Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3555: Crack in the Sky

The Han River at midnight seems to have a rusty color.

Zhao Shiqi wrapped the linen soaked in fish oil around the arrowhead.

Li Dianjun's patrol torches moved along the river bank like a winding fire snake.

Cao Jian huddled in the reeds and shivered; the silk lining under his armor had already been soaked with cold sweat.

"Okay... let's go over there..."

After Li Dian's patrol team of soldiers passed by, Zhao Shiqi led his men forward.

"Take the pill!"

Following Zhao Shiqi's reminder, Cao Jian saw these death-defying soldiers, took out some small leather bags from his body, and poured a pill into his mouth.

This is actually the Yellow Turban Warrior's "secret book"...

He has great strength, is not afraid of pain, and is unafraid of death.

This is the "Courage Pill" that Cao Cao specially authorized these Qingzhou veterans to take.

Or some other name, like Wushisan or something...

In fact, they are all similar, just a different name.

When Zhao Shiqi bit the wax-sealed pill, he tasted the familiar smell of rust.

There didn't seem to be much difference in taste between the previous pills and the pills distributed by Cao Jun now.

Anyway, it is made by mixing cinnabar, stalactite, alum and other materials with talisman ash.

No matter which raw material it is, it seems that it is not something that people should eat, but what does it matter? After all, tree bark and Guanyin soil are also not something that people should eat. Didn’t people eat them in every dynasty of the feudal dynasty?

The moment his larynx rolled, Zhao Shiqi heard a creaking sound from his cervical vertebrae.

As the effect of the medicine surged, even the sound of bones rubbing against each other became particularly clear.

The originally dry and cold body seemed to become soft and warm again.

This is the divine power that the Heavenly Master once promised to give them!

The pain was going away and the strength was returning to them.

Zhao Shiqi caught a glimpse of Cao Jian shivering behind him, and handed the pill bag to Cao Jian.

"This..." Cao Jian's hands and feet were cold. The Han River in spring was not so warm and pleasant. Especially after getting on shore, it was so cold that he could not help shivering.

"Eat one pill and you won't feel cold anymore." Zhao Shiqi said, "If you don't rush forward, don't do anything bad!"

Cao Jian's eyes bulged and he couldn't help but take it.

He knew that this stuff was not good, because it was rationed to the Death Squadron, and he had also seen some Death Squadron soldiers go crazy and die after eating this.

But now...

"The sky is dead!"

The death-defying soldiers in front suddenly roared.

The roar sounded like a wounded beast.

Zhao Shiqi knew that this was a sign that the medicine was taking effect.

"Attack! Kill!"

While the effect of the drug had not yet overwhelmed his mind, Zhao Shiqi roared and gave the order. At this moment, his pupils were dilating, and the swaying torches on the river surface turned into stars in the sky. In his eyes, Li Dianjun's arrow tower was distorted into the gate tower of Xuzhou Tancheng that was burned down that year.

"Light the will-o'-the-wisp!"

Zhao Shiqi howled and touched the gourd around his waist.

There is specially formulated kerosene in it, and the flame it ignites will have a different color.

Cao Jian looked at Zhao Shiqi and others rushing forward, gritted his teeth, and swallowed the pill.

As the pill rolled down his throat, fire seemed to ignite in Cao Jian's body, allowing him to dispel the cold and drive away the fear. A moment later, he also howled and rushed towards Li Dian's barracks.

There was a sudden and chaotic sound of gongs and bells inside Li Dian's barracks.

Zhao Shiqi grinned, revealing his gums where his front teeth were missing. He liked this feeling, the feeling of being like stepping on the blade, madness, killing, blood, death!

In fact, he should have died long ago. Only at this moment did Zhao Shiqi feel that he was still alive!

……

……

"what happened? ! 』

Li Dian opened the door curtain and walked out of the tent. What came into his sight was the flames surging by the river.

The flame was actually green!

"Ghost!"

"That's a will-o'-the-wisp!"

The Qiang people in Li Dian's army screamed, covered their heads and fled, even causing the entire army formation to collapse.

The sudden attack in the dark night, filled with strange green flames, undoubtedly increased the fear in the hearts of the Qiang people and made them forget the military tactics and regulations of Li Dian's army.

"Line up!"

Li Dian's face darkened.

The guards standing by were also frightened by the green flames and were unable to pass the order in time.

Li Dian slapped him, "What are you doing? Pass the order!"

"That...that green fire..." The guard was still a little scared.

During the three or four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, both Liu Bang and Liu Xiu were playing with ghosts and gods and making false prophecies, which led to the people's high acceptance of ghosts and gods. This situation could not be reversed in a short period of time. Even though there were Confucian scholars in the military academy who expressed the idea of ​​respecting ghosts and gods but keeping away from them, the soldiers obviously did not understand what this sentence meant, and they were inevitably panicked when faced with emergencies.

"That's kerosene with ore added!" Li Dian shouted angrily, "Ore, are you afraid?! Kerosene, are you afraid?! Add the two together, are you still afraid?!"

"Ore? Kerosene?" The guard's scattered eyes gradually focused.

Ghosts and gods are scary, because no one has ever really seen a ghost or god, so people will attach their most feared image to the ghost or god. But if it becomes a concrete image...

For example, a ghost that looks like a stone, or a god that looks like a puddle of oil...

Uh uh uh, the guard suddenly woke up, "This is an enemy attack!"

"Nonsense! Pass the order! Line up! Fight! Anyone who disrupts the army will be killed without mercy!" Li Dian raised his arm and shouted, "Bring me a spear! I want to see which villain is so bold as to attack our army at night!"

However, the Qiang people obviously did not understand what "Mozi·Beixue" was, nor did they know what the flame color reaction was. This huge gap in the knowledge system made the Qiang people subconsciously blame these problems on ghosts and gods when they encountered some uncontrollable and incomprehensible things.

In the mountain stronghold, whether it was not raining or feeling uncomfortable, it could all be attributed to ghosts and gods. Even after joining Li Dian's army, these old customs were not immediately changed. In this sudden attack, the gap between ignorance and sobriety was fully demonstrated.

The Qiang people were running, howling, and hiding in chaos. What frightened them was not the real appearance of any ghosts or gods, but the ghosts and gods that they created in their hearts due to their ignorance.

When you have courage in your thought, all ghosts and gods will avoid you!

There is something fishy going on in my mind, so I burn incense in the middle of the night!

The Qiang people were shouting and screaming, which affected the team that Li Dian had assembled.

"Order! Anyone who rushes into the formation will be killed!"

Following Li Dian's order, the Han soldiers in formation struck swords and shields, raised their spears and bows, and repeated Li Dian's order in unison, "Anyone who breaks into the ranks will be killed! Kill! Kill!"

A tremendous murderous aura rose up, which seemed to force back the green flames.

Some Qiang people came to their senses and quickly slid to the side of the Han army formation, not daring to block the way. However, some other Qiang people were still in a trance and fear, still blocking the road, and were immediately killed on the ground.

……

……

When Zhao Shiqi saw the chaotic crowd rushing to Li Dian's central army, like waves hitting the rocks and immediately scattering, he knew that he could not break through Li Dian's central army.

They are few in number, and these are the only means they can rely on.

However, once these measures fail to work, the efficiency of destruction will be greatly reduced.

"Destroy the equipment! Destroy the equipment on the river bank!"

Cao Jian shouted, and then suddenly he stopped with a high-pitched scream. Zhao Shiqi turned around and saw Cao Jian was shot in the thigh and fell to the ground. The son of the noble family who used to be well-dressed was now rolling in blood and mud.

"Equipment! Destroy the equipment..."

Cao Jian shouted at Zhao Shiqi with a hoarse voice, and it was unclear whether the sweat on his face was from pain or tears from fear.

Their mission was not to attack Li Dian's central army, but only to destroy the military equipment that Li Dian was building!

These crazy people!

madman!

Cao Jian personally witnessed a soldier who dared to die trying to break the opponent's swords and guns with his bare hands. He even lost his fingers but was still roaring and raging...

The death-defying soldiers who usually hunched over had their muscles twisted like old tree roots. Even when arrows pierced their shoulder blades, they were still wielding their swords and spears without even noticing it...

"It hurts, it hurts..."

Cao Jian groaned. Didn’t he also take the pill? Why was it still so painful?

In a trance, he saw Zhao Shiqi coming up to him and kicking the root of the arrow on his thigh, kicking the wolf-tooth arrow directly from one side of the thigh to the other side!

Cao Jian screamed and almost fainted!

But when Zhao Shiqi's eyes, which were almost covered with bloodshot, came close to Cao Jian, Cao Jian still felt the fear rising in his heart, "You, you you you...what are you going to do? !"

"If it still hurts, take two more pills!"

Zhao Shiqi said this coldly, then continued to move forward with his knife in hand. However, this time he was no longer heading towards Li Dian's central army, but towards the site where Li Dian built and manufactured equipment.

madman!

This old lunatic!

However, the severe pain in his body still made Cao Jian unable to help but take out the small pill bag that Zhao Shiqi had stuffed into his mouth again. Trembling, he stuffed two more pills into his mouth. After a while, he saw that there was only one pill left in the bag, so he gritted his teeth and poured the last pill into his mouth...

……

……

Li Dian regretted bringing these Qiang people here.

These Qiang people owe their success to ghosts and gods, and their failure to ghosts and gods.

When the Qiang shamans performed Nuo dances to encourage them, these Qiang people would also show extraordinary bravery and were not afraid of fighting for life and death, because they believed that they would return to the arms of God after death, and the braver the warriors were on the battlefield, the more likely they would gain the favor of God.

Based on this, Li Dian brought these Qiang people with him. After all, they came from Hanzhong and Nanzheng. There were many considerations for bringing these Qiang people with him. They could be used as hostages, and they could also weaken the power of the Qiang people in Hanzhong. At the same time, they could also be considered as some supplementary forces. But these Qiang people...

Now it seems that the disadvantages of the Qiang people are very obvious.

Not to mention the current chaos, the patrols that were supposed to be on guard must have slacked off!

Otherwise, how could these Cao troops sneak in? !

Strictly speaking, Li Dian did not make a big mistake. After all, hiring foreigners as supplements of combat power was a common practice during the turbulent times of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, just like the Southern Xiongnu were hired many times in history by the Eastern Han Dynasty and local princes, especially those in the north.

In the chaos of the Central Plains after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Han warlords such as Yuan Shao and Cao Cao often used money and titles to get the Southern Xiongnu to join the war in order to make up for their own cavalry shortcomings. For example, Yuan Shao once joined forces with the Xiongnu Chanyu Yufuluo to fight against Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao also ensured the safety of his flank by controlling the Southern Xiongnu before the Battle of Guandu.

Moreover, this policy of "using barbarians to control barbarians" is also a strategy advocated by Confucianism since the Han Dynasty. On the other hand, it also deepens the control of these foreign ethnic groups that are more inclined towards the Han Dynasty.

Just like Li Dian chose to hire some Qiang people, he could increase the military strength in the short term, reduce the cost of ruling, and contain the Qiang people in Hanzhong and Nanzheng...

After all, if the Qiang people in the Nanzheng area had any disloyalty because of Li Dian's departure, then these Qiang people who followed Li Dian would immediately become the new Qiang king to replace them!

However, this kind of employment is obviously not as good as the education promoted by Fei Qian and can only be regarded as a stopgap measure.

Now, after being suddenly attacked, the weakness of the Qiang people in this aspect was exposed, causing Li Dian to be very passive. He had to gather his soldiers, stabilize these Qiang mercenaries, and counterattack Cao's sneak attack. As a result, he was somewhat inattentive and unable to launch a quick counterattack.

However, as time went by, the kerosene mixed with ore eventually burned out, and after the green flame was gradually replaced by the normal red and yellow flame, the panic of the Qiang people gradually subsided under Li Dian's stable control.

What followed was increased pressure on Zhao Shiqi and others.

……

……

"Kill!" 』

Zhao Shiqi swung the broken ring-handled sword, and the blade collided with the swords and shields of Li Dian's soldiers, producing sparks.

Under the stimulation of the elixir, the death-defying soldiers fought frantically, and some even tore off their armor, as if they were really invulnerable to swords and guns.

But it is obvious that these so-called "invulnerability" are just illusions caused by the stimulation of the elixir, which affects the nerves of pain and touch, or corrodes the nervous system.

It was like Cao Jian didn't feel any pain at all, even though the wound on his thigh was still bleeding...

Even so, Cao Jian still stayed back and did not rush forward like those death-defying soldiers.

He stared at the battle ahead, watching the death-defying soldiers tear off their armor and rush naked into the sea of ​​fire and the array of swords and spears. The blood that splashed out seemed to fill the entire sky. Some people even rushed towards Li Dian's army holding burning stakes. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with crazy laughter exploded in the night sky...

However, as the suicide soldiers flew into the flames like moths, it was unclear whether these people wanted to kill people or were seeking death. When these "moths" were annihilated in the flames and blood one by one, the whole battle was nearing its end.

When the dawn dew began to moisten the surroundings, Zhao Shiqi suddenly staggered to his knees.

His eardrums were still roaring, but he could no longer hear the shouts and screams. The golden light of the gods seemed to remain in front of his eyes, but his real vision was filled with blood. The most terrifying thing was that the pain was backlashing like a tide as the drug wore off. The wounds licked by the flames, the tendons torn by the wolf-tooth arrows, the wounds pierced by the swords and spears, etc., all the pain that was paralyzed, all burst out in a short period of time.

When Zhao Shiqi used the broken spear to prop himself up, he found that two toes on his left foot were missing and he couldn't stand steadily. He staggered and struggled to support himself. Maybe he stepped on a sharp blade, or maybe someone cut it off during the fight, but he couldn't remember.

Too much blood had been lost, and all kinds of pain were surging up, making it seem like the two broken toes on his feet weren't that much of a pain.

What was even more ironic was that the residual hallucinogenic effect of the pill powder made him feel strangely detached. He looked at his dead, wounded, and groaning comrades around him, but he didn't feel any misery or blood. Instead, he felt that the ray of morning light in the sky was a smile from the gods towards him...

The broken bodies, blood and flesh on the battlefield are the three sacrificial animals offered in this world.

"Finally... freed...?"

When Li Dianjun's sword and shield team approached, Zhao Shiqi suddenly laughed, and his hoarse voice sounded like the friction of sand and gravel.

He tried to feel his head to see if the yellow cloth strip was still there, but found that his fingers were also broken, with only a piece of skin connecting them, swaying in the morning light.

Zhao Shiqi smeared the blood on his hand on his forehead, covering the old tattoo.

"Master... did you see it? This crack in the sky..."

Before he could finish his words, a crossbow arrow pierced his throat.

……

……

"Medicine, pills..."

Cao Jian crawled towards a dead suicide soldier and found a small leather bag containing medicine on the corpse.

He also felt the effect of the medicine wearing off.

This Cao family member who once despised "witchcraft" and looked down on these brave soldiers, now tried to use these medicines to fight for a way out like a drowning man grasping at straws. He swallowed the pills mixed with blood, then stood up again with a laugh. He could feel that his strength seemed to be gathering again, but he was only handsome for three breaths. He suddenly curled up like a shrimp, coughed violently, and vomited black blood with internal organs. He fell to his knees on the ground with a puff, just like a puppet statue that had been punctured, revealing the real Xiao Lai.

Those death-defying soldiers had been taking medicine for a long time and had some drug resistance. Cao Jian had never taken medicinal pills before, and taking a large amount in a short period of time was actually like drinking a large amount of poison wine. Now he was poisoned.

……

……

Cao Ren fished out the bodies of several suicide soldiers downstream.

"Master... this is a success?"

The guard asked.

Cao Ren looked at the remains of the death-defying soldier, which had become much whiter due to blisters, and at the face with some cracks bitten by fish and shrimp. The tattoo, which had originally faded, had no ink left.

"Perhaps. Success or failure, we will know soon..."

Cao Ren took out a brocade box from his arms and threw it into the river.

The brocade box rose and fell in the water, swaying with the current, and suddenly stood up, like a broken arm pointing to the sky.

Cao Ren suddenly remembered that after the massacre in Xuzhou, the charred leg bones stuck on the ridges of the fields also pointed to the sky like this...

Did Cao Cao make the same choice back then?