Chapter 437: Attack and Defense

Lu also returned later with those deserters, mentioning that indeed, as soon as they were on the road, some wanted to flee. After the Huaxia people caught them, they didn't kill them, but simply broke their legs and threw them out in the wilderness, telling them: "You can run as you please now; we won't bother with you."

Seeing this, the others no longer had the slightest thought of running away; even though they had already walked a long distance, they could still hear that man's wailing.

Once this group of deserters returned and the three parties compared their accounts, well, everything matched up without a single error. Regarding these people, plus the fact that Lu had also told him what these people were thinking when they first met, Baifeng naturally did not give it much thought, giving them the same treatment as the other prisoners of war, and immediately prepared to throw them into that desolate Coal Mine.

However, because their Coal Mine had few management personnel and many Slaves, they dared not leave them outside overnight, so every day they could only drag the coal they had dug back to the city, and drag the empty carts back the next day.

This kind of cruel and heartless exploiter was what Baifeng hated, and according to other novel plots Baifeng had read, there should appear among these people someone who possessed the hearts of the people, had superior intelligence, and had maxed out their combat power, only to lead everyone in rising up and starting a war to overthrow Baifeng's rule.

However, Baifeng was not too worried, because he believed that the Coal Mine he and the Ministry of Works designed and built would absolutely not give those Slaves a chance to resist them; he only worried about what to do when there were no more Slaves in the future.

Because several days had already passed, and with Lu and the others having found so many people from the Suiren Clan, Baifeng did not issue another order to search for that fleeing commander; going to look for them now would be in vain.

The most urgent task should be to come up with a response plan for how to deal with a siege. This time, they used giant logs to climb, but what if the next enemy gets smart, or if they are at war with Xuanyuan, and they use ladders directly?

Actually, Baifeng knew the answer very clearly; history had already told him, but he still wanted to test his subordinates, to see if the leaders he had selected had enough wisdom.

After several days of discussion, their brains, loaded with primitive processors, could only think of methods like chopping down ladders or lighting fires, which instead gave Baifeng the idea that it was impossible for the enemy to think of using ladders to attack them either; after all, imagination and creativity were about the same, and the only one to worry about was Xuanyuan.

The level of the older generation was just like that, so Baifeng simply drew the diagrams himself, came up with a siege plan, and then directly distributed it to every unit in the whole city, letting them think of a reasonable defense method. If they thought of one, no matter what your status was, as long as you were willing, he would immediately send you to the Higher School for training, letting you learn whatever you wanted, and as long as you graduated successfully, he would let you become an official.

The whole city was in an uproar, because even Slaves could get this opportunity, but after several rounds of screening, not a single one of their methods could be sent to Baifeng's desk.

Instead, it was the children in school who thought of a response method: giant rocks and battering logs—in their words, using big stones to smash, and using big logs to smash.

Baifeng was very satisfied with these children he had cultivated; they had started having their intelligence enlightened from a young age, discovering their thinking abilities, so thinking of this kind of response method was a very simple matter and naturally could not stump them.

As for the older generation, their heads only contained eating, drinking, and procreating; although there had been some improvement over the years, they were basically just machines with strong physical action, and their brains turned very slowly.

Among them, Shaoyin's plan was also sent up after passing the screening, and he was not given any special treatment, purely because his method was good.

Besides rolling stones and battering logs, he also proposed that Sulfur or oil could be poured onto the wood, and after lighting it, thrown down; this way, it could burn a large area, and oil and Sulfur could also stick to people's bodies, causing them continuous damage.

Afterwards, feces soup could be poured down; not only was it an odor attack, but it could also make them unable to climb and cause them to slip, and if any of them had external wounds, it could make their wounds unable to heal, accelerating their rot until death.

When others saw this, they only felt that this Shaoyin was vicious enough to think of such a method, but unexpectedly, Baifeng was very happy when he saw it, and added a bit more: boiling hot feces water, possessing both physical and mental attacks; the Golden Juice used for defending cities in ancient times, the name sounds quite nice.

The others only clicked their tongues in wonder, but did not say anything.

Baifeng released the conditions, and these people met them, but those children were already studying in school; as long as they graduated, it would be no problem at all to enter the Higher School in a few years, so their rewards could only be changed to material rewards, given in advance.

The disposal of Shaoyin became a trouble again; his tempering of him had not yet ended, he could not let him leave so quickly, and if he let him study, he could not take it in.

Thus, Baifeng exercised his right of final interpretation and announced: "Convicts serving sentences can only receive rewards after their sentences end."

Thus, Shaoyin's hope of joining the army was dashed. Just when he was in utter despair, a friend of his came to comfort him and told him his "inside information." Finally, Shaoyin regained his confidence and continued to do his work; as long as he wouldn't stay in the Pasture for his whole life, there would be no problem.

Because they did not know when the enemy would come to attack the city again, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works simulated and deduced it many times on the Sand Table. After confirming that this method was feasible, they immediately set to work to store these things; their Armory had lost nearly half its stock in one war, and now it was in urgent need of replenishment.

Moreover, this war also made them realize that the number of enemies was in the tens of thousands; their previous estimates of the enemy were still too conservative, and the corresponding Weapon reserves were not enough. If they prepared according to the previous scale, they feared that by the time the battle was halfway through, they would have nothing left.

At this time, Huangpin and the others, in a state of extreme panic and anxiety, finally crossed the river and arrived at the territory of the Suiren Clan. After crossing the river, they ran wildly into the forest until they found a quiet and dark little tree hole, then squeezed inside and had a good sleep.

Waking up from their sleep, their whole bodies aching, they were not as terrified now, and only then did they have the heart to look for prey, thinking of having a full meal before slowly walking toward the tribe of the Suiren Clan.

And because of the crushing defeat in the war, Baoxi's heart was full of rage, and he did not know who to vent it on. Xuanyuan would definitely come to settle accounts with him; he absolutely had some collusion with Huaxia.

However, now, he decided to skin Wangzuo; last time Wangzuo deceived him, he spared Wangzuo's life, but he did not expect that Wangzuo was still deceiving him!