Those rockets ignited the kerosene used by the bandits for defense. Suddenly, a series of explosions sounded, and the dilapidated camps instantly turned into a vast sea of fire.
Those bandits who were seriously injured but had no time to escape were ignited by the flames and kept wailing and struggling in the sea of fire until they turned into charred corpses.
If it were a large-scale siege, Gu Yan's tactics might not be very effective, but when faced with an ordinary camp in the wild, Gu Yan's tactics could be said to minimize the battle losses.
Although those bandits were also proficient in the art of war, under the huge gap in absolute strength, all their strategies seemed pale and weak.
Fighting with flesh and blood against a sharp weapon capable of destroying a city wall can no longer be called a war, it is simply a one-sided massacre.
It's not that Gu Yan has never killed anyone. On the contrary, he has killed many people and killed hundreds of souls under his sword.
However, looking at the sky-burning fires rising in those camps, Gu Yan felt boundless fear for the first time in his life because of the burning of the people in Lijia Village.
He simply waved his hand and issued an order, and thousands of lives were immediately taken away.
The shrill wailing sound echoed between heaven and earth, and the sound was so cruel that it chilled people's hearts.
Even the battle-hardened men could not help but shudder at this moment, feeling chilled all over despite the blazing fire, making them almost feel like they were in hell.
The twisted and struggling shadows in the flames are just like the unwilling and struggling souls in hell!
Seeing this, Gu Yan immediately thought of the hundreds of innocent souls in Lijia Village who died in his blood-stained hands.
It wasn't until the bandits suffered a heavy loss that they realized that Gu Yan was not looking for a useless silver-like pewter gun tip, but that he was really here to suppress the bandits.
He was calm and efficient, using the most powerful crossbow arrows to destroy their camp, and using flames to ignite the kerosene they used for defense. They had already lost over a thousand people, but Gu Yan didn't even launch a charge.
They looked at the handsome young general sitting high on the horse, wearing silver armor, and seemed to see the most ferocious evil ghost.
He killed people and burned down cities, treating human lives as nothing but grass. Wherever he went, rivers of blood flowed and corpses piled up like mountains.
As a last resort, the bandits retreated to Ulsan. With the thirty-mile wide lake as protection, they felt a lot more at ease.
Because Gu Yan's three-bow crossbow cannot cross the lake, it is indeed very powerful, but it is not suitable for use on water.
So Gu Yan led his army to camp by the lake, facing them from a distance.
Gu Yan didn't train the navy, he didn't even build ships, because he didn't want to go there at all.
Not to mention that it is difficult to train the navy, and it is time-consuming and laborious to build ships. Even if you can get through it, who can guarantee that Ulsan, which is used as the base camp by the bandits, has no hidden weapons or anything like that.
He has the backing of all the people in Lingnan, and he has an almost endless supply of materials that he can afford to consume.
Moreover, he was sure that this group of bandits who had been making a living by robbing people would not last long.
Sure enough, something went wrong in Ulsan half a month later. They ran out of food.
Gu Yan waited patiently for another half month before ordering his troops to return in triumph.
In order to make the bandits believe that Gu Yan had really made a triumphant return, he even dropped countless tents, pots and stoves before leaving, and then left with his army.
The bandits were still wary of Gu Yan's three-bow bed crossbow, fearing that it was a scam. They only dared to land after repeated investigations.
After landing, they rushed into the nearby villages like hungry wolves. After a month of siege, they had already run out of ammunition and food.
The first half of the month was spent with every meal of the day, but in the second half of the month, if it weren't for the fish and shrimps in the lake and the wild fruits on the mountain, I'm afraid the entire village would have starved to death.
Even so, many weeds and tree barks were eaten away, and there were no horses left on the mountain in the first half of the month.
In the second half of the month, there were even reports of cannibalism.
After entering the village, these bandits, who had been hungry for a month, searched from house to house like hungry wolves.
Eat.
Once they find it, they quickly stuff it into their mouths.
They did come to grab food, but they planned to fill their stomachs first and then transport the food back.
These bandits who were so hungry that they had forgotten that these villages had been emptied by Gu Yan's order a long time ago, how could there be any food left for them!
Just as they were frantically filling their bellies, a cold order was given.
Order to burn the city!
In an instant, under the night sky, there was another meteor shower, and rockets all over the sky fell with the wind.
In the light of the fire, countless villages turned into a sea of fire in an instant. The collected charcoal and fire oil had long been hidden in these villages. At this time, they played a role.
The flames burned the night sky red, and the black clouds were constantly rolling. The fire more than a month ago appeared in everyone's eyes again, but this time, the unbearable look in Gu Yan's eyes never appeared again.
When the bandits fled back to Ulsan with food, more than two thousand corpses were left in these villages that were burned to rubble!
In the two consecutive massacres, Gu Yan did not even send out troops. He only sent people to clean up the battlefield after the flames were extinguished...
Gu Yan's iron-bloodedness and efficiency shocked the court. Emperor Longxin was overjoyed and rewarded all the soldiers who participated in the war, and ordered Gu Yan to clear out the banditry and eliminate the remaining evildoers.
It stands to reason that everything is going smoothly and it is only a matter of time before the banditry is eliminated.
However, things did not go so smoothly.
First, they arrived at the northern border of Dongling Kingdom and Chen Bing. As a precaution, all the three-bow crossbows in Gu Yan's hands were transferred away. However, this was not a big deal, after all, Gu Yan no longer needed them.
Then, Gu Yan encountered a very long spring rain period.
The spring rain is continuous and endless. During this spring rain, the water level of the lake swells greatly, because the large lake regarded as a natural danger by Ulsan is connected to the largest river in Lingnan, Cangjiang!
And this spring rain unexpectedly triggered a spring flood. The river rolled into the lake, and the lake water surged, forcing Gu Yan and the others to retreat.
The troops he holds are limited. Fifty thousand people sounds like a lot, but when you break them down, it's actually not that much.
It was not easy to encircle the lake to prevent the Ulsan bandits from escaping. In addition, the lake water surged this time, which made it even more difficult for him to arrange it.
However, at the critical moment, many camps arranged by Gu Yan were attacked one after another. The troops suffered heavy casualties and a lot of food and grass were robbed.
The Ulsan bandits chose those camps with relatively weak attacks. They came from the lake in small boats when it was dark, launched sudden attacks at night, and returned with great victories every time.
Those camps that were attacked by surprise could not even wait for the nearest camp to rush to the rescue.
This kind of thing has happened five times in succession. Each time, they selected the camp very accurately, deployed the minimum troops, and never failed.
That kind of precision is like...
They saw with their own eyes Gu Yan giving orders in the commander's tent!
Gu Yan concluded that there was a female cadre in the army, but time was tight and he could not determine who the female cadre was. Moreover, this kind of thing could not be spread, otherwise the morale of the army would be shaken and the impact would be unpredictable.
This spring rain seemed to be endless, so Gu Yan slowly lost his patience while waiting endlessly.
Of course, there is also pressure from the capital side. Because the enemy cannot be attacked for a long time, some people from the capital side have joined him to support his troops and intend to rebel.
Needless to say, there will be no one except Fei Jiang.
As a last resort, he could only resort to dangerous tactics.
If you want to catch a big fish, you need to use scented bait. At this moment, the biggest bait is him!
In order to succeed in the battle, Gu Yan secretly made a plan.
Since Ulsan can arrange for female cadres to be in his camp, then his marching formation map may also be leaked. If this is the case, then his biggest weakness should be exposed to them.
He dispersed his troops and deliberately weakened his own troop deployment. He also dispersed his troops again and dispersed them as he did before surrounding the lake.
Among the camps, his side has the most food and grass, and the weakest troops.
On the other side, he sent 30,000 soldiers and horses to seal the border to Dongling Kingdom to prevent them from jumping over the wall and escaping to Dongling Kingdom. If they colluded with the enemy and attacked and annihilated the border, the consequences would be disastrous.
This was also Gu Yan's strategy to show his enemy's weakness.
Although the strategy was good, it couldn't keep up with changes, and everything was not as he expected.
The Lord of Ulsan came in person with his men. As far as the eye could see, there were six thousand men and horses, all of them were fierce bandits with vicious looks and blood-licking blades.
A fierce fight lasted from early morning to dusk, and the bandits' attack was finally repelled. However, Gu Yan also suffered heavy casualties, but the reinforcements he was waiting for never showed up.
He didn't know what was wrong, but there must be something wrong.
The total number of Ulsan's men and horses was only over 10,000. With the previous two bombardments and their recent sneak attacks, the number of men and horses lost was at least 4,000.
It stands to reason that these 6,000 troops are Ulsan's last bit of wealth, so who stopped his reinforcements?
Although Gu Yan was attacked twice in succession and suffered heavy losses, his loss of men and horses was only a few thousand.
In addition to the 4,000 elites around him at this time, he still has at least nearly 40,000 reinforcements!
But……
Where are his reinforcements?
Dusk fell, and a cold feeling swept over from all directions. Gu Yan stood up tiredly, but felt waves of severe pain in his body.
Taking the lead in fighting is not without cost. After the battle, he had three more stab wounds on his body, two on his back and one on his chest.
Those wounds had scabbed over at this time, but when he stood up just now, those wounds opened again.
"General, take off your armor first and put on some medicine!" At this time, a general came over holding a torch, looked at Gu Yan, and advised in a low voice.
"The enemy is facing us. As a general, how can I remove my armor?" Gu Yan shook his head: "It will shake the morale of the army!"
The general's name was Li Wei, one of the shadow guards. "As a general, why do you have to charge into battle like an ordinary soldier? You must know that a son of a rich man will not sit in the hall, and a gentleman will not stand under a dangerous wall. Why do you do this?"
"
As the commander-in-chief, Gu Yan was the backbone of the fifty thousand troops. Logically speaking, a person like him should sit in the rear and control the overall situation.
However, he also understood who sent his lieutenant general Li Wei, and how could he neglect him just because of his few words.
"A general will have a will to die, and a soldier will not be greedy for life. These brothers who accompany me to suppress bandits are my subordinates. After all, there must be superiors and subordinates in the army, but they are also my brothers, brothers who share life and death."