Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 303: Perseverance, breaking through the wall with rats
The fourth day of the seventh month in the second year of Daxia

Bang…bang…bang…bang…

In the main underground area of ​​the honeycomb, a wall on the west side of the main entrance has begun to deform violently. The stones on the wall have long since fallen off, and a large bulge is exposed in the iron wall, which is at least three or four meters thick. The violent impact sound outside is still continuing, causing the entire main area to tremble.

Below the location of the barrier that was hit, there were thousands of Great Xia Digging Realm warriors working together to pull the iron chains to erect a giant cylindrical iron stake.

The diameter of the cylindrical iron stake alone was more than three meters, and it was about twenty meters high. Judging from the number of people below using iron chains to erect it, it was obviously extremely heavy.

The group below was led by Yuan Cheng, Zhao Long, Qiu Peng and more than ten other cold-resistant-level warriors. They stood in front, erected iron stakes, and then directed everyone to move forward until the top of the iron stake was aligned with the bump that was hit, then they slowly spoke:
"Everyone, come on, one, two, three... Hey!"

More than a dozen Cold-Resistant-level warriors and thousands of Earth-Digger-level warriors worked together, and the iron stakes were leaning diagonally against the protruding part of the barrier that had been hit.

boom…………

The huge external impact came again, and the people holding up the iron stakes below immediately took a few steps back. However, because the ends of the iron stakes were already against the ground, most of the impact force was offset. Apart from retreating, the people suffered no other injuries.

Bang…bang…bang…bang…

After the bulge was blocked, the sound of the impact immediately changed. It was obvious that after the giant iron pile unloaded the force, the force on the iron wall was greatly reduced. The sound was not as loud as before, and the vibration in the main area space also became smaller.

bang... bang...

The people outside obviously noticed something, and after bumping into each other several times, they just stopped.

"Hahahaha, he stopped again. Li Xuanling is really persistent. It's already the middle of the night and he has tried seven times, but he still refuses to give up."

Yuan Cheng laughed heartily, and Qiu Peng, Zhao Long and others beside him, including the thousands of digging masters who had just moved the iron stakes, also laughed.

As everyone laughed, they couldn't help but look up at the barrier above.

The upper barrier of the entire main area space already has six huge protrusions that are three or four meters thick. They were obviously smashed out by Li Xuanling and others on the periphery.

"Every time we waited for her to hit the wall for two hours before we pushed the iron stakes in. She couldn't see from the outside, so she might have thought the wall was too thick and she couldn't penetrate it at all, hahahaha."

Luo Yuan was also in the crowd. After he finished speaking, he turned around and looked behind him, then asked everyone, "Where is Lord Si Cheng?"

When everyone looked back, they found that Xia Chuan was no longer behind them.

"He must have gone to inspect other places. The main area's barrier is large, and he's worried that Longshan will make a move from other places!"

Hearing this, everyone's faces suddenly showed a hint of strangeness. Finally, Yuan Cheng spoke up: "In the entire main area, there is only a small hole on the top of the main building. That small hole has been filled by us. What else can Longshan do? Apart from using brute force to break it open, they have no other way."

Everyone nodded, with expressions of approval on their faces.

All the barriers in the main area of ​​the hive are poured with iron liquid. Apart from some air holes, there is only one main entrance and a small opening with a diameter of no more than half a meter above the main building.

On the night they withdrew from Wu Shuang, they blocked the main gate with iron juice. Although the small hole above the main building was not blocked, the passage connecting to the ground above the hole was also filled by brute force.

Not to mention whether Longshan can find an opening on the roof of the main building underground. Even if he finds it, it is a small opening with a diameter of only half a meter and can only accommodate one person at most. What's the use of it?

If the Longyou troops dared to come in one by one through that small opening, they would be courting death.

Therefore, Longshan had no other choice but to use brute force to break through the iron wall.

"Don't be careless, just keep an eye on this side!"

At this moment, Xia Chuan's voice suddenly sounded from behind.

When everyone looked back, they found that Xia Chuan and Chen Yingyuan were walking towards them from the direction of the main building complex.

"Sir, don't worry at all. The strength of Li Xuanling's four siblings is indeed good, but the iron stake made by Mu Siming weighs more than 30 million pounds. We are well-rested and waiting for the opportunity. As long as we focus on the part where they hit and push upwards, there is no possibility of breaking it."

After hearing Yuan Cheng's words, Xia Chuan did not refute. Looking at the seven protruding parts of the iron wall above, a smile appeared on his face.

"If we can make a sharp iron tool that is long and big enough, and more people work together to crash into it from the outside, it is possible to break it open. But Longshan has come a long way, and Li Xuanling could not have guessed that the beehive station would have such a solid iron wall fortress, and they would definitely not prepare it in advance. So this time, they are destined to fail to break it open."

Mu Dong, who was named by Yuan Cheng, was right next to him. At the end of April, after being beaten up by Xia Hong, he, Cheng Feng and Bai Dongying all intensified their training. Finally, they successfully broke through to the cold-resistant level at the beginning of this month. This time they led the army to defend the hive, and the three of them were also transferred from Xiacheng by Xia Chuan.

The giant iron piles were temporarily built by him and a group of craftsmen using the iron ore stored in the beehive after he surveyed the underground space of the beehive.

At the beginning of its construction, he was already thinking about how to break through a ten-meter-thick solid iron wall like a honeycomb from the outside, so when he heard Yuan Cheng say that there was no possibility of breaking it, he subconsciously refuted it.

Upon hearing this, everyone, including Yuan Cheng, nodded immediately.

Indeed, although this barrier is ten meters thick, it is still made of iron. If there are sharp iron tools that are long and heavy enough, it should not be difficult for the Longyou army to break it open by working together from the outside to hit it inwards.

It’s a pity that the Longyou Army came from afar and it’s impossible for them to have such thorough preparations.

It is impossible to smelt on site without iron ore and coal; the straight-line distance between the beehive and Longshan is at least hundreds of kilometers, and it is even more unrealistic to go back to Longshan to get them.

Bang…bang…

In the space above, there was another loud noise coming from somewhere.

Obviously, it was the Longshan Cold-Proof Class outside that started trying to collide again.

"This is the eighth time. Are you coming again?"

"It's changed its location. This time it's on the east side of the main entrance."

"Are you so persistent that you must take down the beehive?"

"They arrived last night. It's been a whole day, and they haven't even seen us, yet they still refuse to give up."

"Wait a minute. Let's tire their men out for a while. When the iron wall rises more than three meters, we can use iron stakes to push it up. I want to see how resilient this Longshan Mountain is."

………………

Xia Chuan looked up at the part of his head that was hit, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"They just refuse to take a detour to attack Xiacheng. It seems that Longshan has explored the situation in Xiacheng and knows that Xiacheng is more difficult to attack, so he plans to fight the hive to the death."

Chen Yingyuan nodded slightly and said, "Li Xuanling is very smart. She should be able to see that we deliberately withdrew the people from Jinggu just to lure her to attack Xiacheng. However, attacking Xiacheng is not only more difficult, but also easy to fall into a situation where she will be attacked from all sides. She will definitely not go."

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan just smiled and said nothing.

His withdrawal of the people from Jinggu was a sure-win strategy. It was intended to prevent the Longshan army from bypassing the Beehive and heading south, and also to lure them to go south through Jinggu and directly attack Xiacheng.

If the plan succeeds, he can lead the more than 9,000 people in the Beehive to attack, and together with the defenders in Xiacheng, attack Longshan from both inside and outside, and deal a fatal blow to Longshan; if the plan fails, the people in Jinggu are safe, and they can still guard the Beehive without any loss.

"but…………"

Chen Yingyuan frowned slightly and continued, "Li Xuanling doesn't seem to be such a stubborn person. She tried seven different places in a row and even continued for the eighth time. Even a fool can see that we are waiting for her inside. She can't break through the barrier no matter how many times she tries. Why does she keep trying so persistently?"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan frowned and immediately fell into deep thought.

Indeed, this kind of nitpicking is not like Li Xuanling's style.

But what other means can she use to break through the iron wall?

"The entire underground main area only has a small opening on the top floor of the main building. I have sent Zhao Hu, Zhao Bao and ten other cold-resistant soldiers to lead more than 3,000 people to surround that location. The remaining 5,000 people will patrol the surrounding areas of the entire main area around the clock. No matter what unusual movements there are in Longshan, I can detect them at the first time. I don't believe they can come up with any new tricks."

Since he couldn't figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. He decided to defend the hive to the death. As long as Longshan couldn't get in, they would have delayed for another day.

,

Even if they really broke in, with more than 9,500 Digging Realm soldiers and their 27 Cold-Resistant Level soldiers, the 3,000 Longyou troops who were waiting for the opportunity to tire themselves out are not without hope.

"It looks like Li Xuanling is not going to stop. With such a big commotion, we probably won't have peace for the next few days. Let's go inspect other places!"

Chen Yingyuan nodded and walked towards other locations in the main area with Xia Chuan.

…………

The main area of ​​the hive is underground. Horizontally, it is a circular space with a diameter of three kilometers. The highest point of the space is about twenty to thirty meters, and the lowest is more than ten meters.

The entire space is underground. What Da Xia needs to guard against is not just the place where Li Xuanling is colliding at the moment, but almost all positions up and down, left and right, must be taken into consideration.

The small opening on the top of the main building was guarded by ten cold-resistant officers including Zhao Hu and Zhao Bao, who led three thousand men; the position where Li Xuanling rushed was guarded by twelve cold-resistant officers led by Yuan Cheng, with a thousand men, using the iron stakes; the remaining five thousand men were led by Meng Yi, Zhu Yuan and Hong Tian, ​​who inspected the rest of the garrison.

boom…………

In the southwest corner of the base, a piece of rubble fell with a loud bang.

Hong Yu, who was patrolling below, quickly dodged sideways. After avoiding the rubble, he looked up at the iron gate of the main area on the east side and shook his head.

"With that iron stake there, Longshan's attempt to break through the iron wall with brute force will definitely fail. I don't know why they are so persistent."

Meng Ao, who was not far from him, heard this and immediately smiled and said, "800 sets of -forged armor, and two armies were lost. The people of Longshan must hate us to the core. This is not called persistence, but being blinded by hatred."

"Hehe, indeed."

Hearing this, Hong Yu immediately chuckled a few times, and couldn't help showing off the Hundred Forging Sword in his hand. He said, "It's a pity that we are not strong enough, otherwise we could have been given a set of Hundred Forging-level battle armor to wear."

"There are only more than 3,000 sets of Hundred-Forged Battle Armor in total. The basic strength must be at least 20,000 kilograms to wear it. We are only a little over 1,000 short. It's a bit of a pity."

Meng Ao couldn't help but sigh, took out a strong bow from behind, and flashed the blood-red arrows in the quiver, and said with a smile: "It's already very good that the three of us can share two big swords and a strong bow of 30 stones."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Kang, who was standing by, waved the forged sword in his hand and smiled.

Even though the fathers of the three are all at the cold-resistant level, important supplies like the hundred-forged-level broadsword are not easily obtained, not to mention the extremely strategic supplies like the hundred-forged-level armor.

It has only been half a year since the three of them broke through to the Digging Realm. Although they have already joined the hunting team and have considerable wealth, they could have afforded to buy a hundred-forged broadsword long ago.

The problem is that hundred-forged-level weapons are not easy to come by. It takes time for the craftsmen to forge them. Every time a batch is forged and sent to the quartermaster department, there will be an immediate rush for it. Even now, there are still more people than weapons.

In order to deal with this situation, the Quartermaster Department could only formulate a rule that those with higher basic strength would be given priority in exchange, so until now, the three of them have not been able to exchange for the hundred-forged level broadsword.

Not to mention the armor. If it weren't for the spoils of war in Longyou this time, all members of the Yunjiao Army would not be fully equipped now, let alone these people.

This time, 7000 of their men were transferred to garrison Fengchao and fought hard with the Longyou Army.

The 2500 sets of armor and numerous weapons previously seized in Longyou will naturally be put to use, but there are too many people, so they can only be distributed according to their cultivation level.

The basic strength of the three was only over 18,000, so they naturally didn't need to think about armor. In the end, Zhu Kang and Hong Yu each got a hundred-forged-level broadsword, and Meng Ao got a thirty-stone strong bow because of his good archery skills.

"This thirty-stone strong bow, I have to..."

“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”

Meng Ao was about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted by a rustling noise outside the iron wall. He thought he had misheard, but when he looked up, he found that Hong Yu and Zhu Kang had also stopped and looked at the iron wall.

"Did you hear it too?"

"I heard it. It sounded like something gnawing."

"Eat? No way, this side is made of iron!"

Meng Ao frowned, and the three of them looked at each other for a moment, then walked directly to the edge of the iron wall, put their ears against it, closed their eyes and began to listen carefully.

"Squeak..."

You heard it right, there was a real sound!

After the three of them retreated, their expressions suddenly became more serious.

"This voice seems a little familiar."

"It's just over three meters away."

"Oh no! That's the sound of a long-tailed rat. The Records of Cold Beasts records that the teeth of a long-tailed rat are sharper than iron, and it can gnaw and chisel at an extremely fast speed."

Zhu Kang reacted suddenly and said in surprise:
"Hongyu, quickly notify the people around to gather together. Mengao, you go notify Uncle Meng and the others, and ask them to quickly report to Si Cheng that a cold beast is coming." The more than 1700 people responsible for patrolling the barriers around the main area are divided into three groups. The people in the southwest are led by Mengao's father Meng Yi, so Zhu Kang asked Mengao to notify Meng Yi.

"Everyone come together, come quickly."

Hong Yu immediately began to call on the people around to gather together, while Meng Ao turned around and went to report the situation to his father Meng Yi.

squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak

Zhu Kang continued to lie on the iron wall and listen to the noise outside. He noticed that the sound was approaching faster and faster, and his expression became more and more solemn.

How come a long-tailed rat came here at this critical moment?
Longshan can also control the cold beasts and help them break through the iron wall. How is this possible?

Hong Yu's speed was extremely fast. In just over ten breaths, hundreds of Digging Realm experts who were responsible for patrolling the surrounding area had all gathered around him. They stared at the iron wall nervously for dozens of breaths. Meng Ao also came over with Meng Yi, who had a grim look on his face.

"Uncle Meng!"

"No need to be polite. Did you hear it here too?"

When Zhu Kang saw Meng Yi, he immediately bowed and prepared to salute, but before he could bend down, Meng Yi interrupted him.

Did you hear that too?

Noticing the word "also" in the words, Zhu Kang's expression suddenly froze.

And that's not all.

Meng Yi didn't wait for his answer, but walked over and leaned against the iron wall. After listening for a while, his expression, which was not very good to begin with, became even more solemn.

"It's a long-tailed rat. Judging from the speed at which it eats, it must be a low-level one. How is it possible that Longshan can control the cold beast..."

"Uncle Meng, this isn't the only place being eaten by rats?"

Zhu Kang finally couldn't resist his curiosity and asked directly.

Meng Yi nodded and said in a deep voice: "Six places in the surrounding barriers of the entire main area have heard this noise. You are the seventh one."

Longshan can really control the cold beasts!
It simply goes against common sense, how is this possible?

boom…………

When Zhu Kang and the people around him were looking confused and astonished, suddenly a huge silver object fell from the top of the main building complex and hit the ground with a loud bang.

"You guys hold on here. If the rat shows its head, kill it immediately!"

Meng Yi's face changed in shock. After giving orders to everyone, he led a dozen people and rushed towards the construction area.

"It's a long-tailed rat, isn't it?"

"Absolutely, Silver-haired Meattail, a gnat has already broken through the barrier."

"Then the Longyou Army will be able to attack us soon?"

Zhu Kang, Meng Ao, Hong Yu, and hundreds of Digging Realm guarding the surrounding area, all looked much more solemn in an instant.

………………

puff!

Below the main building complex, Xia Chuan chopped off the head of the scurrying rat, and deep green blood splattered all over the ground.

However, after killing the rat, there was no joy on Xia Chuan's face. Instead, he looked up at the big hole on the top with an extremely solemn expression.

"Mu Dong, can this hole on the roof be repaired in a short time?"

"No, such a big hole would require at least hundreds of thousands of pounds of molten iron, which cannot be melted in such a short time."

"Then there is nothing we can do. Hong Guang, you take 500 men to guard this cave. If the Longyou Army comes in, take action immediately. Blow the whistle to warn them if they need support."

"I obey my orders!"

Xia Chuan turned his head and glanced at the crowd, then continued to shout, "Meng Yi."

"My subordinate is here!"

Meng Yi just rushed over from the outside and answered directly after hearing the voice.

"In which places have you heard the long-tailed rat?"

"Two. I have already sent people to wait nearby."

Hearing Meng Yi's reply, Xia Chuan's expression suddenly became extremely gloomy.

There are two in the southwest, three in the north, and three in the southeast, which makes a total of eight. These eight were heard. Li Xuanling’s collision has not been heard yet. The entire main area is deafening. There must be many places where long-tailed mice are gnawing, which they cannot detect.

Two hours ago, Zhu Yuan in the north reported that he heard the sound of long-tailed mice gnawing. He thought it was an accident. After all, this was underground, and the occasional appearance of one or two long-tailed mice was nothing.

But soon after, Hong Tian in the southeast and Meng Yi in the southwest also heard the same noise, and the noise became more and more frequent. It was only then that Xia Chuan connected the reason for the appearance of the long-tailed rats with the Longyou army outside.

Longshan, actually used long-tailed rats to help them break through the wall.

Only now did he realize why Li Xuanling kept hitting the barrier.

She was trying to cover up the sound of long-tailed mice gnawing at the ramparts.

The question is, how does Longshan control rodents?
The cold beasts can only be driven away or hunted at best. Even if Longshan tried to drive a rat to the barrier, it would not necessarily obey orders and gnaw on the iron wall outside the hive.

What's more, at the moment, it's not just one, but obviously a group, and they are eating from different directions.

How did Longshan do it?
"Si Cheng, look, there's fog coming in from the cave."

At this moment, Meng Yi noticed something and suddenly pointed at the big hole on the top and shouted.

Xia Chuan looked up and his brows immediately furrowed.

There was indeed a thick, frosty white mist that was madly pouring into the large hole on the top that had just been gnawed open by the long-tailed rat.

"This, this is..."

Everyone, including Xia Chuan, had a look of confusion on their faces after seeing the white mist, except Chen Yingyuan, who was stunned for a moment. Then his expression changed suddenly, and he quickly leaned close to Xia Chuan's ear and whispered to him.

Xia Chuan's expression changed repeatedly. He lowered his head and thought for a moment before giving an order to Chen Yingyuan: "Tell Yuan Cheng to ignore the main gate. All the cold-resistant soldiers should start patrolling all places in the main area. If they hear any movement of rats, send people to wait nearby. Once the rats break through the barrier, kill them directly. Then continue to guard the cave entrance and don't let the people from Longshan in."

"I obey my orders!"

After Chen Yingyuan bowed, he quickly ran towards the main entrance of the main area.

Xia Chuan stayed where he was, looking at the big hole on the top, his eyes full of solemnity.

The long-tailed rat is no stranger to Daxia.

Before the first year, a group of them had appeared on the northern slope of the mountain.

Rodents generally live in groups and rarely appear alone or in pairs.

That is to say, there are probably a lot of rats gnawing at the outer iron wall. With Da Xia's current strength, a mere group of rats is nothing. Even if there are intermediate or even advanced rat kings among them, he is not afraid.

The problem is, behind the group of rats, there are the Longyou Army!

"Using strange means to break through the iron wall, what Big Brother said is right, this crazy woman Li Xuanling is really capable of doing anything!"

Xia Chuan stood there, his eyes changing for a long time. Finally, he looked up at the big hole on the top, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Bang…bang…bang…bang…

As expected, in the next few hours, the entire main area was in a state of riddled with holes. One after another, long-tailed rats broke through the iron wall and drilled into the main area from the top, the side, or from underground.

Fortunately, the rodents that have come in so far are all low-level.

If you happen to encounter a Cold-Resistant Class nearby, you will basically die as soon as you show your head. Even if there is no Cold-Resistant Class, you will soon be hunted down by the Digging Realm lurking nearby.

Just like this, more than three hours passed.

Another big hole appeared on the top of the north side. After the rodent that fell from the hole was killed, Xia Chuan and Chen Yingyuan rushed over immediately.

"Si Cheng, this is the 37th cave entrance. There are less than 200 people left to guard one cave entrance, and the cold-resistant level is not enough. If we continue to send more people, we will really fall into Li Xuanling's trap."

Hearing Chen Yingyuan's words, Xia Chuan's face was full of annoyance.

"Li Xuanling might be watching us from outside one of the caves right now. Once the number of people in the main area is too dispersed, she will immediately lead the Longyou Army to rush down from a cave. By then, we will be too slow to gather and will be defeated one by one."

Not only Chen Yingyuan, but Yue Feng also saw Li Xuanling's plan at this moment.

Within three hours, the holes gnawed by the long-tailed rats increased in number, reaching thirty-seven by now, but no one came into Longshan.

Because the entrances are too small, each with a diameter of only half a meter, only one person can fit in at a time.

Li Xuanling knew that they were waiting outside the cave entrance, and if the soldiers and the cold-resistant soldiers came down one by one, the casualties would definitely be heavy.

So she was not in a hurry to go down, but continued to control the long-tailed rats to gnaw at the holes, in order to force the Da Xia soldiers to continue to divide up. As long as the division reached a certain degree and the Da Xia defenders were farther and farther away from each other, when Longshan sent more people down, the pressure they faced would be greatly reduced, and it would not be so difficult to gain a foothold.

Alternatively, the correct solution is to wait until there are more and more holes and let a large number of soldiers jump out of them at the same time.

"I know, but gathering all the defenders now is the same as letting them in completely. Wait a little longer. I don't believe that Li Xuanling can still hold back. She should send someone down now."

If Chen Yingyuan and Yue Feng could see it, how could Xia Chuan not see it?
Even when the rodents had chewed open the twentieth hole and Longshan had not yet sent anyone down, Xia Chuan had already seen through Li Xuanling's intention.

The problem is, it’s useless even if you see it.

The holes opened by the rats were too scattered. Once the army was assembled, it would be equivalent to giving up monitoring a large number of holes. Li Xuanling would then choose a hole farthest from the army and let the Longyou Army in. It would be impossible for them to block it again.

So he was gambling, betting that Li Xuanling would lose his patience. Now there were less than two hundred people guarding each cave entrance. Li Xuanling might bring the Cold-Proof Class down first and take the risk to hold them off, thus creating a window for the Longyou Army to come down.

As long as this is the case, he can still quickly gather a large army to block the way.

Bang…bang…bang…bang…

However, the sounds of three cave entrances breaking open were heard one after another, and there was still no news of any Longshan soldiers entering the entire main area.

"They should only be able to use white mist to lure the long-tailed mice to the iron wall. They can't control these mice to gnaw at one location. Unless the barrier is completely broken or our people are too scattered, Li Xuanling will not rush in. She will come in sooner or later, but once our people are too scattered..."

Although Yue Feng didn't finish his words, Xia Chuan could understand what he meant.

Li Xuanling will come in sooner or later, but if he comes in when their people are too scattered, then their advantage as the defender will be gone.

It is even possible that Longshan will be able to decide the outcome of the battle.

"Let all the troops retreat to the construction area and gather. Draw your bows and prepare your arrows. All the cold-resistant soldiers follow me to continue patrolling all the cave entrances. Kill as many as you can."

Xia Chuan finally stopped hesitating and shouted angrily, signaling all the cold-resistant-class troops to retreat to the construction area with their troops and assemble.

"It should be the second half of the night of the fifth day of July. I thought this barrier could hold off Longshan for at least five days, but I didn't expect it to be broken in two days. Come in if you want. Three thousand Longyou troops, let me see how strong you are!"

Xia Chuan looked at everyone quickly retreating to the construction area, his expression slightly tense.

As the army gathered, many of the cave entrances on the periphery naturally became unguarded. It was only a matter of time before the Longyou army came in.

However, he was still not idle. He led a group of cold-resistant soldiers in groups of five to continue patrolling all the cave entrances, guarding against Longshan sending people to sneak in through the cave entrance while their army was gathering.

"Just delay. It's only the second day. Keep delaying!"

(End of this chapter)