Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 425 Lin Dao's empty promises are poisonous, extremely poisonous~
"waste!"

"You useless losers!"

Inside the main tent, Lin Dao, his face cold, shouted, "It's just a dilapidated palace guarded by a mere remnant of the army! We've been besieging it for days, and we still can't take it!"

He raised his hand and pointed at the group of leaders, nobles, and kings, saying, "Say something, are you sure you want to do this or not!"

"If that doesn't work, I'll do it!"

In the past, these tribal chiefs would naturally have been eager for Lin Dao to take on the responsibility.

The problem is that the promises Lin Dao made were so tempting that they couldn't bear to give them up.

That's the Grand Commander! Once we take him down, the tribe's strength will skyrocket.

It monopolized trade with the Han people and possessed the power recognized by the Han court.

They can arbitrarily suppress and plunder the tribes under their jurisdiction.

They can occupy the best pastures and arbitrarily suppress their former rivals, etc.

With so many benefits, how could we possibly give them up!
As for the loss of personnel, once one becomes the Grand Commander and receives numerous benefits, countless small tribes will immediately come to surrender.

The crowd hurriedly stepped forward, bowed, and begged the emperor to give them another chance.

"I have always been a kind-hearted person."

Taking a breath, Lin Dao's anger gradually subsided, and his gaze swept over the crowd.

"Since you've begged me, I'll give you another chance."

"How about this, let's not distinguish between 'you' today and 'him' tomorrow."

"All your tribes, attack together!"

"Starting tomorrow, the larger tribes will lead the smaller tribes to launch a joint attack on the imperial palace in the capital from all four sides!"

"Ultimately, the number of Khitan heads taken was used to calculate military merit."

"Whoever's tribe collects the most heads will become the Grand Governor of Raole Prefecture!"

Without a doubt, this is Lin Dao's ultimate promise.

The tens of thousands of guards in the palace were not unarmed farmers.

To take their heads, the fiercest battles must be fought.

After all, even wild animals know that when cornered, they will fight back fiercely, let alone humans.

Depriving the defenders of a way to survive will inevitably force them to fight to the death.

The kind of person who'd take someone down with them even if they died.

The tens of thousands of most loyal Khitan defenders will inflict unimaginable casualties on the poorly equipped attackers.

What's more, there were people secretly sending them supplies.

"What we have tonight is unusual."

Yelü Xiuge frowned as he looked at the supplies brought back from outside the city. "There's no rice, flour, or cooking oil left, only meat."

"And~"

His gaze fell upon the mountain of kerosene, numbering in the hundreds!
"With so much kerosene, I think I understand what he means."

"Why think so much?" Yelü Xiezhen, who was enjoying a roasted lamb leg, closed his eyes contentedly as he chewed the lamb. "We've already lived several more days and killed so many traitors."

"It's worth it!"

Yelü Xiuge smiled, sat down to the side, picked up a lamb leg that was sizzling with oil over the fire, and started gnawing on it.

"You're right, we've already made a profit."

"The only pity is that we didn't kill any Han Chinese."

In fact, they knew that if it had been Lin Dao's army that had attacked from the beginning, they wouldn't be here eating lamb legs right now; their bones would have turned to ash long ago.

After eating and drinking his fill, Yelü Xiezhen clapped his hands and got up, instructing the guards to transport the barrels of kerosene to various parts of the palace.

Yelü Xiuge stood up and gazed southward.

"You've really made the most of us."

"But there's no other way, I can only do as you say."

“Because we have no choice.”

"It is truly a tragedy for us that such a strong person as you has emerged among the Han people."

"Is it really impossible to sever the destiny of the Han people?"

"Why is it that in times of chaos, such extraordinary individuals capable of turning the tide always emerge among the Han people?!"

"I refuse to accept this! I refuse to accept this!"

In fact, they had already deduced that the person secretly sending them supplies was not someone dissatisfied with the King of Xi's betrayal.

It's Lin Dao!

After all, only this Han emperor had the ability to transport so many supplies without alerting everyone.

They also didn't want to follow Lin Dao's instructions.

But Lin Dao came with great momentum, forcing them to do what he was told.

Just like the oil delivered tonight, it was essentially meant for Yelü Xiezhen and his men to place throughout the palace.

When the palace could no longer be held and countless rebels poured in, they set the palace on fire, killing all the rebels who had stormed in!

Yelü Xiuge and his men didn't want to do this, but the circumstances didn't allow it.

It is foreseeable that tomorrow will be a full-scale attack by the rebels.

In this environment, if we don't follow the forest path, are we just going to let the rebels kill our own people for nothing?

As for pouring kerosene on the city walls to burn the rebels...
The rebels aren't stupid; having learned their lesson once, they certainly won't gather in large numbers again, giving them such an opportunity.

And this is the grand scheme that Lin Dao has orchestrated for them: mutual destruction and mutual annihilation!
As dawn broke, the warriors from various tribes enjoyed the last meal provided by Lin Dao.

Breakfast made primarily of pig feed, mixed with luncheon meat.

Lin Dao even generously gave each of them a White Rabbit milk candy.

The tribal warriors were overjoyed and bowed to the Great Emperor to express their gratitude.

After all, there might be plenty of meat on the grasslands, but sweets are plentiful too.
That's a luxury that only ordinary people can afford.

Lin Dao, fully armed and mounted on his warhorse, smiled and waved to the tribal warriors who were stepping onto the battlefield. But what he was really thinking about was how to wipe them all out in one fell swoop!
In Lin Dao's mind, apart from those people from small tribes who were the designated miners, there were others.

Other groups such as the Xi, Jurchen, Bohai, Mohe, and Sumo people, like the Khitan, must be eliminated!
Now, it's time to send them to their deaths.

Today is clearly the decisive battle, and all the troops under Lin Dao's command, including the Imperial Guards and the Palace Guards, have been mobilized.

However, they were responsible for supervising the troops, with only a small number of archers accompanying them to provide long-range cover.

These archers were mainly used to deal with those who threw oil.

"It all depends on how smart you are."

Looking out at the dilapidated imperial palace of the capital, Lin Dao dismounted from his horse and sat on a stool to watch the battle. "If you don't obey, I guarantee you'll suffer even more."

If the Khitans hadn't used that oil to burn down the palace and perish together...

Lin Dao naturally had other ways to deal with the warriors of the various tribes.

However, he would also change his orders, instead demanding that the outcome be determined by the prisoners captured.

The tragic fate of those prisoners at that time is easily imaginable.

He believed that the Yelü people understood this as well.

After nearly two hours of preparation, the chaotic tribal warriors finally charged forward with shouts after hearing the thunderous drumbeats.

Their siege tactics still consisted only of ladders.

However, there was no large-scale gathering. Each ladder was more than ten feet apart, and there were only a dozen or twenty people below at most.

Those at the rear filed forward, not giving the defenders a chance to use fire.

As the saying goes, war is always the best teacher.

Once you've learned your lesson, you must remember it, or you might pay with your life!

Jurchen archers exchanged fire with the defenders on the city walls.

They hunted in the mountains and forests year-round and were extremely skilled at archery.

Looking through the forest path with binoculars, it appeared that almost every arrow hit the target's face.

"That's true. When hunting in the mountains and forests, you're bound to encounter either a bear or a Siberian tiger."

"These thick-skinned beasts can only survive if shot in the eye."

"Exceptional archery skills are a given."

"On the battlefield, they are all the best archers."

"Add the ability to ride a horse, and it becomes mounted archery."

"Hunters are physically fit from years of hunting, and they hunt in teams, forming the most basic military organization."

"In the era of cold weapons, they could be considered elite."

"It's not surprising that Da Song's troops, who were treated as criminals and couldn't even get enough to eat, lost to them."

Dealing with the Jurchens on the battlefield is actually not that troublesome.

All you need to do is use your overwhelming numbers and equipment advantage to crush them.

However, the prerequisite is that it cannot be Song Jun, who is not treated as a normal person.

They must at least have the courage to fight, instead of a few thousand men being chased by a dozen cavalrymen.

The battle has entered a phase of mutual attrition.

Hundreds of long ladders covered almost all four sides of the city wall.

Large numbers of warriors from various ethnic groups, armed with shields and biting their swords, climbed up and fought fiercely with the defenders.

Almost every moment, climbers are knocked down and fall.

Occasionally, warriors would leap onto the city walls.

But soon they would be surrounded and killed by a large number of guards.

The merit of being the first to scale the walls is said to be the greatest achievement in the entire army, and this is not something that can be obtained by risking one's life.

The main casualties of the defenders came from the archers below the city walls.

As for the warriors who relied on long ladders to climb the city walls, they kept falling.

Lin Dao observed silently, calculating in his mind the maximum tolerable casualties for those tribal warriors.

The tribal warriors weren't fools. Although Lin Dao's empty promises were tempting, if the casualties were too high, they would also scatter and flee.

It won't be easy to bring them back together.

After nearly an hour of fierce fighting, Lin Dao, who was observing the condition of the tribal warriors, judged that their mental state was about to break down.

Lin Dao put down his binoculars and nodded slightly to Pan Mei beside him.

Soon, a squad of elite imperial guards, pushing a shield cart and carrying the rain of arrows from the city wall, arrived at a section of the city wall.

The area beneath the shield vehicle was filled with explosives.

The defenders fought back desperately, firing arrows continuously and even using oil.

The specially designed shield vehicle withstood all counterattacks.

After lighting the fuses, the combat engineers slung their shields over their backs and fled without looking back.

With a deafening roar like a bolt from the blue, a dazzling light, like the rising sun, burst forth, and billowing smoke filled the air.

This section of the city wall collapsed with a roar, and it was more than 20 feet long!

The Han army was already used to this, but the warriors of each unit were trembling with fear.

Fortunately, at this moment, the soldiers shouted in unison.

"Your Majesty's divine might!"

"May divine punishment break through the city!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

Humans are afraid of the unknown.

But if you know the reason, even if it's a false reason, your fear will vanish.

The warriors from all units, having recovered, were in high spirits.

They cheered and jumped for joy, brandishing all kinds of weapons and shouting as they rushed toward the breach created by the blast!
(End of this chapter)