Chapter 1714: Chapter 1714: Standoff

Qin San Lang listened, a smile spreading over his face as he nodded and said, "Mm, the General is absolutely right. I won’t take other people’s nonsense to heart, but if someone deliberately spews vicious words, I’ll definitely take revenge! My wife not only has money and ability, she can make medicine, and she even followed me to the Northwest to fight Da Rong during the war. She’s truly a rare good wife, and I won’t allow anyone to belittle her."

The soldiers present were all stunned when they heard this.

After a short while, the soldiers came back to their senses and joked, "Ha, listen to what Company Commander Qin is saying, and look at that face—he’s smiling so wide it’s about to blossom. Clearly Mrs. Qin must not only be rich and capable, she must also have quite a good-looking face."

General Cheng and Vice General Ma heard this and remembered how General Liang and Magistrate Hao would practically gag and retch whenever Qin Gu was mentioned. They couldn’t help sighing sincerely: God is fair; he won’t let anyone have all the advantages.

General Cheng glanced at Qin San Lang’s face, couldn’t bear to look at that "forced cheerfulness" in his smile, and rode off.

"Safe travels, General Cheng." Qin San Lang cupped his fists to see General Cheng off, still wearing a slightly proud smile.

Vice General Ma felt a pang of pity too.

San Lang, that kid, has had it tough. Once the war is completely settled, he’d talk to the Great General and help him find a clean, beautiful woman to take as a concubine.

If he took a beautiful concubine, it wouldn’t matter so much if the official wife was a bit ugly.

Vice General Ma meant no harm; he simply felt that a man taking concubines was the most natural thing in the world.

However, that was impossible.

Clang, clang, clang!

A quarter hour later, after Vice General Ma finished his address, he had someone beat the gong and shout loudly, "Move out!"

The soldiers under Ma’s banner immediately sprang into action, and the soldiers under the other Generals also filed out of the main camp in good order, marching toward Daokou Gully.

When they reached a spot two li from Daokou Gully, Great General Xu ordered the army to halt.

"By order of Great General Xu: from your current positions, start digging toward Daokou Gully for one and a half li, to a depth of half a zhang!"

Reconnoitre Soldiers rode their horses, holding the Order Flag, galloping back and forth shouting.

The distance set by Great General Xu was excellent. Digging one and a half li, they would be close to Daokou Gully, yet still beyond the range of the catapults. Even if the Rong people wanted to use catapults on them, they wouldn’t reach; and the Rong people also had to worry whether the poisonous insects in the canal would crawl toward Daokou Gully.

"Dig!" the Generals shouted.

The soldiers immediately started excavating. Those without shovels or hoes simply used their helmets, sabers, and axes to dig.

Tens of thousands of men digging like this—the speed was frightening, and the commotion immense. The Rong people in Daokou Gully noticed and loosed rockets and hurled great stones this way, but they couldn’t hit.

Royal General Azimo watched, anxious to the point of desperation, hurriedly descended from Daokou Peak, and spurred his horse to the camp to find the Heavenly Khan.

Although Tie He and his men had arrived at Daokou Gully earlier than Xu You’s forces, it was only by half a day. They had then been tricked by the Eagle Food Gang, and many Warriors had come down with rotworm disease.

By the time they reached Daokou Gully, more and more Warriors were falling ill.

Tie He was driven to distraction, terrified that the Rong soldiers would once again be frightened by the rotworms into losing their reason, and also afraid that the Rong soldiers would be incited by the kings of the various tribes to rebel. He had only slept four hours before getting up to handle all manner of affairs, personally overseeing the construction of the main camp and the Insect Disease Camp.

Only after all the Warriors had been settled and the kings of the various tribes were behaving themselves did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But he hadn’t rested long before Azimo arrived.

Bang!

After listening to Azimo’s report, Tie He slammed his palm on the table in fury. Because he hadn’t rested properly and was too exhausted, that slam left him feeling a bit dizzy.

Tie He steadied himself before he began to think it through, then said, "Looks like the situation for that Bastard Chu isn’t too good. Digging canals—is their attempt to carve out territory and rule separately from us."

Whoosh—Tie He slowly expelled a long breath. That was fine; like this, he could be at ease.

If the Bastard Chu Great General led tens of thousands of troops in a direct assault on Daokou Gully, Da Rong would likely retreat again behind the Longshan Mountain.

Tie He said, "Let them dig. Just take Warriors and keep an eye on them. If you get the chance, loose arrows and kill off a few batches of Bastard Chu soldiers and officers as well."

However, they were out of range.

"Yes." Azimo accepted the order, then, looking at Tie He’s sunken eye sockets from exhaustion, urged, "Heavenly Khan, it’s very safe inside Daokou Gully. You should rest more."

Tie He nodded. "The Great General can rest assured."

He further instructed, "Everything inside Daokou Gully must be firmly in our hands. Don’t let people from other tribes lay a finger on it."

"Yes!" Azimo was Tie He’s confidant, and he had a brain. He knew that after Tie He’s crushing defeat, the kings of the tribes would surely seize the chance to stir up trouble and vie for the Heavenly Khan’s throne. They had to be careful.

Azimo stayed for a while, then left, working with Tie He’s trusted Generals to keep control of Daokou Gully while also keeping watch on the Great Chu soldiers.

The Great Chu soldiers were numerous and moved quickly. By dawn, a long canal stretching beyond sight had already appeared outside Daokou Gully.

Azimo watched, shocked, but not overly worried. It was just a long canal; at most it could be used to divide up territory. Could it turn into a dragon and bite them to death?

But not long after, Azimo panicked.

For Reconnoitre Troop Commander came to report that the Bastard Chu soldiers were carrying over barrel after barrel of Rotworms and dumping them into the long canal.

"What? The Bastard Chu soldiers dare to do that? They’re trying to kill us!" Azimo thought of the batches of Warriors killed by Rotworms and felt a lingering dread.

After calming himself for a moment, he quickly said, "Keep scouting."

With that, he immediately went to find Tie He.

Rotworms again!

If only this stuff could die out completely!

Tie He was on the verge of madness and now wanted nothing more than to kill the Great Wizard. It was all that castrated man’s fault—raising Rotworms for no reason. Now Da Rong had been bitten back by the Rotworms and was on the brink of annihilation.

"Send troops out of Daokou Gully. Use fire attacks. Burn those Rotworms to death!" Tie He ordered.

But Great General Xu had already anticipated this move. As soon as Tie He sent troops out for a fire attack, Great General Xu had his soldiers use catapults to hurl poisonous insects at those Rong soldiers coming to burn.

The great blaze burned countless poisonous insects to death, but the Rong soldiers were badly frightened by them. Each batch of Rong soldiers sent out for a fire attack meant yet another batch of Rong soldiers infected with rotworm disease!

Tie He couldn’t take it anymore and ordered a temporary halt to the offensive, then instructed Azimo instead, "Issue a Heavenly Khan Order. Starting today, Warriors from each tribe will rotate in batches to dig long canals beneath Daokou Gully and pour pine oil into the canals to burn, to prevent Rotworms from crawling over."

This was the truly urgent matter.

Tie He’s orders were quickly disseminated through the army, and the Royal Generals of each tribe began leading their Warriors to dig canals.

The movements of the Rong people were soon reported by Reconnoitre Soldiers to Lang Troop Commander, who in turn reported to Xu You.

Xu You laughed when he heard this. "Ignore the Rong bandits. Keep digging our canal and breeding poisonous insects."

"Yes." Lang Troop Commander took the order and left. With orders given, the soldiers kept digging. Half a month later, they had dug out a long canal spanning a hundred li, filled entirely with poisonous insects!

When Tie He received the report, he nearly vomited... Back then the Great Wizard had claimed Rotworms could reproduce—that a single Rotworm could spawn dozens more within five days, and that it wouldn’t be long before they spread all over Bastard Chu and slaughtered all the people there.

Now, Tie He wanted nothing more than to hack the Great Wizard into pieces!

Seeing Tie He’s face dark as pitch, Azimo took a bold risk and said, "Heavenly Khan, we have to think of a way to put an end to this."

They couldn’t just keep facing off like this.

Besides, the Witch God Festival was drawing near, and many Warriors wanted to return to Da Rong to celebrate.

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