knife

Chapter 792 Siege
Wooden stakes, about the thickness of a bowl, were planted in the ground, with one about every other step. Planks, fences, and even door panels were nailed horizontally onto the stakes, and then rubble was poured over them to form a simple wall, barely big enough for one person to stand on.

The wall built by the Tiger Legion was several miles away from Liyang County, and the area within it was the battlefield where the two sides had been fighting repeatedly in recent days. Standing on the top of Liyang City, those with good eyesight could see that behind the wall, countless able-bodied men and even soldiers were busily transporting all sorts of materials forward.

The wall was being built at an unusually fast pace, extending by hundreds of meters every day. At this rate, it would be completed in a dozen days at most, completely enclosing Liyang City.

Na Wei, unsure of Kang Zhen's true intentions, initially sent troops to attack and seize the city walls repeatedly. While the Southwest Wolf Army's infantry was arguably the strongest in the land, their cavalry was significantly weaker. Meanwhile, the opposing Tiger Legion had many formidable cavalrymen from the north. Sending too few out meant certain death if they encountered the opposing cavalry; sending too many, however…?

Na Wei would not be so foolish as to send out his entire force; that would be exactly what the other side wanted.

Kang Zhen had always wanted a decisive battle.

By nightfall, the snakes, insects, and venomous ants commanded by the shamans were no longer effective. Clearly, the enemy, having suffered a loss, was now well-prepared. As soon as they spotted snakes or insects approaching, they would immediately splash out some pre-prepared potions. The snakes and insects that came into contact with these potions would go berserk, disobeying commands and biting wildly indiscriminately, not only failing to kill the enemy but also disrupting the morale of their own troops.

After a few attempts, Na Wei lost interest in launching a counterattack.

If when he was first trapped here, he thought about breaking out, and after the Danyang Incident, he thought about holding out and waiting for changes, then now he only needs to hold off Jiang Qian while preserving his own strength.

So when the enemy built a wall to surround him, Na Wei didn't care.

I don't want to fight either if you don't take the initiative to attack!

Anyway, I'm not the one who's in a hurry!

For Na Wei, neither Danyang nor the Southeast was his territory, so he didn't care about the changes in these places. Here, all he had were his 50,000 Southwestern Wolf Soldiers. Although he was trapped, he still had plenty of troops and supplies, and he just needed to wait quietly.

Remain unchanged amidst change; simply observe the other party quietly.

No matter your myriad tricks, I will remain unmoved.

If you insist on attacking Liyang County, then let's have another proper contest.

So Kang Zhen was building walls outside, while Na Wei was organizing able-bodied men and soldiers inside the city to reinforce the walls and prepare more defensive equipment.

Most of the houses in Liyang County were demolished; there were only tens of thousands of soldiers in the city, so they didn't need that many houses. Based on Na Wei's experience, after his renovations, Liyang County's defenses were now far superior to those of Danyang City.

Tao Silang was working very hard.

I've never seen such a large scene before. Thousands of people working together. The saying "many hands make light work" is really true. In such a short time, such a high and thick wall was formed.

He's doing quite well now. He eats two meals a day, which are enough to fill him up, and he even gets a bone broth dinner. The key thing is that the soldiers treat his dog well too. They even give him an extra steamed bun every day, saying that the dog also acts as a guard and keeps watch at night, so it deserves a share of the food.

This made Tao Silang feel very good about these soldiers. Although everyone in his village had died at the hands of these soldiers, he truly understood why they were like this.

If you must hate, hate those who captured them. They were living peaceful lives in the village, but they were captured by those wicked people in the city and forced to do hard labor and serve as the vanguard to their deaths. Now that those people are trapped inside, it seems that the people above are going to starve them to death, and Tao Silang feels waves of pleasure.

Holding the plow, he flicked his whip with a crack, and the old man pulling the plow let out a moo, pulling the plowshare forward with all his might, the soil parting to both sides like waves.

Behind Tao Silang, someone waved a wooden shovel, filling the soil and stones into baskets, then using ropes to pull the baskets up, finally dumping them into the wooden stakes to form a wall.

The earth and stones used to build the wall are located a few dozen steps behind the wall. A large ditch, about three zhang wide and more than ten zhang deep, has now been dug out.

Even if someone manages to climb over that high wall, what they will see is a chasm that will only deepen their despair.

Two days ago, Tao Silang overheard two master craftsmen whispering about how to divert water into the canal. He then realized that once they finished digging the canal, water from the Ji River would be diverted into it.

But that's none of his business; he just needs to focus on working hard.

However, starting yesterday, I have to drink a bowl of bitter soup when I go to work in the morning, and another bowl of bitter soup when I go back at night. This is quite uncomfortable. I'm not sick or injured, so why do I have to drink such bitter medicine?
But those people in white were really vicious. When someone deliberately spilled something, they went up and beat them up without any warning. It was a real beating, and several people were left with bruises and swelling on their faces because of it.

So now everyone is obediently drinking this medicinal soup.

To put it nicely, it's because the higher-ups care about the people's well-being and are worried about them getting sick. To put it bluntly, it's because they're worried that if people get sick, there won't be anyone to do their work!
Regardless of the circumstances, being willing to spend money to take care of these poor souls truly makes him a benevolent and upright official!
The people here are really paying close attention to these things. Besides drinking the medicinal soup every day, they also sprinkle quicklime on the construction site and in the camp every day. Everyone has to go to the toilet in a designated place, and anyone who dares to misbehave will be whipped again. These past two days, they've started distributing the medicinal soup in the camp again. And every day they check everyone's health, you know, by having them take off their clothes and walk past people in white.

Fortunately, these poor folks were used to working with their arms bare. They were given clothes, but Tao Silang couldn't bear to wear them after seeing the quality of the clothes.

Once you've finished what you need to do here and returned home, this outfit will be suitable for you to wear when you become the groom.

Since everyone was being checked, including the soldiers, no one took it seriously.

They simply assumed it was a quirk of the high-ranking officials.

About ten days later, Tao Silang saw water surging in the ditch and quickly filled the entire ditch. Now, the entire city of Liyang was truly trapped with nowhere to go.

Most of the people who worked together were laid off. To everyone's surprise and delight, they were still paid wages when they were laid off. Although each person only received a hundred or so coins, it was still a pleasant surprise. After all, the other party had provided them with food these past few days, and no one expected to receive money in the end.

However, Tao Silang did not leave.

Because the higher-ups are recruiting a group of strong men, and the wages will be doubled.

Actually, no one wanted to leave, but this time the selection process was extremely strict, and those who were physically weak were ruthlessly driven away.

Tao Silang was very happy because he could not only eat two meals a day for free, but also drink bone broth, and of course, he would receive double the wages.

(End of this chapter)