Chapter 88: Advancing Straight Toward the Capital of the Rakshasa Kingdom

The soldiers of the Kingdom of Raksha wielded heavy weapons—hammers, axes, spiked maces, and the like. They wore nothing but furs, lacking any sign of metal armor, though perhaps they had leather armor hidden beneath.

On Chen Mu’s side, the troops were uniformly equipped with sabers and shields, clad in iron armor lined with down jackets and down trousers, their feet in thick cotton boots, and their helmets padded with cotton as well.

When the two sides clashed, the Raksha soldiers, tall and burly, swung their heavy weapons with such force that Chen Mu’s troops found their shields of limited use.

Observing the battle for a while, Chen Mu ordered his entire force to fall back, allowing the enemy to advance further in.

As the Grand Xia army retreated, the Raksha soldiers pressed their pursuit. This gave Chen Mu a clear view: the enemy numbered only about a thousand.

This was unsurprising—night raids relied on speed, and a large force would be cumbersome and slow.

Since the situation was thus, Chen Mu gave the order for both flanks to launch a sudden assault, encircling the Raksha soldiers.

At once, the pressure on the Raksha troops mounted dramatically.

The Raksha commander was puzzled. The Grand Xia soldiers had been fighting for some time, yet none showed any sign of suffering from the cold.

While they wore only iron armor, with no visible furs, the temperature had dropped so low that water would freeze instantly. Even the Raksha men felt the bitter chill—yet these Grand Xia soldiers seemed impervious to it.

How was such a thing possible?

Despair began to overtake the Raksha soldiers. They were surrounded, and the Grand Xia troops showed no sign of fatigue or diminishing combat strength.

Escape was impossible, and surrender was futile for lack of a shared language. In the end, they died in hopelessness.

An hour later, every Raksha soldier lay dead on the field. No further attacks came from any other direction.

Chen Mu ordered the battlefield to be cleared, posted a fresh guard for the night, and let the rest of his men resume their rest.

The night passed without further incident. At dawn, the Grand Xia army resumed construction of siege engines.

Wurila came to see Chen Mu. “Your Highness, I heard there was a Raksha raid last night. What happened?”

Chen Mu smiled. “A thousand Raksha men, impatient for death, rushed upon us. In just over an hour, we slew them all.”

Wurila replied, “Only a thousand, and they dared raid your camp?”

Chen Mu nodded. “They must have thought the night gave them an advantage, but I examined their furs—they’re roughly made, nowhere near as warm as our down garments.”

Wurila shook his head, feeling pity for the Raksha troops.

“A thousand Raksha soldiers lost their lives for nothing. Now the people in the city must be terrified. After this battle, the legend of Grand Xia’s soldiers who do not fear the cold will surely spread throughout the Raksha Kingdom.”

By now, Wurila had developed great respect for Chen Mu and was beginning to consider matters from the perspective of Grand Xia.

Chen Mu was pleased with Wurila’s transformation and planned to keep him in Grand Xia as a translator.

For the Kingdom of Raksha would not be their final destination—many more nations of Xiongnu descent lay to the west, and Chen Mu was determined not to let a single one escape his grasp.

Three days later, with the siege engines complete, Chen Mu launched the assault on the city.

In the days leading up to the attack, the Raksha army had not raided the camp again, and now, seeing the Grand Xia army assaulting the city, they made no move to sally forth.

Clearly, they had been cowed.

But Chen Mu wanted more—he wanted to show them that their fortress was useless against the might of Grand Xia.

At his command, the Grand Xia soldiers began their assault.

The siege towers advanced, crossbows suppressing the defenders atop Hedong Town’s walls. The Raksha archers returned fire, but their arrows were too few to match the Grand Xia’s barrage.

The catapults joined the fray, targeting the battlements.

This time, however, the catapults hurled not stones but blocks of ice. The size was the same as before, but upon crashing onto the walls, the ice shattered, sending shards flying in all directions.

The effect was even better than Chen Mu had anticipated; it was almost as if they were firing artillery shells.

The lethality of a shell lies in its shrapnel—though now the Grand Xia army used ice fragments, they were sharp and deadly all the same.

Any Raksha soldier struck in the face would instantly clutch his wounds and flee in panic.

Yet the Grand Xia catapults kept up their relentless barrage. No matter where the Raksha soldiers ran, there was no escape.

With the walls littered with broken ice, Raksha soldiers slipped and fell, chaos reigning atop the battlements.

At that moment, the Grand Xia raised their scaling ladders and stormed the walls.

The siege towers and catapults pressed forward again, delivering a withering attack into the city itself.

The victory came swiftly. Two hours later, the Grand Xia army had captured Hedong Town.

Chen Mu ordered some troops to take over the city’s defenses, others to clear the battlefield and hunt down the last Raksha soldiers, while a third group searched for government stores of grain. The Grand Xia had advanced so quickly that the Raksha had no time to move their supplies.

Still another detachment, protecting Wurila, went through the streets to reassure the populace.

They announced to the people of Hedong Town that Grand Xia did not intend to occupy the Raksha Kingdom, but merely to make it a vassal state. Those who laid down their arms would not be harmed.

They also promoted the many benefits of becoming a vassal.

Perhaps because they spoke the same language, the people of Raksha behaved rationally, not like the madmen of Goryeo.

Several days later, carrying the government grain and confiscated weapons, the Grand Xia army left Hedong Town and continued their westward march.

Ten days on, they reached Hexi Town, took it by the same methods, and again proclaimed peace and reassurance to the people.

Chen Mu led his troops into Xiongnu territory to resupply with grain and meat, then marched north along the road.

Yet as he passed through two towns and over a dozen villages, not a single Raksha soul could be found.

...

In the central command tent,

Chen Mu mused, “It seems these really are Raksha villages and towns, but the people have been withdrawn. They’re employing a scorched earth tactic.”

Wurila asked, “Your Highness, what is a scorched earth tactic?”

Chen Mu explained, “It means evacuating the people and grain, then defending only the most fortified cities. This way, we can’t resupply along the way. Their hope is that we’ll run short of provisions and be forced to retreat.”

“Unfortunately for them, their cities are not strong enough, and we don’t need to forage—the meat we brought is sufficient.”

He was right. They still had plenty of dehydrated vegetables, and having just resupplied with grain and meat from the Xiongnu, their stores would last even longer in the cold climate. No need for further forage.

If the Raksha intended to use the northern winter to wear down the Grand Xia, they were sorely mistaken. The Grand Xia soldiers were now well equipped for warmth and had grown accustomed to the weather.

In Hexi Town, Chen Mu had extracted information about the Raksha Kingdom by interrogating prisoners.

There were only three major towns in the whole kingdom: besides Hedong and Hexi towns, which lay near rivers and allowed for trade with both the Xiongnu and the Donghu, only the capital remained.

Phonetically, its name in Grand Xia was “Mosaic.”