Chapter 16: Nineteen kills

Over half an hour later, the people of Hexi Fortress had finally cleaned up the battlefield.

Weapons, arrows, warhorses, jerky, and grain were all collected. Whether it was the Karluks or the Khitans, their clothes were stripped clean and taken away.

Then, their bellies and chests were cut open with knives. Before long, their corpses would be devoured by wolves and vultures.

Sky burial!

Afterward, Li Xiao and Li Dashan ran up to the Old Master to report: “Uncle, we have gathered a total of one hundred and fifty-three horses. One hundred and twenty-six are in good condition, and twenty-one are injured but can still move.”

“In addition, there are over one hundred and thirty spearheads, eighty-four curved sabers, ninety-two longbows, and over eight hundred arrows.”

“Not much gold, silver, or copper coins, roughly about seventeen or eighteen strings worth.”

“And then there are some individual daggers, maces, axes, and so on.”

In this battle, Hexi Fortress could be said to have reaped a rich harvest. Not only the spoils from the Karluks, but even the weapons and warhorses of the dead Khitans were all taken into their pockets.

Among these spoils, aside from the hundred or so horses, the most valuable were the ninety-plus longbows.

For nomadic life on the grassland, bows and arrows were indispensable, but not everyone was qualified or able to carry a bow and arrow.

Many lower-class herdsmen could only use a spear as a weapon.

This was mainly because making a qualified longbow was quite troublesome. It required birch wood of sufficient age, ox horn, ox tendon, and other raw materials, and only experienced old craftsmen could make them.

Therefore, every longbow in a nomadic family could be considered an heirloom.

The reason they could harvest over ninety longbows this time was largely because both the fleeing Khitans and the pursuing Karluks were elites of their respective tribes.

The weapons they used were relatively sophisticated, and the proportion of equipped bows and arrows was high.

But in the end, these benefited Hexi Fortress.

“Take the healthy horses back. Slaughter the injured and dead horses to make jerky.”

“Distribute the weapons and copper coins according to the number of enemies killed,” the Old Master said in a deep voice while sitting on a rock.

Distribution according to merit was a consistent rule in Hexi Fortress, and no one had any objections.

However, Li Xiao had some ideas about these horses.

“Grandpa, I suggest that whether it’s the horses captured this time or the original horses of our Hexi Fortress, they should be managed properly in the future.”

Hearing this, the Old Master and Li Dashan were somewhat puzzled.

Li Xiao explained: “Since the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains dynasties have had a Horse Administration, which is research on how to breed horses and raise them well.”

“We should also pay attention to this.”

“Separate the stallions and mares; we cannot let them mate freely.”

“Select those stallions that are tall, mighty, strong in build, have good endurance, and are not prone to illness, and let these stallions be specifically responsible for mating with the mares.”

“Only in this way can the offspring born be stronger and less prone to illness.”

“When the young horses grow up, mate them in the same way. Repeating this cycle, the warhorses of our Hexi Fortress will become stronger and stronger in the future.”

In this era, most nomadic peoples didn’t have the awareness to breed superior horse breeds, instead letting stallions and mares mate freely.

As long as a foal could be born, it was fine. Good horses were used for war, inferior horses for work; it was that simple.

The reason was that the grassland didn’t lack horses.

With large-scale breeding, there would always be quite a few good horses produced.

But little did they know, this laissez-faire breeding method would only make the horses’ genes more mixed, causing the overall quality of the herd to slowly decline.

Li Xiao had noticed this problem before, so he took this opportunity to propose his idea to the Old Master.

Listening to Li Xiao’s explanation, the Old Master and Li Dashan also understood. This was just selecting fixed stallions for breeding!

“Then what about the other stallions?” Li Dashan clicked his tongue and asked.

“What else can we do? Keeping them is fine, castrating them is fine too. Anyway, don’t let them ruin the mares,” Li Xiao shrugged and said.

Survival of the fittest is the law of nature.

Just like humans: handsome, rich, powerful—these characteristics represent high-quality males, who naturally possess priority mating rights, or even universal mating rights.

Horses that grow tall and strong also have more opportunities to leave their offspring.

“Alright~ I feel quite sorry for those guys,” Li Dashan shook his head and said.

He just felt that those guys not chosen as studs were really too pitiful.

Living at the bottom of the herd aside, they worked hard all their lives, having their labor squeezed by their masters, or were even sent directly to the battlefield as cannon fodder.

In the end, they didn’t even have the right to leave offspring, couldn’t even touch a little mare, and might even be castrated so they would focus solely on work.

In contrast, those strong horses might not do any work all their lives, yet were served and fed well by their masters using resources earned by the hard work of those inferior horses.

They could pick any little mare they wanted; simply winners among horses!

“This is the law of nature. Only the strong can survive and do whatever they want.”

“While the weak don’t even have the right to speak.” Li Xiao shook his head and said, unexaggeratedly revealing the truth of the world.

Li Dashan shook his head. Although it felt cruel, his more than twenty years of life experience told him Li Xiao was right.

The Old Master nodded gently, looking at Li Xiao with appreciation. He completely hadn’t expected his eldest grandson to be so young yet see life and the ways of the world so clearly.

“Good, Da Long, we’ll do as you say.”

“Grandpa is old. Hexi Fortress will be handed over to you in the future,” the Old Master chuckled and said.

Previously, he felt his grandson was too young and needed time to grow.

But looking at it now, Li Xiao’s growth speed exceeded his imagination.

The Old Master could be completely at ease.

“Let’s go~”

“Back to the village~”

The Old Master shouted loudly to the villagers in the distance, mounted his horse, and slowly walked in the direction of Hexi Fortress.

On the spot, Li Dashan smiled gently, understanding the Old Master’s meaning.

Patting Li Xiao on the shoulder, he said: “Da Long, we are at ease handing Hexi Fortress to you.”

“But remember not to be impulsive in anything.”

“You are still young; we will have plenty of opportunities in the future.”

After speaking, Li Dashan also mounted his horse cleanly and quickly chased after the main group.

Li Xiao looked at the numerous villagers ahead—the old, the young; the able-bodied were not even half.

There was no joy in Li Xiao’s heart, but rather a heavy pressure.

He sighed lightly and said: “Responsibility!”

…

After returning to Hexi Fortress, everyone didn’t go home immediately but gathered at the village entrance for a meeting.

“Chen Erqiang, killed three enemies. Distributed four warhorses, three curved sabers, three longbows, two suits of leather armor, a pair of maces, and six hundred copper coins.”

“Liu Dabala, killed two enemies. Distributed three warhorses, two curved sabers, two longbows, one suit of leather armor, one dagger, and four hundred copper coins.”

“Wang Maizi, killed two enemies…”

In the open space at the village entrance, Li Dashan stood on a large rock, holding a roll of straw paper in his hand, reading loudly to the crowd.

This was a commendation meeting for merits, and even more so, a distribution of spoils.

Displaying everyone’s battle achievements to all, and distributing these spoils in front of everyone at the same time, ensured fairness and justice so that villagers wouldn’t have complaints.

The names Li Dashan read at the beginning, including himself, mostly had two or three kills.

Mainly because these people were the first batch to encounter the Karluks.

A total of eighteen people, having experienced two battles, killing two or three Karluks successively was normal.

And for those later, the battle achievements were more ordinary.

When chasing down the Karluks, those with outstanding archery could also get one or two kills.

But when it came to truly besieging the remaining Karluks, it was completely two or three people working together to kill one Karluk.

Couldn’t be helped; there were too few Karluks, not enough to go around.

So, the spoils of war also had to be shared by several people.

As for how to divide one horse or one saber, they had to discuss it themselves.

Of course, there were exceptions.

When Li Dashan shouted a person’s name, the villagers instantly fell silent.

“Second Uncle Liu, killed three enemies. Distributed four warhorses, three curved sabers, three longbows, two suits of leather armor, a pair of maces, and six hundred copper coins.”

As the voice fell, a heavy expression appeared on everyone’s face, and their gazes unconsciously turned toward a courtyard in the distance.

Vaguely, crying could still be heard from the courtyard.

Second Uncle Liu was the only person from Hexi Fortress who died in this battle.

Although he followed the Old Master to the battlefield later, Old Man Liu fought completely in a life-for-a-life manner, all to avenge his son.

Killing three Karluks, he earned back the capital for himself and his son.

Now, only a few orphans and a widow were left in the Liu family; the villagers would definitely help whenever they could in the future.

After finishing reading everyone including the Old Master and Li Dashan, finally, Li Xiao’s name appeared.

“Li Da Long, killed nineteen enemies…”

As soon as these words came out, the whole venue was silent. Everyone subconsciously widened their eyes.

Shocked and horrified expressions appeared on everyone’s face, and they unconsciously sucked in a breath of cold air.

Shock filled everyone in Hexi Fortress. Following the silence was a low hum, like thousands of mosquitoes buzzing chaotically.

These villagers shared the shock in their hearts with those around them.

“Nineteen? Da Long actually killed nineteen Karluks?”

“I knew Da Long killed quite a few Karluks, but I didn’t expect it to be this many!”

“Nineteen cavalrymen, that’s enough to wipe out a hundred-man infantry squad.”

“This is Da Long’s first time on the battlefield, right?”

“Back when our fathers went on the western expedition, two heads were enough for a promotion. Da Long actually got nineteen?”

“I’ve lived so long, let alone someone on the battlefield for the first time, even those veterans of a hundred battles, I haven’t seen one kill nineteen people in one go.”

…

At this moment, the Hexi Fortress crowd was in an uproar, all shocked by Li Xiao’s astonishing battle result.

Moreover, they all knew clearly that these Karluks were killed by Li Xiao in front of others; there was no watering down, nor any false reporting of battle achievements.

Li Xiao truly killed nineteen Karluks.

At this moment, everyone invariably turned their gazes toward the young man standing in the field.

Admiration, awe, excitement…