Chapter Fourteen: Living Well

Several dozen meters away, Tietou and another youth were already struggling to hold their ground against a veteran Ge Lu cavalryman.

Just as the Ge Lu horseman used brute force to knock the weapon from Tietou’s hand and prepared to stab his blade into Tietou’s chest, suddenly his body staggered, his face twisted in pain, and the arm holding the knife froze instantly.

A spear had pierced through his back with great force, its tip emerging from his chest.

Blood gushed out as the Ge Lu warrior quickly fell from his horse.

Tietou, nearly slain by the Ge Lu soldier’s blade, was still shaken when he heard his companion shout beside him:

“Brother Dalong!”

Following the direction from which the spear was thrown, they saw Li Xiao standing on horseback.

Only then did Tietou realize it was Li Xiao who had saved him.

A look of joy and relief appeared on his face as he shouted, “Brother Dalong!”

Li Xiao had no time to engage with the two of them and simply called out, “Be careful!”

Then, he moved on to hunt down the next target.

Another Ge Lu warrior armed with a spear appeared. Many nomads on the grasslands favored the spear as their primary weapon, mainly for one reason: poverty.

Spears were inexpensive—just a stick with a spearhead attached.

For poorly equipped mounted nomads in the early stages, the spear was the most cost-effective weapon.

Thus, the weapon one carried could reveal their status within the tribe.

Those wielding only spears were certainly the lowest-ranking herders, or even slaves without personal rights.

Those with spears plus knives and bows held a higher status, considered warriors in the tribe, and were more formidable opponents.

Therefore, the few Ge Lu warriors Li Xiao encountered were not tough foes.

When the spear lunged, Li Xiao merely shifted his body slightly. Before the spear could reach his chest, his cavalry saber struck down swiftly.

“Crack!”

A crisp sound of wood breaking rang out as Li Xiao directly cut the Ge Lu’s spear in two.

Then, with a light twist of his saber, as their horses passed each other, the blade effortlessly sliced across the Ge Lu warrior’s neck.

After dispatching the spearman, Li Xiao moved on to the next target, finally facing an opponent worthy of honing his skills—a figure who seemed to be a minor chieftain of the Ge Lu.

But unsurprisingly, he was soon unseated by Li Xiao’s blade.

With more blood staining his saber, Li Xiao’s movements became increasingly effortless and graceful, his killing methods more refined, as though he were a seasoned veteran.

When no enemies remained before him, he wiped the blood from his saber and surveyed the battlefield.

Almost none of the Ge Lu warriors still rode under the siege of the overwhelming Hexi cavalry.

After all, a single Ge Lu warrior facing two or three Hexi horsemen simultaneously stood no chance of fighting back.

“Whizz—”

Accompanied by the whistle of an arrow, a fleeing Ge Lu horseman several dozen meters away suddenly tumbled to the ground.

Li Xiao slowly lowered his longbow.

The battle was over.

All the Ge Lu warriors had been slaughtered on the southern bank of the Dragon Bone River, staining the once-clear water a deep red.

***

On the side of Hexi Fort, the losses were also severe.

One man dead, four seriously wounded, and over a dozen lightly injured.

The deceased was an elderly man who lived quite close to Li Xiao’s home.

Whenever Li Xiao returned home, he often greeted him respectfully as Grandpa Liu.

In Li Xiao’s memory, he was a kind, talkative, and gentle old man.

None could have imagined that a single battle would separate them forever.

This deepened Li Xiao’s understanding of the cruel reality of ancient warfare.

This was no game of mounted combat; real death was not far away.

“Dalong, don’t be too sad.”

“Uncle Liu fulfilled his wish.”

Before Grandpa Liu’s corpse, Li Dashan tried to comfort Li Xiao.

He worried that Li Xiao’s first experience of such brutal slaughter, seeing someone familiar die before his eyes, might unsettle him.

But Li Xiao’s heart was not so fragile; whether in his past life or this one, he was no stranger to killing.

“It’s alright, Sixth Uncle,” Li Xiao nodded calmly.

“Grandpa Liu avenged Uncle Ermao; he killed three Ge Lu men. He even profited!” Li Xiao said.

Grandpa Liu’s son had died recently in Beishan alongside Li Xiao’s father.

Driven by grief and anger, Grandpa Liu fought recklessly in the recent battle, exchanging his life for the lives of Ge Lu warriors.

When he killed the third Ge Lu man, he was stabbed through the chest by a blade.

Perhaps at the moment he fell, he had no regrets.

“From now on, take better care of the Liu family’s orphans and widows,” Sixth Uncle sighed.

Then he shouted to everyone, “Clean up the battlefield and finish off any surviving Ge Lu warriors. Cut off their heads!”

Cleaning the battlefield was crucial.

First, they gathered the enemy’s horses to bring back.

Then, the curved swords, bows, arrows, and arrows scattered on bodies and ground—all were collected for reuse.

Even the enemy’s spears were valuable strategic resources.

Unlike the prosperous Central Plains, the grasslands were scarce in iron tools; spearheads, even if not reused as weapons, could be melted down and forged into farming implements.

Of course, searching enemy corpses was essential; valuable items like gold, silver, and copper coins might be found.

Lastly, the Ge Lu warriors’ clothing would be stripped off.

Grassland people held fewer taboos; washed clothes could be worn again.

If unusable as clothing, they still served other purposes.

Ultimately, due to the scarcity of resources on the grasslands, the people of Hexi Fort would not let anything useful go to waste.

In this battle, Li Xiao personally slew five Ge Lu warriors, and he had shot even more—at least ten in total.

All the spoils belonged to Li Xiao.

Though he cared little for weapons and clothes, the captured Ge Lu horses were excellent.

Anyone living on the grasslands would never turn down more horses.

From this battle alone, Li Xiao added nearly twenty horses to his household, along with a number of gold, silver, and copper coins from the Ge Lu men.

While the people of Hexi Fort cleaned the battlefield, the old man sat on a blood-stained rock.

Holding a curved sword with a broken notch, he gazed at the scattered Ge Lu corpses and exhaled a heavy breath.

Two sons, one dead and one missing—this blow was too great.

Within a day, Li Xiao noticed many more white hairs on the old man’s head.

Fortunately, this fierce battle helped vent his sorrow, improving his mood somewhat.

“Grandpa, let me bandage your wound—don’t let it get infected,” Li Xiao approached and said.

In this fight, the old man’s bravery remained undiminished; he personally decapitated three Ge Lu warriors.

He also paid the price with a wound on his chest from a curved sword—though not deep, it tore the flesh and stained his clothes with blood.

“A minor wound, no big deal,” the old man stubbornly shook his head.

In his youth, he had countless scars from battles, once even pierced through the chest by an enemy spear, yet he survived.

Death would not claim him.

So, this small wound was nothing to him.

Still, he did not refuse Li Xiao’s offer to dress the injury.

“Dalong, your father is gone, your second uncle’s fate is uncertain—our family is down to just us old men.”

The old man’s expression fell as he sighed, his cloudy eyes moist with tears.

Li Xiao understood how much losing his two sons had affected him.

Yet, he could only console him, “We old men must live well.”

“Don’t let my father rest uneasily in the afterlife.”

“Indeed, we must live well,” the old man exhaled softly.

He still could not die.

His grandsons were all still children.

If he fell now, those boys would be left utterly alone.

Fortunately, none of the grandsons had disappointed him.

Both Dahu and Erhu were doing well—brave and honorable, they would grow up in a couple of years to support Dalong.

But what pleased the old man most was Li Xiao.

He already knew of Li Xiao’s performance.

His unparalleled archery, taking enemy heads at two hundred meters with unerring shots, and fearless close combat—slaying four enemies—made him a fierce warrior on the battlefield.

The old man believed that if more Ge Lu warriors appeared, Li Xiao’s tally would only grow.

Most gratifying was Li Xiao’s skill in troop deployment and his remarkable talent for commanding cavalry.

This showed he had the potential to become a competent commander.

Thus, as he sat on the stone earlier, the old man felt that heaven was not entirely cruel to him.

Though his favored sons were lost, heaven had gifted him an outstanding eldest grandson.

Now, his sole hope was for Li Xiao to mature quickly, gaining sufficient prestige and strength to succeed him as leader of Hexi Fort.

To truly establish the family’s legacy.

Then, even if he passed on, the old man would have no regrets.