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Chapter 2554: Humans and Gods share the anger

When news of the fall of the capital and the purge of the Qi imperial family reached the Northwest, Prince Changxin, Sui Tuo, was drinking in his tent.

The wine glass in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter, spilling wine all over the floor. He was stunned for a long time.

"He Jingyuan has entered the capital? The emperor is dead? Wei Yan and Li Xing are also dead?" Sui Tuo asked in shock, asking three questions in quick succession.

The messenger knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head: "Your Highness, it is absolutely true. He Jingyuan's army has breached the capital, the emperor has committed suicide, Wei Yan has died for his country, and all of the thousands of members of the Qi royal family have been killed by Su Ning."

Sui Tuo was stunned for a while, then suddenly stood up and kicked over the table in front of him, scattering cups, plates and bowls all over the floor.

"He Jingyuan! Su Ning!" Sui Tuo gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. "How dare you be so arrogant!"

Then Sui Tuo paced back and forth in the tent, panting heavily like a trapped wild beast.

Sui Tuo originally thought that Su Ning and He Jingyuan would treat the royal family and the nobles well, but he never expected that they would be so ruthless as to wipe them out.

At this moment, Sui Tuo felt fear for the first time, and it was a fear that came from the bottom of his heart.

With Su Ning, that freak, helping He Jingyuan, conquering cities and seizing territory is as easy as playing around.

While he was still entangled with the remnants of the imperial army, the enemy had already killed the emperor and all the nobles.

Sitting beside him, Sui Yuanqing said dismissively, "Father, why are you in such a hurry? So what if He Jingyuan occupies the capital? The capital is inanimate, but people are alive. We have troops in our hands, what are we afraid of?"

Suituo stopped and looked at his son, the anger in his eyes slowly turning into calculation.

He thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled sinisterly, “You’re right. The capital is dead, but people are alive. Su Ning and He Jingyuan have occupied the capital, but their strongholds of Jizhou and Mingzhou are still there. Let’s attack their strongholds and see which one they’ll be concerned about.”

“Father is wise.”

……

Sui Tuo immediately summoned his generals and held a meeting that very night. "Issue an order to send someone to the Northern Jurchens and tell their Chanyu that I, Sui Tuo, wish to join forces with him to form an allied army. Two hundred thousand cavalry will be divided into two routes, one to attack Yanzhou and the other to attack Mingzhou. Yanzhou is weak and will be taken easily. Mingzhou is He Jingyuan's stronghold, and its commander is Meng Lihua. How much ability can a woman have?"

Sui Yuanqing asked, "Father, can the Northern Jurchens be trusted? They are a different race. What if they turn their backs on us?"

Sui Tuo sneered, "Whether you trust them or not, you have to. This isn't the time to talk about trust, it's the time to talk about interests. The Northern Jurchens want the people, food, and cloth of the Central Plains, and I want the land of the Central Plains. We each get what we need, so what's there to distrust?"

Sui Yuanqing thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he didn't say anything more.

Qi Yu sat in the corner, remaining silent.

He listened to the conversation between Sui Tuo and his son Sui Yuanqing with a blank expression on his face, but he was thinking about other things in his mind.

He knew the Northern Jurchens were unreliable, and he also knew that Sui Tuo was playing with fire.

But he didn't say it, because he knew it would be useless.

Sui Tuo has gone mad and won't listen to anyone.

……

In less than ten days, the allied forces of King Changxin and the Northern Jurchens were fully assembled.

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen, a vast, dark expanse, like a black tide.

The horses of the Northern Jurchens were short and sturdy, with good endurance, and they ran fast and steadily.

The Northern Jurchens were all skilled horsemen, capable of shooting arrows and fighting on horseback, making them the most troublesome opponents for the Central Plains armies.

The allied forces split into two routes. One route, consisting of 50,000 men led by a commander of ten thousand from the Northern Jurchens, attacked Yanzhou.

One force of 150,000 men, personally led by Sui Tuo, attacked Mingzhou.

The garrison in Yanzhou numbered less than 10,000, which was no match for the 50,000 Northern Jurchen cavalry.

In less than three days, Yanzhou was captured.

After the Northern Jurchens entered the city, they began a brutal massacre.

They killed anyone they saw and burned anything they saw.

The streets were littered with corpses, rivers of blood flowed, and houses were burning with crackling sounds, billowing thick smoke that blotted out the sky.

An old man was hacked to death at the doorway, a child was impaled on a knife, and a woman was dragged away.

The entire city of Yanzhou was turned into a living hell.

The massacre lasted for three days and three nights.

Three days later, less than one-tenth of the population of Yanzhou City remained alive.

After looting, killing, and burning to their hearts' content, the Northern Jurchens withdrew from Yanzhou, carrying with them the grain, cloth, gold, silver, and women they had plundered, and continued their rampage towards Jizhou.

……

When the news reached Mingzhou, Meng Lihua was inspecting the city wall.

When she heard the news of the massacre in Yanzhou, her face turned ashen and her lips trembled.

She stood on the city wall, looking northwest, and remained silent for a long time.

The generals around him were also filled with righteous indignation, wishing they could rush out and fight the Northern Jurchens to the death. "General! The Northern Jurchens are despicable! They killed tens of thousands of people in Yanzhou City without a second thought! We cannot let them get away with this!"

Meng Lihua took a deep breath, suppressing her anger. "Send the order: scorched earth. Move all the grain, livestock, and firewood outside the city into the city. Burn anything that can't be moved. Don't leave a single grain of rice for the Northern Jurchens. Fill in all the wells; don't give them a single drop of water."

"Yes!" the generals replied in unison.

"Furthermore," Meng Lihua continued, "strengthen the city's defenses, prepare more rolling logs and stones, and heat more oil and soup. If that's not enough, demolish civilian houses, put all archers on the city walls, set up cannons, and aim them at the outside of the city. When the Northern Jurchens come, let them taste our might."

"Yes, General."

Once the order was given, the people outside Mingzhou City began to evacuate into the city.

The grain was carried into the city bag by bag, and what couldn't be carried was burned on the spot.

Wells were filled in one by one, and dead cats and dogs were thrown in to pollute the water where they couldn't be filled.

The area outside the city had turned into a white wasteland; there was nothing left, not even a blade of grass.

When the allied forces of the Northern Jurchens and King Changxin arrived at the city of Mingzhou, they found it to be an empty city.

There was nothing outside the city—no food, no water, not even a tree.

They wanted to resupply on the spot, but they couldn't find even a single grain of rice.

Sui Tuo rode his horse and stood outside the city, looking at the flags fluttering on the city walls of Mingzhou. His face was very ugly. "That bitch Meng Lihua is ruthless. She fortified the city and cleared the area of ​​the city, leaving not a single grain of rice for me."

Sui Yuanqing asked, "Father, what should we do? We have 150,000 people, and we need to eat and drink every day. We can't afford to wait any longer."

Sui Tuo gritted his teeth: "Attack the city! Once we capture Mingzhou, the city will be full of food and water. We must take it within three days!"

The Northern Jurchens began their attack on the city.

They weren't good at siege warfare; they only knew how to ride horses and shoot arrows, but they couldn't withstand the sheer number of people.

They surged upwards wave after wave, climbing recklessly.

Ladders were erected one after another on the city wall, and the Northern Jurchens climbed up while biting their knives.

Meng Lihua, standing atop the city wall, calmly met the challenge.

She stood on the city wall, directing the defending troops to resist, going wherever there was danger, not at all like a woman.

Fan Changyu also picked up her butcher knife and went up to the city wall, staring intently at those beasts of the allied forces.

Archers released arrows, artillerymen fired cannons, logs and boulders were hurled down, and hot oil and soup were poured on top.

The Northern Jurchens fell one after another, but those behind them continued to surge forward, stepping over the corpses of those in front.

While giving instructions, Meng Lihua shouted, "Sisters and brothers, Mingzhou City is right behind us, and our fellow villagers are all here! If the Northern Jurchens enter the city, Yanzhou will suffer the same fate! Do you want Mingzhou to become like that too?"

"No!" the defenders roared in unison, their morale soaring, and they fought even more desperately.

"Then we will defend Mingzhou City to the death."

"We swear to defend Mingzhou City to the death."

The siege lasted three days, during which the Northern Jurchen allied forces in Chongzhou suffered tens of thousands of casualties, without even touching the city walls.

Sui Tuo was so anxious that he developed blisters on his lips, but he still couldn't get through.

I never expected that Meng Lihua would be so good at guarding her position; she truly deserves to be Meng Shuyuan's daughter.

……

When the news reached the capital, Suning was dealing with government affairs.

When he heard the news of the massacre in Yanzhou, the pen in his hand snapped in two.

He stood up, his face ashen, his eyes burning with fury. "A massacre? The Northern Jurchens actually massacred Yanzhou?"

The soldier who brought the news knelt on the ground, his voice trembling: "Yes...yes, my lord. Of the tens of thousands of people in Yanzhou City, less than one-tenth survived. The Northern Jurchens looted, killed, and burned everything."

Su Ning was silent for a moment, then raised his head. "Pass down the order! I want to go to Mingzhou personally."

"Yes, my lord."

Upon hearing the news, He Jingyuan rushed over. "My lord, how many troops do you intend to take?"

Suning said, "I don't need to bring troops. I have my own troops."

He Jingyuan was taken aback: "You have your own soldiers? Where are they?"

Su Ning didn't explain, turned around, and rode away from the capital.

Arriving at an open space outside the city, he looked around to make sure no one was there, then closed his eyes, and with a thought, directly connected to the spatial world.

In the spatial world, he raised an army of cold weapons.

Two hundred thousand elite cavalry, fully armed.

These cavalrymen were not ordinary people; they were AI robots he created in the spatial world. Each one was strong and skilled in martial arts, far superior to the elites of the outside world.

Originally, I didn't plan to use the spatial world, but King Changxin and the Northern Jurchens crossed the line for humanity.

Then let these beasts meet their destruction!

These cavalrymen wore state-of-the-art stab-proof vests that were lightweight and sturdy, impervious to swords and arrows.

It wore a mask on its face, only revealing its two eyes, which looked frightening.

The faceplate is specially made, with runes engraved inside, which can protect against poisonous smoke and fog, and also provide night vision.

The warhorses they rode were no ordinary horses either.

These horses were specially bred and raised in the spatial world. Each one ate spiritual herbs and drank spiritual spring water, and their strength was equivalent to that of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

It runs faster than the wind, and can easily travel 30,000 miles a day.

The horse was also covered in armor, making it impervious to swords and spears.

A horse's legs are thick and powerful; one hoof can kill a cow.

The cavalry used the most advanced cold weapons.

The spear was made of alloy, and its tip was sharp enough to pierce iron armor.

The saber is forged from refined steel; with a single strike, it can cleave a person in two, armor and all.

The bow and arrow is a composite bow, with a long range and great power; one arrow can penetrate three layers of iron armor.

This army was the biggest trump card that Suning had prepared in advance after arriving in this instance world.

He had kept this army hidden in the spatial world and had never told anyone.

Today, he's going to use this trump card.

Su Ning took a deep breath, and with another thought, a dark mass of cavalry appeared out of thin air on the open ground.

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen stood in perfect formation, completely silent.

The warhorse snorted, puffing out white steam, and its hooves paved the ground with a dull thud.

The cavalrymen sat upright on their horses, motionless, like statues.

The eyes behind the visor were as cold as ice.

Su Ning mounted his horse, drew his Tang-style sword, and shouted, "Soldiers! The Northern Jurchens have massacred Yanzhou, killed our compatriots, looted our grain, and burned our houses. What do you say we should do?"

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens and the earth: "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Suning waved his hand: "Let's go! Destination: Mingzhou!"

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen set off simultaneously, their hooves thundering and the earth trembling.

This torrent of steel, like a sharp sword, plunged straight into Mingzhou.

……

Outside Mingzhou City, King Changxin and the Northern Jurchen allied forces were still besieging the city.

Fifteen thousand men besieged Mingzhou for three days and three nights, losing over ten thousand men, but still could not break through.

Tuo was so anxious he was pacing around in circles, and the commander of ten thousand men from the Northern Jurchens was also so anxious he was cursing.

Their food and water supplies were almost exhausted; if they couldn't take the city soon, they would collapse without a fight. The Northern Jurchen cavalry's attack on Jizhou was also unsuccessful, failing to replicate the swift victory of the siege of Yanzhou.

The main reason was that the terrible state of Yanzhou terrified the soldiers and civilians of Jizhou. They did not want to be slaughtered by the Northern Jurchen cavalry, so they had no choice but to resist.

As Tuoqi rode on horseback, gazing at the walls of Mingzhou, he gritted his teeth and said, "Tomorrow, we must take it! If we fail, I'll bring my head to you!"

"..."

Just then, the ground began to shake.

It wasn't a slight tremor, it was a violent tremor, like an earthquake.

The sound of horses' hooves came from afar, growing closer and louder, like thunder, booming and making one's ears hurt.

Sui Tuo's expression changed, and he turned around to look.

A black line appeared on the horizon, growing wider and closer until it turned into a black tide.

Those were cavalry, an overwhelming horde of cavalry, an endless expanse of cavalry, so many that they were impossible to count.

These cavalrymen were different from ordinary cavalrymen.

They wore black stab-proof vests and face shields, revealing only their eyes, making them look like demon soldiers crawling out of hell.

The warhorses were tall and strong, a head taller than the horses of the Northern Jurchens, and ran as fast as the wind.

The horse was also covered in armor, black and gleaming with a cold light.

The Northern Jurchens were dumbfounded.

They had fought battles for half their lives and had never seen cavalry like this before.

Those horses were running so fast, it didn't seem real.

Those cavalrymen were too quiet, so quiet they didn't seem alive.

They charged without shouting or yelling; all that could be heard were the sounds of horses' hooves and sabers being drawn.

Su Ning rode at the very front of the group, carrying a saber in his hand, his eyes behind his mask as cold as ice.

He saw the banners of the Northern Jurchens in the distance, and the Northern Jurchen soldiers besieging the city. He thought of the innocent people who had been slaughtered in Yanzhou City, and his anger erupted like a volcano.

"Kill!" Su Ning roared and charged forward first.

Two hundred thousand cavalry followed Su Ning, like a black sword, piercing straight into the flank of the Northern Jurchens.

The Northern Jurchens were attacking the city, their formation was loose, and they had no time to organize a defense.

The cavalry charged into their ranks, cutting them down one by one like vegetables.

The stab-proof vest was impervious to knives and spears; when the Northern Jurchens cut into it, only a white mark was left.

The warhorses charged wildly, knocking the Northern Jurchen horses off their feet and trampling their riders into a bloody pulp.

A centurion from the Northern Jurchens rode on horseback, brandishing a large sword, and charged towards Su Ning.

He thought Suning was an easy target and wanted to take advantage of them.

Su Ning didn't even glance at him. With a swift movement, he cleaved the man's broadsword in two, simultaneously decapitating him.

His head flew a long way off, and blood spurted high from his neck.

Another Northern Jurchen centurion launched a sneak attack from the side, aiming his spear at Su Ning's back.

Without turning his head, Su Ning grabbed the spear shaft with his left hand and pulled the centurion off his horse, throwing him to the ground where he was trampled into a bloody pulp by the hooves of the horses behind him.

The commander of ten thousand men of the Northern Jurchens turned pale with fright when he saw this scene.

He had fought for more than 20 years and had never encountered such a terrifying enemy.

Those cavalrymen weren't human, they were demons, evil spirits crawled out of hell.

Their swords couldn't cut through them, their arrows couldn't pierce them, their horses couldn't outrun them, they couldn't defeat them in battle, and they couldn't escape them.

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" the commander shouted, turning his horse and galloping away.

But they can't escape now.

Suning's cavalry had already surrounded them; black cavalrymen were everywhere, like a black wall, making escape impossible.

The battle lasted less than two hours.

Of the 150,000-strong allied army of the Northern Jurchens and King Changxin, most were killed, and the rest knelt on the ground and surrendered.

……

Sui Tuo escaped amidst the chaos of battle, leaving him with only a few hundred personal guards.

He glanced back and saw the black-clad cavalry chasing down fleeing soldiers on the battlefield, saw the corpses of the Northern Jurchens piled up like mountains, and saw blood flowing like rivers.

He was so frightened that he trembled all over and ran northwest without looking back.

Sui Yuanqing and Qi Yu were not so lucky.

While fleeing, they were struck by a stray arrow, fell off their horses, and were captured alive by Suning's cavalry.

As Yuan Qing and Qi Yu were brought before Su Ning, they knelt on the ground. Qi Yu knew that all was lost and remained silent, as if he had lost his parents.

Covered in blood, Sui Yuanqing continued to curse, "You traitors! You will all die a horrible death! My father will avenge me!"

Su Ning looked down at him, expressionless: "Your father? Your father has already run away. He ran faster than a rabbit, he didn't even want his own son."

Sui Yuanqing was stunned for a moment, then burst into a tirade of curses, calling Sui Tuo a scoundrel, Su Ning a monster, and cursing everything in between.

Su Ning was too lazy to listen to his nonsense, and waved her hand: "Take them away and chop them into mincemeat."

"Yes!"

As Yuan Qing and Qi Yu were dragged away, he continued to curse until the very last moment.

The battlefield was cleared, and there were tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers, most of whom were Northern Jurchens, and a small number were soldiers of King Changxin.

As Meng Lihua walked out of Mingzhou City, she looked at Su Ning and asked, "What should we do with these surrendered soldiers? Let them go back?"

Su Ning shook his head: "I won't let go."

Meng Lihua then asked, "Then what should we do? Lock them up? We don't have enough food to feed them."

Suning said, "We'll wipe them all out."

Meng Lihua paused for a moment, remained silent for a while, and finally nodded: "Okay. You're right, these people have the blood of the people of Yanzhou on their hands, they can't be allowed to live."

The surrendered soldiers were led to an open space and made to kneel in several rows.

They knew they were going to die; some cried, some shouted, some begged for mercy, and some cursed.

A Northern Jurchen commander knelt on the ground and cried out in broken Central Plains dialect, "Spare me! Spare me! I surrender! You cannot kill prisoners!"

Su Ning walked up to him, looked at him, and said coldly, "The people in Yanzhou City have also begged for mercy. Will you spare them?"

The centurion was speechless, lowered his head, and stopped struggling.

Su Ning waved his hand, and the soldiers raised their swords.

Tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers were all buried alive, not a single one was spared.

Then Su Ning personally led a large army to surround and attack the 50,000 Northern Jurchen cavalry who were attacking Jizhou. They were all wiped out, and the surrendered soldiers were all buried alive.

……

When the news reached the Northwest, Sui Tuo was so frightened that he almost fell off his horse.

He fled back to Chongzhou overnight, closed the city gates tightly, and ordered a citywide curfew, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving.

But he knew in his heart that none of this would help.

Those black cavalrymen of Suning are not something ordinary people can withstand.

Their horses are faster than the wind, their swords sharper than lightning, and their armor is impervious to blades and spears.

No matter how high or thick the city walls of Chongzhou were, they couldn't stop them.

Sui Tuo sat in Chongzhou City, filled with anxiety and unease.

He already regretted it. He regretted joining forces with the Northern Jurchens, regretted allowing the Northern Jurchens to massacre the city, and regretted provoking Su Ning.

But what's the use of regretting it now? It's too late.

……

Sure enough, the next day, Su Ning's cavalry, which could travel 30,000 li a day, caught up with them and reached Chongzhou.

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen surrounded Chongzhou City completely.

The black armor gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the eyes behind the visor were as cold as ice.

The warhorses snorted and pawed at the ground, as if waiting for a command.

As Su Ning rode his horse, looking at Chongzhou City, he thought of the innocent people who had been massacred in Yanzhou City, the houses that had been burned down, and the women who had been abducted.

His gaze grew colder and colder, so cold it could freeze.

"Attack the city," Su Ning said, uttering only two words.

Two hundred thousand cavalrymen then launched an attack.

They don't need ladders, battering rams, or any siege equipment.

They rode their horses straight to the foot of the city wall, then jumped off and climbed up the brickwork like geckos.

They were so agile that the city wall was like flat ground to them.

The defenders on the city wall were terrified; they had never seen an enemy like this before.

Arrows could not pierce their armor, and swords could not cut their bodies. They climbed the city walls like ghosts and killed anyone they saw.

In less than an hour, Chongzhou City was captured.

Sui Tuo was dragged out of the palace, bound hand and foot, and made to kneel in front of Su Ning.

At this time, Prince Changxin had lost his former prestige. His hair was disheveled, his clothes were tattered, and his face was covered in ash, making him look like a beggar.

"Su Ning, spare my life, and I'll give you all the land in the Northwest. I'll be your subject, I'll serve you like a beast of burden." Sui Tu knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.

Su Ning looked at him coldly and said, "When the people in Yanzhou City begged for mercy, did you spare them?"

"I didn't massacre Yanzhou! It was all those bastard Northern Jurchens."

"If it weren't for you leading the way, would they have been able to enter this uninhabited land?"

“I…” Sui Tuo was immediately speechless.

Su Ning waved his hand: "The entire lineage of Prince Changxin, slaughter them all. Leave no one alive."

Sui Tuo was dragged away, along with his concubines, sons, daughters, and grandsons.

The empire that Prince Changxin had built up over a decade vanished overnight.

The entire lineage of Prince Changxin, numbering over a thousand, was massacred outside Chongzhou City.

Just like the surrendered soldiers of the Northern Jurchens, not a single one was spared.

The news spread far and wide, and everyone knew one name—Suning.

Some say he is a hero who avenged the people of Yanzhou.

Some say he's a devil, a ruthless killer.

Some say he is a deity who can conjure up thousands of troops out of thin air.

Suning doesn't care what others say.

All he knew was that in this dog-eat-dog world, only the strongest fist was the only truth.

Being kind to the enemy is cruel to yourself.

……

The day after the city fell, Su Ning rode his horse and inspected the city.

The streets were filled with surrendered soldiers and terrified civilians; no one dared to look up at him.

The black-clad cavalrymen they brought stood on both sides of the street, like statues, motionless.

Suning looked up at the sky; it was very blue, and the clouds were very white.

The vengeance of the people of Yanzhou has been avenged.

The feud between King Changxin and the Northern Jurchens is not over yet; the next step is to completely annihilate the entire Northern Jurchens.

...(End of this chapter)