Rise of a Lonely City: From Exiled Prince to Ruler of the Nine Provinces

As the army marched out of the border, the world suddenly changed color.

Autumn in Shenjing still carries the lingering warmth of summer and the hustle and bustle of city life.

Once you cross that winding rammed earth wall, which is dilapidated in many places, you are met with an endless north wind carrying the smell of grass and cow and sheep dung.

The sky seemed extremely high and distant, with leaden clouds pressing low over the withered yellow grass fields. As far as the eye could see, apart from the occasional undulating hills and a distant, dark green mountain silhouette, there was only a vast expanse of emptiness, so vast it was unsettling.

The temperature dropped sharply.

During the day, the sun hangs listlessly, while the wind cuts like a knife across one's face.

At night, the cold air is even more biting, chilling to the bone, and your breath turns to frost.

This was the first hurdle for many soldiers from the Central Plains and Guanzhong who were venturing beyond the Great Wall for the first time.

Xiao Chen took off his dazzling golden chainmail and put on light leather armor with iron trim, similar to that of elite cavalry, which was easy to move in, and covered it with a black cloak for warmth.

His imperial carriage was left far behind, moving alongside Zhang Meng's 30,000 vanguard light cavalry.

During the day, he rode a horse just like the soldiers; when camping at night, he didn't stay in a fancy tent, but in a cowhide tent no different from that of a high-ranking general, only with more guards.

"Your Majesty, have some mutton soup while it's hot to warm yourself up."

Zhao Tie carried a rough earthenware bowl into the tent. Inside the bowl was mutton soup with bubbling oil, salt, and some unknown wild onions. The aroma filled the cold tent.

This dish was made by boiling together the weak cattle and sheep that had been brought with the army and were already being slaughtered, along with livestock "requisitioned" along the way.

Xiao Chen was examining a simple map marked with charcoal pencils by the dim light of a tallow candle when he heard this, without even looking up: "Have the soldiers all had drinks?"

"Everyone gets plenty, it's just a matter of how much meat there is."

Zhao Tie placed the bowl on the simple wooden table. "Your Majesty, please have some. This place beyond the Great Wall is bitterly cold, unlike the palace..."

"In the palace?"

Xiao Chen then raised his head, rubbed his slightly sore eyes, picked up the ceramic bowl, felt the roughness and warmth emanating from the bowl's surface, and smiled, "There are no such vast grasslands in the palace, no such hundred thousand men willing to follow me through life and death."

He took a big gulp of hot soup, piping hot and fragrant, which went down his esophagus and dispelled the coldness in his internal organs. "Pass down the order: the broth must be hot, and the flatbread must be plentiful. Add double guards to the night watch, and give each person an extra blanket. The horses must be taken even more seriously, treated more precious than people."

"Yes!" Zhao Tie replied, watching the emperor eat hard, dry biscuits with meat soup, and he couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart.

He knew that His Majesty's move would be more effective in rallying the army than any impassioned speech.

The news that the emperor shared weal and woe with his soldiers had already spread throughout the army. Those new recruits who were originally apprehensive about going deep into the grasslands, seeing the emperor eating the same food and enduring the same cold as them, gradually transformed their unease into a more fervent loyalty and courage.

On the fifth day after leaving the border, the outpost scouts began to make frequent contact.

The Northern Barbarians were not entirely unaware of this.

The commotion of the 100,000-strong army of the Great Xia could not be completely concealed no matter what.

Although Ashina Duoji was arrogant, he was not entirely without strategy.

On the one hand, he personally led the main force to continue besieging Yanmen and put pressure on the Great Xia. On the other hand, he also sent out a large number of scouts to the depths of the grassland, both to scout the movements of the Xia army and to harass the supply lines and slow down the Xia army's speed.

Zhang Meng's vanguard cavalry also dispatched their most elite night scouts and light cavalry squads, stretching out like octopus tentacles across the vast grasslands in front and on both flanks.

Their eyes met and probed each other amidst the withered grass and hills.

On the afternoon of the seventh day, a sudden change occurred.

A 200-strong vanguard scout cavalry unit led by Colonel Chen Qing ran into a much larger Northern Di cavalry unit on the banks of a nearly dried-up riverbed.

The enemy numbered about five or six hundred riders, their clothes were in disarray, but they were all fierce and skilled in horsemanship. They were the most elite "Wolf Riders" scouts under the command of the Great Chanyu of the Northern Di.

They had clearly spotted the lone Xia army squad and, with howls like wolves, launched a flanking attack from three directions, intending to wipe out this small group of Xia cavalry who dared to venture so far.

"Form a circular formation! Face outwards!"

Chen Qing was a veteran who had followed Zhang Meng for many years. He remained calm in the face of danger and roared sharply.

Upon receiving the order, the two hundred Xia cavalry quickly retreated, their warhorses forming an irregular but defensive outward-facing circle, head to tail.

The cavalrymen did not dismount, but instead raised their bows, drew their sabers, and their breath condensed into white mist in the cold air, their eyes sharp as eagles.

The Di cavalry arrived with a whoosh and began unleashing a rain of arrows from a hundred paces away.

Arrows whistled through the air, some embedding themselves in the shields of the Xia cavalry, others striking their warhorses and eliciting a few mournful cries.

The Xia army retaliated with arrows, and the two sides exchanged fire as they rode, with men constantly being hit by arrows and falling from their horses.

"Change your weapons! Follow me and charge through the east!"

Chen Qing realized that the Di people wanted to trap them and knew that holding out would only lead to their death. He had to break through the encirclement before it was too tight.

Seeing that the Di cavalry on the east side were relatively weak, he suddenly spurred his horse and charged forward. The cavalry behind him shouted in unison and followed closely behind.

The two collided instantly!

The sounds of metal clashing, warhorses neighing, weapons piercing flesh, and the screams of the dying echoed across the riverbank.

In close combat, the advantages of equipment and training become immediately apparent.

While the Northern Di wolf cavalry were indeed fierce and skilled horsemen, their scimitars were mostly forged from pig iron, lacking toughness. When they clashed with the "armor-piercing sabers" of the Xia army cavalry, which were meticulously crafted by the Imperial Workshop and made using a new steel-reinforcing method, their sabers often chipped or even broke.

Xia Jun's sabers were longer, tougher, and sharper; with a single swing, they could easily pierce through the Di people's leather armor and even their simple iron plate armor.

More importantly, there's the horse tack.

The cavalry of the Great Xia were generally equipped with double stirrups and high-bridged saddles.

Stirrups provided cavalrymen with stable support on horseback, allowing them to perform more complex slashing and thrusting maneuvers, and even enabling them to stand half-up on horseback to increase the power of their swings.

The Takahashi saddle features raised sections at the front and back, firmly securing the rider's waist and hips, making it less likely for them to fall off the horse during high-speed impacts and intense combat.

The Di people mostly used single stirrups or even no stirrups, and their saddles were simple. They relied more on squeezing their legs tightly around the horse's belly and their superb riding skills to maintain balance. In pure power collisions and close-quarters combat, they were immediately at a disadvantage.

Chen Qing took the lead, his saber drawing a sharp arc as he cleaved a charging Di cavalryman, sword and all, from his horse.

He felt a slight numbness in his arm, but felt reassured.

"A fine knife!"

He secretly praised him, turned his horse around, and with another flash of his blade, another Di cavalryman fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding neck.

Xia cavalrymen worked in groups of three to five, coordinating with each other.

Some thrust with spears, some slashed with sabers, and others used horse bows to snipe enemies trying to flank them at close range.

They did not fight individually, but formed simple combat teams to cover each other.

In contrast, while the Di cavalry were individually brave and skilled, their teamwork relied more on tacit understanding and wildness. Under the Xia army's conscious coordinated attack, they often found themselves unable to defend one side against another.

The battle lasted for about fifteen minutes.

The Di cavalry abandoned nearly a hundred corpses and wailing wounded. Seeing that this Xia army squad was surprisingly tough, and with dust rising in the distance as if more Xia cavalry were coming to their aid, they let out a shout and quickly broke off contact, just as they had come, scattering into the withered grassland and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

On the riverbank, only the stench of blood and the groans of the dying remained.

Xia Jun also suffered more than 30 casualties, and lost even more warhorses.

Chen Qing, panting heavily, watched the retreating Di cavalry but did not pursue them.

He quickly ordered the wounded to be treated and the battlefield to be cleared, and personally interrogated several seriously wounded and captured Di cavalrymen.

From the prisoners' fragmented and cursing confessions, he learned an important piece of information: this wolf cavalry belonged to the Great Chanyu's personal guard, and they were ordered to patrol this area.

The main force seems to be operating in the "Wild Fox Ridge" area, about 100 miles to the southeast, where there may be a large settlement and temporary stockpile of the Di people.

"Wild Fox Ridge..."

Chen Qing noted down the name, left some men to care for the wounded, collect the bodies, and guard the prisoners, while he led the rest of his men, escorting two prisoners who were less seriously injured and seemed to know more, and quickly returned to the main camp.

The news quickly reached Xiao Chen's central army.

After listening to Chen Qing's detailed report, especially the intelligence on "Wild Fox Ridge" and the performance of the new equipment in actual combat, Xiao Chen did not show much joy at the initial victory. Instead, he became even calmer.

"The fallen soldiers shall be properly buried, their names and hometowns recorded, and they shall receive preferential treatment after the war. The wounded shall be treated with all our might."

Xiao Chen gave the order first, then looked at the two Di prisoners who had been brought in.

They were tightly bound, their faces bearing the arrogance and hatred unique to nomadic peoples of the grasslands, but deep in their eyes, there was also a trace of fear of their unknown fate.

Xiao Chen did not speak the Di language; there was an interpreter beside him.

He walked up to the prisoners, looked them over, and slowly spoke, which the interpreter translated into the Di language: "I am the Son of Heaven of the Great Xia Dynasty."

The two prisoners visibly jolted, raising their heads in disbelief to look at the young man who wore ordinary general's armor but called himself "Emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty".

"You serve the Duji, attack my borders, and kill my people. According to the law, you should be executed."

Xiao Chen's tone was calm, yet carried an invisible pressure. "But I have a benevolent heart. Tell me everything you know about Wild Fox Ridge, about the main force of the Duoji, about the Royal Court. I may spare your lives. After the war, I may even let you return to the grasslands, or give you land and let you become citizens of Great Xia."

One of the prisoners spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and cursed something in broken Chinese.

The other prisoner's eyes flickered as he looked at the heavily armored soldiers around him, then at the extraordinary young man, and recalled the terrifying fighting power of the Xia army and the sophisticated equipment he had never seen before during the day's battle. His Adam's apple bobbed.

Xiao Chen said no more, and gestured to Zhao Tie beside him: "Take them away and question them separately. Tell them that the one who speaks first will live and be rewarded. The one who speaks later, or who doesn't tell the truth..."

His gaze swept over the prisoner who had been cursing, as cold as the wind from beyond the Great Wall. "Tear him apart by chariots."

Zhao Tie grinned, revealing his gleaming white teeth: "Your Majesty, rest assured, leave it to me. I guarantee they'll spill the beans about how they used to peep at the neighbor's girl bathing when they were kids."

Soon, detailed intelligence was compiled and presented to Xiao Chen.

There was indeed a medium-sized tribe temporarily stationed at Yefuling, providing some cattle and sheep supplies to the front line, but the defense force was not strong.

More importantly, based on the fragmented descriptions of the prisoners and the intelligence gathered by the night scouts, it seems that the royal court of Duji was not as far away in the northern desert as initially speculated, but rather operating in an area closer to the front lines.

Perhaps somewhere in the northeastern part of the Hunshandake Sandy Land, in a place with abundant water and grass? The exact location still needs to be confirmed.

"Order Zhang Meng to increase the speed of the vanguard, but not to advance rashly. Send out more night scouts to scout the Wild Fox Ridge and the northeast direction."

Xiao Chen pointed to the map. "Furthermore, spread the news of today's initial victory, the abundant spoils, and the effectiveness of the new sabers and saddles throughout the army. Let the soldiers know that the Di cavalry are not invincible, and that the swords of our Great Xia are even sharper!"

"Furthermore," Xiao Chen added, his tone leaving no room for argument, "Issue another imperial decree: In future battles, no one who surrenders without weapons, except for the elderly, weak, women, and children, shall be killed without authorization. Captured Di people shall be interrogated separately and their testimonies verified. Anyone who kills surrendered prisoners or mistreats captives shall be punished according to military law!"

"As you command!"

Outside the tent, the north wind howled, whipping up dry grass and pebbles that pelted the cowhide tent with a crackling sound.

Xiao Chen's gaze fell once again on that vast and unknown area on the map.

The smoke of the initial battle has dissipated, but this is only the beginning.

On this boundless grassland chessboard, both hunter and prey have placed their first pieces.

What determines victory or defeat is not only the sharpness of the blade, but also intelligence, patience, and who can better endure the biting cold wind of the frontier.