ushernet Chapter 273 explains it here.
Chapter 273 explains it here.
Meanwhile, the war broke out again. On the grassland more than 30 miles north of the Gilusen Basin, 60,000 cavalrymen, each carrying a wooden bucket, galloped wildly in long formations. Everyone looked anxiously at the fiery red sky over the basin dozens of miles ahead, wishing they could grow wings and fly over as fast as possible to rescue their comrades from the Third Brigade trapped in the flames.
When they were about 20 miles from the basin, a shallow river meandered across the grassland. One by one, the cavalrymen dismounted in the river, filled a bucket with water, and then mounted their horses again, continuing their journey towards the Gilusen Basin in an awkward posture. The jolting of the horses caused most of the water in the buckets to spill out, and by the time they reached the basin, each cavalryman's bucket was less than half full.
At 4:15 a.m. on February 12, the fastest-moving cavalrymen from the 112th Division, carrying wooden buckets, rushed across the grassland and up a gently sloping hill. When they reached the top, they saw a raging fire still burning brightly in the basin.
Seeing the flames shooting dozens of meters into the sky in the distance, some soldiers lost their confidence. They dropped their buckets, emptying all the water. A squad leader shouted and scolded, quickly stopping the other soldiers from following suit and throwing away their buckets. He then led the cavalry down the mountain, trying to clear a path with water.
After three or four hours of burning, the edge of the basin was almost completely reduced to ashes, leaving not even a spark. This section of road was about four or five miles long. After the cavalrymen at the front had passed this ash-covered area, they dared not proceed further when faced with embers still glowing and even smoldering. They refused to advance any further. The soldiers had no choice but to dismount, carry their buckets, and walk forward through the embers.
They hadn't gone a mile when the smoldering embers multiplied, and the ground grew increasingly hot. So they began pouring water down, clearing a path several meters wide. Soldiers who had emptied their buckets immediately passed them back, and soldiers lining up behind them passed empty buckets out one by one, then brought in buckets filled with water to continue watering the road, attempting to rescue their comrades from the 131st Third Cavalry Brigade, who were still nowhere to be seen.
However, they could only water the ground for less than two miles before they could no longer proceed. The still-burning fire grew larger and larger, and the ground became increasingly hot. When a bucket of water was poured on them, the steam rising up felt like it was baking the skin of the dozen or so soldiers in front, forcing them to switch places.
They persisted for another mile or so, but could go no further. This was no longer a bonfire with embers still burning, but a raging inferno. More than ten miles ahead, the flames shot more than ten meters into the sky. The First Army cavalry, who had tried to clear a path with water, had to stop and stand on the road, where the temperature was as high as forty or fifty degrees Celsius, silently weeping as they looked at the raging fire ahead.
Standing in the ashes four or five miles from the edge, Gao Shun watched the soldiers in the line who had stopped passing water buckets. His spirits sank. If it weren't for Xun You, Feng Ji and others who had been watching him, he would have fallen into the dust.
Inside the ring of fire, beside the lake, the 3rd Brigade, with its 50,000 soldiers, joyfully brought out plenty of food and held a real bonfire feast. Amidst the clinking of glasses, everyone toasted to their narrow escape from death. They didn't care about the ash that had fallen on the food and wine; they treated it as a personal taste of the afterglow of the fire.
Holding a jar of expensive Daughter's Red wine, Guan Yu stood outside the organization with Jian Yong, looking at the flames that were slowly decreasing in height several miles away, and said, "Advisor Jian, we are so grateful to you today, otherwise tens of thousands of us would have perished here!"
Jian Yong smiled bitterly and wiped the grass ash off his face, making it black and grimy. Looking at the distant fire, he said, "It was also a stroke of luck. I suddenly had an epiphany and came up with this idea. I can say that I was blessed by God. If I had come up with this idea a few tens of minutes later, many soldiers would have been burned to death."
Guan Yu, holding the jar, said to Jian Yong, "Come, let me toast you!"
"No need to be so polite!" Jian Yong shook his head, raised the bottle of Heavenly Immortal Wine and clinked it against Guan Yu's.
Taking a sip of wine, Guan Yu, clutching the jar, gazed at the flames, some still twenty or thirty meters high. Suddenly, Guan Yu's ears twitched. He frowned, listened intently for a moment, and then said to Jian Yong, "Advisor Jian, have you heard any noise outside?"
The group by the lake was already noisy enough, so Jian Yong couldn't hear anything outside. But as soon as he heard Guan Yu say that, he immediately realized, "Oh no, General Gao Shun is probably putting out the fire outside, trying to rescue us!"
Guan Yu slapped his forehead and smiled bitterly at Jian Yong.
"We were so focused on celebrating that we didn't even think to inform the brothers outside!" Jian Yong shook his head and said.
"Yes, we got carried away!" Guan Yu immediately ordered the soldiers around him to send out a safety signal to notify their First Army comrades outside the fire circle that it was safe and there was no need to put out the fire anymore.
Upon receiving orders, the soldier leader personally retrieved a green rocket launcher, a symbol of safety, from one of his men. He pulled the fuse, and a few seconds later, a rocket whistled as it shot into the night sky over the Gilusen Basin, exploding into a red fireball nearly a hundred meters high, with a diameter of twenty to thirty meters, visible to everyone in the entire Gilusen Basin.
"General, there's a pyrotechnic circle signal!" The battalion commander, still standing at a standard military posture, suddenly noticed a rocket exploding in the sky dozens of miles away, forming a perfect circle. He excitedly pulled Gao Shun aside and pointed to the still-burning pyrotechnic signal.
Gao Shun, who was looking down and considering the consequences, suddenly looked up and followed the direction the battalion commander was pointing. He clapped his hands excitedly and said, "It's alright, it's alright! I don't know how they escaped, but being able to send out this firework circle signal means that at least most of them survived!"
All the rescue soldiers standing in the ashes, embers, and on the hillside saw the signal of the circle of fireworks, which indicated that everyone was safe and sound. They all raised their hands in celebration and cheered loudly.
Even Jian Yong heard it clearly this time, and happily said to Guan Yu, "Indeed, General Gao sent people to rescue us outside!" Guan Yu nodded vigorously, his expression full of gratitude for not being abandoned.
The soldiers inside the organization heard the cheers outside. Realizing what was happening, they immediately stood up and roared towards the northern night sky. The shouts of tens of thousands of people instantly pierced through the flames, sending more concrete information about the safety of the rescue soldiers outside. Everyone embraced each other, celebrating the vanguard's miraculous escape from death.
At 6 a.m., the raging fire that had burned all night finally began to die down. Where the two flames met, only two or three meters high remained, allowing the two armies inside and outside to see each other clearly. Both sides waved their Chinese military flags and shouted joyfully as they waited for the fire to completely extinguish.