The prince is more stable

Chapter 1020 The Fall of the City and the Demise of the Country
In this era, firearms will ultimately crush everything.

Even after several hundred years, the development of firearms in China will be very limited. The firearms invented by Zhao Xiaoqian were actually enough for the Song Dynasty to conquer the world.

Today, the capital of Western Xia was once again crushed by the firearms of the Song Dynasty.

Back then, Zhao Xiaoqian led 5,000 light cavalry to conquer Xingqing Prefecture. Several years later, the Song Dynasty's imperial army has once again conquered Xingqing Prefecture.

The familiar feeling of being beaten should remind all the people of Western Xia of their childhood...

Last time, Zhao Xiaoqian personally led a large army to break through Xingqing Prefecture, launching a surprise attack at night. This time, however, Zhong Jianzhong launched an attack openly and honestly.

The city gates of Xingqing Prefecture remain as they were before.

As fragile as ever.

Several cannonballs struck the city gate, which shattered like paper. Several more cannonballs hit the city wall, causing it to collapse like dominoes.

The Western Xia Kingdom was originally established in a desolate place. Due to a lack of resources and insufficient finances, the city walls of Xingqing Prefecture were only made of a mixture of rammed earth and stones when the kingdom was founded.

Such city walls were utterly incapable of withstanding cannon fire; a single cannonball could cause them to collapse.

The moment Li Qianshun decided to make a desperate struggle, his fate was sealed; he could never turn things around.

After the collapse of Xingqing City Wall, the Song soldiers outside the city cheered. They knew very well that the city was about to fall and that conquering the city would be no more difficult and would not require too many casualties.

Meanwhile, the Western Xia defenders inside the city roared in despair. The city gates had been breached and the city walls had collapsed, causing great panic among the defenders. The city gates and walls were their only hope for defending the city, but they had never expected them to be so fragile and vulnerable.

Before defending the city, the generals were still boosting morale, telling the defenders that reinforcements from all directions would arrive soon, and that as long as they held out today, the reinforcements and the defenders would attack from both sides, and the Song army would surely be defeated.

Hold on to today...

It seems now that we can't hold out for even an hour, let alone a whole day.

As soon as the Song army began its siege, the city gates were breached and the city walls collapsed within an hour. The defenders were then faced with a tidal wave of Song troops flooding into the city, and they had no choice but to retreat inside the city and engage in street fighting with the Song army.

When a city reaches the point where it has to resort to street fighting, it is at a critical juncture of life and death. In street fighting, the defending side is almost always going to lose, with very few exceptions.

Given the current situation in Xingqing Prefecture, it is impossible to wait for reinforcements.

With the city on the verge of falling, the Song army's overwhelming force rendered any attempt to defend the city a joke.

As the cannons continued to bombard the city, the eastern gate was shattered and most of the city wall collapsed. Finally, the cannon fire stopped.

Zhong Jianzhong stood on horseback in the center of the army and said in a deep voice: "Order the drums to be beaten. Guo Cheng will lead 20,000 soldiers to charge into the city. The rest of the troops will surround the city from all sides and prevent the enemy from escaping."

The drums beat rapidly, and the soldiers were already waiting for the order to attack the city.

A banner was raised outside the city, followed by a deafening roar of battle cries as 20,000 soldiers charged toward the city walls like wolves and tigers.

The Western Xia defenders roared in despair, their eyes filled with tears and their gazes filled with a death-defying madness. They grabbed their swords and halberds and charged forward recklessly.

The process of entering the city was easy. The Song army, which was organized in groups of dozens or even hundreds, was very skilled in tactics. Faced with the resistance of the defenders, the Song army only needed to pull the trigger and fire the iron bullets to mean that a life had been taken.

Street fighting was already a basic subject in the Song army's daily drills. At this moment, they only needed to follow the steps in the training manual, operating methodically and advancing step by step. The enemy fell before them like weeds.

The Song soldiers were in high spirits and charged towards the city gates and walls with reckless abandon.

The Western Xia defenders fought desperately because they wanted to live; their wives, children, and elderly parents were still in the city, and they had to resist.

The Song soldiers were fearless because they were the first to scale the walls.

This is a very rare opportunity to cross social classes. As long as you make a meritorious contribution, you may be promoted and ennobled, and your descendants will enjoy wealth and honor.

At the foot of the city wall, the two armies clashed fiercely as soon as they made contact.

The Western Xia defenders, armed with swords and halberds, surged toward the breach in the collapsed city wall, attempting to use their bodies to mend the gap and prevent the Song army from entering the city.

The Song soldiers opened fire without hesitation, and one by one, the Western Xia defenders fell on their way to the Song army before they even made contact with them.

A hail of arrows rained down from above the city wall, and many Song soldiers fell, but the defenders' arrows had little effect on stopping the Song army.

The Song army also deployed sharpshooters under the city walls to specifically kill the archers of the defending troops. The archers rarely had a chance to fire their arrows; as soon as they peeked out from the crenellations on the city walls, they were hit by the flintlock muskets of the Song army.

The siege was incredibly fast, exceeding the expectations of the Western Xia defenders. In their limited experience, they had never heard of a city being so vulnerable. Less than an hour had passed since the siege began, and many Song soldiers had already entered the city.

In fact, even the Song soldiers themselves were a bit stunned. They couldn't believe that the city had been breached so easily; it was like a dream.

As the Western Xia defenders on the city walls were killed one by one, squads of Song soldiers took the opportunity to pour into the city, then climbed up the city towers and occupied them.

Fierce battles raged everywhere, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

Another incense stick's time passed, and on the eastern arrow tower of Xingqing Prefecture, the royal flag representing the Li family of Western Xia was pulled up by the Song army and thrown off the city wall. In its place was a black banner with red borders representing the Song Dynasty.

The royal flag changed on the city wall. As the old flag fell to the ground, a new flag rose on the arrow tower, marking the collapse of an old dynasty.

On the eastern watchtower, new flags fluttered in the wind, and a deafening roar of cheers and excited shouts erupted near the tower. "Xingqing Prefecture has fallen!"

"May the Great Song Dynasty be victorious!"

Amid the cheers, Vice-Commander Guo Cheng roared, "What are you showing off for! Is this the time to be smug?"

"The entire army will line up and enter the city, heading straight for the Western Xia imperial palace to capture Li Qianshun alive!"

"Deploy troops to control the national granary within the city. No one is allowed to approach; violators will be killed on the spot."

After Guo Cheng finished shouting, he couldn't help but look up at the banner representing the Great Song Dynasty on the arrow tower of Xingqing City, and his eyes flashed with excitement.

As the deputy commander, he should naturally keep his emotions in check, but... how could he not be excited about such an unparalleled achievement as capturing the capital of Western Xia?

The emperor was the first to breach the capital of Western Xia, and now he is following in the emperor's footsteps, breaching the city for the second time.

The garrison on the city walls and towers had been largely wiped out. The surviving garrison, knowing they could no longer hold the city, hastily retreated into the city under the command of their general.

A street battle was ultimately inevitable.

More and more Song soldiers poured into the city. They assembled in organized units and began indiscriminately shooting people inside, whether they were soldiers or civilians, all of whom became victims of their guns.

Indiscriminate killing during the breach of the city was unavoidable. Both the attackers and defenders were blinded by rage. At the critical moment of breaching the city, the Song soldiers could not distinguish between the defenders and civilians. In their eyes, everyone in the city was a potential enemy, a resistance force, and had to be killed immediately.

Just as the Song army breached the eastern city wall, the other three city gates were opened, and countless Western Xia soldiers and civilians fled frantically out of the city.

Unfortunately, Zhong Jianzhong had anticipated this. He left 40,000 troops to guard the other three directions. The garrison and civilians who tried to escape the city were mercilessly killed by the Song army as soon as they left the city gate.

Zhong Jianzhong had made up his mind that he would not let a single person escape from this city.

Because among any of the people released, there might be important figures that the government specifically wanted, such as Li Qianshun, or powerful members of the Western Xia royal family.

On the east side of the city, Guo Cheng led 20,000 Song soldiers into the city. The guards at the city gate and on the city tower had been cleared out. Guo Cheng left a part of his troops to continue street fighting with the guards, while he personally led the main force toward the Western Xia palace.

With the fall of the Western Xia dynasty, the Song dynasty still needed an important figure, namely its ruler, Li Qianshun.

The fall of Li Ganshun to the Song army signified the complete demise of the dynasty. If Li Ganshun had escaped, the Western Xia state would not have been destroyed, and the Song army would have had to continue its advance and suppression until Li Ganshun was captured alive.

Therefore, Li Qianshun was extremely important to the Song Dynasty and to the Emperor.

As Guo Cheng led the Song army straight towards the palace, he looked up and suddenly saw a thick plume of black smoke rising in front of him.

Guo Cheng was startled and immediately stopped in his tracks.

A scout rushed in to report: "Reporting to the deputy commander, the gates of the Western Xia palace are tightly closed, and a fire has broken out inside. It must have been started by the king, Li Qianshun."

Guo Cheng was extremely anxious; this guy couldn't die!

If Li Qianshun dies, the achievements of the war to destroy the Western Xia Kingdom will be greatly diminished, and neither he nor Zhong Jianzhong will be able to hold their heads high in front of the Emperor.

"Send the order: break down the palace gates at all costs! All soldiers, put out the fire! I want Li Qianshun alive! Go now!" Guo Cheng roared hoarsely.

Outside the city, Zhong Jianzhong was still on horseback, the commander's flag fluttering behind him.

Looking up at the time, Zhong Jianzhong remained calm and unhurried.

There was still an hour before the Western Xia reinforcements arrived; everything was still in time.

Now that Xingqing Prefecture has fallen, it won't take long to clear out the remaining enemy forces inside the city. Zhong Jianzhong only needs to wait for Guo Cheng's message.

An hour after an incense stick had burned, a soldier hurriedly rode out of the city and galloped to Zhong Jianzhong.

"Report! Commander Zhong, Deputy Commander Guo has sent an urgent report: the remaining enemy forces in the city have been basically eliminated. King Li Ganshun set fire to the palace in an attempt to commit suicide, but our soldiers broke through the palace gates and extinguished the fire in time."

Zhong Jianzhong frowned: "How is Li Qianshun now? Is he alive or dead?"

"He's still alive, with burns on some parts of his body. Fortunately, the fire was put out in time by the soldiers under Vice Commander Guo, and he has been rescued."

Zhong Jianzhong breathed a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice, "Order the army doctor to carefully treat Li Qianshun. We must not make any mistakes. After the remaining enemies in the city are cleared out, leave 10,000 troops to take over the city's defenses. The remaining 10,000 troops will go out of the city and join the other 40,000 troops. They will then form ranks 20 miles south of the city to meet the Western Xia reinforcements."

The soldiers saluted and hurriedly turned back to the city to relay orders. Zhong Jianzhong looked up at the sky and suddenly let out a hearty and cheerful laugh.

With the fall of the Western Xia capital, one of the strategic objectives assigned by the Emperor has finally been accomplished.

"Send messengers on horseback to Bianjing to report the victory: On the morning of the 21st day of the third month of the second year of Jingkang, our Song army captured Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Western Xia, annihilating more than 20,000 enemy soldiers and capturing alive the Western Xia ruler Li Qianshun and a group of royal relatives and court officials. Li Qianshun and the royal relatives and court officials will be escorted to the capital to be presented as prisoners immediately."

"The Western Xia Kingdom is doomed!"

In a bloody battle with almost disproportionate casualties, the Song army captured the capital of Western Xia without paying a heavy price.

The king, Li Ganshun, was captured alive. This powerful northwestern kingdom, which had only existed for a few decades, collapsed amidst the gunfire and cannon fire of the Song Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)