“That’s impossible, child. Although Dawang City isn’t large, it has high walls and deep moats. The entire city is built with bluestone, and taking advantage of the terrain, the walls are a full five zhang high. The city is defended by fierce Goguryeo generals. Your forces are severely insufficient—you can’t possibly take it. Although there’s no fortress in the world that cannot be breached, Dawang City requires at least a hundred thousand troops and three months’ time to exhaust its garrison. Moreover, Dawang City is purely a military fortress. Our families’ merchant caravans can’t enter, so you won’t have any inside support. You have none of the advantages of timing, terrain, or people. Such a fortress cannot be overcome by human strength. Back then, Feng Luohou fell beneath Dawang City. You should know that Feng Luohou was also a truly fierce general—even this old man couldn’t match his mounted combat skills.” Qin Qiong shook his head. Of these men, he was the eldest. When they attacked Goguryeo back then, he was already a colonel. Regarding Liaodong’s situation, he could be said to know it like the back of his hand.
“Uncle Qin, look at this small hill. This nephew can occupy this hill and throw combustibles into the city to refine this fortress with great fire.” Yun Ye pointed at a small hillock beside Dawang City.
“That won’t work. Dawang City has special waterways, and they’re supplied with running water drawn from the Liao River. They don’t lack water sources. As long as you can’t breach the walls, the fire will be quickly extinguished and won’t have much effect. This tactic was tried back then—the results weren’t good. Moreover, there are already catapults on that hillock, but that’s a Goguryeo stronghold.” Qin Qiong threw down his teacup and sighed, deeply worried about Yun Ye’s Liaodong expedition.
“Uncle Qin, this nephew’s fire cannot be extinguished with water. I’m afraid the more water you pour, the more fiercely the fire will burn.” Yun Ye refilled Qin Qiong’s teacup with water and said nonchalantly.
“That won’t work either, boy. You want to use white phosphorus to burn the city—that still won’t work. Even if all the white phosphorus in the Great Tang were given to you, it wouldn’t be enough. Besides, this substance is extremely difficult to transport. With one small mishap, before you burn the enemy, you’ll burn yourself first.” Cheng Yaojin shook his head, rejecting Yun Ye’s idea. As a great general in the army, how could he not know the properties of white phosphorus? That stuff was like maggots on bone—if it burned on your body, unless you cut off that piece of flesh, the white phosphorus wouldn’t burn out and the flames wouldn’t extinguish. It was an evil demon on the battlefield. Unfortunately, this substance was difficult to obtain, so it was rarely used in major battles.
“This nephew doesn’t like using white phosphorus either. That stuff’s effects are too poor—it doesn’t burn fiercely and doesn’t explode. The harm it causes is too small. Since this nephew wants to melt a city with living fire, how could white phosphorus work?”
Old Niu widened his eyes looking at Yun Ye and said, “What have you created now? You told us few about that gunpowder, and we old brothers asked His Majesty about it. His Majesty said it’s the armament of celestial gods. This old man deeply believes His Majesty’s words. But now you can’t possibly get gunpowder from His Majesty, and you can’t manufacture it yourself. Child, listen to uncle’s words—forget the gunpowder formula from now on. Don’t even mention it. As for the rock oil you want, our families’ merchant caravans will procure it day and night from Gaonu County in Suizhou. There are still two months—it will definitely arrive in time.”
“Rock oil isn’t good to use—it’s troublesome to ignite, all sticky and gooey. If you don’t get the wind direction right, you’ll burn your own people.” Yuchi was also dissatisfied with this characteristic of petroleum.
Yun Ye didn’t explain. He led the four elders to the rear camp and gave Lai Chuanfeng a few instructions. Soon, they saw a dozen soldiers carefully carry out four large porcelain jars from the isolated storehouse on the empty ground of the rear camp. They poured gasoline from one of the jars onto a simulated city wall, then quickly ran back. Several archers had already brought out an eight-ox ballista. In the ballista’s arrow slot were four long fire arrows. After taking aim, the squad leader ordered the other soldiers to jump into a trench and hide. The squad leader forcefully struck the trigger mechanism with a wooden mallet. With a humming sound, the four fire arrows embedded in the wall. The squad leader also quickly jumped into the trench, carefully watching above his head while holding a shield to cover himself, looking extremely fearful.
Although Qin Qiong and the others didn’t know why Yun Ye wanted them to go down into a chest-high trench, the trench’s top was covered with a sturdy canopy, leaving only a gap about a foot wide at the front for everyone to watch the demonstration field ahead.
Cheng Yaojin watched in surprise as a layer of blue flames rose from the wall surface. In moments, the flames grew to over a zhang high. The entire high wall seemed surrounded by flames—even the bricks and stones were burning.
Just as he was about to laugh and praise Yun Ye a few words, a tremendous explosion sounded from behind the high wall, followed by a blast wave that struck their faces, forcibly choking back his words. He struggled to turn his neck to look forward, and saw a massive orange-red fireball suddenly rise over ten zhang high, sparks flying everywhere, falling to the ground along scattered trajectories. Wherever the sparks landed, fires broke out. One small spark fell on the bluestone of the observation opening. The flame was weak, so Yun Ye picked up a bowl of tea and splashed it on the flame. Not only did the flame not extinguish, it grew much larger. Only after the oil on top burned completely did the flame gradually die out.
The demonstration earth wall had disappeared, as if it had never existed. Scattered clumps of earth were strewn all over the training ground, along with large masses of flames. Thick smoke billowed, the black smoke nearly filling the entire military camp.
Yun Ye held a handkerchief over his mouth and nose, speaking in a muffled voice to Old Cheng and the other three elders: “Uncles, you’d better cover your mouths and noses too. This thick smoke is poisonous—breathing it for long periods does no good.”
Old Niu also took out a handkerchief, covering his mouth and nose as he asked Yun Ye, “Boy, there won’t be any more big disturbances outside now, right?” Seeing Yun Ye nod, he was first to leave the trench. The five men carefully stepped over small fires here and there, checking the effectiveness of this thing bit by bit among the scattered earth clumps. Finally, they came to the edge of the earth wall. The entire wall had only a stump about a foot long remaining.
Old Niu looked at the pit over three feet deep behind the wall and asked Yun Ye, “Can gunpowder also create such results?” Yun Ye nodded and said, “The same weight of gunpowder would probably cause far more damage than this.”
Old Niu nodded and said to the other three veteran generals, “With this thing, we don’t need to worry about him. Dawang City wasn’t big to begin with. As long as this stuff is poured into the water channels and then ignited, since Dawang City has waterways throughout—all running water—it will naturally spread the disaster throughout the entire city. If this black smoke is even more vicious, there won’t be many living people left in the city.”
“The boy must first light great fires at all the city gates, and definitely let the Goguryeo people taste what it’s like to be roasted turtles in a jar.” Since Yun Ye had this trump card in hand, Yuchi’s mood immediately improved. As for accidents—you could choke to death drinking water. Once on the battlefield, who would worry about such things?
The navy soldiers quickly rushed out with cloth strips covering their mouths and noses, carrying bamboo baskets. Seeing fire piles, they used shovels to scoop sand from the baskets and cover the flames. Soon, the flames on the training ground gradually disappeared, only the air still retaining a nauseating odor.
“Boy, when you go out this time, don’t act arbitrarily. You’ve never fought a battle. On land, listen more to Lai Chuanfeng and their opinions. In the navy, listen more to those subordinates who’ve made their living at sea for years. When things become impossible, just preserve yourself and come back. Don’t listen to their bullshit about achieving objectives even in death. On the battlefield, it’s about who lives longest. Those who play hero all died long ago. This old man was first a general of the Great Sui, then pledged allegiance to Wang Shichong, then nearly joined Dou Jiande. After much deliberation, I followed Prince Qin. Don’t say this old man is spineless—when making decisions, my heart felt like it was being carved with knives. But later didn’t I become a loyal subject?”
“Since we could never become emperors from the start, then lowering ourselves to be subjects is also a choice. The current Majesty is a generation’s hero with ambitions that devour the heavens. Making your living under him isn’t a grievance. Moreover, as this old man sees it, His Majesty and the Empress treat you as a nephew—this is also an unprecedented favor. Work well—your days are still long. When we few old fossils die, the several families will all depend on you to hold up appearances. I harbor this selfish motive—otherwise, this old man would never let you enter battle. While we haven’t all died, it’s not your turn yet.”
Cheng Yaojin watched the setting red sun, walking outward while instructing Yun Ye. The Emperor’s new policies were gradually being implemented. The nobility were gradually becoming merely honored without actual power. This inevitably made these men who once wielded great authority feel the lament of heroes in their twilight years.
All outsiders had left, and the military camp returned to its usual tranquility. The scattered stones and earth clumps on the training ground had long been cleaned up completely. Today’s visit from these old commanders set the navy camp soldiers talking. In the past, they mostly saw merchants and peddlers. Today came legendary famous ministers and brave generals—truly eye-opening. Watching the old commanders leave one by one, the assembly drum in their own camp sounded. The colonels donned armor and went to the command hall to receive orders, not knowing what important assignment would fall on their heads. Soldiers joined for merit and achievements. Although their current days were comfortable and carefree, those dreams of establishing merit and achievements still appeared in their dreams. Perhaps today was an opportunity.
“During the Sui Dynasty, we deployed a million-strong army, preparing to campaign against Goguryeo. The results weren’t good. Everyone here is a soldier—you all know about that disastrous defeat back then. I’m not saying we should blame anyone—that’s the responsibility of His Majesty the Emperor and historians. What I want to say is that beside the Liao River stands a huge trophy mound. Buried there are all our own fathers and brothers. Now their bones have been uncovered by wild beasts, subjected to wanton abuse. I don’t know what you think, but I always want to bring them back and find a place with good feng shui to bury them. Since they’re our own comrades-in-arms, they should always come home.”