lcionline Chapter 291 No More Doubt
Chapter 291 No More Doubt
To prevent the mountainside from collapsing and trees from falling and injuring people, the 20,000 Dayuan soldiers guarding the Kemuzi Gorge could also feel the mountain shaking, but they couldn't possibly leave their posts at such a slight tremor. Under Ustuku's strict orders, the garrison commander killed several soldiers who were spreading rumors about an earthquake, stabilizing the morale of the troops. Everyone continued to guard the mountaintop, preventing the Chinese soldiers from taking advantage of the chaos to cross the gorge.
By this time, the drummers had vaguely understood their role. Seeing that their drumming could cause the earth to tremble, and knowing that they were safe, they beat the drums even more vigorously and energetically, making the war drums even louder.
With the war drums striking every 5 seconds, the rhythmic drumbeats echoed across the 700-800 meter high cliffs of the Kemuzi Gorge, causing the mountain to tremble more and more violently. Some Dayuan soldiers screamed and tried to escape down the mountain, but were killed by the garrison commander who tried to remain calm. This intimidated countless ordinary soldiers who were also anxious and wanted to flee.
After midnight, on March 11th of the 11th year of the Emperor's reign, at 1:18 AM, Zhao Yun, Xun Yuyu, and others witnessed a historic moment: a half-dried giant tree on the hillside to the right of the main road could not withstand the force of the back-and-forth swinging and crashed down under the firelight, startling dozens of soldiers stationed nearby, who hurriedly left the dangerous place.
Zhao Yun and the others witnessed the fall of the tree and had no more doubts about Zhuge Liang. They then prepared a midnight barbecue while waiting for the Kemuzi Cliff to collapse.
Now all the officers and soldiers of Huazu vaguely understood that the tremors of the earth were caused by the 500 war drums in front, and there was no room for complaint.
Everyone sought out high, safe spots away from cliffs and tall trees to observe the spectacle the leaders were talking about, even the soldiers who were supposed to have their night shift. The ground was shaking so violently that no one could sleep; they figured they might as well get up and see what this so-called spectacle was all about.
Time passed second by second, and countless trees fell in the Kemuzi Mountains. At 7:20 a.m., the most astonishing scene appeared: in the dim morning light, the Chinese soldiers could see tens of thousands of soldiers in the canyon watching the cliffs, which were more than 100 meters high on both sides, shake violently.
Slabs of rock crumbled and fell into the canyon, kicking up clouds of dust. The 20,000 Dayuan soldiers on the mountain swayed back and forth with it. Some, unable to hold on, were thrown to the edge of the cliff and fell directly off, leaving no trace of their bodies. At this moment, these Dayuan soldiers no longer cared about any orders.
Even the leaders scrambled down the mountain to escape, trampling each other in their haste, their cries deafening. Two guards, seemingly trying to maintain discipline, were hacked to death by the panicked soldiers, and chaos reigned on the mountain.
The canyon was too long, nearly seven or eight hundred meters long. Except for a few hundred soldiers who were very close to the west and managed to escape their doom by scrambling down the mountain, the others didn't have time to get down before sinking down with the mountain.
At 7:25 a.m. on March 11, the mountain walls on both sides of the Kemuzi Gorge did not last five minutes before slowly collapsing into the gorge, accompanied by the increasingly loud war drumming of the Huazu drummers. The mountain, more than 100 meters high, slid into the gorge with a thunderous roar, raising dust and echoing across the surrounding area.
Tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers stared wide-eyed at the gray, misty Kemuzi Gorge, filled with awe for Zhuge Liang, who had devised this ingenious plan. Those tens of thousands of soldiers behind, unable to see what was ahead, heard the earth-shattering roar and the billowing dust, knowing a great spectacle was about to unfold. They surged forward, crowding the area four or five miles east of Kemuzi Gorge with astonished and curious Chinese soldiers.
Seeing the mountain, over a hundred meters high, crumble at the sound of their war drums, the 500 drummers first stared in disbelief, then suddenly threw down their drumsticks and embraced the thousand drummers waiting for their turn, letting out excited screams. Since ancient times, only in a complete rout, when fleeing in time and being overtaken by enemy soldiers, would they be slashed a few times.
The drummers never had the chance to kill the enemy and earn merit. This time, with only 1,500 drummers, without relying on cavalry or soldiers, they buried 20,000 enemy soldiers and two mountains with just their drumming. What glory, what pride!
For this contribution, all the drummers of the Third Squad were awarded a collective first-class merit, and each of them received a personal third-class merit, their rank was increased by one level, and they received a bonus of 200 yuan. This was a great achievement that none of the drummers had ever accomplished before.
The drummers stopped, and as the drumming ceased, the ground on the eastern side of the Kemuzi Gorge slowly stopped trembling. But the gorge walls, which had already begun to collapse, did not stop; large chunks of rock crumbled and slid continuously into the deep gorge, more than a hundred meters below.
Standing in front of the rain shelter, Zhao Yun, Xun Yuyu, Ma Teng and other generals, although they knew that cliffs would eventually collapse, still felt like they were in a dream when they witnessed it with their own eyes. They never knew that beating the war drums could really knock down two mountains!
No one dared to doubt Zhuge Liang's abilities anymore, and the emperor no longer dared to feel even a trace of jealousy towards him. In fact, faced with Zhuge Liang's unpredictable and ingenious strategies, everyone admired this deputy advisor from the bottom of their hearts, not only because of the emperor's authority but also because of their awe of Zhuge Liang's abilities.
Seeing that the canyon that had once left him helpless was filled with rocks that had collapsed in just over ten minutes, and that the 20,000 enemy soldiers on the mountain were reduced to ashes along with the collapsing mountain, with no obstacle left to stop the advance of the army, he was not only surprised, but also filled with awe for Zhuge Liang, who had come up with this ingenious plan.
This academically trained deputy advisor, who had spent several years in the Third Platoon, had never known he possessed such abilities—the ability to demolish two mountains by manpower alone and annihilate 20,000 enemy soldiers without losing a single soldier. This Zhuge Liang was like a wizard lurking in the shadows, ready to seize any opportunity and ensure your utter destruction and eternal damnation.
Thinking of this, Zhang Fei avoided Zhuge Liang's gaze, who appeared to be a weak scholar, and felt an immense sense of awe.
If even a high-ranking general like Zhang Fei was reduced to this state, one can only imagine the feelings of the ordinary soldiers who witnessed the mountain collapse. They cheered wildly as the enemy soldiers were reduced to ashes.
He held this deputy strategist, who had seemingly accomplished little in the few years since joining the Third Squad, in high esteem and from then on dared not underestimate this young man who was not yet 30 years old.
More than 100,000 Chinese soldiers on one side of the Kemuzi Gorge watched the cliff collapse and cheered loudly in celebration. On the other side of the gorge, the Dayuan soldiers were terrified by the earth-shattering mountain collapse. Everyone, whether leaders or soldiers, laborers or slaves, dropped everything and ran westward in a frantic rush, crying and screaming, for fear that if they were even a little slower, they would be buried alive by the rocks.