The Princess of Northern Land
Chapter 585: Crushing Defeat (1)_1

Chapter 585: Chapter 585: Crushing Defeat (1)_1

The supply of broken rocks within the Border City couldn’t keep up, and fewer and fewer rocks fell from the city wall.

Billy and Bayal were delighted. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the brave warriors of their North Country could climb atop the city tower. Once they entered the heart of Border City, Chu Suifeng’s men would have no space to deploy their formations.

Just comparing the fighting prowess of their soldiers, their side undoubtedly held the absolute advantage.

Bayal and Billy looked at each other, both seeing the excitement in the other’s eyes. Victory was beckoning to them.

"Ah."

"It hurts to death."

"Ah, hot oil."

...

Just as Bayal prepared to order an attack, the situation suddenly changed. They saw rows of soldiers on the city tower of North City start pouring oil down the ladders again.

"What the hell, how much hot oil do they have?" Bayal yelled in frustrated anger.

Billy was also dumbfounded.

The emperor of Daqin had always been cautious of Chu Suifeng, never supplying abundant military pay and provisions each year. Every winter, many weaker soldiers couldn’t withstand the severe cold.

According to the information their spies sent back, Daqin’s Imperial Court was even more outrageous towards Chu Suifeng this year by not sending any military pay or provisions. They only allowed Chu Suifeng to offset them with taxes collected from his fief.

Although this proposal sounded fair, anyone familiar with circumstances in the Northern Land knew that it was sparsely populated and situated in a bitterly cold region. Each year, they could only cultivate a few crops such as soybeans and millet, both of which didn’t yield much.

The citizens of Northern Land didn’t enjoy the strong taste of beef and mutton, unlike the citizens of their North Country who were all strong and healthy from eating beef and mutton.

So, using soybeans and millet cultivated by the citizens as military provisions—assuming Chu Suifeng’s soldiers didn’t starve—would already be a good outcome.

Thinking about it, the emperor of Daqin was indeed talented. Just because he disliked Chu Suifeng, his own son, he dared to gamble with the entire border’s safety.

If they hadn’t received the news that Chu Suifeng had started growing rice in his estate, the monarch of North Country wouldn’t have been in a hurry to attack the Northern Land so early. Since the Northern Land was in a period of deprivation, if North Country didn’t seize Border City now, it would be even harder to capture once Chu Suifeng was stronger.

No matter what, they had to return triumphantly this time.

Neither Billy nor Bayal could understand why the Northern Land army, supposedly "poor" enough to not have sufficient food, could afford to extravagantly use vegetable oil as a weapon against them.

"Lin Missy is so generous, she sent us so much vegetable oil. But pouring it down...It’s a bit heartbreaking to watch," Luo Ying said, looking at the pitiful state of the North Country soldiers below, while rejoicing, he also felt a bit of regret.

"What’s there to feel sorry about?" Another commander laughed and explained, "Mr. Situ has said that this vegetable oil is waste oil, it’s extracted from leftover food. Humans can’t eat it, so it’s ideal to pour onto our enemies to give them a taste."

"Vegetable oil is truly marvelous, it can be eaten and it can kill enemies. The Queen is remarkable!"

"Yes, the Queen is remarkable."

...

The commanders who had decided to hitch a ride on Lin Ziyin’s coattails took every chance they could get in front of Chu Suifeng to praise Lin Ziyin.

Upon listening, Chu Suifeng’s mouth curved up in a smile.

The officers’ praises for Lin Ziyin were quietly approved by Situ Gong, Luo Heng, and others. Only Miss Lin could come up with such an eccentric idea as using hot oil to attack the enemy.

And despite eating rice for so many years, they never knew oil could be extracted from leftovers.