"War is deception. ”

Crooked lips pursed his lips and said to his brother One-Eye.

Standing at the head of the city, One-Eye took out a small telescope from the bag on his waist, which was one of the gains of his former career as a bandit. The brass body makes the telescope virtually indestructible, while the clever design allows it to fold up.

He turned on his binoculars and took a closer look at the guys outside the city who could be counted as former peers, or juniors.

Since nightfall last year, every hourglass or two, the invading enemy will launch a heavy artillery bombardment on the city of Spath, and then let the barrels of the guns cool down on their own while they wait for the next fire.

However, because of the illusion array arranged in advance, the city in the eyes of the Sand Bandit Alliance has a big deviation from its real location.

Most of the shells that flew over last night actually hit the open space next to the city, and only a few "off-target" ammunition inadvertently rubbed against the wall of Spat City, and the damage caused was nothing more than some debris.

But as the Eternal Blazing Sun slowly rises over the horizon, the effectiveness of the illusion circle that can only work at night gradually decreases, and at most half an hourglass time is left, and the "true face" of the city will be exposed to the other party's eyes.

Through the raised lenses, One-Eye watched cautiously with his remaining eyes, as the army outside the city - bows, javelins, scimitars, and shields glittered in the low-angle sunlight.

In addition to this, in his eyes, the forward cavalry marched quickly through the camp, kicking up smoke and dust. The sight seemed to remind him of some of his experiences as a sand bandit, and he could hear the chainmail tinkling like ripples.

At the rear of the camp was a long line of baggage, but it was not well managed.

Large herds of mules, six groups of horses, and various camel beasts were hastily tethered to wooden stakes that had been temporarily inserted into the sand, and the various military supplies they carried did not even have time to be completely unloaded.

If this team were the regular army of Medici, then in addition to the soldiers fighting on the front line, there would be a larger number of corresponding personnel in the rear - auxiliaries, cooks, armorers, carpenters, who would keep everything in order.

But for a team composed entirely of sand bandits, what are the requirements other than daring to fight hard?

"Those guys are a rabble," he said, stretching his waist, the sound of last night's shelling still affecting his sleep, and he patted the strong battlements of the city wall, and said to the soldiers around him, who were clutching their weapons tightly and looking a little nervous, "It is only with a little more men that they dare to gather around the city...... Presumptuous, yes, that's the word. ”

"Sir, they've got artillery, and they're ......."

A soldier whose face was no more than seventeen or eighteen years old spoke timidly, but was immediately interrupted by a crooked mouth.

“...... Hey, little soldier, you certainly haven't fought, you haven't seen a real big scene," he shook his index finger in front of the young soldier with an index finger in the depths of his crooked mouth, "It's just a bunch of sand bandits, not an army at all." Do you see that they have overboard boats full of supplies? Do you see that they have caravans of baggage that are several parasan lengths? For every shot of those guns, they have one less shell, one less gunpowder. Yesterday it was already a night of fighting, and today they will certainly not have enough ammunition anymore. Otherwise, the Pharaoh would have been the leader of the bandits, for they were better equipped than the most elite troops of the Medici. ”

I have to admit that it sounds very reasonable to speak with a crooked mouth.

Coupled with its playful tone, it made everyone's nervous mood relax a lot for a while.

Except for the one-eyed man who was holding a brass telescope and counting something intently, "Three, six...... Twelve," he calculated silently in his mind, "when did the sand bandits become so rich, firing more than a hundred shells all night, and still having a small half of the stock unfinished? ”

At the same time, some of the sand bandits outside the city were staring at Spat City and frowning.

Looking at the direction of the cannon's muzzle, and then at the location of the city under the eternal blazing sun, the wind-hearer, who was the leader of the sand bandits, thought for a while, and then understood, "Damn the trick, last night's shelling didn't hit the right place at all. ”

His heart began to feel anxious. Half of the ammunition was consumed last night. If the same rate of shelling is followed, the remaining ammunition this morning will be completely depleted.

When the time comes, even if he abandons the use of iron-core shells, regardless of the danger of exploding, and asks people to find some stones to polish and stuff them into the barrel as shells, without the precise ratio of gunpowder, those guns will become a useless pile of metal lumps.

Nothing can be launched.

In order to hear the orders of the Commander, he had to let the bandits themselves go into battle and attack the walls of the city of Spath.

Siege requires not only human sacrifice, but also enthusiasm and antiquity for siege, as well as willpower to face trampled corpses and fill ravines at close range. Although these can be lured with money, there is also a time limit.

Especially after yesterday's rapid march and sleepless shelling, the leader of the sand bandits knew very well that his men must be very tired now, and their physical strength was close to exhaustion.

No matter how much he chewed on the refreshing tobacco, even the most elite Praetorian Guard of the Medici could not bear the fatigue, and he did not think that these scum without any honor could overcome it by his own will.

Pushed to the extreme, it's hard to guarantee that these guys won't mutiniate on the spot.

He wasn't worried for his own life - it was an elite team of Wind Hearers who had infiltrated the Sand Bandit Alliance, and in the worst case scenario, they were all confident that they would be able to break out of the encirclement together - but he was worried about fulfilling the instructions of the Wind Commander.

Rather than that, it is better to take advantage of the fact that the bandits still have some energy, let them attack the city wall first, give the opposing defenders a certain amount of pressure, and then greatly reduce the frequency of artillery bombardment, so that the artillery can delay the defenders for a day or two.

Through the information gathered before, every once in a while, the sand rhinoceros caravan under the Scales Chamber of Commerce of the Eternal Order would travel back and forth between Nome and Spat for regular trade transportation.

When the time comes, releasing this group of cultivated sand bandits to loot the caravan can not only fill some supplies, but also satisfy the destructive desires of these scumbag bandits, and at the same time cause some pressure on the other party. Kill three birds with one stone.

Thinking of this, he immediately raised his hand and signaled to the signal soldiers, "When burying the pot and cooking and resting the two hourglasses, let the carpenters hurry up and piece together a siege ladder that can be erected to the head of the city during this time." ”