The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 18 Life and death are destiny, wealth is in heaven

The sky grew darker and darker, and bonfires began to burn in Hexi Fort, creating a lively atmosphere.

Today's victory in the battle has also slightly dispelled the gloom in people's hearts about the Battle of Beishan, and everyone has a few more smiles on their faces.

The women were collecting firewood, while the men selected a few of the most seriously injured horses and began to show off their knife skills.

Among the war horses captured this time, more than 20 were injured, and several even died.

If they can be cured, we will definitely do our best to treat them. If that doesn't work, we can only let these horses die.

"Hissssss~"

As the bonfire burned, the sound of horses neighing miserably was heard.

Chen Erqiang raised his knife and cut the neck of a seriously injured horse.

Blood gushed out instantly, but fortunately someone was already there to collect the horse's blood in a wooden basin.

This is good stuff too!

For the Han people in Hexi Fort, anything edible must not be wasted.

The horse blood will be made into blood sausage and stored for later consumption.

"Erqiang's horse-killing skills haven't fallen behind~" Li Dashan praised.

Er Qiang laughed heartily: "If it were to kill the Karluk beast, I would be more efficient and clean!"

A group of men chatted and laughed as they worked together, and soon cut a warhorse into pieces of meat.

Nothing will be wasted, even the horsehide will be made into leather armor after being dried!

Although the defensive power of horsehide armor is not as good as that of cowhide armor, it is worse than nothing.

An hour later, pots of steaming horse meat were cooked.

Tonight, the whole village is having a feast!
Regardless of gender, age or whether you participated in today's battle or not.

Come to the village and eat horse meat, everyone!
Soon, Dahu and Erhu each got a thigh bone and started chewing on it.

The previous battle had drained a lot of energy from both of them, and they were extremely hungry.

Moreover, these were horses captured from the Karluk people. Eating their horses was like eating Karluk people's flesh. The two boys ate them with great relish.

It was the first time that the two of them smiled since they learned of Li Dahai's death in battle.

"Brother, now that you have become the lord of the castle, grandpa won't be able to control me anymore, haha~" Erhu suddenly laughed after swallowing the horse meat in big mouthfuls.

As he said that, he glanced at Da Hu on the other side and said, "Da Hu, from now on, we brothers can do whatever we want!"

Da Hu was also chuckling, but not as proud as Er Hu. He shook his head and said, "Do whatever you want, don't bring me along!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the old man sitting in the distance and talking to a group of old men.

"You're so boring~"

Erhu shook his head and didn't continue the topic. Instead, he pestered Li Xiao and asked, "Brother, have you figured out how to seek revenge on the Karluks?"

"No!" Li Xiao said.

Compared to Erhu's fierce and rough style, Li Xiao seemed more elegant. He used a knife to cut the horse meat into small pieces and then put them into his mouth.

To be honest, it’s not tasty and very woody!

This is mainly because the spices of this era were limited, and it was definitely impossible to produce the delicious food of later generations!

"Even if it's for spices, we will have to go to India to plunder a few times in the future. What's more, those Indians like to hide gold in temples~" Li Xiao thought secretly in his heart.

If given the chance, he would definitely conquer the South Asian subcontinent and make all the Indians his slaves.

I don't do anything else but grow crops, spices, and cotton.
But seeing his absent-minded look, Erhu became anxious: "How could you not have thought it through?"

Then he said viciously: "The Qarlugs killed our father, these one hundred heads are definitely not enough."

"It would be best if we could kill all the Karluks in Jinzhou."

Looking at Erhu's murderous look, Li Xiao knew in his heart that this kid might become a butcher that the foreigners would be afraid of.

This guy will definitely kill a lot of people in the future~
But there’s nothing wrong with that!

Li Xiao shook his head, looked at Erhu and said calmly: "How can the Karluk rebels be so easy to kill? We were just lucky this time and killed a hundred of them."

"But there are more than 3,000 Karluk rebels in Jinzhou. We can't rely on Hexi Fort alone. Let's wait until Third Grandpa contacts other villages before we decide!"

Now, the most important thing is to gather information, investigate the specific situation of the Karluk people, contact other Han villages, and then wait for an opportunity to attack the Karluk people.

You can't fight a war just by being passionate and acting recklessly!
Li Xiao didn't want to exchange the lives of the people of Hexibao for the lives of the Qarluk people.

"Anyway, when the time comes, I will definitely be the pioneer!" Erhu said with a snort after hearing Li Xiao's words.

After today's battle, Erhu believes that he has also undergone a transformation. The next time he meets the Qarluk people, he can kill at least ten of them!

This gathering in Hexi Fort was to celebrate the victory of killing one hundred Karluk rebels, and also to celebrate Li Xiao becoming the master of Hexi Fort.

From now on, Li Xiao will face the whirlpool of Jinzhou.

No one will continue to protect him from the wind and rain, and he himself will become the umbrella.

It was not until the hour of Hai, when it was almost late at night, that the villagers of Hexibao gradually dispersed and went home!

Soon, Li Xiao and his family returned home, but there were three strangers following them.

It was Xiao Yanyan and her two guards.

"I'll have to ask you to stay in the village for a few days. The conditions are not good, so please bear with me." Li Xiao dismounted and tied the mare under him into the stable. Then he went to gather the other horses that had been driven into the yard.

In addition to Li Xiao killing nineteen Qarlug people, the old man also killed three people and obtained three good horses, as well as several scimitars, bows and arrows, etc.

Dahu and Erhu worked together to kill two Qarluk cavalrymen, and each of them got a horse, a sword, a bow and arrow, etc.!

A total of thirty horses and a large number of other weapons.

It can be said that the gains from this time alone are almost catching up with all the original property of Li Xiao’s family.

The previous stable was definitely not enough, and Li Xiao and the other three would have to hurry up and build a simple stable.

"It's okay, I'm not that particular!" Xiao Yanyan walked into the yard and said with a calm smile.

The princesses of Western Liao were different from those of the Central Plains.

Like other herdsmen, Xiao Yanyan lived in a tent and smelled the same smell of horse manure. At most, her food and clothing were better.

Moreover, Xiao Yanyan did not have a very good life when she was a child. She did not receive the treatment a princess should have. It was not until her brother rose to prominence that her life became better.

Therefore, the living conditions in Hexi Fort were completely acceptable to Xiao Yanyan.

However, what surprised Xiao Yanyan was that there was an eight-immortal table placed in front of the door, with a tablet and other offerings on the table.

Looking around the yard, it looked like a mourning hall.

This scene suddenly made Xiao Yanyan a little scared.

She is not afraid of hardship, but that doesn’t mean she is not afraid of ghosts!
"Li Xiao, what is this?" Xiao Yanyan paused in front of the door and looked at Li Xiao somewhat unnaturally.

"My dad~" Li Xiao said calmly.

Without even looking at her, he continued to temporarily tie one horse after another to the railing in the yard.

"Died in Beishan a few days ago~"

Li Xiao said in a calm tone, while Dahu and Erhu slowly stopped what they were doing and looked at Xiao Yanyan and the other two at the same time.

They will never forget that the failure of the war was caused by the Khitan governor's reckless command.

In the end, he even deceived Li Dahai into blocking the pursuers, and he ran away first.

It can be said that Li Dahai’s death was entirely caused by Daha Chu Luoduo.

As a result, they disliked Khitans like Xiao Yanyan.

Li Xiao did not explain this situation in detail.

Xiao Yanyan didn't know, otherwise she would not have dared to enter the Li family's courtyard.

"Uh~ Really~"

"That's really a pity~" Xiao Yanyan said softly embarrassedly.

I cursed Da He Chu Luoduo again in my heart, calling him a piece of shit.

waste!

Fortunately, apart from the two guards around her, no one in Hexi Fort knew about her relationship with Daha Chuluoduo.

Otherwise, she might not dare to stay in Hexi Fort for a moment longer.

The villagers of Hexibao don’t care whether you are a governor or a princess, they will take revenge if there is any.

The Western Liao royal court was more than 2,000 miles away, and even the eastern capital was 800 miles away. Its dominance over the grassroots fortresses in Jinzhou was actually very limited.

If the Han people in Hexi Fort were angered, the worst that could happen would be that they would rebel against Western Liao and surrender to the Naiman.

"There's nothing to regret. Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are in the hands of God!"

"In this place, ordinary people's lives are worthless~"

Li Xiao put down his work, turned to Xiao Yanyan who was standing in front of the door and said, "Let's go. I'll take you to where you live."

After saying that, Li Xiao walked out of the yard, and Xiao Yanyan followed behind him, seemingly still savoring what Li Xiao had just said.

"Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by God? What does this mean?" Xiao Yanyan asked in confusion.

Although she understands Chinese, she can only speak and understand the vernacular.

For slightly more complex words like this, it is difficult to understand their meaning.

Li Xiao slowed down his pace, turned to Xiao Yanyan, smiled faintly, and said with a raised corner of his mouth: "What I mean is: if anyone dares to provoke me, I will kill his entire family, wipe out his entire clan, and even his dog."

"There's nothing to be afraid of in death, just do it!"

After saying that, Li Xiao laughed, turned around and continued walking forward.

Xiao Yanyan stood there in a daze, obviously surprised by Li Xiao's words.

Are you openly saying that you want to kill an entire family and wipe out the entire clan?
Are these Han people in Jinzhou so barbaric?
The feeling that Li Xiao and other Han people in Hexi Fort gave Xiao Yanyan was completely different from the Han people she met in the royal court.

Tougher and rougher!
In front of Li Xiao, Xiao Yanyan felt that she, a Khitan, was so weak, and the Han people in Jinzhou were more like "barbarians".

"Hehe, you want to scare me~" Xiao Yanyan forced a smile and shook her head.

He habitually raised his neck, showing his confidence and pride, like a fighting white swan.

Because of his identity, Da He Chu Luoduo always feels uncomfortable in front of Xiao Yanyan, and they feel a bit respectful to each other.

But the young man Li Xiao gave Xiao Yanyan a different sense of freshness.

Rude, wild, unruly ~
(End of this chapter)