Lord of the Desert

Chapter 360 Compromise
"Duan, are you dreaming?"

Tang Shaoyou became furious when he heard this, thinking that a dog can't spit out ivory, and immediately retorted.

Duan Tiannan was not angry at all.

"If you think surrender doesn't sound good, how about calling it an uprising?"

He advised patiently.

"If the Tang family changes its affiliation, the Baisheng Army can be renamed the Shaoyou Army. I don't care about a title, and Lord Baisheng probably doesn't care either."

Tang Shaoyou then understood that the other party was not joking but was sincerely trying to persuade him.

After the battle just now, he knew that Duanli City would not be able to be defended sooner or later, but he still shook his head.

A family's reputation lies in its distant origins rather than its profound heritage, so they seek to be conservative and prudent in their conduct.

Although the Hundred Victories Army has great momentum and many experts, it has no fundamental possibility of achieving anything.

In Tang Shaoyou's opinion, it would be more accurate to say that the other party was pushed to his current position rather than reaching it on his own.

Regarding the affairs of Huaiyang, only the first-class families and the martial saints are the chess players outside the chessboard; the Baisheng Army, the Tang family and the like are at best just large chess pieces with some right of self-determination.

Moreover, Duan Tiannan's ideas of publicizing martial arts and valuing ordinary people naturally conflict with those of the aristocratic families. If the Tang family joins forces with him, they will surely be cut off from the world and will be unable to move forward.

"That leaves the second option."

Duan Tiannan raised his second finger.

"The Tang family took the initiative to withdraw from Duanli City."

"How dare you humiliate me?"

Tang Shaoyou was furious and his shout shattered the clouds below him.

"No, I... um, I am sincerely considering both sides."

Duan Tiannan raised his hand to comfort her, speaking in a serious tone.

"Tang Laojian, please listen to me. If you give up Duanli City, I will make the following promises."

“First, do not interfere with the Tang family’s retreat.

You can take all your two thousand soldiers, gold and silver, and martial arts resources with you, and settle temporarily in any of the four southern counties until Feng Jianke's life or death is settled and we can live in peace."

“Secondly, after you leave, the ancestral home and houses of the Duan Litang family will not be disturbed.

You can leave some guards there, just make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't do."

"Duan, what do you want?"

Tang Shaoyou asked, stroking his long beard.

"I want all the granaries in the city to be safe and sound, and you must leave behind all the food and supplies in your tribe - rice, fodder, medicinal herbs, copper and iron - and if you can leave some gold and silver, I can give you some face by defeating you later."

Duan Tiannan replied.

"In addition, the Tianfeng Army in the city cannot leave."

As he said this, he stared into Tang Shaoyou's eyes.

"From Temuzi to the rest of the royal court, 3,000 men, if they don't surrender, they will die. How do you think that is?"

Tang Shaoyou did not reply immediately.

His mind raced, and he grasped the other party's thoughts in a few moments.

First, to avoid the huge casualties of a forced attack on the city;
The second was the fear that their efforts would be in vain after the city was captured - a considerable part of the value of Duanli City lay in its storage and wealth, and even if the Victorious Army could win, it would be difficult to prevent the defenders from being destroyed along with them.

The third is to force the Tang family to become alienated from the royal court - if they abandon the three thousand Tianfeng Army, the Tang family will no longer be able to choose Yunlan City as their retreat route.

This is indeed a consideration that is beneficial to both parties.

However, things are far from that simple.

"No, the Tang family can't escape without a fight..."

Tang Shaoyou pondered for a moment and gave a reluctant answer.

"You can't defend it anyway."

Duan Tiannan interrupted.

"We may not be able to hold on, but we will certainly break your bones and muscles, and you will be unable to advance southward within a year."

Tang Shaoyou returned immediately.

"As you said, it may take a year to get Duanli."

Duan Tiannan actually nodded in agreement.

"But if you don't seek elegance, it will last forever."

There was a brief silence between the cloud and the moon.

"Oh, you cunning old man Tang, if both the Baisheng Army and the Tang family were to suffer heavy losses, Feng Mubai would only laugh his head off. Do you really want to fight me to the death, and then move your entire clan to Yunlan City to be humble and serve others?"

Duan Tiannan suddenly sneered.

"My Tang family has lived in Duanli for 200 years. We will never abandon the city unless we have no other choice."

Tang Shaoyou gritted his teeth for a moment, but still shook his head.

"How about I spend a little more effort to create a situation where you have no choice?"

Duan Tiannan sighed.

Tang Shaoyou seemed to have guessed the method and his face darkened.

"If I hadn't asked you to be defeated miserably in public, would I not know that you value reputation more than anything else?"

Duan Tiannan mocked.

"You and I don't have to fight anymore. The city walls are our limit."

"If our army captures the outer city within three days, you will lose. If we fail, the Hundred Victories Army will retreat. How do you think?"

Tang Shaoyou finally wavered.

"You are an ignorant boy. I have never cared about my reputation, but the reputation and reality... Forget it, do you want to do it yourself?"

He asked.

Duanli is a majestic city in Huaiyang, and its defense is far more than just a city wall.

In terms of the process, if the outer city is lost, street fighting will take place in the streets of the market town;

After being defeated in street fighting, they retreated and held the inner city;
The inner city cannot be defended, and the Tang family mansion itself also has certain fortress functions.

Of course, the latter three combined are far less dangerous than the outer city.

But given the current situation, abandoning the city after the wall is lost cannot be considered "fleeing without a fight", at most it can be considered "cutting off one's own arm"...

"The walls of Duanli City are extremely strong. Even if you want to blast a hole in it, it will probably take dozens of moves."

Tang Shaoyou said slowly.

This was a confusing statement, but Duan Tiannan had dealt with the other party for many years and could understand the meaning behind it - if he went to open the city with an iron palm, Tang Laojian would not be able to sit idly by.

"I won't do anything."

Duan Tiannan only replied with one sentence and didn't say any more nonsense.

Tang Shaoyou thought for a moment.

"According to the conditions you stated before, you will leave 70% of the food and supplies and take 30% away."

He suddenly counter-offered.

Duan Tiannan sneered and was about to speak when the other party added the rest of the sentence.

"I'll leave you an extra 200,000 taels of silver." "200,000?..."

Duan Tiannan had just shown signs of being moved when Tang Shaoyou spoke again.

"In addition, the Baisheng Army wants to release Qing'er."

"That's no problem, but we have to release them after the city changes hands."

Duan Tiannan simply agreed, not wanting to haggle over minor details.

He was not the type to use hostages as a threat.

At this point, both parties knew that most of the work was done. Although they didn't show it on their faces, they felt relieved in their hearts.

"Do you really have the means to capture the outer city within three days?"

Tang Shaoyou couldn't help but ask.

After waiting for a while, he saw that Duan Tiannan remained calm, so he felt it was boring and stopped pestering him.

"This is all up to you and me, no words will be left..."

The two then agreed on some details, then flew down from the clouds and clapped their hands under the moon as an oath.

That night, Duan Tiannan returned to the camp and Tang Shaoyou returned to the city, and they each secretly summoned their superiors to make arrangements.

······
The next day, September 18th.

The soldiers in Duanli City did not know the outcome of the Yuanci Battle last night. They only knew that as soon as the sky got bright, the artillery outside the city began to roar again.

The course of the battle was the same as before. The Baisheng Army rushed to the top of the city three times in total. In the third attack, there were Chisha Hongfan and the left army general Yi Hong. The two sides remained in a stalemate until the sun set.

After one day of destruction, many of the towers were damaged.

After the war, Li Xiqi led his team to patrol the city. He frowned slightly as he listened to the sound of whips and scolding along the way.

The wooden structure was not as strong as the city wall and was completely unable to withstand the artillery fire.

In order to maintain a high advantage over the enemy's earthen platform, people in the city had to constantly dismantle houses to obtain wood and conscript people for labor.

The common people are not as disciplined as the soldiers, hence the sound of whips.

"Compared to three days ago, morale has obviously dropped."

Li Xiqi whispered.

"The fierce fighting has been going on for half a month, and so has the enemy."

The captain of the guards next to him took over the conversation.

"Today, one less chariot was sent to the city. It must be as the general expected, that the enemy is running out of wood."

He continued.

Li Xiqi nodded and went down the city to inspect the ordnance and logistics departments as usual.

He first went over the plan for opening the tunnel in his mind, and then wondered whether he should lead the team to launch a night attack on the artillery positions of the Baisheng Army.

Afterwards, Li Xiqi ran into Tang Shengwang in front of Tang’s private warehouse in the east of the city.

They were both stunned and nodded to each other.

"Are you here to get food?"

Li Xiqi asked.

The armed forces in Duanli City are roughly divided into three forces: Tianfeng Army, City Defense Department, and Tang Family Soldiers, each with three sets of logistics.

The Tianfeng Army used supplies from the official warehouse owned by the royal court, the City Defense Department used supplies from the exclusive public warehouse, and the Tang family used supplies from the private warehouse of their clan members.

"Yes. The casualties have increased dramatically in the past few days, and the morale of our soldiers has declined, so we plan to increase the ration supply."

Tang Shengwang answered immediately, speaking with a smile, looking extremely tired.

This reminded Li Xiqi of the fight between the other party and Gu Yixin today - three battles in one day, each one seemed to be fighting for their life and was extremely fierce.

"You were too confrontational with Gu Yixin today."

He couldn't help but speak.

"To defend a city, victory or defeat is not a matter of momentary gains or losses; if you are injured, you will have to fill his gun with human lives every day."

Li Xiqi unconsciously used a lecturing tone and habitually waited for Tang Shengwang to refute. Unexpectedly, the other party nodded silently, which was a rare compliance.

This made his heart skip a beat.

"What was the result of last night's battle?"

Li Xiqi took a half step closer and lowered his voice.

“It’s still undecided.”

Tang Shengwang expected this question and answered it.

"But Lord Shou Yu had a hard time fighting - after the last battle, the best medicine in the family was used up, but Duan Tiannan didn't recover as quickly as he did."

Li Xiqi understood the other party's concerns.

"The physique of 'Iron Palm Opener' is world-famous."

"But Lord Tang doesn't need to win this battle. We can just hold out for another twenty days."

"The first snow falls in mid-October every year. When the Hundred Victory Army reaches that time, they have to consider withdrawing..."

He meant to comfort him, but he saw that Tang Shengwang was a little impatient when he heard the numbers "mid-October" and "the 20th". He nodded randomly and even a layer of sweat broke out on his neck.

At this time, most of the carts were filled with grain bags and were moving along the street, making up and down clanging sounds on the bluestone slabs.

Tang Shengwang bowed and was about to leave, but was stopped by Li Xiqi.

"At this point in the battle, there are no major changes."

The latter spoke, his tone as usual.

"The next most important thing is morale."

"In a few days, I want to ask the nobles in the city to prepare gold, silver and other valuables to reward the entire army. Is that okay?"

Tang Shengwang was stunned when he heard this, and then nodded.

"Also, if the war situation becomes urgent, each family must send out slaves and concubines to reward the officers. Your family should set an example first."

Li Xiqi said again.

"Wait for me to report to my master..."

Tang Shengwang looked troubled and it took him a long while to squeeze out a word.

Unexpectedly, Li Xiqi suddenly scolded.

"It's already this hour. You are a star from the sky, and you can't make the decision on such a small matter?"

His voice and expression were so harsh that they attracted the attention of others.

Tang Shengwang drank from him and turned his eyes away, not daring to say anything.

"Okay, whatever you say..."

After a moment's silence, Tang Shengwang came to his senses, replied perfunctorily, and left with disorderly steps.

The captain of the guards next to him watched this scene and felt happy.

[All the nobles of the aristocratic families are not as commanding and majestic as our general! ]

He was thinking about it, and when the Tang family members walked away, he was about to step forward to flatter them, but he saw Li Xiqi standing with his hands behind his back. There was no trace of the previous fierceness on his face, and he was just staring blankly at the sky.

In the west, a drop of blood-red sunset was frozen in the clouds, illuminating people's souls.

(End of this chapter)