Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1200 – Army from the West
‘Bada!’
After an arduous journey with much danger, the cavalry finally hung the chain onto the steel ring at the end of the arrow.
After completing the mission, the captain gave out a sigh of relief. Looking around him, of the 100 men, only four were left. The rest were either killed or fell to the ground from their injuries.
Seeing their captain look over, the injured soldiers grinned, “Captain, you guys go, do not care about us.” The way here was difficult, and the way back was naturally not easy.
To take these casualties and rush back was close to an impossible task.
When they accepted the mission, they were mentally prepared to die.
However, the captain was really determined. He did not say a word as he carried an injured man and charged out. When the remaining four saw that, they followed suit, each carrying one, braving the arrow rain and charging back to where they came from.
Whether they could live or not was up to the heavens.
When the Major General saw that, he gave out a smile, “Not bad, as expected from soldiers under me. Send my orders, send a squadron of people to receive them. The rest of us shall provide cover fire.”
“Yes, general!”
As they spoke, a squadron of cavalry charged out.
The cavalry on the frontlines armed their bows and rained down at the city wall to interfere with the attacks of the enemy.
When the defending general saw that, he said coldly, “You still want to leave? Stop them!” If they allowed the enemy to do as they liked, the face of the Great Zhou army would be totally lost.
“Yes, general!”
Both sides rained down arrows on one another; both sides fought with pleasure.
Maybe the heavens were really blessing them. Under such dense arrow fire, the 10 cavalry soldiers actually managed to successfully gather up with the receiving troops and not a single one died.
When the defending general saw that, his face was really dark.
What would truly make his face change was still to come. After the cavalry returned, the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps had new activities. The eight biggest and strongest iron armored beast with the rods on them pulled onto the chain as they started to move.
The long chains became taut right away.
At this point, the secret weapon of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps was fully revealed. They wanted to use the arrow pierced into the city gate along with the brute force of the iron armored cavalry to pull down the city gate.
‘Hei!’
Under the command of the cavalry, the eight iron armored beasts used all their strength and charged forward. As they used too much strength, their hooves even dented the ground.
‘Aang~’
The heads of the beasts tilted forward. Their front claws grasped at the ground as they proceeded forward with much difficulty.
Under the strong pulls from the iron armored beasts, the city gates started to creak. The door frame was slowly starting to change shape, obviously unable to withstand the heavy force.
Seeing that, the defending general’s face changed. Only now did he understand the true intentions of the enemy.
“General, what should we do?”
If the city gates were pulled down, the 200 thousand Great Xia Guards Legion Corps troops would be able to charge into the city. The Great Zhou soldiers’ faces were all ashen white.
The defending general was lost.
The iron chain was immune to oil, and even if one threw stones at it, the stones were knocked away and had no effect as the chain was taut.
The only way would be to proactively exit the city. However, that was also the worst method.
‘Kachi~kachi~’
In such a short while, the entire city gate had totally changed shape and was about to be pulled down.
“We have no choice, prepare to fight!” The city defense general knew that they were unable to prevent the enemy from breaking in. The only choice was to have a brawl with them within the city.
Hearing their general say that, the faces of the surrounding soldiers changed, and their eyes turned around with unease.
With just 70 thousand men, how could they defeat 200 thousand Great Xia Guards Legion Corps soldiers? Even the strongest palace guards were beaten by the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps despite having a numerical advantage.
Much less now, where they numbered only a third of the enemy. If they really fought, they would definitely die. Thinking about how the east gate had not been blocked up, there were soldiers planning to smoothly leave the battle and escape toward the east.
‘Honglong!’
The west gate was the first to succumb as it collapse to the ground.
“Charge!”
The 2nd legion Legion General Ma Chao waved his spear forward and gave the order to attack.
“Kill!”
After receiving the military order, the cavalry surged toward the city gate like a flood, not bothering about the arrows flying toward them. In front of absolute numbers, an arrow rain would not be able to cause much of a threat to the army.
The huge army galloping on the green stone streets gave out ‘Da da’ noises.
At the end of the street, the Great Zhou army had hurriedly formed up. They looked toward the aggressively charging army with fear and trepidation. Currently, their stomachs and legs were trembling. The fame of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps really sent a chill down their spines.
This was a totally one-sided battle.
At basically the same time, the south and north gates were broken, and the 3rd and 4th legions charged into the city. The three armies moved like they were in competition. They looked like they were about to engage in slaughter within the city.
When Huo Qubing saw that, not a single bit of emotion appeared in his face.
Such an outcome was totally expected by him. To the Guards Legion Corps, taking down Pingshan City could only be considered a warmup. Following which, they had to sweep the entire Jingdu Province.
In just one morning, Pingshan City was totally taken down by the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps.
In truth, the three legions spent just an hour within the city, and the Great Zhou army totally collapsed, losing their fighting spirit. They either surrendered or fled toward the east gate.
The defending general was stepped into meat paste amongst all the chaos.
After killing the defending troops, the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps did not hesitate, directly using a fire to burn up all the 10 large-sized granaries within the city, not even leaving behind a single bit of grain.
The flames charged toward the skies, and smoke rumbled. Even if one was far away, they would still be able to see it.
The Great Zhou dynasty made the people simplify their clothing and reduce their food intake, obtaining some amount of grain. Now, they were burned up in just one fire. When the civilians within the city saw that, they immediately teared up.
Reality was just so cruel.
Although the Great Jin dynasty and Zhongyuan Province lacked grain, since they could not take it away, they could only burn it.
Without this batch of grain, Great Zhou’s operation in Great Jin would be difficult to sustain and had basically ended halfway. Under such circumstances, if Great Zhou chose to forcefully attack, they would only be asking for trouble.
More importantly, the heavy damage that the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps would dish out had only just begun.
After burning all the grain, the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps showed no signs of staying. After having a full meal within the city, they brought the war prisoners and retreated like a tide. These prisoners were the secret weapons they would use to take down the other cities.
In the next few days, Great Xia kept up the good work, taking down three cities. Without an exception, these cities were all important grain points on the grain route.
Within three days, the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps did not even use a single military grain pill, settling their hunger through the local grain.
Under the leadership of Huo Qubing, the troops that Wuqi sent could only eat the dust behind the Guards Legion Corps and could not even see their shadows.
This time, Great Zhou totally panicked.
The fear that rose from the slaughter spread from west to east. If Great Xia did not have a tradition of not disturbing people and not hurting the civilians, a migration wave might have started.
Even then, the people were terrified.
Even the civilians in Handan City started to shiver in fear. They were afraid that they would become civilians of a fallen country when they woke up. With the speed of the Guards Legion Corps, they would reach Handan City in just two days.
But at that moment, something weird happened.
8th month, 13th day, the Guards Legion Corps that was about to reach Handan City suddenly made a huge arc, going around the city and traveling toward the border where Great Qing and Jingdu Province met.
It was like Handan City had a presence that the Guards Legion Corps were afraid of.
“What’s happening?”
The Handan City civilians, who survived the ordeal, felt surprised and confused. Living under the foot of the king meant that many of them were well informed. They knew that apart from the three thousand household guards, the rest were merely Garrison Division forces.
Such a small number of troops could not have made Great Xia afraid.
Someone joked, “Did the name of the king make the enemy fear fighting?” The person who spoke naturally did not believe that his king had such prestige.
Even the Xia King could not manage to do something like that.
This matter became the biggest riddle in Handan City, and only a few people knew what was going on.
…
Handan City, palace.
After learning that the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps had gone around Handan City, Di Chen regretfully heaved a sigh of relief.
When the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps was valiantly sweeping all sides, Di Chen had finally managed to invite reinforcements from Qin and Tang.
These two countries promised that if Great Xia dared to attack Handan City, they would teleport their guards over right away to counter surround the Guards Legion Corps and give the Great Xia elites a huge blow.
Of the two, Qin Shihuang was the most eager.
It seems like the rejection of Meng Yi and Meng Tian made him feel like he had lost face, and he wanted to retrieve it on the Handan battlefield.
As for being worried about having a conflict with Great Xia, these two emperors had seen through the matter.
For the China region situation to reach such a stage, regardless of Qin or Tang, neither had any space for them and Great Xia to reconcile.
One day, the two sides would fight on the battlefield.
Since that was the case, what difference would it make whether it was early or late?
However, Di Chen did not expect the Shanhai Guards spies to find out their plot, which made the Guards Legion Corps wary. They did not even dare to come close to Handan City, causing the opportunity to slip away from the hands of the six country alliance.
“This favor was wasted. What a bastard.”
To invite Qin and Tang to assist him, Di Chen had made a lot of promises before he was able to persuade them to officially enter the battle of the mid plains. Who would have expected that the outcome would be like that?
This was the first time Di Chen saw the legendary Shanhai Guards in a different light.
