Tiger Guards

Chapter 507 A Meritorious Deed for Generations to Come
As darkness faded, the sky gradually brightened.

The bloodstains on the snow, invisible at night, are all the more conspicuous in the daytime.

On the walls of Fushi City, Xianbei, Qiang nobles, and chieftains observed the area outside the city, where the Han army was still cleaning up the battlefield.

The Uyghurs recognized the sled at a glance. They were quite familiar with sleds. Even if the Xianbei people, who lived in the Great Xianbei Mountains, did not make special sleds, they would use sled-like devices to haul wood and supplies.

He just hadn't expected that the Han army's sleds were like vehicles, or more accurately, carriages with the hub structure removed and sleds added.

In addition to cleaning up the battlefield and collecting supplies and heads, the Han army also made sure to identify the wounded Qiang soldiers on the battlefield.

Some lightly wounded Qiang soldiers would be organized and given armor, red headscarves, or crimson shawls to help clean up the battlefield.

The other Qiang soldiers, regardless of the severity of their injuries, were loaded onto sleds and transported south.

Only completely dead corpses are decapitated.

The incorporated Qiang soldiers were responsible for deeper resource recycling, such as stripping the winter clothing off the corpses and transporting it to the camp by sled for storage.

They would also use sleds to transport various headless corpses to the trenches that were being dug.

Horizontal timbers were laid across the trench, and flammable firewood was piled underneath.

Above the crossbeam were layers upon layers of Qiang corpses, suggesting a mass cremation.

The Qiang people on the city wall did not have any resistance to this, their only dissatisfaction was that the dead had their heads cut off and could not be cremated together.

But they also felt it was reasonable for the defeated side to be treated this way.

On the contrary, the Xianbei people felt somewhat uncomfortable, as they did not like cremation.

When the Uyghur chieftain Dou saw the sled caravan transporting the wounded Qiang people, both lightly and heavily, far south along the imperial road, he asked the chieftains of the Qiang tribes on either side, "Is the Han army deliberately showing us this outside the city, or will they really treat the captured Qiang people?"

The chieftain, short and stocky with dark skin, answered matter-of-factly, "The Han people are vicious and wish they could kill us all. How could they possibly treat the wounded Qiang people? I doubt they would care for the wounded among their own soldiers."

"That's what I think too. This is a psychological warfare tactic by the Han army, and we shouldn't take it too seriously."

Uyghur Dou was also afraid that the Qiang people, who were the largest group at the time, would sell him out. He looked around and warned, "The Great Chief has led 30,000 elite cavalry from the Qin Straight Road and will soon pass through Yulin Pass and arrive here. What we need to do is not to repel the Han army, but to invade Guanzhong and Taiyuan. I have heard that Grand Marshal Zhao has a house built of gold bricks. The reason he has so many troops is because he has even more wealth to support such a large and elite army."

Other Qiang leaders also spoke out in succession, expressing their support for the Uyghur leader's views.

Even if the Qiang people practiced both farming and herding, they could not understand how the annual salary of two hundred mu of military farmland could make a young and strong man wear heavy armor, travel thousands of miles to various places, and fight to the death without thinking.

The Qiang people couldn't understand it, and the Xianbei people couldn't understand it either.

In the eyes of the Xianbei people, who were engaged in fishing, hunting, nomadic life, and also learned to farm, two hundred acres of land was a very small piece of land. No one would risk their life or fight for a pasture of two hundred acres.

The fact that Zhao Da Sima was able to rise to prominence and lead his newly formed army to fight in various places shows that the treasure he unexpectedly acquired was of great value and could inspire the Han people to follow and serve him.

Uyghur beans were also very interested in such a large sum of money.

His family was one of the first Xianbei tribes to migrate westward, taking over a key western passage of the grassland trade route and having a deep understanding of the allure of gold.

With enough gold, he could persuade merchants from the Western Regions, itinerant traders from various tribes on the grasslands, and even powerful Han and Hu tribes in Liangzhou to sell him strong war slaves, armor, and superior weapons.

For the Uyghurs, who controlled the vital trade routes across the grasslands, possessing gold meant possessing everything.

As a Uyghur chieftain who has been managing the Helan Mountains in the northern part of Beidi County for two generations, he can comply with the arrangements of the Great Chief, but don't expect him to actively deplete his own tribe and slaves.

He was appointed as the vanguard general not because the leader trusted him, but because his tribe was the most powerful in the Helan Mountains area!
If the tribe's strength declines due to losses in war, the great chieftain Kui Tou will not help him restore the tribe. Other Xianbei tribes that already have grazing conflicts will also provoke him, causing him even more losses.

Therefore, the Uyghur general Doule did not move his troops and waited for Kui Tou's main army.

The chieftain, Kui Tou, lacked sufficient prestige, so he naturally couldn't expect to gain the respect or awe of regional leaders like the Uyghur Dou. Kui Tou didn't even have the influence to reward or punish the Uyghur Dou; ordinary fine horses, beautiful women, and treasures held no key significance for a regional leader like the Uyghur Dou.

Those who can obtain things through other means are not so interested in receiving rewards from the leader.

Unless Uyghur Dou incurred the wrath of the masses, no matter how much the masses were angered, Kui Tou could not possibly use this as a pretext to swallow up the He Tu Lin tribe, where Uyghur Dou was located.

Uyghur leader Dou obeyed the chieftain's orders and led his troops south for the sake of profit. However, if the interests changed, Uyghur leader Dou would also change his stance.

There was nothing that could be done; after all, Kui Tou's grandfather, the powerful ruler Tan Shihuai, died suddenly in middle age.

If Tanshihuai were given another ten or twenty years to emulate the Xiongnu in establishing a comprehensive official system, his descendants could use official positions to win over noble leaders of all ranks and continuously strengthen the influence of the royal court.

Unfortunately, Tan Shihuai died too soon, and his division of the Xianbei into three parts was merely for military purposes, imitating the Xiongnu.

Now that things have developed to this point, Uyghur Dou definitely wants to become the leader of the West. Will the Great Chief, Kui Tou, agree?
Kui Tou also has his cousin Qian Man and his younger brother Bu Du Gen. None of these people have become leaders of the three tribes, so how could they possibly agree to let a Uyghur from another clan become the leader of the west?
Now that you've become the leader of the West, do you still dream of becoming the leader of all three factions in your lifetime?
Not only does the Grand Chief oppose powerful local leaders becoming the leaders of the Three Departments, but the leaders of all ranks within the Three Departments' regions will also oppose the birth of a new leader for the Three Departments.

The chieftain, Kui Tou, resides in Shuofang, far removed from the other tribes, allowing everyone to enjoy a relatively carefree life.

If the three tribal leaders are reinstated under the Great Chief, then the vast majority of tribal leaders will be drawn into conflict.

The climate is already harsh, and everyone is struggling to make ends meet; there's really no time for power struggles or infighting.

Because of the deficiencies in the system, no one after Tanshihuai had the prestige to continue the Xianbei's official system, so it became what it is today. It has the mobilization potential to crush the Xiongnu and the western Qiang, but it is unable to unify and utilize it.

While the Uyghurs and others were discussing the matter, few cared about the Qiang people who had died or been captured the previous night.

Even the Qiang leader wasn't too heartbroken.

Nomadic life is inherently harsh; where would they find so much spare compassion?
Those who are compassionate and deeply moved would be eliminated by nomadic life; those who have survived to this day are basically heartless, and are exceptionally numb, cold, and rational when it comes to things like death and accidents.

The captured Qiang soldiers, who had been forgotten by them and were considered part of the Han army's psychological warfare strategy, were brought to the Sheyan royal court by sleds to receive emergency treatment.

Previously, lightly wounded enemy soldiers obtained on the battlefield could be of use; now, heavily wounded enemy soldiers can also be of use.

The wounded enemy soldiers are of even greater significance to the medics who are gaining experience.

Unlike their own wounded, who are treated with conservative methods, which hinders the development of medical skills.

People who can adapt to surgery naturally possess a curious and inquisitive nature.

Therefore, the Qiang people who were brought to the royal court alive, whether lightly or severely wounded, were very valuable, even those who bled to death or froze to death on the way.

Zhao Ji had no interest in studying the detailed process of medical development; as long as medical technology continued to develop, he was willing to accept it.

On the battlefield, finishing off wounded soldiers, whether lightly or severely wounded, is indeed wasteful and inhumane.

In the winter season, collecting wounded enemy soldiers for the medics to practice on was already a great act of kindness.

The light of benevolence shines not only in this world, but will also benefit countless people in future generations.

While the sled team transported wounded enemy soldiers southward, they also transported loads of captured heads to the royal court.

Before Zhao Ji could give any instructions, Liu Qubei, Xiutu Dada, and others organized the Righteous Knights and pressed northward.

They are not afraid of battle.

What I fear is only failure.

(End of this chapter)