Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao first looked at each other and nodded at the same time. The two men turned around and waved, leading the soldiers to push the cart straight to the pile of firewood and hay at the edge of the warehouse. After giving the order, the soldiers quickly threw bundles of firewood from the firewood stacks and haystacks onto the flatbed trucks. When they were full, they quickly pulled them to the grain stacks not far away and lined them up in a circle.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Liu Chengwu urged in a low voice, pressing the handle of the knife with his hand and looking around from time to time.
The soldiers moved quickly and dragged cartloads of firewood to the grain piles and piled them up. Soon, more than twenty grain piles were surrounded by firewood.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" A shout sounded from the shadows on the side of the firewood pile, and then a group of more than 30 patrolling soldiers appeared on the side of the firewood stack.
"I am Li Zhong, the quartermaster of the former battalion. We are here to collect food, grass and firewood." Li Zhong hurriedly stepped forward and said.
"No, how did you drag firewood to the grain pile? Don't you know that it is forbidden to pile firewood next to the grain pile? What on earth are you doing?" the leader of the patrol soldiers asked loudly.
Li Zhong was speechless, and Liu Chengwu on the side took out the sword from his waist without saying a word, went up and cut down the leader with one blow.
"Kill them!" Liu Chengwu shouted.
Hundreds of soldiers drew their swords and stepped forward to kill him. Dozens of soldiers on patrol screamed loudly, and those who reacted quickly ran away. Those who reacted slowly were cut into pieces in an instant.
"Hurry up, light up the fire!" Zhang Yaoxian shouted loudly.
The soldiers immediately started to light fires. Dozens of grain stacks were ignited instantly, and then the firewood piles and haystacks were also ignited. In an instant, the fire crackled up, and soon after, the fire was blazing, and the flames reached the sky.
While the grain stacks were on fire, the surrounding patrolling defenders and the hundreds of soldiers and horses from the rear camp in the middle who came to collect grain supplies were already alerted. A large group of soldiers rushed over while yelling.
Without saying a word, Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yaoxian rushed forward with hundreds of brothers and fought with the enemy soldiers who came after hearing the news. Later, Li Zhong took the time and led more than 200 soldiers to pull the burning firewood from the firewood pile and started to set fire along the tents, haystacks and grain piles. In an instant, dozens more material tents caught fire.
"Brothers Zhang, don't be too hung up on fighting, let's rush out together!" Liu Chengwu shouted to Zhang Yaoxian.
Zhang Yao nodded in agreement first, and the two men retreated with hundreds of soldiers. The fire around them was getting bigger and bigger, and smoke and sparks were flying all over the sky. The open space around the grain stacks was no longer able to stand, and the road back was almost blocked by the fire. Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian and others were unable to retreat with the fire behind them.
When he was helpless, Liu Chengwu gritted his teeth and shouted: "Charge!"
The two men and hundreds of soldiers rushed into the fire with their heads held in their hands, and rushed through the fire curtain. Dozens of soldiers immediately caught fire, and most of their hair, eyebrows and beards were burned. The soldiers rolled on the ground and helped each other put out the fire. Dozens of them were seriously burned.
But fortunately, the grain stacks behind him began to collapse, and the fire became more intense. The fire that shot up into the sky blocked the pursuing soldiers at the other end, preventing their pursuit and forcing them to retreat and take a detour.
"Go quickly!" Liu Chengwu shouted.
The crowd struggled to carry dozens of seriously burned soldiers and turned around to leave. They gathered with Li Zhong and more than 200 people in the rear and rushed towards the rear camp gate of the granary.
The north wind was blowing loudly, and the wind became more and more fierce due to the heat of the fire. Especially the hundreds of large firewood piles and haystacks surrounding the hill-like surroundings. After being lit, it was like a volcanic eruption. The fire jumped to a height of more than ten feet, reflecting half of the sky red.
The burning firewood was blown around by the wind, and sparks flew everywhere, and soon ignited seven or eight grain stacks and a dozen material warehouses outside the granary. The flying sparks even spread to some of the surrounding military tents, setting those tents on fire.
The whole military camp began to become restless, and the alarm gong was beating loudly, and the sound of the gong was full of panic. The soldiers, who had been tortured by the Chu army's signal bombs, had just fallen asleep. At this moment, they were awakened from their dreams again and hurriedly came out of the tent to check.
The soldiers of the front and rear camps were far away from the place where the fire broke out, but the flames soaring into the sky were clearly visible. They stood outside their tents and looked at the fire that shot straight into the sky at the granary of the middle camp, their eyes filled with horror and panic. Everyone knew that it was in the direction of the granary, and the granary was on fire! This is the most frightening news.
The soldiers and horses near the granary were quickly mobilized. They rushed towards the fire from all directions, intending to put out the fire. The fire brigade from the army also rushed over immediately and began to use bamboo pipes to draw water to put out the fire. But obviously, it is not easy to extinguish such a fire.
After Liu Chengwu, Zhang Yaoxian and Li Zhong rushed out of the warehouse with seven to eight hundred soldiers, they ran straight towards the front camp. On the road at the foot of the mountain, I saw thousands of personal guards rushing towards me. Liu Chengwu recognized at a glance that the man in front of him was Huai Wang Zhang Wenbiao. He must have just received the news and came with his guards to check the situation and put out the fire. Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao hurriedly lowered their heads and hid among the soldiers, fearing that Zhang Wenbiao would recognize them.
Zhang Wenbiao saw Liu Chengwu and others walking in the opposite direction, and shouted loudly: "What's going on? Why are you walking in the opposite direction? Why don't you put out the fire?"
Li Zhong hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Report to the king that the granary is on fire. The general happened to go to collect the food and grass from the front camp, so he led people to put out the fire. You see, all my brothers were burned, so I took them to the front camp for treatment."
Zhang Wenbiao stared at everyone. Seeing that everyone's hair and beards were burned to a mess, and dozens of soldiers were burned beyond recognition, he had no doubts. Besides, he was concerned about the intensity of the fire, so he didn't think much about it and shouted in a deep voice: " How did you start the fire?"
"The general doesn't know either. He just entered with his cart, and before he had time -"
"That's all, go ahead." Zhang Wenbiao didn't want to listen to his ramblings, so he waved his hand and shouted.
Li Zhong hurriedly accepted the promise and rushed away with the soldiers.
Zhang Wenbiao walked dozens of steps forward, then suddenly turned around and frowned and shouted: "Something's wrong."
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" the general next to him asked.
"The appearance of the two people standing behind Li Zhong seems to have been seen by me before. Although they kept their heads lowered, I thought they looked familiar."
"It seems to be Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yaoxian. They are the generals of the front camp." A soldier beside him suddenly shouted.
"Yes, it's them. Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yaoxian are the generals of the front camp. How come they are here in the granary of the middle camp? This is not the place where they came. Li Zhong is also in charge of military supplies. There is no need for Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yao to come to help first when receiving grain and grass." Zhang Wenbiao frowned.
"Yes, it's very strange." The generals around him also found it very strange.
"Your Majesty, there must be something fishy in this. Then Liu Chengwu and Zhang Yaoxian were wearing the armor of ordinary soldiers. Even if they come to help, why are they wearing the armor of ordinary soldiers and pretending to be ordinary soldiers? Are they trying to hide something?" shouted a general.
Zhang Wenbiao was suddenly startled and cursed loudly: "No, it must be these thieves who set the fire! Quickly send my military order and order the soldiers and horses of the front camp to intercept them and not let them escape!"
