Chapter 20: Chaos! Chaos!

  Qin Lei's cold gaze fixed on Ma Kui, even though Ma Kui thought his heart was as hard as iron, he felt a chill run down his back, and his knees softened, causing him to kneel on the ground.

  He kowtowed with both hands, knocking his head three times, and got up with a handful of sand and dirt on his forehead. He then stood up, clasped his fists and said to Qin Lei: "I am guilty and do not dare to ask for mercy. I beg Your Excellency to have pity on the lives of the over 30,000 soldiers in this camp and lead them out of the siege! If Your Excellency agrees, I am willing to atone for my crime with death!"

  Qin Lei's face was gloomy, his fists clenched with a cracking sound. His voice squeezed out from between his teeth: "If I don't agree, are you planning to use force, Brother Ma?!"

  Ma Kui fell to the ground again and buried his head, refusing to get up.

  The war horse sensed its master's anger and nervously snorted. Qin Lei suppressed his anger and asked the several former spies who had already been tied up by the guards, "Where is Shi Wei?"

  These people originally thought that the leader was just following orders, but they didn't expect things to turn out like this. One by one, they started shouting and cursing Ma Kui, some loudly scolding him, others repeatedly kowtowing to Qin Lei, while others glared angrily at their former colleagues, the whole scene in utter chaos.

  Xu Ge saw the prince's face darkening, and he quickly kicked everyone down, shouting: "The prince is asking questions, only answer! No nonsense!"

  Those who were tied up were originally the best guards of the Shen family. Now, seeing that Xǔ Gēwèi's demeanor was only slightly better than theirs, they naturally felt unhappy. Unfortunately, the situation was stronger than people, and one of them, who had seen Qín Léi before, plucked up the courage to say: "Your humble servant Xǔ Wěi reports back to Your Highness that Shí Wēi has been captured by Mǎ Tǒnglǐng in his camp."

  Qin Lei nodded to the team members behind Xu Wei, and they immediately came forward to untie him. Qin Lei looked at Xu Wei's sincere face, forced a smile and said: "Brother Xu, please bring Shi Wei here quickly." Xu Wei hastily nodded, taking two team members with him as he ran towards the inner tent.

  Qin Lei turned to the remaining bound people, his gaze sweeping back and forth over them. Finally, he said calmly, "Now, you will all write down what happened at that time. Don't need to be too detailed, just focus on the conversation at that time. Everyone writes, don't look at each other, those who can't write please raise your hand?" His heart gradually calmed down, walking out of the frustration of his plan being disrupted by his own people.

  No one raised their hands. Qin Lei let out an "oh" and instructed his teammates: "Untie the ropes for these few brothers."

  After untying, no one raised their hands. The team members then gave each person a carbon stick made by Qin Lei in the mountains and a white paper, asking them to write down the scene at that time.

  Qin Lei had already heard the commotion coming from outside the camp.

  In a short while, several quick-witted writers had finished writing and handed it over to Qin Lei for review. Generally speaking, they were similar, all starting from Ma Kui's entry into the house, carefully repeating every word he said. Fortunately, Ma Kui didn't say much, and it was finished in less than ten sentences. They all mentioned that Shi Wei had objections to this matter.

  It can be determined that no one is lying, Qin Lei handed the paper to Shen Qing, and smiled at the few who were still thinking deeply: "The brothers can change their minds slowly tomorrow, and they can write more vividly. However, please go back to your camp now and organize the defense."

  A few people were busy thanking and apologizing, while others stood there in a daze, unsure of what to do. They were dragged away by their companions.

  Hou Xin had already changed into scout gear and walked forward, asking in a low voice: "Your Highness, aren't you afraid that these people will turn around and bite back?"

  Qin Lei looked at his dark and gloomy face, also smiling in a low voice: "The Qi army is near, the Bai Sheng army will arrive soon, without them returning to organize defense, our few hundred people are not enough for the Qi army to fill their teeth. Since that's the case, why not give each other a way out and meet each other."

  Hou Xin said calmly: "It's that bad? Your Highness, let's escort you out of here."

  Qin Lei stretched out his foot and pretended to kick, chuckling: "Want to say, Your Highness, let's escape, just say it straight, no need for pretty words."

  Hou Xing was about to say a few more words when Xu Wei returned with Shi Wei. Hou Xing had no choice but to swallow his words and put on a straight face again.

  Shi Wei's clothes were tidy and his footsteps were steady, apparently unaffected by the torture. Qin Lei's resentment towards Ma Kui slightly decreased.

  Shi Wei saw Qin Lei and hastily ran two steps forward, kneeling down and saying: "Your subordinate has failed to complete the task, please punish me, Your Highness."

  Qin Lei smiled on horseback: "Shi San Ge has worked hard, the situation is urgent, please enlighten me."

  Shi Wei came out and asked Xu Wei about the current situation, and upon hearing it, he nodded and said, "I will speak without hiding anything."

  Qin Lei supported himself with his left hand on the saddle, jumped off the horse, stretched his sore legs and listened to the gradually boiling voices in the camp. He asked Shi Wei, "How many righteous soldiers can we control at most?"

  "Almost all of them," Shi Wei said without hesitation. "Those that couldn't be controlled were either led away or driven out by Ma, or exhausted to the point of collapse."

  Qin Lei was somewhat surprised and turned his head to look at Ma Kui, who was still kneeling on the ground. He then turned back to Shi Wei and asked: "How many horses are left in the camp?"

  Shi Wei shook his head at Qin Lei: "Except for over a hundred mounts of the generals, they were all killed and eaten."

  Qin Lei responded with an "oh" and continued to ask: "What is your prestige in the military?"

  Shi Wei smiled wryly and said, "If it weren't for this 'prestige' that harms people, we wouldn't have ended up in such a predicament."

  Qin Lei raised an eyebrow and said, "Is that what it means to have extremely high prestige?"

  Shi Wei nodded, looking somewhat self-satisfied.

  ~~~~~~~

  The officers who were released and those who stayed behind discussed it, since the lord had defined these people as acting on orders, then there was no fault at all. Alright, let's just listen to the lord obediently. So they lifted their spirits, each led their soldiers, and brought them to the front of the trench works. At this time, the Qi army's logistics team had just arrived at the front line.

  The peasant army has been in battle for two months, and although the recent situation is extremely dire, they have also experienced over a dozen battles, so they are not inexperienced newcomers. At first, they did nothing, but when the Qi army's logistics team carried the wooden planks to within eight zhang of the ditch, they calmly lit one by one the oil bottles with cotton strings inserted, and threw them forcefully onto the wooden planks carried by the Qi soldiers.

  This oil bottle was invented by Qin Lei, inspired by the fire bottle. The inner force is filled with vegetable oil, which has a strong adhesion and is difficult to remove once it comes into contact. Although the burning ability of vegetable oil is poor, it can burn through wood without any problem. Qin Lei predicted that if he were to start an uprising, the peasant army would be at a great disadvantage in terms of equipment, so he taught Ma Kui how to make this fire oil bottle.

  Only the kerosene bottles were seen crashing onto the wooden boards, shattering into pieces, and the vegetable oil was instantly ignited. The flames splashed onto the bodies of the Qi army soldiers on the lifting boards, setting their hair and clothes ablaze. If it splashed directly onto their skin, it would be like a maggot attached to bone, unable to be extinguished, leaving them staring blankly as their skin was roasted, emitting the smell of charred meat.

  The soldiers of Qi's army who were burned threw down the wooden boards in their hands and rolled around on the ground, screaming.

  The troops behind were frightened and dared not come forward to rescue, they could only watch as their companions were burned to a crisp, their faces completely disfigured.

  divider line

  Today I first got on the list, newcomer ranking: 376th. Everyone help me top it!