In ancient times, wooden fences were actually quite good defenses.

You can imagine that it is almost impossible to break a 20 cm thick wooden board without borrowing tools.

What's more, the fence will be reinforced with horizontal wooden boards. Even with tools such as hammers and axes, it will be difficult to break it for a while. Even if it is broken, the hole will not be big.

Therefore, when marching and fighting at that time, the camps were basically made of wooden fences. There were no iron railings and no walls.

Unless you are like Cao Cao, who likes to prepare for a long war and build a city somewhere for months or even years.

But that was also what happened in the later period of Cao Cao's life, after he became wealthy. Including during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's camp was still wooden, so Gao Lan's camp would naturally not go beyond this category.

The wooden fence is very strong, but it has a big weakness. It is not fireproof. Camps were attacked by fire so many times in the late Eastern Han Dynasty that they were countless.

Needless to say, the Battle of Yiling and the burning of Wuchao, including the burning of Chibi, were actually because Cao Jun's ships were made of wood and were not fireproof.

However, it is not that easy for ordinary wooden boards to ignite as quickly as possible, so a large amount of fish paste is needed.

All the soldiers in Gao Lan's camp had come out to set up defenses. At this time, there was a short-term gap around the camp. No one was defending, and no one could stop the enemy. They could only watch the large formation of torches in the distance kill them.

To Yingzhai.

Zang Ba's army not only carried torches, but also fuel. In addition to fish paste and grease, there were also many Molotov cocktails. The Shuijingfang site has long proved that the ancients had learned to distill alcohol since the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were also records of a high-strength wine called Shaochun in Sichuan. Chen Mu just took this step forward and used glass products to make a Molotov cocktail, which greatly increased its power when burned.

The torch lit the Molotov cocktails, and the carefully selected grenade squad swarmed outside the Gaolan camp. Bottles of Molotov cocktails rained down on the camp.

Some fell on the fence, and some jumped over the fence and fell into the tent.

Molotov cocktails are much easier to use than rockets. Rockets also have the risk of extinguishing in mid-air. Molotov cocktails are made of alcohol and are difficult to be extinguished by the wind. Anyone who has taken a junior high school chemistry class knows that you need to use an alcohol bottle cap to extinguish them. This shows how lethal it is.

force.

But compared to rockets, Molotov cocktails cost a lot of food. Therefore, except for important battles, they are basically used as a storage of military supplies. They even occasionally have to guard against theft by drunken soldiers and generals, so there is not much storage.

Xun Yu also spent a lot of money on this battle and took out a quarter of the stored incendiary bottles in order to teach Gao Lan a lesson and at the same time prove their determination to Gongsun Zan.

The fire swept across with almost a roar, and the fire spread quickly. In an instant, the flammable wooden boards and tents were ablaze.

Especially in this late winter and early spring season, the fierce north wind howls, and the cold wind blowing from far away Siberia causes the flames to start from the back of the camp and spread quickly towards the front camp. The monstrous flames ignite half of the sky. The only good thing is that

Gao Lan asked Ma Yan to go out to meet the enemy, leaving almost no defenders in the camp.

But how do the soldiers fighting hard at the front know about this kind of thing?

The camp in the rear was burned down and chaos ensued, causing the soldiers who were fighting hard in the front to suddenly fall into an unstable situation and their morale plummeted.

Gao Lan was also anxious. While asking Ma Yan to organize soldiers and horses to attack the group of people who set fire, he also ordered the 20,000 soldiers and horses around him to start pressing forward, plus the supervising team and reserves, all dispatched in order to stabilize the situation.

Military morale to restore the situation.

"The enemy's camp is on fire and they are defeated!"

In the chaos of the army, Gongsun Zan noticed the situation in the distance, refreshed himself, and immediately shouted to the soldiers around him.

"Their camp is on fire."

"The enemy army was defeated."

"Kill!"

The morale of Gongsun Zan's Youzhou army was greatly boosted. Seeing this, Tian Yu in the rear immediately ordered the city to beat drums.

"Xunzi·Yi Bing": "When you hear the sound of drums, advance forward; when you hear the sound of gold, retreat."

In war, it is common sense to withdraw troops with gold and beat drums to attack fiercely. The denser the drums and the louder the sound, it means that our side has won the victory and the soldiers can continue to attack.

The shouts of killing were heard on the battlefield. The Youzhou Army made a vigorous effort and even bulldozed Gao Lan's front army and the middle army. Even if Gao Lan went into battle in person, he could not stop the rout. The soldiers and horses fled in all directions.

On the verge of collapse.

The situation was over and there was no way to save the day. In desperation, Gao Lan could only lead his troops to protect Xin Ping and others and evacuate. The battlefield was in chaos, with those who were running away and those who were chasing after them. It was not until close to midnight that they finally stopped.

The fire in the sky was still burning. Zang Ba defeated the Mayan tribe who came to put out the fire, led his army to join Gongsun Zan, and left his troops to clean up the battlefield. The group then returned to the city and rested temporarily.

Returning to Fuyang City, Gongsun Zan warmly entertained Zang Ba, Xun You, Tai Shi Ci, Huang Zhong and others, entered the city, and had a banquet to celebrate.

Gongsun Zan is sitting in the main seat. Below his left hand are the generals of his own army, and below his right hand are Zang Ba, Xun You, Taishi Ci and Huang Zhong.

Strictly speaking, Zang Ba, Tai Shi Ci and Huang Zhong both belong to the general level. Even Tai Shi Ci joined Zang Ba longer than Zang Ba, and his qualifications and status are higher than Zang Ba. According to the ranking, Tai Shi Ci should be in charge.

That's right in the first one.

But Zang Ba had a temporary concurrent post of governor, so he was the chief general.

This is because Zang Ba has done a lot of credit. Taishi Ci was sent out by Chen Mu to do dirty work in his early years, unlike Zang Ba who followed Liu Bei, defeated the Yellow Turban, challenged Dong Zhuo, fought against Wang Fen, and defeated Yuan Shao, and made many meritorious deeds.

Therefore, his seniority is Taishi Ci Lao, but Zang Ba has more merit, so Zang Ba should be the main one here.

Everyone sat in rows.

Gongsun Zan happily raised his wine glass and said, "Everyone, in today's battle, we hit a head-on head-on and defeated Yuan Shao's spirit. Let's celebrate!"

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Everyone raised their glasses and took a small sip. Don’t drink this kind of soju indiscriminately. One cup will burn your stomach.

After taking a sip, Xun You put down the wine glass, handed over his hand to Gongsun Zan and said: "General Gongsun, although Yuan Shao's vanguard was defeated today, my Ming Gong is still in Henan, fighting Yuan Shu. Yuan Shao will not miss this opportunity and attack Fu in a large scale.

Yang, the general needs to make a decision early."

Gongsun Zan pondered: "Actually, I really want to take advantage of this opportunity and immediately go back to Youzhou. While quelling the Xianbei invasion, I will summon all the Donghu tribes and go south to attack Yuan Shao. But if this is the case, I am afraid that Yuan Shao will become angry and take action against Qingzhou."

"oh?"

Xun You glanced at Gongsun Zan in surprise, but he didn't expect him to be quite loyal.

However, he did know that Gongsun Zan really wanted to return to Youzhou immediately. His basic territory was Zhuojun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Guangyang, Youbeiping, and adjacent to Wuhuan and Xianbei in the east.

The south is the Han area, and the north is the barbarian area. Now the central Xianbei is going south to attack the Han area under his jurisdiction. Can he not be in a hurry?

At first I thought Gongsun Zan wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to run away, but I didn't expect that he was still worried about Liu Bei.

It's really quite loyal.

Xun You made some calculations in his mind and glanced at Zang Ba.

Zang Ba understood the idea and said to Gongsun Zan: "General, please don't worry. The plain is the lower reaches of the river and there are many rivers. We use the river as a line of defense. Yuan Shao will definitely not be able to get through. General, even if you go north this time, we will help you hold off Yuan Shao and wait for me."

After Duke Ming comes back, we will make an agreement to attack Yuan Shao together."

"You really don't need my help?"

Gongsun Zan asked.

"The general's affairs are more urgent. If we don't return to Youzhou as soon as possible, the barbarians may become even more rampant."

Zang Ba said seriously: "This is also for the sake of the people of Youzhou."

Gongsun Zan did not have the common people in his heart.

In addition to being kind to his equal brothers, he may not even be treated well by his subordinates. Historically, when his subordinates were besieged, he stood by and stood by, unwilling to rescue them at all.

But one thing is correct, that is, the current situation in Youzhou is indeed urgent. The Xianbei people went south and invaded his territory. There was a fire in the backyard. How could he not be worried?

Therefore, after receiving Zang Ba's confirmation, Gongsun Zan also nodded: "Okay, in that case, I will lead the army north tomorrow, and I will leave this place to you."

"I will live up to the general's trust."

Zang Ba bowed his hands and looked at each other, secretly exchanging opinions.

The interest of their Qingzhou Army is to contain Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao at the same time, and then slowly plot against Jizhou.

Now that Gongsun Zan has finally left, at least from a good perspective, Chen Mu's plan is half completed.

As for whether the other half can be completed, it depends on God's will.

Man proposes, God disposes.

No one is perfect and everything can be expected. But at least if you move in this direction, you won't make any mistakes.

And just when Gongsun Zan was repelling Gao Lan and preparing to go north.

At this moment, Yuan Shao's army is still in Nanpi.

Although he conquered Nanpi, he still led an army of 60,000 and had to make many deployments. Unlike Gongsun Fan, who was defeated and retreated with only a few thousand remaining troops.

However, the army was not originally gathered together. According to Yuan Shao's arrangement, in addition to the soldiers and horses chasing Gongsun Fan in the front, the vanguard army was led by Ju Yi and consisted of 10,000 people. They had already passed Beipicheng and headed towards Fuyang.

Beipicheng is located about 26 kilometers northeast of Nanpi City, just south of Fuyang and Nanpi. It is only about a hundred miles away from Fuyang, almost more than 40 kilometers away. If you go quickly, Ju

The rebel vanguard army will arrive in the evening of the next day.

In addition, there are also Wen Chou's former troops, 20,000 people, who are about to arrive in Beipicheng.

On the entire official road from Nanpi to Fuyang, Yuan Shao's army was almost lined up in a long queue. Yuan Shao himself had to leave on the second day and arrive on the third or fourth day.

Nanpi had been captured a few days ago. According to the original plan, Ju Yi would immediately support Fuyang after the city was defeated, and then Wen Chou would arrive for the front army one after another. Yuan Shao planned to leave for Fuyang the day before yesterday. The reason for the delay was that

Two days, it was because of the problem of Qinghe Country.

Xu Rong led 10,000 people and successfully defeated Guo Tu's tens of thousands of troops. Guo Tuchun Yu Qiong was in a state of embarrassment and took advantage of the situation to occupy Ganling, Dongwucheng, Guangchuan County and other places.

These places are all the hinterland of the Qinghe Kingdom. From the north, you can attack Yuan Shao's rear and contain Yuan Shao's main force. From the west, you can attack Wei County and threaten Yuan Shao's home base. Moreover, there is a vast plain area along the way. Enemies come and go like the wind, and it is impossible to clear them out in a short time.

.
To be continued...