1028 Most Barbaric Siege (1/2)

Chapter 1028 – Most Barbaric Siege

Since taking charge of the demolition work, Lu Xiufu had had his hands full.

People caring about their homes was to be as expected. Even during war time, to make them move away from the house that they had stayed in for their entire life was a really difficult matter.

After the meeting ended, Lu Xiufu sent out a notification about the demolition.

Many years of war had caused the people to shift away or suffer heavy casualties, and even the Capital City Lin'an had many empty houses. Hence, the civilians that moved away did not need to worry about not having a house to live in.

Even so, those that moved away friendlily were rare, which made Lu Xiufu really anxious.

The demolition and relocation was the first step to settling down the defending troops and needed to be done quickly. When Ouyang Shuo got the news, he immediately suggested two ideas to Lu Xiufu.

First, tell the civilians that lived near the city wall that the Mongol army brought large amounts of cannons that could directly shoot into the city walls. If one did not want to become collateral damage, they should just move away.

During the third Mongol west conquering mission, they brought back many eastern region artisans, and to a certain extent, this caused the Mongol weapon equipment to become renewed. The cannons were one of the few.

Western Cannon or the Xiangyang Cannon was a new kind of trebuchet.

Such a trebuchet was designed by the Hui people. Based on the foundations of the old trebuchet, it was improved and redesigned, causing its strength to increase.

In the Song Yuan Xiangyang battle, the Xiangyang Cannon showed its strength and broke apart the thick city walls of Xiangyang, helping the Mongol army to finally take down Xiangyang. This battle was how it got its name.

Secondly, he suggested they directly act upon the stubborn people and use the military to forcefully demolish the buildings, not showing any mercy at all.

At desperate times, one needed to take desperate measures. Lu Xiufu was a civil servant, and he liked to do things the civil servant way. On the other hand, Ouyang Shuo was a typical utilitarian. He would use whatever method was the most efficient.

As expected, upon hearing about the power of the Xiangyang Cannon, those civilians that stayed near the city walls ran faster than rabbits. Not only those within 500 meters, but even those further than that all fled.

This was the civilians' group mentality.

After the civilians fled, a large-scale remodeling started, and it lasted for a few days. Weirdly, during these few days, the Mongol army was really quiet, and they did not make a sound.

Just as the troops got into place, Lin'an city had a rumor that was spreading.

It said that the Mongol army was really brutal and massacred civilians. For this, the jade emperor of the heavens sent soldiers from heaven to help the Imperial Court fight against the Mongol army.

Some civilians staying near the city west camp swore that on one day, the sky changed color, only to see a white light shine across and 400 thousand soldiers from heaven appeared.

As many people had seen this, naturally more and more people believed it. Even many soldiers in the barracks were discussing it and believed it with zero doubt.

Along with the recent changes to the defenses on all four sides, the civilians could easily see that they were wearing different armor from the Song Army, which made the civilians believe the rumors more.

Everyone slowly trusted the rumor of soldiers from heaven.

At this very moment, the Imperial Court sent a decree to give player Ouyang Shuo the title of Xia King and ordered him to fight against the Mongol Army.

Some people said that the Xia King sent by the jade emperor was a deity that could control the weather and summon ancient God Generals like Er'Lai and Xu Chu.

Er'Lai rode on Luosha and made a round around the city, attracting cheers from the people.

This time, the civilians had no reason not to believe it.

Taoism during the Song Dynasty had reached a new peak, and it was more prosperous than the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Stories of deities were really common, which was why such rumors were believed by the people and easily accepted.

The moment one accepted such a theory, naturally their confidence would multiply.

Although the Mongol army was terrifying, no matter how strong they were, how could they compare to soldiers from heaven? In just a short few days, the panicking people slowly calmed down.

All of this was naturally plotted by Ouyang Shuo.

When Xiong Ba got the news, he shook his head in amusement, ”I did not expect it to be so easy!” In truth, many things that look really complicated were really simple to handle.

The difference was whether one would be able to think outside the box or not.

...

Battle Map, 6th day, morning.

The Mongol army did not make a sound for a consecutive few days, making Ouyang Shuo feel really uneasy. The troops on all four sides sent out scouts to try to investigate what the Mongol troops were doing.

Under the accompaniment of Guo Ziyi, Ouyang Shuo went up the north city wall, looking out into the distance.

Looking out, outside the city, there were closely packed Mongol tents. The white Mongol tents lined up one after another, and one could not see the end of it.

Moreover, these were just the vanguard forces of the Mongol army. The true main forces were not on the outskirts but in the city further away.

A million troops surrounded the city; this was the game, and in reality, something like this was impossible.

Not mentioning other reasons, but just the grain usage alone would cause the entire Jiangnan to be eaten up in half a year, not leaving anything behind and becoming truly ruins.

Obviously, Gaia skipped across all this for the Battle Map.

”General, what do you think the Mongols are planning?” Ouyang Shuo suddenly asked.

Guo Ziyi evidently jolted. During these past few days, he was busy building the north gate command center and working with the South Song Imperial Court. At the same time, he needed to ensure that the defenses were okay and that nothing was lacking. As such, he did not think about that problem.