Chapter 253: Fierce-Fire Oil Bombs

Of course, anyone with even a shred of ambition and aspiration, placed in Guo Wei's position and amid the national circumstances of the Later Han, would have walked the same path Guo Wei did. When heaven offers and one does not take, disaster is sure to follow—this hardly merits condemnation.

Now, although the environment surrounding the Great Han seems even more hostile, internally things are far more stable. Under Liu Chengyou's painstaking management, power rests in his hands, and military and political affairs are essentially under his control.

Under such circumstances, so long as things develop normally, Guo Wei in the court can only serve as Liu Chengyou's loyal minister.

To the southeast of the main camp lay a vast stretch of mountain ridges, a branch of the Zhongtiao Mountains. Several of the slopes, compared to the surrounding dense woodlands, appeared bare and barren, with only scattered stumps, dead wood, and weeds remaining—all having been felled for the construction of the stockades and fortifications beneath the walls of Hedong.

And amid it all, smoke and fire mingled, thick plumes of smoke rising everywhere.

At the foot of the slopes, separated by a distance of nearly thirty zhang, stood several trebuchets—stone-throwing machines—except this time they were not hurling stones, but specially treated clay jars. Clearly, this was a temporary weapons testing ground.

The commander in charge was a general named Li Tao, in his forties, with deep brows and a thick beard. He was a senior officer of the Longqi Army, serving under Ma Quanyi's command.

"Your Majesty." As Liu Chengyou arrived in person, the man immediately led several subordinates forward to greet him.

"How goes the test?" Liu Chengyou asked casually, gazing at the smoke and wreckage on the distant slopes, breathing in the acrid air.

"Please observe, Your Majesty!" Li Tao wasted no words, directly bowing and inviting him to watch.

Liu Chengyou appreciated this kind of no-nonsense efficiency. He nodded and withdrew to a good distance to watch the drill—a familiar scene...

The clay jar was placed in the sling, ignited, and beside the trebuchet, the squad leader lowered his command flag. Fifty soldiers shouted in unison and pulled the throwing ropes together. The "shell" suddenly launched, hurtling at high speed toward the distant slope. Visible from afar, it struck the ground—the jar shattered, and flames erupted across the ground in a burst. Surging fire blazed fiercely, searing into his pupils. Though far away, Liu Chengyou could feel the intense heat and poisonous burn of the flames.

This fire bomb had been made by the arsenal workshops at Liu Chengyou's direction. Using clay jars as containers, filled with grease and other flammable materials—and most importantly, fierce-fire oil.

In this era, the military application of fierce-fire oil was already quite common, but it was essentially used only for defensive purposes in siege warfare. Knowing this, Liu Chengyou had previously proposed putting it to use on the offensive end. Since trebuchet use had already become widespread, adapting them to launch fire-oil bombs was not difficult to achieve.

Although Liu Chengyou did not know how to make them himself, he merely described the form and effect. The difficult part was controlling the timing after ignition. After months of research and testing, the craftsmen of the Arsenal Directorate managed to produce them.

This was the origin of the army's "fire cannons."

This time, they were conducting another test before the actual assault on Hezhong. Originally, they had wanted to fire a few shots into the city, but to preserve the element of surprise, they held back.

The trebuchet launching these fire bombs was a double-pole machine, capable of hurling a twenty-jin stone projectile eighty paces. With the slightly lighter fierce-fire oil bombs, the range was even greater.

Given the dangerous nature of the fire-oil bombs, to protect the safety of the operating soldiers, the launching positions required special construction—behind the trebuchets, sand pits were dug. Several accidents had already occurred during previous operations. Fierce-fire oil was such a violent substance that once it touched you, there was no good outcome—the result was absolutely miserable.

And with manpower operating the machines, experience and coordination were crucial. During this period, to practice operating the trebuchets—especially the highly dangerous "fire cannons"—Liu Chengyou had separately mobilized over ten thousand soldiers for training, drilling them in coordinated pulling, essentially employing them as "artillerymen."

"Firing in a high arc from within the stockade, it should be able to reach the city walls of Hedong, shouldn't it?" Liu Chengyou gestured slightly, asking Li Tao.

Li Tao's face showed complete confidence as he answered with assurance: "To answer Your Majesty, although the walls of Hedong are sturdy, they are not tall. Our army's stockades have already pressed forward, and with the machines positioned among them, the fierce-fire oil bombs can easily reach the city parapets!"

Essentially, as long as these fire-oil bombs smashed onto the city walls and erupted, there was no need to worry about their power—it would be a scene straight out of hell.

"You must intensify the soldiers' training—no mistakes can be allowed!" Liu Chengyou instructed. "At the same time, make proper preparations for protection. Should any accident occur, there must be timely measures to deal with it!"

"Rest assured, Your Majesty! We have already taken precautions as ordered!"

"It's just a pity there are so few of these fire-oil bombs..." Liu Chengyou could not help but sigh.

Before the western campaign, the Arsenal Directorate had exhausted all its stored fierce-fire oil and managed to produce only some four hundred fire-oil bombs. The trebuchets arrayed beneath the walls of Hedong were mostly still used for launching stone projectiles.

Looking at the trebuchet that required forty to fifty men to operate, Liu Chengyou murmured again: "Still room for improvement..."

————————

In the imperial tent, Liu Chengyou carefully reviewed memorials from the Eastern Capital. Separated by a thousand li of mountains and rivers, he could only learn of the court's movements in the Eastern Capital through these documents.

Since he had left on the campaign, the Eastern Capital had remained generally stable. The arrangements Liu Chengyou had made before departing had taken effect. Ministers such as Wang Zhang and Guo Wei had done their due diligence, and most importantly, Empress Dowager Lady Li made appearances from time to time to steady the people's hearts.

As for military and civil affairs in the Eastern Capital, they had recently centered on three matters.

The first was naturally the continued procurement of grain and weapons to be transported to the front lines in support of Liu Chengyou's suppression of the rebellion—this was the most urgent matter facing the Great Han at present.

The second concerned Youzhou. Upon hearing of Li Shouzhen's rebellion and the Han court mobilizing its armies to suppress it, the Khitan ultimately could not restrain themselves and sent troops south to attack Youzhou. It was somewhat ironic—of the allies Li Shouzhen had actively courted, Xiazhou, Western Shu, and the Southern Tang had all yet to make a move, while the Khitan, whom he had not even managed to contact, had sent troops in "support." This time, it was not Yelu Ruan leading the campaign personally, but rather the Northern Commissioner of Military Affairs, Yelu Anbo, commanding troops southward. The court ordered the three military governors of Lulong, Chengde, and Henghai to defend their own territories. And judging by the news from the north, the Liao army seemed more like it was coming south for plunder—after all, autumn harvest was approaching in the south.

The third concerned the autumn harvest and the collection of autumn taxes. The two words "money and grain" were enough to drive the Great Han's court officials—especially the State Finance Commission—to distraction.

Additionally, briefly mentioned was the situation regarding the special examination. According to the schedule Liu Chengyou had set before the campaign, he would not be able to return in time. Su Yugui had asked about the examination questions. Liu Chengyou did not concern himself with the other assessment directions, but replied that the topic should be the "Qianyou New Policies," requiring the examinees to compose a policy essay.

Setting down the memorial concerning the court's autumn harvest preparations, a subtle trace of concern surfaced on Liu Chengyou's calm countenance. The impact of war on agriculture was simply too great. Mobilizing troops to suppress the rebellion involved far more than just the hundred-plus thousand soldiers and civilians here at Hezhong. And with the autumn harvest approaching...

"We must break Li Shouzhen as quickly as possible!" Determination gleamed in Liu Chengyou's eyes.

However, there was one point—with the autumn harvest approaching, the collection of grain for the army at the front could greatly relieve the pressure of rear-area transport. The counties under Hezhong's jurisdiction appeared, this autumn, to still have a bountiful harvest. One could say they were living off the enemy's grain.

As he was pondering, Hu Yanke entered the tent for an audience. The moment he opened his mouth, he brought Liu Chengyou a piece of good news: "Your Majesty, there has been progress on the enemy's Hexi stockade!"