Chapter 103: Earth-Shattering
Countless flame bows shot into the city, but the flame bows seemed to not aim at the Tartars. The Tartars didn’t even need to dodge; they just watched the arrows hit houses, straw piles, and streets.
And grain stacks.
The Tartars didn’t care if other places were hit. They even mocked the Han Chinese, saying, “This small, broken city doesn’t even need us to burn it; you’re burning it yourselves!”
But the grain had to be plundered.
Aren’t the Han Chinese most fond of grain? They’re willing to burn it!
The Tartar general then ordered, “First, seize the grain, then kill the Han Chinese!”
Before he finished speaking, with a ‘boom,’ a large expanse of fiery red flashed before their eyes, followed by waves of heat impact.
The flames roared and raged, with the momentum to sweep across heaven and earth, as if to incinerate the sky and the earth, and all things in the world.
The first soldier to rush for the grain was already engulfed in flames, like a scarecrow being burned.
But this scarecrow could move, could scream, could roll on the ground, and could pounce on his comrades, trying to save himself.
Unfortunately, it was useless. The flames were like hellfire, difficult to extinguish once they touched, and they could only watch him fall to the ground, curl into a ball, and become fuel for the flames.
This was not the most terrifying thing. What was more terrifying was that such ‘boom’ sounds came one after another, and the flames spread along the grain stacks, houses, and street corners.
Like the thunder god’s divine punishment, or the fire god’s wrath, with ‘rumbling’ sounds, seas of fire, and waves of heat.
In almost an instant, whether it was the Tartars inside the city or the soldiers outside, no one expected that after the flame bows were fired, the border city would become a hell of fire.
At that moment, the Wei Assistant Secretary, who had just escaped the border city, recalled the image of the gate to the underworld in Fengdu.
Cheng Yu, on horseback, tightened her grip on her spear. She had witnessed the fish oil firearms before; it was with those that she had scared the Zheng family, allowing Yunniang to be rescued from them.
But she hadn’t expected that the simultaneous explosion of thousands of fish oil firearms could bury an entire city in a sea of fire!
The soldiers firing the flame bows instinctively retreated. JinSui did not scold them; he calmly issued the next order:
“The entire army will retreat three li!”
“Guard against the Tartars rushing out of the city gate! Anyone who rushes out of the city gate will not be spared; they will all be annihilated!”
The explosions inside the city were still ongoing. This was the trap JinSui had set in advance!
It was also her trump card for daring to annihilate this group of Tartars. The diagram she had shown Cheng Yu at the time indicated where the fish oil was buried; some were mixed with the grain and would explode with a single spark.
Some were buried by the roadside or in houses, and they would explode after burning for a while.
To be honest, the explosions were somewhat beyond her expectations, as seeing them in person was completely different from watching them on movies or television.
It even reminded her of the explosion that had killed her; with a similarly earth-shattering rumble, she had closed her eyes and opened them to find herself as the current Ling JinSui.
A mournful neigh startled her from her memories. She hadn’t expected that the first to rush out of the city wouldn’t be a Tartar, but a warhorse.
However, this warhorse was engulfed in flames from its mane to its tail, as if it had emerged from a fiery hell.
The direction this warhorse was heading was the South City Gate, where the Yan Prefecture Army was stationed, and where the Wei Assistant Secretary had escaped with Chen Yunniang and other ‘bait.’
If the explosion of the fish oil firearms had a great impact on JinSui and the Black Feather Camp and Tuntian Camp soldiers, then the impact on the Yan Prefecture Army was no less than a thunderclap on level ground or the collapse of heaven and earth.
If it weren’t for the Wei Assistant Secretary repeatedly reassuring them that this was the border city’s secret weapon, only meant to kill enemies and not harm their own people,
the Yan Prefecture Army would have fled as soon as the explosions began.
The moment that burning warhorse charged out of the South City Gate, the psychological defenses of the Yan Prefecture Army were already extremely fragile.
The captain leading the army stood there stunned, unsure how to respond.
The Wei Assistant Secretary reacted faster, shouting, “Quick, shoot it down! Anyone who rushes out of the city, whether man or horse, shoot them all!”
The Yan Prefecture Army archers immediately loosed a volley of arrows, shooting the warhorse dead at the city gate.
To everyone’s surprise, this warhorse, charging out of the city’s sea of fire, seemed to have carved out a path of survival from the inferno.
Those Tartars who had caught fire but were not yet fatally wounded; those not yet burned; those on the verge of suffocation from the thick smoke.
Immediately reacted, patting their warhorses and shouting, “Charge out!”
The city walls of this small city were low and dilapidated. As long as their warhorses could charge out, they would have a way to survive!
Suddenly, hundreds of warhorses charged towards the South City Gate. Some were already engulfed in flames, others were scorched by the fires along the way. While the flames were taking their lives, they also ignited their survival instincts.
Upon seeing the neighing herd of warhorses charging out of the sea of fire, the psychological defenses of the Yan Prefecture Army had thinned to a single strand of hair.
Fortunately, the Wei Assistant Secretary remained calm and repeatedly shouted, “Shoot!”
Rows of arrows were loosed, and countless warhorses were shot like porcupines. However, more were hit by several arrows, still running wildly with their bodies ablaze, driven by instinct.
As they were about to break into the Yan Prefecture Army’s formation, the Yan Prefecture Army generals could no longer bear it and shouted, “Retreat! Withdraw!”
The Wei Assistant Secretary yelled, “We cannot retreat! What’s running out now are horses; soon it will be people!”
Unfortunately, no one listened to him. Only the border soldiers he had brought from the city and the female family members like Chen Yunniang stood resolutely behind the Wei Assistant Secretary, not taking a single step back!
It happened so fast. From the first explosion to the warhorses charging out of the sea of fire, it was less than half an hour.
JinSui and Cheng Yu didn’t have time to react; they hadn’t even clearly seen what had happened.
Captain Huang on the mountain saw the situation. The torch signals were in disarray, and he kept waving them, trying to attract the Prince’s attention.
Although JinSui didn’t understand the specific meaning he was trying to convey, she understood one thing: something had happened at the South City Gate.
She said angrily, “The Yan Prefecture Army is indeed unreliable! Half the men will stay and guard, and the other half will accompany this King to the South City Gate!”
Cheng Yu issued the same order. Cheng Yu hadn’t learned this from Captain Huang; he had been keeping an eye on the Yan Prefecture Army for a long time.
Upon hearing of the Yan Prefecture Army’s chaotic retreat, he immediately led his troops to fill the gap at the South City Gate.
By the time he and JinSui arrived simultaneously, the herd of horses had already broken through the defenses. Due to the Yan Prefecture Army’s panicked retreat, many were trampled to death by the stampeding warhorses.
On the contrary, the Wei Assistant Secretary observed calmly. The mad horses were all rushing forward, so he immediately led his people to the side and remained unharmed.
But now, the mad horses were no longer the main concern. In fact, the stampede of these warhorses was a boon to the border city.
Because warhorses are extremely expensive and difficult to acquire. If these horses stopped after running, even if they were burned and couldn’t be used as warhorses, they could still pull carts, and those that died from burns could be eaten for horse meat.
Even if half of the hundreds of horses survived, it would be a considerable fortune.
The current enemy was that the warhorses, charging out of the city’s sea of fire, had literally carved out a path of survival for the Tartars.
The surviving Tartars, closely following the warhorses, all surged towards the South City Gate.
The Tartars knew very well that this was a desperate battle, and this border city was clearly a trap set for them!
