Chapter 476: On Your Mark
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Marshal, the thickness of the ice that has melted is more severe than expected... also, Yutang is pouring even more kerosene onto the slope."
"How much are they pouring this time?"
"I can't tell, but it doesn't look like they are going to run out of kerosene anytime soon!"
"Flaming arrows!!" Han Sanhe ordered the bowmen to unleash their fiery missiles.
A few days later, the news had not changed its tone.
"Marshal, Yutang is still pouring kerosene. Are we…"
"Can we see how much they are throwing at us this time?"
"I'm sorry, we can't really tell. At the very least, there's no sign of it being any lesser than before!"
"Flaming arrows!" Han Sanhe's eyebrows were locked in a deep frown.
"Qiu Jianhan, you f*cker, how much kerosene did you collect? Why doesn't it seem to have an end? You've been pouring kerosene down the slope four separate times now!"
"Each time, you threw an undoubtedly large quantity of genuine kerosene at us. How did you manage to get your hands on so much of it?"
Watching the smoke that was soaring into the sky, Han Sanhe continued to frown, vaguely aware that something was not right somewhere. Zhan Ge, trailing behind Han Sanhe, was frowning as well, his face a mask of deep contemplation.
The slope they had built should have been a textbook version of a flash in the pan, but up to this day, it had been rendered completely useless by Qiu Jianhan's kerosene. There was no serious damage done to the army, but they could not afford an impasse for much longer. The military prized speed above all else, as the delay would more often than not cause changes; who would guess what changes could happen as they faced a stand-off for so many days?
The best scenario that could happen now was the exhaustion of kerosene by Yutang, but they appeared to possess an endless supply of oil which was impossible to deplete.
"I am thankful that I didn't get charred today." Zhan Ge wiped his face and as he mumbled under his breath, a trace of fear lingering in his tone.
The burning kerosene had given rise to a thick column of greasy smoke which engulfed Dongxuan's base. Han Sanhe and Zhan Ge, who had been observing the situation from the camp, had been suffocated by the smoke.
Han Sanhe immediately frowned at his words and asked with a measure of surprise, "You don't feel smothered by the smoke today?"
He watched the scene for a good while with his frown in place before he suddenly issued his orders, "Send some men with high cultivation bases to check on the kerosene!"
Upon his command, a number of peak realm cultivators scurried over despite the increasingly violent fire.
"A report for the Marshal! The kerosene that Yutang has poured out this time is not pure kerosene, but a mixture of the accursed oil with a lot of water. It can still burn, but the flames will be weaker than before."
As he listened, a hint of a smile finally found its way to Han Sanhe's face. It was as if he had expected this.
Zhan Ge's ears perked up as well. "Teacher, it looks like Qiu Jianhan doesn't have much kerosene left over there anymore."
Han Sanhe replied with a hint of exasperation, "Even though there's not much, it can still be ignited and do substantial damage. Ignore it, let's just wait it out."
Another two days passed quietly.
The Fortress of Resilience was silent. The men defending it were no longer pouring kerosene-like they had been doing before.
Han Sanhe's generals were discussing and whispering among themselves; their excitement could hardly be contained.
"Marshal, let us attack1"
"Yutang is not pouring their kerosene anymore."
"They used a lot of oil each time they tried to burn down the slope. No matter how much they have gathered, it should be about empty now. They must have finally depleted their resources!"
"Yes, it's the best time for us to follow up our attack now!"
Han Sanhe pondered for a long while before replying, "For this attack, we have to strike simultaneously from three sides. Each side…" He thought about it for a good while and said, "Each side shall have ten thousand men!"
The generals looked at each other in shock when they heard that number. There were only ten thousand men to a side; would it mean that they would only be deploying a total of thirty thousand soldiers?
How could such a small number of men take down the Fortress of Resilience?
In spite of their misgivings, Han Sanhe had already decided and there was no one who dared to argue with him.
The three-sided attack was launched immediately as they charged in a mad swarm.
Seeing that Dongxuan's troops had reached the slope and were about to approach the top of the fort, Yutang finally began to take action; they released arrows while pouring barrels of kerosene, the liquid gushing down like a river from a broken dam.
When the shower of burning arrows met the flood of kerosene, the entire Fortress of Resilience turned into a sea of flame at once, with surging waves of orange and crimson.
Even then, Han Sanhe smiled faintly as he calmly watched the flame from afar. "I've been too careful this time. Looks like old man Qiu Jianhan really doesn't have much kerosene left."
Han Sanhe's words were not without basis as the fire in the Fortress of Resilience burned brightly before it began to falter; some places that were still burning were slowly dying out.
The true damage that threatened Dongxuan's troops was Yutang's soldiers who appeared in squads wielding gleaming swords and sabers to kill their enemy. This skirmish was a long-awaited moment between Yutang and Dongxuan; after so many days, there was finally a face-to-face battle!
As Dongxuan's troops advanced through the flames and approached the top of the fort in a frenzied rage, Yutang's soldiers retaliated at once. The battle was brutal; Dongxuan only had thirty thousand men, after all, so even when both sides shared the same geography, Yutang was still advantageous, being the defender. After that, Qiu Jianhan, with his white fluttering beard, was seen directing the war efforts with his sword, standing at the top of the fortress. He had successfully turned the tide of warfare to favor Yutang, hoping for a landslide victory.
"Gong!"
Han Sanhe issued his orders with a wave of his hand.
There was no need to continue fighting. The thirty thousand soldiers that had been sent to attack this time was to probe if their enemy still had any more kerosene left. Now that the result had been achieved, there was no need to stick around to fight.
"Tomorrow, prepare meals in the third fraction of the night. We will attack the fort in the fifth fraction; this time, there will be a hundred and twenty thousand men in the army, and the attack will only originate from two sides!"
Han Sanhe delivered his commands calmly, "Conquer the Fortress of Resilience in this battle, seal the fate of this war!"
"Yes!"
The generals finally understood the intention of today's attack with thirty thousand soldiers. Their spirits were escalating as they agreed to the command with roars and growls.
"Teacher?" Zhan Ge was still quite perplexed.
"You're still shocked about what everyone else has understood? Is your battlefield gone once I'm here? This is highly unbecoming of you!"
Han Sanhe was in a good mood as he explained with a smile, "According to Yutang's years of maintaining adequate supplies, they'd definitely store lots of kerosene as it's the main item to assist in the guarding of fortresses. I've drained their kerosene throughout these days that even when it dragged toward the appointed time, I did not dare not to brazenly execute the attack. After all, our side would suffer from massive casualties once we meet the kerosene ocean of flame!"
"Yutang has poured kerosene for a total of six times these past few days, and the first time was the most kerosene used among all."
"When the fourth time happened, the oil was already mixed with water. The fifth time had even more water mixed while this time today, the ratio of water to kerosene renders it highly ineffective.
"If Yutang's troops did not appear in time at the top of the fort and retaliate in today's war in addition to Qiu Jianhan's personal supervision, those thirty thousand people might actually breach the fortress. All these clearly states that their stored kerosene is basically emptied."
"Even if they have some left, it's too little to threaten the overall situation!"
Han Sanhe continued, "We will launch the crucial attack tomorrow. The army's advance and triumph over the Fortress of Resilience will thoroughly pave our way into Yutang!"
"Teacher, will this be another tactic of Qiu Jianhan?" asked Zhan Ge.
Han Sanhe answered faintly, "There's of course this possibility; I'd never dare regard Qiu Jianhan too lowly. According to the calculation of the kerosene storage and the undiluted oil actually used, Qiu Jianhan's has used at least four hundred thousand barrels of them."
"As for the number reported; there are over thirty pickets in this period of time. it's three times higher than the digit. I believe the higher number is all water."
"However, to infer this, the kerosene that could reach the Fortress of Resilience at this period of time will only amount to this, even if Yutang has collected the kerosene with the force of the entire nation. That'd be two million barrels of kerosene! Hah! Even if it were the entire Tianxuan Continent, such an amount might not be achieved…"
"If Qiu Jianhan could still mask the truth with a disguise like this… then…" Han Sanhe's gaze was glinting coldly as he spoke in an extremely indifferent tone, "The people who are involved in this attack will be considered as sacrificial goods to Qiu Jianhan, this Yutang's notable marshal of one's time, then!"