Chapter 237: Northern Frontier Breeds No Idlers
Weiming Zhongshi was directing soldiers to continuously carry stones to the city wall, boil feces, the steaming stench wafting over the city wall, making people nauseous.
“Hurry, continue demolishing houses, bring all the beams and stones up.”
“Not enough feces, bring the large pots for cooking rice over too.”
“Northern Frontier barbarians are about to siege the city.” Weiming Zhongshi wore armor, roaring until his face was red.
The Northern Frontier Army outside the city had already begun to maneuver; based on his experience, Heishui City was about to face a fierce attack.
But for some reason, he had not spotted siege ladders, battering rams, trebuchets, or other siege equipment in the Northern Frontier Army.
Instead, the Northern Frontier barbarians had erected twenty large pillars outside the north city, looking black and long, majestic.
Although he couldn’t figure out exactly what they were for, he believed the Northern Frontier barbarians would never do something useless.
“Could it be for Northern Frontier People sacrifices?”
The deputy general beside him guessed; in this era, armies often sacrificed to deities before battle for victory.
They believed the Northern Frontier Army was no exception.
But in the next second, thunderous roars tore through the sky, and the Gobi land suddenly trembled violently.
“Boom boom boom boom boom~”
Twenty massive clouds of smoke rose from the Northern Frontier Army formation, the twenty large pillars simultaneously spewing blazing flames, iron shots as thick as bowl mouths streaking across the sky like meteors.
Before they could react, twenty solid iron shots had already smashed heavily onto the north city wall.
In an instant, rammed earth and gravel poured down like a rainstorm; all the soldiers felt the city wall shaking beneath their feet.
Immediately after, a cannonball happened to hit the arrow tower on the city wall; its tremendous destructive power directly collapsed it, soldiers around the arrow tower screamed, instantly engulfed by smoke and debris.
The first salvo ended, the rammed earth city wall teetered on the brink of collapse, battered and scarred, with thigh-thick cracks appearing in many places.
The rumbling faded, rolling smoke and dust roared, enveloping the entire city wall.
Weiming Zhongshi struggled to his feet, his armor already covered in mud and fragments of wood and stone.
Though uninjured, he felt an unprecedented shock.
“This, impossible~”
His eyes narrowed, face showing horror, gripping the protruding bricks and stones of the city wall tightly, knuckles white as bone from the strain.
His ears still rang with the buzzing of heavenly thunder, but before his eyes was only human purgatory.
Soldiers’ mutilated bodies shattered by iron shots splattered open, like torn rags.
The scalding feces, not yet used on the Northern Frontier Army, poured onto their own people’s heads.
Wherever it passed, flesh melted away, white steam carrying a nauseating charred stench.
Screams, agonized howls, angry curses rose one after another.
Soldiers scattered like headless flies, the city wall in total chaos.
“Impossible, absolutely impossible.”
“Damn it, what the hell is this thing.”
Weiming Zhongshi muttered to himself, staggering back half a step, his boot sole stepping into sticky blood.
That was his personal guard who had just been tightly protecting him, now only half a torso left, wide eyes still reflecting the collapsed city wall.
He could not imagine that this horrific scene was caused by those twenty pillars in the Northern Frontier Army.
The sturdy Heishui City wall became completely vulnerable under the attack of those eerie pillars, teetering on the edge.
“Counterattack, must counterattack.”
“Must destroy those pillars.”
Weiming Zhongshi roared ferociously, wanting to send out cavalry to strike, but at that moment, the deputy general beside him let out a screech.
“They’re starting again.”
The next second, the massive rumbling resounded once more between heaven and earth.
“Boom boom boom boom~”
Twenty flames shot up from the Gobi outside Heishui City, tearing the sky, hitting the Heishui City wall again.
This cannonade had higher accuracy, almost all striking the city wall.
Wails rose one after another again, the shaking of the city wall beneath their feet more intense.
Weiming Zhongshi was dragged by the deputy general toward the base of the wall to flee: “Commander, hurry and go.”
“Can’t stay on the city wall.”
“Northern Frontier barbarians’ demonic weapons are too powerful.”
Though Weiming Zhongshi was unwilling in his heart, survival instinct made him quickly run down the wall.
But his mouth kept murmuring: “It’s over, it’s over, everything is over~”
Heishui City had over a hundred years of history; though weathered, due to corruption of military expenses, it hadn’t been repaired for many years.
Yet it remained the largest town in the northwest, never breached head-on by nomadic tribes, seen by many as impregnable.
Even the most powerful trebuchet could only leave a shallow pit on the wall, but now it was pounded full of holes by Northern Frontier People’s demonic weapons.
At this moment, Weiming Zhongshi’s heart was full of despair, saying bitterly: “Must figure out what demonic weapons the Northern Frontier barbarians are using.”
“Otherwise, though our Great Xia has high walls and brave officers and soldiers, under such demonic weapons, we are mere fish on the chopping block!”
The cannons unleashed by the Northern Frontier Army were a completely epoch-making weapon.
The Central Plains had gunpowder too, but mostly for firecrackers, far inferior in power to the Northern Frontier’s gunpowder.
And no concept of cannons at all.
The Central Plains’ earliest cannons were the thunderbolt cannons invented by the Southern Song Dynasty, still three years from being born.
And their power was far inferior to the Northern Frontier’s Divine Might Cannons.
So, to Weiming Zhongshi and others, the Northern Frontier’s cannons were utterly demonic weapons, mysterious forces beyond their cognition.
They could only guess in the realm of deities, ghosts, and demons.
“Boom boom boom boom~”
The massive rumbling like the Thunder God roaring unleashed divine punishment over Heishui City.
In a short quarter-hour, the Divine Machine Camp had fired over a hundred iron shots at the city wall.
Finally, at one moment, a section of city wall by the gate let out a cracking roar.
A dozen-zhang stretch of city wall collapsed with a boom.
In the smoke and dust, distant Northern Frontier Cavalry faintly appeared, all raising spears that gleamed coldly in the sunlight, like the Grim Reaper’s sickle.
A chilling aura permeated the army formation.
Gazing at the collapsed breach, Da Hu at the forefront of the army directly drew his cavalry saber, shouting fiercely.
“Offensive!”
“Charge into Heishui City.”
“Kill!”
“Boom boom boom boom~”
Iron cavalry thundered, thousands of war horses trampling the yellow earth outside the city, charging toward the wall breach like a white tide.
“Loose arrows, hurry loose arrows.”
“Block them.”
Weiming Zhongshi behind the city wall felt his back soaked in cold sweat, face ferocious, roaring loudly.
He ordered soldiers to block the breach with their bodies.
But fear is contagious; in desperate straits, few have great sacrificial spirit.
Moreover, under the Divine Machine Camp’s cannon fire, soldiers on the wall had hastily withdrawn in chaos, long since losing formation.
Soldiers couldn’t find generals, generals didn’t recognize soldiers; many even sneaked back home.
In the end, Weiming Zhongshi could only order his personal guards to hold the line.
“Kill!”
A Northern Frontier Squad Leader in red-trimmed white armor rode a tall war horse at the army’s forefront, charging rapidly.
Controlling the war horse with his legs, he drew bow and nocked arrow in one fluid motion.
The arrow flew out, precisely hitting a Western Xia personal guard behind the ruins.
Nearby Northern Frontier soldiers did the same, continuously shooting bows and arrows to kill any threatening soldiers.
But just as they neared the wall breach, a sound of bowstrings releasing suddenly rose from afar.
Dozens of arrows came flying at them.
The Squad Leader’s eyes widened instantly, shouting in horror: “Bad, it’s Divine Arm Crossbows.”
But before he could react, an arrow shot straight at his chest.
“Pfft~”
Accompanied by a muffled sound, though the Squad Leader had slightly twisted his body, the arrow still pierced his side chest.
He fell directly from the horse.
At the same time, over a dozen soldiers also tumbled from their horses.
Cotton armor could defend against most arrows, but what the soldiers behind the ruins used was clearly Divine Arm Crossbows.
This great killer that could pierce iron armor at close range could also deal fatal damage to Northern Frontier troops in cotton armor.
At the critical moment, a Captain shouted loudly: “Retreaters die.”
“Xia Kingdom troops’ Divine Arm Crossbows reload slowly, they can’t stop us.”
“Charge past, kill them.”
The Captain waved his hooked scythe spear in fury, directly replacing the previous Squad Leader, charging at the front.
Though his voice was drowned by the thundering war horses, the surrounding soldiers, seeing his action, all cast off their panic.
Their gazes turned fierce again, gripping spears tightly, charging forward.
Northern Frontier military law showed no mercy to deserters.
Not only soldiers would be executed, their families would be implicated too.
Conversely, if killed in the charge, families would receive generous compensation, and sons could inherit their positions.
Desertion meant certain death.
Charging offered a slim chance of survival.
So, they actually had only one choice.
“Kill!”
Dozens of soldiers in heavy cotton armor, led by the Captain, were the first to reach the wall.
Since the wall ruins weren’t cleared, the cavalry’s advantage was gone.
They could only engage in primitive hand-to-hand combat, fighting for the breach with flesh and blood.
In a short time, the dozen-zhang-long wall breach was soaked in blood.
But Weiming Zhongshi’s personal guards resisted fiercely; they were Tangut People, more loyal than ordinary city soldiers.
Especially since Divine Arm Crossbows countered cavalry too effectively.
In the distance, Li Xiao held a telescope, his expression cold and stern as he watched all this.
In siege warfare, casualties were inevitable.
It was just that, compared to Uyghur and royal court towns, Western Xia towns were harder to attack, with stronger soldier combat strength.
Causing greater casualties to Northern Frontier officers and soldiers.
“Order frontline soldiers to withdraw to the flanks.”
“Divine Machine Camp, switch to explosive shells, bombard them hard.” Li Xiao’s cold voice rang out.
“Understood.”
Soon, frontline soldiers receiving the order began withdrawing with their wounded comrades.
Just as Western Xia soldiers thought they had held the wall, the twenty distant cannons roared to the heavens again.
“Boom boom boom boom~”
Orange-yellow firelight like the Thunder God’s breath tore through the gray sky, twenty black iron balls trailing smoke smashing toward the wall breach.
A cannonball smashed heavily into a group of Western Xia soldiers; they panicked and retreated.
But they puzzledly discovered something burning with a sizzling sound on the iron shot.
In just one or two seconds, the fuse burned out; the iron shot exploded with a boom, a blinding glare erupting in the air.
Iron nails and gravel smashed head-on into the crowd behind.
“Ah~”
The Dutou nearest the explosion instantly lost his eyes; a rusty iron nail pierced his temple, blood and brains spurting from his orifices.
The Divine Arm Crossbowman behind him hadn’t run two steps before gravel hit his back; he fell to the ground screaming in agony.
Other cannonballs exploded one after another.
Because they used fuse detonation, affected by distance and shell trajectory angle, explosion timing was uncontrollable.
Some exploded one or two seconds after landing, others in mid-air.
The latter caused greater damage.
In the gunpowder smoke, Weiming Zhongshi was tackled into the ruins by his personal guards.
He trembled as he touched his cheek, fingertips meeting slick wetness—unclear if splashed blood or his own.
The wall breach before him had become a slaughterhouse: severed limbs, entrails, shattered armor fragments mixed with burning poplar wood piled into stinking mounds on the ground.
Even his trusted deputy general was hit by a cannonball.
His chest chainmail pierced by iron shards, exposing eviscerated flesh and a beating heart beneath; though not yet dead, he clearly wouldn’t survive.
“Com-Commander…”
The deputy general’s windpipe was also cut by iron shards, his voice leaking with a shrill whistle.
“This, this is the devil’s…”
Before finishing, his eyes lost focus.
Weiming Zhongshi gazed at his stiffening face, fear breeding endlessly in his heart.
He sat heavily on the ground, murmuring soullessly: “It’s over, everything is over.”
“Heishui City can’t be held.”
He suddenly realized that Western Xia’s flesh and blood couldn’t withstand these devilish contraptions that made stones bloom and steel boil.
The cannon rumbling faded, Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry roars rising again.
His few remaining personal guards shouted in terror.
“Lord, Lord, Northern Frontier barbarians’ cavalry are charging again.”
Weiming Zhongshi sat in the ruins, turning to see Northern Frontier Cavalry closing in on the breach from three sides.
Their ferocious aura more terrifying than before, with more soldiers and heavier killing intent.
Weiming Zhongshi, seeing this, showed an indifferent expression.
He gently shook his head: fine, tired, let it be destroyed!
……
Soon after, Northern Frontier Cavalry charged into Heishui City, cleared debris from the gate passage, opened the gate, letting the Northern Frontier Army main force enter.
Thus, Heishui City fell.
“Order all units: those who surrender will not be killed; those who resist stubbornly will be killed without mercy.”
“Before sunset, drive all common people in the city out.”
“No violations.” Li Xiao ordered gravely.
Heishui City had many Han military households; Li Xiao needed them to balance Northern Frontier’s ethnic issues.
Naturally, no city massacre.
But these Han common people would all be demoted to slaves, losing all property.
To regain everything, they must fight and seize with saber, spear, bow, and arrow in hand.
With enough military merit, Li Xiao would naturally restore their freedom, rewarding them with fields, property, and more women.
Because Northern Frontier doesn’t support idlers.
At sunset, the Northern Frontier Army had fully occupied Heishui City.
All common people in the city were driven to a camp outside.
After confirming safety, Li Xiao entered the Commander’s Office with men.
The mansion was a mess, clearly thoroughly searched by the Imperial Guards.
He removed his helmet, placed it on the table originally belonging to Weiming Zhongshi, and sat in his chair.
His gaze fell on the ornate yet disordered decorations in the room, saying: “Looks like Weiming Zhongshi was very greedy.”
“Heishui City’s common people live in dire straits, yet his mansion is so luxurious.”
Nearby Merit Assessment Department Staff Officer Zhang Xinghua chuckled lightly: “If we hadn’t come to rescue, who knows how much more suffering Heishui City’s common people would endure.”
“Their chance to see the light of day is all thanks to the Great Protector’s wisdom.”
This was naturally flattery.
But saying they came to rescue Heishui City’s common people wasn’t wrong either.
After all, Li Xiao had given them another dignified path to survival.
“Heh heh heh!” Li Xiao smiled faintly.
“This Protector merely gave them a path to live; whether they can live like humans henceforth depends on their own skill.”
“The only guarantee this Protector can give them is fairness.”
“In my Northern Frontier, merit is merit, fault is fault.”
“No one can steal their military merit, nor escape punishment.”
“Convey this Protector’s words verbatim to those prisoners of war.” Li Xiao said.
“Subordinate obeys.” Zhang Xinghua nodded emphatically.
Soon after, Household Affairs Department Staff Officer Han Jiuyuan arrived, saluting with hand on chest: “Reporting to Great Protector, Heishui City’s property has been fully inventoried.”
“Oh? How much?” Li Xiao took interest.
War was all about money.
If they couldn’t loot enough property from the city, would the Great Protector’s Mansion have to pay out of pocket to reward meritorious officers and soldiers?
Han Jiuyuan looked helpless: “Heishui City’s money stores are basically empty; common people’s private wealth is scant; granary has ten thousand shi of aged millet.”
“Only slight gains from a few large mansions in the city…”
Han Jiuyuan’s report boiled down to one thing: Heishui City was poor.
Warehouses had rats running free; no major money and grain captured.
He then looked hopefully at Li Xiao: “As for the Commander’s Office~”
Well, the Commander’s Office was ransacked by Li Xiao’s Imperial Guards.
They seized gold, silver, and property worth at least 100,000 strings.
All money Weiming Zhongshi had embezzled over the years, every string of copper coins stained with Heishui City common people’s blood and sweat.
Originally, this money should enter Li Xiao’s private treasury.
But now, it seemed it had to be used.
“The Commander’s Office money and grain, all handed to you two to manage; absolutely cannot chill any meritorious officer or soldier.” Li Xiao said gravely.
Han Jiuyuan and Zhang Xinghua both nodded in agreement.
One managed money, one recorded merits.
Merit rewards required them both to handle, also mutual oversight.
But if problems arose, Li Xiao wouldn’t spare them.
Then, all generals reported other captures to Li Xiao.
The armory was empty; before battle, Weiming Zhongshi had distributed to defending soldiers, now all seized by Northern Frontier Army.
Mostly standard weapons like sabers, spears, bows, and arrows; Li Xiao truly valued Divine Arm Crossbows and pockmarked armor, but quantities weren’t great.
The over fifty Divine Arm Crossbows at the wall breach were Heishui City’s last stock.
As for other Divine Arm Crossbows and pockmarked armor, all sold to Northern Frontier.
Meanwhile, Military Equipment Department artisans had replicated Divine Arm Crossbows, already in mass production.
Li Xiao had established a Divine Crossbow Camp Centurion force in every military town.
Each town had two hundred Divine Arm Crossbows.
But in this Heishui City battle, as the attackers, aside from fire suppression on the wall, Divine Arm Crossbows hadn’t decided the battle.
“Great Protector, our army captured a total of 13,800 people from Heishui City and surrounding military villages’ common people; how to resettle, please instruct, Great Protector.”
After all matters were handled, Jiu Meng’an He asked about the prisoners of war.
As Governor’s Mansion Sima and Military Affairs Adviser, he handled military plans and army logistics.
Prisoner matters naturally fell to him.
But the Heishui City battle was his first war joining Northern Frontier; prisoner handling still needed Li Xiao’s approval.
“Northern Frontier doesn’t support idlers.”
“Since they’ve become my Northern Frontier slaves, everything follows my Northern Frontier rules.” Li Xiao said calmly.
“Select all men, incorporate into Kuli Army.”
“Follow my Northern Frontier Army south to campaign.”
“Tell them, kill three enemy soldiers, this Protector will exempt their slave status, restore their whole family to freedom.”
“Meanwhile, merit reward standards same as my Northern Frontier garrison soldiers.”
“But if they dare desert, whole family executed.” Li Xiao’s voice turned cold and stern.
He gave Han People some favors but wouldn’t overly favor them.
He wanted iron-willed Han warriors good at warfare, not spineless wastes.
Li Xiao’s move forced them to grow.
While using their families’ lives as threat.
Then, he turned to Camp Cultivation Department Deputy Staff Officer Gao Zhongyi, instructing: “Incorporate all these elderly, women, and children into camp cultivation households; assign tasks by household registration, reclaim wasteland.”
Heishui City’s men could follow Northern Frontier Army south to fight, but women, elders, and children couldn’t eat for free.
They must do farm work to exchange for food.
Heishui City was also called Juyan Lake, a vast oasis.
Li Xiao planned to fully occupy Heishui City as a forward base for future Western Xia offensives.
So, large-scale farmland planting in Heishui City was essential: first self-sufficiency, then secure army logistics.
“Understood!”
After orders were issued, all generals and officials went to their tasks.
With these people, Li Xiao was freed up.
That night, he spent in Weiming Zhongshi’s back courtyard; his madam, concubines, and daughters all captured by Imperial Guards.
Weiming Zhongshi was greedy for money and lustful; the women were all top beauties, each exceptional.
Though the madam was a bit older, her looks and figure were still fine.
Full of mature charm, quite fire-quenching.
