The entire Gao Family Village was thrown into chaos again!
Bai Yuan galloped to the base of the fortress. He looked left, then right, and was stunned. "Eh? I haven't been here for just a few days, and it has changed again? The multicolored wall is gone, replaced by a formidable grand fortress. This wall must be ten meters high, right?"
He was currently expanding his own Bai Family Fortress and thought he was doing quite well, but after seeing the Gao Family Village fortress, he instantly felt his own Bai Family Fortress was shabby and unpresentable.
Gao Chuwu caught up from behind. "Dao Xuan Tianzun took the old wall back to the heavens and bestowed a new fortress upon our village. Everyone has moved into new houses, and I... I even have my own house! I can get a wife now, heh heh."
Bai Yuan rolled his eyes. *I don't want to hear about your trivial matter of getting a wife.*
Shansier's head poked out from the top of the wall. When he saw Bai Yuan below, he was immediately overjoyed. "Mr. Bai is here! Mr. Bai is here! Quick, quickly open the iron gate and invite Mr. Bai in!"
The villagers cheered, seeing Bai Yuan as their central pillar of strength. A group quickly opened the gate and ushered Bai Yuan into the Gao Family Fortress.
As Bai Yuan walked into the large fortress, his focus was completely different from ordinary people; his eyes were looking for "defensive capabilities." He glanced left and right. There were four "corner towers" at the four corners of the fortress. Shooting arrows down from those towers would be incredibly convenient.
The four "corner towers" were also connected by a "patrol path," allowing defending soldiers to move quickly between the four towers and support each other.
Both the corner towers and the patrol path were designed with "shooting holes," allowing defenders to fire outwards through the small holes, ensuring their own safety while striking the enemy.
"Magnificent!"
Bai Yuan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. "This fortress is extremely ingenious. When I return, I must rebuild my Bai Family Fortress to be like this."
Shansier hurried forward. "Mr. Bai, let's discuss fortress building later. First, you must consider how we fight this battle. According to the informant, the bandits plan to secretly climb the wall at night and open the fortress gate from the inside..."
Bai Yuan rolled his eyes. "That's simple. Install more lanterns and fire basins on the wall, deploy more sentries to patrol, and don't give the bandits a chance. Wouldn't that solve it?"
The moment he said this, he suddenly realized his mistake. "No, we cannot do that."
Li Daoxuan was amused. *This Bai Yuan is quick to react.*
"The enemy is hidden, and we are exposed," Bai Yuan quickly explained. "If the bandits find our defenses tight, they won't attack. We would be wasting a lot of lamp oil, firewood, and exhausting many sentries every night. All the villagers would not dare sleep peacefully. Waiting and waiting for the bandit attack that never comes will naturally lead to fatigue. Once the bandits notice we are tired and our defenses are lax, they will launch their night raid, and we will be finished."
Shansier sighed. "That's right. It's said that there are a thousand days to be a bandit, but no way to be on guard for a thousand days. It truly is impossible to fully guard against them."
Bai Yuan's eyes darted around a few times. He then climbed onto the fortress wall, looked left and right again, gaining a thorough understanding of the entire fortress's layout. Then he chuckled. "Exactly! Defending daily is not an option. Therefore, we must lure the bandits out. We must pretend we don't know they are coming, appear to have lax defenses, lure the bandits fully into the fortress, and then use the terrain to surround and kill them inside the fortress. We must eradicate them completely so they stop constantly bothering us."
"This grand fortress granted by Dao Xuan Tianzun possesses extremely strong defensive capabilities. It is also designed for sectional defense. Look... this fortress is divided into nine halls and eighteen courtyards. This courtyard, this courtyard... and this one... they naturally form a defensive structure... If we let the enemy into the fortress and lure them into these three courtyards, our men only need to block here... here... and here... and we can trap all the bandits to death within these three courtyards... Throwing rocks down from the rooftops on both sides will ensure not a single bandit in the courtyard escapes."
The villagers didn't quite understand but pretended to by shouting, "Oh, I see!"
Li Daoxuan, looking down from his "high altitude" perspective, saw everything clearly. Following the lines Bai Yuan drew with his finger, he could see that the Hakka Clan Fortress was indeed not simple; its nine halls and eighteen courtyards were lines of defense, one after another...
If the enemy broke one line of defense, the defenders could retreat to the second; if they broke the second, they could retreat to the third, continuously wearing down the enemy's strength. At the very end, the defenders could even retreat to the Lookout Tower where Gao Yiye lived. This tower resembled an ancient city gate tower, commanding the area from above and being easy to defend, serving as the final stronghold.
*Tsk tsk, one truly has to admire the wisdom of the Hakka people.*
Bai Yuan, seeing such a powerful fortress for the first time, was also incredibly excited. He rubbed his hands together. "Hahahaha! I have a plan! All the able-bodied men, follow me! We will first practice a bit..."
"Gao Chuwu, you will lead ten men and defend this passageway."
"Have ten more strong women go onto the rooftops on both sides to help Gao Chuwu by smashing rocks down."
"Zheng Daniu, you will lead ten men and defend this passageway."
"Have some strong women go onto the rooftops on both sides of the passageway to be responsible for dropping rocks."
"Li Da, you will take five men and turn through this passageway..."
"Gao Yiyi, you will take five men and ambush them in this small alley. Wait for the bandits to pass through this passageway, then immediately come out, close this door, and bolt it."
"Oh dear, this path... I really don't have anyone left to use here," Bai Yuan hesitated. "This passageway is the bandits' only escape route, but the village doesn't have enough manpower. What should we do?"
Li Daoxuan looked at the width of that passageway and the courtyard behind it, smiled knowingly, and had an idea.
While Bai Yuan was still pondering, Gao Yiye suddenly spoke up. "Everyone step back! Dao Xuan Tianzun is going to lend us an Immortal Artifact!"
Hearing this, everyone quickly retreated.
Bai Yuan also quickly bowed deeply toward the sky.
A gigantic bronze cannon could be seen slowly descending from the sky. It landed perfectly in the courtyard at the end of the passageway that Bai Yuan couldn't find anyone to defend, settling gently. The muzzle dipped down, aimed straight at the passageway.
The cannon, which was several meters long, landed without even a tremor, showing how gently Dao Xuan Tianzun applied the force, lest he shake them all up.
This cannon took up a massive amount of space, occupying one of the nine halls and eighteen courtyards entirely. Its sheer size was astonishing.
The villagers had never seen a cannon and didn't know what one should look like, but Bai Yuan and Shansier had both seen the Red Barbarian Cannons in the big city. They instantly recognized that the "Immortal Artifact" granted by Dao Xuan Tianzun was a cannon, only...
It was far too big!
Shansier: "Dao Xuan Tianzun goes big with everything he plays with!"
Bai Yuan: "How are we to use such a giant cannon? We can't even lift the cannonballs! Moreover, when it fires, it will surely shake the mountains and the earth. The immense blast force is enough to shake us to death. Dao Xuan Tianzun, this is a divine object, and we little people cannot use it!"