The trail disappeared half a day after entering the forest, and was replaced by a winding goat trail. After hearing the report from the scouting laborers, Wu Lai immediately ordered the laborers to abandon the vehicles and transfer all the supplies to the horses to continue on their way.

"Master, you are really smart. If we hadn't added thirty horses on the way, we wouldn't have been able to transport so many things." Bailey exclaimed.

"It's not a brilliant plan." Wu Lai laughed and said, "These are all foreseeable. The city of Kayikede dare not build a horse trail directly to the edge of the canyon. If it did, the enemy would have already marched straight in. Although this forest is not too large, it can at least delay the enemy's journey for a day and a half. In addition, it is also a very suitable area for ambushes."

"Ambush?" Bailey was stunned.

"Ambush is a good tactic, of course, provided it is used properly." Wu Lai said as he called over the sentry posts of Ole and Aoya, and ordered, "Notify everyone, if you see a military camp or scattered soldiers on the way, no matter what state they are in, pretend not to see them. Anyone who dares to shout, I will give him to Meng Bao. Do you understand?"

"I heard it clearly." Ole and Aoya shrank their necks at the same time. When they left, they couldn't help but secretly glance at the cute baby's back.

"Master, with Mengbao here, we have at least two thousand more soldiers," Bailey said.

"Yes, it's very powerful. I feel safe with it and you around." Wu Lai said with a smile.

Two days later in the morning, Wu Lai led the front team of twenty people into the defense zone. Although the rear team had not arrived yet, it was not far from the defense zone and would arrive in half a day at most.

"Master, why are there so many people?" Bailey frowned, his hand slipped and touched the hilt of the sword. He thought that the defense zone would be empty, but unexpectedly, there were not only tents and people everywhere, but also no less than ten and fifty patrols moving back and forth.

"That's normal." Wu Lai laughed. "We haven't taken over yet, so they don't dare to retreat. Look over there..."

Bailey looked in the direction of Wu Lai's finger, and saw a large group of wounded soldiers lying in a crooked position on the grass next to a gray and white tent, and several military doctors were busy with them.

"Master, it looks like there was a fight last night?" Bailey asked.

“It wasn’t last night, it was this morning, so we were lucky,” Woolley said with a smile.

As the two were talking, a deputy general led more than ten people and walked quickly towards Wu Lai and others. Before they got close, he pointed his finger viciously and said, "Who are you?!"

"What are you pretending for? If you didn't know who we are, wouldn't your patrol team have rushed over and surrounded us long ago? What? Are they just decorations?" Wu Lai asked back unhappily. He couldn't stand these guys who had no skills but acted so arrogantly.

The name of this lieutenant general was Deneri. Although his rank was not high, he was also a direct descendant of the Mondo family. At dawn, he was almost successfully sneaked into the camp by the enemy. He was already furious, and now that Wu Lai had "spoken rudely", how could he be willing to suppress his anger?

"If you..." Deneri only said the beginning of the words he had prepared before retracting them, because just as he pointed his finger at Wu Lai for the second time, a white shadow suddenly flashed beside Wu Lai. After taking a closer look, he was immediately frightened to death.

Isn't this the big white lion? Deneri shuddered and took two steps back involuntarily. He had participated in the entire process of Gosmondo's capture of Mengbao, so he knew how powerful Mengbao was.

Many of the soldiers around Deneri had seen the "ferocious side" of the cute baby. When they suddenly saw it appear, the timid ones turned around and fled, and the braver ones also retreated again and again, but they did not dare to draw their weapons for fear of angering the beast.

Bailey naturally knew what was going on, but the civilians in the front team were a little puzzled. Although they vaguely guessed that it was because of the appearance of Mengbao, in their impression, Mengbao was only a little arrogant, had a fierce look in his eyes, and was a little big in size, but he had never barked or bit anyone.

Wu Lai scratched Mengbao's head. This guy originally followed him and the front team, but just before stepping out of the forest, he was discovered by a pair of unlucky leopards, so Mengbao came back only after having a feast.

"Are you the person in charge here?" Wu Lai looked at Deneri, whose legs were trembling but who was still trying to hold himself together.

"Yes, I am," Deneri replied.

"I am Wu Lailindo, the governor of Saltmarsh Town. I have been ordered to come here to take over the defense zone." Wu Lai reached into his arms and took out the document for taking over the defense.

"I am Denerimundo, a deputy general of the Woye Army. Please come with me to the big tent, Governor Wulai, to handle the handover procedures." Deneri hesitated for a moment and used the word "please". He could see that Wulaiglinddo in front of him was not a good person. He thought to himself that since someone is going to deal with you, there is no need to bother with you.

"Well, I hope as soon as possible." Wu Lai said lightly.

Naturally, the sooner the better. Although Gosmondo intended to target Wu Lai, he also had military purposes by deliberately leaving this defense zone empty. He could not only eliminate the thorn in his eyes but also severely strike Hulett and the Kimo coalition. It was undoubtedly the best choice. Therefore, Wu Lai's guess was absolutely correct. He was the bait thrown out, and the left and right parts of the Woye Army and the Kadrick garrison were the sharp teeth around the bait. When the enemy devoured Wu Lai, it would be the time for these sharp teeth to close.

The handover was completed in just the time it took to finish a meal. In fact, there was nothing much to hand over. They just signed a few documents and then counted the tents and limited supplies - actually, there were only thirty small tents and coarse flour that was enough for five hundred people for five days.

"Master, they are going too far." Bailey said in a deep voice as he glanced at the Woye army that was quickly gathering.

"Not really. I'm a very generous person and I don't hold a grudge against these guys. They were just following orders." Wu Lai smiled and patted Bailey on the shoulder. "I think they left a lot of things. How should I put it? Oh, it's far beyond my expectations."

A lot? Is the young master saying the opposite of what he means? Bailey was stunned. Even if we don't consider that the semolina for 500 people for five days is "a bit too little", these 30 tents can only accommodate 150 people if they squeeze together. In addition, they have received 10 small tents and one large tent in Assyria, which can accommodate at most 200 people. Wu Lai said that more people will come later. Where will they live then?

"Let's go. They will take a while. Let me check out the terrain first." Wu Lai said with a smile. Since he had taken over the defense, the first thing he had to do was to find out the terrain here, and then he could make the next arrangements.

One of Deneri's followers glanced at the front group of civilians who were resting in place, then looked at Wu Lei and Bailey who were heading towards the canyon, and couldn't help but said to Deneri: "General, is this arrangement of the Supreme Council appropriate?"

"Never mind whether it's appropriate or not. We are soldiers from Mondowoye, not soldiers from the Assyrian territory. We will point our swords at whoever Lord Gosmondo tells us to point our swords at. Humph, I heard that this Wuleglindo has two hands. I want to see how he dies." Deneri said viciously, "Anyway, he will die sooner or later. He is dead."

…

After taking a rough look at the terrain, Wu Lai breathed a sigh of relief, because the situation was not as bad as he had imagined. This six-mile wide canyon was shaped like a dustpan, with four and a half miles of high cliffs, like the edge of a dustpan, and the remaining one and a half miles was a large slope extending to the river bank, like the opening of a dustpan, and the slope was not steep. It was also covered with strange rocks of varying sizes, and clusters of shrubs growing diagonally between the rocks, which not only caused considerable trouble to the attackers, but also hindered the defenders' observation vision to a certain extent.

From some traces, it can be seen how tragic the battles that took place in this area during this period of time were - many strange rocks were stained with dark brown blood, and there were many broken weapon arrows in the fallen bushes. In addition to mottled bloodstains on the stone beach of the river a few miles away, there were also five or six small boats that were burned to charcoal...

"It's not easy to defend, and it's also difficult to attack." Wu Lai sighed softly and said to Bailey.

Bailey nodded. Although he didn't understand military affairs, he knew why Wu Lai said that. For the attackers, the open rocky beach that stretched for more than three miles and was half a mile wide provided excellent landing conditions, because the defenders would not choose to deploy in such an open area unless they wanted to die. However, this open rocky beach made it impossible for the attackers to hide. The observation posts of the defenders could spot them without any effort, especially in clear weather.

As for the slope, there is no need to mention that there are so many stone bushes that the defenders' bows and arrows cannot exert their normal attack power. But they can also choose to make some interference at will while deploying their formation and waiting in the open ground at the end of the slope. Generally speaking, the defenders still have a slight advantage.

Wu Lai said it was difficult to defend because the large open area at the end of the slope was all stone, and it was impossible to dig trenches or anything. The Woye Army had been stationed there for so long, and all they did was cut down a lot of wood and connected them into a fence to provide some cover for the archers.

Woolley could understand why the Woye Army did not make its fortifications stronger, because if it did so, the enemy would most likely give up attacking from here, and there would be no military merit to be gained.

You know, defending in a place like this is a very good job, no less than the Hongguwan Fortress, and it is much safer.

However, the Woye Army was also using the lives of its soldiers to gain military merit.

Woolley needed military merit because he wanted to build a new force, and Cosmondo also needed military merit because he wanted to use it to suppress Connor and at the same time make the Fertile Army one of the standing legions in the Assyrian territory. You must know that there is a big difference between having an army and not having an army. If Connor had a legion that was completely loyal to him, Cosmondo would not be able to gain the upper hand so easily.

"Bailey, are you good at defense?" Wu Lai suddenly asked.

"Master, if you are asking about fighting skills, I am almost like this. The teacher who taught me fighting skills said that those who are good at attacking must first be good at defense, otherwise it will be very dangerous. Only those who are good at both offense and defense can be invincible." Bailey replied.

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Wu Lai nodded and said, "You are a good teacher. I'd like to meet you if I have the chance in the future."

"No, sir, he is dead." Bailey said and sighed softly.

"Oh, that's a pity." Wu Lai nodded, "I'll watch for a while, you go and support the rear team."

"Yes." Bailey agreed loudly. After spending some time together, he liked being with Wu Lai more and more, because Wu Lai not only did not have the slightest airs of a master, but also trusted him very much. At the same time, he could learn a lot from Wu Lai.

When the rear team arrived at the defense zone, the Woye Army had already withdrawn completely - they even dismantled the row of wooden fences. The huge defense zone was empty, and there was no sign that more than 3,000 people had once been stationed there.

"Quartermaster Bi Ya!" Wu Lai shouted.

"Report to Lord Wu Lai, the quartermaster Bi Ya is here!" A strong man walked out quickly from the crowd.

"Take twenty people and build a grain warehouse and an arms warehouse near the forest area. Complete it before dark." Wu Lai ordered.

"Yes!" Biya agreed.

"Tess, the chief cook!" Woolley shouted.

"Lord Wu Lai, I'm here." Another strong man stood up.

"Take your people with you, prepare lunch and dinner for everyone, explore the water source, and also select six people to form a hunting team," Wu Lai ordered.

After Tess took the order and left, Wu Lai called out the sentry leaders Ole and Aoya, and after giving them some instructions, he waved his hand and said, "Hurry up."

"Yes, Lord Wu Lai!" Ole and the other man stood up and responded, then led their men away.

"The rest of you will clean up the tents, put away supplies, and then go to the forest area to cut down trees. The trees should be as thick as your calves, and the more the better. Do you understand?" Wu Lai asked.

"I understand!" They answered in unison again, and then only Bailey and Mengbao were left with Wu Lai.

"Master, please arrange something for me too." Bailey asked.

"Okay." Wu Lai laughed, "Come on, follow me to the river beach below the cliff to take a look."

…

At noon the next day, after the meeting, Deneri returned to his big tent to rest. With nothing to do, he chatted and laughed with his trusted followers. He was very comfortable now. Before Wu Lai arrived, Deneri actually felt quite aggrieved, because he did not want to fight such tough battles again and again. Although he had earned a lot of military merits, the hardships involved were beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Denel's new base is located on the left wing of Wulai, in a depression four miles away from Wulai's defense zone, far away from the canyon cliffs, and surrounded by dense woods. If you don't look closely, you can't notice it at all. Denel is hiding here naturally to implement the "entrapment plan". Now he is waiting for Wulai's defense zone to be captured, because once the enemy succeeds, they will certainly send reinforcements immediately and then raid the city of Kayikede. At that time, part of the Woye Army stationed more than 30 miles upstream will launch boats straight down and have a hearty water battle with the enemy, and he, Denel, will cooperate with the right-wing troops stationed six miles away from Wulai's defense zone and General Date's garrison to encircle the invading enemy and annihilate it on the spot.

That sounds good.

As they were talking and laughing, a scout walked quickly to the outside of Deneri's tent and said, "General Deneri, there is a situation in the Salt Marsh Town defense zone."

"Come in and report!" Denel was cheered up.

"Yes!" After the scout lifted the curtain and walked into the tent, he bowed and reported loudly, "General Deneri, there has been no fighting in the Salt Marsh Defense Zone since last night. Under the command of the commander, the more than 100 people built 24 independent horseshoe-shaped wooden piles along the gap in the defense zone, with the openings facing inward. According to visual observation, each wooden pile is six cubits high and can accommodate at most two people. I don't know what it is used for. In addition, this morning, about 300 soldiers dressed in the uniforms of the Kayikede garrison used horses to carry a lot of supplies into the defense zone."

"What?!" Denel was stunned.