Chapter 397: 382: Fire Spreads with the Wind, Growing More Intense.

Chapter 397: Chapter 382: Fire Spreads with the Wind, Growing More Intense.

In the Wuliang army camp.

Wu Tuo paced back and forth with his hands behind his back in the camp.

For some reason, he felt a strong sense of unease!

This feeling of uneasiness intensified over time, preventing him from falling asleep.

“What exactly is going wrong?”

“Could Yang Zhenshan be planning a night attack?”

“But I’m already prepared, if he launches a night attack he would fall into the traps I’ve set!”

Wu Tuo had made complete preparations, even setting up numerous traps at the north gate of the camp with tens of thousands of soldiers to guard against a night attack from Yang Zhenshan.

If Yang Zhenshan dared to attack at night, it could actually benefit him.

Logically, he should be worry-free at this moment, but the unease made him constantly feel that something was wrong.

Just then, a burst of noise suddenly came from outside the camp.

Wu Tuo, like a startled bird, urgently asked, “What happened?”

“Reporting to His Highness the Prince, it’s just the wind!” a guard outside the tent replied.

“Oh!” Wu Tuo responded, but his unease peaked at that moment.

The wind has risen!

Wu Tuo suddenly shivered sharply, his face tense as he walked out of the tent.

“What kind of wind?”

“Northwest wind!”

Wu Tuo looked at the fire basin in front of the tent, his pupils suddenly shrinking.

“Northwest wind!”

The whooshing sound of the wind reached his ears, and he seemed to grasp something, yet couldn’t figure out what it was.

The wind grew stronger, causing the flags to flap violently and the vegetation to rustle loudly.

The flames in the fire basin leaned towards the south, stretching long like a strip of silk.

Listening to the wind and watching the elongated flames, Wu Tuo suddenly shuddered.

“Not good!”

He finally understood where his unease came from.

Wind and fire!

Unfortunately, his realization came too late.

At that moment, the grass cages on the hillside were being driven by the wind into the valley, rolling and bouncing towards the Wuliang army’s camp.

When the first round of grass cages entered the camp, a group of Wuliang soldiers watched perplexedly.

“What’s this?”

“Who made these grass cages? Though they’re poorly made!”

“There seems to be a smell on them!”

“A smell! Kerosene!”

Several Wuliang soldiers were still examining the grass cages when more of them rolled into the camp.

The next moment.

Suddenly, a blaze erupted on the northern mouth of the mountain.

The burning grass cages, propelled by the fierce northwest wind, charged into the Wuliang army’s camp like wild horses breaking free from reins.

The fire fueled by the wind grew more vigorous.

In just moments, the mouth of the mountain and both sides of the hillside turned into a sea of fire.

The fire, driven by the wind, formed continuous, raging waves of flame, clawing as if to tear the dark night apart.

Wu Tuo watched the surging sea of fire, completely lost in a daze.

After the daze came endless fury.

“Damn it! Curse it!”

His face, swollen red with anger, became hideously distorted.

At this moment, Wuliang’s camp was already in complete chaos.

The roaring flames ignited fiercely. Rolling grass cages couldn’t stop it and what’s worse was tonight’s wind, carrying a breath of death, devouring tent after tent, member after member of the Wuliang Hu Clan.

“Your Highness Prince!”

A group of guards protected Wu Tuo.

“Quick, quick, order a retreat to the south!” Wu Tuo finally reacted.

Actually, he didn’t need to issue the order; Wuliang’s soldiers had already begun fleeing southward.

But facing the fierce inferno, many had no chance to escape at all.

Not only people, but horses too.

The horses, in their fright, neighed and struggled; some tethered horses could only burn to death while wailing. Those untethered ran about wildly in terror.

Seventy thousand Northern barbarian, seventy thousand horses, a vast number of horses fled, making the already chaotic scene even more noisy and disordered.

“Your Highness Prince, let’s go!”

The guards around Wu Tuo, no longer caring about anything else, dragged Wu Tuo onto a horse and fled south.

The fire, fueled by the wind, grew larger by the moment, and in no time had spread to most of the camp, threatening Wu Tuo’s tent.

“Hurry!”

“Don’t panic!”

After his anger subsided, Wu Tuo finally calmed down, fleeing while still trying to rally his scattered subordinates.

“Your Highness Prince, Your Highness Prince!”

At this point, General Cui came running.

He was luckier, for not being of the Hu Clan, their camp was not built together with Wuliang’s main camp but behind it.

Although by now the fire had reached their camp too, they had a bit more time to react.

However, General Cui was unable to gather his soldiers, only able to bring his personal followers to find Wu Tuo.

“General Cui!” Wu Tuo looked at Cui Liang with a dirt-streaked face.

“Prince, this way!” Cui Liang led Wu Tuo directly into the forest on the west side of the valley.

Without any paths in the forest, they had to abandon their horses. Once inside, Wu Tuo suddenly asked, “Why go this way?”

“Prince, there are imperial guards to the south!” Cui explained.

“But our soldiers!” Wu Tuo’s face turned ashen.

Cui Liang shook his head slightly, “Prince, we can’t worry about that now.”

Under the massive fire, a vast majority of Wuliang’s soldiers fled south, and only a few ran into the forests on both sides.

Yet even the forest was not a guaranteed refuge from the flames.

The fierce inferno had already ignited the forests on both sides, and the mountain slopes were quite steep, not easy to traverse.

If familiar with the terrain, one could find a gentler slope to cross over; unfamiliar, and running into the forest was nothing but a dead end.

To the south of the valley.

Liang Chu and his companions were stunned as they watched the blazing inferno.

The valley was over ten miles long, and the fire was a considerable distance from them, but the sight of the menacing flames still filled them with dread and fear.

The fierce flames illuminated the entire valley, casting light and shadows on their faces.

Xue Ou swallowed hard, saying, “General Yang’s tactics are impressive! This fire could burn tens of thousands of Wuliang’s troops to ashes!”

“What a ruthless strategy!” Lu Baishu nodded in agreement.

“Not just ruthless, it’s downright malicious!” Cao Can added.

Zhou Lan gave Cao Can a sideways glance, then addressed Liang Chu, “Commander, should we make our move now?”

Liang Chu snapped back to reality, exhaling deeply.

“Prepare everyone!”

“Yes!”

Now, no one questioned Yang Zhenshan; a single fire had scorched Wuliang’s camp enough to convincingly earn their respect.

The thunderous sound of war drums rose against the profound darkness of the night, as tens of thousands of imperial soldiers charged into the valley with fiery zeal, followed by waves of war cries.