Chapter 452: Dawn Approaches

Torches.

Countless torches.

In an instant, they were lit all around the farm.

In the middle of the night, the entire farm was as bright as day.

These countless torches seemed to recreate the grand atmosphere of the Torch Festival from a few days ago, illuminating every person's face with absolute clarity.

Yes.

The tribe with the small trouser legs had not left at this time.

They took out the torches they had prepared long ago, lit them, and began to surround the farm.

The crackling sound of the torches burning became the main theme at this moment.

"This..."

Jie Yu was startled.

She had originally thought that tonight's battle had ended just like that. After all, in an environment like a farm, if they wanted to turtle up and not come out, it would be as simple as defending a city. But she hadn't expected... such a change to suddenly appear on the scene.

Fire attack?

That is naturally something to consider.

But...

At this moment, there are more people in the farm than you have! For a smaller force to besiege a larger one is a great taboo!

But...

She had another thought.

No.

At this moment, there is no such thing as a great taboo! Because just now, it was clearly the side of Governor Liu that was victorious! Besieging the city at this time—do the people inside dare to come out? When they retreated to the farm, they had actually already lost in terms of morale.

The momentum of a siege had already formed.

This.

It is momentum again.

Only...

Is a fire attack really that easy?

There was heavy rain tonight, and even now, the drizzle continues...

Jie Yu's lips trembled slightly, wanting to advise this Governor Liu. But since arriving here today, she had been in a state of being constantly struck down... What could she say, and would anything she said be appropriate?

Liu Zheng looked on indifferently: "Attack!"

"Attack!"

"What? What is this? What is this!"

Upon seeing so many torches, Chen Ran was already completely frantic.

No!

Only now did he suddenly remember that tonight, he had wanted to lure the enemy army into the farm!

Yes!

That was how he had planned it! He would have the one hundred thousand troops of Shama Zhuoyi lure the enemy, and finally, Shama Zhuoyi would suffer a crushing defeat... He didn't care at all about how many of these barbarians were sacrificed; he just wanted to create the appearance of a crushing defeat, then let the Liangzhou Army enter the farm full of confidence, and finally, he would ignite the Quelehuoduo and surround and kill them!

By rights.

His plan had no flaws, and it was very likely to succeed.

But what he hadn't expected was that tonight, Naibao Rize would arrive to provide reinforcements ahead of schedule, which completely ended his plan of a feigned defeat.

Later, he thought that since that was the case, he might as well wipe out the enemy entirely, so he brought out the Nanzhao Army ahead of time, but the result was another crushing defeat...

He had disrupted his own formation.

One step wrong, every step wrong.

He hadn't expected...

What he ultimately hadn't expected was.

That this Governor Liu had long known of his plan, and had long known that there was Quelehuoduo in this farm?

He shouted like a madman: "Break out, break out for me, break out, charge out!"

"No!"

"Hide those Quelehuoduo for me, hide them! Put them away, put them all away for me!"

"No, break out, break out!"

At this moment, having never dealt with any major battle, his mentality and panic as a battlefield novice were immediately revealed.

As the saying goes, a weak soldier makes a weak unit, and a weak general makes a weak army. At this time, Chen Ran was demonstrating this saying to the fullest. With a different order every moment, the Nanzhao Army, which had just suffered a crushing defeat, did not know how to execute them.

It was chaos.

Inside the farm, it soon became chaotic.

"Trash, all of you are trash, hurry and go collect them, go collect them!"

Chen Ran gestured wildly, his eyes already bloodshot.

He didn't want to die!

He didn't want to die!

Shama Zhuoyi and Naibao Rize exchanged a glance, thinking that at this rate, following Chen Ran was definitely a dead end. They would be better off finding a way to charge out; there would still be hope for a comeback!

"Charge!"

The two decided to no longer take orders from Chen Ran, and they each led their own armies, intending to leave the farm.

"You, you..."

Chen Ran spat out a mouthful of fresh blood: "All of you, come back! You bunch of barbarians, barbarians!"

However, Shama Zhuoyi and Naibao Rize had heard these words too many times in their daily lives. Chen Ran had always treated them like pigs and dogs, but back then, with the benefits of opium and the influence of power, they were naturally willing to be pigs and dogs. At this moment, with life and death at stake, who would still listen to him? Knowing there were thousands of barrels of Quelehuoduo in this farm, why wouldn't they hurry and run for their lives?

On Shama Zhuoyi's side, there were still seventy thousand of the Liangshan Army.

On Naibao Rize's side, there were still ninety thousand.

They intended to break out from two different directions.

However, how could breaking out be that simple? The Liangzhou Army and the Small Trouser Leg Tribe had long been prepared, strictly guarding the two gates of the farm. Seeing the enemy troops wanting to break out, they had already taken the lead in throwing the torches in their hands into the farm, and then they engaged in a great battle once again with those who wanted to break out.

For a time.

Torches and rockets tore through the night sky and fell into the farm.

The Nanzhao Army inside the farm had already begun, following Chen Ran's orders, to tidy up the Quelehuoduo they had laid in ambush...

But.

It was already too late.

Those thousands of barrels of Quelehuoduo—who knew how much silver Chen Ran had spent to buy them... This was something that could absolutely destroy a city, let alone a farm. When he laid the ambush, he knew that once one of the barrels was ignited, there would not be a single living thing left in the farm that could continue to survive.

He panicked.

The soldiers of the Nanzhao Army were equally panicked.

Even though there had just been a torrential downpour.

Even though there was now a continuous drizzle.

Even though the ground underfoot was now muddy.

Those torches and rockets came attacking, covering the sky and hiding the earth.

Pfft!

Huobu Quli slashed his blade into the shoulder of a fellow Liangshan person, and then, stepping on this person's corpse, he continued to look for the next one.

The death order for the Small Trouser Leg Tribe at this moment was that, no matter what, they could not let the people of Shama Zhuoyi and Naibao Rize escape the farm by even a single step!

Admittedly, the people Huobu Quli led were not as numerous as theirs.

But to block a passageway and delay them for a while was still entirely achievable.

That pungent smell of blood began to permeate once again in the continuous drizzle.

Those ferocious faces were reflected once again in the firelight.

They were originally comrades-in-arms, yet they were forced to kill each other.

Only because their beliefs were different, and the worlds and orders they desired were different.

"Kill!"

"Kill them back for me!"

Huobu Quli was very tired tonight, but he knew that in this rainy night, dawn was approaching.

Shama Zhuoyi and Naibao Rize, at this moment, also led their great armies, using every ounce of their strength, wanting to break out.

No one wanted to die.

The intensity of the battle far exceeded what it had been just a moment ago.

Huobu Quli was responsible for besieging the farm, and the Liangzhou Army was responsible for the rockets.

Just like that.

It lasted for about half an hour.

Boom.

A massive pillar of fire finally soared into the sky from within the farm.