There were hundreds of thousands of Jie clan slave legions, they screamed at the top of their lungs, struggled to move their barefoot legs, and rushed towards the distant city as fast as possible.
These slaves of Jiejiao are sallow and skinny, or they are dressed in rags, dirty, or half-clothed, bare-chested, and without a single piece of armor. The only thing that can be called a weapon is the crudely made one in their hands.
of spear.
If we say that a short sword or even a broken blade is tied to a wooden stick, it can also be called a spear.
However, this is not the worst weapon of these slave armies.
Worse and inferior, the so-called spear is actually just a wooden stick with one end sharpened.
Just use this thing to fight... No, come to die?
Wu Ji, the Shang Shui Army general who was standing on the west city wall to direct the war in place of Zhao Hongrun, had two sword-shaped eyebrows gradually forming on his handsome face.
It has to be said that since surrendering to Zhao Hongrun and the Wei State, after getting to know the troops and soldiers in the Wei State, the soldiers of the Shangshui Army strongly felt that the soldiers of the army were not expendable items on the battlefield.
Yes, compared to the generals in their home country (Chu) who do not treat soldiers as human beings, the generals of Wei are qualified to be called commanders and generals, because the generals of Wei
Never use the lives of your soldiers to build victory.
Precisely because of the comparison, the soldiers of the Shang Shui Army felt deep conflict and hatred towards the Chu generals who once commanded them, whether they were dead or not yet dead.
But now, facing the slave legions of the Jiejiao Army who came one after another to die - which was indeed the case in the eyes of the soldiers of the Shangshui Army - the soldiers of the Shangshui Army could not help but be reminded of bad memories.
Doesn’t it turn out that our former motherland only exists? This ugly way of war that purely uses human lives to build victory...
Many Shangshui soldiers standing on the city wall, ready to attack, involuntarily clenched their weapons.
Because looking at the Jiejiao slaves swarming outside the city, they seemed to have the illusion of seeing their former selves.
No!
The Jiejiao slaves outside the city were in a worse situation than they were before.
At least when they were under the command of Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo and Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, although the Chu generals who led them at that time did not treat them as human beings, at least they got decent weapons and
Leather armor.
Although the blade of the weapon was rusty, it could at least cut off the minds of the Wei soldiers who were enemies at the time.
Although most of the leather armor used as armor felt like it was falling apart and was not enough to stop Wei's crossbows, it at least gave them some peace of mind.
But those Jie tribe slaves in the distance have nothing.
"(Chu Mandarin) Damn the Jie people!"
On the city wall, a Shang Shui soldier could not help but curse in a low voice in the dialect of his hometown, and then spit viciously on the city wall at his feet to express his hatred for the Jie people at this moment.
Nearby, the other soldiers of the Shang Shui Army also showed expressions of hatred.
Because they saw in the figures of those Jie tribe warlords—let’s call them that, those Jie tribe cavalry who used sharp blades and riding whips to force slaves to charge—the soldiers of the war supervisors who once forced them to risk their lives to charge on the battlefield.
Supervising the battle team is a characteristic of the Chu army. They are usually led by trusted generals who are trusted by the general. They have the right to execute any deserter on the battlefield. They are the most hated people by the soldiers at the bottom of the Chu Kingdom.
And from the Jie cavalry who were responsible for supervising the slaves, the Shangshui soldiers saw the shadow of the supervising team in their old team.
And this ugly scene made the soldiers of the Shangshui Army feel deeply grateful for their current status: now, they are the army of the Wei State. This country will not use the lives of its soldiers to build victory like the Chu State or the Jie Clan.
way to win the war.
...no wind.
Wu Ji looked up at the clouds in the sky, and then at the flag of their Shang Shui Army.
The flag drooped, proving that there was no wind today.
God bless Shang Shui!
Out of the Chu people's custom of praying before a battle, Wu Ji silently prayed in his heart, then raised his hand and issued the first general order without expression.
"Archers obey orders, rockets are ready!"
After hearing this, the archers of the Merchant Navy on the city wall bent their bows and arrows, and pointed an arrow with cashmere thread at the arrowhead at the countryside outside the city.
At the same time, Tongze beside him quickly used a torch to light the cashmere at the head of the arrow.
"Fire the arrow!"
"The general has orders, fire arrows!"
"Fire the arrow!"
As Wu Ji gave the order, the soldiers on the city wall who were responsible for delivering the order repeated this general order one after another, conveying Wu Ji's order to the Shangshui army generals who were far away.
"Whoosh——"
"Swish swish——"
An irregular wave of fire arrows went from the west wall of Luocheng City.
The number is not large, just a few hundred arrows.
Facing these hundreds of oncoming fire arrows, the Jie slaves in the western suburbs of Luodi who were swarming towards the city wall showed no intention of slowing down their charge.
Because the Jie people stipulate that anyone who flinches or retreats on the battlefield, or deliberately slows down even if he has the strength to run, will be regarded as a runaway slave and will be shot on the spot.
Therefore, the Jie clan slaves did not dare to slow down the momentum of the buffer front at all. Perhaps in their view, there were more than a hundred thousand of them slaves, covering the mountains and plains as far as the eye could see. What could the hundreds of fire arrows in the Wei Military Region do?
Effect?
Unfortunately, they guessed wrong.
The purpose of shooting the fire arrows at the soldiers of the Merchant Navy Army on the opposite side was not to kill them at all, but to ignite the sticky, black water under their feet in large and small puddles.
"Whoosh."
An arrow with a flaming arrowhead passed through the gap between the two Jie tribe slaves and was nailed into the black puddle at their feet.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar, and the puddle burst into flames. Immediately, the flames jumped up and spread rapidly around, forming a sea of fire in the blink of an eye.
Many Jie tribe slaves who had stepped into those black puddles burst into flames and fell to the ground howling miserably.
That kind of miserable howl was quite short, because the high temperature of 1,600 degrees generated by the burning of the black stone liquid had instantly burned them into coke.
At the same time, the high temperature released by the violent combustion raised heat waves one after another, roasting the nearby slaves alive.
That kind of scorching heat wave, even from a long distance away, made the soldiers of the Merchant Navy on the city wall feel uncomfortable and made them sweat all over.
It is indeed a fierce fire oil, what a powerful power!
Wu Ji secretly praised in his heart, and then looked sadly at the dead bodies that could be seen in the sea of fire.
"General!"
A call came from behind Wu Ji.
He turned his head and saw a soldier handing him a wet cloth.
"Well, thank you." Wu Ji nodded and covered his mouth and nose with the wet cloth.
Looking at the city wall at this moment, the Shangshui soldiers covered their mouths and noses with various water-soaked cloths. Some were torn from the clothes in their armors, and some were obtained directly from the tribes in the city.
.
The reason is very simple, because those black fire oils, that is, the raw liquid of petroleum, will not only produce billowing black smoke when burning, but also release a large amount of highly toxic gases. Although it will not kill you if you smell it, it will destroy people.
If you sniff the nose, throat and other organs for a long time, death will occur.
Of course, Zhao Hongrun did not explain in such detail. He just ordered Wu Ji to have his soldiers cover their mouths and noses with wet cloths to protect the human respiratory system.
There was no way. Unlike the last time when a catapult was loaded with barrel bombs to "bomb" Luocheng, which was about a mile and a half away, this time the distance was too close. It was close to the sea of fire end of the city wall and only less than a mile away from the city wall.
.
To make matters worse, due to the habit of airflow, the open countryside outside the city and the barrier of the city wall on the Luocheng side, even if there is no wind today, the billowing smoke produced by the violent burning of oil carries highly toxic
The gas was faintly drifting towards Luocheng.
And this is one of the shortcomings that Zhao Hongrun cannot eradicate in this strategy.
However, in comparison, Shang Shuijun was well prepared and did not suffer much discomfort, except that his eyes were a little dry and swollen.
It's not because of the billowing thick smoke. After all, the wooden walls built by the Shang Shui Army effectively blocked most of it. The key lies in some colorless, rotten egg-like drama in the thick smoke.
Poisonous odor is the real killer that damages human respiratory organs.
As for the thick smoke, it is just black dust particles. If collected, it can be a good material for making ink. It is much darker and purer than the ink currently used in Wei State.
In contrast, the unprepared Jie tribe slaves outside the city suffered heavy casualties.
Either they were burned to death by the fire, or they were roasted to death by the high temperature, or they were suffocated by the thick black smoke, or they were dizzy from inhaling too much of the poisonous gas and fell to the ground, waiting helplessly with their eyes open.
In just this attack, Jiejiao's slave army lost four to five thousand people, far exceeding Wu Ji's previous estimate.
The reason is that Jiejiao's slaves are so densely packed with each other that when the fire breaks out, there are people all around and there is no possibility of escape.
This is the drawback of the human wave tactic: the distance between soldiers is too close, so there is almost no possibility of evasion.
According to His Highness King Su's tactics, the Jie clan slaves were separated by the sea of fire...
On the city wall, although Wu Ji couldn't bear the miserable condition of the Jiejiao slaves below the city, his consciousness as a general of the Shang Shui Army made him stare at the changes on the battlefield intently.
As predicted before the war started, the sea of fire created by his merchant navy successfully divided the Jie tribe slaves, who must have numbered more than 100,000, into two parts: about 20,000 to 30,000 slaves were trapped
Between the sea of fire and Luocheng, the remaining approximately 100,000 slaves were blocked from the sea of fire and did not dare to take a step beyond the thunder pool.
"Go down with the order and prepare to open the city gate!"