After Ziyad returned to the camp, he immediately reported the situation of his investigation to Abu ***, although the scout had already found out the situation, but how can the situation of ordinary soldiers be compared to the general's personal investigation, the understanding and observation ability of the two are different, and the effect of the investigation will naturally be different.

"General, the defense of Maia City is really incredible, it is too difficult to attack, and the last general feels that he will not be able to capture it on time, but I am afraid that the caliph will need some more time to give us enough time to build more siege equipment."

When Ziyad saw Abu ***, the first thing he said was to ask for grace.

"Ziyad, you're right, more than half of the month has passed, the task will definitely not be completed, I will ask the caliph for grace, you just need to prepare for the siege, by the way, how many siege machines do you plan to build."

Abu *** asked.

Qi Yade thought for a moment and said: "General, in order to reduce casualties as much as possible, at least a thousand large and medium-sized siege equipment must be prepared, this is the lowest number, and it cannot be less." ”

Abu *** nodded and said, "Okay! Then prepare thousands, and you must protect these equipment, so that the enemy must not destroy them, and you must build them with great fanfare, and make as much movement as possible, and send a few troops and horses to start digging tunnels, and dig quietly, so that our enemies do not find out. ”

"What the general means is to build the plank road in the open and dark, indicating the large-scale construction of siege equipment, and secretly digging tunnels to attack the city?"

Ziyad sighed.

Abu *** nodded and said: "That's right, that's what it means, if we can attack the city by digging tunnels, then our losses will be minimized, but once it is discovered, everything will be over, so we can only rely on siege equipment to storm the city from the front." ”

"Yes, the last general understands. Will be careful. ”

Qi Yad understood, and hurriedly went to prepare.

On the one hand, he made large-scale logging and materials, and built a large number of siege equipment, giving the defending city Artik the impression that the enemy was going to attack on a large scale, and on the other hand, Ziyad sent his most reliable soldiers and horses and began to dig tunnels in the distance of the city.

It is not easy to dig tunnels near Maia City, because the soil here is not viscous enough, and the tunnels dug can easily collapse, but the soil is relatively easy to dig and does not require too much physical effort.

The problem of the tunnel is easy to collapse, it is also easy to solve, that is, the inside of the tunnel is supported by wooden boards, as long as there is a wooden board support, the tunnel is not easy to collapse, and this problem can be easily solved.

The location of the digging tunnel is in a very hidden place, so that it is not easy to be discovered, and the soil dug out of the digging tunnel is all secretly transported to a distant place, so as to leave no trace, so that the soldiers defending the city cannot find it.

In order to reduce the loss as much as possible, Ziyad very much hopes that the tunnel can be successfully dug through, so that the elite soldiers and horses under his command can enter Maia City unnoticed, as long as thousands of elites enter the city, they can raid and capture the city gate in one fell swoop, so as to receive the main army into Maia City.

After some calculations, Ziyad felt that if the tunnel strategy could work, the army would only need to lose thousands of men to capture the city of Maia, and if it launched a strong attack, it would need to lose at least tens of thousands of people to capture the city, and the difference between the two losses was about ten times.

After considering the difference in casualties, Ziyad attached great importance to digging tunnels, not only sending the most reliable elite soldiers and horses to complete the work, but also building siege equipment on a large scale near the tunnel entrance, so that the enemy army was ten times larger, thinking that the tunnel entrance was just a workshop for building siege equipment.

In order to achieve the best purpose of concealment, the disposal of the excavated soil is particularly crucial, if the excavated soil is not properly treated, it is easy to expose the intention, so that the soldiers and horses in the city can be prepared, so that it is worse.

On the side of Ziyad, they were busy building siege equipment and digging tunnels, while on the side of Maya, Artik's soldiers and horses were also actively preparing, they carried all kinds of materials to the city wall, and some too dangerous fire oil items, only a small amount was placed on the city wall, and more were stored in the corners below the city wall to prevent destruction by the besieging side.

In order to boost morale, Artik and Ibrahim took turns to inspect the city walls, to show that the top brass attached great importance to defending the city, and that the top brass was able to face difficulties together with the bottom layer.

As Artic's subordinates, many generals and officials naturally need to accompany them to inspect the city walls, and can give useful advice at the right time.

"City Lord, the enemy army is cutting down trees on a large scale outside the city, and is building siege equipment, looking at the scale of their tree cutting, I am afraid that they will build thousands of siege equipment! This is determined to conquer the city! ”

One of his subordinates said worriedly when he saw the crowd outside the city.

Artik was also very nervous, but he was the commander of the whole army, and if he didn't have confidence anymore, then their group would be completely finished.

Therefore, as the manager, Artik must not show a desperate look, he must be confident that he will be able to defeat the enemy in the end.

"Don't worry, we have 30,000 defenders, 10,000 in reserve, there are still many bows and crossbows and arrows in Datang to support us, and there are enough fire oil and other weapons in the city to defend the city, which will definitely be able to withstand the attack of the enemy."

Altic said cheerfully.

"City Lord, I think we should send someone to discuss with the Datang side, so that they can directly send troops to aid us, if the Datang is willing to send reinforcements, the enemy army outside the city will not be afraid."

One of the subordinates spoke.

How could Artik not understand such a truth, but Li An of Datang had already stated that he did not want to directly intervene in the internal disputes in Arabia, and if he wanted Datang to send troops, he would definitely have to give some more benefits, and if there were no benefits, Datang would definitely not send troops to support them.

This society is a society where interests are paramount, as a former veteran businessman, Artik will naturally understand this truth, so as long as there is a glimmer of hope, he is unwilling to ask for help, after all, the current help of Datang to them is based on the cession of Aden City and the peninsula to Datang, if you continue to let Datang help, maybe Datang will propose to cede where?

If the Tang Dynasty continues to occupy the territory of the Arab world, then the area he can rule will be less and less, which is contrary to his beliefs and will make him feel uneasy.

"Of course, it's best to be able to resist Abu *** alone, but in case we are defeated, do we have to consider Datang's assistance, the enemy army is menacing, we always have to make a few more preparations."

The subordinate continued.

Altic felt that there was some truth and nodded, "Okay! I'll think about it, but you should think about how to deal with the enemy forces outside the city. ”

"City Lord, you see, there are several cavalry who have broken through the interception of the enemy cavalry and are rushing towards the city gate."

One of his subordinates saw the situation in the distance and spoke.

Artik hurriedly picked up the binoculars, took a closer look, and saw that it was his subordinates who were running.

"There are not many enemy cavalry, so immediately open the city gate to respond."

Artik commanded.

Seeing that there were soldiers and horses in the city to respond, the pursuing Khorasan cavalry stopped very wisely, because they knew that they would definitely not be able to catch up, and it would only be futile to chase any further, and besides, the other party had someone to answer.

The only three cavalrymen who broke through the blockade quickly entered the city and galloped up the walls to meet Artik.

"It's our cavalry, I know them."

One of the subordinates said.

Artik asked, "Where did you come from?" ”

One of the cavalrymen said: "City Lord, we came from Ar City, and we have been lurking in the vicinity for many days, and today we saw that the enemy guards were lax, so we rushed over at the risk of death, but most of the fifty cavalrymen were killed, only three of us successfully entered the city, and the rest were all killed." ”

"They're all doing well, I'll give them credit, tell me about it, what's going on in Ar City?"

Artik asked very nervously, and the subordinates beside him were also very nervous, because everyone in the city was very concerned about the situation in Al City, because the gains and losses of Al City were very important to Maia City, if it had been lost, it would greatly hit the resistance confidence of the soldiers and civilians of Maia City, and if Al City was not lost, it could greatly boost the morale of the soldiers of Al City.

"City lord, the army and people of Arcity have the same hatred for the enemy, causing great losses to the enemy army besieging the city, the city has always been in our hands and has not been lost, however, there are 20,000 Khorasan cavalry surrounding Arcity, the city is full of infantry, dare not go out of the city to fight, can only guard the city, and the Khorasan cavalry outside the city confront, there are many cavalry has been harassing the enemy's grain route, causing some losses to the enemy."

The cavalry spoke.

"Ale City is not lost, Aer City is not lost, haha! Great, that's great. ”

Artik said excitedly.

"Congratulations to the city lord, Ar City has not been lost, this shows that the enemy's siege methods are just like that, our Maia City is many times stronger than Al City, it is a more difficult city to attack, we are confident to hold the city."

"City Lord, we will definitely be able to defend the city, and Abu *** and Ziyad are no more than that, we can defeat them."

The subordinates were like being beaten with chicken blood, and they immediately became alive.

Obviously, the previous demoralization was low because they thought that Arle City was broken by the enemy, although the defense of Arle City was not as good as that of Maia City, and the soldiers and horses in the city were not as many as the soldiers and horses of Maia City, but it was also a strong city, and it was breached so easily, which made them worry that Maia City would not last long, and now they heard that Arle City was not breached, everyone was relieved, and after a long time, Abu *** bypassed Arle City and came to Maia City, and thought they were so great? That's not all.

"City Lord, when the enemy army launched an attack in Ar City, the fight was very fierce, but every fierce attack was repelled by our army, and even, our army was able to take the initiative to attack, caught the enemy army outside the city by surprise, and severely damaged the enemy army, so that the enemy army had to give up the siege of the city, and could only choose to besiege."

The cavalry continued.

Artik said happily: "Okay, it's really good, you have all heard that one of our soldiers and horses, which is not very elite, defeated the 100,000 Khorasan cavalry of Abu ***, which is enough to show that the Khorasan cavalry is nothing remarkable, as long as we are united, we will definitely be able to defeat them." ”

"Yes, the city lord is right, we will definitely be able to defeat the Khorasan cavalry, give them some color to taste."

Many of his subordinates were excited.

"By the way, city lord, when we were hiding outside the city, we found a very strange phenomenon, I don't know whether to say it or not."

One of the horsemen frowned and spoke.

"It's a strange phenomenon, but it's okay to say."

Artik hurriedly asked.

"City Lord, we were ambushed in the mountains and forests, and we saw a group of enemy soldiers transporting sandbags, but they poured the soil in the sandbags into a very inconspicuous deep pit, and they didn't know what to do?"

The cavalry spoke.

"Pour the dirt out of the sandbag into an inconsequential pit, and there will be something famous in it."

"That's right, how can the enemy carry dirt into the pit for no reason? There must be hidden secrets. ”

"City Lord, this situation must be taken seriously."

Many of his subordinates spoke.

As if he had guessed something, Artik looked at the cavalryman and asked, "Have you seen the dirt in the sandbag, what kind of dirt is it?" ”

"When they left, we deliberately ran over to check it carefully, and it was ordinary dirt, by the way, and some damp, as if it had just been dug out of the ground."

Said the cavalryman.

Artik and his generals looked at each other, and they all immediately understood, what they immediately thought of was that the enemy army was digging tunnels outside the city, trying to break through the defenses of Maia City from underground, so as to greatly reduce the losses during the siege.

"City Lord, the enemy army is brazenly building siege equipment on a large scale, and I didn't expect to secretly engage in a tunnel digging business, this is to confuse us! Fortunately, it was discovered, otherwise, what would we have been kept in the dark? ”

"City Lord, since the enemy army is digging tunnels outside the city, then, we can't be idle, we must dig a tunnel inside the city to resist the enemy's tunnels and ensure the safety of the city."

The subordinates spoke.

Artik is not a professional soldier and does not know how to deal with the situation where the enemy is digging tunnels, but some of his subordinates know how to deal with it, and they can just leave it to their subordinates.