Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1823: Chapter 1688: Building the Camp

”In that case, we can only send a small unit inside, hmm, it’s not impossible if the numbers are a bit larger, but are you sure it can be that precise?” Xuu You suddenly realized and said.

”I don’t know how precise it will be, but we can spend time trying; ten days should be about right. Moreover, with the snow covering, it might be easier, and during this time, we can also set up our camp,” Xun Shen said, with a slightly somber expression.

”Just to disgust the Northern Huns, let’s first observe their reaction, whether they’ll impulsively attack or patiently wait for the right moment,” Xuu You said, stroking his beard.

”As long as they’re clear-headed, it’ll be small-scale probing, then we’ll see if they stay on guard or find another way,” Sheni Pei said, mildly thoughtful, already having a basic plan, though it contained quite a few errors.

”So now it’s up to us to decide how to build the camp, based on what criteria?” Xun Shen looked at Sheni Pei and Xuu You and said.

”How about establishing a camp over two thousand acres?” Sheni Pei pondered for a while before looking up at the two men.

”This will require a significant amount of time and manpower,” Xuu You estimated roughly, calculating that building such a large camp would require not only a lot of time but also a considerable workforce, approximately two thousand people working for ten days just to repair the camp.

”No need to worry about this. We’ll plan while building the camp. We won’t miss either,” Xun Shen said with a laugh.

Yuan Tan, Gao Lan, and Jii Ling looked utterly bewildered at the three civil officials across from them, unable to comprehend their cruel smiles.

They agreed, and the next day, more than twenty thousand people were immediately driven by oxen and horses to a place one mile in front of the Northern Huns Camp. The Northern Huns tribe, upon receiving the news, immediately entered a war preparedness state.

However, the unusually alert Northern Huns waited left and right until it was dark, yet they still did not encounter the Han Army’s attack. Until the scout cavalry reported that the Han Army had started camping on the spot, the Northern Huns tribe finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Northern Huns originally wanted the War Eagle to deliver messages to notify the southward tribes, but because of the strong winds and snowstorm, they could only abandon this idea. Similarly, using war horses to send messages under such harsh climates was tantamount to seeking death.

Amidst the Siberian wind and snowstorm, losing direction meant that even with war horses and reserves, it was still a dead end. Therefore, the Northern Huns tribe could only try to send a certain number of warriors south, as it was up to them to fulfill their duty and heed the Mandate of Heaven.

Of course, this dreadful snowstorm wasn’t entirely due to natural causes; half of it resulted from Xuu You, Sheni Pei, and Xun Shen taking advantage of the situation. However, the bad part was that the Han Army was also affected by this degree of snowstorm.

Even Sheni Pei and the others had no good way to destroy this snow cloud covering one province. In today’s world, people who can forcibly change the weather of one province against the times didn’t achieve it through their abilities alone.

Clearly, Sheni Pei and the others were facing this snow cloud without any good solution left, so they could only leave one person to reduce the snowfall and strong winds over their camp’s scope; forcibly controlling such things was simply nonsense.

The remaining two people, one commanding camp construction and the other leading Wang Mo, Zhu Han, Tao Sheng, and others to collect timber. Once the timber was felled, they would transport it back to build the camp.

The camp over two thousand four hundred acres in size, counting the raised wood floors, roughly needed fifteen thousand trees; as estimated, the entire five to six square kilometer forest was quickly felled.

Fortunately, in this era, trees were far more abundant than people, with wild mountains and primeval forests everywhere. Whatever was lacking, trees certainly weren’t. So even if you fell fifteen thousand matured pines and cedars, you could fell hundreds of thousands, no one would care; within a few decades, it’ll be another forest.

However, even with Inner Qi support, this era lacked quality tools, so one person couldn’t even fell a hundred trees a day, and if it was only felling without transporting back, fifty trees wouldn’t be a problem.

But when you add transporting back, it becomes quite complicated, and at best in one day, you could handle ten to twenty trees. Thus, the timber collection had over two thousand people working, estimating seven to eight days to collect the needed wood.

Originally, it wouldn’t take so long, but with more trees cut, the transport distance increased. The Northern Huns originally were stationed near the forest for convenience during winter.

For this era, winter water sources weren’t problematic; snow, once collected, melted by the fire became naturally harmless drinking water, though fire acquisition was very important.

This is why the Northern Huns camp wasn’t too far from the cold-temperate coniferous forest, but it conveniently allowed Xun Shen and others to use local materials to build their camp.

While Xuu You transported the timber back, Xun Shen brought three thousand people to saw them into the board materials needed. Initially, apart from the soldiers genuinely trained as carpenters doing normal work, the others were just floundering.

Fortunately, Xun Shen wasn’t particular; no matter how terrible the wooden stakes sawed out were or how problematic the wooden boards were, construction began on the previously planned site.

Forget mortise and tenon structures! If necessary, use nails. No iron nails? Surely wooden nails are available. Nurturing and strengthening the internal structure of wooden nails; thousands of people working non-stop to strengthen and nurture, isn’t it all to produce the material he wants?

As for why nurturing would result in flammability, it’s naturally to facilitate heating during the snowy days, lighting fires in winter isn’t easy; easy burning makes it a bit more comfortable.

The Han Army occupied an area of about two thousand four hundred acres for the camp construction, indeed frightening the remaining tribes of the Northern Huns. However, under current circumstances, the Northern Huns were powerless to move further north, and they weren’t fools; in the current situation, should they advance north, it would likely, no, definitely form a flaw during the march!

In the current situation of facing the Han Army head-on, the appearance of such a flaw would be nearly fatal for the Northern Huns.

Therefore, for the current Northern Huns, maintaining position without movement and strengthening vigilance became the most correct choice, and the self-proclaimed clever Northern Huns indeed did just that.

The two sides were merely five miles apart, but due to the snowstorm, the Northern Huns couldn’t clearly see what the Han Army was doing, nor could they dispatch too many scout cavalry. They could only observe from afar, relying on blurry impressions to estimate that the Han Army was conducting camp construction.

As for Xun Shen, things were much more relaxed; when the Northern Huns didn’t immediately launch a counterattack on the first day, Xun Shen understood what this group of Northern Huns was thinking, immediately allocating soldiers originally defending the camp to produce the wood materials needed for the camp.

The soldiers producing the wooden boards continued their work, the soldiers nurturing the wooden boards and various materials continued their nurturing, and under such current circumstances, the entire camp was rapidly built up.