Chapter 182
Chapter 182 – Battle of Liyang - Part 12
The arrow rain pieced the soldiers who still stumbled in the mud, turning them into porcupines, like what they called their formation .
Tong watched the scene and muttered by reflex, "How ironic . "
The arrows did not kill everybody, some of Zhu Jun"s soldiers survived by using their s.h.i.+elds to block the volley . These men still struggling and trying to fight back . They regrouped with the nearby survivors, so the ones with the s.h.i.+elds could protect the archers who could shoot back .
Seeing the determination of Zhu Jun"s men, Tong sighed as he felt pity for these men . If the situation were different, Tong would have tried to recruit these veterans into his army .
Alas, this was a battlefield, and they were the bane of Tong"s father . Had he allowed Zhu Jun and his men to fight with Zhang Jiao, his father"s army would have lost . Zhang Jiao would have died like what happened in his previous life"s historical timeline .
Tong gazed at the back of the enemy"s line . Several soldiers cast away their armors and were swimming toward the boats and rafts nearby . The transport units took their boats out from the other side . They rushed in to rescue the drowning men and their friends . If Tong left them be, those over 10,000 men, whom Tong had flushed down the river, would escape back to the other side and voided his attack .
After he rechecked his [Inventory], there were a few hundred liters of boiling grease left in one of the slots . Because he discharged most of them at Liu Yang last night, he did not have enough to kill all of these men .
"I can still haven"t used my [Create Food] . I can kill them with another combination . "
Tong pointed his finger forward and released the boiling oil . The void gate opened and released a flash flood of hot liquid . They slammed into the soldiers, burning them alive .
"AAAAHHHH!"
"ARRRGGGGHH!"
Unlike Liu Yang, who was an immortal with a natural power of regeneration and high vitality, these men were human with the ordinary const.i.tution . They screamed in pain from the 200 degree Celsius oil as it instantly burnt their skins .
"Every one of you, stay here and shoot down any moving imperial soldier! I have something to do . "
The hors.e.m.e.n complied with the order immediately . They began firing the arrows using their judgment and improvised with the comrades nearby .
After giving the order, Tong led the troops with torches, avoiding Zhu Jun"s men and approaching the west sh.o.r.e .
"Using boiling grease again won"t be efficient . The water is cold . It won"t ignite . "
"I should use something else that can ignite easily . "
"Alcohol products won"t do . Boiling oil … effective but not efficient . "
"Petroleum? If I remember it correctly, petroleum artificial food dye was derived from the crude oil?"
"Should I reverse-engineer from the food dye to crude oil with my [Create Food]?"
"But if I do that, this river will be permanently destroyed by the crude oil . The citizens that still rely on this river will get caught in my war . "
"That crude oil testing will be for the other time, that Zuo Ci already warned me . I don"t want any more trouble . "
Tong had planned to turn the Yellow River into the sea of fire . However, he was afraid of Zuo Ci and the eight-winged woman yesterday . Tong decided to be inefficient for now . Besides, he could not use his skill on the living soldiers directly . He had to be a bit more creative .
"[Create Food], boiling grease!"
Tong poured the hot oil into the river . White smoke fumed into the air as cold water mixed with the hot brown liquid . The 100,000 liters of 200 degrees Celsius oil boiled the river water in an instant . Moreover, the volume of the released oil was ma.s.sive . It created another flash flood to the east sh.o.r.e .
As the Yellow River current always flowed eastward toward the China Sea, the boiled water current reached the swimming soldiers in no time, cooking them alive .
"The water! AAAAHHHHH!!"
"GGAAAAHHHH!!"
Like frogs in hot water, Zhu Jun"s men tried to jump out of the water in frantic . The ones who still swam in the river got desperate . They pushed and shoved their friends down the river so they could escape from the river faster .
The men on the boats and rafts were not doing so well either . They also felt that they were steam-cooked by the boiling river as the river temperature went over 100 degree Celsius . Bubbles on the surface of the river and hot fume were burning them . The rescuers stopped dipping or extending their hands toward their friends in the water and rowed their vessels back to the south sh.o.r.e .
The death throes of the soldiers in and on the river were miserable . Even Tong, who caused the killing scene, got nauseous, thinking what would have happened to himself if he were in those soldiers" shoes .
He accidentally glanced at the surface of the river . Thousands of fishes were also implicated into this mess and were cooked by the boiling water .
"Too bad we haven"t prepared a net for these fishes . " He muttered in a pity . "Don"t be greedy . I can create seafood in the future . Leave these boiled fish to the nature . "
Tong sighed and left the scene .
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He ignored the auto system message and reunited with his 5,000 hors.e.m.e.n who already emptied their arrow clips .
The Imperial soldiers who were stranded on the north sh.o.r.e were either died by the arrows or were in a terrible condition . They were not in a stat to fight back .
"Listen up, Imperial soldiers! If you still want to live, surrender! I will treat your wounds and keep you away from this battle! You have done enough . You don"t have to fight anymore!" Tong attempted to end this combat in a civilized manner .
The 3,000 surviving battered and injured soldiers on the sh.o.r.e glared at Tong in resentment, yet, they hesitated . As a human, it would be a lie if they said they were not afraid of death . They all wanted to live . Even the soldiers who drown their friends to push themselves ash.o.r.e wished to live .
"I surrender . " An injured soldier lost his patience and shouted .
With only one shout, chain reaction followed suit .
"I surrender . "
"We surrender . "
"Don"t kill me . I surrender!"
Three thousand injured men gave up fighting as they could not see the hope of winning . Saving their skins was the priority .
Tong clenched his fist . After thwarting Zhu Jun"s ploy, he gained the control of this battlefield . Zhu Jun and the rest of his men still got stuck on the other side of the river while the weather was getting colder each day .
If he could hold the line until the end of the month, Zhu Jun would be in deep trouble .
"Escort the prisoners back to the city!"
The surrendered soldiers sighed in relief that at least they survived .
…
…
Zhu Jun looked at the surface of the river with a horrified expression . The calm river sudden displayed a sign of flash flood along with various irregularity .
The color of the river was a mixture of dark brown murky substances, red blood, and the light brown of muddy water . There was white smoke coming out of the river, and the water temperature seemed to be at the boiling point .
Furthermore, cooked white corpses of his men floated along with the river current! Their bodies bloated from the water intake and the boiled human fresh odor made half of the men on the sh.o.r.e threw up their lunch .
Zhu Jun worriedly gazed toward the west . Something unexpected had happened with his detached force .
"Don"t tell me … they failed!?"
It did not take long for a messenger from the detached force to rush in and gave Zhu Jun the report .
"Report! The rebel force used sorcery against us! All soldiers on the other side of the sh.o.r.e have been annihilated!"
The scout continued reporting the incident in details, the approaching hors.e.m.e.n, the sudden flash flood, the boiling oil, the arrow rain, and the other surge of boiling water .
Zhu Jun"s face lost its color . He was unable to think straight for a whole minute .
"The a.s.sistant commander has ordered the survivors to regroup with the main army . We"ve estimated that we"ve lost over 15,000 men from this fight . We"ve also concluded that the enemy"s general can use sorcery!"
Zhu Jun gulped before he asked, "How"s our enemy? What"re their casualties?"
The scout trembled as he was afraid of the punishment . He mustered his courage and told Zhu Jun the truth .
"None, my lord . "
Zhu Jun inhaled a deep breath and slowly breathed out . Several disastrous news almost gave him a heart attack . His hands and fingers could not stop shaking from the nervousness and the heart-pain from the losses .
"Go back and have them regroup with the main army . Treat the injured, and give me the number how many of us left . "
The hoa.r.s.e voice of Zhu Jun scared the scout . "Y-Yes, my lord!"
The messenger scrammed away in a hurry as he was scared of the current general . Meanwhile, Zhu Jun watched the leaving frantic soldier with a heavy heart .
After the scout left for a minute, Zhu Jun coughed and spat a mouthful of blood .
Such a reaction was known as battlefield syndrome . When someone faced an unexpected disastrous situation, warlords tended to stress themselves which lowered their immunity system, causing hypertension, heart disease, or depression . Several warlords in many countries in history died because of such backlashes . And Zhu Jun had tasted it for the first time .
"I … will … not … fail … here . "
"Yizhen, please look after me . I will complete our duties!"
"Han Dynasty will prevail!"
"Even if Liu Ping is s.h.i.+t, we will not fail!"
Zhu Jun"s eyes were bloodshot . The pale face of his became red, then blue . He clenched his fists and staggered to his tent, planning to get some rest first .