Chapter 295: Burning the Mountain

The spring breeze blowing from the mountain path was warm and gentle.

On the walls of Feihu Pass, Chang Wei frowned after hearing the report from the scouts.

"Your Highness, the Xiliang forces have indeed laid an ambush in the forests on both sides of the mountain," Chang Wei said.

Through countless simulations, they had considered all kinds of situations on the battlefield.

Therefore, before leaving the pass, he had ordered soldiers to sneak into the forest for a thorough search.

Zhao Xu nodded.

His trip to Jinzhou this time was primarily to boost morale.

As for how to fight and what tactics to use, he would avoid interfering whenever possible.

Otherwise, how could these generals grow quickly in war?

"Decide for yourself," Zhao Xu said, holding his Telescope with the air of someone who only wanted to watch the battle.

"Yes, Your Highness." Upon hearing this, Chang Wei felt a hint of excitement amidst his slight nervousness.

During the campaign to pacify the Yuan Family, Yan Wang had directed the entire operation.

After the war ended, the generals were happy but also somewhat dejected.

They felt their own abilities had not been fully utilized.

And as the highest-ranking general of the Prince's Personal Army besides Yan Wang, he naturally felt a sense of loss as well.

He had assumed that this Jinzhuzhizhan would also be an offensive under Yan Wang's command.

He had not expected Yan Wang to hand the authority over to him.

"Prepare six Stone Throwers," Chang Wei gave his first order.

There was a distance of five li between Feihu Pass and the Xiliang camp.

According to the soldiers, Xiliang troops were lying in ambush starting from two li outside Feihu Pass.

Clearly, they wanted to use this narrow mountain path to launch a surprise attack.

And what he had to do now was to drive the Xiliang soldiers out.

After deploying the six Stone Throwers, Chang Wei ordered the soldiers to tie straw to the Stone Bullets and douse them in Fire Oil.

"General,

the wind is from the east now." With everything ready, Niu Cha glanced at the flags on the city wall.

The mountain path at Feihu Pass ran from west to east.

They were in the east, and the Xiliang soldiers were in the west.

There are many easterly winds in spring.

Just as the nursery rhyme goes: In spring, the east wind blows often, bringing swallows to build new nests. In summer, the south wind blows often, making the sun like a fire pan. In autumn, the west wind blows often, heating the crops to eat ripe fruit. In winter, the north wind blows often, making snowflakes like an hourglass.

Therefore, using fire attacks at this moment would naturally allow the fire to spread from east to west.

Thinking of this, he said, "Order two thousand Shield-bearers to protect the Stone Throwers and reach the Xiliang ambush site to launch the ignited Stone Bullets."

"Yes, General." Niu Cha took the order and left.

At this time, Chang Wei gave an order to Wei Qun.

He told him to lead three thousand men to bring up the rear, and if the Xiliang soldiers attacked Niu Cha, they were to provide timely rescue.

In this South Camp training competition, Qin Shan, Guan Tong, and the young general Huo An had won, each commanding ten thousand soldiers equipped with Flintlock rifles.

Although Wei Qun was also capable, he had lost by a narrow margin and could only continue to command the old veterans.

Having received the order, he immediately descended the city wall.

Zhao Xu did not speak.

In ancient warfare, water attacks and fire attacks were both standard techniques.

Digging through riverbanks to flood an army or burning connected camps were very common.

After all, faced with the choice between burning a mountain and suffering heavy casualties among his own soldiers, any general would choose the former.

Therefore, Zhao Xu approved of Chang Wei's method of burning the mountain.

Before long, the six Stone Throwers slowly exited the city, accompanied by a large number of soldiers for protection.

As the soldiers moved further away, the generals on the city wall picked up their Telescopes to watch.

When the Stone Throwers approached the Xiliang ambush site,

the forest remained quiet.

Due to the narrowness of the mountain path, even a force of three thousand men was stretched out quite long.

It was like an army marching out of the city.

In Zhao Xu's view, the Xiliang soldiers seemed to think the Yanzhou troops had fallen into their trap.

The Stone Throwers came to a steady stop.

At this moment, the soldiers loaded the Stone Bullets and ignited them.

It seemed that the Xiliang soldiers realized what was happening at this point, and a wave of arrows flew toward the Stone Throwers.

The Shield-bearers guarding the Stone Throwers raised their shields to block them.

But this could not stop the Stone Throwers from firing.

A massive ball of fire flew toward the forest on the slope above.

Then came the second, the third...

Braving the rain of arrows, the Stone Throwers finished firing all their Stone Bullets and began to retreat.

Meanwhile, thick smoke began to rise from the forests on both sides.

While retreating, the Wangfu Army soldiers used torches to ignite the dry grass on both sides.

After they retreated back to Feihu Pass, Zhao Xu could already see the red Flame in the forest through his Telescope.

He secretly broke into a cold sweat.

If this were in the modern era, he feared he would be arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.

"Hahaha, they are in for a rough time now." Chang Wei laughed loudly, and the generals also grinned.

Under the easterly wind, the power of the Flame was fierce, spreading continuously toward the west.

This time, not only could it burn the ambushers out of the forest, but it might even reach the Xiliang camp.

Regarding this, they were secretly pleased; this was truly a brilliant plan.

As the fire grew.

The Xiliang soldiers seemed unable to endure it any longer, swarming out of the forest in a mass and flooding onto the road in the valley, heading west.

Xiliang Main Camp.

The Yan Wang soldiers' act of setting fire to the mountain made Ye Renrong's expression extremely unsightly.

"Deputy Leader, I didn't expect the Yan Wang's army to be so cautious; our ambush seems to have been discovered," a Xiliang Main General said.

Ye Renrong looked worriedly at the Xiliang flags fluttering in the camp.

It was an easterly wind at this time; if the mountain fire continued to burn, he feared it would spread to their camp, and that would be troublesome.

"You are to immediately lead the soldiers to cut down all the trees within a hundred paces in front of the camp," Ye Renrong ordered.

This ambush had not only failed to gain any advantage, but they instead had to expend effort to fell trees.

Thinking of this, he could not help but feel a bit stifled.

However, he was even more worried about the upcoming war.

Seeing the small, one knows the large; these Yan Wang troops did not seem so easy to deal with.

Feihu Pass.

Zhao Xu saw a large number of Xiliang soldiers beginning to fell trees through his Telescope, then turned and descended the city wall.

Uprooting this camp did not seem like something that could be accomplished in a day or two.

At the very least, they would have to wait until the mountain fire died out before both sides could face each other again.

Before leaving, he dropped a sentence, "This Wang is going to rest; you keep watch."

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei was as energized as if he had been injected with chicken blood.

Personally directing the war made his spirit highly excited.

The generals were equally high-spirited; the Sand Table Simulation had created an atmosphere among them for collective discussion and tactical formulation.

Once Yan Wang left, they immediately discussed how to fight next based on the actual situation.

When the debate became intense, they even turned red in the face.

Returning to the temporary camp, Zhao Xu suddenly felt a bit bored.

For the first time, he regretted not letting Feng'er and Luan'er come along; otherwise, he wouldn't be this bored.

He ate, drank, and slept for two days.

On the third day, the wind direction changed to a westerly wind.

Because of the headwind and nothing left to burn, the mountain fire gradually extinguished.

However, a large stretch of the mountain from Feihu Pass to the west of the Xiliang camp had been burned bare, making it difficult to ambush soldiers there again.

"Your Highness, the Xiliang people are deceiving us," Chang Wei said when he told Zhao Xu the mountain fire had gone out.

"Tell me about it," Zhao Xu said.

"These past few days, this subordinate had several soldiers monitor the Xiliang camp day and night with the Telescope and discovered that one of their camps houses forty people," Chang Wei said.

Zhao Xu frowned, "So you mean there are roughly forty thousand people in the Xiliang camp?"

Chang Wei nodded and said solemnly, "There can be no mistake; the Xiliang camp has been completely figured out, and we can officially attack tomorrow."