Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 548: The Celestial Empire (Special thanks to my friend Wuxian Shudao for his three monthly tickets!)
Seeing that the Zhou army was large in number and in great shape, the Bulgarian defenders at the Tulcea Pass felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy and aimed their bows and arrows at the Zhou army under the city wall.

When they were about 200 meters from the checkpoint, Hu Lian ordered the entire army to stop and sent a centurion of the Dragon Guard to ride to the checkpoint on horseback and loudly announced his intention to the defenders on the city wall:

"In compliance with the order of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Zhou Empire, Lord Xue, the Minister of Rites, has come to Bulgaria as an envoy. Here is the letter of credence. Please allow him to pass!"

The commander guarding the city wall was the "Marching Commander" Petrov, who was equivalent to Wanhu, a fourth-rank military official in the Great Zhou Dynasty. He immediately ordered his personal soldiers to lower themselves down the city wall with ropes and retrieve the letter from the Zhou army.

After reading the letter from the Great Zhou Dynasty written in both Chinese and Latin, Petrov confirmed that the other party was indeed the envoys from the Great Zhou Dynasty to Bulgaria.

The year before last, the Great Zhou launched an attack on Kievan Rus. In just over a year, the entire territory was captured. Even the royal family members including King Vladimir I of Kievan Rus were captured and taken to Bianliang, which greatly frightened the Bulgarians, who had been fighting against Kievan Rus for a long time and were evenly matched with them.

Petrov stood on the top of the city wall and looked at Xue Ying below the city wall. He bowed and said:
"It turns out that you are the envoy sent by the Great Zhou Empire, Lord Xue. I am so sorry!
This general is the marching commander-in-chief Petrov.

Sir Xue, please wait patiently for a few days. I will send someone to the capital Sofia to report to the king, and then I will welcome Sir Xue and his party into the customs!"

After Long Xiangwei, who was proficient in Latin, translated it, Xue Ying and Hu Lian began to discuss it.

Xue Ying said:
"Commander Hu, the guard here will report to the king before he dares to let us in. It seems we have to wait a few days."

Hu Lian said:
"Master Xue, we can wait for a few days, but the border is remote and there is no town within hundreds of miles for us to stay.

I will ask the guard to let us in, and we will stay inside the pass and wait for the time being."

Hu Lian immediately rode forward a few steps, looked towards the top of the city and said loudly:

"Butler Petrov, you are so polite!

This general is Hu Lian, the deputy envoy and pacification commissioner of Longxiang Guard.

The general manager wants to wait for the king's order, but we can wait! But this place is a remote border area, can we stay in the border for a while?"

Petrov hesitated for a moment, fearing that the Zhou army was using the excuse of an envoy to gain control of the border, and said:

"Envoy Hu, I am responsible for guarding the important border areas and dare not make decisions on my own. I ask the envoys of the Great Zhou to return to their own city temporarily and patiently wait for the will of our king."

After hearing this, Xue Ying wanted to agree. However, he didn't know that Hu Lian had been in the Longxiang Guard for more than 20 years. As a warrior who had fought in hails of swords and arrows, he had a very hot temper.

Hu Lian said angrily:

"Are you afraid that I will take advantage of the opportunity to attack your side?
If our Great Zhou wants to attack your little Bulgaria, why would we need to use any strategies? Your Majesty only needs to send the Longxiang Army to attack, and under the bombardment of artillery, we can take down your Turcha Pass in one day!
Asking us to go back two days is not the right way to treat guests?!"

Petrov was afraid of the reputation of the Great Zhou Dynasty and did not dare to refute directly, but just kept comforting him with kind words.

Seeing this, Xue Ying persuaded Hu Lian:
"Envoy Hu, since the garrison commander cannot make the decision, we don't need to force him. We can leave a team of Longxiang Guards to camp under the city and wait for news, and we will return to Keti City."

Hu Lian said:
"Since Your Majesty has ordered us to go to Bulgaria as soon as possible to convey the imperial edict, can we waste time on this border?

Since our Great Zhou conquered the coalition forces of the Star Sect, no country has dared to disrespect our Great Zhou!"

Hu Lian looked at Petrov on the top of the city wall and shouted:
"Hurry up and open the checkpoint to welcome the Great Zhou angels! Otherwise, this pacification envoy will lead his brothers to kill the generals and seize the pass, thus causing a war between the two countries. You will be responsible for everything!"

Hu Lian didn't even wait for Petrov to reply. He waved his hand and sent out a team of 100 personal soldiers, holding "Kai Xi No. 33" and aiming at the top of the checkpoint 200 meters away.

Hu Lian said:
"Petrov, I will let you see the power of the muskets of our Great Zhou Empire! If you still refuse to open the gate to welcome us in, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Petrov shouted "No" repeatedly, and he and the soldiers on the city wall lowered their bodies for fear of being hit by the Zhou's muskets.

Hu Lian gave the order to the 100-man Longxiang Guard:

"Brothers, aim at the bricks and towers on the top of the city, and don't hurt the Bulgarians for now!"

After the soldiers responded, they raised their muskets, aimed and fired. There was a burst of "crackling" sounds as rapid as firecrackers, and stone chips flew everywhere on the top of the Turcha Pass, and hundreds of holes were created in an instant.

After each soldier in the 100-man team fired several times, Hu Lian shouted "Stop!" and the smoke from the muzzles of their guns gradually dissipated.

After the gunfire from the defenders including Petrov on the city wall stopped, they lay on the city wall for a long time and still dared not get up.

Hu Lian said loudly:
"Petrov, the commander has ordered the brothers to stop firing. Make a decision quickly whether to fight or welcome us into the city!"

Petrov stood up tremblingly and looked at the bullet holes on the city walls caused by Zhou Jun's muskets.

Seeing the musket bullets either shattering the blue bricks or making holes an inch deep in the blue stone, Petrov couldn't help but gasp.

He had long heard of the power of the Zhou army's artillery when it attacked Kievan Rus, and had also heard of the power of the Zhou army's muskets. It was not until he saw it with his own eyes that he realized that the range of the Zhou army's muskets far exceeded that of ordinary bows and arrows, and that their power was enough to break stones and crack bricks.

Petrov knew that if he did not agree to let the Zhou people enter the pass, he would be attacked immediately. Although he had 10,000 people guarding the pass, they were obviously no match for the 5,000 elite Dragon Guards under the city.

Seeing that Hu Lian at the foot of the city was getting impatient, Petrov hurriedly said:
"General Hu, please do not attack the checkpoint!
I was inconsiderate and neglected the angel of the Great Zhou. Please forgive me!

The gate is now open and you are all welcome to enter!"

Petrov quickly ordered his soldiers to open the gate. Hu Lian waved his hand and led his troops on horseback into the gate and camped in the house inside the gate...

Three days later, the Bulgarian King Samuel received urgent military intelligence from the border in the capital Sofia.

After reading this, Samuel was furious and immediately summoned Prime Minister Kazha and Grand Marshal Levsky to the palace to discuss the matter.

Samuel said angrily:

"The envoy sent by the Great Zhou dared to threaten the Tulcea Pass garrison commander Petrov with force without waiting for my order!
This Petrov is also extremely incompetent! He was so afraid that the Zhou army would attack the checkpoint that he allowed them to enter the checkpoint and station there, and even provided the Zhou people with good food and drink every day!

This is really unreasonable! "

Prime Minister Kazha pondered for a moment and said:

“Your Highness, when our country launched an attack on the Eastern Roman Empire two years ago, the Great Zhou Empire had not yet started a war with Kievan Rus, and the Khwarezmian territory conquered by the Great Zhou was only garrisoned by one regiment of the Longxiang Army.

Unexpectedly, last year the Great Zhou army suddenly arrived and defeated the 600,000-strong army of Kievan Rus in just one year, captured its capital Kiev, and even took its royal family to Bianliang.

Now, the Great Zhou Dynasty, together with the troops stationed in Kievan Rus, has stationed four corps of heavy troops in the area adjacent to Bulgaria!"

(End of this chapter)