The city is filled with wind and sand, and earth buildings are common. It is surrounded by city walls made of rammed earth. There are some soldiers wearing tattered armor guarding the city walls. The barrenness here will make people feel sad just seeing it.
The city lord was an old man in his sixties, about seventy years old. He was leaning on a wooden crutch and looked very old.
"General Meng Yi, please come in quickly." The city lord said in a weak voice, leaning on his cane, as if the wind would blow the city lord into the sky.
"Well, Lord Chechi, how are you doing these days?" Meng Yi's eyes were full of great love for the Lord Chechi.
"The old man is in good health, but he has been a little weak recently, which may be due to old age. From now on, the position of city lord of Tucheng will probably be handed over to young men." Che Chi said with a slight cough.
"Master Chechi, what you said is too serious. I see that you are still very strong. You don't feel any fatigue." Meng Yi turned the horse's head and said to the soldiers behind him: "Everyone, hurry into the city.
Let’s rest in the city for a few days. In a few days, the Barbarians will invade, so we must take precautions.”
"Yes, General." All the soldiers agreed in unison.
After an army of ten thousand people entered the city lord, they were placed in a simple earthen house.
"There are so many spider webs. This room probably hasn't been cleaned for a while." A soldier sighed slightly, grabbed the spider webs with his hand, and then threw them away.
Li Ling entered the room and looked around. There was an earth bed in front of him, and some very simple bamboo mats were piled on the earth bed.
But most soldiers can endure hardships and stand hard work. No matter how hard the bamboo mats and earth beds are, it doesn't matter as long as they can sleep well.
As night fell, the soldiers lying on the mat began to talk quietly. The one sleeping next to Li Ling was a slightly older veteran. He turned to Li Ling and said: "Young man, are you
New here. I've never seen you before."
"Well, I am." Li Ling nodded.
"Young man, it's your first time on the battlefield. You may feel a little uncomfortable. But just take your time and you'll be fine." The veteran said earnestly.
"Yes, I understand." Li Ling said with a slight smile.
"Hey, I don't remember how many recruits you have lying next to me. The previous ones were all killed by the Manshan tribe." The veteran shook his head and sighed.
"On the battlefield, casualties are inevitable." Li Ling sighed slightly.
"Yes, seeing all the young and strong young men dying on the battlefield. As a veteran, I feel a little sorry. If I were to die, it should be me, an old man, who died." When the veteran spoke, there was a look in his eyes.
Then tears came out, as if he felt very guilty.
"Everyone dies according to destiny." Li Ling said with a slight smile.
"Hey... maybe it's because of my stubbornness that I have killed so many people. Young man, please don't die." The veteran patted Li Ling on the shoulder and comforted him.
"Don't worry, my life is also very tough." Li Ling said with a slight smile.
Early the next morning, before the sun came out, everyone was called up and started practicing on the field!
Li Ling was also among the training team. At noon, everyone went to the cafeteria area sweating like rain to make a bowl of porridge. In this barren city, it was really impossible to provide some good food and grass for everyone.
"It's good if you drink some. Don't be picky." Some soldiers comforted themselves.
In fact, even General Meng Yi ate the same as everyone else, so everyone had no complaints.
After finishing the porridge, it was time to build the defenses in the afternoon. In front of Tucheng, a fence was pulled up to block the invasion of the barbarian army.
"The Manshan tribe usually invades Tucheng in the middle of the year, and many people will die at that time." The soldiers seemed to have little fighting spirit. The previous defeats made the soldiers trust God for their lives.
"Then what can we do? Fortunately, the war is not long, only five months. Five months have passed. As long as we survive, there is hope." Another soldier said.
"Yeah, look, it's going to rain."
The sky is covered with dark clouds, gradually moving towards Tucheng. There is a dense forest in front of Tucheng. In fact, no one can understand why there is a dense forest in front of Tucheng.
After the dark clouds came over, it rained heavily. Although the rain was heavy, the soldiers still built their own fence in the rain.
"The general has an order that the fence will not be completed until it is finished." The generals announced General Meng Yi's words.
"Yes..." the soldiers all agreed in unison.
Li Ling was also among them, being soaked by the heavy rain, but he had nothing to complain about. Li Ling didn't care about the pain at all.
At nightfall, the rain stopped, the fence was finished, and everyone was soaked to the skin. They took off their coats and started wringing their hands!
"I wonder how the rice porridge is cooking? I feel very hungry." The soldiers were all hungry. Although the rice porridge was unpalatable, it could fill their stomachs a little.
There's a way to feel hungry, but that doesn't mean you don't have to eat.
After dinner, the soldiers could not rest yet. They had to continue to build the arrow tower and place some personnel on top of the arrow tower to guard them. Once the Barbarians attacked, they would blow the horn to notify everyone.
Tonight, Li Ling is on duty.
Li Ling stood on the arrow tower and looked into the depths of the dense forest under the moonlight. Two soldiers were usually arranged on the arrow tower to patrol back and forth.
On the first night, the Wumanshan people invaded!
On the second night, no one invaded!
It was only on the third night that Li Ling discovered some subtle differences in the dense forest.
"There is movement." Li Ling looked out at a glance and saw some slight movement among the grass. Although the movement was not big, someone must have come to investigate.
"Xiaoyang, you patrol here, I'll inform the general that there is something strange in the grass." Li Ling said.
"There is movement somewhere, why can't I see it?" Xiaoyang also opened his eyes to take a look, but couldn't see anything.
"You stay here for now, I'll come back as soon as I go." Li Ling leapt down from the arrow tower and headed into the Tucheng, arriving outside General Meng Yi's camp.
There were two soldiers guarding Meng Yi's tent. Seeing that Li Ling was about to force his way in, they immediately drew their swords to prevent Li Ling from entering.
"I want to see General Meng Yi." Li Ling said.
"General Meng Yi has gone to bed. Come back tomorrow morning," the guard said.
"I have urgent military information and I need to see General Meng Yi." Li Ling said.
Suddenly, the lights in the tent came on, and Meng Yi's voice came from inside the tent: "Let him come in."
"Yes, General." said the two guards.
"You go in." The two guards opened the tent and let Li Ling in.
When Li Ling entered the camp, Meng Yi had already gotten up from the bed, put on his riding boots, and said with a solemn look, "What's the matter?"
"General Meng, when I was patrolling the arrow tower, I found a vigilant spy spying on us in the grass in the distance, so I came here to report." Li Ling said.
"Enemy's spies? The Manshan tribe can actually spy on the military?" Meng Yi said unexpectedly.
"Can it be said that the Manshan tribe has never spied on military intelligence before?" Li Ling asked curiously. After all, the two armies were facing each other. How could they not spy on military intelligence?
"No, the Manshan tribe is a barbarian tribe. They have always focused on fighting. Military strategy is not what the opponent is good at." Meng Yi said.
"However, I did find someone watching in the grass. General Meng, just in case, I advised the general to immediately send some people to surround the guy from the rear and capture him. Maybe he can also get some useful words out of him."
Li Ling said.
"Well, what you said makes sense." Meng Yi said.
"Zhang Meng, come in." Meng Yi said to the guard outside the camp.
The guard accepted the promise and entered the camp, paying homage and asking, "What are your orders, general?"
"Immediately take twenty people to the grass of the arrow tower outside and outflank them from behind to see if there are any enemy spies hidden in the grass." Meng Yi said.
Zhang Meng was startled and said in surprise: "The Manshan tribe has always been huge, so it seems a bit impossible to hide in the grass and spy."
"No need to ask any more questions, just do as you do." Meng Yi said to Zhang Meng.
Zhang Meng glanced at Li Ling before leaving, then turned around and left.
Half an hour later, Zhang Meng captured a dwarf and came in. The dwarf had a bald head, big ears, and protruding eyes. He looked like a little old man, but Li Ling knew that this guy was not a little old man, but someone else.
Tribe.
"Dayi tribe!" Meng Yi frowned and looked at the little dwarf in surprise.
The little man just kept his head down and didn't dare to raise his head.
"The Dayi people have always been in the north of the mountain, how come they appear here?" Meng Yi also became confused, and Li Ling also heard from Meng Yi's words that this was something unexpected.
"Why did you appear outside our military camp, and what are your intentions?" Meng Yi interrogated.
The little man just didn't speak.
Zhang Meng pulled out the knife with all his strength and asked: "The general asked you a question, why didn't you answer it?"
"I have nothing to say?" The little man was a little frightened when he saw Zhang Meng pulling out the steel knife.
"Are you here to spy on military affairs?" Meng Yi asked directly.
The dwarf didn't speak.
"I heard that the people of the Dayi tribe have always been at odds with the people of the Manshan tribe, but why did you sneak up outside our military camp?" Meng Yi asked again.
"I..." The little dwarf didn't know what to say? (To be continued...)
