913 Surrounding the City (1/2)

Chapter 913 – Surrounding the City

7th month, 16th day, Mogadishu.

One week, the Great Xia Army took just one week to arrive at the city walls.

At the same time, Alvaro led the Atlantic Squadron and completed their lockdown of the surrounding ocean region. The entire imperial city was surrounded by the Great Xia Army.

During this time, the Somalia territory army thought about sniping the Xia army mid-way to lessen the burden on the imperial city.

However, it was useless.

Be it the strong defense work, geographical traps, or poisoning the water, Di Qing solved all these obstacles really easily.

The detailed intel work of the Black Snake Guards made it really easy for the Great Xia Army. They had a firm grasp of where there were mountains, where there were rivers, where there were canyons, where there were deserts, the types of troops Somalia possessed, defenses, and more.

This battle was destined to be an unequal one.

The resistance of the territory army was all in vain.

The average schemes of the Somalia army were used against them by Di Qing. On a strategic level, Somalia did not have anyone that could rival Di Qing.

Even Lu Bu could destroy all their generals.

Such an advantage was so one-sided that mental strength alone could not overcome it.

Just last night, the Somalia Guards army tried their last snipe outside the city, which ended in bitter defeat. They could only back off into the imperial city to defend it.

The successive victories ensured that the logistical supplies of the Great Xia Army were taken care of.

The officials of the dynasty pretty much followed them around, taking over each city, village, and town. Their core mission was to gather grain for the troops.

At the same time, the grain Great Xia bought from merchants was shipped to Courage Port.

With these two huge resource sources, it forked up a grain line from Friendship City to Mogadishu.

This was also the reason why Di Qing did not directly attack the imperial city. In ancient battlefields, only the city had ability to provide grain for the army.

An army that was traveling through the wilderness was like a tree without roots; they were unable to last for long.

...

What about outside of the battlefield?

Just like Ouyang Shuo had expected, as they fought, the countries around Somalia were really quiet.

Kenya, Ethiopia....

Totally silent.

No African Lord dared to step out for Somalia; they could only look on with respectful eyes as the Great Xia Dynasty destroyed the traitor.

The African Continent was in a deathly silence.

Even the breeze from the oceans brought with it a deathly feeling instead of a chill.

The Mediterranean Lords were all feeling really conflicted, and they completely lost their mood to negotiate with Great Xia. Zi Luolan understood and agreed to postpone the negotiations.

Everything would wait until the Battle of Somalia ended.

The Great Xia Dynasty had never been so respected. Without even moving their own local troops, they easily wiped out cities and destroyed a country.

Apart from awe, there was respect.

...

Barracks outside the city.

Di Qing was in martial attire. He expressionlessly looked out at the city not far away. The mask on his face gave this general a layer of charm that the soldiers under him respected.

Mogadishu; this was the last nut to crack.

He had to attack the imperial city. Country war rules made it their fate to fight to the death.

Such a mentality was a huge problem for both the defending and the attacking party. If they did not do well, they would suffer heavy loses.

In the Battle of Somalia, Di Qing tried to break this tough problem.

His strategy was really simple; it was to surround the city. His plan was to trap them inside the city. As time went on, the enemy would fall by themselves.

Sun Zi's Art of War once said, ”10 times to surround, five times to siege, two times to fight, and only defend if you have less; if not, escape.”

Hence, to surround an army, you needed 10 times the number.

This number was not absolute; for example, Baiqi had used the geography to surround the Zhao army with equal amounts of troops during the Battle of Changping.

Mogadishu had 80 thousand Guards, 50 thousand player armies, and 100 thousand combat occupation players. In terms of numbers, they exceeded that of the Great Xia Army.