When Liu Tan heard that the Qilan people were releasing miasma outside the city, he almost doubted his ears - why were they using miasma?
Can something like miasma be used casually?
However, no one could answer this question for him until he conquered the Kingdom of Qie Lan.
The elite regiments that wanted to attack first all inhaled the miasma, and none of them were much better off than those who fell down.
Fortunately, when Liu Tan left Chang'an, he brought a lot of anti-malarial medicines, including pills and herbs, and even brought a doctor who was good at this.
It can be said that this doctor was revisiting his old place - he was originally a descendant of the Yelang Kingdom, and followed his family all the way to the Central Plains, and now he has returned with them.
Wei Buyi was injured this time, but it was not serious and he recovered after a while.
He said with some shame: "Your Highness, I underestimated the enemy. If not..."
Liu Tan put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him from talking. "It has nothing to do with whether you underestimate the enemy or not. Even if you didn't underestimate the enemy, could you really blow away the miasma with one breath?"
Wei Buyi's face was solemn. "Your Highness, this miasma is too strong. I heard from the doctor that even with medicine, it can only resist for a short while. If we fight, the resistance time will be even shorter. This... what should we do?"
Liu Tan said, "Dispelling the miasma isn't difficult. Just set it on fire. Miasma is essentially a combination of gases emitted by plant and animal carcasses. Plus, it's humid here, so it's prone to fog. Burning some herbs might help dispel some of the miasma."
Wei Kang thought of the largest bonfire in the middle of the camp. At that time, he thought it was because it was too humid and Liu Tan couldn't stand it, so he asked someone to build such a bonfire. Now it seems that the bonfire was used to dispel the miasma in the camp.
The King of the North...is this another prophet? But if he really is a prophet, why did everyone he sent out get poisoned by the miasma?
Just as Wei Deng was thinking about this, he heard Liu Tan say, "It's not difficult to dispel the miasma. The hard part is figuring out how they use it. It's invisible and traceless."
It is true that people in later generations used biological gases as weapons, but what was the level of science and technology then and what is it like now?
The scientific and technological level of the Qilan Kingdom is estimated to be a hundred or eighty years behind that of the Han Dynasty. Do they have any special means?
Wei Kang said, "If you don't understand, there's no need to think about how they did it."
Liu Tan turned to look at him and asked, "Hmm? What does the Marquis of Wei mean?"
Wei Kang asked, "They only have one city. Why don't we just use fire to attack them? Wouldn't that be enough to force them out?"
Liu Tan looked at Wei Kang silently. Not only him, but also Wei Buyi was looking at his brother speechlessly.
Wei Kang asked timidly, "What...what happened?"
Liu Tan sighed: "What you said is indeed a solution, but the problem is that you can't find so much firewood in this poor place."
Wei Kang was just about to say, aren’t there trees all over the mountain?
But before he could finish, Wei Buyi seemed to know what he was thinking and immediately said, "The trees here are too damp, and it's been cloudy lately. It will take some effort to dry them out enough to light them."
Wei Kang touched his nose awkwardly and said, "It's my inexperience. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
Liu Tan chuckled: "Don't waste people's words, don't waste people because of their words. There is no need to punish them. We really need to brainstorm."
Wei Buyan asked without hesitation: "Your Highness, if it really doesn't work, why not take the water route?"
There is a river running through the middle of where the capital of Qielan State is located, and the capital is built on the bank of the river, so Qielan State actually does not have a real city wall because they do not need it. There are high mountains and natural barriers, as well as wide rivers next to it, which makes full use of the advantages of the terrain.
Liu Tan hesitated for a moment and said, "I've thought about this before, but you have to know that the Qilan people all grew up near the water. They are much better swimmers than the elite regiments. We may not be able to outsmart them by water. Besides, we didn't bring a boat this time, so we'll have to make one if needed."
Wei Kang said, "The rivers in the Lan Kingdom are not very wide, so the ships don't need to be very large. Since Your Highness has brought the Mo family with him this time, it should be no problem."
Liu Tan said directly: "Since that's the case, let's hold a meeting to discuss it. Buyi, take a rest first."
Wei Buyi quickly said, "Your Highness, I'm almost fully recovered. Although we didn't go too deep inside, we have explored the terrain ahead, which is a good opportunity for us to formulate a strategy."
Liu Tan thought about it and turned to look at the doctor who had been standing next to him like a transparent person. The doctor immediately said, "Captain Wei is strong and healthy. There is only some residual poison left in his body. As long as you continue to use the medicine, it will be fine after the remaining poison is cleared. There is no problem now."
Liu Tan nodded: "Come on then."
He also asked someone to call Mo Shi and others over.
Although the Mo family had always wanted to send more mature and skilled elders, Liu Tan politely declined.
Oh, that was his way of saying a polite refusal. What he actually said was, "It was Mo Shi and his team who originally used my blueprints to build the ship. You haven't even done it before, so where do you get the experience from? Don't mess with me!"
Liu Ju responded, "If you decline politely, there will be no one in the world who refuses politely."
But he didn't object. He knew very well that Liu Tan's objection was not because those people had never built a boat, but because he didn't trust those people.
Regardless of the abilities of Mo Shi and the others, at least Liu Tan had figured out their details and was able to deal with them easily.
Now that a group of older people have arrived, if there are any disagreements, he will have to find a way to deal with them first. Isn't this just asking for trouble?
Mo Shi and the others originally thought that they had no chance, but unexpectedly a pie fell from the sky. With this experience, their future is really limitless. Now they all want to devote themselves to the King of the North until their death.
Liu Tan did not say his decision. In the south, everyone was a novice, and when it came to fighting, he was a novice among novices, relying entirely on equipment to crush his opponents.
Well, he really missed the days of crushing his opponents with equipment, but it was a pity that this shabby place didn't allow his equipment advantage to be that great.
In particular, the elite regiments have always been trained according to the cavalry. Although infantry are also trained, the focus is not here.
As a result, the mountains here directly made the cavalry useless.
Liu Tan sat at the top and let the people below discuss, but after discussing for a while, it seemed that they all came to the conclusion of taking the water route.
Liu Tan turned to look at Mo Shi: "How long will it take?"
Mo Shi counted the number of people and said, "Ten days at most."
Liu Tan was surprised: "Ten days is enough?"
Mo Shi nodded and said, "This river is not wide, so we don't need a very large warship."
Liu Tan sat there hesitant for a moment, and Mo Shi was puzzled: "Your Highness, do you have any concerns?"
Liu Tan said, "I'm just worried that we won't be able to defeat the opponent."
Mo Shi immediately understood his thoughts and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I've seen their ships along the way. At least from the perspective of ships, they are far inferior to ours."
Liu Tan thought about it and agreed. Even in the river, he could still rely on his equipment to crush the enemy. He could even equip a step-down crossbow.
He nodded and said, "Then go ahead and make the arrangements. Within one month, we must take over Qie Lan."
Although he didn't want to delay for a month, he couldn't be impatient now. After Qie Lan, there was Jiaozhi. He couldn't impulsively put all his hopes on Qie Lan.
However, when they started building ships, they didn't know whether the Qilan Kingdom saw their actions in some special way, but these mountain monkeys began to use a different way to disgust them - harassing them day and night.
The place Liu Tan and his team chose to camp was naturally an open space, but in mountainous areas, the so-called open space was nothing more than a canyon between two mountains.
There are mountains all around, either high mountains or hills.
At night, these mountain monkeys make all kinds of noises in the woods and throw stones into the camp.
Liu Tan's tent was in the safest area and was not greatly affected, but the problem was that the people they were harassing were the team escorting supplies, which was also the main force working on the shipbuilding.
This kind of harassment day and night caused everyone to have a bad rest. They were not used to the climate here and had been taking medicine all the time. Now many people fell ill, and the efficiency of those who were not sick was very low.
And at this time, King Qilan sent another envoy.
When the envoy came over, Liu Tan was sitting there expressionlessly listening to the discussion below about how to deal with the harassment.
At this time, his anger level was almost reaching its peak and his endurance was at its limit.
When he heard that King Qilan had sent someone over, he actually smiled and said, "Let him in."
When the envoy from Qielan came in, he walked with his head held high, but he was too short and everyone in the room was taller than him.
The moment he entered the door, his footsteps paused, but as if he was thinking of something, he put on a smug look again.
After he walked in, his eyes greedily scanned all the people in the account, and finally stopped on Liu Tan.
When the envoy saw the crown, jade pendant and precious silk on Liu Tan, a gleam of cunning suddenly appeared in his eyes.
Without waiting for Liu Tan's men to ask, he spoke in a very awkward Chinese accent, "Our king said that as long as you leave all your gold, silver and treasures behind, we will let you go."
Liu Tan was surprised: "Oh? Your king is willing to let us go?"
Everyone looked at Liu Tan anxiously, worried that he would really agree. After all, everyone saw how anxious Liu Tan had been in the past two days, and they were afraid that he would leave all his money behind in order to quickly go and pick up the emperor.
The man immediately said, "The king said, in your Han Chinese terms, if we continue, we will both... lose... and both be injured!"
Liu Tan understood that the previous envoys were not strong enough, so they were all killed. Now King Qilan found that Liu Tan and his men were more fierce, and he could not defeat them, so he could only spare their lives reluctantly.
The appearance of the Qielan envoy successfully snapped the string of reason in Liu Tan's mind. He smiled and spat out two words: "Kill him."
Wei Kang was stunned for a moment, but before he could react, the guard on the other side had already drawn his sword and chopped the messenger to death.
Liu Tan raised his chin slightly and said, "Send the body back to King Qielan. By the way, have Mo Shi and the others bring saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal to me."
Everyone was a little surprised and didn't know what he wanted these things for.
Liu Tan took a deep breath and said, "They are asking for death themselves. You can't blame me."
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