Chapter 270: Run!

The Great King's four cannons at the West City Gate were already aimed, waiting for them to draw near, their formation to tighten, then he'd give them a big gift.

It seemed the other side had discovered the people hanging on the city wall.

The Great King instantly recognized that the Eastern Xianbei prince, Buyin, was the one, surely the most furious.

Buyin angrily raised his whip toward the gate tower, shouting, "You little bastard of the Bai Li family, come out! How did we treat the Emperor of Great Jin? We fed him well and sent him back to Chang'an! How dare you now insult the Eastern Xianbei like this?!"

He didn't mention Emperor Ningde; the Great King calmly watched the NPC‑trained soldiers aim, after all ammunition is expensive and they rarely get to practice.

Hearing Buyin's words, the Great King flared with anger, stepped to the middle of the gate tower, sank his breath into his dantian and shouted, "My father the emperor has just died—are you urging me to first kill Wanniuyu?! I won't! Your parents, the nobles of the Eastern Xianbei royal city who can be named, are hanging on the city walls; I'm here watching your own cavalry slaughter them—don't you love battle? Archery, perfect—I don't even want to keep them alive."

Buyin's eyes nearly burst; he didn't know how things had come to this—wasn't he supposed to come and claim the fruits of victory?!

He took a deep breath, "You must be the You Prince, right? Isn't Great Jin a land of propriety? Aren't you losing face by doing this? My father is the Great King of the Liaodong Xianbei—you can't treat him like this!"

The Great King muttered under his breath, "Oh dear, this prince seems smarter than the second brother!"

Wei Shen nodded solemnly: "So he must die."

The Great King raised his voice: "Are you out of your mind, Prince? The wolves invading Great Jin lecture me on propriety? You're about to storm the city and still talk about rites? I'm still young—I've never met anyone as amusing as you."

Besides, I need to remind you: Wanniuyu is no longer the King of the Eastern Xianbei! I personally helped Buyin ascend the throne—that's your younger brother.

It's been a long time—didn't he inform you? Actually, I also sympathize with you; you came out to skirmish for the Xiongnu, lost your home, gained nothing, and now you might even lose your life here~!

Tuoba Yao hearing this finally couldn't help but sneer: "What an arrogant, ignorant brat!"

Wei Shen crossed his arms, looking down at him: "Who are you? State your name! Since you're a leader, we'll erect a stele for you—after all, we too are a land of propriety."

The Great King gave him a thumbs‑up: "Land of propriety—how proper!"

Zhang Tu: ……

Alright, Tuoba Yao is now fired up too.

Without a word he raised his arm: "Storm the city!"

Buyin immediately rushed to stop him: "You're crazy—my parents are on the city wall!"

"Then what do you suggest? Abandon Youzhou? We've lost how many men to take this?!"

A bald‑haired Xianbei nearby suggested, "Why not try shooting the ropes?"

"What a terrible idea! That wall is so high, falling would kill you!"

"... The walls of Youzhou are stronger than Chang'an's; this kid is somewhat interesting..."

Wanniuyu, hanging from the city wall, most desperate, gathered his strength and roared: "Buyin! Don't mind me, run! Run! Youzhou…"

Buyin couldn't catch every word, but he heard Wanniuyu telling him to run.

He instantly felt worse: "Father, I will save you!"

Wanniuyu, voice hoarse from exhaustion, shouted: "Don't be foolish—you can't take Youzhou, run! Run! You Prince, are you there? I beg you, spare him! Let him take his people and retreat to the base of the snow mountains, okay?"

The Great King didn't even respond, as if playing at deep father‑son feelings—doesn't he realize they just killed my father, and I can't stand seeing this now?

Wanniuyu, desperate to the extreme, does he really need to watch the fall of the royal city again?

"Buyin, run! Pull your troops back! Give up Youzhou! Run! If you wait, you won't be able to leave!" Wanniuyu shouted hoarsely, while Buyin's birth mother beside him did the crying.

Buyin hated the Great King even more, thinking his father's capture had already shattered his courage, his heart growing ever more anguished.

He turned to the others and said, "Let's pause the assault and retreat to Wing Prefecture first; after I rescue my father we can attack again without delay. I'll owe you one—next time we storm the city, the Eastern Xianbei will take the vanguard…"

The Great King saw them discussing, craned his neck and asked, "What are you doing? Planning tactics? Do you even get to decide the tactics?"

This time I will have the final say.

The Great King raised the Sun‑shooting Bow and shouted, "Fire!"

The four cannons, their black muzzles already trained on the cavalry ahead, the Great King gave the order—all four fired together!

Firelight accompanied by white smoke, with booming thunder, screamed across the sky and slammed into the densest ranks of the Xianbei cavalry!

Explosions erupted all around, followed by wails.

This was a true overturning of men and horses; the Great King even saw horse legs flying far away…

This was the first time the cannon's mouth was aimed at humans; he forced himself not to look away, telling himself this was war—not the death of invading barbarians, but the common folk of Youzhou dying alongside him!

They were still his father's killers.

Without their wolfish ambitions, his father the emperor might still be alive; even if he accomplished nothing, he wouldn't do evil, right? Then he'd still have a father.

The Great King's gaze grew steadier: "Again!" One blast would shock these Jin‑blood‑drinking barbarians, making the cavalry easier to fight shortly after.

Explosions burst forth, and the Three Xianbei Tribes were already dazed by the blast.

What is this?

They first covered their ears, then couldn't bother—their horses startled, they had to struggle to hold the horses trying to flee.

Everywhere were explosions, everywhere were wails!

Fire shot skyward; where the shells landed, men and horses were blown to pieces, countless fell, and severed limbs kept flying into view…

The explosions shook the heavens; people and horses near the impact rang in their ears, as if trapped in a nightmare.

The Xianbei had never seen a smoothbore cannon, never even heard of such advanced weapon; their prized warhorses went utterly out of control, charging into the infantry, the field filled with wails, chaos spreading rapidly—this was a disaster, with no combat strength left.

Tuoba Yao finally managed to rein in his horse, shouting hoarsely for a retreat.

"Withdraw! Quick! Withdraw!"

Unfortunately, no matter how loud he shouted, his voice was drowned out by the explosions.

Whether or not they heard him didn't matter—what fight was left? Men and horses were already fleeing far away.

Soon, those who had been at the rear of the column had already outrun the cannon's range.

The Great King knew it was time to fight desperately again.

The Great King and Wei Shen left the wall; his personal guards brought Xiao Zao over, and the Great King climbed onto his horse's back.

The West City Gate stood wide open; outside lay a haze of smoke and a hundred‑thousand‑strong Xianbei army. The Great King sat high on his horse, this time raising his wolf‑tooth spear.

"Come with me to stop the Three Xianbei Tribes—not a single living barbarian may escape Youzhou! Soldiers, glory lies ahead—kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Wan Niuyu, hanging from the gate tower, heard the earth-shaking shouts of killing, and slowly closed his eyes……

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The Secluded Province cavalry's great king, well-fed and well-treated, finally found use; nearly ten thousand warhorses charged out of the West City Gate, the shouts of killing shaking the heavens.

Those at the rear were originally Xianbei cavalry, but later they, without regard for anything, turned back to flee the bombardment; the panicked warhorses didn't care about trampling their own, and gradually the infantry fell to the back.

Both eastern and western Xianbei produced only cavalry; the infantry were all the bald-headed Xianbei brought from Duye; the leader of the bald-headed Xianbei, hoarse and exhausted, desperately shouted for retreat, ordering everyone to withdraw to the northern border!

When Buyin noticed the explosion sounds had stopped, he looked back at Secluded Province City and saw that the Secluded Province troops had actually charged out!

He reined his horse to a stop, "Stop! The young son of the Bai Li clan has chased out!"

Not far from him, the bald-headed also stopped, "Could it be that thing can't reach that far?"

Buyin gave a cold smile, "Then we ought to meet the Great Jin~ cavalry. I didn't expect Secluded Province to be so wealthy, actually having so many cavalry."

The bald-headed, however, didn't care at all, not taking it seriously, "It's just ten thousand, utterly overestimating themselves!"

"He's only over ten years old, what does he know? Arrogant royal youngster! We shouldn't get close to the city wall; right here we'll kill them all!"

The Great King chased out, discovered that the Xianbei who had been running fast had stopped, and the Great King was happy.

Without a word, he raised his wolf-tooth lance, "No one is to be let go! They killed the Zhenxi Grand General, the Sukguo Duke, and hundreds of thousands of Great Jin soldiers! Kill!"

Wei Shen, upon hearing about the Zhenxi Grand General, also had red eyes, "Kill! Not a single one left!"

The bald-headed and Buyin were still waiting in the distance for them to come to them; seeing the Secluded Province cavalry draw nearer, they grew more and more excited.

"Where did they get these horses?"

"Even the horses are armored; this kid knows how to play even better than his father!"

"Hahaha, take him down, all of this will be ours!"

"Warriors, let them witness the might of the steppe cavalry!"

The Great King and Wei Shen also looked bewildered, "Why are they so excited?"

Wei Shen: "Scared crazy?"

The silent Ling Yin beside them finally couldn't help but splash to wake them up, "At a glance, it's clear they're waiting to blast your gear."

Wei Shen still needed to react to that term; the Great King instantly understood, he kicked Xiao Zao, Xiao Zao instantly understood and began to speed up, "Making them have their grand spring-autumn dream! Only I, the king, get to pick up others' gear!"

Today Zhao Chuan was also there; he led the cavalry vanguard corps to charge ahead first; the Great King and Wei Shen were not willing to lag behind, directly rushing toward the position of Buyin and his few men.

The Great King never fears the battlefield.

That Tuoba Yong also came back; seeing the Great King fearlessly following the cavalry, he also rushed over, quite surprised, "This doesn't resemble the son of the Great Jin emperor at all!"

Buyin bore full hatred toward the Great King, "Leave him to me!"

Having said that, he spurred his horse forward to meet the Great King; the Great King saw him and his opinion rose even higher, indeed he couldn't let him go, truly he had more mettle than the one who helped him ascend the throne!

In positional combat, close quarters, bows and arrows were useless.

It's a cold weapon war, just hacking at each other.

The Great King's cavalry had stirrups; some cavalrymen wielded a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, some brandished long spears; it's rare to see the Great King wielding such a long wolf-tooth lance.

The underage Great King's strength is not less than that of an adult; his shortcoming is his undeveloped stature, which the wolf-tooth shuo can compensate for.

The Great King brandished the wolf-tooth lance at Buyin; the first strike Buyin barely dodged, from the wind by his ear he knew, this person is probably not ignorant and fearless, but truly has some skill.

Even if the Great King missed, he wasn't discouraged, smiling he continued.

He had Ling Yin's personal guidance; and the steppe's reliance on brute force to swing a big knife a few times is completely a different approach, not even the same level.

The Great King wielded that long wolf-tooth lance with vigorous vigor; while others need tactics with set patterns, Buyin could barely keep up.

His arm was swept, the whole limb went numb and lost sensation; Buyin's heart raced faster and faster, as if he had previously been overly presumptuous.

His father the king and the nobles inside the royal capital could not possibly go south to Youzhou together, plus his mother…… So it really was this teenager who went to attack the royal capital!

Buyin really was a bit panicked now; he already had the thought of retreat, but unfortunately the Great King wouldn't give him that chance.

Buyin was forced to retreat step by step; the Great King's three strikes knocked him off his horse, Xiao Zao's front hooves immediately stepped on him; seeing the opponent vomit blood and faint, life or death unknown, the Great King thought and decided not to deliver a finishing blow. Just in case he was still alive, leaving him a breath to till the fields together with Wan Niuyu would also be nice.

After dealing with Buyin, the Great King joined the positional battle and began a frenzied slaughter!

These people killed hundreds of thousands of Great Jin soldiers; avenging them gave him inexhaustible strength.

At this point, the Xianbei no longer had their earlier composure; leaving the city wall, they seemed unable to fight……

The Secluded Province cavalry, from men to horses, their armor was too sturdy.

Pieces of Xianbei fell; Tuoba Yong felt a bit panicked for the first time, he tried to withdraw and run, but Wei Shen chased up and with a single slash severed the hind leg of his warhorse!

"You want to run?!"

Tuoba Yong made a clean roll on the ground, then swiftly jumped onto the horse of a nearby Xianbei soldier, and galloped away.

Tuoba Yong's fallen horse blocked Wei Shen; waiting for his horse to go around, Tuoba Yong's personal guards had already desperately blocked the front to buy time for their master to escape; looking again, Tuoba Yong had already run several body lengths away!

"You despicable barbarian!" Wei Shen cursed him, then began to grapple with the personal guards.

When the leader fled, the Secluded Province cavalry advanced like an unstoppable force, with the momentum of killing gods upon encountering them, they completely shattered the confidence of the arrogant Xianbei; they had lost morale and began striving to flee north!

These Secluded Province soldiers are nothing like Great Jin soldiers!

The Jin soldiers they saw at Du Ye, even the border troops led by the famed Duke of Sukoku, lacked this aura.

It's not that they're weak; the enemy is just off, and nobody in the world can stop this cavalry!

The Xianbei soldiers fell like a tidal wave, and the rest fled north desperately like a tidal wave.

The Great King held back nothing, leading the charge.

"Leave none of them alive! I offer a great reward!"

"Kill!"

Tuoba Yao snatched a moment to look back, seeing the fully armored Youzhou cavalry riding black warhorses taller than their steppe mounts, charging forward without hesitation over the Xianbei corpses, he shivered, "No! This is impossible!"

They aren't Jin soldiers, they aren't weak and incompetent Jin soldiers that can be kneaded like dough, they're demons!

Tuoba Yao turned his head and spurred his horse northward, fleeing—what Yi Zhou? He couldn't care less!

The Xianbei's morale had been shattered, while the Youzhou cavalry's spirit rose.

What supposed tenfold numerical advantage of the steppe elites!

Turns out they're on par with the soldiers of the East Xianbei left in the royal city!

In the blink of an eye, over half of the hundred thousand were wiped out; most of those fleeing north were mounted troops, and the Great King's heart eased a bit—had they succeeded halfway?