Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law-Chapter 489: Psychological Warfare, Three Sides Besieged, One Side Left Open
"Defend the city?" Sun Meng couldn’t help but sneer, feeling confident about the Ninth-Grade Red-Coat Cannons at this moment, and said, "With our Red Coat Cannon here, how can a small Bing City stop our army?"
Chen Mo took the Thousand-Mile Mirror from Xia Zhining’s hand and observed for a moment, then said, "Although the Red Coat Cannon is powerful, it’s not almighty, and we don’t have much Flower Bullet left. We must use it sparingly."
The Flower Bullet was developed not long ago, so there was no time to increase production. Over a few months, not many were made, and we brought all of them.
Used some in Guan Mountain Plain, used some in Yao’er City, already not much left.
The same goes for Pottery Bomb.
Sun Meng was taken aback: "Marquis, are we not storming the city tomorrow?"
"No attack." Chen Mo put down the Thousand-Mile Mirror, turned and mounted his horse, saying, "Since they want to defend, we’ll let them defend—surround Bing City tomorrow and cut off these barbarians’ supplies first."
...
Soon, the Jade Rabbit set in the west, the Golden Crow rose in the east, and in the blink of an eye, another day had unknowingly passed.
Following Chen Mo’s orders, nearly forty thousand troops including Divine Brave Guard, Divine Martial Guard, Xianzhen Guard, Brave Cavalry Guard, Jiangdong Army were mobilized, almost everyone except Inspector Guard, Vermilion Bird Guard, and Brave Cavalry Guard.
Yes, whether at Guan Mountain Plain or Yao’er City, the Chen Army had minimal casualties.
Up to now, overall casualties have not exceeded three thousand.
And on top of Bing City, Tuoba Zhu, upon observing the Chen Army’s mobilization, immediately instructed Gale to order all the defending troops on the city wall to disperse, avoid crowding, and when hearing a booming thunderous sound, lie down immediately and cover their heads.
Gale followed Tuoba Zhu’s words.
But once the order was given to the whole army,
the Chen Army did not attack the city but surrounded Bing City.
"Is this a surround then attack strategy?" Gale mumbled, as it is a common tactic in sieging, hence not paying too much attention.
Until three days after the city was surrounded,
Gale couldn’t help but laugh, saying, "Fortunately, since defending Bing City, I’ve gathered all the food from surrounding towns into the city. Just this food alone is enough to support our army for more than three months. Hmph, trying to cut off our supplies."
After saying this, Gale coldly snorted.
He indeed has enough experience in defending cities.
Before when attacking Gao Liao, he was also encircled by Gao Liao but managed to defend with very few troops.
He knows that surrounding a city is usually a way to cause food shortages inside the city, achieving the goal of capturing the city.
And for them as outsiders, this method indeed is effective.
But unfortunately, he had already stored food.
...
Soon, five more days passed, arriving at the end of October.
The Chen Army still surrounds without attacking.
Gale relaxed a bit and smiled at Tuoba Zhu, saying, "It seems the Chen Army still doesn’t know we’ve stored food inside the city. Eight days have passed, and at this pace, it’s enough to drag until winter arrives."
But Tuoba Zhu didn’t share Gale’s optimism. Having dealt with Chen Mo before, he didn’t think Chen Mo would act like this.
If he were on the opposing side, he would use Strange Thunder first to instill fear among the defenders in the city, thereby reducing morale through psychological warfare.
But after so many days, besides surrounding, there was no other action.
...
Gale is not anxious, but Xia Zhining is somewhat anxious. She found Chen Mo and said, "If we don’t attack now, winter will set in, and then the situation might turn unfavorable for us."
"Indeed, the weather is getting colder day by day." Chen Mo walked out of the military tent and looked at the outside sky, saying, "Eight days have passed. It’s time to announce the news of Tie Muer’s death to them. Haven’t we kept a few captives for interrogation before? It’s time for them to be useful."
...
On the ninth day, the entire Bing City heard about Tie Muer being killed by Chen Mo.
Because the Chen Army soldiers held a simply made "megaphone" and shouted toward the city continuously for twelve hours.
The military books say that attacking a city’s fortifications is a lower strategy, while attacking the heart is superior.
Although the Jin Xia Garrison knew about Tie Muer’s defeat in Cangzhou, they didn’t know he was dead.
As the commander of the Eastern Army, now that his subordinates heard of his death, some fell into panic.
...
On the tenth day.
Just when the Jin Xia Garrison thought the Chen Army was acting the same as previous days.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion erupted on the gate tower of Bing City, causing the entire gate tower to collapse. The defenders below couldn’t dodge in time and were buried in the wreckage.
The surrounding troops were shocked by the sound, their ears ringing.
The Jin Xia defenders who had never seen Strange Thunder were still bewildered, confused.
The Jin Xia soldiers who returned with Tuoba Zhu screamed in panic, "It’s Strange Thunder, it’s Chen Army’s Strange Thunder..."
As soon as the words were out.
Another nine thunderous explosions rocked the city walls, waking everyone inside.
The city walls were blasted with several breaches, some soldiers were blown from a whole human into scattered flesh, and the defenders were clearly panicked, many running around aimlessly.
Inside the city, due to the continuous days of surrounding without attacking, Gale and Tuoba Zhu naturally weren’t always on the city walls supervising.
At this moment, the two were in a luxurious house they occupied in the city, drinking tea. Suddenly, they heard a booming sound outside, spilling tea from the table.
Gale was stunned and asked, "What happened?"
Having experience, Tuoba Zhu immediately said, "It’s Strange Thunder, Chen Army is attacking the city..."
The subsequent nine thunderous explosions confirmed Tuoba Zhu’s thoughts.
The two hurried toward the city walls.
But when they arrived, only the sound of the wailing defenders was left on the walls; Strange Thunder had stopped, and the Chen Army didn’t attack the city.
Gale looked at several breaches on the city walls, managed to ask and learn they were created by Strange Thunder—he was shocked, mouth agape.
But Tuoba Zhu frowned more deeply, his heart puzzled.
Why stopped?
Could it be they’ve run out of Strange Thunder?
...
"Why didn’t you continue firing? If you keep going, the opposing army’s morale will surely collapse, and it would be the perfect opportunity to attack," Xia Zhining quickly found Chen Mo to inquire when the firing ceased.
"The shells are few, and even if we fire them all, it might not achieve the desired effect; it needs to be slow and steady." Chen Mo had his plan.
Seeing Chen Mo keeping his plan to himself, Xia Zhining pouted and asked, "Then when do you plan to attack the city? It’s getting colder."
"Tomorrow." Chen Mo put down a military book, and the page he was reading was precisely the strategy of "Surrounding Three Sides" concerning sieging.
In the afternoon, Chen Army launched another round of bombardment against Bing City.
...
On the eleventh day.
Chen Mo ordered all Ninth-Grade Red-Coat Cannons to aim at Bing City’s East Gate and carried out orders for the Vermilion Bird Guard to use up all the Flower Bullets and then switch to firing Solid Iron Balls.
The shells are divided into Flower Bullets and Solid Iron Balls.
The Flower Bullets are nearly exhausted, while Solid Iron Balls haven’t been used yet.
After all Flower Bullets were fired, Chen Mo withdrew Jiangdong Army from surrounding the West Gate.
This created an opening on one side of the four-sided walls.
