Bud, who rushed to the front line from the refugee camp, came to see Winters immediately: "The Teltown people want to surrender?"

"Yes." Winters bent over the drawing to sketch, picked up the water bag with his left hand and handed it to Bud, and replied without raising his head: "I don't agree."

There is no need for pleasantries and politeness between comrades-in-arms.

Bud took the water bag, took a sip of water, and waited quietly for Winters' next words.

Winters threw away the charcoal and called the messenger to take away the map.

There was no one else in the temporary command post, so he no longer needed to hide his tiredness.

He walked to the bucket in the corner of the tent and washed his face vigorously with cold water: "The fire-warmer said he was willing to return all the plunder, offered three thousand horses, and stopped at that point - keeping the weapons and flags, and surrendering honorably. Hum, Hud people

I’ve started to play this trick too!”

The temporary command post is located on a high ground overlooking the southeast. From here, you can see the third line of defense and the forest beyond.

From time to time, messengers came on horseback, reported to Winters by oral message, and left in a hurry with answers.

"The Tertun people didn't make any moves?" Bard looked down at the map and assessed the situation of the two armies.

Winters shook his head slightly and frowned unconsciously: "There is no action... so I don't understand what the monkey butt face is doing."

Now the right wing of Teltown has been divided into three parts:

One part was on the west bank of the Bighorn River, having been repulsed in previous battles;

Part of it is on the south bank of Pangtuo River, which is Xia Tiefeng County;

The elite sweat tents were trapped in the Dajiao River, Pangtuo River and the small area surrounded by the third line of defense.

The situation is very good for the Tiefeng County army. As long as they can encircle and annihilate the elite of the Khan tent, the remaining rabble will collapse without a fight.

"Even if a rabbit falls into a trap, it will still struggle to the death. If a monkey's butt face is trapped in a dead place, it will show weakness." Winters expressed his doubts to Bud: "Suppose the monkey's butt face is in the trap.

In my position, do you think he will accept the conditions he offers?"

"No." Bud followed Winters' words and helped Winters clarify his thoughts.

"That is to say." Winters unconsciously fiddled with a knife: "Monkey Butt Face is doing something that he knows will not succeed."

Bud thought for a moment: "The person who is warming up the fire has another purpose?"

"That must be the case."

"Delaying time?"

"Why?" Winters vaporized a few drops of water on the table to stimulate his spirit: "The longer the time goes on, the higher the wall will be, the deeper the trench will be, and the stronger the defense line faced by the Teltown people will be."

"Perhaps they want to show weakness and paralyze us first, and then use all their strength to break through the defense line."

"But in my opinion, with the advantage of the Tertun people's cavalry, it is better to attack quickly and attack before the wall trench system is completed..."

The words stopped suddenly, and Winters fell silent.

After a moment, he spoke softly: "Either the Terdun people are waiting for the reinforcements to join forces inside and outside, and annihilate us here."

Bud didn't answer, he knew he couldn't interrupt Winters at this time.

Winters fell into deep thought. He put his hands on the table and stared at the map: "Reinforcements...reinforcements...if the Tertons have reinforcements, where will they come from? The west bank? The south bank? The north?"

Bud sighed and patted Winters on the shoulder.

Winters came back to his senses and looked at his friend blankly.

"How long have you been without sleep?" Bud asked.

"One day? Two days?" Winters' eyes were bloodshot: "I seem to have taken a nap a few times, I can't remember exactly."

"This won't work." Bard's expression became more serious: "The second commandment, [Be exhausted physically and mentally for the general]."

A smile appeared on Winters' face for the first time, and he answered the next sentence like a code: "[You will lose sight of what is really important]."

"Go to bed." Bud handed the coat to Winters: "I'll guard here."

Winters was about to say something, but then he thought about it, picked up his coat and walked towards the inner room of the tent.

He made up his mind and said: "In short, we should stay the same to cope with all changes. No matter what the hell the Telton people are doing, as long as the holes are tight, we will drive out the Teltown people!"

Bud looked at Winters' back and then around the command post, his eyes a little complicated.

This command post only has four tents, which can be described as extremely simple. But at this moment, the orders it issues are regulating the actions of tens of thousands of people, and the decisions it makes are related to the life and death of Tiefeng County.

It is no exaggeration to say that these four tents are the brains and core of the Tiefeng County Army.

But it faces a serious manpower shortage: there are countless clerks who can read and write on two hands, and there are no specially trained professional soldiers except Winters and Bud.

The reason why Tiefeng County's army was still able to function normally without major trouble was entirely because everything was stored in Winters' mind and calculated with Winters' brain power.

"This can't go on like this." Bud suddenly said: "You need an assistant."

"Aren't you here?" Winters unfolded the camp bed and replied slowly.

"Lots of assistants, many, many assistants."

"Yes." Winters lay down heavily and fell asleep quickly.

Bud picked up a pen and paper and started writing a list from memory.

…

Zhongtiefeng County, the third line of defense.

Four sturdy farmers are using a pile driver.

The four men shouted trumpets and turned the wheel. It was already a cold and windy winter, but they were sweating profusely.

A thick rope is wrapped around the shaft of the runner, and a large stone is tied to the other end of the rope. The runner tightens the rope, and the large stone is slowly pulled up.

After the stone was lifted a certain distance, the farmers broke open the stuck bamboo shoots.

The boulder fell suddenly and hit the wooden pile hard.

This process was repeated continuously, and it only took six or seven strokes to drive a four-meter-long log into the ground, leaving only about two meters of wooden piles exposed on the ground.

Once the stakes are driven, the farmers no longer care about them.

Some other farmers walked to the pile driver, and a dozen people worked together to move the crude machine two steps.

Then another group of farmers were replaced and started driving another wooden stake.

To the southwest, behind a hillside, Tai Chi peered at the simple but efficient machinery in the distance, his face turning blue.

Wherever he looked, there were at least eight pile drivers working simultaneously.

The wooden piles were driven down one by one, and a series of "wooden pile walls" spaced about two steps apart had been erected in the valley.

Bard's arrival gave Winters a short rest. At the same time, Taichi led his guards through the forest and approached to explore the enemy's situation.

At a distance of three hundred steps, Taichi finally saw clearly how the other party "built the city overnight":

First drive the wooden stakes, and then put something like a willow basket on the wooden stakes;

Take soil in front of the wooden pile and fill it into the willow basket;

Fill one basket with soil and put another new basket on it;

Just like skewering meat on wooden skewers, the wooden stakes are placed in six baskets in a row; the first four baskets are placed first and then filled with soil, and the last two baskets are filled with soil and then placed;

The wide gaps between the wooden piles were filled with willow baskets filled with soil, and the two-legged people covered the outside of the wall with floating soil, making it seamless and invisible inside;

Finally, the earth wall was completed, and the hole dug out of the earth became a trench.

"Do you understand?" Tai Chi asked his son through gritted teeth.

"I understand, the wooden piles are the spine, the willow basket is the ribs, and the soil is the flesh and skin." Taichi's son licked his lips and replied: "If you want to demolish this wall, you can only drag down the wooden piles. Once the wooden piles fall,

The wall fell down as well.”

"The wooden pile is at least three steps deep into the ground. How can it be dragged down?" Taichi stared.

Taichi's son also stared, with the same expression as his father: "If one horse can't pull him down, use two horses. If two horses can't pull him down, use four horses."

Taichi looked at his son's appearance and sighed bitterly: "I'm afraid the two-legged people are expecting you and me to come like this."

…

The building materials for building walls are nothing more than earth, wood and stone.

For the ages, it is best to use stone, that is, lime mortar or volcanic ash mortar.

But Winters didn't want to build a church, he wanted to build a field fortification, and speed was the key. His only options were earth and wood.

It is easiest to build a wall with wood. The logs are driven into the soil one after another to form a wall.

However, this method would require hundreds of thousands of wood, which Winters didn't have. His only option was dirt.

The problem with soil is that it is not firm and can slide.

If the soil is simply piled up, the mound will naturally form a slope. This is the reason for the so-called "six-foot corner walls and eight-foot trenches, and the main wall must be seven feet high."

However, if the slope is too high, it will lose the meaning of blocking the war horses. Therefore, since ancient times, the most critical technology for building walls with earth is to "bind the earth".

Ramming the soil is one way, but unfortunately it's not fast enough.
To be continued...