Chapter 102: Beauty Trap

When Zhao Mingyue heard that the Xiqi army had reached the entrance of the East Canyon and would arrive in Yuzhou City soon, he immediately summoned Zhao Yuzhang and Zhu Dafeng to discuss the matter.

Because Yuzhou City had no natural defenses such as mountains or rivers and had to defend Xiqi from the northwest, all the city walls were built high and thick, and the arrow towers and battlements were very complete.

The reason why Zhao Mingyue was able to easily capture Yuzhou was because Zhao Zhuo was completely unprepared and most of the city’s defenders were transferred to Laoya Mountain, leaving the city with a lack of troops.

Of course, it will not be so easy for Xiqi to attack this time.

Now Zhao Mingyue can mobilize 50,000 regular troops, plus 5,000 in the firearms battalion, ten newly built cannons, and the military rations prepared by Zhao Zhuo before, which can supply the army for two years.

Therefore, they were not at all panicked by Xiqi's invasion.

Zhao Yuzhang said in a deep voice, "Prince Xiqi can only mobilize 6,000 cavalry for this expedition. Let them come, I swear they will never return."

She had fought against the Xiqi soldiers on the battlefield. Although she defended Tangzhou, it was a tragic victory. All her personal soldiers died in that battle.

She harbored hatred for the people of Xiqi deep in her heart. This time, the King of Xiqi came to her on his own initiative, and she would never let them go easily.

Zhao Mingyue smiled and nodded. She had always trusted Zhao Yuzhang's ability to lead troops in battle, but thinking of the aggressive attack of King Xiqi this time, she still had to make careful plans.

While ordering the scouts to continue exploring, he also urged the army to reorganize, close the four city gates, and tighten the defense of the city.

Zhao Yuzhang and Zhu Dafeng took the order and left.

On this day, just as the sky was getting bright in the east, the sound of drums and horns could be heard outside the city. It was the Xiqi soldiers who were attacking!

Zhao Yuzhang and Zhu Dafeng had already led their troops to guard the four east and west gates. Zhao Mingyue and Xue Qi climbed up the most important north city wall. Looking around, they saw that the sky outside the city was filled with a sea of heads and the shouts were deafening.

Suddenly, a general rushed out from the army, leading five hundred Xiqi soldiers and challenging the enemy in front of the city.

Zhao Mingyue took a closer look and was surprised to find that this was an old acquaintance, Qian Qian, the former commander of the Left Eagle Guard!

Qian Qian knew that the Jinwu Guards' firearms were powerful, so he stood a mile away, out of reach of his muskets, and shouted to the soldiers on the city walls, "Hurry and open the city gates and surrender. Otherwise, when the King of Xiqi and his cavalry enter the city, you will be in dire straits!"

After saying this, he waited to see the reaction of the Yuzhou officers and soldiers.

As the defenders of the city, faced with such provocation from the enemy, they could either retreat into hiding or lead their troops out of the city to fight them.

Qian Qian's role was to lure them out of the city.

But this time, things went beyond the expectations of the Xiqi Army.

The gates of Yuzhou City were tightly closed, and no soldiers appeared on the narrow pass on the wall. Only two gun barrels extended from the battlements, and the huge black muzzles slowly rose and aimed at them.

Qian Qian realized that he was being targeted and was filled with fear. He pulled the reins and was about to run when he heard a loud bang and instantly lost consciousness.

The hundreds of Xiqi soldiers behind him saw it clearly. Qian Qian and the dozen or so people around him were all blown to pieces. Their warhorses neighed loudly and fell to the ground with a bang, with blood flowing everywhere.

Something was blown up by the waves of fire and fell on them like raindrops. The Xiqi soldiers took it in their hands and saw that it was full of broken limbs.

"Ugh..." Even though they had been on the battlefield for many years, they had never seen such broken pieces of meat. Their faces turned pale immediately and they knelt on the ground and vomited.

The rest of the people were so frightened that their legs and feet went limp and they turned around to run, but they didn't expect that several more shells would be fired, blowing their vanguard into pieces.

Seeing that the expedition was going badly, the commander of Xiqi immediately called back his troops.

Seeing that they were about to run away, Zhao Mingyue immediately ordered Zhao Yuzhang to lead the firearms battalion to chase them.

Zhao Yuzhang immediately ordered ten centurions and led his troops out of the city, chasing the musketeers and firing at them, killing hundreds more. However, he did not risk advancing too deep. Seeing that the Xiqi soldiers had retreated far away, he immediately withdrew his troops and returned to the city victoriously.

The soldiers on the top of Yuzhou City watched the Xiqi soldiers flee and cheered in unison.

The Xiqi soldiers retreated five miles and set up camp. Having suffered a defeat in their first battle, the King of Xiqi flew into a rage in his tent, "Just a few artillery shells, and you've scared the crap out of me?"

The generals confessed their guilt one after another, saying that it was all Qian Qian's fault. They would reorganize the army tomorrow and would surely be able to severely dampen the morale of the Yuzhou soldiers.

Attacking a city is a delicate job. It takes at least a month to capture a strong city.

When King Xiqi said that he could take Yuzhou City in ten days, he underestimated Princess Fuguang's ability.

Moreover, although the Xiqi people were good at fighting, they were not good at attacking cities at all. They did not use any heavy siege weapons such as battering rams and catapults. They only used ladders and grappling hooks to climb over the city walls.

King Xiqi felt that he had been humiliated by Darong, and if he failed to take Yuzhou, he would lose all face.

Therefore, on the second day, he personally led his troops to attack the city. As a result, a musket shot from the top of the city broke his leg. Seeing this, the Xiqi soldiers immediately fell into chaos.

In the end, King Xiqi was carried back to the military camp.

After the two battles, the Yuzhou army was unscathed, but the Xiqi army had lost more than a thousand soldiers.

Among them, eight out of ten soldiers died in battle due to artillery fire.

They probably won't take the next step easily until they come up with a way to deal with the artillery.

————

While Zhao Mingyue and the Xiqi Army were fighting fiercely, the princes of Dayong were busy mourning for their sons.

"I thought that if I sent my son to the court, Queen Mother Chi would not take action against him. But I didn't expect this woman to be so cruel and kill them all! I'm afraid that next, it will be the turn of us old guys."

Zhao Ping, the Yue King of Lanzhou, looked at Zhao Diao, the Ling King of Xingzhou, and said in a sad and angry tone.

Ever since Empress Dowager Chi came to power and repeatedly reduced the power of the six ministries and made use of the female officials of the Suji and Yiluan departments, he realized that Empress Dowager Chi's ambition was not just to be a powerful empress dowager.

To this end, he deliberately placed spies in the court and bribed and won over officials from the six ministries so that he could monitor the movements of Empress Dowager Chi in real time.

After Zhao Zhuo's military campaign failed, he received news that Queen Mother Chi wanted to take action against them.

Of course, he didn't want to sit and wait for death, but he didn't dare to rashly send troops to deal with the court.

After all, with the example of Zhao Zhuo, he knew very well that with his current military strength, it would be impossible to resist the imperial court.

So he thought of joining forces with several other princes to send troops to overthrow Queen Dowager Chi.

Prince Ling was the prince with the closest relationship to Zhao Ping. Therefore, as soon as he learned of his son's death, he sent a message to summon Prince Ling to Lanzhou.

"Sixth brother, you and I are now in the same boat. Empress Dowager Chi imprisoned the emperor and killed our son. It is obvious that she wants to force us to death. We can no longer sit and wait for death!"

Zhao Diao was silent for a moment, "What do you want to do?"

Zhao Ping saw his intention and said quickly, "Empress Dowager Chi is cruel and ruthless. The people of the world have long hated her and are eager to kill her! If we raise an army to attack her, the other princes will surely respond. Then, you and I can capture the capital and divide the world equally!"

Zhao Diao's son also died at the hands of Empress Dowager Chi. Of course, he also wanted to overthrow her and become emperor himself. His only worry was that he might not be able to defeat the court.

Now, hearing that Zhao Ping wanted to unite the other kings to rebel and divide the world with him, he was of course very excited, "Okay! Everything is up to you, Third Brother!"

When Zhao Ping saw that Zhao Diao agreed, he immediately told him his plan.

He planned to let Zhao Diao contact the princes, form an alliance, and join forces to attack the capital.

"... Queen Mother Chi has killed all the princes. I believe the kings have already hated her to the core. They will definitely agree to follow us. But there is one person who makes me very worried." Zhao Ping said with a sad look on his face.

"who?"

"Yuzhou Governor, Princess Fuguang."

When Zhao Diao heard the name, a puzzled expression appeared on his face. "She's just a princess, what's there to worry about?"

Zhao Ping shook his head and then told him how Zhao Mingyue had instigated him to send troops to defend the king but he did not take the bait.

"I think the real purpose of Queen Mother Chi asking her to marry into Xiqi was to deal with Zhao Zhuo and me. Fortunately, I was smart enough not to believe her. Otherwise, it would not be Zhao Zhuo who died, but me."

When Zhao Diao heard about this, he felt as if he had drunk ice, and a chill ran down his spine. "These two women are truly vicious!"

"More than that! I think Zhao Mingyue is a hundred times more sinister than Empress Dowager Chi!" Zhao Ping's face darkened as he angrily said, "Ever since she became the governor of Yuzhou, she's been reforming the household registration system and selecting female officials, allowing women to dominate men. What's even more abominable is that all the people in my Lanzhou have fled to her Yuzhou!"

Zhao Diao was shocked. "Is there such a thing?"

Then he thought carefully, Lanzhou and Yuzhou are adjacent, so it is inevitable that it will be affected, but his Xingzhou is far away from Yuzhou, and he doesn't know any news.

Zhao Ping nodded and sighed, "It's a pity that Yuzhou is guarded by the great general Zhao Yuzhang. We can't easily provoke her. Otherwise, I would definitely send troops to teach them a lesson!"

Zhao Diao said, "Third brother, our main enemy right now is Queen Mother Chi. It's better to have less trouble than more. Let's just put up with her for now."

Zhao Ping, however, was clearly thinking deeper than he was. "But Zhao Mingyue's interests clearly align with Queen Mother Chi's. If we don't get rid of her, when we send our troops to attack the capital, we might be attacked from both sides!"

Although Zhao Diao didn't know much about Yuzhou, he was aware of Zhao Yuzhang's Golden Crow Guards and her Firearms Battalion. He hurriedly said, "But if we divide our forces to deal with Zhao Mingyue first, the imperial court will have even more excuses to attack us!"

Zhao Ping smiled mysteriously, "Don't worry, I have a better way. I can alienate Queen Mother Chi and Princess Fuguang and capture Zhao Mingyue without bloodshed."

"What method?"

"Honey trap!"

Zhao Ping clapped his hands, and two "beauties" walked into the room with lotus steps and knelt in front of the two men, "Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Yue and His Royal Highness Prince Ling."

"Raise your heads and let the Spirit King take a good look at your faces."