Aguda watched the Great Yu Empire soldiers pouring into the city and fell into despair.
Their supposedly sturdy city was vulnerable to the Great Yu Empire’s firearms. In a very short time, they lost the barrier of the city gate.
As the flag leader of Liaozhou City, his duty was to defend Liaozhou City. However, at the beginning of the war, this place was not a key defensive city for the Golden Tent Khanate.
Because they had not anticipated that the Great Yu Empire would dispatch troops deep into the Khanate’s territory to directly attack Liaozhou City.
After all, this place was six hundred li from Shanhai Pass.
“We must hold the city until reinforcements arrive! Charge!” Aguda screamed hoarsely.
Now, the soldiers on the city wall were useless. The Great Yu Empire soldiers poured through the city gate, their weapons spewing flames and smoke as they killed their way into the city.
Now, he could only order his soldiers to charge down from the city wall and fight the Great Yu Empire soldiers.
Then he turned to the myriarch beside him and said, “Go tell the tribesmen in the city that whoever kills one Great Yu Empire soldier will be rewarded with three sheep and one cow! Hurry!”
“Yes, Flag Leader.” The myriarch immediately descended the city wall. He commanded some cavalry to disperse, shouting Aguda’s bounty order.
Although there were only sixty thousand soldiers in Liaozhou City, over three hundred thousand barbarians lived in this city. Now, the Great Yu Empire people were their sworn enemies.
After the cavalry galloped past, many barbarians emerged from the civilian quarters, holding machetes, forks, wooden sticks, and other tools.
Liaozhou belonged to the Golden Tent Khanate, and the Great Yu Empire people attacking Liaozhou were their enemies. Moreover, the generous bounty was enough for them to get through this winter; otherwise, many of them would starve to death.
At the same time, Ye Qingyun entered Liaozhou City under the protection of his personal guards.
At this point, the commander of the 1st Division suddenly came before him. He said, “Army Commander, something is terribly wrong. Now, even the barbarian common people in Liaozhou City have joined the war. The entire Liaozhou City is now filled with enemies.”
“What!”
Ye Qingyun’s expression changed. He had anticipated this when attacking Liaozhou. After all, this was not the Great Yu Empire, where Xiao Ming’s imperial power would make common people abandon resistance and choose submission.
But here, they were surrounded by enemies everywhere.
Finding a low wall, Ye Qingyun skillfully climbed onto it. From the wall, he looked at the war scene inside the city, just as the commander of the 1st Division had said.
Now, Liaozhou City was filled with barbarians wielding weapons. His soldiers were very passive. Some soldiers even hesitated when they saw barbarian elders and women, and were instead killed by the charging barbarian common people.
The more Ye Qingyun watched, the deeper his frown became. He said to the commander of the 1st Division, “Immediately notify the soldiers: regardless of age or gender, anyone carrying a weapon shall be killed without mercy!”
“Yes, Army Commander.” The commander of the 1st Division took the order and left.
Returning to his unit, he ordered the soldiers to form dense horizontal lines, with each company as a unit.
Looking at the charging army, a mix of barbarian soldiers, slave soldiers, and common people, he drew the ceremonial sword from his hand.
“Fire!”
He ordered the attack when the barbarian army rushed within fifty meters.
As the 1st Division, his soldiers were all equipped with Conqueror Muskets. Although they could fire from hundreds of meters away, he chose to let the enemy close to fifty meters.
Because within this distance, the Conqueror Musket had very high accuracy. Trained soldiers could basically hit an enemy with every shot.
“Bang, bang…”
Conqueror Muskets spewed flames. The swarming barbarians immediately fell in large numbers.
“Second rank!”
After the first rank fired, each company commander shouted.
As his voice fell, the first rank of soldiers retreated, and the second rank of soldiers stepped forward to continue firing.
“Third rank!”
“First rank!”
“…”
The entire battlefield was filled with the commands of company commanders and the sound of firearms firing.
Under the continuous firepower, rows of charging barbarians fell. In a short while, the entire ground was covered with barbarian corpses.
Smoke filled the battlefield. Ye Qingyun grimly watched this massacre. He felt no pity or guilt, because such scenes had happened countless times when the barbarians ravaged Qingzhou Province.
“Since they are not afraid of death! I will kill until they are afraid of death!” Blood gathered into small streams from the barbarian corpses. Ye Qingyun could even smell the strong scent of blood.
But for him, this was war. The Great Yu Empire and the Golden Tent Khanate were destined for one empire to disappear into the long river of history.
The land of Asia was indeed vast, but it could not accommodate two empires.
“Advance!”
It seemed the charging barbarians had either been completely killed or had hidden. After the smoke dissipated, only barbarian corpses remained before their soldiers.
At this point, the order came. They loaded their bullets. Soldiers holding Conqueror Muskets stepped over the barbarian corpses and continued searching within the city.
Soon, they saw barbarians hiding in the corners of civilian neighborhoods. At this point, they no longer showed the ferocity they had when charging just now, but were trembling.
The scene of the charge had completely terrified them. No matter how they charged, they couldn’t get close to the Great Yu Empire soldiers. Instead, their casualties continuously increased.
It wasn’t until the bodies of their tribesmen covered a hundred-meter stretch of ground that they finally understood they could not win, no matter what.
Moreover, the army composed of barbarian soldiers and barbarian slave soldiers had been crushed. Without command, they were like a swarm of headless flies.
“Round them all up!” a company commander ordered.
The soldiers immediately held their guns and confined the barbarians they found in houses. A room, once filled, was locked, and then they filled another room.
And those barbarians who still tried to resist were shot without hesitation. After a fierce battle, they finally gained control of Liaozhou City.
Night fell. Ye Qingyun and the generals gathered in a residence within the city.
After listening to the reports from various division commanders, he said, “Repair the city gate overnight to prevent barbarian reinforcements from arriving.”
Everyone nodded. A division commander asked, “Army Commander, what about the barbarians inside the city now? Over two hundred thousand people is no small number. Leaving them is a hidden danger. You saw today’s battle; they killed our soldiers without batting an eye.”
“In my opinion, it’s better to burn them all and burn them to death,” another division commander said. He was seething with anger. He had lost three regiments’ worth of men this time.
Ye Qingyun knew that these generals were now seeing red. War was like this, continuing until one side was annihilated.
He said, “Killing them would be too easy for them. The imperial court needs slaves everywhere now. This time, let them dig mines for a lifetime and build railways for a lifetime.”
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