Chapter 49: Tazhai Under Attack
At this moment, it was precisely the afternoon!
Some people from Tazhai were herding cattle and sheep on the grassland outside the village.
Although the Geluolu rebellion had not yet been resolved, after the Sanhe Fort battle, the pressure from the Geluolu People was no longer there.
Moreover, Tazhai was located in the western part of Jin Prefecture, so if the Geluolu People wanted to come over, they would definitely be discovered by Hedong Fort and Hexi Fort.
Therefore, the people of Tazhai relaxed, doing whatever they needed to do.
After all, Tazhai had quite a few cattle and sheep, many of which were plundered from the Aslan Tribe.
It was impossible to cut grass for a long time to feed them!
But just as the herdsmen of Tazhai thought everything was safe and sound, watching the cattle and sheep grazing all over the mountains and plains with joyful expressions on their faces.
A low rumble of the sound of hooves suddenly arose.
The herdsmen of Tazhai all turned their heads to look, and even those who were sleeping instantly opened their eyes and stood up directly from the ground.
“Who are those people?” a woman asked!
Some experienced men immediately had drastic changes in their expressions.
“It’s the enemy!”
“There are a lot of them!”
Looking into the distance, an unknown cavalry force of about two hundred men had appeared on the distant grassland.
They were charging rapidly toward them, with the goal being the grazing area of the Tazhai herdsmen.
“Quick, hurry and leave!”
“Everyone go back!”
Some men shouted loudly.
At this moment, whether men or women, or children, on the grassland all quickly mounted their horses.
Some women were reluctant to leave the cattle and sheep, but they were picked up by rational men and thrown onto the horses.
“What time is it, and you’re still worrying about these cattle and sheep!”
“Life is the most important!”
“Hurry and go~”
The men whipped their horsewhips, quickly leading their family members away from the grassland toward the village.
All the cattle and sheep were completely abandoned.
The enemy was too strong, so they temporarily left them to the enemy!
Unlike nomadic people, for whom cattle and sheep were everything.
The consequence of losing cattle and sheep was only three options: either starve to death, or become someone else’s slave in exchange for a bite of food, or go plunder someone else’s cattle and sheep.
But for the Han People, even without cattle and sheep, they still had grain and could survive just the same.
“Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo~”
“Kill~”
“Charge over, catch up to those Han People~”
Xia Erda led two hundred Zhelan cavalry, charging rapidly.
Their faces all showed wild and excited laughter, constantly waving the spears and sabers in their hands, roaring loudly forward like a group of baboons on the grassland.
Most of these Zhelan Tribe cavalry wore leather armor, with disheveled hair, dirty and grimy appearances, but they exuded a fierce scent.
And those cavalry without leather armor were slaves of the Zhelan Tribe, who might have a chance to become freemen through battle.
“Hahaha~”
“Cowardly Han People like rats, they ran, hahaha~”
“Chase them down for me, kill all the men~”
“Grab the women~”
The Zhelan cavalry laughed unscrupulously, accelerating their horses to charge and kill.
They even ignored the cattle and sheep abandoned on the grassland.
Cattle and sheep couldn’t run away.
But if they couldn’t breach the Han People’s village before sunset, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the delicate Han women tonight.
“Who are they?”
Zhao Dabao asked while running and looking back, his face extremely grim.
A man not far away said: “Looking at them, they don’t seem like Geluolu People~”
“The Geluolu People couldn’t sneak up to our Tazhai without a sound either.”
“They’re coming from the west? Could they be from the Yin Mountains side?”
The Northern Frontier had four administrative regions: Jin Prefecture, North Sea, Yin Mountains, and Great Desert.
Each prefecture had a Xiangwen Prefecture, that is, a Governor’s Mansion, presided over by Khitan People as governors.
But the status of the Yin Mountains was the most special.
It was named ‘Yin Mountains’ because it was located north of the Tianshan Mountains.
After Yelü Dashi’s western expedition, Yemili proclaimed himself emperor and titled himself ‘Jie’er Khan’.
Yemili was located in the Yin Mountains!
Although Western Liao Dynasty later moved its capital to Kuyun-Ordu, Yemili’s status remained very high.
It was called the ‘Eastern Capital’ and was the political center of the entire Northern Frontier.
The Eastern Capital Governor’s Mansion was located in Yemili, responsible for managing the entire Northern Frontier.
So the cavalry coming from the Yin Mountains direction were most likely people from the Governor’s Mansion!
“Damn it, no matter who they are, they dare to plunder our Tazhai’s sheep, we absolutely cannot let them go.”
Zhao Dabao said angrily.
Not long ago, he had followed Li Xiao, beating the Geluolu People and the people of Hou Village into fleeing in panic.
He was full of confidence at the time, but in the blink of an eye, he was being pursued so disheveledly.
Zhao Dabao was furious!
“Head back to the village first, we’ll talk about revenge later~” an elder of the Zhao Family said loudly.
“Giddyup~”
The distance between both sides was getting closer, and the moat of Tazhai was right ahead.
Xia Erda took the lead, fearless, waving his saber and shouting loudly: “Follow me and kill in~”
In his eyes, these Han People were just cowardly rats, not worth fearing.
Without the protection of battlements and moats, these Han People were like women stripped of their clothes, ready to be ravaged by him.
Xia Erda wanted to prove his bravery to everyone, telling his father and the other members of the tribe that he could lead the Zhelan Tribe to become even stronger.
But just as Xia Erda followed the Tazhai herdsmen and charged into the village in one go, the scene before him made his expression change drastically.
He shouted in shock: “Ironclad Soldiers?”
After the people of Tazhai learned of the grassland attack, they immediately began assembling forces to prepare for battle.
Just as Xia Erda charged in, he saw exactly seven figures fully encased in armor.
They held spears in their hands, and even their war horses were draped in iron armor, speeding up as they charged toward Xia Erda and the Zhelan People entering the village.
Behind them, many light cavalry wearing leather armor followed.
Plus the herdsmen who had been pursued earlier, the people of Tazhai even outnumbered the Zhelan cavalry.
Most importantly, the entrance to Tazhai was narrow, with moats on both sides, and only a single path in the middle.
So in a short time, not many Zhelan People had rushed in.
Only Xia Erda and a dozen or so others!
“Retreat~”
Xia Erda shouted in terror, his voice changing.
Facing the attack of heavy cavalry, with no preparation at all, they didn’t dare to engage.
The best way was to dodge and slowly wear down the heavy cavalry with blunt weapons.
But Xia Erda had charged too hastily, with only a dozen people around him entering the village.
They couldn’t retreat, nor was there anywhere to hide.
In the end, they could only watch wide-eyed as the heavy cavalry charged right up to them.
“Ah~”
Screams rang out, and the Zhelan People were instantly thrown into chaos, men and horses tumbling.
The seven heavy-armored cavalry held long sabers, heads down in a charge.
No spear could penetrate their armor, and any saber chopping at them was instantly deflected.
The Zhelan People outside the village continued to charge desperately, but were firmly blocked by the seven heavy cavalry.
Arrows kept shooting from the surroundings~
Soon, a terrified voice rose among the Zhelan People.
“The young chieftain is dead~”
“The young chieftain was killed by the Han People!”
“What? Xia Erda was killed?”
Hearing this, the Zhelan People outside the village immediately panicked.
Their eyes all searched for Xia Erda’s figure, but in the end, they only found his horse.
The man had long been cut down from his horse and then trampled into mush by the chaotic hooves.
At this moment, all the Zhelan People’s expressions changed drastically.
They knew very well that Xia Erda was Nie Erdu’s favorite son and the future chieftain of the Zhelan Tribe.
And now he had died here due to his rashness.
Nie Erdu definitely wouldn’t spare them.
Thinking of that terrible consequence, these Zhelan cavalry shuddered.
Now there was only one way left~
“Kill them!”
“Avenge the young chieftain~”
“Kill all these Han People!”
Only by capturing Tazhai and killing all the Han People to avenge Xia Erda might Nie Erdu forgive them.
Thus, these Zhelan People charged forward madly.
But the moat outside Tazhai seemed like an uncrossable chasm, completely blocking these Zhelan People.
Accompanied by a large volley of arrows, more and more Zhelan People fell outside the moat.
“Looks like we killed an important figure of the enemy.”
Zhao Tiezhu looked at the excited enemies outside and couldn’t help but speculate.
“That’s great, let these bastards who chased us get their retribution, best if we can kill them all.” Zhao Dabao said indignantly.
After fighting two battles following Li Xiao, his temper seemed to have become more fiery.
“Hmph, great my ass!” Zhao Tiezhu glared at him.
“The enemies outside are preparing to fight to the death.”
“And I saw two enemies leave, they must have gone to call for reinforcements.”
“If more enemies come next, it’ll be a fight to the death~” Zhao Tiezhu said with a serious expression.
Zhao Dabao was stunned; lacking experience, he hadn’t thought of as much as his grandfather.
He still thought that driving off these enemies would be the end of it!
“You go to Hexi Fort immediately for aid, have Da Long bring people over.” Zhao Tiezhu said to Dabao.
“Yes~” Zhao Dabao nodded heavily.
He switched to another horse and immediately galloped from another exit toward Hexi Fort.
In the distance, Nie Erdu stood on a high ground, overlooking Tazhai’s position, watching the brave Zhelan warriors continuously attacking the enemy’s village.
Nie Erdu nodded in satisfaction.
He said to the people around him: “Guess how long the Han People can hold out?”
“I bet before the sun sets, the Han People will come out to surrender.”
“I think it won’t take even one meal’s time, those Han People will collapse soon~”
……
Nie Erdu nodded and laughed: “If those Han People are sensible and proactively offer up their cattle, sheep, and women, I might forgive their ignorance.”
“Spare their lives and turn them into our slaves!”
Hearing Nie Erdu’s words, everyone nodded in deep agreement.
But soon, two fast horses hurried over, and a Zhelan cavalry shouted in terror at Nie Erdu.
“Chieftain, big trouble~”
“The young chieftain was killed by the Han People!”
Hearing this, the confidence and smile on Nie Erdu’s face abruptly stopped, his eyes suddenly widening in disbelief.
“What?”
The surrounding Zhelan People were also stunned, looking at each other~
Then, Nie Erdu’s furious voice rang out on this high ground: “Kill all the Han People for me~”
“Pfft~”
“Chieftain, Chieftain~”
