The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 189
In just a moment, the soldiers under Li Quan who were responsible for carrying the gunpowder were surprised to see a large flame on the north side, and hurriedly fetched water to fight the fire. Not far from the fire was the gunpowder in the city pile. Once it was ignited, the consequences would be disastrous.

Hundreds of Ming troops near the place where the fire started immediately followed Dai Xiuyuan's instructions and shot arrows at the captive soldiers who came to put out the fire.For a moment, the voices of those urging to put out the fire and those shouting to defend against the enemy became one, and the scene was extremely chaotic.

At the same time, Dai Xiuyuan took advantage of the chaos and led the remaining 800 people to the gunpowder pile from the west.

Although gunpowder is flammable, it is not so simple to burn tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder with one fire.In order to avoid danger, the Qing army only put sixty to seventy catties of gunpowder in one pile, and each pile of gunpowder was far apart and separated from each other by shells.In this way, even if one part is not ignited, all the gunpowder will not be lost.

Dai Xiuyuan stepped forward with a knife, and led his soldiers to cut down over a hundred Qing soldiers who stayed behind, and ordered the soldiers to put the dry firewood they had carried back into the gap between the piles of gunpowder, and then poured fire oil around them.

After a while, fire was also seen in Liu Guangbi's camp, and some officers came to put out the fire with a large force.

Dai Xiuyuan saw a lot of Qing soldiers coming towards him, just when Zhang Peng came to report that the fire starter was almost ready.

He immediately gave an order, "Retreat!" Then he led the soldiers back far away.After walking a hundred and forty or fifty steps away, he asked someone to take out the hard crossbow that had been prepared, put on the rocket, turned around and shot towards the gunpowder pile of Jianlu.

In an instant, dozens of fire points drew arcs in the night sky and flew into the gunpowder everywhere.

Twenty percent of the rockets landed directly on the oilcloth covering the gunpowder. After just a few breaths, the heat generated by the burning on the oilcloth ignited the gunpowder contained in it through the sack.Immediately, a dazzling flame shot up into the sky, and then, the gunpowder on the bottom layer exploded, causing a loud bang.

And more rockets hit Dai Xiuyuan's firewood piled between the gunpowder.The north wind blew, the oil fueled the fire, and the fire became raging in a short time.

From time to time, the flames ignited the nearby gunpowder, and the sound of explosions followed one after another. The bright red and white lights accompanied by billowing smoke reflected the back of the Qing army camp like daylight.

Some captive soldiers who were unlucky just passed by the gunpowder pile and were immediately burned to black charcoal, and those who were farther away covered their ears in horror and watched tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder continue to burn and explode.

When Dai Xiuyuan saw that things were going to happen, he immediately led his team back to the lower reaches of Guixi while Jianlu was still in a daze.

After walking for six or seven miles, he suddenly turned around at a pothole and dry riverbed that had been prepared, and commanded his soldiers to kill the two or three hundred Qing soldiers who were coming after him.

He breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, but when he looked up, he saw that the direction of Liu Guangbi's camp was full of flames, burning half of the sky into red.

The next day, Dai Xiuyuan led more than a thousand recruits to continue northward, both to avoid Jianlu's pursuit and to threaten Liu Guangbi's grain transport team from Huizhou.

In the evening, the general he sent to inquire about the situation brought back news that Liu Guangbi's camp had caught fire last night and had been burning for a whole day. The fire had just extinguished when he arrived.Unfortunately, at that time, the main force of the Qing army attacked the Baitahe defense line and had just retreated, and the men and horses had not yet entered the camp, so not many enemy troops were burned to death.But at this time, Jianlu camp was scorched, and people's hearts were already impetuous.

"The barracks is on fire?" Dai Xiuyuan was puzzled.It wasn't until the end of the battle at Guangxin Mansion that he learned that he led people to burn Liu Guangbi's gunpowder that night. Several piles of gunpowder happened to blow up the burning dry wood and landed in the Jianlu camp, sparking flames.

At that time, there were only more than a thousand people patrolling in the enemy camp, and no fire was found in the air force tents. When the fire became bigger, it was too late to save them. In the end, more than [-]% of the army tents were burned down by the fire.

……

"My lord, the enemy army has poured into the camp. Please follow the general to the sandbank." Zhao Yinxuan, drenched in blood, turned his sword upside down and said to Yang Tinglin, "General Chen is leading the army to the rear, and King Yongning's troops began to withdraw half an hour ago. Baita River, this place is dangerous!"

Yang Tinglin stood on the spot and opened his mouth, he could already hear the chaotic shouts of killing.He never expected that Jianlu concentrated more than 20 cannons for two days and three nights. As soon as he opened a gap in the defense line he personally supervised, they swarmed desperately and rushed to the Ming Dynasty. Army defense line.

Fortunately, there were [-] wolf soldiers from Guangxi who were brave enough to fight, and they had a stalemate with the captives for half a day before the battle, otherwise the Baita River would have belonged to Liu Guangbi just after noon.

He was in a state of disarray at this moment, the strongest defense line of the Baita River lasted for less than three days, and the fortifications on the other side of the sandbar had not yet been completed, so even if he retreated to the sandbar and continued to hold on, he did not know how long he could last.

For a moment, he felt that if he had followed Dai Xiuyuan's strategy to divide his troops and harass him, he might not have been defeated so quickly.

"My lord, it's too late!" Zhao Yinxuan urged again.

Yang Tinglin sighed helplessly, and had to retreat with Zhao Yinxuan first, vowing secretly in his heart that even if he risked his old life, he would keep Liu Guangbi under the Xincheng city, and he would not fail the entrustment of King Chen.

However, when he was about to get on his horse, he suddenly felt that the shouts of killing in front of the formation were a little weaker, so he couldn't help being taken aback, and then he threw away the rein and told Zhao Yinxuan to check the situation.

Before Zhao Yinxuan left, soldiers came to report that when the Jianlu offensive was fierce, they all retreated for unknown reasons.

After a while, another scout reported that a fire broke out in Liu Guangbi's camp, and the Jiankui suddenly changed, so they retreated.

In fact, there is no need for others to tell at this time, Yang Tinglin can already see the fire in the direction of the enemy camp from a distance.

……

"Trash! I can't even see a little gunpowder!" Liu Guangbi kicked Li Quan's shoulder hard, and the latter hurriedly got up and knelt down again regardless of the pain.

"General," one of Liu Guangbi's generals stepped forward and reported, "Someone just returned to the camp, and it was reported that the people who set the fire were thousands of Ming troops, and they have now fled to the north."

"North?" Liu Guangbi immediately thought of the food and grass from Huizhou. What exactly does this Ming army want to do?
He didn't dare to be negligent, and urgently asked Chen Sheng to protect the food road, but he still felt unstable, so he asked a general to order 4000 troops to reinforce Chen Sheng, and escort the food and grass along the way.

Another day later, Liu Guangbi slightly reorganized the camp, and was about to attack the Baita River again, but the Ming army that had set fire to it was reported and headed straight for Huizhou.He frowned immediately, and sent Li Quan to lead two thousand cavalry to pursue the Ming army.

……

In Futun Creek, dozens of people in uniforms of the Dragon Guards were supporting a wooden beam as thick as a thigh.There were more than a dozen other people holding hammers and nailing the wooden beams to the vertical beams of the wooden bridge in the middle of the river with long nails.

Subsequently, three other wooden beams were similarly nailed directly opposite.After these people finished what they were doing, the cracked and crumbling vertical beam was as stable as ever after this repair.

Chen Yi personally inspected the reinforcement situation, stood up and waved to the Dragon Guard cavalry in the distance and shouted: "The bridge is ready, you can pass!"

(End of this chapter)