Lord of the Desert

Chapter 448 Geographical Advantage
Four days later, March 25th.

The Mao hour (six or seven in the morning) is about to pass and dawn is approaching.

Erbai City was immersed in the cold morning, and there was no cloud in the sky yet.

Youhu Lake seized the opportunity to spread its resentment, and clouds of mist emerged, like ghostly white elephants wandering on the water.

Hong Fan stood on the corner tower and looked westward, and saw countless black shadows standing in the fog.

That was the swarm of insects that arrived gradually.

The great battle is approaching, the city walls are silent, and the flags are dim.

Hong Fan inspected the gunpowder bags and cast iron shells next to several heavy artillery pieces, and was then respectfully invited by two personal guards of the Shengyu Army to attend the meeting.

Garrison, under the plaque of Iron Flame Flood.

Xiao Chu sat alone on the throne at the top.

From her down, originally only three Yuanci were qualified to use the upper seats with armrests. Now Hong Fan became the fourth person, sitting opposite Gu Yixin and below Wei Yuanbai.

Three days ago, when Hong Fan returned to the city to report the killing of the nine-headed queen insect, most people were hesitant.

After all, Xiao Chu herself is a martial artist with innate cultivation and specializes in earth-based martial arts. Even she finds it hard to imagine how this can be done.

But soon the scouts discovered that the Zerg had completely abandoned the two underground palaces, verifying the battle report.

The nine-headed queen insect died overnight, and it would take ten days to replenish each head.

When the news spread, the whole city was shocked.

It was the first time in many years that the residents of Guxi witnessed someone single-handedly killing all the queen insects at no cost. For a time, the names of Hongfan and Shashijie became very popular.

It is true that real insects can be fought, but there is no powerful race in the world that cannot be fought, including humans.

The most terrifying thing about the Zerg is that they can never be killed, so losing the Queen is equivalent to reducing their threat by half.

In the Shengyu army, Hong Fan's prestige also soared.

The purple ribbons who had originally treated him as equals were obviously uneasy in front of him. The casual Hu Zhuang began to be polite in front of him, and Dai Wangchen didn't even dare to look him in the eye.

These changes gave Shi Yuanwei a familiar sense of déjà vu.

The so-called cone is placed in the bag, and its tip is immediately visible.

The short meeting lasted half an hour.

After the military arrangements were completed, the generals went up to the city.

At 10 a.m., the sun was shining brightly and the sky was covered with thick clouds.

All obstructions in the atmosphere are washed away.

Hong Fan, dressed in tight clothes, looked down upon the swarm of insects that formed like a forest and a sea two miles away.

Last July, he advanced to the second stage of the innate stage. After nearly eight months of practice and the nourishment provided by the commander insect and the queen insect, he still had to open up 50% of his meridians to reach the third stage of the innate stage.

Personal killing becomes inefficient when reaching the Qi realm.

Only the battlefield, especially the brutal battlefield where alien races clash, is the real feast for the Star Lord.

A quarter of an hour later, tens of thousands of sub-insect cannon fodder launched the first wave of attack.

Hong Fan has heard a lot about the battle history of Shengzhou these days and knows that this is a common practice used by the insect swarm to consume resources and test the city's defenses.

Erbaicheng had already prepared a response to this.

The area one mile below the city walls did not have the chevaux de frise and caltrops commonly seen in inland city defenses, but was instead filled with dozens of meters deep, compacted trenches.

These trenches are connected to the moat, and the moat is connected to the Youhu Lake and is filled with water.

Large numbers of worker insects struggled to float across the water, and their bodies, which had suffocated due to water entering their spiracles, soon filled the first three ditches.

The swarm changes to respond.

Dozens of worker insects pushed forward, emitting pheromones. Receiving the order, the worker insects turned to earthwork, pushing the soil into the ditch to mix it into mud with stronger bearing capacity, and then continued to push forward.

Over the next two hours, the trenches were filled in one by one, during which time the human defenders just watched coldly.

It was not until the beginning of the You hour (5 p.m.) that the worker insects pushed the front line forward two hundred meters, and the war drums were finally beaten on the city walls.

The city gate was wide open, and four thousand light infantrymen wearing full leather armor and holding short axes and shields filed out, quickly crossing the trench and engaging the enemy in a section two or three hundred meters outside the city.

The battle axe chopped down one by one, with a crisp sound.

Most of the worker insects were so focused on their work that they turned a blind eye. Only those in the front row fought back, often causing superficial wounds and forcing the injured to swallow the powerful detoxifying pills they held under their tongues.

The workers and fortifications consumed each other in silence. During this period, the insect swarm did not push forward to support, and Erbai City did not launch any firepower.

True insects are huge in weight, and although they can wade through mud, their limbs often sink very deeply, which not only reduces their movement speed but also consumes a lot of physical energy.

Humans, on the other hand, are unwilling to waste precious city defense resources on sub-insects.

Half an hour later, the exhausted light infantry were withdrawn.

Dusk tilts.

The evening light burned into the bricks of the city.

Hong Fan sat high on the corner tower, watching the trench being filled up bit by bit with mud and insect corpses, and felt the deep depression before the storm.

The stars turned overnight.

The worker insects kept pushing forward without stopping for a moment, so exhaustion became the primary cause of death.

But this was completely within the calculations of the commander insect - the worker insects who died on the front line not only contributed all the labor force, but also became food for those who came later after their death.

By the early morning of the next day, more than 40,000 worker insects had died, and they finally paved the road to 20 meters below the city on an expanded surface of about 300 meters.

"Why stop here?"

Hong Fan tried to tease in a light-hearted tone.

Unfortunately, he couldn't force a smile as he looked at the countless insect corpses lying in the mud outside the city.

"The last two trenches are too close to the top of the city wall, within the range of the warriors' true qi projection. The insect swarm must have felt that forcing them was too cost-effective."

Xiao Chu replied.

"Handsome bug has brains all over his body, and he is very good at calculating."

"So the next step is to change to real insects?"

Hong Fan clenched his fists and exhaled softly.

In the next section of the city, the other two star gods were also waiting on the top of the city.

Hu Zhuang had a red scarf on his forehead and a blank expression on his face.

Dai Wangchen stared at the swarm of insects, his eyes full of desire.

Behind him, two warriors in the state of celestial being and more than a dozen warriors in the state of Hunran and Guantong stood obediently - these people had tattoos on their faces, and they were all wanted criminals caught by the army during the war. At this time, they had swallowed the iron pills activated by the "Mind-Sheng God". If they were too far away from the Star Lord, their stomachs would burst and they would die.

"Not yet. They'll wait until the mud dries up."

Xiao Chu glanced at the three people who were waiting for dinner, then turned and went downstairs.

"If it rains heavily in the next few days, it will be beneficial to our army."

In a blink of an eye, it is March 28th.

There was no rain for two days. Instead, the sun was exceptionally bright, baking the ground hard.

At noon (2 p.m.), the sun is in the northwest position of the sky, and it is the strongest time of the day.

Hong Fan placed his hand on the battlement and looked at the swarm of insects two miles away.

In just three days, all the green outside the city had lost its color, leaving only a barren yellow earth. The slightest breeze would stir up moving clouds of dust.

"It's almost time."

Xiao Chu's voice came from behind.

"The swarm is going to attack at noon?"

Hong Fan asked.

According to the experience of human civil wars, sieges are usually chosen in the early morning and afternoon; at this time, the sun is scorching, but the city walls are mostly shaded, which should be disadvantageous to the attacker.

"Yes, because the enemy will come from this direction."

Xiao Chu raised his index finger and pointed to the sky.

“This is their geographical advantage.”

Sure enough, a quarter of an hour later a west wind started to blow, and everyone heard a low humming sound coming from the wind.

Large swarms of flying insects rose up, as if a black mist was rising high.

There was no need for further explanation, Hong Fan had already personally understood what Xiao Chu meant - as soon as he raised his eyes, he was blinded by the sunlight.

(End of this chapter)