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Chapter 648 - 648: Change of Strategy
Chapter 648 - 648: Change of Strategy
Chapter 648: Change of Strategy
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The weapons used by the Eastern Expedition Army were distributed uniformly, including bows and arrows. However, unlike other weapons, arrows were consumables. Every battle consumed a large number of arrows.
There were people in the military camp who were in charge of making arrows. They usually accumulated a lot of arrows.
However, in such a tense battle, the more arrows, the better.
Yu Niaoniao took out an arrow from the bamboo basket and looked at it carefully. It was done very carefully. Be it its length or weight, it was almost the same as the standard arrows in the military.
She smiled at Li Hongye.
“These arrows are very good. Can you make more?”
Li Hongye was very happy that the arrows she made had been recognized.
She nodded vigorously. “Okay, I’ll talk to my sister now. We’ll make more arrows.”
Because there was a battle outside the city, they could not farm in the fields. They had nothing to do in the city every day, so they might as well find something to do. Not only could making arrows kill time, but they could also help the Eastern Expedition Army. It was killing two birds with one stone.
Yu Niaoniao said, “I’ll pay you five copper coins for an arrow. There are about a hundred arrows here. Granny, please get five hundred copper coins for Miss
Hongye.”
Li Hongye hurriedly waved her hand. “No, no! You don’t have to give me money. I’m already very happy that I can help you. How can I ask for your money?!”
Yu Niaoniao said, “Don’t be in a hurry to refuse. When you get back, you can tell the others that no matter who it is, as long as they can make arrows of good quality, they can sell them to me for five copper coins per arrow. Before this battle ends, I’ll buy an unlimited number of arrows.”
Li Hongye immediately understood what she meant.
“You want the commoners in the city to help make arrows.”
Yu Niaoniao nodded. “Yes.”
She did this not only to replenish the arrows for the Eastern Expedition Army, but also to find something to do for the idlers in the city to prevent some people from having crooked thoughts when they had nothing to do.
Granny Xiu Yan handed over a heavy cloth bag.
“There’s a total of five hundred copper coins here. Count them.”
Li Hongye did not refuse this time.
She had to bring this money back for everyone to believe that Madam was really willing to pay for the arrows.
She hugged the cloth bag with both hands and said gratefully, “Thank you,
Madam. Thank you, Granny.”
Granny Xiu Yan said, “I’ll send you out.”
The original county magistrate of Heng City had already been killed by the Chen Nation Army, and the county office had been destroyed. After this period of repair, the county office had mostly recovered.
The county office had been temporarily changed to the General’s Mansion. Usually, Tang Guixi, Yu Niaoniao, and Xiao Juan lived here.
Now that Tang Guixi and Xiao Juan had gone out to fight, Yu Niaoniao was in charge of the General’s Mansion.
She asked Ling Hai to set up a straw shed at the entrance of the county office and hang a sign saying, “Five copper coins for an arrow.”
After Li Hongye’s hard work in publicity, many people in the city knew about the General’s Mansion buying arrows. There were constantly people who came to the General’s Mansion with arrows they had made to sell.
Not everyone could make excellent arrows like Li Hongye and her sister, and there was no lack of crude works.
Any unqualified arrows would be rejected by Ling Hai.
The arrows bought would be registered and sent to Yu Niaoniao for her random inspection.
At first, Granny Xiu Yan was worried that Yu Niaoniao would be tired because of this. Later, when she saw that when she was focused on checking the quality of the arrows, her morning sickness reaction decreased a lot. Instead, she became a little more energetic, so she let her do whatever she wanted.
The completed arrows were transported out of the city in batches and into the hands of the Eastern Expedition Army.
Without anything to worry about, the Eastern Expedition Army fought even more fiercely.
Initially, Marshal Chen did not take a mere Heng City seriously.
With the strength of their Chen Nation’s army, he thought they could definitely take down Heng City quickly.
In the end, they ran into obstructions.
No matter how they attacked, they could not break through the defense of the Eastern Expedition Army.
The two sides fought back and forth for half a month. Not only did the Chen army fail to take down Heng City, but they also lost a lot of troops.
He could not continue like this. Marshal Chen could only change his strategy.
He still remembered that when he fought the Eastern Expedition Army previously, it was also the Eastern Expedition Army who had the upper hand at first. Later on, because the Eastern Expedition Army’s rations were in short supply and the Dayan Emperor had cut off the rations support to the Eastern
Expedition Army, the Eastern Expedition Army fell into a crisis and retreated.
The reason why the Eastern Expedition Army could make a comeback was because they had raided the Chen military camp and snatched a large amount of food.
In the end, food was the most important!
Marshal Chen gathered the generals he had accepted for a meeting overnight.
In the end, he decided to pause the attack.
They were prepared to surround Heng City and cut off the communication between Heng City and other places, trapping the Eastern Expedition Army in Heng City.
This way, the Eastern Expedition Army would be alone and helpless.
The Eastern Expedition Army had limited food. When they finished their food, they could only starve.
In the end, they only had two paths—
They would either starve to death or leave the city to surrender.
On the Eastern Expedition Army’s side, Tang Guixi and Xiao Juan realized that the Chen Army had stopped attacking. They sent scouts to investigate and realized that the Chen Army had not retreated.
Not only that, but the Chen Army was also setting up camp, looking like they were preparing for a long battle.
Tang Guixi and Xiao Juan calculated and guessed that the Chen Army should be planning to use a consumption strategy to surround and not attack.
This was exactly what they wanted.
They could not wait for a truce. This way, the Eastern Expedition Army and the citizens in the city would have more time to recuperate.
The battle had temporarily come to an pause.
The commoners carried their farming tools and went straight to the fields. The fields were bustling with activity again.
Spring passed and summer came. Flowers bloomed and fell.
The wheat seedlings in the fields grew higher day by day.
In autumn, the wheat seedlings finally bore heavy ears.
The commoners and the soldiers of the Eastern Expedition Army were extremely excited. They rolled up their sleeves and immersed themselves in the fields. They planted the wheat day and night and worked extremely hard.
On the other side, Chen Army was still craning their necks in anticipation, wanting to know when Chen Jun could not take it anymore and took the initiative to surrender.
They even deliberately roasted meat in the open space and fanned hard. They used the wind to send the fragrance of the roasted meat to the sentry tower, wanting to tempt the Eastern Expedition Army sentinel on the sentry tower.
They had meat buns that the cook had just sent over. The dough was flour ground from the latest harvest of wheat, and it tasted delicious.
They chatted as they ate.
“What’s wrong with the Chen Nation people below?”
“Who knows about them? They’re sick!”
The Chen Nation soldiers spent a long time sweating from exhaustion, but they still did not see any movement on the sentry tower. They could not help but curse.
However, because they were speaking in the Chen Nation’s language, the sentries on the sentry tower did not understand a word..