Xi Fang's words were not exaggerated in the slightest. When the first ray of sunlight shone over Sha Ping City the next morning, these soldiers truly began to cry.
It was too hot! It was unbearably hot!
Although the heat waves had swept over them ever since they entered Luo Province, it was still bearable. It was not as hot as Sha Ping City, where there was no place to hide. Xuan Tianming told them: "Gu Shu and Dashun are separated by the South. It does not look like much, but the South is like a tropical belt that separates Dashun and the desert. Perhaps you feel that the heat in Lan Zhou and the South is still bearable, but once you enter the true desert, once you enter Gu Shu's territory, this heat is very difficult to endure. The reason I chose to attack Gu Shu's first city last night was to take advantage of the coolness of the night. Before you were attacked by the heat and before there were any problems with your vitals, we forcefully took down a city. This was a type of intimidation for Gu Shu. At the same time, it gave our army a transition period and helped you smoothly get through this difficult summer. "
When he said this, the people were not particularly convinced. Although they could not endure the heat, it was not to the point where there would be problems with their bodies. In fact, the problems would not be so severe that they would not be able to fight on the battlefield.
However, this sort of thinking did not last for long. At noon that day, a large number of soldiers began to have diarrhea and heat stroke. Some even began to faint. This included Xuan Tianming himself. If he had not secretly used his internal energy to disperse the heat, perhaps he would not have been able to endure the heat waves in the desert.
Gu Shu was the first country at the edge of the desert. Because it was not too deep into the desert, its territory was much larger than the smaller countries in the desert. There were a total of twelve cities. The capital was slightly to the south of the center, after the fourth city. Sha Ping City was the closest to Dashun. Although it was not in the heart of the desert, both the inside and outside of the city were surrounded by yellow soil. However, most of the ground in the city was paved with bricks. These bricks had clearly been dug out from Dashun to prevent the people from being unable to go out when the wind blew.
Every city and country in the desert was built around a river. It could be said that the people of the desert were very sensitive and accurate when it came to finding water. They relied on these water sources to survive. In order to protect these water sources, almost all of the cities and countries had moats around their cities. Furthermore, the moats were heavily guarded. It could be said that water sources were the foundation of the people of the desert country. They could not be neglected.
There was also a river in Sha Ping City. It was the mother river of Sha Ping City's people. In reality, the people of Sha Ping City did not have much of an aversion to Dashun occupying them. They lived close to Dashun. In the past, when Gu Shu had submitted to Dashun, trade between the two countries had been very frequent. There would always be merchants from Dashun coming to Sha Ping City to buy their specialties, such as the desert's unique fruits, spices, and the delicious jerky that they were very good at making. Gu Shu's merchants would also travel to Lan Zhou and bring back Dashun's clothing, vegetables, grains, and other things. It could be said that most of the food that the people of Sha Ping City ate was traded from Dashun. Although their understanding of Dashun was limited to Lan Zhou and Luotian Prefecture, they had already begun to yearn for Dashun's riches.
After Xuan Tianming's army entered the city, they did not destroy the buildings, nor did they harm the people. Aside from the chaos caused by Gu Shu's army fleeing, the city was basically the same as before. Xuan Tianming even personally brought soldiers with better health into the city to clean up. He also placed extra emphasis on protecting the river.
When the people of Sha Ping City saw that the soldiers of Dashun were so reasonable, they were no longer afraid. They all came out of their homes and brought along sweeping tools to help. At noon, they even invited the soldiers to eat at their homes. There were even some people who impatiently asked, "Will our Sha Ping be under Dashun's control in the future? Then when we travel between Gu Shu and Dashun, will we no longer need to be as harsh as before? "
This person happened to ask He Gan. He Gan was puzzled: "Was it very harsh before?"
The person nodded: "That's right! Although there was no war in the past and the two countries were allowed to trade, the taxes were too heavy. For every ten taels of silver earned, five taels would be deducted. Adding it all up, we could only earn money for hard work. Also, regardless of whether it was going from Dashun to Gu Shu or vice versa, we needed to first go to the government office to file a record. Then, the government office would issue a permit to pass through. Only then could we pass through the border. However, the trip would only take ten days at most. During this time, we would need to pass through the Southern Desert. We were all riding camels and would not be able to stay in Dashun for long. "
He Gan nodded, "So it's like that. Right now, Sha Ping City has just been taken, so it should be a while before trade can resume. However, Sha Ping City has already been placed under Dashun's control. Merchants should not need to go through so much trouble. Later, I will speak with our commander and ask what he thinks. I will do my best to make things more convenient for you. "
The person was very happy to hear this and repeatedly had He Gan drink some of the fruit wine that they had specially made. He said that it would help with the heat.
Over the past few days, the busiest were Song Kang and the other military doctors. There were too many people suffering from heatstroke. Song Kang hated that he could not sleep to treat them. However, this was not good. Under these conditions, he could not force himself. He needed to eat, drink, and sleep well. Only like this could he maintain his strength. After all, he had been from the North in the past and was used to the cold. It was quite difficult for him to deal with the heat. Fortunately, whether it was Xuan Tianming or the other soldiers, they all knew that at this time, no one would allow the military doctors to suffer. Once the doctors collapsed, there would be no one to treat the soldiers. Thus, the herbal tea was first given to Song Kang and the others to drink as much as they wanted. Xi Fang even invited a few local maidservants to help Kang Song and the others fan themselves. Wherever they went, at least there would be some wind.
Song Kang did not decline, and the others did not plan because everyone understood that they needed to maintain the military doctors' strength.
Fortunately, Feng Yu Heng had prepared quite a bit of medicine for the army, and it was all Western medicine. It was easy to carry and had a long shelf life. Most of the medicine was for dealing with heatstroke. There were quite a few medicine for diarrhea and heatstroke. Song Kang distributed the medicine according to their needs to ensure that not a single pill was wasted. At the same time, he suggested that Xuan Tianming invite a few local doctors to help. After all, they would be more proficient in treating this kind of illness. Also, the locals had some special medicine and some home-brewed fruit wine that were quite good for relieving the heat.
After a few days of work, the soldiers who had suffered from heatstroke finally felt better. Xuan Tianming also let out a sigh of relief. Only at this time did the soldiers secretly rejoice that their general truly had divine foresight. Taking advantage of the fact that they had just arrived and had entered the South at night, the temperature difference between the desert at night and the desert during the day was very large. They had fought a beautiful battle while the Divine Intent Army had used that terrifying thing called "lightning" to scare the crap out of Gu Shu's army. Only then did they have a chance to catch their breaths and adapt.
Who knew how many days it would take for Gu Shu's army to recover. When everyone thought of how they had scared the Gu Shu soldiers that night, they felt quite satisfied. They felt even more admiration for their commander and the future princess, who was still far away in Ji 'an Prefecture.
Just as the Dashun soldiers had expected, Gu Shu's army had truly been scared senseless and crazy from that night's battle. It was such that even after retreating to Jue Ping City for many days, they still had not recovered.
When Gu Shu's general, Bi Xiu, returned to Jue Ping City, he fell seriously ill. Even though he was ill, he could not sleep. This was because whenever he closed his eyes, he would habitually hear the rumbling in his ears, shaking him until he could not sleep.
As a general of Gu Shu, Bi Xiu had been greatly favored by the ruler of Gu Shu for many years. He was also on good terms with the Eighth Prince of Dashun. Even the series of plans to help the Eighth Prince ascend the throne to attack Dashun had been formulated by the two of them. He had then reported it to the ruler of Gu Shu and forcefully convinced the ruler until he agreed. It could be said that Bi Xiu and the Eighth Prince, Xuantian Mo, wore the same pair of pants. He deeply believed that as long as Xuantian Mo ascended to the throne of Dashun, his Bi family's position in Gu Shu would rise to another level. Moreover, with Xuantian Mo's support, the Bi family would be able to develop a certain amount of power in Dashun.
What a pity! They had miscalculated. They had only expected the situation to develop in a direction that was most beneficial to them, but they had not thought that the Ninth Prince that Dashun had sent over would be so powerful.
Bi Xiu cursed Xuantian Mo in his heart. He blamed Xuantian Mo for not telling him that Xuan Tianming had that kind of hidden weapon. Even now, he still could not understand what that thing was. Later on, some people said that it was heavenly lightning, and some people even said that Dashun's Ninth Prince was a deity that had descended, but he did not believe them! Were there really deities in this world? But why did the deities not come to his Gu Shu?
But if they were not deities, how could such a thing be explained? He had fought for half his life and had never seen such a terrifying thing. It could actually blow up Sha Ping City's walls. If it were not for the soldiers desperately trying to pull him down when he heard the first explosion, perhaps he would have already been buried under Sha Ping City, right?
Bi Xiu's illness improved on the fourth day. He immediately gathered all of the generals in the main tent to discuss the military situation. Everyone once again began to analyze that thing, but it was to no avail. However, someone had clearly seen the heavenly lightning's form and how to use it. After explaining it to Bi Xiu, they once again suggested: "How about we think of a way to steal it?"
But how would they steal it? Bi Xiu also felt that this method was not bad. At the very least, they would be able to steal one or two for them to study. Thus, he began to think of a plan to steal it.
But at the same time, someone else said: "Aside from the heavenly lightning, there was also the hidden weapon that they had been holding the entire time. At the time, I turned around to take a look. When the hidden weapon was shot out, it carried a fiery glow. It was very frightening. Not a single person that was hit survived and immediately died. It was truly too frightening."
Bi Xiu slapped the table, "Steal! We must steal it! " He thought for a bit then gave the order: "Go and contact Deputy General Jiang in the South. His Highness the eighth prince is not in the South. This matter must be left to him to think of a way!"
Bi Xiu's body recovered, but the anger in his heart could not be dispelled for a while. He had defended it for so many years, yet Sha Ping City had been broken through in a single night. They had even attacked to the point that they did not even have a chance to retaliate. Just thinking about it made him feel disgraced. This matter could not be hidden. The capital would quickly receive the news. He did not know how angry the monarch would be after hearing this news. His Bi family would finally have a humiliating mark on their military exploits.
That night, Bi Xiu rushed into the red tent to vent. All of his anger was used inside the red tent, killing two military prostitutes in one night …
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