The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 246 Camp Uprising, City Fall, Looting
[After reading the book review of the previous chapter, I was deeply embarrassed. I accept the criticism and will take it as a lesson.]

As dusk settled, the northern army besieged Ganzhou City, and the copper bells on the city tower emitted broken, mournful sounds in the wind.

Mi Qin Tiele huddled behind the cold battlements, but the towering and majestic city of Ganzhou offered him no sense of security whatsoever.

Outside the city, the campfires of the Northern Frontier Army formed a red chain, trapping Ganzhou in a scarlet cage. Bright yellow banners fluttered in the night wind, like thousands of venomous snakes spitting their tongues.

Mi Qintiele didn't know if he could survive this ordeal.

“Buddha, I, Mi Qin Tiele, have worshipped you for half my life. This time, you must bless me.”

Miqin Tiele knelt on the ground, praying to a jade Buddha amulet, like a gambler who was about to lose everything.

He had already witnessed the terrifying gunpowder weapons of the Northern Frontier Army, whose tight military formations were completely destroyed by their bombardment.

Mi Qin Tiele now only hopes that the walls of Ganzhou are strong enough to withstand the artillery bombardment of the Northern Frontier Army.

If they just hold out until Weiming Shi'an's reinforcements arrive, Ganzhou City will be safe, and Tami Qin Tiele will have a chance to rise again.

Just then, a personal guard quickly walked up the city wall, came to his side, and whispered, "Commander, it's finished digging."

Upon hearing this, Mi Qintiele's eyes instantly sharpened.

He said in a deep voice, "Let's go!"

Afterwards, Mi Qin Tiele returned to the commander's mansion with his personal guards and went to a house in the backyard.

At this time, more than a dozen large boxes had already been piled up here.

He slowly opened one of them, and inside it was filled with gold, silver, jewelry, land deeds, and so on.

This wealth was accumulated over many years as a general through various means, including exploiting the people, exploiting soldiers, embezzling military funds, and even leading men to impersonate bandits and rob wealthy merchants.

The total value is no less than 300,000 taels.

"Although life is fleeting, and we come and go in a hurry, in the end we are nothing more than a handful of dust."

"But money can move mountains!"

Mi Qintiele grabbed a handful of gold and silver, then slowly released it, listening to the crisp sound of the gold and silver falling, looking completely intoxicated.

Throughout his life, he was greedy for money and lustful, and a corrupt official who clung to power.

These dozen or so large boxes of money were his lifeline.

The northern border army besieged the city, and Ganzhou was in grave danger.

Whether Ganzhou City is captured by the Northern Frontier Army or Weiming Shi'an's reinforcements arrive, these riches will not be safe.

Therefore, Michaltiele planned to leave himself a way out.

Hide this money and save it for when you can make a comeback.

So Mi Qin Tiele sealed the lid and summoned his personal guards to move it onto the carriage.

He personally led the people to transport it to an ordinary house in the east of the city.

Under the moonlight, they moved it into the house, where a cellar entrance had already been dug, large enough to hold all the boxes.

"Have the people who dug the pit been dealt with?" Milton asked.

The guard in charge immediately whispered, "It's already being handled; no one will know about this place."

Mi Qintiele nodded slightly, and then ordered his men to carry the box inside.

The entrance was sealed off and disguised, making it difficult to detect the presence of a cellar from the outside.

"Whoo~"

Mi Qintiele breathed a sigh of relief.

If he surrendered to the Northern Frontier Army, he might be able to save his life, but he would inevitably lose all power and would only be able to live a life of idleness and waiting to die in the Northern Frontier.

He was unwilling to give up, and since his family was in Xingqing Prefecture, he did not surrender easily.

Although the responsibility for the defeat in the Battle of the Great Wall of Han could be shifted to the deputy general, he would inevitably be held accountable.

Demotion is the least of your worries; you could even be imprisoned.

At that time, we'll have to rely on these gold and silver treasures to bribe officials and embezzlers.

"Go back!" Mi Qintiele said in a deep voice.

After they left, the mansion returned to calm, with no trace of any hidden treasure.

However, Mi Qin Tiele and his party did not return to the commander's mansion, but instead went to the city wall.

As soon as they reached the city wall, a group of soldiers armed with bows and crossbows surrounded them.

"You~you guys~"

Among the seven or eight guards, some were bewildered and didn't understand, while others looked horrified and realized what was going on.

To keep the secret, Mi Qintiele decided to kill someone to silence them.

Sure enough, Mi Qin Tiele turned around with a cold expression and said in a deep voice, "These people are colluding with the barbarians of the northern frontier, betraying their country and attempting to kidnap me and force me to surrender Ganzhou City."

"His crime is unforgivable; he shall be executed immediately."

As soon as he finished speaking, a general shouted in a deep voice, "Yes, sir."

Immediately, all of these guards fell to the hail of arrows.

A cold glint flashed in Mi Qintiele's eyes as he thought to himself, "Don't blame me for being ruthless; it's just that you know too much."

At this point, only he himself knew the exact whereabouts of those treasures.

However, on the other hand, problems arose in dealing with the soldiers who dug the cellars.

Gousheng is a native of Dunhuang who grew up eating food from many families.

Knowing that one cannot stand firm without being ruthless, he became increasingly fierce from his youth, becoming one of the toughest men in the village.

Two years ago, the Northern Frontier Army captured Dunhuang and Guazhou, and plundered 100,000 people before heading north.

Gousheng thus became a military household in the northern border region.

Moreover, due to his bravery in battle and his numerous meritorious achievements, he became a centurion in the Northern Frontier Army in just two years.

This time, nearly one hundred indigenous people from Dunhuang and Guazhou were selected and infiltrated into Ganzhou City.

Their aim was to cause sabotage and coordinate with the main army to capture Ganzhou City from within.

However, unexpectedly, due to the outbreak of war, all the men in the city were conscripted.

These nearly one hundred men were not spared either; each was given a broken spearhead, or even just a wooden stick as a weapon, and joined the ranks of the city's defenders.

These slight changes, however, do not affect their plans.

They plan to set fires throughout the city tonight to create chaos, hoping to incite a mutiny and facilitate the entry of the main army outside the city.

"Is everyone here?"

In the darkness, Gou Sheng met with his three captains and prepared to take action.

But at this moment, one of the captains said, "I can't contact one of my subordinates for the time being."

Upon hearing this, Gou Sheng frowned.

A household may have seven or eight people, but that's a considerable force.

"what happened?"

"After dinner, a guard from the Commander's Office came and transferred all the men of the Eighth Team away, saying they were going to reinforce the city walls."

Many of the Ganzhou Army's units were hastily assembled, and that detachment of the Northern Frontier Army happened to be among the units that were being drawn from.

"Time waits for no one!"

Gou Sheng was about to take immediate action when, before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw a faint light appear somewhere in the city.

This was accompanied by a loud firecracker bang.

"Bang~"

"He's one of my subordinates," the captain immediately stood up and said urgently, looking in the direction of the firelight.

The firelight proves nothing, but firecrackers are a signal between spies in northern Xinjiang.

"It seems they've run into trouble," Gou Sheng said in a deep voice.

Then, he looked at the three captains and said, "Make your move immediately."

"Old Zhou, take some men and go support the Eighth Shihu."

"The rest of you, disperse throughout the camp and kill anyone you see."

“The messier, the better.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the three captains nodded in unison: "Yes, sir."

Meanwhile, Mi Qintiele, who had just ordered the execution of his personal guards, saw the flames in the city and heard the sound of firecrackers even earlier.

"what happened?"

"Quickly, send men to capture the thief immediately," Mi Qintiele said anxiously.

At such a tense moment, a sudden fire in the city is definitely not an ordinary event; it is highly likely that spies from the Northern Frontier Army have infiltrated the city.

But before his men could investigate, shouts of battle erupted from the other camp.

"There's a spy, a spies from the northern barbarians have infiltrated."

Someone uttered the first heart-wrenching cry, and the words spread like wildfire, waking the sleeping soldiers from their nightmares. They grabbed their weapons and rushed out.

In the darkness, people crowded together, and the sound of shoulders hitting each other ignited panic.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Gou Sheng's spies started slashing at the people around them, muttering, "Spies, all the bald-headed men are spies of the Northern Frontier barbarians."

"Brothers, kill those traitors."

However, those attacked by them were completely bewildered. Some screamed as they were hacked to death, while others instinctively fought back.

Their fighting quickly drew other soldiers into the fray.

The soldiers of the Ganzhou Army were originally just a group of civilians who had only been temporarily enlisted in the army for a few days.

They weren't very familiar with each other, let alone trusted each other.

Even if we saw each other face to face late at night, we wouldn't recognize each other.

Adding to the previous disastrous defeat of the 20,000 Ganzhou troops outside the city, and now with the northern frontier army besieging the city, the situation is extremely precarious, and everyone is under pressure to die.

Thus, in this sudden and inexplicable firefight, more and more soldiers were passively drawn into it.

Even if they didn't want to fight, they were worried that others would come to kill them.

And so, a riot broke out.

Some people were pushed to the ground and instantly trampled into a bloody mess.

Someone swung a knife wildly, but the blade pierced the chest of his comrade, just like a vengeful ghost in a battlefield.

"Stop! Stop it, all of you! Stop fighting!"

"Those who disobey orders will be executed!" The generals' shouts rang out, but were drowned out by screams of agony.

Even the bravest soldiers were enraged and attacked anyone around them who might pose a threat.

However, what they didn't realize was that at the very beginning of the riots, Gou Sheng and the other real spies had quietly tied a yellow cloth around their necks.

As a form of identification to prevent accidental killings, soldiers without yellow ribbons were considered enemies.

Once the riots truly broke out, these yellow-striped soldiers quickly withdrew from the camp and the battlefield.

They rushed to various parts of the city, carrying torches, and set fire to houses, creating even greater chaos.

Outside the city, at the Northern Frontier Camp.

A group of women were locked in a cage. Their skin was fair and delicate, their faces were exquisite, their noses were slightly high, and their hair was not the traditional pure black.

These women are all from Heluochuan.

The Northern Frontier Army practically turned the entire Heluochuan region into a place name after slaughtering its way through the region.

The once renowned and valiant Heluochuan tribe has become a thing of the past, leaving only more than 5,000 women of marriageable age imprisoned in the Northern Frontier Army.

Li Xiao, of course, wouldn't compromise himself.

However, just as he finished everything and was preparing to rest, he suddenly heard a faint commotion coming from the distant city of Ganzhou. Li Xiao immediately realized that something had happened in the city.

"Great Protector, three cannon shots have been fired. Our spies are creating chaos," Zhang Shitou said hurriedly as he approached.

Although Li Xiao proposed the plan for Ganzhou City, Zhang Shitou was the one who arranged everything.

He didn't have high hopes for this. In Li Xiao's view, war should ultimately be fought head-on, with intrigue and trickery being secondary.

Therefore, Li Xiao's primary plan is still to launch a general offensive tomorrow.

However, the people Zhang Shitou arranged seemed to have given him some pleasant surprises.

Dressed in full armor and draped in a dark gold cloak, he stood outside the tent, gazing at the distant outline of Ganzhou City, where he could clearly see the flames burning within.

Li Xiao frowned and said in a low voice, "Could this be a conspiracy by the Tangut bald dogs?"

He was worried that if the spies from the northern frontier were captured by the Ganzhou army and tortured into confessing, the Ganzhou army would then use this as a pretext to lure the northern frontier army into the city and ambush them.

Zhang Shitou couldn't guarantee anything about this.

But this opportunity shouldn't be missed.

Without much thought, Li Xiao ordered, "Send word to the Wuwei Army to attack the city."

"Control the city gates; no one may enter the city."

Because the Armed Forces are a standing army, they have ample time for relevant assembly and training on weekdays, and are able to assemble at the fastest speed.

However, the current situation is unclear, and the Northern Frontier Army is not familiar with the terrain inside the city.

Entering the city at night makes it easy to suffer losses in street fighting.

Therefore, Li Xiao's instruction was to guard the city gates and then slowly clear out the city after dawn.

Meanwhile, the riots had spread to the city gates. Despite Mi Qin Tiele's best efforts to suppress them, it was all in vain in the chaotic night, and he could only hope that the soldiers would run out of energy.

Under these circumstances, Gou Sheng, along with spies from the northern frontier and some rebel troops, rushed to the city gate.

"Open the city gates, we want to go home."

Gou Sheng, covered in blood, roared at the city gate soldiers.

These words also deeply resonated with the blindly impulsive and chaotic soldiers behind him.

They had been conscripted from outside the city and were extremely unwilling.

With the Northern Frontier Army wreaking havoc outside the city, who wouldn't worry about the safety of their family?
Driven by the thought of going home, they were eventually led by Gou Sheng to the city gate.

"Quickly, move the stones and clear out the city gate."

Gou Sheng shouted loudly, leading dozens of spies from the northern frontier to race against time to move stones out of the city gate.

With many hands, there is strength. Although their hands were covered in blood and gore, the city gate was slowly opened.

Under the moonlight, the bright yellow armor of the northern cavalrymen resembled flowing molten gold, surging across the wilderness like an unstoppable raging tide.

The thunderous hooves of thousands of warhorses crushed the frozen earth, the rumbling sound mixed with the neighing of horses, like muffled thunder rolling down from the sky, shaking the arrow towers on the city walls, causing dust to fall in a flurry.

Seeing this, Gou Sheng breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

He shouted sternly, "Hold the city gates!"

At this point, they had acquired more bows and crossbows, all of which they had seized from the rebel army; this was enough to sustain them for the time being.

"Boom boom boom~"

The thunderous roar of iron cavalry as the Wuwei cavalry formed a wall of shields and charged forward at full speed into the rain of arrows.

Leading the charge was Yang Shoujing's centurion army.

He was completely wrapped in yellow cotton armor, with only half of his face showing as he gazed at the wide-open city gate.

At the city gate, there was a group of men dressed in the clothing of the Western Xia people, each with a yellow sash around their neck.

Moreover, outside the city gate, there was a person waving a yellow sun and moon battle flag.

While it cannot be ruled out that this is a trap, the current situation is enough to warrant a gamble.

Because if the Northern Frontier Army launches a frontal assault on the city tomorrow, it will certainly suffer more casualties if it wants to take Ganzhou City.

"kill!"

Yang Shoujing shouted loudly, raised his long spear diagonally, the cold light reflecting the blood-red moonlight, the earth trembled violently, and the front rank of warhorses charged directly into the city gate.

Then, nothing happened.

The Ganzhou soldiers, who were fighting amongst themselves and in complete chaos, suddenly turned from fierce to timid as lambs when they saw the northern cavalry storming into the city gates.

They scattered in terror and fled.

Yang Shoujing, following Li Xiao's orders, secured the city gates and ceased his attack.

Instead, they built a series of crossbow defenses at the city gates and on the city walls on both sides to resist the counterattack of the Ganzhou army.

At the same time, Mi Qin Tiele also received news that the west gate had been breached, and his face immediately turned pale with fear.

"Let's go, let's leave Ganzhou City."

Having said that, he hurriedly led a small entourage to the South Gate and then the East Gate, but the result was the same.

The various tribes in the northern frontier outside the city have already received their orders.

There is no need to attack the city, but it must be defended strictly and no one inside the city should be allowed to escape.

Standing on the city wall, looking at the thousands of torches outside the city, dotting the Gobi Desert like stars, Mi Qin Tiele felt a chill in his heart.

The Northern Frontier Cavalry's field combat capabilities are well-known; even in the darkness, he did not believe he could escape the Northern Frontier Army's blockade.

Going outside the city will only hasten your death.

“It’s over, everything is over~” Mi Qintiele’s face was blank, and he sat down on the city wall like a lump of mud.

He was filled with regret. Had he known there were spies from the northern frontier in the city, he would not have returned to Ganzhou after the Battle of the Great Wall of Han, but would have fled directly towards Xingqing Prefecture.

At least, they can save their lives.

As the first rays of dawn pierced the darkness, the city of Ganzhou was littered with corpses of people who had killed each other.

The Wuwei Army lifted its defenses at the city gates and began to rush into the city to clear out Ganzhou.

"The Grand Protector has decreed that anyone who resists will be killed without mercy."

"By order of the Northern Protectorate, all soldiers and civilians in the city, regardless of gender, are not permitted to remain in the city and must immediately proceed to the area outside the city for resettlement."

Some soldiers from northern Xinjiang shouted continuously in the Dunhuang dialect throughout the city.

Units of northern cavalry, organized into hundreds of squads based on their ranks of shihu and duwei, swept away the stubborn resistance forces within the city.

"Bang~"

A troop of cavalry smashed open a house and charged inside, only to find a family of five living there: a man, a woman, and three children.

They all held weapons, looking terrified, and aimed them at the Northern Frontier soldiers who rushed in.

Judging from the looks of it, this man was a soldier guarding the city who had taken advantage of the chaos to escape back from the city wall.

When the leading soldier from the northern frontier saw the family, he frowned slightly and shouted in the Dunhuang dialect, "Put down your weapons and surrender immediately."

However, the family seemed not to understand and remained unmoved.

Despite trembling with fear, he still held his weapon, pointing it at the Northern Frontier army, and shouted in Uyghur, "Leave my home! Leave my home!"

Ganzhou is a city where people of different ethnicities and Han Chinese live together.

In order to maintain its rule over the Hexi Corridor, the Western Xia Dynasty relocated a large number of Han Chinese to this area.

Therefore, the Han Chinese population in Ganzhou City accounted for about 70%, while the remaining 30% consisted of Uyghurs, Tanguts, and the like.

"Uyghurs?"

The leader of the group narrowed his eyes upon hearing the man's shout, showing no patience left to continue the argument.

He simply waved his hand and said, "Kill!"

Instantly, an arrow whistled behind him, piercing the man's chest.

"Ah~"

The man collapsed to the ground with a scream, his eyes gradually dimming.

His wife and children were stunned by what they saw, and then screamed in pain.

The boy's face contorted with a ferocious, wolf-like rage as he picked up the man's spear and charged toward the Northern Frontier Army.

But what awaited him was just another arrow.

"Hmph, a bunch of Sari cripples."

Shi Hu looked at the two corpses on the ground and snorted coldly.

Sari refers to the former Ganzhou Uyghurs.

The term "crippled" was a nickname given to them by Li Yuanhao, mocking their pathetic "lame-legged begging for peace" after their defeat.

This man was from Dunhuang, and his ancestors had a blood feud with the Ganzhou Uyghurs.

Therefore, they did not hesitate to kill the Uyghurs.

Immediately, with a wave of his hand, two soldiers stepped forward and finished off the two corpses on the ground.

Three more soldiers then approached the remaining mother and two daughters, easily knocking the weapon from the young mother's hand.

Then he hoisted the three women onto his shoulders, bound their hands and feet, and threw them onto the horse.

In the eyes of the men of northern Xinjiang, these women from other ethnic groups are not human beings, but a kind of wealth, and they are reluctant to kill them.

Then they searched the Uyghur family's house extensively.

They wouldn't let go of anything usable, including grain, gold, silver, bronzeware, cloth, and daily necessities.

The most important purpose of the Northern Frontier Army's southward march was plunder.

"Sari the Cripple is still the richest."

"Much richer than that Han family from before."

A soldier, carrying a batch of cotton cloth he had just found in a cabinet, grinned broadly.

The Han family we just saw was so poor they couldn't even afford to eat, so they had no choice but to send them to a prisoner-of-war camp.

However, this Uyghur family even possessed cotton cloth, a scarce commodity produced in northern Xinjiang, which was enough to show that they were a wealthy household.

In the past, the family might have had some guards and maids.

However, due to the attack on the northern border, all the guards and servants were conscripted into the army, leaving only the male master of the house to run back.

"Hmph, that cripple Sari is very cunning; he's the best at swindling money and goods from us Han people," Shihu said coldly.

Soon after, they looted all the valuables in the house, found two cellars, and discovered a lot of grain, which they had no choice but to transport by horse-drawn cart.

These items, along with the prisoners, were then handed over to the army for later distribution.

One-third of it belonged to these brothers, enough to make them quite wealthy.

After completing his task, Shihu couldn't wait to lead his brothers to continue plundering other places.

Because of the mutiny last night, many soldiers are hiding in the houses throughout the city, so the search must be carried out with extra caution.

The Northern Frontier Army has also developed a set of unspoken rules for dealing with these soldiers and civilians.

Anyone carrying a weapon, kill!

Unarmed Han Chinese were not killed, but all their property was confiscated and they were reduced to slavery.

After all, Li Xiao's military orders were such, and the northern frontier needed these Han Chinese.

We can spare the Hu people who have no weapons but can understand Chinese, after all, the Chinese nation is inclusive.

As long as they are willing to actively integrate into China, do not cause trouble, and do not act independently, Li Xiao can let them go.

However, those Hu people who had no weapons and could not understand Chinese were not protected by Li Xiao's military orders, and whether or not to kill them was entirely up to the soldiers themselves.

However, since many of the lower-ranking officers of the Northern Frontier Army came from Dunhuang and Guazhou, and had fought many battles with the Hu people for survival resources, they would resort to extreme measures in this matter.

(End of this chapter)