Chapter 125: A Man Like A Lion
The long winter days of the Northern Frontier finally came to a quiet end, with sunlight gradually becoming warmer, bringing new strength to this silvery white land.
On the plains, the thick snow layers slowly melted, revealing grass tips that had been dormant for a long time, as tender green sprouts eagerly poked their heads out of the moist mud, curiously peering at this brand-new world.
Meanwhile, the Han people of Jin Prefecture had not been idle throughout the entire winter.
Li Xiao gathered all the artisans of Jin Prefecture and established a Hexi Weaponry Shop.
Specializing in forging weapons.
Led by the Old Master with a group of trusted old brothers, they carried out the first step in weapons manufacturing.
That is, refining Wootz Steel.
Then, the Wootz Steel ingots were sent one by one to the hands of other artisans.
These artisans forged the Wootz Steel into various types of weapons according to their respective tasks.
Among them, the most numerous were arrowheads and armor plates.
Arrowheads forged from Wootz Steel were harder than ordinary arrowheads and had stronger armor-piercing ability.
Similarly, armor plates forged from Wootz Steel provided stronger protection than ordinary iron shards and were an important component of cotton armor.
During this long winter, the Hexi Weaponry Shop forged a total of tens of thousands of arrowheads, over a thousand cavalry sabers, more than two thousand hooked scythe spears, and a thousand sets of cotton armor.
It was not that they did not want to make more cotton armor, but there was not enough cotton.
Calculated at seven pounds of cotton per set of cotton armor, a thousand sets required seven thousand pounds of cotton.
This directly consumed all the cotton that Li Erguzi had bought from the Great Desert in his first two trips.
Therefore, as the long winter of the Northern Frontier passed and the ice and snow on the roads began to melt, Li Erguzi prepared to set out again for the Great Desert.
Hexi Winery.
Dozens of men were carrying jars of Xifeng strong liquor out of the room and loading them onto horse carriages.
After a winter of brewing, there were now three thousand jars of Xifeng strong liquor in stock in Hexi Fort, filling up several courtyards.
This also directly promoted the development of the pottery industry.
The pottery in Jin Prefecture basically all came from one family in Black Mountain Village.
Because of orders from the Hexi Winery, this family had made a fortune and began hiring people to help fire pottery.
Jin Prefecture now had its first pottery factory.
In front of the horse carriages, Li Xiao stood side by side with Li Erguzi, watching as large quantities of wine jars filled the carriages.
Li Xiao turned his head and asked, “There are a lot of goods this time; is there enough manpower for the caravan?”
Although the winery already had three thousand jars in stock, there was a saying that scarcity creates value.
Therefore, this time, Li Erguzi would only take away fifteen hundred jars.
After a whole winter without supply, the merchants in the Great Desert would surely be able to sell all fifteen hundred jars.
“I hired twenty more people from Hedong Fort and Tazhai; we have enough manpower,” Li Erguzi nodded and said.
He then added, “However, we bought quite a bit of grain and cotton in our first two trips, so the merchants in the Great Desert might raise their prices.”
Raise prices?
Li Xiao shook his head lightly: “No problem; as long as they can get these two items, a higher price is fine.”
After all, Xifeng strong liquor itself was highly profitable.
Plus, the ten thousand strings of cash rewarded by Xiao Simo earlier had not been touched yet.
So Li Xiao was not stingy with this bit of money.
“Moreover, as the prices of grain and cotton rise, more people in the Great Desert will plant them this year.”
“In a while, the prices will drop just the same,” Li Xiao said in a calm voice.
It was just market rules, not worth haggling over.
The most important thing now was to buy more grain and cotton, enhance Jin Prefecture’s risk resistance, and make more cotton armor.
Seeing off the caravan as they left Hexi Fort.
Li Xiao then led his group of young companions back to their daily training.
Even in winter, the Hexi Military School continued to operate normally.
It was just that the chiliarchs and centurions had long since left, leaving only this group of youths.
After a winter of learning.
Except for a few who were truly dim-witted, most of the youths could now recognize three to five hundred characters.
Simple writing and communication were no problem.
Now, what Li Xiao taught them mainly consisted of insights and experiences for battle.
Of course, more often it was practicing martial arts together with these youths, passing on riding and archery techniques, and how to command cavalry in combat, and so on.
And just as Li Xiao was leading this group of youths in practicing charges on the snowy ground.
Suddenly, San Feng came riding over on horseback.
“Elder Brother, Da Guo~”
From a great distance away, San Feng shouted loudly.
San Feng, who had passed the new year, was now nine years old; though in Li Xiao’s eyes, she was still a naive and innocent child.
But unknowingly, San Feng had indeed grown a bit taller.
In a few more years, she would reach marriageable age.
And yet she had a brother who was the Jin Prefecture Deputy Governor, and the other uncles and brothers were all impressive figures.
So although she was still young, some people had already begun to scheme openly and secretly.
There were too many people who wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Li Family.
Not just San Feng, but also Er Feng and Si Feng from Second Uncle’s family, and even daughters from more distant branches of the Li Family.
All the unmarried girls had become highly sought after.
Li Xiao certainly knew that the ultimate fate of these Li Family girls was marriage alliances.
But he definitely would not let them marry hastily.
Especially Er Feng, San Feng, and Si Feng; Li Xiao would surely choose carefully for them when the time came.
“Elder Brother, Grandfather wants you to come home.”
“Someone has come.”
San Feng reined in her horse from a distance; though wrapped up like a little white bear, her cheeks were flushed red from the cold wind, like ripe frozen apples.
“Who came?”
Li Xiao hung his bow and arrow on the horseback, told Wei Xuan, San Bao, and the others to practice riding and archery on their own, and walked over to San Feng to ask.
“Two Khitan people, one of whom I’ve seen before—the one who follows the princess.”
Hearing San Feng’s words, Li Xiao smiled.
“This woman—could she be sending me a love letter?”
Then, he hurried home with San Feng.
At this moment, in Li Xiao’s home.
The atmosphere was a bit awkward.
The Old Master sat silently in the Grand Tutor’s Chair in the middle of the main hall.
On the left and right sides sat two Khitan people respectively.
One of them was Xiao Yanyan’s former guard, named Duōgá.
He understood the Chinese language and had lived in Hexi Fort for a time following Xiao Yanyan.
So Xiao Yanyan had sent him to deliver a letter.
But what he had not expected was that Li Xiao was not home, and the only man in the house was the Old Master.
Yet the Old Master happened to have that silent and reticent personality.
So, the three of them sat in the room, staring at each other wide-eyed, with a very awkward atmosphere.
After a moment of silence, Duōgá could not stand it and smiled as he greeted, “It’s been a winter since we last met; you look even sturdier, old sir.”
The Old Master nodded lightly and said flatly, “Not bad; not dying yet.”
Duōgá: “…”
It really was not that he could not find a topic; it was that the Old Master spoke too infuriatingly, choking him with a single sentence.
But who could help that this old man was Li Xiao’s grandfather.
And with the kind of relationship between Li Xiao and the princess, it was as if Li Xiao were half his master.
So, even if the Old Master choked him with every sentence, he still had to smile and flatter.
“I noticed that Hexi Fort seems a bit different, much bigger than last time,” Duōgá laughed, voicing the question in his heart.
This time in Hexi Fort, he really noticed it was different.
Several large courtyards had been built in the west, and some women were coming and going in those courtyards.
Faintly, he could hear the sound of wood and the sound of hammering iron.
Why did Hexi Fort feel a bit off?
But in fact, those courtyards were all the newly built factories and warehouses in Hexi Fort.
Inside, women were weaving, men were forging iron, and many rooms stored the weapons forged and alcoholic beverages brewed in Hexi Fort during this time.
So, Hexi Fort did indeed look much bigger.
But in reality, this was far from the true scale of the Hexi factories.
For example, only a small portion of artisans who lived in Hexi Fort forged iron in the factory workshops.
Those who lived farther away worked at their own homes, coming to Hexi Fort every few days to pick up Wootz Steel ingots, deliver the forged weapons, receive wages, and so on.
The Textile Shop was the same.
In short, all of Jin Prefecture had been very busy this winter.
Hexi Fort was gradually becoming the core of Jin Prefecture, so everything naturally felt unusual.
Facing Duōgá’s puzzlement, the Old Master just nodded faintly and said concisely, “It has gotten bigger!”
And that was it.
The smile on Duōgá’s face became awkward again.
Chatting with this old man really could give someone a heart attack; he always knew how to kill a conversation.
“Yes, yes!”
“Drink water, drink water!” Duōgá could only use drinking water to diffuse the awkward atmosphere.
Fortunately, at this moment, with the sound of hooves, Li Xiao’s return allowed Duōgá to breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
“Finally back.”
“Better to see this old man less in the future.”
Then, Duōgá stood up and went to the door to greet Li Xiao.
Watching Li Xiao dismount in the courtyard with neat and tidy movements, all in one fluid motion, full of the youthful vigor and dash unique to young men.
Duōgá had to admit that this bastard had impressed him with his handsomeness.
He thought to himself, “No wonder he has the princess so besotted.”
However, Duōgá noticed that after a winter apart, Li Xiao seemed to have grown much taller.
Almost reaching five and a half feet or more, which would be about 1.8 meters in later generations.
Moreover, Li Xiao’s physique was even stronger than before; his broad shoulders seemed able to carry a millstone, and his thick chest was like a majestic little hill.
Every muscle contained astonishing strength.
When he stood casually in the courtyard, he was like a lion standing in its territory, his eyes revealing pride and fearlessness.
When his gaze casually swept over, Duōgá felt as if he were truly being stared at by a lion.
His hair stood on end, and he felt chills all over.
“This shouldn’t be; it’s only been half a year—how did this kid become so intimidating?” Duōgá thought in shock.
Standing in front of Li Xiao, he suddenly felt as if he were facing Xiao Simo directly.
In just half a year, the aura around Li Xiao had become so terrifying?
Fortunately, after seeing Duōgá’s familiar face, the coldness and pride on Li Xiao’s face completely dissipated.
He smiled lightly instead, smiling because of Xiao Yanyan.
“Duōgá, my brother, welcome to Jin Prefecture.”
Li Xiao laughed heartily, walked forward, and gave Duōgá a hug with both arms outstretched.
Li Xiao was half a head taller than him and even stronger; the scene was like a lion pouncing on an antelope.
Feeling the strength transmitted from Li Xiao’s arms, Duōgá was secretly astonished.
Finally released, he hurriedly smiled and said, “Governor Li, long time no see?”
“Good, very good.” Li Xiao chuckled.
“Just missing the princess terribly!”
Duōgá smiled lightly and said, “The princess in the Eastern Capital misses Governor Li terribly as well.”
“This is a letter from the princess to you.”
With that, Duōgá took a letter from his bosom and handed it to Li Xiao.
After glancing at the sealing wax seal on it and seeing no issues, Li Xiao opened it and began to read.
However, when he reached the latter half, the smile on his face slowly disappeared.
