Hearing the sound of breaking through the sky from above, Cao Tai and everyone around him couldn't help but raise their heads and look at the sky.
Hundreds of sheep-head-sized balls were seen flying from the sky. A small number of them were smoking, and they were about to fall on the heads of nearly 30,000 Ming troops.
"Quick! Let everyone evacuate!" Cao Tai said.
But he didn't take it too seriously. Although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he had seen trebuchets in ancient books and heard about using trebuchets to launch incendiary bombs. However, these incendiary bombs were of little significance in field battles.
It would be impossible to burn a few people to death; if they were planning to fight in formation, it would be possible to disrupt their formation, but he had not seen the Annan soldiers yet, and they had already built a simple fence using wood, so there would not be much loss.
.
But as soon as he finished speaking, an incendiary bomb had already landed on the grass a dozen steps away from him. There seemed to be a clay pot inside, and there was a "crash" sound of breaking, followed by a "boom"
There was a loud noise, and a huge and shockingly dazzling fireball suddenly exploded!
Not to mention, a dark-looking liquid spilled from the clay pot splashed with sparks. The liquid that splashed on the ground did not cause anything, but the liquid that splashed on the wood that had been cut down caused immediate damage.
This causes the wood to burn too!
"Quick, quick, protect Commander Cao!"
"Put out the fire, put out the fire quickly!"
"What the hell is this? Why can these freshly cut wood be allowed to burn!"
Although Cao Tai had never seen such a situation, he was still clever. After the fire burned beside him, he immediately rolled on the ground and extinguished the fire on his body.
But when he stood up again, all he could see was that several fires had been ignited where the prototype of the camp was, and many of the felled wood started to burn after being splashed by the black liquid.
Cao Tai knew that although the fires were not big yet, as more and more wood was burned, even if those clever guys brought water back from the sea, it would be impossible to put out the fires. He had seen a flash of lightning.
After it fell down, it caused a sky fire that could not be extinguished even if it rained heavily.
'More importantly,' Cao Tai raised his head and looked straight ahead: 'Even if they can extinguish these fires, it is impossible for the Annan people who threw these incendiary bombs to do nothing else. Now because of the fire, the entire camp has become chaotic.
Especially those southwest barbarians, they are not from the same tribe, and there is no cooperation with each other. Even if the fire is extinguished and you want to reorganize them, it will not be possible in half a day. If the Annan people attack at this time, they will be defeated.'
"Light the beacon tower immediately!" Cao Tai quickly grabbed a man who was standing aside at a loss and shouted to him: "Take your soldiers to the beacon tower immediately, light the beacon fire, and tell General He that we have been ambushed.
!”
He let go of the man, and then shouted loudly to another person beside him: "Didn't those navy men leave a few boats behind? You get on the boat immediately and let the boatmen row as fast as they can to get back to General He!"
The two of them were originally in a state of not knowing what to do. After hearing his words, they immediately subconsciously bowed to accept the order and led their own soldiers to carry out the execution.
At this time, several of Cao Tai's guards also reacted and said loudly: "Sir, you can get on the boat and go back immediately! The Annan people are about to attack. It's very dangerous here!"
"It's because the Annan people are about to attack that I can't go back!" Cao Tai said: "I am the backbone of these 30,000 people. If I escape, these 30,000 troops will collapse immediately after the Annan people attack.
Not many people can make it back alive."
"Besides, this battle was such a disastrous defeat. As a commander, I will definitely die if I escape from the battle!"
The guards were silent. Normally, Cao Tai, Lu Xian and He Rong were all from noble families, and He Rong would save them some face. But in such a disastrous defeat, He Rong himself was responsible for the demotion. As the frontline commander, Cao Rong
Even if Tai didn't run away, he would be punished by death. At most, he would be given the grace of being exempted from the death penalty. If he dared to escape from the battlefield, his home would be ransacked or even his whole family would be exiled.
"Besides, I may not necessarily die here! Our Ming Zuo Army has enough boats for more than 20,000 people to get on! As long as we persist here for a while, let" At this point, he lowered his voice and said: "Let the three Han guards
Most of the soldiers managed to get on the boat and escape, so I can evacuate together."
The guards were refreshed. Yes, your Majesty may prefer to let these barbarian soldiers die here. As long as the three Han guards are withdrawn, Cao Tai will definitely be reduced in rank, but as long as he is not deprived of command
If you have power, you can continue to lead the troops and make contributions, and you will still have a chance.
After Cao Tai finished talking to the guards around him and reassured them, he immediately asked them to shout at the loudest voice to reorganize the Ming army of different ethnic groups that had become chaotic, even if they could only organize two or three thousand people.
, can resist the Annamites for a while and delay until the boat returns.
While doing this, Cao Tai was still thinking about one thing: "After seeing the smoke from the beacon tower, it is absolutely impossible for me to make such an arrangement without alerting me. How did the Annan people know about our army?"
Are you going to land here?'
'And how on earth did they hide themselves?'
…
…
Neither Cao Tai nor Lu Xian thought that every move they made was actually under the eyes of the Annan people.
In a grove on a small slope about two or three miles away from Pingzhang, Hu Hancang was holding up the clairvoyant eye in his hand and looking at the busy Ming army in Pingzhang.
Clairvoyance was invented as early as the 28th year of Hongwu. It has been seven years now and it has been distributed to the commanders of the guards, Annan and other people in the country. It is not a big deal to steal or buy a few.
If it's troublesome, they can even grind the colored glass into the same size as a clairvoyant lens. However, because they don't have the technology to make pure-color lenses, homemade clairvoyance lenses are not very easy to use.
Hu Hancang just looked at the Ming army in front of him with his clairvoyance. When Lu Xian led his troops to land, he did not move. When Luo Shenzhen sent people to cut trees in the woods, he did not move. When Lu Xian led his troops to Xingxian Port, he did not move.
He didn't move. Even when Cao Tai just led the second batch of soldiers to land, he still didn't make any move!
It wasn't until all the soldiers got off the boat and the boats sailed away from the shore that Hu Hancang put down the clairvoyant in his hand and whispered: "Wait a little longer, wait until the boats are farther away? No, the sky will be over soon."
It’s going to be dark, so we must not delay it until night.”
Having said this, Hu Hancang said to the people on the side: "Go immediately and send the order, asking the soldiers behind to use trebuchets to light the jars containing kerosene, and then throw them out."
Yes, those things that immediately ignite fires as soon as they break open, and can even cause trees that have not been dehydrated to burn when sprinkled on them, are kerosene, which is also the oil of later generations.
Hu Hancang turned to another person and said: "You also go and send an order to have all the warriors come out of the woods and earth caves where they are hiding, and immediately line up to attack the Ming army's camp."
"Light up the special fireworks and ask the people from Xingxian Port to do the same!"
"Push the artillery cart forward and prepare to fire before the warriors charge."
"All of you, follow me forward. I won't use my clairvoyance. I want to see with your own eyes that the Ming army is defeated by my soldiers from Dayu!"
"Your Majesty, no, Your Majesty!" Someone immediately shouted: "Your Majesty, although the Ming army is bound to be defeated, they cannot come with cannons, but they may have foot crossbows in their hands, which is very dangerous!" With the Ming Dynasty!
After the war, the Hu family and his son no longer recognized Zhu Yunxi as the emperor and proclaimed himself emperor, so his subjects all called him "Your Majesty."
"If I don't display the banner of Emperor Dayu, how would Cao Tai know that I'm here?" Hu Hancang said with a smile: "I won't go to the Ming army's fence, it'll be fine."
The man wanted to say more, but Hu Hancang waved his hand and walked out of the woods. These people could only keep silent and walked forward together.
Soon, Hu Hancang chose a place to watch the battle. This place was also located on a small slope, about a mile away from the Ming army's camp. You could clearly see the firelight coming from Pingzhang and the loud shouts of countless people.
Hu Hancang actually wanted to get closer, but he didn't care about his own life at all, so he stopped here.
Soon, five thousand Annan soldiers were gathered, lined up, and walked towards Pingzhang. These soldiers were originally the most elite part of the Annan army, so they lined up very quickly.
Just as these Annan soldiers were walking towards Pingzhang, the people around Hu Hancang began to pat his horses. Everyone said: "Your Majesty is worthy of being your Majesty. Sure enough, he had a clever plan. He guessed in advance that the Ming army would land here, so he prepared early.
With these, the Ming army will definitely lose this battle, and maybe they can capture Cao Tai and Lu Xian alive!"
"There's no telling, we will be able to capture Cao Tai and Lu Xian alive! They saw the handiwork of my Emperor Dayu, and they bowed down without being heartbroken! If He Rong hadn't still been on the ship and hadn't gotten off, He Rong would have definitely done the same.
Will be captured alive."
"Your Majesty should wait for He Rong to lead the army off the ship before attacking. Then we, Dayu, can annihilate the entire left army of the Ming army. The Ming Dynasty will definitely be shocked and will stop its troops and make peace."
