The fire in the trench blocked the Liao attack, and the smoke and fire made it impossible to get close, and the slightest inhalation of some burning black smoke made people cough. Black smoke drifted down the north wind in front of the army, fluttering and falling, as if there was a black snow in the sky. Although there was nothing unusual about the body and skin of the people, when they reached out and rubbed their hands, the faces of the soldiers suddenly seemed to be scribbled with a brush, and they were ugly like evil spirits, which really damaged the appearance of the soldiers.

50,000 sappers were forced to retreat, waiting for orders.

Yelu Zongyuan was unwilling to encounter insurmountable obstacles at the beginning of the attack, and personally came to the front of the battle to discuss countermeasures with the generals. Some Liao army generals suggested using water to extinguish the fire, and Yelu Zongyuan felt that he could give it a try. If it works, you can extinguish the fire in sections and build an offensive passage between the walls of fire.

So, more than a dozen waterwheels full of clean water drove to the trench, and they endured the intense scorching heat to push the waterwheel to a distance of more than 20 steps from the fire, which is also the distance that the water dragon equipped on the waterwheel can reach. The soldiers who endured the scorching heat pushed more than a dozen water dragons together, and more than a dozen water jets poured into the fireworks and poured them on the flames. Yelu Zongyuan thought that even if the fire could not be extinguished, at least the fire would be reduced. However, a scene that surprised him happened. As soon as the droplets of water touched the black oil burning in the trench, the entire trench suddenly erupted into flames several feet high, and the flames burst in all directions, emitting a huge roar and explosion.

The flames burst in all directions, and a rain of fire fell within a radius of dozens of paces. Nearly 100 Liao soldiers operating the water dragon couldn't dodge, and their bodies were suddenly on fire. The point is that such a fire is difficult to extinguish when it falls on them, and the black oil is poured on them and sticks to them, and the flames are attached to them. They rolled on the ground in flames, and finally fled back to more than 30 people, and the remaining 70 people were burned there alive in the eyes of the whole army.

"That's stupid. That's oil in the stone. Extinguishing oil with water? Isn't it like adding fuel to the fire? Stupid. Han Yanshou, who witnessed this in the rear, shook his head and scolded. Because he was a little inconvenient to move, he didn't follow Yelu Zongyuan to the front of the battle, so he couldn't stop it. The angry scolding continued.

Yelu Zongyuan was stunned, he didn't dare to try indiscriminately, and he came back in disgrace. I was extremely depressed.

Han Yanshou unceremoniously counted Yelu Zongyuan, and then put forward his own suggestions.

"If the emperor wants to extinguish such a fire, he can't douse it with water. If the oil catches fire, it has to be covered with sand. Either we will wait patiently for the fire to go out, and according to this burning method, the oil in the trench will be burned out in three days at most. If the emperor can't wait, he has to find a way to extinguish the fire with sand. ”

Yelu Zongyuan smacked his lips and said, "What the prime minister said is extremely true. I can see that the Jurchens are trying to delay our attack in this way. It's getting colder, it's October, winter is coming, and the first heavy snow is coming soon. In fact, the time left for us to attack the city is only a dozen days. Heavy snow will fall in October, which is a celestial phenomenon in eastern Liaodong all along. We can't wait, there are still two trenches behind, I'm afraid we won't have to wait for eight

Nine days? By then, when the snow falls, our food supply may be greatly affected. Definitely can't wait. ”

Han Yanshou nodded and said, "That's what I said, I really can't wait." When the snow falls, there is a big problem. But what else can be done? The sand can be extinguished, but the fire is inaccessible, and the smoke and heat can kill people. ”

Yelu Zongyuan's brows furrowed, and he didn't know what to do for a while. At this moment, someone said on the side: "Father, the son has a plan, which may work." ”

Yelu Zongyuan turned his head to look and found that it was his eldest son Yelu Cai who spoke. Yelu Cai was ambushed by the Jurchens on the south bank of the Daling River, and most of the more than 100,000 cavalry were annihilated, and after fleeing with less than 20,000 remnants of the army, he has not been treated by Yelu Zongyuan. Yelu Zongyuan scolded him several times for being difficult to carve and leading the army. How could it be possible to be ambushed by the Jurchen on the plains and wilderness, this is simply stupid. Yelucai himself has nothing to say, and he has kept a low profile during this time and does not dare to come forward. It is the first time that I dared to speak out today.

"What good ideas can you have? Isn't it another bad idea? Yelu Zongyuan didn't believe in his eldest son at all, and scolded coldly.

Yelucai was not discouraged, and said in a deep voice: "The prime minister said that sand should be used to extinguish this fire, and my father is just worried that the soldiers will not be able to carry sand and soil to put out the fire close to the trench?" Erchen has a way to cover the fire with sand without having to go close. ”

Yelu Zongyuan shouted: "What way? What is the sale, don't say it quickly. ”

Yelucai hurriedly stepped forward to say his thoughts, and after everyone heard it, they were pleasantly surprised, and praised it one by one. Yelucai's method is simply wonderful, wonderful. Yelu Zongyuan didn't have the idea that Yelucai had any good ideas, but after listening to Yelucai's suggestion, he was also smiling, and praised Yelucai for his growth and came up with such a wonderful countermeasure. Yelucai raised his eyebrows, bent his waist for several months, and straightened up for the first time.

After half an hour of preparation, more than 400 catapults slowly rushed from the camp to the front of the battlefield, and stopped at positions ranging from 200 to 250 paces from the trench fire according to the designated position, arranged in four rows in an arc.

Immediately after that, tens of thousands of sappers began to prepare special ammunition for these catapults. It wasn't rocks, but bags of loose sand and loose mud. This was the way Jereuchai put out the fire, and since people could not go near the trench to extinguish the fire with sand, they used catapults to throw bags of sand and mud at them. Hundreds of catapults were thrown at one place, and the effect was sure to work. I have to say that Yelucai's idea is really good. With a stroke of inspiration to solve the most difficult problem in front of him, it is no wonder that Yelu Zongyuan smiled and praised it. Now it's time to see the actual effect.

At the sound of the order, several hundred taels of catapults began to throw bags of sand and mud, targeting a section of trench about forty paces in the direction. When the first round of sand and mud bags roared into the trench, the burning black oil in the smashed trench splashed everywhere, as if a fire had descended, and the scene was really terrifying. The black oil that splashed out is still burning,

Within a radius of dozens of paces to the left of the trench, almost all of them were on fire at that moment, and the ground was full of black oil burning fires. It looked as if it didn't work, but only intensified the fire.

But soon, when the bales of sand and mud fell on the ground and burst into the trenches within a radius of about 40 paces, and the sand and mud began to cover the ground and the black oil in the trenches layer by layer, the fire weakened at a speed visible to the naked eye. The fires splattering from both sides of the trench had been completely extinguished, and the fire in the trench was almost gone, except for black smoke. Occasionally, a fire would start, but it would soon become covered in sand.

In more than an hour, more than 400 catapults threw more than 20 rounds, and tens of thousands of straw bales filled with sand and mud were thrown into the designated positions, and the fire at the location of the target trench was completely extinguished. Although the rest of the trench was still blazing with fire, thick smoke billowing from it. But at this moment, it was no longer a complete circle of fire, but a gap of forty paces. It also indicates that the blockade of the wall of fire has failed, and the gap will soon widen.

The Liao monarchs and ministers in the rear were in a happy mood, not only extinguishing the fire, but also filling in part of the trenches by the way, and it was not bad to build a trench in this way, and the soldiers did not seem to have to take any risks.

Yelu Zongyuan immediately ordered the catapult to continue throwing to expand the scope of the fire extinguishing gap. A gap of forty paces is obviously not enough, and it is necessary to widen the distance of the gap and to open the gap in all three directions, north-west and south, because the attack will be in full swing, and the attack must be unhindered.

More catapults joined the fire-fighting operation, and all the catapults in the army were engaged in the fire-fighting operation. More than 700 catapults were divided into three teams and carried out fire-fighting operations in three directions. Soon in the early afternoon, three large gaps hundreds of paces were opened in three directions. The defenders of the city had no choice but to light the second and third trenches, but in fact, this did not cause much shock and distress to the Liao army. They did the same, using catapults to push all the way and extinguish the fire, but it just took some time.

By the afternoon of the next day, the three trenches had been completely breached. The three rings of fire were cut into three pieces, and three hundred-pace-wide passages were opened up between the fires, and the scene looked down in the air, and the scene was like a gossip graphic, and it was like a fire array of witchcraft, which was quite spectacular and shocking.

After the three rings of fire were all ignited, the entire battlefield was also shrouded in an atmosphere of impending apocalypse. For the whole sky seemed to be gray, and although it was a sunny day, the whole sky became dark and gloomy, because of the thick smoke from the oil in the burning stones, which obscured the daylight and shielded the light. What's even more terrifying is that in the air of the entire area, countless black cotton wool-like things are falling one after another, falling like heavy snow. The scene is strange and terrifying, which makes people feel terrified, as if the world is about to be turned upside down, the mountains are cracking, the end is coming, and the demons in hell are about to appear here.