We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Yelu He returned in defeat, and Li Che's first strategic step was declared a success.

**Zhi did not seek merit or advance rashly, but fully implemented Li Che's orders. While delivering the victory report to the main force of the Fengtian Army, he launched a seemingly fierce attack on Xiangping City.

Every hour, the National Protection Army would attack the four city gates fiercely, with trumpets blowing, flags waving and cheering, creating the illusion of a general attack.

In fact, those who rushed forward were all Mohe soldiers, and none of the regular soldiers of the National Protection Army moved.

But in order to make Yeluhe feel a sense of crisis, **zhi also ordered people to bomb the city gate with grenades.

Although the power of the grenade was not enough to blow down the city gate, each explosion could cause the Khitan soldiers defending the city to feel extremely strong shocks, causing panic.

This was not enough, ** also ordered people to build catapults, and from time to time threw bundles of grenades into the city.

Although the National Protection Army did not climb the city wall, the fear of death always hung over the heads of the Khitan defenders.

Yelu He walked under the wall, his face pale as he looked at the wounded soldiers lying on the ground in groups.

"It hurts! It hurts!"

"Ah!!! My legs, they hurt so much!"

"Brother, it doesn't hurt anymore. My leg is hanging on a tree outside the city."

"I can't see! Aaaaaaah!"

"Kill me, kill me!"

The wounded soldiers were all injured by the explosion, with either missing arms or broken legs. The scene was quite tragic.

After Yelu He inspected for a while, his mood had reached its lowest point.

What on earth was that thing the Fengtian Army threw over? Was it a Central Plains firearm?

But aren’t firearms just some fancy stuff with no killing power at all?

Yelu He didn't understand, and the ordinary Khitan soldiers didn't understand even more.

There were even rumors in the army that the Fengtian Army had the help of the Thunder God and that they could no longer fight the Fengtian Army, otherwise they would anger the Thunder God and everyone would die.

Thinking of this, Yelu He felt more and more desperate, and he stumbled in a trance and almost fell to the ground.

The personal guard beside him quickly supported him and asked worriedly, "General, are you okay?"

He didn't know what was going on, but he felt his head was a little heavy and his body was a little hot.

Shaking his head, Yelu Heqiang cheered himself up.

Defending the city is not a long-term solution, so we should negotiate peace with the Fengtian Army.

. . . . . .

When the Khitan envoys entered the tent of the National Protection Army, **zhi and others were sharing roasted horse meat.

Many war horses were killed in this battle, in addition to those that ran away in panic and those that broke their legs and became disabled.

After the war, less than 10,000 horses were recovered, but they were still rideable.

However, **zhi was already very satisfied. The Fengtian Army had always been short of horses, and most of the horses were concentrated in the cavalry battalion.

In order to make the cavalry battalion more combat-effective, each cavalryman had two horses, which made it even more difficult for the already scarce horses to flow into the National Protection Army.

Now that we have seized 10,000 horses, we should at least give 3,000 to the National Protection Army, right?

** thought about it, and a smile appeared on his face involuntarily, while the Khitan envoy below had already touched his chest and saluted:

"The Liao envoy greets General Fengguo of Daqing."

The smile on **zhi's face instantly faded, and he looked at this person with a cold gaze: "Da Liao? Where is the Da Liao from?"

The Liao Dynasty had perished long ago, before the Huan Dynasty.

The Khitans today are nothing more than a united tribe of the exiled royal family of the Liao Dynasty, which was barely united.

It’s just that they have always been obsessed with the glory of their ancestors and still call themselves the Great Liao.

In the East Asian cultural circle, any unified Central Plains empire will never recognize the existence of other empires.

The Khitan envoy looked embarrassed and could only bow again: "Khitan envoy, greetings to the general."

** snorted coldly: "What are you doing here?"

The envoy looked worried. "General Yeluhe asked me to ask your army, when did we offend Fengguo? Why didn't you declare war?!"

"Undeclared war?!" Before he could reply, Jie Ming suddenly slammed the table and stood up. "The Khitan barbarians have no respect for education and have oppressed and plundered the people of Chaoyang City for many years."

"A few days ago, they even sent troops to invade the Chaoyang City mines, causing thousands of casualties among the military and civilians! Such a deep-seated feud is irreconcilable. Is there still a need to declare war?"

The envoy was horrified: "That's absolutely not the case! It wasn't us..."

** interrupted coldly, "I know it wasn't you who did it, it was the Songmo tribe. But aren't you Khitans a nation? It shouldn't be unfair to blame the Khitans for this, right?"

The envoy was speechless after hearing this and was unable to express his grievances.

How do you respond to this statement, saying that the Khan cannot control other Khitan tribes?

Without waiting for these Qing people to take action, the Khan would probably be the first to chop himself off.

If we admit that the Songmo tribe is a member of the Khitan, wouldn’t that be indirectly admitting that it was the Khitan who did it?

The envoy felt he couldn't explain himself even if he had every word in his mouth, so he could only plead, "Even so, our army has already lost nearly 20,000 men. Shouldn't this grudge be settled?"

"Please withdraw your troops. The general will report this to the Khan and reward him generously."

"Retreat?" Jie Ming grinned. "How can it be so easy?"

"My Highness once said that the people of Daqing are naturally precious! The life of a Daqing citizen must be exchanged for the lives of at least a hundred Khitans!"

"Two thousand lives, calculate it yourself, how many Khitan heads are needed to make up for it?!"

The Khitan envoy stumbled.

One for a hundred? Even though he wasn't very good at math, he knew that this must be an astronomical number.

The population of the Liao Dynasty at its peak was over nine million, but that was in the past.

Under the rule of the current Khitan Khan, there are not even one million people, and there are only about 500,000 pure Khitans. This will directly wipe out half of the Khitan population!

"Also, you've harmed at least a few thousand people in Chaoyang City, right? Their lives must be counted too!"

This time the Khitan envoy really couldn't stand steadily and sat down on the ground.

If that's the case, then the Khitan clan must be exterminated.

"Okay, I won't kill you. Go back and give Yelu He a letter."

** looked down at the envoy and said slowly:

"There is no way out if you stubbornly resist. If you want to survive, the only way is to surrender!"

"see a visitor out!"

Several burly guards stepped forward, drew their swords, and drove the envoys out of the tent.

The Khitan envoy was distraught, looking at the flag with the word "Feng" flying in the camp, his heart filled with sadness.

Once upon a time, I also went to Ninggu County. The people of Daqing there were servile to me and didn't dare to speak loudly.

It's only been a short time, how come the positions of both sides have suddenly reversed?

The envoy couldn't figure it out and had to return to Xiangping City to report to Yelu He.

At this time, Yelu He could no longer get out of bed.

When the envoy revealed all of the words of the enemy, Yelu He's eyes widened and his whole body trembled: "This is too much! This is too much!"

puff--

Then he spat out a mouthful of blood, rolled off the bed and fell to the ground, fainting.

"General! General!"

Everyone rushed forward to help Yelu He up. A military doctor came forward to check and found that he was barely breathing and was about to die.