Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1825: Chapter 1689: Victory or Defeat in This Battle (Part 2)

”However, what surprises me now is that the Northern Huns actually have a unified management system. Even cooking is done collectively by women, and the Central Camp is heavily guarded. It seems they’ve realized what’s most important,” Xuu You said solemnly.

”What’s your plan?” Xun Shen asked Xuu You.

”I need some supporting timber. I’m planning to hollow it out— it will take three days, or two if we work day and night. If we only work during safe periods, it will take three days,” Xuu You replied.

”Alright, on that day, Ziyuan, you and I will forcefully stop the heavy snow, and we’ll leave the rest to Zheng Nan. We should always stay near the torches; I’m truly worried that one day someone might carelessly slip up,” Xun Shen said with some helplessness, as their current camp was incredibly dangerous.

”Three days, just three more days to determine victory or defeat,” Xuu You said seriously to the two.

”Alright, we’ll rely on you for this,” Sheni Pei said, equally serious, looking at Xuu You. Then Xun Shen extended his hand as well, ”We are confident in victory, but completely annihilating them is not easy. Ziyuan, focus on your tasks these three days, and Zheng Nan and I will consider how to completely eliminate the Northern Huns.”

Sheni Pei nodded in agreement, recognizing the importance of Xuu You’s task to their impending outcome.

After the three finished their discussion, they went to report to Yuan Tan, and then Xuu You continued to research how to wipe out the Northern Huns’ grain storage in one go. It’s important to note that the Northern Huns’ current supplies mainly consist of cattle and sheep carcasses buried in the snow, alongside a large amount of stored grain.

For Xuu You, taking out the granary’s grain isn’t the problem; it’s the overwhelming number of cattle and sheep buried in the snow that poses the biggest issue.

While burning those grains would soon lead to the Northern Huns running out of food, the hundred thousand sheep buried in the snow could sustain them for more than a month, which Sheni Pei and the others simply don’t have the time to waste.

[It’s all a gamble now, those cattle and sheep buried in the snow can’t possibly be moved or burned within a short period, so we’ll have to rely on guiding them.] Xuu You thought in silence, pressing his temple.

[Hun language? Surely someone in the camp can speak it, but even still, it’s not enough to completely obliterate the Northern Huns. If they scatter and flee...]

Xuu You’s expression turned slightly grim — he knew full well that the difficulty of complete annihilation was immense, but achieving a 90% obliteration would essentially mean the downfall of the Northern Huns.

”Hey, what are you doing?” Xuu You asked while strolling through the camp, noticing a Chiliarch neglecting patrol duties, instead playing with sand!

”Greetings, Military Advisor Xuu!” Chen Jie reacted quickly, standing up to salute Xuu You upon noticing him.

”Let me think, ah yes, you’re Chen Shurong, recommended by Gong Ze a few years ago to Lord. I remember you were a Colonel before; how did you become a Chiliarch now?” Xuu You stared at Chen Jie for a while, trying to recall why he seemed familiar — this guy had been recommended to Yuan Shao by Guo Tu and had appeared in front of him a few times.

”I’m surprised the Military Advisor Xuu still remembers me,” Chen Jie said with a hint of astonishment.

”What are you doing?” Xuu You decided not to dwell on Chen Jie’s question and asked.

Chen Jie, feeling slightly embarrassed, scooped a ladle of sand out of a nearby bucket, and as he turned to scoop water from another bucket, he found the water had frozen. He shattered the ice surface, scooped a ladle of water, and poured it over the sand. The cold wind blew, and Chen Jie vigorously broke off a chunk of frozen sand.

Then, scratching his head, Chen Jie explained to Xuu You, ”Military Advisor Xuu, I hail from Yingchuan, where I’ve never seen anything like this, so I got caught up in curiosity. I ask for your pardon.”

Xuu You examined the frozen sand in Chen Jie’s hands, an unmistakable gleam in his eyes — he suddenly realized that the Northern Huns fleeing wasn’t an unsolvable situation.

”Shurong, do you speak Hun language?” Xuu You casually asked.

”Yes, I do,” Chen Jie replied, slightly stunned. ”I can actually speak Hun, Xianbei, Nanyue, Jie languages, and several local dialects.”

Xuu You hesitated, ”Why did you learn so many languages?”

”It’s not that I chose to learn them myself,” Chen Jie said, scratching his head again. ”It’s just that after staying somewhere for more than half a month, I can barely communicate with the locals, and if I stay for three months, I can speak fluently like them. I’ve learned so many languages because I’ve lived in those places.”

Xuu You looked on in amazement, ”Indeed, Celestial Fortune is on our side. Speak some Hun language for me; make it fluent, like you’re urging people to charge.”

Chen Jie didn’t give it much thought and repeated a phrase in Hun language, sounding so fluent that Xuu You even wondered whether Chen Jie was a Hun disguised as a Han.

”Very well, very well, hahaha!” Xuu You laughed heartily, ”Now, I’ll assign you a task. Take my hand token to find Lord, and he will assign you a mission. You will be remembered alongside your two clansmen in history.”

Chen Jie didn’t understand why Xuu You was so excited, but after receiving the hand token, he dutifully carried out his orders.

Yuan Tan glanced at Xuu You’s hand note and sized up Chen Jie, ”From now on, you will be a colonel in the army. Now, lead your three thousand troops along with Zhu Han, Jiangh Qi, and Wang Mo’s forces to construct a wall around the camp using the sand method you were playing with.”

”Yes!” Chen Jie said excitedly.

That night, twelve thousand Han soldiers built walls around thirty meters from the camp. The walls weren’t tall, merely over two meters in height, but they were two zhang thick, made by excavating soil layers overnight and then pouring water over it — but this level was far from meeting Xuu You’s requirements.

While the Han soldiers who personally constructed the outer walls weren’t too surprised by the enemy, the Northern Huns were greatly astonished to discover a new wall outside the Han’s camp the next day.

However, this was unimportant; construction continued into the next day, using local materials, and the efforts of twenty-one thousand men made the wall five zhang thick — seven zhang thick after reinforced with ice into a unified structure, matching or even surpassing the thickness of most Central Plains city walls!

However, the city walls in the Central Plains had already been nurtured by the townsmen, making them twice as strong as usual, so further reinforcement was still needed.

On the third and final day, the Han troops no longer bothered with subtlety, working tirelessly day and night, even delaying the initial plan by a day. The entire outer wall was forcibly thickened to ten zhang and raised to a height of one zhang.

This level of fortification, even without the nurturing by Cloud Qi, achieved through the unity of frozen sand, was enough to withstand Legion Attack damage.

Simply put, even modern large-caliber artillery would struggle against such architecture.

Only four entrances remained, each ten zhang wide, on the east, west, south, and north sides, while the rest was completely surrounded, making the Northern Huns particularly excited.

On the fourth day, during the daylight, they began to imitate the Han soldiers’ construction, but due to constant harassment by the Han, they’ve only built about three thousand meters of wall so far. The Northern Huns have manpower several times that of the Han, spending just a few days could establish a complete defensive line, but the Northern Huns no longer have those few days.

”All that’s missing is a bit of lamb odor,” Sheni Pei noted, looking at Chen Jie, who now looked indistinguishable from a Northern Hun. Soon, a lambskin with a strong smell was wrapped around Chen Jie.

Chen Jie looked disgusted at first but quickly acclimated, adopting a normal Hun demeanor, which satisfied Sheni Pei, who then nodded at Xun Shen and others.

”Set out,” Sheni Pei bowed deeply to Jii Ling, Gao Lan, Jiangh Qi, Wang Mo, and others, ”Victory or defeat rests with us. We must not retreat!”

”We obey the General’s Order!” Jii Ling and others responded solemnly.

Afterward, Sheni Pei led everyone toward the tunnels Xuu You had dug earlier. Through this period of tireless shifts, these dozen tunnels successfully reached their targets, each wide enough for three people — a considerable investment of heart power went into them.