Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 302 Are the dynamite packs any good? Yelü Talie: Please watch the video! [Requesting monthly votes]

Soon, footage of the Khitan cavalry gathering inside the city was transmitted via drone. Wang Yansheng waved to a junior officer behind him who was holding a rooster:
"Put this Yelü Abao chicken away. Take it out again when we challenge the Khitans to battle, and cut off its head in front of them so they can see the death of Yelü Abao chicken."

After speaking, Wang Yansheng picked up the walkie-talkie and reported to Guo Rong:
"Your Majesty, the Khitan cavalry are beginning to assemble, and we will soon be in formation as well. We have buried four explosive charges along their path of charge."

Guo Rong said:

"Wait until they get close before pulling the rope, don't rush."

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I know what to do!"

When he first challenged them, Wang Yansheng secretly had several holes dug and shallowly buried explosive charges inside.

The explosive charge contained a pull fuse, and the fuse rope was extended by several tens of meters. When the Khitan cavalry were close, they could simply pull the rope and then quickly leave. A few seconds later, the explosive charge would explode.

When Emperor Huizong of Song (Zhao Ji) made the explosives, he put a lot of thought into it. Considering that the explosive power of black powder was insufficient, he added some sulfur powder to make up for the lack of power with poison gas.

Of course, sulfur wasn't very toxic, but when heated to high temperatures, it would produce sulfur dioxide with a strong odor. As the smoke from the gunpowder drifted along the warhorses' path, even the most skilled Khitan horsemen would be thrown off balance and fall flat on their faces.

Inside Youzhou City, the Southern King Yelü Talie personally selected several thousand brave and skilled Khitan warriors, intending to capture Wang Yansheng alive, tie him to a wooden stake, and subject him to slow slicing, to see if he would still be so foul-mouthed.

The infighting the night before last wiped out most of the Bali clan in the city, leaving only Yelü Talie's direct descendants. He wanted to take down Wang Yansheng, but was also worried about suffering too much loss.

Without the Bali clan as a benchmark, the loss of even one more warrior could weaken the clan's internal strength... Although Yelü Talie was a member of the imperial clan, he still needed to rely on his strength, especially during the reign of Emperor Muzong of Liao, when members of the imperial clan rebelled every year. Their clan was not unified, and infighting was common.

Now that they had to use their own strength to brave the danger, Yelü Talie realized that he had gone too far the night before and should have left some of the Bali clan members to fight on the front lines.

But it was too late for regrets now. After the cavalry had assembled, Yelü Talie mounted a beautiful white horse, holding a spiked club in his hand, and waved to the city gate guard:

"Open the gates! Go out of the city and give those Han dogs a good beating!"

The gates of Youzhou City slowly opened, and squads of Khitan cavalry rushed out. However, they did not go far, but lined up neatly outside before charging together.

Cavalry are only effective when they are grouped together in formation; if they charge in as a swarm, they are easily defeated one by one.

Soon, the Khitan cavalry had assembled. Wang Yansheng took his megaphone and retreated to the rear, leaving the task of blocking the cavalry to the heavy infantry and crossbowmen.

At the front of the battle line stood several leather-armored soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Yelü Talie was somewhat puzzled when he saw them, but his attendants seemed completely unconcerned.

"They must be courting death. Once we charge, the thousands of troops will surely trample those people into mincemeat."

Yelü Talie thought so too, but for some reason, he felt uneasy. However, now that the troops had been brought out, withdrawing them would definitely cause riots or even mutiny.

With everything prepared, Yelü Talie placed his hand on his chest and said loudly:
"The gods bear witness for me!"

After saying that, he shouted "Charge!" and spurred his horse forward.

The Zhou army's formations were not far apart, and the Khitan cavalry quickly charged forward. In order to maintain their fighting strength, the cavalry formations were very compact, so that they could break through the Zhou heavy infantry's defenses in one fell swoop.

The thud of thousands of warhorses trampling the ground was so loud it was like an earthquake. Several soldiers responsible for igniting the explosive charges held out until they were close enough before pulling on the fuse and running away.

Their movements were minimal, and since they used nylon ropes, virtually no one noticed them.

Even Yelü Talie, who was staring straight ahead, didn't notice the rope. He just thought it was a few soldiers posing for a photo and didn't pay any attention to it.

When he saw several soldiers turn and run away, he gripped his spiked club, intending to smash the skull of the soldier directly in front of him to vent his anger.

The warhorses continued their charge forward. Yelü Talie looked down and noticed that there were digging marks on the ground, and smoke was still rising from the mound of earth.

Before they could figure out what was happening, a loud "boom" was heard, and the mound of earth that Yelü Talie had just noticed suddenly exploded violently.

The towering flames and thick black smoke instantly disrupted the cavalry's formation. Within the blast radius, several warhorses and Khitan cavalrymen were blown to pieces.

The explosion was so loud that it disrupted the cavalry formation. All the horses scattered uncontrollably, and the original charging formation vanished instantly. The panicked warhorses even collided and trampled each other, turning the entire army into complete chaos.

What troubled them even more was that the floating black smoke was mixed with a strong, pungent odor that was extremely unpleasant to smell. The warhorses kept snorting, clearly irritated by the sulfur.

Four explosive charges may not have killed many people, but the impact was enormous. Thousands of cavalrymen were now running around like headless flies, their horses out of control and their soldiers disobeying orders.

Seeing this, Wang Yansheng felt that the opportunity was fleeting, so he immediately ordered the heavy infantry to advance and the archers and crossbowmen to launch volleys at the very center of the cavalry.

The most dangerous thing for an army is chaos. The more chaotic the formation, the weaker its fighting power becomes. Not only will it fail to kill the enemy, but it may even cause accidents such as stampedes, resulting in the failure to kill the enemy and the loss of thousands of soldiers.

Wang Yansheng's deputy general said:

"General, why don't we send in our cavalry for a counter-charge?" Wang Yansheng patted his adjutant on the shoulder and said.

"Their horses can't stand this smell, and neither can ours. We'll have the infantry advance first, the cavalry flank them from both sides, and the grenadiers launch surprise attacks... Now that they've come out, we absolutely cannot let them go back!"

After issuing the order, he also reported to Guo Rong:
"Your Majesty, have you heard the commotion? The Khitan cavalry are in complete disarray. I intend to wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

Guo Rong said:

"Act according to your capabilities; the South Gate will soon launch an attack as well."

While the two were talking, Zhao Kuangyin had already led his brother-in-law Cao Bin to launch an attack from the south gate of Youzhou. They carried siege ladders and other siege equipment, crossed the moat, and launched a fierce attack on the city walls.

Starting yesterday, the focus of Youzhou City's defense has been the west gate, because Yuhe City is too close to Youzhou, and Yelü Talie had no choice but to upgrade the defense level of the west gate.

Now, a large number of Zhou soldiers suddenly appeared at the south gate. In addition, the garrison commander had just taken office and was not yet familiar with the duties. He was terrified when he saw the infantry attacking the city like a tidal wave.

The grenadiers below seized the opportunity and threw grenades onto the two-zhang-high city wall, making the defenders even more overwhelmed.

Soon, Cao Bin was the first to climb the city wall, wielding a long sword and wreaking havoc, quickly clearing a large combat area on the wall. As more troops arrived, their advantage expanded further.

The grenadiers followed, igniting their grenades with windproof lighters and hurling them at the Khitans swarming into the inner city.

Outside the city, Zhao Kuangyin saw this scene through his binoculars and was startled. He grabbed the walkie-talkie and quickly notified Cao Bin:

"Who sent the grenadiers up there? Tell them to stay in the back!"

Grenadiers are the treasures of the Great Zhou Dynasty and cannot be lost.

But to be fair, even grenadiers were eager to be the first to scale the walls, so how could the fortified city not be breached!
Soon, the Khitan soldiers on the city wall were driven back, and the Zhou side's advantage became increasingly obvious.

Meanwhile, at the west gate of Youzhou, Yelü Talie slowly awoke. He had lost an arm in the explosion, and his left eye was also hit by shrapnel, leaving it a bloody mess with his shattered eyeball dangling outside its socket.

He had been watching the entire time from when he discovered the mound of earth where the explosives were buried until the explosion, and then he was blown to bits.

Two attendants lifted him up and rushed him toward the main gate, intending to take advantage of the chaos to return to the city.

The loss of cavalry is no longer important. The priority now is to return to the city to stabilize the situation and, incidentally, find a way to inform Dading Prefecture about the emergence of super-powerful weapons in the Great Zhou Dynasty, so that they can prepare accordingly.

After running forward for several dozen feet, two attendants seized three horses and helped Yelü Talie onto them. Just as they were about to return to the city, a strange-looking iron lump landed in front of them from a distance.

Yelü Talie instinctively tried to use his remaining eye to see what it was, but as soon as he lowered his head, the iron lump covered with tortoise shell patterns exploded, scattering shrapnel and startling the horse Yelü Talie was riding.

The horse reared up, throwing Yelü Talie to the ground, and quickly fled. Yelü Talie fell flat on his face, and the pain in his eyes and arms almost made him faint.

He scrambled to his feet, about to continue his escape towards Youzhou, when a Song Dynasty war boot slammed down on his head, and Wang Yansheng's smug face came into view:

"Yelü Talie? Are you Yelü Talie?"

The once high-spirited King of the Southern Court now looked as miserable as a scavenger who had been wandering for three years, making Wang Yansheng almost unrecognizable.

Just as Yelü Talie was about to give a false name to deceive him, Wang Yansheng suddenly pulled out an empty hand grenade and tried to shove it into his mouth.

"If you don't tell the truth, I'll shove it in your mouth and blow your head up!"

Yelü Talie was truly terrified by the bombings and ceased all resistance.
"I am Yelü Talie, the Southern King who is stationed in Youzhou. What is your name, General?"

"I am Wang Yansheng. Shi Yanchao, whom you once killed, was my close friend."

Upon hearing this name, Yelü Talie understood why Wang Yansheng harbored such deep hatred for him. He slumped to the ground, like a puppet on strings, allowing himself to be bound.

Wang Yansheng picked up the walkie-talkie and said to Guo Rong:
"Your Majesty, I have captured the Southern King Yelü Talie alive."

Guo Rong was overjoyed:

"Put him in a prison cart and escort him to the main camp!"

Back in the camp, Guo Rong ended the call and said to Xiao Siwen:

"The culprit who caused your family's ruin, Yelü Talie, has been captured alive. What do you plan to do with him? Think it over carefully, don't rush to a conclusion. I'm going to report the good news to the Immortal Master. We'll discuss everything when I return!"

(End of this chapter)