Chapter 173 Battle of Liyang - Part 3 (2/2)

”It took you a while to chase us here. For a minute, I thought you would have been a cautious type and chosen not to follow us here.” Taunted by Tong.

Zhu Jun squinted his eyes as his suspicions rose. It was illogical for the night raiders to wait for them on the open field. From his experiences, this was a taunt template before an ambush or a trap.

In addition, he could sense unusual heat from the ground in front of him. It was indeed a trap!

Zhu Jun smirked. ”I have to admit. You're very good for a rebel. I am Zhu Jun, the Counsellor Remonstrant of the Imperial Han! Who am I fighting with? Tell me your name!”

As a traditional warrior and a shrewd general, Zhu Jun attempted to trick Tong into giving his name, so he could get the intel who he was fighting with at the moment.

Tong touched his chin and pondered a moment. A silly thought came to his mind.

”I AM YOUR FATHER!!”

The one thousand men behind Tong laughed from his trolling. In contrast to Tong's men, Zhu Jun frowned while the five thousand horsemen behind him were angered.

'Good mind game. It's obvious now that there's a trap ahead of us. The visibility in this dark night is perfect for an ambush or a trap. We can't pursue any further.'

Zhu Jun sighed. He swallowed his pride and ordered his men.

”Withdraw! We will not fight them here!”

The subordinates of Zhu Jun were shocked. They glared at Tong and his men in hostile as they were dissatisfied with the order. Yet, they did what Zhu Jun told them to.

They turned around and galloped back to the camp. The few rearguards did not stop locking their eyes at Tong while their horses followed after their comrades.

On the other side, Tong also frowned when he heard Zhu Jun declared a retreat. He gazed at the wet ground 500 meters away in front of him, where Zhu Jun and his men almost stepped on. On the ground, Tong soaked the muddy path with boiling cooking oil into a swamp. Had Zhu Jun and his men charged forward, they would be roasted alive.

'Should I say, as expected from the elite generals? This is troublesome. They are on a different level than Pan Feng or Guo Dian.'

'Zhu Jun has good insight and sharp observation. Huangfu Song shows that he can take pressures and good at leadership.'

'Ordinary tactic won't work with them. I have to be more creative!'

'There are still a few tricks I have left inside the city. But first …'

Tong tapped the shoulder of a horseman nearby. ”Shoot a fire arrow onto the trap ground.”

”Sir? But the enemies have left.”

”Don't worry. Just do it. The fire will spread over to the forest and it will hinder their marching speed.”

The soldier's eyes brightened up. He brought out his prepared fire arrow. It was an arrow with a small bundle of oil-soaking cloth wrapping on the tip. He nocked the arrow with his normal bow while his friend lit the tip of the arrow for him. The arrow was fired and landed on the oil swamp.

*FWOOSH*

The ground was lit up, but it did not explode like what Tong did at the camp.

”Let's go. We should leave before it explodes.”

Tong and his one thousand men retreated back to Liyang.

Ten minutes after the fire had been lit, the flame slowly spread to the side and began burning the nearby trees. One of the trees cracked and dropped its branch onto the swamp. The ripple of the oil caused the flame to extend up to the air.

*BOOM*

…

…

7 AM.

Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and their soldiers, who managed to escape from their own camp, gathered at Dong Zhuo's camp instead.

The power of the grease fire explosion from Tong was comparable to a forest fire. The entire camp of Huangfu Song was burnt to ashes. Iron armors and weapons, which were left behind, were melted by the extreme temperature.

The fire did not subside even after hours of burning because there was still oil in the moat. Because of the inextinguishable hellfire, they could not proceed forward.

Fortunately for them, their supplies did not catch fire from the raid since Huangfu Song put them elsewhere. For a decade, he had never placed his granary or supply base inside his camp because Huangfu Song had learned it the hard way from his battle experiences.

Though their provision survived the calamity, his soldiers did not.

He tallied his surviving men to reform platoons and reorganize his army. Five thousand of his men were devoured by the flame. Similar to him, Zhu Jun lost six thousand men last night.

The only two reasons they lost their men because of the exploding flame when they poured water onto the grease fire, and the dense black smoke that enveloped the entire camp and killed the soldiers before they got away.

”I believe we've lost Ye City. If the rebels showed up here and took Liyang City, there is no other explanation.”

”I concur. We're still lucky enough to find the rebel's location from the scouts. It would have been a disaster had we passed Liyang to Ye City and we were ambushed from behind.”

”Bao Xin's unit should have been annihilated already. Or else, we should have gotten his reports.”

Zhu Jun, who had returned from the brief meeting with Tong, told Huangfu Song about his impression. Both of them exchanged their discussion in solemn as they had to reevaluate the whole situation again from the beginning.

On the other hand, Dong Zhuo sat back and relaxed as usual. Anything that happened to them was none of his business.

'Kill! Keep fighting! Keep killing each other!'

'Hahaha! Keep dying, you idiots!'

Dong Zhuo mocked Tong and the two generals in his mind.

'Continue killing each other, so you all can go to hell together!'

'I'll be the only winner in the end! MUAHAHAHA!'</your>