He drew the sword from his waist and immediately rushed to the city with his personal guards to fight the enemy.

But it was too late after all, the city gate had already been opened by an insider.

The Western Xia army outside the city was overjoyed when they saw the city gate wide open in the distance, and they shouted at their horses to gallop.

Qingtang was in chaos, but Dong Zhan on the city wall still had some ability. After his father went down the city to fight, he ordered the soldiers to start firing cannons.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The huge noise shook the earth and sky, and the cannons spewed out brilliant fireworks.

As more than ten shells were fired at a very fast speed towards the battlefield, people and horses in the distance were thrown to the ground in an instant. The solid bullets actually passed through the people, and both the people and horses were shattered. No one could stop them.

Just over ten artillery shells caused heavy casualties to the densely packed Xixia formation. At least two to three hundred people were killed by the terrifying ammunition, with each shell killing twenty to thirty people.

The offensive on the Western Xia side was also stalled, but the cannons on the city walls had a relatively slow firing rate, so the soldiers continued to charge forward. It basically depended on luck. Whoever was hit by such a heavy weapon could only blame their bad luck.

Soon, under the command of Dong Zhen, the second round of artillery fire came again.

However, the cannons they had were not the small steel cannons of the Song army, and their firing rate was relatively slow. By the time they finished firing the third round, the Western Xia army had already reached the city.

At this moment, the city was also engaged in a fierce battle for the city gate. Qingtang was actually quite powerful. If they reorganized their troops, they should be able to gather an army of 60,000 to 70,000.

However, Li Yuanhao unexpectedly bypassed Qishan and attacked from behind, catching Zuo Silu off guard and completely unaware of this.

As a result, Zuo Silu was unable to gather his troops in a hurry and was successfully ambushed.

There were not many troops near the north gate, and some of them were still on the city wall. There were only two or three thousand people under the city, and the two sides were in a stalemate.

Once the Western Xia army approached, the defeat would be irreversible.

"Walk!"

Zuo Siluo is also decisive.

Seeing the enemy rushing towards him, he fought fiercely with his eyes wide open, retreating while fighting.

His muscles were taut and he fought bloody battles, trying to rally the troops for street fighting.

But the city was in chaos, the Qingtang army was tied up, while the Western Xia army killed anyone they saw, making the situation even more chaotic.

The brutal fighting in the city lasted for several hours. The South Gate and the East Gate had already been opened, and a large number of civilians, merchants and the remaining Zuo Silu troops in the city retreated and evacuated.

By nightfall, Li Yuanhao had completely taken control of Qingtang City.

At this moment, there were corpses everywhere inside and outside the city, and blood was spilling everywhere, soaking the blue bricks on the city wall. It seemed that the huge city was left with only screams.

In ancient times, in order to boost morale, soldiers were allowed to rob, rape, and kill at will when they entered a city.

As a result, the city was filled with marauding soldiers, who looted a large amount of goods.

Li Yuanhao frowned slightly.

He originally wanted to press on with the victory, continue the attack, and capture Huangzhou and Lanzhou.

But now they are forced to rest and set off again in two days.

The reason was that the soldiers had climbed over high mountains and crossed vast expanses of Gobi Desert before finally capturing the city. They were very tired and not fit to continue.

Secondly, Qingtang City is the richest city in Qingtang. If the soldiers are not allowed to plunder and continue to pursue, it will obviously cause the morale of the army to be low and the soldiers will be dissatisfied.

So staying in Qingtang was a helpless move.

I hope the Song army will react a little slower and wait until I have wiped out Zuo Siluo in two days before sending troops to support us.

Li Yuanhao thought to himself.

However, Zuosiluo suffered a crushing defeat, and his tribes fled in all directions. Even Zuosiluo's son Dongzhen was nowhere to be seen.

Zuo Siluo himself was stabbed several times in the chaos and was seriously injured. He was carried out of the city by his subordinates.

He looked around and saw that there were only a few hundred remnants around him. In the distance, under the night sky, many places in Qingtang City were on fire. He didn't know how many remnants had not escaped and were still fighting in the city.

His mood plummeted to the bottom in an instant. It was as if there was a rage in his chest that could not be vented. He kept gasping for breath and said with hatred: "Zhao Yuanhao, I swear to kill you!"

"Zanpu, it's better to gather the defeated soldiers first."

The general beside him said hurriedly.

"Quickly gather the infantry and head for Huangzhou! Also, immediately send swift horses to request reinforcements from the Song army in Xishi Town!"

After being reminded by his subordinates, Zuo Siluo could only force himself to stand up.

Various horn sounds rang out around me.

In the distance, scouts from the outskirts of Western Xia were running and fighting a bloody battle with some remnants of the Qingtang army.

On the battlefield within a radius of several kilometers, there were people from Qingtang running out, as well as merchants from the Western Regions and Han people.

There were also many Xixia soldiers chasing them and robbing them of the money they brought out of the city.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Zuo Siluo gathered about three to four thousand scattered tribesmen and fled eastward along the Huangshui River to his other city, Huangzhou Miaochuan City.

(End of this chapter)