After all the noise, night fell once more. The darkness from the skies slowly crept over, eating away at Mogadishu bit by bit. Eventually, it swallowed the entire city, merging it together with the wilderness.
As the night breeze blew across, a stench was wrapped up; it was the smell of rotting corpses.
Each day, there would be people who died at unassuming corners of the city. In the hot climate, these bodies would rot in a day or two, and they would give off a smelly stench that permeated the air.
There were bald eagles circling the skies, ready to dive down to enjoy a delicious meal. People looked at their empty tables as their eyes felt numb.
The white city was already rotting.
In the pitch black alleyways, there would be dogs barking to show that a brawl was happening there.
They might be fighting for a hard piece of bread.
After a short while, the dog stopped. It was killed because it was making too much noise.
"Another good meal."
The rumors during the day escalated the uneasiness of the people. Even during the night, civilians still found it hard to fall asleep, so they would seek information from one another about a way out.
Civilians who had nowhere to go were ready to force their way out.
Suddenly, a rumor spread that astonished the people.
"Have you heard? The west city gate guard has been persuaded by his family and will open the gate in the morning to let his family out."
"Really? Can we follow them out?" The people who got the news could not hide their excitement.
"Prepare early, there will be a huge crowd, and the guard will not dare to keep it open. Whether we are able to escape or not will depend on this one chance."
"Understood, I'll go pack up and wait near the gate overnight."
"Ok, see you there!"
Similar words spread out through the city.
With that, a hidden current formed, and it was going to gather into a huge ocean to crush everything in its path.
When the Black Snake Guards spies inside the city learned of this news, they felt that something was really amiss, so they sent the intel to outside of city. With their occupational sense, they could smell a scheme.
When Di Qing got the news, he called for a meeting.
"Generals, how should we prepare for these changes?" Although Di Qing was the main general, he never acted alone and always asked his other generals for their opinions.
As the deputy, Lu Bu sat to the left of him, "if the intel is true, why don't we use this chance to kill our way into the city?"
The standoff between the two groups had made Lu Bu a little unhappy. Such a way of warfighting was not fun for a general like Lu Bu.
"No." The one who spoke was one of the Major Generals, "If the gates open, there will be many people nearby. If we charge in, we will end up in a sea of people. What if enemies are hiding nearby?"
Lu Bu rolled his eyes and said proudly, "Others cannot, but the Guards Legion Corps definitely can. Who cares if there's an ambush? We will just kill them."
His words were said with real arrogance.
The 3rd legion of the Guards Legion Corps led by Lu Bu was given the name dragon blood war cavalry by the king. They were elite cavalry that were no weaker than the Tiger Leopard Cavalry.
With their strength, they actually had the ability to charge into the city.
The moment they managed to enter the west city gate, Mogadishu would be broken, and the battle would be over.
That Major General was embarrassed, and he was unable to find a way to retort Lu Bu's words.
Even Di Qing was a little tempted at that moment. The standoff was a terrifying use of grain, and they could not randomly scour Somalia for grain infinitely.
If they took too much grain from the people, they would probably riot.
"We cannot allow this war to drag any longer."
However, Di Qing was really careful, and the Major General's words made sense. Based on his gut feeling, he felt that something was brewing in Mogadishu, and there seemed to be a scheme.
To enter the city just like that was not a smart decision.
Di Qing definitely did not dare to make rash decisions with the 200 thousand troops the king had entrusted to him. However, to reject Lu Bu's suggestion outright like that would be really awkward.
Luckily, there were many other strong generals in the Somalia Formation. Seeing the main general frowning and not speaking, they were able to guess that he did not agree with Lu Bu.
At such a time, they naturally needed to step up to ease the situation, "General's words make sense, the dragon blood war cavalry is really strong, and they can charge into the city."
Hearing this, Lu Bu was gleeful and a smile appeared on his face.
"However, we must keep one thing in mind. Doing this will cause a lot of civilian casualties and will cause a riot. The king ordered us to siege; he wants a perfect city, not one where the people's sentiment was lost. I feel that we need to reconsider charging through the city gate." This Major General was beating around the bush.
When Lu Bu heard that, he froze; Lu Bu, this general, was only afraid of the king. If he really messed up the king's work, it would be bad.
"This..."
The Major General used the king as a reason to reject his suggestion, so Lu Bu had no way to argue. As a result, his face was filled with unhappiness.
Di Qing looked at that Major General with praise.
After all of them calmed down, Di Qing looked at Lu Bu and smiled, "General, still prepare three thousand elite cavalry. We will look at the situation tomorrow and make plans."
Lu Bu understood the situation, and since Di Qing put it like that, he could only nod and agree. Furthermore, if he really were to charge at the city gates, Lu Bu could not say that he was totally confident.
At this point, none of them had a way to solve the issue before them.
Di Qing had already thought of an idea, "Why not clear a path from the west side to lead them to the back of the army? After that, we can set up a few porridge stands to provide them with porridge. Then they will not try anything funny."
Mogadishu, apart from its east facing the ocean, the Great Xia Army had surrounded its other three sides. The middle army tent was set up on the west side, directly opposite the Atlantic Squadron in the ocean.
If the people wanted to get out of the city, they had to pass the Great Xia camp. If the civilians charged over here, who knows what would happen.
To the hungry people, a bowl of hot porridge was the best bait. To lead them to one gathering point would help prevent chaos.
One had to say that Di Qing's idea was really good.
However, some things were often outside of one's expectations, and it would catch a person off guard.
"This idea is good!"
The other generals nodded their heads.
Di Qing's expression turned solemn, "Letting the people out is one thing, but we cannot let the king hide amongst them."
During the Battle of Morocco, the Moroccan King hid amongst the people and escaped to Algeria, where he was building a rogue nation.
Till date, the matter was still causing a lot of ripples.
During this battle, Di Qing naturally could not make the same mistake. If he really let the Somalia King escape, the other generals would definitely laugh at him.
"Since we are letting them out, set up passes to check them one by one to prevent any suspicious people from blending in." Di Qing instructed.
"Yes general!"
After the military meeting ended, the camp began to work.
To the army that brought with them large amounts of artisans, doing these matters did not use up more strength. They only needed to clear out some of the tents overnight.
For the army to pack up, it easily made soldiers nervous.
Usually a little breeze could unsettle them, much less moving overnight. If they not well-trained, Di Qing would not dare to do that.
Only until the dead of night did all of this end.
8th month, 4th day, Mogadishu West City gate.
The sky had just turned a little bright, and tens of thousands of civilians were gathered near the gate.
The people were not fools and would not all crowd around before the gates opened. Instead, they chose to hide in the houses nearby.
They were worried that if the general guarding the gate saw so many people, he would not dare to open it.
The quiet streets had no one on them, but in truth, numerous eyes were focused on it; especially that gate, which was the focal point of the entire city.
Mogadishu was near the ocean, and there would be a mist every morning. The thin mist moved up and down the streets, covering the people hidden in the houses well.
Each house was packed with people, and there were even many people seated on the roofs.
To get out of the city, many people spent the night there and did not even dare to sleep. Everyone was waiting for the family of the general to come.
At 7 AM, there was still no one on the streets.
"Why are they not here yet? Could the news be fake?" Some people were worried. After all, it was just a rumor.
Some people started to pray, "No, they will definitely come."
That family had become the hope of everyone in the city.
Just as they were anxious, the silence was broken by the sound of wheels hitting the stone floor.
All of them raised their heads and looked through the cracks of the doors.
They saw a group of people pushing a cart, bringing their stuff and walking toward the west gate.
"It's them!"
"They are here!"
"They are really here!"
The people spread the news quickly as they tried to suppress their excitement. Some people were so nervous that they could not even speak.
They looked at that family like they were looking at gods.
Everyone was ready to leave, and they were just waiting for the moment the city gate opened. At that time, they would rush out at their fastest speed and escape this suffocating hell.
The mist started to slowly disperse.