The thirsty defenders all turned their eyes to the wooden cart under the city wall. Ten pirates pushed ten bottles of wine, nine of which were drunk, and the remaining one belonged to the bearded pirate and was not touched.
Ella's troops were arrayed three arrows away. The defenders looked at the enemy in the distance, then at the water bucket under the city, and began to struggle violently.
Someone shouted, "Who cares! He's so far away, just hurry up!"
People came to their senses and began to rush towards the bucket of water under the city gate.
Ella watched all this anxiously from a distance. She had thought that no matter what, Azov would surrender after five days of water shortage, but the other side obviously had no such intention. During these five days, she either looked at Azov anxiously or looked at the sea worriedly. The reinforcements from the Republic of Liguria would arrive at any time. If Azov did not surrender before then, her battle would be half-failed.
"The soldiers are fighting for water, which means that Azov City has indeed been cut off from water by us." Ella looked worried, "But it's already the fifth day, and these defenders are still very energetic. How much water is stored in Azov City?"
Amy comforted her: "No matter how much they have in reserve, it will be a thing of the past. Just wait a few more days and they will open the city and surrender."
"We can't just sit and wait for them to surrender. We must lure them in as much as possible... Although the timing is a little delicate, we must appear to be at ease in front of the defenders of Azov City. Let the bearded man come over and rehearse the next play as soon as possible."
…
Azov has been without water for the sixth day.
With a clang, Princess Anna smashed a jar of water. She looked around carefully, and after making sure that no one was around, she picked up a larger piece and licked the water on the surface like a puppy.
"Princess! I'm back!"
Dust kicked the door open. Anna hurriedly hid the tiles behind her back and prayed that Dust had not seen her indecent behavior.
"Eh? Princess, why is your face red? What are you hiding behind your back? I saw you were licking... Ouch, it hurts! Princess, why did you hit me as soon as I walked in?"
"Why can't I hit you?" Anna shouted angrily, "I want water!"
Dust touched the bruises on his face and said, "My method was exposed after being learned by those mercenaries. The Pirate Kingdom has strengthened its position at sea, and we can't reach the seawater... Yesterday, I went to grab a bucket of water under the city wall, and I was punched in the face by the Great Legion. I also sweated for nothing."
"So there's no water?"
"No, there are more here."
Duster lifted up a kettle in his hand like a magic trick and swung it in front of Anna. Anna heard the sound of water splashing from the kettle, and her eyes immediately flashed with greed like a beast seeing its prey. He pounced on the kettle like a hungry wolf. Duster was prepared, and he turned around lightly, leaving Anna empty-handed.
Anna rubbed her nose that had hit the ground and got up. She looked up at Dust and pleaded pitifully, "Sir White Knight?"
"It's not enough to just shout like that. It's no exaggeration to say that it's hard to find another pot of water like this in the whole city!" Dust shook the pot "clang clang" and deliberately tempted Anna, "If you promise not to step on me again, I will give you this pot of water!"
"I promise!" Anna answered without thinking. Dust nodded with satisfaction and stretched out his hand holding the kettle. Anna pounced on him like a puppy and snatched the kettle away, unscrewing the lid. But before pouring the water into her mouth, she suddenly stopped and asked cautiously, "What kind of water is this? I won't drink weird water. This is my last dignity as a princess!"
"It's the dew."
Anna felt relieved, picked up the kettle and gulped the water into her mouth.
Daxter said proudly, "I'm not bragging. I started preparing the first day I found out that Azov City was without water. I got up six days early just for this bottle of water..."
After drinking half a bottle of water, Anna suddenly frowned: "Daxt, this water... seems to taste a bit strange? Is this really dew?"
"Of course it's dew! Every morning, there are a lot of dew on the grass." Dust untied the cloth leggings on his feet and swung them in front of Anna: "Just walk around the field in the morning and squeeze the water out of the leggings, and you can collect the dew! This is a survival skill I learned when I was in trouble on the steppes of Central Asia!"
Anna felt nauseous, and the dignity of a princess was shattered to the ground. But nausea would waste water, so she had to cover her mouth and forcefully swallow the liquid that surged into her throat. This was an extremely difficult process. Anna's eyes widened and she managed to squeeze out a sentence from between her teeth: "Next time... remember to use my handkerchief."
A horn sounded at the city gate, signaling an enemy attack. Dust hurriedly put on his half-taken clothes and ran toward the city wall.
The bearded pirate and his companions from yesterday came again. This time, the ten of them were each soaking in a large bucket. The bearded pirate leaned back, raised one leg gracefully to the air under the gaze of the guards, scooped up water and slowly washed the leg hair.
"We are here to take a bath at the foot of Azov City on the orders of the King of Sweden!"
The defenders of Azov City loaded crossbows with arrows without any prior agreement.
"Wait a minute! We are not here to fight!" The bearded pirate put down his legs in panic, "Look, there are buckets of water in front of the Swedish king's formation..."
Countless crossbow arrows flew towards them. The pirates hurriedly turned the buckets upside down on their bodies and ran towards the siege camp. The bearded pirate did not forget to continue shouting in this situation: "The King of Sweden said! Anyone who comes to her will be provided with free water! It doesn't matter where they want to go after drinking the water. The King of Sweden guarantees their safety!"
That night, the extremely thirsty defenders of Azov climbed up the wall from time to time, looked at the siege camp in the distance, and then looked at their companions, feeling extremely conflicted.
Ella asked the same question for the umpteenth time that night: "Did any enemy sneak down to the city to ask for water?"
Her answer was always the same: "Not yet, King of Sweden."
The dark coast made Ella's heart restless.
…
Azov has been without water for seven days.
Anna fell to the ground like a puddle of mud, shouting incoherently: "Sir White Knight, water... I want water..."
"Dew... After the mercenaries learned this method, the grass was trampled to pieces." Dust lay on the ground like Anna, and said incoherently, "Talk less. Exposing your tongue will accelerate the evaporation of water. This is a survival skill I learned when I was stranded in the desert..."
Anna didn't hear what Dust said at all. She just kept repeating like a fool: "Sir White Knight, water... I want water..."
"There's really no water left, but here's some urine I saved three days ago, if you want it..."
"No... No, this is my last dignity as a princess..."
"Should we still...?"
“Should… shouldn’t…”
A horn blew at the city gate. This time, Ella's army rushed forward under the rain of arrows as if they were fighting for their lives. The defenders gathered their last bit of energy and prepared to fight back. Unexpectedly, the attacking troops put ladders on the city walls and then hurriedly withdrew with their shields.
The defenders looked at the ladders set up on the city wall and looked at each other in bewilderment. Logically, they should have pushed the ladders away, but they were not very willing to do so.
The bearded pirate and his companions came again. This time, they splashed water on each other under the city.
"Water for sale!" The bearded pirate shouted loudly behind each bucket. "Whoever you are, as long as you hand over your weapons to us, you can get water! Those who come first will get plenty, and those who come later will be left with nothing!"