At night, Youxin City was filled with the sounds of fighting.
Blood and limbs were splattered everywhere. The sound of steel knives cutting into human bodies made one's teeth ache, and the screams of dying stimulated one's eardrums and brain.
Those screams could be heard clearly outside the city.
Ren Baqian and the empress sat side by side outside the carriage, enjoying the night breeze and the smell of blood that came from afar.
"Sing a song for me!" the empress suddenly said.
"I know how to sing Twinkle Little Star!" Ren Baqian was excited.
Tong Lan, who was in the distance, moved her ears. She had just caught a sentence in the night breeze.
"Twinkle Little Star …" Tong Lan gritted her teeth. All the students in the academy had been beaten up by her, and no one knew what Twinkle Little Star was.
The empress looked up at the night sky and said, "You sing, and I'll listen!"
"Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, the sky is full of little stars, shining brightly like many little eyes …" Ren Baqian hummed softly.
The empress didn't feel that the song was childish. Instead, she felt a different kind of warmth, as if she was listening to a ballad in her mother's arms. It was just that the memory was so long ago that she couldn't even remember it. When she heard this song, she suddenly recalled it from the depths of her memory.
"After the war is settled, I want to go back to the mountains to take a look," the empress said.
"The Sixty Thousand Mountains?" Ren Baqian stopped humming and asked.
The empress nodded slightly.
"Why do you suddenly have such an idea?"
"It is said that my mother's tomb is in the mountains, and she hasn't seen what I look like now." The empress was a little emotional, which was rare.
"I will accompany Your Majesty to take a look. However, in order to finish the war, Great Xia has to be scared, "Ren Baqian said.
"Aren't you planning something with that person from Great Xia?" the empress asked.
"I told Your Majesty that if Great Xia is in chaos, we will be safe. Furthermore, 100 million taels of silver can do a lot of things, "Ren Baqian said.
The empress nodded and didn't say anything else.
"In fact, there is no need to finish the war. As long as there is a radio station, it won't affect state affairs." Ren Baqian laughed.
"We can't use it here!" the empress said faintly.
"Uh …" Ren Baqian opened his mouth. Who would have thought that Tianjing Basin would be so strange? Such a large area was actually a land of silence.
At this moment, several figures passed through the city and rushed toward where Ren Baqian and the empress were.
"Sir Ren, urgent news!" Zuo Leng landed in front of Ren Baqian and the empress and shouted.
"Speak!"
"Milord, the news was left behind by Feng Ping Dao Hu Cheng."
Ren Baqian immediately thought of the person that Zuo Leng mentioned two days ago. He was a lieutenant under Tie Zihe, and he didn't know why he had sent a message at this time.
"The rebels are going to set fire to the city!" Zuo Leng said coldly. When he saw the news, he was shocked. Then, extreme anger rose in him. He was born and raised in Tianjing Basin. Although it was normal for two armies to use any means in a battle, he didn't expect them to be so ruthless.
"What are they going to do?" Ren Baqian's expression became serious.
"According to the information left behind by Hu Cheng, the rebels have placed many fire starters everywhere in the city. Once they lure our army into the depths of the city, they will set fire to the city. I have already checked just now and saw oil cans and dry firewood in many places. Most of them are in some corners or courtyards. If one didn't know beforehand, it would be very difficult to discover them.
Sir, most of the houses in Youxin City are made of wood. Once the fire starts, it will be difficult to control. Not only will our army suffer heavy casualties, but even the people in the city will have a hard time escaping! "
The oil cans here were filled with animal fat.
"Didn't the people in the city evacuate first?" Ren Baqian was a little surprised.
"No, otherwise, they would have realized something was wrong the moment they entered the city."
"They are really ruthless and vicious!" Ren Baqian suddenly laughed coldly. "A cornered dog will do something desperate. These rebels are really crazy to want hundreds of thousands of people in the city to be buried with them!"
"Sir, what should we do?" Zuo Leng asked.
"Pass down my order. Everyone from the protectorate will first take away the oil cans on both sides of the main road, pile the firewood together, and leave someone to guard it to ensure that the army is safe when they evacuate. After that, use the main road as the axis and spread out in all directions, mainly searching for the oil cans, "Ren Baqian said in a deep voice.
In a city like this, most people didn't die from being burned to death, but from suffocation due to the smoke.
Even if they weren't burned, they would still die from inhaling large amounts of carbon monoxide, hypoxia, and other reasons.
As long as the main road was safe, they could at least buy some time for the army to evacuate. After that, they would take away the oil cans in other places. Without the oil cans, even if the fire started, it wouldn't be difficult to clean up immediately.
"Yes!"
"Your Majesty, what do you think?" Ren Baqian turned his head and asked.
"Inform the winged cavalry to block the other three city gates and trap the rebels in the city," the empress said coldly. Originally, in order to reduce casualties, they planned to leave two gates for the rebels to escape and then pursue them all the way.
Now, the empress had changed her mind.
"Your Majesty, if that's the case, I'm afraid that they won't burn the city. Instead, they will fight with their lives on the line, and I'm afraid that there will be more casualties in the end. Why don't we wait for them to start the fire before blocking the other three city gates? "Ren Baqian said coldly.
"You reap what you sow. Originally, I didn't think of doing this, but since they want to set the city on fire, they can't blame anyone else. Let them perish together with Youxin City! "
"Sir, then the commoners in the city …" Even though Zuo Leng's name was cold, he was warm-hearted. After hearing Ren Baqian's words, he quivered.
"Inform Protector General Xi of this matter and ask him to reduce the intensity of the attack. Delay for time and strengthen the attack after most of the oil cans in the south of the city have been transported away. As for the commoners, when the time comes, get someone to lead the commoners in the other three directions to escape from the south of the city. How many of them can escape will depend on their fate. "
Zuo Leng was very grateful after hearing this arrangement.
He didn't expect the three local powers to burn the city and let the hundreds of thousands of commoners die in the sea of fire just to prevent the aboriginal army from discovering the problem in advance. However, Ren Baqian, who always gave him the impression that he was a ruthless superior, actually gave the commoners a way out.
Even though this would inevitably result in a lot of casualties, it could be said that countless people had already survived.
"Relay these words to Protector General Xi. Get people to keep an eye on the movements of the rebels from high ground. If they discover that the three gates are impassable after the fire starts and a large number of soldiers want to break through the south gate, intercept them immediately. As for you guys, after leading the commoners to escape to the south of the city, roam the city and kill small groups of rebels! "
"Understood, Sir," Zuo Leng replied.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
