Chapter 74: A Triumphant First Battle

With over ten thousand troops, the force surged forward like a vast, overwhelming tide. Now fifty thousand Western Xia soldiers were advancing; from the city walls, they looked like a swarm of ants on the move, swarming relentlessly toward Fuping City.

Three hundred paces... two hundred... one hundred...

Among the Zhenxi Army, many were raw recruits. At this moment, their hands trembled as they gripped their bows.

Standing atop the city wall, Wu Jie surveyed the scene and could not help but encourage the new soldiers beside him. “Sons, do not be afraid! This is but the first step. After this great battle, none of you will be green recruits any longer!”

Inspired by their great general, the young soldier’s heart surged with emotion; his trembling hands steadied. “If a man dies, he faces the sky; if not, he lives on for ten thousand years—what is there to fear?”

The enemy closed to seventy paces.

“Loose!” Wu Jie shouted.

The air was instantly filled with the whistling of arrows—a rain of death. At such close range, with the densely packed Western Xia troops below, there was no need to aim; nearly every pair of arrows found a mark.

Wu Jie had divided all his soldiers atop the wall into two ranks: the first loosed their arrows, then withdrew to the rear to reload while the second rank fired, alternating in endless succession. Thus the Western Xia troops faced a ceaseless storm of arrows. Yet Li Changqi, intent on a swift assault, had not ordered his men to carry shields. The attackers became nothing more than living targets, some shot so full of arrows they resembled porcupines.

The Western Xia soldiers advanced quickly, but retreated even faster, leaving the ground strewn with corpses as they fell back in defeat.

“Damn it! Who gave you the order to retreat?” Li Changqi bellowed like an enraged lion at his deputy.

“General, the Song army’s arrow storm is too fierce. Our men have no shields—they’re sitting ducks! If we keep charging, we’ll be wiped out before even reaching the city walls!” Feng Renduo Baozhong, a renowned general of Western Xia, had darkened at the news that Li Qianshun had saddled him with this pampered scion as his vanguard commander.

That very day, Feng Renduo Baozhong had sought an audience with Li Qianshun, hoping to have this foppish Li Changqi replaced. But Li Qianshun refused.

“My elder brother has perished. Huan’er is desperate for vengeance. Take him with you—it is a comfort to my late brother’s spirit,” Li Qianshun had said. He knew well enough that war was no child’s play—the lives of tens of thousands hung in the balance—and he was not blind to Li Changqi’s shortcomings. Thus, he also ordered that Feng Renduo Baozhong’s eldest son, Feng Renqi Maili, serve as Li Changqi’s deputy—nominally to give Li Changqi a title, and, should they break the Song defenses, to secure him the glory of succession.

That was how Feng Renduo Baozhong and Li Qianshun saw things, but Li Changqi had other ideas. Raised in the princely estate, this second-generation lordling was leading troops for the first time. He had no sense of the battlefield’s terror; all he felt was pride.

“In war, men die! If you fear death, go home—what business have you being soldiers?” Li Changqi shouted. “Get moving! I don’t care how many die—today we must take Fuping City!”

Hearing this, Feng Renqi Maili trembled with rage. Li Changqi truly cared nothing for his men’s lives. Despite knowing nothing of command, he insisted on giving orders instead of quietly waiting to enjoy the spoils of victory.

But Li Changqi would not be content with that; he fancied himself a true general and stubbornly ignored all of Feng Renqi Maili’s advice.

Feng Renqi Maili briefly considered ridding himself of this fool amidst the chaos, but he knew it would not just be himself who suffered the consequences. Swallowing his fury, he said, “General, assault we must, but the soldiers must bring shields. Fuping City is perilously situated, easy to defend and hard to attack. We cannot use heavy siege engines, but the enemy’s bows will cut down our men. If we go without shields, it’s nothing but sending the men to die!”

Li Changqi, seeing the grimness in Feng Renqi Maili’s face, hesitated. “Very well, carry shields—let the whole army attack!”

And so the Western Xia soldiers, having retreated, surged forward once more with the force of a tidal wave.

Wu Jie, watching from the wall, learned that the attacking commander was a pampered lordling, Li Changqi. He shook his head—this battle would be easy.

With the experience of their first engagement, the raw recruits were no longer nervous. It became a valuable opportunity for the Zhenxi Army’s green soldiers to hone their skills.

At one hundred paces, within range, Feng Renqi Maili immediately ordered the troops to raise their shields.

From above, it looked as if the Western Xia soldiers had unfurled a sea of shield-umbrellas, covering themselves as they advanced.

“Loose!” At seventy paces, Wu Jie gave the order. Another storm of arrows rained down.

But this time, the Western Xia troops were ready. Though some were wounded, the majority of arrows thudded harmlessly into the shields.

“Cease fire!” Wu Jie saw that arrows now had little effect and halted the volley. This would be a protracted struggle, and he had no wish to waste a single arrow.

“Jingkang crossbowmen, prepare!” Wu Jie commanded.

The Jingkang crossbow was a weapon of immense power—no ordinary shield could withstand it. Wu Jie had not used it initially, having seen that the enemy came unshielded and could be cut down with common arrows.

But there was another reason: the Jingkang crossbow was a hidden trump card. Wu Jie wanted to strike unexpectedly for maximum carnage. If he revealed the crossbows too soon, and the Western Xia troops became wary, it would be harder to destroy them.

Feigning weakness to lure the enemy was a tactic as effective in war as anywhere.

With Wu Jie’s command, the sound of ratcheting gears filled the air. The improved Jingkang crossbows could now be operated by two men—one to crank the mechanism, the other to load the massive bolts.

“Loose!” At Wu Jie’s signal, the air was split by thunderous whistling as bolts, as thick as a baby’s arm, tore through the sky and crashed down on the Western Xia ranks with unstoppable force.

The Jin army had already learned to fear the Jingkang crossbow, but to the Western Xia soldiers, it was a new and terrifying sight. Confronted with these monstrous bolts, they could only stare, dumbfounded.