Just as Zhu Di and Sheng Yong were fighting a decisive battle in Jiangbei and heading south, Lan Qiao and others who were trapped in Crescent Moon Bay were experiencing perhaps the most difficult moment in their lives.

Wanshi Lake was not originally a lake. Due to a landslide in the early years of Hongwu, rocks fell and blocked the river channel, making it difficult for the river water to flow out. It had to diffuse in all directions. Over time, this extremely open Wanshi Lake was formed in the mountains.

The so-called "reefs" in the lake were actually scattered stone pillars or pinnacles before Wanshi Lake was formed. They became the "reefs" they are now after most of them were submerged by the lake water.

It is precisely because of the existence of these stone pillars and stone peaks that this large lake is called Wanshi Lake.

The reason why Lanqiao chose Xianyue Bay as a place for the army to resist was largely due to the wonderful topography of Wanshi Lake.

With their backs against the rocky lake, they are not afraid of enemies attacking from the water, but they can also enjoy the convenience of water and abundant food provided by Wanshi Lake. They are like a small isolated world, self-sufficient and not afraid of invasion by foreign enemies.

However, Xu Huizu, who was extremely intelligent, quickly saw through their "formation vision". After consulting the historical data on the formation of Wanshi Lake, he resorted to the tactic of pulling out the firewood from under the cauldron. On the one hand, he continued to send people to attack from the front of Xianyue Gorge to bluff.

To distract the attention of one side of Lanqiao, on the other hand, they secretly sent people to the ancient river blocked by rocks to remove the rocks and reopen the river.

He dispatched an "engineering team" of tens of thousands of people to work day and night. In less than five days, the blocked ancient river channel was dredged. The lake water was vented and began to be discharged crazily outward. Through the river channel, it converged to other areas with higher terrain.

In low rivers and lakes.

As a result, Lanqiao's expeditionary surprise team lost its biggest support and barrier. Due to the drop in lake water level, more and more lake beaches began to turn into land along the entire lake coastline. Once the enemy emerged from these new

If they launch an attack on the incoming land, the entire back side of Xianyue Mountain City will be exposed to the enemy's front without defense.

It is still possible to repair the fortifications, but as the lake water recedes, the crisis regarding drinking water has become an even more headache for Lanqiao.

When the water level of Wanshi Lake dropped, it meant that the distance between Xianyue Mountain City and the lake was also widened. The two shallow channels they dug in the camp could no longer get water, and they had to go further back to get food such as fish and shrimp.

, and you need to always be careful of enemy raids.

The only thing they can do now is to harvest the fish as quickly as possible, compete with the leakage of the lake water, and try to get as much as possible while they can still get food.

When Xu Huizu's army moves to the new land exposed by the falling lake water and launches an attack from the south, they will completely cut off their food source.

How long they can sustain after this depends entirely on how strong the new fortifications in the south are and how many days they can last with the food they have hoarded.

Everyone in Crescent Moon Bay was busy. On the one hand, they were rushing to repair the wall, trenches, archery towers and other defensive fortifications on the south side. On the other hand, they were casting a large number of nets to catch fish and shrimps from the shrinking Wanshi Lake.

Hua Yuxi lit a large fire at the foot of the mountain, and together with hundreds of soldiers, smoked the caught fish and shrimps into dried fish to prevent them from spoiling during storage.

In the first few days after they discovered Xu Huizu Lagoon, almost everyone, including Lan Qiao, Feng Yeling and other leaders, were so busy that they only knew that a lot of work had not been done, and they did not know that the stars and the moon were turning.

Among them, the busiest person was Yun He, the commander-in-chief in charge of the construction of the fortifications. When he saw that the village wall and the six arrow towers were beginning to take shape, he collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, and his vision went black. Fortunately, Hua Yuxi helped him with the construction.

After a few injections, using Qi acupuncture to activate his Qi and blood, he gradually recovered.

More important than food is water. At first, they made a large number of wooden barrels and went to the lake to bring clean water back as a reserve for the soldiers. Later, Xiaoling and Xiaobai showed their instincts as "Tongtian Raccoons"

, they found a hidden underground spring at the foot of Xuanshan Mountain and Langshan Mountain. With a little digging, they dug out two wells, which solved the drinking water problem for 30,000 soldiers.

Four days later, new bad news emerged.

In the area of ​​Xianyue Bay and Wanshi Lake, cloudless weather suddenly appeared continuously. After the water fell, the lake beach originally had a thick layer of silt. After being exposed to such a strong sun, it was quickly dehydrated and cracked.

, Xu Huizu’s army then took the opportunity to start clearing the mud.

By the seventh day after the lake water began to fall, the lake shoreline had receded nearly five hundred steps compared to when Lan Qiao and others first arrived at Crescent Moon Bay.

Xu Huizu was still not in a hurry. He sent troops to the lake beach where the mud had been cleared to cut off the connection between Wanshi Lake and the Xianyue Bay camp. He continued to wait until the lake water receded for another two days before finally moving the main force of the army to the south.

Prepare to attack.

In such an open area, he lined up more than a thousand chariots that could be used to block arrows and resist cavalry attacks. They were divided into two rows, front and rear, five feet apart. They formed a half-moon-shaped arch around Crescent Moon Bay, forming a "chariot formation."

.His soldiers can move calmly behind the vehicle formation and fetch water and fish from Wanshi Lake, while Lan Qiao and others can only stare.

By this time, the soldiers of the surprise attack team who were trapped in Crescent Moon Bay had completely cut off their food source. The smoked fish collected and prepared in the past few days would become their only remaining food.

Even if Xu Huizu still couldn't break the mountain city, they would still starve to death after all the food was eaten.

"How many days will we have enough dried fish to last?" Lan Qiao asked Hua Yuxi.

"Five days." Hua Yuxi said helplessly, "If you save on food, it will barely last for seven days."

Lan Qiao sighed: "After seven days, we will be hungry for another three days. It seems that we will not survive ten days."

"Don't think so much now." Hua Yuxi looked at the military formation in the distance, "Xu Huizu will never give up the attack. What we have to do now is not to think about frugality, but how to survive these five days.

The food is finished.”

"You're right." Lan Qiao said with a bitter smile, "Xu Huizu's troops are five times larger than mine. With an all-out attack on such an open front, it's really a miracle that we can hold on for five days."

Hua Yuxi said in a deep voice: "So we must think of another way to delay Xu Huizu's attack as much as possible. We can wait for one more day. After all, no one knows what will happen tomorrow."

She paused, then smiled and said, "The dried smoked fish I made is very delicious. It would be too unfair to die in battle before eating it."

Lan Qiao looked at her touching smile in the midst of a desperate situation, and felt warm in his heart. At the same time, he secretly made up his mind to fight to the end and defend her smile to the death.

"Besides these fortifications, what else can we do?" He didn't want to put too much pressure on Hua Yuxi, so he tried to keep his tone as gentle and gentle as possible.

Ling Yufei seemed even more anxious: "Think of a way quickly. Xu Huizu has made so many preparations for this attack. Once the offensive is launched, it will be thundering day and night until we completely collapse. Then we will think of other ways."

It’s too late.”

Lan Qiao glared at Ling Yufei, as if he was dissatisfied with the way he spoke to Hua Yuxi in such a tone. However, in a desperate situation, everyone would inevitably be upset, and Ling Yufei's mood was not incomprehensible.
Chapter completed!