On this day, the Woolley, which had been anchored for a long time, finally moved, not to go on a expedition, but to go into dock for maintenance.

The dock that could accommodate the Woolley was naturally very large - it was connected to the land on three sides and faced the water on one side, and consisted of a dock entrance, a dock room, and a dock bow. The dock entrance was used for ships to enter and exit, and was equipped with a water-retaining dock door. The dock's drainage and irrigation equipment was built in the dock piers on both sides of the dock entrance. The dock room was used to place ships, and its bottom plate was equipped with keel piers and side piers to support the ship. The dock bow was the end opposite to the dock entrance, and all dismantling, repair, and maintenance of the stern were carried out here.

Wu Lai moved into the bedroom prepared for him in the temple, but the luxury here meant nothing to him. It was just that the office area was more luxurious.

But there is always something new, especially since Mikoyan had people renovate his original back garden and move all the green plants from the Green Building here. So after sitting in the bedroom for a while, Wu Lai went to the back garden to look at the green plants and relax.

Just after walking around a little, Mikoyan came hurriedly over with a letter: "High Priest, urgent news from the front line, the messenger is waiting outside the temple."

After Wu Lai opened the envelope, he shook out the letter and glanced at it. His expression suddenly changed.

"What's wrong?" Mikoyan asked hurriedly when he saw Wu Lai's color change.

"Putong's Sixth Division suffered a defeat, and Tianjuan is sending reinforcements and food to Hatra." Wu Lai frowned slightly.

"Then...what should we do?" Mikoyan frowned.

Wu Lai hesitated for a while and sighed softly: "No more waiting, get started, go and call the leader of the Knights to me."

"Yes, sir." Mikoyan nodded and bowed, then left quickly.

As soon as Mikoyan left, Caesar, who was squatting not far away, grinned, stood up quickly and ran to Wu Lai: "Master, are we going to fight? Take me with you?"

Wu Lai glared at Caesar: "You warmonger..."

In the afternoon, a cloud of black smoke suddenly rose from the beacon tower on the top of a mountain in the northern suburbs of Assyria. All the people who saw the black smoke felt a little strange, thinking that the smoke was either straight up or swaying with the wind, so how could it fly up one after another at such a uniform distance? A little later, the beacon tower fifteen miles away from Assyria also rose with the same black smoke.

A little later, the beacon tower thirty miles away from Assyria did the same thing, sending clouds of black smoke rising into the sky...

Before dusk, black smoke rose from the beacon tower seventeen miles away from the Sixth Division’s camp…

Pu Tong grinned when he saw the black smoke through the telescope, turned around and waved to the several group leaders who were running over: "Emergency assembly!"

At the same time, Pompey, Bailey, Sarres, and Isabel were also giving the same order...

When Ye Renwu saw the black smoke, she was sitting on her saddle, resting on an abandoned horse trail at the border between Armenia and Annan. About ten steps behind her, the skinny horse that had carried her all the way since entering Armenia was leisurely nibbling on the grass.

What does this mean? A trace of doubt flashed across Ye Jianwu's eyes.

Odo and Vulture also saw the black smoke. Compared with Bailey and others, they were undoubtedly farther away, so when they saw it, it was already dusk.

"That's great, Commander Vulture. The lord has ordered a encirclement." After putting down the telescope, Oddo laughed and patted Vulture on the shoulder.

"Yes, it's time for us to take action." The vulture touched the short whiskers on his chin and suddenly shook his head. "I still can't understand the lord's intentions."

"Not necessarily. Maybe he understands, but is reluctant to retreat." Oddo said with a smile.

"You won't retreat? Then you'll get beaten." Vulture patted the scabbard at his waist, "I haven't drunk blood in a long time."

"You butcher." Odo laughed and waved his hand, "Let's go and make trouble for those bastards first."

…

It was already daybreak. Inside the big tent, Hatra was lying naked on the big bed, with only a small blanket covering her lower abdomen to hide the damaged part.

Two young soldiers, also naked, squatted on his legs, one on each side, and slowly massaged his thighs, knees, and calves.

Hatra had a very comfortable expression, not only because of the service of the two soldiers, but also because of the victory he won a few days ago - although he only beheaded more than a thousand enemy soldiers, it also allowed him to vent his anger. Most importantly, the victory in this battle boosted the morale of his soldiers.

"Your Highness, do you need your arm rubbed?" a soldier asked softly.

"No, suck my toes." Hatra did not open his eyes. He was planning his next move to lure the enemy and ambush him.

There were hurried and noisy footsteps outside the tent.

"Your Highness King Wushuang! There is urgent military information!" The footsteps stopped outside the tent door.

"Come in!" Hartla frowned.

Three deputy generals patrolling the city lifted the curtain and walked in. After they saluted, the leading general reported loudly: "Your Highness, the enemy is surrounding the city from all sides!"

Hatra opened his eyes, propped himself up with his hands, and kicked the two soldiers off the bed with his legs.

"Be more specific," Hatra said as he got dressed.

"Yes, the enemy army should have launched an operation last night and completed the encirclement before dawn. Now there are ten large camps set up around Menia City, and the camps are connected by fences and trenches..." After the leading deputy general described the encirclement in detail, he paused and added, "In addition, a strange thing happened."

"Strange? What's strange?" Hatra walked out from behind the screen.

"For some reason, the water levels of the two rivers in the city are dropping rapidly. The water depth is now less than one-third of what it was before, and... and it's still continuing." The deputy general replied.

"Is there such a thing? Have you sent anyone to check upstream?" asked Hatra.

"The people sent can't get through because the enemy's sentries are deployed very densely." replied the deputy general.

"There is no such thing as a dry season in Menia. The enemy must be causing trouble upstream." Hatra slapped his hand heavily on the table. "The Assyrians are all bastards and idiots. Do they think they can stop the moat from flowing like this? Dream on!"

"Your Highness, could it be that the enemy wants to cut off our water supply?" a deputy general couldn't help but ask.

Hatra laughed: "You are so smart. There are more than a hundred wells in Menia. Even if the enemy cuts off the river, it doesn't matter. They are trying to disrupt our army's morale. Don't pay any attention to them. Let's go and patrol the city with me!"

"yes."

…

The canyon was filled with rolling green waves. On a high cliff, Helen stood with her hands behind her back, gazing into the distance.

She was looking at Menia, because it was the last piece of territory favored by Heaven in the Assyrian territory, which was occupied by Hatra at the cost of bearing the infamy, and now Hatra was still defending it.

"The siege has lasted for half a month, but there is still no attack. What's the reason?" Helen muttered to herself, then stretched out her hand to tuck back a strand of black hair that was blown to her forehead by the wind.

"Your Majesty, it's windy today and you've been standing here for a long time. Why don't you..." a female official advised.

"Have my uncle and aunt arrived?" Helen asked.

"The Viscount and Viscountess have been here for a long time and are waiting outside the golden tent." The lady-in-waiting hesitated and added, "They are kneeling all the time."

"Why didn't you report it earlier?" Helen frowned.

The female official quickly confessed her crime.

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"Forget it. Don't worry about disturbing me with such matters in the future." Helen waved her sleeves and walked towards the golden tent.

The uncle Helen mentioned was named Ye Jinghai, Ye Renwu's uncle. This time he brought his principal wife to meet the emperor. Although he was ostensibly following the emperor's order, he also went through a lot of arrangements before getting permission.

Seeing Helen coming, Ye Jinghai, who had been kneeling for a long time, didn't care about the numbness in his knees, and hurriedly crawled to meet her. After crawling a few steps in front of Helen's feet, he stopped and kowtowed while shouting: "Your Majesty, my Ye Renwu was wronged, please Your Majesty, my Ye Renwu was wronged, please Your Majesty, please."

"Ye Jinghai, you are my uncle. According to the rules, there is no need to perform such a great ceremony. Please stand up and talk." Helen said with a sigh.

"No, Your Majesty, I will not get up. Ye Renwu was wronged. If I cannot seek justice for Ye Renwu, how can I be worthy of my dead brother? Your Majesty, please see clearly." Ye Jinghai cried with tears streaming down his face.

Helen smiled bitterly and shook her head, but her eyes swept again and looked at the Viscountess who was still kneeling motionless more than ten steps away.

After frowning slightly, Helen walked towards her. Ye Jinghai was stunned and quickly crawled behind Helen.

"Ye Jinghai, is this your new wife?" Helen stopped five steps in front of the Viscountess.

"Yes, Your Majesty. The previous one died four months ago. This is the new one. Her name is Yilu." Ye Jinghai replied quickly.

"Humph, you didn't delay anything. As expected, Ye Jinghai, who is famous for his unrestrained and suave manner, has beautiful wives." Helen smiled coldly and looked at Yilu's face. "Viscountess Yilu, is this your first time meeting me?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Yi Luying bowed down.

"Let me ask you, why did you stand still when the Viscount begged me just now?" Helen asked.

Yilu raised a barely perceptible smile at the corner of his mouth: "Your Majesty, that's because Yilu knows that a country has its own laws and a clan has its own rules. Your Majesty will punish Ye Jianwu according to the national law. Your Majesty is proud of the world, so you must enforce your orders, so Yilu will not move."

"What a clever talker." Helen smiled slightly, turned around and glanced at Ye Jinghai with tearful eyes, "No wonder you can charm my uncle who has nothing to do except flirting with other women. If not, how can you be the Viscountess? Yilu, how old are you this year?"

Helen's words startled Yilu, who was expecting to be praised. When she heard Helen's question, she quickly replied, "Your Majesty, Yilu is twenty-one this year."

"So young." Helen sighed, walked to Yilu's side, leaned over, and said in a low voice, "But you were wrong just now. I am proud of the world, not by enforcing orders, but by relying on the unity of my people. Your performance today has disappointed me."

"Your Majesty, Yilu is guilty." Yilu was shocked and kowtowed immediately.

"Guilty, punishable." Helen smiled coldly, turned to Ye Jinghai and said, "Ye Jinghai, I summoned you to see me for no other reason than to tell you one thing. Just take care of your inner courtyard and live your peaceful life. The rest are all big things, not something you can handle."

"But Your Majesty, Ye Renwu was wronged." Ye Jinghai was stunned for a moment and then quickly said.

"I know she is wronged, but the Avram family doesn't think so." Helen glanced at Ye Jinghai's face, "So, you should go back to Tianjuan and stop jumping around in Hulit. I will give you the money and goods you spent."

"Your Majesty..." Ye Jinghai took two steps on his knees and was about to say something else, but Helen turned around and walked towards the golden tent: "Ye Jinghai, Yilu is not suitable to be the Viscountess. Replace her with someone who is less cunning. If her people have any objections, just say it was my decision. If you can't bear to let her go, then I will kill her."

Ye Jinghai was stunned for a moment, and Yi Lu's body softened and she almost fell down...

…

"Division Commander, we've been surrounding us for so many days, why aren't you attacking yet?" a regimental commander asked Pu Tong.

"Yes, yes, the water in the three moats of Armenia has dried up, and the enemy is building new fortifications there. Division Commander, you should send our regiment over to cause some harassment. If we wait a few more days, those fences, stone walls and other things will be built." said another regimental commander.

"Are you still talking about what happened yesterday? Go out and take a look. They have started to set up camp beside the first moat outside the city wall." Another regiment commander frowned and scratched his forehead, "Division Commander, let's fight anyway. Didn't our division just replenish some ammunition? Don't you want to avenge last time?"

"Do I need you to tell me about revenge?" Pu Tong was already upset by the constant chatter of these captains. When he heard about revenge, his anger immediately rose again. He grabbed the whip at his feet and hit the captain on the head, then shouted angrily, "Forget what I taught you? Obey orders! Obey orders, you know? The lord's order is to encircle, not to attack, do you understand?"

"Before you get a new combat order, you guys should stay in your respective camps, build the fortifications more solidly, dig the trenches wider and deeper to prevent the enemy from sneaking into the camp, okay? This is my order to you, go and execute it!" Pu Tong shouted impatiently.

"No, Commander. Our trenches are already as deep as they can't be any deeper." A regimental commander said hurriedly.

"Yes, the trenches of my camp are almost fifteen cubits wide. The soldiers build fortifications every day. Every day we see the enemy wandering inside and outside the city walls, but we can't fight. We are all holding back." Another regimental commander also looked sad.

"I don't care about you guys. Is the trench deep and wide enough? Okay, my requirement is that the trench must be twelve cubits deep and twenty cubits wide. When you do that, come to me to get a new task." Pu Tao waved his hand and said.

"Twelve cubits deep and twenty cubits wide, are you kidding me, Commander?" A regiment commander almost shouted.

"Huh, do I look like I'm kidding? Each of your regiments has several thousand people, and you're only guarding such a short stretch of ground." Pu Tong pulled out a blade of grass from his mouth and gestured to the length. "I'll give you five days. If you don't finish it in five days, prepare to be beaten with a stick."

Several group leaders looked at each other immediately...