New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

"Archers prepare!"

Sensing the churning mechanism of the Jin army's catapults, Tang Qian immediately shouted, and all the archers drew their bows and nocked their arrows, pointing the arrowheads straight into the dusty sky.

With a few soft "whoosh" sounds, the long mechanical arm of the Jin army's catapult drew a semi-circle in the air. Ye Zhao looked closely and was surprised to find that what the Jin army was throwing was not stones, but brown leather bags, which looked very much like the water bags at the waists of Jin soldiers.

However, the mouths of these water bags were already open, and bright yellow flames seemed to be shooting out. This thing made Ye Zhao feel a sense of novelty. What did the Jin army put in the water bags that could spew fire out of them?

"Shoot them all back!"

At Tang Qian's command, a volley of arrows shot out and flew toward the water bag in mid-air.

Unfortunately, the garrison of Guangling was not a crack shot. Even though they wanted to carry out Tang Qian's orders, their abilities were limited, and the water bags were in motion, so it was not easy to hit them all.

After a barrage of swords, nearly 90% of the water bags still hurled towards the city wall.

To Ye Zhao's astonishment, he had thought that the flames at the mouths of the water bags would be extinguished by the wind as they flew through the air, but instead of going out, the flames seemed to be burning brighter and brighter. Many of the water bags had been completely engulfed by the flames, and after their surfaces were damaged, the contents inside turned into black water droplets, which fell in large quantities onto the glazed tiles on the roof, making a rustling sound.

As more and more water bags were thrown onto the city wall, the black liquid on the glazed tiles accumulated and flowed down the tiled road, forming a black beaded curtain.

What sent chills down Ye Zhao's spine was that these black, unidentified liquids were burning continuously. Even though there were no flammable materials around, they showed no signs of going out; on the contrary, they burned brighter and brighter.

"Don't stomp on them! Cover them with sand immediately!" Tang Qian continued to issue orders. "The throwing teams, don't stop! Take down all the enemy's catapults!"

Meanwhile, in the rear of the Jin army, seeing countless water bags successfully thrown into the city, Wanyan Zonghan laughed three times: "Good! The city will soon be engulfed in flames. While the enemy's formation is in disarray, immediately rush up the city walls and capture Guangling City!"

"Wait!" Wanyan Xie, who was also staring intently into the distance, immediately called out to stop them, "Something's not right, don't make a move!"

His reminder made Wanyan Zonghan's heart skip a beat. Although he prided himself on being no less capable than his opponent in commanding battles, the tactics he was using now were only those that Wanyan Xie had used when attacking the Liao capital. Only he knew best how effective they were.

"what happened?"

Wanyan Xieye frowned slightly: "When the capital was burned last time, the black oil was poured on it and the entire city was engulfed in flames in just a moment. It was impossible to put out. How come it seems that there are only plumes of smoke rising in Guangling City, but no open flames can be seen?"

"In that case, the current situation is indeed quite strange. Could it be that Tang Qian knows a way to deal with black oil?"

"Impossible!" Wanyan Xieye's denial was clear and resounding. "This is a divine artifact bestowed upon my Great Jin by Heaven. Even water cannot extinguish this divine fire. How could a mere junior know the method to extinguish it?"

Wanyan Zonghan also felt that Tang Qian would never let their divine fire be extinguished, but the current situation was that Guangling City was indeed not set on fire, and the Song army on the city wall did not lose their composure. Countless explosive charges were still being thrown down on their positions. If a few more rounds of bombardment came, their catapults would be almost gone.

As time passed, Wanyan Xie's gaze toward the city wall grew increasingly confused. He simply refused to believe what he was seeing, and continued to utter furious curses: "Absolutely impossible!"

But his impotent rage could not change the fact that the black magic oil, which had been invincible in the past and the divine fire that could ignite everything, had completely lost its effectiveness.

Because of Wanyan Xieye's obstruction, Wanyan Zonghan did not order a full-scale attack on the city at the last moment. The opportunity was fleeting, and by the time the two came to their senses, the Jin army's long-range attack force had been wiped out, and their side no longer had a single intact catapult.

What left both of them speechless and puzzled was that Guangling City, which should have been engulfed in flames, did not even produce a single spark. This proved that their final siege tactic had also failed, and failed inexplicably at that.

"Wanyan Xieye, are you wondering why the fire hasn't started?"

They could faintly hear Tang Qian's voice coming from the city tower. Wanyan Xie and Wanyan Zonghan exchanged a glance, then reined in their horses and galloped away, completely disregarding their own safety. The two went straight to the moat at the north gate.

Why is our magic oil ineffective in Guangling City?

"Mountain upon mountain, white mountains embrace a thousand greens; water upon water, black water reflects a myriad of reds. Your so-called black magic oil must have been sprayed out from the cracks in the ground of Changbai Mountain."

"This is a secret of our clan, known only to a very few people. How could you possibly know?"

Faced with their astonishment, Tang Qian simply smiled and said, "This is not some divine artifact bestowed by heaven, but rather naturally formed petroleum. This stuff can indeed burn everything and will not be extinguished by water. However, everything in the world has its counterpart. A fire that water cannot extinguish can be immediately put out by covering it with sand. If you two do not believe me, you are welcome to try it."

As early as when he followed Wanyan Xun to Tokyo, Tang Qian had already discovered that the Jin army's so-called trump card was oil, but he did not point it out at the time.

Until he escaped Youzhou, Tang Qian never expected that he would have a battle with the Jin army. After arriving in Guangling, he made the most thorough preparations to prevent the Jin army from doing so.

"No wonder the city lord's mansion ordered every household to bring back sand for emergencies, and all the shops and houses along the street near the city gate were replaced with glazed tiles. All of this was your preparation to deal with this move by the Jin army?"

At this point, Ye Zhao finally understood Tang Qian's intention. It turned out that replacing the roof with glazed tiles and applying tung oil to the wooden pillars was all to allow the Jin army's oil to drip smoothly onto their feet so that the flames could be extinguished with sand.

If this oil ignited the wooden houses and archways, the fire would be burning overhead, impossible to extinguish, and all that could be done was watch helplessly as Guangling City was reduced to ashes.

What's even more terrifying is that once chaos erupts within the city, the Jin army will have the opportunity to attack. If even one troop manages to scale the city walls, Guangling City will surely fall.

It seems that what Tang Qian called oil was indeed the Jin army's most lethal weapon.