The female prisoner was fierce

Thinking it over, he immediately found an excuse to quickly leave the city.

Then they headed straight to a village near the city, made contact with the spies, found the hidden horses, and galloped rapidly southwards.

It was morning, and the wind and snow had picked up again, stinging his face like knives, but he couldn't care less; his mind was filled with the scene he'd witnessed the night before.

The deafening explosion, the city gate shattered into pieces, and the Northern Di warriors on the city wall who were killed by the exploding pottery jars.

Even after Lord Yelü Chi died, not one of the thirty Northern Di warriors escaped.

Of course, the most crucial matter is the matter of divine punishment, which must be reported quickly.

"drive!"

The horse squeezed its belly hard with its legs, and the short-legged horse ran desperately across the snow, panting heavily.

……

The journey from Dongshuang County to Youzhou is nearly 300 li.

He ran for a full day and night, changing horses two or three times, and the mountain was blocked by heavy snow.

Finally, on the evening of the second day, they arrived outside Youzhou City.

In the distance, the outline of Youzhou City appeared on the horizon.

The banners of the Great Wu were still flying on the city walls, but the walls had been breached in several places, and the battlements were covered with arrow marks and fire damage.

Below the city, the Northern Di people's camp stretched as far as the eye could see.

Tents, stables, grain carts, and siege equipment were densely packed on the snow-covered plain.

A moat was dug around the camp, and outside the moat were chevaux-de-frise and deer antlers.

The patrolling cavalry ran back and forth along the perimeter of the camp, the sound of their hooves shaking the ground.

In the center of the camp, a large plain flag embroidered with a golden wolf's head fluttered in the wind.

This was none other than the headquarters of the Northern Barbarian army's southern expeditionary force!

He quickly rode his horse to the camp gate, reined in his horse, and shouted to the guards in the Northern Di language:

"Urgent report from Dongshuang County! Lord Yelü Chi has been killed in battle!"

Upon hearing this, the centurion guarding the gate immediately changed his expression:

"Open the gate!!"

He hurriedly waved for someone to open the gate, and then the scout quickly rode in, galloping towards the commander's tent.

Because of the military intelligence report, no one stopped them.

Meanwhile, inside the commander's tent.

Yelü Deguang was sitting on a tiger-skin chair with a map of Youzhou City in front of him.

The city of Youzhou had been besieged for almost ten days, and the city walls were nearly destroyed, but the Han people inside the city just wouldn't surrender, which was frustrating.

"Report!"

The scout called out from outside.

"Come in."

The tent flap was lifted, and the scout staggered in, fell to his knees with a thud, and trembled all over.

"Lord Yelü! Dongshuang County... Dongshuang County has been lost!"

Yelü Deguang paused, his gaze suddenly sharpening:

"What did you say??"

The scout immediately placed his right hand on his left, performing a standard steppe salute, and said in a trembling voice:

"Lord Yelü Chi has died in battle! All thirty steppe warriors have perished! Dongshuang County has been captured by a group of Han Chinese known as the Xiao Family Army!"

Yelü Deguang's face instantly darkened!

He stared intently at the scout kneeling on the ground and said coldly:

"Tell me exactly what happened!"

Spy:

"Yes, Lord Yelü!"

Then he began to explain in detail:

"Last night, the Xiao family army led more than a hundred men to besiege Dongshuang County. It was impossible to take it by now, but they had a very powerful weapon that I had never seen before."

"They call that divine punishment."

"I heard from others that they stuffed some oiled paper packets into the grooves under the city gate, then lit a thread. After the thread burned out, there was a huge explosion, and the entire city gate was blown away!"

"Scraps of wood flew dozens of steps away and exploded into pieces!!"

"Furthermore, they also put that stuff in earthenware jars, set them on fire, and threw them onto the city walls. When the jars exploded, people within several steps would fall down, their bodies riddled with bloody holes, as if they had been pierced by arrows."

"Lord Yelü Chi was killed by one of those pottery jars. He was riddled with hundreds of holes and died instantly!"

Yelü Deguang stood up abruptly, his face twitching, his eyes filled with disbelief:

"Are you seeing things? The city gate was blown up??"

"And there are also explosive clay pots that could kill many people in one explosion?"

The scout in front of him hurriedly said:

"Lord Yelü, I would never dare to speak recklessly. I heard it with my own ears when I was in the city. The sound was louder than thunder, and my ears are still ringing to this day."

Yelü Deguang was stunned for a moment, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He fought for twenty years, from the northern grasslands to the gates of Youzhou. What kind of weapon hadn't he seen?

Catapults, ballistae, battering rams, and oil canisters—each of these would take at least half an hour to break down the city gates.

Now some kind of thing wrapped in oiled paper has appeared; a few packets of it can blow up a city gate?

"witchcraft??"

Suddenly, a word popped into his mind.

Because the scout in front of him spoke with such conviction and detail that it didn't seem like he was just making things up out of fear.

Moreover, Yelü Chi was a centurion of his tribe, and his thirty cavalrymen were all elites. It was impossible for them to be wiped out by a group of ordinary Han people.

Even if the other party does achieve it, like Table Mountain Baturu before.

But that was face-to-face.

But this time, Yelü Chi was guarding the city walls!

and also…

"If this thing is real, then what's the point of having city walls?"

"Then...aren't the city gates of Youzhou City just for show?"

Thinking of this, Yelü Deguang's eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light. He took a deep breath and immediately asked:

"Who else have you told about this?"

The spy kept his head down.

"I dared not tell anyone, I came directly to report to you, sir!"

"it is good."

Yelü Deguang pointed to the personal guard beside him:

"Take him down, give him food, and keep a close watch on him. Don't let him talk to anyone."

"yes!"

The guards immediately took the scout away.

Yelü Deguang paced back and forth inside the tent.

After a moment, he felt reassured and decisively lifted the tent flap, striding towards the north side of the commander's tent.

There was an even larger tent to the north, guarded by dozens of personal guards, each clad in iron armor and with a curved sword at their waist.

That's the tent of Temur, the fourth prince of the Northern Di!

Temur was the fourth son of the Northern Di Khan. Although he was the fourth son, his maternal clan was powerful and he commanded 100,000 cavalry, making him the main commander of this southern expedition.

Yelü Deguang walked to the front of the tent, and the guards outside announced his arrival.

Soon, a lazy voice came from inside:

"Come in."

Yelü Deguang took a deep breath, then lifted the curtain and went inside.

Mutel was reclining on a soft couch in the animal skin shop, carefully examining a map of Youzhou.

He was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and was fairer-skinned than the average Northern Di person, but his eyes were sinister, and when he looked at people, he always had the illusion of scrutinizing prey.

Upon seeing him arrive, he asked curiously:

"General Yelü, what brings you here so late at night?"

Yelü Deguang immediately knelt down on one knee to pay his respects, and then repeated the scout's words in detail.

At first, Muter didn't care much.

but.

When the topic turned to divine punishment and the destruction of the city gates, he suddenly raised his head, which had been looking down at the map, revealing a look of doubt and confusion in his eyes as he scrutinized his prey.

"Could it blow up the city gate?"

"How strange! Such a divine object exists in the world. No wonder it can be called divine punishment."

Before him, Yelü Deguang emphasized in his tone:

"Fourth Prince, this is what our spies saw with their own eyes. Even Yelü Chi and thirty warriors were killed by that strange divine punishment; not one of them escaped."

Upon hearing this, Mutel put down the map in his hand and stood up.

As he walked to the tent entrance, he looked south, a thoughtful expression in his eyes:

"Xiao Family Army One".

I read the name aloud, and then I laughed.

That smile was so cold it sent chills down your spine!

"Interesting, this divine punishment item is truly peculiar."

He then turned around and looked at Yelü Deguang.

"Who else knows about this?"

Yelü Deguang:

"Reporting back to the Fourth Prince, I have had the spies kept under surveillance, and no one else knows about them."

"it is good."

Mutel walked back to the couch and sat down, tapping the table with his fingers, and said:

"We, the Northern Barbarians, must obtain this thing called Heavenly Punishment, no matter what."

"If we could use something that can blow open city gates on Youzhou City, we wouldn't be in such a sorry state."

"Perhaps we can even seize more cities and territories before the Turks do."

Yelü Deguang nodded repeatedly:

"The Fourth Prince is wise."

A thoughtful look appeared in Muter's eyes. After a moment, he said:

"I remember that kid Halbala has been pretty idle lately."

"Let him and your subordinate Baturu go together and make sure they take Dongshuang County, especially that thing called Heavenly Punishment."

"Also, try to capture that guy surnamed Xiao alive."

Harbala was a commander of a thousand men in the Northern Di Tiger Banner Camp, with more than nine hundred cavalrymen under his command. He was one of Muter's direct subordinates.

Yelü Deguang understood that the other party wanted to give his trusted confidant a chance, but this was a political matter that he wouldn't get involved in, so he immediately nodded:

"Yes, Fourth Prince."

Then he quickly left the tent and went to take stock of the men.

……