In the city, Ma Chao and Rao followed Ma Xiu to the vicinity of the West City Gate. Several officers and soldiers guarding under the city wall immediately stepped forward to pay their respects.

Ma Chao asked: "What's the situation?"

An officer immediately clasped his fists and said, "Since not long ago, the sound of excavation came from underground. It was obvious that the enemy was digging tunnels."

It turned out that in order to prevent his opponent from attacking by digging tunnels, Ma Chao buried a large number of water tanks along the city wall to monitor the movements and movements underground.

Not long ago, the officers and soldiers who were in charge of monitoring here reported that they heard the excavation sound from the underground.

Ma Chao took off his helmet and handed it to Ma Xiu beside him. He walked to an upside down water tank at the foot of the wall, bent down, and put his ear on the water tank.

Soon, the sound of excavation came from the underground. Although it was not very clear, it was obvious that it was the sound of excavation. It was obvious that someone was digging tunnels underground at this moment.

Ma Chao stood up, took the helmet from Ma Xiu's hand and put it on, and said, "Listen to this sound, it's only a few dozen steps away from penetrating the city wall."

He turned his head and said to Ma Xiu: "Calling the reserve team immediately, and giving other instructions to prepare a shovel and hoe, and preparing to dig."

Ma Xiu clasped his fists and ran down.

Rao asked with some concern: "General, the enemy is digging tunnels, what should I do?"

Ma Chao patted Rao's shoulder with a smile, with a look of contempt in his eyes and said, "This is just a trick. Don't worry, we have some ways to deal with this."

Seeing that Ma Chao was so confident, Rao felt much more worried.

At this time, a messenger rushed over and presented a small bamboo tube and said, "General, Your Majesty's flying pigeon passes the letter."

Ma Chao's heart moved, and he reached out to take the bamboo tube, crushed the mud seal, poured out a roll of silk, and opened it to look. Rao, who was standing beside him, looked at Ma Chao with a look of hope on his face.

Ma Chao showed joy on his face and smiled at Rao, "Duke, you can rest assured. His Majesty led a large army to capture Kavala not long ago and has appeared on the flank of our Byzantine. The situation has begun to change."

Lao immediately showed joy and shouted, "Really?"

Ma Chao handed the letter in his hand to Rao and smiled and said, "How dare I fake the imperial edict? If you don't believe it, you can take a look."

Rao quickly took the letter and read it quickly. His face suddenly showed an expression of ecstasy and shouted excitedly: "That's great! That's great! If your descendant is over, we will finally end it!"

Ma Chao took the letter from Rao and smiled and said, "Although Your Majesty is here, this battle will not be too easy! The Duke is going back and is ready to tell everyone the good news!"

Rao nodded heavily, bowed to Ma Chao, and ran down.

Ma Chao looked at Rao's back and walked away, but his face, which was originally smiling, became solemn.

What he said just now was mainly to appease Rao and the entire Asian Minor runner-up.

He did not say some of the situations, nor did Liu Xian's Feige pass on the letter, that is, Liu Xian brought only 130,000 troops, and only more than 20,000 Han troops, such troops were not enough to reverse the current situation.

It’s not easy to turn defeat into victory in this battle!

Ma Chao didn't sleep all night and kept paying attention to the progress of the enemy's authenticity.

When the night passed, the sun rose, the excavation sound from under the water tank became very clear. According to Ma Chao's estimate, this tunnel should have reached the city wall.

He stood up and said to Ma Xiu: "The tunnel has reached the city wall, it is this location. I immediately dig down to cut off their tunnel."

Ma Xiu clasped his fists and immediately asked the officers and soldiers who were on standby to dig a vertical hole from this place.

The officers and soldiers immediately became busy, and the scene was dusty, and the vertical holes were formed at a speed visible to the naked eye and extended quickly.

This tactic of using authenticity to deal with authenticity is actually a very common tactic that has been passed down from a long time in the Central Plains.

After realizing that the attacking party uses tunnel tactics, the defense is convenient and targeted to dig tunnels from the city, with the purpose of actively connecting the tunnels dug by the opponent.

Once the tunnel of the attacking party is connected, the defense will be convenient to use smoke and water to counterattack the attacking party. In this case, the officers and soldiers in the attacking party who are in the tunnel will have almost no chance of escaping and will die tragically underground.

Once the tunnel excavated by the attacking party is noticed by the defense party, it is actually difficult to succeed. Not only does it take labor and time, it will eventually cost a heavy price. Therefore, in the Central Plains of the Han Dynasty, the tactics of digging tunnels rarely appear.

It's a long way to go, and get back to the point.

The Han army officers and soldiers dug a vertical hole seven or eight meters deep in a very short time, but what Ma Chao expected was that the vertical hole did not connect to the other party's tunnel. What's going on?

Ma Chao rushed to the edge of the water tank, bent down, listened with his ears, and couldn't help but frown.

Seeing this, Maxiu and Rao couldn't help but ask, "Brother (General), how about it?"

Ma Chao stood up and frowned and said, "The sound of digging has actually disappeared..."

Maxiu and Rao looked at each other, both surprised. Rao couldn't help but say, "Don't they continue to dig? What's the reason? It's clear that they haven't crossed the city wall yet!"

At this time, at the entrance of the tunnel outside the city, in the small woods, the Slavic warriors were carrying baskets of gunpowder into the tunnel.

It turned out that the Slavs did not intend to use traditional tunnel tactics to drill into the city to launch a raid, but planned to pile up a large amount of gunpowder under the city wall and then use them to blow the city wall open in one fell swoop!

This idea can be said to be very bold, but it is also very feasible!

Although the Byzantine walls are strong and can withstand the frontal bombardment of shells, if the opponent planted a large amount of gunpowder to explode under the foot of the wall, such a city wall would also be unable to withstand it, and collapse would be inevitable!

The most critical point of Ma Chao was able to block the fierce attack of more than 400,000 barbarian troops with his disadvantages was that he relied on the almost indestructible city walls of Byzantium.

But once this biggest reliance collapses, this offensive and defensive battle will immediately come to a turning point!

Prous and others were waiting anxiously in the tent, and time slowly passed by as they waited.

The sound of rapid footsteps suddenly came from the door, and the leaders immediately looked at the door. A messenger rushed in excitedly and reported: "Chief, all the gunpowder has been placed in place, and the lead wires to lead the fire are now laying!"

Everyone was very excited, and Prous yelled: "The whole army attacks and prepares for attack!"

Dongdongdongdongdongdongdongdong...! The unique war drums of the Slavs sounded loudly. Nearly 200,000 Slavic troops came out in full swing and rushed to the city wall to form a huge formation!
Chapter completed!