Chapter 98: News of Victory Reaches Hexi

Accompanied by the sounds of dogs barking and hoofbeats echoing through Hexi Fortress, people from every household came out to check the situation.

The Old Master, having quickly put on his straw raincoat, was just about to go out when he found someone had stopped in front of his house.

“Who is it?”

The Old Master shouted in a low voice.

Immediately after, a voice that surprised him came from outside the door.

“Grandpa, it’s me. Open the door quickly.”

Hearing this extremely familiar voice, the vigilance on the Old Master’s face vanished instantly.

It turned into a trace of excitement.

“Erhu?”

That’s right; it was Erhu’s voice.

The Old Master hurriedly opened the wooden fence gate and asked nervously, “Erhu, why are you back?”

He wouldn’t forget that just over two months ago, it was also a day of heavy rain.

Several young men from the village returned from the battlefield and brought news that almost made him despair.

So at this moment, the Old Master gripped the corner of his clothes tightly, afraid that Erhu would deal him another blow.

But fortunately, although Erhu was soaked all over, panting, and looking very wretched, he had a smile on his face.

While pulling the Old Master into the house, he said happily, “Grandpa, we won.”

Hearing this, the Old Master instantly heaved a huge sigh of relief, almost feeling like he was about to collapse.

At this time, Li Erjiang also came over from the neighboring yard with a weapon and happened to hear Erhu’s words.

“We won?”

“How are the casualties? What about Dalong and Dahu?”

Inside the house, the Old Lady, Qin Da Ni, and the others heard the commotion and also walked out one after another, waiting eagerly for Erhu’s answer.

“Of course they’re fine. My brother and Dahu are doing great.”

“They didn’t even break the skin.” Erhu laughed loudly.

Of course, there was some exaggeration. Minor injuries were inevitable, but there was nothing serious.

Hearing this, Qin Da Ni and the others heaved a huge sigh of relief, and smiles of relief appeared on their faces.

“It’s good that they’re fine; it’s good that they’re fine.”

“God bless, Jade Emperor bless.” The Old Lady looked relieved and started muttering, seemingly fulfilling a vow.

“Erhu, tell us the situation in detail.”

The Old Master hurriedly made Erhu sit down and instructed Qin Da Ni to prepare clean clothes for Erhu to change into and some food and drink.

Taking advantage of this time, he immediately asked about the specific situation of the war.

Speaking of this, Erhu’s spirits immediately rose, and he said excitedly, “Grandpa, Second Uncle, you didn’t see the situation at that time.”

“The Naimans guarded every pass of the Altai Mountains. The Khitans couldn’t attack at all, which worried Xiao Sima to death.”

“At the critical moment, it was my brother who worried that if the war dragged on, the army of more than twenty thousand would eat Jin Prefecture poor.”

“So he led us across the Alai Ridge over the Altai Mountains and stabbed the Naimans in the butt from behind.”

Erhu spoke of these glorious deeds with spittle flying everywhere, extremely excited.

How wise and decisive Li Xiao was, executing unruly soldiers on the march, using both carrot and stick to subdue those three thousand troops.

How brave and skillful in battle he himself was, how many Naiman soldiers he killed, and so on.

Soon, Qin Da Ni brought clean clothes, and the Old Lady warmed up some food.

Erhu gobbled down the food while talking about the battle.

During this process, more and more villagers rushed over.

They had all heard the sound of Erhu riding a horse and went out to check if there was an enemy invasion.

Unexpectedly, it was Erhu returning to report the victory.

Besides being excited, these villagers all gathered at Li Xiao’s house, listening to Erhu’s narration with great interest.

“No one expected that the Naiman Khan was pretending to surrender. On the battlefield, he wanted to ambush the Khitan central army.”

“The situation was critical at the time. Xiao Sima personally led men to charge and almost kicked the bucket.”

“At the critical moment, it was my brother who led us Han men to break through the Naiman Khan’s formation, chasing him all over the mountains, which saved Xiao Sima.”

“It also turned the whole army from danger to safety.”

“If not for my brother, the Khitans would have been defeated long ago. How could they have annihilated so many Naimans?”

As Erhu ate, food scraps flew out of his mouth continuously.

The crowd didn’t mind at all; in fact, their table manners weren’t much better.

All were attracted by the tense and exciting battle situation.

“What happened next?” Li Erjiang asked hurriedly.

Although he guessed that this brat Erhu must have exaggerated, the army led by Li Xiao should have played an extremely important role in the war.

“Where is the Naiman Khan? Was he caught?”

“No.”

Erhu shook his head, looking regretful: “Those two guys got away. The steppe is so big, there was definitely no way to chase them.”

“But in the previous battles, we personally captured a Naiman prince.”

“That made Xiao Sima happy for a long time.”

Hearing this, although the crowd was somewhat disappointed, they were also quite excited.

“Capturing a Naiman prince is not easy either.”

“More than not easy, it’s clearly a great merit.”

“By the way, Erhu, since Dalong led you to establish so much merit, did the Khitans give any rewards in the end?”

Hearing an elder’s question, Erhu instantly became even more spirited. This was the main event. He put down his bowl and chopsticks and boasted.

“Of course there were rewards. All of us Han men received heavy rewards.”

Saying this, Erhu looked at Fourth Grandpa and said with a chuckle, “Fourth Grandpa, Uncle Liu was appointed as a Thousand-Man Commander this time.”

“And Uncle Luo from Hedong Fortress, my eldest sister’s father-in-law, is also a Thousand-Man Commander.”

Hearing this, the men of Hexi Fortress were somewhat puzzled. Fourth Grandpa asked directly, “Erhu, what is a Thousand-Man Commander?”

“Thousand-Man Commander? It means he can manage a thousand households.” Erhu scratched his head and said, remembering that was how Li Xiao explained it to him at the time.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, a burst of exclamations erupted from the crowd.

“Good heavens, manage a thousand households? Our Hexi Fortress only has a little over two hundred households, right?” Someone said with wide eyes.

“What you said is old news. Now with Hou Village and Sanhe Fortress added, we have a total of four hundred households.”

“That’s still more than two Hexi Fortresses.”

“How can a Thousand-Man Commander be so big? It’s almost catching up to the Military Governor.”

“Fourth Uncle, congratulations to you; Old Six has made something of himself.”

While exclaiming, the crowd looked at Fourth Grandpa with envious eyes and congratulated him.

Naturally, there was jealousy, but who told him to have such a good son?

At this moment, Fourth Grandpa laughed, revealing a mouth full of big yellow teeth, very happy.

“Hehehehe…”

“Good, good, good…”

He didn’t know what to say, only knowing to chuckle.

His son had made something of himself, and he, the father, also shared the glory.

Third Grandpa, on the other hand, looked jealous. He also had two sons who went to the battlefield, but unexpectedly they were not as capable as Old Four’s one son.

So he asked Erhu, “What about your Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle? How are they?”

On one hand, he was asking if they were safe and whether they were injured; on the other hand, he was asking what official positions they were rewarded with.

“Third Uncle and Fourth Uncle are like me; we are all Hundred-Man Commanders.”

“But our Hundred-Man Commander position isn’t exactly an official one; it’s considered appointed by my brother himself.” Erhu scratched his head and explained.

In this reward distribution, besides war merits, the interests of the local forces in Jin Prefecture also had to be taken into account.

The original fortress masters and leaders had also contributed in this war.

If there were no major problems, they would be appointed as Hundred-Man Commanders, continuing to manage the adjusted fortresses.

After all, the registration of the population couldn’t be too drastic all at once; otherwise, it would easily arouse the common hatred of the local forces.

Xiao Sima’s intention was to cut the meat with a blunt knife, slowly replacing these fortress masters and leaders with rotating official Hundred-Man Commanders.

For example, after a period of time, rotate several Hundred-Man Commanders with each other…

“Besides our original people from Jin Prefecture, there are also over a thousand others from the Desert and Beihai who are willing to follow my brother to live in Jin Prefecture.”

“So, our Hundred-Man Commander position is actually to manage them.”

These over a thousand foreign soldiers were elites who had walked off the battlefield, a significant force. Li Xiao certainly wanted his own people to manage them.

Anyway, Li Sanhe, Li Sishui, and Erhu acted as temporary Hundred-Man Commanders in this unit during the battles.

Now they were considered permanent.

Hearing Erhu’s explanation, Third Grandpa also nodded slightly, a smile appearing on his face.

Both sons managed a hundred households under them. Although not comparable to Little Six, it wasn’t bad.

It could be considered giving him some credit.

“What about Dalong? After saying so much, what official position was Dalong appointed to?” Li Erjiang looked at Erhu, who had talked until his mouth was dry, poured him a bowl of water, placed it in front of him, and asked.

Li Dashan and Luo Ping had already been appointed as Thousand-Man Commanders; could Li Xiao be lower?

“My brother?”

“That’s even more impressive.” Speaking of Li Xiao’s reward, Erhu instantly felt his mouth wasn’t dry anymore.

“My brother is now the Vice Military Governor of Jin Prefecture and also concurrently holds the position of a Thousand-Man Commander.”

As soon as these words came out, the crowd was even more surprised, causing an uproar.

“What? Dalong became the Vice Military Governor?”

“Is this true?”

“A Han person actually became the Military Governor of Jin Prefecture?”

“Vice. The main Military Governor is still a Khitan.” Erhu interrupted hurriedly.

“That’s still very impressive.” Li Erjiang said with a face full of smiles, revealing his molars.

Beside him, Third Grandpa nodded: “Dalong really did us Han people proud.”

“Worthy of being a seed of our Li family.”

The Military Governor of Jin Prefecture was the biggest official in Jin Prefecture. Although he couldn’t be said to keep every promise, he had considerable control over their local fortresses and tribes; major matters had to be listened to by the Military Governor.

Although Li Xiao was a vice governor, he was considered the second-in-command of the entire Jin Prefecture.

Even the ancestors of the Li family back then were just military leaders in the Western Expedition Army, middle-level officers.

They couldn’t be compared with a high-ranking and powerful official position like Vice Military Governor at all.

So, at this moment, everyone was rejoicing that after so many years, their Li family finally produced a big official.

Of course, this was only viewing the Military Governor’s power from their past perspective.

They didn’t know yet that after this registration of the population, the Military Governor’s power would increase significantly, gathering all military and political power, thoroughly transforming into the local emperor of Jin Prefecture.

And although Li Xiao was only a Vice Military Governor, his actual power was not much worse than the Military Governor of Jin Prefecture.

He could almost stand as an equal rival.

If they understood this point, the men and women of Hexi Fortress would only be even more shocked and ecstatic.