Chapter 94: The Punishment That Would Come at Last

At Yaotou Ridge, not only had the original residents of the fort been driven out, even the roads within five li around it had been sealed off — the Son of Heaven was arriving, after all.

Li Shengtian, however, did not use his four-horse carriage or yellow silk canopy and such; he simply came over wearing a plain blue round-collared robe.

His queen, Cao Yuanxin, also wore men's clothing, a favorite of Tang-dynasty women, as she walked beside him; the two clearly seemed to get along very well.

Zhang Zhao very discreetly glanced behind Li Shengtian. Sure enough, that old monk called Sengqie Damo was also following behind Li Shengtian, bringing along several quite burly warrior monks.

"Zhang Erlang, come here!" Li Shengtian beckoned to Zhang Zhao. His attire today truly had a touch of the air of Qibi Heli or Bai Xiaode.

"Your subject, Gentleman Attendant at the Yellow Gate, Commandant of the Fengtian Army, on duty at the Tonghe Hall, Administrator of Yaotou Ridge, Zhang Zhao, pays respects to the Son of Heaven!"

Zhang Zhao hurried over to pay his respects to Li Shengtian, though there was no need to kneel on both knees; a simple bow with a solemn salute was enough.

"What's the point of reciting such a long string of titles? Everyone here outranks you. Hurry up and show me!"

Li Shengtian gave Zhang Zhao a mocking glance and signaled for him to begin at once. From this Great Sage Son of Heaven, Zhang Zhao faintly sensed an inexplicable restlessness!

Zhang Zhao very naturally took his place beside Li Shengtian, shoving aside the Prefect Zhai of Donghezhou, whose expression had turned rather ugly.

This Uyghur who had come from Gaochang to seek refuge with Li Shengtian cast a shadowed look at Zhang Zhao, while at the corner of Li Shengtian's mouth, standing just a little in front of the two, there appeared a smile he was trying hard to conceal.

"Fengtian Army Hanshan Company lads! Fenjin Squad lads! Advance!"

At Zhang Zhao's signal, old Zhang Zhong roared as he waved a blue banner.

"Wind! Wind! Wind!" After the booming drums sounded, the Hanshan Company lads, fully armored, formed three small square formations, each five files across and six ranks deep.

At the very front of each square were five sword-and-shield men holding wooden bar-shaped shields; their role was to block flat-trajectory arrows shot from the front.

The second rank was three sword-and-shield men holding round shields of wood inlaid with iron plates, plus three spearmen.

The round-shield men's role was to block heavy arrows arcing down from the enemy, while the spearmen were there to defend against the small chance of an enemy charge.

As for the four ranks behind them, they were all crossbowmen and archers: the rear two ranks were archers, the front two ranks crossbowmen. Apart from two great yellow crossbows, the rest of the crossbowmen were all armed with the recently manufactured divine-arm bows.

In each square formation, the officer serving as squad leader held the formation's recognition banner and a small command flag.

Whenever the command flag was slashed downward, the crossbowmen and archers would loose a volley of arrows.

When the command flag waved to the left, the round-shield men would prepare to defend against arcing arrows.

When the command flag waved to the right, the spearmen would make ready.

And when the recognition banner, raised highest of all, swayed left and right, the two nearby small square formations would close toward the center, and the three small squares would rapidly combine into one great formation.

When the recognition banner swayed forward and back, the great formation would cave inward from the center of the square, while the two wings began to spread out and deploy. This meant the garrison inside the city was sallying forth: the great formation caved in to let the enemy pour inside, and then the two wings enveloped them, preparing to devour the enemy.

And if the copper whistles in the mouths of the three squad leaders blew, the crossbowmen and archers would pick up long weapons such as modao glaive glaive glaives and infantry pikes, preparing to assault.

Beside Li Shengtian, the Khotan Yellow Gate General, Prefect Li Ruoyu of Luzhou, Prefect Zhai of Donghezhou, and the others watched with burning envy.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the spectacle while experts watch the craft. Zhang Zhao's Hanshan Company armored soldiers, fewer than a hundred men, had in a short time drilled six formations: crossbow and bow exchange of fire, screening the main army, combining and splitting formations, and defense and assault.

Through continuous formation changes, their ranks remained strict and orderly, the soldiers' steps unruffled, their advances and retreats well grounded. The coordinated volleys of bows and crossbows in particular were remarkably neat and accurate, displaying a very high level of combat skill and experience.

Considering that they were all fully armored, this was absolutely a fierce and valiant force. Given the quality of the Kara-Khanid soldiers, without light and heavy cavalry working in coordination, even sending out over a thousand infantry might not necessarily defeat Zhang Zhao's hundred-odd men.

"Reporting to the Commandant, the Fenjin Squad has already dug to within fifteen zhang of the target. They expect to finish within a quarter hour. Squad Leader Shi requests permission to bury the Heavenfire Thunder thirty meters from the target!"

Up ahead, the Hanshan Company's demonstration of the Shule city assault and defense was raging on, when unexpectedly a miner from the Fenjin Squad crawled out of an extremely inconspicuous hole, startling everyone badly.

"Approved!" Zhang Zhao said only this lightly, then cupped his hands toward Li Shengtian.

"Great Sage Son of Heaven, please withdraw ten paces and have the palace guards hold shields to protect against flying stones."

Li Shengtian had originally wanted to show off the composure of a sovereign who does not change color even when Mount Tai collapses before him, but the moment he thought of that terrifying explosion in the Tonghe Hall that day, he still nodded and agreed to Zhang Zhao's proposal.

The crowd withdrew more than ten paces, and a squad of Khotan palace guards, holding bar-shaped shields, took up positions in front of Li Shengtian and Cao Yuanxin.

In the silent waiting, Li Shengtian felt time pass so slowly that several times he wanted to urge Zhang Zhao on. Although in the end he forcibly suppressed it, an impatient look still surfaced on his face.

At last, from the hole where a Fenjin Squad miner had just crawled out, a figure clad only in a short garment appeared again — it was none other than Cao Yanming, who had volunteered to enter the mine tunnel to supervise the placement of the gunpowder.

"Great Sage Son of Heaven, Commandant, installation complete. The Fenjin Squad requests permission to withdraw!"

"Withdrawal approved. Prepare the Divine Fire Thunder! Ignite in thirty breaths!"

The fuse, dozens of meters long, was wrapped in moisture-proof hemp cloth. Shi Chongmin was drenched in cold sweat. Divine Fire Thunder — just hearing the name was terrifying!

Actually, there was one thing Zhang Zhao had said at the mine that was not entirely accurate: a skilled miner from the Ministry of War, if his luck was bad, might indeed only dig out twenty jin of coal in a day.

Because in this era there were no later blasting methods; coal extraction relied entirely on pitiful tools for digging.

Therefore, many coal deposits that later ages could mine were unminable in this era, and what could be mined in this era were all places with extremely favorable natural conditions.

This was also the biggest reason coal was not widely used in the Central Plains: the cost of extraction was simply too high.

So although Shi Chongmin was a skilled miner, he had never played with gunpowder. When he first arrived at Zhang Zhao's side, he had nearly been scared to his knees by a single small firecracker from Cao Yanming.

Fire, thunder, and smoke and dust! Was this not the standard accompaniment of gods and Buddhas descending to the mortal world?

After praying in his heart for a few seconds, Shi Chongmin steeled himself and lit the fuse. He was now less than fifty meters from the blast point; if his luck was bad, the explosion might well collapse the tunnel and bury him.

Ssss! The flame of the fuse was extremely conspicuous in the dark tunnel. Shi Chongmin, using both hands and feet and fighting back the urge to urinate, began crawling outside at top speed.

But before he had crawled far, he felt the entire tunnel shudder violently. Still not yet at the safety pit, he felt as if someone in the darkness had punched him hard in the rear. The force was so great that it hammered out the urine he had been forcibly holding in.

A warm sensation filled his crotch. Shi Chongmin, breathing in the stench from his own trousers, scrambled desperately toward a safety pit dug in advance.

The instant he tumbled into the pit and covered it with the iron plate, he saw raging golden firelight instantly fill the entire tunnel, and the howling hot wind seemed as if it would roast the iron plate itself.

Li Shengtian opened his mouth wide in terror. He had never seen such a horrifying sight. In the distance, that section of Yaotou Ridge's wall, three meters high and more than four meters wide, looked as if it had been struck by the iron hammer of a heavenly god.

First it sank downward, then suddenly burst open. Before the crowd's eyes, the entire section of wall slowly collapsed, and then, like a goddess scattering flowers, it violently shattered apart!

In the enormous explosion, louder than thunder, accompanied by golden flames, the very earth seemed to tremble. Flying mud and stones covered the entire riverbank behind them.

Prefect Zhai was so frightened that he jumped straight into the river.

Li Ruoyu sat down hard on the ground, panting heavily.

The royal uncle, Master Sengqie Damo, dropped to his knees with a thud, trembling as he ceaselessly chanted the Buddha's name.

Cao Yuanxin spread her arms wide and stood in front of Li Shengtian, her face deathly pale, already frightened to tears.

The palace guards were knocked reeling by the blast, yet those who still had their wits desperately shielded Li Shengtian with their bodies.

Still, I, the Lone King, am the calmest! Li Shengtian smiled smugly, but then he immediately caught sight of Zhang Zhao, perfectly composed, a faint smile on his face, as if mocking Prefect Zhai, who had jumped into the river and was now flailing about.

'Thump!' The laughing Li Shengtian shot out a kick straight at Zhang Zhao's backside. The force wasn't great, but the moment Zhang Zhao saw the meaningful look in Li Shengtian's eyes, inspiration struck, and he quickly used the momentum to lunge forward, jumping into the river as well.

Fine! This is the moment for my uncle the Son of Heaven to show off on his own — I have to play along.

Once in the water, Zhang Zhao swam toward Prefect Zhai. After forcing a few more mouthfuls of water down this Uyghur fellow, he still had to rescue him.

"Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva! Son of Heaven, Shule City is to belong to our Yuchi family! The Great Jin Kingdom can finally complete its last piece, and the Buddhist faithful of Balasagun are saved!"

Sengjiadamo chanted a Buddha's name, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Li Shengtian. This eminent monk, ordained for over forty years, spoke the words "Yuchi family" with great emotion.

"Royal Uncle! I, the Lone King, can finally fulfill the last wishes of my father the King and King Xuan (Li Shengtian's great-grandfather Yuchi Nanta, the Great King who restored Khotan)! Those who turned their backs on the Buddha will at last be punished!"

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