Chapter 186 Battle of Liyang - Part 16 (1/2)
Chapter 186 – Battle of Liyang - Part 16
Tong watched the incoming troops from the top of the wall. The moment the attackers reached the line of 400 meters from the wall, Tong also gave his order.
”Catapult and ballista units, fire at will!”
All catapults and ballistae on the wall launched their stones, which scattered in mid-air and crashed onto the incoming shield bearers on the frontline.
The stones kill hundreds of shield soldiers in an instant as they crushed their skulls and other parts of their bodies. The hail of stones did not stop the soldiers from moving forward.
They pushed the wagons of soil forward and reached the moat line. Without waiting for an order, they dump the soil into the moat to fill it up. A hundred wagons lined up and made a path for their siege ladders and towers.
Tong watched their actions and took notes of their way of fighting in siege warfare.
'A shallow line of moat won't cut it. The trenches in Anping County were much better.'
He allowed Zhu Jun's soldiers to move forward although he could have flooded the boiling oil in the moat and ignite it again like he used to. Tong wanted to crush them here instead of buying times, so he required Zhu Jun forces to move forward into his range.
With the moat partly covered enough for the siege towers and siege ladders to pass through, Zhu Jun ordered the shieldsmen to move forward to get rid of the spike barricades.
At this point, they were already 300 meters from the wall.
”Switch the stones to oil barrels!” Tong ordered the catapult crews.
Within a minute, the crews' strong men loaded a 50-liter-barrel onto each catapult spoon.
”Fire at will.”
Hundreds of barrels flew into the sky and landed on the ground, splattering the content inside the containers.
Slimy and sticky black liquid revealed itself in front of Zhu Jun's soldiers.
”Lamb oil!” One of the soldiers shouted.
”Careful! Stay away from it!”
The shieldsmen of Zhu Jun avoided these black liquid like the plague as they knew what they were. In their knowledge, they were lamb oil which was commonly used in daily lives, and they knew that this oil could catch fire with a simple ignition or a spark.
This lamb oil was a luxurious item that only nobles and military commanders used because they were a rare commodity. In this era, the Chineses had already found these black oil from digging over 200 meters into the ground. Because they did not have the scientific knowledge, they could only use it as lamp oil.
However, in Tong's terms and his previous life knowledge, they were not just lamb oil.
They were the crude oil!
Tong used his [Create Food] by thinking of a food ingredient which was made by using petroleum products. Instead of creating the artificial food dyes which synthesized from the petroleum products, Tong created its original source, the crude oil.
The crude oil Tong threw at the Imperial soldiers contained many mixed substances, which was easily flammable.
In the modern world, petroleum products, which derived from crude oil, were everywhere in the people's daily life. Aside from fuel, diesel, wax, and gas, there were products that could shock every citizen of the 21st century if they knew about it.
Plastics, aspirin, vitamin capsules, lipsticks, artificial food color dyes, trash bags, paints, and over thousands of products were the byproducts of petroleum.
Tong remembered that when he was a child, there was an uproar about the ban of several colors of artificial food dye as some of them could potentially cause cancer. The researchers revealed that these products were harmful to human bodies as they had substances from crude oil. He also remembered that he ate a few sugar snacks which were dyed with one of those petroleum byproducts.
'At least, I didn't die from cancer.' Tong thought.
…
Zhu Jun observed Tong's tactic from the top of his watchtower. His facial expression turned ugly once he saw the crude oil.
'Their general is playing with fire again! My siege weapons are vulnerable against these things.'
'I heard he's a sorcerer. In the end, it's just a petty trick!'
”Cover the oil with the dirt and sand! Keep moving forward!”
Zhu Jun roared to give morale to the frontline troops.
Unfortunately, he coughed and staggered from the dizziness after the shout. His breathing was fast and rough as he could not get enough air to his lung. The fever did not go away. It returned to hamper his health, and it gave him a severe head pain. His felt everything was so cold that he was frozen despite having warm animal fur clothes wrapping around him. The stomach also twisted and turned as if he had a stomach ulcer. Zhu Jun felt like dying at any moment.
”General!”
The aides and the officers supported him in frantic. They thought that Zhu Jun was still sick.
*Cough*
Zhu Jun's condition worsened. His cough did not stop for a whole minute. When he stopped coughing, his face was already as paled as a white sheet, yet rashes of red dots still appeared on his face and skin.
”General!”
The old general sighed. Because the unknown sickness was tormenting him, he mustered his strength to his men another order.
”Don't charge in recklessly. Slowly move in and clear the paths for the siege weapons. You don't have to clear all the barricades. Make a few paths for the siege engines so that we can get on top of the wall.”