The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 305 Emancipation of Slaves, State-Owned Ranches

On this day, Dexuechan led his followers to the Yelijijin tribe.

This is one of the more powerful tribes in the Hongjila tribe. It originally had four or five thousand members, but now, less than half of the able-bodied herders remain.

Because most of them died or were captured while fighting alongside Temujin at Burkhan Khaldun.

The leader of the Yelijijin tribe received Dexuechan in the yurt. Looking at Dexuechan's haggard face, he sighed and said, "Dexuechan, it's not that I don't want to avenge the men of the tribe."

"The Northern Frontier Army is simply too strong; we are no match for them at all."

"give up!"

"The more people who connect, the faster the Hongjila tribe will be defeated."

"Let's consider preserving some bloodlines for the Hongjila tribe."

The leader of the Yelijijin tribe also wanted to avenge the dead men of his tribe.

However, the scene of the Northern Frontier Army forcefully annihilating Temujin's allied forces at Burkhan Khaldun Mountain shocked the entire northern desert region.

This also made all the tribes realize the reality—the people of the northern frontier would inevitably become the new masters of this grassland.

Like the Turks of old, they rose from the western mountains, grew rapidly, and ruled the entire grassland for a century.

The people of the northern frontier were even more powerful than the Turks of the past.

This was enough to make all the tribal chiefs forget their hatred and choose to bow down and surrender.

"De Xue Chan~"

The leader of the Yelijijin tribe said in a heavy tone, "The rulers of the grasslands have changed one after another: the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Turks, the Khitans, and now a group of people from the northern frontier have come."

"They are just passersby on the grassland; only we are the true masters of this grassland."

"No matter how many years pass, as long as our bloodline continues, the Hongjila tribe will rise one day."

It was clear that the leader of the Yelijijin tribe was prepared to endure for the time being and wait for his descendants to rise again.

De Xuechan remained silent. He understood the reasoning, but his heart was filled with disappointment. In the end, he was unable to avenge his son-in-law, grandsons, and the young men of his clan who had died in battle.

Not only the Hongjila tribe, but all the tribes across the grasslands were scattered and terrified by the people of the northern frontier, and no one dared to resist easily anymore.

"Alright, thank you for your hospitality, Anda."

De Xuechan spoke slowly, his voice filled with deep weariness.

"I will leave with my men first thing tomorrow morning."

"Where do you plan to go?" asked the leader of the Yelijijin tribe.

"Let's hide in the Great Xianbei Mountains. If that doesn't work, we can go to Liaodong. The people of the Northern Frontier can't possibly chase us all the way to the Jin territory."

De Xuechan's tone carried a hint of uncertainty.

“The Jin people are even more hateful than the people of the northern frontier.” The leader of the Yelijijin tribe shook his head.

"If you take people to the Jin territory, you'll probably lose half of your cattle, sheep, and women."

When you go to someone else's territory to make a living, if you don't have enough force to subdue everyone, it's best to find a powerful boss and pay enough protection money to barely gain a foothold in the area.

After all, high-quality pastures are scarce anywhere, and fierce competition is hardly better than that for grasslands.

Upon hearing this, Dexuechan's face showed a bitter expression: "There's no way. If I stay in Balgu, I'm afraid even my daughter won't survive."

The leader of the Yelijijin tribe thought for a moment and said, "Your granddaughter has grown up. If you can offer her to an important figure in the Northern Frontier, perhaps the Northern Frontier will forgive your tribe."

"In addition, there were Temujin's other concubines, who may have already died in battle."

"As his father-in-law, it's enough that you adopted your own daughter. What other reason do you have to help him continue supporting other women?"

"Let them be dealt with by the people of the Northern Frontier; perhaps that will give your tribe a chance to survive."

De Xuechan frowned upon hearing this, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He knew this was a desperate measure to preserve his clan, but now, it seemed he had no better choice.

Silence fell inside the yurt, and the sun outside grew lower and lower.

The herdsmen and slaves drove their cattle and sheep toward the camp in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Zhang Liujin drove the sheep on foot with a whip, herding them one by one into the sheepfold. He shook his sore arms, looked up at the tribal camp in the distance, and suddenly looked surprised.

"Huh? Who are those people?"

In the distance, he saw a group of strangers on the other side of the mountain, busy setting up new yurts, which surprised him greatly.

"Which tribe are they from? Bach, do you know them?" Zhang Liujin asked a slave next to him in broken grassland language.

He was a Han Chinese man from Liaodong, in his early twenties, wearing tattered clothes full of tears, his thin body looking as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

After the Jin dynasty occupied the Central Plains, it relocated a large number of Han Chinese to the area outside the Great Wall in order to populate the Northeast.

However, the Northeast is home to many ethnic groups, including the Khitans, Jurchens, Shiwei, and many Han Chinese who have lived there since the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Liujin and other newcomers did not have a good life in the local area and were ostracized and oppressed at every turn.

Originally an honest and simple man, he could no longer endure the constant harassment from a minor Jurchen official. Under the cover of darkness, he stole a kitchen knife and killed the official and his entire family.

After that, he fled westward into the Great Xianbei Mountains, but unfortunately, he was captured by the Yelijijin tribe and turned from a fugitive into a herdsman.

This is his second year in Yelijijin tribe.

Bach, who herded sheep with him, was also a shepherd, but had been there even longer.

His family had been slaves in the Yelijijin tribe since his grandfather's generation; it was a hereditary slavery system passed down through generations.

On the grasslands, slaves constituted a very large group, making up almost 40 percent of the total population.

These slaves mainly came from several sources: herders who were defeated in wars were plundered and enslaved by enemy tribes.
Debt slaves are individuals who, due to family bankruptcy, voluntarily become slaves in order to obtain food.
Then there are people like Bach, who were hereditary slaves whose ancestors had been slaves for generations.

Bach grew up in the Yelijijin tribe and was naturally more familiar with the other tribes of the Hongjila tribe.

He glanced in the direction Zhang Liujin pointed and then carefully examined the clothing and flags worn by those people.
He nodded firmly and said, "Those must be people from the Bosihu tribe."

"Boskhur tribe?"

A hint of curiosity flashed in Zhang Liujin's eyes: "What are they doing here? And they've brought their whole families with them. It looks like they've moved the entire tribe here?"

He spent two years on the grasslands and understood that the number of cattle and sheep that each pasture could support was limited, and it was rare for two tribes to share a single pasture.

Therefore, Zhang Liujin was full of doubts about the Bosihuer tribe's move to the Yelijijin tribe.

Bach, however, vaguely understood the situation. He looked around and, seeing that no herders were paying attention, said in a slightly uncertain tone, "They're probably here to seek refuge!"

"Refuge?"

Zhang Liujin paused for a moment, then asked, "Is there a drought or a locust plague on the grassland?"

Taking refuge as a whole tribe is no small matter. In his understanding, tribes only leave their homes when they encounter severe natural disasters.

Bach shook his head slightly, lowering his voice even further: "It's not a natural disaster, it's the ravages of war."

“I heard from the slaves who were in charge of transporting supplies a few days ago that Temujin’s army was defeated and many people were killed by the northern people at Burkhan Khaldun. Even he himself was captured.”

He paused, then continued, "The Boskhur tribe and Temujin's family are staunch in-laws, with a very good relationship. They must have sent quite a few people to fight alongside Temujin this time."

"Now that Temujin has been defeated, they are probably worried about retaliation from the people of the northern frontier, so they have quickly migrated here to hide."

Zhang Liujin was shocked after hearing this.

Are the people of northern Xinjiang really that amazing?
Even Temujin was defeated by them?

He only learned of the existence of the Northern Frontier Army after arriving in the Hongjila tribe.

I heard from the people in the tribe that they are descendants of the Liao Dynasty, and they fought their way back from the west. They are very powerful fighters.

There was once a tribe in the west called the Naiman tribe, whose power was so great that even the Hongjila tribe had to look up to them. But such a tribe was wiped out by the people of the northern frontier.

Later, a tribal chief named Temujin, ignorant of his own limitations, wanted to be an enemy of the people of the northern frontier. He even came to the Yelijijin tribe in person and persuaded the chief to lend him several hundred able-bodied herdsmen.

Zhang Liujin's family, a minor noble family, had two sons who followed Temujin to Burkhan Khaldun. Did they both die in battle?
No wonder he had seen this family with mournful faces and heard the woman sobbing every now and then these past two days; that was the reason.

Thinking of this, Zhang Liujin's heart jumped.

He asked somewhat nervously, "Will the people from the northern frontier attack the Yelijijin tribe?"

"More than half of the able-bodied men in our tribe have left, and what's left are either the elderly, women, children, or slaves. If the Northern Frontier Army really attacks, what will we use to fight?"

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and his voice trembled slightly: "What if the people of the Northern Frontier kill us all?"

Bach's face also turned somewhat pale. He had grown up on the grasslands and had heard too many cruel stories about war, and was well aware of the brutality of the Northern Frontier Army.

His lips moved, but he could only shake his head with a hint of confidence and say, "It's alright. If the people from the Northern Frontier really attack, we'll just surrender."

"We were slaves to begin with, so what difference does it make who we serve?"

"The people in northern Xinjiang also need us to herd sheep for them."

While they were talking, the two finished all their work, ate the two pieces of dried, hard milk skin that their host had given them, and mixed them with wild vegetables.

He could barely eat half a meal, which was why Zhang Liujin never ran away.

He couldn't go back to the Jin Dynasty. Staying in the Hongjila tribe would at least keep him from starving. Otherwise, if he wandered around the grasslands alone, he would eventually be mistaken for a sheep thief and killed.

Afterwards, Zhang Liujin and Bach lay down on the grass and fell asleep.

No one noticed that on a distant hill, several figures dressed in white armor lingered for a long time before quietly leaving.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Dexuechan led his followers to pack their belongings and prepare to leave Yelijijin's tribe.

Just then, a deafening sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from afar, like muffled thunder rolling across the grassland.

The "thump thump thump" sound grew closer and closer, and the ground trembled slightly in response.

"what is that?"

Some herders looked up into the distance, and slowly their expressions turned to horror, as if they had witnessed something terrifying.

Then a terrified scream rang out, "It's the Northern Frontier Army! The Northern Frontier Army is attacking!"

The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw a white torrent appearing on the distant horizon, with rolling iron cavalry and dust obscuring the sun—it was the Northern Frontier Army.

They arrived so quickly and so suddenly that they caught both tribes completely off guard.

The tribesmen brought by Yelijijin and Dexuechan were instantly thrown into panic, with cries and screams rising and falling.

In a panic, the able-bodied soldiers of the Yelijijin tribe mounted their horses and tried to take up arms to fight back.

But they hadn't gone far when a dense barrage of arrows came from the Northern Frontier army, the sound of arrows whistling through the air was deafening.

The resisting tribal soldiers were hit by arrows and fell from their horses, their screams echoing one after another.

"Kill~"

Da Hu, dressed in white cloth armor with red trim, the white tassel on his helmet fluttering in the wind, charged forward, brandishing his spear.

They had just conquered the previous Hongjila tribe and learned from the prisoners that Dexechan's tribe had only recently left and might have already reached the Yelijijin tribe.

Thus, this surprise attack occurred.

"Scatter! Don't let a single one escape!" Big Tiger roared.

The northern cavalry instantly transformed into a giant net, rushing towards the various camps of the Yelijijin tribe.

Faced with the powerful attack from the Northern Frontier Army, only a minority of the tribal soldiers dared to draw their swords; the vast majority were in chaos, hastily mounting their warhorses and fleeing in all directions.

In the chaos, Temujin's wife Börte and his daughters were terrified.

Hoelun, having weathered many storms, forced himself to remain calm and grabbed Börte, shouting, "Quick! Take the children and go!" "Temujin is already gone; don't let his last children die before our eyes."

Temujin's illegitimate sons were all quite young; the eldest were Börte's two daughters.

The eldest daughter was Huozhenbieqi, and the third daughter was Alahaibieji.

Arakhbegi was the prototype of Hua Zheng, and he was given the important task of overseeing the country during Temujin's western expedition.

She was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a lithe figure like a young doe, and her cheeks still had baby fat. At this moment, she was biting her lip, her eyes filled with fear and surprise.

But he pretended to be strong, holding a scimitar, and said to his family, "Run to the dense forest to the east. There are many trees there, and the cavalry can't catch up."

They rode their horses forward as fast as they could, but a cavalry unit from the northern frontier had already caught up with them, the sound of their iron hooves pounding on the grass like a death knell.

Soon, another cavalry unit bypassed them and formed an encirclement.

A soldier from the Kereit tribe in northern Xinjiang shouted excitedly, "We've captured Temujin's wives and concubines!"

"Ho ho ho ho~"

"Hahaha~"

The northern frontier army rode around them on horseback, making continuous "hoohoohoo" noises, as if they were toying with their prey.

Börte and her daughters were trapped in the middle, trembling with fear, their faces as pale as paper. They didn't even have the strength to cry out. They could only huddle together tightly, watching everything before them in despair.

The war ended shortly afterward.

Zhang Liujin, like the others, squatted on the ground, looking in horror at the Northern Frontier soldiers riding around him.

All the prisoners of war were divided into two groups, men and women on one side and women on the other. Anyone who made a move would be met with a barrage of arrows from the Northern Frontier Army.

Whether they were former slaves or former nobility of the grasslands, they all trembled like livestock at this moment.

"Oh no, I jinxed it. I shouldn't have said those things yesterday." Zhang Liujin muttered to Bach, on the verge of tears.

Bach, equally frightened, muttered, "The people of the Northern Frontier won't kill us."

"They still need us to herd sheep."

“If you kill us all, there will be no one to watch the cattle and sheep on the pastures, and if the wolves come…”

But at that very moment, a sharp whistling sound rang out, and an arrow fell from the sky, landing at the feet of the two men.

The two were terrified and collapsed to the ground, watching the trembling arrows, cold sweat pouring down their faces.

Zhang Liujin cautiously raised his head and looked into the distance.

A young general dressed in white armor was seen holding a large bow, raising it into the air and shooting an arrow in a parabolic arc. The arrow fell from the sky and landed right next to Zhang Liujin's feet.

Immediately afterwards, another general dressed in white armor waved at him.

"You, yes, it's you, come here with the arrow."

Zhang Liujin pointed to his nose, on the verge of tears.

He glanced at Bach with a tragic expression, then resolutely stood up, arrow in hand.

"Brother, if I die, remember to collect my body!"

"I don't want your grassland people's sky burial, just dig a deep pit and bury me..."

"Brother has never tasted what it's like to be with a woman. If you have the chance, find a young and beautiful female corpse and bury her with you."

Regardless of whether Bach agreed or not, Zhang Liujin took the arrows and went outside the crowd.

At this moment, the Northern Frontier Commandant, who came from the Kereit tribe, was flattering Da Hu, saying, "Commander, you are a master archer; none of your three arrows hit the mark."

Da Hu shook his head dismissively: "They're just lucky; God is on their side."

The three arrows that Da Hu shot were meant to select three people to do the work.

Whoever it shoots next to will be the one it chooses; if it hits a person, then that person is unlucky.

After all, in this era, human life is as worthless as grass.

The life of a slave is not even worth as much as the arrow shot by the tiger.

Furthermore, who are these people?

Prisoners of war from the Northern Frontier Army had no human rights.

"The rest is up to you," Da Hu said to the captain.

"Don't worry, Commander, I will find every single noble in this tribe, without missing a single one," the captain said excitedly.

He was originally a prisoner of war of the Kereit tribe, and through his military achievements, he was promoted to the rank of captain in the northern frontier.

And in this battle in the northern desert, he made great contributions once again.

Da Hu has decided to promote him to deputy commander of the militia.

Then he beckoned Zhang Liujin and the other two over and instructed them, "Go and select all the Yans among these prisoners of war."

“Regardless of gender or age, anyone born into the Nayan family must be included.”

"Anyone who misses one and I find out will be torn apart by five horses."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Liujin and the other two breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Although he had only been there for two years, he at least knew which people in the tribe were nobles, which were commoners, and which were slaves.

So the three of them nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes~"

Soon, nobles were selected one by one, including men, women, and children.

The Northern Frontier Army doesn't care about these things; they only care about class.

Slaves should be freed, commoners should be brought under our control, but nobles must be overthrown.

These people once controlled most of the tribe's production resources, ruled over almost all the slaves, and enjoyed great prestige among the common people.

Therefore, it is necessary to completely destroy these nobles and establish a new order for the rule of the northern frontier.

As these nobles were being selected, the Northern Frontier Army also told other slaves and commoners that if they discovered any other nobles hiding, they could secretly report them to them.

There is a reward.

This made Zhang Liujin and his two companions even more anxious, fearing that they might have missed someone and that someone else might have reported them, in which case they would be torn apart by five horses.

"Let me go! Help!"

"Spare me, I surrender, I am willing to submit to Tengri Khan."

"We have nothing to do with Temujin; we were forced into this situation by them."

……

More than a thousand nobles were selected from the tribes of Yelijijin and Dexuechan.

There were only about two hundred men; the rest were their wives, concubines, and children.

The strong have more mating rights and resources for survival, while slaves like Zhang Liujin have nothing.

These are all very common things, it's just not very fair.

The Northern Frontier Army is now working to resolve these injustices.

“I am the leader of the Yelijijin tribe. I want to see your general. I am willing to lead my tribe to submit to Tengri Khan.”

The leader of the Yelijijin tribe also shouted nervously.

Before this, he thought that the people of the Northern Frontier would definitely make an exception for them, the nobles, in order to consolidate their rule over the grasslands.

But now, things seem a bit off!
“Anda, it seems the people from the Northern Frontier are trying to kill us!” Dexuechan exclaimed in shock.

The Northern Frontier Army separated all the nobles, men and women, young and old, and an ominous premonition grew in his heart.

Sure enough, the next moment, a hail of arrows came flying in, and screams rang out from the ranks of the noblemen.

"Ahhhhh~"

“The people of the northern frontier want to kill us all! Warriors, fight them to the death!”

"Kill them!"

"Ah, my eyes~"

The leader of the Yelijijin tribe stared in disbelief as these nobles were slaughtered. These were his brothers and relatives, and now they were falling one by one in front of him.

His whole body was ice cold, as if his blood had frozen.

I never expected that the Northern Frontier Army would be so ruthless.

They should all be killed.

“People of the Northern Frontier, you have wantonly killed the nobles of the grasslands. You will be punished by the Eternal Heaven.”

"You demons, just wait! The grasslands will soon be in chaos, and your rule over them will not last..."

Just as the leader of the Yelijijin tribe was cursing, an arrow struck him directly in the chest, and he fell heavily into a pool of blood.

Soon, the screams gradually faded away.

Meanwhile, the herdsmen and slaves in the distance trembled at the sight of the bloody scene, some even wetting their pants in fear.

And this is exactly the effect that Da Hu wanted to achieve.

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

Only by letting these people see firsthand the consequences of opposing the Northern Frontier will they obediently follow orders and dare not cause any trouble in the future.

At this moment, Da Hu rode up to them, with blood and corpses scattered all around him. His cold gaze swept over the herdsmen and slaves.

They all lowered their heads, not daring to look at him.

"The Hongjila tribe is Temujin's ally and has always opposed our northern frontier," Da Hu shouted loudly, while the translator beside him translated his words into the steppe language.

“The entire Hongjila tribe should have been exterminated.”

"But in my northern border region, grudges and debts are clearly distinguished."

"This commander knows that all the mistakes were made by those Nayans; you were just following orders."

"Therefore, I have decided to only punish the ringleaders and spare you ordinary herdsmen and slaves."

"From now on, all pastures on the Barga Grassland will be public pastures in northern Xinjiang."

"And you, whether commoners or slaves, will from now on have only one identity."

“Those are the common people of my northern frontier.”

"You will graze sheep and horses on this grassland for my northern frontier and receive payment."

"Once we've saved enough money, we can rent pastures in northern Xinjiang and graze our own livestock..."

Da Hu briefly explained the policies of the northern frontier to the herdsmen and slaves.

Zhang Liujin and the others listened with their eyes shining. They were free?

They no longer had to be slaves, and they no longer had to worry about not having enough to eat.

They can work for people in northern Xinjiang in exchange for wages.

Most importantly, Zhang Liujin felt a strong sense of familiarity when he heard Da Hu's accent!
(End of this chapter)