Chapter 161

  The military order given by the King of Youzhou to Qi Deqiang was to break through the Hamao stronghold within three days and behead Cheng Dalai. And how long did Qi Deqiang take... ten days.

  In ten days, he didn't have a single fight with Cheng Dairen.

  Cheng Dairen's strategy is exactly the same as Xue Banquan's, only two words: don't fight.

  No matter how you make a scene outside, whether it's pretending to retreat or showing weakness to lure the enemy, I won't be able to hold on. Night raids and such, Cheng Da Lei absolutely will not do.

  Inside the mountain forest, large-scale siege engines such as catapults could not be deployed. And the gate of the Hamao fortress was a bit too small, Qide Strong brought 10,000 people, but only a few thousand soldiers were actually used in each attack on the city.

  Several thousand people can't break this Toad's Village.

  When the two armies stopped fighting, Cheng Dairen would stand on the city gate and shout at Qi Dezhong.

  "Old Qi, do you still remember those nights when we talked till dawn, and sat together till the wee hours? You were going to a distant place, and I was going to find my girl."

  "We meet again as if no time has passed, though we are not biological brothers, our bond is stronger than that of biological brothers. I never thought that today, we would be on opposite sides of the battlefield."

  "Lao Qi, I've just written a new poem, it's in praise of our brotherly affection, let me read it to you..."

  "Do you still remember that we once exchanged letters through a wild goose, and in the letter you said Yang Long was a wine bag and a rice bag? If you become the King of Youzhou, you will definitely do better than him."

  ……

  Zi Deqiang finally felt the fear of being controlled by rumors, this kind of thing can't hurt you but it makes you feel sick. Especially the last sentence, it's completely a malicious speculation. If the King of Youzhou knew about this, even if he didn't believe it, he would definitely have some resentment in his heart, and his own future would be ruined. And if he forbids the soldiers from spreading it, it would seem like he has something to hide.

  Cheng Dairen is by no means a strong opponent, but he's absolutely an annoying one.

  Alright, since you won't come out, I won't fight with you either. Let the soldiers camp at Qingniu Mountain and escort the grain transport team.

  But if we let 10,000 troops guard this place, it's really not worth it. Qizhongqiang had no choice but to ask for help from the King of Youzhou and admit that he couldn't break through the Frog Fortress.

  Yang Long ordered him to bring a portion of the men back and leave some behind to protect the grain transport team.

  Thus, Cheng Dairen came to life, night raids, arson, traps... Relying on his familiarity with the surrounding environment, Cheng Dairen led a team of people to rob grain convoys. If they could rob them, they would; if not, they would burn them... Moreover, they would never engage in direct combat with you, and as soon as they encountered a large troop, they would immediately retreat back to their mountain stronghold, leaving no trace behind.

  In the end, King Youzhou transported ten carts of grain, but at least three carts were lost. After calculating, it was not as good as following the rules of Ha Ma Zhai from the beginning and giving two tenths of grain to Cheng Dairen.

  On this side, a dense forest battle unfolded like a game of hide-and-seek with Cheng Dali, while Yang Long's main battlefield was still in Heishi City.

  The battle of besieging the city was also unfavorable.

  Ambushes, night raids, assassins sneaking in... all tactics that can be used to attack a city were thought of, indeed bringing great pressure on Xue Ban Chuan, but without achieving the true effect.

  Lack of food has always been a heart disease for Yang Longting. Cheng Dalai held the grain path, thinking that if he gave him food, he would rest for a few days without robbing food, and if he didn't give him food, he would work overtime to do his job.

  What it feels like to have one's throat pinched by someone, Yang Long is feeling that way right now. As a result, when attacking the Black Stone City, he was unable to go all out.

  Yang Long felt like he was stuck in a quagmire. For half his life, he had been at war and had encountered many enemies - powerful, cruel, cunning... but none of them were as disgusting as Cheng Dali and Xue Banquan.

  The two people's routine, it can't be something a master taught, or they have some kind of collaboration.

  Yang Longting had already planned to eliminate Cheng Dalai, first killing the toad and then beheading Xue Si. But just as he was about to break camp, Xue Banquan, who had never shown his face before, suddenly emerged from the city and killed him.

  Alright, it's finally out, let's do this! Finally can have a thrilling battle.

  When he was waiting for the troops to form up and prepare to charge, Xue Banquan went back again, and the city gate was closed tightly.

  Then... they continued to break camp, and Xue Banquan came out again. When they were about to fight, he went back again.

  Yang Long is now convinced that Cheng Dairen and Xue Banquan must have some kind of collaboration, otherwise they wouldn't be able to coordinate so tacitly.

  War is a very complicated matter, not just a wave of the hand, a large army killing, comparing the strength of both sides, who loses and who wins is clear. War is not that simple. Taking a plane can still be delayed, let alone a few hours, let alone an army of tens of thousands of people, any small situation can lead to a catastrophic accident that destroys the entire army.

  This sensational war, in the end, lasted how long... two months.

  Two months later, Yang Long's side was exhausted and worried, and Xue Banquan's side was no better. The city had been besieged for two months, and the food in the city was almost exhausted. No one knew if they could hold on any longer.

  The war is fought to the end, and it's a matter of who can hold on longer. If Yang Long stops holding out and withdraws his troops, Xue Ban Chuan will win a great victory, with enough momentum to cover several surrounding cities. If Xue Ban Chuan is about to collapse from exhaustion, Yang Long stops relaxing slightly, he can break through the city.

  As for Cheng Dali... Cheng Dali is doing all right.

  He occasionally robbed Yang Long's grain team, and in the past two months, he had a good income. The mountain bandits in Gama Village were generally fatter.

  These days it has been raining, the rain is pouring down non-stop, and the road is bumpy and difficult to walk on. Cheng Dalai hasn't gone out to commit a robbery for a long time. On this day, the sky was still drizzling with small rain, Cheng Dalai led his men outside, looking around to see if they could rob someone today.

  Suddenly, they saw batches of defeated soldiers coming from the direction of Blackstone City.

  "How could Xue Banjiang defeat Yang Longzhong?"

  This was beyond Cheng Dalai's expectations, and he hastily led his men to retreat back to their stronghold. If it were true as he had expected, the defeated Yang Long would not be able to vent his grievances on him.

  He led the men to stand on the city gate and look out onto the official road, only to see batch after batch of defeated soldiers passing by. These people didn't even have the intention of attacking Hama Village, they were completely a group of homeless dogs, each person had abandoned their armor and helmets, their faces filled with fear, looking at them was like seeing evil spirits chasing behind them.

  "What's going on? We lost so badly!" Cheng Dairen frowned tightly.

  "Big winner! Big winner!"

  A horse rushed over from the official road, carrying Huang San Yuan and Zhao Zi Long on its back. Since they went to Hei Shi City last time, the two have not returned. This time they came back, Zhao Zi Long was covered in blood, and Huang San Yuan didn't look much better.

  Cheng Dalai hastily opened the city gate and let them enter the mountain. As soon as they entered the mountain stronghold, the horse fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth nonstop.

  "What's wrong with you?" Cheng Dairen said.

  "Something terrible has happened!" Huang San Yuan panted hastily, his body trembling with fear: "The Rong tribe, the Rong tribe is coming to kill us!"

  "What!" Cheng Dairen exclaimed in surprise.

  Youzhou soldiers besieged the city, fighting bitterly for two months without rest. From the far north, 10,000 northern barbarian troops marched south.

  Then, one day they broke through Youzhou's army, and half a day later they broke through Heishi City.

  Then, massacre the city.

  Ten days without closing the knife.