Chapter 2179: The Xi Queen Takes Action!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Kerosene! It’s kerosene!”
The alliance soldiers almost stopped breathing at this sight, their pupils constricting.
Panic instantly spread through the army.
Thwis.h.!.+ Thwis.h.!.+ Thwis.h.!.+ The alliance army’s archers quickly changed targets, and volleys of arrows instantly wiped out thousands of birds, but none of this could alter the situation on the battlefield.
As the tens of thousands of birds flew over, a deafening rumble came from the steel fortress. Boom! Boom! Boom! At a point twenty-some meters from the top of the walls, metal plates thrust out horizontally in twos and threes.
“Ah!”
The alliance soldiers climbing the siege ladders cried out in alarm as the enormous impact of the metal plates pushed away or imbalanced the siege ladders. Some of the siege ladders even fell backward into the dense ranks of the army below.
Fwoos.h.!.+
As the siege ladders were pushed away, thousands of metal pipes appeared under the row of metal plates, extending out of the wall.
Black, viscous liquid gushed out of the pipes, drenching the alliance soldiers down below.
Farther down, a metal plate moved aside, revealing a dense collection of holes. These were also metal pipes, but much shorter and wider. Soon, large amounts of kerosene began to gush out of these pipes.
Fwoos.h.!.+ The gus.h.i.+ng kerosene suddenly turned into blazing flames, swiftly igniting the battlefield.
“Aaghk!”
Miserable screams resounded through the battlefield as countless soldiers were set aflame and rolled on the ground in pain.
The pipes extending from the walls had been Zhang Shouzhi’s handiwork. Using special mechanisms, they were able to produce enormous force.
The kerosene and flames gus.h.i.+ng out of these pipes could reach as far as fifty meters, and they soon turned the area beneath the walls into a sea of flames.
The kerosene bombs were easily targeted by the enemy, so w.a.n.g Chong had developed this close-range killing method.
Not even master archers could do anything against this gus.h.i.+ng kerosene.
Tens of thousands of alliance soldiers were rapidly drained of their Stellar Energy and were ultimately burned to death by the kerosene.
Not only that, w.a.n.g Chong had spread large amounts of kerosene over the battlefield via his birds, and this kerosene was also set aflame.
The high temperature of the kerosene flames turned the metal siege ladders bright red, and some of the ladders even began to melt.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
The alliance generals turned ashen and gnashed their teeth.
Kerosene was not a product of the Central Plains, but of Arabia to the west. However, w.a.n.g Chong used it far more effectively than the Arabs ever had.
The Great Tang’s army was primarily infantry, and the restricted terrain infantry favored was far more effective for kerosene than the s.p.a.cious areas Arab cavalry needed for their charges.
“Let this lowly woman deal with this!” A waft of fragrant aroma blew through the area as a crisp and melodious voice rang out. In the middle of the army, behind An Lushan, the charming Xi Queen stepped forward, her eyes gleaming.
Her alluring eyes were fixed on the battlefield.
The fire was much stronger than antic.i.p.ated, the tongues of flame that reached more than ten meters into the air terrifying to behold.
Kerosene wasn’t actually as lethal as the beehives or the ballistae, but the sea of fire represented a fatal obstacle to the alliance.
If they did not find a way to deal with this kerosene tactic, the alliance would be perpetually stuck in a hard-pressed state.
The Queen of the Xi!
Everyone else was surprised to see this Queen volunteering.
“Xi Queen, this Arabian Kerosene is hard to extinguish with sand and continues to burn when encountering water. Do you have some way to deal with it?”
Goguryeo Emperor Yeon Gaesomun curiously turned to the Xi Queen.
Although Goguryeo was not far from the Xi and the Khitans, Yeon Gaesomun’s army had always been doing battle with the Great Tang. His interactions with these two tribes were rare.
Regarding the Xi Queen, Yeon Gaesomun only knew that she had a fierce and brave personality that could compare to a man’s, but little else.
The Xi Tribe’s wars had rarely been so dire as to require the Xi Queen’s personal intervention.
“Heh, this lowly woman might not be able to compare to the rest of you when it comes to fighting, but there is probably no one except me who can deal with this sea of flames.”
The Xi Queen lightly stepped forward and flashed a smile at Yeon Gaesomun, an enchanting smile that could sway anyone’s heart.
But Yeon Gaesomun and the other sovereigns felt their hearts s.h.i.+ver as they averted their gazes.
While the Xi Queen was a rather unknown figure, Yeon Gaesomun and Ozmish Khagan knew of her ferocity. As someone who could stand out amongst the Xi, where the strong ate the weak, and could contend against the Khitan King, the Xi Queen was not merely a pretty face.
Anyone who regarded her as an ordinary woman and had harbored evil thoughts was probably nothing but bones and dust by now.
“I am not doubting your strength, but the battle has just begun, and the Great Tang has yet to send out any of its Great Generals. Is it not inappropriate to waste Stellar Energy at this time?” the Khitan King suddenly ventured.
While the Khitan was strong and fierce, he wasn’t stupid.
At this stage in the battle, the Great Tang had only used some mechanical weapons and lower-cla.s.s soldiers. The elite armies had yet to appear, let alone any Brigadier Generals or Great Generals.
It wasn’t as if the Khitan King hated fighting. In fact, the Khitan King wanted nothing more than to charge to the front line with his generals and commence a ma.s.sacre. With his abilities, there were few in the Great Tang who could contend against him. But if he consumed too much Stellar Energy and fell into some trap, the results would be unthinkable.
This was why all of them watched from the rear and chose their moments carefully!
Soldiers versus soldiers and generals versus generals!
While the enemy generals had yet to sortie, they had to remain cautious!
This was a sort of unwritten law of the battlefield.
If the Xi Queen went to the frontlines and something happened to her, the Xi Tribe would fall apart.
“Relax. I’ll be careful and not get too close!
“In addition, Khitan King, if the enemy’s chief commander takes action, this lowly woman will rely on you to respond.”
The Xi Queen shot him a flirtatious glance.
An Lushan coldly looked on. Rather than saying anything, he shot a glance at Gao Shang.
Everyone saw this, and the area fell silent as everyone turned to Gao Shang.
In this war, other than the exact execution, the general strategies and tactics were entirely under Gao Shang’s command. This was something that all the countries had agreed on before agreeing to the alliance. In other words, Gao Shang was the military strategist for the alliance.
If the Xi Queen wanted to go to the front, she needed Gao Shang’s approval.
If this risk was too great and Gao Shang refused, even the Xi Queen would have to obey and put aside the idea.
Gao Shang frowned in thought for a few moments, and he swiftly made his decision.
“Let her go!
“Xi Queen, I leave the front line to you. But you must remember that you cannot get within four hundred feet of the walls. In addition, you cannot stay for more than five minutes, and if the enemy commander appears, you are to immediately withdraw! You cannot stay and fight!”
“Understood, my little strategist!”
With a relaxed smile, the Xi Queen took her leave.
As she pa.s.sed Gao Shang, she lightly brushed her fingers against him.
Gao Shang turned nervous and instinctively stepped back, but by this time, the Xi Queen had already turned into a gust of wind. Her voice came from the distance.
“Black Dragon King, when the time comes, this lowly woman will require your a.s.sistance.”
Her voice lingered in the air.
……
The battle continued.
Kerosene continued to gush out of the walls. Experts from the alliance would occasionally fly into the air and use various methods to block the pipes: stopping them up, cutting at them with weapons, or bending the pipes.
But this could not revert the damage done to the offensive.
Creeee!
Suddenly, a sharp whistle came from the edge of the battlefield, penetrating through the clouds.
This sound drowned out all other sounds on the battlefield: the thundering of hooves, the howling of the winds, and even the screams of the dying.
Bang!
With a mighty boom, the Xi Queen appeared at a distance of some seven thousand feet from the fortress. She was dressed in opulent attire, and her arms were spread apart. Behind her, a seething mist of ice and snow was coming, heading straight for the steel fortress.
The icy mist seemed ready to engulf the world.
Rumble!
The Tang soldiers on the walls watched in shock as the surging and roaring blizzard engulfed the Xi Queen.
The cold wave and icy mist continued to hurtle toward the fortress.
In a flash, seething snow and ice filled the world, and there was nothing left to be seen on the battlefield. Even the blazing flames of the sea of fire had been obscured by the blizzard.