Han Khan

Chapter 90, Inventory and Return to the Great Lakes Basin
The newly appointed hereditary leader Erke was looking at this scene with envy. He secretly calculated in his heart that he only had more than 300 accounts of subjects at the moment. Hearing about the organization of the Jinhan tribe into hundred households, battalions and regiments, he, as the leader of the tribe, was still short of households of subjects.

Zhang Sheng took one look at him and knew what he was thinking.

“You leave behind a battalion of 300 households, and I will make other arrangements for the other 300 households.

Then you go and select 600 prisoners of war and find their families.

It will be reorganized into one regiment, three battalions, and nine centurions. You will be in charge of the management and appointment of the battalion masters, centurion heads, and decanters."

This is really a sweet start, followed by a heavy blow!

As a result, Erke, the hereditary leader of the Jinhan tribe, had only about 300 households under his command, and the rest were newly conquered Tatar and Naiman captives from the Guchuti tribe.

Zhang Sheng made such arrangements, firstly to break up the relationships between clans and tribes and reorganize them, and secondly to prevent these group leaders from easily controlling the subjects assigned to them.

But could Erke resist or refuse? No, he dared not refuse, and he wanted to continue to be a nobleman, not a lowly slave.

When the Jinhan tribe migrated northward from Yizhou to Jinshan, it had four guard regiments under its command, with a total of 4 households.

There were 33 slave soldiers with a total of 3300 households, one priest camp with 300 households, one blacksmith camp with 300 households, and 4 Han Chinese centurions with a total of more than 7900 households.

After arriving at Jinshan in Mobei, the Xidan tribe voluntarily surrendered and brought with them 200 tribesmen. Later, it annexed more than 700 tribesmen of the Jiluo tribe. Then, the Yudujin Tatars surrendered and brought with them nearly 3000 tribesmen (some of whom were killed by the Jin Han people).

In this way, the Jinhan tribe had nearly 12000 tribesmen, plus the 600 tribesmen of the Hela tribe who now submitted to Jinhan, and nearly 5000 tribesmen of the Guchuwuti tribe.

That is to say, today's Jinhan tribe already has 18000 households under its command. Based on the average of 5 or 6 people per household, the Jinhan tribe is already a large tribe that controls a population of nearly .

However, this does not mean that the Jinhan tribe can recruit tens of thousands of troops by conscripting one soldier from each household.

Because among these people, there are 4 Guards Regiments who are responsible for military service. Due to continuous fighting, they have suffered huge losses and now have lost nearly 700 people.

When the 33 centurions of slave soldiers were promoted to regular soldiers, there were only more than 2000 of them. After the subsequent battles, there were only 1000 combat-ready soldiers left.

When the Tatars who surrendered were plundering the Jinhan tribe, nearly 2000 of them were killed by the Jinhan people, including 600 remaining households of the Hela tribe.

Therefore, although many households of the tribes still exist, the soldiers who are willing to serve in the military are gone.

Thinking of this, Zhang Sheng said calmly to the group leaders beside him:
"After selecting the subjects, their families should also be assigned to the corresponding ten households, hundred households, battalions and regiments, and those tribesmen without women or husbands should be remarried to make them feel at ease!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" several people said hurriedly.

Then he said to Yin Shanxiong, Boniek and Zhang Xibao:
"From the cavalrymen who were originally slave soldiers that we brought from Qilian Mountain and Yizhou to Jinshan, as well as the elite among the Tatars and the tribesmen of the Xidan tribe, select 628 suitable people to be incorporated into the Guards to fill the vacancies."

"Yes, Your Highness!" the three of them bowed their heads and replied.

At this time, all the subjects had been distributed, including the Yudujin Tatar tribe.

From then on, the military strength of the Jinhan tribe was distributed among four guards regiments, which were commanded by Zhang Sheng himself. Under them were also the priest battalion, the blacksmith battalion, and four Han centurions, all of which were directly controlled by Zhang Sheng.

Next are the six hereditary regiment masters appointed today, and the six regiments they lead.

There are a total of 10 regiments and 9000 troops. Of course, there will definitely be a large number of vacancies, but this is normal. With future battles, the vacancies will be slowly filled.

These regiments, battalions, hundreds and tens of households were not the kind of clans and tribes that were linked by blood ties. They were all new organizations that were broken up and mixed together. There were no rulers such as headsmen or chiefs.

Only military officers at all levels appointed by Zhang Sheng have the right to manage and command the people.

Moreover, organizations at all levels are filled with a large number of Tatars, Naimans, Uighurs, Sai people and Jinhan Han military generals. This will accelerate the integration of the tribes and ethnic groups under the Jinhan tribe and allow them to call themselves Jinhan people.

At this time, Zhang Sheng said:
"Hairat, Yang Binghan, you two will each lead a regiment of troops and station them at the former Hela tribe camp and the north side of the camp upstream of the Bulgan River. As Jinhan's left wing, you will manage the grazing and labor of your subjects and guard against the Ubili tribe in the north!"

"Slaves, obey your order!" Hailat and Yang Binghan said hurriedly.

"The rest of you, gather the remaining supplies and livestock, gather all the soldiers, and we'll go back to the Great Lakes Basin." After Zhang Sheng gave the order, everyone took action.

Hailat and Yang Binghan, leading their newly reorganized regiments, along with a large number of livestock and felt tents, as well as some captured weapons and armor, will stay here.

They had to ensure the safety of Jinhan's left wing, and at the same time manage the subjects assigned to them by Zhang Sheng so that they could graze and work in peace.

The others quickly arranged for the prisoners to pack up and distribute the remaining supplies and livestock, preparing to return to Jinhan Camp in the Great Lakes Basin.

Zhang Sheng rode on his warhorse and led the guards of Yin Shanxiong, Boniek, and Zhang Xibao.

The three hereditary group leaders, Erke, Zhang Langjieri and Luo Wenda, led three groups, 2700 households of subjects, and tens of thousands of people marched towards the large lake basin at the foot of the mountain.

Three hours later, they finally arrived at the Great Lakes Basin. Koza, Timur and Zhang Zhongxian hurriedly rode their horses to greet Zhang Sheng.

"Your Highness, is everything going well?"

"Everything went well. This is the new Holy Knight and the leader of the Erke group of my Jinhan tribe."

"These three are my Guards Captain Koza, Cardinal Archbishop Zhang Zhongxian of the Holy Church, and Timur the Great."

Zhang Sheng introduced them to Koza and Erke respectively.

Erke bowed hurriedly to the three Jinhan generals in front of him, who had different appearances.

They all rode on horses, following Zhang Sheng on both sides, and walked towards the big tent in the camp.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng suddenly turned his head and looked at Timur sharply, then asked in a serious tone: "Have all the people of the Tatar tribe migrated here?"

Timur was shocked when he heard this, but he quickly came to his senses, bent down, and replied respectfully: "Reporting to the honorable His Highness, the more than 3,600 households of the Yudujin Tatar tribe have all been relocated to this camp."

Hearing this, Zhang Sheng nodded in satisfaction, expressing his approval. Then, he continued to give orders to Timur:

"Since the Tatar warriors who followed me to fight in the Hela tribe have now been incorporated into the other five regiments, their families also need to be incorporated into these regiments. You must not block or interfere with this!"

After hearing this, Timur lowered his head and replied in a firm and loyal tone: "I will obey your will and will never prevent them from reuniting with their families!"

At this moment, Timur's face became extremely heavy. He knew that if he could not control his emotions and expressions well at this moment, then there would definitely be tragic consequences befalling him, and he might even lose his life.

It's really terrible that the entire Yudujin Tatar tribe, with such a large number of people, was suddenly dispersed and merged into different groups, Timur thought, but he didn't dare to say anything.

The sound of horse hooves echoed throughout the camp, and Zhang Sheng and everyone else slowly entered.

Due to the fierce fighting today, the camp now looks dilapidated.

The camp was broken, smoke was still coming out of the tents, there were horrifying pools of blood on the ground, and corpses were scattered everywhere.

Many captives from the Guchuwuti tribe had their hands tightly tied, and they lowered their heads with depressed expressions.

Zhang Sheng rode a tall warhorse with slow and steady steps. His eyes were calm and indifferent as he scanned everything around him calmly.

The guards beside him remained vigilant at all times, closely watching the prisoners' every move.

In today's Battle of the Great Lakes Basin, Zhang Sheng personally led four guards regiments and more than two thousand light cavalry, a total of more than five thousand exhausted Jinhan warriors to resist the Tatar raid.

In this fierce battle, they succeeded in killing or seriously wounding as many as 1800 Tatar cavalry.

The more than 2,000 Tatar cavalrymen who had managed to survive have now been dispersed and incorporated into the various hundreds, battalions, and regiments under the Jinhan tribe.

(End of this chapter)