The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 206 50,000-strong army pacifies the eastern capital

Beneath the walls of the Eastern Capital, on the execution ground where the scorched earth had not yet dissipated, half of Xiao Pulayelu and Alida's bodies were bound to the dark cannon barrels.

Blood fell like raindrops onto the grass below the cannon muzzle, filling the air with a stench, but the two men were not completely dead.

If you listen carefully, you can faintly hear the two people moaning softly.

This state of being on the verge of death, yet constantly enduring immense pain, may continue for some time.

Those who witnessed this scene included some Jinzhou soldiers, as well as the captured generals of the Dongdu Army and the Beihai Army.

"Sigh~"

Looking at the two bodies dripping blood from their chests on the cannon barrel, Yarisin was horrified and gasped.

"Is this the power of the Thunder God Pillar?"

Suppressed gasps rose from the crowd. A 1,000-man commander of the Northern Navy trembled as he wiped the blood from his face, his Adam's apple bobbing: "Could it be that the Jinzhou Army can truly borrow the power of the gods?"

The other generals whispered among themselves, "No wonder even the fortified Eastern Capital was bombed and collapsed."

"With such a divine weapon, who in the world can rival it?"

Amidst the rising and falling whispers, the crowd stared at the two still-smoking cannons, their expressions growing even more horrified and solemn.

Soon, everyone was escorted to the city wall.

Li Xiao, dressed in a simple black robe, stood with his hands behind his back under the battle flag. Beside him, Princess Shulu Wujin wore a plain white dress, with tear stains still clinging to the corners of her eyes.

Yarisin and the others suppressed the tremors in their hearts from the cannon fire, patted their chests, bowed, and said in unison, "This humble general greets the Princess."

"Greetings, Governor Li."

Li Xiao simply looked at them with a calm gaze, without saying a word, yet an invisible pressure enveloped them.

As time went by, some generals even broke out in a cold sweat, and their legs began to tremble involuntarily.

In the past, although they were full of awe for Li Xiao, they had never felt such a strong aura from him.

Even the aura that Li Xiao exuded at this moment was greater than that of Xiao Simo in the past.

Finally, after a few breaths, a commander of the Northern Navy could not withstand the pressure of Li Xiao's gaze and knelt down on the ground with a thud.

This immediately triggered a chain reaction, with all the generals kneeling before Li Xiao.

A commander said in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, Commander Li, we deserve to die. We were misled by treacherous officials, which led to the death of the King."

"Even death would not atone for it!"

After saying that, the others also looked heartbroken and remorsefully apologized to Li Xiao and Shu Lu Wu Jin.

Shu Lu Wujin raised her hand to wipe away her tears, her sorrowful gaze fixed on Li Xiao.

Through their brief exchange, she already knew Li Xiao's attitude towards these people.

Then, in her capacity as Xiao Simo's widow, she said in a sorrowful voice, "Although you have made mistakes, you were deceived and your crimes do not warrant death."

"Moreover, the King said before his death that he did not blame you, but only hoped that you could wake up in time to avoid continuing to fight among yourselves and causing more warriors of the northern frontier to die at the hands of your own people."

The last sentence was not actually said by Xiao Simo, but rather made up by Shu Luwujin. However, at this point, such a way out was needed.

This lie struck the hearts of the generals like a heavy hammer.

Yarisin's throat tightened, and he led everyone to turn towards the makeshift coffin, crying out in anguish, "Your Majesty, we have failed you!"

"Even a thousand deaths cannot atone for it, even a thousand deaths cannot atone for it."

Li Xiao watched their performance quietly for a while before saying, "That's enough."

"Everyone stand up."

"They're crying and sobbing like a bunch of women. Where is the spirit of a man from the northern frontier?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the wailing stopped abruptly, and the generals cowered and looked up like startled birds.

Li Xiao narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping across each terrified face like a blade: "Xiao Pulayelu plotted rebellion, and the Eastern Capital fell. You cannot escape your guilt."

"But since my elder brother left a will that he did not wish to blame you, we should follow his wishes."

"Considering that you have repented in time, you may be spared the death penalty, but you will not escape punishment."

Li Xiao paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Once we defeat the main force of the royal army of the Seven Rivers Grassland, each of you will receive one hundred strokes of the military rod."

Upon hearing Li Xiao's words, Yali Xin and the others breathed a sigh of relief and quickly knelt down to express their gratitude, saying, "Thank you for your leniency, Grand Commander."

These people were generals from Dongdu and Beihai, and they were Xiao Simo's men. Li Xiao did not intend to kill them.

After all, the main enemy at present is still the royal army.

Killing these generals would not necessarily cause a large-scale rebellion by the soldiers of the Eastern Capital Army and the Northern Navy.

However, due to the lack of key personnel, these troops will certainly be unable to form an effective combat force in the short term.

With a formidable enemy at hand, Li Xiao still needs these troops to fight for him.

"We will fight to the death to protect our northern border and live up to the spirit of our King in heaven."

“That’s right, I will definitely cut off Yelü Zhilugu’s head to avenge the king.”

"This humble general is willing to obey the Grand Commander's orders!"

"This humble general is willing to obey the Grand Commander's orders."

The generals shouted in unison, "A person who has reached this level, even if he is honest and simple, is definitely not stupid."

They all understood that Li Xiao had let them go because he needed them to deal with the main force of Wang Ting's army.

And this is also an opportunity for them.

If one achieves meritorious service, the merits and demerits will cancel each other out, and even the hundred strokes of the military rod can be spared.

"After returning, gather your troops and return to camp. We will set off for the Seven Rivers Grassland early tomorrow morning," Li Xiao said in a deep voice.

"Yes, sir!" the generals shouted in unison.

In the Battle of Dongdu, the Jinzhou army captured more than 2,600 Dongdu soldiers and more than 4,500 Beihai soldiers.

The number of people who actually died at the hands of the Golden State Army was not that many.

Li Xiao reorganized these people in a simple way.

The three commanders of the Northern Army still commanded their respective troops, but they were assigned to the three towns of Jinzhou and were temporarily placed under the direct jurisdiction of the governor.

The remaining 1,500 Northern Navy soldiers were originally under the personal command of Ali Da.

After eliminating all of Ali Da's trusted generals, Li Xiao then scattered all the soldiers.

Like Zhang Ergou and his troops, they were assigned to each of the ten households.

Li Xiao planned to gradually assimilate this part of the Northern Navy.

As for the three Beihai commanders, they could not escape this fate either.

Although Li Xiao would retain their positions as commanders of a thousand, he would gradually transfer the original centurions under their command to other Han Chinese commanders of a thousand after the war.

Then they transferred some Han Chinese households to their command.

Gradually, they achieved absolute control over these three thousand households.

As for the Eastern Capital Army, in addition to the more than 2,600 prisoners of war captured not long ago, the Jinzhou Army also rescued nearly 2,000 Eastern Capital Army prisoners of war in the previous decisive battle with the Royal Court Army.

These people will also be dispersed and resettled in the three towns of Jinzhou.

In this way, the number of military households under the Jinzhou Army reached fifty. If we add the several thousand households under the Great Desert Governor's Office, the total number can reach at least fifty-four.

Moreover, not all soldiers of Dongdu were killed or captured in the previous Battle of Ili.

Most of them simply fled; in the coming period, many soldiers will surely return to the Eastern Capital.

The Jinzhou army can add at least one or two thousand households.

In short, after annexing the troops of Dongdu and Beihai, Li Xiao now has a total of nearly 50,000 troops at his disposal in Dongdu.

However, after annexing these people, new problems arose besides food.

"The proportion of Han people has decreased again."

Li Xiao drove everyone away and stood alone on the city wall, gazing at the vast and endless Dongdu Grassland, and murmured softly.

Although the Jinzhou Army was a regime composed of multiple ethnic groups, it was always dominated by the Han Chinese.

Li Xiao must always ensure the number of Han people so that he can absolutely suppress other ethnic groups.

Otherwise, it could easily cause a split within Golden State.

"Once the northern border is stabilized, we must make another trip to Western Xia."

“The Han people of Jinzhou need to replenish their blood,” Li Xiao murmured.

The existence of the Western Xia was like a large blood bank for Jinzhou.

The replenishment of Han Chinese in Jinzhou relied primarily on the plundering of the Western Xia, in addition to the assimilation of other ethnic groups.

……

The next morning, as the dawn broke through the thin mist over the grassland, a desolate sound of a bull horn suddenly rang out outside the Eastern Capital.

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble.

Amidst the fluttering golden sun and moon battle banners, 20,000 Jinzhou cavalry surged forth like a tide across the scorched earth, their iron hooves crushing the remaining frost, galloping out of the camp and heading swiftly towards the Seven Rivers Grassland in the southwest.

Amidst the rising dust, the elite veterans clad in tri-colored cotton armor stood out clearly from the newly recruited soldiers in variegated armor.

Twelve thousand veterans from the three towns, clad in yellow, red, and white cotton armor, resembled three surging torrents.

In contrast, the attire of the 8,000 newly formed soldiers from the three towns appeared particularly chaotic.

Of these 8,000 men, 3,000 were newly incorporated into the garrison's ranks, and 5,000 were soldiers from Dongdu and Beihai.

After a day of intense reorganization, these people managed to integrate into the Jinzhou army with minimal effort.

Although they can't match the seamless teamwork among the veterans in Jinzhou, they still know their own organizational affiliation.

They knew who the head of the household was and who their comrades were.

The rest will depend on gradually breaking it in on the road.

In addition to the 23,000 cavalrymen from the three garrisons, the expedition also included 10,000 troops from the Kuli region and 3,000 troops from the desert. The total force was 33,000 men, all of them cavalry.

In addition, there were forty portable Tiger Cannons, weighing about a hundred pounds, which could be pulled by a horse-drawn carriage.

As for the twenty Divine Might Cannons, Li Xiao left them in Dongdu.

Also left behind were the troops commanded by Li Dashan.

"Sixth Uncle, I'm entrusting the Eastern Capital to you."

"Defend it well, and never let the Kangli people cross the Eastern Capital and threaten Jinzhou."

The cool morning breeze swept across the ranks, and the battle flags fluttered in the wind.

The vanguard of the Jinzhou army had already gone quite far, while Li Xiao was still standing outside the camp gate, giving instructions to Li Dashan.

"Rest assured, Grand Commander, with over ten thousand troops at my command, I will certainly not let that Kangli bastard get away with it," Li Dashan said in a deep voice, his face full of determination.

After capturing Luoyang, Li Xiao ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to interrogate Xiao Pulayelu and Alida overnight.

Xiao Pulayelu is very cunning; what he says is only half true and half false.

However, Ali seemed resigned to his fate and just wanted to die sooner, so he was very cooperative during the interrogation and answered all the questions asked.

The most important thing he revealed was that Xiao Pulayelu had already contacted the Kangli people.

Because when Xiao Pulaiyelu first took action, he was unsure whether he could control the army in the northern border region and thus drive out the royal army.

Therefore, to be on the safe side, they colluded with Yelü Wusi Tu, who then contacted other Kangli tribes to form a coalition army to plunder the northern frontier.

Using the Kangli people to deal with the Wang Ting army, thus profiting from the chaos.

After joining forces with the Kangli people to defeat the royal army, they can simply send the Kangli people back with some wealth and slaves.

After all, the royal court wanted to annex the northern frontier, while the Kangli people's goal was only to plunder. Xiao Pulayelu could easily lure them with benefits and turn them into his own tool.

Although Xiaopulayelu is now dead, the Kangli army has already assembled in the northern frontier.

According to Ali Da, this was not just Yelü Wusi Tu's tribe, but rather a large army of about 30,000 people formed by contacting many other tribes.

They planned to take advantage of the internal strife in the northern border region to plunder its cattle, sheep, and people.

Faced with this grim situation, Li Xiao made a decisive decision to adopt a strategy of defeating them one by one.

He first led the main force of the Jinzhou army to eliminate the Wangting army, and then wiped out the Kangli people.

For this expedition, Li Xiao took away 33,000 main troops, leaving Li Dashan with only 6,000 veterans from Jinzhou, 6,000 soldiers from Kuli, and 4,000 soldiers from Dongdu.

A total of 16,000 people and 20 powerful cannons.

"I'm at ease leaving Dongdu in your care, Sixth Uncle." Looking at Li Dashan's resolute face, Li Xiao nodded gently and said.

"If those prisoners of war from the Eastern Karakhanid Khanate try to cause trouble, do not hesitate to kill them."

Although Li Dashan commanded an army of 16,000, he also had to guard more than 10,000 prisoners of war and fight against the 30,000-strong Kangli coalition army.

The pressure was immense.

Li Xiao's order to him was that if things really couldn't be done, he could abandon Luoyang, prioritize preserving his troops, and wait for Li Xiao to return.

"Rest assured, Grand Commander." Li Dashan nodded heavily.

Then, Li Xiao raised his head again, looked at Shu Lu Wujin beside him, and nodded gently, saying, "Your Highness, take care."

Shulu Wujin wore a bright and festive outfit today, specifically to see Li Xiao off.

With a light touch of makeup on her face and her eyes sparkling, she looked at Li Xiao and said softly, "You must come back safely."

“Aman and the baby in her belly are still waiting for you.”

Li Xiao nodded and smiled slightly: "That fool Yelü Zhilugu is no match for me, Li Xiao."

"wait me back!"

Having said that, he waved his hand and led his three thousand guards away from the camp, heading towards the Seven Rivers Grassland in the direction the cavalry army was advancing.

……

After the start of the Ili War, Yelü Zhilugu's royal army crossed the Ili River like a black tide and entered the northern grasslands of the Seven Rivers.

Lacking reinforcements, the hastily assembled garrison of Qihe Commander Jiu Meng Anhe gradually crumbled in this unequal battle.

He led his remaining troops in a fighting retreat, building defensive lines along every riverbank in an attempt to use the water as a shield to block the advance of the royal army.

However, apart from the wide Ili River, the other rivers were nothing more than trickles on the grasslands, and some even dried up and disappeared in later generations.

It cannot provide true natural barrier protection.

Therefore, in less than a month, the Wang court's army had already reached the south bank of the Sihun River.

This waterway, later known as the Aksu River, became the dividing line between life and death for the remnants of the Seven Rivers Army.

On the north bank, Jiu Meng Anhe stood on a hill, looking at the densely packed royal army camps on the south bank, his expression full of weariness and numbness.

A month of fighting had drained this veteran general of a great deal of his energy and spirit.

His armor was covered in dried blood and holes, and he smelled terrible; he had forgotten how long it had been since he had taken a bath.

The only thing that hadn't changed was those sharp, hawk-like eyes, which were carefully observing the movements of the royal army on the other side of the river.

She murmured softly, "We can't back down anymore."

Jiu Meng Anhe gripped the blood-stained scimitar at his waist, then looked at the many exhausted soldiers behind him.

Beyond the Sihun River lies the Lepser River, the last barrier of the Eastern Capital.

If the royal army crosses these two rivers, then the Eastern Capital will have no natural defenses left, and the royal army will be able to directly approach the city.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from afar; it was Jiu Meng Anhe's personal guards.

"Has there been any news from the Eastern Capital? When will reinforcements arrive?"

Jiu Meng Anhe gripped his curved blade and asked urgently in a hoarse voice.

Not long ago, he sent someone to contact Dongdu.

But the news that came back took him by surprise.

Xiao Simo fell seriously ill, and the eldest prince, Xiao Dalu, took charge of the affairs of Luoyang.

At the same time, Xiao Dalu also sent him a message, asking him to do his best to block the main force of the royal army's attack.

Once the Jinzhou Army, the Northern Navy, and the Desert Army arrive in Dongdu, they can launch a counterattack.

First, eliminate the Eastern Karakhanid army led by Yelü Zhixin, then the main force can support the Seven Rivers.

After that, he completely lost contact with Dongdu.

Every messenger sent was blocked by the royal cavalry under Yelü Zhixin's command, and the message could not be transmitted to the Eastern Capital.

Now, Jiu Meng An He is really at his breaking point.

If no reinforcements arrive, the royal army will be able to cross the Sihun River, advance deep into the territory, and join forces with Yelü Zhixin's army.

Fortunately, this time, the personal guards did not disappoint Jiu Meng Anhe. Before the warhorse had even come to a steady stop, they jumped down and patted Jiu Meng Anhe's chest, saying, "Commander, good news, good news!"

"Have you made contact with Dongdu?" Jiu Meng Anhe asked, his eyes gleaming.

The guard gently shook his head: "Not yet."

"This time we were not stopped by the royal cavalry, but instead encountered a group of royal deserters."

"Deserter?" Upon hearing these two words, Jiu Meng'an's eyes widened suddenly.

An anxious voice asked, "What happened? What's going on?"

The cavalryman said excitedly, "We captured a deserter and only learned the details after interrogating him."

"Li Xiao, the governor of Jinzhou, led his army to the Eastern Capital and fought a decisive battle with the Wang Ting army, and has already defeated the Wang Ting army."

“Even Prince Yelü Zhixin was captured alive by Governor Li.”

Upon hearing this, Jiu Meng Anhe's face lit up with joy, and he excitedly slapped his thigh, saying, "Good, good, that's great!"

"Li Xiao certainly did not disappoint us."

"Hahahaha~"

Jiu Meng Anhe burst into laughter, finally releasing all the pent-up frustration that had been building up inside him.

He knew Li Xiao's abilities and was even more aware of the strength of the Jinzhou army.

More importantly, Li Xiao is Xiao Yanyan's husband and a relative of the Xiao family.

As long as he arrives in the Eastern Capital, the Eastern Capital will not descend into chaos.

Moreover, Yelü Zhixin's army had already collapsed, and Li Xiao must have joined forces with Xiao Dalu's army and was heading to Qihe to provide support.

"This game has finally been brought to a close," Jiu Meng Anhe said with a smile.

The guard beside him said excitedly, "The captain sent me back to report the news, while he led his men to continue towards the Eastern Capital to make contact with Governor Li and the First Prince."

"Also, the captured deserter from the royal court confessed that the Jinzhou army seems to be able to summon the Thunder God..."

After listening to the guards' description, Jiu Meng Anhe chuckled and shook his head, saying, "These fools are simply ignorant."

"There's no Thor. It's just gunpowder."

During the western expedition, Li Xiao served as the commander of the left wing army, while Jiu Meng Anhe served as the deputy commander.

He had witnessed the Jinzhou army use gunpowder to blow open the city gates of Husiwoer.

So there was nothing to be alarmed about at this time.

On the contrary, thanks to the Jinzhou army's powerful gunpowder, they will surely inflict heavy losses on the opposing royal army.

"Pass down the order: from today onwards, send men to maintain a tight defense on the north bank of the Sihun River, and absolutely do not allow a single soldier from the direction of Dongdu to cross the river," Jiu Meng Anhe said with a loud laugh.

If the royal cavalry under Yelü Zhixin could block the connection between Qihe and Dongdu, then Jiu Meng Anhe could also block the royal deserters from heading south.

He wanted Yelü Zhilugu to become deaf and blind, giving him a big surprise without knowing that Yelü Zhixin's army had suffered a crushing defeat.

(This was hand-drawn, so the quality isn't great. Please forgive me, experts!)
(End of this chapter)