Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 444 The Rebel King's "Divine Strategist"

The captain laughed and said, "You did a favor for Scholar Wang, but the money is gone. How are you going to explain this to your master?"

The man smiled obsequiously and said, "If we stay outside the city, we'll all die. Money is just an external thing. If you, sir, are considerate of your servants, you won't pursue the matter. But if you do, we can just have our monthly allowances deducted this year."

The officer was just asking casually; once they got the money, how they reported back was their own business. He glanced at them and remarked, "You've brought quite a few people with you on this trip. Scholar Wang certainly has a large and powerful family!"

Everyone entering the city stiffened upon hearing this, their right hands instinctively reaching into their sleeves. Cold sweat beaded on the forehead of the leader, but his smile remained unchanged: "Sir, you flatter me. This errand has been a bit tricky, hence the extra number of people..."

Just as he was thinking about how to explain, the captain waved his hand impatiently: "Enough nonsense, get out of here, the city gates are about to close. If the higher-ups see us, we'll all be in trouble."

These people breathed a sigh of relief, bowed and thanked the guards, and hurriedly walked into the city, disappearing into the night in no time.

The city gate creaked shut and then slammed shut with a bang. The guards returned to their posts as if nothing had happened.

In a dark corner, the man who claimed to be a follower of Scholar Wang trembled as he said to the others, "Heroes, I have brought you all in, so please let me go?"

This man was indeed a servant of the Wang family in the south of the city, and it was true that he had gone to Chuzhou on business. However, on his way back to Hezhou, he mistakenly entered a rebel army camp and was captured. The rebel army was adept at using spies to infiltrate the city, and seeing that they had captured a local, they didn't execute him but kept him in the camp for future use. After the daytime attack on the city failed, the rebel leader ordered an attempt to infiltrate the city, and someone thought of this prisoner. Thus, the nighttime raid on the north gate occurred. The defending troops only knew that the rebels came from Shaanxi, Gansu, and Henan, and couldn't possibly be familiar with the situation inside Hezhou. They didn't expect a local to act as an inside man, and with a bribe of silver, they were easily tricked into opening the city gate.

A man speaking with a Shaanxi accent replied, "Brother, I'm sorry, but if we let you go, we'll all suffer. I'm afraid you'll have to make do..."

Before the man could react, someone covered his mouth from behind and stabbed him. The man's eyes widened, but he couldn't speak because his mouth was covered. He made a few muffled noises, struggled for a moment, and then collapsed limply.

The group carried the body to a well and threw it in, then disappeared into the night.

Night raids were a major taboo for all armies in ancient times. The defending side was naturally afraid, as the darkness made it impossible to predict the enemy's attack direction or troop numbers, making defense nearly impossible. Conversely, the attacking side also had concerns. Given the limited nutrition and lighting conditions of ancient times, many suffered from night blindness and could not see at night. Furthermore, the inability to use torches or lanterns for concealment meant they couldn't use flags or other signaling markers, severely hindering command and coordination. This could lead to chaos even before reaching the enemy lines. Therefore, commanders rarely launched night raids unless absolutely necessary, especially in large-scale battles requiring greater coordination.

Neither side wanted to cause trouble at night, and it seemed that the first night of the Gao-Zhang allied forces' attack on Hezhou City would pass peacefully.

However, in the central command tent of the allied forces, the lights were on, and the two leaders were discussing their plans to attack the city the next day.

Zhang Xianzhong said, "Chuang King, news has just come back that our men have infiltrated the city through the north gate. It's all been arranged. Tomorrow, after dawn, they'll set fires everywhere, and we'll take advantage of the chaos to attack the city. With inside help, we're guaranteed to take it in one fell swoop. What are you still worried about?"

Gao Yingxiang shook his head: "If a mediocre general were in charge of the city's defense, this tactic might always work. But today's general is very skilled at defending the city. I'm worried that even if we set fire to it, it might not create chaos in the city..."

Zhang Xianzhong stood up irritably: "A direct attack won't work, setting fires won't work either, what should we do?"

Gao Yingxiang didn't answer the question. Instead, he wrapped his robe tighter around himself and muttered to himself, "It seems to have gotten colder today, much colder than during the day..."

"The King of Rebels?" Zhang Xianzhong stared wide-eyed at Gao Yingxiang. They were discussing important military matters, so why did they suddenly start talking about whether it was cold or not? He had never thought Gao Yingxiang was so unreliable before.

Gao Yingxiang turned to one of his subordinates and ordered, "Go and get some salt."

His subordinates were somewhat confused, but they dared not disobey the King's orders, nor did they dare to ask any more questions, and left the tent.

After a while, he brought over a bowl of salt and asked inquiringly, "King Chuang, is this enough?"

Gao Yingxiang nodded: "That's enough."

Under the puzzled gazes of Zhang Xianzhong and his men, he grabbed a handful of salt, went to the burning brazier, and sprinkled the salt into the fire.

The orange-red flames quickly devoured the snow-white salt, leaving only a small blue flame that flickered up. After watching the salt disappear into the flames, Gao Yingxiang smiled and looked up: "Tomorrow's siege is ninety percent certain!"

Zhang Xianzhong was confused. What did burning a handful of salt have to do with attacking the city?

He was about to ask what was going on when Gao Yingxiang suddenly dismissed him, saying, "Go back to your tent and get some sleep. Be well-rested for tomorrow's attack. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Zhang Xianzhong had a lot to say, but he was left speechless and had no choice but to return to his camp dejectedly.

Silent all night.

At dawn the next day, Zhang Xianzhong hurriedly arrived outside Gao Yingxiang's tent, only to find that Gao Yingxiang had already emerged looking energetic, fully armed, and wearing iron armor.

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong's questioning expression, Gao Yingxiang smiled and said, "Do you have a lot of questions to ask? What does it have to do with the night being colder than the day, burning salt, and attacking a city?"

Zhang Xianzhong nodded repeatedly.

Gao Yingxiang explained, "It's much colder at night than during the day, meaning the temperature has dropped significantly; salt doesn't make a sound when heated because the weather is humid and the salt contains water. Dry salt makes a crackling sound when burned, while wet salt doesn't. So, we'll have a thick fog today!" In modern terms, this means that a large temperature difference between day and night, coupled with high humidity, causes the air near the ground to cool to a certain temperature, causing water vapor to condense into tiny droplets that remain suspended in the air—what we commonly call fog. The higher the humidity, the thicker the fog.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong looked around. Although it was still dark, the torchlight illuminated a vast expanse of white, something he hadn't noticed before. Overjoyed, he exclaimed, "Truly, Heaven is on my side! Your strategy is brilliant, Brother Chuang! I admire you to the core!" The dense fog provided excellent cover for the attacking side; no wonder Gao Yingxiang said the siege was 90% certain.