Chapter 109: Thirty-Eight Hundred-Man Units

The Wuliji Tribe left a field of corpses behind and retreated in panic.

Li Dashan and Luo Ping continued to pursue for a distance, seeing that they were about to leave the area inhabited by Han people.

Further ahead were mostly pastures of nomadic tribes. To avoid unexpected trouble, and because they didn’t lead too many troops at this time…

They could only retreat slowly.

But the anger after victory had not yet disappeared.

Li Dashan and Luo Ping gathered together and began to angrily denounce Wuliji.

“That bastard Wuliji, he simply ate a bear’s heart and a leopard’s gall, daring to act wildly in our Han territory.”

“We absolutely cannot let this bastard off…”

“After the wheat harvest is busy, let’s gather more troops and go seek revenge on him.”

“Blood for blood.”

“Right.”

The two were filled with righteous indignation, but soon this anger dissipated, and they began to brag to each other.

“Dashan, when the hell did you secretly practice archery?”

“That arrow you shot just now was damn accurate, shooting that guy Wuliji right off his horse, hahaha.”

“I reckon he might not even last until we seek revenge on him before he kicks the bucket himself.”

Luo Ping laughed loudly.

But Li Dashan immediately shook his head frantically and said, “I didn’t shoot that; the arrow I shot missed.”

Luo Ping was stunned: “Then who shot it?”

On such a chaotic battlefield, to accurately hit Wuliji through so many people, one couldn’t do it without excellent archery skills.

He thought it was Li Dashan, but Li Dashan denied it.

Subsequently, the two went to ask others, but the subordinate cavalrymen all stated that they hadn’t shot arrows.

After all, in that chaotic situation where friend and foe were indistinguishable, who would dare to shoot randomly without certainty?

Not finding the person who shot the arrow, Li Dashan and Luo Ping were both a bit confused.

“Strange indeed?”

“Who shot this arrow?”

Although the Han cavalry stopped the pursuit, the remnants of the Wuliji Tribe still didn’t dare to rest.

Even if they met nomadic tribes on the road who were usually on good terms with Wuliji, they absolutely couldn’t enter.

Because the rule of nomadic peoples was the big fish eating the small fish.

Now that the Wuliji Tribe’s strength was greatly damaged and the chieftain was seriously injured, going to other tribes in this situation was seeking death.

Moreover, the bottom-layer herdsmen had no absolute loyalty to the tribe; they simply admired strength and thought the Wuliji Tribe could protect them.

But once other tribes issued solicitations to the herdsmen at this time, the Wuliji Tribe would very likely fall apart.

The Young Chieftain Amo led the people to flee for a long distance, arriving in an uninhabited mountain area before settling down temporarily.

Then it was time to treat Wuliji’s injury.

“Make way, make way, the High Priest is here.”

Just as everyone surrounded the seriously injured Wuliji, chattering all at once, Etulu gave a loud shout, awing the numerous tribal headmen.

Then he clustered around an old man with swarthy skin and a face full of tattoos walking over.

This old man was the High Priest of the Wuliji Tribe, also the person who relayed the will of the gods to Wuliji.

He looked at the seriously injured Wuliji and said to everyone, “Everyone leave here; I want to treat the Chieftain’s injury.”

After everyone had gone far, he began to fiddle with Wuliji.

Finally, he successfully treated the dying Wuliji to death.

“Father!”

“Chieftain!”

The tribe let out miserable cries, especially the Young Chieftain Amo, who cried darkness into the sky, very painfully.

The High Priest also had a look of grief on his face, as if blaming himself for failing to move the gods to use their magic power to cure the Chieftain.

Only Etulu stepped forward, supporting the High Priest, and said, “The High Priest has done his best.”

“It is the gods who abandoned the Chieftain.”

“Wuliji is no longer the Son of the Gods. We need to elect a new Chieftain to regain the favor of the gods.”

While speaking, Etulu exchanged a glance with the High Priest, and both nodded imperceptibly.

Logically speaking, with Wuliji dead, his son Amo should inherit the position of leader.

But the High Priest suddenly said, “There is no rush to elect a new Chieftain. What should be done most now is to decide where our tribe should go from here.”

“And how should the Chieftain’s revenge be avenged?”

Finally, after a discussion, they decided to go to Wuya Village to complain to the Garrison Commissioner of the Eastern Capital.

Accusing Vice Military Governor of Jin Prefecture, Li Xiao, of indulging his subordinates in indiscriminately killing meritorious officials.

Moreover, Wuliji was a dignified Thousand-Man Commander after all; his death was not a small matter for Jin Prefecture.

Wuya Village.

Li Xiao had been very busy during this period.

The reorganization of the Han tribes in Jin Prefecture consumed a considerable amount of his energy, so much so that the frequency of playing poker with Xiao Yanyan had decreased.

Provoking Xiao Yanyan to always complain, asking if he started to get bored after obtaining her body.

Dog men, all loving the new and loathing the old, not a single good thing among them.

Li Xiao cried out that he was wrongly accused; he was truly very busy!

But fortunately, the busy time was about to pass, and the reorganization work was basically finished.

Through Li Xiao’s efforts during this period, the Eight Fortresses and Sixteen Villages of the Han tribes in Jin Prefecture had now been divided into thirty-eight Hundred-Man units.

For large fortresses like Yin Mountain Fortress, Tang Mountain Fortress, and Hexi Fortress, whose household numbers reached more than two hundred or even more than three hundred…

Li Xiao divided them into two to three Hundred-Man units according to population and households.

They no longer had jurisdiction over each other and all listened to the orders of their respective Thousand-Man Commanders.

The original Fortress Masters would certainly be given certain compensation.

Just like Tang Sancai, the Fortress Master of Tang Mountain Fortress, who was appointed as Vice Thousand-Man Commander, becoming Li Xiao’s deputy.

It was considered a position with more honor than power.

After all, given Li Xiao’s strong personality, he naturally couldn’t let Tang Sancai possess too much power.

In the short term, those really influenced by him were still the two Hundred-Man Commanders of Tang Mountain Fortress.

But in the long run, this influence might gradually decrease.

And for Hexi Fortress, Li Xiao definitely had to reorganize it too.

The original Hexi Fortress had more than two hundred households. After absorbing the population of Hou Village and Sanhe Fortress, it reached four hundred households.

Li Xiao divided these four hundred households into three, forming three strengthened Hundred-Man units.

One Hundred-Man unit remained to guard Hexi Fortress, while the other two migrated to Sanhe Fortress and Hou Village, which was renamed ‘Dongshan Village’, respectively.

Sanhe Fortress and Dongshan Village had undergone decades of reclamation by Han people and had large amounts of grain fields and fertile pastures.

Perfectly suitable for living and multiplying.

Li Xiao naturally couldn’t leave these two treasured lands of good feng shui empty to be occupied by others.

So, he had long planned to send people to take over again after the war ended.

From then on, Hexi Fortress was divided into three. Although its strength seemed weakened, it was actually still that Hexi Fortress.

It was just equivalent to Hexi Fortress having two branches.

Compared to large fortresses like Hexi Fortress and Yin Mountain Fortress, reorganization was very simple for small fortresses like Huangsha Village and Qiyun Village.

Their populations were relatively small, mostly around one hundred households.

So they basically kept their structure unchanged, directly designated as a separate Hundred-Man unit.

The Hundred-Man Commander was still served by the original Village Chief, mainly changing the name from the original Village Chief to Hundred-Man Commander.

Do not underestimate this little change, because this was a powerful penetration of imperial power into local power.

Previously, the replacement of leaders in various fortresses and villages was inherited within the family; getting the approval of the majority of the fortress people was enough.

But after this reform, the replacement of a Hundred-Man Commander must receive the approval of the Military Governor’s Office.

This showed that the Military Governor’s Office had initially possessed the personnel rights of various fortresses and tribes.

Just waiting for time to settle slowly, and after the bottom-layer populace became accustomed to the Hundred-Man Commander system, the family-inherited Hundred-Man Commanders would eventually be replaced by rotating official Hundred-Man Commanders.

Although this reform would affect the interests of the Li family in Hexi Fortress, looking at the overall aspect, this reform would instead be beneficial to the unity of the Han tribes in Jin Prefecture.

Initially eliminating the invisible barriers between various fortresses and integrating them into a whole.

Li Xiao had already regarded the Han tribes of Jin Prefecture as his base. The more thorough the reorganization, the more beneficial it was to the stability of Li Xiao’s status and power.

He naturally spared no effort to promote this reform.

Therefore, apart from Xiao Sima, he, Li Xiao, was the biggest beneficiary of this reform in Jin Prefecture.

This morning, Li Xiao rode his horse standing on a hillside, looking at the increasingly empty military camp and the gradually withering grassland, feeling somewhat empty in his heart too.

Most of the Han tribal soldiers had been sent home by Li Xiao to harvest grain.

The reason Li Xiao didn’t go back was also for Xiao Yanyan.

This woman refused to go home with him, saying she wanted to return to the Eastern Capital and grow old alone.

Li Xiao naturally knew this woman was joking, but he was also considering: if he went to propose marriage to Xiao Sima at this time, would he be kicked out by that dog?

Although Li Xiao’s physical age was less than sixteen and he considered himself still a child, in this era, he had indeed reached the age of marriage.

From any aspect, if Li Xiao chose a marriage partner, no one was more suitable than Xiao Yanyan.

Figure and appearance, cultural quality, family upbringing, vision and breadth of mind, etc., these things need not be said.

The most important point was that marrying Xiao Yanyan was equivalent to activating a cheat code in Li Xiao’s official career.

As long as Xiao Sima didn’t fall, he, Li Xiao, could definitely walk sideways in the Northern Frontier.

Even if Xiao Sima fell, with this relationship, Li Xiao could more conveniently take over his political legacy.

So, from any aspect, Xiao Yanyan was the most suitable candidate.

“However…”

The exquisite figure of a girl suddenly appeared in Li Xiao’s mind.

Then he shook his head gently.

Pretty was truly pretty.

But it seemed that apart from being pretty, other aspects weren’t very impressive.

Li Xiao admitted he was a realistic man; eating soft rice was very fragrant.

Just as he was thinking about how to propose marriage to Xiao Sima, Dahu rode hurriedly over.

“Big Brother, Uncle Liu sent someone over.”

“He said someone made a move on the grain of Sanhe Fortress, but they have been driven away by Uncle Liu.”