On the sixteenth day of the seventh month, even the bones of the wood were bound.
One week. It only took the Great Xia army a week to reach the foot of the Somali Royal City.
At the same time, the Atlantic Fleet led by Alvaro had also completed the blockade of the sea around Bone City. The entire capital was surrounded by the Great Xia army.
During this period, the Somali territorial army had also thought of ambushing the Great Xia army midway to reduce the pressure on the royal city.
But it was useless.
Whether it was the sturdy fortifications, the ambush traps set by the terrain, or even the poisoning of the water, they were all easily broken by the famous general Di Qing.
The meticulous intelligence work of the Black Snake Guards allowed the Great Xia army to march in Somalia as if they were strolling in a courtyard. Wherever there were mountains, rivers, canyons, deserts, the types of troops in the Somali territories, the deployment of troops, and logistical supply points were all grasped by the Black Snake Guards.
This was destined to be an unequal war.
The resistance of the territorial army was destined to be futile, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
The Somali army was not good at scheming. Many times, Di Qing beat them at their own game and beat them into a sorry state. In terms of tactics, the Somali army did not have a general who could match up to Di Qing.
Even the ferocious general Lu Bu could defeat the enemy's generals.
This kind of advantage was overwhelming, and it was not something that could be won by relying on a strong will to resist.
Just yesterday, the Somali Imperial Guards carried out the last sniper battle outside the city, but it still ended in a fiasco. The Somali Coalition Army, who had lost all hope, could only obediently retreat to the capital, becoming a turtle in a jar.
The successive victories also ensured that the logistics of the Great Xia army was secure.
The officials of the dynasty were practically following behind the army, going from city to city. Even the villages and towns were not spared. The most important task was to gather provisions for the army at the frontlines.
At the same time, the rations purchased by Great Xia's caravan arrived at the Brave Port.
The two supply lines advanced side by side, forming a stable supply route from Friendship City to Bone Wood Capital, sending a huge amount of provisions to the frontlines.
This was also the reason why Di Qing did not directly lead his troops to attack Monarch City, but instead swept through the city. In the ancient battlefield, only cities had the ability to gather rations for the army.
An army that had been marching in the wilderness was like a tree without roots. It was impossible for them to last long.
…
What about outside the battlefield?
Just as Ouyang Shuo had expected, the countries around Somalia fell into a state of silence during the week of war.
Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti
Absolute silence.
No African Lord dared to stand up for Somalia. Everyone only looked at the powerful dynasty from the east with awe and respect as they conquered Somalia with their iron hooves and exterminated the "rebels."
The African continent fell into a deathly silence.
Even the sea breeze that blew across the continent carried an aura of death, without a trace of coldness.
The feudal lord of the Mediterranean Sea was also in a complicated mood, and he wasn't even in the mood to negotiate with the Great Xia envoys. Violet was also very "understanding" and agreed to temporarily suspend the negotiations.
Everything would be revealed once the battle in Somalia was over.
The Great Xia Dynasty had never been so revered. They did not even need to mobilize their army, yet they were able to easily massacre a few cities and destroy a country, causing all the feudal lords to be speechless.
Other than admiration, there was only reverence.
…
In the barracks outside the city.
Di Qing was dressed in military attire. He raised his head and looked at the majestic city not far away, his face expressionless. The mask on his face shrouded this army with a different kind of charm, causing the soldiers under his command to revere him.
The wooden bones were all tied, the last hard bone.
Attacking the royal city seemed to be a dead end. The rules of the national war determined that both sides would not rest until one side was dead. Other than the fire attack in the battle of Morocco, both sides would not rest until the last drop of blood.
Whether it was the defending side or the attacking side, this kind of mentality was a huge hidden danger. A single mistake could result in heavy losses, and the gains would not make up for the losses.
In the battle of Somalia, Di Qing tried to solve this problem.
Di Qing's battle strategy was not worth mentioning, and it was very simple, which was to "surround the city". The so-called siege was to surround the enemy without attacking. After a long time, the enemy would collapse without being attacked.
There was a saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War: "Surround the enemy with ten, attack with five, fight with two, divide the enemy, defend with fewer, and avoid with fewer."
This meant that to surround an enemy army, one would need ten times the number of the enemy army.
This saying was not absolute, and the Battle of Changping was an exception. Killing God Bai Qi made use of the geographical advantage and trapped the Zhao army with the same number of soldiers, creating a miracle in the history of war.
At the moment, there were 80,000 imperial guards, 50,000 territorial soldiers, and 100,000 combat professional players stationed in Bone Wood City. In terms of the number of troops, the allied army even exceeded the Great Xia army.
Although Great Xia claimed to have 200,000 soldiers, the actual number of soldiers stationed in Bone Wood City was only 150,000.
In addition to leaving 20,000 soldiers to guard Friendship City to prevent people with ulterior motives from raiding the base, Di Qing also arranged for 10,000 soldiers to supervise the transportation of rations along the way.
There would always be riots and attacks in newly occupied cities. If there was no army to hold the line, the transportation of rations could riot at any time.
In order to save manpower, the laborers who were responsible for the transportation of rations were recruited locally, and there was a lot of resentment.
Fortunately, the commoners didn't dare to have any ideas in front of the regular army. Di Qing had already made it clear that if there was a riot, they would be beheaded and even punished.
If one of the laborers from the same village participated in the riot, the entire village would be slaughtered.
The transportation of rations was the lifeline of the army, and Di Qing had to use iron-blooded methods to suppress the rioters.
After the army arrived at Bone Wood City, Di Qing arranged for 10,000 elite cavalrymen to bypass Bone Wood City and continue south to wipe out the remaining cities in Somalia.
In addition to the troops guarding the prisoners of war along the way, there were only 150,000 soldiers who could really participate in the battle in Bone Wood City, including the fourth formation of the Atlantic Fleet led by Alvaro.
As for the fifth formation, it shouldered the same heavy responsibility as the garrison of Friendship City. It was stationed in the waters near the Brave Port and guarded the core hub of Friendship City.
Friendship City was the link between the dynasty and Somalia, and it was far away from Bone Wood City. In addition, the surrounding situation was complicated, so Di Qing had to be cautious to prevent people from taking risks out of desperation.
If someone launched a sneak attack on Friendship City, it would definitely be bad news for the Great Xia expeditionary army.
…
Fortunately, Sun Tzu's Art of War didn't simply talk about the number of troops, but rather the comparison of military strength.
Taking into account factors such as generals, equipment, morale, and tactical literacy, it was roughly estimated that the "military strength" of the 150,000 Great Xia soldiers was about four times that of the Somali coalition forces.
Obviously, this was far from meeting the tactical conditions of "encircling the enemy from ten sides".
Fortunately, this was a national war, and the Great Xia army had a natural advantage, which was that the Somali coalition forces had nowhere to retreat. Even if they broke out of the encirclement, it would be a dead end.
Once the cavalry from the south swept through the southern part of Somalia, other than Bone Wood City, the rest of Somalia would fall into the hands of Great Xia.
Hence, Bone Wood City was truly an isolated city.
If the Somali coalition forces wanted to break out of the encirclement, where would they go? Everywhere was a dead end.
They could only fight.
Therefore, Di Qing wasn't anxious at all. He set up camp outside the city and surrounded Bone Wood City so tightly that not even a drop of water could trickle through. While there was still time, the army even began to build fortifications to prevent the Somali coalition forces from acting out of desperation.
Di Qing wasn't anxious because there was another decisive factor, and that was that this war wouldn't be interfered with by the outside world.
In the battle of Morocco, Great Xia was the party that started the war for no reason, and it was morally unjustifiable. Furthermore, the situation in the Mediterranean Sea was very sensitive, and they could face reinforcements from the Mediterranean Sea at any time. Therefore, they had to end the war quickly.
That was why Jia Xu's fire attack strategy was used to exchange for time.
However, it was different now. The King of Somalia had broken his promise and stood on the side of the Great Xia Dynasty. The other countries had no reason to interfere in this war, and this gave Di Qing space to play.
Therefore, the outcome of a war wasn't solely determined by one's ability. The Great Xia Dynasty already knew how to make appropriate use of diplomatic means to serve the war and reduce the pressure on the frontlines.
This was a sign of a great country.
…
After the siege, Di Qing was like an experienced hunter. He began to wait patiently, waiting for the city to fall into chaos, waiting for the chess pieces that Great Xia had buried in the city to play their role, and waiting for the variables that he was looking forward to to appear on the battlefield.
During this period, Di Qing didn't do nothing.
Although the initial sweep was smooth sailing, it also exposed many problems with the Somali army. In order to avoid chaos, other than the Moroccan prisoners of war, the members of the army were mixed in with other field soldiers.
In other words, the entire army was a "miscellaneous army" with a mix of different ethnic groups. It was somewhat similar to the former Qin army during the battle of Yi Shui. The core backbone was all middle-level generals that were transferred from other field armies.
Such an army naturally had a process of integration and adaptation.
Although in order to allow the prisoners of war to smoothly integrate into the new environment, Gaia would vaguely treat the prisoners of war to reduce the obstacles of integration as much as possible, but objectively speaking, there were still difficulties.
In the previous few battles, if not for the imperial guards holding the line, it was very likely that there would be chaos.
In addition, Moroccan's weapons, training system, and military discipline were completely different from the Great Xia Dynasty. The newly organized prisoners of war also needed a process of adaptation.
Fortunately, Gaia had eliminated the language barrier in the army, or there would be no way to integrate.
Taking advantage of the siege, Di Qing constantly paid attention to the movements in the city while speeding up the reorganization of the army. He tried his best to eliminate the hidden dangers. It could be considered as "sharpening a spear at the last minute".
…
One day, two days, one week …
Ten days passed in a flash. The entire battlefield was dead silent as both sides faced each other in silence. This made the soldiers and civilians in the city anxious. The food reserves were decreasing, and it was obvious that they would not be able to last much longer.
As mentioned previously, the population of every Royal City was extremely shocking. If there were no supplies from the outside world, the Royal City would suffer from a famine in at most half a month.
Three days ago, the Wooden Bones Camp had begun to gather supplies. Even so, they would not be able to last more than ten days to half a month. Hunger began to befall the city, and a commotion gradually arose.
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