Chapter 56: Escape

As mentioned last time, Liu Hou led the troops to dig a firebreak, and when Guanxing's troops were chased by the fire and ran across this firebreak, Liu Hou had already led the troops to dig out the firebreak 300 meters long and 4 meters wide, and the sides were also dug 50 meters long and 3 meters wide.

Looking at Guan Xing and them again, they were all miserable, everyone's faces and hands were covered with black soot, and their clothes were also tattered and black, full of beggars and disciples. Many people's backs and buttocks were burned with clothes burned, as well as their hair and eyebrows. Fortunately, Guan Xing is still young and has no beard, if he is a beautiful beard like his Lao Tzu, then this beautiful hair will definitely be turned into fly ash, and by the way, his chin will be turned into barbecue.

As soon as they ran over the firebreak, they were lying on the ground, gasping for breath and looking like they were prostrating. Why lie down instead of lying down? Because many people have burns on their backs and buttocks, the redness, swelling, and blisters are light, and some people have burned to the dermis, and it is estimated that they will leave a large scar after being cured.

They were already considered lucky, dozens of slower runners had been swallowed up by the flames, and they didn't even have a chance to lie here and catch their breath.

Seeing the sea of fire rushing over, Liu Hou ordered everyone to wet their towels or clothes with water and cover their mouths and noses. And when they escaped just now, in order to reduce the load, many people threw away the kettle, especially Guan Xing's soldiers behind the palace, who basically threw everything they could, including gunpowder and muskets, and they would rather risk violating military discipline than have to throw them, because all the metal objects on their bodies were so hot under the scorching fire that their hands couldn't grasp them at all, so they could only throw them.

The soldiers who had no water had to look for people to borrow water everywhere, but if they couldn't borrow it, Liu Hou asked them to wet the towel with urine, and if they didn't even have urine, then bury their heads in the sand, and they could only pray for the blessing of the gods and Buddhas, hoping that they could escape.

The fire soon arrived, and I saw a wall of fire rushing from far to near, like a tsunami, and the waves of fire were accompanied by the sound of thunderbolts, and the sound was terrifying. Fortunately, when the wave reached the firebreak, it was like hitting an invisible wall, and the momentum of the advance was firmly contained.

Faster than the fire is the billowing smoke, which is no worse than the fire. Later generations have made statistics that the number of people choked to death by smoke in a fire is 4-5 times that of those who burned to death. Of course, this is in modern buildings, where many of the decorative materials release toxic gases when burned.

In this wilderness, although there are no toxic substances such as benzene and formaldehyde, inhaling too much smoke can still be fatal. Therefore, now Liu Hou's entire army covered their mouths and noses with wet towels, closed their eyes tightly, and fell to the ground one by one.

Some people even dig a shallow pit in the ground and bury their faces in the shallow pit, surprisingly finding that it is much more comfortable. It turns out that the air inhaled into the lungs is hot, choking people want to cough, and it is suffocating, so after the double filtration of sand and wet towels, although the inhalation resistance is very large, it takes a lot of effort to inhale the air, but the inhaled air is not so choking, and it is not suffocating.

I don't know how long it took, but the fire passed and the smoke gradually dispersed. I only heard the first cough sound of "cough cough cough ......", followed by two and three sounds...... Countless coughs rang out. Then I saw a black figure with a gray face pulling their heads out of the sand, and with the dust falling, everyone was standing, sitting, or lying down, coughing desperately in unison.

Coughing and coughing, I don't know who led the head, and began to laugh. "Haha, hahahaha......" The laughter gradually increased, and it became louder, and finally almost everyone laughed wildly, and everyone laughed so much that tears came out and did not stop, and the scene was extremely weird.

Liu Hou was also laughing loudly, anyone who escaped at the speed of life and death, and finally escaped from death, would laugh. Liu Hou didn't stop them, this is a hearty laugh, this is also an extreme depression, extreme fear after the venting, everyone needs such a catharsis, to get rid of the negative feelings in their hearts, otherwise people are prone to psychological problems.

For a long, long time, everyone laughed so hoarsely, laughed so that their stomachs cramped, and they laughed to exhaustion, and then gradually stopped. After the laughter stopped, there was silence, no one spoke, no one moved, and the person who stood up lay back down, and everyone lay down like this, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, lying quietly.

Liu Hou didn't urge the soldiers, they didn't rest enough last night, and fought for half a day, and then ran with the fire and wind for half a day, during which they didn't even have time to eat and drink, and now the crisis has passed, everyone is tired and lying down, and many people are relieved and fall asleep, so not long after the laughter stopped, there was a thunderous snoring sound on the grass.

Liu Hou also fell asleep in a daze, and about an hour later, Liu Hou woke up, and he was woken up by the sound of a gurgling stomach. When I woke up, I only felt hungry and thirsty, especially my throat, which was hot and painful. It had been smoked just now, and there was no water to drink, and now the evil results have appeared.

After asking about it, everyone had no water, and the water was used to wet the towel just now, and those who had excess water were also distributed to those who had no water, so there was not a drop of water in the whole army. There was not much food, most of it was thrown away, and the food concentrated in the whole army was probably only enough for the army to eat a full meal.

The gun was not lost much, after all, there was strict discipline, except for Guan Xing's palace troops almost all threw away the guns, the other people's guns were basically still there, but there was not much ammunition, because of the fear that the gunpowder would be roasted and exploded, and it was also to reduce the load, so the gunpowder was abandoned almost at the first time.

In other words, now Liu Hou's troops have become third-rate remnants with no water, no food and no combat effectiveness.

Without gunpowder, their muskets became burning sticks, although they could also fight with people with bayonets, but how could Liu Hou be willing to use his precious musketeers to fight with people, even if one for two or three enemies is super cost-effective. This also means that from now on, Liu Hou's troops can only try their best to avoid fighting, that is, it is best to run and run again until there are supplies and rest.

You can endure it without food, but it will be unbearable without water, so Liu Hou ordered the whole army to stand up and prepare to pull out. Now the first thing is to find a source of water, and then to escape, and to find food on the way. The dilemma is not completely over.

Soon, the Shu army embarked on the process of fleeing again, the difference was that this time there was no wall of fire chasing them, and they could march calmly. During the march, some of the sergeants found new pleasures, and from time to time they could pick up cooked animals from the ground, this one a hare, the other a pheasant, and even small animals such as mice and marmots.

The soldiers who picked up the barbecue game were thunderous with joy, and they didn't care that these animals that had not yet been roasted to a black hemp were picked up and broken, but they were usually robbed by the robe around them without eating two bites. In any case, the soldiers who took a bite of it were so happy that they giggled as if they had eaten something supremely delicious.

A soldier picked up a hare and sent it to Liu Hou, who took a knife to peel off the black hemp skin, revealing the fragrant tender meat inside. When I took a bite, it was really fragrant and delicious. This kind of game cooked in the most primitive way is really extraordinary, but it is not salty enough.

Liu Hou took out the salt bag, sprinkled some salt on it, and then took a bite, it was really delicious, and the usual food flavor was completely different. This method of cooking is similar to the famous flower chicken in the martial arts world in later generations, can it not be fragrant? Liu Hou made up his mind that after this battle, he must get a few more flower chickens and rabbits to eat, and relive the delicious food he ate this time.

About two hours after Liu Hou and the others left, Wang Qiu rode with the tiger and leopard to the place where Liu Hou dug the firebreak. They were taken aback and saw that all around them were burned to the ground, only this place was intact, even idiots knew that they thought that the dead Shu army was still alive and well. It's not good now.

Just now they were busy setting fire to the horizontal line and constantly extending the line of fire, so they delayed a lot of time. After setting the fire, Wang Qiu thought that no one could escape from such a heavenly authority, and his team had just experienced a cruel and bitter battle, so he did not order the pursuit at the first time, but let everyone eat and rest.

He planned to wait for these subordinates, whose confidence and fighting spirit had been severely hit, to take a good rest, and then confirm the destruction of the Shu army, if he could finally bring Liu Chan's head back, in this way, even if the tiger and leopard cavalry suffered such heavy losses this time, he would only have merit and no fault.

Who knew that this break would miss the best opportunity to annihilate the Shu army, and his dream of taking Liu Houren's head back to receive merit could only be thought about in his dreams.

Now, seeing this meadow that had not been burned by the fire, he knew that the Shu army had escaped the threat of the sea of fire, but he began to hesitate again. Do you want to chase or not? Pursuit, it's still that problem, they have long been frightened by the terrifying killing efficiency of the Shu army. Even if he could ruthlessly order his subordinates to rush into battle, it is estimated that none of his subordinates would dare to rush.

He knew that as long as the secret weapon of the Shu army that could make a loud noise sounded, his subordinates would definitely flee in all directions.

It's also miserable if you don't chase it, this time the tiger and leopard ride suffered heavy losses, after the main general Cao Zhen died, this black pot is likely to have to be carried by himself, if there is no merit, how to explain it when you go back. What's more, Sima Yi sent a clever plan in an expedited manner for 800 miles, no matter how you look at this poisonous plan, it is a good plan that can wipe out the entire Shu army, and in the end, he actually messed up himself, and he turned a wonderful plan into a stinky plan, and Sima Yi knew that he had to cut off his head.

What's more, it was also because he didn't order the pursuit at the first time and missed the opportunity to intercept and kill the Shu army. Seeing the scene, he knew that if they could follow the fire wall, they would launch an attack just after the fire wall burned this firebreak, and it was very likely that they would destroy the Shu army.

But the great opportunity was missed in vain, and Wang Qiu beat his chest with remorse. After hesitating for a long time, he gritted his teeth and ordered a fire to be lit and the intact land to be burned. He wanted to destroy the scene, so that no one could know how the Shu army escaped, so as to cover up the truth that he did not pursue in time.

At the same time, he issued a gag order to the whole army, telling his subordinates not to leak what they saw now, no matter what. Fortunately, the remaining tiger and leopard riders also know that it is good or bad, there are big defeats and losses in the front, heavy losses, and negligence in the back, so that the Shu army can escape from danger, if the Shangguan knows these two big mistakes, the whole army must have no good fruit to eat.

Now the whole army has decided to unanimously forget what they have seen here, to erase one of the faults, and to save their own lives anyway.

After dealing with the scene, Wang Qiucai led the troops to pursue unhurriedly, and made a report to Sima Yi, saying that he had been following the search behind the wall of fire, and had not found the remains of the Shu army so far, and asked Sima Yi for further action.

In the midst of Wang Qiu's delay, Liu Hou's troops had already escaped for dozens of miles, and they successfully found a water source on the way. At this time, they also took care of the ban on drinking raw water, and both men and horses lay on the edge of the stream and gurgled and drank from the cows.

With the stream, Liu Hou took out half of the remaining grain, so that everyone was half full, and the remaining half had to be kept for tomorrow. Although I picked up some animals that were burned to death just now, after all, there are not many, and it is better than nothing, and it cannot change the situation of lack of food in the army, so food must be used sparingly.