The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 237 The Northern Frontier Does Not Support Idlers
Weiming Zhongshi directed his soldiers to continuously move stones onto the city wall and boil molten gold. The stench rising from the walls was nauseating.

"Quickly, continue demolishing the house and move all the roof beams and stones up."

"If there's not enough broth, bring over the big pot for cooking rice too."

"The barbarians from the northern frontier are about to attack the city!" Wei Mingzhongshi, clad in armor, roared, his face flushed red.

The Northern Frontier Army outside the city has already begun to mobilize, and based on his experience, Blackwater City is about to face a fierce attack.

However, for some reason, he did not find siege equipment such as ramps, battering rams, and catapults among the Northern Frontier Army.

The northern barbarians, on the contrary, erected twenty large pillars outside the northern city, which looked black and long, and imposing.

Although he didn't know exactly what it was for, he believed that the barbarians of the northern frontier would not do anything useless.

"Could it be something used for sacrificial rites by the people of northern Xinjiang?"

The adjutant beside him guessed that in this era, it was common for armies to worship gods and pray for victory during battles.

They believed that the Northern Frontier Army was no different.

But in the next second, a thunderous roar tore through the sky, and the Gobi Desert suddenly trembled violently.

"Boom boom boom boom boom~"

Twenty thick plumes of smoke rose from the northern frontier army ranks, blotting out the sky, while twenty large pillars simultaneously spewed out blazing tongues of fire, and iron bullets as thick as bowls streaked across the sky like meteors.

Before they could react, twenty solid iron bullets had already slammed heavily onto the north city wall.

In an instant, rammed earth and rubble poured down like a torrential rain, and all the soldiers felt the city wall beneath their feet tremble.

Immediately afterwards, a cannonball struck the arrow tower on the city wall, and the powerful destructive force caused it to collapse. The soldiers around the arrow tower screamed in agony, and in an instant, smoke and debris engulfed them.

After the first salvo, the rammed earth city wall became shaky and battered, with cracks as thick as thighs appearing in many places.

The roaring sound subsided, and billowing dust enveloped the entire city wall.

Weiming Zhongshi struggled to his feet, his armor already covered in dirt, wood chips, and stone fragments.

Although he was not injured, he felt an unprecedented shock.

"This is impossible!"

His eyes narrowed, his face showed horror, and he gripped the protruding bricks of the city wall tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

The booming sound of thunder still echoed in my ears, but all I could see before me was hell on earth.

The shattered remains of soldiers, torn apart by iron bullets, scattered like tattered rags.

The scalding hot liquid was poured on their own people before it could be used on the Northern Frontier Army.

Wherever it passed, flesh melted away, and a nauseating stench wafted from the billowing white smoke.

Screams, howls of pain, and angry curses rose and fell.

The soldiers fled in panic, like headless flies, and chaos ensued on the city walls.

"No way, absolutely impossible."

"Damn, what the hell is this."

Yumei Tadashi muttered to himself, staggering back half a step, but his boots sank into a sticky pool of blood.

Those were the personal guards who had been protecting him just moments before; now only half of their torsos remained, their wide-open eyes reflecting the collapsed city wall.

He simply couldn't believe that the horrific scene before him was the work of those twenty pillars in the Northern Frontier Army.

The sturdy Blackwater city walls, under the attack of those eerie pillars, became completely vulnerable and teetering on the brink of collapse.

"We must fight back!"

"Those pillars must be destroyed."

Weiming Zhongshi roared fiercely, wanting to send out cavalry to attack, but at that moment, the deputy general next to him let out a roar.

"They've started it again."

The next second, a tremendous roar once again echoed between heaven and earth.

"Boom boom boom~"

Twenty flames rose from the Gobi Desert outside Blackwater City, tearing through the sky and striking the walls of Blackwater City once again.

This time, the shelling was more accurate, with almost all of the shells hitting the city wall.

The cries of agony rose again, and the shaking of the city wall beneath their feet became even more violent.

Weiming Zhongshi was dragged by his deputy general as they fled down the city walls: "Commander, let's go quickly."

"We can't stay at the city wall any longer."

"The demonic weapons of the northern barbarians are too powerful."

Despite his reluctance, Tadashi Umina's instinct for survival compelled him to run quickly down the city walls.

But he kept muttering, "It's over, it's over, everything is over~"

Blackwater City has a history of over a hundred years. Although it has weathered many storms, it has not been repaired for many years due to embezzlement of military funds.

However, it remains the largest town in the Northwest region and has never been directly breached by nomadic tribes. In the eyes of many, it is an indestructible place.

Even the most powerful catapults could only leave a shallow dent in the wall, but now they were riddled with holes by the demonic weapons of the Northern Frontier people.

At this moment, Weiming Zhongshi was filled with despair and said in grief and indignation, "We must find out what kind of demonic weapon the barbarians of the Northern Frontier are using."

"Otherwise, though the walls of our Great Xia city are high and our soldiers are brave, we are nothing but fish on a chopping board under the power of such a demonic weapon!"

The artillery deployed by the Northern Frontier Army was a revolutionary weapon.

Although gunpowder also existed in the Central Plains, it was mostly used for setting off firecrackers, and its power was far less than that of the gunpowder in the Northern Frontier.

It was a weapon without even the concept of artillery.

The earliest cannon in the Central Plains was the Thunderclap Cannon, invented in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is still three years away from being invented.

Moreover, its power is far inferior to the Divine Might Cannon of the Northern Frontier.

Therefore, for Weiming Zhongshi and others, the cannons of the Northern Frontier were completely demonic weapons, belonging to a mysterious power beyond their own comprehension.

We can only speculate in the realm of gods, spirits, and demons.

"Boom boom boom~"

The enormous roar was like the howl of Thor, unleashing the divine punishment upon the skies above Blackwater City.

In just a quarter of an hour, the Shenji Battalion had fired more than a hundred iron balls at the city wall.

Finally, at a certain moment, a section of the city wall next to the city gate made a loud cracking sound.

The city wall, which was several dozen feet high, collapsed with a loud crash.

Amidst the smoke and dust, the northern cavalrymen in the distance appeared and disappeared, all raising their long spears, which gleamed coldly in the sunlight, like the scythe of death.

A chilling atmosphere permeated the military formation.

Looking at the collapsed gap, Da Hu, who was at the forefront of the army, drew his cavalry saber and shouted loudly.

"attack!"

"Charge into Blackwater City."

"kill!"

"Boom boom boom~"

The thunderous roar of iron cavalry as thousands of warhorses trampled the yellow earth outside the city, surging towards the breach in the city wall like a white tide.

"Release the arrows! Release the arrows quickly!"

"Stop them."

Behind the city wall, Tadashi Akina felt his back was soaked with cold sweat, his face contorted with rage, and he roared loudly.

He ordered the soldiers to use their bodies to block the breach.

But fear is contagious, and few people possess the spirit of great sacrifice in dire straits.

Moreover, under the bombardment of the Shenji Battalion's cannons, the soldiers on the city wall hastily retreated, and in the chaos, their formations were no longer in place.

The soldiers couldn't find their generals, and the generals didn't recognize their soldiers; many even secretly ran home.

Ultimately, Tadashi Ue had no choice but to order his personal guards to take over.

"kill!"

A northern border warrior, dressed in white armor with red trim, rode a tall warhorse at the forefront of the army, charging swiftly into battle.

He controlled his warhorse with both legs, drew his bow and pulled his arrow in one fluid motion.

The arrow was fired and struck a Western Xia soldier behind the ruins with precision.

The northern border soldiers beside them did the same, constantly shooting down any soldiers who posed a threat with their bows and arrows.

But just as they were about to reach the breach in the city wall, a sound of arrows being released suddenly rang out in the distance.

Dozens of arrows came hurtling towards them.

Shihu's eyes widened instantly, and he shouted in horror, "Oh no, it's the Divine Arm Crossbow!"

But before he could react, an arrow shot straight into his chest.

"Pfft~"

With a muffled thud, despite Shihu having slightly turned his body, the arrow still pierced his side chest.

He fell directly off his horse.

At the same time, more than a dozen soldiers also fell off their horses.

While the cotton armor could protect against most arrow damage, the soldiers behind the ruins were clearly using crossbows.

This powerful weapon, capable of piercing iron armor at close range, could also inflict fatal damage on the Northern Frontier Army soldiers clad in cotton armor.

At the critical moment, a captain shouted: "Those who retreat will die!"

"The Xia Kingdom's crossbows are slow to fire and can't stop us."

"Charge forward and kill them."

The captain brandished his hook-and-sickle spear and roared angrily, directly replacing the previous commander and charging to the front.

Although his voice was drowned out by the roar of warhorses, the soldiers around him, upon seeing his actions, all calmed down.

His gaze turned fierce again, he gripped his spear tightly, and charged forward.

The military law in northern Xinjiang treats deserters with absolutely no leniency.

Not only would soldiers be executed, but their families would also be implicated.

Conversely, if someone dies on the way to the front, their family will receive a generous compensation, and their son will inherit their position.

To flee would mean certain death.

Charge! There's still a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, they actually only have one choice.

"kill!"

Dozens of soldiers, clad in heavy cotton armor, led by their captain, were the first to rush to the city wall.

Because the ruins of the city walls were not cleared, the cavalry's advantage was completely lost.

They could only resort to the most primitive hand-to-hand combat, fighting tooth and nail for the breach.

In a short period of time, the breach in the city wall, which was more than ten feet long, was already stained with blood.

However, the resistance of Weiming Zhongshi's personal guards remained strong. They were all Tanguts and were more loyal than the ordinary soldiers in the city.

The crossbow, in particular, was extremely effective against cavalry.

Li Xiao, standing in the distance, held the Thousand-Mile Eye and stared at everything with a cold expression.

In siege warfare, casualties are inevitable.

However, compared to the towns of the Uyghurs and the royal court, the towns of the Western Xia were more difficult to attack, and their soldiers were more capable in combat.

The casualties among the soldiers in the northern border region were even greater.

"Order the soldiers at the front to retreat to both sides."

"Shenji Battalion, switch to explosive shells and bombard them fiercely," Li Xiao's icy voice rang out.

"As ordered."

Soon, the frontline soldiers, having received orders, began to retreat with their wounded comrades.

Just when the Western Xia soldiers thought they had held the city walls, twenty cannons in the distance roared once more. "Boom boom boom boom!"

Orange flames tore through the gray sky like the breath of Thor, and twenty black iron balls, trailing plumes of smoke, crashed into the breach in the city wall.

A cannonball slammed into a group of Western Xia soldiers, who retreated in panic.

To their surprise, they discovered that something was sizzling and burning on the iron bullet.

In just a second or two, the fuse burned out, the iron bullet exploded with a loud bang, and a blinding light suddenly rose into the air.

Nails and gravel rained down on the crowd behind them.

"Ah~"

The captain closest to the explosion point instantly lost his eyes. A rusty iron nail pierced his temple, and blood mixed with brain matter gushed out from his seven orifices.

The crossbowman behind him hadn't even taken two steps when he was struck in the back by a piece of gravel and fell to the ground screaming in agony.

Other shells also exploded one after another.

Because it uses a fuse to ignite the shell, the timing of the explosion is uncontrollable due to the influence of distance and the angle of the shell's propulsion.

Some explode a second or two after landing, while others explode in mid-air.

The latter is more lethal.

Amidst the smoke and fire, Tadashi Ue was tackled to the ground by his personal guards in the ruins.

He trembled as he touched his cheek, his fingertips brushing against something wet and slippery—he didn't know if it was splattered blood or his own.

The breach in the city wall before us has been turned into a slaughterhouse: severed limbs, internal organs, and fragments of broken armor are mixed with burning poplar wood, piled up on the ground into a small, foul-smelling mountain.

Even his trusted lieutenant was hit by a shell at that moment.

The chainmail on his chest was pierced by a piece of iron, revealing his beating heart beneath the turned-out flesh. Although he was not yet dead, it was clear that he was doomed.

"Commander-Commander..."

The lieutenant's throat was also cut by a piece of iron, and his voice was accompanied by a piercing whistling sound.

"This...this is the devil's..."

Before he could finish speaking, his eyes went out of focus.

As Weiming Zhongshi watched his face gradually stiffen, a growing sense of fear rose within him.

He plopped down on the ground, muttering dejectedly, "It's over, everything is over."

"Blackwater City cannot be saved."

He suddenly realized that the flesh and blood of the Western Xia were ultimately no match for these devilish artifacts that could make stones bloom and steel boil.

The roar of the cannons faded away, and the roar of the Northern Frontier cavalry rose again.

The few guards who were by his side screamed in terror.

"My lord, my lord, the cavalry of the northern barbarians are attacking again."

Wei Mingzhongshi sat in the ruins, turned his head and looked around, and saw the Northern Frontier cavalry attacking from three sides through the gap.

Their ferocious momentum was even more terrifying than the previous attacks; they had more soldiers and a greater killing intent.

Upon seeing this, Weiming Zhongshi remained unmoved.

He shook his head slightly. Forget it, I'm tired. Let it all end!

……

Soon after, the Northern Frontier cavalry stormed into Blackwater City, cleared away the rubble and debris in the city gate, opened the gate, and allowed the main force of the Northern Frontier army to enter the city.

With this, Blackwater City fell.

"Order all units: those who surrender will not be killed; those who resist stubbornly will be killed without mercy."

"Drive all the people out of the city before sunset."

"No disobedience is permitted," Li Xiao commanded in a deep voice.

There are many Han Chinese military households in Heishui City, and Li Xiao still needs these people to balance the ethnic issues in the northern frontier.

Naturally, a massacre of the entire city cannot be carried out.

However, these Han Chinese people would be reduced to slaves and lose all their property.

To regain everything, one must fight and plunder with the sword and gun in hand.

If they achieve enough military merits, Li Xiao will naturally restore their freedom and reward them with land, property, and more women.

Because northern Xinjiang does not raise waste.

By sunset, the Northern Frontier Army had completely occupied Blackwater City.

All the people in the city were driven to concentration camps outside the city.

After confirming that it was safe, Li Xiao led his men into the Commander's Mansion.

The mansion was in complete disarray, clearly having been thoroughly searched by the Wuwei Army.

He took off his helmet and placed it on the table that originally belonged to Tadashi Akina, then sat down in his chair.

His gaze swept over the room’s ornate yet cluttered decorations, and he said, “It seems that Tadashi Akina is quite greedy.”

"The people of Blackwater City lived in abject poverty, yet his mansion was so magnificent."

Zhang Xinghua, the military advisor of the Examination and Merit Bureau standing nearby, chuckled: "If we hadn't come to their rescue, the people of Blackwater City would have suffered even more."

"They were able to see the light of day again entirely thanks to the wise leadership of the Grand Protector."

This is obviously flattery.

However, it's not wrong to say they came to rescue the people of Blackwater City.

After all, Li Xiao also gave them another way to live with dignity.

"Hehehe!" Li Xiao chuckled faintly.

"They were only given a way to survive. Whether they can make a living in the future depends on their own abilities."

"The only thing Bendu can guarantee them is fairness."

"In our northern border region, merit is merit, and fault is fault."

"No one can deny their war achievements, nor can anyone escape punishment."

"Relay Bendu's words to the prisoners of war without missing a single one," Li Xiao said.

"Your subordinate obeys." Zhang Xinghua nodded emphatically.

Subsequently, Han Jiuyuan, the military advisor of the Household Department, arrived and reported with his hand on his chest: "Reporting to the Grand Protector, the property in Blackwater City has been accounted for."

"Oh? How many?" Li Xiao became interested.

War is all about money.

If they can't plunder enough wealth from the city, does the Grand Protectorate have to pay out of its own pocket to reward the soldiers who have made meritorious contributions?

Han Jiuyuan said helplessly, "The Blackwater City treasury is basically empty, and the private wealth of the people in the city is also very little. There are still 10,000 shi of old millet in the granary."

"We only made some gains in a few large mansions in the city..."

Han Jiuyuan's report had only one core point: Blackwater City was poor.

The warehouse was infested with rats, so we didn't seize much money or grain.

After saying that, she looked at Li Xiao with a hopeful expression: "As for the Commander's Office~"

Okay, the military commander's residence was raided by Li Xiao's personal guards.

They confiscated gold and silver valuables, worth at least 100,000 strings of cash.

These are all the money that Wei Mingzhongshi has embezzled over the years, and every single copper coin is stained with the blood and sweat of the people of Blackwater City.

This money was originally intended for Li Xiao's private coffers.

But now it seems we have no choice but to bring it out.

"The funds and provisions of the Commander's Office are all entrusted to you two. You must not let any meritorious soldier feel disheartened," Li Xiao said in a deep voice.

Han Jiuyuan and Zhang Xinghua both nodded in agreement.

One of them managed the money, and the other kept track of the credits.

The rewards for their military achievements had to be earned by both of them working together, which also served as a way to supervise each other.

But if anything goes wrong, Li Xiao won't let them off the hook.

Afterwards, the generals reported the other spoils to Li Xiao.

The armory was empty. Before the battle, Weiming Zhongshi had distributed the armory to the soldiers defending the city, and now it had all been captured by the Northern Frontier Army.

Most of them were conventional weapons such as swords, spears, bows and arrows. The crossbows and wart armor that Li Xiao really valued were not numerous.

The fifty-odd crossbows at the breach in the city wall were the last remaining stock in Blackwater City.

As for the other crossbows and wart armor, they were all sold to the northern frontier.

Meanwhile, the artisans in the Armory had already replicated the Divine Arm Crossbow and had begun mass production.

Li Xiao established a hundred-household crossbow battalion in each military town.

Each town has two hundred crossbows.

However, in this Battle of Blackwater, as the attacking side, apart from suppressing the city walls with firepower, the Divine Arm Crossbow did not play a decisive role in the battle.

"Great Protector, our army has captured a total of 13,800 civilians from Blackwater City and the surrounding military camps. Please provide instructions on how to settle them."

After everything was settled, Jiu Meng Anhe asked about the prisoners of war.

As the Sima (military officer) and Bingcao (military advisor) of the Protectorate General, he was responsible for military planning and managing the army's logistics.

Prisoners of war should be under his jurisdiction.

However, the Battle of Blackwater City was his first war since joining the Northern Frontier, and he still needed to consult Li Xiao about how to handle the prisoners.

"The northern frontier does not support idlers."

“Now that they have become slaves of my Northern Frontier, everything must be done according to the rules of my Northern Frontier,” Li Xiao said calmly.

“Select all the men and enlist them in the Curry Army.”

"Follow my northern army as we march south to fight."

“Tell them that if they can kill three enemy soldiers, Bendu will free them from slavery and restore their entire families to their freedom.”

"At the same time, the standards for rewarding meritorious service shall be uniformly distributed according to the standards for soldiers in my Northern Frontier Garrison."

“But if you dare to run away, your whole family will be executed,” Li Xiao said in a cold voice.

He treated Han Chinese with some preferential treatment, but he did not show excessive favoritism.

What he wanted was a group of brave and resolute Han Chinese warriors, not a bunch of timid and useless cowards.

Li Xiao's actions are forcing them to grow up.

They also used the lives of their families as leverage.

Then, he looked at Gao Zhongyi, the deputy military advisor of the military agricultural affairs office, and instructed him: "Incorporate all these elderly, weak, women and children into the households of the agricultural settlement, assign them tasks according to their household registration, and have them reclaim wasteland."

The men of Blackwater City could follow the Northern Frontier Army south to fight, but the women, the elderly, and the children could not eat for free.

They had to do some farm work in exchange for food.

Heishui City, also known as Juyan Lake, is a vast oasis.

Li Xiao planned to completely occupy Blackwater City as a forward base for future attacks on Western Xia.

Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate farmland on a large scale in Blackwater City to achieve self-sufficiency first, and then strive to ensure the logistical supply of the army.

"As ordered!"

After the order was issued, all the generals and officers went about their respective tasks.

With these people around, Li Xiao was finally freed up.

That night, he spent the night in the backyard of Weiming Zhongshi, while his wife, concubines and daughters were all captured by the Wuwei Army.

Weiming Zhongshi was greedy and lustful, and the women he married were all exceptionally beautiful, each with their own unique charm.

Although the lady is a bit old, she is still quite good-looking and has a good figure.

She exudes a mature woman's charm and is quite refreshing.

(End of this chapter)