Chapter 1: Western Liao, The Cold Wind Approaches

The Western Regions, the Northern Border!

It was now early summer. All things were reviving. Glaciers melted, and snow water from the Altai Mountains flowed into the Dragon Bone River, cold and clear, nourishing everything.

A gentle breeze brushed past, stirring up layers of green waves.

On the dense green grassland in the distance, a herd of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely. Not far away, a dozen children galloped on horses, playing and frolicking.

At this moment by the river, a young man looking about fifteen or sixteen years old was lying on the soft grass.

His head rested on a sheepskin jacket, and he wore a long-sleeved cloth shirt full of patches, completely unafraid of the western wind that was still chilly in early summer.

As his chest rose and fell slightly, the outline of muscles under his clothes was faintly visible. Though not yet maturely robust, there was already the firmness and strength of a young tiger just growing up.

His face, while slightly childish, already showed angular features, seeming to brew a sharp edge. In the crimson glow of the setting sun, he revealed a hint of cold wildness and unruliness.

This young man was Li Xiao.

He had just turned fifteen this year.

At this moment, with his hands cushioned behind his head, legs crossed, and a foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, he enjoyed the breeze, looking very leisurely.

His eyes gazed at the sky, blue as if washed, but his thoughts had long drifted far away…

“Sigh… I can’t go back,” he murmured softly.

He had been in this world for more than half a month and had figured out the current situation.

He had transmigrated!

The era he was in now was one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history.

A period of Three Kingdoms.

But not the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, but rather Song, Jin, and Xia.

Seventy years had passed since the Jingkang Incident. The Jin State occupied the northern lands of the Divine Prefecture, while the Southern Song could only hole up in a corner, declaring themselves subjects, ceding territory, and paying annual tributes.

Calculated by the dating method of later generations, this year was 1198 AD.

However, the place where Li Xiao was now 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 Mongolia.

Its geographical map included all of Xinjiang and southern Kazakhstan of later generations, as well as most parts of the other four Central Asian countries.

In 1125 AD, after the Battle of Jiajin Mountain, Emperor Tianzuo of Liao was captured by the Jurchen army. The Khitan Liao State, which had stood for two hundred years and suppressed the Song Dynasty to the point of breathlessness, perished.

But whenever there is a great upheaval, formidable heroes always emerge to turn the tide.

The Liao imperial clan general, Yelü Dashi, was undoubtedly such a hero.

Although he failed to defeat the Jurchens and rebuild the Liao state, he found a new path, leading his army on a long expedition to the Western Regions.

He crossed deserts and climbed over the Altai Mountains to establish a country in the Central Asian region, thousands of miles away.

Historians call it Western Liao.

Western Liao is considered a continuation of the Khitan Liao state, also known as ‘Black Khitan’ or ‘Qara Khitai’, and its influence on world history was extremely profound.

Some Western countries in later generations would even call China “Khitan” (Cathay), originating precisely from Western Liao’s influence on the West.

At its peak, Western Liao’s territory was immense, reaching Dunhuang in the east, the Caspian Sea in the west, Lake Balkhash in the north, and the Kunlun Mountains in the south.

The territory covered an area of over 3.5 million square kilometers.

And where Li Xiao was located was one of the Four Prefectures of the Northern Border in the northeast of Western Liao.

Jin Prefecture.

That is the Altay region of later generations.

The Northern Border is a vast area located north of the Tianshan Mountains and south of the Altai Mountains, centered on the Junggar Basin.

This region lies between two great mountain ranges. With melting ice and snow nourishing the earth and the influence of warm, moist currents from the Atlantic, the land is fertile, rainfall is abundant, and water and grass are lush, making it very suitable for developing animal husbandry and agriculture.

Moreover, it is rich in mineral resources and was one of the most famous tourist destinations in later generations.

But now, it was still desolate, without even a decent town.

“I didn’t expect that being reborn, I’d still be in this place. It’s fate…”

Li Xiao lay on the grass by the Dragon Bone River, looking at the sky, feeling relaxed as the clear wind blew.

“But compared to the Northern Border of later generations, the current her is truly charming and spectacular.”

In his previous life, he spent most of his time living on the Northern Border grasslands.

Here, there was fertile land and lush water and grass, so since ancient times, it had been a settlement for numerous nomadic peoples.

Apart from these numerous nomadic peoples, the existence of Han people seemed to be an erasable, vivid color on this land.

Since Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty traveled to the Western Regions as an envoy, the presence of Han people in the Western Regions had never ceased, reaching its peak during the Tang Dynasty.

The existence of the Anxi and Beiting Protectorates once made the Han people the masters of the Western Regions.

But time flew, and the glory of Han and Tang had ended.

The remnants of Han and Tang might have gradually integrated into other ethnic groups. The source of the current Han people in the Northern Border traced back to the war for the founding of Western Liao fifty years ago.

During Yelü Dashi’s western expedition, the Liao state had already perished, and the number of Khitan troops under his command was severely insufficient.

So, Yelü Dashi had to absorb people of other ethnicities to replenish his army.

The Han people of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun became one of Yelü Dashi’s main sources of troops.

Among the 60,000 main forces of Yelü Dashi’s western expedition back then, the Yanyun Han people accounted for at least one-third.

After the Battle of Qatwan, Yelü Dashi defeated the original Central Asian hegemon, the Seljuk Empire, and established the Western Liao Empire, setting the capital at Husi Ordu (Balasagun), located in the territory of later-day Kyrgyzstan.

The more than twenty thousand Han troops were settled in dispersed locations. Most of them brought their families to the Four Prefectures of the Northern Border because it was closer to the Han lands.

The Divine Prefecture was shattered, and the Jurchens had entered the Central Plains. These Han sons, wandering thousands of miles away, had lost their hometown and could only express their longing in this way.

Against this background, Li Xiao’s ancestor led the private troops under his command, along with their families, to Jin Prefecture at the foot of the Altai Mountains.

On a plain on the south bank of the Dragon Bone River, they built their home, naming it Hexi Fortress.

The reason for choosing this place, aside from being adjacent to the Dragon Bone River and having lush water and grass, was something else.

More importantly, Li Xiao’s ancestor, using some half-baked Feng Shui skills he learned from who-knows-where, saw that this place harbored a Dragon Vein and stubbornly refused to leave.

Now, fifty years later, the older generation of Yanyun Han troops had long since turned to dust.

New generations of Han descendants like Li Xiao had taken root in this land. While spreading Han culture, they were also accepting integration with other ethnic groups.

Through Li Xiao’s understanding during this period, he believed that the Han people of the Northern Border could no longer be considered a purely agricultural people.

Because while the Northern Border Han people tilled the land, they also grazed livestock just like the nomads, raising large numbers of cattle, sheep, horses, and camels.

And because the Four Prefectures of the Northern Border were located between the Tianshan and Altai Mountains, with the Dragon Bone River and Irtysh River crossing through, the Northern Border Han people were also skilled at fishing and hunting.

In Li Xiao’s view, the Han people of the Northern Border had become standard fisher-hunter people.

“Nomadic herding, fishing and hunting, men tilling and women weaving, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.”

“This is the life so many people dream of!”

“It’s a pity that such a beautiful life won’t last too long.”

Li Xiao slowly sat up from the grass, the foxtail grass still in his mouth, muttering to himself.

He sat cross-legged looking toward the western sky, where the setting sun was like blood, boiling the firmament.

A magnificent scene, but unfortunately, after the sunset comes the night.

In Li Xiao’s eyes, this setting sun seemed to represent the current Western Liao Empire.

Having entered its twilight, it would soon sink completely.

And who would destroy the once-powerful Western Liao Empire?

It was almost the 13th century; who else could it be?

“The Mongols!”

Li Xiao sighed lightly, speaking with a bit of a headache.

It was now the 21st year of Tianxi in Western Liao, which is 1198 AD.

Just nine years ago, on the Mongolian Plateau to the east, a man named Temujin officially became the leader of the Khamag Mongol tribe.

After that, he would lead his Mongol Iron Cavalry, conquering east and west.

Eight years later, in 1206 AD, Temujin would completely unify the Mongol tribes, and then he would turn his claws and teeth toward the Jin State and Western Xia.

But the first to face total catastrophe would be Western Liao.

In 1218 AD, the Mongol generals Jebe and Subutai would lead twenty thousand iron cavalry to attack Western Liao.

At that time, Western Liao would be in the midst of internal turmoil, the emperor having become a puppet, internal and external conflicts erupting frequently, and soldiers having no will to fight.

The Western Liao army would be utterly unable to withstand a single blow before the powerful Mongol Iron Cavalry.

Western Liao would perish there and then, and Central Asia would fall under Mongol rule.

But when that time comes, where will the Han people of the Northern Border go?

The Northern Border had fertile land and lush water and grass, making it very suitable for grazing; the Mongols would not let this place go.

“Submit or resist?”

“Heh.”

“Submit my ass.”

In his previous life, the Mongols occupied the Western Regions and ruled the Central Plains for over ninety years. If nothing could be changed in this life, wouldn’t Li Xiao have come for nothing?

Watching the light of the setting sun become fainter and fainter, Li Xiao shook his head gently and turned to look toward the east.

Unknown when it started, the eastern horizon seemed to have become somewhat gloomy, and the wind blowing to the Northern Border had become somewhat stronger.

Although the dark clouds in the east were still far away, Li Xiao knew they would sooner or later arrive over the Northern Border and whip up a violent storm.

Li Xiao stood up from the grass, looked at the dark clouds over there, and suddenly smiled gently.

“Dark clouds can also be scattered!”

Moreover, at this time, Temujin was still just an ‘entrepreneur’, currently dormant under the shadow of Wang Han, with an army of only three or four thousand men.

There were still eight years until he unified the Mongolian steppe, and twenty years until the Mongol army’s western expedition.

Li Xiao still had time.

“Eight years!”

Li Xiao looked at the patch of dark clouds in the eastern sky, his gaze sharp, and whispered in a low voice: “Before Temujin unifies the Mongol steppe, I must at least grow to a point where I can fight against the Mongol Iron Cavalry under his command.”

In this 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 Mongols, Li Xiao would have to run to the South Asian subcontinent to become a Brahmin.

But the thought of his descendants smelling of curry and defecating randomly on the beach gave Li Xiao a chill.

It would simply be a disgrace to his ancestors!

He quickly drove this thought out of his mind; Li Xiao would absolutely not allow his descendants to be assimilated by them.

Just as Li Xiao was contemplating the future, a child’s loud shout rang out from the distance.

“Brother, Brother, the wind is picking up.”

“Let’s go home~”