A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 543 Persuading to Retreat
Twenty li east of Fanzhi County, you will reach the entrance of Yuegu Valley.

Li Yi met with Sijie Awen.

The two armies lined up two miles apart, and each leader brought only a few horsemen to meet in the middle.

Awen saw her son, Wusui, who had been brought along. Her son had really lost weight; he was so thin he was almost unrecognizable. What Awen found hardest to accept was that Wusui had his head shaved.

"What's going on?" Sijie Awen pointed at his youngest son's head, his hand trembling. Wusui was his youngest son, but Awen's chosen heir. The Tiele people, like the Turks, had a tradition of the youngest son guarding the hearth, while the older sons were usually given cattle and horses early on, allowing them to separate from the family and live independently.

The youngest son, on the other hand, stays by the family's side and may even inherit the family business in the future. Chiefs and leaders would also let their youngest son inherit their chieftainship.

Awen loves Wusui the most.

The Tiele tribes on the grasslands did not shave their heads. The earliest Xiongnu people on the grasslands wore their hair loose, while the Xianbei people later wore their hair in a braid. After the Northern Wei Dynasty was established, it reformed and became Sinicized, but their tradition of wearing braids remained widespread on the grasslands.

However, the Rouran, the previous rulers of the steppe before the Turks, shaved their heads. The reason was that their ancestor was originally a slave who was named Mugulu by Tuoba Liwei, the Khan of the Xianbei Tuoba tribe. Mugulu was bald.

When Tuoba Yilu, the grandson of Tuoba Liwei, ruled the grasslands, this bald man was redeemed as a cavalryman for his military achievements. However, he was later convicted of a crime and, together with more than a hundred criminals, defected from the Xianbei tribe and sought refuge with the Hedouling tribe. This tribe was the one that later changed its surname to Dou, and it was the ancestral tribe of Empress Dou Mu, Li Yuan's wife.

That bald slave was a skilled warrior, and by the time of his son, his tribe had grown even larger and stronger than Hedouling's. So he simply established a new tribe. Since his father had also been a slave and did not have a noble surname, he simply named the tribe Mugulu. This tribe later became the core tribe of the Rouran.

Because the elder brother used to be bald, his followers followed his elder brother and shaved their heads. So later, the Rouran tribes also shaved their heads. However, many of them were originally Xianbei or Xianbei juniors who were used to wearing small braids, so they only shaved the top of their heads and left a circle of hair around the sides to wear small braids, or they only shaved their heads and left two small braids.

The bald man's descendant, Shelun, conquered east and west, established the Rouran Khanate, and was proclaimed as the Qiudoufa Khan. The tradition of shaving one's head was also promoted throughout the grasslands along with the Rouran Khanate.

However, even though the Tiele people were conquered by the Rouran several times, they resolutely refused to shave their heads.

They retain the tradition of braided hair.
Even in the Rouran tradition, the braver and more accomplished a man was, the longer his hair was, and the bigger and longer his braid was.

Wu Sui had his head shaved completely, even more thoroughly than the Xianbei people of the past who shaved the top of their heads but left a little hair on the sides; not a single hair was left.

“It’s hot, and Chief Wusui’s long braid sweats easily. He doesn’t have time to wash or groom it, so it got lice and was very itchy. So I shaved it all off for him,” Li Yi said calmly.

Ah Wen looked at the bare black fragments, and her heart broke.

In their Tiele tribe, such a bald head was a severe punishment for slaves who committed crimes, making a man completely lose face and unable to hold his head up.

The Xi and Khitan people, at least, like the Rouran, only shaved the top of their heads and left a little hair to tie into small braids.

How could he shave the head of his most beloved son?

"Chief Awen, did you bring the gold? Young Chief Wusui originally wanted 250 jin, but I only accepted 200 jin. I gave you a discount. If the young chief still had his long braid, it would weigh several jin."

Awen said irritably, "Li Sikong, your demands are too much. You actually want two hundred catties of gold to ransom my son."

"Hmph." Li Yi chuckled, "Last time Gao Kaidao passed by your place, he offered a thousand good horses in exchange for your eight hundred ordinary horses, and you even accepted eight hundred taels of gold in return."

"What, now your young clan leader of the Sijie tribe isn't worth three thousand taels of gold?"

“You are, after all, a large tribe in the northern desert with 100,000 members, one of the nine clans of the Tiele.”

Awen looked at Li Yi and thought to himself that this traitor Gao Kaidao had indeed secretly surrendered to Tang long ago, otherwise how could Li Yi know so much about these things?

“I can give you the city of Fanzhi.”

In addition, I can give you the five thousand Han Chinese people I have.

Release Wu Sui and the two thousand captured Sijie soldiers. I will take them and immediately withdraw from Fanzhi City.

Li Yi shook his head.

"Chief Awen, do you really think we're here to do business in the border market, trying to haggle? I've already told you my terms."
You withdraw from Fanzhi County, and you will be redeemed for Wu Sui with two hundred catties of gold.

The other two thousand prisoners of Sijie could be exchanged for five captured Han Chinese or ten thousand coins, or two horses or five oxen, or fifty bolts of silk.

If we're going to trade, then we'll trade everything. I won't accept trading only for the Wusui or tribal nobles.

Awen looked very unwell.

"If Chief Awen is unwilling to change, then don't force him."

We've already witnessed the fighting strength and will of your Sijie tribe under Chief Wusui's command, and to put it bluntly, they're quite average.

I can easily lead my troops to defeat you and recapture Fanzhi City. At that time, Chief Awen might also become my prisoner.

"The city of Fanzhi, along with the people you abducted and the money and silk you plundered, will naturally all belong to us."

“Go back, Chief Awen. You can consider whether to fight here in a while, or retreat to Fanzhi County and I will lead my army to attack.”

Li Yi's attitude infuriated Awen, yet she was also secretly alarmed.

It seems Li Yi is very confident that he can take over Fanzhi City.

At this moment, Awen was filled with resentment towards Jieli Khan, wondering why no troops had been sent to his aid yet.

Li Yin's ability to defeat Gao Kaidao and force him to surrender within a single day, followed by the annihilation of three thousand Wu Sui cavalry, truly made Awen wary.

The calmer Li Yi appeared, the less he dared to easily turn against him.

"Could Chief Awen still be waiting for Jieli's reinforcements?"

Ha ha,

I advised Chief Awen not to wait any longer. If Jieli really wanted to send reinforcements, he would have done so long ago. But not a single soldier has arrived yet. What does that mean? It means that Jieli is hoping you'll have a major battle with me at Fanzhi, and he might even be hoping you'll launch a preemptive attack on Pingxing Village.

Whether you win or lose, he won't lose out.

If you lose, you suffer heavy losses, while he suffers no losses; it is your Tielesi tribe that suffers. If you win, he will be even happier.

Jieli only wants to sit back and watch the two tigers fight; he might even be hoping we both suffer heavy losses.

"You Sijie tribe are Tiele people, so why are you risking your lives for the Turks?"

Of course, Awen didn't want to either.

Negotiation is about bargaining, and Li Yi was certainly willing to be accommodating.

After a final discussion
Sijie Awen decided to withdraw from Fanzhi County and hand over the five thousand people they had plundered to Li Yi. In addition, he gave Li Yi 1,600 taels of gold, three thousand horses, one thousand cattle, and ten thousand bolts of silk.

Seeing that Awen's neck veins were bulging and his face was flushed, and that he was on the verge of losing control, Li Yi did not escalate the situation further.

His initial offer was Fanzhi County, 3,200 taels of gold, and 10,000 captured Han Chinese in exchange for Wu Sui and his 2,000 cavalrymen.

Two thousand prisoners were to be exchanged for ten thousand captured Han Chinese. Now it's equivalent to exchanging one thousand prisoners for five thousand Han Chinese.

The remaining thousand should be worth fifty thousand bolts of silk, or two thousand horses, or five thousand oxen.

Now, these thousand prisoners have been exchanged for two thousand horses.

What remained was essentially a ransom of 1,600 taels of gold, 1,000 horses, 1,000 oxen, and 10,000 bolts of silk. According to Li Yi's offer, 1,000 horses were worth 25,000 bolts of silk, and 1,000 oxen were worth 10,000 bolts of silk.

Horses, cattle, and silk, combined, amounted to 45,000 bolts of silk, equivalent to 1,125 taels of gold.

With the addition of the 1,600 taels of gold, Li Yi effectively reduced Awen's ransom by 475 taels, bringing Wu Sui's ransom down to 2,725 taels.

Wu Sui should be starved to 170 jin.

"Chief Awen, Young Chief Wusui, haven't I been generous enough? I wouldn't have offered you a single penny less, but now I'm offering you four hundred and fifty-five taels of gold less!"
"Two hundred coins for a bolt of silk? That's equivalent to nineteen thousand bolts of silk, enough to buy seven hundred and sixty fine horses!"

Awen is about to lose it.

The Han man went through the whole process of calculating and recalculating, leaving the Han man dizzy and confused. He didn't even know why the Han man had finally agreed to it.

One thousand six hundred taels of gold, three thousand horses, one thousand oxen, ten thousand bolts of silk, plus a county and five thousand captured slaves.

He felt his heart was bleeding.

Why did you agree?

They worked so hard looting south this time, and now they've almost given it all back.

Gold, silk, cattle, and slaves—although all were looted from the Central Plains—
But those three thousand horses were brought by the Sijie tribe themselves.

Last time, 3,000 men were defeated, and now 2,000 have been redeemed, but all 6,000 of their mounts are gone, as are the armor and equipment of 3,000 men.

Awen wanted to back out.

If Gao Kai hadn't passed by last time and extorted eight hundred taels of gold from him, he wouldn't have been able to come up with this hundred catties of gold.

"Chief Awen, you've plundered quite a bit this time you went south. Even if you give some back, you can still bring back a lot if you return to the northern desert now."

It would be better to call it quits while we're ahead. Let's put on a show, and you can pretend you were defeated by my surprise attack and return to the northern desert.

If you don't leave now, you might not be able to leave at all.

Ah Wen's expression was unpredictable.

Since Li Yi captured Pingxing Pass, the Sijie tribe, which was guarding Fanzhi, has also suffered a great misfortune. First, Wusui lost three thousand men, and then Tang generals such as Su Dingfang launched light cavalry attacks, repeatedly killing the Sijie tribe's cavalry who went out to plunder. The total loss was about two thousand men.

Even if we redeem two thousand now

However, they still lost three thousand men, even though most of these three thousand men were just scavengers and not elite soldiers.

But for a nomadic tribe in the northern desert with only 100,000 people, this was a devastating blow, and the servants who went to gather grass and grain were men.

"I suggest you retreat north from here across the valley entrance, instead of retreating to Yanmen. Otherwise, Jieli will not let you leave. Jieli will plunder the riches, while your Sijie tribe may suffer heavy losses and lose more than you gain."

The Eighteen Passes of Yanmen
Between Fanzhi and Yingxian to the north, there are five major valleys connected.

Youyue Valley is the later Ruyue Pass. Other passes include Beilou Pass, Dashi Pass, Xiaoshi Pass, and Malan Pass. From here, passing through Ruyue Valley, one can reach Ying County to the north via the Hun River. Following the Hun River downstream leads to the Datong Basin of the Sanggan River Valley. The Sijie tribe could bypass Yanmen Pass and head directly north across the Yin Mountains and through the Gobi Desert back to northern Mongolia.

Sijie Awen hesitated for a moment. After paying such a large ransom, as Li Yi said, the Sijie tribe still had seven or eight thousand people and had taken quite a lot of things. They had been out for several months, so withdrawing now would not have been a complete waste of time.

If they return to Yanmen, they might still have a chance to follow Jieli to seize Taiyuan, or even penetrate deep into Fen and Jin. However, it is also possible that the Tang army will encircle them from several directions, and Jieli will be unable to take Yanmen and dare not penetrate deep into Taiyuan. He will be forced to withdraw his troops as he did last year. In that case, there will be no benefit. If Jieli punishes them and sends them to attack Yanmen or Xinzhou, they will suffer heavy losses.

However, retreating now would be troublesome if Jieli Khan blamed them.

He thought of what Li Yi had said about cooperating in a charade, pretending that Li Yi had launched a surprise attack on Fanzhi, and that Sijie's troops had been defeated and fled north. This was indeed a reason for retreating north.

Looking at Li Yi's faint smile, Awen felt a sense of resentment.

(End of this chapter)