Chapter 1 How Did You Get Here?

"Commander Ye, why have you come here? The general offensive is still two hours away. It's a bit early to come and watch, isn't it?" Ye Tao's arrival at the front lines with the central army camp surprised Cheng Chi, who was preparing to chew on the first tough bone. But Cheng Chi appeared relaxed, obviously well-prepared.

"I was just a little worried. I don't doubt you can take Qing Tian, I'm just concerned about the casualties. After all… this is the first head-on battle after the comprehensive training of our Yun Province armies," Ye Tao said with a sigh.

"Commander Ye, rest assured." This was the first time Cheng Chi had been solely in charge, and he dared not neglect a single detail. His nine battalions had cut off all contact between Qing Tian and the outside world in less than a day, completing the sweep of Qing Tian's periphery one day ahead of schedule. Although he had not been able to force Qing Tian to surrender, he did not expect the more than 20,000 regular troops and miscellaneous soldiers inside to cause any trouble. "This time we have two heavy ordnance battalions and a close-quarters combat infantry battalion… a strong lineup. There's absolutely no need to fill it with human lives. There's also plenty of time. This subordinate wouldn't dare to misjudge your arrangements, sir."

Ye Tao shook his head and said, "The schedule doesn't matter. If we really can't meet the schedule, we can just fight for a few more days. The soldiers are eager for battle, and they all want to fight as quickly as possible. They've been crushing soft persimmons these past few days. It's good to build up morale, but don't be careless. As the commander of this campaign, you can't always let everyone have their way. You should strengthen discipline. I know you're not the kind of general who climbs over the corpses of soldiers, that's why I'm confident in letting you command this campaign. But you also need to let everyone know that you, and I, will not tolerate anyone who uses the lives of soldiers to add to their own glory. Soldiers are also living beings. We should lead them to victory and share the glory."

"Yes," Cheng Chi said, bowing deeply to Ye Tao. "This subordinate obeys your command."

"Good." Ye Tao nodded and said, "You continue to arrange military affairs. I'll go down and take a look. I'll watch the battle from that hillside later."

Ye Tao did not interfere with Cheng Chi's arrangements, but the mere presence of the central army camp at the front, with Ye Tao's flag raised, suddenly boosted everyone's morale. Since the start of the war, everything had proceeded step by step. The central army camp had not yet played a significant role in making on-the-spot decisions, but merely served as an intelligence hub for integrating and forwarding military information from all sides and as Ye Tao's headquarters. So far, Ye Tao had not issued any further military orders to adjust the battle arrangements. Was the battle plan perfect? Of course not. It was just that the situation requiring Ye Tao to make changes had not yet arisen.

Qing Tian was an important town in the southeast of the Zhenbei Military Command, located in the middle reaches of the He River, the second largest river in the Zhenbei Military Command. On the south bank of the He River, Qing Tian was the only one of the so-called Zhenning Seven Forts. Built against the mountains and facing the water, Qing Tian was indeed a formidable and majestic city. Once Qing Tian was captured, expanding to the wings with Qing Tian as the center could cut off the connection between the east road of the Zhenbei Military Command and Tai Province. At the very least, to obtain supplies from Tai Province again, one would have to take a long detour. And controlling Qing Tian would allow one to cross the river here and directly attack the core area of the Zhenbei Military Command.

While Cheng Chi was making the final preparations, Ye Tao was inspecting the military camps where soldiers were sharpening their knives, and the battalion commanders of the two heavy ordnance battalions and several other officers were gathered together. These people were officers from other borders of Dong Ping who had come to Yun Province to take charge of the army, especially the battalion commander of the heavy ordnance battalion that Tan Xiaopei had built with his own money, who was a family general of the Tan family. These people gathered together not to discuss anything new, but to make the final preparations.

"Listen to me, this time we have to show our prestige. Our heavy ordnance battalion has been rushing for so many days, we haven't even had a chance to fight, our legs have become thin. Now those bastards are going to laugh at us. We're all from Dong Ping, why are we here? Isn't it because Lord Ye values our good artillery skills and our ability to discipline those arrogant soldiers? We have to fight well, we have to show everyone that Yun Province's return to Dong Ping is justified. We can lead these battalions, and it's not because Lord Ye has to use Dong Ping officers to mix things up and cultivate his cronies. None of us are worse than the others. Among so many heroes in Yun Province, we can also be considered one!" Li Yang, the enthusiastic battalion commander of the First Heavy Ordnance Battalion, said. These officers were directly placed in the position of battalion commander, indeed because of their identity and origin. The local soldiers of Yun Province had never been too picky about them. Although they were usually polite, they always seemed to feel that they were of a higher status, not on the same path as them, and not as daring as they were. But for these soldiers, this politeness and respect had become a burden, making it impossible for them to integrate with everyone. Performance in battle, however, was the most direct thought of these soldiers. They wanted to show those Yun Province people that they, the people from the Central Earth Continent, were just as willing to fight to the death.

Li Yang's words aroused a chorus of approval, but Ding Shi, the battalion commander of the heavy ordnance battalion supported by the inner court, smiled faintly and said, "Old Li, there's no need to be so anxious. We won't get a chance to risk our lives. Even if the people in the city dare to rush out, can they run that far to rush to us? They would have died many times over. It's more practical to support the siege."

Ding Shi was right, and Li Yang nodded, saying, "Every time, we just bombard them for a while, it's really not fun. To be honest, those of us who play with ballistae and trebuchets have more fun defending the city, using that kind of deflagration effect, blowing up a whole area, and then there's no sound at all after the explosion, that's really satisfying. Attacking the city is just a bombardment for a while, and then we have to watch from behind. Is it interesting to watch Little Xu's battalion rush up and fight to the death?"

"That's not necessarily the case…" Ding Shi smiled playfully, "Didn't you notice what material the walls of Qing Tian are made of?"

"Isn't it stone? And mortar… isn't that all?" Li Yang seemed to have thought of something.

"Yes, but not entirely." Ding Shi took out a sketch from his pocket. Pointing to the description on the sketch, he showed it to everyone. "The gate tower of Qing Tian's central gate is indeed made of stone, but the inside is a giant wooden frame. That's this section. The other city walls were built gradually later. Qing Tian is not a newly built city, it wasn't so easy to move so many large stones back then, and the Zhenbei Military Command had to fight while building it. In fact, the later city walls were based on giant wood, built a frame, and then used stones and mortar to build the city walls on the frame, and then constantly increased them. Do you know why Qing Tian's city walls look so new? That's because every few years, the outside of the city walls has to be renovated and the cracked places are plastered. After everything is completed, it is painted with a thin layer of mortar. Don't look at Qing Tian's city walls being so thick and high, the bottom is really slag. What's even more fun is that I don't know which former Zhenbei Military Command or Qing Tian city guard, probably had too much money to burn, once used a lot of brown sugar and glutinous rice juice to repair the city walls… It should be this section. Ancient books do say that these things can make the city walls very hard, but that's not how they are used."

"Brown sugar? Glutinous rice?" Li Yang shivered and immediately thought of something. "Brown sugar… can burn, right?"

Everyone immediately understood. Brown sugar, glutinous rice juice, and gray soil mixed together were indeed very strong city wall repair materials. Although brown sugar could indeed burn, the ignition point was very high when mixed like this. In the past, when attacking cities with trebuchets or something, most of them used rattan balls filled with grease and wood chips and rags, which were easy to extinguish, and the flame ignition point was not high enough, and the erosiveness of the burning was not good enough. Plus, there were multiple layers of lime and other things on the outside, which had no effect at all. But now, they had enough Type II oil bombs in their hands. That thing burns really inaccurately, especially the erosiveness of the flame… The heavy ordnance battalions were all experts in arson, and they especially liked to watch wood and even other materials burn from the inside out, with layers of peeling off and turning into extremely violent scenes of flying ash.

"Yes, there's brown sugar and glutinous rice juice, and of course, to prevent insects, there are a lot of other poisons," Ding Shi said with a sinister smile.

"I really know about glutinous rice juice, but what is brown sugar used for?" Li Yang asked again.

"In the earliest days, the people in the north believed that everything had a spirit. Cities, especially military towns like this, were built to be extremely desolate. The spirits in the stones attached to the city walls could not be nourished and would die. In order to nourish these object spirits, a group of people put brown sugar, glutinous rice, and other things in jars and sealed one inside every section of the city wall to nourish these object spirits. There are still similar customs in the north, such as in Yun Province. Some wealthy families bury a jar of millet in the foundation when building a house, and the wealthier ones even bury a jar of copper coins, which are all derivatives of this custom. But this old habit of building city walls has long gone astray. Glutinous rice juice can indeed mix the mortar better, but brown sugar actually has no other use except to attract insects. But after the transmission went astray, the later generations had no choice. They directly mixed glutinous rice juice, brown sugar, and mortar together and used them."

Ding Shi's explanation made everyone present stand in awe. Li Yang clicked his tongue and said, "As expected of the national ruler's family, you are knowledgeable."

Ding Shi said modestly, "Where, where, my family used to build houses. Later, thanks to the care of His Majesty's family, we were able to have some knowledge and other ways out, but we dare not forget our profession. Wasn't it because there were documents prepared about the historical evolution of Qing Tian when General Cheng summoned everyone for a military meeting a few days ago? I remembered this when I saw this passage."

"Okay, then we'll listen to you, tell me, what should we do?" Li Yang nodded and said, "You are knowledgeable, it's right to listen to you. Speaking of which, it's a coincidence that this section of the city wall is being attacked by Little Xu's battalion. We'll just share the military merit here."

Little Xu, who had been shrinking on the side, was used to being taciturn, smiled, and did not say anything. Naturally, if things could be done, he would definitely repay this favor. Not only for the sake of military merit, but for close-quarters combat infantry battalions like theirs, having such an opportunity meant that fewer brothers would die.

"We can't do anything else, just burn it," Ding Shi said with a smile, "But we have to burn it with skill. We now have several different things that can be burned. Type III spark bombs are made of gunpowder, which is not easy to burn, but it's powerful enough to explode, which is just right for loosening the bones of the city walls. Although spark bombs don't burn at very high temperatures, they have one good thing, that is, the semi-liquid oil paste inside can stick to the city walls and burn, and the erosiveness of the grease is also enough to watch. Then there are the oil bombs, which are directly used to light it up. We'll use these three types of bombs alternately, peeling off the city walls layer by layer. Of course, it's impossible to use all of them, we'll concentrate twice the firepower on this section and attack it repeatedly. It's a pity we don't have enough oil bombs, otherwise, if we could break open a gap in the city wall and concentrate on throwing them in and lighting up those old timbers that have been sealed inside for I don't know how many years, that would be satisfying."

"Hahahaha, do you think you're burning the floor for the rich man's house to warm it in winter?" Li Yang laughed loudly.