When Yelu Oulisi, Xiao Xiala and others rushed into the city, it immediately caused great panic. Several waves of laborers who were cleaning the streets ran away, and looking at the direction, it seemed that they were fleeing towards the residential areas in the city.
In other directions, there were also laborers dressed in various styles, running towards their homes with shining expressions.
These were Han people. Xiao Xiala and the other three finally saw their "prey". They looked at each other and completely put their minds at ease.
The people in Shanyang City did not seem to have moved away. However, they thought that since Guo Qizuo, Shanyang's number one strategist, had not left, it was reasonable that the people had not been relocated.
The reason they didn't see so many civilians when they were outside the city just now must be that they were ordered by Guo Qizuo to hide. Now that the army has entered the city, it is not surprising that these civilians hiding in the dark are fleeing in panic.
Actively thinking of the possible scenarios, the three men decisively ordered their men to start looting, signaling to the Khitan warriors who had rushed into the city not to worry and to start sweeping, because whatever they grabbed would be theirs.
In Shanyang city, intermittent sounds of fighting were heard within a short period of time. To the ears of Xiao Xiala and the other two, they thought that these were the sounds of resistance from the people who were plundering the people, and they did not need to pay any attention to them.
We have to talk about the identities of these people dressed as civilians.
In fact, most of them were elite soldiers withdrawn from Pinglu, and there were countless ghost guards among them. Guo Qizuo had arranged everything early on, and now all they had to do was to follow orders.
These people hid in alleys and corners. As soon as they saw the Khitan cavalry show their heads, they would immediately attack them, whether by sneak attack or shooting arrows from behind, whichever method was convenient for them.
After the attack, regardless of whether they succeeded or not, these people would go into the alleys and lanes again, and then, while harassing the Khitan cavalry, they would quietly fly towards the south of the city.
The number of Khitan cavalry approaching Shanyang City is not small. Even if 60,000 or 70,000 people were lost, there should be more than 100,000 people now. It will take some time for such a large enemy to pour into Shanyang City.
If Guo Qizuo wanted to swallow all the Khitans in one fell swoop, he had to let these fierce soldiers and killers make some noise to delay time so that more Khitans could pour into the city and he could catch them all in one fell swoop.
Not to mention the fighting in the streets, houses and alleys, which broke out sporadically, let’s talk about Guo Qizuo.
At this time, Guo Qizuo, along with Dong Ningyang and Jing Ming, deliberately pretended to be like headless flies, rushing around and bumping into things everywhere. However, no matter how they pretended to flee in panic, they kept their figures within the sight of the three Khitan generals.
As soon as Xiao Xiala and the other two saw Guo Qizuo, they all wanted to compete for credit.
This is no wonder. For the Khitan generals, Zhu Li is undoubtedly the biggest fish in Shanyang City. Unfortunately, this big fish is now far away in Youzhou, and they are destined to have no share.
At the moment, Guo Qizuo, who is known as the number one strategist in Shanyang, has obviously become a hot commodity in the eyes of the three men. As long as they can catch this man, it will be a great achievement. How can the three men not be tempted
As soon as they saw Guo Qizuo, the three of them immediately rushed after him. It was like three perverts and hooligans who suddenly saw a beautiful woman with infinite charm and rushed up to her madly, unable to wait.
This pursuit has gone in circles.
Shanyang City is no longer what it was five years ago. After five years of continuous expansion, Shanyang City has almost expanded several times. Although the three people are eager to catch up, they cannot catch up in a short time.
In addition, Guo Qizuo seemed to be deliberately leading them in circles, which made them even more anxious, but they did not get angry.
More than half an hour passed before the three men arrived at the gate of the general's mansion in no particular order. Guo Qizuo had obviously entered the general's mansion, but the three Khitan generals led their subordinates to surround the general's mansion and trapped Guo Qizuo in the mansion.
But it was not an easy task for the three of them to enter the general's mansion immediately. The reason was very simple. In front of the gate of the general's mansion, there were hundreds of elite soldiers standing in full battle array, standing there fearlessly. With only one gate, even if the three of them led their troops to attack fiercely, they would not be able to break in for a while.
It took more than half an hour before the three men finally tore down the wall, broke through the first line of defense, and entered the front yard of the general's mansion.
There was only one passage between the front yard and the back yard, which was the living room used for meetings. After the courtyard wall was demolished, the remaining soldiers immediately retreated to the front hall, forcing the Khitans to attack again.
With such a terrain, one man could block the passage of ten thousand men. How could the Khitans break through it easily? Moreover, the front hall had two walls. Even if the Khitans wanted to demolish the house, it would take some time.
While the fierce battle was going on in the front hall, Guo Qizuo was sitting calmly in a pavilion in the backyard. Jing Ming was standing next to him. As for Dong Ningyang, who had been so high, he had disappeared long ago.
About a quarter of an hour later, Dong Ningyang landed in the pavilion like a flying swan, bowed and reported to Guo Qizuo: "Sir, almost all of the Khitan cavalry have entered the city, sir, you can retreat."
Hearing this, Guo Qizuo stood up calmly and said coldly, "No hurry. I'll have to trouble you to pass the order to the soldiers in the dark. After half a minute, have them immediately put down the Dragon Falling Stone and completely seal the four gates of Shanyang City."
Dong Ningyang's eyes twitched slightly when he heard this, and he thought to himself, how cruel! This scholar would not do it if he didn't want to, but once he did it, he would definitely leave no room for anyone else.
However, he did not dare to neglect it and quickly responded, "It's just a small favor, sir, don't worry about it."
Before he finished speaking, he immediately used his body skills and disappeared in the pavilion like a puff of green smoke. He kept watching Dong Ningyang disappear outside the wall of the general's mansion. Guo Qizuo then turned around and looked at Jing Ming beside him and said, "When the Falling Dragon Stone falls, fire the rockets and notify the people in the dark to set fire immediately and then evacuate."
"Yes." Jing Ming responded quickly.
In fact, at this time, some Khitan warriors had already discovered that the houses were empty. However, after reporting it, although Xiao Xiala and the other two were puzzled, they found nothing.
The residents had already left, but the huge city was left to them. In terms of military strength alone, the Khitans' strength far exceeded the Heshuo army stationed in Shanyang. What could Guo Qizuo do in the city? The three men were puzzled.
But at this moment, three huge roars suddenly came one after another from the distance.
The sound was loud and far-reaching, like a meteor from the sky falling to the ground, shaking the entire earth. This sudden movement immediately aroused the suspicion of the Khitan warriors in the city.
Not long after, a Khitan scout came riding a horse from a distance with a panicked look on his face. Before he arrived at the gate of the general's mansion, he jumped off his horse and ran into the mansion as if his butt was on fire.
In the general's mansion, when Xiao Xiala and the other two were looking puzzled, the scout came hurriedly. Almost as soon as they met, the scout immediately bowed and said, "General, General, something bad has happened. The east, west, and north gates have suddenly been blocked by huge rocks."
"Blocked by rocks?" Xiao Xiala looked a little solemn when he heard this.
At this time, they finally realized something was wrong, but before they could figure it out, they heard three "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sounds of arrows in the backyard. Before the sound ended, they saw three rockets suddenly shot into the air.
Rockets are sometimes also signals. Not only the ghost guards hiding in the dark understand this, but the three generals of Khitan also understand this.
The ghost guard understood and immediately rushed out from his hiding place and began to set fire in an orderly manner. However, the three Khitan generals understood but did not know what these three rockets were supposed to convey.
In their opinion, the Khitans entered the city with superior forces, and they never believed that the Heshuo Army had the courage to close the doors and fight them head-on.
"Could it be that the so-called first strategist intends to block us in the city and let us starve to death? Isn't that too naive?" Xiao Xiala muttered in disbelief.
"Impossible. The situation is weird. It's better to be careful." Yelu Ouris denied with a gloomy face.
The rockets fired from the backyard were obviously not used to notify reinforcements. Through Lu Yong, they had already clearly understood the military strength of Shuozhou, and naturally knew that there would be no reinforcements in Shanyang at the moment.
It was impossible for the guards stationed in Yanmen and Ningwu to come. After all, the fall of Shuozhou was a foregone conclusion. The Heshuo military would never want to see the Khitans take advantage of the opportunity when reinforcing Shanyang and thus lose Daizhou again.
Without reinforcements, Guo Qizuo would have no chance of fighting them head-on. Since it was not a head-on fight, the rocket must have conveyed the message of launching Guo Qizuo's back-up plan. But Xiao Xiala and the other two had no idea what Guo Qizuo's back-up plan was.
Just as the three were puzzled, the Heshuo soldiers who were guarding the front hall of the general's mansion suddenly retreated into the backyard like a tide. That was the backyard, and it was also the place they wanted to attack since early on. Now those guards actually gave up guarding the passage to the backyard. What happened
With such doubts, the three men immediately led their troops and rushed in without waiting for their subordinates to remind them.
There was no one in the huge inner courtyard. The palace soldiers who had just withdrawn from the front hall were hurriedly passing through the archway in the backyard and retreating to the back garden.
The three men, led by Xiao Xiala, did not dare to delay and quickly led their troops to follow. As soon as they entered the back garden, they looked around and saw Guo Qizuo, in white clothes and a silk scarf, standing beside the rockery as if nothing had happened, looking at them indifferently.
At the side of Guo Qizuo, in front of the rockery, a large dark hole appeared on the ground. All the guards who had retreated from the front hall to the back garden ran to the entrance of the hole and jumped in without hesitation.
"Where are you going? Stay here." Yelu Zuolu, a fierce general, shouted and was about to rush forward waving his long spear.
But at this moment, Guo Qizuo spoke coldly: "Since you have attacked Han territory again and again, it shows how much you love this land. Now that you are here, stay and stay on this land forever."
Before he finished speaking, Guo Qizuo was grabbed by Dong Ningyang beside him and jumped into the cave.
Jing Ming, who was guarding the cave entrance, looked at everyone with a sinister look under his ghost mask and said coldly, "This is a tunnel that leads to the outside of the city. If you have the guts, you might as well follow it and give it a try."
After saying this, he also jumped into the cave without hesitation, leaving the Khitans with only a sinister and provocative voice that still lingered in the air for a long time.
"What do you mean?" Yelu Ouris suddenly turned his head and looked at Lu Yong, who looked a little surprised and doubtful, and asked anxiously.
Lu Yong's expression was also very ugly, because because of his betrayal, tens of thousands of people in Pianguan County were looted by the Khitans and corpses were scattered all over the ground.
Originally, he thought that by doing so he could completely overthrow Zhu Li and thus offer a sufficient token of his allegiance to the Khitans. He could then go to Dadu and live the rest of his life in ease.
But the current situation made him realize that Guo Qizuo and others had actually been prepared. For example, this cave in the back garden of the general's mansion was proof that no one knew where it led to.
Just as he was hesitating about how to respond to Yelu Ouris's question, suddenly there was another loud roar. Based on the fluctuations of the sound, it can be determined that it came from the south direction of the city. Obviously, Guo Qizuo had finally blocked even the south gate.
He led the Khitan army into the city, but blocked all four gates of Shanyang City. What on earth did Guo Qizuo want to do
This confusion did not last long. Suddenly, a Khitan knight, looking as if his child had died, came running to report, crying, "General, there is a disaster. Fire, fire everywhere, even the empty ground is on fire. Many brothers are trapped in the sea of fire and can't get out at all."
They watched Guo Qizuo jump into the hole in front of their eyes, but none of the Khitan soldiers dared to chase him. It was impossible for them not to feel aggrieved.
At this time, there were still people who were so blind as to come and cry. This immediately angered the hot-tempered Yelu Zuolu. He rushed forward a few steps, grabbed the Khitan knight who came to report, and said angrily: "Asshole, what are you talking about? Didn't you set fire when you were looting?"
But not all Khitans were as reckless and foolish as him. When Yelu Oulisi and Xiao Xiala heard the knight's report, they immediately looked up at the sky.
You won’t know until you see it, and you’ll be shocked when you see it. At this time, the sky above the entire Shanyang City is a fiery red, and the warm sun in early April seems to be even more red than the scorching sun in the dog days of summer.
What kind of fierce fire would be needed to create such a strange phenomenon? Could it be that the entire Shanyang City was on fire
At this time, Xiao Xiala and Yelu Oulisi finally understood Guo Qizuo's intention.
Although he understood, his face turned pale and his body couldn't help but tremble.
Burning Shanyang, this vicious man in white actually set the entire Shanyang city on fire. How much did he hate the Khitans in his heart? For this, he was willing to sacrifice the entire Shanyang city.
For the entire Heshuo, Shanyang City is no different from the capital. However, Guo Qizuo, in order to kill them, even dared to burn down the capital.
Xiao Xiala, who was quick-witted, suddenly looked down at the ground. He didn't pay much attention when they entered the city. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that when he first entered the city, he found that the entire Shanyang City seemed to be covered by a layer of fine hay.
What is the purpose of covering the city with broken grass
Xiao Xiala just rubbed the ground lightly with his leather boots, and suddenly found that under the fine hay, there was actually wet ground. The wet and oily ground finally explained why even the empty long street was on fire.
After entering the city, the Khitans first thought of looting, and then to capture Guo Qizuo, the second big fish; who would have thought that the problem would arise on the ground.
In other words, the entire ground of Shanyang City was filled with kerosene by the vicious Guo Qizuo. He really wanted to burn all the more than 100,000 Khitan troops to death in Shanyang City without leaving a single one alive.
This situation was not only discovered by Xiao Xiala, but also by Yelu Oulisi. Discovering the kerosene meant that they understood Guo Qizuo's intention. They looked up again and looked at each other in shock.
At this time, Yelu Zuolu, who still hadn't come to his senses, was still puzzled and asked: "It's not raining, why is the ground under the hay wet?"
"Damn it, that's kerosene. The entire ground of Shanyang City is covered with kerosene, you idiot!" Xiao Xiala was a little uneasy and suddenly yelled hysterically at Yelu Zuolu.
"What? Kerosene!" Yelu Zuolu suddenly came to his senses. He turned his head and looked towards the sky of Shanyang. He said in horror, "Wasn't that the fire set by our men during the looting?"
Yelu Ourisi and Xiao Xiala looked at him with grim faces. It was self-evident. Was there any need to ask? Of course, it was both. However, the Khitan knights under their command had brought disaster upon themselves by setting the fire this time.
The whole city is filled with kerosene. A small spark is enough to burn the entire city. What's more, they are setting fires everywhere. Do they think they are not dying fast enough
At present, there is only one way in front of the Khitans, which is the cave left by Guo Qizuo and others. But do they dare to go in? Not to mention whether there is an ambush in the cave; as long as Guo Qizuo sends people to guard the entrance of the cave and wait for them to act, can these people get out
It was an April day with a gentle breeze. The fire in Shanyang City was growing bigger and bigger. The Shuo River that originally ran through the city was cut off from flowing. Clusters of blazing flames were floating on the entire surface of the water.
The fire was raging, scorching the sky. The Khitan warriors who rushed into the city were instantly turned into fire men, wailing at the top of their lungs, staggering like drunkards, but soon fell to the ground, no sound left.
As the fire grew more and more intense, when the entire Shanyang City turned into a sea of fire, the Khitan army of more than 100,000 people was nothing more than a pile of fuel in the flames.
Even if there were lucky Khitan warriors who found a place to hide, they were still roasted by the scorching heat. They were really cooked. Above Shanyang City, there was not only endless flames raging, but also the faint smell of meat.
When the fire spread to the general's mansion, two famous Khitan ministers and a fierce general no longer cared about what dangers there might be in the cave and jumped in. If they didn't go in, they would be burned to death. Did they have any choice
The flames burned the city and the fire raged. In the end, the flames soared several feet high, as if to burn the sky and incinerate the clouds. The entire Shanyang City, not to mention the people, even the fish in the Shuo River were steamed.
The once majestic and tall Shanyang City was completely engulfed in a sea of fire, which not only took away the fruits of five or six years of labor of the people of Shanyang, but also took away the lives of hundreds of thousands of Khitan troops. Who says that without reinforcements, a battle cannot be won
Guo Qizuo’s battle was earth-shattering and he became famous throughout the world.