1,500 mixed cavalry were quickly sent out and headed straight for the vicinity of the city of Oldenburg. Subsequently, nearly 3,000 hussars were also released to inform the various estates in the Oldenburg province to set fire to the fields.

The light cavalry, of nearly 3,000 men, was not regular cavalry, but consisted of spies, mounted police, and even postmen from East Friesland. But in order to carry out this arson mission, Marin temporarily organized them all and carried out the mission.

Moreover, before leaving, Marin gave each of them a large leather bag, which contained a black liquid......

What are these black liquids? It is all the residual part of crude oil left over from Marlin's refining of gasoline. Marlin refines gasoline, mainly refining gasoline components and part of kerosene components. As for components such as diesel, heavy oil and bitumen, which have higher boiling points, they are not well separated.

Originally, Marlin was planning to further refine diesel and lubricants. Mineral lubricants, in particular, have a great effect on steam engines. In this way, Marin also did not need to import castor oil from Egypt as a steam engine lubricant.

However, because there was so much to do during this time, Marlin did not have time to further fractionate the processed crude oil. It just so happened that these light cavalry were going to carry out the task of setting fire, and Marin simply took out the hundreds of barrels of residual crude oil, put them in leather bags, and gave them to those light cavalry to take away as combustibles. Although there is no gasoline that burns most violently, oil is oil, and it burns as vigorously as it ignites.

……

Oldenburg, on the other hand, was busy accepting the private army of the renegade of the old nobles in Bremen. The princes of the Eight Kingdoms were obviously very optimistic about those noble private armies, after all, there were hundreds of knights who could fight on horseback. Coupled with more than 2,000 capable squires, it is definitely a good armed force. At least, it is much stronger than the conscripts of the princes of the Eight Kingdoms.

Therefore, these days, the princes of the Eight Kingdoms were busy negotiating with the representatives of the rebellious nobles in Bremen, and did not pay attention to sending people to the countryside to harvest grain.

Of course, the alliance of the princes of the eight countries is not short of food at all, so naturally there is no motivation to go to the countryside to collect grain. Because, the granary of the city of Oldenburg is full of grain, and tens of thousands of people can't eat it all.

Besides, the grain in the field will not fly again, and there is no hurry to harvest. In addition, according to the knowledge of these princes, the autumn harvest usually starts in October. In addition, he was busy accepting the private army of the nobles, so he did not send anyone to the countryside to supervise the grain harvest for a while.

In this way, when the light cavalry sent by Marin arrived at the estates in the Oldenburg area at night, the allied forces of the princes of the Eight Kingdoms did not send troops to the countryside to urge food, but it also facilitated their movements.

……

"What? Set fire to the fields? Messenger, did I hear me wrong? Some of the manor stewards looked at the hussars who had come to inform them with astonishment.

"You heard it right, it was Lord Marin's own order!"

"Lord Marin? Didn't the adults die? "In rural areas, information is blocked, and news is naturally a little lagging behind.

"What nonsense? You're in trouble! Lord Marlin, God willing, has returned safely, I saw it with my own eyes. He didn't want these grains to be cheap for the enemy, so he ordered the fields to be set on fire! The herald's hussar said angrily.

"But this order is too ...... It's so abnormal...... "As the steward of the manor, he is obviously unwilling to burn the crops that are about to be harvested in the field.

The light cavalry sneered and said:

"Steward Charlie, I'm not here to ask for your opinion, I'm here to deliver orders. I almost forgot that the last sentence of this order is - those who disobey the order will be immediately executed! ”

The steward named Charlie was suddenly shocked, and his eyes were full of incredulity:

"This ...... If we burn the crops, what will we eat? Is the Grand Duke going to give up on us peasants? ”

The hussar waved his hand impatiently:

"Don't tell me you didn't dig a secret room to hide food......"

"It's a little hidden, but it won't last until next year's autumn harvest!" Charlie said with a depressed face.

"It's okay, even if you carry out the order, as soon as the war is over, the Grand Guild will mobilize food from the grain depot, and you will not starve to death. What you have to do now is to set fire to the fields. Also, if the enemy came to interrogate, they said that the grain yield per acre was about 1,200 pounds. If you tell the truth, you will be put to death afterwards, you know? ”

"Okay, I'm fine." Steward Charlie said in frustration. He himself was one of the informants of Kohler's intelligence organization, belonged to the periphery, and was most obedient to orders. Moreover, as an intelligence organization, people are most aware of the consequences of disobedience. So, he still carried out the order.

……

However, his willingness to carry out orders does not mean that the peasants are also willing. When Charles and the light cavalry envoys arranged for the fields to be burned, a farmer came out to stop him......

"Stand back or die!" The light rider drew his sword.

"You can't burn it! Burning grain, what do we eat? An old farmer knelt down and obstructed.

"There will be no shortage of food for you, the granary of the Grand Duke is full of grain. I don't have time to explain to you, get out of the way or die! ”

The old peasant still refused to get out of the way, and the light horse messenger had already raised his sword:

"I count three, one...... Two...... Three ......"

After counting, the old peasant's head flew up......

"Dare to kill my father, I will fight with you!" The old farmer's son was furious. However, he rushed up and was stabbed in the back. Looking back, he found that it was Charlie who made the knife......

Steward Charlie had a gloomy face and said angrily:

"Your family wants to die, don't pull me! There is no shortage of food for you, so why bother to die? ”

In this way, there was no more opposition to this estate. Then the light rider took out his skin, stood upwind, and poured the black oil from the skin on the yellow rye straw at the upwind outlet......

"Ignition!"

Soon, the fire broke out. With the help of the wind, the more it burns, the more fierce it becomes. In addition, the straw in the field is yellow when it is ripe, and it is easy to catch fire. For a time, the fields were on fire and filled with smoke......

……

Of course, it is not that all estates strictly follow orders. Some of the estates directly resisted the order, and even several light horse messengers were killed by the angry farmers.

However, this is something that Marin had expected and prepared for a long time......

"What? Jace Manor killed the messenger for disobedience? Did the steward of the manor participate? The hussar centurion asked angrily.

"Participated, it was the manor steward who took the lead in attacking the messenger!" The light cavalry envoy who reported said seriously.

"It's good, the people of Jace Manor can't stay! Brothers, signal it, gather men, and we're going to level Jace Manor! ”

"My lord, they are ordinary people!" Some of his subordinates dissuaded.

"No, from the moment they disobeyed the order and killed the official, they were already rebels!" The centurion said seriously.

Then, more than 200 people from this manor called Jace were all slaughtered. Later, a raging fire broke out in the rye fields of Jace Manor......

……

This mission was not easy, and there were dozens of thousands of estates in Oldenburg that disobeyed the order. Fortunately, Marin was prepared. After killing more than 40 manor stewards and slaughtering 8 of the manor houses of collective disobedience, over the course of two nights, the rye fields of thousands of manors in Oldenburg were ablaze......

……

"What's the situation? Why is the air full of smoke? "In the city of Oldenburg, the tears of several princes were smoked from the smoke of ryegrass.

The manor near Oldenburg began to burn the next day, so it was not until the morning of the third day that the princes, who had been smoked from the smoke and wept after going out, realized that something was wrong.

"Get out of town and find out!" Charles, Earl of Geldon, felt that something was wrong and immediately sent people out of the city.

In fact, yesterday the coalition of the princes of the eight countries sent cavalry out of the city. However, it was lured out by 1,000 lancers and 500 musket scouts. After going out, half of the 2,000 cavalry of the coalition pursuing the opponent were killed. Then, in disgrace, he fled back. After that, the allied forces of the princes of the Eight Kingdoms were afraid of traps, so they did not send troops out of the city again. It just so happened that Marin's men were given the opportunity to send someone to set fire.

"Report! The wheat fields outside the city have been set on fire, and now the flames are so bright that they cannot be extinguished! ”

"What? Someone actually burned the wheat field? Crazy? Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttle, was surprised.

Charlie, Earl of Geldon, frowned and thought for a while:

"Marin is really a madman, in order not to cheapen us, he actually let people set fire to the farmland!"

"Crazy!"

"It's crazy!"

Several princes gave similar reviews......