Chapter 83: Victory In Sight
Of the armies under Li Xiao’s command, only the original Seven Forts Allied Army truly belonged to him, in addition to the Zhelan slaves and the more than one hundred people from Feiying Fort.
Another two thousand people were borrowed from various other tribes.
The war is over, so they will definitely be returned.
But Li Xiao did not want them to leave.
These men had followed him for hundreds of miles, experiencing many battles, both large and small. Although they were far from being elites, they were by no means ordinary soldiers.
Li Xiao was truly reluctant to let them go back just like that.
Moreover, Jin Prefecture lacked people the most, so Li Xiao planned to keep as many of them as possible.
It mainly depended on their own wishes. If they were willing to stay in Jin Prefecture, Li Xiao would arrange for them to be ‘killed in battle’.
Upon hearing Li Xiao’s question, Da Sha shook his head and said.
“I’m not going back. Wherever the chiliarch is, I am.”
He was originally a shepherd slave in the Great Desert, with nothing and no attachments. Besides, there was nothing worth reminiscing about there.
On the contrary, during his time following Li Xiao, they had been winning battles and capturing vast amounts of spoils of war.
Da Sha would definitely receive a significant portion of cattle and sheep, and he had also captured a beautiful and fertile Naiman woman as his wife.
He had never even dared to dream of such a life before.
Therefore, he definitely did not want to return to the Great Desert.
“Alright!”
“Then come back to Jin Prefecture with me.”
“From now on, you’ll have a wife, children, a warm home, and plenty of cattle, sheep, and grain. It’s your fortune to enjoy this life.”
Li Xiao chuckled.
“Hehehe, that’s good, that’s good.” Da Sha only knew how to grin and nod foolishly.
After he left, Li Xiao randomly asked a few more people.
The replies he received were all similar.
“The sergeant has already spoken with us, and I don’t want to go back. I want to stay with everyone.”
“Lord, you are a man of great capability. I want to stay and follow you.”
“I’m not going back, definitely not going back. If I go back, I won’t even have food to eat, and these cattle, sheep, and women will be taken by their owners.”
Hearing the soldiers’ replies, Li Xiao felt deeply gratified.
From the very beginning when he was selecting soldiers, he had thought of this step.
Most of the soldiers were honest, simple, and diligent people with no attachments, making them the easiest to persuade.
There were even many slaves who had nothing, and they were even less willing to return.
If they stayed in Jin Prefecture, Li Xiao would reward them with many cattle, sheep, and women. If they returned, they would only continue to be slaves, and the cattle, sheep, and women would belong to their masters.
Under these circumstances, Li Xiao believed that the majority would be willing to stay.
Not long after, Li Xiao summoned all those above the rank of centurion to a meeting.
The first item on the agenda was to tally the spoils of war.
“Including today’s spoils, we have captured approximately 120,000 sheep, 8,000 cattle, and over 20,000 warhorses.”
“And then there are the Naiman women, around 3,500 of them,” Da Hu said, holding a piece of sheepskin and addressing the crowd.
Because he was meticulous, Li Xiao had assigned this task to him.
These were the main sources of income. There were also various other miscellaneous items, such as tents, sheepskins, and daily necessities, all piled up and not yet tallied.
After hearing the results, Li Xiao nodded and smiled, “3,500 women? It seems enough for all our brothers to each have a wife.”
3,500 might not seem like a lot, but considering they were all fertile women, it was quite a significant number.
The total population of the Naiman tribe was only a little over 100,000.
“The promises I, Li Xiao, make, I can indeed keep.”
The others also burst into laughter.
Their gains from this war were very substantial, enough for everyone to live a good life.
Cattle and sheep were easy enough to deal with, but finding women was difficult. The tougher the region, the more men there were.
Girls might even be forced to die shortly after birth.
This resulted in many bachelors in the Northern Frontier.
Now, each person could take a Naiman woman back with them. Whether as a wife, concubine, or female slave, it would satisfy everyone.
“The distribution of spoils will be discussed after we return to Jin Prefecture.”
“Third Uncle, you must keep a close eye on our assets; they are the lifeblood of our brothers,” Li Xiao said to Li Sanhe with a smile.
“Don’t worry. Even if I die, I won’t let these things be harmed,” Li Sanhe said, patting his chest with a thud.
Li Xiao quickly shook his head, saying it was unnecessary, and that people were more important.
After discussing a few more matters, Li Xiao looked at the assembled officers and said, “Tell me, how many men can each of your centuria retain?”
This was the most important matter; the population was the fundamental asset.
Li Sanhe glanced at the others and was the first to speak, “I personally spoke with the brothers, and the majority are willing to stay. That’s forty-two men.”
This did not mean that only forty-two out of a hundred men were willing to stay.
Rather, after excluding the soldiers who died in battle and those who were originally Jin Prefecture soldiers, there were still forty-two men willing to stay.
This proportion was already very high.
The situation was similar for the other twenty-nine centurions, with around thirty to forty men each.
Combined, that amounted to approximately 1,200 men.
As for the other 800 men, they had either died in battle or had family ties in their hometowns that required their return.
Li Xiao would not stop them; it was better to part on good terms.
It was also a form of goodwill, and perhaps it could be re-established in the future.
“1,200 men, this is truly unexpected,” Li Xiao said with a smile, shaking his head.
This number was slightly beyond his expectations, a bit more than he had anticipated.
He was both happy and troubled.
Because he had to find a way to make these 1,200 men ‘die in battle’ legitimately, and also compensate the nomadic leaders with double the amount of cattle and sheep.
He was happy and suffering at the same time.
A few days later, Li Xiao received an order from Xiao Simo to bring his men to Xiao Simo’s large camp to attend the Northern Frontier Supreme Military Conference.
Li Xiao could already guess the main topic of this conference.
The Great Liao army and the Naiman Khanate were drawing closer.
The atmosphere in the army became even more somber. Everyone knew that a great battle might erupt again.
Today was definitely the day for the military conference to decide on battle plans.
However, to his surprise, when Xiao Simo entered the large tent, he announced unexpected news to everyone.
“Buyiru Khan has personally led an army of 10,000 south and has sent an envoy to negotiate with this king about jointly attacking Sun Khan,”
Xiao Simo said with a smile from his folding stool at the head of the table.
In recent days, Xiao Simo had shed his usual gloom, beaming with triumphant joy.
With the Golden Mountain defense line breached, the Naiman tribe was like a naked woman, leaving them open to his plunder.
Victory was within reach.
Upon hearing Xiao Simo’s words, the generals in the large tent burst into laughter.
“Buyiru Khan was quite arrogant before, wasn’t he? Now he’s actually sent someone to contact us,” Xiao Tula Duo chuckled.
“Seeing our imminent victory, he just wants to get a piece of the pie,” Xiao Lintta said dismissively, shaking his head.
Other Khitan generals chimed in with disdain, “That scoundrel is overestimating himself. Without him, Tuoteboluo, our Northern Frontier Army could have still broken through Golden Mountain.”
“The ignorant fool even wants to marry the Princess. He should look in the mirror and see what he looks like.”
Xiao Simo listened to the generals’ words, nodded silently, and gave a slight smile.
Seeing that the Liao army was on the verge of victory, Buyiru Khan could no longer sit still and directly headed south, fearing that if he was a step too late, the entire Naiman tribe would be swallowed by Western Liao.
His only demand was for Liao to recognize his status as the Naiman Khan.
To this, Xiao Simo had no objection.
“Although Buyiru Khan is greedy, his forces are still quite strong. He should be used by our army to jointly resist the Naiman tribe,” Xiao Simo said gravely to the generals.
Having set the tone, he accepted Buyiru Khan’s army to form an allied force.
Originally, Xiao Simo, wanting to preserve his own strength, did not intend to fight Sun Khan to the bitter end.
He only wanted to weaken the Naiman tribe’s strength and gain some benefits before leaving.
However, with the addition of Buyiru Khan’s 10,000 fresh troops, their strength had greatly increased, and they could now pursue greater interests.
Perhaps, the Naiman tribe could be made to submit to the Great Liao once again.
The former Naiman tribe was a vassal tribe of Western Liao, but when Yelü Zhilugu had just ascended the throne and Western Liao was in turmoil, the Naiman tribe had broken away.
If they could now return to submission under his, Xiao Simo’s, leadership.
Then, his capability would be clearly distinguished from Yelü Zhilugu’s, and Xiao Simo’s prestige within Western Liao would greatly increase.
“Sun Khan Baibuhua? It’s best to leave him be,” Xiao Simo thought to himself.
After this war, Buyiru Khan should not be allowed to dominate the Naiman alone. It would be best to let these two tigers continue to fight each other.
This would be more beneficial to the Northern Frontier.
Next, the generals began to discuss how to utilize Buyiru Khan’s army to fight this war effectively. Some even proposed completely annihilating the Naiman tribe, eliminating the threat to the Northern Frontier forever.
Li Xiao sat in the tent, sipping horse milk wine, his brow furrowed, appearing deep in thought.
“Is Buyiru Khan’s surrender genuine or false?” Li Xiao pondered in his heart.
This was a war that had not occurred in the original history; the annals could not provide Li Xiao with an answer.
However, they could provide him with a reference.
According to historical records, in 1202 AD, Buyiru Khan responded to Zhamuha’s call and formed an alliance with various Mongol tribes, engaging in a major battle with the armies of Temüjin and the Kereit Tribe at Kuoyitian.
Ultimately, Temüjin was victorious and led his army in pursuit of Buyiru Khan’s people.
At a critical moment, Sun Khan dispatched Kekexue Wu with a large army to block Temüjin, rescuing Buyiru Khan.
A few years later, Sun Khan was defeated and died. Buyiru Khan took in Qu Chulü and even entrusted his people to him after his own death, which gave Qu Chulü the capital to launch a coup d’état in Western Liao.
From these events, Li Xiao concluded that the relationship between the brothers Buyiru Khan and Sun Khan was not as bad as it appeared on the surface.
“Brothers, united against outside insult?”
“If this is truly the case, then the upcoming battle will be dangerous,” Li Xiao said to himself.
With a heavy gaze, he looked at Xiao Simo and the others in the large tent. Every face showed a powerful and confident smile, as if victory was already at hand.
