Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Artillery Battalion, Second Squadron, elevation angle and visual range 65 degrees, calibrate the gun muzzle."

"put!"

Boom——

Twenty-five more individual mortars emitted a soft whistling sound.

The scorching hot grenade was fired into the barrel and formed a straight parabola in the air before crashing heavily behind the shield vehicle.

boom--

The explosions were deafening, and dozens of archers were instantly torn apart and killed.

However, because the shield vehicles were too close and the Guards lacked direct firepower, the casualties caused by the twenty-five grenades were far less than expected, and they were unable to threaten the advance of the shield vehicles at all.

"what--"

Even so, the loud explosion still caused the slaves pushing the cart to scream in panic.

"Keep charging forward, no retreating!"

The Western Xia officers were highly skilled; even under heavy artillery fire from the Imperial Guards, they still ordered their troops to continue their advance.

Seeing that the shelling had not achieved the desired effect, Zhang Dingbian decisively ordered a halt to the firing.

"No, the mortar's angle is too limited to inflict sufficient casualties on close-range targets. The shield vehicle is less than sixty paces away... if..."

"Call two fearless guys, each strap ten grenades to their hands, and come with me to blow him up!"

Lu Meng took off his military cap, quickly gathered grenades, tied them together, and decided to directly approach and blow through these shield vehicles.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dingbian quickly replied, "Let me handle it."

"You take command for me!"

Lu Meng spoke to him in an unquestionable tone.

"The head instructor said that I am fully responsible for the Battle of Luoyang, and I must obey orders!"

Then he shouted, "Two of you, come with me and blow this son of a bitch up! You got the guts?!"

"I!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Hui and Wu Jie shouted almost simultaneously.

"It's just the two of you!"

As Lü Meng spoke, his hands never stopped moving, and he quickly tied up ten hand grenades.

Wu Jie and Ye Hui quickly followed suit, securing the grenades and opening the tail caps.

"Brothers, I'm younger than you, don't be afraid! Those things are nothing."

These are the few steps: once you get close, pull the fuse, throw it under the shield vehicle, and then quickly return to the defensive line.

It's that simple, understand?

"I understand."

"Alright, that's how it should be. Now listen to my command: one, two, charge!"

At Lü Meng's command, he was the first to rush out of the position and approach the slowly advancing shield carts.

Zhang Dingbian immediately shouted, "Rifle fire support! Machine guns cease fire!"

Instantly, a burst of gunfire struck the shield vehicle's cover, sending fragments flying everywhere.

Lu Meng and his two companions rolled over a few times and arrived at the shield cart.

"Follow my command!"

"pull!"

Hiss—

"Swing—"

Thump—

"retreat!"

The entire process took only a few dozen breaths. As they approached the shield vehicle, the three men simultaneously pulled the pins on their grenades, throwing them into the bottom of the shield vehicle before quickly retreating back to their positions.

boom--

A deafening roar echoed through the sky.

The next moment, four of the ten shield vehicles parked side by side were blown away on the spot, and a wave of people surged up behind them.

"what--"

The moment the grenade exploded, the slave army, already on the verge of mental collapse, finally broke down completely.

They immediately abandoned the remaining shield carts and ran back as fast as they could.

As a result, they ran head-on into fully armed Western Xia soldiers.

"No retreating! Anyone who retreats will be killed!"

Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, the Western Xia officer in command suddenly drew his sword and slashed at a fleeing slave.

"If you dare to run again, this is what will happen to you!"

The officer's face was contorted with rage as he glared menacingly at the stunned group of slaves.

"You are all dogs, dogs kept by my Great Xia!"

"Your descendants will be dogs too, and your wives and children will be dogs as well!"

"Your sole purpose in life is to be oppressed and humiliated by us!"

"If I decide you die, you cannot live!"

"Now, you bunch of dogs, go and plug the gap right now, or I'll chop off your hands and feet when I get back!"

"Did you all understand?"

The Western Xia officer roared and belittled the group of slave soldiers, deeming them utterly worthless.

However, he did not notice that the eyes of these usually obedient slaves had all changed at this moment.

After marching for so long under gunfire and artillery fire, we are still being humiliated like this in the end?

The officer's threat became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

"What are you looking at? I order you to get back here right now, do you hear me! You bunch of stupid dogs!"

"I'll blame your ancestors!"

Suddenly, a slave, unable to bear it any longer, drew his military knife and, taking advantage of the Western Xia officer's momentary lapse in attention, slashed down with it.

呲——

In an instant, the Western Xia officer's head was severed, and a jet of blood spurted from between his headless shoulders.

This scene stunned the Western Xia soldiers; they never expected that the sheep would actually kill the wolf!

"Brothers, these bastards don't treat us like human beings. We're all going to die anyway, so let's fight these sons of bitches!"

"Fight!"

Once the tension breaks, the situation will completely spiral out of control.

The slave legion mutinied and charged at the Western Xia soldiers like madmen.

Soon, the slave soldiers and the Western Xia soldiers were locked in combat on the front lines.

Faced with the heavily armed Western Xia soldiers, they displayed terrifying destructive power for the first time.

"Well, what happened?"

The Imperial Guards were completely dumbfounded to see the enemy suddenly fighting amongst themselves.

"Do not be distracted. The entire army must remain on alert to avoid falling into the enemy's trap! Without orders, no one is allowed to leave the defensive line even a step."

Zhang Dingbian roared, stabilizing the morale of his troops, and then looked at Lü Meng: "What should we do now? Do you think we should fight or not?"

Lu Meng did not reply, but stared at the shield carts parked on the road and fell into deep thought.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Zhang Dingbian became anxious: "Give me a word, are you going to fight or not? I'm so worried."

Lu Meng pointed to the shield carts and said, "Let's find a way to utilize these shield carts and modify them."

"What do you need that junk for?" Zhang Dingbian asked, puzzled.

"Naturally, they will launch a counterattack. If I'm not mistaken, the enemy's repeated attacks have thwarted them, and they know that a prolonged siege is futile."

They will definitely adopt a defensive posture to surround us. Sitting idly by and waiting to be killed is not the style of my Imperial Guard.

"By controlling those shield carts and providing cover for the army's sharpshooters, with infantry units following closely behind, we can more effectively eliminate the enemy."

“Aren’t you being overly cautious?” Zhang Dingbian said. “With those useless cold weapons, a few more rounds of mortar fire would have already caused them to collapse.”

Lü Meng: "No, the most elite Iron Cavalry and Divine Archer Battalions of Western Xia have not yet been deployed. It is far too early to draw conclusions."

Moreover, the Western Xia archers were incredibly accurate and powerful when shooting from a distance of twenty meters.

"Our Imperial Guard soldiers are unarmored, so using the shield carts as cover can reduce unnecessary casualties."

Zhang Dingbian nodded, but then said, "Okay, I'll listen to whatever you say, but you have to let me be the vanguard."

"Sure, I'll send two more artillery units to provide you with fire support at any time."

"Alright, let's not delay, I'll lead my men to take down those shield carts first!"

Lu Meng added, "We can persuade those slave legions to serve me, so that my army won't waste its strength."

"Are those guys trustworthy? What if..."

"No, they were treated like pigs and dogs in the Western Xia army. They wouldn't mutini in the face of battle."

Even if they don't die on the battlefield, they'll be court-martialed upon returning. Joining us is their only way out.

"Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away. Ye Hui is the most suitable person to do this kind of thing."

"Ah."

Lu Meng nodded, then summoned the soldiers who had previously shot and killed twenty-seven people.

"Feiwei, you have the best marksmanship in the army. You will accompany Deputy Instructor Zhang this time."

"As ordered."

Fei Wei immediately saluted and loudly accepted the order.

In the distance, Helian Qianjun saw the scene of thousands of people fighting amongst themselves at the port, and his cheeks twitched slightly.

The scholar standing nearby said, "General, it is not advisable to fight again now. I think we can use a siege to block the port. When the enemy runs out of supplies, they will naturally retreat."

"Ugh, what a loser!"

Helian Qianjun sighed, turned around and left the scene.