Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 913 – Surrounding the City
7th month, 16th day, Mogadishu.
One week, the Great Xia Army took just one week to arrive at the city walls.
At the same time, Alvaro led the Atlantic Squadron and completed their lockdown of the surrounding ocean region. The entire imperial city was surrounded by the Great Xia Army.
During this time, the Somalia territory army thought about sniping the Xia army mid-way to lessen the burden on the imperial city.
However, it was useless.
Be it the strong defense work, geographical traps, or poisoning the water, Di Qing solved all these obstacles really easily.
The detailed intel work of the Black Snake Guards made it really easy for the Great Xia Army. They had a firm grasp of where there were mountains, where there were rivers, where there were canyons, where there were deserts, the types of troops Somalia possessed, defenses, and more.
This battle was destined to be an unequal one.
The resistance of the territory army was all in vain.
The average schemes of the Somalia army were used against them by Di Qing. On a strategic level, Somalia did not have anyone that could rival Di Qing.
Even Lu Bu could destroy all their generals.
Such an advantage was so one-sided that mental strength alone could not overcome it.
Just last night, the Somalia Guards army tried their last snipe outside the city, which ended in bitter defeat. They could only back off into the imperial city to defend it.
The successive victories ensured that the logistical supplies of the Great Xia Army were taken care of.
The officials of the dynasty pretty much followed them around, taking over each city, village, and town. Their core mission was to gather grain for the troops.
At the same time, the grain Great Xia bought from merchants was shipped to Courage Port.
With these two huge resource sources, it forked up a grain line from Friendship City to Mogadishu.
This was also the reason why Di Qing did not directly attack the imperial city. In ancient battlefields, only the city had ability to provide grain for the army.
An army that was traveling through the wilderness was like a tree without roots; they were unable to last for long.
…
What about outside of the battlefield?
Just like Ouyang Shuo had expected, as they fought, the countries around Somalia were really quiet.
Kenya, Ethiopia….
Totally silent.
No African Lord dared to step out for Somalia; they could only look on with respectful eyes as the Great Xia Dynasty destroyed the traitor.
The African Continent was in a deathly silence.
Even the breeze from the oceans brought with it a deathly feeling instead of a chill.
The Mediterranean Lords were all feeling really conflicted, and they completely lost their mood to negotiate with Great Xia. Zi Luolan understood and agreed to postpone the negotiations.
Everything would wait until the Battle of Somalia ended.
The Great Xia Dynasty had never been so respected. Without even moving their own local troops, they easily wiped out cities and destroyed a country.
Apart from awe, there was respect.
…
Barracks outside the city.
Di Qing was in martial attire. He expressionlessly looked out at the city not far away. The mask on his face gave this general a layer of charm that the soldiers under him respected.
Mogadishu; this was the last nut to crack.
He had to attack the imperial city. Country war rules made it their fate to fight to the death.
Such a mentality was a huge problem for both the defending and the attacking party. If they did not do well, they would suffer heavy loses.
In the Battle of Somalia, Di Qing tried to break this tough problem.
His strategy was really simple; it was to surround the city. His plan was to trap them inside the city. As time went on, the enemy would fall by themselves.
Sun Zi’s Art of War once said, “10 times to surround, five times to siege, two times to fight, and only defend if you have less; if not, escape.”
Hence, to surround an army, you needed 10 times the number.
This number was not absolute; for example, Baiqi had used the geography to surround the Zhao army with equal amounts of troops during the Battle of Changping.
Mogadishu had 80 thousand Guards, 50 thousand player armies, and 100 thousand combat occupation players. In terms of numbers, they exceeded that of the Great Xia Army.
Although they were said to have 200 thousand troops, their actual number at Mogadishu was 150 thousand.
Apart from leaving 20 thousand to defend Friendship City, Di Qing also arranged for 10 thousand troops to defend the grain path.
A newly occupied territory would face disturbances and sneak attacks. Without an army, the grain squad would be destroyed in minutes.
To save manpower, the ones transporting the grain were local laborers, so they were really annoyed.
Luckily, in front of the proper army, the normal civilians did not dare do anything.
Di Qing had made it clear that if someone rioted, the person who started it would be executed along with the people that were related.
For those who came from the same village, the whole village would be wiped if someone rioted.
The grain route was their lifeline, and Di Qing had to be vicious to suppress the people.
After the army reached Mogadishu, Di Qing arranged 10 thousand elite cavalry around it to go down south to continue clearing the other cities.
Along with the forces taking care of the prisoners, only around 150 thousand men could be thrown into battle; this count included the 4th division led by Alvaro.
As for the 5th, they were in charge of defending Friendship City and were housed near Courage Port.
Friendship City connected the dynasty to Mogadishu. Moreover, due to the complicated surroundings, Di Qing had to be careful.
If someone launched a sneak attack against Friendship City, it would be a nightmare for the Great Xia Army.
…
Luckily, the Art of War did not write of simple numbers but strength.
Considering generals, equipment, morale, strategy, and the like the 150 thousand army was four times stronger than the Somalia troops.
However, this was still obviously far from the 10 times needed.
Luckily, this was a country war, and the Great Xia Dynasty had a natural advantage, which was that Somalia had no way out. Even if they tried to strike, they would still die.
When the cavalry that went down south completed their sweep, apart from Mogadishu, all the other territories fell into the hands of Great Xia.
Hence, Mogadishu was truly a lone city.
If the Somalia army wanted to break out, where do they go to?
They could only fight.
Hence, Di Qing was not anxious, and he and his troops camped outside the city. Using the time, the army even started to construct defenses.
There was another core reason why he was not anxious – this battle did not have any outside influence.
For the Battle of Morocco, the Great Xia had randomly started war and did not hold the moral high ground. Hence, they needed to finish the battle quickly.
As such, they had no choice but to use the fire strategy to buy time.
However, now was different. The Somalia King had betrayed them, and they had the moral high ground. The other countries had no reason to step in.
Hence, the element that decided the battle was not who was stronger. The Great Xia Dynasty had learned how to use diplomacy to win wars.
…
After surrounding the city, Di Qing was like an experienced hunter; he waited patiently for them to panic within the city, waited for the hidden chess pieces of the Great Xia inside the city to act.
For the meantime, Di Qing still did something.
Although the front work was smooth, it also revealed many problems with the Somalia Formation. To prevent chaos, apart from Morocco prisoners of war, there were other soldiers from the other War Fighting Legion Corps in the formation.
It was the same as saying that the entire formation was a mixed race army, which was similar to the Former Qin army in the Battle of Fei River.
Such an army needed time to coexist and adapt.
Although Gaia had done some rough work to let the prisoners of war adapt to their new environments more smoothly, many objective problems still existed.
During the first few battles, if there was not the Guards Legion Corps helping out, things might have gotten out of hand.
Along with the weapons and equipment of Morocco, the training system and military standards were also vastly different compared to the Great Xia Dynasty. As a result, they needed time to adapt.
Fortunately, Gaia removed the language barrier in the army. If not, they would not even be able to organize them into an army.
Using the time when they were surrounding the city, Di Qing focused on the battle proceedings. At the same time, he quickened the adaptation process within the formation to remove the hidden problems.
…
One day, two days, one week.
10 days passed so quickly, and the entire battlefield was dead silent. Both sides were in a silent standstill. This made the people and troops in the city panic as their grain was running out.
Earlier, it was mentioned that each imperial city had a huge population. Without external supplies, they could only last for half a month.
Three days ago, Mogadishu had started rationing their supplies. Even so, they could not last for another half a month. Hunger started to descend on the territory, and people started to get restless.