The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 146: The Jingnan Rebellion Ends, the Western Expedition Ends

"What did you say?"

In the magnificent yet oppressive tent, Yelu Zhilugu's eyes widened as he stared at a soldier in front of him who looked like a lost dog.

He was in a state of disarray, and repeated in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty."

"General Xiao Linta's army... was completely annihilated!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yelu Zhilugu stood up suddenly and slammed his hands on the table. With a "crash", all the pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the table fell to the ground.

"Xiao Lin Ta!"

"How did he fight this battle? He was so incompetent that he allowed our army to suffer such heavy losses."

At this moment, Yelu Zhilugu's chest was heaving violently, he was breathing heavily, his eyes were bloodshot, like a mad beast.

That’s an army of more than 10,000!
It also includes Iqta cavalry, 5,000 Kangli cavalry, and 3,000 Xiongbu Pi Shi troops.

These are all the elite forces in the royal court army.

However, they were defeated in one battle by Xiao Linta, which made Yelu Zhilugu very angry.

He paced back and forth in the tent, his boots pounding the ground, each step filled with uncontrollable anger.

"Damn it, damn it, Xiao Linta simply deserves to die."

"If I had known he was so useless, I should have killed him earlier."

"Why do you have to bring trouble to my royal army?"

He cursed loudly like a shrew, and the tragic scene of Xiao Linta's army's destruction kept appearing in his mind.

"Xiao Linta, Xiao Linta, I trusted you so much, but you gave me this result!"

Yelu Zhilugu was very angry, but Yelu Wusitu next to him was even angrier.

His face was ashen, his teeth were clenched tightly, his cheeks were bulging, and veins on his forehead were bulging like angry little snakes.

"Zhilugu, this is the general you carefully selected?"

"My five thousand cavalrymen were handed over to him, but they were all annihilated?"

"How do you want me to explain this to the people of the tribe?"

His voice was low and suppressed, full of anger and unwillingness, and he looked at Yelu Zhilugu with a fiery gaze.

This time he marched south, he mobilized 20,000 cavalrymen, but after a series of battles, there are only more than 10,000 left.

Such a devastating loss cannot be described as a serious injury.

You know, there are many tribes among the Kangli people.

Yelu Wusitu is not without enemies. Now that he is severely injured, his enemies will definitely not miss this opportunity.

"Once we recover the northern border, I will personally lead my army north to help you suppress the other tribes and establish the Kangli Khanate."

Yelu Zhilugu took a deep breath, tried to calm himself down, and gently comforted Wu Situ, but the anger on his face was still difficult to conceal.

His words made Yelu Wusi sneer.

"Recover the northern border? What a joke!"

"Where do you have a chance to recapture the northern border now?"

"Xiao Linta ruined the promising situation. The rebels will definitely defend around the Ili River next."

"The weather is getting hotter and the river is rising rapidly, making it more difficult for our army to cross the river."

"Instead of fantasizing about the army crossing the Ili River, you might as well pray that Xiao Simo will die and the northern border will split on its own." Yelu Wusitu sneered.

He no longer had any hope for this war, or rather, he had never had any hope for Yelu Zhilugu himself.

Expect him to lead the army in person and help you establish the Khanate?

Don't believe him.

As he spoke, Yelu Wusi suddenly stood up, his face becoming even colder and more dejected.

He said in a deep voice: "Enough Kangli people have died for your throne."

"I have fulfilled my promise, now it is time for you to fulfill yours."

Yelu Zhilugu's expression also turned cold, and he glared at her, "Wusitu, what do you mean?"

"Hmph, our Kangli people's war ends here." Yelu Wusitu said coldly.

"Kangli warriors, you can't keep dying."

The death of nearly 10,000 Kangli soldiers was a heavy blow to Yelu Wusitu.

He not only had to deal with the suspicion of the internal leaders, but also had to guard against other tribes taking advantage of the situation.

For him, the situation has become extremely serious.

He had to lead the remaining troops back to Kangli grassland, otherwise his position would definitely be shaken.

"But before we return, I hope you can fulfill your promise, Zhilugu." Yelu Wusitu suddenly said in a cold voice.

"In addition to the throne of Kangli Khan, you must also pay me one million dan of grain, one hundred thousand gold dinars, two hundred thousand sheep, and fifty thousand slaves."

"This is the price you paid for promising me the Kangli cavalry."

Kangli's cavalry has suffered heavy losses and his position is in jeopardy. He must use these materials and wealth to appease the nobles in the tribe and at the same time attract people from other tribes to come and strengthen himself.

So, we must get these things no matter what.

When Yelu Zhilugu heard this, his face became ferocious, like an ugly wild boar. He stood up instantly, stared at Wu Situ, and said angrily.

"Wusitu, are you going to kick someone when they're down?"

"Don't forget, you are also a descendant of the Yelu family."

Yelu Zhilugu had indeed agreed to these conditions before, but that was on the premise of recovering the northern border.

It is a win-win situation to use the supplies from northern Xinjiang to pay off the debts of the Kangli people.

But now, the war was in trouble. The army could not cross the Ili River, and Hu Siwoerduo was looted.

How could Yelu Zhilugu repay his debts?

In his opinion, there was no need to pay it back. After all, the northern border had not been conquered yet, and the Kangli people were about to leave. It was good enough that he did not cause trouble for them.

Although this is true, Wu Situ cannot settle the account in this way.

With a cold and unmoved expression, he said in a deep voice, "Descendants of the Yelu family?"

"Humph, the Yelu Wusi Tu from back then is dead. Now I am called Yulibeli Wusi Tu."

"You made me take this road!"

"Second brother!"

When Wu Situ called him "Second Brother" for the last time, there was a hint of sneer and disdain in his tone.

The events of those years are still vivid in his mind, and the experiences of these years have become a lifelong pain for Wu Situ.

At that time, the ruler of Western Liao was their aunt, Yelu Pusuwan.

The brothers lived under the surveillance of their aunt every day and had no freedom at all.

It happened that at that time, the Yuliberi tribe of the Kangli people came to propose marriage, wanting to marry a princess of Western Liao.

At that time, Yelu Pusuwan was no longer satisfied with the position of regent. She wanted to be the emperor and disliked these nephews.

So, under the advice of a wise man, they decided to choose a nephew as a marriage partner and marry him to the daughter of the leader of the Yuliberi tribe.

In order to avoid being selected, Zhilugu went to complain to Pusuwan.

He falsely accused Wu Situ of committing misconduct, colluding with court officials, and plotting to overthrow Pusuwan.

Moreover, Wusi Tu was Yelu Yile's favorite son during his lifetime. Due to multiple factors, Wusi Tu was chosen to become the prince for marriage.

In a blink of an eye, more than 20 years have passed.

During these twenty years, Wu Situ endured humiliation and always wanted revenge.

At first, he was as humble as a dog in the Yuliberi tribe, and slowly tried to please his wife and win the favor of his father-in-law.

He gradually seized power, and finally a few years ago, he successfully killed his elder brother-in-law and became the leader of the Yuliberi tribe.

Thanks to his military achievements, he also has a high prestige among the surrounding tribes.

Only in this way can we gather 20,000 troops and march south.

The purpose was to avenge the past, kill Yelu Pusuwan's son, and destroy the Xiao family.

As for the idiot Yelu Zhilugu, he certainly didn't forget him.

However, Wu Situ still needed to rely on the influence of Western Liao to consolidate his position among the Kangli people.

We can't touch him yet.

But after the establishment of the Kangli Khanate, Wusitu became the Khan and completely consolidated his power.

The first thing to do was to lead the army south, annex Western Liao, and imprison Yelu Zhilugu.

On this day, the two brothers had a big quarrel and parted on bad terms.

The next day, Wu Situ led 10,000 Kangli cavalry away.

A few days later, Yelu Zhilugu received another piece of news that made him extremely angry.

Hu Siwoerduo was attacked again.

This time, it was Wusitu's Kangli cavalry who took action.
"Shameless!"

"The scum of the Yelu family."

Yelu Zhilugu's eyes were red, veins bulged on his forehead, and he was gasping for breath.

"Wusitu, how dare he do this!"

"You beast, worse than a beast!"

"Hu Siwoerduo, that is the capital of our Great Liao. Can he be worthy of our ancestors?"

"He is going to destroy the foundation of my Yelu family!"

Hu Siwoerduo was looted by Li Xiao. Although it was recovered, the military strength was still weak, which gave Wu Situ an opportunity to take advantage of.

When he was returning to the northern grassland, he passed by Hu Siwoerduo and chose to attack the city directly.

After breaking into the city, they looted it relentlessly, even more ruthlessly than Li Xiao did, not even sparing civilians.

In the end, the Kangli people looted the city and even turned all the people in the city into slaves.

Everything was packed up and taken back to Kangli grassland.

Moreover, all the tribes they met along the way were not spared, and all the people, cattle, sheep, women and property were looted.

What he did was ten times more excessive than what Li Xiao did.

Upon hearing the news, Yelu Zhilugu was so angry that he almost died.

He knew that this was Wu Situ's revenge on him.

He resented that he had not fulfilled his promise to pay money, supplies and slaves to the Kangli cavalry.

So, Wu Situ took the initiative to grab it.

And the benefits are obvious.

The Kangli cavalry suffered a defeat, suffered heavy losses, and had low morale. Some people must have been dissatisfied with Wu Situ.

In order to eliminate the soldiers' emotions, Wu Situ allowed them to burn, kill and loot in the territory of Western Liao.

After this incident, these more than 10,000 soldiers will become Wu Situ's most loyal supporters.

There are many benefits, but it only means sacrificing some interests of Western Liao.

Wu Situ did it without any pressure at all.

Anyway, he no longer considers himself a Khitan, his base is the Kangli people.

However, facing such a lawless Wu Si Tu, Yelu Zhilugu had no way to deal with it at all.

The issues in the northern border have not been resolved yet, so it is impossible to go to war with Wu Situ.

They could only curse him for being unfilial and unworthy of being a descendant of the Yelu family, while watching Wu Situ return to the northern grasslands with a large number of cattle, sheep, property, people and women belonging to Western Liao.

After Li Xiao and Wu Situ's two raids, Husiwoerduo was completely deserted. ...

At the same time, Li Xiao also digested the results of the Battle of Ili River and led the left wing army to meet with Xiao Simo's central army.

In this battle, Xiao Linta's army was completely wiped out.

Among them, more than 2,000 Jinzhou troops defected under Li Xiao's instigation.

Li Xiao selected a group of people from his own command and appointed them as grassroots officers such as centurions and ten-household officers in the three Jinzhou Thousand Household Armies.

Completed a major reshuffle of the three thousand-household armies.

Since then, the Jinzhou Army under Li Xiao has added more than 2,000 troops, and the strength has reached 6,500.

In addition to these more than 2,000 Jinzhou troops, there were also Kangli troops, Eastern Karakhanid army, Xiongbu Pishi army, etc.

Most of them were not drowned, and in the end more than 7,000 people survived and became prisoners of the Northern Frontier Army.

However, in Li Xiao's eyes, these prisoners of war were not the biggest gain.

What really made him happy were the 500 armored cavalrymen of the Iqta cavalry.

Although the quality is not as good as the Xixia wart armor, it can still be considered exquisite, at least much better than the iron armor seized from the Naiman people.

However, in this battle, Jiu Meng An He also made a great contribution.

In addition, Li Xiao also needs to consolidate his relationship with him and obtain Jiu Meng Anhe's support on some future matters.

So I had to reluctantly give him a hundred sets of full armor.

As for the leaders of the various tribes in the Seven Rivers, it would be enough to give them some more gold, silver and treasures. They would definitely not have the chance to have armored cavalry.

In this way, the number of armored cavalry in Li Xiao's hands reached five hundred sets.

It is entirely possible to form an army comparable to the Hupu Camp.

On the third day after the battle, Li Xiao led his army to join forces with Xiao Simo's central army.

As soon as we stepped into the camp, we felt a heavy atmosphere coming towards us, like a thick haze, weighing heavily on everyone's heart.

When Li Xiao and Jiu Meng'anhe each led a team of personal soldiers to the front of the big tent, they immediately saw Xiao Tuladuo, with a tired face, standing in front of the tent with a group of generals to greet them.

Li Xiao dismounted and walked forward. Seeing Xiao Tuladuo's bloodshot eyes and tired look, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Commander Xiao, thank you for your hard work."

Xiao Tuladuo sighed softly and shook his head helplessly: "It's nothing."

"It's Governor Li and Jiu Meng'an who did a great job with you two."

"Finally, I helped Northern Xinjiang and saved some face."

So many days have passed, and news of Li Xiao's battle record in the Ili River has come.

They dug up the dam and used the flood to destroy Xiao Linta's army in one battle.

Moreover, these troops were the elite forces of Wang Ting's army. They dealt a heavy blow to Wang Ting's manpower and greatly relieved the pressure on Xiao Simo's side.

It can be said that most of the face that Xiao Simo lost was picked up by Li Xiao.

"It's my duty!" Li Xiao nodded gently without any pride.

At this time, everyone's eyes were looking behind Li Xiao.

I saw two white-armored soldiers riding on horses, each holding a cowhide rope in their hands.

The other end of the rope was tied tightly around Xiao Linta's body.

At this time, Xiao Linta was in a very miserable state, with disheveled hair, bruised face and nose, and a foul smell all over his body. He looked like a beggar.

Some generals in front of the tent had red eyes and looked indignant when they saw Xiao Linta.

"Xiao Linta."

"You bastard, I'm going to kill you."

Baliala roared angrily, rushed forward and kicked him hard, sending him flying.

In the Northern Frontier Army, if we talk about the degree of hatred towards Xiao Linta, apart from Xiao Simo himself, the next person who hates him most is Baliala.

Because on the night when the Kangli cavalry launched a surprise attack, it was Bali Ala who was supposed to be on duty, but he was deceived by Xiao Linta, which led to the attack on the camp.

For this, Baliala has always felt extremely guilty and dreams of killing Xiao Linta to wash away the shame.

So, when the enemies met, Bali Ala almost drew his sword and killed Xiao Linta.

But even if he didn't die, Xiao Linta was beaten badly by the angry Khitan generals.

In the end, Xiao Tuladuo couldn't bear it anymore and stopped everyone.

"Okay, stop beating me to death."

"Although Xiao Linta deserves death, his fate still needs to be decided by the king."

Then he said to Li Xiao and the others, "Follow me to pay homage to the king."

The moment Li Xiao walked into the big tent, he smelled a strong scent of Chinese medicine.

Turning around, I found that the tent was wrapped tightly.

On the bed in the middle, a man was half lying with his eyes closed.

Li Xiao really couldn't imagine that in less than a month, Xiao Simo seemed like a completely different person.

His face was pale and bloodless, his cheeks were sunken, and his cheekbones were high and protruding, as if a layer of skin was barely covering the bones.

His face was covered with beard, and his once neatly combed hair now looked disheveled, with a few strands of hair hanging limply on both sides of his cheeks.

"Li Xiao, Jiu Meng An He..."

"You are back!"

After hearing the footsteps, Xiao Simo slowly opened his eyes, looked at the two of them, and spoke.

His voice was as hoarse as an old bellows, his eyes were dull and lifeless, revealing deep fatigue and weakness.

Li Xiao quickly stepped forward to the side of Xiao Simo's bed, leaned over slightly, his eyes full of concern: "Brother, your injury..."

His eyes fell on Xiao Simo's chest, which was wrapped in thick bandages and faintly oozing blood.

The color of the bandage had been stained dark by the blood, and a strong stench could be smelled.

Apparently, his wound had begun to rot.

"It doesn't matter,"

Xiao Simo waved his hand and spoke weakly.

"Although this arrow hit a vital point, I'm lucky enough to have survived until now."

Jiu Meng Anhe stood aside, looking at Xiao Simo's miserable condition, his heart full of guilt and self-blame.

"My king, it's all my fault."

"If we could have joined up with the central army earlier, you wouldn't have..." His voice was low and his eyes were full of regret.

Xiao Simo raised a hand and said weakly, "It's not your fault. The battlefield situation changes rapidly, and it's impossible to predict everything."

"Besides, you've done a great job."

He already knew that on the banks of the Ili River, Li Xiao took advantage of the flood to wipe out Xiao Linta's army in one fell swoop and captured countless people.

He directly destroyed at least one-third of Wang Ting's forces and even captured the traitor Xiao Linta.

And this record far exceeded Xiao Simo's expectations.

He looked at Li Xiao, showing a smile that was uglier than crying, and said softly: "Li Xiao, you did a good job."

"From now on, you have to pay more attention to the affairs of the Northern Frontier."

Careful?

What do you mean?
Do you want me to inherit your position?
Li Xiao said this whimsically, but he also knew that this idea was totally unrealistic.

Xiao Simo already has a son, so how could it be his brother-in-law's turn?

Just as Xiao Simo finished speaking, he suddenly started coughing. Every cough caused a sharp pain in the wound on his chest, and blood flowed out again.

His brows were tightly furrowed and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Seeing this, Xiao Tuladuo's eyes turned red. He hurried forward and gently patted Xiao Simo's back, trying to help him relieve his cough.

"My king, please stop talking and have a good rest."

Li Xiao quickly took out a bottle and said anxiously, "Brother, you must rest and recover."

"Leave the military affairs to us."

"This is a miracle medicine developed by my Hexi Fortress. It's called Jinyu Powder and is very effective in treating external injuries."

As Li Xiao spoke, he handed it to the military doctor and asked him to apply it on Xiao Simo's wound.

This Jinyusan is exactly allicin.

During this western expedition, Li Xiao brought a lot of garlic and wine specifically for timely treatment of external injuries.

It’s a pity that allicin is only active for less than a day.

Otherwise, Li Xiao wouldn't have to go through so much trouble.

The doctor next to him was holding a porcelain bottle and looked at Xiao Simo somewhat helplessly.

Then he opened the lid and smelled it, and a strong smell hit him.

"This, Commander Li~"

"May I ask, what is this Golden Jade Powder?"

"I have been practicing medicine for thirty years and have never heard of such a medicine!" said the doctor with a frown.

After all, it was for Xiao Simo to take, so he didn't dare to use it carelessly, for fear that his life would be in danger.

Li Xiao didn't explain too much, but just said in a deep voice: "Use it with confidence."

"This Jinyu Powder is a miraculous medicine for treating wounds and decay."

"My second uncle's injuries were more serious than my eldest brother's, and he was brought back from the brink of death by the Jinyu Powder."

Xiao Simo smiled.

He said to the doctor, "Do as Li Xiao says."

"I know the extent of my injuries."

"You don't have any better ideas, so just try Li Xiao's medicine."

He knew that Li Xiao would definitely not harm him.

It’s not about believing in Li Xiao’s character, but about believing in Li Xiao’s IQ.

Only a fool would tamper with medicine so blatantly.

Soon, the doctor divided the Jinyu Powder into two parts, applied half to the wound, and fed the other half to Xiao Simo to swallow.

In the next few days, Li Xiao will still need to produce a large amount of allicin.

As long as Xiao Simo can eat it, feed him as much as he can.

If the efficacy of the medicine is insufficient, you can only make up for it by dosage.

However, Li Xiao was not so optimistic about Xiao Simo's injury.

The reason why Li Erjiang was able to recover as before was that he suffered only superficial injuries, with only a large cut on the skin and muscles, which then became infected.

But Xiao Simo was shot in the right chest by an arrow, a penetrating wound.

The bacteria on the arrow have already entered the body.

Allicin can treat wound infections, but Li Xiao is not sure whether it can treat internal organs.

But we can only try our best to save the situation.

After all, nothing can happen to Xiao Simo.

Otherwise, once the royal army marches towards the northern border, Li Xiao's small body will not be able to withstand it.

(End of this chapter)