When Wu Lai raised the telescope and looked at the Hulett Army on the rocky beach, the Hulett Army was cremating the last batch of corpses. Compared with the Woye Army which was close to the forest, it was difficult to find firewood on the rocky beach. Firewood had to be transported from the other side of the river by boat. Therefore, although the number of casualties of the Hulett Army was far lower than that of the Woye Army, the cremation speed was much slower.
Although mass funerals and cremations were time-consuming and demoralizing, Hugo Simon did not seem to be at all dissatisfied with Liehuo's actions - he understood what kind of person Liehuo was, and he knew that if Liehuo dealt with the bodies in the most convenient way, he would live with endless guilt for the rest of his life.
Hugo Simon is only willing to use his battle record to tell Liehuo that "I am stronger than you". Using other means to defeat Liehuo will never be an option for him.
Therefore, Hugo Simon waited patiently, even though he knew that the enemy was trying to block the way of attack, he still did not move. He said to Liehuo: "I never thought that the enemy could really block the way of attack."
"Don't underestimate the enemy. After I send these warriors off, I will personally lead the left army to clear the way." Liehuo said so at the time. Hugo Simon nodded seriously after listening. Since the enemy on the gap was able to drive down the left army that had already attacked, and also caused Liehuo to suffer such heavy losses, the advantage in manpower would naturally be able to firmly suppress his side. If this is the case, then if the right army, which is stronger than the left army and has time to spare, attacks alone, it will inevitably repeat the mistakes of the left army. Moreover, the left and right armies were originally transferred here at the same time to attack together, but Liehuo was eager for merit and took action before the right army arrived.
Hugo Simon would mock Liehuo for being greedy and underestimating his enemy, but he did not think there was anything wrong with Liehuo's behavior, because if it were him, he would have done the same.
However, Hugo Simon now began to regret it because he found that the actions of the defenders of the gap were very unusual.
Of course it was extraordinary. Wu Lai had spent most of the night coming up with this idea: he had made some changes to the wooden stakes that the Fiery Army had made.
In order to minimize the lethality of the defenders' logs and boulders, Liehuo ordered his soldiers to drive more than 150 rows of nearly 10,000 tall wooden stakes along the gap. Then he succeeded, because after seeing these stakes, Howell only made two tentative attacks, and found that he could not destroy them at all. He simply gave up the long-prepared log array and boulders, and turned to reinforce the fence and dig wider and deeper trenches.
This shows how strong the fire stakes are.
Wu Lai likes this kind of firmness, because the firmer it is, the easier it is to deal with...
After returning the bodies of the enemy soldiers, the first change he made to the wooden stakes was to "nail" ninety-five of them, reducing the clearance of the row of stakes closest to the edge of the gap from an average of two steps to one step. Then, he pushed more than a hundred thigh-thick logs under the row of stakes.
It did not take too much time to complete all of this. The 300 soldiers who took part in the project finished it without even feeling nervous, because not only were there 200 archers accompanying them on guard throughout the process, but there were also more than a hundred strong men on standby on the gap's protective wall, each holding a long rope in their hands - if the enemy rushed up, they would pull their comrades onto the protective wall as quickly as possible. However, this did not happen, firstly because the raging fire was cremating the fallen soldiers, and secondly because the Hulett army on the rocky beach believed that the defenders in the defense zone had sufficient manpower at this time, and they would not act rashly before the joint combat plan of the left and right armies was formed.
After the wooden stakes were propped up, bundles of thick wooden boards were lowered onto the parapet. When they were all neatly nailed to the wooden stakes, baskets of soil were lowered onto the parapet. The soil was poured onto the wooden boards and then patted down. Slowly, an earthen platform that blocked the attacking side's way was completed.
But this is not the end, because Wu Lai knows that such a platform can only temporarily block the enemy and cause a little trouble to the enemy. It is a pipe dream to use this to make the enemy retreat. Therefore, after the platform was completed, he began to make changes to the ten rows of wooden stakes below...
In less than a day, an average of more than 300 wooden boards were nailed onto each of the ten rows of wooden stakes. Some of them were nailed from the inside, some from the outside, some were nailed high, and some were nailed low. The criss-crossing of the ten rows of wooden stakes turned them into ten "very stylish" fences.
When Wu Lai arrived at the edge of the gap, the construction soldiers had just blocked the entrance and exit holes reserved on the earthen platform. At the same time, rows of "nail boards" were lowered from the guardrail - it looked like a piece of wood with many upward wooden spikes growing on it.
Wu Lai put away the telescope and said to Huo Yi who was supervising the work, "After the nail boards are laid firmly, have them cover them with some grass and have everyone remember the location of the passage."
"Okay, General Wu Lai." Huo Yi nodded with a smile. When he imagined the Hulett army stepping on these nail plates or even falling on them... he couldn't help laughing.
General Wu Lai is too cunning. Huo Yi thought to himself as he watched Wu Lai's back.
…
At nightfall, Hugo Simon walked into the burning tent.
"Old Liehuo, the situation is not favorable." Hugo Simon sat down opposite Liehuo who was drinking alone, grabbed the deer elbow from Liehuo's plate and started to eat it. Not only was he not polite at all, he complained while eating, "It's all your fault. If you hadn't been so greedy and reckless and attacked without waiting for me, I might have rushed into Kayikede City by now."
"Not very advantageous? How is it not very advantageous?" Liehuo frowned.
"Do I need to tell you this? You are right." Hugo Simon would not believe that Liehuo didn't know.
"Alas..." Liehuo sighed and shook his head. He was really annoyed. Just as Hugo Simon said just now, if he could wait for the right army to arrive before launching the attack, the worst result would be that after both sides suffered heavy losses in a battle with the enemy, he would seize the gap defense zone and send part of his troops to harass Kaiked - this meant that a big hole was torn in the Assyrian defense line. If the Fourth Legion and the Second Legion of Kimo, more than a hundred miles upstream, could keep up with their speed, the coalition forces would be able to capture Kaiked before the enemy reinforcements arrived.
But now all this has come to nothing, because the enemy has not only redeployed its defenses, but may have also sent a letter for help. The possibility of attacking in the dark like last time has been reduced to almost zero, and it is still unknown whether the stormy attack can achieve the expected result.
Seeing Liehuo, who had never shown weakness in public before, suddenly sigh, Hugo Simon was stunned at first, and then a trace of sadness arose in his heart.
"Old Liehuo, don't be like this." Hugo Simon sighed quietly and said, "It's just some obstacles. Think about it, is there any barrier that we can't overcome?"
Liehuo put down the empty cup in his hand: "Yes, there is no pass that we cannot conquer, but how many lives will it take to pave that road? Hugo, the enemy's main defender should not be underestimated. When the Third Army was defeated repeatedly at first, I thought the Third Army was playing some tricks. After seeing the arrangement of this young man today, I believe that the Third Army is really no match for him. Such an enemy is not easy to fight."
"Yeah." Hugo Simon nodded, "I have no objection to what you said. The rows of wooden boards he nailed are all within the range of the archers on the wooden platform, so I don't bother to harass him."
"It's not certain that you will be able to harass me." Liehuo shook his head. "What are your plans now?"
"It's up to you." Hugo Simon threw away the deer elbow bone he had just gnawed and wiped his hands on his clothes. "If you have no objection, let me command your left army and I will attack."
"Why?" Liehuo glared and slammed the table, destroying the friendly atmosphere that the two of them had finally created over the years.
"How dare you ask me this?" Hugo Simon also slammed the table...
At the same time, in the Gap Defense Zone camp, Wu Lai and a group of regiment and battalion commanders sat around a bonfire less than fifty steps away from the protective wall.
"Everyone is very quick, I am very satisfied with your execution." Wu Lai said with a smile, "This is not a meeting, everyone doesn't have to be so reserved, relax, just treat it as a class, treat this as a classroom at West Point Military Academy."
After Wu Lai said this, all the regiment and battalion commanders relaxed a lot. They had been marching, fighting and carrying out intensive reconstruction for several days in a row. They were as tense as they could be. When they were summoned by the messenger just now, they thought Wu Lai was going to give another order.
Seeing everyone smiling and relaxed, the smile on Wu Lai's face became even more pronounced. When soldiers are about to go into battle, mentality is very important, and he was happy to see everyone like this.
"There is nothing wrong with the defensive arrangement of the Woye Army," Wu Lai said. "There are twelve trenches in all directions, three on each side, and six in the front. Combined with the fences, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. However, this arrangement is fine in the open plains, but it is a big problem here."
Is this a big problem? A trace of doubt flashed across everyone's eyes.
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"What if..." Wu Lai smiled and said, "After the enemy forces the Woye Army into the defensive area, instead of harassing them from both wings like they did that day, they shook them off and headed straight for the forest. Think about it, what would the result be?"
Heading straight for the forest? Yes! If the enemy did this, it would mean breaking through the defense zone and entering Kayikede's range. The forest is so dense that it would be too difficult to chase and wipe out the enemy completely - everyone thought so at the same time.
"You must be thinking that this means the enemy has broken through the obstacles and headed straight for the heart of Kayiked, right?" Wu Lai asked with a smile.
Everyone nodded.
"What if the enemy doesn't run far away, but stops in a certain area to set up an ambush, setting a trap for the pursuers? Or maybe they are just ruthless and burn the forest down?" Wu Lai casually proposed two possibilities, and then asked, "Will the reinforcements still arrive in time?"
Everyone shook their heads. Red couldn't help but raise his hand and asked, "General, why don't they do what you said?"
Yes, why didn't the other party do this? Everyone had doubts in their minds again.
"That's because the enemy's goal is only to capture the defense zone. They have no plans to break into the heart of Kayiked for the time being. We have also seen that not only do we have reinforcements, but the enemy is also sending more troops." Wu Lai replied, "I believe they want to make this defense zone a transit station and then send more troops. Not only here, but on the entire Assyrian defense line, as long as there is a hole in one place, the enemy will file in, and they will do everything they can to prevent this hole from being blocked."
"According to what the general said, the Woye Army was still a little lucky. Even though they suffered so many casualties, they were rescued by us and the Second Legion. Otherwise, they would have been harmed by the Assyrians." A battalion commander couldn't help but stand up and say.
"That's true. However, please raise your hand next time you want to speak." Wu Lai smiled and walked over to knock on the battalion commander's head. "Have you forgotten the classroom discipline?"
The battalion commander blushed, scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, and sat back obediently.
"That's why I said the Woye Army's deployment was inappropriate. That's why I asked you to rebuild it. Although it will be a bit harder and more tiring, we have eliminated the hidden dangers and extended the enemy's killing zone." Wu Lai laughed and said, "Everyone just wait and see. The next time the enemy comes, we will definitely give them a different feeling and make them pay the price."
The battalion commander who had just stood up raised his hand hesitantly.
Wu Lai was startled and waved his hand: "Say what you want to say."
"General, we have confidence in you!" The battalion commander quickly stood up and expressed his opinion loudly.
Wu Lai nodded approvingly, waved his hand to signal the battalion commander to sit down, and then said: "Yes, everyone must have confidence in me, and let your soldiers have confidence in you. If you are confident, well prepared, not afraid of the enemy, and not afraid of fighting, victory will definitely belong to us!"
Shelley and the others applauded immediately. At this moment, a sentry ran over quickly: "Report to the general! The enemy is moving!"
"Sixth Regiment Commander, gather your two archery battalions and come to the wall immediately." Wu Lai gave the order loudly, leaned over, held Shelley's hand and gently pulled it, "Your Excellency the High Priest, please go back and rest first."
"No, I want to stay with you." Shelley said with a smile.