The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 244 The Ganzhou Army is wiped out; the entire army is destroyed.
The north wind, carrying sand and gravel, swept across the wasteland, and thousands of yellow and white battle flags surged up from the horizon, like golden blades tearing through the sky.

Amidst howling winds and fluttering battle flags, tens of thousands of cavalry from the northern frontier deployed their steel formation from south to north, using the Hexi Corridor as their axis.

At the very front of the army, twenty powerful cannons were lined up like lurking steel behemoths.

The pitch-black cannon barrels gleamed with a cold metallic luster, resembling giant pythons roaring towards the sky, their dark muzzles pointing directly at the low-hanging clouds, exuding a terrifying threat of destruction.

"Woooooooo~"

As Li Xiao gave the order to launch a general offensive, a deep bugle call pierced the sky, and the gunners quickly stuffed shells into the gun barrels.

Wu Damao, the commander of the Second Divine Machine Battalion, stood at the rear. With a 'whoosh,' he drew his cavalry saber and roared with a ferocious expression, "Fire!"

In an instant, the earth began to tremble violently, and the twenty cannons simultaneously emitted deafening roars. The sound waves spread in all directions like a surging tide, even distorting and deforming the air.

At this moment, the Ganzhou army also sensed the unusual atmosphere from the abnormal behavior of the Northern Frontier army.

Mi Qin Tiele issued an order to defend the site, and shield bearers, spearmen, archers, and others began to form a tortoise formation.

But just as the formation was completed, a tremendous roar resounded across the earth.

"what sound?"

"What it is?"

"Thunder? Was there thunder?"

The swordsmen and shieldmen facing the Northern Frontier Army looked terrified upon hearing the sound; some even looked up at the sky, only to hear thunder, yet the sky was cloudless.

But in the next second, the huge iron bullet, accompanied by a piercing shriek, tore through the sky and crashed down on the Ganzhou army camp like a meteor.

"Boom! Boom!"

The shield bearers at the front were hit, their elm shields piercing through their bodies, creating a scene of carnage.

The soldiers behind them were knocked to the ground by the rolling iron projectiles, clutching their broken legs and howling in pain.

"Ahhh~"

"Help me, help me!"

"Thor is angry and has sent down lightning to punish us."

"Don't run, don't panic, stay where you are."

Amidst the billowing dust, screams echoed everywhere. Huge craters were blasted into the ground, and sand, dirt, and severed limbs flew everywhere.

Twenty solid iron bullets caused only a few dozen casualties, but everyone was terrified by the unprecedented and terrifying power.

No matter how the general shouted, he could not stop the soldiers' panic.

After all, most of these people were untrained recruits. They were fine when things were going well, but when faced with the baptism of artillery fire from the northern frontier, all the soldiers panicked.

Seeing this scene, Mi Qintiele was completely dumbfounded.

Beneath his angry expression lay an undisguised panic and horror.

It felt like there was a rag soaked in sand stuck in my throat, and I couldn't utter a single curse.

"How could that be? Impossible!"

"What the hell is that thing?"

He muttered to himself, his face pale, looking as if he had seen a ghost and couldn't believe it.

He had already imagined all the offensive tactics of the Northern Frontier Army, including harassment by light cavalry, and powerful breakthroughs by armored cavalry.

But no one expected that the northern barbarians, who were known for their cavalry, would come up with such a terrifying thing.

The first cannon of this era was not invented until three years later by the Southern Song Dynasty, so Mi Qin Tiele had never seen a cannon at this time.

Just as the Shenwei cannons were stunning the Ganzhou army, the Northern Frontier Army was quickly preparing for a second round of artillery fire.

The first shot was a solid iron bullet, which was considered a test firing.

Subsequent shots were replaced with exploding shells.

"Boom boom boom~"

The cannons roared once more, mercilessly reaping the lives of the Ganzhou soldiers, plunging the entire battlefield into a sea of ​​fire and chaos.

With a whooshing roar, a shell crashed down not far away.

"Damn it!"

Miqin Tiele had already witnessed the power of this thing and was so frightened that he instinctively crawled under the horse's belly.

"Boom~"

With a tremendous roar, the world seemed to fall into a deathly silence. Mi Qin Tiele's ears began to ring, and his body was covered by a layer of yellow sand.

"Commander, Commander!"

The guards rushed over and pulled Mi Qintiele from the pile of flesh and blood.

At that moment, all he could see were stars. He could only see his personal guards shouting, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

Soon after, he recovered a little and was stunned by what he saw.

He saw that all the guards who had been standing around him were now lying on the ground, clutching their wounds and screaming in pain.

His warhorse lay on the ground like a beehive, riddled with bloody holes and its intestines hanging out.

Upon seeing this, Mi Qintiele felt a churning in his stomach, and a chilling sensation instantly swept over his entire body.

If I had reacted any slower, I probably would have been disemboweled like the warhorse.

Even so, Mi Qintiele was still injured by shrapnel from the exploding shell, and his entire right leg became covered in blood.

"This, this, a devil, he's absolutely a devil!"

Mi Qin Tiele was pale and his body trembled slightly. He had fought battles for half his life, but this was the first time he had fought such a humiliating battle.

They hadn't even met the barbarians of the northern frontier, yet they were beaten so badly.

With the impact point of the twenty shells as the center, soldiers within a two-zhang radius either collapsed to the ground clutching their wounds and groaning in pain, or were directly blown to death.

The entire army was in complete chaos.

At that moment, one of his personal guards suddenly said, "Commander, this looks like gunpowder!"

"What? Gunpowder?"

Mi Qintiele was taken aback upon hearing this. After calming down, he took a careful sniff and indeed, there was a smell of gunpowder in the air.

Although cannons had not yet been invented in the Central Plains, gunpowder had a long history, and Mi Qin Tiele was no stranger to it.

During the first round of live-fire, only propellant needed to be loaded into the gun barrel, and the Ganzhou troops at the impact point would not smell a strong gunpowder odor.

However, exploding shells are different. The gunpowder inside the shell will explode a second time, leaving a strong gunpowder smell that lingers for a long time.

Mi Qintiele smelled the scent in the air, his face still showing an expression of disbelief.

The Western Xia also had gunpowder, but it smelled slightly different from the gunpowder of the Northern Frontier Army. It was not as strong as the gunpowder of the Northern Frontier Army, and it was impossible for it to produce such power.

"What exactly is going on?"

Mi Qintiele frowned, feeling as if he had discovered the secret of the Northern Frontier Army, but he simply couldn't understand it.

Just then, the Northern Frontier Army launched its third round of artillery bombardment.

The guards beside him shouted again, "It rang! It rang again!"

"Commander, the barbarians of the Northern Frontier are about to attack again!"

This time, Milton was relatively lucky; the twenty shells all landed quite far from his position.

They weren't seriously injured, but the other soldiers of the Ganzhou army were in trouble.

Each shell that exploded would scatter dozens of iron nails and pieces, and no soldier within a two-zhang radius could escape unscathed.

Painful screams and terrified howls blended together.

After more than a dozen rounds of shelling, the Shenwei Cannon fell silent and needed to cool down before it could be used again.

However, the Ganzhou army formation had turned into a hellish scene.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder mixed with a stench. Corpses were scattered haphazardly everywhere, some severed in the waist by iron bullets, their necks twisted at bizarre angles.

Some had their abdomens ripped open by iron plates, their internal organs wrapped in gravel spread out on the scorching sand.

The wounded soldier, still breathing, writhed in the pool of blood, reaching out to grasp at the void, his throat emitting gasps like broken bellows, his blood-stained fingernails digging deep into the sand, but he could no longer rise.

The burning tents transformed into towering pillars of fire, and with crackling sounds, arrows and armor plates were distorted and deformed by the intense heat, falling with sparks.

Just then, a deep horn sounded once again from the earth, like an ancient war song, carrying endless killing intent as it surged towards the Ganzhou army.

"Woooooo~"

Before the Ganzhou soldiers could even feel relieved that the shelling had ended, they looked up and saw an even more chilling sight—more than a thousand armored cavalrymen had already formed ranks a mile away.

The armor plates on the warhorses gleamed with a cold, eerie blue light, while the knights' steel visors covered most of their faces, revealing only their hawk-like eyes.

As the horses trotted along, the armor plates collided with a teeth-grinding sound.

The leading general was a commander of a thousand men, fully clad in heavy armor, who held a sharp armor-piercing spike high in the sky, pointing it at the blazing sun.

A deep voice boomed, "Black Armor Army!"

"kill!"

In an instant, all the heavy cavalry roared in unison: "Kill!"

"Ho ho ho~"

The warhorses began to move forward slowly, their iron hooves shattering the cracked earth, the dense sound of their hooves like a torrential downpour.

"Boom boom boom~"

Fifteen hundred armored cavalrymen charged through the dust and sand, charging madly towards the Ganzhou army.

After the expansion of the Six Garrisons, Li Xiao also implemented reforms for the Black Armor Army.

The Black Armor Army was disbanded and its members were incorporated into the six garrisons.

Each town has 500 black-armored soldiers, commanded by a commander of a thousand households, who are directly under the command of the governor.

Currently, the main forces in the northern frontier of the Hexi battlefield are the First, Fourth, and Sixth Garrisons.

The Black Armor Army of the three towns numbered a total of 1,500 cavalry.

They all gathered together, tearing the earth apart like a sharp spear, and charged towards the Ganzhou army.

Meanwhile, the Ganzhou soldiers had just experienced a bombing raid and were now as frightened as birds startled by a bow.

At this moment, they saw armored cavalry charging towards them, and the soldiers all turned pale with fear, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

"Iron Falcons! Iron Falcons are coming!" someone shouted. Footsteps began to retreat.

The Iron Falcons were a vital weapon for the Western Xia dynasty. Although they numbered only three thousand, they wielded immense power and deterrence within the Western Xia army.

However, another armored cavalry force emerged in the Northern Frontier Army, no less formidable than the Iron Falcons, causing many soldiers to lose their composure.

The swordsmen and shieldmen at the front began to unconsciously move backward, and the archers' arms also began to tremble slightly.

Despite the cold weather, every soldier's forehead was covered in cold sweat.

As the Black Armor Army moved faster and got closer, the Ganzhou Army's entire defensive line became increasingly vulnerable.

"Fire the arrow! Fire the arrow quickly!"

A general from Ganzhou at the front of the battle roared loudly. Although he was equally terrified, he knew that if they couldn't stop these iron-clad monsters, they would all die today.

Upon hearing this, the archers of the Ganzhou army trembled as they drew their bows or pulled the triggers of their crossbows.

"Rustling sound~"

With a whooshing sound, thousands of arrows shot towards the black-armored army.

Ordinary arrows were almost harmless against the iron armor, but the crossbows were very powerful, and even then, they could only inflict fatal damage on the black-armored soldiers within fifty paces. The black-armored soldiers covered the mere hundred paces in an instant, though some unlucky soldiers were hit and fell from their horses.

But faced with the Ganzhou soldiers who were already as panicked as sheep, the numerous Black Armor Army soldiers let out a wolf-like howl of fury.

"Kill~"

On the other side, seeing the black-armored cavalry less than fifty paces away, the morale of the Ganzhou soldiers completely collapsed.

A young soldier suddenly threw down his shield, turned and ran, crying out as he ran, "Mother! I don't want to die!"

Most of the soldiers in Ganzhou were newly recruited soldiers. After five days of continuous hardship, they were exhausted and only had the will to keep them going back to Ganzhou City.

However, the attack by the Northern Frontier Army's artillery fire, a destructive force that transcended time, greatly shocked the soldiers of Ganzhou.

Then, faced with this overwhelming force of armored cavalry, the Ganzhou soldiers no longer had the courage to fight.

The Northern Frontier Army seemed truly invincible.

"Run, run fast!"

The cries spread like wildfire, and the soldiers, no longer heeding orders, turned and ran, plunging the entire army into chaos.

The thunderous sound of hooves drew near, and the armored cavalry formation transformed into an unstoppable iron wall.

They broke through the shield formation of the Ganzhou army in an instant, shattering their defenses.

Those soldiers who were still gripping their shields were thrown back by the powerful impact of the warhorses, their bones shattered.

Those soldiers wielding long spears struck the iron armor, but only managed to create a spark before being slashed down by the black-armored soldiers.

The archers fared even worse; in close combat, they didn't even have time to fire a second arrow before being pierced through the chest.

In the rear ranks, Li Xiao, holding the Thousand-Mile Eye, watched as the Black Armor Army broke through the Ganzhou army formation. He slowly lowered the arm holding the Thousand-Mile Eye and shouted in a deep voice.

"Order the First Division to launch a frontal attack, while the Fourth and Sixth Divisions will flank from the left and right."

"The entire army must launch an attack and annihilate the Xia army in Ganzhou."

"As ordered!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a deep bugle call rang out across the battlefield.

"Woooooooo~"

The tense atmosphere grew even more oppressive. Qin Chunsheng and Lin Dazhuang, the commanders of the First Town, drew their cavalry swords and shouted, "You bastards, charge with me!"

"Crush them!"

Thousands of First Town cavalrymen instantly went berserk, their warhorses neighing, their halberds clashing, and dust billowing up several feet high.

Like a giant yellow dragon, it charged towards the Ganzhou army.

At the same time, Luo Meng, the deputy commander of the Fourth Garrison, and Li Donghe, the commander of the Sixth Garrison, also drew their cavalry swords and shouted fiercely, "Kill!"

Two cavalry legions surged forward, one on each side of the first town.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen charged forward, their hooves trembling the earth. The shocking scene was like an earth dragon turning over, completely ending the last resistance of the Ganzhou army.

"Mother, Mother, I want to go home!"

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

"We're just farmers, why did we come to this place? Damn government, are they sending us here to die?!"

"We're not fighting anymore, we surrender, we surrender."

"Throw all your weapons far away and kneel down to surrender!"

The Ganzhou army was filled with chaotic screams and shouts.

They wanted to escape, but they knew very well that they couldn't outrun the warhorses of the northern barbarians.

There was only one way out: surrender.

In the central army, Mi Qin Tiele watched the tens of thousands of northern cavalry galloping about, while his own army completely collapsed. He realized that things had reached their worst point.

Without waiting for his subordinates to offer him a way out, he hastily took off his armor and said in a panicked voice, "Go, go, retreat."

"Leave this place immediately and return to Ganzhou City."

Having said that, he led his personal guards to join up with the Ganzhou cavalry, broke away from the army formation, and fled towards the city of Ganzhou.

Subsequently, a chase and hunt ensued in the Hexi Corridor.

Tens of thousands of cavalry, organized into units of hundreds and tens of households, pursued and hunted down the fleeing Ganzhou soldiers.

Those who surrender will not be killed; those who resist stubbornly will be executed.

The war did not truly end until sunset.

Surrounded by the Wuwei Army, Li Xiao stood on a hilltop, looking at the rolling Qilian Mountains and feeling the vastness and grandeur of this land.

I felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow.

"The Hexi Corridor~"

This is the gateway to the Central Plains. Taking over the Hexi Corridor means taking another step closer to the Central Plains and to realizing Li Xiao's dream.

Soon after, Jiu Meng Anhe, Han Jiuyuan, and others arrived before Li Xiao, dismounted, and greeted him with a hand on their chests: "Grand Protector!"

"No need for formalities," Li Xiao said, turning around and nodding.

"Grand Protector, the battle results have been tallied."

"Our army killed more than 2,000 Ganzhou soldiers and captured more than 16,000 prisoners of war. It's just a pity that Mi Qin Tiele, the commander of the Ganzhou army, escaped," Jiu Meng Anhe said.

In this war, the Ganzhou army suffered a crushing defeat.

The 20,000-strong army was almost completely wiped out, and Mi Qin Tiele fled back to Ganzhou City in a panic with only a thousand or so cavalry.

Li Xiao was not disappointed by this result. He simply looked in the direction of Ganzhou City and said calmly:

"Where could he run to? Ganzhou City? Or Xingqing Prefecture?"

Without sufficient troops to garrison it, Ganzhou City was no different from a young woman stripped naked to the Northern Frontier Army.

Afterwards, Han Jiuyuan reported the seized supplies to Li Xiao.

Aside from the more than 16,000 prisoners, these supplies were the most important.

The ordinary weapons of the Ganzhou army were of little value and even had to be melted down and remade.

The only weapons that could actually be used were the armor and the crossbow.

The Northern Frontier Army never has too much of these two things.

But the most important thing is still food.

Blackwater City was already short of food supplies, so the Ganzhou army carried over 100,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain when they set out.

Now, it has all become supplies for the Northern Frontier Army.

It's enough to feed the army in northern Xinjiang for several months.

"Order the Sixth Division to remain and continue pursuing the fleeing Ganzhou cavalry, and then advance towards Suzhou City to support the Second Division in the direction of Dunhuang."

"The troops of the First and Fourth Garrisons, attack Ganzhou City," Li Xiao said in a deep voice.

The five important towns along the Hexi Corridor, from west to east, are Dunhuang, Guazhou, Suzhou, Ganzhou, and Liangzhou.

Li Xiao's northern army marched south from Heishui City and is now located between Suzhou and Ganzhou. They will continue their eastward attack on Ganzhou.

Although Suzhou was a commercially developed city, it was not a major military stronghold of Western Xia, so its military strength was limited.

With the support of the Sixth Garrison and the combined efforts of the Second Garrison, it would be more than enough to take Suzhou City in a short period of time.

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

After resting, the army from the three towns set off early the next morning.

The Sixth Garrison marched westward, sweeping through surrounding villages and plundering the people, until they reached Suzhou City.

The same was true of the first and fourth towns; although the people in these villages were poor, the landowners and bureaucrats were quite wealthy.

The money and grain obtained from killing a landowner are almost enough to sustain the northern frontier army for three to five days.

And most importantly, it's about the population; both men and women must be plundered and taken back to the northern frontier.

Meanwhile, Mi Qin Tiele, who had fled on light cavalry, returned to Ganzhou City in less than half a day.

"Quickly, close the city gates."

"No one is allowed to enter or leave."

Wearing a tattered sheepskin coat, Mi Qin Tiele's first order upon entering the city was to defend the city gates to the death.

Having witnessed the terror of the Northern Frontier Army's artillery, he felt no sense of security whatsoever from these towering city walls.

How many soldiers are still in the city?

Mi Qin Tiele summoned his advisor Li Zhong'e and asked him a question.

At this moment, Li Zhong'e looked haggard, after all, he had been working very hard these past few days.

Not only did they recruit soldiers, but they also used the guise of patriotism to extort military aid funds from wealthy families.

It was extremely difficult, leaving him mentally and physically exhausted.

But that couldn't compare to the shock he felt at that moment.

The news had already spread throughout Ganzhou City that the Ganzhou army had suffered a crushing defeat and was almost completely wiped out.

The northern frontier army will soon arrive at the gates of Ganzhou.

This filled him with immense horror; was the Northern Frontier Army truly so terrifying?
How many more days can Ganzhou City hold out after losing 20,000 troops?
If Ganzhou falls, the Hexi Corridor will inevitably become a playground for the Northern Frontier Army.

Has the Great Xia Kingdom really fallen to such a state?

Suppressing his emotions, Li Zhong'e immediately replied, "Reporting to the Commander, in the days since you left, the Commander's Office has conscripted another five thousand soldiers, who are currently training at the South City Camp."

However, collecting military aid funds has not been going smoothly.

Mi Qin Tiele no longer cares about money; what he cares about most is his army.

He heard that another 5,000 soldiers had been conscripted, in addition to the 5,000 men who had been left in Ganzhou, as well as the more than 1,000 cavalrymen he had brought back.

At this time, there were nearly 12,000 soldiers stationed in Ganzhou City.

Although most of them were untrained recruits, they could still give him a little sense of security.

"Immediately move all troops into the city and hold out for reinforcements," Mi Qin Tiele ordered.

He then discussed with Li Zhong'e how to write a military report to Xingqing Prefecture.

The near-total annihilation of 20,000 Ganzhou troops was a major event that shocked the court and the public, and he certainly could not escape responsibility.

Therefore, he planned to shift the blame to the deputy general who had already died in battle, and only seek the responsibility of oversight.

Then, one also needs to send money and offer favors to some officials in the court, asking them to say good things about oneself.

But all of this depends on holding Ganzhou City first, at least until Weiming Shi'an's reinforcements arrive.

Unexpectedly, the vanguard of the Northern Frontier Army arrived at the city of Ganzhou at noon the next day.

"Boom boom boom~"

Warhorses galloped, banners fluttered, and thousands of iron cavalrymen surged across the Hexi Corridor, encircling the four gates of Ganzhou City like a giant dragon.

Standing on the city wall, Mi Qin Tiele watched this scene with a panicked expression, his former high spirits gone.

He kept muttering to himself, "They're here, they're here."

"Those demons still came."

(End of this chapter)