The rapid sound of war drums echoed in the mountains, and the fierce shouts of killing drowned out the miserable howls. The pungent blood spread in the camp, dyeing the yellow vegetation red. Suddenly, a burst of excited shouts rang out from the vanguard of the camp.
"The enemy has escaped!..."
Shulot stood on the hill watching the battle. He saw nearly two thousand Guamare warriors like a gray-blue tide, shouting and stirring, flooding into the mountain camp. The canine descendants gradually couldn't resist and retreated to the rear camp in chaos. Some places seemed to be on fire. Then, one of the chief's personal guards held a spear in his hand, took down the red monkey flag in the camp, and fled to the rear.
"Camp is down. Well done Chalki!"
The king smiled and nodded slightly. The large group of canine descendants were dispersing from behind the camp, leaving only two to three hundred people behind, which obviously could not hold on for long. The king looked at the warrior commander beside him.
"Bertard, take five hundred personal guards and go to the front line to restrain the vanguard. You are not allowed to enter the forest to chase and fight with the enemy!"
"As you command!"
The warrior commander bowed his head and saluted. Then, he turned around, summoning his personal guards, and observing the situation in the camp. After a while, he frowned.
"Your Highness, there is a fire in the camp."
Shulot looked from a distance and saw sporadic flames igniting on the hay, and at this time a large pile of wood had been ignited. Within a moment, acrid thick smoke rose from the fiercely fighting camp, the fighting figures became shadowy, and the arrows fired gradually became sparse.
"The fire started very quickly...the canine descendants were well prepared and set the fire on their own initiative!"
"Indeed. The canine descendants took the initiative to burn down the camp. It seems that they were ready to retreat and their fighting will was not high."
Bertard nodded in agreement, then looked worried.
"There is no rain during the dry season. The camp is close to the mountains and forests. Once a fire breaks out, it may be difficult to extinguish!"
"Forest fires..."
Shulot looked at the surrounding mountains and forests, recalled the scene in his memory, and gave the decisive order.
"Blow the conch! Order the vanguard to retreat!"
"Didi!...Didi!..."
The shrill sound of the retreating conch horn passed through the hundreds of meters of mountain road, passed through the increasingly dense black smoke, and reached the fighting camp.
It was late autumn, the weather was dry and the vegetation was turning yellow. A lot of hay and wood were deliberately stored in the camp, making them easy to burn. Once the raging fire started, it quickly lost control and rushed towards the surroundings ferociously.
The hundreds of soldiers in the front line, their eyes red with blood and smoked black by the fireworks, were still entangled tightly. They coughed hard while fighting fiercely, turning each other or themselves into corpses. Surrounded by flames and thick smoke, blood spattered wantonly, and corpses lay on top of each other. Then, the churning flames licked up, and a strange aroma filled the air.
Chalki hunched over, coughing and gave the order to withdraw. He ignored the front line surrounded by flames, and took only more than a thousand warriors in the rear line and fled out of the camp quickly.
The mountain wind blew randomly, and the flames kept coming, igniting the warriors' armor. The middle-aged chief kept his feet and beat the flames stained on his cotton armor with his hands. By the time he escaped from the camp, his cotton armor had been burned out and even a large section of his hair was burned off.
Barda looked at the bald, dark-faced, middle-aged chief and suppressed a smile. Well, middle-aged and bald, it somehow fits. Then, he looked ahead and saw billowing smoke rising, completely obscuring the sight of the shooter. The hot wind blew from the front, still making people feel warm even after dozens of steps away.
Not long after, shrill howls sounded in the burning camp, and vaguely smoldering figures ran wildly and then fell to the ground. The suffocating smoke incapacitated the soldiers, and as the fire struck, they made their final sound, and then only the crackle of burning remained.
"The fire was so intense that the fighting Guamare warriors..."
Barda smelled the burnt smell in the wind and shook his head. He quickly waved his war club and shouted to the left and right.
"The entire army retreats, away from the mountains and forests on both sides!"
At the edge of the mountain forest, Red Monkey Chief Ozoma looked gloomy, staring blankly at the fire that swept through the camp.
The blazing flames continued to extend, like a terrifying evil demon. The demon opened its mouth and completely engulfed the camp. It was so greedy for life that it not only devoured more than 400 Guamare warriors in the front line, but also devoured more than 200 canine warriors in the rear. Then, it stretched out its flaming claws and pounced on the mountains and forests on both sides. And the thick smoke, like the scouts of evil spirits, had already poured into the forest first, forcing out the ambush soldiers. Thousands of canine warriors screamed in fear and chaos.
Red Deer Chief Massat ran out of the forest and ran quickly to the front. He looked at the mountain fire that was getting more intense and turning the sky black. His face suddenly lost color, and then he burst into anger.
"Ahem! Ahem!... Damn red monkey, what did you do!"
"I was... preparing a surprise for the Mexicans... so I set a fire..."
Ozoma looked at the flames rushing towards him, with a smile on his face and a cry on his face. He just wanted to set the camp on fire, not the entire mountain.
Within a few minutes, the fire in the camp had completely blocked the mountain road, and was blowing in the wind without stopping, igniting the oily pines and cypresses. Soon, a fire broke out in the forest, and a rolling heat wave hit them. Many canine warriors had their hair set on fire by the fire, and they retreated in fear.
"Damn it! Damn it! My red hair!...Ozoma, you set such a fire in the autumn forest, do you want to burn us all to death!"
Massat covered his hair and stepped forward angrily. Then, he grabbed Ozoma's collar with one hand and shook it back and forth forcefully.
"What are you still looking at here! The mountain fire has started! There is no rain at this time, and it is impossible to extinguish it without burning out the forest for more than ten miles! Why don't you run away with me? The mountain forest is completely different from the wilderness. Fortunately, you are still smart. The red monkey..."
Massat roared a few words, then grabbed Ozoma's arm, led hundreds of personal guards, and ran desperately to the camp behind. The canine warriors of the two tribes also stumbled along the mountain road and fled eastwards. From time to time, a panicked dog-born fell down and was injured, and was swallowed up by the chasing wildfire.
The powerful long wind swept along the mountain road, and the huge mountain fire also spread with the wind. Thick smoke obscured the sky, and the wind was filled with the pungent smell of smoke. Once a forest fire starts, it is impossible to extinguish it manually. In the face of the ferocious flames, tens of thousands of coalition warriors and canine warriors were forced to retreat to both ends, retreating ten miles in a row.
Shulot abandoned the Red Deer Camp and retreated all the way to the rear camp. He first urgently ordered the army to retreat, then summoned thousands of warriors, collected the copper axes of all the guards, and cut down an isolated fire break day and night in the sparse forest area. Within two days, the fire burned along the mountains and forests, engulfing the Red Deer Camp and burning all the way to the eyes.
In this era of emerging civilization, the natural flames were always endowed with the will of the gods and burned in the hearts of warriors. Faced with the incoming fire, the Otomi warriors panicked and panicked, taking it as an ominous omen and clamoring for withdrawal.
"Praise be to the Most High Lord God! He protects us, and even the fire cannot come in!..."
In front of the mighty mountain fire, the king built a high altar and held sacred ceremonies. In order to appease the greedy gods, and even more to appease the tens of thousands of panicked and restless troops, two hundred and sixty dog-born captives were sacrificed in the ceremony, tied and thrown into the fire. After the grand sacrificial ceremony, the raging fire finally stopped in front of the fire break.
"Huhu... The mountain fire has finally stopped, and the military morale of the Ottomi warriors has stabilized!"
With a solemn expression, Shulot stood on the altar several meters high and looked at the legion at his feet. Thousands of Otomi warriors prostrated themselves on the ground and prayed devoutly to the Lord God for blessings. Then, 20,000 warriors stood up one after another and looked at the king with reverence as if they were looking at a god.
"The power of wildfires is actually so great..."
Shulot looked to the east, and the flames that stretched all over the sky were still burning in the mountains and forests at both ends, devouring all living creatures. Large flocks of birds fled far away, and the burned forest was filled with deathly silence. Seeing this scene, a new strategy emerged in the king's mind.
"Well, I wonder what the current situation is like for the canine on the other side?"
