The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 109: Winter is coming, and the fields are full of starving people

The Wuliji tribe is one of the largest tribes in the "Wusun clan" of Jinzhou.

The population is over a thousand, and there are about four hundred men who can fight.

The leader was called Wuliji, who was known for his greed and ferocity. In the past, he had many conflicts with Han Chinese strongholds.

Their purpose of appearing in Sanhe Fort this time was very simple, which was for food.

At this moment, in Wuliji's team, a burly man with a fleshy face was riding on a black warhorse, looking at the young and strong people in Hexi Fort from afar.

He is Bat Uliji, the leader of the Uliji tribe.

In the previous war with the Naiman people, he fought bravely and made great contributions, and was appointed as a thousand households by Xiao Simo.

In Jinzhou, he is considered a powerful local lord.

Therefore, at this moment, he was fully qualified to look down on the Hexi cavalry led by the old man: "A bunch of old guys and a bunch of young children dare to come and steal our food?"

Then, he turned to his men and said, "Tell them that this place has been occupied by our Wuliji tribe. If you know what's good for you, get out of here immediately, or you will all die here today!"

When his men went to issue a warning to Hexi Fort, Uliji recalled a scene that happened not long ago.

That day, the high priest found him and conveyed God's will.

There is only one sentence: "Winter is coming, and the fields are full of starving people."

According to the high priest's explanation, it was because there was too much killing in the northern border during that year. The war between the Liao army and the Naiman people caused great suffering to the people and angered the gods.

The gods then punished them by causing heavy white snow to fall for five months in winter.

By then, the northern border will be covered with white disasters, and all people and animals will be wiped out.

Uliji was completely frightened by the scene described by the high priest.

If Jinzhou really had heavy snow for five consecutive months, then their Uliji tribe would definitely be frozen into ice sculptures on the grassland, or starve to death.

Therefore, in order to survive this disaster, Wuliji could only store more food and prepare firewood.

Coincidentally, at this time, someone told him that a Han Chinese fort called Sanhebao was exterminated by the Karluk people.

Their food became ownerless and could be harvested for the winter.

Therefore, in order to ensure the survival and continuation of the tribe, Wuliji brought his people to Sanhe Fort.

Looking at the Han cavalry in the distance, Wuliji thought to himself, "I hope these Han people will know better."

Because if there had not been the predicted heavy snowstorm, he really would not have been willing to come to the Han people's territory.

There is nothing else to do, it’s just because a ruthless person appeared among the Han people.

Li Xiao, deputy governor of Jinzhou.

Although this man was young, he was brave and good at fighting. He led his army to hunt down Buyiluhei Khan and even captured the Naiman prince Qu Chulu alive.

He can definitely be called a fierce man with great military achievements.

If it wasn't necessary, Wuliji didn't want to offend Li Xiao.

But there is no way!

Winter is approaching, and not only the Uliji tribe needs food, but other tribes do too.

With the food from Sanhe Fort, Wuliji was able to show favor to the few centurions who had just come under his control and make them work for him.

And this is also the reason why he dared to offend Li Xiao.

Although Li Xiao is the deputy governor and is brave and good at fighting, he, Wuliji, is not someone to be trifled with.

As one of the eight thousand households in Jinzhou, even Xiao Linta was polite to him and kept doing him favors to win him over.

Li Xiao is a deputy governor, and although his official position is higher than his own, he is still not mature enough to completely control him.

Wuliji thought he was qualified to bargain with Li Xiao.

Most importantly, he had received a promise from Jinzhou Governor Xiao Linta that he would delay Li Xiao in Wuya Village.

Let him take away the food from Sanhe Fort as soon as possible.

This was also the condition he had agreed upon with Xiao Linta. He wanted food from Sanhe Fort, and the price was that he would stand completely on Xiao Linta's side in the future.

In fact, Uliji had no choice at all.

Li Xiao is a Han Chinese and has his own base in Jinzhou. Even if these nomadic tribes defect to him, they will not be taken seriously.

On the other hand, Xiao Linta, as an airborne faction, urgently needs to seek support from local forces.

Following Xiao Linta will actually be more promising.

Therefore, Wuliji no longer cared about Li Xiao's attitude. Even if he didn't offend him now, they would definitely fall out in the future.

The political battle has begun in the Golden State.

There was no way Wuliji could hide.

As he was thinking this, the person Uliji sent to deliver the message came back. Seeing his angry look, Uliji knew that the negotiations had broken down.

"Chief, these Han people are very arrogant."

"They say we are bandits and robbers. Sanhebao is their Han territory and all the food here belongs to them. We can't take a single grain away today."

Hearing this, Uliji shook his head and sneered.

"Robbers? Bandits?"

"Haha, you're really good at judging people."

They came to Sanhe Fort to commit robbery and banditry!
"We will definitely take all this food away. Do you want to stop us?"

"Just these bearded soldiers?"

It’s not that Uliji looks down on them.

If Li Xiao was here today, he would not say anything and would just take his men away.

But Wuliji really doesn't take this group of old-fashioned things seriously.

After all, most of the soldiers under his command were warriors who had just survived a great battle with the Naimans and a sea of blood and corpses.

"Etulu, take your men and drive these Han people away."

"Amo, take the other people and the women and children of the tribe to harvest the grain."

"Work day and night. Within three days, you must harvest all the grain from this village and take it away."

Wuliji gave instructions to his men.

Soon, the soldiers of the Uliji tribe began to move and rushed towards the people of Hexi Fort.

When the old man saw this, his expression became very cold and he stopped everyone from preparing to fight.

"Where there is life, there is hope."

"Stop right there, don't go looking for death." The old man shouted.

Although they are not afraid of death, they cannot actively seek death.

The distance was too far to see clearly before. After the soldiers of the Wuliji tribe gathered, the old man realized why there were so many people in this tribe.
All the young and strong men are here?
There were at least three or four hundred of them, more than two hundred of them.

You should know that the main force of the Jinzhou Han tribe is still staying in Wuya Village for reorganization, and the rest are a group of old, weak, women and children.

The old man thought that the situation in the Uliji tribe should be similar.

But unexpectedly, the other side's young and strong men all came back.

"Something is wrong." The old man muttered to himself.

Is this really such a coincidence?
It feels like I'm being targeted.

So, facing nearly three hundred murderous enemies, the old man indeed gave the order to retreat.

The most important thing to do at this time is to preserve your strength, rather than engage in meaningless and fruitless fighting.

Anyway, the Uliji tribe’s goal is to get these foods, and they can’t take them away in a short time.

The old man decided to fight them on.

"Damn it, at worst I can just burn all the food. I won't let these bastards get away with it."

The old man said viciously.

Otherwise, if these Uliji people really stole the food, once they tasted the sweetness, they would definitely come back to rob more fiercely next year.

These nomadic tribes must know that the Han people are tough and will never let others take away something they cannot keep, even if it means destroying it.

In the following period, the Hexi cavalry and the troops of the Uliji tribe launched a guerrilla warfare around Sanhe Fort.

One side chases, the other side runs.

After the Uliji tribe stopped, the Hexi cavalry quietly returned again. Instead of fighting with the main force of the enemy, they attacked the ordinary herdsmen who were harvesting grain.

Specifically target weak points.

The Uliji tribe was very depressed.

"Chief, if this continues, we will definitely not be able to harvest all the food in three days." The subordinates complained.

Wuliji also had a heavy expression on his face, and the pressure in his heart was growing.

Because the reorganization of the Jinzhou Han tribe is about to be completed and Li Xiao is about to return, Xiao Linta can't delay for much longer.

And at this moment, the high priest brought him a piece of news.

"The gods have told me the origins of this Han cavalry. They came from Hexi Fort, forty miles away."

"And at this moment, there are not many soldiers and horses left in Hexi Fort."

"Great Wuliji Yehu, all you need to do is lead a cavalry unit and make a gesture of attacking Hexi Fort. These Han people will surely retreat without a fight."

One of the important reasons why Uliji felt that the Han people were so difficult to deal with was that he did not understand the situation among the Han people.

I can't even tell the difference between this fort and that village.

Even in his opinion, all Han people are Li Xiao's people.

Now that he knew the Han people's weaknesses, he no longer hesitated.

He left two hundred soldiers to continue guarding the women while they harvested crops, and led two hundred men to Hexi Fort himself.

Sure enough, after discovering Uliji's intention, the old man instantly lost his composure.

"Damn it, how did the Wuliji people know about our Hexi Fort?"

The old man looked fierce and very angry.

What he hated most in his life was someone using their family to threaten him.

But there was no way, the enemy had already discovered his weakness.

There were only a group of women and children left in Hexi Fort. Once Wuliji and his men arrived, Hexi Fort would be in real danger.

"Go, go back."

The old man had no choice but to take his men back to Hexi Fort first.

There was no choice but to rob the Uliji cavalry halfway, as that would have been meaningless.

Instead, they chose to hold on to Hexi Fort, relying on its defensive fortifications to stop the enemy.

Even if Wuliji dared to send people to attack, he could definitely destroy them several times over.

However, Wuliji obviously would not attack Hexi Fort, his purpose was only food.

But when he looked at the endless golden wheat fields outside Hexi Fort, he still sighed.

"Are the Han people really a race blessed by the gods?"

“Why can they grow crops and raise sheep at the same time?”

Grain and cattle and sheep complement each other.

In winter, the nomadic tribes' cattle and sheep were frozen to death in large numbers, but the Han people stored large amounts of food in their houses and had no worries about food and drink.

Although nomadic people also grow crops, their methods are quite primitive.

Just sprinkle the seeds on the ground and leave them there, then come back next year to harvest them.

The result is obvious. The output is too low and can only barely fill the gaps.

Therefore, Wuliji was very envious of the Han people's farming skills.

"In the future, we should let every member of our tribe learn how to farm, so that we won't have to worry about food."

Wuliji said in a firm voice.

At this moment, he simply saw that the Han people were growing crops and had no worries about food and drink.

But they never thought about why many Han people in the Central Plains also starved to death.

Once the nomadic people started farming, they still couldn't get enough food.

This goal is too ambitious and is just Uliji's idea.

The most important thing now is to harvest the grain in Sanhe Fort.

"It's a pity about the food in Hexi Fort." Wuliji said softly.

Because no one took care of the farmland in Sanhebao, a lot of weeds had grown there long ago.

The growth of grain is far inferior to that of the grain fields in Hexibao.

So, looking at the endless farmland south of Hexibao, Wuliji's eyes were full of covetousness.

In the end, he decided to assign one hundred soldiers to harvest the grain in Hexi Fort, and the remaining one hundred people would continue to block Hexi Fort to prevent the people inside from launching a sneak attack.

In three days, we will harvest as much as we can and return to Sanhe Fort immediately when the time is up.

They took the harvested grain and prepared to go back to spend the winter.

(End of this chapter)