Chapter 1: Western Liao Dynasty, Fierce Winds Approach
Western Regions, Northern Frontier!
It was now early summer, with all things reviving, glaciers melting, and snow water from the Altai Mountains flowing into the Dragon Bone River, cold and clear, nourishing all things.
A gentle breeze brushed lightly, stirring up layers of green waves.
On the distant dense green grassland, a herd of cattle and sheep was leisurely grazing, while a dozen children galloped on horseback nearby, playing and frolicking.
At this moment by the riverside, a youth who appeared about fifteen or sixteen years old was lying on the soft grass.
His head pillowed on a sheepskin jacket, wearing a long-sleeved plain cloth garment full of patches, utterly unafraid of the still chilly early summer western wind.
As his chest rose and fell slightly, the outline of muscles beneath his clothes was faintly visible, not yet fully mature and robust, but already tight and powerful like a young tiger just grown.
His face was somewhat youthful, but already showing initial sharp angles, seeming to brew sharpness, and in the red glow of the sunset, it revealed a touch of cold, wild, and unrestrained ferocity.
This youth was Li Xiao.
He had just turned fifteen this year.
At this moment, he had his hands behind his head, legs crossed, a foxtail grass in his mouth, whistling softly, looking very relaxed and at ease.
His eyes gazed at the clear blue sky, but his thoughts had already drifted far away…
“Ah~ I can’t go back!”
He murmured softly from his mouth.
It had been over half a month since he came to this world, and he had figured out the current situation.
He had transmigrated!
The era he was now in was one of the most turbulent periods in Huaxia history.
A time of three kingdoms standing in a tripod.
But not the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, but Song, Jin, and Xia.
The Jingkang Incident had passed seventy years ago, the Jin Dynasty occupied the northern lands of Shenzhou, Southern Song could only cling to a corner, becoming a vassal, ceding territory, and paying tribute yearly.
Calculated by later historical records, this year was 1198 AD.
But the place where Li Xiao now was did not belong to any of the three kingdoms of Song, Jin, or Xia.
It belonged to Western Liao.
A relatively unfamiliar country, located west of Western Xia and Mongol.
Its geographical territory included all of modern Xinjiang and southern Kazakhstan, as well as most areas of other Central Asian countries.
In 1125 AD, after the Battle of Golden Mountain, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao was captured by the Jurchen army, and the Khitan Liao State, which had stood for two hundred years and pressed the Song Dynasty breathless, perished.
But in times of great upheaval, heroic figures always emerge to save the day from peril.
Yelü Dashi, a great general of the Liao imperial clan, was undoubtedly such a hero.
Though he could not defeat the Jurchen People and rebuild Liao, he took a different path, leading the army on a western expedition to the Western Regions.
He crossed the desert, surmounted the Altai Mountains, and in Central Asia ten thousand li away, established a country.
Historically known as Western Liao.
Western Liao is considered a continuation of the Khitan Liao State, also called ‘Black Khitan’ or ‘Kara Khitan’, with profound influence on world history.
Some later Western countries even called Huaxia ‘Khitan’, due to Western Liao’s influence on the West.
At its peak, Western Liao’s territory was vast, east to Dunhuang, west to the Caspian Sea, north to Lake Balkhash, south to the Kunlun Mountains.
Its territorial area reached over 3.5 million square kilometers.
And where Li Xiao was located was one of the Four Prefectures of Northern Frontier in the northeast of Western Liao territory.
Jin Prefecture.
That is, the modern Altai region.
Northern Frontier is a vast area north of the Tianshan Mountains, south of the Altai Mountains, centered on the Junggar Basin.
This region between the two great mountain ranges is nourished by melting ice and snow, influenced by Atlantic warm moist air currents, thus with fertile land, abundant rainfall, lush water and grass, very suitable for developing animal husbandry and agriculture.
Moreover, rich in mineral resources, it is one of the most famous scenic tourist destinations in later times.
But now, it was still a desolate place, without even a proper town.
“I never thought rebirth would land me in this place again, fate ah~”
Li Xiao lay on the grass by the Dragon Bone River, looking at the sky, feeling the breeze, very relaxed.
“But compared to Northern Frontier in later times, now is when it truly shows its magnificent charm.”
In his previous life, he had spent most of his time living on the Northern Frontier grassland.
Here with fertile land and abundant water and grass, it has been a gathering place for numerous nomadic people since ancient times.
And besides these many nomadic people, the presence of Han People seemed to become an indelible vivid color on this land.
Since Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty was sent as envoy to the Western Regions, the figures of Han People have never been absent from the Western Regions, reaching their peak in the Tang Dynasty.
The existence of the two great governor’s mansions of Anxi and Beiting made Han People once the masters of the Western Regions land.
But time passes, the glory of Han and Tang has faded.
The former Han and Tang descendants may have gradually merged into other ethnic groups, and the origins of today’s Northern Frontier Han People still trace back to the Western Liao founding war fifty years ago.
During Yelü Dashi’s western expedition, Liao had already perished, and the number of Khitan Army under his command was seriously insufficient.
So Yelü Dashi had to absorb people from other ethnic groups to bolster his army.
Han People from the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun became one of Yelü Dashi’s main troop sources.
In the sixty thousand main force of Yelü Dashi’s western expedition that year, Yan Yun Han People accounted for at least one third.
After the Qawan Te campaign, Yelü Dashi defeated the original Central Asian overlord Seljuk Empire, established the Western Liao Empire, and set the capital at Kuyun-Ordu, located in modern Kyrgyzstan.
The over twenty thousand Han troops were dispersed and resettled, most bringing their families to the Four Prefectures of Northern Frontier, because it was closer to Han lands.
With Shenzhou shattered, Jurchens entering the Central Plains, these Han sons who wandered ten thousand li had lost their homeland and could only express their longing in this way from afar.
Under this background, Li Xiao’s ancestors led their own retainers and their families to Jin Prefecture at the foot of the Altai Mountains.
On a plain on the south bank of the Hun River, they built their home, named Hexi Fort.
The reason for choosing this place, besides being adjacent to the Dragon Bone River with abundant water and grass.
More importantly, the Li family ancestor used his half-baked feng shui skills learned from who knows where, saw that this place harbored a dragon vein, and insisted on staying no matter what.
Now, fifty years later, the older generation of Yan Yun Han troops from back then have long turned to dust.
The new generation of Han descendants like Li Xiao have taken root on this land, spreading Han Culture while also accepting fusion with other ethnic groups.
From what Li Xiao had learned during this time, he believed that the Northern Frontier Han People could no longer be considered pure agricultural people.
Because Northern Frontier Han People, while farming the land, also herded like nomadic people, raising large numbers of cattle and sheep, horses, camels.
Moreover, because the Four Prefectures of Northern Frontier are between Tianshan and Altai Mountains, with Dragon Bone River and Irtysh River crossing through.
So Northern Frontier Han People are also skilled at fishing and hunting.
In Li Xiao’s view, the Han People of Northern Frontier had become a standard fishing and hunting people.
“Nomadic herding, fishing and hunting, men farm and women weave, work at sunrise, rest at sunset.”
“This is the life many people dream of!”
“Unfortunately, such a wonderful life won’t last much longer.”
Li Xiao slowly sat up from the grass, still with foxtail grass in his mouth, murmuring.
He sat cross-legged looking toward the western sky, where the setting sun was blood-like, the falling day boiling the firmament.
A magnificent scene, but after sunset comes dark night.
In Li Xiao’s eyes, this setting sun seemed to represent the current Western Liao Empire.
Already entering twilight, soon to completely sink.
And who destroyed the once mighty Western Liao Empire?
It was almost the 13th century, who else could it be?
“Mongol People ah!”
Li Xiao sighed lightly, saying with some headache.
Now was the 21st year of Tianxi of Western Liao, that is, 1198 AD.
And just nine years ago, on the Mongolian Plateau in the east, a man named Temüjin formally became the leader of the Kiyan tribe.
Afterward, he led his Mongol cavalry on eastern and western campaigns.
Eight years later, in 1206 AD, Temüjin completely unified the Mongol tribes, then turned his claws toward Jin and Western Xia.
But the first to face utter destruction was actually Western Liao.
In 1218 AD, Mongol generals Jebe and Subutai led twenty thousand iron cavalry to attack Western Liao.
At that time, Western Liao was in internal chaos, the emperor a puppet, internal and external conflicts frequent, soldiers unwilling to fight.
The Western Liao army was no match at all against the powerful Mongol cavalry.
Western Liao perished thus, and Central Asia fell under Mongol rule.
But at that time, what would become of the Han People of Northern Frontier?
Northern Frontier land is fertile, water and grass abundant, very suitable for herding, the Mongol People would not let it go~
“Submission or resistance?”
“Hehe~”
“Submit my ass.”
In his previous life, the Mongols occupied the Western Regions and ruled the Central Plains for over ninety years; if this life brought no change, then Li Xiao’s coming here would be for nothing!
Watching the sunset’s light grow weaker, Li Xiao shook his head lightly and turned to look east.
Unknowingly from some point, the eastern horizon seemed to grow somewhat gloomy, and the wind blowing into Northern Frontier had also grown stronger.
Though the eastern dark clouds were still far away, Li Xiao knew they would eventually come over Northern Frontier, stirring up a storm.
Li Xiao stood up from the grass, looking at those dark clouds, suddenly smiling lightly.
“Dark clouds can also be dispersed ah!”
Moreover, Temüjin at this time was just an ‘entrepreneur’, still lurking in the shadow of Ong Khan, with only three or four thousand troops under his command.
Eight years until he unified the Mongolian Grasslands, twenty years until the Mongol army’s western expedition.
Li Xiao still had time.
“Eight years!”
Li Xiao looked at the dark clouds in the eastern sky, his gaze sharp, murmuring lowly: “Before Temüjin unifies the Mongolian Grasslands, at least grow to the point of being able to fight his Mongol cavalry.”
That way, Li Xiao might still have a chance to stop the rise of the Mongol Empire.
Otherwise, if he didn’t want to be a dog for the Mongol People, Li Xiao could only flee to the South Asian Subcontinent to become a Brahmin.
But thinking of his descendants reeking of curry, casually shitting on beaches, Li Xiao felt a chill.
That would be utterly disgraceful to the ancestors!
He quickly banished the thought from his mind; Li Xiao absolutely would not allow his descendants to be assimilated by the three brothers.
While Li Xiao pondered the future, a child’s shout came from afar.
“Brother, brother, it’s windy.”
“Time to go home~”
