Chapter 64: Out of the Sea of Fire
Just when the army of more than 100,000 red turbans was busy, a hundred sharpshooters lurking nearby quietly came to a place a hundred steps away from the red turban camp. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info
These marksmen are all carefully selected by Yuan Qi, and the accuracy of archery is naturally not a problem, and at the same time, these people are also good at hiding their tracks. This is also the reason why Yuan Qi made them the first and most important wave of attackers. Just as Yuan Qi thought, these hundred people did not disappoint Yuan Qi, they were still well hidden until this moment, and none of the Red Turban Army found them. Of course, it is also due to the loose military discipline of the Red Turban Army.
A sharpshooter pulls out three arrows from his back quiver, then soaks them in the jar where the knife is burned, then pulls them out, and then uses the flint to ignite the fire-starting object tied to the arrow. The rest of the marksmen were doing the same.
Seeing that his companions were ready, the marksman bent his bow and arrows, and without even aiming, he shot three sharp arrows together. This is also explained by Yuan Qi, which does not require accurate shooting, but only requires as many rockets as possible to be fired into the Red Turban Battalion.
Hundreds of rockets with tail flames streaked across the sky, and under the reflection of the setting sun, it was like a meteor shower, falling towards the Red Turban camp. After these rockets landed, the arrows were inserted into the ground, and immediately ignited the crude oil that was buried in advance by the Song Xi and Song Qiong brothers, which were all crushed in advance by the Song Xi brothers according to the instructions of Yuan Qi, and then stirred evenly with sulfur and nitrate, with extremely high flammability, and it can even be said that they caught fire. Hundreds of rockets were triggered, and the entire camp immediately burst into flames, and black smoke filled the air.
After a rain of arrows was fired, a hundred archers immediately drew sharp arrows from their quivers and shot them again, some of them were so skilled in archery that they even put six or seven sharp arrows on the bowstring at once and scattered them without requiring accuracy.
With the second wave of arrow rain, crude oil was ignited in many places. Yuan Qi asked the Song Xi brothers to dig a pit a thousand zhang long in advance, and within this thousand zhang radius, the ground was full of buried crude oil, and as long as a little spark splashed down, it would immediately make the nearby area burn quickly.
After another rain of arrows, all the sharp arrows in the quiver behind the sharpshooters had been shot, and the sharpshooters at the head shouted: "Charge!" Then he threw away the longbow, picked up a wine jar in one hand, and rushed towards the Red Turban camp, and the rest of the people did the same, discarding the longbows, picking up the wine jar and rushing out, until they were still thirty or forty steps away from the Red Turban camp, they stopped, and then threw the wine jar in their hands into the Red Turban camp with all their might. The wine jar drew a parabola in the air, and then fell on the ground in the Red Turban Camp, the wine jar was shattered instantly, and the burning knife wine in the altar spilled out, and after these high spirits touched the flames, they burned violently, which further fueled the fire in the Red Turban Camp. After throwing out of the jar, the sharpshooters quickly withdrew from the battlefield.
In the military tent in the Red Turban Battalion, Zhang Shao jumped like thunder: "Bastard! How did you survey the terrain? The enemy army had laid an ambush in advance and didn't even notice it?
Several lieutenants gathered around Zhang Shao and said, "Little Heavenly Master, it is a big taboo to kill in battle, you should put out the fire quickly!" "Yes, this fire is really strange, and some sergeants reported that splashing water will not only not stop the fire, but will make the fire burn more vigorously!" "Little Heavenly Master, do you say that there are also capable people in the enemy army who can call the wind and rain and summon the heavenly fire?"
"It's all fucking fart," Zhang Shao said angrily: "What****** summoning the wind and rain to summon the thunder? Even my father's great sage and good teacher can't easily display such magical powers, how can the enemy army have such a capable person?"
Glancing at the surrounding generals, Zhang Shao shouted loudly again: "What kind of pestle is here? Hurry up and gather troops for me and extinguish the fire with sand!"
The generals shrank their heads, and under Zhang Shao's scolding, they turned around and walked out of the Chinese military tent, gathered their subordinates, and used sand to extinguish the fire.
On the top of Funiu Mountain, Xu Zhan saw that the Red Turban Camp suddenly burned out for no reason, and understood that it must be the black things that Yuan Qi let the sergeant bury play a role, although he didn't know what those things were, but this did not affect his trust in Yuan Qi, Xu Pan firmly believed that where Yuan Qi was, there would be miracles.
"Quick! Throw all the dry firewood down to so-and-so!" Xu Ban quickly gave an order. The more than 1,000 sergeants who were lying in ambush on the top of the mountain have been chopping wood for nearly twelve hours since they received the order last night, so the firewood accumulated now is almost piled up on the top of the mountain.
After hearing Xu Fang's order, the sergeants hurriedly pushed the bundles of firewood, and one after another were pushed down the mountain, with the help of the inertia of slipping, they rolled into the camp of the Red Turban Army, and were immediately ignited by the flames rising in the camp, and then under the inertia of the remaining momentum, they rolled into the camp tent of the Red Turban Army with the flames, or rolled directly to the body of the Red Turban Army, and some of them also rolled to the vicinity of the grain and grass of the Red Turban Army, bringing the fire to the place where it rolled down, causing a new flame, and what is worse is that because the firewood did not dry out, the burning was not sufficient, and a large amount of smoke was released, which was fatal in the environment of high population density and small space。
Perhaps God deliberately favored Yuan Qi and deliberately wanted to help Yuan Qi win the title of hussar general and champion marquis, but a breeze blew at this moment. If it was in normal times, the feeling of the breeze blowing was really comfortable, but at this moment, this warm breeze simply became a talisman for more than 100,000 red turban troops! The fire borrowed the wind, and the flames of the entire camp burned more cheerfully.
After throwing away all the dry firewood in reserve, Xu Fang looked down the mountain at the turbulent sea of fire, and gave an order in a deep voice: "The archers are ready, but those who break away from the sea of fire will be shot!"
At the same time, Zhao Hu, who was ambushed at the foot of Funiu Mountain, saw the fire in front of the mountain, and knew that it was Yuan Qi's strategy that had come into play, so he turned around and shouted to the two thousand people behind him: "Throw the wine!" Among them, five hundred sergeants quickly turned over their horses, and then took the burning knives handed over by their infantry comrades, and rode their horses towards the Red Turban camp. After the five hundred cavalry ran out for a distance, Zhao Hu shouted loudly: "The rest of the people prepare their weapons and cut off the left flank of the red turban with a certain person!" After speaking, he rode his horse and galloped, leading his subordinates to intercept and kill the red turban army that ran out of the camp.
On the other side of the Red Turban Army camp, Xu Chu was shouting excitedly: "Brothers!
"Kill, kill!!!kill !!-" The two thousand sergeants shouted hoarsely, and then followed Xu Chu's guidance and slaughtered towards the right flank of the Red Turban Battalion.
In the camp of the Red Turban Army, a group of generals and colonels, under the order of Zhang Shao, gathered troops and began to extinguish the fire. Crude oil has the property of burning more and more, and it is impossible to extinguish such a large fire with water, but only to fuel the fire even more. Zhang Shao was a knowledgeable person, and he knew that the fire was strange and could not be extinguished with water, so he decided to use sand to extinguish the fire.
If it was in a different place, Zhang Shao's decision could not be said to be incorrect, but at the foot of Funiu Mountain today, Zhang Shao's strategy was doomed to fail. Those blocks of crude oil that were originally buried less than a foot in the ground were dug up by the Red Turban Army, and there were very few people who knew about crude oil in this era, almost to the point of rare. Therefore, most of the Red Turban Army thought that it was black soil dug up, and under the deterrence of the ruthless sea of fire, they didn't have time to think about it, so they threw the black soil into the fire. Who would have thought that these black soil would catch fire when encountered, so that many unprepared Red Turban soldiers were burned in their clothes, and hurriedly rolled on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames on their bodies, but this roll, but instead drove more crude oil debris to their bodies, so the fire on their bodies gradually became bigger and bigger.
The burnt Red Turbans panicked and ran to their nearest comrades to ask for help, but those comrades who usually called them brothers and sisters looked at them as if they had seen evil spirits, and they were afraid of them like snakes and scorpions, and hurriedly scattered to avoid them, lest they catch fire.
When Zhang Shao came out of the tent of the Chinese army, he saw such a scene of lifting a stone and shooting himself in the foot.
Zhang Shao was stunned and mouthful, breathing hard, pungent smoke burrowed into his nose, choking him with a cough.
"Oh no, this is a heavenly fire, it can't be extinguished at all!"
"I don't want to die, I still have my father and mother alive, and I still have a three-year-old baby......"
"Run, if you don't run, you'll be burned alive!"
In the midst of the cacophony of shouts, the Red Turbans made a variety of sounds, different in content and thoughts, but one thing in common was that their tones were full of fear. These people were originally just a group of farmers or hunters, and they had never seen any big scenes, but how could they not be frightened when they saw such a monstrous fire? Especially this strange flame, whether it was water or sand, could not be extinguished at all, which further intensified their panic.
As a result, deserters appeared in the Red Turban Army, from one person or two at the beginning, to dozens, and then quickly intensified to tens of thousands, and in the face of merciless fire, no one wanted to be burned alive. This is also the inferior nature of the Red Turban Army, which is easy to fight with the wind, and once the situation is lost, it will scatter and flee. However, after these people saw the opportunity and tried to escape from the Red Turban Army, and ran out of the camp at the risk of being burned to death, they found that they were greeted by not the Kangzhuang Avenue that escaped, but the flanking attack of Zhao Hu and Xu Chu, both of whom were carefully selected warriors by Yuan Qi.
A lieutenant ran to Zhang Shao, panting and said: "Little, little Heavenly Master, it's not good, the brothers are starting to rout and flee, this fire is really weird, according to me, let's hurry up and pack up the people and rush out." ”
Looking at the fire on all sides of the camp, Zhang Shao also knew that the general trend had gone today, not to mention this strange fire, there must be an enemy ambush after the fire, and the best way at the moment was to gather more than 30,000 people and horses that he had trained for more than a year, and temporarily retreat, in order to make a comeback, as for the remaining more than 100,000 people, they died if they died. In Zhang Shao's eyes, he is the son of the great virtuous teacher Zhang Jiao, and he is a dignified little heavenly master, and the more than 100,000 people can be loyal to themselves, which is simply a blessing for them to cultivate.
After pondering for a while, Zhang Shao said: "Hurry up and assemble the trained soldiers, let's withdraw to Wancheng." ”
After hearing Zhang Shao's order, the captain asked hesitantly, "What about the rest of the brothers?"
Zhang Shao picked up the horsewhip and gave the lieutenant a whip, and shouted angrily: "When is it now, are you still in the mood to care about them? Transmit my military order, if you don't get within a quarter of an hour, you don't care, just wait for a quarter of an hour!"
The lieutenant didn't dare to say anything, and quickly turned around to gather the people.
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and more than 30,000 people gathered around Zhang Shao, looking at the disgraced faces of the soldiers under his command, throwing away their armor, Zhang Shao felt bitter in his heart, but he also knew that now was not the time to reprimand the sergeants, so he waved his hand to the side of the fire that was not too vigorous, and said loudly: "You are all believers of so-and-so, you are a soldier of so-and-so, follow so-and-so and rush out of the sea of fire, there is a way to live, the heroic spirit of the great sage and good teacher will protect us, and pass through the sea of fire safely!"
After hearing Zhang Shao's encouragement, more than 30,000 people were shocked, and rushed towards the weak part of the fire at the edge of the camp with a howl. It's hard to say whether Zhang Jiao's soul is a heroic spirit or not, but he definitely can't bless these believers to rush out of the fire safe and sound, because Zhang Jiao is a human being, not a god, not to mention a person who has been dead for several years.
The merciless sea of fire devoured the lives of this group of Red Turban soldiers, and in the face of fire and water, human life seemed so fragile. Of the more than 30,000 warriors who managed to cross the fire, less than 20,000 were killed, and the rest either stopped in fear of the fire, or were eroded by the fire and drowned in the fire.
Zhang Shao, under the protection of a group of diehard guards, also successfully passed through the sea of fire, looking back at the fire that was burning more and more, Zhang Shao couldn't help but let out a long breath, although he was still a little afraid in his heart, but after all, he escaped from this deadly sea of fire.