Chapter 108: The Beginning of Political Struggle

Inside Hexi Fortress, the atmosphere was as tense as a drawn bowstring.

The Old Master stood behind the battlements, watching the movements of the Wuliji Tribe. His face was gloomy, and his brows were knitted into a frown.

But he remained silent throughout.

The people beside him, however, were filled with righteous indignation, demanding one after another to go out and fight those damn Wuliji people.

“Old Fortress Master, let’s fight.”

“The people of the Wuliji Tribe have already started harvesting our grain.”

“That’s right, Old Fortress Master, we can’t just watch helplessly as our grain is snatched away by them.”

“Without grain, what will we eat for the next year?”

Everyone was burning with anxiety, especially those teenagers. Full of vigor, they gripped their bows, arrows, and spears tightly, as if ready to rush out and fight to the death with the enemy at any moment.

But facing everyone’s anger, the Old Master had only one word from beginning to end.

“Wait!”

Now, only a group of the old, weak, and children remained in their Hexi Fortress. Facing the Wuliji people, they couldn’t gain any advantage and would only increase meaningless casualties.

having fought wars for so many years, the Old Master was long past being a reckless youth.

If the people were gone, no amount of grain would be of any help.

Moreover, the grain fields outside Hexi Fortress and Sanhe Fortress added up to several thousand mu. The Wuliji Tribe couldn’t finish harvesting in just a few days.

Wait until Li Xiao brought his men back; however much these guys ate, they would be made to spit it all out.

Just like that, time came to the second day.

Wuliji, who was busy working nervously, suddenly heard a report from a scout.

“Han people, many Han cavalry have come.”

“What? How did they come so fast?”

“How many of them are there?” Wuliji’s face changed drastically as he asked hurriedly.

“At least three or four hundred.”

“Damn it, how could these Han people come so fast?”

“Xiao Lintuo clearly promised he would detain them for five days,” Wuliji said angrily.

But at this time, it was too late to blame Xiao Lintuo; this place was not suitable to stay for long.

He hurriedly called his subordinates to take the grain harvested over this day and leave quickly.

On the other side, Li Dashan was bringing the able-bodied men of Hexi Fortress home, preparing to harvest grain.

He was originally in a great mood. After all, he had become a Thousand-Man Commander. He just needed to wait for this autumn harvest to pass and the various Hundred-Man and Thousand-Man units to be thoroughly formed before he could take office.

But unexpectedly, on the way back to Hexi Fortress, he received news that made him burn with anger.

Hexi Fortress was surrounded by the Wuliji Tribe.

“Those dogs are looking for death.”

Cursing angrily, he immediately led his men to speed up, rushing back to Hexi Fortress in less than a day.

Seeing the large swaths of farmland already harvested by the Wuliji cavalry, and seeing those guys dragging large bags of grain, fleeing in panic…

Li Dashan’s eyes turned red.

He held his spear horizontally and shouted loudly, “Brothers, kill these sons of bitches! Charge!”

They had fought with the Naimans on the front line and established countless merits. Unexpectedly, when they came back, they saw their home was almost raided.

Every able-bodied man from Hexi was filled with anger, shouting in unison, murderous, and charging fiercely towards the Wuliji Tribe’s encirclement.

The rules of battle between steppe tribes were actually very simple: fight if you can win, run if you can’t.

Even if the strength of both sides wasn’t much different, they wouldn’t start a war unless absolutely necessary.

Every leader would weigh the pros and cons, considering whether they could win and the consequences of starting a war.

Even if they won, would other tribes take advantage of the situation?

So most steppe wars were chases and protracted battles.

Thus, facing the Hexi reinforcements, the subconscious reaction of the Wuliji Tribe people was to run quickly.

Can’t fight.

But unlike when they came, when they went back, every horse carried a lot of grain on its back.

Speed couldn’t be increased at all.

Seeing the pursuers led by Li Dashan and the Old Master getting closer and closer…

Wuliji could only grit his teeth and order people to throw away all the grain, his heart aching terribly.

“Damn bastard!”

He wasn’t cursing the Old Master and Li Dashan, but Xiao Lintuo.

That guy swore he could delay Li Xiao’s troops for at least five days.

But unexpectedly, it was only the second day, and Li Xiao’s reinforcements arrived.

He felt like he had been played by Xiao Lintuo.

Thus, while cursing and circling with the Hexi cavalry on the steppe…

He ordered people to go quickly to Sanhe Fortress and notify the people there to evacuate quickly.

After having this day and night, he just hoped they could harvest more grain over there.

But what he didn’t expect was that before he could entangle with the Hexi cavalry for long, he received news that horrified him even more.

“Amo, why are you here?”

Looking at his wretched son before him, and then at the terrified clansmen behind him.

A feeling that something terrible had happened arose spontaneously.

A careful observation revealed that he originally left two hundred men at Sanhe Fortress, along with nearly a thousand old, weak, women, and children.

But appearing before his eyes now were only a little over one hundred men and five or six hundred women and children.

Let alone the grain of Sanhe Fortress, even their tribe’s own cattle, sheep, tents, and other supplies had all disappeared.

“What happened? Amo?”

Wuliji widened his eyes and said angrily.

His son, however, looked helpless and said sorrowfully, “We encountered a Han ambush.”

“They had more soldiers. We could only abandon the grain and cattle and sheep, and managed to break out with great difficulty.”

The result was a direct loss of half the tribe members.

Nearly one hundred soldiers died in battle or were captured. The four or five hundred old, weak, women, and children were more likely captured, or lost during the escape.

In short, a large tribe of originally more than a thousand people had now been beaten by the Han people until half collapsed?

Wuliji was completely dumbfounded.

Sitting dazedly on his horse, his body trembling, his vision went black, and he almost fainted directly.

“Damn it, how could this be?”

Wuliji roared in anger.

He originally thought to take advantage of the time when the Han people were too busy to attend to other things to snatch the grain of Sanhe Fortress.

Unexpectedly, trying to steal a chicken resulted in losing half his life.

Having lost all cattle, sheep, and supplies, and nearly half the population, how could the Wuliji Tribe survive?

“Father, what do we do?” Amo said with a mourning face.

How would Wuliji know what to do?

At this moment, only regret remained in his heart; if he had known this earlier, he shouldn’t have come to the Han people’s territory.

Just as they were speaking, the Hexi cavalry caught up from behind.

Scouts from the other side reported that the Han troops from the direction of Sanhe Fortress were also about to catch up.

Attacked from both sides, for the Wuliji Tribe, the situation instantly fell into a desperate plight.

Many women and children in the tribe had already become frightened birds. At this moment, most were screaming in panic like headless flies, shedding tears.

Seeing this situation, Wuliji drew his scimitar and gave a loud shout, making everyone calm down.

Then he assigned orders, telling the women and children to go quickly in the direction without Han people.

He himself would lead all the soldiers to stay behind and block the Han pursuers.

“Warriors, the Han people killed our relatives, snatched our cattle and sheep, and want to put us to death.”

As the warhorse beneath him jumped, Wuliji held his scimitar and shouted loudly.

“The Han people want our heads; are you willing to give them?”

“No!”

“No!”

The Wuliji soldiers shouted loudly. Seeing the soldiers’ fighting will begin to recover, Wuliji waved his scimitar forward.

“Warriors, charge with me.”

“Kill!”

After receiving the supplement of more than one hundred soldiers from Sanhe Fortress, Wuliji’s strength had greatly increased.

He had the qualifications to compete with the Hexi cavalry.

He wanted to take advantage of the time before the Han army from the direction of Sanhe Fortress arrived to defeat this group of Han troops in front of him as soon as possible.

Then go to eliminate the other group of Han troops.

Place oneself in the ground of death and one will live.

Not only to take back the cattle, sheep, supplies, and relatives of their Wuliji Tribe but also to snatch all the Han people’s grain and the wealth in the village.

The situation had reached this point; both sides had to get serious.

“Kill—”

The cavalry of the Wuliji Tribe and the cavalry of Hexi Fortress clashed together. Shouts of killing shook the sky, and blades and swords flashed.

Li Dashan took the lead, the spear in his hand like a dragon exiting the sea, thrusting straight at the cavalry of the Wuliji Tribe.

His heart was filled with anger. His grain snatched, his home disturbed—these Wuliji people really didn’t know death when they saw it.

With a turn of his spear tip, he knocked down an enemy, then swept away another cavalryman attempting to get close.

Wuliji was not to be outdone either. He waved his scimitar, blocking left and hacking right, leading his soldiers in stubborn resistance.

He knew this battle concerned the life and death of the tribe. If they lost, the Wuliji Tribe would probably be erased from the steppe from now on.

“Warriors, for our families, for our cattle and sheep, kill them ruthlessly!” His voice echoed on the battlefield, inspiring the soldiers’ fighting spirit.

Unfortunately, Heaven’s will was not on his side.

Not long after the two sides engaged, another cavalry unit appeared on the eastern earth.

“Hahaha, people from Hedong Fortress have arrived.” Li Dashan laughed loudly.

After learning about the situation of the Wuliji Tribe, Li Dashan and Luo Ping split up. One rushed to reinforce Hexi Fortress, and the other went to Sanhe Fortress to deal with the enemy.

And Luo Ping’s arrival added a heavy weight to this unfair battle.

Directly crushing the Wuliji Tribe.

There were eight major Thousand-Man Commanders in Jin Prefecture, and three appeared on this battlefield.

Facing a two-against-one situation, Wuliji, this freshly minted Northern Thousand-Man Commander, could only flee in a wretched state.

But Li Dashan had seen him long ago.

Although they didn’t know each other personally, they had cooperated once on the Naiman battlefield, so they definitely knew each other’s appearance and name.

Seeing Wuliji trying to escape, Li Dashan nocked an arrow, aimed in Wuliji’s direction, and shot.

Cursing loudly: “Wuliji, fuck your grandmother!”

But immediately, Li Dashan flung his arm angrily and cursed in a low voice: “Fuck his grandmother.”

Missed!

Li Dashan was not Li Xiao after all; he didn’t have that god-like archery skill.

Plus, the battlefield was quite chaotic at this time, and the distance between the two sides was too far.

So, Li Dashan’s arrow missed the target, not even touching a hair on Wuliji’s hide.

But on the other side, before Wuliji could be happy, another arrow flew swiftly.

Shooting him directly in the back.

“Chieftain, Chieftain…”

The surrounding soldiers turned pale with fright and immediately helped Wuliji, who had fallen off his horse, back onto the horse.

Shouting in terror: “The Chieftain is shot! The Chieftain is shot!”

“Retreat quickly!”