Beishan had never been so terrified. He clutched the wound on his arm, stumbling and rolling down the city wall. However, in just a moment, two more corpses of generals were carried down from the city wall.
“What in the world is going on?”
Beishan muttered to himself. He hadn’t seen any Great Yu Empire soldiers firing, but the facts were before his eyes: the generals on the city wall were continuously dying.
Since birth, he had never experienced anything so bizarre. This feeling of being able to be killed at any moment made his body tremble slightly.
He glanced at the city wall and suddenly found he lacked the courage to climb it again. A sense of despondency suddenly enveloped his heart.
“Is the Golden Tent Khanate doomed?”
A thought flashed through Beishan’s mind. He became increasingly pessimistic and despairing.
As he was still in shock, a series of explosions rang out outside the city. Amidst the explosions, he heard the dying wails of warhorses and the screams of soldiers.
The sound of these explosions definitely did not come from the Great Yu Empire’s mortars; it seemed to originate from the ground.
Struggling, he endured the pain in his arm, crouching low and crawling up the city wall behind the battlements.
Upon reaching the city wall, he still dared not stand up. Instead, he moved along the battlements that could conceal his body.
At one battlement, he suddenly looked up. At this moment, he only saw the barbarian cavalry charging outside the city, toppling over with men and horses.
And wherever the cavalry passed, flashes of fire erupted. Each explosion could fell cavalry within ten meters.
Seeing this, Beishan quickly hid behind the battlement. His heartbeat gradually quickened. This war had already exceeded his comprehension.
After another glance outside the city, he decisively descended the city wall.
“Guduo, prepare the horses. We must leave this place,” Beishan said, his face ashen.
Guduo glanced at Beishan’s bleeding arm and said, “Prince, this…”
“Leave now! Jinzhou City cannot be held! All cities cannot be held! We must return to the grasslands! The glory of the Golden Tent Khanate is gone forever! Now, all we have left are the grasslands and the Western Regions!”
Guduo opened his mouth, but Beishan’s stern expression made him decide to obey.
Outside the city, the barbarian cavalry charging towards the Great Yu Empire fell into confusion. To boost morale, Wuzhugu led the charge, rushing towards the Great Yu Empire’s musketeers.
However, before them, their Great Prince Wuzhugu and his horse were blown to pieces, their flesh and blood splattering. The cavalry, unable to stop their horses, trampled over Wuzhugu’s corpse. Then, they faced even more explosions.
This explosion from beneath the ground plunged the cavalry into hysterical terror. They firmly believed in Shamanism.
At this moment, in their eyes, these explosions were nothing short of magic, and even more cavalry believed that Everlasting Hate Heaven had abandoned them.
Morale instantly plummeted. The barbarian cavalry became incredibly chaotic, with cavalry behind them pressing into those in front.
The cavalry in front wanted to retreat. Under this disordered state, the cavalry gathered in increasing numbers.
Luo Xin decisively seized the opportunity. He had the artillery turn their direction, aiming their muzzles at the barbarian cavalry who were dazed by the landmines.
“Fire!” Luo Xin ordered loudly.
Under his command, the soldiers loaded explosive shells. Accompanied by the roar of cannons, hundreds of explosive shells flew towards the barbarian cavalry.
Clusters of fiery blossoms immediately erupted among the gathered barbarian cavalry. The barbarian cavalry were blown apart in the explosions, their flesh and blood splattering.
At this moment, the barbarian cavalry could no longer endure. They frantically scrambled to escape.
Qi Guangyi looked at this scene, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He said to Lu Fei, “Are you sure the landmines were only laid in this direction?”
“No mistake. You can bypass this mine belt and pursue,” Lu Fei swallowed. He too was greatly shocked this time.
After the barbarian cavalry charged into the landmine field, the ground exploded like fireworks. The massive cavalry force was literally blown to pieces.
And it seemed the landmines even killed the barbarian Wuzhugu, which surprised him somewhat.
“If any of my soldiers are injured by a landmine, I will definitely not let you off,” Qi Guangyi warned Lu Fei. This thing was simply a cavalryman’s nightmare.
With that, he led his forces around the minefield and pursued the fleeing barbarian cavalry. This time, they would maximize the casualties inflicted on the barbarian soldiers.
Lu Fei shivered. He looked at the Jinzhou city wall. Now, the barbarian cavalry was basically useless. All that remained was a solitary Jinzhou City. This siege warfare was perfectly to his liking.
“Blast open the city wall!” Lu Fei roared.
As his voice fell, cannonballs flew towards the Jinzhou city wall. In an instant, the Jinzhou city wall became a sea of fire.
The barbarian artillerymen on the Jinzhou city wall were annihilated in the endless artillery fire before they could even dodge.
The bombardment of the front city wall continued for a full ten minutes. Two thousand cannonballs landed on the Jinzhou city wall. When the sound of the cannons gradually ceased, the heavily damaged Jinzhou city wall finally collapsed with a “rumble,” for over fifty meters.
The barbarian soldiers on the city wall suffered heavy casualties from the cannonball explosions. The remaining barbarian soldiers were terrified and no longer dared to step onto the city wall.
In this situation, the Great Yu Empire army’s unique charge bugle sounded again. Accompanied by earth-shattering shouts of “kill,” the soldiers charged into Jinzhou City.
“Anyone within the city carrying a weapon is an enemy of the Great Yu Empire. Kill without mercy!”
After entering the city, orders were relayed to every army, regiment, battalion, and company.
Although they easily captured the city gate under the artillery bombardment, there were still a large number of barbarians and barbarian soldiers inside the city.
Lu Fei, Lei Ming, and Luo Xin were all former northern generals who had always detested the barbarians. Therefore, they were also very cruel towards the barbarians.
After the order was given, the Great Yu Empire soldiers no longer held back. Over one hundred thousand men rampaged through Jinzhou City. Resisting barbarians were killed one after another.
For a time, Jinzhou City ran with blood. This time, the barbarians finally experienced the cruelty they had inflicted upon the Great Yu Empire people.
The battle continued from morning until that night. The barbarians, who were practically being massacred, suffered heavy casualties.
Facing the Great Yu Empire soldiers, who were even fiercer than themselves, many barbarians raised their hands and knelt on the ground. From then on, they would bow to the Great Yu Empire.
Lu Fei and the other two entered the city at dusk. Everywhere they went, there were corpses of barbarian soldiers. As the largest city outside the pass, Jinzhou played a crucial role in the barbarian territory.
It could be said that as long as Jinzhou remained, the Great Yu Empire’s army could not continue northward and westward, but now they had finally lost this city.
“Raozhou is northwest of Jinzhou City, Jianzhou is to the north, Yingzhou to the northeast. Now, only these three cities remain on barbarian territory. According to His Majesty’s order, after taking Jinzhou, we are to conquer Yingzhou, which will completely cut off the barbarians’ connection with Goryeo and Japan. After that, the main army will advance north to take Jianzhou, thus making the barbarians lose all their land outside the pass. As for Raozhou, it is the gateway for attacking the grasslands. Taking it and stationing troops there will keep the barbarians under the constant threat of our cavalry.”
Reciting the Emperor’s orders, Lu Fei’s heart surged with excitement. After seven years of forbearance, they had finally flattened Jinzhou.
The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair