Chapter 572: The Way of the Underground

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On the walls of Ning City, Qin Shan clapped his hands and laughed.

Under the threat of the Hot Air Balloon, a great deal of chaos appeared in the northern camp.

This was exactly what he had been hoping for.

After watching for a while longer, he descended the city wall, preparing to return and rest.

Passing by a breach in the wall, soldiers were following his orders to set up more Caltrops within a two-hundred-pace radius of the gap.

The fighting from last night made him feel there was no need to repair the breaches.

Northern Di soldiers charging in through the narrow gaps instead became targets for the musketeers.

If they were like before and lacked Rifled Muskets, they would have had to send the Heavy Infantry forward to fight the Northern Di soldiers blade to blade.

In that case, facing the Northern Di's numerical advantage, Ning City would truly have been in danger.

"But the ammunition carried this time won't last long; General Mo, you must arrive in time." Qin Shan suddenly sighed again.

Just as he was about to leave, he remembered something and asked the general beside him: "How many casualties did the Northern Di suffer this time?"

"Reporting to the General, there were over sixteen thousand eight hundred," the general replied.

The Northern Di launched attacks from all four sides of the city wall, committing a large number of troops at once.

Therefore, the casualties caused by their night of fighting exceeded those at Yanguan.

"And us?"

"Two thousand and eight casualties," the general added.

Qin Shan could not help but sigh.

This was a casualty ratio of nearly eight to one.

If this had happened to other Great Song armies, they would have been nearly delirious with joy.

But for him, this was the normal casualty rate for the Prince's Personal Army.

"Do your best to treat the wounded," Qin Shan instructed.

Among these two thousand-plus people, the proportion of wounded was quite large.

If they could be kept alive, the casualty ratio between the two sides would be even higher.

Coming to Ning City this time, there were Medical Officers accompanying them, and they had brought plenty of Secret Medicine of the Prince's Mansion.

This would save the soldiers' lives.

After giving these instructions, Qin Shan went back to rest.

He also ordered the soldiers to hurry and rotate their rest, preparing for the night's fighting.

Night fell.

The Northern Di launched an attack once again, just like the previous night.

This time, the Northern Di brought out Gunpowder Barrels again, and three more breaches were blown into the walls of Ning City.

However, having gained experience, Qin Shan and Guan Tong quickly dispatched soldiers to reach the breaches and set up Caltrops.

To them, the walls of Ning City, like the War Chariots of the Chariot Battalion, served the purpose of obstructing the Northern Di Cavalry.

Even if the wall collapsed, it still acted like a high earthen mound.

The cavalry could not charge straight in from outside the city at all.

As for the Northern Di Infantry, they had nothing to fear.

Under the dense formations arranged by the Rifled Musket troops, as many Northern Di soldiers as charged in, that many died.

Moreover, the breaches were very narrow, and the number of Northern Di soldiers who could charge in at once was limited.

At the breaches, they had a complete troop advantage over the Northern Di; after all, it was impossible for the Northern Di to charge a thousand men through the breach at once.

It would be good if a hundred could swarm in at a time.

"Blow it up then; if you have the ability, blow up the entire wall of Ning City," Qin Shan sneered.

Upon observation, he discovered that the casualties of the soldiers on the city wall were actually greater than those of the soldiers at the breaches.

But he could not afford not to defend the city wall.

After all, if the Northern Di soldiers occupied the wall, their attack would turn from a point into a line, allowing them to enter Ning City from anywhere, at which point it would be difficult to defend.

After five consecutive days of fierce fighting, both sides were exhausted.

Because of the disparity in troop numbers, the Prince's Personal Army could only struggle to cope, hence their exhaustion.

And the Northern Di soldiers were raiding every night and could not sleep well during the day.

On the sixth day, after counting the casualties, Mule Hongzhen's face turned ashen.

In the fighting over these few days, they had lost twenty percent of their troops.

"Tiemuta, have the fifty thousand troops in Jin City come to support immediately."

Originally, he was worried that the Yan Wang's troops would take the opportunity to attack Jin City.

So he had left fifty thousand men to deal with emergencies, to avoid any mishaps in Jin City.

But so much time had passed, and Jin City remained safe and sound.

He thought, perhaps he had been overcautious.

At present, both the troops under his command and those under the command of Gurtu and others were extremely fatigued.

He needed this fresh, energetic force to launch a fatal blow against the Yan Wang's troops in Ning City.

"Yes, Great Khan," Tiemuta raised an eyebrow.

After being deadlocked for so many days, they were finally going to launch a surprise attack on the Yan Wang's troops in Ning City.

Mule Hongzhen issued the order, then stepped out of the tent and looked toward a position three hundred meters from Ning City.

At that location was an artillery fortification built with Sandbags.

This fortification had long been destroyed by the Artillery of Yan Wang at Ning City.

Inside, there was still a lot of straw.

Yet he was clear that beneath this damaged fortification, there was a hidden mystery.

Taking advantage of night raids, he seized the opportunity to send soldiers to dig a Tunnel beneath the fortification, transporting the newly excavated soil to the camp to hide it.

During the day, they used straw to cover the entrance of the hole.

Moreover, to cover up this secret operation, he deliberately did not dispatch soldiers in this direction.

Therefore, during night battles, Yan Wang rarely fired explosive Cannonballs at this position.

Even if they were thrown, the Sandbags would shield the soldiers digging the soil.

As the Tunnel grew deeper and further, he became even less worried.

The troops of Yan Wang were even less capable of discovering the soldiers digging inside the Tunnel.

"In one more day, we will be able to dig into Ning City." Mule Hongzhen's eyes narrowed.

The breaches in the city wall blasted open over these past few days had left him very disappointed.

Many Northern Di soldiers had died, but they had consistently failed to break through these breaches.

Through the Tunnel, a large number of soldiers could enter Ning City under the cover of night and catch the soldiers of Yan Wang off guard.

"At Yanguan, I also used this method, but it was hateful that when we dug to the base of the city wall, we hit the new wall of Yanguan. That damned Yan Wang, I don't know what he was thinking; the new wall buried underground was so deep that it caused our Tunnel excavation to fall short of success," Gurtu said.

When they encountered the new city wall, his soldiers attempted to chisel through it to continue digging into Yanguan.

But he did not know the reason why they were actually discovered by the soldiers of Yanguan.

The soldiers of Yanguan continuously bombarded the ground with Artillery.

It scared his soldiers into fleeing back.

If Zhao Xu heard Gurtu's words, he would certainly laugh out loud.

In the modern era, construction technology is considered very mature.

When he built the outer wall of Yanguan, he also gave Zou Rong many instructions.

Because the outer wall of Yanguan was very tall and made of Concrete.

He specifically had Zou Rong dig a foundation five meters deep; after all, if it were dug too shallow, the city wall would easily collapse.

As for being discovered by the soldiers of Yanguan, that was also normal.

Concrete has excellent sound-conducting properties.

When renovating in the same building, as long as you hammer at the Concrete, the whole building can hear it.

With the Northern Di soldiers chiseling at the base of the wall, it was impossible for the soldiers of Yanguan not to notice.

"Hmph, Yanguan is Yanguan, and Ning City is Ning City; the city wall here cannot compare." Mule Hongzhen gritted his teeth and turned back to his tent.

At noon the next day, a large number of Cavalry arrived from the north.

Mule Hongzhen immediately ordered these soldiers to hurry and rest.

The next morning, the soldiers in the Tunnel came to report.

The length of the Tunnel had already reached three hundred and eighty paces.

Nodding, Mule Hongzhen prepared to have the newly arrived soldiers enter Ning City through the Tunnel at night to slaughter.

Just as he was feeling smug, suddenly a Cavalryman arrived from the south, knelt on one knee before him, and said, "Khan, it is bad, a force of Yan Wang's troops has appeared on the south side."