Chapter 295: Iron Cavalry Marches Out, Northern Frontier Army Will Prevail【extra For Alliance Leader E Ka Li!】
Dragon City, heavy snow swirling in the air.
Snowflakes as large as goose feathers rustled down from the lead-gray sky, enveloping the entire city in a vast white world.
Li Xiao was sitting in the study, the coke in the charcoal basin burning bright red.
In his hand was a secret letter from the Northern Desert, a report sent by Hu Li’s men, which took over half a month to reach Dragon City due to the harsh weather.
The secret letter detailed the process of Temüjin’s surprise attack on the Kereit Tribe Khanate.
“Kiyan tribe soldiers fought fearlessly, the Khanate guards were utterly unprepared, and though numerous, they could not withstand the assault.”
“Sangkun led the guard army in a counterattack, but was killed by a divine archer under Temüjin, and many Kereit tribe generals also perished under that divine archer’s arrows.”
Seeing these lines, Li Xiao paused for a moment.
He had not expected Sangkun to die?
The archer who killed him was probably called Jebe.
An excellent general; if the opportunity arose, Li Xiao would certainly recruit him.
He and Subutai had made the Western barbarians flee in panic.
After Jebe shot the Kereit generals, the tribe was leaderless, soldiers fighting scattered, and soon divided and surrounded by Kiyan tribe soldiers.
Ong Khan, aged and frail with severe winter coughing fits, fled only a dozen li before being overtaken by Temüjin himself.
The hegemon of the Northern Desert, the Kereit Tribe, had its Khanate captured in this utterly inconceivable manner.
Truth be told, Li Xiao was not surprised at all by this outcome.
“After all, this is the Son of Destiny.” He placed the secret letter on the table, took a sip of hot tea, and a meaningful smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
A thousand cavalry raiding a camp, undetected by Kereit scouts along the way—what was so remarkable about that?
The previous Son of Destiny could even summon a massive meteor strike.
Moreover, in the original history, Temüjin’s experiences were equally fantastical.
At the height of autumn when horses were fat, precisely when the Kereit Tribe was strongest, he boldly led his followers straight to assault the Kereit Khanate.
He arrived unhindered, sending Ong Khan and Sangkun fleeing in madness.
And in this life, Temüjin’s situation was even more dire, with fewer soldiers under him.
He could only use the cover of heavy snow, while other Kereit clans hunkered down for winter, risking total annihilation to sneak attack the Kereit Khanate.
Fortunately, he won.
The Khanate isolated and without aid, Ong Khan captured, Sangkun unluckily shot dead by Jebe—it was even more dramatic than in the history books.
The secret letter also mentioned that after capturing the Khanate, Temüjin immediately began annexing the Kereit Tribe’s vassal tribes.
Any tribe that resisted stubbornly would face ruthless retaliation from the Kiyan tribe.
Men slaughtered entirely or demoted to slaves; women dragged into tents by Kiyan tribe soldiers for all-night revelry.
After all, Temüjin had promised his followers that every tent would be filled with Kereit women and endless delicacies.
The soldiers had endured untold hardships to win the war for him; if unrewarded, he might be the next one killed.
Fortunately, the secret letter from Hu Li also said that he and Zha Heganbu saw the tide turning and immediately withdrew from the Khanate with their confidants.
Along the way, they gathered some homeless Kereit tribesmen and were now retreating toward the Western Sea.
Finishing the secret letter, Li Xiao let out a soft sigh.
He set down the teacup, walked to the window, pushed it open, and a bone-chilling cold hit his face, clearing his mind further.
Gazing at the heavy snow dancing outside the window, he said faintly, “This grassland wolf Temüjin has finally bared his fangs.”
Standing by the window for a long time, various schemes surfaced in Li Xiao’s mind.
The situation in the Northern Desert had changed; if the Kereit Tribe could kill Temüjin, that would be ideal.
Conversely, if Temüjin defeated the Kereit Tribe, it would not be bad for the Northern Frontier.
When two tigers fight, the Northern Frontier reaps the benefits.
But they must strike while Temüjin was not yet secure, to eliminate him completely.
Returning to the desk, Li Xiao took up his brush and wrote out orders.
From provisioning schedules to armaments resupply, from assembly routes for each army to general battle plans, every one clear and precise.
Finished writing, he took the Great Protector’s seal, stamped it heavily on each order, sealed with sealing wax, took out the tiger tally for mobilizing troops, and ordered them sent to the Northern Frontier prefectures.
With these orders issued, the Northern Frontier’s massive war machine began to rumble into preliminary motion.
Granary doors in each prefecture slowly opened, wagons loaded with provisions escorted by soldiers heading to designated assembly points.
Armories blazed with light, artisans working through the night to produce cannon ammunition, forge iron armor and weapons, the clang of hammers rising and falling.
These were portents of war, naturally not hidden from the military and civilians under the Imperial City’s shadow, yet the streets showed no panic.
The coldest winter had passed, temperatures warming, groups of women sitting by the wall roots basking in the sun.
“I hear the Great Protector has ordered an expedition to the Northern Desert come spring,” said a woman patching shoe soles.
She was an old settler from Jin Prefecture, her man a chiliarch in the First Division, naturally privy to more news.
Such large-scale military movements could not be concealed anyway, leaks everywhere.
Just like the Song Dynasty’s Northern Expedition, the Jin Dynasty knew early, just not the exact timing and troop deployments.
“Indeed, with the Northern Frontier Army on the move, success is guaranteed,” someone nearby chimed in, a confident smile on her face.
The Northern Frontier’s strength was deeply ingrained; through years of campaigns, men’s ranks rose higher, common people’s lives grew better.
They no longer feared war, but anticipated it.
For Northern Frontier Army victories had become routine.
“I hear it’s because the Kiyan tribe sneak-attacked the Kereit Tribe, enraging the Great Protector, so he’s mobilizing to exterminate them.”
Someone said in a lowered voice, as if privy to inside information.
“Kiyan tribe? Never heard of them,” a young woman newly married to Dragon City scratched her head, bewildered.
“Ah, just a small tribe on the Mobei Grassland, nothing special,” the woman beside waved dismissively.
The young woman said, “But I know the Kereit Tribe; isn’t Madam Sorghaghtani from the Northern Desert Kereit Tribe?”
“I hear that’s the biggest tribe in the Northern Desert; who would’ve thought it’d be sneak-attacked by some no-name little tribe.”
“Truly, the ways of the world are unpredictable.”
“Yes, no wonder the Great Protector is so furious; that Kiyan tribe deserves to be crushed,” someone said indignantly.
“They didn’t even bother to find out what relation the Kereit Tribe has with our Northern Frontier?”
“That’s family by marriage! Sneak-attacking the Kereit Tribe is not putting our Northern Frontier in their eyes!”
“Exactly, time to show them some color, let them know our Northern Frontier’s might.”
On the streets, children still chased and played, merchants’ calls rose and fell, everything as usual.
For Dragon City common people, Northern Frontier Army expeditions were as routine as sowing and reaping; they believed this undefeated force would surely triumph and return.
And war would bring more wealth and stable days.
Beneath this calm facade, the Northern Frontier’s war machine was operating at high speed.
A storm targeting the Kiyan tribe was quietly brewing.
Far away in the Zhezhe Yundushan Mountains, Temüjin was still smug over annexing the Kereit Tribe’s victory, utterly unaware that a sharp butcher knife hung silently over his head.
……
Early spring, ice and snow melting, Li Xiao formally issued the order to campaign against the Northern Desert, sounding the horn of war, troops rapidly mobilizing and assembling.
Western Sea, sky blue and clear, vast mountains, grasslands, rivers, and lakes on the land intermingling, gradually revealing vibrant scenes.
This was the widest and least populated prefecture among the Northern Frontier’s Nine Provinces, one-third of the population concentrated downstream on the Zabuhan River, living by the water in a semi-pastoral semi-agricultural life.
That day, Captain Zhao Wu was repairing a saddle outside his tent.
Suddenly, urgent hoofbeats shattered the tranquility.
A messenger from the Centurion’s Residence dismounted and shouted, “Captain Zhao, the centurion orders: assemble all units in three days, prepare to head east and fight the Kiyan tribe wolf cubs.”
Zhao Wu paused, a smile breaking across his face: “Hahaha.”
“Cooped up in the tent for over a year without action, bones all rusted.”
“Finally, the order old man has been waiting for.”
War was fearsome, but for battle-hardened Northern Frontier veterans, this campaign was more like a grand looting spree.
Kiyan tribe?
What was that?
The Northern Frontier Army had wiped out the Naiman Tribe, crippled the Kereit Tribe; a mere Kiyan tribe wasn’t even on their radar.
“Just a pity those prairie barbarians have no loot, not as satisfying as fighting the Xia Kingdom,” Zhao Wu shook his head.
He was an early Dunhuang migrant; after settling in the Western Sea, free from landlords and officials’ oppression, life had prospered.
All the cattle and sheep on the hillside were his, his tent filled with rare goods, married four wives and concubines—Han people and foreigners—fathered ten children.
Life was prosperous, but money flowed like water.
The silver and rewards from the Xia Kingdom campaign two years ago really didn’t last.
So Zhao Wu had long been eager for another battle.
“The centurion also said to bring extra sacks; they’ll come in handy on the return,” the messenger added.
Zhao Wu grinned, flashing two rows of white teeth: “That old boy, still so hot-tempered.”
He knew well “extra sacks” meant more looting of property.
For the Northern Frontier Army, fighting the Kiyan tribe was never a losing deal.
He just doubted whether the poor Kiyan tribe had anything valuable besides cattle and sheep.
He didn’t know that the Kereit Tribe’s accumulated wealth over the years had mostly fallen into Kiyan tribe hands, distributed by Temüjin to his thousand-plus warriors.
The campaign orders spread like stones tossed into a lake, rippling through every soldier’s home, shattering early spring’s peace.
Unlike veterans’ calm, new recruits’ faces showed heavier worry.
Wang Jiu was a Hexi migrant, originally alone, a footloose bachelor.
Last year, he gritted his teeth, took an eight-string copper coin loan, and bought a Kiyan tribe female slave.
The woman, eighteen or nineteen, not strikingly beautiful but with gentle brows and eyes, satisfied him.
After a winter of nightly toil, her belly had finally swelled; Wang Jiu was planning to release more sheep come spring to repay the loan soon.
But war was starting now.
Wang Jiu squatted before his ramshackle tent, watching his wife clumsily mending clothes inside, brows furrowed.
He’d joined the Six Garrisons soldiers only after the captain said enlistment would quickly clear his debt.
Still, he was reluctant to leave his wife and unborn child.
Soon, Wang Jiu, full of worries, dawdled to Zhao Wu’s tent.
Seeing his state, Zhao Wu teased, “What? Can’t bear to leave the woman in your tent?”
Wang Jiu, heart struck, scratched his head embarrassedly: “Captain’s right.”
“With me gone, she’ll be alone at home, and big with child, inconvenient for everything.”
He added worriedly, “Captain, do you think… she might run off while I’m away?”
After all, this woman was a captive taken by the Kereit Tribe in war, bought by him for eight strings; her heart might not be willing.
Hearing Wang Jiu’s concern, Zhao Wu laughed: “Where could she run to? Back to freeze and starve?”
“Your wife wasn’t nobility before; she might not have had full meals then—how could it compare to now with you?”
“Hahaha, Wang Jiu, you still don’t understand women.”
He gestured into the tent, tone assured from experience: “Their nature is to attach to the strong.”
“As long as you’re stronger, shelter her from wind and rain, feed her full every meal, she’ll follow you obediently.”
“Like my wives and concubines: the principal wife from my hometown, others looted from everywhere—Naiman people, Uyghur people, Turkic people.”
“They made a fuss when they first came.”
Zhao Wu swigged from his wineskin, throat bobbing as he laughed: “Now I feed them well, they bear me a string of kids.”
“Which one doesn’t stay honestly by the tent, not even daring to complain?”
Never mind the distance; a pregnant woman alone in the wilds—could she survive three days?
Moreover, when Northern Frontier Army conquered, they took whole foreign families.
Even if she fled home, alone she’d struggle more to survive.
Zhao Wu clapped Wang Jiu’s shoulder hard: “So your worry is pure excess.”
“When you return with sacks full of loot, she’ll cling to you more than anyone.”
Wang Jiu listened dazedly, brows gradually relaxing.
The captain made sense: with him, she ate and dressed warmly, tied by the coming child—no reason to flee.
He grinned: “Thanks for the guidance, Captain; my heart’s much steadier.”
“Steady? Then sharpen your spear first.”
Zhao Wu waved: “Win the battle, earn merit, get rewards, buy cotton cloth for new clothes for your wife and kid—better than fretting here.”
“Go on; soon you’ll be a military household, and you’ll rise high.”
“Aye!” Wang Jiu replied.
Soon, the captain’s soldiers arrived one after another.
With herdsmen traits, needing ample grassland to feed cattle and sheep, households spaced far apart, gathering took effort.
And among them were military households and new recruits.
All fired up to loot the Northern Desert.
With Li Xiao’s orders issued, troops from the First Division, Second Town, Fourth Garrison, and Sixth Garrison all mobilized.
Outside Dragon City, the wilderness was packed with people.
Golden Sun and Moon Battle Flags snapped in the morning wind, beneath them endless yellow armor cavalry.
Like a surging golden tide galloping toward Golden Mountain.
The First Division, Northern Frontier Army’s elite main force, had twenty thousand troops, directly deploying fifteen thousand this time.
Now, vanguard units had reached Golden Mountain Pass, while Li Xiao’s central army was just preparing to depart.
He wore dark gold dragon pattern cotton armor, mounted under the marshal flag, behind him thousands of elite Wuwei Army cavalry.
Their war horses equally tall, every man exuding fierce aura.
“Daddy daddy~”
Faint children’s cries came from the city wall; Li Xiao turned to see Golden Saber held by a maidservant, shouting loudly toward him.
Now over two years old, he could manage basic talk.
Seeing Li Xiao about to leave him, he anxiously cried to go on campaign with Li Xiao.
Xiao Yanyan and Er Ya, both pregnant, stood on the city wall; for this expedition, they weren’t overly worried, just reluctant to part.
On the other side, Sorghaghtani, recently delivered, also stood on the wall, even originally planning to go to the grassland with Li Xiao.
Li Xiao naturally refused.
After all, this grassland campaign wasn’t just about dealing with Temüjin; it aimed to dismantle the Kereit Tribe’s noble system as much as possible, inevitable mass killings.
Sorghaghtani going would only put her in a bind.
“Great Protector, all preparations complete; ready to depart,” a guard general reported loudly.
Li Xiao nodded, commanding deeply: “Depart.”
With Li Xiao’s order, the Wuwei Army advanced like a long dragon toward Golden Mountain.
Cheers rose from Jin Prefecture military and civilians in the distance.
“Northern Frontier Army will triumph!”
“Long live the Great Protector!”
Meanwhile, the other three garrisons’ troops had also set out, like three iron torrents converging on preset targets.
Western Prefecture’s south was the Great Desert, few war threats, so the Second Town deployed ten thousand troops.
They went north from Iwu, detoured east of Tianshan Mountains, rendezvousing with the Fourth Garrison in the southern Gobi of the Western Sea.
The Fourth Garrison, needing to guard against the Xia Kingdom, could only spare six thousand cavalry.
Departing Heishui City, they went north into the southern Gobi, merging with the Second Town to form the Southern Route Army, total sixteen thousand.
Then northeast over the Gobi Altai Mountains, straight into Kereit Tribe territory.
The Sixth Garrison stationed at Western Sea, facing the Mobei Grassland directly, was the frontline for attacking the Kiyan tribe, deploying the largest force.
Twelve thousand cavalry in armor marched out, leaving three thousand to guard the rear camp.
Upon First Division troops from Jin Prefecture arriving, they would merge into the Northern Route Army, along the north of Yudu Jin Mountain, thrusting into Kiyan tribe heartland.
Thus, Northern Frontier’s Eastern Expedition totalled forty-three thousand troops.
All light and heavy cavalry as far as the eye could see.
Plus light and heavy cannons, Divine Arm Crossbows, etc.
Such an array with heavy firepower and ranged weapons was clearly not just to wipe out a Kiyan tribe.
Plainly aimed to flatten the entire Mobei Grassland, fully incorporating this vast land into Northern Frontier territory.
Xingqing Prefecture, Western Xia Imperial Palace.
In a side hall, Li Chunyou abruptly stood.
Hearing the Privy Councillor’s report on Hexi military situation, his sullen face flushed with excitement: “What did you say? Northern Frontier barbarians dispatched massive troops north to the grassland?”
“Precisely, Your Majesty,” Privy Councillor Nai Ling Sicong stood in the hall, tone certain.
“According to our spies hidden in Liangzhou, the Northern Frontier Fourth Garrison guarding the Hexi Corridor is pulling troops north.”
“Exact numbers unknown, reasons unclear.”
“However, Northern Frontier troops along the Hexi Corridor show partial depletion.”
“Good! Excellent!”
Li Chunyou shot to his feet, slapping the imperial throne armrests with thuds.
Recalling the Hexi battle two years ago always kept him sleepless.
Northern Frontier Army swept through over ten Xia Kingdom armies like thunder, annihilating them, fully occupying the Hexi Corridor.
Great Xia’s worst defeat since founding, making him the most inept emperor in history, a deep shame.
These two years, he constantly plotted revenge.
Had even planned envoys to the Jin Dynasty, begging his elder brother for justice, but Jin was crumbling itself, rear aflame.
Song Dynasty clamoring for Northern Expedition in the south, Jin couldn’t spare attention for Western Xia.
Li Chunyou once thought retaking Hexi Corridor hopeless in this lifetime.
“Who would’ve thought… Heaven aids me!”
Pacing the hall, recalling soldiers died in Hexi, cities and pastures seized by Northern Frontier Army, rage and glee churning in his chest.
“Northern Frontier barbarians so bold, not fearing Great Xia seizing back lost lands?”
Li Anquan hastily echoed: “Your Majesty is wise; this is Heaven’s gift to Western Xia!”
“Northern Frontier barbarians’ main force mired in Northern Desert, Hexi defenses hollow—strike now, reclaim Hexi in one go, wash away the shame!”
Li Chunyou halted, glancing at Li Anquan, disgust deep in his eyes.
This fellow, leveraging the Empress Dowager, always scheming.
This time scheming to lead troops again?
Last time his incompetence lost eighty thousand troops in Hexi Corridor.
This time, Li Chunyou absolutely wouldn’t let Li Anquan touch any military power.
“By imperial decree: appoint Nai Ling Sicong as Grand Marshal of the Western Expedition; immediately assemble troops, prepare provisions and armaments; march on Hexi Corridor in half a month.”
“I shall personally oversee from the Great River banks, watching Great Xia iron cavalry flatten Northern Frontier towns in the Hexi Corridor.”
With Hexi Corridor depleted, Li Chunyou felt invincible again.
He could already see Great Xia cavalry charging Liangzhou City walls.
Two years’ shame would finally be washed away this time.
