Chapter 13: Live On Well

Several dozen meters away, Tie Tou and another young man were already struggling to hold their own against a Karluk veteran.

Just as the Karluk cavalryman used brute force to knock the weapon from Tie Tou’s hand and prepared to plunge his saber into Tie Tou’s chest…

Suddenly, his body staggered, his face twisted, and the arm holding the saber instantly became immobile.

A spear had pierced him from behind with tremendous force, the spearhead already emerging from his chest.

Blood gushed out with a pfft pfft sound, and the Karluk’s body soon fell from the horse.

Tie Tou, having nearly died under the Karluk’s saber, was still in shock when he heard his companion beside him shout:

“Big Brother Da Long!”

Looking in the direction from which the spear was thrown, there was Li Xiao sitting on his horse.

Only then did Tie Tou realize that it was Li Xiao who had saved him.

With a surprised and relieved expression, he shouted: “Big Brother Da Long!”

Li Xiao had no time to pay attention to these two guys, only shouting: “Be careful.”

Then he went to hunt for the next target.

It was another Karluk holding a spear. Many tribespeople on the grassland liked to use spears as their main combat weapon. The main reason was just one word: poor!

The cost of a spear was low; a stick plus a spearhead made a spear.

For nomadic cavalry with backward equipment in the early stages, the spear was the weapon with the highest cost-performance ratio.

Therefore, one could also discern a person’s status in the tribe from their weapons.

Those with only spears in hand were definitely the lowest herdsmen, or even slaves with no personal rights.

Those with spears as well as sabers and bows had a slightly higher status, considered warriors in the tribe, and were harder to deal with.

So, the few Li Xiao encountered were not tough nuts to crack.

The moment the spear struck, Li Xiao’s body merely swayed lightly. Before the spear could stab his chest, the cavalry saber in his hand slashed down swiftly.

Clang~

With a crisp sound of wood breaking, the Karluk’s spear was directly chopped in two by Li Xiao.

Immediately after, the cavalry saber flipped lightly in his hand.

At the moment the two horses passed each other, the blade easily slit across the Karluk’s neck.

After killing the spearman, Li Xiao continued to the next target. This time, he finally encountered an opponent who could hone his skills.

A Karluk who looked like a minor leader.

But without any surprise, he was soon cut down from his horse by Li Xiao.

As more and more blood stained his cavalry saber, his movements became increasingly relaxed and effortless. His killing techniques became more proficient, performing completely like a veteran of a hundred battles.

When there were no more enemies in front of Li Xiao, he flicked the blood off his cavalry saber and scanned the battlefield.

Facing the siege of numerous Hexi cavalry, very few Karluks were still able to remain on their horses.

After all, a single Karluk faced the siege of two or three Hexi cavalry simultaneously, with no power to fight back at all.

Swish~

Accompanying the whistle of an arrow, a Karluk fleeing on horseback dozens of meters away instantly fell to the ground.

Li Xiao slowly lowered his longbow.

With this, the battle ended.

The Karluks were all killed on the south bank of the Dragon Bone River, dyeing the originally clear river water red.

As for Hexi Fortress, the losses were not light either.

One killed in action, four seriously injured, and more than a dozen lightly injured.

The person killed in action was an old man whose home was quite close to Li Xiao’s.

Every time he went home, Li Xiao often greeted him, calling him Grandpa Liu.

In Li Xiao’s impression, this was a good-tempered, talkative, and very amiable old man.

Unexpectedly, one battle separated them forever.

This made Li Xiao realize the cruelty of ancient warfare even more deeply.

This wasn’t playing a game of Mount & Blade; true death was not far from him.

“Da Long, don’t be too sad.”

“Uncle Liu got what he wished for.”

In front of Grandpa Liu’s corpse, Li Dashan consoled Li Xiao.

He was worried that Li Xiao, experiencing this kind of slaughter for the first time and seeing someone familiar die in front of him, might be somewhat unaccustomed to it.

But Li Xiao wasn’t that fragile inside. Whether in his previous life or this one, it wasn’t his first time killing.

“It’s okay, Sixth Uncle~” Li Xiao nodded calmly.

“Grandpa Liu can be considered to have avenged Uncle Ermao. He killed three Karluks; he even made a profit!” Li Xiao said.

Grandpa Liu’s son had also died in battle along with Li Xiao’s father at the Northern Mountains not long ago.

Driven by grief and indignation, Grandpa Liu completely disregarded his own safety in the battle just now, fighting the Karluks purely in a life-for-a-life manner.

When he killed the third Karluk, he was also stabbed in the chest by a Karluk’s saber.

Perhaps at the moment he fell, he had no regrets!

“In the future, take more care of the orphans and widow of the Liu family!” Sixth Uncle sighed.

Immediately, he shouted to the crowd: “Clean up the battlefield quickly! Deliver the coup de grâce to any Karluks not dead yet, and cut off their heads.”

Cleaning up the battlefield was a very important matter.

Mainly to gather the enemy’s horses and bring them back, followed by the enemy’s curved sabers and other weapons, as well as arrows on the corpses and the ground.

All of these had to be recovered for reuse.

Even the spears used by the enemy were also relatively important strategic materials.

After all, the grassland wasn’t as prosperous as the Central Plains, and iron was relatively scarce. Even if they didn’t use these spearheads themselves, smelting them to forge farm tools was excellent.

Of course, rummaging through enemy corpses was also essential; maybe some valuable items like gold, silver, or copper coins could be found.

Finally, there were the Karluks’ clothes, which definitely had to be stripped off. People of the grassland didn’t have so many taboos; washed clean, they could still be worn.

Those that really couldn’t be worn had other uses.

Ultimately, it was because resources on the grassland were scarce. The Hexi Fortress crowd was unwilling to let go of anything that could be utilized.

In this battle, Li Xiao personally killed five Karluks, and shot even more dead; there were at least ten in total.

These spoils of war all belonged to Li Xiao. Although Li Xiao didn’t care for things like weapons and clothes…

These Karluk warhorses were quite good.

People living on the grassland would never complain about having too many horses.

In this battle alone, Li Xiao added nearly twenty horses to his family’s assets, plus some gold, silver, and copper coins found on these Karluks.

While the Hexi Fortress crowd was cleaning up the battlefield, the Old Master squatted on a blood-stained rock.

Holding a curved saber with a notched blade, looking at the Karluk corpses all over the ground, he gently exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Two sons, one dead and one missing; the blow to him was too great.

In just one day, Li Xiao discovered many more white hairs on the Old Master’s head.

Fortunately, through this slaughter, the depression in his heart was vented, and the Old Master’s mood improved a lot.

“Grandpa, let me bandage your wound,” Li Xiao walked over and said to the Old Master.

In this battle, the Old Master was as brave as in his younger days, also personally chopping off the heads of three Karluks.

Of course, he also paid the price of getting injured. His chest was slashed by a Karluk’s curved saber. Although not deep, the skin and flesh were torn open, and blood stained his clothes red.

“Small injury, no big deal.” The Old Master shook his head stubbornly.

When he fought wars in his youth, he suffered countless injuries.

King Yan (King of Hell) simply wouldn’t take him.

So, for this minor injury now, the Old Master really didn’t feel it was a big deal.

But he didn’t refuse Li Xiao bandaging the wound for him.

“Da Long, your father is gone, and we don’t know if your second uncle is still alive. Our family only has us men left.”

The Old Master looked downcast and sighed lightly. His cloudy eyes actually had a bit of moisture.

Li Xiao also knew that the accident with his two sons was a huge blow to him.

But Li Xiao was helpless and could only comfort him: “Then us men must live on well.”

“Don’t let my father worry even when he’s with King Yan.”

“Huff huff~ Yes, we all have to live on well,” the Old Master exhaled gently.

The old man couldn’t die yet.

His grandsons hadn’t grown up yet; they were essentially still children.

If the old man couldn’t hold on, then his grandsons would completely lose their support.

Fortunately, these grandsons didn’t disappoint the Old Master.

Dahu and Erhu were both very good; they didn’t chicken out and didn’t shame the Li family. In another two years, they would also grow up and be able to help Da Long.

But what satisfied the Old Master most was Li Xiao. The Old Master already knew about his performance just now.

With miraculous archery skills taking enemy heads from a hundred meters away without missing a shot, and showing no fear in close combat, claiming four heads—he was completely a fierce general on the battlefield, brave and skilled in war.

The Old Master believed that if there were more Karluks, Li Xiao’s record would only be greater.

What pleased the Old Master most was that Li Xiao had strong abilities in deploying troops and high talent in commanding cavalry.

This showed that Li Xiao fully had the potential to become a qualified commander.

So just now, sitting on the rock, the Old Master lamented that Heaven wasn’t so cruel to him after all.

Although the son on whom high hopes were placed was gone, Heaven had also given him an outstanding eldest grandson.

Therefore, the Old Master’s only expectation now was for Li Xiao to grow up as quickly as possible, possessing enough prestige and strength to take over the Old Master’s position and govern Hexi Fortress.

Truly upholding the family.

In that way, even if the Old Master passed away, he would have no regrets.

(End of this chapter)