The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 55 You are really a talent

Endless bonfires burned in the darkness, illuminating the chaotic land.

There was no dripping blood, no roaring of swords.

All that was heard were the restless howling of the war horses and the joy of the Hexi cavalry after their victory.

"Separate all prisoners from their horses and place them in solitary confinement. Confiscate all their weapons."

In the dark night, Li Xiao, wearing armor and holding a lance, rode on horseback to patrol and gave orders loudly.

Behind him, Shouhou and Tietou followed closely, like loyal guards, holding torches and spears.

The battle is over!
When the Hexi cavalry completed the encirclement of the Zhelan people.

By using three times the number of torches as their own, the Zhelan people mistakenly overestimated the number of Hexi cavalry, causing great panic and psychological pressure on the Zhelan people.

At this moment, the battle was no longer suspenseful.

The vast majority of the Zhelan people dismounted and surrendered.

The few Zhelan people who resisted stubbornly or tried to escape were all shot and killed by the Hexi cavalry.

In the end, the Hexi cavalry defeated the Zhelan cavalry at the cost of almost no casualties.

Following Li Xiao's order, the Hexi cavalry acted quickly.

They gathered the Zhelan people's horses together, forced them to throw away their weapons, and then walked to the open ground on the other side and squatted down.

But those who disobey will be shot dead.

Soon, Lin Dazhuang arrived on horseback and reported to Li Xiao, "Fort Lord, the prisoners have been counted. There are a total of 382 people."

Three hundred and eighty-two people?

That’s quite a lot!

Fortunately, these Zhelan people were forced to surrender.

If these Zhelan people fought back desperately, even though Hexi Fort and Tazhai had the advantage in numbers, they would inevitably suffer considerable losses.

not worth it.

At this moment, Li Xiao once again realized the importance of that sentence.

Jianghu is not about fighting and killing, it is about human relations.

Grasping the enemy's psychology can help you reduce a lot of trouble and losses.

Conquering the enemy without fighting is always the first choice in battle.

"Da Zhuang, take the slave from before and pick out a group of people with the highest status among these captives." Li Xiao ordered.

When Lin Dazhuang heard this, his face twitched slightly, and he instantly thought of what Li Xiao was going to do.

Forcing the lower-level prisoners to pay a pledge of allegiance.

This is what they did before in Houzhai, and Lin Dazhuang was the leader.

Now, it is the turn of the Zhelan people to contribute their loyalty.

"Yes, sir~" Lin Dazhuang nodded solemnly with a serious expression.

Not long after, Lin Dazhuang led his men to pick out a group of Zhelan nobles from the captives, and then brought two tightly tied captives to Li Xiao.

"Your Majesty!"

Lin Dazhuang shouted at the two of them loudly.

These two were Nerdu and the Khitan military supervisor named Kuotu.

In the face of Lin Dazhuang's scolding, Nierdu turned a deaf ear and looked at Li Xiao's face again, as if surprised by Li Xiao's age.

Neil frowned slightly and snorted, as if his attitude was very tough and disdainful.

But Tietou hit him on the leg with a stick from behind.

With a scream of "Ah~", Neil fell directly to the ground.

As for the other Khitan, he was even more arrogant.

"I am a Khitan, a military supervisor sent by the Eastern Capital."

"You Han people are so bold and presumptuous."

"Let me go quickly, otherwise Lord Xiao will never let you go."

The Khitan man struggled constantly, but the rope tied him tightly. Then he was forced to kneel on the ground by two young men from Hexi.

He was still cursing and his attitude was very arrogant.

"What is this guy talking about?"

Although Li Xiao didn't understand, judging from the guy's expression, it must be very "mother-like".

Just as he was about to have someone chop this guy off, the slave whispered, "Master, he's the Khitan military supervisor. Let's let him go."

Li Xiao had asked the slave's name before, and it was Hutu.

He was a member of a nomadic tribe in Central Asia. He was captured and made a slave since he was a child. After going around in circles, he finally fell into the hands of the Zhelan people.

In short, this guy is very lucky.

Now he decisively recognized Li Xiao as his new master.

"You even understand Khitan?" Li Xiao said, looking at Hutu.

Hutu smiled lightly, lowered his head slightly and said: "Hutu's former master was a Khitan."

"So, you also learned Chinese from your previous Han master?" Li Xiao said.

Hutu nodded quickly.

He felt that he was a language genius and could learn a new language every time he followed a master.

Li Xiao nodded slightly, then asked casually, "Are your two previous masters dead?"

Hu Tu was stunned when he heard this, not knowing what was going on. He carefully looked at Li Xiao's face and shook his head and replied, "No, no."

"Now, I should be living well."

Oh, that's okay!
Li Xiao nodded gently, feeling relieved. After all, this slave had a tough life, but fortunately he wasn't doomed to fail.

"Master, that man is Nerdu, the chief of the Zhelan tribe. His son was killed by you..."

"This Khitan military supervisor is called Kuotu. He loves gold, silver, and treasures. Nerdu has given him a lot of treasures."

Hu Tu introduced the identities of the two people to Li Xiao.

Li Xiao was not interested in the clan leader named Nierdu and had nothing to ask.

On the contrary, Li Xiao was very curious about this Khitan military supervisor.

"Go ask him how many people from the Dongdu Army have come? Where have they arrived? How many groups did they come in?" Li Xiao said to Hutu.

These things are very important and Li Xiao needs to know them urgently.

Then, Hutu communicated with Kuotu in Khitan, and then spoke to Li Xiao.

"Master, he refused to say anything and just yelled at us to let him go, otherwise we would be severely punished."

Li Xiao could already see the Khitan's toughness from his body expressions.

He originally wanted to torture the Khitans and extract the information he wanted.

Unexpectedly, Hutu said, "However, Master, although this Khitan man is unwilling to speak, I do know something."

"Oh?" Li Xiao became a little interested in his new slave.

Nodding, he said, "Tell me about it~"

"I've heard from Nerdu and the Zhelan nobles before that this eastern expedition includes a total of 5,000 soldiers from the six Khitan tribes."

"Another 10,000 troops were mobilized from various tribes in Yinshan and Beihai, bringing the total number of troops for the Eastern Expedition to approximately 15,000."

"They probably split into two groups. The troops coming from Yinshan are led by the Zhelan tribe, and the main force should still be sixty miles away."

"As for the troops coming from the North Sea, I don't know."

Although Hu Tu's understanding was not detailed, it was enough for Li Xiao.

But what surprised Li Xiao was the number of Dongdu troops.

"Fifteen thousand?"

What do the Khitans want to do?

The number of Jinzhou Karluk rebels was about 3,000 at the beginning.

Now that Li Xiao has destroyed the Aslan tribe, their number is even smaller.

Mobilizing an army of 15,000 to fight, is it really necessary to bully others like this?

However, when he thought of the Naimans who supported the Karluk rebellion, Li Xiao's expression became serious.

"Are you going to go to war with the Naimans?"

The Naimans are not comparable to the Karluks of Jinzhou.

That is a super large tribe in the western part of the Mongolian Plateau. Although it experienced a split a few years ago, it still has more than 100,000 people and can easily mobilize tens of thousands of cavalry.

If a war breaks out with the Naiman people, Jinzhou will be in danger and will become a battlefield for a legion of tens of thousands of people.

"Ask him whether the Dongdu Army is ready to go to war with the Naiman people?" Li Xiao asked anxiously.

After Hutu exchanged some words with the Khitan military supervisor, he shook his head and said to Li Xiao, "Master."

"He said he didn't know, and even if he did, he wouldn't tell us."

Damn~
Li Xiao had a bad temper and wanted to kill the Khitan man on the spot.

Kehutu then said, "However, Master, I do have some understanding."

Seeing Li Xiao's serious eyes, Hutu said quickly: "When the Dongdu garrison issued an order to the Zhelan tribe, they specifically instructed them to prepare more winter clothes."

"And he also asked if anyone knew the language of the Naimans."

Hearing this, Li Xiao looked straight at Hutu, touched his chin and said, "You don't even understand the language of the Naimans, do you?"

Being stared at by Li Xiao like this, Hu Tu felt a little nervous. After all, he had just joined the army and didn't know the temper of his new master yet.

I could only nod cautiously and say, "Yes, I understand a little bit about the Naimans~"

"Ha~" Li Xiao laughed.

I just asked casually, but I didn't expect this guy to actually understand it.

what is this?

"You are really a talented person." Li Xiao pointed at Hu Tu with his whip.

What was the most important thing in the 13th century?

Talent!
Those who can plan strategies and win battles thousands of miles away are talented, those who can deploy troops and lead the army are talented, and those who can manage logistics and civil affairs are also talented.

People like Hutu who can understand multiple languages are rare talents.

Unexpectedly, after fighting a war, he would be given such a gift.

To be honest, Li Xiao was a little envious of Hu Tu's language talent.

Unlike me, although I traveled through time, I only know a little Kazakh besides my half-baked English.

"I should master a few more foreign languages." Li Xiao said secretly in his heart.

The first one must be Khitan. After all, Western Liao was a country ruled by the Khitans, and there would be many opportunities to deal with the Khitans in the future.

If you learn Khitan well, you won’t be afraid to travel all over Western Liao.

But who should I find to be my Khitan language teacher?
Li Xiao seemed to have forgotten Hutu, and a beautiful figure appeared in his mind.

"She should be a good teacher, right?" Li Xiao said secretly in his heart with a slight smile on his face.

"When I have the opportunity one evening, I must take the initiative to come and ask for advice."

The main reason is that Li Xiao really likes learning foreign languages.

(End of this chapter)