Chapter 173: 173
Chapter 173 – Battle of Liyang – Part 3
The water fed the intensity of the fire and the oil in the barrel exploded the hell flame once more . The soldier was devoured by the explosion and died on the spot as the flame got into his lung and burnt all of his oxygen .
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
More explosions roared out and killed anyone who tried to douse the flame on the pool of oil .
"What are you doing!? Extinguish the fire, not feeding them!"
One of the lieutenants complained and grabbed a bucket of water . He threw the water into the flame where there was an explosion .
*BOOM*
He was also devoured by the undying hellfire .
None of them knew about the concept of "Grease Fire" .
The grease fire is a deadly fire that is categorized as the "Class F Fire" or "Class K Fire" in the modern world . The burning grease is hotter than 220 degrees Celsius or 450 degrees Fahrenheit, which is beyond the boiling point of water . Once someone pours water on it, the water will not douse the fire . It evaporates from the extreme heat, creates steam and expands the fire outward as if it explodes .
The people of this era did not know about the chemical extinguishers or a proper way to douse this kind of fire!
. . .
Huangfu Song watched the situation from afar in shock . Some part of the fire had been under controlled, but the original parts where the oil barrel landed could not be extinguished .
Soon, the temperature of the surrounding areas got higher . Sparkles of flame flew and landed on other parts where Tong and his troops had doused it with oil .
The fire expanded onto the outer fences in no time . The trail of fire managed to touch the pool of fat grease in the moat . It did not ignite the grease at first, but the grease temperature continued to rise from the surrounding flame .
Suddenly,
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM*
As if a napalm bomb had been dropped, the surrounding area in the radius of 300 meters around the moat had been engulfed in flame . The wall of fire rose up over a hundred meters to the air . Black smoke extended from the tip of the bright flame to the sky .
…
Tong and his one thousand men stopped galloping their horses and looked back at the explosion . They managed to get away from the blast radius with their horses . Their harassment tasks for today was completed .
Tong muttered to himself as he gazed at the firewall in admiration .
"The great Megumin once said …" Tong extended his hand toward the camp .
"EXPLOSION!"
*BOOM*
Another explosive sound could be heard from the direction of the camp after Tong muttered the word . Tong laughed hysterically in a high pitch voice as he satisfied his chuunibyou side .
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"Dammit!"
. . .
The grand explosion shockwave blasted away all imperial soldiers inside the camp, including Huangfu Song, making them flying backward and crashing onto the ground . The unlucky soldiers, who were near the northern and the eastern fences, got caught in the flame and died without knowing what had happened to them .
The heat shockwave of the explosion blew a stormwind, which carried the grease fire from the barrels over to the inner parts of the camp, expanding the sea of hellfire and the overwhelming heat .
The wind continued to blow southwest while the fire origin covered the entire northeastern zone of the camp . The hungry flame crept over toward the inner camp without stopping . The more the soldiers tried to put down the fire in the moat with water, the more explosion and the expansion of the red zone .
Huangfu Song was sweating profusely by the temperature . He made a difficult decision to save as many soldiers in his camp as possible .
"IGNORE THE FIRE! DO NOT APPROACH IT!"
"ALL UNITS, RETREAT WESTWARD!!"
"TAKE WHATEVER YOU CAN AND RUN WEST!! HURRY!!"
Black smoke, carried by the wind, enveloped the entire camp . Everyone began to cough and felt the burning in their eyes . One of the soldiers inhaled the black smoke, he choked and coughed . Then, he spasmed and stopped moving, died from a sudden heart attack .
The harm from the fire is not only from the flame itself, but it is the smoke . The black smoke contains small microscopic particles which could harm the lung of the person who has breathed in the smoke . Inhaling these particles could block the respiratory system of a human body, potentially could cause a cardiac arrest or a heart attack .
In the modern world, it is advisable to cover one's nose and mouth with a wet cloth to prevent inhaling the black smoke from the fire . However, these people of this era had not learned such practice .
The soldiers ran and coughed in a panic . The weak ones got exhausted quickly from the lack of oxygen, and they passed out one by one .
Because of the chaos and the sudden retreat order, nobody spent a glance on the fallen comrades . They scrammed away from the fire in a hurry as they wanted to live .
…
0 . 30 AM .
Zhu Jun and his 5,000 horsemen rode out of the camp from the south and headed eastward, searching for the raiders .
From the last attack, they guessed that it should have been Tong and his men from the northeast . Therefore, they galloped north-eastward and hoped that they could find the trace of the rebels .
It did not take long for them to find Tong because he and his one thousand soldiers had lined up in a formation 700 meters in front of them .
'An ambush? No, they're simply challenging us!' Zhu Jun thought while he pointed his torch forward to see Tong's horsemen formation .
"It took you a while to chase us here . For a minute, I thought you would have been a cautious type and chosen not to follow us here . " Taunted by Tong .
Zhu Jun squinted his eyes as his suspicions rose . It was illogical for the night raiders to wait for them on the open field . From his experiences, this was a taunt template before an ambush or a trap .
In addition, he could sense unusual heat from the ground in front of him . It was indeed a trap!
Zhu Jun smirked . "I have to admit . You're very good for a rebel . I am Zhu Jun, the Counsellor Remonstrant of the Imperial Han! Who am I fighting with? Tell me your name!"
As a traditional warrior and a shrewd general, Zhu Jun attempted to trick Tong into giving his name, so he could get the intel who he was fighting with at the moment .
Tong touched his chin and pondered a moment . A silly thought came to his mind .
"I AM YOUR FATHER!!"
The one thousand men behind Tong laughed from his trolling . In contrast to Tong's men, Zhu Jun frowned while the five thousand horsemen behind him were angered .
'Good mind game . It's obvious now that there's a trap ahead of us . The visibility in this dark night is perfect for an ambush or a trap . We can't pursue any further . '
Zhu Jun sighed . He swallowed his pride and ordered his men .
"Withdraw! We will not fight them here!"
The subordinates of Zhu Jun were shocked . They glared at Tong and his men in hostile as they were dissatisfied with the order . Yet, they did what Zhu Jun told them to .
They turned around and galloped back to the camp . The few rearguards did not stop locking their eyes at Tong while their horses followed after their comrades .
On the other side, Tong also frowned when he heard Zhu Jun declared a retreat . He gazed at the wet ground 500 meters away in front of him, where Zhu Jun and his men almost stepped on . On the ground, Tong soaked the muddy path with boiling cooking oil into a swamp . Had Zhu Jun and his men charged forward, they would be roasted alive .
'Should I say, as expected from the elite generals? This is troublesome . They are on a different level than Pan Feng or Guo Dian . '
'Zhu Jun has good insight and sharp observation . Huangfu Song shows that he can take pressures and good at leadership . '
'Ordinary tactic won't work with them . I have to be more creative!'
'There are still a few tricks I have left inside the city . But first …'
Tong tapped the shoulder of a horseman nearby . "Shoot a fire arrow onto the trap ground . "
"Sir? But the enemies have left . "
"Don't worry . Just do it . The fire will spread over to the forest and it will hinder their marching speed . "
The soldier's eyes brightened up . He brought out his prepared fire arrow . It was an arrow with a small bundle of oil-soaking cloth wrapping on the tip . He nocked the arrow with his normal bow while his friend lit the tip of the arrow for him . The arrow was fired and landed on the oil swamp .
*FWOOSH*
The ground was lit up, but it did not explode like what Tong did at the camp .
"Let's go . We should leave before it explodes . "
Tong and his one thousand men retreated back to Liyang .
Ten minutes after the fire had been lit, the flame slowly spread to the side and began burning the nearby trees . One of the trees cracked and dropped its branch onto the swamp . The ripple of the oil caused the flame to extend up to the air .
*BOOM*
…
…
7 AM .
Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and their soldiers, who managed to escape from their own camp, gathered at Dong Zhuo's camp instead .
The power of the grease fire explosion from Tong was comparable to a forest fire . The entire camp of Huangfu Song was burnt to ashes . Iron armors and weapons, which were left behind, were melted by the extreme temperature .
The fire did not subside even after hours of burning because there was still oil in the moat . Because of the inextinguishable hellfire, they could not proceed forward .
Fortunately for them, their supplies did not catch fire from the raid since Huangfu Song put them elsewhere . For a decade, he had never placed his granary or supply base inside his camp because Huangfu Song had learned it the hard way from his battle experiences .
Though their provision survived the calamity, his soldiers did not .
He tallied his surviving men to reform platoons and reorganize his army . Five thousand of his men were devoured by the flame . Similar to him, Zhu Jun lost six thousand men last night .
The only two reasons they lost their men because of the exploding flame when they poured water onto the grease fire, and the dense black smoke that enveloped the entire camp and killed the soldiers before they got away .
"I believe we've lost Ye City . If the rebels showed up here and took Liyang City, there is no other explanation . "
"I concur . We're still lucky enough to find the rebel's location from the scouts . It would have been a disaster had we passed Liyang to Ye City and we were ambushed from behind . "
"Bao Xin's unit should have been annihilated already . Or else, we should have gotten his reports . "
Zhu Jun, who had returned from the brief meeting with Tong, told Huangfu Song about his impression . Both of them exchanged their discussion in solemn as they had to reevaluate the whole situation again from the beginning .
On the other hand, Dong Zhuo sat back and relaxed as usual . Anything that happened to them was none of his business .
'Kill! Keep fighting! Keep killing each other!'
'Hahaha! Keep dying, you idiots!'
Dong Zhuo mocked Tong and the two generals in his mind .
'Continue killing each other, so you all can go to hell together!'
'I'll be the only winner in the end! MUAHAHAHA!'</your>
