Chapter 170 The war is coming

Chapter 170 The war is coming

Chapter 170 The war is coming
The fire burned from the afternoon until midnight before it finally stopped. The burned area reached thousands of acres. Of the 15,000 Liao soldiers who were lying in wait in the bamboo forest to ambush the Sui army, nearly 9,000 escaped, but more than 6,000 were killed in the fire.

But most of the dead Liao soldiers were not burned to death directly, but were choked to death by the thick smoke or died from inhaling large amounts of toxic gases.

Slash-and-burn farming requires burning a piece of grassland first. The Yao people often suffered from fires and were surrounded by fire. At this time, they would first burn out a piece of open space, and people would be safe if they stayed in the open space.

This is the experience passed down from generation to generation by the Liao people, but it is this experience that has killed thousands of people. When the grass burns, the thick smoke is dispersed, which has no effect on people.

But when the forest is burning, the heat wave will push the thick smoke downward, preventing it from dissipating, thus covering the entire forest. Even if people are not burned to death in the forest, they will be choked to death by the thick smoke, not to mention the large amount of toxic gases.

Even if the Liao soldiers escaped from the sea of ​​fire and the woods, it did not mean they were safe. Xiao Xia led a thousand cavalrymen and waited in the south. As more Liao soldiers escaped from the woods, the Sui cavalry would rush up and kill them without mercy.

This went on repeatedly, with more and more Liao soldiers being killed. They threw away their weapons and escaped from the bamboo forest with bare hands, but death was still waiting for them.

Nine thousand soldiers managed to escape from the sea of ​​fire, but nearly six thousand died at the hands of the Sui army's swords and spears.

Another side effect of the fire was that the Liao soldiers were shaken. The Liao king was frightened by the fire and led tens of thousands of troops to retreat thirty miles.

The next morning, Xiao Xia's troops reunited, and he immediately led 2,700 people into Dalao County.

Two days later, Wei Xuan led an army of 20,000 to Dalao County. In Qingzhu Valley, he saw the tragic scene of mountains and fields burned by raging fire, as well as corpses burned to charcoal and bodies of Liao soldiers choked to death by thick smoke. It was shocking.

When the 20,000 Sui troops walked out of Qingzhu Valley, they saw another tragic scene of rivers of blood and mountains of corpses of Liao soldiers. None of them were burned to death, but almost all were beheaded or stabbed to death. There were more than 6,000 corpses in total. If the Liao soldiers who were burned to death were included, the number would be more than 12,000.

Wei Xuan was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time. Of course he knew who did it. It was none other than Xiao Xia. He was an experienced veteran and he could see the fierce battle at a glance.

The Liao people were lying in wait in the bamboo forest, preparing to ambush the Sui army, but the Sui army set fire to the mountain and broke the ambush with fire. Some Liao soldiers died in the fire, while others fled in panic, but were hit head-on by the Xiao Xia cavalry. One group escaped and another group was killed, and another group escaped and was killed again. This repeated process accumulated to a total of 6,000 people.

He is worthy of being the successor chosen by Lingyan Pavilion. He is truly a pillar of the Sui Dynasty. Although he has a bit of a murderous heart, he is indeed a young and promising person!

Wei Xuan led the army to Dalao County, and generals Wu Peisheng, Liu Jian and Xiao Xia all came out to welcome the arrival of the commander.

Wei Xuan nodded and smiled, "The three generals fought bravely and finally saved the Dalao County and the reputation of the Sui Dynasty. They are all meritorious generals. Next, we have to completely quell the rebellion of the Liao people. I hope the three generals will continue to work hard and make new contributions!"

Wei Xuan sent someone to invite Xiao Xia to his tent. Xiao Xia walked into the tent and bowed, "Greetings, General!"

Wei Xuan nodded and smiled: "You fought these two battles beautifully. You already feel like a famous general."

"General, you are too kind. We are just a bunch of rabble. It is really an unfair victory!"

"Don't underestimate these Liao soldiers. They are familiar with the terrain and use it to cause us a lot of trouble. But your fire was a good start. It made them discover the other side of the ambush. If the Sui army uses fire attack, they will lose more than they gain. I believe they will not dare to use ambushes easily again."

Xiao Xia asked: "What does the general plan to do next?"

"I want to hear your thoughts?"

Xiao Xia thought for a moment and said, "I suggest that the general should take a rest for two or three days and not rush into a decisive battle with the other side."

"Why?"

"I heard that there are huge disagreements among the top leaders of the Liao people. I think if we wait a while, maybe someone will contact the general in secret." "You mean, another group of Liao people leaders?"

Xiao Xia nodded, "I think it is unrealistic to kill them all. We can only kill appropriately to intimidate the other side, force them to compromise, and become obedient citizens of the Sui Dynasty. Otherwise, they will suffer a catastrophic disaster."

Wei Xuan stroked his beard and said happily: "That makes sense. Then wait for two more days."

Xiao Xia's judgment came from his understanding that the Liao people could organize an army of hundreds of thousands, so it was definitely not just one tribe, but was composed of more than a dozen tribes, or even more. If it was profitable, they would be of one mind. If they encountered setbacks or the prospects were not good, various differences and contradictions would arise.

This is just like doing business in partnership. If business is good, there is nothing to say. But if business fails, all kinds of conflicts arise.

So Xiao Xia suggested waiting for two days to allow the other party's various conflicts to ferment.

On the third day, a Liao envoy came to visit Wei Xuan secretly. The visitor was the brother of Langge, the leader of the second largest Liao tribe. His name was Langsheng. He brought important news from within the Liao tribe.

The Sui army wiped out more than 10,000 Liao soldiers in Neijiang County, and then launched a fire attack in Dalao County, killing 12,000 people.

It was these two disastrous defeats that caused serious divisions within the Liao people. The Liao people had a total of seven main tribes, four of which supported the Liao king in continuing to confront the imperial court, while the other three tribes strongly demanded peace with the imperial court.

Langsheng assured Wei Xuan that the three Liao tribes had decided not to support the Liao King anymore, and would not participate once a war broke out.

Wei Xuan was overjoyed and immediately promised that as long as Langge would surrender to the court and stop rebelling, he would report to the court and support Langge as the new Liao King.

Three days later, Wei Xuan led 26,000 men southward to attack the main force of the Liao people. He appointed Xiao Xia as the commander of the right wing and Liu Jian as the commander of the left wing, and each of them commanded 5,000 troops.

Wei Xuan added another 2,000 cavalry to Xiao Xia, bringing the number of cavalry under Xiao Xia to 3,000 and the number of infantry to 2,000.

The army marched towards the main force of the Liao people fifty miles away.

The Liao king was called Mengman. He was the chief of the Mengman tribe, the largest Liao tribe, and also the culprit of the Liao rebellion. He originally only planned to plunder the land and property of the Liao people, but the looting became more and more serious. He robbed the Han people of more than a dozen counties of their wealth, killed tens of thousands of Han people, raped countless women, and even dozens of local officials were beheaded.

Meng Man knew that his crimes were grave and that he would never be forgiven, so he decided to fight to the end. If he could not win, he could flee south back to his hometown in the mountains and continue to be a chief.

At this time, Meng Man received news that more than 20,000 Sui troops were heading towards them.

“Only more than 20,000 people!”

Meng Man snorted. Even if Langge and other three tribes were unwilling to follow him to join the war, he still had an army three times larger than the Sui army.

He had an army of 80,000, enough to wipe out more than 20,000 Sui troops.

"Pass on my order, the army will go to Caojiaba to fight against the officers and soldiers!"

Meng Man gave an order, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" drums sounded, and teams of Liao soldiers set out. A total of 80,000 troops set out with great momentum towards Caojiaba, ten miles away.

Caojiaba is a basin, surrounded by low hills and mountains, with a plain of dozens of miles in the middle. The Mianshui River flows from the east. The fertile land that was originally planted with rice will now inevitably be trampled into a flat ground by war.

(End of this chapter)