ATPnovel Chapter 61 Deceptive Fire Attack
Chapter 61 Deceptive Fire Attack
Jing Si and Li Jilong each held a torch, standing on the hilltops on either side of the valley, watching the panicked Northern Han army in the valley.
No one knew that the seemingly densely packed "over 10,000 ambush troops" on the mountaintop were actually only a few thousand regular soldiers, with the rest being temporary conscripted laborers.
As early as when Jing Si led 500 elite soldiers away from the camp, Zhao Dezhao had given him a task.
"Summon many strong and able-bodied men, supplemented by some regular soldiers, and gather plenty of firewood. Put two bundles together, a few steps apart, on the hilltop, and light the fire upon hearing the drum!"
The ambush troops that the Northern Han army saw covering the mountains and plains were actually these laborers in disguise.
It's not difficult to do all of this.
Now that Li Jun is dead, the county magistrates don't even need Jing Si's coercion or enticement; they know exactly what to choose.
When Jing Si first heard Zhao Dezhao's instruction, he already knew his intention.
"Gathering fire to form a dragon, boosting the army's morale."
This is exactly the effect Zhao Dezhao wanted! He'd been waiting for the night to fall!
Later, when Li Jilong learned of this plan, he took the initiative to escalate it further, ordering people to move all the scarecrows that had been made in the fields over several days, tie them with torches, and place them among the laborers.
The interweaving and arrangement of the two "forces" created a fatal illusion for the Northern Han army.
The Song army had over 10,000 troops lying in ambush!
Outnumbered and outgunned, the Northern Han army was bound to panic!
And this was just the first step in Zhao Dezhao's plan!
Zhao Dezhao's smile vanished completely. He raised the drumstick high, his eyes sharp as knives, sweeping across the high slopes on both sides of the valley, and shouted sternly:
"Order! Fire a volley of rockets!"
"Thump! Thump!"
As the war drums sounded again, Jing Si and Li Jilong on both sides of the valley simultaneously swung down their torches.
At the same time, the Song army, which had been poised to attack from the valleys on both sides, immediately took action and raised the rockets nocked on their bows high into the air.
At this time, the use of oil in arrows was not widespread, but it was not rare either. As early as the Five Dynasties period, there were precedents of using oil in the army to assist in sieges or field battles.
The arrowheads were wrapped in linen soaked in kerosene, which had been ignited by torches, and the tips of the arrows flickered with orange-red flames, which were particularly dazzling in the night.
"put!"
With a roar from Jing Si and Li Jilong, thousands of rockets streaked across the night sky like shooting stars, whistling as they rained down on the Northern Han army formation at the bottom of the valley.
"Pfft—Pfft—"
The sound of rockets hitting the ground echoed one after another, some of them directly striking the armor or flesh of the Northern Han soldiers, instantly igniting raging flames.
Most of the sparks landed on the pre-laid dry grass, where they ignited instantly, quickly setting fire to the flammable oil mixed in with the grass.
"boom!"
After a loud bang, flames suddenly shot up and spread through the valley like fiery snakes.
With the help of the flammable oil, the fire grew even more fierce, quickly turning into a sea of flames. The scorching heat waves swept over, instantly raising the temperature in the valley several times over.
Thick smoke billowed up, making it difficult to breathe and blurring vision.
The Northern Han army was instantly plunged into annihilation!
This valley was not spacious to begin with, and it was surrounded by high ground on three sides. Now that the fire had started, there was no way to escape.
But the most tragic were the cavalry of the Northern Han.
The warhorse was already terrified of fire, and now that it was surrounded by flames, it was immediately frightened and lost control, rearing up its front hooves and neighing wildly, charging around uncontrollably.
Many warhorses and soldiers collided, and the mournful cries of the horses and the wails of the soldiers instantly echoed throughout the valley!
Chaos spread like wildfire.
In the Northern Han army, no one obeyed military orders anymore, no one could distinguish east from west, and all the soldiers were pushing, trampling, and screaming!
Fan Shoutu's pre-arranged defensive formation crumbled instantly in the face of the catastrophic inferno and the collapse of morale!
Amidst the billowing smoke, the Northern Han army couldn't even discern the direction of the valley entrance, let alone see the banners bearing command orders.
"Release the arrows!"
At the same time, Jing Si and Li Jilong issued another order.
The Song soldiers on both sides of the mountain immediately switched to ordinary arrows, and wave after wave of arrows poured down into the valley.
One wave... two waves... three waves...
Numerous arrows rained down on the valley as if they were courting death!
Even the thousands of laborers were not idle.
Although they lacked practical combat skills, under the leadership of Jing Si and Li Jilong, they all stiffened their necks and roared out battle cries with all their might.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
They waved torches and sticks, and although they dared not actually rush down the mountain, the shouts of thousands of people echoed through the valley like thunder.
Combined with the raging fire and thick smoke, it created a terrifying atmosphere of an army launching a massive attack and a mountain pressing down on everything.
The already routed Northern Han army collapsed completely under this double threat!
This unnamed valley has now become a complete hell!
……
Two hours later, the fire in the valley gradually died down.
At dawn, Zhao Dezhao stood at the entrance of the valley and looked inside. He saw that there were still some small fires flickering on the mountainside on both sides of the valley.
In the valley, the once overwhelming Northern Han cavalry had been transformed into a mountain of charred corpses.
Of the five thousand elite cavalry, less than ten percent escaped!
Under the supervision of the Song army, a large number of laborers entered the valley to move corpses and clean up the battlefield.
Among the mountain of corpses, some bodies were charred black, and others had limbs twisted so that they were no longer recognizable as human.
This scene, resembling purgatory, terrified many laborers, turning their faces pale, and some even vomited on the sidelines.
The way they looked at Zhao Dezhao was as if they were looking at a god of death, filled with fear!
Five thousand elite troops, reduced to ashes—all the work of the man before us!
War is inherently cruel.
Zhao Dezhao ignored all of this and turned to the military secretary beside him, instructing him:
"Military reports must be concise, but the merits of all officers and soldiers must be clearly recorded."
"In this battle, merits cannot be judged by the number of heads taken, so the five thousand heads will be distributed equally among the generals and soldiers."
Upon hearing this, the Song soldiers who heard it couldn't help but smile.
As the saying goes, a ruler should not compete with his subjects for credit.
As the de facto commander-in-chief of this battle, Zhao Dezhao naturally received the greatest reward after the war.
However, he voluntarily distributed the war merits equally, and this magnanimity and breadth of mind warmed the hearts of many soldiers.
The key to the so-called "treating soldiers like sons" is to ensure that soldiers enjoy tangible benefits.
For example, Huo Qubing, a famous general of the Han Dynasty, did not have a good attitude towards his soldiers.
But Huo Qubing's subordinates were extremely loyal to him.
The fundamental reason is that following Huo Qubing truly leads to great success!
Therefore, for a time, the soldiers around Zhao Dezhao began to look at him with a hint of loyalty.
"Now that the Northern Han reinforcements have been defeated, it's time to take over Shangdang."
After the battlefield was cleared, Zhao Dezhao mounted his horse, his long sword pointing south towards Shangdang, and declared loudly:
"Today's victory is thanks to the efforts of our generals!"
"A true man should strive for fame and fortune in this world!"
"Wealth and fame now lie in the south; gentlemen, are you willing to follow me and claim them together?"
The morning sun shone on Zhao Dezhao's thin yet upright figure, gilding his silhouette with a layer of gold.
In a daze, Li Chuyun seemed to see Zhao Kuangyin from back then.
The remaining generals and soldiers, gazing at this figure, felt their blood boil and erupted in a deafening roar of response:
"willing!"
"willing!"
……
The shouts of resistance rose one after another, shaking the Song army's temporary encampment!
The next moment, three thousand menacing and fierce soldiers, led by Zhao Dezhao, poured out like a black torrent, carrying an aura of certain victory, and rushed straight towards Shangdang!