The sun rose above Jade Hill Town and opened the curtains to the second day of the war. Mandatory conscription began this morning. People young and old gathered in an open field below the northern wall. Some even younger than fifteen volunteered to fight but they were denied. Those too old and frail were denied as well. Special exceptions were given to people with special skills and professions such as metalsmiths, tailors, potters, and chefs. Mothers with children below the age of fifteen were also given exceptions. The remaining force of conscripted defenders numbered barely six hundred. Captain Tanvi Kapoor's estimate was spot on.

Alisha addressed the crowd from atop the wall with a simple speech. She wore the usual attire that hid her appearance, making her all the more uninspiring. The main point she emphasized was that the recruits would largely be responsible for the defense of their section of the wall. People of the northern district would be assigned to the northern wall, the eastern district to the eastern wall, and so on. This elicited clear grumblings from a certain group of people but everyone else thought it was reasonable.

She then disappeared from view and let her guards handle the rest. Breakfast was brought out which consisted of plain porridge and pickled vegetables. A certain group of people was again disappointed by the arrangement. This amount of food was far less than what she could have provided but it was part of the plan.

After breakfast, the guards organized the recruits into squads of five and ten. Those that had experience with archery were given spare training bows and sent to the practice range. Others were handed rusty spears and dull swords and taught how to their hand-to-hand weapons through a series of fundamental exercises and movements as well as how to fight in a group

Alisha turned her attention back over the wall to the bandit army that had resumed their trench digging. Their morale seemed unchanged, even after the embarrassing losses yesterday. They were fully committed and they weren't going anywhere unless their will to fight was crushed.

She didn't know how she could accomplish that, not with her currently available forces. The only option was to settle down for a long siege and wait for the bandits to run out of food.

The morning passed without much action. The bandits made rapid progress and, by around noon, the trenches were within four hundred paces of the wall. They were finally within range.

"Fire!" Alisha called out.

A hail of arrows shot out, peppering the sky.

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Most landed short. It was still too far for guards at the lower stages. A few arrows of the stronger head guards barely managed to reach but at this distance, they had lost most of their strength. Even the arrows from the captains were ineffective. The bandits had set up wooden barricades and earthen parapets so it was hard to hit anything without using cloud burst arrows. Out of a hundred ordinary arrows, only one might find their mark. And even then, it was rare for it to be a serious wound.

“Halt!” She commanded a few volleys.

“Stop shooting!”

“Stop shooting!”

The head guards carried the commands across the wall.

“Captains, only you guys will shoot. Head guards, standby until they are within three hundred and fifty strides!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Arrows did not grow in the fields. They did not cost a lot individually but bundles of good-quality arrows were still expensive. An entire army shooting arrows to no effect was basically like dumping freshly cooked meals into the drain.

The bandits had similar thoughts and retaliated only with a handful of elders. Thus, both sides employed their best archers to snipe at each other from long range.

“My lord, what are you thinking about?” Harsh Patel asked after he shot an arrow into the sky.

It soared across the battlefield and impacted against a wooden barricade. A bandit elder popped up and shot an arrow back in Harsh's direction.

Alisha watched the enemy arrive. She reached up and slapped the arrow away with her bare hand. This resulted in a spirited cheer along the wall.

“Captain Patel… don’t you think it’s a bit odd?” She asked.

“What do you mean?” Harsh said while receiving a fresh quiver full of feathered shafts.

“The bandits are being too patient and careful for my liking. The town is large and the walls are tall and wide. It would be hard for us to defend everywhere at once. Yet they aren’t even attacking with their full force. They aren’t even trying for a multi-pronged attack. They are holding more than two-thirds of their forces in reserve..."

She paused to slap away another incoming arrow.

“They are still camped out around the pit mine. If they have placed the prisoners inside, then they don’t even need that many people to guard it. What are they doing?” She asked.

“Their actions are quite conservative. Perhaps they are indeed mining and stealing all the jade… Hit!”

A faint scream drifted over from the open field. A panel in the barricade had fallen and with it, the bandit hiding behind fell back with an arrow sticking out of their forehead.

“Great shot, captain!”

“Take that, you bandits!”

The guards cheered again, applauding the excellent display of archery.

The lord’s lips twitched, “Even they if they can mine out every grain of jade in that mine, how long would it take them. How long will their supplies last? Plus, their Duanmu Sword Style isn't anything special. All of them can't become middle stage or upper stage cultivators. Some bottlenecks can't be solved by ordinary jade."

Another scream sounded, this time from atop the walls. One of the guards fell to the floor, clutching their head which was covered in blood. The others dragged the careless man down the stairs and into the aid tent.

Alisha sighed, “This is going to take a while. You are in command, Harsh.”

She left the wall and went to check on the wounded guard.