The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 861 Disaster
An old man asked anxiously, "Sir, we are all craftsmen. As our children grow, we will have more and more people to smelt iron. What will we do?"

Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, the government will open a vocational school this year, where children can learn a skill, such as carpentry, blacksmithing, bricklaying, papermaking, brewing, weaving, etc. We will also build a shipbuilding school to learn shipbuilding. This place is by the sea and at the mouth of the Liao River, and shipping will develop greatly in the future, with a huge demand for ships. We will need more than 100,000 shipbuilders alone. Besides, we have plenty of land. If all else fails, we can grow grain, log, or raise livestock. So you don't need to worry at all. Even a thousand years from now, your descendants will live happily."

"Sir, will we still have land?" Deep down, the peasants still longed for land.

Xiao Xia nodded. "The Sui Dynasty has no shortage of land. We just discovered a large uninhabited territory overseas, which is equivalent to several Sui Dynasty territories in size."

The crowd gasped in surprise. The area was equivalent to several uninhabited areas of the Sui Dynasty. How many acres of fertile land must that be?

After visiting the factory, Xiao Xia went to the mine. The mine is located more than 100 miles north of Liaokou County. It is the Anshan Iron Mine of later generations. It has large reserves and is easy to mine, but the quality is low and it is a poor iron ore.

There are currently nearly 40,000 miners working in the mines. These miners come from the peninsula, including people from Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Explosions can be heard constantly coming from the mines.

Now they use blasting, which is very efficient. There are special firearms battalion soldiers responsible for blasting. After an explosion, a large amount of ore falls, and two hundred people from one side rush forward to pick up the ore into their baskets and then carry it down the mountain to be weighed.

Everyone was paid by piecework, and they were paid a certain amount of money for carrying a certain number of kilograms of ore. An average person could earn thirty coins a day, but if they worked hard, they could earn as much as fifty coins a day, which was definitely a high income on the peninsula. Mining was always a high-income industry in the Sui Dynasty. Han Chinese miners could earn five strings of cash a month, which was equivalent to one hundred and sixty coins a day.

The ore will be transported from the mine to the riverbank by a water-powered mine cart that is one mile long, and finally transported by boat to the smelting plant in Liaokou County.

In addition, 10,000 Baekje laborers were responsible for mining coal, continuously transporting iron ore and coal to the smelting plant.

Liaokou County is currently only responsible for crude refining. The crude iron produced is transported to Anyang County in Hebei Province for refining. The refined iron is basically ready for civilian use, but if it is to be used for military purposes, it must be sent to the Ordnance Bureau for further refining into steel.

Standing on high ground, Xiao Xia looked at the miners scurrying about like ants on the mountain. He frowned and said to the head steward, "Why not do it like the mines in Danyang County, where they use steel cables to slide the ore bags down the mountain and have people carry them down and then slowly walk back up? It's too time-consuming."

The head steward hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, the mine has just opened and the facilities are not yet complete, but I have already arranged for procurement. It is estimated that the ore will be transported down the mountain by zipline next month."

Xiao Xia nodded, turned around, and went down the mountain.

Ten days later, Xiao Xia personally led an army of 100,000 to Liucheng County, and entered Khitan territory along the Tuohechen River. The 100,000-strong army carried 100,000 camels to provide logistical support.

The territory of the Khitan was the area around present-day Chifeng and Tongliao, and they were mainly engaged in animal husbandry. Like the nomadic people of northern Mongolia, they lived by following the water and grass.

There are two rivers in the territory of the Khitan: the Luo Ruoshui and the Tuohechenshui. The Tuohechenshui first flows into the Luo Ruoshui, which then continues to flow eastward for hundreds of miles before finally emptying into the Liao River.

As a nomadic people, the Khitan's territory was not very large, and their population was not very large either, with only 15,000 households and less than 60,000 people. However, this people had an aggressive gene in their bones, and were fierce and brutal. Given the opportunity, they would invade other people's lands and plunder people and wealth.

Historically, the Khitan were only a medium-sized tribe before the mid-Tang Dynasty. However, the Khitan seized three opportunities to change the fate of the country. One was the An Lushan Rebellion, in which a large number of Khitans joined An Lushan's army and plundered a huge amount of wealth from the Tang Dynasty, thus becoming a powerful tribe in Liaodong.

The second opportunity came when Yelü Abaoji destroyed the Bohai Kingdom, unified Liaodong, and made the Khitan the rulers of Liaodong.

The third opportunity came when they acquired the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun from Shi Jingtang, which greatly increased the strength of the Khitan and propelled them to become a major northern power capable of rivaling the Northern Song Dynasty. At this time, the Khitan had not even destroyed the Xi tribe, nor controlled the Xi tribe, and had not even benefited from the fall of Goguryeo. Instead, they suffered a devastating plague that decimated their population by 30%, reducing their original population of 100,000 to 60,000. The elderly and weak had almost all perished, leaving them as a small and weak tribe that had just survived the plague.

Yet this weak tribe dared to invade Liucheng County and plunder the wealth and people of the Han people when the new emperor of the Sui Dynasty ascended the throne. This shows that it was inherently aggressive and had nothing to do with being strong or weak.

The Khitan only had 60,000 men, but Xiao Xia led an army of 100,000 to besiege them, clearly aiming to destroy the country.

At this time, Xiao Xia already knew the location of the Khitan tribe, which was in the triangular area between the Luo Ruoshui River and the Tuohechen River. This land was about 100,000 mu, which was very vast and was the heart of the Khitan pasture. The chieftain's tent was located here.

Their old chieftain, Dahe Duluo, died of illness, and the new chieftain, Dahe Mohui, ascended the throne. All the Khitans came to participate, with 60,000 tribesmen gathering and 30,000 large tents assembled. This gave the Sui army the opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

Inside a makeshift military tent, Xiao Xia convened a meeting with three generals: Luo Shixin, Li Jing, and Qu Tutong.

Xiao Xia pointed to the area between the two rivers on the map and said, "The old chieftain of the Khitan has passed away, and a new chieftain has taken over. The entire tribe has gathered in this land. This is our opportunity."

The Luo Ruoshui River is thirty zhang wide and over two zhang deep at its deepest point. The Khitan have a three-zhang wide pontoon bridge across the Luo Ruoshui River. The defeated Khitan cavalry will inevitably flee from here. General Qu Tu can lead ten thousand cavalry to ambush along the northern line of the Luo Ruoshui River. When the enemy escapes from the northern pontoon bridge, annihilate them completely, leaving no survivors.

Qu Tutong bowed respectfully, "Your humble servant obeys!"

Xiao Xia then pointed to the Tuohechen Waterway to the south: "The river to the south is shallower, and it is possible to cross it on horseback. The Khitan chieftain and his army will inevitably cross the river to escape from the south. General Luo Shixin can lead 30,000 infantry and cavalry to surround and annihilate the enemy from the south of the river, and not let a single one of them escape."

Luo Shixin bowed and accepted the order, "Your humble servant obeys!"

After the two generals received their orders and left, Xiao Xia smiled slightly at Li Jing and said, "Let me see Minister Li's prowess in annihilating the Western Turks!"

Li Jing clasped his hands and said, "Sixty thousand people, at most twenty thousand troops, and Your Majesty actually led the expedition in person. That's really giving them too much credit."

Xiao Xia snorted coldly, "This Khitan dared to invade Liucheng County when I ascended the throne. I decided then and there that I would personally destroy this tribe!"

The Sui army appeared dozens of miles away before the Khitans received the news. The new chieftain, Dahemo, was greatly alarmed and hurriedly consulted with dozens of nobles. They unanimously agreed to send troops to resist and buy time for the nobles to escape.

Dahe Mohui immediately ordered his brother Dahe Deqing to lead 20,000 troops to resist the Sui army, buying time for the tribe to retreat.

Hundreds of people rushed between the large tents along the river, constantly sounding the bugle call to assemble the soldiers.

The Khitan people were all soldiers. Young and able-bodied men donned leather armor, took up bows and spears, and rode out to assemble. More and more cavalrymen joined the tide, forming a large army of 24,000 cavalrymen.

Ōga Mohei left 4,000 men to protect himself and the nobles, while his brother Ōga Tokukiyo led 20,000 cavalry to meet the Sui army in battle.

(End of this chapter)