Chapter 256: Burning The City, Great Victory
West City Gate, where the Western Xia Army was fiercely fighting the Northern Frontier Army, had already reached the final moment.
Although the Xia Army had superior troops, the Northern Frontier Soldiers held the high city wall, shooting arrows downward into the city from above, turning the area dozens of meters inside the city wall into a complete vacuum zone.
The Western Xia Army, unable to breach after a long siege, grew increasingly anxious, when suddenly Li Anquan’s order arrived.
“The Prince orders the entire army to withdraw outside the city.”
“Withdraw quickly, withdraw quickly~”
The messenger soldier’s hoarse voice roared, then he hurriedly mounted his horse and went to relay the order to other troops.
Meanwhile, the Xia Army officers and soldiers inside the city were left baffled by this order.
“Have us withdraw?”
“Why would the Prince issue such an order?”
“We were just about to take the entire Shanle City, and now withdraw? What about all our brothers who died?”
“Li Anquan is an amateur!”
Just as the Western Xia officers and soldiers were grumbling and puzzled by this order, Luo Meng’s command arrived.
“The Deputy Commander orders, light the fire.”
“The Deputy Commander orders, light the fire immediately.”
Outside the West City Gate, two Yellow Armor personal guards beside Luo Meng rode up, galloping along the base of the city wall, their roaring voices echoing across most of the west city wall.
The Northern Frontier Soldiers on the city wall immediately changed their demeanor upon hearing the order.
“Damn it, finally we can fight.”
“I’ve followed the Great Protector in battles for so many years, and this is the first time we’ve been chased and beaten.”
“Today, if we don’t kill this bunch of Dangxiang bald dogs, I’ll write my old Wang surname backwards.”
Fourth Garrison Chiliarch Wang Cunxiao, covered in blood, with a ferocious expression, shouted loudly.
“Light the fire oil!”
The Northern Frontier Soldiers sprang into action, taking out the arrows they had prepared long ago.
A soldier holding a torch ran past them, quickly igniting the fire oil on all the arrowheads.
“Loose arrows!”
Wang Cunxiao waved his cavalry saber and shouted loudly.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh~”
Accompanied by bursts of piercing whistling sounds, over a hundred fire arrows dragged scarlet tail flames through the sky, shooting toward various places in the West City like falling meteors.
The Western Xia officers and soldiers inside the city wall saw this scene, their faces frozen in stupor, some suddenly realizing something, their faces turning pale as they looked in terror at a nearby haystack.
“Bad, we’ve been tricked.”
A Western Xia centurion shouted loudly in alarm, but it was already too late.
An arrow precisely struck the dry grass haystack, flames erupting “boom” over ten feet high and rapidly spreading around.
Because the Northern Frontier Army had sprinkled gunpowder on the dry grass.
After all, Huaxia’s largest sulfur mine and saltpeter mine were under Northern Frontier Army control.
Gunpowder cost very little, mainly requiring labor to mine, and there was no need to be too sparing in use.
Thus, guided by the gunpowder, the dry grass ignited rapidly, and the fire around the West City Gate grew larger and larger.
Wang Cunxiao shouted again: “Divine Arm Crossbow, loose arrows.”
Cavalry bow and arrow range was only dozens of meters, covering just the area near the west city wall.
But the Divine Arm Crossbow range could reach four to five hundred meters, enough to ignite dry grass across the western half of the city.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh~”
Divine Arm Crossbow arrows poured down like a rainstorm, the ignited haystacks like awakened giant beasts, thick smoke wrapped in sparks rushing to the horizon.
“Fire, fire, fire~”
“It’s on fire, it’s on fire, run!”
“We’ve been tricked, withdraw quickly.”
Countless Western Xia soldiers watched as surrounding haystacks ignited, forming a massive sea of fire in just a few breaths, spreading rapidly outward.
There was no time for these soldiers to react; everything was already too late.
“Splash water quickly, splash water.”
A Western Xia centurion’s hoarse voice shouted loudly, but the next second, the sound of Divine Arm Crossbow arrows piercing the air rose like the wail of the god of death.
“Pfft,” a sharp Divine Arm Crossbow fire arrow pierced his iron armor, embedding in his shoulder blade, fire oil spreading through the armor gaps, instantly turning him into a burning fireman.
He rolled and knocked over several soldiers, also igniting the toppled haystack with a boom, fierce flames spreading across the street.
It quickly ignited the dry grass inside the houses, making the fire even fiercer.
By now, no one was trying to put out the fire anymore.
After all, with the fire spread this far, it couldn’t be extinguished with a few buckets of water.
Moreover, since the Northern Frontier Army wanted to burn Shanle City, they had long blocked the wells inside the city.
Everything was already too late.
Masses of Western Xia soldiers rolled in the sea of fire, the scorching heat roasting the iron armor on their bodies, cooking all the flesh beneath.
Rolling thick smoke mixed with the smell of roasted meat spread to every corner of the city.
“Run, run~ cough cough cough~”
A young Dangxiang soldier endured agony to remove his iron armor, tearing off large chunks of flesh, but by then he felt no pain, his mind filled only with the desire to flee outward.
He no longer hoped for the Imperial Court’s promised triumphant rewards, his dreams of looting Hexi cities shattered; now he just wanted to go home.
But with raging fires on all sides, he found no escape route.
Running along, he felt dizzy and faint, finally collapsing to the ground.
Not only would the thick smoke choke people to death; the city-wide fire sea consumed massive oxygen, turning the entire city into near vacuum.
Even soldiers who luckily found cellars or wells to hide in ultimately could not escape death.
“Chiliarch~”
On the city wall, the Northern Frontier Soldiers, the instigators, watched the scene and were all stunned.
Some showed reluctance, some gasped for breath, some wanted to vomit from the smell of roasted meat in the air.
They didn’t mind killing, but this method of killing was new to them.
Wang Cunxiao exhaled lightly and said gravely: “This is war; no room for mercy.”
“If they don’t die today, we will.”
With that, he shouted loudly: “Withdraw!”
The blast wave from inside the city hit them, and even in their cotton armor, they suffered the scorching heat, sweating profusely.
Most importantly, they too felt suffocated.
They could no longer stay on the city wall.
Thus, the Northern Frontier Soldiers used their personal iron hooks to latch onto the city wall, sliding down ropes to the outside.
At the same time, the Western Xia soldiers outside who hadn’t entered yet saw this and were all stunned, relieved to have escaped with their lives.
Ignoring their officers’ commands, they all scattered and fled, as if Shanle City were a massive demon lair.
Li Anquan also escaped under his personal guards’ protection, not stopping until far away.
He tore off his charred cape, revealing the chainmail inside scorched red-hot, his chest heaving violently; his personal guards were scattered, half with bloodstains and soot still on their faces.
His face was pale, expression terrified, oblivious to his burns, eyes fixed on the inferno behind.
Shanle City now resembled a furnace overturned by the gods, every street and house ablaze with fierce flames.
Thick black smoke shrouded half the sky, the entire city twisting and deforming in the blaze.
Countless Western Xia soldiers crowded at the city gates like roasting ants, the clash of armor, cries, and pleas mixing into chaos.
Not just the East City Gate; the other three gates faced the same.
Some were knocked down and trampled into bloody pulp; others with burning braids madly crashed into comrades.
But the more anxious, the more crowded the gates.
The small gates couldn’t accommodate so many soldiers.
Screams rose continuously from the city wall too; with gates blocked, the wall became their only option.
Soldiers jumping the wall crashed heavily to the ground; some landed intact, others with shattered bones.
Even so, more soldiers flipped over regardless of life or death; compared to the fire sea behind, the pain of broken bones seemed like “hope.”
“It’s over, everything’s over!”
“Prince, the army is gone~”
The personal guards wailed in terror.
Li Anquan too stared with bloodshot eyes at the burning city, his gaze full of terror and despair.
He muttered: “Yes, all gone.”
He staggered back half a step, collapsing onto the sand, a bitter rusty taste rising in his throat.
He had never imagined his proud army of over twenty thousand would struggle like candles in the wind amid the flames.
Though thousands outside hadn’t entered, what use were they now?
At this moment, Li Anquan felt only regret.
Blame the Northern Barbarians for being too cunning, devising such a vicious method against him, impossible to guard against.
Just then, the personal guard commander’s face turned terrified, as if seeing something dreadful: “Prince, Northern Barbarians’ cavalry are here.”
At those words, Li Anquan paled in shock, abruptly looking up.
Under the crimson sunrise, peaks on both sides were dyed blood-red.
Countless Northern Frontier Soldiers in bright yellow armor surged like tides up the hillside, looking down from above at the blazing Shanle City and Li Anquan’s defeated soldiers.
This cavalry army was naturally the two Myriad Household Commanders sent by Li Xiao to support Shanle City.
Tie Tou sat on horseback amid the army, most of his face wrapped in cotton armor.
His shocked eyes gazed at the great fire in Shanle City.
Too ruthless.
This fire had killed at least ten thousand Western Xia soldiers.
But it had to be admitted: this was the fastest way to end the war.
Otherwise, defeating this Western Xia Army would cost the Northern Frontier thousands of casualties.
After all, the infantry under Li Anquan differed from others, with high armor rate, belonging to a heavy infantry legion.
Cavalry held no great advantage against them.
Composing himself, Tie Tou drew his cavalry saber and shouted fiercely: “Kill!”
“Wooo wooo wooo~”
“Kill!”
As the first horn tore through the sky, the entire mountain valley echoed with the thunder of Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry, the sound like it came from the depths of hell, carrying chilling killing intent.
Meanwhile, Mo Jun also mobilized his men for the final encirclement of the Western Xia defeated army in the valley.
By now, the Western Xia Army had completely lost will to fight; realizing they couldn’t outrun Northern Frontier Cavalry, the soldiers all raised weapons in surrender.
Even Li Anquan himself was directly captured by the Northern Frontier Army.
……
The great fire in Shanle City continued raging, at least another full day.
At first, some Western Xia soldiers rushed out or jumped from the walls, but gradually, all such figures vanished.
Everyone knew: if you couldn’t get out at first, you had no chance later.
Luo Meng stood on a distant hillside, gazing solemnly at the town, saying in a low voice: “From now on, Shanle City will be erased from existence in the Hexi Corridor.”
Soon after, Tie Tou and Mo Jun arrived one after another to report their battle results to Luo Meng.
How many enemy troops were burned to death was beyond counting.
But they captured over eight thousand, including Western Xia soldiers who hadn’t entered the city and those who escaped early in the fire.
The latter were mostly wounded.
The greatest gain of this battle was the Western Xia Army’s grain.
All left in the Western Xia army camp outside the city, over twenty thousand shi, enough to feed forty thousand troops for a month.
“Besides, we captured the Xia Kingdom Army’s Deputy Commander, Zhenyi Commandery Prince Li Anquan; heard he’s the Xia Kingdom Emperor’s cousin.” Tie Tou said.
Luo Meng nodded lightly: “Imprison him first, await the Great Protector’s disposal.”
He then ordered the entire army to rest and clean the battlefield.
Though Shanle City was ruined, it still held plenty of good things.
First, the Western Xia Army’s war horses; after simple processing, Northern Frontier Soldiers could butcher and eat them.
Second, the armor on the Western Xia soldiers.
Because Western Xia had advanced military industry, many of these soldiers were elites from Xingqing Prefecture; both cavalry and infantry had high armor rates.
Moreover, the quality of the iron armor material was good; even if distorted by high heat, secondary forging could reuse it.
Far more efficient than smelting from iron ore.
After a day of rest, Luo Meng left a small contingent to continue battlefield cleanup the next morning, leading the Fourth Garrison main force east out the Yanzhi Mountain Ancient Road.
Heading toward Liangzhou City.
Their goal: cut off Waiming Shian’s supply lines, utterly eliminate this army on the southern slopes of Yanzhi Mountain.
……
Qilian Mountains’ melting snow nourished the Hexi land, creating numerous oases.
Especially Liangzhou Wuwei and Ganzhou Zhangye, among Western Xia’s most vital granaries.
Historically recorded as: “Springs fertile, no need for timely weather, annual yield forty hundred thousand hu.”
Since the Han Dynasty, Han People had massively reclaimed land here.
Entering Liangzhou revealed endless fields crisscrossing, Qilian snowmelt flowing through ancient irrigation channels like veins into every inch of land.
Ganzhou and Liangzhou’s annual grain output accounted for over a third of Western Xia’s total.
At this time, a massive grain transport caravan traveled in Wuwei territory.
Seeing the vast farmlands ahead, an old man pulling an ox cart couldn’t help but feel heartbroken and curse angrily:
“These damn Northern Barbarians have ruined such good fields; they’re asking to die.”
Others nodded: “Yeah, such good fields; if they were mine, I’d sleep in them happily every day.”
“Heh, they fight back and forth, and in the end no one eats; might as well all starve together.”
“Stop complaining; these are freshly planted crops, some can still be saved.”
“Just trampled too hard by men and horses; seedlings might not sprout.”
The old men muttered as they walked; they knew nothing of fighting, but farming, each was an expert.
They were here by Imperial Court summons, as civilian laborers delivering army grain to Hexi.
Since Liangzhou was Western Xia’s granary, initial army grain came from local warehouses.
The Western Xia Court prepared for prolonged war, continuously transporting grain from Xingqing Prefecture and elsewhere to Hexi.
These civilian laborers, upon arriving in Hexi, received orders from the Liangzhou Prefect’s office: no need to return to warehouse, deliver directly to the military horse farm battlefield.
Thus, this massive caravan appeared here, but the civilian laborers were completely unaware of the dire situation.
“Sigh, who knows how long this war will last; if we miss the autumn harvest, it’ll be a big delay.”
“Who knows; anyway, heard those Northern Barbarians are tough to deal with.”
“Wasn’t it said we won a great victory, eliminating tens of thousands of Northern Barbarians?”
“You fool, believe those officials’ lies? If we really eliminated tens of thousands, they wouldn’t send grain to the military horse farm, but straight to Dunhuang and Heishui City.”
A veteran who had fought in his youth said disdainfully.
So-called military reports were fake, officials’ deceptions for common people; true battle situation shown by the front lines.
The Imperial Court’s useless army was pinned down by Northern Frontier Barbarians at the military horse farm.
About to reach Liangzhou City; who still believed the court’s tales of great victory?
“I reckon Liangzhou might fall too; the entire Hexi Corridor taken by Northern Barbarians.” The veteran sighed.
This made others shudder: “What? That serious?”
“Exactly!”
“In my youth, I fought Naiman People and Kerey People; those prairie barbarians raided borders and fled, nothing like Northern Barbarians’ ferocity.”
“Now just hope our army fights hard; don’t let us get defeated by barbarians before we return.”
The veteran muttered; after years in service, he knew the court’s army all too well.
No longer the force that swept the Hexi Corridor back then.
But just as the veteran finished, chaos erupted in the forward caravan.
“What’s going on?”
The veteran pulling the ox cart jolted alert, looking up, his face changing drastically the next second.
For he seemed to hear war horse sounds—many of them.
“No way, did my crow mouth jinx it?”
“No, it can’t be.”
“Definitely court’s cavalry.” The veteran comforted himself.
But the civilian laborers and grain escorts ahead felt differently.
“Look, cavalry, so many cavalry.”
“Not ours; that’s not our battle flag.”
On the vast Liangzhou land, over a thousand Northern Frontier Cavalry rose from the horizon, madly charging the grain caravan.
“Giddyup giddyup~”
“Hah~”
“Roar roar roar~”
The yellow-bottom white-rimmed sun and moon battle flag tore through the sky; soldiers waved spears and war sabers, emitting high-pitched roars to intimidate and pressure the enemy psychologically.
Hoofbeats from far to near shook the ground trembling, raised dust like thick yellow fog shrouding most of the grassland sky.
Civilian laborer Wang Erzhu’s legs shook like chaff, his reins dropping “patta”; the startled draft horse neighed, rearing to nearly kick him over.
“Northern Barbarians! Northern Barbarians are here!”
Someone shouted, and the crowd exploded.
Whether civilian laborers or grain escorts, all abandoned grain-laden ox carts, fleeing in all directions like headless flies, densely covering the wilderness.
The leading Northern Frontier Army general was Tie Tou; he thrust his spear forward and shouted fiercely.
“Capture them.”
Battle flags snapping, hooves pounding, soldiers shouting mixed into chaos.
Over a thousand Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry like a golden steel flood mercilessly crushed toward the scattering civilian laborers.
Soon, civilian laborers from all sides were rounded up, driven by spears and horsewhips like a sheep flock into a group.
“Who’s the steward here?” Tie Tou rode forward, shouting loudly.
The civilian laborers exchanged glances, terrified, none daring to speak.
“No one speaks? Then kill them all.”
At this, a middle-aged petty official-like man was pushed forward, legs trembling, kneeling terrified and kowtowing to Tie Tou: “Northern Frontier Grandfather spare us, spare us.”
“Get up~” Tie Tou bellowed.
“Tell me, how many civilian laborers here?”
“How much grain transported, any more caravans behind?”
The petty official hurriedly answered: “Civilian laborers? About ten thousand, thirty thousand shi grain.”
“Another caravan behind, also ten thousand, probably just left Liangzhou City.”
Hearing this, Tie Tou relaxed; finally, the Western Xia Army’s supply lines were cut.
Without this grain, these civilian laborers, most importantly without the livestock and horse carriages for transport, how long could those Western Xia troops hold?
He then sent men to notify Mo Jun to intercept the other caravan near Liangzhou City.
……
Liangzhou City.
Prefect Su Binara stood on the city wall, watching the grain caravan depart slowly until the last figure vanished, then descended worriedly.
“How much grain left in the city?” Su Binara asked his subordinate official.
“Lord, less than two hundred thousand shi.” The subordinate official said.
“But in two more days, another batch arrives, about thirty thousand shi.”
Su Binara nodded lightly, but his brows remained furrowed.
Liangzhou and Ganzhou were key grain areas; Northern Frontier Barbarians took Ganzhou, seized massive provisions, unlikely to withdraw soon.
This war would drag on.
“Summon the city grain merchants to me.” Su Binara instructed.
As Liangzhou Prefect, his key task was ensuring army supply lines, gathering more grain by any means.
But just as the grain merchants arrived at the prefecture and the meeting hadn’t started.
A general dismounted hurriedly outside, rushed in, found Su Binara, and said in panic: “Bad news, bad news.”
“Prefect Lord, our grain was robbed.”
Hearing this, Su Binara froze, then his face changed drastically: “What?”
“Grain robbed?”
“What happened? Who dares rob our grain?”
This was army grain vital to tens of thousands in Hexi; who dared such audacity in Liangzhou territory?
Su Binara thought of horse bandits, local tyrants, but the truth shocked him.
“Northern Barbarians cavalry; they took our grain, just ten li outside the city.” The general said tremblingly.
Su Binara’s face drained of color, body swaying, incredulously exclaiming: “Impossible?”
“How could Northern Barbarians cavalry reach outside Liangzhou City to rob grain?”
The next second, a terrifying thought flashed in his mind.
Waiming Shian’s army—defeated?
Instantly, darkness swam before his eyes, his personal guard’s shouts ringing: “Lord, Lord!”
