Chapter 60: The Fall Of Wuya Village
“Fort Master Li~”
“The Great King has ordered!”
“Your troops are to prepare immediately, join with the surrounding tribes, and capture Wuya Village before sunset.”
When Li Xiao arrived outside Wuya Village with his men, before they could even catch their breath, he received Xiao Simo’s order.
“Grass~”
After the messenger soldier left, Li Xiao cursed viciously.
“Fuck your sister Xiao Simo, he’s simply not treating us like humans.”
Without a doubt, the Han army under Li Xiao was being used as cannon fodder.
Capture Wuya Village before sunset? Xiao Simo said it easily.
When the Moman Tribe attacked Wuya Village back then, they had besieged it for several days and suffered many deaths.
“What to do? Da Long? The Khitan people clearly want us to go die.” Li Dashan said worriedly.
Qin Kaishan and the others shook their heads; it was obviously to be cannon fodder.
Otherwise, why did they bring them here?
It was because they weren’t Xiao Simo’s direct lineage.
Should they not let the Han people and the other nomadic tribesmen go up, and instead let Xiao Simo consume his own Sixth Courtyard Department soldiers?
Anyway, Qin Kaishan and they had fought alongside the Khitan people for a lifetime; they’d experienced this kind of thing many times and were no longer angry about it.
Being raised by a stepmother was just like this.
The Khitan people had always used their miscellaneous troops as cannon fodder.
But Li Xiao didn’t want his subordinates to die in vain; he snorted lightly and said.
“If he Xiao Simo doesn’t treat people like humans, then I Li Xiao won’t either.”
“Pass the order: have the Zhelan people go first.”
It was just driving cannon fodder, wasn’t it!
Li Xiao had some too.
This expedition had brought over three hundred Zhelan people precisely for use in this kind of situation.
“Tell those Zhelan people.”
“Whoever is the first to charge into Wuya Village will be freed from slave status and rewarded with fifty sheep.” Li Xiao ordered in a deep voice.
Then, he looked at Er Hu and said, “You organize a discipline team to follow behind the Zhelan people.”
“Whoever dares to cower in battle or flee the field, shoot them dead on the spot.”
“Understood!” Er Hu nodded heavily and turned to leave.
“Wooo wooo wooo wooo~”
“Wooo wooo~”
Low horn sounds rose across the land, and the Eastern Capital Army’s assault began.
Woli Jian, Halatu, Hechila, and other tribes were fully armed and ready, riding war horses charging toward Wuya Village.
The first wave was certainly a probe; as they neared the moat, these cavalry immediately loosed a volley of arrow rain.
Then they wheeled their horses and advanced to the flanks, galloping around the moat while performing long-range shots.
On the other side, more than three hundred Zhelan Tribe slaves, under the coercion of Hexi cavalry bows and arrows, also charged toward Wuya Village.
However, as Han people who were landlords in Jin Prefecture, they still held a certain advantage after all.
When Li Xiao came, he had brought over a dozen horse carriages, which now came in handy.
Attaching a wooden plank to the front of a carriage made it a simple shield cart.
The Zhelan people used the carriages to push gravel and mud, braving the Moman Tribe’s arrows, gradually filling the moat.
“Aaaah~”
Outside Wuya Village, screams rang out incessantly.
As the attackers, they were inevitably at a disadvantage; the Eastern Capital Army’s casualties far exceeded those of the Moman Tribe.
But fortunately, the Eastern Capital Army had superior numbers and still formed immense pressure on the Moman Tribe.
“Which troops are these? So ferocious?”
From the high slope in the distance, Xiao Simo surveyed the battlefield and, seeing the Zhelan people, couldn’t help but ask curiously.
“This? Seems like Zhelan people~”
A Khitan general said uncertainly.
Another asked curiously, “Weren’t the Zhelan people annihilated by the Han people?”
Everyone suddenly understood: the Han people were acting as middlemen, using Zhelan people as cannon fodder.
“Great King, the Zhelan Tribe is our Yin Mountains tribe; for the Han people to capture them and use them as slaves is too outrageous.”
Xiao Tula Duo said, “The Han people should immediately release these Zhelan people.”
“Forget it.” Xiao Simo shook his head lightly.
“The grassland’s rules are like this: the Zhelan Tribe lost, so they are the Han people’s slaves. If we plunder them, that would break the rules.”
“Moreover, just a few hundred Zhelan people aren’t worth creating resentment with the Han people.”
What Xiao Simo cared about was who had higher utilitarian value; the upcoming battles still needed Han support.
Not to mention the distant future: if the battle with the Naiman people stalemated, and the army’s dried meat and grain ran out.
Without a chance to plunder the Naiman people’s cattle and sheep and grain, they would need Jin Prefecture’s Han people to supply the army.
“Go tell Li Xiao: before sunset, I want to see him inside Wuya Village.” Xiao Simo ordered his personal guard.
Don’t think that using Zhelan people as cannon fodder meant the Han people could slack off.
Xiao Simo wasn’t easy to fool.
Moreover, in this battle, he also wanted to see what Li Xiao was capable of.
Whether he truly qualified to be promoted as his right-hand confidant.
Outside Wuya Village, Li Xiao heard Xiao Simo’s order and shook his head lightly.
He still couldn’t avoid it after all!
“Working for others feels different.” Li Xiao sighed lightly.
Back when they night assaulted Sanhe Fort, it was to protect Hexi Fort’s safety, so everyone fought desperately.
But now, with Khitan people as bosses overhead, Li Xiao was instead thinking about how to preserve his own strength and avoid excessive losses.
He glanced at the sky; the sun was already starting to set, golden light spilling across the land.
At most half a shichen left before it turned completely dark.
“Let’s go; it’s our turn.”
Li Xiao, clad in armor, shouted loudly to the seven forts Han army behind him.
“Kill~”
By now, the Zhelan people’s assault had achieved certain battle results.
One section of the moat was about to be filled flat.
With Li Xiao’s order, over a dozen fully armored Han soldiers divided into three groups, each pushing a horse carriage.
The carriages were loaded with a massive log.
Simple battering rams!
Over a dozen iron armored Han troops pushed these battering rams, braving the Geluolu people’s arrow fire, swiftly pushing over the moat filled by the Zhelan people, using inertial impact force.
The giant logs slammed heavily into Wuya Village’s wall parapets.
“Boom~”
“Boom~”
“Boom~”
Accompanied by three massive booms, this section of Wuya Village’s wall parapets collapsed.
If it were Central Plains city walls, they certainly couldn’t achieve this effect.
But Wuya Village’s wall parapets were built from gravel and mud, only a bit over one meter high.
They simply couldn’t withstand the battering rams’ impact.
“Brothers, the wall parapets are breached!”
“Charge in with me.”
Li Xiao gripped his horse spear and shouted loudly to the cavalry behind him.
“Kill~”
Over a thousand seven forts cavalry surged out instantly, beginning the charge; war horses roared, kicking up waves of mad sand, metal clashing shrilly, constantly stained with the Geluolu people’s blood.
Li Xiao charged at the front and, in a short time, had rushed into Wuya Village.
His horse spear danced madly; any Geluolu person within two meters of him was instantly pierced through.
Er Hu and the others followed closely, using spears and war sabers to reap the Geluolu people’s lives.
“Uncle Nie Elun~”
“Uncle Nie Elun~”
The Geluolu youth named Luo Ga cried and shook the old herdsman’s corpse, but his chest was pierced by a Han soldier’s bow and arrow; he could no longer see his hearty smile.
“Ah~”
Before Luo Ga could cry out a few times, another man’s scream rose from nearby.
“Brother Wu Guli~”
The Geluolu youth watched in horror as Wu Guli, who had just been lecturing him and boasting about galloping across the Northern Frontier, was now pierced through the chest by a Han soldier’s horse spear.
Blood sprayed from his body as it heavily fell from the horse.
“Pfft~”
Li Xiao deftly withdrew his horse spear and glanced sideways at this Geluolu youth glaring with hatred.
His war horse charged forward again; in just a few breaths, the horse spear instantly decapitated the youth.
Luo Ga’s world spun, slowly darkening.
His eyes still held the image of Li Xiao: an excessively young face, about the same age as Luo Ga.
But why was his heart so vicious? Why did he slaughter our tribesmen so mercilessly?
Was he a devil?
Luo Ga wailed in grief in his heart.
“Report~”
“Great King, the Jin Prefecture Han Tribe has broken into Wuya Village.”
A messenger soldier rode up quickly on a war horse and reported the news to Xiao Simo.
In reality, Xiao Simo on the high slope had been constantly watching the Han people’s situation.
Not only did he see the Han people charge into Wuya Village, but he also saw Li Xiao, fully armored, charging into the Geluolu people as if entering an empty realm.
The sight of his horse spear dancing wildly, constantly reaping Geluolu lives.
He looked up at the horizon; the sun was still peeking out, its golden light warming and comfortable on Xiao Simo’s face.
“This kid’s not bad.”
“No wonder A Man values him so much and always speaks well of him in front of me.”
“Hehe~”
Xiao Simo nodded in satisfaction.
At this point, the other tribes hadn’t even reached Wuya Village’s vicinity, but Li Xiao had already led men to breach the village.
Not only was he personally strong in martial prowess, brave and skilled in combat, but his subordinate Han army cavalry also had strong combat strength.
In Xiao Simo’s heart, the importance he placed on Li Xiao quietly rose another level.
