A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 552 Divine Machine Raid on the Camp
Liu Shiche walked out of the tent.
Feeling the direction of the night wind, he smiled and said to Qin Wu, "General Qin, there are three key elements to a night raid: the enemy is tired, unprepared, and there is a favorable wind. We have all of these tonight."

"Li Sikong has another powerful weapon to give to General Qin, to lend the general a helping hand."

Liu Shiche waved his hand, and a group of soldiers brought over wooden boxes.

"Be gentle, there are treasures in here."

When Qin Wutong opened the box and saw what was inside, he was still a little puzzled. But when Liu Shiche whispered something in his ear, Qin Wutong's eyes brightened.

"Such a divine object exists; it is truly a treasure."

Squads of light cavalry were sent out of the camp to patrol and clear the area within ten miles, preventing Turkic cavalry from getting close and avoiding any leaks.

The gates of the fortress were tightly closed.

Soldiers were not allowed to enter or leave the camp. Even within the camp, anyone who wandered around without a password would be executed by military law.

They went to sleep after dark, and were woken up in the middle of the night to find that a meal had been prepared, and the three thousand men had a hearty meal.

Three thousand men marched with gags in their mouths, advancing swiftly and decisively.

They rushed towards the enemy camp, which was twenty miles away.

Qin Wutong had experience in raiding enemy camps.

In order to break through the enemy camp as quickly as possible, he divided his three thousand men into three battalions on each side. Each battalion had five hundred men. The three battalions on the left attacked the left side of the enemy camp, and the three battalions on the right attacked the right side of the enemy camp.

A six-pronged attack on the enemy camp.

However, they left two directions open, attacking only six of the eight directions. This was not because they lacked troops, but because military tactics emphasize surrounding three sides and leaving one open. Of course, a raid on a camp also requires leaving a passage.

This is the only way to force the enemy to flee through this gap and effectively demoralize them.

Liu Shiche was also a man who understood military affairs very well, and he agreed with Qin Wutong's deployment. Raiding a camp was not about attacking randomly.

First, we need to form a combined attack, and then surround three sides while leaving one open, rather than concentrating our forces to attack a single point.
The most important aspect of a night raid is striking under cover of darkness. The goal is to create chaos and panic, to throw the enemy into disarray, and perhaps even to induce them to break out of their camp.

A disorganized enemy without a camp or formation would then become a better target for attack.

Normally, a night raid would involve attacking a camp from all sides, first using rockets to create chaos, but today Qin Wutong has an even more powerful weapon.

Twenty miles is not a short distance.
When the three thousand cavalrymen left the camp, they were not wearing armor. Only the vanguard cavalry wore armor, while the rest carried their armor on their spare horses, leaving their main warhorses empty to conserve energy.

They made their way to within a few miles of the enemy camp.
The Turks, with gags in their mouths and horses with their hooves wrapped, did not discover the Tang army.

The Turkic camps were set up right next to the Hutuo River, and the sound of the flowing water provided excellent cover for the Tang army.

midnight.

Three thousand Tang cavalrymen halted.

Hurry up and eat your dry rations, drink your water, and urinate.
Then put on your armor.

Leave behind the spare horse that has already run twenty li.

Everyone mounted their warhorses, donned their armor, and prepared their weapons.

The Turkic camp a few miles away was quiet, but there were some lights in the camp, making the camp appear indistinctly.

The camp was large, but it had neither trenches nor wooden palisades, only some barricades.

Even the tents and other items in the camp were rather messy, unlike the various camp formations that the Tang army would use when setting up camp.

The Turks were indeed arrogant and overconfident. Perhaps they thought that the Tang army dared not leave the city because they saw that Li Yi had not moved towards Yanmen even after half a month of capturing Fanzhi City.

The six chief commanders, each leading a battalion of five hundred cavalry, swooped down like six arrows released from a bow, flanking the Turkic camp from both sides.

It is open on the north and south sides, with the south side facing the river.

The flat terrain is not ideal for a night raid on a camp, leaving the attackers without proper cover.

If a cautious commander sends out multiple patrols around the camp at night, it will be very difficult for them to approach the main camp silently on the plains.

But now, the Sixth Battalion has silently crept up to the edge of the main camp without anyone noticing.

Looking at the Turkic army camp so close at hand, Liu Shiche couldn't help but smile.

Generally, when raiding a camp, light infantry should be sent first to launch rockets, shout, beat drums and gongs, cut down wooden palisades, or even fill in several sections of trenches, in order to create panic and open a breach.

The true elite force should be deployed around the perimeter of the camp, and only when the enemy has fled or the palisades have been breached should the elite force launch an attack.

Of course, these are all just ideal scenarios.

Night raids are always a risky endeavor with the potential to achieve great things; they carry high risks but also offer great opportunities.

Fire attack is a magic weapon for night raids.

But today,

The Prince of Wu'an prepared even better treasures for the Turkic wolf cubs.

The guards from the Dingzhou Grand General's Office pulled out arrows from their quivers—ordinary arrows.

The soldiers nearby looked curiously at the arrows in the hands of the group of soldiers.

"These are the Divine Arrows of our Divine Machine Battalion," the soldier said with considerable pride.

The Divine Arrow is a gunpowder arrow. It has a gunpowder tube on the arrow, which is made of cloth and contains gunpowder. A fuse is inserted at the end of the arrow to connect the gunpowder in the tube.

The gunpowder copper was attached near the arrowhead.

The ten Shenji Battalion soldiers lit the fuses and then shot arrows into the camp with their bows.

"How is this different from a regular rocket?" The cavalryman became increasingly curious. A regular rocket is launched by dipping the arrowhead in oil or attaching a burning bag made of rosin, grease, or other substances.

However, when these soldiers ignited their rockets, they shot out with a hissing sound, emitting sparks.

In response to his question, the head of the Divine Machine Camp laughed and said, "You'll find out soon enough."

really,

The divine arrows, still carrying sparks, flew into the enemy camp, and the next moment, a loud bang, like thunder, was heard from within the camp.

He subconsciously looked up at the sky.
The night sky hung low.

But no lightning was seen.

But thunderous explosions followed one after another.

"Are they those Divine Arrows?"

"Yes."

The Shenji Battalion soldiers fired Shenji arrows one after another into the enemy camp.

Explosions rang out one after another.

Each loud bang was inevitably followed by bursts of flames shooting into the sky.

"These divine arrows are far more powerful than ordinary rockets,"

"The sound was just like thunder, and the fire was stronger than that of a regular rocket."

"Let's launch fire arrows quickly!" One after another, divine arrows rained down on the Turkic camp.
A series of loud explosions, like thunder, were followed by sparks flying like celestial maidens. In the dry summer air, the Turkic tents were easily set ablaze.

Fires broke out everywhere.

The most critical issue was that the Turks' horses were startled.

Even ordinary warhorses undergo anti-fright training, but this usually only protects them from sounds like gongs, drums, horns, and shouts; they've never been exposed to the sound of thunder and explosions.

Liu Shiche brought only a small number of Shenji Battalion soldiers, about a hundred in total.

But the series of divine arrows they fired astonished the entire Turkic camp.

Ancient military camps

What we feared most was not a raid on the camp, but a mutiny within the camp.

Once the uprising begins, even the gods cannot control it.

Mutinies usually occur among refugee armies, while elite regular armies rarely do so due to their strict military regulations.

This Turkic group, consisting of the defeated Zhishi tribe in Xinzhou and various other tribes including the Sogdians, numbered 20,000. It was a large but loosely organized union of many tribes.

Although nomadic tribes are all soldiers, they are still herders, fierce but undisciplined.

What a lovely night,
Suddenly, thunder and lightning rang out continuously, followed by a rain of fire. Many Turks were awakened from their dreams and were stunned by what they saw.

Incomprehensible.

There was only the sound of thunder, but no lightning.

Each time a thunderbolt exploded in the camp, flames erupted everywhere.

Some people had already knelt down in panic and prayed.

They believed this was divine punishment.

Some people also discovered that the enemy had appeared outside the camp.

Someone raided the camp.

The camp began to descend into chaos.
The Turks near the camp drew their swords, ready to fight back, but their warhorses were all frightened.

Qin Wutong's six battalions were also launching a fierce attack, pulling down the barricades, charging into the camp on horseback, and setting fires everywhere.

In the Turkic camp, fires and fighting broke out in six out of eight directions.

The mysterious and violent thunder and fire rain filled many Turks and Sogdians with fear, and some even screamed in panic.

Someone went to fetch horses, intending to fight back on horseback, but the warhorses were severely frightened and, amidst the constant explosions, were completely unsettled, let alone rideable.

Many horses broke free and ran amok in the camp.

The Divine Arrows of the Divine Machine Battalion
Qin Wutong's cavalry battalion's rockets and torches,
The camp was in complete chaos.

Qin Wutong, leading his personal guards, launched a fierce attack on the camp.

Zhi Siyan's tent was located in the center of the camp. He was sleeping soundly when he was awakened by the series of thunderous explosions.

"It's thundering, is it going to rain? Looking at the clouds during the day, shouldn't it have been sunny for the next few days?"

Zhi Shiyan thought it was thunder and rain, and even sat there considering whether to move the camp, wondering if the heavy rain would cause the Hutuo River to rise and flood the camp.

"Jielifa, something bad has happened."

A guard rushed in, "Heavenly punishment! The Eternal Heaven is enraged! It has unleashed countless bolts of lightning and a rain of fire!"

The entire camp is on fire, run!

Zhi Shiyan refused to believe that the Eternal Heaven had sent down divine punishment out of anger. He kicked the guard to the ground and strode out of the tent.

The night wind was strong.

There was a burnt smell and a bloody odor in the wind.

The thunderclaps grew more frequent, and many lights appeared in the darkness.

"Enemy attack! This is a Tang enemy attack!"

Zhi Shiyan couldn't understand why there was only thunder but no lightning, nor why thunder would cause sparks to fly, but he heard shouts of battle.
Enemy attack!

the other side,
Ashina Simo, who commanded 10,000 Sogdians and other miscellaneous Hu people, was also awakened and witnessed scenes that were difficult for him to understand.

"Quickly, don your armor, lead your horses, prepare for battle! The enemy is attacking!" roared the special agent with a Sogdian-looking face. He was the great-grandson of Tumen, the founding Khan of the Turkic Khaganate, and by seniority, he was also Jieli's cousin. During the Turkic civil war, he had been supported as Khan by his people, but later he voluntarily relinquished the throne to Jieli's father, Qimin Khan, since Qimin had the full support of the Sui Dynasty.

He inherited his mother Sogdian Hu Ji's bloodline and had a Hu appearance that was completely different from that of the Turks, so he was looked down upon by the Turks.

Even now, he can only work as a special agent and has never had the chance to be assigned to a region.

But Simo was merely marginalized; his abilities were not weak.

It was immediately obvious that this was an enemy attack; the enemy had used some kind of weapon that was more powerful than ordinary rockets.

Simo shouted, "Bring me my horse, armor me, and fight back with me!"

Before he finished speaking,

But an even louder explosion rang out from one side, like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting apart.

Huge balls of fire rose up, almost illuminating the night as if it were daytime.

Several more loud explosions followed, limbs flew off, and blood rained down.

"Heavenly punishment! The Eternal Heaven has descended in fury!"

The one who shouted these words was a soldier from the Shenji Battalion who had just thrown out a bomb. He kept shouting in Turkic.

The cavalry captain standing next to him was so shocked he could hardly speak.

"This is far more powerful than the Divine Arrow. What is this?"

"This is called Divine Machine Thunder. How about it? Pretty powerful, right?" The soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were flushed with excitement. This thing was much more powerful when it exploded than the Divine Machine Arrow. A man should play with something this powerful.

The more intense, the better.

The Eternal Heaven is enraged and will punish us.

As the explosions continued, the fire, fueled by the wind, grew larger and larger. The words that the Eternal Heaven was angry and was sending down divine punishment were also spread by many Turkic and Sogdian soldiers.

The horse was startled, and the people panicked.
Many mixed nomadic tribes were the first to flee, followed by the Sogdian tribes, and then some Turks.

The camp was surrounded by four sides, but only two sides were free from the terrifying explosions and flames, so they instinctively ran towards those two sides.

Both Zhishiyan and Ashina Simo were shouting for a counterattack, but more and more people were fleeing the camp.

Three thousand light cavalry and one hundred elite cavalrymen, attacking from both flanks in a six-pronged assault, managed to tear open the camp of twenty thousand Turks.

The divine arrows and divine thunderbolts cleared the way, their momentum unstoppable.

The Turks crumbled at the first contact, turning tail and running away after being bombed, only to be slaughtered by the cavalry and routed.

(End of this chapter)