Chapter 16: Astonishing Battle Results, Nineteen Heads
After more than half a shichen, the people of Hexi Fort finally cleaned up the battlefield.
Weapons, arrows, war horses, dried meat, and grain were all collected. Whether Geluolu people or Khitan people, their clothes were all stripped off and taken away.
Then their bellies and chests were slit open with knives. It wouldn’t take long for their corpses to be eaten clean by wolf packs and vultures.
Sky burial!
Afterward, Li Xiao and Li Dashan ran to the Old Master and reported:
“Elder Uncle, we collected a total of one hundred and fifty-three horses just now. One hundred and twenty-six are intact, and twenty-one are injured but still able to move.”
“There are also more than one hundred and thirty spearheads, eighty-four sabers, ninety-two longbows, and more than eight hundred arrows.”
“Gold, silver, and copper coins aren’t much, about seventeen or eighteen guan.”
“And some individual daggers, maces, axes, and so on.”
In this battle, Hexi Fort reaped a bountiful harvest. Not only the spoils from the Geluolu people, but even the weapons and war horses of those dead Khitan people were all taken.
Among these spoils, besides those more than one hundred horses, the most valuable were the more than ninety longbows.
In the upstream grassland for nomadic life, bow and arrow are the most indispensable things, but not everyone has the qualification and ability to carry them.
Many lowly herdsmen can only hold a spear as a weapon.
The main reason is that making a qualified longbow is quite troublesome. It requires birch wood of sufficient age, ox horn, ox tendon, and other raw materials, and only experienced veteran artisans can make them.
Therefore, every longbow in a nomadic family can serve as an heirloom.
Being able to harvest more than ninety longbows this time was largely because both the fleeing Khitan people and the pursuing Geluolu people were elites of their respective tribes.
The weapons they used were all quite fine, with a high proportion equipped with bows and arrows.
However, in the end, all of these benefited Hexi Fort.
“Take the intact horses back. Slaughter the injured and dead horses to make dried meat.”
“Divide the weapons, coins, and such according to the number of enemies killed.” The Old Master sat on a stone and said in a deep voice.
Allocating by merit has always been Hexi Fort’s rule, and no one had any objections.
However, Li Xiao had some ideas about these horses.
“Grandfather, I suggest that whether it’s the horses captured this time or the original horses of our Hexi Fort, we should manage them well from now on.”
Hearing this, the Old Master and Li Dashan were somewhat puzzled.
Li Xiao explained: “Starting from the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains dynasties have had horse administration, which is about researching how to breed horses and how to raise them well.”
“We should also pay attention to it.”
“Separate stallions and mares, and don’t let them mate freely.”
“Select those tall and mighty stallions with strong builds, good endurance, and not prone to illness to specially mate with the mares.”
“Only then can the offspring be stronger and less prone to illness.”
“When the foals grow up, mate them in the same way, repeating the cycle. In the future, our Hexi Fort’s war horses will become stronger and stronger.”
In this era, nomadic people generally lack the awareness to cultivate excellent horse breeds and just let stallions and mares mate freely.
As long as foals are born, good horses are used for combat, inferior horses for labor—it’s that simple.
The reason is that the grassland doesn’t lack horses.
Under massive reproduction, quite a few good horses will inevitably be produced.
But unbeknownst to them, this free breeding method only makes the horses’ genes more mixed, causing the overall quality of the horse herd to decline gradually.
Li Xiao had noticed this problem before and took this opportunity to propose his ideas to the Old Master.
Listening to Li Xiao’s explanation, the Old Master and Li Dashan understood. This was just selecting fixed stallions for breeding!
“Then what about the other stallions?” Li Dashan smacked his lips and asked.
“What else can be done? Keep them or castrate them, but don’t let them exhaust the mares anymore.” Li Xiao shrugged and said.
Survival of the fittest is the law of nature.
Just like humans: handsome ones, rich ones, powerful ones—these traits represent high-quality males, naturally having priority or even universal mating rights.
Tall and strong horses also have more opportunities to leave offspring.
“Alright~ I feel pretty bad for those guys.” Li Dashan shook his head and said.
He just felt that those guys not selected as stud horses were really too pitiful.
Not only living at the bottom of the horse herd, toiling hard their whole lives, exploited for labor by their masters, or even sent directly to the battlefield as cannon fodder.
In the end, they don’t even have the right to leave offspring, can’t even touch a young mare, and might even be castrated to focus solely on work.
In contrast, those strong horses might not work a day in their lives, yet are well served and fed by their masters with resources earned from the labor of those inferior horses.
They can pick all sorts of young mares at will—truly winners among horses!
“Heaven’s will is so; only the strong can survive and do as they please.”
“While the weak don’t even have the right to speak.” Li Xiao shook his head and said, revealing the truth of the world without exaggeration.
Li Dashan shook his head. Though it felt cruel, his more than twenty years of life experience told him Li Xiao was right.
The Old Master nodded lightly, looking at Li Xiao with approval. He never expected his eldest grandson, so young, to see through life and the ways of the world so thoroughly.
“Good, Da Long, do as you say.”
“Grandfather is old; Hexi Fort is yours from now on.” The Old Master chuckled.
Before, he thought his grandson was too young and needed time to grow.
But now, Li Xiao’s growth speed exceeded his imagination.
The Old Master could finally be completely at ease.
“Let’s go~”
“Back to the village~”
The Old Master shouted loudly to the villagers in the distance, mounted his horse, and slowly headed toward Hexi Fort.
On site, Li Dashan smiled lightly, understanding the Old Master’s meaning.
He patted Li Xiao’s shoulder and said: “Da Long, we entrust Hexi Fort to you; we’re at ease.”
“But remember, don’t act impulsively in anything.”
“You’re still young; we’ll have plenty of opportunities later.”
With that, Li Dashan neatly mounted his horse and quickly caught up with the main group.
Li Xiao looked at the many villagers ahead: old and young, with young and strong men making up less than half.
Li Xiao felt no joy in his heart, but rather a heavy pressure.
He sighed lightly and said: “Responsibility!”
……
After returning to Hexi Fort, the crowd didn’t go home immediately but gathered at the village entrance for a meeting.
“Chen Erqiang, killed three enemies, allocated four war horses, three sabers, three longbows, two sets of leather armor, one pair of maces, six hundred copper coins.”
“Liu Daba, killed two enemies, allocated three war horses, two sabers, two longbows, one set of leather armor, one dagger, four hundred copper coins.”
“Wang Maizi, killed two enemies…”
At the village entrance clearing, Li Dashan stood on a large stone, holding a roll of straw paper, reading loudly to the crowd.
This was a merit commendation meeting, and also a spoils distribution meeting.
It showed everyone their battle results and distributed the spoils in front of everyone to ensure fairness and justice, leaving no room for villagers to complain.
The names Li Dashan read at the beginning, including his own, mostly had two or three battle results.
Mainly because these people were the first batch to encounter the Geluolu people.
A total of eighteen people, who went through two battles; killing two or three Geluolu people each was normal.
The later ones had more ordinary battle results.
During the pursuit of the Geluolu people, those with outstanding archery could have one or two battle results.
But when it came to the real encirclement and annihilation of the Geluolu people, it was often two or three people teaming up to kill one Geluolu person.
No way around it; there were too few Geluolu people, not enough to go around.
So, the spoils also had to be shared among several people.
As for how to divide one horse or one saber, they’d have to discuss it themselves.
Of course, there were exceptions.
When Li Dashan called out one name, the villagers instantly fell silent.
“Uncle Liu Er, killed three enemies, allocated four war horses, three sabers, three longbows, two sets of leather armor, one pair of maces, six hundred copper coins.”
As the words fell, heavy expressions appeared on everyone’s faces, their gazes involuntarily turning to a courtyard in the distance.
Faint crying could still be heard from the courtyard.
Uncle Liu Er was the only one from Hexi Fort who died in this battle.
Although he arrived at the battlefield later with the Old Master, old Liu Tou fought completely with his life to exchange lives, all to avenge his son.
He killed three Geluolu people, making up for it for himself and his son.
Now, the Liu family only had a few orphans and widows left; the villagers would surely help whenever they could in the future.
After reading all the names including the Old Master and Li Dashan, finally, Li Xiao’s name appeared.
“Li Dalong, killed nineteen enemies…”
At these words, the whole field fell silent; everyone subconsciously widened their eyes.
Shocked and awed expressions appeared on every face, involuntarily sucking in a breath of cold air.
Shock filled everyone in Hexi Fort. After the silence came a low rumble, like millions of mosquitoes buzzing.
These villagers eagerly shared their shock with those around them.
“Nineteen; Da Long actually killed nineteen Geluolu people?”
“I knew Da Long killed quite a few Geluolu people, but I didn’t expect so many!”
“Nineteen cavalry could take out an infantry hundred-man team.”
“This was Da Long’s first time on the battlefield, right?”
“Back when our fathers went on the western expedition, two heads were enough for promotion by one rank, and Da Long got nineteen?”
“I’ve lived this long; not to mention first-timers on the battlefield, even those veteran soldiers with a hundred battles haven’t seen anyone kill nineteen in one go.”
……
At this moment, the people of Hexi Fort were in an uproar, all shocked by Li Xiao’s astonishing battle results.
And they all knew these Geluolu people were killed by Li Xiao in front of others—no exaggeration, no false reporting of battle results.
Li Xiao had truly killed nineteen Geluolu people.
At this moment, everyone unanimously turned their gazes to the youth standing in the field.
Worship, awe, excitement…
