Chapter 21: The Turtle in the Urn?

  After a burst of wailing and howling, the front of the Qi army turned into a sea of flames, with mournful cries rising and falling in an unbroken succession. General Xue, who was watching from a distance, let out a hiss and ordered the retreat to be sounded.

  Some of the men who had been badly burned were twisted and ran back, and kind-hearted Qi Bing poured water from his canteen onto them. Unexpectedly, the fire not only didn't go out, but showed even more vigorous signs. At this time, an old soldier suddenly realized: "It's vegetable oil, which can't be extinguished with water, hurry up and roll on the ground."

  Those Qi soldiers who had been burned to the point of madness couldn't hear anything, and the old soldier turned his long spear around and swept it horizontally with force, immediately sweeping away two men. After these two fell to the ground, they rolled about unconsciously, and the rest of the Qi soldiers who had been burned were also knocked to the ground by their comrades in a similar manner...

  The fire on these people has finally gone out, and the Qi soldiers in front see that they are all charred, with some places having large chunks of red flesh, emitting a faint fragrance. Looking at their faces again, they have become unrecognizable, burnt into wooden stakes. Even though these soldiers had been through dozens of battles, their minds were tough, but seeing this made them involuntarily frightened and panicked, vomiting one after another, not daring to look again.

  As soon as they came up, their morale was defeated. General Xue was extremely angry in his heart and said to the soldiers beside him: "Kill those useless things and reorganize the attack."

  Qin Bing hastily dispatched a soldier to run to the front line and convey General Li's orders to the Front Vanguard Colonel.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A dozen or so crossbow bolts shot out from the formation and landed on those poor people who were struggling weakly on the ground.

  A sense of indifference pervades the entire army.

  After a long time, two thousand infantrymen holding three-foot-long large shields reappeared in front of the formation.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The fire oil bottle is good, but unfortunately the peasant army lacks everything except people. This time, if it weren't for the officers wanting to make a show in front of the emperor and turn their merits into demerits, they wouldn't have used it.

  Qin Lei's manual clearly stated: suitable for breaking through dense enemy formations, can break through slow-moving enemy formations, not suitable for cavalry enemies.

  Although they were still considered a breakable enemy at this time, the officers had to restrain their subordinates who were eager to fight, fearing that they would lose everything.

  An officer shouted loudly, and some peasant soldiers holding long guns squeezed to the front of the array.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  After asking Shi Wei, Qin Lei took him and several team leaders to the watchtower. Along the way, the peasant army ran back and forth, and when they met them, they all bowed their heads and saluted respectfully. Qin Lei looked at Shi Wei in surprise, and Shi Wei also shook his head indicating that he didn't know either.

  The watchtower of the peasant army was tens of meters away from the front line. It has to be said that each profession has its own expertise, and although these laborers are not good at fighting, they can build a platform or a tower with ease. The tower is nearly ten zhang high, built with logs several zhang long, cleverly arranged between them, mutually supporting and evenly stressed, and reinforced with wooden wedges and hemp ropes. At the very bottom, the wooden stakes were deeply buried in the ground, pounded to be extremely solid, providing strong support for the tower.

  Qin Lei ascended the watchtower, and soon arrived at the observation deck. The vast expanse of the Luhe Plain unfolded before his eyes, and his field of vision expanded greatly. He saw tens of thousands of peasant soldiers holding long spears, fiercely stabbing the Qi state infantry who were desperately throwing sandbags into the trenches. Several thousand Qi state shield-bearing soldiers strained every nerve to hold up their shields high, trying to build a barrier for their comrades who were throwing sandbags. The two sides engaged in a fierce and brutal struggle across the one-meter-wide moat.

  Qin Lei somewhat looked down on the commanding ability of the Qi military leaders, and at this time, he set up an archery camp on the front line. As soon as he stood up, he could suppress the peasant army that lacked long-range combat capabilities. He didn't know that in this era, archers were hard to come by, and a skilled shooter needed at least a year of strict training. This was one of the longest training periods for several types of soldiers in the cold weapon era where military consumption was huge. Another long-range soldier - the crossbowman - was easy to train, but the production of crossbows was not easy, and the price was expensive. These two types of soldiers usually could only meet the needs of the major border defense armies and the capital's garrison troops. The state armies that could get them were like treasures, how could they be sent to the front line to take risks? General Xue had only 500 archers in his hands, and there were also 50 personal crossbowmen who shot and killed the wounded soldiers just now.

  Pulling back his slightly wandering thoughts, Qin Lei looked further away. At this time, the east had already revealed a fish belly white, and at the intersection of heaven and earth, there was a golden light brewing, as if there was still a wisp of smoke...

  Hundred Victories Army

  Man proposes, God disposes. Qin Lei sneered to himself. According to the original plan, his team would touch and go with the peasant army, and when the peasant army tied up the Qi army and the Baisheng army, they would calmly head west.

  Now because of his own different thoughts, he has been dragged here by himself, and it seems that he will become a turtle in a jar.

  Qin Lei glanced at Ma Kui, who was bound on the side, and signaled the guard to untie him. Ma Kui rubbed his sore arm and begged Qin Lei with a look.

  Qin Lei stretched out his index finger and said coldly, "Ten thousand, I can only take away ten thousand."

  Ma Ke was initially overjoyed, but then felt somewhat disappointed, and asked in a hoarse voice: "Can you bring more?"

  Qin Lei shook his head and said firmly: "The remaining people must win time for those who leave, otherwise no one can leave. Don't say anything else, hurry up and prepare to go."

  Ma Kui knelt down again and kowtowed desperately, saying: "Your Highness, think of a way, bring more brothers! They regard you as their great savior!"

  Qin Lei was not in a good mood, seeing Ma Kui dragging his feet like this, he got angry and kicked him on the shoulder, kicking him to the ground. He coldly snorted: "You're showing too much mercy! You must leave at least 20,000 men behind as rearguard, get out!"

  Ma Qiu also knew that 15,000 was a cumbersome number, although he still couldn't bear it in his heart. He finally knelt down and said, "Your Highness is benevolent. The criminal will certainly fight to the death for you."

  Qin Lei shook his head and said, "You can't cut off your support, I won't be able to gather those people."

  Ma Kui wanted to say something else, but seeing Qin Lei's unpleasant expression, he had no choice but to swallow his words and turn around to leave.

  Ma Kui's original plan was to ask Your Highness to lead the peasant army together, he simply believed that his own army had an advantage in numbers, so the disadvantage in strength should not be so great. The reason for one defeat after another is that these people are not good at commanding, and if they were replaced by Iron Eagle, the commander of Your Highness's guard, there would be no problem. He didn't know that five years ago, Iron Eagle was one of the famous 'Five Tigers' in the army, who excelled at fighting hard battles.

  He didn't expect Iron Eagle not to be by Qin Lei's side, and his heart suddenly cooled down, losing his will to fight for a moment. And he also didn't think that the little prince who was kind to people in the capital city would turn out to be such a formidable character: leading a group of fierce subordinates, controlling the situation with ease.

  Perhaps this lord can also, he regained a little hope, people are most afraid of having no hope, even if it's just a little, he will grasp this lifesaving straw tightly.

  Ma Ke returned to his own military account, and the person restored the calm of the past, stretching out his hand to stop the anxious words of those around him. He said softly to the people beside him: "Let all the people behind the account withdraw, and call over the people who had a meeting here last night. Hurry up, time is not waiting for people."

  "Does that include Lord Shi?"

  Ma Kui nodded, let out a heavy sigh, and leaned back weakly in the armchair. The prince hadn't sent anyone to follow him, but he could feel several pairs of eyes watching him from the darkness.