Ch.74Xingqing (6)

I had prepared everything to attack Xingqing.

Since we were planning to launch the attack tomorrow, I instructed the soldiers to rest well and headed toward my ger.

“Would you like to exercise before going to bed?”

“…You’re obsessed with exercise.”

“It’s all thanks to you, brother. Haha.”

“…”

Looking at Munglig who had become a gym rat, I regretted teaching him about fitness. Especially since he was so casually suggesting we exercise when we had a battle tomorrow.

War wasn’t child’s play.

It was a life-and-death struggle where you fought with your life on the line.

Yet Munglig wore an expression that said he absolutely had to exercise even though such a desperate life-and-death struggle would take place tomorrow.

“Do you really plan to exercise?”

“For me, exercise is the struggle of life itself.”

“…”

I almost blurted out asking if he had read my mind. But as if he had read that thought too, Munglig shrugged and continued.

“That’s right. Since I worked on my triceps and biceps yesterday, today is the day for upper and lower back exercises.”

I nearly stuck my tongue out at Munglig’s gym rat reasoning. Anyway, as we continued our conversation heading toward the ger… Munglig suddenly grabbed my arm.

“What’s wrong?”

“Brother. I feel some unfamiliar muscle tremors.”

I was terrified for a moment, thinking he might have noticed I hadn’t been doing upper body workouts lately. Just as I was thinking this guy had become so obsessed with exercise that he could physically sense such things, something came flying from the distance with a swoosh.

“Watch out!”

“Hup!”

Thanks to our quick reflexes, Munglig and I were able to drop into a plank position. I wasn’t sure why we chose a plank position, but it didn’t matter what position we were in as long as we avoided the arrow flying through the darkness.

“An ambush?!”

“Brother, please step back!”

With those words, Munglig formed a small ring with his hands. Then he put his mouth to it and blew a loud whistle, almost like a referee’s whistle.

Something near the ger began rushing toward us.

“Enemy!”

“Who dares threaten the ruler of the ulus!”

“I’ll kill you right now!”

Those who appeared with fierce voices were none other than the Kheshig. Since the main role of the royal guards was to protect me, their appearance was only natural.

However, since they had rushed out while exercising, they were all shirtless.

“…”

Anyway, while I was thinking this, the Kheshig surrounded me. The feeling of having tight security made me feel like a celebrity.

“Send signals to Jadaran Khan and Bulqa Khan. Tell them there’s an enemy surprise attack here.”

At Munglig’s instruction, the fastest-looking member of the Kheshig moved quickly. Thanks to that, troops began to gather rapidly in the area.

Seeing this, the enemy forces, apparently wanting to avoid a full-scale battle, began to flee. From the enemy’s behavior, I could immediately tell that the size of the assassination force was not large.

“The enemy is fleeing. Don’t let them escape!”

At Munglig’s words, the Kheshig rushed forward. When dozens of muscle-bound men charged, one of the assassins couldn’t escape and was captured.

The captured assassin. Though wearing a mask, he had features that anyone could tell were from Western Xia.

* * *

“Do we have any information from the assassin?”

In response to my question, Elunka answered instead of Munglig.

“He’s doing muscles, so he’ll soon spill the information.”

“…”

The sentence should definitely have included words like interrogation or torture. But hearing the word “muscles” instead of interrogation created confusion in my mind.

I wondered if muscles and torture or interrogation were the same word.

Anyway, that wasn’t important right now, so I just nodded.

After some time passed, a hooded man was dragged before us.

“Are you ready to talk now?”

The merchant immediately translated Elunka’s question. Upon hearing the translation, the assassin nodded vigorously. Then he answered with an expression that seemed to be begging for his life.

“Huff… huff… please… please… stop the… squat walk… haa… I’ll… I’ll tell everything… please…”

“Good. If you lie, this time I’ll make you do squat walks in a place where your feet sink deep.”

“Hee… heeek!”

Seeing the spy shudder, it seemed he had been properly tortured, regardless of the method.

“Good. Where did you come from?”

“F-from Xingqing.”

“Xingqing, is it. Then who is your master?”

“Th-that’s…”

Seeing the assassin hesitate, Elunka immediately gestured to call the Tamma. The Tamma looked at the assassin with sinister expressions and muttered strange words.

“Yes… you’re probably not satisfied with just squat walks… now you want to try the horse stance.”

“That’s right. After all, leg exercises have that strange pleasure of being painful yet thrilling. Heheheheh.”

Though he couldn’t understand the language, the assassin seemed to understand the Tamma’s words and immediately turned pale.

“I-I’ll tell you right away. It’s… it’s Zhao Yunling, the Left Army General of Western Xia.”

“Zhao Yunling?”

“H-he’s the younger brother of the Minister.”

“I see.”

According to the information brought by the Tamma, the commander-in-chief of Western Xia was the chancellor, Wei Xiaoyun. The fact that Zhao Yunling, Zhao Yunchang’s younger brother, was acting independently meant only one thing.

That Zhao Yunling was acting alone to avenge his brother.

Nothing else came to mind.

Anyway, whether this was true or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that there was an enemy high official acting independently.

“How many troops does Zhao Yunling have?”

“L-less than a thousand.”

“Less than a thousand troops outside Xingqing…”

It would be foolish to just watch a high-ranking enemy official operating with just a thousand men. Moreover, there was no news of large-scale troop movements inside Xingqing.

Of course, it could be a trap. But looking at the numbers alone, it was worth attempting.

We were able to extract various other pieces of information from the assassin. The biggest piece of information was none other than a secret passage into Xingqing.

“There’s a secret passage…”

“It seems Zhao Yunling brought his soldiers out through that passage.”

I nodded at Elunka’s words. Then I ordered the assassin to be sent back to prison.

The Tamma clung to the assassin and dragged him away… but the assassin’s expression was like that of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse. Leaving the assassin behind, I called for Chalukhab.

“Chalukhab.”

“I await your command, my lord.”

“I will give you a thousand swift cavalry. Lead them to capture… no, attack and defeat Zhao Yunling.”

It would be good to take him prisoner. But our original tactic was to trap Xingqing with water, so it wasn’t necessary to take him prisoner.

Simply defeating the enemy forces would be less troublesome and easier to handle.

“Is defeat enough?”

“Yes. And if possible, I’d prefer Zhao Yunling to be unharmed.”

It would be better if Zhao Yunling returned in a healthy state. That way, whether he returned to have a big fight with Wei Xiaoyun or submitted to Wei Xiaoyun, the current situation where they weren’t moving in Xingqing would be maintained longer.

Therefore, it was better for Zhao Yunling to stay healthy rather than get hurt.

“I receive your command.”

With that, Chalukhab bowed and left the ger. After Chalukhab left, Bulqa and Hulitu spoke to me.

“It doesn’t seem wise to let those who tried to assassinate the lord live.”

“That’s right. It would be better to kill him and make an example of him.”

I shook my head at their words.

“I think Bulqa and Hulitu’s words are reasonable. However, now that the dam is almost complete, there’s no need to move our troops for unnecessary matters.”

The act of moving an army consumed enormous energy. So there was no need for our entire army to move to capture Zhao Yunling.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m forgetting the crime of trying to assassinate me.”

I said this while looking at Bulqa and Hulitu. The two bent one knee and paid their respects.

“You two will lead the trebuchets near the city walls. Deploy them horizontally there and attack the walls. It doesn’t matter if you don’t damage the walls.”

At my command, Elunka, who was beside me, wore a puzzled expression. That was because unlike Khara-Khoto, Xingqing’s walls were built with solid stone, making it difficult to cause significant damage unless the trebuchets’ firepower was concentrated.

In the midst of this, I was ordering them to deploy horizontally and spread the firepower over a wide area rather than concentrating it, so he couldn’t help but look puzzled.

“The purpose of the trebuchets is merely a show of force against the enemy. So it’s fine if they don’t cause damage.”

The main purpose of this artillery fire was to let the enemy know that we had the means to attack their walls. Therefore, it didn’t matter if we didn’t cause damage.

“We receive your command.”

“We receive the lord’s command.”

Bulqa and Hulitu bowed as if they understood my explanation.

“Munglig and Elunka.”

“I await your command, my lord.”

“I am ready to receive your orders, Great One.”

“Issue battle preparation orders to the entire army.”

Munglig and Elunka, who received the order, left the ger to spread my command. With all the major khans gone, only my son Bekhter and I remained in the ger.

“I am ready, Father.”

In response to Bekhter’s words, I answered by patting my son’s shoulder.

It was time to announce the end of this long war.

It was time to take Xingqing.