The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 90 The most important weapon of the country
The battle ended quickly when Burmahe ordered surrender.

Li Xiao also ordered his soldiers to stop killing.

Li Dashan and others quickly led their men to surround and capture all the Naimans in one fell swoop.

Soon, under Li Xiao's command, the Naiman people's war horses and weapons were forcibly confiscated.

The young and strong were detained separately from the other women, children, the elderly and the weak.

He also ordered people to drive back the Naiman people's cattle, sheep, and horses and collect the spoils.

And before the sun sets completely, they set up camp, arrange defenses, etc.

By the time everything was done, it was already completely dark.

At this time, tents have been set up in the temporary camp, and piles of bonfires illuminate the camp.

The soldiers were cooking horse meat in an iron pot and eating dinner.

Li Xiao had already taken off his armor, put on a sheepskin coat, and sat by the campfire, carefully studying a crossbow.

"The structure of this thing is not complicated." Li Xiao said softly.

It is mainly composed of three parts: crossbow arm, crossbow and crossbow mechanism.

The structure is simple and can be disassembled easily.

And the materials required are not that much. Compared to making a strong bow, it just requires a few more parts.

"When I return to Jinzhou, I can try to make one." Li Xiao said to himself.

After putting down the divine arm crossbow, Li Xiao called Burmahei and Gulba over.

"I'm Li Xiao, the captain of Jinzhou."

Li Xiao stood up, put his hands behind his back, stared at the two of them and said in a deep voice.

"I've met my lord."

Bulmahe and Gulba hurriedly saluted.

Although they were a little surprised by Li Xiao's age, they did not dare to show any disrespect in their hearts.

They even felt that the expressionless face of the young man standing next to the fire brought them more terrifying pressure than the sun and sweat.

The deep gaze was like a knife, constantly sliding over them.

"What's the matter with this batch of divine arm crossbows and these twenty sets of wart armor?" Li Xiao looked directly at the two of them and asked in a faint voice.

Among the spoils of war this time, in addition to one hundred divine arm crossbows, there were also twenty sets of wart armor.

When he saw this thing for the first time, Li Xiao knew that he had made it.

This battle was definitely not in vain, the gains were amazing.

The value of these twenty sets of wart armor alone is comparable to the sheep of the entire tribe.

Wart nail is also called cold forged nail.

It is the most defensive armor of this era. Even in the entire history of ancient armor, wart armor is unique.

About a hundred years ago, a Qiang tribe in Western Xia mastered a unique forging technology, the cold forging process.

The armor plates forged using the cold forging process are much stronger than ordinary iron plates, but their thickness is half that of ordinary armor plates.

Therefore, the Xixia people used cold forging technology to forge armor, which was called wart armor.

Its appearance can be regarded as the pinnacle of armor manufacturing technology.

Each set of cold-forged wart armor is enough to become a heirloom of a noble family.

Because it not only has amazing defensive power, far exceeding ordinary armor, but it is also very expensive.

It often takes a craftsman several days to hammer out each plate of wart armor.

And a set of armor requires more than a thousand armor plates?

Therefore, the value of the twenty sets of wart armor seized this time is absolutely inestimable.

Each one can be regarded as a treasure passed down in the family.

"These divine crossbows and armor were obtained by Gulba from Blackwater City under the orders of Sun Khan. I don't know the specific details."

In response to Li Xiao's question, Bulmahei spoke first.

Since I have already surrendered, there is definitely no need to hide anything.

If you cooperate honestly, you may be able to gain some benefits for your tribe.

After hearing what he said, Li Xiao looked at the short Naiman next to him.

He was about thirty years old, thin, but looked somewhat shrewd.

"This~"

Gulba felt helpless and smiled bitterly.

I never thought things would come to this.

Although he was a member of the Taiyanghan clan, he also wanted to survive, so he confessed the truth.

"These one hundred divine arm crossbows and twenty sets of wart armor were all purchased from the commander of the army in Blackwater City."

Li Xiao was slightly surprised: "Heishui City's military commander?"

Gulba thought Li Xiao didn't know about Black Water City, so he explained, "Black Water City is located north of Jiuquan and south of the Gobi Altai Mountains."

"It is an important town in the northwest of Xixia."

"The Zhenyan Military Headquarters, one of the twelve military headquarters in Xixia, is located here."

The twelve military divisions of Western Xia were equivalent to twelve local military regions.

When Li Yuanhao established the Zhenyan Military Command, he deployed 30,000 troops here to defend against the nomadic peoples in the northern grasslands.

But now, I don’t know how many are left.

"The commander-in-chief of the Zhenyan Army actually sold things like the Divine Arm Crossbow and Wart Armor to your Naiman tribe?" Li Xiao said speechlessly.

Both of these can be called "national treasures", but they were sold to the enemy country?

Upon hearing this, Gulba chuckled, "Who in this world doesn't like money? The commander of the Zhenyan Army is also a human being, and he has to consider the troops under his command."

"The Xixia court was slow to pay their grain and wages, so they had no choice but to sell off their surplus weapons."

Weapons are basically distributed according to the number of people, so how could there be any surplus?
Just drawing a salary without working.

Li Xiao shook his head and understood the situation of the Western Xia army.

Corruption, smuggling, the court's arrears of wages, and generals sucking the blood of their soldiers.

At the end of every dynasty, the Western Xia army had already done everything that the army would do.

It's easy to imagine how badly their fighting capacity has fallen. This is a sign of national doom!
However, Li Xiao thought again that even though the combat effectiveness of the Western Xia army was already like this, the Mongols still had to fight seven times before completely destroying the Western Xia.

"Perhaps the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian cavalry during this period was not that exaggerated."

When did the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian cavalry increase exponentially?
After conquering the Jin capital.

Only after capturing a large number of craftsmen from the Central Plains and plundering countless supplies could the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian cavalry be trained.

Today's Mongolian cavalry is probably not much stronger than the Naimans.

"Can you get more wart armor from Xixia?" Li Xiao looked at Gulba and asked.

When the Naiman heard this, his face suddenly turned bitter.

"This might be a bit troublesome."

"Warp armor is extremely valuable and difficult to produce. These twenty sets are probably all the Zhenyan Army has."

"If it's other weapons, I can get them." Gulba said softly, looking at Li Xiao's face from time to time.

Noticing that Li Xiao looked unhappy, he immediately said, "Although there is nothing in Blackwater City, I can go to the two military headquarters in Ganzhou and Guazhou to have a look."

"Perhaps they have some extra warts."

Gulba must demonstrate his own value and make himself a useful person.

He was afraid that Li Xiao would dislike him for wasting food and chop him to death if he got angry.

After hearing the satisfactory answer, the frost on Li Xiao's face instantly disappeared, and when he looked at Gulba, he immediately revealed a smile as bright as the sun.

"Hahaha~"

"Your name is Gulba, isn't it?"

"You are a talented person."

"Golden State needs people like you."

"Anyway, Taiyanghan is about to be finished, so you can work for me from now on." Li Xiao said with a happy smile.

Hutu, who was responsible for translating Naiman language, felt that these words sounded very familiar.

Isn’t that exactly what Li Xiao said to him at that time?

Oh no, this Naiman is here to compete for favor.

Suddenly, Hutu looked at Gulba with some displeasure.

After receiving Li Xiao's guarantee, Gulba felt relieved and knew he wouldn't have to die for the time being.

A smile slowly appeared on his face.

He quickly said to Li Xiao, "Thank you for sparing my life, sir. I will do my best to serve you in the future."

Li Xiao nodded with satisfaction.

This Naiman named Gulba was quite familiar with the affairs of Western Xia and was indeed the talent he needed.

After all, Li Xiao was very coveting the fat piece of meat of Xixia.

After gaining a foothold in Jinzhou, Li Xiao must try to contact Xixia.

There were not only many Han people in Western Xia, but it was also a military and industrial power with a large number of craftsmen.

The level of industrial technology is almost comparable to that of the Song Dynasty.

If Xixia could be swallowed up, the power under Li Xiao's command would undergo a qualitative transformation.

But now Li Xiao can only fantasize about it a little.

To achieve this goal, considerable effort is needed.

After accepting Gulba, Li Xiao turned his gaze to Burmahei.

This tribe originally lived at the foot of the Gobi Altai Mountains, not far from Western Xia.

Even during periods of material scarcity, they often went south to plunder the villages of Western Xia.

Li Xiao discovered some Xixia Han slaves in his tribe.

This Naiman tribe will also be of use in future contacts with Western Xia.

"From now on, your tribe is no longer Naiman, but Jinzhou."

"Follow my orders from now on."

Hearing this, Buermahe also felt relieved.

He quickly expressed his loyalty and said, "As you command."

"From now on, the Horma tribe will obey your orders."

Most people in nomadic tribes have no concept of country and nation.

It was only because the Naiman tribe was powerful that the Horma tribe became dependent on it.

Now that the Naiman tribe is about to be destroyed, the Horma tribe doesn't mind changing its leader.

As long as the tribe can continue to survive, nothing else will be a problem.

"Go and comfort your people. Our Liao army is not your enemy, and we will not do anything to you."

"Tomorrow morning, select all the young and strong men from your tribe and follow me to fight against the Sun Khan."

Li Xiao said to Bulmahe in a deep voice.

The Horma tribe has nearly six hundred young and strong men, which is a strong fighting force.

If they dared to rebel, Li Xiao would immediately order the killing of all the elderly, weak, women and children in the Horma tribe.

"Yes, as ordered."

After Bulmahei and the other man left, Li Xiao gave an order to everyone.

"Tell your men to take care of what's in their pants."

"This Naiman tribe is different."

"Don't touch the women of this tribe."

Facing the Naiman tribe before, Li Xiao's army mainly relied on looting.

But now, with the changes in the situation, Li Xiao can no longer use his usual tough approach towards the Naiman people.

Use both soft and hard tactics.

When facing these surrendered Naimans, Li Xiao will mainly recruit them and make them his wings and minions in his conquests.

(End of this chapter)