Chapter 430: In Frontier Fortress Poetry

Golden Radiance City stirs at dawn; though they go hungry and poorly clothed, they must busy themselves all day for the Qiang people.

Many people leaving the city that day personally witnessed the scene: several hundred horsemen came galloping from the east, the dust kicked up by their hooves covering past suffering, bringing new life to Golden Radiance City.

Who would have known, the great king in the troop wore a mask and cursed all the way. The wretched dirt road near Golden Radiance, hated by heaven and man, kicks up clouds of dust when run in the dry summer—his white dragon is no longer white, and he has wasted his snow steeds that dazzle the eyes.

Seeing the situation, the Qiang people shouted loudly to close the city gates; barely had the two gates shut when the great king's sun-shooting bow arrived, carrying his immense wrath.

The sun-shooting bow's heavy strike blasted a hole in the gate instantly; the arrow even pierced an unlucky soul behind it, causing panic inside. What tremendous force! How could this be?!

Against the sun-shooting bow, even the great king's gunpowder crossbow, the wooden city gate is mere decoration. Look at the great king's own gate—it's cast of metal.

The great king raised the sun-shooting bow, declaring, 'Swift battle, swift decision! No Qiang person shall be spared; anyone in the city over twenty who cannot prove they are Jin shall be killed on the spot!'

The Qiang people on the wall couldn't fathom where the great king came from; this troop is as strange as it gets—if you said they were a Jin army, they don't quite look like it, their armor so covered you can't tell who they are. Their warhorses are either black or white, utterly uncanny.

Of course, the strangest thing is the massive white beast in the midst of the troop. The precious white yak of Western Qiang, when placed before it, would surely be made to look tiny.

Its fur is pure white as clouds; even among a herd of galloping horses it can rise elegantly, as if walking on clouds, and the yellow dust kicked up by the cavalry cannot stain its body.

An archer on the wall stared, entranced, thinking the white marsh's single horn was holy, truly not an earthly beast. Until the commander behind him slapped him, saying, 'Shoot your arrows! Are a few hundred people really enough to scare you senseless?!'

The Shaodang Qiang merely used Golden Radiance as a free labor camp, with no large garrison, only many civilians; facing the snow cavalry with siege experience, they collapsed at a speed hard to imagine.

The great king didn't bring his handy wolf-tooth spear or heavy blade; Lingyin didn't need him to lift a finger, automatically taking on his share.

The Qiang people couldn't fathom how the double-layered gate could be so easily smashed to pieces, the archers' aim seemed off, the gate didn't impede the attackers' advance at all. Worse still, in close combat their prized bone flakes were useless against the snow cavalry.

Bone flakes are armor‑piercing weapons, yet today they couldn't even scratch the enemy's armor. Only the few defenders at the city gate had weapons; the east gate's people were quickly cleared out by the great king and Lingyin's unit. The Qiang at the gate are easy to spot—all wearing leather armor.

"Close the gates, let's purge the Qiang from inside the city. Let everyone come out!"

"Yes!"

At each gate the great king had posted men to watch; after searching a while for Qiang, he saw Wei Shen and Wei Ke return bearing bloody knives.

"Report to Your Highness, the Qiang indeed had someone flee from the west gate to send news; we've killed them."

The great king nodded, "Clear the city quickly, keep the gates shut for now, forbid anyone from passing, lest the news leak. You, cousin, handle this; I still need to attend to provisions." Wei Ke is meticulous—perfect for the job.

Wei Shen interjected, "Which cousin? Me?"

The great king: "The elder cousin is in charge. Take some men back to fetch the camp personnel; we'll rest in the city for two days awaiting supplies."

Wei Shen: "All right~"

The great king and Lingyin quickly found the city's finest residence—the former city lord's mansion—and soon a pile of Qiang corpses lay at the gate.

Soon the personal guard began washing the blood‑stained courtyard with water, and a few buckets of red bloody water splashed beside the corpse heap at the gate. The townspeople summoned to the open square for questioning, initially numb and slow, with darting glances, upon seeing the heap of corpses in leather and felt armor before the former lord's gate, their expressions grew strange……

Could it be that the court has finally remembered them?!

This battle had a huge impact on Golden Radiance; from now on, no one here fears the Qiang anymore.

The cavalry from Youzhou cut down Qiang people a hundred times more efficiently than they slaughter sheep.

The once ferocious and evil Qiang are merely flesh and blood like anyone else; with proper martial training, one can kill them as easily as slaughtering sheep, and they have the mighty Northern Border King as their backing.

They even began to wonder if their own weakness had let the Qiang enslave them for so long, leading to Golden Radiance's folk becoming stalwart and eager to enlist, men taking pride in military service.

The great king took up residence in the former city lord's mansion and began a carpet‑wide purge of the Qiang within the city.

Wei Ke returned after a busy day with a dilemma: "Your Highness said not a single Qiang should remain; the adult Qiang in the city have been cleared out, but there is a group of children whose fathers are Qiang—what should we do with them?"

The great king pondered, "Children, eh, quite a trouble! Well… let them decide: if they identify as Jin, spare them; if they identify as Qiang, expel them to the northern border. If they're too young to understand, and their clan is willing to raise them, I won't bother being the villain—just let them stay."

Before Wei Ke could speak, Xie Tu beside him blurted, "Your Highness is merciful!" as if a second's delay would make the great king change his mind.

His nervousness successfully made the great king laugh, "In your eyes, am I now a killer who slays like a hemp‑cutting butcher? You've been playing the straight man all day."

Xie Tu didn't know what 'playing the straight man' meant but could guess roughly; the city truly reeks of blood, hard for him to ignore. Knowing no Qiang here is innocent, each of their bullies possibly having several lives on their hands, he still can't sleep. Closing his eyes brings only nightmares— the qilin child of the Xie family has never seen such things; this trip has truly broadened his horizons.

Before meeting the great king, Young Master Xie had only ever seen blade flashes and sword lights in frontier poetry.

In just two days, Xie Tu looks noticeably worn out, while Zhou Huang is far sturdier—after all, he hails from the southwest border.

The great king looked at Xie Tu and sighed, "You're now dark and thin; the teacher will surely feel sorry for you." He paused, then exclaimed, "He won't think I'm making him suffer over homework for me, will he? Then… that would be great! Maybe he'll stop assigning homework casually—look at what you've driven people to!" The great king was heartsick.

Xie Tu: "…Stop dreaming."

He knows you'll bring the 'five‑hundred‑strong army' to strike Western Qiang, and he'll leave you ten times the writing.

Getting back to the point: "Your Highness, should we delay the attack on the Qiang awhile, waiting for the Tang inspector's support? Setting out the day after tomorrow seems too hasty—we might not even be able to gather provisions."

The great king chuckled, "Rest assured, heaven's mandate is with me; supplies will sprout from the yellow earth."

Xie Tu: "?"