Ch.72Xingqing (4)

“I’ve been informed that discontent is growing among the refugee units, Your Excellency.”

Wei Xiaoyun didn’t even react to this report.

He merely responded with an indifferent expression.

“Those people should consider it an honor to sacrifice themselves for Western Xia… tsk.”

Wei Xiaoyun simply clicked his tongue and issued no further orders.

This was because his only concern was the rapid assembly of 400,000 regular troops in Western Xia.

As a result, he was treating the refugee units, which were classified as irregular forces, as expendable.

“What would be the best course of action, Your Excellency?”

“We do nothing.”

Though the chancellor was using the refugee units as expendable resources, he wasn’t politically naive enough to make this obvious.

Therefore, he chose to neglect them instead. Since they were outside the city walls and cut off from the interior, there was little chance they would influence the citizens of Xingqing.

“We do nothing… instead, we portray them as heroes.”

“Heroes… sir?”

“They will become those who took up even bamboo spears to defend the country for His Imperial Majesty.”

In reality, these people had been forcibly expelled from the city by the chancellor’s orders.

Wei Xiaoyun was trying to transform them into figures sacrificing themselves to save the nation.

“We welcomed those who came to Xingqing… but they were forcibly driven from their villages by the violence of the Mongol brutes… it will seem natural that they burn with revenge.”

The Mongols had indeed forced the refugees out.

But they hadn’t used violence.

Yet Wei Xiaoyun was assuming that the Mongols had used violence in the process of forcibly expelling the refugees.

It was perfectly natural for him to make such an assumption.

War was a breeding ground for all kinds of war crimes.

Assault, rape, kidnapping, and murder frequently occurred during wartime.

It seemed implausible that nomads, not even settled people, would expel villagers without using such violent methods.

“Add to that their loyalty to protect the Emperor, and it becomes even more perfect.”

“In-indeed, resistance against the Mongols will surely grow stronger within Xingqing as well.”

The chancellor nodded with a satisfied expression at his aide’s response.

In his mind too, this was a perfect strategy.

“Therefore, send orders to the officers to deploy the refugee units in the areas with the highest casualties so that they can die as quickly as possible outside the walls.”

The messenger bowed and immediately left the room.

After the messenger departed, the chancellor, now alone, turned to look at the map.

“Control the interior like this… and when the troops gather in Xingqing, we strike.”

No matter how swift the nomads might be, they would have no way to win when surrounded by hundreds of thousands.

While Wei Xiaoyun was muttering to himself, another aide approached.

“Your Excellency. As you commanded, we’ve positioned scouts around Xingqing and confirmed all enemy movements.”

“I’m curious what those wretched nomads are up to. Report immediately.”

“Currently, small units with apparent intent to provoke our forces are circling near the city gates.”

“Typical deception tactics. A shallow attempt to provoke us into dividing our forces.”

“Indeed. Besides that… we’ve discovered one peculiar thing.”

“A peculiar thing?”

“Well… part of the Mongol forces are heading toward the upper reaches of the Yellow River.”

“The upper reaches of the Yellow River…?”

The chancellor couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion.

If a Central Plains nation had been heading there, it would have been a situation warranting immediate response.

But since it was the Mongols going there, the chancellor had no way of understanding their intentions.

This was because there was absolutely no information suggesting the Mongols possessed any civil engineering skills.

* * *

Upon arriving at the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Khasar surveyed the surroundings.

Looking at the river before him, he stuck out his tongue.

“If it weren’t winter, I wouldn’t have even thought about blocking this place.”

As if agreeing with those words, Belgutei nodded.

“Now I understand why they say the Yellow River is the lifeline of the Central Plains.”

It wasn’t the main stream of the Yellow River but an upper tributary, and additionally, since it was winter, the width and depth of the river weren’t that great.

However, from the reduced water level, one could immediately tell how large the river originally was.

“Then let’s mobilize the Han craftsmen and Hui technicians right now to build a dam.”

At Belgutei’s words, Khasar shook his head.

Then, lowering his voice, he spoke as if reciting.

“Don’t you remember Western Xia’s lackeys following us earlier?”

“That’s true, but if we don’t start building now, when will we ever build a dam for the water attack?”

“Shh. We will conduct a water attack, but now we need some time for pretense. Don’t you understand?”

“Pretense? What pretense?”

“Sigh… I explained so diligently before we came. Watch carefully.”

After dismissing Belgutei like that, Khasar looked at the Mongol soldiers.

Since they had already coordinated with Khasar, they approached him as soon as his gaze fell upon them.

“We will block this place and attack Western Xia!”

“Woooah!”

“Let’s bring down Western Xia!”

“What… what… what are you do—”

As Belgutei tried to interject, Khasar covered his mouth with his hand.

Then, as if telling him to leave it to him, he continued speaking.

“Build the dam immediately! This is the Khan’s stern command!”

“Let’s build the dam!”

“Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”

The Mongol soldiers showed awkward movements as if performing in a play.

They picked up rotten wooden planks from the corner and approached the river.

“Come on, stick it in here!”

“Put stones behind it…”

When a dam that looked like it could collapse at any moment was built, Belgutei looked at Khasar with an expression that asked what they were doing.

“Hey, these aren’t the materials we brought… ah… right…!”

“You finally remembered? You’re just like your brother, I swear. Tsk.”

Khasar clicked his tongue and continued the act.

“Come on, block there too. And there…”

As they blocked both ends of the river with shoddy materials, cracks began to form in the dam.

Sensing danger, the Ulus soldiers stepped back slightly.

At that moment, a chilling sound echoed.

Crack.

As the wooden planks broke, the blocked water gushed through the cracks.

Soon it destroyed the entire dam.

“Aaaaargh!”

“S-save me!”

Several prisoners were swept away by the strong current.

These were people who had resisted the Mongols until the end. That’s why Khasar disposed of them in this way.

Of course, this fact was known only to the Mongol soldiers present.

Therefore, the Western Xia scouts hiding behind distant rocks, watching all this, had no way of knowing.

“Oh no… the dam has collapsed. Let’s build it again!”

At those words, more Western Xia prisoners sentenced to execution were mobilized.

They built the dam again just like before, and the same terrible result followed.

“Hmm… this won’t work. Building a dam here is! With our! Technology! Simply! Impossible! I must inform the Khan and find another way.”

Khasar was deliberately speaking loudly for anyone to hear.

Belatedly catching on, Belgutei nodded and played along.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Our lack of technology is! Un! Avoid! A! Ble! Even when we threw the iron ball the other day, we failed and let the enemy scout escape, resulting in severe punishment.”

“But we can’t be punished again this time. We have to at least try, come what may.”

“It’s absolutely impossible with our Ulus’s civil engineering skills. You saw it just now.”

The two continued their awkward performance.

The seemingly endless act ended when a Mongol cavalryman gave a signal.

As soon as he received the signal, Khasar sighed and looked at Belgutei.

“Hah… you really can’t act.”

“You have no filter with your brother, do you?”

“We’re barely different in age.”

“Still, I’ve eaten more meals than you, kid.”

“Old people always say the same things.”

At Khasar’s grumbling, Belgutei gave his younger brother a knock on the head.

Khasar looked at Belgutei with an expression of injustice.

“Don’t give me that wronged look. That’s punishment for talking back to your brother.”

“Tch…”

“Anyway, it seems the Western Xia people are as suspicious as the Chinese.”

“I know, right? I didn’t expect them to watch us for so long.”

There was a reason why Khasar and Belgutei had put on this act.

It was because Western Xia scouts were spying on what they were doing.

Building a dam openly in such a situation would have been tantamount to suicide.

This was because their plan to block the waterway and launch a water attack on Xingqing would be completely exposed.

Of course, completely deceiving Western Xia was impossible.

That’s why Khasar used this performance to deceive the enemy.

“I hope the enemy falls for it.”

“From their perspective, they have no choice but to believe it. We showed them the dam construction failing twice… and although it’s a bit embarrassing, we’ve previously leaked information that Khara-Khoto was under attack because our iron ball failed.”

Generally, the technological capabilities of nomads were perceived to be very poor.

This perception was even common among other nomads, as there were no tall buildings in Mongolia like those commonly seen in the Central Plains.

Of course, in the cold, windy Mongolian lands, building low structures was advantageous for insulation.

But from the perspective of settled nations, there was no reason to understand Mongolia’s circumstances. Therefore, they viewed Mongolia as a place with no tall buildings, little different from wilderness.

It was nearly impossible to believe that people from such wilderness could build a dam, something difficult even for settled nations to construct.

“That’s exactly what we’re counting on.”

Khasar nodded at Belgutei’s words.

Then he turned his head to look down at Xingqing, the capital of Western Xia.

“That misconception will tighten the noose around their necks.”