Song Lin led the big knife team to ambush in the dense forest maze on the mountainside. In the past few days, they have figured out the direction of this dense forest. Only a small group of people shuttled through the dense forest to kill people, using the terrain to fight guerrilla tactics. They were flexible and changeable, and were very effective in killing enemies and hiding.
Zhang Cheng's rebel army quickly rushed to the middle of the mountain. Many people rushed into the dense forest, and soon some of them fell into the trap and screamed miserably.
Their scouting team was divided into more than a dozen teams of hundreds of people, and nearly half of them were killed in less than half an hour after entering the dense forest.
The enemy troops also seemed to feel that the casualties of the assault were too high, and gradually slowed down their march.
Seeing that the enemy troops no longer entered the dense forest, Song Lin temporarily withdrew to the command center and paid attention to the counterattack situation on other routes.
Their traps and killing arrays were still effective and could withstand most of the enemy's attacks, but the reinforcements from the ordnance troops were slow, and the crossbows and crossbows used to defend against the enemy were already in short supply. There was no time to treat the casualties, and the sounds of painful wailing were everywhere.
"General Song, after the last wave of attacks, the enemy lost nearly 3,000 men, and we lost 800. It seems we can hold on."
After listening to the battle damage data reported by the scouts, the nervousness of several generals was immediately relieved a lot. 80,000 troops attacked 20,000 troops, but the casualties were higher than the enemy's, proving that they were still in an advantageous position.
"What about the trap loss?"
"Almost all the traps down the mountain are useless."
Song Lin pursed his lips. This was not good news at all. Once the trap was gone, casualties would inevitably increase dramatically.
At this time, a thin layer of black fog covered the sky above Xiangyang Mountain.
A soldier came running over in a panic and reported, "General Song, the enemy has poured kerosene on the hill and set it on fire.
The third line of defense has been covered by thick smoke, and the fire is coming soon!"
Song Lin immediately gave the order: "Order the soldiers on the third line of defense to abandon their positions and quickly retreat to the fourth line of defense. Leave behind all bows, crossbows, and weapons!"
Hearing this, Li Fei suddenly became anxious and said, "Quick, immediately dispatch a team to the water source to fetch water and quickly organize firefighting!"
The other generals said anxiously: "No, the water source on this mountain is too far away from our defense line. Fighting the fire will disrupt our deployment!
By the time the flames die down and Xue's army attacks, we won't have time to deploy defenses!"
"Let's retreat and defend the city, retreat!"
"No, we can't defend Xiangyangling Pass with less than 20,000 people!"
At this time, the command camp was in chaos. Some suggested getting water to put out the fire, while others suggested evacuating quickly.
"There are still many wounded soldiers on the defense line. If the fire comes, there will be no time to evacuate. We cannot retreat, not even a single step!"
Song Lin tried hard to remain calm, staring intently at the two hills on the sand table.
Outside the fortress, the groaning and wailing of the wounded soldiers who had not retreated in time were still clearly audible.
He seemed to see a fire blazing in the dense woods, uncontrollable, and those soldiers who did not have time to escape were burned to death.
He seemed to see the surging Xue army army crossing the mountain, bringing with them a mighty siege force and flattening the city of Xiangyangling.
Corpses were everywhere.
No, we can't retreat. The high ground is right here. If we take a step back, Xiangyangling Pass will be broken!
Song Lin stared at the sand table, trying hard to think of countermeasures if he didn't evacuate.
"General Song, if you don't evacuate, you will be burned to death!" The generals persuaded him anxiously, but the commander did not say to retreat, and they did not dare to order the army to retreat without authorization.
Song Lin pondered silently for a long time, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind. He quickly said, "Transport all the remaining kerosene in the city to the fortress."
"What?" Everyone looked at each other. They were already under fire from the enemy. Wouldn't preparing kerosene just add fuel to the fire?
Song Lin ordered: "Everyone abandon the fourth line of defense and cut down all the trees from the fourth to the fifth line of defense."
He pointed to the sparsely wooded area of the fourth line of defense and said to the soldiers in the command camp, "Cut down the trees in this area from the roots, and dig out all the wooden stakes near the dense forest.
They attack with fire, and we attack with fire. They burn up the mountain, and we burn down the mountain."
When the soldiers heard this, they found it unbelievable. No one had ever heard of anyone using setting fire to put out a fire.
But Song Lin is the head coach after all. Before they can predict what effect his decisions will have, they can only trust him and obey his orders.
Since the vegetation on Xiangyang Mountain is basically poplar, the wood is soft and easy to cut down, so the soldiers quickly cut down the vegetation in an area.
Song Lin ordered his men to pile up all the dead branches and leaves on the ground into the dense forest of the fourth line of defense, and to clear away all the flammable materials on the ground around the dense forest.
Then they continued to cut trees on the mountain. The engineering team, the crossbow team, the sword and axe team, and even the baggage team and the cook camp all went into battle to cut trees.
Soon, the dense forest covered by the shade of the trees became sparse, and the sky covered with dust appeared from the lush forest. The soldiers, braving the smoke and heat, hurriedly transported the cut down trees to the mountain.
Scouts kept coming to report that the fire at the foot of the mountain had spread to the mountainside with the wind. The billowing smoke made the soldiers cough uncontrollably, but they still did not stop cutting trees.
"Be careful, the black smoke is poisonous. Cover your mouth and nose with a wet cloth and try not to inhale the smoke!" Song Lin only felt a burning pain in his throat and loudly ordered the soldiers to pay attention to the poisonous smoke.
"Move faster and make sure to cut down all these trees before the fire spreads!" He simply started cutting down the trees himself. He took an axe and chopped the trees hard.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
