Chapter 104: The Number One Powerful Family in Jin Prefecture

As the Vice Military Governor of Jin Prefecture, Li Xiao represented the general trend and the legal authority of Great Liao.

Under normal circumstances, opposing Li Xiao was actually opposing the entire overall power of the Northern Frontier.

Although Zhu Wanli had very high prestige in Yin Mountain Fortress, facing the threat of cavalry several times their number around them, and facing Li Xiao’s righteous declaration of exterminating nine relations…

The soldiers of Yin Mountain Fortress wavered one after another.

Slowly putting down their weapons, no one dared to continue acting rashly.

“Men!” Seeing the scene was under control, Li Xiao shouted loudly.

“Here!”

Li Xiao looked sharply at Zhu Wanli, whose face was already full of panic, and said in an icy voice, “Execute.”

“Yes, sir!”

Hearing this, the personal guards rushed directly towards Zhu Wanli and dragged him out of the crowd.

Facing this situation, some of the surrounding Yin Mountain Fortress soldiers were indifferent, while others had struggling expressions, yet no one dared to act rashly.

They could only let Zhu Wanli be dragged away.

At this moment, Zhu Wanli was completely terrified.

He looked at the surrounding soldiers with angry eyes, as if he wanted to eat them.

Then he turned to look at Li Xiao and shouted loudly:

“Li Xiao, you can’t kill me!”

“I am a meritorious official of Great Liao; I have merit with Lord Xiao Sima!”

“You can’t kill me; I want to see Lord Xiao Sima!”

“I won’t be Vice Thousand-Man Commander anymore; I submit…”

Facing Zhu Wanli’s submission, Li Xiao’s expression remained unchanged from beginning to end, and he didn’t say a word.

After all, the strength of Yin Mountain Fortress was comparable to Hexi Fortress. Zhu Wanli had always thought highly of himself but lacked self-knowledge.

Keeping him would always be a hidden danger to Li Xiao’s personal prestige and the unity among the Han tribes of Jin Prefecture.

So he had to die.

As the personal guard’s blade fell, Zhu Wanli’s voice stopped abruptly.

Li Xiao then looked at the other Yin Mountain soldiers and said loudly, “Zhu Wanli was guilty and has been beheaded; his family will be enslaved into the army.”

“You are innocent.”

As Li Xiao’s voice fell, one could clearly feel that the atmosphere of the entire camp was instantly less oppressive.

Many soldiers heaved sighs of relief one after another, feeling like they had survived a disaster.

Next was the formal reorganization of Yin Mountain Fortress.

Since Yin Mountain Fortress had jumped out, Li Xiao certainly wouldn’t be polite either and prepared to perform a major surgery on Yin Mountain Fortress.

Breaking up its original fortress structure completely.

Soon, a list was fresh out of the oven.

“Zhao Wu, Zhu Gui, Liang Sisheng…”

“You ten, step out.”

Dahu held a register and shouted loudly.

Subsequently, ten soldiers of different ages walked out.

Then, with blank faces, they heard the final judgment for themselves and their families.

“Go back and pick up your families, pack up your belongings, and take them to settle in Hexi Fortress before the Start of Winter.”

“From now on, you are people of the Hexi Hundred-Man Unit.”

“However much cultivated land you originally had in Yin Mountain Fortress, you will receive an equal share in Hexi Fortress.”

After giving instructions, Dahu called out another ten names, also telling them to rush to another fortress with their families before the Start of Winter.

The reason for “before the Start of Winter” was that the grain harvest was about to happen.

No one would leave their native land at this moment.

Migration would only take place before the Start of Winter, while the heavy snow hadn’t blocked the roads.

At the same time, Hexi Fortress and other fortresses would also each select ten households to migrate to live in Yin Mountain Fortress.

The purpose was also simple: to thoroughly dismantle Yin Mountain Fortress.

After all, Yin Mountain Fortress had a record of offending superiors and rebelling. Although the bandit leader Zhu Wanli had been beheaded, who knew how many of his trusted aides were still inside?

If Yin Mountain Fortress was left alone, perhaps the next Zhu Wanli would appear.

Therefore, Li Xiao dispersed all these three hundred households of Yin Mountain Fortress into every fortress, and even into different ten-household units.

This way, even if someone was unwilling, they couldn’t gather many people around them.

At most, it would just be small disturbances, unable to become a big issue.

Listening to soldiers being dispersed and arranged into other fortresses one by one, Li Xiao rode on his horse, looking ahead, and asked Gu Zizhong beside him with a light smile.

“Mr. Gu, look, is this arrangement appropriate?”

Gu Zizhong also smiled slightly, twirled his mustache at the corner of his mouth, and said softly, “Governor Li’s arrangement is very appropriate and considers things very comprehensively.”

“I believe Lord Xiao will only have praise for Governor Li’s arrangement.”

With Gu Zizhong’s cleverness and wisdom, he could naturally see Li Xiao’s intention clearly.

This was clearly Li Xiao taking the opportunity to expand his private power.

Splitting up the herdsmen of Yin Mountain Fortress and simultaneously transferring herdsmen from various fortresses to form the new Yin Mountain three hundred households was just the first step.

The key point was the upcoming appointment of the core members for the three Hundred-Man units.

Undoubtedly, the candidates for the three Hundred-Man Commanders would definitely be selected from the ten people who migrated from the original Hexi Fortress.

For the Ten-Man Commanders below, Li Xiao would also choose people he trusted.

After all, in this war, many people from Hexi Fortress had fought alongside Li Xiao and established merit; there were quite a few candidates qualified to be promoted to Hundred-Man Commanders and Ten-Man Commanders.

Li Xiao was just following the trend.

In this way, Li Xiao could firmly control the three Hundred-Man units of Yin Mountain Fortress in his hands, becoming another direct line of power after Hexi Fortress.

So, Li Xiao’s purpose in making such a big move on Yin Mountain Fortress was actually just paving the way for himself.

Gu Zizhong saw this point very clearly. Although he wouldn’t dictate the arrangements for Yin Mountain Fortress, he would definitely report it truthfully to Xiao Sima.

Letting Xiao Sima judge.

Regarding this, Li Xiao just smiled faintly, not caring at all.

Let him report whatever he wanted.

Generals expanding their own direct line of power within an appropriate range was originally a tradition of the Liao State.

Not only would Li Xiao do this, but as the Military Governor, Xiao Lintuo would only do it even more thoroughly.

Otherwise, without enough support from direct forces, how could he awe other forces under his command?

So even if Xiao Sima knew, he would only turn a blind eye.

And just when the work of registering the population in Jin Prefecture was proceeding vigorously.

An order was transmitted to Hexi Fortress by fast horse.

“Appointing Li Erjiang, Vice Fortress Master of Hexi Fortress, as the Hexi Thousand-Man Commander of Jin Prefecture.”

“Xiao Sima!”

This order had only a simple sentence, but it shocked the entire Li family and even the entire Hexi Fortress.

Li Erjiang maintained the posture of placing his right hand on his chest in salute, frozen directly in place.

“Wh… what?”

“I… I… I became a Thousand-Man Commander?”

Li Erjiang’s face was full of astonishment, looking at Chen Erqiang who came to deliver the message with disbelief.

Just a few days ago, Erhu returned home and brought the news that Li Xiao had been granted the title of Vice Military Governor of Jin Prefecture.

The Li family was naturally overjoyed. At the same time, they also understood the significance of this registration of the population in Jin Prefecture, as well as the official positions of Thousand-Man Commander and Hundred-Man Commander.

But Li Erjiang never expected that he, who clearly didn’t do anything, was actually appointed as a Thousand-Man Commander?

Directly managing a thousand households, comparable to several Hexi Fortresses.

Li Erjiang subconsciously thought, is this order fake? Or did Xiao Sima write the wrong name?

“Brother Erjiang, don’t just stand there dazed; hurry up and accept this appointment letter.”

“It has Lord Xiao’s personal signature on it.”

“Can’t be wrong; it’s you.”

Chen Erqiang stuffed this order into Li Erjiang’s hand with a chuckle.

A trace of envy also flashed across his face.

No wonder everyone said the feng shui of the Li family’s ancestral grave was good.

The Old Master was a ruthless man back then. If Li Dahai hadn’t died, he would definitely have mixed very well in Jin Prefecture too.

And in the next generation, a monster like Li Xiao appeared.

Look, after one war, a Vice Military Governor, two Thousand-Man Commanders, and several Hundred-Man Commanders popped up directly.

From now on, the Li family would leap to become the number one powerful noble family in Jin Prefecture.

However, Chen Erqiang was also doing quite well now.

He had participated fully in these major battles fought by Li Xiao and had established quite a lot of merit.

Now he was appointed as a Hundred-Man Commander.

Precisely one of the three major Hundred-Man Commanders of Yin Mountain Fortress.

Returning this time, besides delivering the letter to Li Erjiang, it was also to notify his family that they would move to live in Yin Mountain Fortress after the wheat harvest.

Together with him, there were thirty households from Hexi Fortress.

After all, the three Hundred-Man Commanders were all people from Hexi Fortress; the three of them must have enough manpower to control the people from other fortresses.

Ten households were not enough at all. Li Xiao finally decided to migrate thirty households directly from Hexi Fortress to Yin Mountain Fortress.

Plus dozens of households from fortresses like Hedong Fortress and Ta Village, it was enough for Chen Erqiang and the other two to prop up Yin Mountain Fortress.

“This… Erqiang, what is going on?”

“I didn’t do anything, just lay down for two months to recover from injuries; how did I become a Thousand-Man Commander?”

Holding the letter personally signed by Xiao Sima, Li Erjiang looked completely confused.

Beside him, the Old Master, Qin Da Ni, and the others were equally puzzled.

Only Erhu, who had just returned a few days ago, suddenly remembered something.

He grinned and said, “Second Uncle, this Thousand-Man Commander position is yours; it can’t be wrong.”

“When Lord Xiao appointed my brother to his official position, he first appointed him as Vice Military Governor concurrently holding the Left Thousand-Man Commander position, and then granted a hereditary Thousand-Man Commander position.”

“It means one clansman can also be a Thousand-Man Commander.”

” mainly because the merit my brother established at that time was great enough and sufficient.”

“Xiao Sima felt really bad about not appointing my brother as the Military Governor of Jin Prefecture, so he added this hereditary official position.”

Hearing this, everyone in the Li family understood instantly.

No wonder Li Erjiang could be appointed as a Thousand-Man Commander while lying in bed; it turned out Li Xiao got it for him.

Although this Thousand-Man Commander position could be hereditarily granted to any of Li Xiao’s relatives, after thinking around, really only Li Erjiang was the most suitable.

After all, the Old Master was old, and Erhu and the others were too young.

Li Sanhe, Li Sishui, and the others were, after all, one layer further away.

Only Li Erjiang could bear the position of this Thousand-Man Commander.

Although he had been lying flat for these two months without establishing an inch of merit, Li Erjiang himself was also a fierce man.

After all, in the Battle of Beishan (North Mountain), it was he who carried Li Dahai’s body and forcefully cut a bloody path out of the Karluk encirclement.

So in terms of ability, Li Erjiang could absolutely bear the position of this Thousand-Man Commander.

But Li Erjiang just couldn’t quite get over it in his heart.

After understanding the cause and effect, holding this appointment letter, Li Erjiang only felt it was very hot to the touch.

“This… this is a reward Dalong fought for with his life.” Li Erjiang looked helpless.

Looking at the Old Master, he said, “I, as the Second Uncle, didn’t do anything; even my small life was saved by Dalong.”

“I didn’t follow Dalong when he was fighting, but now when merits are rewarded, my name is there.”

“Father, this isn’t appropriate, right?”

“How about… you take this Thousand-Man Commander position?”