In an inconspicuous courtyard outside Emden, the capital of East Frisia, a group of people are plotting:
"Captain, how is the situation this time? Is there any water seepage?"
"No, this time there is no water seepage at all. Ma De, the tunnels dug in the previous two times were seriously leaked, and the inside was full of water, which was useless at all. It took several months and wasted a lot of time!"
"No way, Emden is close to the Ems River, and the land here is naturally wet. We chose a place by the Emden River for the first time. It is convenient to dump the soil, but the water seepage is terrible. Even if we dig through , and can’t pass others.”
"Okay, I won't say much. When it gets dark, let's sleep first and get up in the middle of the night to continue digging!"
"Yes!"
Then, a group of people went back to their respective rooms to rest...
This group of people was the group that Marin sent to dig tunnels outside Emden. At the beginning, Marin's first choice was the south of the city near the Ems River. Because, south of Emden is the Ems River. Digging tunnels is a matter of secrecy and must not be discovered by the East Frisians. However, when digging a tunnel, a large amount of soil needs to be transported out. Therefore, to dig a tunnel under the eyes of the enemy, it is necessary to ensure that the soil cannot be found when it is transported out.
On the south side of the city, because it is close to the Ems River, as long as the soil is poured into the Ems River at night, everything will be hidden.
Therefore, for the first time, the team chose to be outside the city wall in the south of the city. However, after digging for a period of time, they found that the water seepage in the tunnel was too serious. Because it is close to the Ems River, the land beside the river outside the city is very humid and has serious water seepage. After digging for a week or so, the tunnel began to seep. After half a month of digging, the tunnel is generally full of water...
Therefore, they had no choice but to give up the extremely humid area in the south of the city, and moved to the west of the city, which was finally a little farther away from the Ems River...
However, the west of the city is not good either. Because this side is much drier than the previous side of the Ems River in the south of the city, but it is still relatively humid.
At first, the excavation team found nothing unusual. But after more than two months of digging, when it was close to the foot of the city wall, because it needed to be dug deeper again (the foundation of the city wall is deep, it must be dug very deep to bypass the city wall), so I dug down a few meters again... and then... water was sprayed...
So, this tunnel was scrapped again...
In desperation, for the third time, everyone became more cautious and began to observe carefully around the city wall of Emden. Finally, after more than a month of investigation, they chose the driest northeast direction outside the city. This direction is the furthest from the river and the driest.
Then, the excavation team dug again. This time, they directly lowered the excavation depth to about the same depth as the foundation of the city wall. Even if water seepage is found, it can be detected early. In order not to find the problem at the bottom of the city wall like last time.
This time, the excavation team was very lucky and did not encounter water seepage. Of course, it is not completely impermeable, after all, this is a humid area. However, it's just a little bit of water seepage, and it doesn't affect digging and passing.
It's just that, for this excavation, soil transportation is very troublesome. Because, here is too far away from the river. And the soil they dug out of the tunnel cannot be piled up outside casually, so as not to attract the attention of East Frisia.
So, in desperation, the captain of the excavation team, Blue Fly (Blue. Fly, can also be translated as Lan Xiang) sent someone to apply for a sum of money from Marin, and pretended to set up a business firm, engaged in grain production. sell.
In fact, every time the rye is transported out, the sacks under the cart are filled not with grain, but with soil dug out from tunnels...
Relying on this method, the excavation team led by Bruce Foley quietly transferred the soil to other places and poured it into the sea, without any abnormalities being found by the East Frisian side.
After hearing about Blue Fry's outstanding work deeds, Marin personally named Blue Fry's excavation team "Lanxiang" excavation team. And this "Lanxiang" excavation team also made great contributions to attacking some fortified cities for Marin in the future...
After three months of hard work by the Lanxiang excavation team, the tunnel finally bypassed the northeast wall of Emden City and entered the city.
At this time, Lan Xiang's excavation team split a team, entered the northeast corner of the city, bought a batch of private houses inside the city wall, and made preparations for the entrance of the tunnel.
Then, the tunnel excavation technicians of the Lanxiang excavation team began to cautiously exert force on both sides at the same time, trying to open the tunnel to the entrance in the city.
However, tunnel excavation is difficult to locate. The first connection attempt failed, because the excavation team outside the city chose the upward exit of the tunnel under the foundation of a stone building in the city.
Then, avoiding the house with its all-stone foundation, they began excavating in the direction of another house built by the poor with an earthy floor...
At the beginning of August, the two small teams finally managed to work together to get through the exit of the poor hut that was bought...
Then, Blue Fry, excitedly rushed back to Den Bog to report the results to Marin...
"Sure enough, it's the Big Lanxiang excavation team. The excavation technology is awesome! You can dig so well without an excavator! I've accepted it, and I've accepted it in my previous life, and I'll accept it in this life!" Marin stretched out his thumb and gave Bruce. Foley issued a reward of 1,000 gold coins and asked him to keep the authentic secret.
Then, most of Lanxiang's excavation team withdrew. The only ones left there were a few who put up fronts and pretended to be doing business. Moreover, the two entrances to the tunnel were well camouflaged.
Although, with the tunnel, Marin is not ready to attack. Because, last time, 300 prisoners of war were returned to the Frisian nobles, and then 500 were sent to Cork, Ireland. Therefore, Marin later recruited another 800 people, and the number of troops was reassembled to 6,000.
Then, a new round of military training started again, as well as the tossing beach landing training...
Not only that, but Marin also sent another team to the small fishing village of Krumhorn, 15 kilometers northwest of Emden, to buy several houses and bring two large fishing boats to make a pair of fishing boats. A gesture of staying and fishing locally.
And the members of this group (two families) were originally Frisian fishermen. This time, they were sent to Krumhorn to prepare for the landing of the army.
Moreover, in order to facilitate the docking and loading and unloading of ships loaded with war horses and armor, this team specially built two long wooden long bridge piers to dock the two impressive 100-ton "big fishing boats".
Because they are all Frisians, the local officials have no objection to the presence of the two rich fishing families. You know, since the Duke of Saxony occupied West Frisia, because of the severe exploitation of the local Frisians, it is normal for the Frisians to flee to the Earl of East Frisia. Therefore, the locals did not suspect their origins and identities at all.
The locals even praised the two wealthy families for building a new fishing pier in Croomhorn. Because these two piers are also allowed to be shared by everyone...
In this way, after several months of preparation, Marin quietly completed the layout in East Frisia. It's just that Marin's army has not been trained well, and the time has not come yet, so they can't attack immediately...