Chapter 363: Defending the City
He sent out two letters of request in total.
One letter was addressed to the prefect, and the other was addressed to a confidant of Prime Minister Zhao in Hejian Prefecture.
Both letters disagreed with his decision to lift the siege on Youzhou City, and even... demanded that he immediately, under the pretext of a worsening plague in the city, use slingshots to hurl pine oil-burning fireballs into the city to eliminate the disease!
Lieutenant General Zhang came closer, his eyes terrifying as he said, "General, let's do it. While the news doesn't leak out tonight and the people in the city don't know the order has been sent from above, we can catch them off guard!"
General Xu turned to look at Lieutenant General Zhang and whispered, "Lieutenant General Zhang, do you know what you're talking about? The people in this city are all my people, Dayu. They're powerless and haven't shown any signs of rebellion. If we really start, it would be... a massacre!"
Deputy General Zhang remained unmoved. His eyes were cold as he spoke, "General, he who understands the current situation is a true hero. This is the shared opinion of the Second and Sixth Princes. If we disobey, we will be offending both of them. No matter who inherits the throne in the future, we will suffer! Prime Minister Zhao, knowing that you are a former subordinate of Concubine Meng's father and brother, sent a separate letter to me, ordering me to assist you. If you are concerned about this, I will not be able to report to the Prime Minister..."
These words contained a hint of threat, and General Xu gave Lieutenant General Zhang a cold look.
He always knew that the Second Prince and Prime Minister Zhao did not completely trust him, and this deputy general was inserted beside him to monitor him.
But he was still very unhappy at being threatened so blatantly by Lieutenant General Zhang.
Lieutenant General Zhang clearly realized his attitude was a bit arrogant, so he restrained himself and said, "General, I advise you this for my own good. If you can earn the respect of the Second Prince and Prime Minister Zhao, we, the generals under your command, will rise with you. As the saying goes, we rise together and we fall together. We will rise and fall with you!"
General Xu's expression softened slightly.
He pondered for a moment and said, "Go find a physiognomist. There's a rumor in Hejian Prefecture that there will be a sudden volcanic fire in the near future. Everyone should be on guard."
Lieutenant General Zhang was stunned for a moment before reacting and saying with a smile, "General, are you trying to make the fire in Youzhou City into a calamity caused by heavenly fire?"
General Xu looked up at the dark Youzhou city wall in the distance and sighed, "It is fate that has destroyed the people of this city. We want to save them, but we are powerless to do anything!"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt in his heart.
But the guilt was quickly washed away.
Although the Qin family had promoted him, that was all in the past. Since he had joined the Second Prince's faction, it was originally because he wanted to rise to prominence and become a king or a marquis.
Moreover, as Deputy General Zhang said, if he did not do as he was told this time, he would be offending the two princes who had the greatest hope of becoming the future emperor, which would be tantamount to destroying his own future.
But he couldn't bear the stigma of being a general who massacred a city, otherwise he would be doing a thankless job and would be sacrificed by his superiors as a stepping stone to win over the people's hearts!
Therefore, it would be best to say that it was a natural disaster.
The eldest lady and the ninth prince in the city, as well as the people of the city, can only hope for the best.
"General, you are wise! I will do it right away!" said Lieutenant General Zhang, and hurriedly took the order.
What General Xu and Deputy General Zhang didn't know was that their conversation was overheard by Shen Fenghe.
Chen Fenghe has been very busy these past few days. In addition to helping treat patients in the city, she would occasionally use space to go outside the city to investigate.
She doesn't trust General Xu.
Now it seems that he is not trustworthy.
Chen Fenghe sneered for a moment, turned around, and passed through space to their warehouse.
The makeshift warehouse was filled with barrels of kerosene and unignited fireballs.
The inner part of the fireball is a sealed small wooden ball filled with combustible substances such as saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, and gunpowder, and the outside is wrapped with bark soaked in tung oil and kerosene, rags, etc.
When using it, first ignite the flammable part on the outside with fire, then quickly use the catapult to throw fireballs into the city.
When the outer shell is completely burned out, the gunpowder inside will ignite, causing an explosion in an instant, which is very lethal.
This type of fireball is the most powerful of Dayu's siege weapons. In addition, there are several other types of fireballs with smaller power. They are used when attacking a city and you don't want to destroy all the buildings in the city.
But no matter which type of fireball you use, the method of use is similar.
This time, the siege troops were all the most powerful, which showed that there was absolutely no room for maneuver.
Of course, this is not the most amazing thing.
The wooden barrels containing kerosene in the warehouse are very small, about the size of a basketball.
Such a small wooden barrel can be thrown directly into the city with a catapult.
Under the huge throwing force, the moment the wooden barrel hits the obstacle, it will explode and the kerosene inside will scatter.
Once the flames from the fireball come into contact with the city, the entire city will be burned into a sea of fire in no time!
Even in modern times, with fire trucks, high-pressure water guns and various fire-fighting equipment, it is difficult to extinguish such a situation, let alone in ancient times when people only knew how to use water to put out fires?
Chen Fenghe waved his hand and collected the kerosene and fireballs in the wooden barrel into the space, then replaced the kerosene in the small wooden barrel with water and put it back in its original place.
As for those fireballs, they were directly replaced with ones without gunpowder.
Even if this kind of fireball is thrown into the city, it will not cause too many casualties as long as the people in the city extinguish it in time.
The reason why she replaced the fireballs instead of moving them all out was to prevent General Xu and others from discovering that the fireballs and kerosene barrels had been replaced.
Otherwise, they might use more sinister methods to kill the people in this city.
After doing all this, Chen Fenghe passed through the space again and returned to the city quietly.
At the same time, Xiao Yunshuo in the city also quickly learned about the rumors about the skyfire outside through the Dark Pavilion's information network.
Chen Fenghe took the opportunity to remind him, "Your Highness, the rumors of the skyfire are false. I'm afraid the soldiers besieging the city have received orders from above to set fire to Youzhou City..."
Xiao Yunshuo naturally guessed this, and a rare solemn expression appeared on his face.
He had led troops in battles for many years and had used the tactics of fire attack to attack cities. Naturally, he had experienced it countless times and knew how dangerous it was.
"Your Highness, what should we do? Winter in the north is dry and a little spark could start a fire. Furthermore, the troops outside will undoubtedly use fireballs, kerosene, and other weapons specifically designed for siege warfare. If they're thrown into the city, even rain wouldn't be enough to save it!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
