Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 15: The Fire That Cannot Be Extinguished by Water

The next day at noon, warm sunshine fell on the earth.

Outside the Lin residence, Qin Lang smelled the aroma of food coming from the yard, smiled and walked forward to knock on the door.

"Brother Zihou, I'm here~~~"

As the saying goes, it is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early.

If someone comes to the door at dinner time, it must be Qiaoer coming home.

"Brother Qin is here."

Lin Dao greeted him warmly, "Come on, come on, sit down and have dinner with us."

The women took out clean bowls and chopsticks and served rice and dishes to the guards Qin Lang brought with him.

A full bowl of snow-white rice, a plate of pickles, and a dish of fried potatoes and pork.

Lin Dao brought the iron wok and also brought cooking skills to Yonghe Time and Space.

In this era, people eat food by steaming, boiling or eating it raw.

Stir-frying did not become popular until eight hundred years later.

The sight of the greasy chunks of pork made Qin Lang and his guards' Adam's apples roll.

The food at the Lin residence is famous for its deliciousness in the fortress.

The food in Marshal Wu’s mansion is not as good as his family’s.

Lin Dao and Qin Lang were having dinner in the main room.

Jinlian and Sun Rong placed the rice and other dishes on the table and poured some leftover beer from yesterday.

"Brother Zihou." Qin Lang picked up his chopsticks and looked at the pure white rice in the bowl, praising him, "I have been eating rice for more than 20 years, and the rice you brought is the only one without any sand."

"It's normal for rice to have sand in it without mechanical screening."

Lin Dao said with a smile, "My rice is all carefully processed."

Qin Lang didn't understand, but he knew that this kind of fine rice must be good stuff.

He picked up a piece of pork and put it in his mouth and chewed it.

After swallowing it, he raised his hand and slammed the table, "How can this pork be cooked so deliciously?"

Lin Dao picked up the wine bowl and said, "The pork I brought here is all raised on feed. The pigs here are all raised on dry toilets, so of course they are different."

Some people say that pork was not tasty in ancient times because the pigs were not fanned.

In fact, the technology of fanning pigs already existed as early as the Shang Dynasty.

The reason why pork doesn’t taste good is because of what the pigs eat and the cooking techniques.

"Feed?" Qin Lang was puzzled. "What kind of feed?"

"It's corn." Lin Dao said with a smile, "There was corn among the food I brought in earlier."

As soon as these words came out, Qin Lang suddenly lost his color.

"Corn, such a high-quality grain, is actually being used to feed pigs?"

No wonder he couldn't accept it, he had eaten corn before.

Although it is a new type of food that has never been seen before, it tastes unexpectedly delicious and can fill you up.

Qin Lang found it hard to accept that such high-quality food was used to feed pigs.

"This is the gap between the industrial age and the agricultural age."

Lin Dao looked at the bewildered Qin Lang and added, "A crushing gap."

After having a good meal and a good drink, Qin Lang asked Lin Dao why he had been called here.

"I have something that can help you destroy the Jiehu's siege equipment."

Lin Dao took out a Molotov cocktail and took the puzzled Qin Lang out.

Molotov cocktails should not be experimented with at home.

Once the fire breaks out, it cannot be put out.

Finding a dead tree in the fort, Lin Dao took out his lighter and said, "Watch the steps carefully. I will only show you once."

He turned the Molotov cocktail upside down, and the gasoline in the bottle quickly soaked through the cloth.

After lighting it, he threw it hard towards a dead tree in the distance.

The wine bottle shattered when it hit the tree trunk, and slightly sticky gasoline sprayed everywhere.

The next moment, flames burst out and burned rapidly at an extremely fast speed.

Qin Lang was shocked.

What shocked him even more was that after half an incense stick, the fire not only did not go out, but burned even more vigorously.

Even the entire dead tree was set on fire.

"Brother Qin." Lin Dao pointed at the dead tree and said, "Can the Jiehu's siege equipment withstand such burning?"

Qin Lang nodded repeatedly, "It's very good."

"However, the Jiehu will definitely take water to put out the fire, so we will have to hold out for a while before we can attack them."

Lin Dao laughed again, "Get water to put out the fire?"

He pointed to the guards watching nearby and said, "Go get some water."

Not long after, the guards came back carrying wooden barrels filled with water.

"Pour the water on the fire," Lin Dao instructed. "Pour it from a distance and be careful not to get it on you."

According to Qin Lang and his friends' common sense, if water is poured on a flame, the fire will be extinguished quickly.

But when the guards poured the water over, a scene that shocked them appeared.

The burning fire not only did not go out, but instead suddenly grew larger and burned more vigorously.

"Could this be heavenly fire?" Qin Lang was stunned. "How can there be a heavenly fire that cannot be extinguished by water?"

"When you lead your men to burn the Jiehu siege equipment," Lin Dao patted his shoulder, "you can just turn around and leave when you see it burning. There's no need to wait for a fight."

Qin Lang stood there watching the fire burning the tree, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The fire that could not be extinguished by water was completely incomprehensible to him.

Lin Dao looked at him sideways and said, "What you need to do now is to agree on an attack plan."

Qin Lang, who was in a daze, was taken away by the guards.

At dinner time, he came again.

Compared to the shock at noon, my energy and spirit have obviously returned to normal.

"Brother Zihou."

Qin Lang walked in following the aroma of food and said with a smile, "I'm bothering you again."

Lin Dao gestured to Jin Lian, "Prepare food for them."

The guards took the bowls and chopsticks, squatted happily on the ground in the yard, and ate and chatted with Sun Dalang and other guards.

Qin Lang went into the house and set up a special food table for him.

Dinner was rice porridge, pickles, and white flour buns.

Lin Dao himself didn't eat any, but everyone else ate with gusto. In such a chaotic world, even a humble family wouldn't be able to afford such a meal.

"Among all the people in the fortress, your family lives the best life."

Qin Lang, who used to eat a steamed bun every three mouthfuls, picked up the rice porridge and slurped it down. "He eats three meals a day, and every meal is delicious. Wu Shuai has to eat his three meals in secret, and dares not let anyone know."

Lin Dao, holding the thermos cup and adding wolfberries to it, glanced over and asked, "Has Commander Wu agreed to your sending troops?"

Qin Lang ate his second steamed bun and nodded vigorously. "We have to send out troops. We can't wait until those siege weapons are built and we are at the gates of the city."

With so many large siege engines directly hitting you, even the strongest city cannot be defended.

Gently shaking the thermos, Lin Dao blew a breath and said, "I have more than a hundred Molotov cocktails. I'll give them all to you."

"Brother Zihou." Qin Lang finished his third steamed bun and bowed. "I cannot thank you enough for your kindness."

The ancients had a good reputation in this regard.

When it comes to repaying a favor, basically everyone will do so.

Of course there are rare exceptions, but they are all despised.

After adding a handful of wolfberries to the thermos, Lin Dao asked again, "If you have anything else to say, just tell me."

Since you are trying to make friends with me and win me over, I will not refuse any help I can provide.

After eating the fourth steamed bun, Qin Lang immediately said, "Since that's the case, I won't be polite."

"This battle is extremely dangerous. I would like to borrow a few sets of armor to save my life."

When talking about armor, Lin Dao looked a little embarrassed.

Last time I gave Qin Lang a set of handicraft armor, the kind that looks good but is not practical.

If you really wear it on the battlefield, it will be a disaster.

"Between you and me, what's the point of borrowing or not?"

Lin Dao waved his hand proudly and said, "I'll give you fifty sets!"

Qin Lang, who was eating his fifth steamed bun, almost choked.

He looked surprised and blurted out, "You have fifty sets of armor?"

In the era of cold weapons, armor was the most important military supply.

Keeping a set at home is a capital offense.

Qin Lang originally thought that Lin Dao only had the same sets of weapons he had used when he went up to the city wall before, and he planned to borrow some to save his life.

"When you leave later, just take it with you."

Lin Dao glanced at Qin Lang who had picked up the sixth steamed bun, and turned his head to instruct Jin Lian, "Pack a few baskets of steamed buns for Brother Qin to take back."

Before leaving, Qin Lang carefully checked his armor.

It is different from the previous set of armor which was very good looking but as thin as paper.

This time, Lin Dao provided fifty sets of armor, each of which was extremely thick. The armor plates felt thicker than bamboo slips and felt heavy in the hands.

Qin Lang bowed deeply to Lin Dao.

Fifty sets of armor are enough to dominate the small dock.

Qin Lang would never dare to forget this kindness!

Two days later, the engineering equipment of the Later Zhao army was about to be completed.

Qin Lang brought three hundred carefully selected armored cavalrymen, opened the gate of the fort, lowered the drawbridge, and rushed out.

The horses' hooves trampled the ground, raising dust.

The Later Zhao army was well prepared.

First, cavalry attacked to block the attack, and the engineering equipment was surrounded by soldiers like a forest.

Lin Dao, who was watching the battle from the top of the city wall, humbly asked, "Why did the Jiehu place these engineering equipment so close to the city wall?"

The chief priest in the army explained to him, "The equipment is heavy. If we are far away, it will be inconvenient to move."

"These things are not very solid."

"If we travel a long distance, we might be destroyed before we even get close to the city."

Lin Dao suddenly realized.

The technological level of this era was not high.

Large-scale engineering equipment is basically disposable consumables.

If the distance is too far, pushing it all the way to the city wall will reduce its service life and may even collapse on the way.

As he was speaking, the armored cavalry led by Qin Lang in the distance had already broken through the obstruction of Shi Hu's guards and rushed into the infantry formation under the rain of arrows.

At this time, the number of armored cavalry in the Qihuo Army was obviously much smaller.

Soon, balls of flames bloomed on those large engineering machines.

On the top of the city wall, cheers and applause suddenly rang out, one louder than the other.

For the Qihuo Army, even if all the armored cavalry that attacked were killed at this time, it would still be a profit.

At this time, almost all the nearby trees had been cut down.

If you want to rebuild it, you have to drag it from a very far place, and the journey takes an incalculable amount of time.

When a large army is out in the field, the thing they fear most is wasting time.

The Jiehu people were well prepared.

A large number of civilian laborers who were conscripted to accompany the army rushed towards the burning engineering equipment carrying wooden barrels.

The water in the barrel was poured out.

But the next moment, the fire not only did not weaken, but exploded instantly and became even more vigorous.

Many civilians came too close and were engulfed by the flames.

There is no way to save it.

When the Qihuo Army's armored cavalry charged forward, they did so with the determination to die.

That is true indifference to life and death.

Faced with a long line of soldiers, he rode his horse forward to break open a gap, thus clearing the way for the following brothers to move forward.

But when the engineering equipment was ignited, the desire to survive surged.

They hurriedly turned their horses around and rode away desperately.

The military order has been issued, and the next step is for everyone to survive.

The Jiehu guards angrily tried to stop him, and in the end Qin Lang only brought back more than thirty riders.

"Brother Zihou!"

Qin Lang, with several arrows still stuck in his armor, strode to the top of the city wall.

After receiving his head, he bowed.

"I am able to come back alive, all thanks to Brother Zihou's kindness!"

"If you have any orders from now on, I will serve you till my death!"

(End of this chapter)