The sound alone was terrifying, and there was also a smell of white phosphorus in the air.
"Not good! Vice Envoy Cheng, have everyone evacuate. Forget about the grain supplies."
Su Luo shouted, and with Cheng Yimin's command, the rhyming army instantly withdrew.
Suddenly, hundreds of bright red insects crawled toward the grain in the middle. Su Luo had never seen these insects before, nor had he seen any record of them in any books.
No sooner had the army left than those crimson insects spontaneously combusted right where they had stood.
Wherever the insects went, fires raged, spreading endlessly, instantly setting more than a dozen carts of grain and fodder ablaze.
That's grain! If the grain is burned, what will the entire Akabane army in Beichuan City eat?
Seeing the fire growing larger and larger, Nangong Chiyu was anxious to put it out. Just as he was about to dismount, Su Luo grabbed his wrist.
"That's not grain or fodder. Let it burn. Have people cordon off the burning area so it doesn't spread to the territory of Beichuan City."
Nangong Chiyu looked at his wife with a puzzled expression. It seemed that his wife had known about the ambush all along and had taken precautions.
"Someone, put out the fire first!"
In the heat of the moment, before the two could even feel joy, Su Luo said to Nangong Chiyu, who was hugging her from behind.
"It's alright, put me down first."
After Nangong Chiyu dismounted, he knew that Su Luo could get down on her own, but he still reached out and carried her down.
Su Luo watched as the person who wanted to kill her ran away, leaving behind these self-immolating poisonous insects.
Most importantly, that person seems to be Shuang Shuo?
Ye Beihan can make poisons, so could he have also created these poisonous insects? If so, Nangong Chiyu will be in even greater danger.
Su Luo approached the insects that were about to explode and burn, took out her water bag, and poured some water onto one of the insects that hadn't exploded yet.
The water cooled the insect, preventing it from exploding and burning itself.
"Luo Luo, this is a poisonous insect, be careful."
"good!"
Nangong Chiyu stayed behind Su Luo the whole time. Although it was the first time he had ever seen this kind of insect, he knew at a glance that it was a poisonous insect.
He clashed with the Northern Liang many times. In this war, they used poisonous insects to besiege the enemy several times, but they stopped using them because the animals' limbs had become stiff since the winter snow began.
Now that the snow has melted, the poisonous insects have immediately reappeared.
Instead of using her hands, Su Luo picked up a tree branch and a dagger and dissected the poisonous insect on the spot.
The insect's abdomen was swollen, filled with white powder, which instantly ignited upon contact with air.
The flames shot up very high; if Su Luo hadn't reacted quickly, her eyebrows would have been burned off.
"Luo Luo, be careful."
Nangong Chiyu turned around, using his body to separate Su Luo from the flames, and stepped on the flaming insect with his black cloud-patterned shoes.
He rubbed the fire in the dirt on the ground before he could finally put it out.
"Your Highness, I am the Deputy Envoy of the Escort Service. I have just met Your Highness."
Cheng Yimin arranged for people to use the mud and unmelted snow on the ground to put out the fire, but the fake grain ration in the middle could not be saved. It was attacked by poisonous insects and caught fire.
"No need for formalities!"
Cheng Yimin straightened up. As long as the insects kept exploding, they couldn't put out the fire. Cheng Yimin had never seen such a strange thing before. Could this kind of insect be unique to Beichuan City?
"Your Highness, what kind of poisonous insect is this? And why can it breathe fire?"
Nangong Chiyu turned to look at Su Luo, who was dressed in men's clothing. This was the work of a spy from Beiliang; only they would have poisonous insects.
"Luo Luo, did you notice something just now?"
Su Luo: "It should be a mutated insect. I just looked at their bodies. They themselves do not explode. What can explode and burn is the white phosphorus inside their bodies."
It is common knowledge that white phosphorus spontaneously combusts when heated or exposed to air; however, how one could possibly put white phosphorus inside the bellies of these poisonous insects is truly baffling.
"The Northern Liang's methods are becoming increasingly ruthless. This war is different from all the previous ones. This time, they have reduced their troops and switched to using poisonous insects."
Nangong Chiyu discovered that Ye Beihan was secretly refining a lot of poisons, in addition to the several battles they had encountered with poisonous insects.
They can still use fire to fight in the past, but Beiliang will definitely change their approach later. If they become ruthless and disregard the lives of the people of both countries, they might create a contagious virus.
If that day ever comes, Nanning will surely be at their mercy.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Yimin gritted his teeth in hatred: "Damn it, these people from Beiliang are truly despicable."
Now is not the time to talk about this. Nangong Chiyu exudes an aura of authority, and just his presence alone is enough to reassure the soldiers.
"Vice Envoy Cheng, where are the grain supplies you were escorting?"
Speaking of provisions, Cheng Yimin still felt lingering fear. If it weren't for Su Luo's foresight, their provisions would have been burned to ashes.
Thinking about it now, it's terrifying. If the grain supplies had been burned, he would have had no choice but to atone with his death.
"Your Highness, the grain supplies are secure. Please inspect them."
Cheng Yimin had the horse-drawn carriages that had just run away at both ends pulled back to one place. These carriages looked like they were full of hay, with no trace of rice.
Cheng Yimin divided the work into two groups: one group to put out the fire and the other to protect the grain. Once the wagons were pulled to an open area, he went up and lifted the haystacks to reveal the bags of rice inside.
“Your Highness, not a single pound of rice is missing, but there may be some loss of horse feed.”
Nangong Chiyu used his longsword to poke a small hole, and sure enough, there was rice inside. Only when he saw the rice did he feel relieved.
"Chi Yi, protect the grain and fodder well, and hand them over to Vice Envoy Cheng at the military camp."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Chi Yi was also there. They had only come to pick up the princess, but they didn't expect to encounter such a thing, and even ran into the spies of Beiliang hidden in Beichuan City. Now they were busy again.
"Your Highness, thanks to the Princess's brilliant plan, we were able to keep our supplies. These people pretended to be bandits, but they didn't actually want to rob us; they wanted to burn them. We almost fell for their trap."
Nangong Chiyu looked at Su Luo with doting eyes. His queen was certainly not a stupid person.
"Luo Luo, how did you know that these people weren't bandits, but rather wanted to destroy our supplies?"
Su Luo wasn't sure at the time, but the scouts told her that there were bandits lying in ambush ahead, and they were absolutely certain that they were bandits.
"I've also read some military books. The Northern Liang spies are trying to get people to remember them, and the more they want to be remembered, the more problematic they are."
But they forgot that even bandits, robbery is their way of survival, to put it bluntly.
"A professional wouldn't leave any traces. Doing something so unprofessional, making it obvious they're bandits at a glance."
Cheng Yimin thought about it and realized that it made sense. Why couldn't he understand it back then? Luckily, he listened to Su Luo, or he would have been in big trouble.
"Given the fighting in Beiliang City, both countries will surely have spies. Stealing and transporting supplies will attract too much attention and give the Chiyu Army a chance to take them back. It's better to destroy everything."
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