NOVPUBBecause White Lion was very willing to engage in small-scale battles with the Paratu People, he was even more willing to use this method to wear down their fighting spirit.
After a night of fighting, the next day White Lion would choose another tribe to continue the onslaught.
In the end, Sekler angrily realized that the best approach was to completely ignore them.
Thus, the Paratu defenders in the Southern and Northern Highlands buried themselves in fortifying the camp, disregarding the Herders’ light cavalry that came to harass them.
When the Paratu People refused to fight, the Herders intensified their efforts.
In the most excessive instance, several Herders lit a campfire beyond musket range, roasted meat, and sang and danced.
Upon hearing of this, Brother Reed chuckled and asked Winters, "Are they going to send over some women’s clothes next time?"
Winters failed to grasp the insinuation and earnestly replied, "Herders’ clothing is unisex; the styles are all quite similar."
The old sham-man, finding no amusement, sighed and walked away.
Faced with the Herders’ incessant provocations, both soldiers and junior officers fumed with irritation.
General Sekler, however, had self-control; he ordered the garrison to dig three trenches, enclosing the area between the Southern Highlands, Northern Highlands, and the river bank, clearly adopting a defensive stance like a hedgehog.
Knowing that the Paratu People would not launch an attack, White Lion still sent men daily to harass and provoke.
Through this method, the confidence of the Herder tribes was gradually recovering from the devastating defeat at the Battle of Nameless Valley.
The Herders paraded their horses just beyond musket range, and the Paratu People could only watch.
The Herders urinated beyond musket range, and the Paratu People kept watching.
The Herders wrestled beyond musket range, and the Paratu People still watched—but rather enjoyed the spectacle.
So, the Herders stopped the wrestling matches and switched to other more insulting activities.
Lieutenant Mason sighed daily, regretting not bringing artillery, "or else we wouldn’t have to put up with this."
However, Colonel Jeska came up with a solution: construct redoubts fifty meters outside the camp, select soldiers of hunter origin to man them, and gather all the rifled muskets in the army to equip the hunters.
Fifty meters was within the effective killing range of a typical matchlock musket, and the musketeers on the camp walls could provide support for the redoubts.
Colonel Jeska was also well aware of the potential of the rifled muskets.
But since such guns were expensive, they were mostly treated as hunting toys by officers and the wealthy.
Apart from that, only hunters, compelled by their livelihood, would spend a great deal to purchase one.
Better to try something than just to stare blankly, Sekler agreed to Colonel Jeska’s plan.
Once the general made the decision, other officers had no choice but to hand over their prized hunting muskets, even Winters’ double-barreled shotgun was collected.
The Paratu People had a general penchant for competition; they also sought extravagance in their firearms. The officers’ rifled muskets were finely carved, the decorations on the musket bodies being more expensive than the muskets themselves.
Handing these over for the soldiers to use, the officers were quite reluctant.
Colonel Jeska inadvertently offended many of his colleagues, but his method proved to be immediately effective.
The rifled musket marksmen were now able to pose a valid threat to targets within a hundred meters—although they couldn’t guarantee a hit with each shot.
If one shot didn’t hit, then two shots, three shots...
After a dozen or so were killed or injured in succession, the Herders dared not be so reckless anymore.
Previously, the Herders had even ventured to within fifty meters of the camp walls to provoke and flaunt their presence.
Since the rifled musket marksmen had been effective, the Herders retreated to beyond two hundred meters.
Yet the situation at night remained infuriating.
Because the redoubt’s defensive capabilities were limited and could easily be overrun, the rifled musket marksmen withdrew to the camp at night.
The Herders dared not act up during the day, but after sunset, they doubled their antics.
Thus, both sides engaged in this back-and-forth, and the low-intensity conflict never ceased.
During these vexing days, the Paratu People found solace in only one matter: thanks to the stable timber supply to Shuangqiao Main Camp, the progress of the bridge was very satisfactory.
The bridge piers extended toward the opposite bank of the river at a rate of at least ten meters per day, having already crossed the middle of the river.
The Herders on the opposite bank were also racking their brains to destroy the bridge.
The Herders’ line of thought was straightforward to the extreme: heavy arrows can’t reach? Then I’ll use lighter arrows.
So, they hurriedly produced a batch of light arrows with bone tips and fine wood shafts, shooting them towards the constructing Paratu People.
While the arrows became lighter and their range extended slightly, their power was weaker, and they were more severely affected by the wind.
The Herders shot over a hundred light arrows against the wind, and the hit rate was exasperating. 𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
The few arrows that did manage to hit the Paratu People were hardly a bother.
Not powerful enough? I’ll use a stronger bow.
They then collated three heavy bows to make a ballista, which they hauled to the riverbank to shoot at the pile drivers.
If they had used specially made heavy bows, they might have threatened the pile drivers.
But the Herders’ ballista was made with ordinary horn bows, and the Paratu pile drivers were exceptionally robust; the arrows scratching them were like tickling.
The Herders on the opposite bank then wrapped the arrows with resin, attempting to set the pile drivers on fire.
Still a failure, as the fires were put out faster than the Paratu People could start them.
After half a day of shooting, neither the boats nor the bridge were harmed, but the Herders’ "ballista" collapsed, injuring several people.
The desperate Herders then rolled out a trebuchet, with forty-odd people pulling the rope, hurling rocks the size of human heads at the bridge and rafts on the water.
This truly threatened the Paratu People.
Rocks the size of heads couldn’t sink the rafts, but they could kill or injure people.
However, by the time the Herders deployed the trebuchet, the bridge was less than a hundred meters from the opposite bank.
Sekler promptly dispatched musketeers and rifled musket marksmen to the bridge to exchange fire with the Herders on the riverbank.
