The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 22 The Blind Old Man and the Cripple Old Man

The next morning, the sky was gloomy. A hazy drizzle had been falling since last night.

Above the sky, dark clouds are gathering, accompanied by the cool summer breeze, which makes people feel excited.

Summer in northern Xinjiang is like this, rainy and cool.

And in this hazy drizzle, a cavalry of more than a hundred people was advancing rapidly towards Hexi Fort.

When they arrived a few hundred meters away from Hexi Fort, the cavalry team's speed gradually slowed down.

"Uu uh uh~"

Riding in front of the team was an old man about sixty years old.

He was wearing a khaki linen robe, a sheepskin coat, and sheepskin boots. His hair was gray, his skin was dark, his face was full of wrinkles, and he was tall and burly.

In his only eye, a captivating gaze like an eagle was revealed as he glanced at Hexi Fort in the distance.

"It seems that the Qarlug people have not yet reached Hexi Fort!" said the old man with a sigh of relief.

Then, he said to a strong young man next to him: "Let's go into the village."

After saying that, the two of them slowly walked towards the village with more than a hundred knights.

At the same time, the people in Hexi Fort also discovered their arrival.

Several knights rushed out from it.

Even from quite a distance away, I could hear Erhu's excited loud voice.

"Grandpa, Grandpa~"

In the distance, the one-eyed old man listened to Erhu's voice and laughed heartily: "Erhu, this kid is still so lively!"

A young man next to him who looked similar to the old man also laughed: "This is also inherited from your temperament!"

Soon, the two groups met each other.

"Grandpa, second uncle, you are finally here. I missed you."

Erhu jumped off his horse, rushed towards his grandfather and jumped for joy.

"Hahaha, Erhu, you've gotten stronger again, hahaha!"

Grandpa also jumped off the horse and hugged Erhu.

I wanted to pick it up like I did when it was a child, but I couldn't do it anymore.

"Oh, it's so heavy!"

"Erhu, let your grandpa go first. He can't bear such a strong force." The second uncle laughed beside him.

While they were talking, Li Xiao and the old man and others also got off their horses.

Grandpa rubbed Erhu's head, looked at the old man, took a deep breath, grinned and said, "Boss, I'm here."

The old man also looked at him, his expression unchanged, nodded gently, and said a simple word: "Okay!"

Qin Kaishan shook his head: "Ha, Boss, you are having more trouble speaking than before."

The old man snorted and remained silent.

Li Xiao was listening to the conversation between the two and was speechless.

This one-eyed old man is his grandfather, named Qin Kaishan.

The old man and I are lifelong buddies, the kind of friends who would take a knife for each other on the battlefield.

Li Xiao believed that when old buddies reunited, they should be so excited that they could hardly control themselves, hugging each other and rubbing each other's backs, or even sleeping with their feet touching and talking all night long.

But in reality, their passion is not evident at all, but rather they are as dull as water.

Li Xiao could only attribute it to the unique communication method of the older generation.

True brotherhood cannot be expressed in words, everything is implied.

"Dalong, come here and let grandpa see you. You've become an adult."

"Hahaha~"

After greeting the old man, when grandpa looked at Li Xiao, a beautiful smile appeared on his face again, and he waved to Li Xiao and said.

Li Xiao walked forward, chuckled and greeted, "Grandpa, second uncle."

But in fact, my thoughts still come from the future, and I cannot be too close to relatives like my grandfather.

So when his grandfather rubbed Li Xiao's head, Li Xiao could only force a smile.

Fortunately, the old man came to the rescue and said, "Dalong is now the lord of Hexi Fort."

Hearing this, my grandfather was stunned for a moment. He was happy for Li Xiao, but also a little sad.

So, he gently patted Li Xiao's shoulder and said, "Come on, take me to pay tribute to your father."

In fact, Li Xiao’s uncle had also gone to Beishan before and was unable to return.

However, there has been no news, which has kept the Qin family hopeful.

"Well, let's go home first."

The old man nodded gently, turned around and mounted his horse, saying, "Old Zhao has just arrived."

Hearing this, Qin Kaishan said in surprise, "That old cripple walked quite fast."

After that, the group walked towards the village.

After entering, Qin Kaishan indeed discovered that there seemed to be more people in Hexi Fort. Some courtyards were crowded with war horses pulling tents, weapons and food.

There were also many people squatting in the house, eating horse meat in big mouthfuls.

"Are these people from Tazhai?" Qin Kaishan asked, pointing at those people.

The old man rode on his horse and nodded gently, saying, "Yes."

"They just arrived a short time ago, and Dalong has already arranged for them to rest."

"I'll have Dalong arrange a few courtyards for you guys in Lonely Mountain Castle to get some sleep. We'll have things to do at night."

Got something to do tonight?
Qin Kaishan realized that Hexi Fort was preparing for a major operation.

But before they could ask any detailed questions, everyone arrived at the Li family yard.

From a distance, Qin Kaishan could see several figures standing in front of the courtyard gate.

The most eye-catching one is an old man with only one leg, his face full of vicissitudes, using a spear as a crutch to support his body.

"Haha, you old cripple came quite quickly! You asked your son to carry you here, right?" Qin Kaishan said with a big laugh from a distance.

The one-legged old man named Zhao Tiezhu was not to be outdone. He laughed and scolded, "I, a lame man, got here earlier than you. Could it be that you, an old blind man, can't see the road clearly and rode your horse into a ditch?" "Hahaha~"

The two men laughed loudly, walked closer, hugged each other, and punched each other hard.

Li Xiao felt very comfortable watching these punches.

Right, this should be the normal greeting when old friends meet.

It was purely an accident before. The old man has such a personality that the oppressive feeling is too strong.

After exchanging a few words with Old Man Zhao, Qin Kaishan looked at Qin Dani, who was standing beside him with tears in her eyes, and the smile on his face faded again.

"Dad~"

Qin Dani's tears wet her face and kept dripping down.

When he saw his father coming, he slowly burst into tears.

"Hey, Dani."

Qin Kaishan walked forward and gently patted Qin Dani on the shoulder.

Just two days ago, Qin Dani went back to her parents' home, but she didn't expect to encounter such a huge change in the blink of an eye.

Not only did Li Dahai die in the battle, but there was also no news of Qin Dani's eldest brother.

Qin Kaishan was heartbroken, but like all fathers, he didn't know how to comfort his daughter.

At this moment, how he wished the old woman could come with him!

"Dahai is great. He didn't bring shame to us Han men." Qin Kaishan nodded.

When Li Xiao saw this, he and Erhu stepped forward to help Qin Dani up.

"Mom, you've been crying a lot these past few days, please take care of yourself."

"You can't collapse again!"

After a long while, Qin Dani was comforted.

The group walked into the house. Qin Kaishan stood in front of Li Dahai's tablet and lit a stick of incense, while Li Xiao's second uncle kowtowed respectfully several times.

Due to the urgency of the matter, the funeral of Li Dahai and other people in the village could not be held in a grand manner. It had to wait until the Karluk people were defeated.

After finishing all this, everyone sat down, and Qin Kaishan immediately asked, "Brother, what are your plans for tonight?"

Old man Zhao standing by was not moved at all. He had arrived earlier and already knew the old man's decision.

The Han people in Jinzhou have nine forts and eighteen villages, and there are many conflicts among them.

However, there are also many people who make friends with each other and marry each other.

The old man and his companions were good brothers when they were young, the kind that were sworn brothers.

Later they became relatives.

The old man had two sons and one daughter. The eldest son married Qin Kaishan’s daughter, who was Li Xiao’s parents.

And his daughter married Zhao Tiezhu's son.

In addition, Li Xiao’s elder sister Li Dafeng married into Hedongbao two years ago.

Therefore, these villages are all related to each other!

They have a close relationship on a daily basis, and once they encounter an external enemy, they can quickly come together and support each other.

"There must be arrangements. Let the people of Lonely Mountain Castle eat first, and then have a good sleep." The old man said in a calm voice, looking at Li Xiao.

Li Xiao immediately understood, nodded gently and said, "I'll arrange it."

After saying that, he took Erhu out of the house.

As before, he would clear out a few houses in the village for the people of Lonely Mountain to rest for a day.

One day is enough, and there will be fighting at night.

Therefore, the sleeping problem was easily solved. Several houses were soon vacated, each with a long earthen kang (kang bed) large enough for everyone to sleep on.

Li Xiao also had someone serve them horse meat so that they could have a good meal.

Eat as much as you want, all you can eat.

During this process, Li Xiao counted the number of people in Lonely Mountain Castle.

"One hundred and twelve."

And there were more than a hundred people in the previous Tazhai.

Altogether, there were more than two hundred people.

There are now more than 300 men in Hexi Fort, but it is impossible to send all of them out.

Many people who returned from Beishan, such as Da Wu and Xiao Heizi, were injured and could not continue fighting for the time being.

There are also some really old and weak people who are not allowed to participate as much as possible, and some capable people must be left behind to protect the village.

Therefore, only more than 200 people could be mobilized for the battle of Hexi Fort.

There are more than four hundred in total.

But that’s not all. Li Xiao’s elder sister’s husband’s family, Hedong Fort, is located 30 miles east of Hexi Fort and is also facing the threat of the Qarluk people from Sanhe Fort.

However, the strength of Hedong Fort is slightly weaker than that of Hexi Fort. Apart from the people who stayed behind, it can only send more than 100 people.

In this way, the total strength of the four-fort coalition forces will reach about 600 people.
Compared with the 800 Karluk rebels predicted by Li Xiao, the number of the Four Forts Allied Forces was not much different.

But there is one issue that cannot be ignored: the Karluk people are a nomadic people.

Unless it is a long expedition, the whole tribe will migrate together during ordinary battles.

The men fought in the front, while the women and the elderly took care of the logistics in the back.

Sanhe Fort had been captured for two days, and the subsequent elderly, weak, women and children of the Qarluk army might have arrived at Sanhe Fort to rest.

At critical moments, these people also posed a considerable threat to the Four Forts Allied Forces.

In this way, the numerical advantage of the Qarlug people will become more obvious, and the chances of winning a head-on confrontation with them will be slim. Even if we win, we will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

"So, we can only attack at night." Li Xiao said to himself.

Looking up at the sky, dark clouds blocked the sun and also blocked the moon at night.

"It's a nice day today." Li Xiao said coldly.

(End of this chapter)