"Sir Ren, they have already withdrawn and are on their way back."
Ren Baqian heard the voice from the walkie-talkie and looked at the two barracks. There weren't any Great Xia soldiers chasing after them. After all, the strength of the aboriginals could be better utilized in such a dark night.
Furthermore, the two barracks had just barely calmed down. He reckoned that treating the wounded, extinguishing the fire, and gathering the disorderly soldiers would take them quite some time.
"The matter is settled. Withdraw." Ren Baqian asked his men to carry the mortars, machine guns, and ammunition boxes. Everyone then withdrew unhurriedly. When they arrived at the bottom of the city, they saw that the city gate was wide open, and everyone filed into the city.
Not long after everyone returned to the city commander's residence, the casualties were also reported.
There weren't many casualties, only a few hundred. Among them, the winged cavalry's losses were negligible. On the other hand, the Protectorate of the Center lost 300 to 400 soldiers. However, half of them returned with serious injuries, and only about 200 died in battle.
The aboriginals' losses were negligible compared to Great Xia's.
The Great Xia army lost at least 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers, and a large amount of rations were burned.
However, Ren Baqian's attention was attracted by something that the winged cavalry warriors who returned described.
At the end of the night attack, due to the aboriginals killing in the barracks, the barely gathered troops encountered a batch of bombs and were unable to counterattack. As a result, the eastern barracks brought out a few cannons.
The winged cavalry warriors didn't take these things seriously at first, but after the other party ignited the cannons, countless iron nails shot out. A few of them were careless and died on the spot.
There were more injured winged cavalry warriors, at least 20 of them.
Ren Baqian held the iron nails in his hand and sized them up. They were about half a foot long and as thick as a pinky. They were made of pig iron and had a hexagonal base that was slightly larger than the diameter.
"What's the range of this thing?" Ren Baqian asked.
"About 200 steps. It can kill people at 100 steps, "a winged cavalry captain replied.
"In other words, those who were killed by this thing were fools who didn't know how to dodge when someone pointed this thing at them from 100 steps away, right?" Ren Baqian grumpily asked.
The winged cavalry warrior scratched his head and said, "The main thing is that I didn't expect that even though this thing can't hit far, it can hit a group of people at close range. Its strength isn't weak either." He also felt that his subordinates had died unjustly.
"There are many unexpected things. If I point this thing at you, will you dodge?" Ren Baqian took out a pistol from his waist and pointed it at the winged cavalry warrior's head.
"Of course we have to hide!" the lieutenant hurriedly said. Previously, this Principal Ren had poisoned tens of thousands of people to death. Today, he took out a weapon that could hit the Great Xia soldiers from a few kilometers away. Even though they weren't clear about the specifics, they knew that a bunch of steel balls would sweep out after the explosion and turn people into sieves. Many winged cavalry warriors saw this scene from afar.
At present, Ren Baqian had become a target in the hearts of the winged cavalry. Even though he looked thin and weak, the weapons in his hands were lethal.
Now, as long as it was something he took out, no one dared to underestimate it.
"No matter what, tonight's night attack was a complete victory, and Sir Ren deserves the most credit." Li Qianqiu laughed.
Even though they lost 300 to 400 people, it was more than enough to satisfy Great Xia's losses.
Ren Baqian waved his hand and looked as if fame and fortune were fleeting clouds to him.
"Even though we don't know how much rations the other party has lost, they must have lost some. During the night attack, the winged cavalry and the Central Army also saw that the place where they stored their rations was on fire."
This was something that Ren Baqian had specially asked people to pay attention to.
"If the other party's rations are greatly damaged, they will definitely ask the rear to transport more rations. In a while, send away some of the walkie-talkies, a repeater station, and a radio station. I suggest that we send some of the winged cavalry warriors with the walkie-talkies, a repeater station, and a radio station out to scout and search separately. If we encounter the fast horses of the Great Xia army, we will immediately intercept and kill them. If we encounter the rations team, we will join forces and take them down if we can.
If we can't, we will contact the city through the radio station and send people to provide support. "
The empress and Li Qianqiu nodded slightly. Intercepting the other party's rations was a must, and there was nothing wrong with Ren Baqian's suggestion.
"As for the Great Xia soldiers here, they might have two choices.
The first is to withdraw their forces to defend and focus on besieging them. After all, this night attack should have hurt them a lot.
However, I feel that the other possibility is that they will do something desperate.
If the other party's rations are too damaged and the rations team takes a long time to arrive, they may launch a large-scale attack and consume their own forces to exchange for a chess piece with us. "
"What's an exchange?" Li Qianqiu immediately asked.
"If the other party has a severe shortage of rations, for example, they only have enough rations for 100,000 people for two days, and the rations team takes seven days to arrive, what should we do? Even if we cut everyone's rations by half, it won't be enough. When they are so hungry that they can't walk anymore, we will launch a large-scale attack. They won't even have a chance to retaliate.
Since that's the case, we might as well consume more than half of their rations. It would be best if they can break into the city, but even if they can't, they can still consume our forces and die a worthy death. Even if their rations are insufficient, the remaining soldiers will be able to last until the rations team arrives. "
"If the other party's rations are too damaged, they may do this."
"Exchanging their lives for ours is an exchange of chess pieces," Ren Baqian concluded.
Li Qianqiu frowned and thought for a long time before slowly nodding his head. "It's not impossible."
If he were to put himself in the position of the other party's general, he would probably make the same choice if he had no other choice.
Everyone discussed for a while. Seeing that it was already late at night, everyone went back to rest.
Generally, both sides of a war had spies who could obtain a lot of useful information. However, in the war between Dayao and Great Xia, there were almost no spies in the other party's army. Therefore, all the information could only be based on speculation.
…
Everyone in Dayao went back to rest, but the Great Xia barracks were brightly lit.
They treated the wounded, put out the fires, counted the corpses, and calculated the losses until dawn.
Wu Shenghou sat in the big tent with an ashen face, motionless like a stone statue.
The sound of hurried footsteps made him lift his eyelids. He looked at the scholar who hurried in and asked in a deep voice, "How is it?"
"The main barracks suffered 11,000 casualties, the east barracks suffered 23,000 casualties, and there are 392 soldiers left out of 876 in the wu barracks.
As for rations, the east barracks only had two days' worth of rations for 60,000 soldiers and lost 75%. The main barracks had ten days' worth of rations for 170,000 soldiers and lost 60%. The west barracks didn't suffer any losses. "
"How long can the remaining rations last?" Wu Shenghou asked.
"The west barracks still have two days' worth of rations for 60,000 soldiers. Together with the remaining rations in the east barracks, it is enough for 140,000 soldiers to last a day. The remaining rations in the main barracks are enough for the army to last a little more than four days. That is to say, it is enough for five days. If the daily rations are halved, it can last for ten days. However, this way, the soldiers won't be able to attack. "
"How long until the rations arrive?" Wu Shenghou asked.
"Ten more days," the scholar replied softly. "However, General Wenyuan and General Zhao Sheng should be able to transfer some over. It is more convenient for them to resupply at the border."
"Inform them!" Wu Shenghou said in a deep voice.
"Inform the soldiers to eat their fill. We will attack the city in four hours!"
"Sir?" The scholar was shocked. The soldiers didn't rest for the whole night. Why were they so anxious to attack the city today?
"We can't delay any longer!" Wu Shenghou said with an ugly expression. "Do you know about the attack that the wu barracks encountered yesterday?"
The scholar nodded his head.
"Coupled with the thing that attacked the rations last night and the explosive thing that they threw into the crowd, we don't know if the other party still has any tricks up their sleeves. We can't delay any longer. We have to take down Liao City in one go or force them to use all their trump cards, no matter how great the casualties are. "
Wu Shenghou said resolutely. To a general, as long as they revealed their trump cards, they would always be able to find a way to deal with them. Only the unknown was the most terrifying. This was because it was very likely that they would give you a head-on blow when you thought you were about to win.
"I didn't expect those barbarians to have such things in their hands." The scholar smiled bitterly.
"I didn't expect that either." Wu Shenghou sighed softly. He felt that he was the barbarian now.
"These things can't be from Dayao. Someone must have given them to them. Capture that person, or kill him. "
"General, do you know who it is?" the scholar asked. In fact, he had some guesses in his heart.
"It should be that Poison Warrior. Yesterday, Chen Shi and Wu Ying went out together and saw someone controlling a weapon from afar. He should be the one in Liao City now. Moreover, it's better to kill the wrong person than to let him go, "Wu Shenghou said.
Ren Baqian was just guessing the situation of the Great Xia army, so there were naturally many discrepancies.
However, even though the reasons were different, Wu Shenghou's decision was similar to what Ren Baqian had guessed.
…
In the morning, Ren Baqian sat in the hall and ate breakfast with the empress. There were rolls, noodle soup, and a big basin of meat the size of a washtub.
He watched as the basin of meat disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Your Majesty, are you full?" Ren Baqian asked softly when the basin was empty.
The empress tilted her head, thought for a while, and replied, "I'm half full, but I want to take the lead in reducing my appetite. This way, the rations in the city can last for a few more days."
Ren Baqian was speechless.
The two of them chatted for a while before someone came to report that Great Xia was attacking the city.
The two of them looked at each other. Ren Baqian pointed to himself and said, "A wise man is always right!"
The empress raised her head and thought for a while. There didn't seem to be anything wrong, but she still felt that something was wrong.
In the afternoon, Ren Baqian confirmed his previous conjecture.
The intensity of the enemy's attack was indeed much higher than before. There were Great Xia soldiers climbing up the city walls at almost every moment, and there were soldiers howling miserably as they fell from the top of the city walls.
Another day passed, and the intensity of Great Xia's attack was still increasing. More than 100,000 soldiers took turns to attack, and the three sides of the city walls were in a constant battle from morning to night.
Ren Baqian walked to the small hall of the city commander's residence and saw Li Qianqiu, who was issuing orders inside. He waited for Li Qianqiu to finish talking to someone before going forward to ask. "Can you still hold on?"
"Another 100,000 of them will be fine," Li Qianqiu replied indifferently.
Ren Baqian nodded and said, "If the pressure is too great, use the remaining explosives."
"Didn't you use them the night before yesterday?" Li Qianqiu was puzzled.
"I still have one box!" Ren Baqian replied. The 300 explosive tubes were packed into two boxes. He took out half of them when he blew up the catapult that day and used them during the night attack. Now, there was only one box left.
"Men, follow me to search the houses!" When Li Qianqiu heard this, he immediately stood up from behind the table and strode out, calling out to the others as he walked.
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