Ch.76Merger (2)

When the gates of Xingqing opened, Bekhter drew his sword.

“People of the Ulus! It’s time to punish those who sent you to your deaths! Take up your weapons!”

The merchant translated Bekhter’s words.

In response, the Western Xia refugees raised their bamboo spears high.

“We’ll kill all those nobles feasting comfortably behind the walls with these spears.”

“They’ll pay for driving us out to die.”

The refugees glared at the city gates with faces twisted in anger.

They had been ordered to defend the walls but were given neither proper armor nor weapons.

They were driven out with only these bamboo spears in hand.

It was bad enough being expelled, but after watching their comrades die needlessly from friendly fire shot from within Xingqing, it was only natural that their loyalty to Western Xia had vanished.

In this situation, Bekhter, an enemy general, approached and offered to protect them.

From the refugees’ perspective, it didn’t matter how they died, but they desperately wanted revenge against those who had abandoned them.

So they immediately took Bekhter’s hand.

“Charge! Release your anger!”

“Uwaaaaah!”

“Attaaaack!”

The enraged refugees rushed forward as soon as the gates opened.

Behind them, the Ulus cavalry followed.

Despite their momentum, the ankle-deep water made it difficult to move properly.

The enemy soldiers on the walls fired arrows, hindering the Ulus advance.

“Die! Barbarians!”

“Kill all the traitors!”

As Western Xia archers’ arrows killed some of the refugee forces, their anger grew even stronger.

They hurled insults in the Western Xia language at the archers, making no attempt to hide their fury.

“You damned bastards! Since when is it right to kill your own countrymen?!”

“Trash!”

“Are you enjoying your comfortable lives after abandoning us?!”

These were words they would never dare speak under normal circumstances due to differences in status and class.

But in a life-or-death situation, it was impossible for the refugees to maintain their composure.

“I… I can’t do this.”

“This doesn’t seem right…”

Some archers even showed sympathy for the refugee forces.

This was understandable, as some of the refugees were their family members or friends.

Because of this, the archers on the wall failed to fulfill their role at a critical moment when they needed to concentrate their fire.

Bekhter, the Ulus commander, instinctively noticed that the enemy was hesitating.

He signaled to Bulqa, who was commanding the trebuchets from the rear.

Upon receiving the signal, Bulqa immediately began concentrating fire on the gate area.

Swoooosh

“Uwaaaaak!”

“Aaargh!”

Man-sized stones rained down on the Western Xia soldiers emerging from the gates.

This caused massive casualties among the Western Xia troops.

“D-do something!”

“What can we do?!”

“There’s water in front and people behind—we can’t even retreat!”

Following the minister’s orders, they had to exit through the gates to attack the enemy.

However, the number of people who could pass through the gates at once was limited.

This created a bottleneck effect.

Knowing this, the Ulus trebuchets continued bombarding the gates.

As a result, the Western Xia soldiers suffered tremendous casualties.

Yet they couldn’t retreat either.

There were too many people behind them trying to move forward.

Even those who managed to get through faced difficulties in combat.

The area around Xingqing was flooded with ankle-deep water.

It was impossible to run while carrying heavy armor and weapons in such conditions.

They couldn’t even form proper battle formations.

Without formations, soldiers became isolated, making them easy prey for cavalry.

“Aaaaargh!”

“P-please spare me!”

“Don’t resist us!”

“Surrender and we’ll spare your lives!”

The Ulus cavalry were easily killing enemy soldiers.

This was possible because they were mounted on horses.

Again, the area around Xingqing was flooded.

This made it difficult to run properly.

However, this didn’t eliminate the cavalry’s advantage over infantry.

Being on horseback naturally put them higher than foot soldiers, giving them better visibility and attack advantage.

This allowed the Ulus cavalry to easily dispatch enemy infantry who could barely resist due to the water.

The tide of battle was clearly turning in favor of the Ulus.

Sensing this, Bekhter ordered the refugee forces to retreat.

“Refugee forces, fall back!”

The Western Xia refugee forces retreated as ordered.

After regrouping around Bekhter, they looked to their commander, awaiting further orders.

“Well done. The ongoing battle at the gates will be left to the cavalry.”

The refugees nodded after hearing Bekhter’s orders through the merchant’s translation.

However, some still showed a desire to continue fighting.

Seeing this, Bekhter reassured them.

“Don’t worry. From now on, you’ll be carrying out a different mission.”

“A different mission, sir?”

“Yes. The most important mission that will end this war.”

After saying this, Bekhter pointed to a section of the wall.

It was the secret passage revealed by the assassin sent by Zhao Yunling.

“You will enter Xingqing through the secret passage.”

At the mention of entering Xingqing, the refugees’ eyes began to gleam.

Their expressions instinctively showed they understood what they needed to do.

Bekhter responded to their looks:

“Once inside, you will create internal discord.”

* * *

The minister was furious at the stalled battle at the gates.

This was because an army of 400,000 was failing to fight properly.

“Those vile Mongols…”

The minister gritted his teeth as he spoke.

Due to the Mongols’ strategy, the Western Xia’s massive army was struggling just to exit through the gates.

Even those who managed to get through were suffering cumulative casualties from cavalry attacks.

The archers on the walls should have been dealing with these cavalry attacks.

However, due to internal strife, they had lost control over the walls, making this difficult as well.

With all these worst-case scenarios overlapping, Western Xia’s army of 400,000 was effectively split into thousands of smaller units.

“What should we do, Your Excellency?”

At his aide’s question, Wei Xiaoyun fell into thought.

Then he answered with a determined expression.

“We cannot fall like this. We’ll use attrition warfare.”

Currently, Xingqing’s supplies were virtually nonexistent.

Additionally, once the gates were opened, they couldn’t be closed again.

So attrition warfare was the only option left.

Western Xia had 400,000 troops.

Of course, they had suffered casualties—anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands—as they exited through the gates.

Even accounting for these losses, Western Xia still had numerical superiority.

Compared to this large force, the Mongol army numbered only around 50,000, even including the Western Xia refugees.

With an 8-to-1 advantage, if they continued to push forward despite casualties, the Mongols would eventually be overwhelmed.

“Keep sending in troops. No matter how many stones the Mongols fire, they’re still human. If we keep pressing until they tire, we will ultimately win.”

In truth, Wei Xiaoyun was somewhat shaken by the Mongols’ water attack and trebuchet bombardment.

But despite these attacks, he remained steadfast.

The 400,000-strong army was still under his command.

Despite internal discord, 400,000 was a number difficult to mobilize even in Central Plains.

Thus, Wei Xiaoyun believed that if they could just overcome this critical moment, Western Xia could win.

While he was thinking this, a sudden commotion erupted near the minister.

“There seems to be a disturbance inside. What’s happening?”

At Wei Xiaoyun’s question, his aide moved to assess the situation.

After understanding what was happening, the aide reported with an urgent expression.

“Y-Your Excellency. Some soldiers are disobeying your orders and heading toward the emperor’s palace!”

“What?!”

“I-it seems they’re plotting treason!”

Wei Xiaoyun staggered, unable to steady himself from the sudden headache that overwhelmed him.

As he faltered, his aide quickly moved to support him.

This was the third internal division.

The first was Zhao Yunling’s independent action, and the second was the betrayal of the gate commander.

It was only natural to be shocked by yet another internal conflict in this situation.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“B-but…”

“As commander-in-chief, I cannot show weakness.”

At the minister’s resolute answer, the aide could only nod.

“First, we must protect His Imperial Majesty.”

The emperor was the core of the nation.

If the emperor’s safety was compromised in any way, the entire country would be in danger.

Therefore, Wei Xiaoyun had no choice but to shift his priority from the gate battle to protecting the emperor.

However, it was impossible for the commander-in-chief to leave the frontlines during battle.

So despite the awkward situation, he had to entrust this task to Zhao Yunling.

“Inform the Left Army Commander of this situation and tell him I’m returning his command authority.”

Due to Zhao Yunling’s independent action, he had temporarily lost command of the Left Army.

But given the circumstances, the minister had no choice but to reinstate his authority.

“U-understood, Your Excellency.”

The aide who received the minister’s order hurried to carry it out.

As soon as he disappeared, Wei Xiaoyun headed back to the frontlines to continue commanding.

Soldiers followed to protect the minister.

Usually, there would be a separate aide to command these guards, but all his aides and generals were busy dealing with the internal chaos, so the minister had to move alone.

As he moved with his guards, a loud voice suddenly rang out.

“There’s Wei Xiaoyun!”

“There’s the villain who drove us to our deaths!”

“Kill him!”

Startled by the angry voices of the soldiers, the minister looked in their direction with a shocked expression.

He was greatly surprised when he saw their appearance.

“H-how did they get here…”

Wei Xiaoyun was staring in disbelief at the ragged men holding bamboo spears.

This was because they were supposed to have died outside.

“Did you think we would die so easily?!”

“We won’t die until we kill you first!”

“The spirits of those who went before us are watching. Hand over your head now!”

The enraged men charged directly at the minister.

Alarmed, the minister gave orders to his guards.

“S-stop them! Quickly!”

As the guards stepped forward, the refugee forces were immediately blocked.

This was because the minister’s guards were elite soldiers equipped with quality armor and weapons.

It was nearly impossible for refugees armed with bamboo spears to overcome such opponents.

However, being greater in number than the guards, the refugees surrounded them, preventing them from moving.

As a result, Wei Xiaoyun, the commander-in-chief, was also unable to move.

In an instant, Western Xia’s army of 400,000 lost its commander.

Because of this, Western Xia’s defeat was becoming increasingly inevitable.