Thirty-three, the ignition of the war (middle)

The night in the desert and Gobi is very scary...

The scorching hell of the scorching sun during the day quickly turned into a biting cold with dripping water into ice under the night sky. The roaring wind that roared all night was like a roaring beast, quickly rolling over the exposed sand and gravel ground, rushing forward with waves of sand and dust, making a harsh friction sound.

But for the indigenous people who are familiar with this Gobi Desert, this audible wind is not terrifying at all. The most dangerous winds will suddenly rise silently, and the wind speed can even be as fast as there is no sound, wrapping you in an instant. Then, the rough sand particles mixed in the wind will easily grind your body into debris like a grinding wheel for grinding jewelry.

The clusters of exposed volcanic rocks are like the minions of beasts or demons, standing in the vast desert with their tips. The parts that are protruding from the ground have long been weathered and eroded and broken, especially the edges of the windward side, which are made of ravines and ravines by dust. Under the cold moonlight, these strange-shaped rock jungles all show an extremely cold color. Occasionally, you can see ice crystals frozen in the ditch by low temperatures, flashing with a little cold light under the moonlight.

On the Gobi Desert on the edge of the desert, although the climate is not as fickle as the center of the desert, it is also very harsh. Dryness and water shortage are not the most difficult. The severe temperature difference between day and night is the biggest gateway to test the tenacity of life.

Those red desert fire beetles made holes in the sand early, drilled deep into the soil that could still retain the temperature, and blocked the way they came from.

Later, it quietly waited for the arrival of dawn; while the desert lizard with the same tenacious vitality was quietly curled up in the cracks of the rocks, allowing the cold wind to freeze into an ice sculpture until the warm sunset melted and revived again.

As for those fragile creatures that cannot withstand harsh environments and extreme climates, they have long disappeared into the wind and sand all over the sky.

And the humans who still survived tenaciously in this harsh Gobi Desert have long adapted to this extreme climate of intersecting ice and flames. In order to resist the severe cold and heat, they dug caves on rocky hills and went deep into the mountains with relatively constant temperature. Since the nearby salt lake had long dried up, they drilled wells in the groundwater veins to draw water to maintain basic survival needs, thus building this solid fortress outside the green fields of the city to protect the safety of their homes behind them and to manage the natural salt mine condensed in the salt lake, the largest source of wealth in the city.

This is the most important garrison fortress in Lixuan City, guarding the Salt Lake Fort that communicates with the main roads of the city.

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As the number one city defense fortress, the Salt Lake Fort is built on a yellow-brown sandstone hill, which is steep and almost upright, which is enough to prevent any attacker who attempts to climb up. The thick rock body far superior to any city wall has become the natural protective wall of the fortress; the lookout post at the top of the fortress can even see the movements and stillness of more than ten miles. In the basement of the fortress, there are separate deep wells that can provide drinking water, large warehouses that stock up on arms and grain, and a secret tunnel connecting Lixuan City.

In short, with sufficient troops and supplies, the Salt Lake Fort could hardly be forcibly captured from the front.

The only problem is that the garrisons deployed by the Lixuan City authorities in this fortress have not been sufficient for a long time.

——There are only more than 10,000 residents left in the city at present, and most of them are busy making a living and working. The royal family lives very tightly. How much money can they squeeze out? How many idle people can supply them with full-time idle people, sit in this fortress where birds do not shit and eat idle meals?

Therefore, when the Tukan cavalry attacked last time, there were only fifty old, weak and sick in the Salt Lake Fort, and the fortress itself was weathered and collapsed severely. As a result, it was easily swept away on the first day of the battle, and it could not stop the enemy's footsteps at all.

Even now, Lixuan City, which has learned from its mistakes, has only gathered 300 quite strong soldiers to station in this crucial city defense fortress. There is no way, this is already the only regular army squadron in the city.

Such a small amount of poor troops, scattered in such a large fortress, can't even patrol, let alone stick to it.

Moreover, the living conditions in the fortress were poor, and the treatment of food and salary was not very good, so the morale in the army was always low.

In the quiet late night, except for the sentries on duty, everyone else retreated into the relatively warm caves under the rock formation. While looking at the cold moonlight that penetrated through the narrow window, they gathered next to the brazier tremblingly, feeling a hint of warmth brought by the jumping flames. According to the initial design of the city-state's prosperous period three hundred years ago, a huge fortress that should be able to accommodate 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers, but at this time there were only more than 300 living people living in it, which naturally seemed increasingly empty and cold.

Accompanied by the bitter cold wind that whistled all night outside, waves of cold air flowed through the ventilation holes and whimpered in the deep tunnels and corridors, like ghost moans, making every soldier curled up in this too spacious cave feel a little shivered.

"...Oh, this damn ghost weather is obviously summer, but it is still so cold at night, and the wind is so strong... Ah snee"

A young recruit with a beard on his lips, wrapped in a worn blanket full of insect holes, shook his body in the corner of the wall, rubbed his hands that were frozen purple for a few times, and finally couldn't help but mutter, "...I really want to drink a bowl of hot sweet potato soju."

He stood up from the corner of the wall, reached out and added firewood to the brazier that was obviously lacking in heat, and leaned against the flames, trying to make himself feel warmer without burning his skin or burning his clothes.

Looking up outside the window, there was still a desolate and desolate Gobi scenery. Half a lonely moon hangs high in the air, reflecting the cold silver light on the salt lake. The towering mountains stand at the intersection of the sky, and the continuous cliffs of mountains and cliffs, like the sharp teeth of giant beasts, bit the ends of the heaven and earth together.

Desert, strange rocks, salt lakes, distant mountains... The scenery around Salt Lake Fort is like this the lifeless silence and desolation.

"... Hissing, sweet potato and sour wine, the new boy from the city is indeed very delicate." Another white-haired veteran with a scar on the opposite side of the brazier couldn't help but tease a few words, "... The grain has been a bad harvest these days, and the famine is getting worse day by day. How can there be a luxury like sour wine in the military rations? That's what veterans can drink. It's good that we can fill our stomachs."

Despite his harsh words, he still handed over a pottery cup, "...I'll just drink some hot tea, so that I can warm my body."

The recruit took the cup, looked at the few "tea leaves" floating inside, and couldn't help but curl his lips.

——This is not a real tea at all, it is just a fabricated dried mushroom, dried sweet potato leaves, and some additives such as burnt corn as a substitute for tea. As for real tea, it is too scarce today after the Silk Road was cut off for many years. Only some of the most generous nobles have a small collection and must wait until major festivals to drink it.

He took a sip of "tea" that was not worthy of his name, and was almost spit out by the strange smell that was difficult to get used to. After finally swallowing it, he shook his head and handed the teacup back, unwilling to take another sip.

The white-haired veteran with a scar on his face took the cup and was about to tease him a few more words, but someone next to him took the water bag from his waist and threw it at the recruit.

"...A greedy boy, you have a good time tonight, let's go on."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ragged and discolored sheepskin wine bag hit the young recruit's arms. Before the recruit could react, the middle-aged man who threw the wine bag said again, "...This is authentic rum. I heard that it is the favorite good thing of Western pirates, which is much better than our ale, wine, sweet potato soju, and the nomad horse milk wine."

When the recruits heard this strange wine name, they were stunned, but they still reached out to pull out the cork plug of the sheepskin wine bag. In an instant, a sweet and strong aroma of wine overflowed, attracting everyone around them to covet.

"...Bar, this is your wrong thing. Not to mention the grain-making soju wine, we haven't even drunk the horse milk wine for a long time. Didn't you say there was no stock a few days ago? Why would you rather satisfy this young boy's cravings than give us some old brothers a good time?"

Smelling the sweet smell of wine, an impatient soldier couldn't sit still and jumped up from the corner of the wall and shouted loudly.

"...I have only bought these bottles of rum for two days, and now there are only so many left. I used a few family-born jade statues and amber amulets to exchange them from the group of Naserel reinforcements a few days ago. They seem to have brought a lot of good things this time..."

The middle-aged man, known as Barr, shrugged his shoulders and replied, "...But, taking advantage of this opportunity to follow General Has back to the city, the quarantine officer Sackett got close to these people all day long and exchanged them with his savings for three boxes of soju. General Has also seemed to have received some high-quality wine as gifts... If you are really greedy, should you find them to think of a solution?"

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ps: What happened to the past two days? The message area has completely kept the radio silent? It feels so empty...
Chapter completed!