Chapter 35
"Does the King of Ruoqiang think that our Han Army is deceiving you? As far as I know, your Ruqiang People only number a thousand. If we eliminate you here, won't your Ruoqiang People face utter destruction?" Hua Mulan frowned.
"We understand. After I return this time, I will lead everyone in my tribe to the city of Loulan. I hope the General will keep her word." The King of Ruoqiang thought for a moment, feeling that what Hua Mulan said made sense, so he steeled his heart and said through gritted teeth.
"King of Ruoqiang, rest assured, we will absolutely not mistreat you. From now on, you only need to live as common people, peacefully farming and herding," Hua Mulan said.
She then had a path cleared for the Ruoqiang People to leave.
"May I know the General's name? That way, when our tribe goes to Loulan, the people there will know that we have surrendered to the Han Army." The King of Laoqiang remembered something and asked Hua Mulan again.
"My surname is Hua, and my given name is Mulan. King of Laoqiang, you can rest assured. I will write a letter to inform the Shanshan Kingdom, and they will arrange everything properly for you," Hua Mulan said.
"Thank you, General Hua." The King of Laoqiang nodded to Hua Mulan and then left with his tribesmen.
He also knew that a choice had to be made between the Han Army and the Nomadic Confederation. Following the Nomadic Confederation's words meant enduring extreme exploitation every year. As for the Han Army... at least they weren't as excessive as the Nomadic Confederation.
After resolving the matter of the Ruqiang People, Hua Mulan said to the old city lord at her side, "City Lord An, did you hear what I just said clearly?"
The old city lord was also shrewd and immediately said, "General Hua, we understand. As long as those Ruqiang People don't cause trouble again, we will strictly follow General Hua's orders in everything."
Hua Mulan understood the old city lord's meaning and continued, "Those Ruqiang People often graze in the high mountains and are unfamiliar with etiquette. If problems arise, you can at most arrest them, but you must not judge them privately. All matters will be handled by our army when we return."
The hatred between these Loulan people and the Ruqiang People runs deep. If they were allowed to handle it, various problems would arise.
"Your humble servant understands." Seeing that Hua Mulan would not compromise on this matter, the old city lord could only nod.
"I hope City Lord An can understand the greater good. This time is different from before. Our dynasty genuinely intends to manage this Western Regions area as an administrative province under its jurisdiction. Even the name has been chosen: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Xinjiang Province for short!" Hua Mulan said solemnly.
Seeing Hua Mulan's serious demeanor, the old city lord no longer doubted that the Han Army's actions this time might indeed be different from before, not just nominally controlling The various kingdoms of the Western Regions, but actually taking control.
After resolving the matter of the Ruoqiang People, Hua Mulan continued south. The various kingdoms along the way, upon seeing the Han Army, mostly chose to surrender. For those who didn't, Hua Mulan didn't hesitate and executed them on the spot.
For this expedition to the Western Regions, Lia had made it very clear: the people of the Western Regions must know that there is only one voice here, and that is the Han Army.
If there were other voices, they were to be killed immediately.
This was unavoidable. For the future stability of the Western Regions, it was necessary to cut the Gordian knot quickly. This way, only one voice would remain in the Western Regions, making it much easier to recruit people from the Western Regions to fight the Nomadic Confederation in the future.
However, these various kingdoms of the Western Regions might have knelt to the Nomadic Confederation and the Han Army for too long, completely lacking any thought of resistance.
Upon seeing Hua Mulan leading troops and knowing it was the Han Army, they all chose to surrender without much thought of resistance, saving Hua Mulan a lot of effort along the way.
Meanwhile, Lia went north, leading her troops directly to the Yanqi Kingdom.
At this moment, the Yanqi Kingdom was already controlled by the Rouran People. After hearing about the Shanshan Kingdom incident, these Rouran People realized that the Han Army intended to contend with them for the Western Regions this time.
Therefore, the Nomadic Confederation had also dispatched several thousand Rouran soldiers to the Yanqi Kingdom, determined to block Lia's army.
According to the intelligence received by Lia, nearly ten thousand troops had gathered in the Yanqi Kingdom. The Yanqi Kingdom itself had over thirty thousand people and five thousand soldiers of its own. With the Nomadic Confederation sending five thousand cavalry, it would pose a considerable threat to Lia.
Fortunately, the five thousand soldiers she currently led were all cavalry. The Yanqi Kingdom could only defend, and the Nomadic Confederation would not engage in a head-on clash with her five thousand cavalry, as losing them would greatly reduce their control over the Western Regions.
This would give her much more freedom. Ten days later, Lia had led her soldiers to the front of the Yanqi Kingdom.
Lia first had her men shout a few times to see if the Yanqi Kingdom would surrender.
However, with the Rouran People already inside their city, it would be a miracle if they surrendered. So, after a few shouts, Lia's men were driven back by a volley of arrows.
A general from the Yanqi Kingdom pointed at the camp Lia had set up outside the city and said, "Great King Ganwu, please look. Those outside the city are the Han Army. Their numbers are no less than five thousand. As long as we defend the city well and prevent these Han Army soldiers from attacking, they will surely retreat when their food runs out."
Great King Ganwu of the Nomadic Confederation had not had a good few days. He had not expected that a mere skirmish in front of Yumen Pass would lead these Han Army soldiers directly to the Western Regions.
According to the intelligence received, these Han Army soldiers had brought ten thousand troops directly to the Western Regions. Based on the information gathered by scouts, five thousand troops had already set off towards the southern route.
This meant that the southern route would completely side with the Han Army during this period, which would result in their tribe losing a lot of slave resources.
However, now was not the time to consider these things. If they could not repel the Han Army, even the northern route countries that obeyed their Rouran People would turn back to the Han people.
Although these people of the Western Regions were very obedient to their Nomadic Confederation, it was actually similar to the Han Dynasty, relying solely on the residual prestige of their ancestors. In reality, their tribe only numbered a few tens of thousands.
Otherwise, the Khan would not have only allowed him to bring so many troops.
For the people of the Yanqi Kingdom, perhaps they thought that as long as they held the city walls, it would be fine. As long as the Han Army didn't enter, there wouldn't be much of a problem.
Although the Nomadic Confederation was not good at siege warfare, helping the Yanqi people defend the city was not an issue.
Lia did not rush to attack the city upon arrival but instead began assembling cannons on the spot. The Yanqi people and the Rouran People had never seen these things and could only watch the Han Army with puzzled expressions, not knowing what they were doing as they assembled these black, thick tubes piece by piece.
Chapter 84: These are called Lia Cannons!
After capturing Chang'an, Lia immediately had the craftsmen completely upgrade the pine wood cannons. Moreover, to deal with the city wall problems in the Western Regions, she brought four of the eight 'Lia Cannons,' which were the later Frankish cannons, that had been painstakingly produced.
She had already given two of them to Hua Mulan, keeping two for herself. This was the time for these Lia Cannons to show their true power to these natives!
When these natives saw Lia's side pushing out two Lia Cannons, they exchanged glances, not knowing what these things were, only showing puzzled expressions.
Then they saw several Han Army soldiers performing strange actions in front of these black and thick cannons. Finally, these two cannons were aimed at their city walls.
After all these preparations were made, a wooden box was carried over. Opening the box, they saw it was full of black cannonballs, numbering over a hundred.
With Lia's command: "Fire!"
The fuses of the two cannons were lit, and the soldiers beside the cannons immediately crouched down, covering their ears.
With a thunderous roar, the cannons made a deafening sound, and from within the cannons, black cannonballs were directly launched towards the city walls of the Yanqi Kingdom.
With a bang, the cannonball struck the city wall at an invisible speed. With a crash, the section of the city wall hit by the cannon was blasted open, like tofu, creating a large hole with a loud roar.
As for the soldiers behind this large hole, their upper bodies had long disappeared, with only their blood-soaked lower bodies indicating their former presence.
"Keep firing!" Lia's face was expressionless.
As Lia spoke, the cannons continued to fire. Although there were only two cannons, they were more effective than a thousand troops, because the soldiers discovered that even hiding behind the city walls was useless.
The city walls were torn apart as easily as paper in front of the cannons.
A soldier was seen trembling behind the city wall. Suddenly, with an explosion, the city wall behind this soldier was torn apart again. Before he could even let out a scream, only his lower body remained on the spot.
A soldier was hiding under the eaves when a cannonball landed right into the eaves. Although the cannonball didn't hit him, the entire house directly collapsed, burying the person inside.
Because it was difficult to control the precise landing of the cannonballs, they either hit the city walls or landed inside the city. In short, under the continuous bombardment of the cannons, Yanqi City was in chaos, with everyone screaming and shouting.
Because no one knew if a cannonball would suddenly fall from the sky and blow them to smithereens.
"What in the world is this thing!" A Rouran general was shocked when he saw this scene.
One of the cannonballs flew in his direction. Seeing this, he snorted coldly, drew out the wolf-tooth club from his body, and directly struck the cannonball.
The moment the cannonball and the weapon made contact, there was a sudden explosion, bursting into a flash of fire, and he was engulfed in the blast.
"Wunai Yin!" King Ganwu exclaimed upon seeing this.
When the smoke and dust from the explosion dissipated, the man's face was blackened, his hand holding the weapon trembled, and a trace of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
"King Ganwu, I'm fine. These black things are indeed quite powerful." Wunai Yin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The cannonball just now had shaken his internal organs almost out of place. If his strength hadn't been great enough, he might have been blown to death on the spot.
Lia also chose to stop the attack after dozens of artillery bombardments.
At this moment, the Yanqi Kingdom city walls had already been battered beyond recognition, resembling a slope, completely unusable for defense. Lia and her troops only needed to charge up the slope.
However, Lia did not do so; instead, she sent someone to shout a message.
"People of the Yanqi Kingdom, listen! My King gives you one day to consider. If you still don't surrender, we will bombard you again tomorrow and then directly launch an assault on the city!"
After the soldier finished shouting, he retreated.
Although directly attacking the city now, while the enemy had lost confidence, would certainly secure victory, the best option was to subdue the enemy without fighting.
Now that the enemy had lost confidence due to their cannons, it was best to avoid direct confrontation if possible. As long as the other side understood that opposing the Han Army would lead to no good end, the Rouran People currently in the city would find themselves in a precarious situation.
Once she directly attacked the city, both sides would abandon their prejudices and cooperate, leading to close combat and significant casualties on her side, which would not be a good thing.
Lia believed that the other side would make a wise choice. Currently, these countries were helping the Nomadic Confederation only because of the Nomadic Confederation's power.
These Rouran People had not bullied them any less in the past, and all that resentment was held in their hearts. Once they discovered that the Nomadic Confederation was no match for the Han Army, these oppressed countries would erupt in an instant.
Seeing the Han Army temporarily retreat, the people within the Yanqi Kingdom and the Rouran People looked at each other, seeing deep fear in each other's eyes.
That night, due to the day's events, the Rouran People's generals had already gathered. At this moment, King Ganwu of the Rouran People had recovered from his fear of the daytime artillery. He immediately summoned a group of his subordinates and began to discuss.
"What do you all think we should do now? Should we retreat directly, or should we look for an opportunity tonight to break through the enemy's main camp? A single battle to decide victory or defeat?" King Ganwu asked expressionlessly.
"Your Majesty, wouldn't that be too reckless? Those Han people are incredibly cunning. What if they anticipate our raid and set up an ambush?" After all, they had fought with the Han people for hundreds of years, and they knew better than anyone how cunning the Han people were.
Not only were the Han people cunning, but the Rouran People were equally cunning. In their battles with the Han people, they had mutually set up various traps and ambushes.
That night, everyone debated endlessly, discussing whether or not to launch a surprise attack on the Han people's camp.
Ultimately, the Rouran People made a decision: to attack!
Because if they didn't seize the opportunity at night, given how terrified the Yanqi Kingdom's people were, the chances of them helping again were very low; by tomorrow, they would surely choose to open the city gates and surrender.
This would make their situation very dangerous.
But if they succeeded in their night attack, they would not only defeat the Han Army but also obtain their two incredibly powerful siege weapons. If they had these things in the future, would they still fear the Han people's city walls?
No matter what, this venture was worth a try!
Chapter 85: Taking Down the Yanqi Kingdom
At three in the morning, the gates of the Yanqi Kingdom were quietly opened. The Rouran People watched the flickering lights in the Han Army camp, and 1,000 Rouran People quietly crept forward.
The camp gates were tightly shut, and no soldiers could be seen moving inside. Only some unburnt matches crackled.
Seeing this, the Rouran People leading this team became even more cautious. In the Han-Rouran wars, the Han people had used many tricks, so they had to be on guard.
Some Rouran People experts immediately scaled into the camp. Although it was strange that there were no guards at the gate, as if openly telling them there was an ambush tonight, it was very eerie.
But they still secretly opened the camp gates. Regardless of whether it was a trick by the Han Army, they had to take the risk. If they failed, they would at most lose 1,000 men.
If they succeeded, the 4,000 Rouran cavalry behind them could charge in, and even the terrified Yanqi Kingdom soldiers would regain their confidence!
Of course, if they failed, they would abandon the Yanqi Kingdom and flee overnight, to avoid being caught in a pincer attack by the Yanqi Kingdom and the Han Army. No matter how powerful the Han Army was, could they really chase them into the great desert?
Forget it, it's better to abandon that thought, lest the events of Wei Huo repeat themselves!
After the gates were opened, 1,000 Rouran soldiers immediately rushed in.
Only when they had all charged into the camp and entered the tents did they realize there was no one inside, but it also didn't seem like an ambush.
"What's going on?" Seeing 1,000 Rouran soldiers rush into the camp without anything happening, and no shouts of battle, King Ganwu in the distance grew puzzled instead.
"Your Majesty, it must be that those Han Army soldiers feared our sneak attack and had already withdrawn last night, which is why we found an empty camp," one of King Ganwu's subordinates said.
"Those Han Army soldiers are truly cunning. Go and see if they left anything behind in that camp." King Ganwu shook his head and led the remaining 4,000 soldiers towards the camp.
It was well known that the Rouran People never returned empty-handed. Seeing that the felt tents and other items in the camp were intact, King Ganwu shouted from outside for his men to take everything they could from the camp and then burn it all down!
Just as the Rouran People were celebrating and relaxing, behind a small hill two li away from the camp, a thunderous roar of battle suddenly erupted. 1,000 cavalrymen charged out in unison, brandishing their swords, sabers, and spears, and galloped towards the camp.
"This empty camp is indeed a trap." King Ganwu was greatly alarmed and immediately called upon the Rouran People to organize their soldiers and prepare to meet the enemy.
These 1,000 cavalrymen quickly rushed to the perimeter of the camp. They took out hand grenades from their bosoms and threw them directly into the camp.
At this moment, the camp was densely packed with Rouran People soldiers. Coupled with the fact that the wooden gate of the camp itself was not large, these Rouran People soldiers could not quickly escape from inside.
hand grenades exploded inside the camp, and the Rouran People only heard continuous flashes of red light from explosions ringing and lighting up within the camp.
Countless Rouran People would scream and then fall to the ground.
King Ganwu, who was already alert, saw his soldiers falling in droves, as if struck by some demonic spell. He dared not linger for a moment, hastily mounted his horse, exited the camp, and fled into the dark night.
As King Ganwu fled, more and more Rouran generals also chose to escape.
In fact, Lia herself didn't necessarily think the enemy would come, but she considered, what would she do if she were the Rouran People?
Their own soldiers had already lost confidence in a frontal assault. If they still wanted victory at this point, a surprise attack was the only option left.
So, a midnight raid on the camp was naturally the best choice. It could be said that Lia knew this, and the Rouran People also knew this, but they had to do it, otherwise, they would have to withdraw their troops today.
Therefore, for victory, the Rouran People could only gamble that the Han Army's leader was a fool and that their raid would succeed at night. However, the facts proved that the Han Army's leader was not a fool; their raid failed, so they could only retreat.
However, the Rouran People, ever since the Xiongnu, had been driven out of the Western Regions by the Han people many times, so this time was no different. If they couldn't PP the Western Regions, they would go elsewhere to PP others.
Thus, regarding the sovereignty of the Yanqi Kingdom