The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 53 The Horn of the Hexi Cavalry

Soon, the troops of Hexi Fort began to gather!
After annexing the populations of Sanhe Fort and Houzhai, the power of Hexi Fort increased a lot.

In addition, some of Li Erjiang's young and strong people have returned.

Today, there are nearly six hundred men in Hexi Fort who can mount horses and fight.

This time, Li Xiao was preparing to lead 400 people to Tazhai.

The old man was left behind with two hundred fighters and many other elderly, weak, women and children to guard the house to prevent the tiger from leaving the mountain.

At the same time, Li Xiao also sent someone to notify the people in Gushan Fort and Hedong Fort to go to Tazhai early tomorrow morning.

When the Dongdu Army arrives, Li Xiao must gather more troops.

It's not just about relieving the danger of Tazhai.

It was also a show of strength to the Khitans, competing for status and initiative.

I believe that if the generals of the Dongdu Army were smart, they would never provoke the Han people before getting rid of the Qarlug people.

But on the contrary, if the Han people's muscles are not strong enough, they will be looked down upon by the Khitans.

They would allow people from other tribes to plunder Han strongholds in order to motivate these nomadic tribes.

In short, whoever is stronger and more useful will have a higher status in the eyes of the Khitans.

"Everyone, three horses each, check your weapons and fill your quivers."

"Each person should bring three torches~"

On the grass outside Hexi Fort, Li Xiao, wearing leather armor, shouted loudly to everyone.

Next to him, there were two horses, one carrying Li Xiao's heavy armor, and the other carrying dried meat and ten days' rations, as well as lances, arrows and other weapons.

The others looked similar, all wearing leather armor, and their weapons were sheathed when not fighting.

"Let's go~"

As Li Xiao gave the order, four hundred cavalrymen rushed quickly towards Tazhai in the setting sun.

Before them, Li Xiao had already sent scouts to investigate the enemy situation ten miles ahead.

Tazhai!

With his son being killed, Nerdu went completely crazy.

Send all your troops to capture Tazhai at all costs.

"Chief Nierdu, you are simply crazy~"

"Many people from your tribe have died. What you should do now is to stop the attack immediately."

Outside the Tazhai, the five hundred soldiers of the Zhelan tribe attacked desperately.

Unfortunately, due to the trenches and battlements, it was difficult for their horses to break through.

In the end, more and more corpses were left outside the trench.

Behind these Zhelan cavalry, Neildu looked ahead with a serious and gloomy expression.

He didn't care at all about what the Khitan man next to him said.

"Blood debt must be repaid with blood. The Han people killed my son, and they must pay with their blood." Nerdu said in a cold voice.

There was still a trace of blood hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Obviously, the death of his most promising son made him very angry.

"As you can see, this Han tribe is not as weak as we imagined. Their resistance is very resolute."

"If you don't want the warriors of the Zhelan tribe to die in front of that trench, then you should calm down, Nierdu!"

A thin, short Khitan man with only two wisps of long hair on his temples shouted at Nerdu with an angry look.

He is from the Dongdu Liaison Office, and his name is Kuotu!

Because he was familiar with the language of the Zhelan tribe, he was sent to the Zhelan tribe as a military supervisor to prevent these Zhelan people from disobeying orders or working without putting in effort.

When the Zhelan tribe wanted to capture this Han tribe before, Kuotu didn't care.

It's just a matter of stealing some cattle, sheep, and women, and killing some Han people. It's worth it as long as the Zhelan people have the same enthusiasm when attacking the Karluk people.

However, no one expected that this Han tribe would be so tenacious. They have been fighting till now, and both sides have suffered heavy losses.

Only then did Kuotu start to get anxious.

When the Han people are weak, it is called "consulting the troops"; when the Han people are strong, it becomes a fight among themselves.

After all, the enemy of the Dongdu Army was the Qarluk people.

If the Zhelan people suffered heavy casualties, how could they fight the Qarluk people?

"Stop talking. I will never give up until I take down this Han tribe today." Nierdu raised his hand and said.

It's just that some people from the tribe will die. As long as the Zhelan tribe is not hurt, we can go back and capture slaves from other tribes.

Once those slaves became obedient and made contributions, they naturally became members of the Zhelan tribe.

"You~" Kuotu looked at Nerdu angrily, but he could do nothing.

I could only say angrily: "I will report all this to Master Xiao Simo."

After saying that, he left angrily and asked someone to tell tales.

Although Nerdu usually bribed him with a lot of gold and silver, this matter was not so easy to conceal.

……

The sky was getting darker and darker, the sun was slowly setting, and the last rays of light quietly disappeared from the earth.

At this time, the cavalry of Hexi Fort was less than five miles away from Tazhai.

The speed was a bit slow, mainly because Li Xiao was too cautious.

"It seems that the brains of these nomadic people are not that good." Li Xiao said while riding on his horse, shaking his head softly.

I thought there would be ambushes on the road, but I didn't expect these nomadic people were so stubborn.

But it's always good to be cautious.

Li Xiao turned his head and looked around. It was completely dark and he could not see anything more than a few dozen meters away.

But one could vaguely hear the shouts and cries coming from Tazhai.

The fighting was fierce.

While the scouts were still waiting to return, Li Xiao ordered everyone, "Everyone, prepare for battle."

At this time, the 400 cavalrymen of Hexi Fort silently gripped their spears and made final preparations.

Li Xiao and the other fifteen heavy cavalrymen, with the help of their companions, began to put on their armor. Soon, three scouts returned and reported to Li Xiao on the situation in Tazhai.

"Most of the enemies are west of Tazhai, numbering about three or four hundred."

"There are no other large groups of people within ten miles!"

Li Xiao put on his heavy armor, turned to look at Zhao Dabao and said, "It seems that this is the vanguard of Dongdu."

"Four hundred men dared to besiege Tazhai. Do you really think that there are no Han people in my Jinzhou?"

"Big Dragon, let's fight~"

Zhao Dabao held a spear in his hand and said angrily, "Don't let any of these damn guys go."

Li Xiao nodded, and the expression on his face became even more indifferent.

This cavalry from the Eastern Capital must be severely damaged, otherwise the Han people in Jinzhou will only become fat meat in the eyes of the Eastern Capital army.

He summoned some key personnel from Hexi Fort and ordered them, "Sixth Uncle, take a hundred men and go around the enemy's rear."

"Da Zhuang, take a hundred men to intercept the southern part of Tazhai."

"I will personally lead the remaining two hundred men and launch a frontal attack."

"Yes~"

Everyone started to move, and the four hundred Hexi cavalry were divided into three groups and quickly headed towards Tazhai.

……

Although it was already dark, the intensity of the battle in Tazhai did not diminish at all.

The Zhelan people continued to attack fiercely. They even took advantage of darkness to lurk in other places with weak defenses, trying to cross the trenches and walls and rush into the village.

Fortunately, Zhao Tiezhu was experienced and stubbornly kept the Zhelan people out.

"Hold on, little ones! The people from the other three forts will be here soon."

"Your women and girls are behind us. If you don't want them to be harmed by the enemy, hold on tight." Zhao Tiezhu, who was unable to move, could only ride on a horse and shouted loudly.

A pair of cloudy eyes scanned the surroundings, and in the darkness they were as sharp as a wolf's eyes.

Suddenly he drew his bow and shot an arrow.

The next second, a scream was heard in the darkness. A Zhelan man who rushed into the village was shot off his horse as soon as he showed his head.

At the other end of the village, a Zhelan slave wearing leather armor was waving a scimitar and directing other slaves to work.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry~"

"Fill this ditch for me~"

The slaves shouted loudly, "The master has ordered that whoever rushes into the village first will be freed from slavery and rewarded with ten sheep."

"Charge for me~"

Hearing this, some slaves worked even harder.

They pushed a cart loaded with stones and soil, and pushed it towards the trench under the arrows of the Tazhai.

They wanted to fill up this section of the trench to make it easier for more people to rush into the village at the same time.

Although many slaves were shot to death by arrows during this process, as the trench became shallower and shallower, these slaves became excited.

Their dream is to be a free herder with some assets.

Now, they finally see the possibility of realizing their dream.

"Go in!"

Seeing that the trench was about to be filled, the slave in leather armor couldn't suppress his excitement and shouted loudly.

Those who don’t know him would think he is a noble of the Zhelan tribe.

But in reality he was just a slave.

But there were also distinctions of high and low status among slaves.

It mainly depends on who you are a slave to.

Just like the Manchu bondservants, some of them had higher status and treatment than ordinary bannermen.

The same goes for this leather-armored slave. As Nierdu's personal slave, his status is even higher than that of an ordinary Zhelan noble.

He enjoys this identity very much, so he is very loyal to Nerdu.

They also fight the hardest in battle.

But just as these Zhelan slaves were about to cross the trench and start another large-scale charge.

Nierdu suddenly gave the order to retreat!
"what happened?"

"What happened? Why retreat?"

These Zhelan people were confused. They were about to attack the Han village, so why did they retreat?

But little did people know that Nerdu also had his own difficulties.

The scouts he sent to investigate the surrounding area reported a piece of news that made him angry.

Han reinforcements have arrived!
"how many people?"

"It's too dark to see clearly, but judging from the sound, there are definitely more people than us." The scout said in horror.

Originally there were three of them, but just as they were about to further investigate the number of enemies, they were discovered by the enemy.

Then his two companions were shot one after another by an enemy archer, and even he himself almost couldn't get back.

terrible!

"Damn it, retreat~" Neil was very unwilling, but he had no choice but to leave as soon as possible.

On the other side, Li Xiao watched an enemy scout fleeing and shook his head helplessly.

I originally wanted to launch a surprise attack when the Zhelan people were not prepared, but it was obvious that the Zhelan people were not pushovers and had been prepared for a long time.

The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, how can everything go as planned?

But it doesn’t matter. Things have come to this point. What can they do if the Zhelan people find out?

Wearing fish-scale armor, he swung the lance in his hand towards the Zhelan people.

Li Xiao shouted loudly: "Light all the torches~"

"Attack~"

(End of this chapter)