I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 899: Shouchun City Falls
"What? What happened?!"

"What's going on? What was that sound just now?!"

Late in the night at midnight, the earth-shaking explosion at the south gate of Shouchun City woke up everyone who had just fallen asleep.

The defending general Qiao Rui was even more shocked. He had not returned home all night and was standing on the city wall, staring blankly at the fire at the south gate, unable to understand what was going on.

But for modern people, just one look would tell them that it must have been a gunpowder explosion.

That’s right, gunpowder. This is the method Su Yao chose to break the city.

Indeed, muskets and cannons are still quite difficult to manufacture given today's productivity.

But if it was just black gunpowder, for Su Yao, who now controls the central power and has nearly half of the world in his hands, he wouldn't even need to use the power of the system to figure it out.

The only thing that restricted his production was the availability of sulfur.

The Central Plains region lacks natural sulfur and has no experience in industrial extraction.

Fortunately, sulfur was already used during the Han Dynasty, mostly from trade with countries in the Western Regions.

Su Yao had previously conquered Ma Teng and temporarily stabilized the Western Regions. After opening up the trade route, he immediately issued an order to purchase sulfur.

Under Su Yao's order, Ma Jia, who used to run the grassland horse trade exclusively for him, suddenly transformed himself and organized a large team together with Central Plains merchants such as Zhen's Company. They marched towards the Western Regions in a mighty manner under the escort of a team of soldiers.

Just last August, this team set out with a load of goods from the Central Plains, including silk, lacquerware, porcelain, glass, tea and paper. They spent more than half a year traveling through the Western Regions and crossing the Hexi Corridor, in exchange for a large amount of gems, spices, horses and the all-important sulfur.

It has to be said that Su Yao and others spent a lot of effort to ensure the success of this trade. Before the caravan set off, they sent fast horses to notify the countries in the Western Regions, requiring them to cooperate in advance, prepare goods, and send caravans to Dunhuang, which is closer to the Central Plains, to trade, so as to shorten the journey and reduce risks.

As soon as this news spread, it immediately caused a huge sensation among the countries in the Western Regions.

In ancient times, roads were difficult to travel. During the Han Dynasty, the management of the Western Regions was mainly carried out by official merchant caravans, which set up numerous post stations, fortresses, and garrisons along the way to control many nodes.

Therefore, official caravans from the Central Plains have always been the main source of finance for the countries in the Western Regions.

However, due to the recent internal turmoil in the court, the Qiang Rebellion in the Northwest broke out in 184 AD, communication between the Central Plains and the Western Regions was cut off, trade routes almost stagnated, the countries in the Western Regions lost important trade income, and life became quite difficult.

The once prosperous Silk Road is now deserted, with no caravans, stagnant economies and declining livelihoods. The nobles who once relied on goods from the Central Plains can no longer enjoy the beauty of silk and the refinement of porcelain.

Ordinary people also lost the opportunity to improve their lives through trade, prices soared, and complaints arose.

Even because they were out of the control and mediation of the Central Plains, the countries in the Western Regions even launched large-scale wars of conquest.

Among them, there are ambitious heroes who want to take the opportunity to expand their territory, as well as helpless kings who fight for survival due to lack of resources.

The Kingdom of Kucha took the opportunity to start a regional hegemony struggle with the States of Shule and Shache. Internal struggles to overthrow the pro-Han king also broke out again in Cheshi.

Now, when the countries in the Western Regions received the news sent by Su Yao, their reactions were naturally different.

But no matter what, the prestige of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions remained. Faced with the imperial envoys, the kings of Qiuci, Shanshan, Khotan, Shule, Shache, Cheshi and other countries temporarily put aside their disputes and sent envoys and caravans to Dunhuang to trade on the one hand and to inquire about the situation in the Central Plains on the other.

However, Su Yao doesn’t care about the thoughts of these Western countries for the time being.

After leaving some garrison troops to strengthen the military force in Dunhuang, the affairs of the Western Regions were temporarily handed over to local officials. They were only instructed to strengthen intelligence gathering in order to prepare for future management of the Western Regions.

With the great success of this trade, a large number of treasures from the Western Regions were brought back to the Central Plains, as well as sulfur, which was urgently needed to make gunpowder.

What happened next was a matter of course.

When Su Yao launched the attack on Yuan Shu, he brought the gunpowder with him and gave Shouchun City a surprise.

The earth-shaking explosion and flames brought an extremely profound shock to these people who had never seen the power of gunpowder.

“Is this a punishment from heaven?”

"Here comes the Thunder God, here comes the Thunder God!"

"The general is truly a man from heaven!!!"

On the city wall, the defenders were terrified and knelt on the ground and kowtowed. Some were so scared that they wet their pants and collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

Ordinary soldiers could no longer be counted on, and the guard Qiao Rui was no better. The sudden loud noise also made him dizzy and his legs weak. He had to hold on to the city wall with both hands to barely stand. "What kind of punishment is this? This must be Su Yao's magic!"

"Everyone, get up! Hurry up and get up!"

Qiao Rui forced himself to roar and waved his weapon desperately, trying to cheer up these frightened soldiers.

However, the soldiers were completely stunned by the earth-shattering explosion. Their eyes were filled with fear and they turned a deaf ear to Qiao Rui's shouts. There was chaos on the city wall. Some soldiers were still kneeling on the ground, praying for God's protection, while others were simply staring blankly at the still burning South Gate, unable to do anything.

"Boom——"

There was another loud bang, and this time the explosion occurred near the city gate.

This second explosion blew the already shaky city gate into pieces, wood chips and rubble flew everywhere, and the defenders completely collapsed in the smoke and dust. They fled in all directions crying, as if the end of the world had come.

"The city gate is broken! The city gate is broken!"

"Run! The Su thief is coming!"

In the chaos, Su Yao, dressed in a red robe, took the lead. Holding a lance in his hand, he broke through the smoke and dust and charged into the chaotic army in one breath.

"Duck rush!"

"Kill the duck!"

"Come and die, you bastard!"

Amidst the shouts, Su Yao swung his weapon, stirring up a cloud of blood mist.

Behind him, the cavalry, like a tide, also followed suit, madly trampling on the bewildered defenders at the city gate.

"It's over, it's over."

"Why is it like this?"

Qiao Rui was not a fool. How could he not know that the situation was hopeless in such a situation?

"Captain, run!"

"If you don't run now, it will be too late!"

The guards around Qiao Rui anxiously pulled at his sleeves, their eyes full of fear and anxiety.

However, Qiao Rui just waved his hand and pushed him away:

"Run? Where can we run to?"

"Shouchun City is blocked by both land and water. Now we have no choice but to fight to the death."

After saying that, Qiao Rui glared at Su Yao's flag fiercely, jumped on his horse, and rushed forward.

"I have heard that the general is very brave, so I came here today to learn from him!"

Qiao Rui launched a desperate counterattack against Su Yao, hoping to gain a chance of survival.

However, Su Yao didn't even hear his shouting in the chaos.

I just saw an enemy general rushing towards me stupidly, and then I waved my hand and swept him away.
Qiao Rui was immediately blown away like a kite with a broken string, and broke into two pieces in mid-air, dying.

"No!"

"Captain Qiao!"

Seeing their own general being killed so easily, the nearby soldiers were terrified and knelt down in surrender.

As a result, the attack and defense battle of Shouchun City ended in the victory of the Han army in less than an hour.

(End of this chapter)