Chapter 83: Victory in Sight

Among the troops under Li Xiao’s command, the only ones that truly belonged to him were the original seven-fortress coalition, plus the Čarlan slaves and the more than one hundred people from Feiying Fortress.

In addition, there were two thousand people borrowed from other divisions.

After the war, they would definitely have to be returned.

But Li Xiao didn’t want to let them go.

These people followed him to fight across hundreds of li, experiencing many big and small battles. Although they were far from being considered elites, they were definitely not comparable to ordinary soldiers.

Just letting them go back like this, Li Xiao was really reluctant.

Moreover, what Jin Prefecture lacked most was population, so Li Xiao prepared to keep them as much as possible.

It mainly depended on their own wishes. If they were willing to stay in Jin Prefecture, then Li Xiao would arrange for them to ‘die in battle’.

When Dashaa heard Li Xiao’s question, he shook his head directly and said.

“I won’t go back.. where the commander is, I will be there.”

He was originally a destitute sheep slave in the Desert, with no ties or worries, and there was nothing to be nostalgic about there.

On the contrary, during the time following Li Xiao, he had been winning battles and captured too many spoils of war.

Dashaa would definitely be distributed quite a few cattle and sheep in the end, and he also snatched a beautiful and fertile Naiman woman as a wife.

Such a life, he dared not even think about before.

So he definitely wouldn’t want to return to the Desert.

“Okay!”

“Then come back to Jin Prefecture with me.”

“In the future, you will have a wife and children on a warm kang, a pile of cattle, sheep, and grain.. you kid deserve to enjoy life.”

Li Xiao chuckled.

“Hehehe, that’s good, that’s good.” Dashaa only knew to giggle and nod.

After he left, Li Xiao asked a few people randomly.

The replies received were similar.

“The Section Leader has already talked to us; I don’t want to go back, I want to follow everyone.”

“My Lord, you are a man of great ability; I want to stay and follow you.”

“Iam not going back, won’t go back; going back means no food to eat, and these cattle, sheep, and women will all be snatched by the master.”

Hearing the soldiers’ replies, Li Xiao felt very gratified.

From the beginning of selecting soldiers, he had thought of this step.

Most soldiers were honest and simple people, dutiful, without ties, and most easily persuaded.

Even many destitute slaves were even less willing to go back.

Staying in Jin Prefecture, Li Xiao would reward them with many cattle, sheep, and women; going back meant continuing to be slaves, with cattle, sheep, and women belonging to the master.

Under such circumstances, Li Xiao believed that those willing to stay would definitely account for the majority.

Before long, Li Xiao called everyone above the rank of Hundred Household for a meeting.

The first thing was to summarize the quantity of spoils of war.

“Counting today’s, we have snatched a total of about one hundred and twenty thousand sheep, eight thousand cattle, and more than twenty thousand warhorses.”

“Then there are Naiman women, about three thousand five hundred.” Dahu said to everyone holding a piece of sheepskin.

Because he was meticulous, Li Xiao handed this kind of thing over to him.

These were the main income items. Other scattered things like tents, sheepskins, daily necessities, etc., were all piled together, too late to count.

After listening to the result, Li Xiao nodded and smiled: “Three thousand five hundred women? It seems enough to distribute a wife to each of our brothers.”

Three thousand five hundred didn’t seem like a lot, but they were all women capable of bearing children, so that was quite a few.

The total population of the Naiman tribe was only over a hundred thousand.

“The promise I made can fortunately be fulfilled.”

Everyone also laughed loudly.

Now with this war, their harvest was very rich, enough for everyone to live a good life.

Cattle and sheep were easy to talk about, but women were hard to find; the more tough the place, the more men there were.

Girls might even be forced to die prematurely just after birth.

So this led to quite a few bachelors in the Northern Border.

Now everyone could take back a Naiman woman, whether as a wife, concubine, or female slave— in short, everyone would be satisfied.

“The distribution of spoils will be discussed after returning to Jin Prefecture.”

“Third Uncle, you must watch over our family assets, they are the lifeblood of the brothers.” Li Xiao looked at Li Sanhe and smiled.

“Don’t worry, even if I’m gone, I won’t let anything happen to these things.” Li Sanhe patted his chest loudly.

Li Xiao hurriedly shook his head and said not to go that far; people were more important.

After saying a few more things, Li Xiao looked at everyone and said: “Tell me, how many people can stay in each of your Hundred Households?”

This was the most important thing— population was the foundation.

Li Sanhe glanced at everyone and was the first to speak: “I talked to the brothers personally. The majority are willing to stay, forty-two people.”

Not saying that only forty-two out of a hundred people were willing to stay.

But rather, after excluding soldiers killed in battle and those who were originally Jin Prefecture soldiers, there were still forty-two people willing to stay.

This ratio was already very high.

The situation of the other twenty-nine Hundred Households was similar, all around thirty or forty people.

Adding up, the total was about one thousand two hundred people.

As for the other eight hundred people, either they had died in battle, or they had ties back home and had to return.

Li Xiao certainly wouldn’t stop them, he let them parting on good terms.

It was also a connection which might be renewed in the future.

“One thousand two hundred people.. its really surprises me,” Li Xiao shook his head and laughed.

This number was somewhat unexpected, a bit more than he imagined.

He was both happy and depressed.

Because he had to think of a way to make these one thousand two hundred people ‘die in battle’ reasonably, and also compensate those nomadic leaders with double the cattle and sheep.

Happy and painful at the same time.

A few days later, Li Xiao received Xiao Simo’s order to take people to Xiao Simo’s camp to attend the highest military conference of the Northern Border.

Regarding the topic of this meeting, Li Xiao could also guess roughly.

The distance between the Liao army and the Naiman Khan Court was getting closer and closer.

The atmosphere in the army also became more solemn; everyone knew a big battle might break out again.

Today was definitely a military meeting to convene battle plans.

But unexpectedly, after Xiao Simo walked into the big tent, he announced unexpected news to everyone.

“Buyruq Khan has personally led an army of ten thousand south, and sent an envoy to discuss with this King the matter of jointly attacking Tayang Khan from both sides.”

Xiao Simo sat on the folding stool at the top, smiling.

These days, Xiao Simo swept away the past annoyance, his face full of pride.

With the Golden Mountains defense line breached, the Naiman tribe was like a stripped woman, allowing him to take whatever he wanted.

Victory was just around the corner.

After hearing Xiao Simo’s words, the generals in the big tent laughed one after another.

“Wasn’t Buyruq Khan quite arrogant before? Now he actually took the initiative to send people to contact us,” Xiao Tuolatu chuckled.

“Seeing victory in sight for us, he just wants a share of the pie,” Xiao Linta shook his head disdainfully.

Other Khitan generals disparaged one after another: “That bastard overestimates his own status too much. Without him our Northern Border Army can breach the Altai Mountains just the same.”

“Ignorant thing, still wanting to marry Her Royal Highness the Princess; he doesn’t look in the mirror to see his own face.”

Listening to the generals’ words, Xiao Simo nodded silently and smiled gently.

Seeing victory in sight for the Liao army, Buyruq Khan couldn’t sit still either, choosing to go south directly, fearing that if he was a step late, the entire Naiman tribe would be swallowed by Western Liao.

And his only request was for Liao to recognize his status as the Naiman Khan.

Regarding this, Xiao Simo naturally had no objection.

“Although Buyruq Khan is greedy, the power under his command is still strong; it should be used by our army to resist the Naiman tribe together,” Xiao Simo said to the generals in a deep voice.

Setting the tone, accepting Buyruq Khan’s army to form a coalition.

Originally, to preserve his own strength, Xiao Simo didn’t intend to fight to the death with Tayang Khan.

Just wanted to weaken the strength of the Naiman tribe, grab a wave of benefits, and leave.

But now, with the addition of Buyruq Khan’s ten thousand fresh troops, their own strength was greatly enhanced, so they could strive for more benefits.

Perhaps, the Naiman tribe could be made to submit to Great Liao again.

The Naiman tribe was originally a vassal tribe of Western Liao, but back when Yelü Zhilugu had just ascended the throne, taking advantage of the domestic turmoil in Western Liao, the Naiman tribe broke away.

Now if they could resubmit because of him, Xiao Simo…

Then the ability between him and Yelü Zhilugu would be judged instantly, and Xiao Simo’s prestige within Western Liao would also be greatly enhanced.

“Tayang Khan? Better to keep him,” Xiao Simo planned secretly in his heart.

After this war, Buyruq Khan shouldn’t be allowed to dominate the Naimans alone, it would be best to let these two tigers continue to fight.

That would be more beneficial to the Northern Border.

Next, the generals discussed how to use Buyruq Khan’s army to fight this battle well. Someone even proposed completely eliminating the Naiman tribe to end the trouble in the Northern Border forever.

Li Xiao sat in the tent while sipping kumis gently, his brows remained slightly furrowed, looking preoccupied.

“Is Buyruq Khan’s submission true or false?” Li Xiao pondered in his heart.

This was a war that didn’t happen in original history. history books couldn’t provide Li Xiao with an answer.

But they could provide him with a reference.

According to historical records, in 1202 AD, Buyruq Khan responded to Jamukha’s call and formed a coalition with various Mongol tribes, engaging in a great battle with the armies of Temujin and the Kerait tribe at Koyiten.

In the end, Temujin won and led his army to chase Buyruq Khan’s tribesmen.

At the critical moment, it was Tayang Khan who sent Koke Xue’wu to lead a large army, blocking Temujin and rescuing Buyruq Khan.

A few years later, Tayang Khan was defeated and died. Buyruq Khan took in Kuchlug, and even handed over his tribesmen to him to command after his own death, which gave Kuchlug the capital to launch a coup in Western Liao.

From these events, Li Xiao concluded that the relationship between the two brothers, Buyruq Khan and Tayang Khan, was not as bad as it seemed on the surface.

“Brothers fight within the walls, but resist insults from without?”

“If it’s really so, then the next battle will be dangerous,” Li Xiao said secretly in his heart.

His heavy gaze looked at Xiao Simo and the others in the big tent. Everyone’s face showed a powerful and confident smile, as if victory was already in sight.

(End of this chapter)