The Demon Lords-Chapter 703 - 146: Beating the Drum to Assemble the Soldiers_2

Inside Snow Sea Pass, five artillery pieces had been readied, and the soldiers along the city wall were prepared for battle.

Because Snow Sea Pass had once been looted by the wild people, Zheng Fan had not received enough equipment supplies here. Fortunately, General Zheng had never skimped on outfitting his troops. Especially before deploying, there had been a waiting period where all workshops in and around Shengle halted other production to focus on replenishing the Shengle Army's military equipment.

Moreover, during the assault on Fengxin City, the successful capture of the gate meant minimal equipment consumption; in fact, they had captured a significant amount. Therefore, Snow Sea Pass was not currently facing an equipment shortage.

Arrows should be sufficient for now. However, according to Liang Cheng's calculations, if the battle became protracted, nimble soldiers would have to venture out at night to collect arrows. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Furthermore, while Snow Sea Pass was indeed a pass, it also functioned as a city. Before the rise of the wild people, the Situ Family's influence had already extended onto the snow plains. Consequently, Snow Sea Pass hadn't seen conflict for a long time. Combined with flourishing trade, the pass had originally housed numerous buildings and a considerable population.

Undoubtedly, the original inhabitants had been captured and carried off when the pass first fell. However, the buildings and other structures in the city were dismantled or salvaged as needed; anything useful was brought forward and stockpiled.

During this process, they also discovered some underground cellars and storehouses. The wild people had been careless. Perhaps when they first breached Snow Sea Pass, they were still too "unsophisticated" to understand the Jin people's habit of hiding valuables in cellars. As such, they hadn't "cleaned" the place out thoroughly, which provided Zheng Fan with a considerable supplement of grain.

In summary, the various resources within the city weren't abundant, but they were adequate for the time being. Come on, let's get this started!

Zheng Fan silently took out a cigarette. Every time he went on an expedition, the blind man would prepare several extra boxes of rolled cigarettes for him.

Somehow, even though two packs of cigarettes a day hadn't been enough when he was rushing to meet deadlines in his previous life, now in this world, with cigarettes available, he found himself needing only about one a day. He would only think of lighting one up when a problem arose.

This side of the city wall featured an outward-jutting "mouth-like" salient, constructed so that during an enemy siege, defenders would have two additional wall faces from which to attack the enemy.

At this moment, Zheng Fan stood at the very forefront of this "mouth."

He looked up at the sky, silently smoking his cigarette.

After finishing one cigarette, movement came from the wild people's side. Batch after batch of displaced civilians were driven forward. They carried crude ladders; most held only spears whittled from wood, and very few had knives.

In droves, they were herded towards the city walls. Naturally, there was no moat on the southern side of Snow Sea Pass. Liang Cheng hadn't wasted effort digging trenches in the dead of winter but had still left some spikes and caltrops on the ground.

Many displaced civilians from Jin land didn't even have shoes. Stepping barefoot onto such obstacles was agonizing. Moreover, in an era with scarce medical aid, sustaining serious external injuries in such extreme weather meant a very high fatality rate.

When these civilians neared the city walls, Liang Cheng unhesitatingly ordered his men to shoot them down.

They could not be allowed to swarm the city walls like ants; otherwise, it would hinder the wall defenders' ability to target the wild people following behind.

The majority of this Shengle Army were Jin people, but one had to consider which region these Jin people were from.

The arrangement of Jin being divided among three families had existed for over sixty years. Although outsiders collectively referred to them as Jin people, in reality, they had long been fractured.

Zheng Fan's troops primarily consisted of surrendered soldiers from the Helian Family and Wenren Family, or those who had originally surrendered from the capital region. In essence, they felt little sympathy for the Jin people from the Situ Family's territories, also known as Cheng State.

Thus, they carried out Liang Cheng's orders decisively, ruthlessly shooting down the civilians below the city wall.

The discipline and organization of the civilians were incredibly poor. They were usually used as cannon fodder. If the city under attack had moats or trenches, the civilians were made to carry earth to fill them. If there wasn't enough earth, their bodies were used for the same purpose.

However, when they were attacked—with the Yan Army ruthlessly shooting arrows from above and the ravenous wild people watching from behind—most of the civilians covered their heads, huddled on the ground, crying and screaming as they awaited death.

Liang Cheng once again ordered a ceasefire.

The arrows stopped. Dazed and confused, the civilians looked around. No one dared to pick up the ladders to try climbing the walls again, nor did they dare to retreat. They simply huddled instinctively in the corners at the base of the city walls.

Regardless of how the distant wild people yelled, cursed, and waved their knives, the distance was still considerable. These civilians remained frozen, not making a move.

They weren't fools; they knew any unusual movement or attempt would result in those above shooting them again. Everyone wanted to live. Even if hope was slim, even if it only meant delaying death for a short while longer, most would still choose to do so.

They would grasp at any chance to live a moment longer, to survive on sufferance for as long as possible, even if it meant living like walking corpses.

Zheng Fan cautiously poked his head out to peer down. He spotted a female civilian curled up in a corner of the wall, nursing an infant in her arms.

Who knew if she, after being captured and driven such a long distance by the wild people, could still produce any milk.

Regardless, Zheng Fan understood that this wasn't the time for compassion. The Sword Saint was out of commission. If he were present, he'd probably find a way to descend the wall and save the child.