Chapter 3: Hexi Fort
Listening to Er Hu and San Bao’s argument, Li Xiao remained silent on the side.
According to the original owner’s memories, Li Dalong had always treated his two younger brothers this way.
Once they had argued enough, Li Dalong would speak up to mediate, subduing the two younger brothers completely, so Li Dalong had very high prestige among the brothers.
Moreover, the youths in the village of about the same age all took Li Dalong as their leader.
However, their words also forced Li Xiao to face a reality.
“Geluolu Tribe of Jin Prefecture in rebellion?”
Li Xiao muttered softly to himself while riding on horseback.
Nowadays, many fortresses in Jin Prefecture had been summoned by the Governor’s Mansion, with young and strong men drafted to form an army to suppress the rebellion of the Geluolu People!
Li Xiao’s cheap father Li Dahai and Second Uncle Li Erjiang had led a hundred young and strong men from Hexi Fort to North Mountain.
It had already been over half a month, and there was still no news.
“It’s a pity that there are too few records about Western Liao in the history books, and there’s not even a bit of information about this Geluolu rebellion.” Li Xiao said regretfully in his heart.
Transmigrators aren’t omnipotent either; if it were matters of Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, or even Mongol Empire, Li Xiao would know some.
But everything about Western Liao seemed to have been deliberately erased from the history books, leaving only fragments.
Many things could only be inferred through indirect records.
“However, the Geluolu People have stirred up quite a few rebellions in Western Liao, but none succeeded. This time, the Geluolu People’s outcome will definitely be suppression.” Li Xiao thought.
Speaking of the Geluolu People, everyone’s first impression was their betrayal of Great Tang in the Battle of Talas, leading to the annihilation of twenty thousand Tang troops at the hands of the Arab Empire.
From then on, the influence of the Central Plains Dynasty in the Western Regions completely stopped at the Pamir Mountains.
The Geluolu ethnic group was also labeled as ‘traitors’.
Not entirely unjustified, after all, their bones were filled with genes of violence and restlessness.
During the rule of Western Liao, the Geluolu People were likewise synonymous with restlessness, rebelling multiple times and being suppressed multiple times.
Repeatedly rebelling and repeatedly defeated, repeatedly defeated and repeatedly rebelling!
It had to be said that the Yelü Family was merciful enough to the Geluolu People; if it were Li Xiao, he would have leveled them with chariot wheels long ago.
“Hope this rebellion gets wiped out soon!” Li Xiao said softly.
If it dragged on too long, it might even affect the farming season in Hexi Fort.
After all, those hundred drafted young and strong men were the main labor force of Hexi Fort.
……
Li Xiao shook his head lightly, no longer thinking about the Geluolu People’s affairs; anyway, the outcome was already doomed, and the Geluolu People couldn’t make too big a splash.
What Li Xiao needed to do now was to quickly train his martial arts and riding and archery, to expand his influence in Hexi Fort and even all of Jin Prefecture.
After stopping Er Hu and San Bao’s commotion, the group soon arrived in front of Hexi Fort.
The gathering places of Han People in the Northern Frontier were different from those of nomadic people.
Nomadic people just pitched tents anywhere, with almost no protection outside, setting up and leaving as they pleased.
But the Han People in the Northern Frontier wouldn’t migrate easily, perhaps due to a lack of sense of security.
Every Han village in the Northern Frontier had some city walls and moats built, resembling small fortresses.
Arriving outside Hexi Fort, the first thing seen was a circle of moats, about two or three meters wide, not very deep.
The main purpose wasn’t to defend against people, but against horses.
As long as most war horses couldn’t jump over, it was fine, since cavalry were the main combat force on the grassland.
Even if a small number of infantry entered the village, they could be killed by the young and strong men in the village.
But once a large-scale cavalry force charged in, the result would be different.
Therefore, all defenses of Hexi Fort were aimed at large-scale cavalry assaults.
The city walls behind the moats were the same.
Called city walls, but they were far inferior to the real city walls in the Central Plains.
Just a row of adobe walls over a meter high.
After all, Hexi Fort covered a large area, and building real city walls to enclose the village would cost too much, which Hexi Fort couldn’t afford.
When enemies attacked, the adobe walls would become cover; people of Hexi Fort would hide behind the adobe walls to shoot arrows, while the enemies would be fully exposed in the open ground outside the moats.
With the moats and adobe walls blocking, enemies couldn’t get in quickly; not wanting to become live targets, they could only retreat far away.
The ancestors of Hexi Fort, relying on this simple defensive measure, had repelled countless horse bandits and attacks from hostile tribes in these fifty years.
“Looks like I need to tell Old Master to inspect the village’s adobe walls these couple of days, and quickly repair wherever they’ve collapsed.”
Li Xiao turned back to look at the adobe walls, thinking in his heart.
Better safe than sorry; what if the Geluolu People’s cavalry bypassed the main force of Jin Prefecture Army and charged near Hexi Fort?
Not wanting to suffer calamity, just make the necessary preparations.
Entering Hexi Fort, what came into view were rows of adobe houses, neatly arranged.
Outside each house was a large courtyard enclosed by a fence, where villagers could build sheep pens, cattle sheds, and horse stables.
Every household raised at least dozens of cattle and sheep, and some hundreds; these were the important assets of Hexi Fort villagers.
Passing by each house’s front gate, Li Xiao greeted the villagers as usual.
“Wang Shenzi, the food looks good today, there’s even meat~” Li Xiao smiled and greeted a middle-aged woman wearing a skirt, busy in the courtyard.
“I figure Husband and the others should be back soon, so I’ll make something nourishing for him.” Wang Shenzi laughed.
Hexi Fort had about thirteen hundred people, all descendants of Li Xiao’s ancestors’ retainers, with all sorts of surnames, but most were surnamed Li.
“Then save some sheep treasure for Wang Uncle to eat, and strive to give Tie Tou a younger brother or sister next year~” Li Xiao laughed heartily.
Tie Tou was also Li Xiao’s playmate growing up together, currently herding the sheep flock behind!
Hearing this, Wang Shenzi smiled openly, without any embarrassment, and said boldly.
“He definitely won’t miss out; Dalong, if you want some, I’ll give you a share too. You’re a young man about to get married soon; you need to eat more of this stuff.”
Women in the Northern Frontier had no such taboos, bold and straightforward like men, never shy easily.
Li Xiao quickly waved his hand to refuse Wang Shenzi’s kindness.
Passing Tie Tou’s house, after walking a few hundred meters, they arrived at Li Xiao’s home.
This was a large courtyard located in the middle of the village, over thirty meters wide east-west, and nearly a hundred meters north-south.
In the middle of the courtyard was an adobe house with five main rooms and two side rooms, surrounded by sheep pens and cattle sheds.
Over two hundred sheep, thirty cattle, six adult horses and two foals, plus eighty mu of farmland outside the village—that was all of Li Xiao’s family assets.
In ancient times, this was definitely a proper wealthy household; even rural landlords weren’t this extravagant.
However, the Northern Frontier was vast and sparsely populated, with limited ruling power from the Royal Court; without much pressure from above, life at the bottom naturally got better and better.
Every household in Hexi Fort had considerable assets.
Li Xiao first greeted brothers Li Dahu, watching them head to a courtyard nearby—that was Second Uncle Li Xiao’s home.
Then Li Xiao led Er Hu and San Bao to drive the cattle and sheep into the sheep pens and cattle sheds, and tied their respective horses in the horse stable.
Glancing at Grandmother rolling out noodles at the table, Li Xiao asked: “Grandma, has Mom not come back yet?”
“Gushan Fort is dozens of li away from here; she won’t be back so soon.”
“And looking at the sky, it seems about to act up again; maybe your mom will stay there tonight.” The Old Lady said lightly to Li Xiao while deftly working.
This was a gentle-tempered, kind old lady.
Li Xiao nodded lightly, picked up the ladle from the water jar, drank a few gulps of water, his mouth no longer dry, and asked again: “Then where’s Grandpa?”
The Old Lady gestured with her eyes toward the back of the house: “In the back!”
“This old man has been clanging away all day, just stopped.”
“Go call your grandpa; come over for dinner soon.”
“Oh, got it.”
Li Xiao passed the five main rooms and walked to the back courtyard.
Likewise a courtyard enclosed by a fence, just much smaller than the front courtyard.
The most eye-catching was a thatched shed in the middle, inside piled with some farm tools, furnace slag, coke, finished ironware, and raw iron ore.
Outside the shed was a stove built of adobe bricks; the furnace fire inside had cooled down by now.
Old Master was squatting in front of the stove, cleaning up the furnace slag.
Clearly, this was a small blacksmith workshop, also Old Master’s favorite place to stay.
“Grandpa, Grandma calls you over for dinner!” Li Xiao walked over and said.
“Got it, I’ll come after cleaning up.” Old Master looked up, glanced at Li Xiao, and nodded lightly.
Old Master was the Fort Master of Hexi Fort, but due to his age, he had handed most matters to Li Xiao’s father, preferring to stay home blacksmithing.
The farm tools used for farmland in Hexi Fort, and the weapons used by the young and strong men in battle, were basically all made by Old Master and his few old buddies.
Old Master wasn’t talkative, with no distinctive features; he had once been a tall and burly man, but with age, he had shrunk into a skinny ordinary old man.
Of course, the most striking was the scar on Old Master’s face.
From the left forehead, slanting directly to the right cheek, nearly splitting his entire face in two, quite frightening.
Fortunately, Li Xiao and his brothers had grown up looking at Old Master’s face, so they didn’t find it anything.
Later they learned that this was from a battle against the Naiman People, where Old Master was injured by a desperate counterattack from a Naiman centurion.
In that battle, Old Master had personally killed no fewer than ten Naiman People.
Old Master in his youth was indeed fierce as could be.
“Grandpa, is my saber ready?” Li Xiao looked at Old Master and asked.
“Mm, it’s done.”
“On the table; go get it yourself, see if it fits.” Old Master nodded and said, his tone calm, not smiling much.
When facing Li Xiao and the grandsons, he was a bit better, not smiling much but not too stern.
Li Xiao’s father and Second Uncle had it worse; even as burly men in their thirties or forties, a glare from Old Master made their legs tremble.
Li Xiao immediately went to the table, spotting his saber at once among the many sickles, axes, golden gourd hammers, and other weapons laid out.
“Cavalry saber!”
