Late Tang

(Thanks to Lin Biao for being here and Balrog God for his support, thank you!)

After the battle, Liu Yunniang rode a big maroon horse through the fields of corpses, followed by Jian Ji and the Niangzi army, with indifferent expressions.

There are traces of iron hooves everywhere on the ground, the green grass that has just sprouted has been trampled into the soil, there are countless white feather arrows stuck on the ground, and there are broken knives and guns stained with blood all over the ground, making this place hideous and terrifying, like an endless hell.

She rode into the battlefield, the dying horse struggled its head and screamed at her, and some of the wounded soldiers who were not dead were sleeping or praying.

A large number of men with tomahawks in their hands shuttled across the battlefield, and they were responsible for making up the knife.Not only make up for those wounded enemy soldiers who are not dead, but also make up for friendly soldiers who are seriously injured and difficult to treat.The only difference is that when dealing with enemy wounded soldiers, no matter how serious the wounded are, as long as they are wounded, their heads will be chopped off with an axe.But if they are their own people, they will be treated differently. Those with minor injuries will be taken away for medical treatment. Only those who are seriously injured and difficult to treat will give them a happy, piercing the heart with a dagger.

Behind them followed a group of teenagers who pulled arrows from the corpse and put them in baskets for reuse.The metal parts of broken knives and guns will also be recycled together.There are also some younger teenagers whose task is to carry away the friendly soldiers who died in battle and dig pits to bury them.

In addition to the corpses all over the grassland, many cattle and horses also suffered accidents.

There were dead cattle and sheep everywhere, estimated to be hundreds or thousands, and these cattle and sheep were also full of arrows. Liu Yunniang knew that they died from random arrows during the initial raid.

The camp was on fire, and plumes of black smoke billowed into the low sky.

In a messy camp, Shatuo knights galloped back and forth, waving their long whips, driving the surviving survivors to leave.

Tatar women and children seem to have accepted their fate after the defeat. From Mobei to Yinshan, they have experienced countless battles during the hundreds of years of migration, and they have long been used to the grassland. the rule of.The loser will become the slave of the winner.

But even if they became slaves, these women and children still walked with a rebellious sullenness and self-esteem.

Liu Yunniang stared at them with deep eyes and hands, and she thought of Sha Tuo a few years ago on them.When Shatuo was defeated and they fled to Mobei, they were the same as them.Perhaps this is the biggest difference between the grassland tribes and the people of the Central Plains. She clearly remembers the appearance of those Han people who were reduced to slaves when they were in the North. Non-stop kids.Also being a slave, the Han slaves are more desperate and numb, while the Tatar slaves are unyielding in their anger.

My man once said that the Han people are actually a flock of sheep, while the grassland tribes are a pack of wolves and tigers.At the end of the Jin Dynasty, the Five Hus went south, and the Hus called the Han people two-legged sheep, which were their food.

Although Liu Yunniang felt that these words were bloody and cruel, she felt that they were not unreasonable.Shatuo has faced the juncture of life and death several times. If they were replaced by Han people, they might have perished, but Shatuo people will get up faster when they fall.However, sometimes she felt that what her husband said was not entirely true. Most Han people were weak, such as the ruler of the Tang Empire, the emperor and prime minister of Chang'an, each weaker than the other.But there are also heroes among the Han people, such as the Qin king Li Jing, who led a group of weak Han people to defeat Shatuo, Khitan, Goguryeo, and Xi, Tatar and Bohai.

Even if he makes a comeback and strengthens the Shatuo tribe again, his own man, who is called King Shatuo, always has deep fear in his eyes when he mentions Li Jing.

Liu Yunniang saw a Tatar boy striding towards the river, but a Shatuo warrior in black leather armor blocked his way and forced him to turn around.The rest of the cavalry surrounded him, whipped him in the face with a whip, and drove him away.

Another knight galloped up behind him and whipped his back until blood stained his chest.Another person wrapped his ankle with a whip and made him fall to the ground. In the end, the thirteen or fourteen-year-old Tatar boy could only crawl, and they got bored. The arrow shot through his back.

Li Siyuan, the general of Hengchong, greeted her in front of a tent newly erected by the river.

He replaced it with a newly seized set of magnificent armor of the Tatar nobles, which was a set of Qinglong-style full-body plate armor worth a thousand guan, with sharp edges and corners.He wore a soapy burqa over his armor, and his gauntlets, greaves, and helmet were all dark gray stamped steel.When he got this set of armor, he immediately presented it to Li Keyong, but Li Keyong gained a lot and got more than ten sets of such exquisite armor.In the end, Li Keyong took out thirteen sets of armor as prizes, and let the generals under his command compete in martial arts, and the 13 victors could get one.

Li Siyuan shot down the vulture hovering in the sky with one arrow, and he killed two vultures with one arrow. Li Ke directly asked him to choose a set of armor.

Li Siyuan strode forward, saluted Liu Yunniang with his right hand on the breastplate, "The king is waiting for Madam Hou in the tent."

"Is the king not injured?"

"A little flesh wound." When Li Siyuan and Liu Yunniang were together, he couldn't help his heart pounding and his mouth was dry.His face was hot, and he didn't dare to look directly at his adoptive mother, "It's not a problem. Today, my lord killed Hebuler's two sons with his own hands. It's a pity that Hebuler and Hutu ran fast, but even if they ran Well, after this battle, the Yinshan Tatar Alliance will also be intimidated by your lord's power and surrender to me, Shatuo."

When the Shatuo soldiers were defeated in Daibei and fled outside the Great Wall, it was the Tatars who took them in.Moreover, the Yinshan Tatars and the Shatuo people have been friends for decades and have been married for generations.As early as Shatuo had not turned against him, Shatuo guarded Daibei, and the Tatars had always been under the management of Shatuo.

It's a pity that the alliance of brothers at the beginning is now a battle of swords and soldiers.

The Khitans attacked the tribal camp of the Tatars in the north of the Yin Mountains. Hebul and Hutu led [-] Tatar cavalry back north to the grassland. Li Keyong led his troops to follow and pursue them. The army was wiped out.

She didn't know what words to use to describe this battle, it wouldn't be a just war anyway.

But we can't simply say that Shatuo broke his promise, because although the Tatars took Shatuo in first, the Tatars colluded with Li Jing and prepared to attack them.They act first to be strong. Although they are self-protecting, it is against their faith to attack the Tatars.

After all, the grievances and hatred between the two tribes were only because they were involved in the battle of the Tang Dynasty.

Just beside the small river not far from the tent, a girl who was much younger than Mrs. Liu was crying loudly and shrilly. A thirteen or fourteen-year-old Shatuo boy who was even much younger than that girl pushed her to the ground. On the grass, kill on the spot.On the side, there were even hundreds of Shatuo warriors sitting or standing, gesticulating and laughing.Liu Yunniang was no stranger to this, and she knew in her heart that the young man must be the Shatuo warrior who participated in the battle for the first time.

Shatuo people are naturally brave and advocate fighting. Every Shatuo boy will formally join the army and become a soldier when he is 14 years old.And when this warrior kills the first enemy on the battlefield, according to tradition, he will get a beautiful young captive girl after the battle, and officially become a Shatuo warrior on her body, which is a ** present.

I am the woman of King Shatuo, Liu Yunniang rolled her eyes while reminding herself of her identity.Although she didn't agree with this Shatuo people's tradition, she couldn't object to it either.She pursed her lips, hardened her heart, and rode towards the camp.

"The Yinshan Tatars are completely annihilated this time." Li Siyuan also saw the scene over there, and he was slightly distracted. He had also experienced the experience of that young man today, but the woman back then was a Han woman, or a The county magistrate's daughter.She still seems to be very pretty, but now her memory is a little fuzzy, she only remembers the whiteness and tenderness, but she no longer remembers what the woman's face looked like.He thought about it seriously, but suddenly he was a little horrified to find that Liu's appearance suddenly appeared on that blurred face.Startled in his heart, he glanced at Liu Shi from the corner of his eye, his face was hot.Bite the tip of the tongue hard, the pain makes the mind recover. "Although Hebul and Hutu have both fled, the Tatars are finished. The Khitans attacked the Tatar tribal camps in the north of Yinshan Mountain. Now the [-] elite light cavalry led by Hebul and Hutu have been captured by us again. Kill them, and they will never turn over again."

"To conquer the Yinshan Tatars, we can add [-] to [-] Tatar Qingqi."

The Shatuo army was not limited to the Shatuo tribe, but also many Han, Sogdian, Uighur, Tuyuhun, and even Tangxiang, Khitan, Xi, Goguryeo, and Tatars.Although the Tatars were just enemies, the conquered Tatars will fight for them.

That's war, that's what war is.

"What's the next move?" Liu Yunniang asked.

"The king of the county has discussed a plan with Khitan and the four towns of Hebei. The Khitan will attack Li Jing's western province of Liao, the four towns of Hebei will attack Moying, and we will attack Beiping on the front line of Yanshan." Li Siyuan said, although he said Several companies have joined forces, but they are still wary of each other.It is absolutely impossible for Liu Yue to agree to allow Shatuo's army to enter Youzhou through Junduguan.Li Quanzhong would not agree to the Shatuo army entering the Yiwu army through the Feihu Road.

Although this alliance is a joint dispatch of troops, in fact it is still a separate army, and the troops are divided into multiple groups.

Behind him, the girl who was annihilated made a heartbreaking sound. It was sobbing with despair, and it continued to descend endlessly.Liu Yunniang held the reins tightly, turned the horse's head, "Tell them to stop." She ordered Li Siyuan.

"Madam?" Li Siyuan was a little embarrassed.

"You heard my order." Liu Yunniang's face was a little livid, and she couldn't let herself turn a blind eye to that girl. "Tell them to stop." She loudly ordered Jingniang, the commander of the sword girls behind her, with a sharp tone: "Jingniang, you immediately take the sword guards to inspect the camp, I don't want to see any more incidents happen."

Jing Niang also hesitated, "Madam, you are kind and kind, but these are Shatuo's customs and traditions, which have been passed down from generation to generation."

By the small river in the distance, the girl was still crying, and her desperate crying sounded strangely strange to Liu's ears.

"She is a Tatar woman, and now she is a slave of Shatuo." Li Siyuan persuaded hesitantly, "Madam, it is her honor to be the first woman of a Shatuo warrior."

"Indeed." Jing Niang also replied.

Liu Yunniang sighed secretly in her heart, "I have taken a fancy to this girl, and I want to recruit Jianwei. From now on, she will be mine."

Hearing this answer, both Li Siyuan and Jingniang heaved a sigh of relief. If they just fell in love with this girl and did not want to change Shatuo's tradition, then this is not a difficult matter.

"Yes, ma'am." Li Siyuan kicked the horse's belly and rode over.

"Go and bring her." Liu Yunniang untied the silk cloak on her waist and handed it to Jingniang.

"As you wish." Jing Niang took the cloak and looked at Mrs. Liu with admiration in her eyes. This is a master worthy of service.

Li Siyuan and Jingniang went there together, the group of Shatuo cavalry shouted a few words in surprise, and then the boy handed over the girl on his body.Whether it is Li Siyuan or Jingniang, they are not something they can refuse, let alone what they bring is Madam's request.

Jingniang pulled the girl up, put Liu's cloak on her, and led her to Yunniang.

The girl's eyes were red and swollen, she looked dazed and trembling, her hair was stained with blood and mud.

"Jing Shisanniang, take care of her injuries, then give her a bath and put on the sword guard's clothes, and she will be your subordinate sword guard from now on." After Liu finished speaking, she rode the bay red horse.

The temporary camp was not much better than the battlefield. On the way, they often saw many teenagers doing their own nurturing ceremony.Every time Liu Yunniang reined in the reins, sent a sword girl to stop them, and took these young men as her sword guards.

Some Tatar girls were full of gratitude to Mrs. Liu and said words of blessing, but there were also many girls whose eyes were full of resentment, did not accept her kindness, and still regarded her as an enemy.

"Madam, if you do this, the warriors will be dissatisfied." When Liu Shi stopped again and watched Jing Niang bring back a dozen young girls this time, Li Siyuan couldn't help persuading her.He already understood that Liu Shi didn't really want to accept the sword guard, but just used this kind of reluctant reason to stop the rape.

"I have to do this." Liu Yunniang insisted.

When he returned to the camp of the Chinese army, Li Keyong was sitting in the sweat tent that Hebuler hadn't taken away in time. Li Youjin was sitting beside him, and several generals of Shatuo were also there.

Li Keyong got up and smiled at Liu Shi: "Ma'am, just now uncle came to complain to me, saying that Ma'am prevented me from performing the salute of Shatuo warrior?"

Mrs. Liu nodded, and told the story concisely and directly. However, she insisted that she didn't want to destroy Shatuo's tradition, but wanted to accept those girls as sword guards.

Li Ke blinked with one eye, a little dumbfounded: "Madam, that is a custom passed down from generation to generation in our Shatuo. A Shatuo warrior grows up by killing enemies and conquering women."

Mrs. Liu also knew that her reasons were a bit too forced, and said: "To conquer a woman is not to rape her, let alone to rape her in public. I think this custom can be changed, and the defeated tribal women can be rewarded to brave young warriors , but they should treat them tenderly, love them, and treat them as their own women, instead of ravaging them so mercilessly."

Li Keyong smiled at his uncle Li Youjin, "What Madam said makes sense. Since Madam doesn't like it, then pass down the order and follow Madam's words. We are not the same as before, and some customs really need to be changed." (Unfinished to be continued.)