The Prime Minister's Darling novel Chapter 1036

Chapter 1036: 498 Siege (First Update)

The news of Yuegu City going to war has been around for more than a day or two. Those civilians who could flee have fled, and those who could not have hoarded rice and grain at home. The rice and grain shops were bought out early on, and Gu Chengfeng was just lucky. The first shop he encountered happened to have a stockpile. The rest barely had enough for their own consumption.

Gu Chengfeng walked down the deserted streets with his head hanging low.

As the legitimate son of the Marquis Residence, when had he ever worried about his clothing, food, shelter, and transportation?

A single meal of exquisite delicacies cost no less than five taels of silver, yet that was the ration for several hundred soldiers for one day.

"Teacher Hu, are you really unable to find any other places to buy rice?" Gu Chengfeng asked dejectedly.

Teacher Hu caught the look on Gu Chengfeng’s face and let out a long sigh, "We’ve been to all the shops with grain, this is all we could get."

Without saying so, the next step would be to go door to door collecting contributions, something Teacher Hu left unsaid.

He had come to realize that these two young lords were different from the imperial envoys of the past; they wouldn’t forcefully requisition the common folk’s possessions.

"How long can our food supply last?" Gu Chengfeng asked.

"This..." After silently calculating for a moment, Teacher Hu said, "If we cut down to one meal a day, it’ll last two days."

Gu Chengfeng murmured, "But my older brother won’t arrive for another four days."

And they couldn’t cut down meals.

They were soldiers sworn to protect their country. How could they let them go into battle on an empty stomach?

Not to mention that the Zhan Country’s army wouldn’t be attacking the city these few days. They were already at the gates, so why wouldn’t they seize the opportunity to capture Yuegu City instead of waiting for his brother to arrive and obliterate them all?

While they were talking, they returned to the barracks near the City Tower, bringing the supply cart with them.

Gu Chengfeng walked with his head down, not looking ahead, and Teacher Hu did the same.

Suddenly, a soldier accompanying them shouted out loud, "My Lords! Teacher Hu! Look over there!"

Gu Chengfeng and Teacher Hu followed the soldier’s pointing hand, looking over at the kitchen near the barracks. At the door of the kitchen, piles of oddly-shaped wrapped bundles had appeared from nowhere. Some bundles were tightly packed, making it impossible to see their contents, while others were loosely tied, visibly containing rice, grain, or steamed buns.

There were even corn cobs, leafy greens, doughy buns, flatbreads, bacon, chicken eggs... all straightforwardly packed in sieves and winnowing baskets.

As Gu Chengfeng was trying to figure out what was going on, he saw several civilians each carrying a few small bags of white flour and cornmeal over.

They placed the flour on the ground and left without a word.

The little boy who had spoken with Gu Chengfeng earlier also came.

He and his mother arrived together, with his mother setting down a few freshly baked sweet potatoes. He seemed to want to contribute something as well but, after rummaging through his little pockets, couldn’t find anything to offer.

In the end, after some thought, he took out a piece of sesame candy he had been eating, reluctantly licked off his saliva, and, with a sense of reluctant courage, placed it on one of the sweet potatoes.

This was a treat he only got to enjoy during the New Year.

But now, with war looming and uncertainty about survival, his parents had given it to him early.

It was the best that he could offer.

Gu Chengfeng’s eyes suddenly grew warm.

These were the people of Zhan Country that his grandfather and older brother swore to protect. And it wasn’t just the military officers who were protecting civilians; the common folk were also protecting them in their own way.

Protecting an army, keeping a city safe.

Outside the city walls, the Zhan Country’s army had already started preparing siege towers and battering rams needed to attack the city, and because of the moat, they had to prepare several pontoon bridges as well.

The pontoon bridges were quickly being assembled, and the siege towers were also being hastily constructed.

Tang Yueshan watched their manpower and progress, estimating that by tomorrow night they would be ready.

Just as there were military machines for attacking, there were also those for defense. Not only were blacksmiths in the city conscripted to forge armor and weapons, but carpenters were also summoned by Tang Yueshan. Their main task was to lead the soldiers in constructing battering rams, stone dropping devices, and rolling logs.

The battering ram was a piece of military equipment used to counter siege towers, with a ramming pole tied to a frame, capable of destroying or knocking down a siege tower when it approached.

In addition, there were fire oil and arrows.

There was no need for the city’s carpenters to make arrows, as the archers from the Tang Family could do it themselves. It was one of their basic skills after all. In other countries, archers didn’t need to know how to make their own arrows, which is why the Tang Family’s archers were famous across the six nations.

Once Tang Yueshan had completed the deployment of his forces, he began a silent wait for dawn to arrive.

It was a sleepless night, for both the Zhan Country’s army and the invading forces.

As the first light of dawn touched the horizon, all the necessary preparations were almost complete. They had only seven thousand troops, less than five thousand of which were regular forces.

The Zhan Country’s army numbered a solid twenty thousand regular troops, resulting in a huge disparity in strength. This was a battle to the death.