Chapter 736

First Volume, Chapter 736: Corpse Attack Tactic

At this moment, the Fortress was in complete chaos.

Initially, the defenders thought Qin Feng had thrown in the large vats filled with fire oil, preparing to launch a fire attack on the Fortress, and had already prepared to extinguish the flames.

But when the vats smashed to the ground and shattered into pieces, black liquid gushed out, emitting an unimaginable stench, and the entire Fortress was instantly filled with screams.

At first, no one knew what the liquid was, thinking it was feces, but when they began cleaning, they were horrified to discover bones mixed within the pus—only then did they realize Qin Feng had thrown in nothing but corpses!

"Damn Qin Feng, how low can he sink!"

The defending soldiers, furious and shocked, pointed at the outside and shouted curses; some even grabbed bows and arrows, ran to the City Wall, and fired at the distant camp to vent their rage.

"Damn Qin Feng! To capture the Fortress, he's willing to use such despicable tactics!"

"Only barbarian petty states use corpse-tossing tactics—never expected the Liang Kingdom, which prides itself as Rong Yi Zhi Bang, would resort to such shameless strategies!"

"Don't talk like that—on the battlefield, any tactic that works is a good one."

"Liang and our great Di have fought for years, with countless casualties and severe depletion of national strength; to end the war with minimal losses, Liang's use of this tactic is understandable."

"Go to hell, how dare you speak for the enemy? I think you're planning traitorous talk!"

"Did I say something wrong?!"

"Still cheeky? Do you think I won't arrest you right now and take you before the Grand General?"

"Come on! I stand upright and have nothing to fear!"

The entire Fortress grew even more chaotic—from shock to rage; unable to do anything about Qin Feng, the furious defenders nearly descended into internal strife.

Fortunately, Ma Tingyun arrived in time, directing his personal troops to maintain order while ordering soldiers to quickly clean the scene.

"Don't panic!"

"It's freezing cold now—the corpses will freeze quickly and won't cause plague."

"Since Qin Feng has willingly thrown the corpses in, we've been spared the trouble of going out to retrieve them—these bones are all our great Di soldiers who died in battle; bury them all with honor."

Under Ma Tingyun's strong reassurance, the chaotic Fortress gradually calmed down.

But then…

The defenders, enduring the stench, had barely cleaned up the corpses when, the next day, Qin Feng ordered another twenty large vats filled with rotting corpses thrown into the Fortress!

Even the unshakable Ma Tingyun couldn't help cursing inwardly.

"This Qin Feng is too cunning—he only throws corpses at noon, when temperatures are highest, so the corpses thaw and ooze sticky fluids that splash everywhere…"

"Damn Qin Feng—he showed deep strategic vision when fighting alongside General Chen Si on the battlefield, yet even in this minor conflict, his small tactics are so refined."

"If no reinforcements arrive, how long can Xiongying Ridge hold out?"

Qin Feng's harassment tactics were extremely successful: although each batch of corpses was quickly cleared, the splattered fluids soaked into the ground or clung to walls and buildings.

As a result, the entire Fortress remained permeated with a sharp, unbearable stench, especially intense every noon.

Many defenders simply covered their mouths and noses with cloth—but every noon, they were still driven to the brink of collapse.

If faced with direct, open combat on the Battlefield, these veteran soldiers feared nothing.

But against Qin Feng's Lower Three Tactics, they were helpless—and soon, the entire Fortress was filled with complaints.

Helpless, Ma Tingyun ordered dry grass burned to create smoke and mask the stench.

On the third day at noon, as expected, Qin Feng's army pushed ten catapults forward under the protection of infantry bearing great shields, advancing to within Hundred Fifty Steps of the City Wall.

At this point, the stockpile of corpses was nearly exhausted.

And today, the catapults were already loaded with large vats.

Seeing this, Ma Tingyun on the City Wall immediately ordered the dry grass burned ahead of time to generate smoke and prevent the stench from spreading further.

Watching the smoky Fortress, Qin Feng sneered, waved his hand, and ten large vats were hurled toward the Fortress—while behind them, soldiers escorting carts appeared beside the catapults.

Each cart carried four large vats.

Ma Tingyun watched the vats fly overhead, initially unconcerned—until he saw the enemy soldiers transporting large vats to the catapults instead of grabbing corpses from the ground.

A terrible premonition spread through Ma Tingyun's mind.

Watching the defenders desperately burning dry grass, Ma Tingyun screamed hysterically: "Quick! Put out the fire!"

"That bastard Qin Feng used rotting corpses as bait to lure us into using Smoke Cover Tactic—then he's going to launch a Fire Attack!"

Ma Tingyun reacted fast—but it was still too late.

The ten vats smashed to the ground—and instead of rotting pus, fire oil gushed out!

Although burning dry grass requires covering it with wet material to smother the flames and produce thick smoke,

fire oil, once touched by even a single spark, ignites instantly.

Ma Tingyun sweated profusely: "Quick! Cover the dry grass with loose soil!"

Directly smothering the smoldering dry grass with soil to isolate it from the fire oil was undoubtedly the correct decision.

But Ma Tingyun's voice was limited—it couldn't reach every defender at once, and messengers couldn't deliver orders instantly.

Despite Ma Tingyun's desperate efforts, many defenders, terrified by the gushing fire oil, saw it flowing toward the dry grass pile and, in panic, used hay forks to shove the smoldering grass aside.

Their intent was to move the pile away from the fire oil.

But the moment they pushed it, the smoldering grass was exposed to air—and instantly burst into open flame.

Sparks scattered and landed on the fire oil, triggering roaring flames.

Once the fire took hold, it could not be contained—and more and more vats filled with fire oil were hurled into the Fortress; many defenders were instantly set ablaze.

The entire Fortress echoed with screams, wails, and curses—like a living hell.

To fight the fire, many defenders rushed to bring water vats—only to be slapped hard by the Supervisor of the Army as soon as they poured one.

"You bastards! The Fortress is already short on water—how dare you waste it!"

"Don't use water to extinguish the fire—use soil!"