Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife (Yang Shi Liu) 801

876

Assaulted by Heat

Xi Fang's words were not an exaggeration in the slightest. When dawn came and the first rays of sunlight hit Sha Ping City, these soldiers really did cry.

It was too hot! It was so hot that they could not endure it!

Although the heat was already stifling ever since they entered Luo Province, in any case, they could endure it. It was not to the point like in Sha Ping City where there was no place to hide. Xuan Tian Ming told them: "There is a Southern boundary between Gu Shu and Da Shun. It does not look apparent; however, this boundary is like a band of heat that keeps Da Shun separated from the desert. Perhaps you feel that Lan Zhou and the heat in the South was bearable, but once we have entered a true desert environment and entered Gu Shu's border, this sort of heat is very hard to endure. The reason that this prince chose to attack Gu Shu's first city last night was that the nights are cool. Before you have been assaulted by the summer heat, and before any problems arose with your bodies, us forcefully taking the first city would be a shock to Gu Shu. At the same time, it would buy our army some time to help you successfully get past this difficult hurdle."

While he spoke, the people were not completely sold on this explanation. Although it was already hotter than they could bear, they did not think that there would be any problems with their bodies, much less to the point where the problem would be big enough to hinder their ability to set foot on the battlefield.

But this sort of thinking did not last long. That day at noon, a large number of soldiers began to suffer from diarrhea and heatstroke. There were also some that began to faint. Even Xuan Tian Ming himself, if he was not secretly using his inner strength to fight off the heat, he himself might not have been able to endure the heat of the desert.

Gu Shu was the first country from the border of the desert. Because it did not extend too deep into the desert, its domain was quite a bit bigger than the smaller countries in the desert. There were a total of 12 cities, and its capital city was a bit South of the middle of the country and was after the fourth city. Sha Ping City was the closest to Da Shun. Although it was not in the heart of the desert, the city was completely surrounded by sand, but the roads inside the city were still paved. The paving stones were clearly imported from Da Shun. It was for the sake of making it so that the people would not be left incapable of going out if the wind blew too strong.

Each city and country in the desert was built near a source of water. It could be said that the people in the desert were very accurate and sensitive to finding water. They lived their lives depending on these sources of water. For the sake of protecting the sources of water, nearly all cities would be built around the sources of water, and they were even guarded by soldiers. It could be said that these sources of water were the foundation that allowed people to live. They could not afford to be negligent.

Sha Ping City had a river running through it. It was the river that took care of the citizens of Sha Ping City. In truth, Sha Ping City's people did not react too negatively to the city being taken by Da Shun. They were already living close to Da Shun. Back when Gu Shu was obedient toward Da Shun, trade between the two countries occurred very frequently. There would always be merchants from Da Shun that went to Sha Ping City to buy their specialty goods, for example, the fruits and spices, as well as the delicious jerkies that were unique to the desert. As for Gu Shu's merchants, they would also travel to Lan Zhou to buy some fabrics, vegetables and grains. It could be said that the food eaten by the people of Sha Ping City were mostly brought in from Da Shun. Their understanding of Da Shun might have been limited to Lan Zhou and Luo Province, but they still yearned for those fertile lands in Da Shun.