Chapter 68: Blood Profit
No one could refuse Li Xiao’s kind offer.
The following matters became simple.
Under the coercion of six hundred iron cavalry riding bows under Li Xiao’s command, led by the spokesmen of the Qian and Zhou families, all the men of the Wang Family were slaughtered.
Looking at the corpses covering the ground, the entire Feiying Fort fell into dead silence, with everyone keeping silent out of fear.
But Li Xiao remained calm and composed, his face full of indifference.
“So many people from the Wang and Hou families died because of you. Do you feel any remorse?”
Li Xiao said in an indifferent tone, his gaze turning to a man kneeling before him.
Hou Wen!
With the cooperation of the Qian and Zhou families, Li Xiao led men smoothly into Feiying Fort, eliminated the Wang Family people, and took over the Wang Family’s property.
At the same time, in a courtyard of the Wang Family, they found Hou Wen hiding there.
At this moment, he was disheveled all over, his face bruised and swollen, pressed to the ground by two young and strong men from Hexi Fort.
But his gaze was fixed deadly on Li Xiao, filled with angry defiance, terrifying as if he wanted to devour him.
“I have no regrets!”
Hou Wen let out a beast-like roar, veins bulging on his neck, grinding his teeth.
“I only regret not wiping out your Hexi Fort sooner.”
Li Xiao gently shook his head: “Stubborn and unrepentant.”
Then, he instructed Li Dashan: “Send him on his way.”
Li Dashan nodded silently, drew his saber, stepped forward, and prepared to finish off this enemy.
And Hou Wen knew he was doomed today, so he had no scruples.
He cursed loudly: “My Hou Family indeed sided with the Geluolu People, but how is your Li Family any better?”
“Aren’t you also dogs for the Khitan People?”
“If we’re talking traitors, your Li Family is a traitor too.”
“I’m not convinced.”
Hou Wen roared loudly, and the next second, Li Dashan’s dagger pierced into his chest.
Blood instantly spurted out, and Hou Wen’s voice abruptly stopped.
But his lips were still twitching slightly, as if continuing to silently curse the Li Family.
And Li Xiao looked at his corpse, his gaze solemn.
“Dogs for the Khitan People?”
“That’s not wrong,” Li Xiao suddenly chuckled.
But he didn’t care.
Those who achieve great things do not quibble over trifles.
Han Xin endured the humiliation under the crotch, Goujian lay on firewood and tasted gall, even Temüjin worked for the Jin Dynasty people in the early days—all for the sake of rising above others.
If speaking of the most legitimate founding of a country, none other than Zhu Yuanzhang, but who could understand the hardships of his first half of life?
Li Xiao’s starting conditions were much better than Zhu Yuanzhang’s; there was no need to compare with him.
Of course, he could also quit, take his men to become horse bandits, claim land as king, and live freely.
But that would shorten his path.
Zhu Yuanzhang could emerge from the peasant uprisings due to the objective chaos across the land at the time.
But the Northern Frontier today still maintains order, far from the time when heroes rise together.
The likes of horse bandits could never amount to anything.
“Jin Prefecture Governor!”
Li Xiao said to himself inwardly.
Next, he would exhaust every means to seize the position of Jin Prefecture Governor.
Only then could he gain sufficient autonomy.
Although constrained by the Eastern Capital, with mountains high and emperor far away, Xiao Simo could not constantly monitor Jin Prefecture.
His enemies were always the royal court.
……
“Fort Master, the Wang Family’s property has been roughly tallied.”
After a busy half day, near nightfall, Li Xiao’s subordinates finally inventoried the Wang Family’s property.
Li Dashan came to report.
“Feiying Fort is indeed a major fort among the Han People in Jin Prefecture. The Wang Family served as Fort Master for so many years; their foundation is truly substantial,” Li Dashan said with a hearty laugh.
“The Wang Family had thirty-two households, with a total of three hundred fifty cattle, two thousand five hundred sheep, and three hundred twenty war horses.”
“Farmland over one thousand mu, stored grain around three hundred shi.”
“Most unexpectedly, over one thousand strings of copper coins were found from the Wang Family, and some scattered gold and silver worth about one hundred strings.”
Cattle, sheep, and grain were expected, but the Wang Family was quite good at hiding money.
Mainly because Feiying Fort was relatively close to the Great Desert.
Due to the Silk Road, the commercial atmosphere in the Great Desert was much better than in Jin Prefecture.
The Wang Family sometimes sold Feiying Fort’s cattle and sheep, grain, and other goods to merchants in the Great Desert, so they had accumulated quite a bit of coins over the years.
But in the end, it all benefited Li Xiao.
“In these times, you still need to grip the barrel of the gun,” Li Xiao said with a light laugh.
As the saying goes, neighbors stockpile grain while I stockpile guns; the neighbor is my granary.
A small Feiying Fort yielding so much money made Li Xiao harbor some ambitions toward the Great Desert to the south.
There, it was probably a place of fools and money too?
“Sixth Uncle, go call the spokesmen of the Qian and Zhou families. It’s time to have a good talk with them,” Li Xiao instructed.
Soon, the two spokesmen walked in.
Both were men around forty, with the rugged temperament of Northern Frontier People and the reserved nature of Han People.
If truly on a desperate battlefield, these two would likely be formidable Northern Frontier wolves, but before Li Xiao, they could only hide their fangs deeply.
“With the Wang Family gone, Feiying Fort will henceforth be led by your two families.”
“Any thoughts?” Li Xiao looked at the two and said in a faint voice.
Zhou Dali and Qian San exchanged a glance, then both lowered their heads and said: “From now on, we are Fort Master Li’s men.”
“We hope Fort Master Li will take us in.”
The two had already discussed it beforehand.
Although the Wang Family was gone, Feiying Fort’s strength had also suffered losses; currently, the best path was to rely on Hexi Fort.
After all, Li Xiao had already promised each a Centurion position.
Li Xiao himself was a Chiliarch and could speak before the Eastern Capital Governor.
Relying on Li Xiao would benefit them both.
“Good~”
Li Xiao nodded lightly, revealing a smile.
He had come all the way to Feiying Fort to eliminate the Wang Family, not to make wedding clothes for others.
Subduing Feiying Fort’s population and absorbing the Wang Family’s resources was Li Xiao’s goal.
“The Wang Family’s cattle, sheep, and property will all be taken away, with a portion distributed as spoils of war to the brothers who marched out this time,” Li Xiao said solemnly.
“The Wang Family’s houses and farmland as well.”
“But I always share benefits evenly.”
“Your Feiying Fort people have turned from darkness to light, so you can’t go unrewarded. Although houses and farmland can’t be given for free.”
“But if anyone wants to buy, they can register with my Sixth Uncle.”
“Ten sheep for one mu of farmland, twenty sheep for one house.”
Houses and farmland were immovable property; Li Xiao couldn’t take them.
Although ownership now belonged to Hexi Fort, Li Xiao believed no one would dare infringe on his things.
But Feiying Fort was not close to Hexi Fort; frequent travel was inconvenient.
So, Li Xiao decided to sell them at low prices to Feiying Fort’s other herdsmen.
Besides quickly converting to cash, it was also to win over Feiying Fort’s herdsmen and give them some benefits.
Combining kindness and might.
Killing the Wang Family might make them feel guilty, but if they could gain interests from the Wang Family matter for themselves, the herdsmen’s mindset would surely shift.
To protect their own interests, they would instinctively distance themselves from the Wang Family.
If the Wang Family ever revived, to safeguard their gained interests, these herdsmen would be the first to extinguish them.
In simple terms, Li Xiao used interests to bind Feiying Fort’s herdsmen to his war chariot.
“Ten sheep for one mu of land?”
Zhou Dali and Qian San’s hearts stirred instantly upon hearing the price.
This price was already very cheap, practically half giveaway.
Li Xiao was indeed generous.
Thus, the two eagerly agreed.
After some thought, ten sheep was just a benchmark; it could fully be exchanged with gold, silver, copper coins, and grain.
With the capital of Feiying Fort’s other herdsmen, it was sufficient to absorb all the Wang Family’s houses and farmland.
“Good~”
“Fort Master Li, we’ll tell the herdsmen right away. We believe everyone will seize this opportunity,” Qian San said excitedly.
Farmland and houses could be passed down to descendants, and at such a cheap price—who wouldn’t buy was a fool.
Thus, Li Xiao easily sold off the Wang Family’s immovable property, gave Feiying Fort’s herdsmen a wave of benefits, and preliminarily pulled them onto his war chariot.
At this point, Li Xiao’s purpose in coming to Feiying Fort was fully achieved.
After staying two more days in Feiying Fort, Li Xiao led his men away from Feiying Fort.
At this time, under his command were the original six hundred cavalry, plus one hundred fifty young and strong from Feiying Fort led by Zhou Dali and Qian San.
The group drove cattle and sheep, war horses, and used wagons to haul grain and property, grandly heading toward Hexi Fort.
This time, Li Xiao reaped a great harvest.
Far exceeding the military grain quota the seven forts should pay.
Blood profit!
Apart from distributions to officers and soldiers and paying military grain, the excess would stay in Hexi Fort as startup funds for Li Xiao’s future great endeavors.
Ten days later, the one hundred thousand shi of grain and ten thousand sheep military grain quota ordered by Xiao Simo had all arrived at Wuya Village.
At this time, tiny Wuya Village had gathered twenty thousand army from the Yin Mountains, North Sea, and Jin Prefecture.
All preparations complete!
This day, low horn sounds rang out, and the atmosphere in the camp suddenly became oppressive.
Xiao Simo’s orders were issued.
The army set out, marching on Golden Mountain for the decisive battle against the Naiman.
