Chapter 1501
The Final Battle, Elder Xun Contracts the Plague [4]
Chapter 1501 The Final Battle, Elder Xun Contracts the Plague [4]
Boom boom boom boom boom!
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"Ahhh—" Li Wenhu screamed in terror, lying on the ground and covering his head with his hands.
"You good-for-nothing! You've disgraced the Liu family!" The eldest brother of the Liu family regretted hitting Li Wenhu. If he hadn't beaten him up, no one would have known about their relationship.
Now someone has come to comfort him: "Brother, don't be angry. That's just how scholars are. You'll have to put in the effort to guide him, and he'll get used to it."
Li Wenhu whimpered, "I can't get used to it... Sir, there might be plague bacteria on this flint. Let's go back and stop repairing it, otherwise the west of the city might also be contaminated by the plague!"
"You bastard, how dare you curse the west side of the city! Beat him up!" Everyone believed this, and several people stepped forward together and gave him a beating.
Li Wenhu took the opportunity to pretend to faint: Hahaha, if I faint, they will definitely send me back to the resettlement house to rest, and I won't have to come back to work.
The Wei army squad leader in charge of them was speechless: "Your eyeballs are twitching under your eyelids. Anyone with common sense knows you're faking it. Get up, or I'll beat you to death."
They didn't even need to whip him to death; just two quick lashes were enough to make Li Wenhu jump up in pain and beg for mercy: "I was wrong, I was wrong, please, sir, don't hit me anymore. I will definitely work hard and repair more holes in the city wall."
"..." The eldest brother of the Liu family quickly covered his face and left, hiding behind the crowd.
But Li Wenhu haunted him like a vengeful ghost, crying and begging to stay by his family's side and work.
Wei Jun was so annoyed with "Li the good-for-nothing" that he readily ordered Liu's eldest brother to take charge of this hot potato.
What could the eldest brother of the Liu family do? He could only take care of Li Wenhu like a child, and when enemy fire came, he had to comfort him who was crying from fright.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"Make way, make way, time to pour molten iron!" The task of pouring molten iron to speed up the solidification and strengthening of the wall was to be done by experienced Wei soldiers.
The laborers were led to wait in a distance.
After the molten iron is poured, we will continue working.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"Stop work! The enemy has increased the frequency of their firebombardment. Stop work and wait for this wave of firebombardment to pass!"
The work continued in this stop-and-go manner throughout the day, and the progress of repairing the city wall was very slow, but no one was injured or killed.
As evening fell and the workday ended with the sound of drums, the group of laborers erupted in cheers: "We survived! We've survived safely!"
This kind of work often resulted in the deaths and injuries of laborers. Being able to return home alive was a great blessing and something to be celebrated.
But they still couldn't go home immediately.
Boom boom boom!
As the war drums sounded, a Wei army centurion came over to them and said, "Wei citizens, you have worked hard, but you must stay here at the city gate until tomorrow evening. You may go home only if you are free from illness!"
Li Wenhu was already exhausted, and had been holding on by the belief that he would be able to go home soon. Upon hearing this, he let out a scream and fainted.
The eldest brother of the Liu family wanted to die, but he could only ask the army doctor to save him.
"Food provided, stay put in your quarters, dismissed!" After saying this, the Wei army centurion turned and left, going up the west city tower to continue watching the enemy troops across the moat.
Jiang Qianshi was telling the commanders, "Since yesterday afternoon, the enemy's feints seem to have weakened; they're probably preparing a big attack. Starting tonight, everyone keep a close eye on the peace negotiation delegation's red flag. Once that flag is removed, it means the enemy is about to start poisoning the west gate!"
"Yes!" the commander under his command replied.
The commanders of a thousand then went to inform their commanders of a hundred, instructing them to pass on the order.
Therefore, on the night of the fourteenth, a quiet solemnity permeated the west gate tower, but the night passed safely.
As dawn broke, the sentry on the watchtower gazed into the distance for a long time before reporting: "Commander Jiang, the enemy's formation hasn't moved, and the red feather flags are still there!"
Jiang Qianshi breathed a sigh of relief and began to write a military report: "No incident on the fourteenth night. On the morning of the fifteenth, the enemy showed no signs of retreating or replacing their soldiers with poisoners. The situation is temporarily stable." After finishing the report, Jiang Qianshi sent it to General Chu.
General Chu was holding a morning meeting when he received this latest military report. Instead of relaxing, he became worried: "Tell Vice Commander Jiang and the others to keep a close eye on things. The enemy has been feigning an attack for several days and may change their tactics in the next day or two. Prepare for the battle against the poison."
"We need to move the weapons workshop deep in Mushan forward to avoid the enemy's possible attempt to poison the west gate."
The depths of the mountains are too close to the western city wall.
The reason why no rat plague broke out in Mushan, Xicheng District, and Wuyuan was largely because the enemy did not use poison to contaminate the suburbs of Xicheng.
However, once the enemy sees that the feigned attack is ineffective and the marriage alliance fails, they will surely launch a large-scale poisoning campaign towards the west gate to accelerate the spread of the plague within the city and achieve their goal of conquering the city through the plague.
"Yes!" Commander Gan replied. After the morning meeting, he sent the military reports from the city gates that General Chu had received, as well as General Chu's various new military orders, to Mushan, Wuyuan, and the various infected urban areas and wards.
"General Chu's deduction is correct; the millet must be moved to the front of the cemetery." Jiang Dalang agreed after receiving the new military order.
"Then hurry up and move." Uncle Qin also instructed Grandpa Qin, "Dad, if that stubborn fellow doesn't agree to move, you pretend to faint!"
*Smack!* Grandpa Qin smacked her on the back of the head again: "What a stubborn brat! If you dare to give your niece a nickname again, I'll beat you to death."
"Ouch, Dad, I'm only doing this for your eldest granddaughter's sake!" Uncle Qin rubbed the back of his head, looking quite aggrieved.
Grandpa Qin said, "Alright, alright, stop giving me nonsense. I'll act according to the situation."
"Thank you for your hard work, Grandpa Qin," Jiang Dalang said gently.
Grandpa Qin was delighted: "Our eldest son truly lives up to the old scholar's reputation as a grandson; he knows how to speak and how to get things done."
Uncle Qin: "..."
I'm just bad at talking and handling things!
"Let's go and persuade Xiaomi to move." Grandpa Qin ignored his second son and called to Jiang Dalang to go to the next sentry post.
Upon receiving the message from the female soldier, Qin Xiaomi didn't argue and quickly replied, "This hypothesis is highly likely... Issue the order: move all the workshops behind the fourth outpost forward immediately. Don't delay. Have the female soldiers dig a firebreak behind the fourth outpost to protect the depths of Mushan Mountain as much as possible and reduce the possibility of plague and toxins surviving there. Execute!"
"Yes." Xiao Zhen immediately went to relay the order.
Soon, the depths of Mushan Mountain came alive with activity as many female doctors who were converting military nitrates carried various tools and equipment forward.
Qin Xiaomi personally escorted the incubation tanks and the long triple-layered mirror, carrying them forward.
Half an hour later, Jiang Dalang saw Qin Xiaomi and the others carrying items outside the sentry post and breathed a sigh of relief: It's good that Xiaomi listened to advice.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"This way, the house is all ready!" Aunt Wen led the female soldiers, using flags to guide the female doctors and let them know where to go.
“Aunt Wen, send a group of female soldiers into the depths of Mushan to help transport the converted military saltpeter, sulfur and other semi-finished products to the female soldiers’ gunpowder factory at the front.”
Now, the task of assembling gunpowder packs according to the correct proportions has been handed over to the female soldiers from the mountains... They are numerous, reliable, and capable, and knowing the proportions of gunpowder will not lead to the leakage of the weapon technology.
The conversion of gunpowder into firearms is the core technology in firearm manufacturing.
"Yes!" Aunt Wen immediately selected a group of female soldiers from the mountains to move the converted semi-finished products.
Jiang Dalang kept watching from across the sentry post, then shouted, "Xiao Mi, should I lead the troops to move the finished gunpowder from the underground vault deep in Mushan?!"
Well, the entire Mushan Mountain is now like a giant powder keg... The assembled powder kegs are all hidden in the underground vault.
Qin Xiaomi thought for a moment and said, "Let's rotate it. It's not that dangerous to store it separately."