Chapter 2878 Water and fire, old-fashioned strategy
Huang Gai couldn't understand why those crossbows and catapults on the mountain tops had such a high accuracy. Even if they secretly removed obstacles in the water at night, they would still be hit after several rounds of calibration. Although they were hit
The damage to the hull may not necessarily result in many casualties, but as long as one stone bullet is hit, the ship is basically not far from being scrapped.
Jiangdong soldiers died a few, or even dozens, hundreds, or thousands. If necessary, Huang Gai would not even blink an eye. But if a few or dozens of ships were lost, Huang Gai would
My flesh hurts so much.
It’s not that human life is cheap…
Well, human life is indeed more valuable in this era.
Well, in the feudal era, human life was cheap.
Of course Huang Gai would not admit this. He just said that if the ship was too seriously damaged, what would happen next? Is it possible that instead of taking the ship, everyone would go overland and go fishing over the mountains to recover?
Therefore, if you can avoid losing ships, try not to lose ships.
This is the major premise.
Then, just set it on fire!
The crisp autumn air makes it a good time to set a fire.
The reason for setting fires, or even being obsessed with setting fires, is generally caused by human beings' own desire for self-destruction, just like destroying a sand castle that has been piled on the beach for a long time.
Destruction is always easier than construction.
Yesterday, the wind stopped.
Huang Gai didn't dare to move.
He needs an exact direction of the wind, otherwise if the wind starts to blow again in the middle of setting the fire, wouldn't he be kicking himself in the foot?
You must know that ships are also afraid of fire...
By this afternoon, the wind direction finally changed.
Huang Gai looked at the flags flying on the boat and smiled so much that all the wrinkles on his face bloomed.
To set a fire, first you need to prepare some small butter, secondly you need to prepare some paper, and finally you need to find a hidden place to start rubbing...
Um?
Why does something seem wrong?
That's right, most people who like to set fires are not right anyway.
In order not to alarm the people of Sichuan and Shu in advance, Huang Gai issued a ban on speaking. No one was allowed to speak loudly. If the soldiers of Sichuan and Shu were scared away, wouldn't the fire be in vain?
The tactic of setting fire is old school.
Ancient primitive people set fire to compete with wild beasts for territory.
Shang Zhou also set a fire, but he was the one who was burned.
Anyone can set a fire, the key is to use it properly.
The Sichuan-Shu Army's routine howling of ghosts and wolves began. Huang Gai sat on the boat and listened quietly.
Originally, these ghostly screams gave Huang Gai a splitting headache, but for some reason, they sounded so pleasant tonight.
Yes, just call it like this, it will break your throat later...
In order not to be disturbed, the Jiangdong Army retreated to the other side of the bank at night, facing the Sichuan and Shu Army across the water from the hills on the north bank. There were also temporary camps set up on the bank, which were usually used for cooking food during the day.
After all, although you can cook food on the boat, it is not convenient and safe. At the same time, humans are not aquatic creatures. They still need land and need to get off the boat from time to time.
In the Xiaoting area, both sides of the bank are steep, unlike in the west of Yidao where you can find relatively large flat land by the water, so you can only take turns to go ashore to repair it.
Huang Gai waited for the Sichuan and Shu soldiers who were waiting in the dark to retreat, and after the surrounding areas fell into silence again, he stood up and began to give orders.
First prepare some butter...
Well, that's wrong. First, move some ships as quietly as possible.
Even though the wind is blowing north now, who can guarantee that the wind will not turn when the fire is halfway through, or whether the flying sparks will ignite the mountains and forests on the south coast? Therefore, the safest way is to naturally burn as much as possible
Far away from both banks, the river becomes an isolation zone that blocks flames and sparks.
The key is that after the mountain fire breaks out, even if a small number of Sichuan and Shu people escape, Huang Gai can immediately remove the obstacles of those disgusting people and directly pursue them!
This is how to vent the hatred in your heart!
After the fleet had entered a safe area, Huang Gai ordered people to take a stern and set off to the north bank with fire starters.
For a time, everyone in Jiangdong waited with bated breath...
Come on, change the scene.
Speaking of Feiqian...
Forget it, let's just go see Zhuge.
Zhuge is also making a transition.
After the wind direction changed, Zhuge Liang changed sides.
Shamoko didn't understand it very much. He even thought that there was something wrong with Zhuge Liang's head.
You clearly have the advantage, so why retreat?
Zhuge Liang still smiled and didn't explain much.
Shamoko could only retreat in defeat muttering, and followed the Sichuan and Shu troops to move obediently.
Samoko is the leader of the Wuling Mountain Barbarians, and he is a leader who is willing to go out and see the world. From a certain point of view, Samoke is already very good. After all, most of the South Vietnamese mountain barbarians only think about themselves forever.
Stay in a certain area, stay in the village and be a local emperor for the rest of your life.
But just because Samoko came out of the mountains and forests, it didn't mean that he could immediately wash away his old habits.
Originally, Shamoko could be said to be indispensable in Wuling, at least within his own clan, but when he arrived in Sichuan and Shu, he was reduced to the role of a younger brother. He changed from giving orders to listening to others.
This kind of role change is not something that can be fully adapted to in a day or two, especially since there are some of Shamoko's younger brothers following him around, which sometimes inevitably makes Shamoko unable to determine his own position.
If you are an ordinary person, or someone who has no patience, most of them will adopt a direct and high-pressure state in this situation. Regardless of whether there is any preliminary preparation, and whether it is the younger brother or the younger brother's younger brother, they will always be suppressed.
.
As it happened, Zhuge Liang had enough patience.
After all, Zhuge Liang was still young, and he had plenty of time to slowly adjust... to adjust Shamoko. The way he adjusted Shamoko was to let Shamoko watch from the sidelines, and then wait until Shamoko really couldn't figure it out.
Only then can I give you a few pointers.
After all, in Lushan, Pang Degong followed this pattern when he treated Fei Qian and others, including Zhuge Liang. Only the answers that people get after thinking hard will be particularly profound.
The flames quickly broke the tranquility of the night.
Blown by the south wind, the flames ignited from the riverside climbed up the mountain forest almost instantly, and then quickly invaded upward from the foot of the mountain, making the whole sky red!
Seeing such a scene, Shamoko was stunned for a moment, and many question marks immediately appeared on his head.
Zhuge Liang ignored Shamoko and did not stop because of the fire rising behind him.
If nothing else happens, Huang Gai will soon notice the flaw...
Zhuge Liang must hurry.
Running up a mountain to death, especially walking in a mountain with no roads, requires a lot of physical strength and endurance. Fortunately, Zhuge Liang arranged early soldiers, who not only cut down vines and thorns in advance, but also waded out a path.
, and more importantly, marks are left at close intervals to avoid accidentally losing the direction.
The river is curved. When Zhuge Liang walked down the hill, he naturally reached the edge of the river.
On one side of the river, soldiers from Sichuan and Sichuan were pushing a small boat into the river. When they saw Zhuge Liang approaching, they stepped forward and saluted.
Zhuge Liang waved his hand, "Move quickly, or you may run away."
"Yes!" The Sichuan and Shu soldiers immediately sped up their movements.
Shamoko was dumbfounded, "Zhang, what are you... doing?"
Just a few small boats are going to fight Huang Gaijun?
Can't?
Or just ran away?
Shamoko stood aside in a daze, while Zhuge Liang got on the boat, turned around, and exposed a row of shining teeth in the night, "What's wrong, Lieutenant Sha? Are you planning to stay here?"
"Oh, oh..." Samoko quickly boarded the boat, but saw that there seemed to be a lot of things placed in the cabin of the boat, "Uh... what is this?"
Shamoko subconsciously wanted to find a torch on the left and right to have a look, but he suddenly found that the people holding torches were all on the shore. After Zhuge Liang and others got on the boat, he immediately immersed the torch in the water.
, and then got on the ship.
Shamoko suddenly had a not-so-good feeling in his heart, as if he was leaning against the entrance of a black bear's cave, and then blew out some frightening breaths from the hole...
"Well, be careful, that's kerosene." Zhuge Liang said in a very calm tone, "Be careful not to get it on."
"Ah!" Shamoko was shocked. He had seen kerosene and knew how powerful this thing was, and he also saw clearly the rows of kerosene jars in the cabin, "This... so much?!"
』
The boat rocked and left the shore.
The jars collided slightly, making a creepy sound.
Shamoko stared at the earthen jars in the cabin with his eyes wide open. He grasped the side of the boat tightly with both hands and decided that if anything went wrong, he would jump overboard immediately.
Although he is Shanyue from Wuling, he still knows how to do the dog paddle style...
Zhuge Liang stood on the bow of the boat, and not far behind him were four other boats.
The five small boats swayed downwards with the current, gradually bypassing the bend of the river, and the light gradually became brighter in front of them.
The fire was already very strong.
Jumping flames engulfed the shrubs and danced joyfully on the treetops.
The billowing black smoke roared upwards, baring its teeth and claws in mid-air.
Zhuge Liang looked at it and then waved his hand.
The boat gradually stopped, then propped up with bamboo poles and swung slightly sideways.
Several other small boats followed Zhuge Liang's boat and stopped and swung away, forming a small horizontal line on the river.
One person took two steps forward and stood beside Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang tilted his head slightly and then nodded.
The man turned around and waved his hand.
Immediately, the people on each small boat began to take out the kerosene jars from the cabin. After arriving at the bow of the ship, they opened the jars and poured half of the jars into the water. Then they closed the jars and put the whole jar into the water.
Not long after, Samoko saw the water carrying the kerosene jars floating downstream...
"Engage, you are..." Shamoko guessed Zhuge Liang's thoughts and was obviously a little excited, "You want to burn Jiangdong's ships?!"
Zhuge Liang smiled slightly and nodded.
"But why didn't we use catapults to burn directly before?" Samoko asked with some confusion. Because when he was in Sichuan and Shu, he also saw catapults firing kerosene bombs, and he always thought that Zhuge Liang would use kerosene bombs on the mountains.
He went to smash those Jiangdong warships, but he didn't expect that Zhuge Liang didn't use kerosene bombs to smash them at all. He just used ordinary stone bullets to attack them. It was not until then that he took out the kerosene.
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "If someone hits you and you can't hit him, will you stand and wait for that person to hit you, or what will you do?"
"Can't hit him? Then...oh, I understand..." Samoko suddenly realized, "Then won't they run away now?"
Zhuge Liang pointed to his feet.
Shamoko lowered his head and looked at Zhuge Liang's feet carefully.
Because the flames on the mountain in front were very large, Shamoko could clearly see that Zhuge Liang was wearing a pair of cowhide boots with some traces of mud on them...
Is there any answer written on these leather shoes?
"It's a boat." Zhuge Liang said, his voice still calm.
"What?" Samoko still didn't understand.
Zhuge Liang smiled, pointed to the boat at his feet, and finally said one word, "Ship."
Then there is no explanation.
Shamoko stared at the boat, then looked up at Zhuge Liang, then looked down at the boat, then looked up again, and then started scratching his head. He couldn't understand...
When Shamoko couldn't figure it out, Huang Gai also had some doubts in his heart.
At the moment when the flames first rose, Huang Gai was excited. The destructive factor in his body churned crazily after being satisfied, and then incidentally gave Huang Gai some dopamine.
Short-term happiness is often followed by emptiness.
The same was true for Huang Gai. As he excitedly watched the wildfire spread, he gradually felt that something was wrong.
He ordered Jiangdong to be quiet in order not to alarm others, but the mountain fire had obviously spread to the mountainside and was still attacking upwards, so why didn't he hear the sound of soldiers from Sichuan and Shu?
"What did you hear?" Huang Gai thought he had missed something and asked the soldiers on the side.
"General! What a big fire!" The soldier was still immersed in the pleasure of setting fire, his eyes followed the flames, and his face looked obsessed.
"..." Huang Gai held his breath, and then said in a deep voice, "I'm asking you to see... No, I'm asking you if you heard anything?! I'm not asking you what you saw?!"
The soldier hurriedly listened and looked around blankly, "Yes, there are many sounds. Listen, it's the monkeys barking..."
The veins on Huang Gai's head jumped twice, and he felt more and more uneasy, as if he was being peeped by a wild beast. As he grew older, the function of his eyes and ears inevitably deteriorated, so he was not sure whether he had
Hearing, or not hearing, "Didn't you hear someone screaming?"
"Uh...it seems...no..." The soldiers didn't quite understand what Huang Gai meant.
Is it possible that General Huang likes to be called upon?
Or are you hinting at something?
Do you want me to call out twice?
If so, what is the best way to call?
When the soldier was worried, Huang Gai slapped the armrest, turned his face and ignored the soldier as if he had lifted his pants. He took two steps forward and found another soldier, "You have
Didn’t you hear the screams of someone on the mountain? It’s people! People!』
"Ah? It doesn't seem like that... they were probably all burned to death. If they are burned to death, they won't scream anymore..." another soldier replied.
When the mountain fire first started, the forest was not absolutely peaceful. Birds and animals made a lot of noise, so Huang Gai didn't pay attention at first, but when the mountain fire spread to the mountainside, those birds
Birds, animals, whatever, all that could fly flew away, and all that could escape fled. The remaining voices became quieter, and among these successive noisy sounds, Huang Gai didn't seem to hear anyone shouting.
, and there were no screams...
Huang Gai's heart sank.
Water and fire are the things that humans fear the most, because humans need water and fire, but cannot live without water and fire, and cannot completely control them. Instead, they are more often affected by water and fire. So when humans see
When there is uncontrollable water and fire, it should be like those birds and animals, screaming uncontrollably!
But Huang Gai didn't hear it now...
did not hear!
what does that mean?
Huang Gai's eyes darkened, but he still couldn't believe it, because he didn't tell anyone about setting fire to the mountain, so how could the Sichuan and Shu troops on the mountain know that he was going to set fire to it?
Is it just a coincidence?
The mountain fire is still devouring everything crazily, and then spitting sparks everywhere.
Those sparks blended into the stars in the night sky, as if the world in front of them was cut into two halves, half bright red and half indigo.
"Snapped……"
A thin voice sounded, which seemed very close.
Huang Gai frowned and asked the soldiers beside him, "Did you hear anything?!"
The soldiers were going crazy, "I...what should I hear?"
"Snapped……"
Another sound.
Huang Gai frowned, then leaned on the armrest and looked down.
The dark river surface seemed to reflect some inexplicable luster, and some small black objects seemed to drift down from the upstream and hit the hull, making a shattering sound.
"What is that?!" Huang Gai shouted, pointing at something rising and falling in the water.
Among the ships ahead, there were soldiers from Jiangdong who heard Huang Gai's order and held torches to the side of the ship to check.
As Huang Gai watched, he suddenly felt his heart suddenly pause, as if he missed a few beats, and even his breathing became a little faster, as if some ferocious beast was about to pounce out in the dark night, and then he
I saw the soldier lying on the boat, holding a torch in one hand and reaching for it with the other...
The next moment, I don't know whether it was the fallen fragments from the torch that ignited the kerosene, or whether the soldier accidentally overturned the kerosene tank. After a ray of light blue light jumped up, the kerosene disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Turned into a fire ship!
Immediately, the human scream that Huang Gai had been thinking about resounded through the sky!
The ignited cockroach suddenly lost control and ignited more kerosene.
The flames spread across the river, as if the entire river was about to surge and burn!
"Retreat! Weigh anchor! Retreat!"
Huang Gai was indeed a veteran, and he issued the most correct order at this moment.
It's cool when you set someone on fire, but now it's very miserable when someone else sets you on fire.
Although Huang Gai issued the most correct order, he forgot one thing in his panic. The ship could not turn around...
The Jiangdong ship at the front wanted to turn around, but collided with each other, and then watched helplessly as the kerosene cans floating down from the upstream hit the side of its own boat. Immediately, the flames spread along the route of the kerosene,
Pounced ferociously from the water!
The boat was close to the water and was more susceptible to being burned by the flames on the water. Even if the boat could not be ignited for the time being, the Jiangdong soldiers on the boat were severely attacked by the fire poison. Many Jiangdong soldiers couldn't bear it and jumped into the water one after another. But when they waited
When they emerged, they found that their heads and faces were covered in flames!
The screams resounded throughout the world!
"Don't turn around! Go backwards with the oar!" Huang Gai seemed to be sweating all over because of the surrounding flames, "Move quickly! Quickly!"
Larger ships are relatively better. Although they are also contaminated with some kerosene, the flames cannot directly burn the people on the ship, and the flames will also be affected by the surge of the river.
This is only a relative term. If you stay in the sea of fire for a long time, no matter how big or small the boat is, it will burn the same!
"General! We have a ship behind us!" a soldier shouted.
"Crash out!" Huang Gai yelled, "Crash out of the way! Otherwise, everyone will die!"
At this time, I no longer care about friendly forces or whether I have escaped unscathed. I can only escape as much as I can!
Amid the crashing sound, Huang Gai's ferocious face appeared...
And at the bend of the river in the distance, Zhuge Liang stood on the bow of the boat, his sleeves flying in the night wind, the smile on his face still indifferent, only the flames in his eyes burned everything.
