Chapter 1417: Seizing the Bridge, Blowing Up the Waterway (Part 8) [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
Because Chu Yao handled the situation promptly and strictly controlled the information, the impact of Shen Tang's accidental injury was minimized.
Civil and military officials gathered outside the tent, glancing towards the camp from time to time.
Most of them were unaware of the details of Shen Tang's injury, only knowing that the central army had ordered a retreat ahead of schedule, and only after the retreat was over did they hear of their lord's accident. This sudden news made everyone uneasy, and when Chu Yao came out, they immediately surrounded him to inquire about the news.
"Prime Minister Chu, what has happened to the Emperor?"
"Prime Minister Chu, may we go in and see the Emperor?"
Chu Yao was in a real bind. He couldn't very well tell his colleagues that their lord had been cursed by the plague god Kang again. He had first been kicked by a warhorse, which broke his ribs, and he was so angry that he almost died. Then, Chu Yao accidentally added fuel to the fire and broke his cervical vertebrae.
Military generals who have lived on the edge of death are inherently superstitious and believe in gods and ghosts. They always choose auspicious days for military campaigns.
If I were to say it now, it would definitely affect my confidence.
Chu Yao could only say, "Your Majesty had a sudden enlightenment, but due to the noise of the battlefield, your understanding was not clear and you were temporarily possessed by demons. Fortunately, it was resolved in time, and Your Majesty is now in good health. You will recover well after half a day of rest. There is no need for you to worry, everyone, please go and do your work."
His words differed greatly from the information that had been circulating.
However, everyone present was shrewd; they not only knew Chu Yao's position in the Lord's heart, but also the Lord's position in Chu Yao's heart. In the vast Kang Kingdom, if one were to ask who would absolutely not betray the Lord, Prime Minister Chu would undoubtedly be among the top contenders, so naturally they had no worries about him being detrimental to the Lord. Seeing that he seemed somewhat tired, some harbored doubts but did not voice them, outwardly accepting this explanation, and all bowed and took their leave.
Of course, Chu Yao's words were only meant to appease others; they couldn't hide them from Gu Chi, a founding member of the company in its early stages.
His expression was strange: "Kang Jishou again?"
Chu Yao sighed helplessly, "Who else could it be but him?"
The eighteenth-rank Grand Master was knocked down by a warhorse?
Even if this warhorse is of the highest quality, it still can't do it. The difference between the two is like that between Shan Jun and Su Shang, who is "using a cat to intimidate people" in Qi Shan Jia's family—could Su Shang really kick Shan Jun so hard that he broke seven or eight of his ribs with a single kick? That's just outrageous.
But Kang Shi, this plague god, could turn the impossible into the possible.
With him around, even the smallest probability can happen.
While observing Chu Yao's expression, Gu Chi casually mentioned a detail: "Before General Chu went to war, didn't the lord specifically instruct him to keep an eye on Ji Shou? Given his temperament, it's impossible that he didn't take it seriously. Could it be that he encountered a difficult battle?"
Either Chu Jie is unreliable, or he's met with a brick wall.
Chu Yao remembered this matter after being reminded by him, and his face looked even worse. He suppressed his surging anger and said, "The lord is asleep in the tent. Wang Chao, you should send someone to protect him carefully. This period is the most prone to accidents. I will go and check if there is any news from Chu Jie's side."
Gu Chi readily agreed: "Of course."
He heard his lord's inward grumbling and knew that the man had awakened. After watching Chu Yao leave, Gu Chi stepped into the main tent. What he saw was not his furious and agitated lord, but Shen Tang lying upright, staring blankly at the tent ceiling, like a bubble shimmering with seven-colored glass, which would burst into foam with the slightest touch.
Quiet, haggard, pale, and frail.
It's beautiful and has a great atmosphere.
Ignore the ten curse words running through her mind every second; even the goddess Nuwa would have to admit that this is her graduation project.
Gu Chi bowed, but Shen Tang ignored him.
Gu Chi said "Forgive me" directly and sat down quietly.
Shen Tang looked at the top of the tent, and he looked at Shen Tang. The stronger a martial artist was, the more sensitive they were to external gazes. Being stared at for too long gave them a feeling of discomfort, like maggots clinging to their bones. The stalemate between the monarch and his subject did not last long. Shen Tang had to snap out of his "forty-five-degree sorrowful gaze at the sky" and pulled a doll from under the covers, throwing it at his knee.
"My lord, please don't be angry, it will harm your health."
Gu Chi placed the doll back next to her.
Shen Tang said quietly, "I need a private space to properly curse the heavens, and you've come here to enrich your vocabulary?"
Gu Chi's presence prevented her from having any free rein to express herself.
"I have already mastered the lord's vocabulary."
Shen Tang: "..."
Well, there's no way to get rid of them now.
If it weren't for her pride, she would have pulled the blanket up and buried her head in it. Even if Gu Chi were incredibly bold, he wouldn't dare to pull the blanket off her. She sighed helplessly and ordered Gu Chi, "Alright, don't just sit there like an idiot, peel me some fruit."
A short while later, the sound of Gu Chi getting up and rubbing his sleeves together could be heard.
But I haven't heard the sound of a blade peeling fruit for a long time.
Chen Tang had been told by Fang Yan not to turn her neck, and even though she tried to look away, she couldn't see what Gu Chi was doing. Just as she was about to ask if he hadn't found it, she heard Gu Chi sigh, "The fruit is rotten."
Shen Tang: "...As expected."
Gu Chi added, "There was a fruit that a small snake had hollowed out."
If Shen Tang were to bite, she would most likely end up with a close snake kiss. Gu Chi's final trump card: "Poisonous snake."
Heartbroken, Shen Tang said, "...I'm not eating anymore."
Forget about eating, she can't even drink anything lately. It's not like she hasn't almost choked to death on a sip of water before, or almost died from a fish bone stuck in her throat after eating a bite of fish... The lessons were so painful that she can't help but shudder when she thinks about them.
"I would like to eat one; would Your Majesty be so kind as to spare one for me?"
What's so delicious about a pile of rotten fruit?
Those who didn't know the truth might have thought she was abusing the ministers.
As a result, Gu Chi reached out and picked up the last bright red fruit on the fruit plate. He took a bite and found it to be juicy, crisp, and with thick flesh and thin skin. He exclaimed, "Truly worthy of being a tribute fruit for the emperor!"
Shen Tang: "..."
How can we tolerate this?
She grabbed a toy from the side and threw it at the sound.
This time, it hit Gu Chi directly in the face.
Gu Chi didn't know how to sympathize with his mistress. He wanted to laugh but was afraid of angering her, so he held it in until his face turned red and he couldn't breathe. He thought that Kang Shi would definitely be dealt with by his mistress this time, and he would enjoy watching his colleague suffer.
His banter distracted Shen Tang from recalling her near-death experience before she lost consciousness. After a moment's calm, her mood shifted from greeting the plague-ridden Kang Shi to worrying about the important minister Ji Shou: "Has he sent any news back?"
Without mentioning who this "he" is, Gu Chi knows perfectly well.
"Wu Hui went to investigate; he just left."
The news hasn't come back so quickly.
Shen Tang closed his eyes and pondered for a while: "Wang Chao, send someone to invite Gongyang Yongye over. I'll trouble him to make the trip this time."
Even if Kangshi overdraws its "Huabei" credit, it's still better than being in dire straits.
Gu Chi was not surprised at all. The emperor's patience and affection for Kang Shi were obvious to all. If it weren't true love, which emperor would be willing to keep a jinx by his side for more than ten years, even if he had seven or eight broken ribs?
Hua Yuanhua wanted to give Cao Kai his skull, but the latter refused.
Gu Chi did not blindly comply: "That might not be appropriate."
Most of the pressure on the front lines is concentrated here, and Gongyang Yongye, being a 19th-rank Marquis within the Pass, even if his own vigor has diminished and he cannot exert the strength expected of someone of this rank, can still make the enemy army tremble. Removing him would only increase the pressure on our side.
These past two days, the exchange of catapults with the opposing force has not only been to probe the strength of their troops, but also to test the depth of the ravine beneath the long bridge. It's clear that the area below has been tampered with. Not only do martial artists feel heavy and struggle to maintain their altitude stability when airborne, but even the largest boulders launched by catapults at full power visibly lose altitude and speed as they pass over the bridge, resulting in significantly different landing distances and reduced destructive power.
Our side sent people down to investigate.
Finding and destroying the key point of the formation will make the attack much easier.
The effect of this formation is still one-sided.
Attacks launched from the Kangguo side towards the Changqiao Stone Fortress suffered negative effects on both personnel and siege equipment, while attacks launched from the stone fortress itself were largely unaffected. Gu Chi was unsure whether this was due to the direction of the projectiles or the different assessments made by both sides.
"...My lord, perhaps we should wait for news before making a judgment?" Gu Chi was reluctant to inform Gongyang Yongye or Luo San of the news. As mentioned before, martial artists tend to believe in gods and ghosts, especially those who are stronger and closer to the peak of martial arts. Given Shen Tang's unfortunate state after being defeated by Kang Shi, Gu Chi couldn't gauge their attitude and feared they might harbor disloyalty.
Shen Tang: "..."
She could only silently agree.
I lay there stiffly for a long time, maintaining that posture.
Fang Yan had given it his all, and Shen Tang, with her naturally strong physique, had her ribs and cervical vertebrae fully healed. She sprang to her feet, stretching her slightly numb limbs. Just as she was about to sigh in relief, a sharp, indescribable pain shot through her lower back. She cried out, maintaining her position, afraid to move, panting softly, "I...I strained my back—"
When Chu Yao returned, covered in dust, he saw Shen Tang holding onto the lamp stand with one hand and pounding her waist with the other, her expression quite distorted.
"Wu Hui, you're back?"
"We have just received news from Ji Shou at the front."
He rushed over before I even read the battle report.
Shen Tang opened the app while grimacing, quickly read it, and tossed it to Chu Yao, continuing to rub her cramped back: "I was originally planning to wait for Ji Shou to come back and give him a good beating, but—never mind."
Chu Yao quickly finished scanning, and any further blame turned into a sigh.
It's really not Kang Shi's fault at all.
The enemy's lineup was indeed far superior; even sacrificing one's luck to win was far better than losing and being completely annihilated. Regardless of what Kang Shi sacrificed or what methods he used to push back the ambushing enemy, let's just say he won or not. As long as he won, that's enough.
However, Chu Yao also noticed other things from it.
"That waterway is probably doomed."
Building a thousand-mile-long dike is no easy task, but destroying it is a piece of cake.
Shen Tang stopped rubbing his lower back: "If we can't hold on, we can't drag this out. If we drag it out too long, we'll have to retreat even if we don't want to."
Qin Li could transport the cloud formations over there, but this method could only solve the immediate problem and could not serve as a stable logistical water supply. Shen Tang straightened up despite the pain, and slowly took a few steps while supporting her waist, only to find that her right foot also began to cramp.
Shen Tang took a deep breath, staring at his right foot with a ferocious expression: "...Try to make both of my legs cramp up!"
The result, naturally, was that those who asked for a draw received one.
After a period of chaos and turmoil, she was exhausted and had little strength left.
He stopped walking and plopped down, thinking that this way nothing else would happen: "Did the vanguard lead his men down to investigate and find anything?"
Jiang Sheng, due to his unique scholarly approach, possessed a natural advantage in breaking military formations. Kang Guo, meanwhile, drew the fire of the stone fortress while entrusting Luo San to lead a team down the cliff with Jiang Sheng.
They brought back both good news and bad news.
The good news is that the source has been found.
The bad news is that the source is too large and buried too deep.
"Even with Luo San present, there's no guarantee he could sabotage the operation?"
"The message brought back by the vanguard cannot be destroyed. Rather than some kind of spell array, it's more like an extremely special magnet..." No, saying "a" is inaccurate; it should be described as a special magnet vein, which happens to be distributed along the deep ravine under the long bridge. It is buried at a depth of over 150 zhang, and even with Luo San's strength, it's impossible for him to destroy it without making a sound: "Ordinary magnets attract and repel each other, and this special magnet is the same for those who possess martial energy."
It will attract.
Therefore, both arrows formed by martial arts practitioners using their martial energy and boulders thrown by catapults will be attracted.
"Seng Deng also brought back a message."
Shen Tang pondered a solution: "News?"
"The energy of heaven and earth below the ravine is also different from that of the outside world."
"Could it be some kind of nuclear radiation again?" Shen Tang murmured, then asked, "Did Xian Deng say anything different?"
"It wasn't Xian Deng who discovered it, it was Luo Hou. The closer you get to the ground, the denser this special aura of heaven and earth becomes. Luo Hou tried to probe downwards, but he found that the greater the force he exerted, the greater the force that bounced back. He was caught off guard and almost suffered internal injuries from the shock, as if he had struck not air but a mountain."
Upon hearing this, Shen Tang recalled a detail: "...Wu Hui means that in the past few days, when we were fighting against the other side, our attacks might have been affected by more than just the so-called gravity?"
Indeed, the catapults on the opposite side were all relatively small.
However, Shen Tang did not suspect anything at first.
The stone fortress opposite the long bridge had a relatively open terrain, allowing smaller catapults to be deployed more easily and in greater numbers, compensating for any slight reduction in firepower. Our side, constrained by the terrain, naturally found larger catapults more cost-effective. Thinking back now, perhaps that was also a factor?
Shen Tang's face remained expressionless, but she was cursing him inwardly.
Is the energy of heaven and earth in this space under the long bridge still a "non-Newtonian fluid"? It becomes hard when subjected to strong external forces and soft when subjected to weak external forces? Every time this happens, Shen Tang wants to question the culprit from thousands of years ago.
What a mess this is!
She seemed to be deep in thought: "Use skill to overcome force, and softness to overcome hardness."
This might be the key to crossing the bridge and capturing the stone fortress?
"Wu Hui, how are the preparations for the fierce fire oil, iron chains, and other items?"
Shen Tang and his group's initial plan was to drive the iron chains they had made into the opposite mountain wall to create several iron chain bridges, without necessarily using any one of them to cross to the other side. The purpose of the battle was simply to draw enemy fire to one place, while another group would flank from another direction.
This plan needs the right timing.
Qin Li could control the fog using the methods of a scholar, achieving a level of density so high that visibility was virtually zero. However, due to the unique structure beneath the long bridge, the fog condensed from literary energy was obviously unusable. Therefore, he could only wait for the natural weather conditions, and Qin Li would then use the methods of a scholar to give it a push. The downside was that the fog density wouldn't be ideal. Shen Tang planned to add fuel to the fire: "Wu Hui, my hand is cramping—"
(▼ヘ▼#)
I submitted the revised description several times, but it was rejected each time. I don't think there was anything inappropriate in it.
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