Chapter Eighty-six: Blazing Fire Burns the Camp

  However, even if the wind direction is not suitable, it's not impossible to set fire. In the end, everyone decided on a tactic: Taishi Ci led 1,000 elite cavalry to circle around the enemy's rear and set fire to attack them. Li Zhong led 3,000 infantrymen to block the road that the enemy would take to retreat south, preparing many bows and arrows to defend against the enemy. Jiang Qin led 1,000 cavalrymen, roaming on the right wing, waiting specifically to intercept and kill the enemies who tried to escape sideways.

  This is a mediocre tactic, without any major flaws, but it's impossible to annihilate the 3,000 cavalry led by Wei Yan. Neither Li Chong nor Taishi Ci can withstand Wei Yan's desperate charge, this is a matter of strength, not tactics.

  In the fourth year of Chuping, on July 11th, Li Zhong's scouts finally returned to report that Kuitou's army had marched south and was about 300 miles away from Nan Chi, with a strength of between 2,000 to 2,500 men. The commander leading the troops was not Kuitou, but the large flag only had the character "Chun" written on it. The scouts were unable to determine which general was in command, and even if they knew, it would be useless, as they wouldn't be able to recognize him even if he was brought before them.

  As for how good the general is at martial arts, military tactics and personality, that's anyone's guess! The good news is, the Xianbei cavalry are rushing towards Nan Chi.

  Tai Shi Zai left the main force early and had to circle around Nan Chi in order to cut off the Xianbei cavalry's retreat.

  The leader of this Xianbei cavalry was Chunyu Li, with a total force of 2,000 men, which was slightly less than what Li Chong had expected. On the fourteenth day of the seventh month in the first year of the Chiping era (July 14, 261), Chunyu Li led his troops to camp at the old military base, allowing their warhorses and soldiers to recover their strength, preparing to raid Yanmen.

  On the fourteenth of July, the moon was high and the clouds were thin, with extremely high visibility on the vast grassland. Li Chong's nighttime march was extremely convenient, not even needing to light torches, allowing him to approach the Xianbei cavalry camp without being detected.

  After walking for twenty miles, Li Zhong walked for a whole hour, and arrived five miles away from the Xianbei cavalry. Li Zhong immediately ordered all infantry to clear the weeds by hand, clearing out a three-meter-wide, ten-mile-long isolation zone, and requiring them to act quietly.

  For a time, the grasslands echoed with the sound of "whooshing..."

  The vast grassland at night was extremely quiet, and the sound of three thousand people cutting grass could easily be heard from miles away.

  The Xianbei's large camp naturally had night watch sentries patrolling everywhere, but the spirit of these sentries was extremely slack. It couldn't be helped; for many years, these Xianbei cavalrymen had been on the attacking side, and rarely had to defend passively. Keeping watch at night was just a formality.

  "Brother, did you hear something?" a night watch sentinel asked after listening for a while.

  Another sentinel sneered: "Are you drunk? It's just windy, why are you being so suspicious?"

  The former sentinel retorted: "If it's just the wind, why is there a sound only on the south side?"

  "Brother, there are so many wolf packs on the grassland, look at you being scared. If not, you can go and see for yourself, I need to pee." Another sentinel looked around and unbuttoned his pants.

  There are indeed many wolf packs on the vast grasslands, and at night, only a fool would go to check alone, which is no different from feeding wolves. The suspicious sentry immediately shut his mouth.

  As the hour of hai approached, Li Chong's soldiers finally cleared away the isolation belt and piled up a wall of dry grass, one man high. Although this wall was a fragile structure that would collapse with one push, it could still block the enemy for a while when set on fire, and also serve as cover for the archers, achieving two goals at once.

  Let the soldiers rest for a while and recover their strength. They are waiting for Taishi Ci to make his move. In fact, Taishi Ci has already made his move, but the fire is not big yet, so Li Chong didn't see it.

  Taishi Ci's cavalry action was bold and loud, unlike Li Chong who sneaked around. At the appointed time, Taishi Ci led his troops to charge directly into the Xianbei camp. The sound of horseshoes echoed through the night sky, and the quiet Xianbei camp suddenly became noisy. The officers' hoarse voices shouting orders, the neighing of war horses, the dull footsteps, and the clanging of steel knives being unsheathed almost turned the Xianbei camp into a chaotic mess.

  It must be said that the Xianbei cavalry was indeed a first-rate army. Under the officers' shouts, these knights quickly formed a defensive formation and lined up in a circular defense circle outside the main camp.

  About one hundred and fifty paces away from the Xianbei camp, Taishi Ci gave a loud order. The war horses charged forward with momentum. One thousand torches flew into the air like shooting stars, drawing beautiful arcs in the sky, landing fifty meters outside the Xianbei camp, igniting patches of dry grass.

  In autumn, it's easy to set fire on the vast grassland, even a three-year-old child can do it, let alone these arsonists. Almost in the blink of an eye, a several-li-long fire dragon rushed towards the Xianbei camp, with the momentum of burning all living things along the way into ashes.

  However, Chun Yu Li's luck was not bad, the night wind was not strong, and the fire dragon's advance speed was not too fast. Except for a few dozen unlucky devils who fell down, most of the Xianbei cavalry had time to turn their horses' heads and flee towards the south without fierce flames, which is a natural human reaction.

  However, they were met with flying arrows and torches. Li Chong's three thousand infantrymen stationed themselves behind the grass wall, each one impatiently waiting for a long time. Five hundred archers continuously shot arrows, while the infantrymen without bows lit up torches and desperately threw them forward, hoping to cause chaos among the Xianbei cavalry.

  Fighting against the Xianbei army doesn't require mobilization, everyone knows what kind of atrocities these brutal barbarian knights will commit when they enter their hometown, and these soldiers have used up all their strength to fight back.

  After the hail of arrows, at least several hundred cavalrymen were shot off their horses and perished in the flames.

  "The archers retreat and set fire to the dry grass!" Seeing that the Xianbei cavalry had already charged to about fifty steps, Li Zhong immediately gave the order.

  The archer quickly retreated, and the infantry behind him poured oil on the grass wall, lit a torch and splashed it with oil. The dry grass ignited almost instantly, "Whoosh..." A burst of bright red flames shot straight up, illuminating the night sky in an instant.

  The Xianbei cavalry rushed to the front and couldn't stop their horses, one of which crashed into the firewall, causing the burning dry grass to fly everywhere. The firewall was also knocked open, but it was soon filled with collapsed dry grass and caught fire again.

  The Xianbei cavalry, both men and horses, were covered in burning dry grass and oil, stumbling a few steps before falling to the ground, where they were burned by fierce flames, wailing and screaming in agony, rolling around on the ground in pain. The long-haired warhorses suffered even more miserably, their shrill neighs sending shivers down one's spine.

  The power of the model is infinite, and the Xianbei cavalry that followed immediately turned around and rushed east to break through. At this time, the inferiority of the Xianbei people's character was revealed without a doubt. In order to compete for the road, many Xianbei cavalrymen raised their butcher knives against their own comrades and started killing each other.

  In fact, they didn't have to do this. As long as there were twenty brave warriors who dared to sacrifice themselves and charge the firewall, they could immediately open a gap for their comrades. Li Chong's infantry couldn't withstand the impact of the large cavalry, but whether in ancient or modern times, people like Dong Cunrui and Huang Jiguang are rare.

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