you make a choice that is worse than that of an animal?
Thinking of this, Zhang Xun couldn't help but feel terrified by his own thoughts.
Just when everyone was so hungry that their stomachs were rumbling, suddenly the aroma of barbecue came from outside the city.
The aroma of meat, carried by the east wind, penetrated everyone's nose, making all the soldiers guarding the city swallow their saliva and stare at the rebels outside the city who were killing chickens and sheep, deliberately teasing them.
One of Yin Ziqi's generals even deliberately raised the meat and shouted:
"You have no food left, so just surrender!
"Tell me, there are only a few thousand people in Suiyang City. How long can they hold off General Yin's 120,000-man army? It's better to surrender and live well than to starve to death. Why bother?"
When Nan Jiyun heard this, he spat and then cursed at the other party.
However, at this moment, there was suddenly a buzzing sound in the sky coming from far away, and soon, a strange black mass of things in the distance moved towards here.
Zhang Xun quickly grabbed Nan Jiyun and told him to stop cursing. Everyone looked up at the sky, their eyes wide in shock.
What on earth was that thing moving so quickly?
"It's not a cloud. How can a cloud look like this? But it doesn't look like a bird either."
"Is the enemy planning a surprise attack? Quickly prepare your bows and arrows!"
The hundreds of things were getting closer and closer. When they got closer, everyone opened their eyes wide, but still couldn't see clearly what they were.
Nan Jiyun relied on his strong arm strength and shot an arrow from a distance, hitting the black object right in the middle.
However, his bow and arrow were suddenly caught in the rotating object, and were tangled and fell down.
Suddenly, everyone on the city wall broke out in cold sweat and their scalps went numb.
"Don't panic yet. Look at the rebels under the city wall. They seem to be panicking as well. This means these things have nothing to do with them!"
"That's really weird. What on earth is this? Who got it?"
No one dared to let their guard down and prepared their weapons and bows and arrows.
But even after shooting for a long time, the sharp arrows were like a drop in the ocean, and had no effect at all.
And those things seemed to be entering Suiyang City like a dark cloud pressing down on a city.
The people in the city were so frightened that they ran to the streets in panic. Some were even kneeling on the ground crying and begging God for mercy and protection.
Fortunately, those things suddenly hovered in the air outside the city and stopped moving forward. Only the leading one flew in first and stopped in front of Zhang Xun.
"Quick! Protect Master Zhang!"
Everyone drew their swords and was about to chop, but Zhang Xun stopped them. After observing for a while, he took down the square heavy object on top and saw two lines of flying white calligraphy written on it.
“It’s King Yan!
It was the King of Yan who sent us food and fodder with these wonderful things!"
When Zhang Xun saw this, he immediately opened the box, and then a box of compressed biscuits was scattered in front of everyone.
After that, the drones flew into the city one after another and dropped the boxes neatly on the ground. They were all neatly packed food and fodder!
"Great, finally there's something to eat!"
"Hahaha, now I can have a full meal! Let me see what this compressed biscuit is.
Ouch, cough, cough, I'm choking to death!"
Everyone was so happy that Xu Yuan immediately asked someone to take some food and cook porridge and food, and quickly distributed the food to everyone.
Soon, after taking a mouthful of the hot millet rice, all the grown men were so moved that they were about to cry.
"It has to be His Royal Highness Prince Yan!"
They had heard before about how the Prince of Yan defended Chang'an alone, defeated the enemy in Taiyuan, and chased Shi Siming for thousands of miles to capture him alive.
Unexpectedly, although the King of Yan was thousands of miles away from them, he was always thinking about the small Suiyang City and the three thousand soldiers in their Suiyang City!
"Although I don't know what this thing is, this is the most delicious and filling meal I, Nan Jiyun, have ever had in my life! Burp!"
Nan Jiyun said this so proudly, and after drinking a large bowl of water, he suddenly found that the compressed biscuits seemed to swell in his stomach, making him burp continuously.
This really became the most filling meal he had ever had in his life!
"Oh, by the way, His Royal Highness Prince Yan also wrote on the back that you shouldn't drink too much water after eating these compressed cookies, as they're very filling."
"Old Xu, why didn't you tell me earlier? I'm so stuffed! Burp!"
After eating too many compressed biscuits, Nan Jiyun felt so bloated that she looked like a three-month pregnant woman, and she kept burping.
Everyone was laughing so hard that they couldn't stop. Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan also picked up the drone parked in front of them with a smile.
I looked at it over and over for a long time, but I still couldn't figure out how this thing can fly in the sky and judge the direction like a bird?
"Can you just pick it up and fly?
Oh my god, this thing will not fall to death, right? "
After a rare hearty meal, the soldiers' morale was boosted. Zhang Xun asked the soldiers to take turns eating so that the city's defense force would not be weakened and the enemy would take advantage of the situation.
However, at this moment, the enemy army on the opposite side seemed to find something wrong and immediately summoned tens of thousands of troops to start attacking the city again!
"Damn it! You didn't even let me finish my meal before I burp."
Nan Jiyun rushed to the city wall while burping. The enemy was coming with great force this time, and the situation was not optimistic.
"Perhaps Yin Ziqi saw the recent crushing defeat of the rebels and decided to move south into Jianghuai, so he got anxious."
The enemy was numerous and powerful, and their attack on the city was fierce. No one dared to be careless. After hurriedly finishing their meal, they all went to the battlefield immediately.
However, Yin Ziqi kept changing men to attack the city day and night, and was willing to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers in order to capture Suiyang immediately.
The battle was still intense after a few days, and everyone defending the city was very tired. At this time, everyone suddenly heard shouting and killing coming from another direction outside the city.
Then a brave soldier on a fast horse came out from behind the enemy.
"The King of Yan is here! He is leading 50,000 troops to support us!"
Dozens of armored soldiers followed Li Shimin into the battle, shouting in unison and displaying the Tang army's flags. Zhang Xun's eyes lit up when he saw this, and he immediately led his troops out of the city to meet them.
When Yin Ziqi heard that it was the King of Yan who led tens of thousands of troops, he immediately panicked and hurriedly ordered his men to stop fighting and retreat quickly.
Soon, Li Shimin fought his way through the chaotic army and headed straight for Suiyang City.
After the city gates were closed, the enemy troops retreated temporarily, and Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, they saw the King of Yan, who was wearing heavy armor, dismounting from his horse, still with a dusty and murderous aura on his body.
The Prince of Yan before them was completely different from the weak princes and nobles they had seen before. He seemed like the young and heroic Huo Qubing who walked out of the history books.
"Great! With His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan leading his army to help us, how can we not defend Suiyang City?"
"Why are we still defending this city? Let's just lead our troops to attack. We will definitely defeat Yin Ziqi!"
Nan Jiyun and Xu Yuan were discussing excitedly, but Zhang Xun felt something was wrong and immediately asked Li Shimin:
"Your Highness, Prince of Yan, where are your fifty thousand troops? Are they stationed outside the city?"
Li Shimin greeted everyone with a smile, and then said:
"I saw that you only had 3,000 men here, and I was so anxious that I rode over here on a fast horse.
As for the 30,000 troops, they are still on the way..."
Everyone: ...
[Ahahahahahahaha, my Erfeng's horseback riding speed is really fast! The kind that even our army can't catch up to.
It is said that when Erfeng was hunting as the emperor, the imperial guards accidentally failed to catch up, and then watched their own emperor run away in an instant! 】
[This really proves that everyone in my Tiance Mansion is a bunch of idiots! Next time, I'll give our Erfeng a idiot as a gift for his coronation!]
[This is great, this is great! My family gave birth to ten Huskies and was worried no one wanted them. I'm giving them all to Your Majesty Erfeng!]
Seeing that everyone's expressions were somewhat speechless and reluctant, Li Shimin patted Zhang Xun on the shoulder and comforted him:
"Master Zhang, you don't have to feel disappointed.
Although the enemy's recent offensive is undoubtedly fierce, I have also hired skilled craftsmen from overseas to help us build a high wall."
The reason why Li Shimin came in such a hurry was that he guessed that Yin Ziqi's 120,000 troops must be extremely anxious.
At this time, Luoyang was under siege and the situation in Hebei was very good. If the rebels wanted to find a retreat for themselves, they would not be able to return to Fan Yang. They would definitely have to break through Suiyang City and go south into Jianghuai.
Therefore, An Qingxu would definitely give Yin Ziqi a death order, asking him to capture Suiyang City and move south at any cost.
Under such heavy siege, the battle situation is certainly not optimistic.
Many of his 30,000 troops were infantry, and their speed was too slow. Li Shimin was anxious, so he rushed over day and night.
"By the way, are you planning to build a wall directly on top of this one? I think building it ten feet higher would be good to make it harder for the enemy to climb up."
After Li Shimin finished asking the question silently in the system, it instantly aroused discussion among everyone in Tianmu.
[It's best not to. Have you built a foundation for an ancient city wall like this? How deep is the foundation? Can it withstand the weight of modern steel and concrete?]
I'm afraid it will collapse completely, so why don't we rebuild the wall?]
[Renovation still requires laying the foundation, which takes too long.
Actually, I think the defenses of ancient cities didn't need to be too strong. They were just temporary. As long as we could keep raising the defense towers so that the enemy couldn't climb up, wouldn't that be enough?
[Then instead of reinforced concrete, use something lightweight and low-density. Oh, and it has to be fireproof!]
[Then use light steel keel to wrap the gypsum board, which is one-fifth the weight of concrete and has excellent shock resistance and impact resistance!
This way, you can simply add height to the existing wall, and build a Himalaya for them to climb. Let’s see how they can climb it!
But Zhang Xun and others could not see the sky, and when they heard Li Shimin's words, they thought that the King of Yan was very whimsical.
Building a city wall is a huge project, and there is not enough manpower and materials in the city.
However, the King of Yan had won many battles before, so he might have some tricks up his sleeve. So Zhang Xun asked with some hope:
"May I ask, Your Highness, Prince of Yan, how many meters do you plan to raise the city wall? And how long will it take?"
Li Shimin touched his nose:
"I'm telling you, you might not believe it, but these overseas craftsmen told me they're going to raise it another 100 meters overnight!"
Zhang Xun, Xu Yuan, Nan Jiyun, and everyone else: ???
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