Chapter 62: Crossing the river by feeling the stones, I found my brother-in-law! The sky burned the city, and Zhang Yun was stunned!

"Military advisor, please wait here for a while and watch us accomplish great things!"

Wei Yan jumped on his horse and waved his sword:
"Brother Gong, take your archers and kerosene, sneak up to the west gate of Rang County, and fire rockets when I light the beacon fire!"

"Brother Hu, let's lead 4,000 infantry and cavalry to ambush outside the south gate and prepare to intercept the fleeing Jingzhou army!"

"All departments follow the plan and burn him to the ground tonight!"

Gong Du and Hu Che'er accepted the order generously.

At that moment, Gong Du led a thousand archers and crossbowmen, carrying barrels of kerosene and headed towards the west gate.

Wei Yan and Hu Che'er led the infantry and cavalry respectively, and approached the south gate of Rang County under the cover of darkness.

Xu Chu led three hundred tiger warriors to protect the raft and Xiao Fang on the shore.

"Ah Liang, I'm a little hungry."

"Warm up a pot of wine, bake some Hu pancakes, and let's have a midnight snack while watching the fireworks."

Xiao Fang touched his belly and gave the order with a smile.

"Fireworks?"

Zhuge Liang looked confused.

After being stunned for a moment, he came to his senses and hurriedly called his guards to get busy.

After a while, the bonfire was lit, the wine was warmed, the Hu cakes were roasted, and the aroma filled the air.

"It's freezing cold, drink a pot of warm wine and chew a piece of Hu Bing, it's wonderful~~"

Xiao Fang lay down on the bamboo chair, drank the wine, and looked very comfortable.

Zhuge Liang looked towards the direction of Rang County, recalling what he had just seen and Wei Yan's series of military orders, wondering what strategy Xiao Fang was planning to use.

Connecting all the clues together, with his qualifications, he naturally figured out the mystery quickly.

"Brother-in-law, I understand now. Do you want to attack Rang County with fire?"

"Our army used archers to shoot rockets into Rang County, setting the city on fire and causing the Jingzhou army in the city to panic."

"Once the enemy army is in chaos, they will definitely flee from the south gate. Wei Wenchang will lead another 4,000 ambushing troops to intercept and kill them!"

"In this way, our army can defeat a larger force with a smaller one, and with only 5,000 soldiers and horses, we can defeat an enemy force that is three times larger than ours?"

Zhuge Liang's tone was slightly excited, and he figured out the whole picture of Xiao Fang's plan.

Xiao Fang looked at him with appreciation and nodded slightly to show his approval. He was obviously very satisfied with Zhuge Liang's reaction ability.

"But brother-in-law, maybe I am worrying too much. I am a little worried about this plan of my brother-in-law."

After the excitement, Zhuge Liang suddenly changed the subject and thought of something.

Xiao Fang seemed to have guessed that he would have questions, so he waved his wine glass slightly, indicating that he should continue.

"Burning down Rang County is indeed a brilliant strategy to defeat the enemy with a smaller force."

"I'm a little worried about whether we can set a big fire in the city with just rockets."

"The Jingzhou army is not a mob. Although the enemy's commander, Zhang Yun, is mediocre, Wen Pin is a veteran general."

"If we can't set the whole city on fire, I'm afraid we won't be able to disrupt the enemy and make them panic and flee."

Zhuge Liang expressed his concerns.

Xiao Fang's eyes lit up, he looked up at him and praised:

"Aliang, you are amazing. You can see the key point of this plan so quickly. It seems that it won't be long before you can take charge of the whole thing."

Zhuge Liang was naturally secretly delighted to receive Xiao Fang's affirmation, but he also scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

Immediately, his heart was shocked and he looked at Xiao Fang in surprise.

From what Xiao Fang said, it was clear that he knew that rockets alone would not be enough to set the entire city on fire and cause the Jingzhou army to collapse and fall into chaos.

If that is the case, then why did Wei Yan have to implement the fire attack plan?

Isn't this a useless effort?
"Brother-in-law..."

"I know what you want to say. Don't worry, we'll see the answer later."

Xiao Fang saw through Zhuge Liang's thoughts and interrupted his question with a mysterious look.

Zhuge Liang's eyes were filled with more doubts, and he turned around and looked towards Rangcheng.

"Aliang, you are in the growth stage, so you need to eat more."

"Come on, continue."

Xiao Fang threw a baked Hu pancake directly to Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang had no time to react and instinctively reached out to take it. He immediately cried out "It's so hot" and blew on it and switched his left hand from right to left, in a panic.

While Xiao Fang was tasting wine and eating cakes, Wei Yan had already arrived at the designated location with 4,000 infantry and cavalry.

Looking far away, I saw that at the south gate of Rang County, the Jingzhou soldiers were standing guard every five steps, with a sentry every ten steps, and the security was very strict.

This formation clearly showed that there were experienced generals in the enemy army, who were preparing to guard against a sudden counterattack and a night attack on Rangyang.

"Zhang Yun is just an embroidered pillow. The one who can be so defensive must be Wen Pin."

"What a pity, Wen Pin. How can you defend against Military Advisor Xiao's brilliant plan..."

A hint of sarcasm flashed across Wei Yan's eyes, and then he raised his sword:
"The time has come, light the beacon!"

After the order was given, three beacons shot up into the night sky from behind the army formation.

The signal is sent.

In a blink of an eye, more than a thousand rockets rose into the sky from the direction of the west gate and poured into Rang County.

Arrows rained down on the ground. The next moment, hundreds of pillars of fire suddenly ignited.

Rockets kept falling, and pillars of fire rose up one after another.

After just a few rounds, all the houses in Rang County were engulfed in flames.

The entire city was engulfed in flames.

There were loud gongs and wails in the city, and the soldiers on duty on the city walls fell into panic.

"It's done!"

"The military advisor's plan to burn down Rang County has really worked!"

Wei Yan looked up at Rang County where the fire was raging, his brows filled with uncontrollable joy.

And at this moment.

Zhuge Liang, who was eating a cake on the shore, was shocked and looked at the fire in Rang County with surprise.

"Brother-in-law did it. He actually used a rocket to set Rang County on fire?"

"This this…"

Zhuge Liang muttered to himself, with an expression of disbelief on his face.

After being shocked for a while, he suddenly turned around and looked at Xiao Fang:

"Brother-in-law, how on earth did you do that?"

Xiao Fang did not keep the secret any longer and told his brother-in-law the whole secret.

On that day, he ordered Wei Yan to withdraw the entire army and civilians in the city, and at the same time, he hid a large amount of firewood, kerosene, saltpeter and other flammable materials on the roofs of the houses in the city.

Xiao Fang guessed that even if the enemy would conduct a thorough search of the city, they would only look for spies hiding in the city and would never think of searching the roofs.

And tonight, when Gong Du fired rockets into the roofs of houses in the city, once they encountered kerosene, firewood and other flammable materials, they naturally ignited a raging fire in an instant.

Therefore, these one thousand archers could easily use rockets to ignite the entire Rang County and turn it into a sea of ​​fire.

Zhuge Liang suddenly realized and looked back at Rang County which was shrouded in flames.

"No wonder my brother-in-law was so confident in front of the lord, daring to defeat the Jingzhou army three times as large in four days with only 5,000 soldiers!"

"It turns out that my brother-in-law had already thought of this strategy to defeat the enemy when he was in Yuyang."

"No wonder he wanted to move all the people in the city away. It turned out that he was afraid that the people would be hurt during the fire attack."

Zhuge Liang figured it all out, and his surprised expression quickly turned into deep admiration.

Then he calmed down a little and bowed to Xiao Fang:
"My brother-in-law's plan is really wild and unpredictable."

"Today is really an eye-opener for me!"

Looking at his brother-in-law with admiration on his face, Xiao Fang felt a little guilty.

His plan to burn down Rang County was actually inspired by Zhuge Liang's plan to burn down Xinye.

Regardless of whether this plan existed in historical facts or in unofficial history, it was indeed the source of Xiao Fang's inspiration.

In fact, Xiao Fang also knew that his greatest advantage was that he had nearly two thousand years of experience.

Just like before Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, no one knew how to deal with the alien tribes on the grassland, but after Wei and Huo, everyone knew that they had to use more powerful cavalry to restrain the cavalry of the alien tribes on the grassland.

For example, before the Qin and Han Dynasties, no one knew how to unify the world. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, everyone knew that they had to occupy Chang'an first, use Guanzhong as a base, and then seek to conquer the world.

Xiao Fang's advantage is that he has more than two thousand years of history, hundreds of battle examples, and a vast number of strategies and tactics in his mind.

Therefore, he only needs to match the strategy that best suits the current conditions from the database of battle examples and strategies in his mind and implement it, and he will naturally get the desired result.

In this battle, after analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, Xiao Fang decided to cross the river by following Zhuge Liang's lead.

Now it seems that he was right.

Of course, crossing the river by feeling the stones does require some talent.

Otherwise it would just be empty talk and you would become the second Zhao Kuo.

Xiao Fang was obviously quite talented in touching stones, and his talent was even amazing.

"Aliang, come here, brother-in-law, let me toast you!"

Xiao Fang collected his thoughts, filled a glass of wine and put it in Zhuge Liang's hand.

Zhuge Liang was stunned, his eyes became confused again, and he wondered why his brother-in-law suddenly wanted to toast me?
Xiao Fang didn't explain, he just raised his head and drank it all.

Zhuge Liang had no choice but to drink the wine with suspicion.

"Brother-in-law, this plan is truly amazing. I have to remember it..."

Zhuge Liang put down his wine glass, took out his pen and knife, and began to write it down carefully.

And this moment.

Rang County was in chaos.

The soldiers of Jingzhou were awakened from their sleep and ran around screaming, holding their heads in their hands, like frightened birds.

Inside the government office, Zhang Yun, who was sleeping, was awakened by the guards without any explanation and was dragged to the yard.

"What are you doing? How dare you disturb me——"

Zhang Yun didn't have time to utter an angry curse before his sleepy eyes suddenly opened wide.

The blazing flames filled my eyes, and the entire Rang County seemed to have been turned into a city of fire.

"What...what's going on?"

Zhang Yun's voice trembled, his body froze for a moment, and his eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost.

(End of this chapter)