Ch.101Western Liao (10)

A report came in that the vanguard led by Toghrul Khan was moving toward Kucha.

I immediately issued orders to the darughachis.

“The war has begun.”

The full-scale war with Western Liao had started with our vanguard’s attack.

Looking at the overall battle situation, we were in a position of launching a preemptive strike against Western Liao.

Since Western Liao had already given us justification to attack, no one could blame us for striking first.

At any rate, now that our vanguard was heading toward Kucha, which led to the enemy capital of Qara-Ordo, it was time for our main force to move.

“Munglig.”

“I await your command, Khagan.”

“I assign you the task of attacking the western part of Western Liao. As commander-in-chief of ten thousand troops, lead your soldiers immediately and capture all Western Liao cities west of Kucha.”

“I will carry out your orders.”

Munglig was the one who had proposed this tactic.

That’s why I appointed him as commander-in-chief of the force attacking the west, where most of Western Liao’s major cities were concentrated.

“Darughachi Bulqa.”

“I am ready to receive your orders, Khagan.”

“I assign you the task of attacking the Western Liao cities located east of Kucha. As commander-in-chief of ten thousand troops, intercept the eastern cities when the western army attacks the cities.”

“The Khagan’s orders will be fulfilled.”

I ordered the eastern army to move after the western army had attacked the cities.

The reason for this order was to prevent the cities in the east from responding when the western cities of Western Liao were under attack.

To reiterate, most of Western Liao’s major stronghold cities were located in the west.

If these places were attacked, the cities in the east were very likely to surrender without resistance.

Of course, this was just our speculation.

However, keeping such predictions in mind allowed us to deploy our troops more organically.

“Everyone, draw your swords! The time has come to conquer Western Liao!”

“Woooaah!”

“God and Tengri protect us!”

The darughachis and commanders cheered in response to my words.

* * *

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

The soldiers guarding the gates of Kucha were greatly startled by the dust cloud shaking the ground.

“W-what’s that sound?”

“It sounds like… horses galloping?”

The soldiers tilted their heads and looked toward the source of the sound.

Hundreds of cavalry were charging toward Kucha, making strange noises.

“Kiririi-hah!”

“Let’s tear apart these Liao bastards!”

“Emperor of Western Liao who insulted Gurkhan! We, the iron hammers of God and Tengri, have arrived on this land!”

“M-Mongol bastards!”

“The Mongols have appeared!”

Boom-boom-boom.

At this sound, the soldiers on the wall began to move busily.

The gate guard ordered some archers to climb up to the ridges of the ravines that stretched on both sides of Kucha.

“Archers, climb up to the ravine ridges to counter the enemy cavalry!”

At the gate guard’s order, several archers brought ladders.

They placed the ladders against protruding rocks near the wall.

“Move quickly!”

“Hurry, hurry!”

Since they had to climb up using ladders, the number of people who could ascend was limited.

The ridge of the ravine was so narrow that two people couldn’t stand in the same space.

While the archers were hurriedly climbing up, Mongol cavalry wielding strange weapons arrived right in front of the wall.

“Oh no!”

There were soldiers positioned in front of the wall to protect it.

The gate guard, distracted by the archers, had forgotten to call these men back inside the wall.

“General! Our men are in danger!”

“It’s too late. If we open the gates now, enemy cavalry will enter through the gap. That would put the entire fortress at risk!”

At the gate guard’s words, the soldiers inside the wall could only nod.

They couldn’t endanger the entire fortress just to save their comrades.

The soldiers outside the wall also knew this, so they chose to grit their teeth and fight.

“You dishonorable Mongol bastards! We won’t die easily!”

“Come on! I’m not afraid of you—”

Swish!

A sound like air being torn echoed across the battlefield.

With that sound, the body of a soldier guarding the front of the wall collapsed.

“W-what is this…?”

The strange sight of a soldier dying before the Mongol cavalry even swung their weapons unfolded.

The gate guard watched the corpse from atop the wall with a surprised expression, trying to understand what had happened.

“An arrow…?”

The gate guard looked at the soldier’s corpse with a trembling voice.

He saw an arrow precisely lodged in the gap of the soldier’s helmet.

“This makes no sense…”

What made it more confusing was that all the approaching Mongol cavalry were carrying close-combat weapons.

It was impossible for them to draw bows, shoot arrows, and then switch back to their weapons in a split second.

This meant the arrow had come from somewhere far away that the gate guard couldn’t see.

In other words, the enemy had someone with almost supernatural archery skills.

“Damn it…! Everyone, raise your shields! Hurry!”

“S-shields, sir?”

“Why are you suddenly telling us to raise shields…”

The soldiers standing on the massive shield that was the wall couldn’t help but be confused.

Shields were typically tools to block enemies in close combat.

As the soldiers raised their shields with puzzled expressions, the eerie sound was heard again.

Swish.

“Guh!”

With that sound, something fell from above with a thud.

It was the body of an archer who had been preparing to shoot arrows at the Mongol cavalry from atop the ravine.

“H-hieek!”

“S-shield! Where’s my shield?!”

As the corpse fell right above them, the soldiers on the wall frantically searched for shields.

But the invisible enemy’s arrows were faster than their movements.

“Urgh.”

“Kuk!”

“Gurk.”

Each time an arrow sound was heard, soldiers who had climbed up to the ravine fell down as corpses.

This caused not only the soldiers on the wall but also the gate guard to tremble in fear.

“U-uugh…”

“W-what is happening?”

The terror of an invisible enemy quickly consumed the wall.

While the wall was gripped by fear, the soldiers in front of the wall, without proper command, were mercilessly defeated by the Mongol cavalry.

“Aaaagh!”

“S-spare me!”

Kucha’s front wall was captured in an instant.

As the front of the wall came completely under Mongol control, the main body of the Mongol vanguard revealed itself.

The moon and crescent.

Tens of thousands of cavalry stood under the flag symbolizing the legitimate successor of the Xiongnu.

“Tens of thousands of Mongol cavalry…?”

“I-if this continues… we might all die…!”

“W-what should we do…?”

The soldiers couldn’t easily shake off their fear.

The gate guard finally came to his senses and tried to rise to command his men.

At that moment.

“Hup!”

The gate guard immediately flattened himself against the ground, feeling a chilling sensation.

If he had raised his head any higher, an arrow would have struck between his eyes.

“It’s difficult even to raise my head…”

This was as good as saying that the enemy’s master archer was directly targeting the gate guard’s head.

This realization only deepened his terror.

A bow was not a direct-fire weapon but an indirect-fire one.

Normally, arrows traveled in an arc, so factors like wind direction or speed could cause shots to miss.

But the Mongol master archer—or from the gate guard’s perspective, a grim reaper—was shooting arrows as if unaffected by such natural elements.

“At this rate…”

The gate guard slightly raised his head to look at the Mongol main force.

There, what were clearly siege weapons were being positioned for bombardment.

If things continued like this, the wall would face concentrated fire from siege weapons.

He needed to counterattack before it was too late.

But with the deadly archer preventing him from properly commanding, mounting a response was difficult.

Just as the gate guard found himself cornered, a man in ornate armor appeared.

“What are you doing?!”

At the tiger-like loud voice, the gate guard turned his head toward the stairs.

“Governor! You mustn’t come here now!”

“What nonsense! The city I govern is in danger!”

The governor tried to issue orders himself.

The gate guard lunged at him, tackling him to the ground.

Swish!

The gate guard couldn’t help but tremble as the eerie sound of an arrow grazed past his head.

If he had been just a moment later…

“What are you doing?!”

“Governor! There’s someone among the Mongols with almost supernatural archery skills. You absolutely must not raise your head now.”

“Supernatural archer? What are you talk—”

The governor stopped mid-sentence as he looked where the gate guard was pointing.

An arrow embedded in a pillar.

The height of the arrow matched exactly where the governor’s head had been.

“Do you see now?”

The governor nodded.

But he glared at the enemy with a determined expression.

“Even so, we cannot surrender this place to the enemy. We must command to defend against the enemy’s attack.”

The governor was right.

If they hid out of fear for their lives, the fortress would fall to the Mongols’ siege weapons.

Therefore, they had to command.

“Order the soldiers to gather here with shields. Have them use the shields to protect me.”

In other words, he wanted to create a wall of shields.

While there would be tiny gaps, shooting through those gaps to kill someone would be nearly impossible, making this the best solution in the current situation.

The gate guard followed the governor’s orders and gathered the soldiers on the wall.

“Everyone, stand close enough that your shoulders touch. Create a shield wall to protect the governor!”

The soldiers began to gather with their shields at the gate guard’s command.

As the shields came together, they formed a defensive wall that looked solid enough to withstand arrow attacks.

“With this, we can block arrows even if they come.”

As they moved forward using the shield wall, just as the governor had said, arrows struck the shields but couldn’t reach him.

“Hahaha! No matter how skilled this so-called master archer is, it seems difficult to penetrate shields!”

At the governor’s words, the soldiers regained their confidence.

The gate guard inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

If they could just hold out by relying on the wall, reinforcements would be sent from the capital.

Then the Mongols would have no choice but to retreat.

While thinking this, the gate guard belatedly realized that a beam of light was seeping through the shield wall.

Moreover, that light was aimed precisely at the governor’s head.

“Governor!”

“Why are you—”

Swish!

With that eerie sound again, something penetrated through the gap in the shield wall.

And then a terrible scream echoed from within the shield wall.