The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 193 Bloody BMW
"Boom boom boom~"

The sound of galloping warhorses echoed across the grassland, and ten Jinzhou cavalrymen charged toward them like an unstoppable arrow.

They were all dressed in bright yellow cotton armor and wore helmets with plumes. Their eyes were like those of a falcon, fixed on the distant target.

As they charged close, the ten cavalrymen almost simultaneously drew their longbows from their horses, steadily nocking arrows with their right hands, the bowstrings taut.

Immediately afterwards, with a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," the arrow flew out of the bowstring, whistling sharply, piercing the sky, and heading straight for the target.

The soldiers then continued their charge, drawing their arrows again and firing them at their next target.

After each of them had fired ten arrows, the ten cavalrymen slowly reined in their horses.

"Of the ninety-two arrows that hit the target, thirty-six hit the bullseye."

Soon, a soldier stepped forward to check and loudly reported the results.

Iron Head, the commander of the Wuwei Army, held a telescope and looked at the arrows on the target. He turned around and chuckled.

“Skinny Monkey, our First Thousand Household Army only managed to hit the target with ninety-two arrows. Our performance was so-so. Let’s see how your Second Thousand Household Army fares.”

Upon hearing this, the skinny monkey snorted, "Look at how arrogant you are? It's just ninety-two arrows."

He then turned to the soldiers beside him and said, "Tell the brothers that they must outnumber the 1,000th Regiment. If they can't, they'll train like crazy tonight."

Shortly afterward, ten cavalrymen from the Second Thousand Household Army began their charge, executing ten consecutive volleys of mounted archery in the same manner.

Today is the Armed Forces' once-every-ten-day mini-competition.

More than a dozen squads were immediately selected from the three thousand-household units of the Wuwei Army to conduct a horse archery competition.

The top three will be ranked, and corresponding rewards and punishments will be given.

But for these three commanders of the Wuwei Army, punishment was irrelevant; it was mainly a matter of saving face.

Losing is shameful and will be seen by the Grand Commander as a sign of poor leadership, so nobody wants to lose.

Tie Tou, Shou Hou, and Lin Dazhuang were the three commanders of the Wuwei Army.

The first two were brothers who grew up with Li Xiao, while Lin Dazhuang was a man Li Xiao rescued from Houzhai. Over the years, he followed Li Xiao in battle, remaining loyal and achieving remarkable feats.

At this moment, in front of the three of them, Li Xiao, dressed in dark gold cotton armor with black trim and wearing a cloak, was riding a horse and calmly watching the competition before him.

Shortly afterward, the ten-man squad of the second thousandth household finished their mounted archery, hitting the target eighty-nine times. Skinny Monkey's face turned quite grim.

Beside Li Xiao, Chen Chong exclaimed in amazement, "The Wuwei Iron Cavalry truly deserves to be called the elite force among the best in the world."

"Let alone ordinary nomadic cavalry, even the royal court's elite troops would probably be no match for the Wuwei Army."

Chen Chong was once the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat under the Wang court. After being captured by Li Xiao, he is currently serving as the Director of the Agricultural Development Office under the Jinzhou Grand General's Office.

He was mainly in charge of the Jinzhou Army's land reclamation in the desert. This time, when he came to Jinzhou to report on his duties, Li Xiao dragged him to watch the Wuwei Army's competition.

The more Chen Chong looked, the more amazed she became.

It's already quite difficult for an ordinary soldier to shoot ten arrows in a short period of time, but the hit rate of the Wuwei Army is around 90%.

Moreover, these dozen or so squads were randomly selected, which means that this is the general level of the Wuwei Army, which is terrifying.

"These three thousand Wuwei soldiers are elite troops selected from all the soldiers in Jinzhou. Even ordinary soldiers would be considered top-notch in the three towns."

"Moreover, the capital ordered that the soldiers of the Wuwei Army train every day and eat meat every day, so their physiques naturally became stronger and stronger."

Li Xiao smiled faintly and said softly.

The soldiers of the three towns were soldiers during wartime. Once the war ended, they would take the spoils they had looted and the rewards distributed by Li Xiao and return home to become herdsmen again, tending sheep and farming.

The Wuwei Army, on the other hand, is different; they have been transformed into professional soldiers.

Grazing sheep and farming were prohibited. All food rations were supplied by the Grand General's Office, and a monthly military pay was also provided.

Every day consists of only one thing: practice.

Therefore, this armed guard army became the first standing army in Jinzhou.

The military maintains a state of combat readiness year-round, with soldiers taking turns on leave. The barracks are located on a grassland twenty miles north of Hexibao.

The purpose was also to protect Hexibao and Longcheng.

As Chen Chong gazed at the Wuwei Army galloping across the grassland, his expression grew increasingly solemn. He said in a deep voice, "Seeing this Wuwei Army, I feel as if I am seeing the glorious Tang Dynasty of yesteryear."

His voice unconsciously lowered, tinged with a sigh: "Back then, the Xuanjia Army roamed the world, and wherever their iron hooves trod, all nations came to pay homage."

"Now the Wuwei Army's iron cavalry are gleaming and their archery skills are superb. Their charging momentum is exactly the same as in the legends."

"If they were placed under the walls of Chang'an, even the wolf banner of the former Turkic Khan would tremble before this yellow torrent."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiao turned his head slightly, a barely perceptible glint of sharpness flashing in his eyes: "A mere three thousand Martial Guards are naturally no match for the Tang army."

"But our Jinzhou Iron Cavalry is not lacking in the spirit to create a new situation."

As soon as the words were spoken, the third thousandth household squad in the distance finished their competition, with ninety-three arrows hitting the target, one more than the first thousandth household squad.

Seeing this result, Li Xiao said calmly to the skinny monkey, "Temporary success or failure doesn't matter. Try harder next time!"

Having said that, he turned and left with Chen Chong.

The skinny monkey's face kept changing between flushed and ashen, and he became increasingly angry, so he kicked over the stool next to his feet.

He said to his five centurions, "We're having extra training tonight. Nobody sleeps!"

Listening to the distant roar, Chen Chong sighed slightly: "Soldiers are like sharp arrows, generals are like strong bows; once the bowstring is twanged, the arrows are shot out like lightning."

"This is the backbone and character a strong military should possess!"

Afterwards, the two went to Li Xiao's golden tent. Chen Chong took out a book from his pocket and presented it to Li Xiao.

"Grand Commander, this is the harvest of this year's spring grain; it's all here."

"After a year of recovery, the soldiers of Jinzhou Town and the prisoners of war who settled in the desert cultivated a total of one million mu of land."

"This year, thanks to the favorable weather, the grain harvest is quite good, with an average yield of about one shi (120 jin) per mu."

"Our Yingtian Division has collected a total of 320,000 shi of grain, which is currently being escorted to the Jinzhou granary."

"..."

The desert is different from Jinzhou. Jinzhou has a cold climate, so only one kind of plant can be grown each year.

The desert has a dry and mild climate, and is nourished by snowmelt from the Tianshan Mountains. The soil is fertile, and crops are harvested twice a year, making it the granary of the entire northern Xinjiang region.

Besides plundering enemy cattle and sheep to slaughter for military rations, Li Xiao's most important reliance for this eastern expedition was on the grain supply from the desert and Gaochang.

This can be considered the Achilles' heel of the Jinzhou army.

After a war, the people and horses ate and consumed almost all the grain sent from Gaochang and the desert last year.

Therefore, once the spring grain harvest in the desert was completed, Li Xiao immediately ordered Chen Chong to escort it to Jinzhou to alleviate the food crisis in Jinzhou.

Of these 320,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), 160,000 shi were taxes paid by the soldiers of Jinzhou Town.

In Jinzhou, the rule is to pay 20% of the harvest for each acre of land.

Last year, the soldiers in Damo Town cultivated about 800,000 mu of land, which amounted to 800,000 shi of grain.

The remaining 160,000 shi of grain were all contributed by the more than 10,000 Uyghur prisoners of war who were stationed there to cultivate the land.

We don't need to treat them with the same courtesy we show to the soldiers of the desert town.

Ordinary people can cultivate ten mu of land each, while these prisoners of war are required to cultivate twenty mu.

They produced 200,000 shi of grain, and after keeping enough for their daily needs, sent the rest to Jinzhou.

"However, this 360,000 shi of grain can only solve the immediate crisis," Li Xiao said in a calm voice, his brows slightly furrowed.

The herdsmen of Jinzhou are not short of food; an adult only needs to consume half a pound of grain per day.

This 360,000 shi of grain can last for a long time, even until next year.

However, in addition to supplying the people of Jinzhou, Jinzhou also needs to supply grain from the West Sea.

This time, Li Xiao also captured tens of thousands of grassland prisoners of war, in addition to the original Uyghur slaves in Jinzhou.

Even if we don't feed them too much, just enough to make them seven-tenths full each day, we're afraid that 360,000 shi of grain alone won't last until the autumn harvest.

More importantly, the situation in Dongdu is unclear, and the Jinzhou army may have to send troops again, which would require a large supply of food.

Because not only people need to eat, but horses do too.

Especially when it comes to the real charge and decisive battle, the warhorses must be fed fine food in advance, otherwise they will not have enough strength to last long if they only eat grass.

If you have to stop and eat grass after running for a while, how can you fight a war?

Therefore, Jinzhou is still short of food.

Immediately, Li Xiao instructed Chen Chong, "Go find Han Jiuyuan tomorrow to collect 200,000 taels of silver, and give it to Li Ergunzi when you return to the desert."

"Tell him to send people to bring back the grain from Gaochang as soon as possible."

"There may be another battle to fight this year, so the more food the better."

The spring grain harvest in the desert has already been completed, so the grain harvest in Gaochang must have been completed as well.

Li Xiao kept Gaochang in order to supply grain to Jinzhou.

According to the original agreement with Arkus, Gaochang's grain production, after keeping enough for its own needs, had to be sold entirely to Jinzhou at market prices.

The Hexi Trading Company was the only trading company qualified to purchase grain, so this matter was naturally arranged by Li Ergunzi.

Chen Chong nodded gently: "Yes, sir."

He then reassured her, saying, "Don't worry, Grand Commander."

"The grain of Gaochang Kingdom is no less than that of the desert."

"Moreover, the townspeople in the desert only pay 20% of their grain as taxes, so they have some surplus grain on hand. Perhaps we can buy some more from the townspeople."

However, Li Xiao was not too optimistic about this.

Although the people still had 80% of their grain in their hands, there is a saying: "With grain in hand, one has nothing to fear."

The saying "be prepared for danger in times of peace" is ingrained in the Han people. People who have been starving will not easily sell their grain unless absolutely necessary.

But it doesn't matter, Li Xiao has plenty of ways.

"During the battle of the Western Sea, Jinzhou captured many Naiman female slaves. They were quite beautiful, with fair skin and large eyes."

"I'll have someone pick out a few for you to take back later," Li Xiao said to Chen Chong with a smile.

Chen Chong was taken aback, then bowed and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Grand Commander."

He thought it was a reward from Li Xiao for his hard work in overseeing the settlement and farming in the desert. But Li Xiao's main purpose was not this; rather, he wanted him to set an example and encourage the people of the desert to buy female slaves.

There's a saying: "When people are well-fed and warm, they think of lustful desires."

When people have food in their hands and are no longer under pressure to survive, they will inevitably start to have some ulterior motives.

Some people who made meritorious contributions on the battlefield were rewarded with female slaves, which was fine. But if they didn't, how could they feel at ease watching others playing with the fair-skinned Naiman women all day long?
Then just buy it!

What if you've spent all the bounty you earned on the battlefield and it's still not enough?
What should be done with the garrison soldiers who did not participate in the Eastern Expedition?
Sell ​​the surplus grain.

He used the money from selling grain to buy female slaves.

In this way, the grain in the hands of the people in the desert can circulate.

At the same time, these female slaves could also increase the population of the desert, since the Han people have always believed in patrilineal lineage.

If the father is Han Chinese, the child born will be Han Chinese; this is beyond doubt.

Therefore, Li Xiao's aim was also to increase the proportion of Han Chinese in the desert and solidify his base.

Besides female slaves, there were many other things that could be sold in the desert.

For example, cattle and sheep plundered from the grasslands, cotton cloth woven in Jinzhou, and so on.

Li Xiao will also launch other daily necessities under the name of Hexi Trading Company, such as soap, glass, sugar and so on.

These industrial products are used to harvest the grain and money from the people.

As long as people run out of food and money, they can only continue to struggle to earn or rob more money and food.

This has injected momentum into Jinzhou's economy and provided strong support for Jinzhou's military strength.

However, there's no need to explain these business matters to Chen Chong; he just needs to manage the desert settlements well.

But there's one thing Chen Chong still needs to work on.

"When the land was distributed to the people of Damo Town, ordinary townspeople received 100 mu of farmland per household, 10 households received 150 mu, captains received 300 mu, and 100 households received 1,000 mu."

“These were all taken directly from the Uyghurs; there’s no need to cultivate them. They can be planted right away,” Li Xiao said calmly.

"There are 13,000 households of soldiers stationed in the desert, and a total of about 1.4 million mu of arable land."

"But last year, the townspeople only cultivated 800,000 mu. What happened to the other nearly 600,000 mu?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Chong said with a look of fear, "Grand Commander, please forgive me. I am incompetent and have failed your trust."

But he immediately defended himself, saying, "The truth is, we don't have that many people available in the desert."

On average, each household in the town has only five people, which means each household can cultivate about fifty acres of land. However, the remaining farmland cannot be used to hire tenant farmers, so it can only be left uncultivated.

This is a huge waste.

In response, Chen Chong explained, "Don't worry, Grand Commander, last year was because the townspeople had just arrived in the desert."

"After the war against the Naiman, some of the town's soldiers brought back some slaves. With the help of these slaves, they will surely be able to cultivate more land."

Li Xiao nodded slightly, because he knew that the desert was short of manpower, so he did not intend to make things difficult for Chen Chong.

He continued, "The garrison soldiers who have made meritorious contributions are still a minority, and there are still not enough slaves in the desert."

"In a few days, Ben will instruct the Hexi Trading Company to organize a group of people to escort a batch of slaves to the desert for sale, so that the townspeople in the desert can buy some to use for farming."

In this eastern expedition, Li Xiao almost wiped out all the Naiman tribes and captured a large number of prisoners of war.

Female slaves are easy to find; everyone likes them.

As for the male prisoners of war, Li Xiao ordered his men to select the young and strong ones to be added to the Kuli army as war slaves.

Those who were older or had other injuries or illnesses were to be sent to the desert and sold to the townspeople at a low price.

In doing so, the townspeople ended up becoming slave owners in the West.

After finishing his conversation with Chen Chong, Li Xiao led his men back to Hexibao.

The camp of the Wuwei Army was very close to Hexibao; it could be reached in the time it took to ride a horse.

The new home that Li Xiao and Xiao Yanyan built after their marriage was a reconstruction, located in the northern part of Hexi Fort.

It has a large area with many rooms, enough for more than thirty people to live in.

However, when Li Xiao arrived at his doorstep, he saw a carriage and several horses parked in front of the house.

"Someone's come to the house? Whose carriage is this?" Li Xiao asked, calling over a maid.

The maid was a Khitan woman who came with Xiao Yanyan as part of her dowry. More than half of the servants in the courtyard were Xiao Yanyan's dowry servants.

The presence of these people also allowed Xiao Yanyan to firmly control the discourse within Li Xiao's household.

Upon hearing this, the maidservant hurriedly replied in broken Chinese, "Reporting to the Grand Commander, it was sent by the Crown Prince of the Eastern Capital."

It was Li Xiao's request that these servants learn Chinese, as he couldn't accept his home being filled with Khitan language.

They couldn't accept that their child, after being born, first learned the Khitan language.

These Khitan servants have come to Jinzhou, so they should adapt to local customs.

"The Eastern Capital, the First Prince?"

Li Xiao was taken aback. He understood both words, but he didn't recognize them when they were put together.

"Where did this prince come from?" Li Xiao asked, frowning.

Through the servant's explanation, Li Xiao suddenly realized that it was Xiao Dalu, the eldest son of Xiao Simo.

Because Xiao Simo valued his eldest son Xiao Helun and designated him as his heir early on, his other sons did not have much of a presence.

Li Xiao only had a vague impression of Xiao Simo's eldest son.

I remember he appeared once when he married Xiao Yanyan; he was a tall, robust young man.

However, Li Xiao did not have much interaction with him, and they were not very familiar with each other.

I don't quite understand, why did this guy suddenly send someone to Jinzhou?
Then, Li Xiao walked into the courtyard and saw Xiao Yanyan sitting at the head of the main hall, while a middle-aged man sat in the middle of the hall.

Upon seeing Li Xiao return, the man immediately stood up and greeted him respectfully with a smile, "Greetings, Prince Consort."

Although the man was respectful and had a kind face, Li Xiao felt inexplicably uncomfortable when he heard him speak.

I noticed he had no beard when I looked down, and it suddenly dawned on me.

So he was a eunuch. No wonder he spoke so awkwardly.

Xiao Yanyan gently stroked her slightly protruding belly, sat down in a chair, and introduced to Li Xiao, "Husband, this is someone from Consort Wugulun's side."

"They came especially to see us and brought a lot of gifts."

Wugulun is the name of Xiao Dalu's mother, a very uncommon surname, so much so that even Xiao Yanyan didn't know her real name.

Moreover, none of them were willing to address her as "little sister-in-law".

As soon as he finished speaking, the eunuch patted his chest and said to Li Xiao, "This old servant was ordered by Consort Wugulun and the eldest prince to come to Jinzhou specifically to see Her Highness the Princess and her husband."

"Ever since the princess married into Jinzhou, the eldest prince has been very concerned about her, often recalling how the princess took care of him when he was young."

"Grateful and having heard that Her Highness the Princess is pregnant, I specially sought out many precious tonics to help Her Highness recover."

"And it took a lot of effort to find a fine Akhal-Teke horse for the prince consort, which has already been delivered to the backyard."

"If Your Highness has time, you may go for a ride," the old eunuch said with a smile.

Li Xiao glanced at Xiao Yanyan first, and seeing her drinking tea with her head down, he understood what was going on.

He then chuckled softly, "Abu-tou is so thoughtful. It's rare that you still think about the princess and Bendu all the time. You're quite a filial child."

Abutou was Xiao Dalu's nickname, which Li Xiao asked the servant when he entered the house. In Khitan language, it means "first child".

Li Xiao hadn't expected that this guy would actually send over a Ferghana horse.

In later generations, the Akhal-Teke horse only existed in legends, and some people said it was a breed of horse called the Altyn horse.

Li Xiao had never seen a real Akhal-Teke horse in this life, so he was somewhat interested in it.

It must be said that Xiao Dalu's gift really touched Li Xiao's heart.

As a military general, who wouldn't like a good horse?

"The Akhal-Teke horse is indeed very rare. Please thank Consort Wugulun and Abutou for me and the princess."

Afterwards, Li Xiao chatted with the old eunuch for a while, but there was nothing of substance to it. Finally, he left a letter and the old eunuch took his leave.

Li Xiao ordered his men to arrange accommodations for him and his entourage, instructing them to leave the following morning to report back.

After he left, Li Xiao, holding the unopened letter, turned to look at Xiao Yanyan.

But then they discovered that the woman's face was covered in tears.

Tears streamed down her face.

Li Xiao quickly stepped forward, hugged Xiao Yanyan, and gently comforted her, "What's wrong? Aman?"

"Why are you crying all of a sudden?"

It's said that pregnant women experience significant mood swings and can be brought to tears by the smallest things, and Li Xiao completely believed it.

What a strong woman Xiao Yanyan used to be!
Now, she's crying too?

But Xiao Yanyan slightly raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed, and said to Li Xiao, "My older brother, my older brother he~"

"He's probably not going to make it."

"Why is God so cruel to us siblings?"

"I lost my parents right after I was born, and now I have to lose my brother too?"

He's only thirty years old!

Xiao Yanyan nestled in Li Xiao's arms and sobbed.

Li Xiao sighed softly and remained silent, only gently patting her back to offer silent comfort.

It wasn't that Xiao Yanyan received any news from Dongdu.

Rather, anyone with eyes could see what Xiao Dalu meant.

As the eldest princess of the Xiao family, Xiao Yanyan held a very high legal status, while Li Xiao commanded a large army and was the powerful border commander.

Xiao Dalu wanted to seize the position in the Eastern Capital and wanted to win over the couple.

Therefore, Xiao Simo's health must really be failing, otherwise how could he dare to form a faction so openly?
(End of this chapter)