As the capital of Western Xia, Xingqing Mansion is the most basic condition behind the high walls, plus there are hundreds of thousands of troops to defend, it can be regarded as a fortified city that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Siege warfare was no stranger to the Empire, and with gunpowder, it became much easier, without having to fill the hole with the lives of soldiers.

In the Imperial North Route Army, there are not only artillery specially used for siege, but also a large amount of gunpowder, so even if the capital of Western Xia in front of him is strong, it is not an impenetrable fortress at all.

The three commanders of the Northern Route Army, Kress, Pang Wanchun and Leonidas, were actually not in a hurry to attack the city, because the whole of Western Xia and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Xingqing Mansion were in short supply.

At such times, the Imperial Northern Route Army was not afraid of a stalemate, and although doing so would add huge trouble to the logistics and transportation, it was completely acceptable compared to the Western Xia, where people starved to death every day.

Due to the lack of sufficient food and grass supply, it can be said that every day the strength of the Xixia people is declining, and the morale of the soldiers in the city is decreasing, as long as this war continues, then it is estimated that the Northern Route Army does not need to attack, and the people in the city will destroy themselves.

Li Qianshun, the lord of Western Xia, was not a fool, and he also knew that the situation would get worse and worse if this continued, but it was really difficult for some strongmen to send soldiers out of the city to attack the imperial army.

In order to survive, the Western Xia garrison in Xingqing Mansion has now quietly begun to slaughter war horses, and even the generals have turned a blind eye when they notice this, after all, they don't want to be stewed in a pot by the soldiers instead of horses.

In addition to the consumption of grain and grass, the soldiers of the Western Xia garrison in the city, the soldiers of various foreign tribes, and the slave soldiers of the capturing army began to escape in the night.

After the Imperial army found out about the changes in the city, they quickly placed hundreds of cauldrons in front of the battle, and cooked the canned beef and rice brought by the Empire, and soon the aroma of these foods wafted into the city.

"Warriors of Western Xia, the empire has a tradition of treating captives preferentially, as long as you are willing to surrender, you can eat these things as you like!"

When they smell this wonderful smell, it is estimated that without the supervision of the generals, the soldiers at the head of the city will mutini en masse.

Several Western Xia party generals at the head of the city swallowed their saliva and hurriedly ordered the trebuchets in the city to turn around and aim at those cauldrons to throw boulders.

Although the Tanguts sabotaged the empire's gastronomic temptation, the soldiers in the city who smelled the aroma of food whispered about it, and thousands of people disappeared from the city that night.

The soldiers in the city were disheartened, and if they continued like this, they would be defeated if they did not fight, and after Li Qianshun discussed with Ren Dejing and other central hinterforces, he decided to submit a war letter and prepare to decide the victory or defeat with the empire!

After seeing this tactic, Pang Wanchun smiled and said to the other two: "How is it?" Li Qianshun can't stand it and wants to fight with us, what do you mean? ”

"Finish early and go home early!" Kress's answer was simple and straightforward.

Leonidas thought for a moment and said: "I also agree with a quick victory, after all, our two armies are far away in Western Xia, and we have to consume a lot of grain, grass and materials every day, and these losses are not proportional to what we get now. ”

"Good!" Since the other two generals wanted to face each other head-on, Pang Wanchun also said directly: "Then we should fight this battle, completely defeat Li Qianshun, and let him know that the fall of Western Xia is inviolable!" ”

Both armies were ready for a decisive battle, and both sides used all means to boost their morale that day, just waiting for the important moment of the next day.

Although they are only a few dozen miles apart, the treatment of soldiers in the two countries is completely different.

After the sumptuous breakfast meal in the Imperial Army camp was prepared, the soldiers munched together, they all knew that today was the key to deciding this battle, so everyone was eating as much as possible.

In addition to maintaining sufficient physical strength, but also because life and death on the battlefield are unpredictable, every soldier eats this meal as the last meal in his life.

The same is true in Xingqing Mansion, anyway, there are not so many war horses for the defense of the city, so Li Qianshun personally ordered that the surplus war horses be slaughtered, so that the soldiers who are about to participate in the war will be fed.

After the two sides had eaten and drunk enough, as soon as the sun rose in the east, the drums of war between the two armies on both sides were beaten.

Accompanied by the sound of powerful drums representing the attack, a large number of Imperial troops, protecting hundreds of two-wheeled guns, came within range.

The range of the Empire's artillery was not as long as that of trebuchets, but it was much more accurate, and in order to bombard the walls and the city, it had to be moved within two miles of the city.

The Western Xia army, which knew the power of artillery, hurriedly aimed all the trebuchets at the artillery positions of the imperial army, and then the boulders flew sideways and smashed them overwhelmingly.

In order to defend against the trebuchets of the Western Xia army, the gunners who control the artillery were protected by soldiers with huge shields, but if they were hit by stones, they would be seriously injured even if they did not die.

The war was so brutal that the Imperial artillerymen could only move the artillery to the intended location despite the casualties caused by the boulders flying in the sky.

Hundreds of artillery pieces were smashed by trebuchets, but the Imperial artillery finally returned fire......

The stone against the cannonball was obviously stronger on the imperial side, and at this time, another special army of Western Xia appeared on the city.

In fact, the Poxi army was the artillery unit of the Western Xia, although their number was not large and only 200 people, but this army provided strong fire support for the offensive battles of the Western Xia dynasties.

After setting up their unique Whirlwind Cannons on the city walls, these Ponxi troops immediately fired cannonballs at the Imperial artillery positions below the city.

That's right, the Poxi Army fires artillery shells, although they are relatively simple, and they are not the Empire's kind of explosive bombs that can collapse and fly shrapnel, but they are just bundles of explosives, but they will also explode.

This wave of counterattacks caused heavy losses to the Imperial artillery, and in view of this, the three generals of the Imperial Legion, who knew that they could not only let the artillery attack, finally gave the order for a full-scale attack.

In addition to large war machines such as artillery and trebuchets, whether it is an imperial soldier or a soldier of Western Xia, a long-range attack can only reach a few hundred meters.

The black-pressed Imperial Army soldiers quickly rushed to the city of Xingqing Mansion, and the arrows of the Tangut people on the city rained one after another, and the Imperial Army immediately fired upwards and fired back......

With the containment of tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers, the Poxi army at the head of the city could no longer fire at the artillery positions of the Imperial army, and the Imperial artillery that had slowed down also accelerated to bombard the city.

The smoke of gunpowder filled the city, and every cannon could make the masonry on the city wall fly, and from time to time you could see the cannonballs falling on the Western Xia defenders and bursting, making the gorgeous blood flowers burst open.