Tiger Owl

Chapter 98 The Tactic of Lure Soldiers
Yang Qian led three thousand oil-fired soldiers on a swift march along the Wan River in the dark of night. Each soldier carried three to four oil bottles, and their mission was to use these oil bottles to attack the enemy fleet.

There is a relatively narrow section of the Wan River, only a dozen or so zhang wide and about forty li long. Last year, Gan Ning used this section of the waterway to completely annihilate Huang Zu's fleet that came to provide support.

Now Sunhe actually wants to use this waterway to deal with Gan Ning's army, which shows that he knows nothing about what happened last year.

While they were marching, a sudden scream erupted from the soldiers near the river, and they all collapsed.

"Ambush! An ambush!" the soldiers shouted in panic.

Arrows whizzed through the darkness like raindrops, and people screamed in agony as they were struck by arrows.

The ranks were thrown into chaos. No one knew where the arrows were coming from. In their extreme panic, the soldiers heard their commander, Yang Qian, shout, "Get down! Get down!"

The soldiers who were not hit by arrows lay prone on the ground.

"Kill--"

Suddenly, flames erupted all around, and shouts of battle came from three directions.

Seven thousand soldiers surrounded the oil corps. Many people panicked and jumped into the river to escape to the other side, but three thousand crossbowmen were also lying in ambush on the other side. Those who jumped into the river could only be shot by the crossbowmen.

The soldiers of the Yuzhang Army charged into the crowd and instantly killed hundreds of people. The oil soldiers were terrified, and cries of pleas and screams filled the air.

"Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

The enemy's shouts gave the soldiers in the chaos a glimmer of hope, and more than two thousand soldiers of the oil battalion immediately knelt down and surrendered, raising their hands high.

General Yang Qian secretly removed his armor and led more than a hundred men into the river, swimming desperately towards the opposite bank. However, just as they reached halfway, countless dark figures appeared on the opposite bank and fired crossbows into the river. Arrows rained down, and Yang Qian was shot through the head by three crossbow bolts, dying on the spot. The other soldiers were also hit by arrows, and none of them survived. They were all shot to death in the river.

More than 800 soldiers of the Fire Oil Battalion were shot or stabbed to death, and the remaining 2,100 or so were all taken prisoner; none escaped.

Several enemy generals were taken away for interrogation. After a short while, the officer in charge of the interrogation reported to Xu Sheng: "The other side are all soldiers of the Fire Oil Battalion. There are a total of 3,000 men and 10,000 fire oil bottles here. There are no more Fire Oil Battalion soldiers in Wan County, and there is no more fire oil bottle inventory."

This was Xu Shu's strategy of luring the enemy into a trap. He used a fleet of ships to induce the enemy to use fire attacks, which would inevitably lead to the enemy sending out firearm battalions to ambush them. Xu Sheng would then lead his troops to ambush and capture them halfway. This would greatly weaken the enemy's firearm battalion and also allow him to find out about the enemy's oil reserves.

Unexpectedly, the results were brilliant, wiping out the entire firearms battalion and breaking the fire attack in Wan County. Xu Sheng was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to report to the strategist.

About twenty miles from Wan County, Sun He led ten thousand troops to ambush Taishi Ci's five thousand troops in a pine forest. The forest was only sixty paces from the official road, where they could use crossbows to ambush Taishi Ci's five thousand troops.

At this time, Taishi Ci's army was still more than ten miles away from the enemy's ambush site, and the scouts he sent out discovered the enemy's whereabouts.

Taishi Ci smiled at Xu Shu and said, "The strategist's plan to lure the enemy has indeed succeeded. The enemy is lying in ambush in the pine forest, preparing to attack us."

Xu Shu stroked his beard and smiled slightly: "This is not my success, but the fact that the lord's plan to reduce the number of troops deceived the enemy. Xunyang County only has 5,000 troops, so Sunhe will naturally underestimate them and dare to send troops out to ambush them. If we still have 15,000 troops stationed here, the enemy will not dare to take such a risk."

"In that case, we can attack them from both sides!"

Taishi Ci had another 10,000 troops following behind. He planned to deploy these 10,000 troops behind the enemy to attack them from both sides.

Xu Shu shook his head and said, "There's no need to send 10,000 troops. Just send 200 fire oil soldiers to burn down the pine forest, force them out, and then attack the enemy in the chaos."

This plan is good. Taishi Ci quickly opened the map to take a closer look. Five miles to the south, there was a small road that ran parallel to the official road.

He pointed to the path and said to Xu Shu, "This path can bypass the enemy's ambush. I would like to ask the strategist to lead the remaining 10,000 troops to the south and circle around to the east of the enemy's ambush. When the pine forest is ablaze, our two armies will attack together from both sides, and the enemy will surely be defeated!" Xu Shu readily agreed, "This plan is excellent. I will set off immediately!"

Xu Shu led dozens of soldiers on horseback and galloped away.

Taishi Ci immediately dispatched two hundred oil soldiers to detour to the north, preparing to set fire to the enemy from behind.

Taishi Ci then led his army to slow down and head east. After a full hour and a half, they were about two miles away from the ambush site when a large pine forest appeared ahead. At this time, Gan Ning received news that 10,000 troops were already not far to the east of the enemy.

With 5,000 troops to the west and 10,000 troops to the east, they formed a pincer movement against the enemy.

Taishi Ci waved his hand and ordered, "Launch the rockets!"

Three soldiers lit the rockets and fired them into the sky in succession. Three arrows trailing black smoke flew into the sky one after another.

Sun He, who was lying in ambush in the pine forest, was getting impatient. The enemy had been waiting for a full hour and a half to cover the distance of more than ten miles.

However, Sun He restrained his anxiety and patiently waited for Taishi Ci's army to arrive.

"Reporting to the Prefect, the enemy is coming!" shouted the lookout in the tree.

Sun He's spirits lifted, and he quickly stood on a large rock, looking towards the official road to the west.

Sure enough, he saw five thousand enemy troops appearing two miles away; the enemy had arrived.

Sun He shouted excitedly, "Archers, prepare!"

Just then, a commotion broke out behind them, with soldiers shouting and yelling.

Sun He was furious and turned around to shout, "No noise allowed, or the enemy will find us!"

A soldier ran up to report, "General, the pine forest behind us is on fire. The fire is spreading rapidly, and some of our brothers are surrounded by flames."

Sun He was taken aback and quickly stood on a large rock to look back. He saw flames raging in the woods behind him, thick smoke billowing into the sky, and soldiers rushing forward desperately.

"No, I was discovered!"

Sun He wasn't stupid; he immediately realized that they had been discovered and that the other side had struck first.

"Get out of the woods! Get out of the woods!"

The fire spread too rapidly, and countless soldiers were surrounded by flames, letting out desperate screams. If they did not retreat, they would all be swallowed up by the fire.

The ambushing soldiers fled in panic out of the woods. Just as seven or eight thousand soldiers reached the main road, Gan Ning led five thousand soldiers to attack from the west, while Xu Shu commanded ten thousand soldiers to attack from the east. With attacks from both sides, Sunhe's army was completely routed. The soldiers scattered and fled, abandoning their armor and weapons, looking for any chance to escape. If they could not escape, they knelt down and surrendered.

Taishi Ci searched everywhere for Sunhe, when a soldier pointed to a river: "The enemy commander has fled along the river with several hundred men."

Taishi Ci immediately led two thousand soldiers to pursue them along the stream.

(End of this chapter)