The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 201 Royal Court Hell: The Crown Prince of Western Liao Captured Alive

Before Xiao He could finish speaking, a crimson crack suddenly appeared in the sky.

A smoky iron ball tore through the clouds, emitting a piercing shriek over the Wang Tingjun position.

"what sound?"

The general of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate looked up in horror at the sky, but could only see a black object flash by.

The next second, an iron ball fell from the sky.

It struck a Kara cavalryman directly in the chest, instantly knocking him off his horse. His ribcage was completely broken, and before he could even scream, his entire upper body was smashed into a pile of minced meat.

The iron ball, however, continued to roll forward with tremendous kinetic energy, crushing the legs of two warhorses and causing all the surrounding warhorses to neigh in terror, going completely mad and creating utter chaos.

The generals of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate were utterly shocked upon witnessing this scene.

"God! What is this?"

"The devil, this is the devil's weapon."

"Quickly control the warhorses and don't let them run wild."

The royal army in this area descended into chaos, with screams of terror and shouts filling the air.

Meanwhile, in front of the Jinzhou army's artillery position, Liu Chong, the first commander of the Shenji Battalion, was holding a telescope and looking in the direction of Wang Ting's army.

Once the location of the iron ball's landing point was determined, he immediately turned around and shouted loudly to all the soldiers, "Fire in this direction! Throw all the shells at it!"

"Kill them!"

Liu Chong pointed towards Wang Tingjun's camp, his face contorted with rage, and roared, "Fire!"

"fire!"

Amidst the roars, the gunners lit the fuses with torches.

As the hissing sound disappeared, the entire artillery array was suddenly torn apart by a low roar like that of an earth dragon.

"boom!!"

The flames spewing from the muzzles of the twenty giant cannons were more than two feet long, and the scorching heat waves from the sulfur and saltpeter pressed all the surrounding wild grass down to the ground like a gale.

The earth seemed to sink several centimeters in that instant.

Twenty cannonballs shot into the sky, leaving invisible shockwaves as they fell into the royal army.

But just as it landed, the fuse on the bullet burned out.

A deafening roar rang out again, and the twenty iron bullets exploded instantly.

When the Shenji Battalion began its formal artillery bombardment, it no longer fired solid iron shells, but rather the newly developed exploding shells from the Hexi Armory.

These cannonballs were extremely powerful and were specifically designed to deal with cavalry.

At the moment of the explosion, hundreds of iron nails and pieces shot out from the metal casing, piercing the throats, eye sockets, and chests of the surrounding soldiers like a rainstorm.

"Ahhh~"

"My eyes, I can't see."

"Help, I don't want to die."

Countless pitiful screams rang out simultaneously from Wang Ting's army. Some people were rolling on the ground clutching their stomachs, their intestines already spilling out.

Someone clutched their neck and covered their wound, but could only make gasping sounds as blood blisters gurgled out from between their fingers.

Some people ran around with their bleeding eyes, shouting and yelling, but collapsed to the ground after only a few breaths.

The kill radius of the exploding shell is about ten meters. Centered on the impact points of twenty shells, a vacuum zone is completely formed around them.

The Kara generals, witnessing this scene, were horrified and shouted, "Stop! Don't panic! Don't run!"

"We are servants of God, and God will protect us from harm..."

But before he could finish speaking, a mournful shriek rang out again in the sky, and the Jinzhou army's second round of artillery fire followed.

"Boom boom boom~"

A tremendous roar erupted once again among the royal army, and this time a cannonball landed not far from the general.

"Ah—my legs! My legs are gone!"

After the explosion, the general clutched his right leg and screamed in agony. The area below his knee had been shattered into pieces by iron nails, and the tendons at the broken femur were still twitching like a few dying earthworms.

He looked up and screamed in agony, finally realizing that God could not possibly protect them from harm.

But his pain only lasted a few seconds, and then another explosion rang out as a piece of metal shard cut diagonally into his forehead.

It shot out directly from the other end of the head, hitting the chest of the soldier behind.

The general's screams abruptly stopped as he fell heavily to the ground, and the soldiers' screams resumed.

The entire royal army was transformed into a living hell.

Upon witnessing this scene, Yelü Zhixin's pupils constricted, his face turned deathly pale, his lips trembled, and his body retreated uncontrollably, as if trying to get far away from that terrifying demonic area.

"What, what is that?"

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Retreat, retreat quickly."

The Jinzhou army's weapons were too terrifying; he didn't want to be buried with the army.

After all, as a prince of the mighty Liao Dynasty, his life was far more precious than that of these lowly soldiers.

But just as Yelü Zhixin was preparing to escape with his men, his personal guards suddenly cried out in terror.

"Your Highness, be careful."

As soon as he finished speaking, the guards jumped off their horses and tackled Yelü Zhixin to the ground.

Yelü Zhixin felt as if his bones were about to break from the impact. Before he could react, a cannonball rolled straight towards him.

"Ahhh~"

The neighing and roaring of warhorses rang out, along with the screams of soldiers.

Yelü Zhixin watched helplessly as his personal guard was plowed into a bloody alley by iron bullets, and the soldiers and their horses collapsed.

The next second, a loud 'boom' was heard, and the iron bullet suddenly exploded. The lead sand and iron fragments inside swept across in a fan shape, instantly piercing the bodies of soldiers and warhorses within a three-zhang radius.

At this moment, the guard on Yelü Zhixin's body was pressing him down firmly.

"Your Highness, please don't move... Ah!"

But before he could finish speaking, his voice abruptly stopped. A piece of iron grazed the back of the guard's neck, and shards of shattered stone pierced his throat. Blood and spittle mixed with broken teeth sprayed onto Yelü Zhixin's cheek.

"Ahhh~"

Yelü Zhixin let out a miserable roar, but not because of the blood of his personal guard, but because the iron shard had pierced the guard's throat and then shot into his shoulder.

Blood instantly stained the ground red. Yelü Zhixin wailed in agony, but he was pinned down by the corpses of his personal guards and could not move at all.

Meanwhile, Xiao Hetu, beside his guards, hurriedly fled backwards, his expression terrified, his face pale, and he kept muttering to himself.

"No, it's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"How come there is such a thing?"

Gunpowder? Damn it!

"How could gunpowder have such terrifying power?"

But a pungent, sweet, and fishy smell wafted over them—the smell of gunpowder burning human flesh, even more pungent than the whole roasted lamb they had been eating these past few days.

Even someone as shrewd as him was quite frightened after witnessing the power of the cannons.

Although firearms existed in this era, their power was weak due to immature technology.

In terms of siege efficiency, it was even less efficient than a catapult.

Therefore, the mainstream of this era was to develop physical weapons, even though Xiao Hetu had seen gunpowder.

But I've never even heard of such a powerful firearm, let alone seen it.

The main reason is that the gunpowder of the Jinzhou Army only had a brief appearance in Husi Ordos. The moment it truly shone was in the battle when the Jinzhou Army conquered the grasslands and annihilated the Naiman people.

But news of that battle had not yet reached the royal court, and they were unaware that the Naiman tribe had been wiped out by Li Xiao.

Subsequent artillery barrage followed, with twenty giant cannons raising their dark muzzles on the Jinzhou army's position, the two characters "Shenwei" engraved on the cannon barrels glowing red in the muzzle fire.

Li Xiao held the telescope and watched as Wang Tingjun's barricades were shattered into dust by the iron bullets. The shields, made of three layers of cowhide, were now like a punctured hornet's nest, with blood still dripping from the limbs sticking out of the holes.

Countless iron nails rained down like a storm, piercing the dense ranks of cavalry.

After being blinded by nails, the warhorses reared up and knocked their riders to the ground; some soldiers had iron nails piercing their shoulder blades and pinning them to their companions' saddles, where the two would roll together in the cavalry and be trampled to death by the raging warhorses.

Seeing all this, Li Xiao knew that Wang Tingjun's morale had collapsed and it was time to launch a general offensive.

"Order the Shenji Battalion to cease fire!"

"All troops from the three towns, launch a full-scale attack!" Li Xiao commanded in a deep voice.

As the bugle sounded, the roar of the Shenji Battalion's giant cannons abruptly ceased, and the troops from the three towns, who had been slowly approaching, began a full-speed charge.

"After the cannons bombard, the cavalry charge"—this phrase has become a fighting tradition of the Jinzhou Army.

"Kill~"

Leading the charge were naturally the Black Armor Army.

Fifteen hundred black-armored soldiers pressed forward like an iron wall, and Zhang Xianfeng's sweaty face peeked out from the gaps in his helmet.

He could see the broken shields on the royal army's position—giant shields made of camel hide and jujube wood by the craftsmen of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate, now like flattened beetle shells embedded in the blasted grass.

"Crush them!"

Zhang Xianfeng roared loudly, gripping his spiked club, and led his armored cavalry in a frenzied charge.

An arrow grazed his helmet, leaving a white mark on the metal plate of his neck guard. He didn't even turn his head, continuing to push forward.

Meanwhile, the Karakhanid infantry on the opposite side, though already terrified by the Jinzhou army's artillery fire, saw countless shields drawn and soldiers fleeing in panic.

However, some generals still managed to gather a group of shield bearers and roared in trembling Uyghur, "Stop them, or we will all die!"

Infantry in a scattered state are practically sitting ducks when facing cavalry, especially when facing a charge of heavy cavalry, where they have absolutely no chance of survival.

Only by gathering together and forming a military formation can they possibly save their lives.

Soon, some Karakhanid soldiers, with a do-or-die mentality, gathered together and erected a giant shield, with long spears sticking out from the gaps, looking like hedgehogs from a distance.

Faced with this situation, the Black Armor Army had already undergone corresponding training.

"Iron Chain Formation, smash through the shield wall!" Zhang Xianfeng roared, swinging his spiked club.

The next moment, two squads of soldiers charged out, each soldier of a squad chaining his warhorse together side by side.

The two branches are connected by two longer and thicker iron chains.

Twenty of the strongest heavy cavalry horses charged side by side, and under the enormous impact, the iron chain in the middle swung directly in front of the shield formation.

The next second, a loud bang was heard, and the tightly fitted shield formation was pulled apart by the force of the iron chains.

Many shield bearers were knocked backward and sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground.

The pikemen, without the protection of shields, fared even worse; some were even directly cut in two by chains.

Screams and wails rang out one after another.

In the next instant, Zhang Xianfeng led his heavy cavalry in a charge. He swung his spiked club in an arc, and the shield of a soldier who had just stood up shattered, with a piece of wood piercing his eye socket.

"Kill~"

Zhang Xianfeng roared loudly and swung his spiked club again, smashing another soldier's head open like a watermelon.

In a mere instant, the last infantry defensive formation of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate was completely torn apart by the Black Armor Army.

The fully armed heavy cavalry, facing these infantrymen, began a one-sided massacre.

Immediately afterwards, the First Town Army arrived and took over from the Black Armor Army to continue expanding the gains.

However, the most valiant fighters were not the soldiers of the First Town, but the prisoners of war from the Kuril army.

"I want women."

"Lots and lots of women."

A Naiman soldier named Boluba, wielding a spiked club, charged at the forefront, his face full of excitement, showing no fear of war or death.

In his eyes, these royal soldiers were not enemies, but women, money, and status.

According to the regulations of the Kuril Army, one only needs to kill three enemies to get rid of slavery and become a real town soldier, with all benefits skyrocketing.

In the previous war against the Kereit tribe, Berluba only killed one Kereit soldier. Although he received some material rewards, he was still a slave.

In contrast, his brother had incredible luck, killing three Kereit soldiers and being freed from slavery, becoming a garrison soldier in the second town of Jinzhou.

Not only were they rewarded with a lot of money, cattle and sheep, but they also received a young woman. It should be noted that only the Naiman nobles could enjoy such young women on a daily basis, and they would only give them to commoners after they were tired of them.

But now, his brother is living a noble life at a young age. What makes him even more envious is that the bastard is even wearing that kind of red armor, and the head of the household has given him a Han Chinese name, Zhang Dagou.

Berluba admitted he was jealous.

I'm not only afraid of my brother's hardship, but also afraid of my brother driving a Land Rover.

If they were all slaves, it would be one thing, but seeing his brothers enjoying themselves with women on both sides while he was still suffering and using his hands was another matter entirely.

Berluba was devastated.

Fortunately, his brother told him that another headman had taken a liking to his bravery and that once he killed three enemies, the headman would directly transfer him to his command. He had even thought of a Han Chinese name for him.

Zhang Ergou.

Two brothers, one lifetime, never to be separated.

Therefore, in this campaign against the royal court, Boluba fought with exceptional valor.

Wielding a wooden spiked club, he swung it with ferocious force, charging forward and smashing the head of an Eastern Karakhanid soldier to pieces.

Compared to the valiant Kereit soldiers, these Eastern Karakhanid soldiers were simply a bunch of useless trash. They were well-equipped, but lacked the courage to fight to the death, and their methods of killing were also very clumsy.

After all, the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate was located in southern Xinjiang, where life was relatively peaceful, unlike the brutal struggles on the grasslands.

Moreover, the Eastern Karakhanid army had relatively few horses, and most of its soldiers were infantry.

If they were to gather together and form a military formation, even light cavalry would not dare to charge rashly. However, at this moment, these soldiers of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate had already been terrified by the continuous attacks of the Jinzhou army.

All they knew was to flee in panic, but how could two legs possibly outrun four?

He took out the dagger Zhang Dagou had given him, cut off the two ears from the corpse, and then continued to chase after the fleeing soldiers of the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate.

In his view, these soldiers were like sheep being chased by wolves on the grassland, pitifully weak and cowardly, and dared not resist.

Killing enemies like that may not be very satisfying, but it's really enjoyable.

Berluba wanted to take this opportunity to kill as many people as possible, so he could become Zhang Ergou as soon as possible, and he could also use his ears to exchange for military merits, and in return, a lot of money and women.

Many other war slaves shared the same idea as Berluba; they all wanted to escape their slave status as soon as possible and obtain more money and women.

So even though their equipment was rudimentary, with only a broken gun, their bravery was in no way inferior to that of the well-equipped garrison soldiers.

After this battle, a considerable number of war slaves will be transformed into garrison soldiers of the three towns.

But the reason these war slaves were so brave in killing the enemy was mainly because the Divine Machine Battalion and the Black Armor Army had taken down the toughest enemies.

When things are going smoothly, everyone becomes more and more formidable.

However, when it comes to a real battle, the well-equipped troops of the three towns are the ones to watch.

……

Following Li Xiao's orders, the Third Division's army flanked Wang Ting's army from the flank of the battlefield, with the aim of annihilating them completely and leaving no one behind.

The town's soldiers, clad in white cotton armor, led the charge, while on their flanks followed some of the Kuril troops.

In this battle, the Curry Army was not a separate force.

Instead, they followed the main force of the three towns.

Each unit would bring along an equal number of Kuri soldiers as auxiliary troops and cannon fodder, and this supervisory relationship was extended to every single household.

As a captain, Yang Shouzhen had thirty garrison soldiers under his command, as well as thirty Kuli army war slaves.

This person was the slave who was rescued by the Jinzhou army in Dunhuang.

His father was a general of the Western Xia Dynasty. He was framed by treacherous officials and was exiled to Dunhuang. Later, Yang Shouzhen and his brother joined the Jinzhou Army.

He has now become a formal captain, in charge of fifty households and thirty war slaves.

Twenty soldiers remained to guard Jinzhou.

At that moment, as he was leading the rest of his troops as the vanguard to clear the way for the Third Division army, he suddenly discovered a small group of enemy soldiers fleeing into the distance a hundred meters ahead.

"There must be some easy targets among those people."

Yang Shouzhen's eyes lit up instantly when he saw it from afar.

The "fat sheep" represent a privileged group of people who are the first to flee, even when defeated.

Therefore, Yang Shouzheng immediately summoned a soldier from the town: "Go and tell the centurion that I have led men to hunt down the fat sheep."

Having said that, he led his men and charged off into the distance.

In such a chaotic battlefield, the generals of each unit have a certain degree of autonomy and can make tactical adjustments according to the battlefield situation. In an emergency, they do not need to ask for instructions, but they need to leave someone to report so that their superiors can send someone to take over their tasks.

The fleeing troops in the distance were Xiao Hetu's men.

There were more than twenty of them. Taking advantage of Yelü Zhixin's distraction in the chaos, they escaped from another direction with their men.

But just as they ran a short distance from the royal army's formation, a guard shouted, "Young master, the Jinzhou army is catching up!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao He's expression changed drastically. He turned his head and saw that there was indeed a cavalry force chasing after him several hundred meters away.

Leading the charge was a group of soldiers clad in white armor, flanked by a group of nomadic cavalrymen dressed in tattered sheepskins, filthy and disheveled or bald.

Although Xiao Hetu could not recognize the identities of these nomadic cavalrymen, he had heard of the cavalrymen in white armor very well.

"White-armored soldiers?"

"Damn it, how did they catch up with us?"

The White Armor Army was the elite force of the Jinzhou Army. During the rebellion in the northern frontier, the White Armor Army swept across the Seven Rivers Grassland, causing the local tribes to tremble in fear. Furthermore, in subsequent wars, they repeatedly defeated the main force of the royal court.

They possess formidable combat prowess and enjoy immense fame within the royal court.

Although it was the first time Xiao Hetu had actually seen what the White-Armored Army looked like, he dared not easily test the sharpness of their swords.

"Retreat! Speed ​​up! Retreat now!" Xiao He suddenly shouted.

He was only surrounded by about twenty guards, which put him at a significant disadvantage in terms of numbers.

He had already been seen as a fat sheep by Yang Shouzheng, who would not easily let go once he had his mouth.

"Second brother~"

Yang Shouzhen shouted loudly, and without saying a word, his younger brother Yang Shoujing understood what he meant.

The sixty cavalrymen split into two, like a pair of scissors, flanking from the left and right.

History has proven that this is the most effective method of pursuit.

Because warhorses cannot run in a perfectly straight line while galloping; they will unconsciously veer to the left or right.

Each deviation brings the pursuers one step closer, until they catch up completely.

After twenty li, the horses of both sides were getting weaker and weaker and slower, but the pursuers from Jinzhou were less than a hundred meters away.

"kill!"

Xiao He left half of his guards to block the Jinzhou army, and Yang Shouzhen also sent half of his troops to continue the pursuit.

"Young master, Che Yijian and the others are all dead!" a guard shouted in terror.

Upon hearing this, Xiao He looked shocked: "What?"

Turning around, I saw that the ten guards covering the rear had indeed all been cut down from their horses.

These men were all elite soldiers who had followed the father and son into exile in Khotan. Years of fighting had made them far more capable than ordinary soldiers.

Even so, they were still killed by the Jinzhou army in a short period of time.

This not only shocked Xiao Hetu, but also instilled a sense of fear in him regarding the terror of the Jinzhou army.

Could such a terrifying enemy really be dealt with by the father and son?

But just as Xiao He was in a panic, the pursuers from Jinzhou had already rushed into the range of the arrows.

A whistling sound of arrows came, and Xiao He suddenly heard his warhorse let out a miserable howl. Then he stumbled and was thrown off by the horse.

"Chase after them and catch them."

"If there is any resistance, shoot them directly."

(End of this chapter)