The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 91 The decisive battle begins
Nothing happened all night.

Early in the morning of the second day, noise began to be heard in the Northern Frontier Army camp.

The soldiers cooked breakfast, packed up the tents, fed the horses, and prepared to break camp and leave the place.

Taking advantage of this time, Li Xiao, Li Dashan and others gathered in an open space.

His eyes were fixed on Erhu not far away.

I saw him holding a divine arm crossbow, slowly tightening the bowstring, and placing the crossbow arrow on the crossbow arm.

About forty meters in front of him stood a wooden stake.

The wooden stakes were covered with wart armor and used as targets.

Li Xiao and his team were testing whether the wart armor had stronger defensive power or the divine arm crossbow had stronger armor-piercing ability.

At this moment, no one spoke, just quietly watching Erhu's operation.

Aiming at the wart armor forty meters away, Erhu directly pulled the trigger of the crossbow.

"Collapse~"

A low string sound was heard, and the crossbow arrow instantly hit the wart armor.

Then there was a crisp sound.

"Dang~"

The crossbow arrow hit the patch of the wart armor and was bounced off instantly.

"Go and see."

Li Xiao and others quickly surrounded them.

When I found the spot where the crossbow arrow had hit me, I discovered there was only a tiny dent on it.

"It's not broken?" Da Hu said in disbelief.

The others were also very surprised. They had never expected that the defense of the wart armor would be so strong.

You know, they had already witnessed the power of the Divine Arm Crossbow yesterday.

Li Xiao personally led eighty armored cavalrymen to launch a charge, and afterwards the armor of three cavalrymen was pierced.

Fortunately, the Naiman soldiers were panicked at the time and were frightened so much that they fired their crossbows prematurely, resulting in insufficient power.

After the crossbow arrow penetrated the armor, it quickly stopped, with only the arrowhead piercing the soldier's body.

The injury is not serious.

If a group of well-trained soldiers were to operate them, and the number of crossbows was increased several times.

The heavy cavalry under Li Xiao's command would probably suffer heavy losses.

But even such a powerful divine arm crossbow could not penetrate the wart armor.

On the other hand, the arrow of the Shenbi crossbow has become curled up.

"The Xixia people are really amazing at forging this kind of armor." Li Dashan said in amazement as he touched the armor plates.

"If we had a heavy cavalry unit fully equipped with wart armor, only a thousand of them would be enough to sweep through the Naiman."

The defensive power of the wart armor is simply terrifying, and its hardness is several times that of the iron armor forged by the Naimans.

Moreover, wart nails are thin and light, making them more convenient for exercise.

For heavy cavalry, this is simply a magical weapon.

"It's not that easy." Li Xiao shook his head slightly when he heard this.

"It's very difficult to make wart armor. It would take twenty craftsmen several years to complete a set of wart armor."

"A thousand wart armors? There aren't that many in the entire Western Xia."

The famous Xixia Iron Harriers can be regarded as the pinnacle of heavy cavalry of this era.

But only a small number of them are qualified to wear wart armor, and most of them can only wear ordinary iron armor.

The Yanjun Division of Heishui Town, a local army, was able to produce twenty sets of wart armor.

This surprised Li Xiao.

Does the commander of the Zhenyan Army have such a powerful background?
This smuggling gang has connections everywhere.

We can keep in touch.

"Hey, it would be great if we could forge this thing."

"By then, each of us will have a set of armor. Whoever dares to provoke us will be killed directly." Erhu said with a greedy look on his face.

This guy's personality is just like that. His mind is full of fighting and killing. He loves things like armor and swords very much.

Li Xiao chuckled and said nothing.

Jinzhou does not lack smelting technology and has the ability to manufacture iron armor.

Unfortunately, what is lacking is people.

A large number of craftsmen are required to build a complete military-industrial system.

“What a treasure trove of talent!”

Li Xiao looked towards the direction of Xixia and said with emotion.

If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely take people to visit Xixia.

Nomadic peoples such as Temujin and the Naimans often went to Western Xia to beg for money, so why couldn't Li Xiao go there as well?
"Okay, take these wart armor and the crossbow, it's time to go back."

After the experiment was over, Li Xiao greeted everyone.

On the way back, Li Xiao held the curled arrow in his hand, looking thoughtful.

The Shenbi crossbow cannot completely penetrate the wart armor, probably because the quality of its arrows is not good enough.

The arrowhead is not hard enough.

"If we use arrows made of wootz steel, is it possible to penetrate wart armor?"

Li Xiao suddenly felt that even if he was wearing wart armor, he might not be absolutely safe.

Soon after, the army broke camp and set off, and the entire team was divided into two.

Li Xiao personally led the main force and 600 young and strong men from the Horma tribe to join Xiao Simo's army.

Lin Dazhuang led 500 soldiers to escort the elderly, weak, women and children of the Horma tribe, as well as cattle, sheep and other supplies, to meet up with Li Sanhe.

Since entering the Naiman territory, all the supplies and women that Li Xiao and his men looted were piled up in that valley.

It is a temporary base camp and will be brought back to Jinzhou when the troops withdraw.

When they parted, Li Xiao called Lin Dazhuang over and told him:

"If the young and strong men of the Horma tribe rebel, I will send someone to inform you."

"Don't hesitate, immediately kill all the old, weak, women and children in the Horma tribe."

Hearing this, Lin Dazhuang nodded heavily, knowing clearly what his mission was. It was to put a shackle on the neck of the Horma tribe.

"Also, you have to take good care of your brothers and don't let them reveal anything."

"As ordered."

Among the 500 soldiers that Lin Dazhuang took with him this time, except for the backbone forces such as squad leaders and sergeants, all of them were from Jinzhou.

All the other low-level soldiers were borrowed by Li Xiao.

And all of them are planning to stay in Golden State and don't want to go back.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Xiao added the names of more than 400 soldiers to the list of casualties.

Later, these soldiers will be transformed and become true Golden State people.

……

Three days later, the army gathered on the banks of the Arak River.

The Liao army and the Naiman army fought a decisive battle here.

After the Battle of Jinshan, the Liao Kingdom still had 23,000 soldiers.

Although the number of troops has been reduced, those who survived have experienced the baptism of war. The new recruits have lost their immaturity and weakness, so their combat effectiveness has increased.

On the Naiman side, Taiyang Khan mobilized all the males from the surrounding tribes, as well as the soldiers who had escaped from the Jinshan battlefield during this period.

In addition to the imperial guards who originally protected the Khan's court, there were 5,000 soldiers transferred back from the eastern border of the Kerait tribe.

All the troops added up to more than 15,000.

Although there are a lot of people, their morale is a little low.

In this battle, the attack order of Li Xiao's army was in the second sequence.

So, before the war began, he still had time to check the situation on the battlefield.

"What are you looking for? Are you looking for Buyilukhei Khan's army?"

Just as Li Xiao was observing, a voice came from behind him.

Li Xiao turned his head and his face instantly darkened.

He scolded, "Why are you here? You are just fooling around. Go back now."

The person who came was Xiao Yanyan, wearing a black cowhide armor, her hair was tied up behind her head and covered with a sheepskin hat, and her face was covered with a layer of mud.

Someone who isn't familiar with her wouldn't be able to tell she's a woman.

"Why can't I come? The battlefield is not just for you men." Xiao Yanyan snorted and rode to Li Xiao's side, standing side by side with him.

"This is not a joke. It's very dangerous here." Li Xiao said with a stern face.

This was mainly due to Li Xiao's suspicion of Buyiluhei Khan.

I'm afraid this war will not develop in the expected direction.

"It's not like I haven't experienced dangerous things before."

"Besides, aren't you here?" Xiao Yanyan smiled and looked at Li Xiao.

"Even if it means death."

"Even if I die with you, I won't be alone."

Hearing what Xiao Yanyan said, Li Xiao lost his temper instantly.

This woman is really bold and unrestrained.

It’s a pity that he just doesn’t listen to himself.

I still have to find an opportunity to make her obedient.

"Then you have to follow me closely and don't get lost." Li Xiao reminded him worriedly.

If the situation on the battlefield becomes unfavorable, I can take her with me when I escape.

"A grown man, stop talking so much."

"It's not like I haven't killed anyone before," Xiao Yanyan snorted.

However, I still appreciate Li Xiao's concern.

"Oh, I haven't told you yet. Buyilukhei Khan's army should be thirty miles away right now."

"Prepare to surprise the Sun Khan." Xiao Yanyan said.

"How do you know?" Li Xiao asked in surprise.

I was just wondering why I didn’t see Buyilukhei Khan’s army.

"A few days ago, Buyiluhei Khan came to the army alone with his men and discussed this plan with my brother." Xiao Yanyan said.

At that time, Li Xiao was still leading his troops outside, so he did not see the situation at that time.

"Coming alone? You seem quite sincere." Li Xiao murmured.

"Are you worried about Buyiluhei Khan?" Xiao Yanyan asked.

"Hmm~"

"I feel a little uneasy, worried that Buyiluheihan will do something unexpected." Li Xiao nodded.

Xiao Yanyan didn't quite understand this.

"Buyiluhei Khan and Taiyang Khan are incompatible. What he wants most is to seize the Naiman Khanship from Taiyang Khan. There shouldn't be any problem with that."

Li Xiao shook his head slightly: "That's hard to say."

"People's hearts are hidden, who knows if the two brothers are teaming up to play us."

Xiao Yanyan pondered for a moment, then said in a somewhat uncertain tone, "A few days ago, when Buyilukhei Khan came to the tent, he seemed quite respectful."

But in Li Xiao's opinion, simple respect does not represent anything.

"A dog that bites doesn't bark." Li Xiao said in a faint voice.

Looking at Xiao Yanyan, he said, "Just stay with me when the time comes. Don't get lost."

Suddenly, Xiao Yanyan smiled charmingly, looked at Li Xiao and said, "You are so wary of Bu Yilu Heihan, isn't it because of me?"

Facing Xiao Yanyan's half-smile, Li Xiao shook his head slightly and snorted, "You're being sentimental."

But Xiao Yanyan just chuckled: "Little man!"

At this moment, a low horn sound was heard in the distance.

"Woooooooo~"

Li Xiao looked forward and saw a group of Khitan soldiers in iron armor driving their war horses and slowly advancing forward.

The decisive battle has begun.

(End of this chapter)