Chapter 169 Fire Attack Strategy
Chapter 169 Fire Attack Strategy
After a great battle, Xiao Xia's soldiers quickly transformed, becoming murderous and full of morale.
For an army, looting and sharing the profits is the best way to motivate the troops and boost morale.
Xiao Xia did not want to allow his soldiers to burn, kill and loot, but he wanted them to work for him, so he had only one solution: to divide the spoils among himself.
The unspoken rule of any war is to make money, so the importance of spoils of war is self-evident. Every general is keeping an eye on them. As the main general, in addition to making enough money for himself, he must also balance which properties to hand over to the court to satisfy the court and the emperor, and which properties to give to generals to keep other generals in a balanced state of mind.
Which properties should be distributed to the combat soldiers so that they will not feel resentful.
Therefore, the spoils of every war must be handed over to the commander-in-chief for distribution. This has always been the rule of the army.
But Xiao Xia didn't know this rule. He divided the spoils among himself without the consent of the commander Wei Xuan. This was a strict violation of military regulations. It depended on whether Wei Xuan took it seriously. If Wei Xuan took it seriously, he could even behead Xiao Xia in public.
So two days after Xiao Xia left Neijiang County, Wei Xuan led an army of 20,000 to Neijiang County.
Wei Xuan had already learned that Xiao Xia led 3,000 troops to defeat more than 10,000 Liao rebels entrenched in Neijiang County, with only 100 deaths and 200 injuries.
The result of this battle was very brilliant. You should know that except for one thousand cavalrymen, the remaining two thousand people in Xiao Xia's army were local soldiers from various counties in Ziyang County, and the government soldiers of Ziyang County had been completely wiped out.
The combat effectiveness of these local soldiers was far inferior to that of the government soldiers and the regular Sui army. Xiao Xia was able to lead this army to defeat more than 10,000 Liao soldiers. This made Wei Xuan look at Xiao Xia with new eyes. He was worthy of being the reserve team favored by Lingyan Pavilion.
However, Wei Xuan was also very annoyed at Xiao Xia's arbitrary distribution of the spoils. Other generals came to Wei Xuan to complain that Xiao Xia had divided all the copper coins among himself and did not leave a penny for them.
"boom!"
Wei Xuan slammed the table heavily and said angrily: "You are simply so willful and audacious!"
Xie Hong, an aide beside him, advised: "After all, he is only sixteen years old, and it is his first time in the army. He does not know the rules of the army, so it is understandable that he acts impulsively. The general will go back and educate him properly and give him a process of growth."
Wei Xuan was furious and said, "I am not angry that he distributed copper coins to the soldiers, but I am annoyed that he decided to present gold, silver and jewelry to the emperor without authorization. Is this something that a small commander of Ziyang Prefecture can decide? Does he still take me seriously?"
At this moment, a soldier at the door of the tent reported urgently, "General, the emperor's decree has arrived!"
Wei Xuan was startled and hurried out to receive the imperial edict. The one who issued the edict was a eunuch. He stood in front of the incense table, unfolded the imperial edict and read: "In compliance with the will of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: The Liao people are not obedient to education and have repeatedly rebelled. This is because the court is too lenient with them. This time we must suppress them with both kindness and severity. Behead their chieftain and appoint a new chieftain. The rest of the Liao people who refuse to surrender will be beheaded. Those who surrender can be settled as Sui citizens and allowed to support themselves. This is the imperial decree!"
"Your humble servant receives the order and wishes His Majesty a long life!"
Wei Xuan knelt down to receive the imperial edict, then stood up and asked the eunuch to sit down and rest in the big tent.
Walking into the big tent, the eunuch smiled and said, "The emperor has another oral order, and asked us to pass it on to General Wei!"
"Please speak, sir!"
"Although Xiao Xia has a brave heart, he is still young and inexperienced. I hope the general will take good care of him."
Wei Xuan was startled and asked quickly, "I have been away from the capital for a long time and don't know many things. I wonder who General Xiao is from?"
The eunuch laughed and said, "Although his surname is Xiao, he is the grandson of the emperor, the son of the King of Jin, and is granted the title of Duke of Xihai County!"
"what!"
Wei Xuan was shocked. It turned out that Xiao Xia was the emperor's grandson. He also heard from the eunuch that Xiao Xia was the son of Prince Jin. He suddenly knew who Xiao Xia was.
Wei Xuan said quickly: "General Xiao is in Dalao County. I will lead the army to Dalao County now."
At this moment, Wei Xuan was no longer annoyed at Xiao Xia for distributing the spoils without authorization. He was the emperor's grandson, and wanting to present gold, silver, and jewelry to his grandfather was an expression of filial piety. Why was he blaming him for not getting his consent?
Wei Xuan took out 500 silver coins to thank the eunuch, and then took out a list of property. Wei Xuan only kept the cloth to reward the soldiers, and presented the rest of the gold, silver, jewelry and silk to the emperor. Wei Xuan handed the list to the eunuch and said, "This is the spoils captured by General Xiao when he defeated the Liao people. I present it to the emperor. Please take it back to Chang'an!"
The eunuch received five hundred taels of silver and said with a smile: "We will report this to the emperor. This is also General Wei's gift to the emperor!"
"Thank you for your kind words, eunuch!" Wei Xuan sent away the eunuch who issued the decree, and immediately led an army of 20,000 to attack Dalao County.
Xiao Xia's army arrived at Dalao County, which was still thirty miles away from the county seat. The plain had disappeared, and he led his troops into a hilly area, which was actually the remnant of Tieshan Mountain. The hilly area was about a hundred miles long and twenty miles wide, with dense forests and dozens of valleys of varying sizes. These valleys crossed the hills, and at the other end of the valley was Dalao County.
Although there are many valleys, the official road only passes through one of them which is more than ten miles long. This valley is called Qingzhu Valley, and it is named because there are large bamboo forests on both sides of the valley.
When they were still more than ten miles away from the valley, a soldier suddenly came to report, "General, the scouts found two Sui soldiers in a village in the north. They said they were Liu Jian's men and had important news."
Xiao Xia was slightly startled, and immediately stopped the army and listened to the scout's report.
Three days ago, General Liu Jian and his 6,000-strong army were ambushed by 30,000 Liao soldiers in Qingzhu Valley. Nearly half of the 6,000-strong army were killed or wounded. Liu Jian led the remaining 3,000 people to successfully break through and escape into Dalao County. Another hundred soldiers successfully broke through to the north. The two soldiers Xiao Xia met at this time were among the hundred soldiers who had escaped by chance. Because of their injuries, they stayed in a nearby village to recuperate.
Xiao Xia nodded and ordered someone to find the two soldiers. Soon, the two soldiers were brought to Xiao Xia.
"Greetings, Captain Xiao!" The two soldiers saluted together.
Xiao Xia waved his hand and asked them, "Let me ask you, where in the valley did your army encounter an ambush?"
"Reporting to the Commander, it is slightly south of the center."
"Did the other side shoot arrows?"
"No! The enemy didn't have bows and arrows. They rushed out of the bamboo forest and cut our team into several sections."
Xiao Xia then called three more generals forward to discuss countermeasures with them.
"The Green Bamboo Valley is ahead, about ten miles long. It is very likely that the Liao soldiers will ambush in the Green Bamboo Valley. Do you have any good countermeasures?"
The three generals looked at each other, and one of them named Shao Wu said, "Captain, you can consider attacking the enemy with fire!"
Xiao Xia nodded and smiled, "I've also considered using fire, but there are only bamboos on the mountain, and it might not be easy to light them with fire!"
Shao Wu smiled and said, "I am from Jianyang County. There are also many bamboos in my hometown. Although bamboos are not easy to ignite, the thick bamboo branches and leaves piled on the ground are very easy to ignite. Once they are ignited, they will burn very quickly. A large bamboo forest will soon be engulfed in flames. Therefore, in our hometown, we are not allowed to bring fire when we go to the bamboo forest to cut bamboo, because we are afraid of accidentally igniting the dead branches and leaves piled on the ground."
This will work. Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and gave the three of them a few instructions. The three Lieutenant Generals nodded repeatedly, and they agreed very much with the commander's deployment.
Captain Xu Min then led dozens of scouts, carrying sulfur torches and other fire-starting materials, and left the team and ran towards the hill.
The main force continued to move south and entered the valley, but the team moved very slowly, making torches as they walked. When they were almost halfway there, they had made nearly a thousand torches.
At this time, the scouts came to report that there was an ambush a mile ahead. Xiao Xia immediately ordered the cavalry to mount their horses. He led a thousand cavalrymen to gallop forward at lightning speed, while the infantry turned around and quickly retreated northward.
Why did the infantry also have to enter the valley? This was a tactical deception, to stabilize the ambush troops. The ambush troops also sent spies to secretly observe the movements of the Sui army.
If the infantry refuses to enter the valley, it means that the enemy has discovered them, and there is no point in ambush them, so the ambushers will withdraw immediately.
In order to stabilize the enemy, Xiao Xia led his troops into the valley as usual, and suddenly launched an attack when they were about to reach the ambush site. It was too late for the enemy to realize the problem and retreat.
A thousand cavalrymen galloped quickly in the valley, throwing lit torches toward the western mountain. Soon, the thick dry bamboo leaves on the ground were ignited, and the bamboo forest began to burn.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the 15,000 Liao soldiers ambushed in the woods began to retreat to the mountain. Unexpectedly, a fire broke out in the bamboo forest behind them.
The Liao people are mountain folk who have lived in the mountains for generations. Their labor is almost all slash-and-burn farming. In the spring, they light a fire to burn all the dead branches and weeds on the ground. They burn a large area every time. This happens year after year, and nothing ever happens. The Liao people are accustomed to forest fires and do not take them seriously. Many Liao soldiers do not rush to escape, but instead cut down bamboo forests on the spot to build a safety circle.
The fire burned more and more fiercely, and began to explode and flash. In the blink of an eye, the fire spread out nearly a hundred meters, and the endless bamboo forest was burning with crackling sounds. In particular, the dead branches and leaves that had accumulated on the ground for decades, once they started to burn, released a large amount of toxic gases.
Half an hour later, the entire mountain was engulfed in thick smoke and flames.
(End of this chapter)