Chapter 46 The Base

News that the Aslan tribe had been completely wiped out quickly spread through the Maman tribe.

"How is that possible?"
"The Aslan tribe is just as large a tribe as our Maman tribe. How could they be destroyed by the Han people overnight?"
"It's true~ During the heavy rain the day before yesterday, the Han people launched a surprise attack under the cover of night, and the Aslan tribe was completely unprepared."
"A massive tribe of over three thousand people~ Just gone like that?"
"How can the Han people be so formidable? Doesn't that mean our Maman tribe is in danger too?"
"We must step up our defenses! Don't let those Han people catch us off guard."
"Alas, this battle is going to be difficult to fight!"
……

On this day, the entire Maman tribe was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere of oppression.

As the herdsmen whispered the news from one to another, everyone learned that the Aslan tribe had been eradicated.

Originally, when the Maman tribe breached the Wuya Stronghold, their morale had been soaring, and from top to bottom, they had grown somewhat arrogant and dismissive of others.

They had been preparing to embark on grand ambitions to capture even more Han fortresses.

Yet, the arrival of this news struck like a basin of freezing winter water, plunging all the Karluks into silence.

Unbeknownst to them, a wave of pessimism even began to permeate the air.

Many people even started to doubt whether this uprising could possibly succeed~

Of course, the most helpless person of all was Hou Wen.

Upon hearing the news, Hou Wen returned to his temporary tent and sat there in a daze for a long time.

His brows remained tightly knitted, his expression gloomy and constantly shifting.

In the end, he cursed viciously, "Those worthless fools are unworthy of plotting with."

"These Karluks are simply a bunch of useless trash."

Hou Wen's mood was abyssal.

He had originally pinned his hopes on the Karluk rebellion and prepared to place his bets on them!

Never had he imagined that the powerful Aslan tribe would be annihilated overnight.

It completely shattered Hou Wen's worldview.

Try as he might, he could not fathom which fortress possessed such formidable strength.

Or could it have been a joint operation by several fortresses?

Regardless, it clearly indicated that a powerful military force had emerged among the Han people, one that already possessed the strength to contend with the Karluks.

"Alas, had I known this earlier, I would never have come here," Hou Wen muttered to himself in a deep voice.

With the Aslan tribe destroyed, the strength of the Karluks had been severely depleted, leaving their future bleak and dim.

Hou Wen no longer believed that the Karluk rebellion could succeed.

Once the Khitan army from the Eastern Capital arrived, coordinating with this faction of Han troops from Jinzhou, the two remaining Karluk tribes would scarcely be able to put up any resistance.

Therefore, Hou Wen regretted his actions.

He should not have defected to the Karluks so early.

"Fortunately, not many people know about this!" Hou Wen murmured.

Aside from the Karluks, only his own people from the Hou Stronghold were aware of it.

That being the case, there might still be room for maneuver.

"Once I return, I will immediately execute Li Erjiang and the others."

Just as Hou Wen was pondering how to remedy the situation, two hurried footsteps sounded, and the flap of the tent was yanked open directly.

"Chieftain~"
"What is it?"

Hou Wen furrowed his brows slightly, speaking with a trace of displeasure.

However, when he looked back, his expression shifted slightly.

"Number Five, why are you here?"

There were two newcomers. The one in the lead was one of the two Hou family guards who had accompanied him.

The person behind him looked flustered and disheveled, his face full of grief.

He was a paternal cousin of Hou Wen.

He ought to have remained behind at the Hou Stronghold, yet he had actually run all the way to the Maman tribe to find him.

Hou Wen instantly realized that something major had happened.

The man looked travel-worn and utterly panicked. Upon seeing Hou Wen, tears actually welled up in his eyes, his legs went weak, and he dropped straight to his knees.

"Sob, sob, sob, sob~"
"Older brother, older brother~"

The man cried with redrimmed eyes and sobbed, "The Hou Stronghold is gone~"
"Our Hou family is finished!"

Hearing this, Hou Wen could no longer remain seated; he jerked to his feet.

His eyes widened in a drastic change of expression as he angrily demanded, "What is going on? How is the Hou Stronghold gone? Explain yourself clearly to me."

Hou Wen's heart leapt into his throat, his emotions growing increasingly frantic.

"It's the Li family from Hexi."
"A younger member of the Li family named Li Xiao launched a sneak attack on our Hou Stronghold~" the man wept as he spoke.

He recounted the events to Hou Wen, including how Hou Tiancai had led men out and fallen into an ambush, leaving the stronghold's garrison depleted and allowing the enemy to breach it.

When Li Xiao led his men charging into the Hou Stronghold, seeing that the situation was hopeless, he had seized the chaos to escape.

Hearing this, Hou Wen was completely stunned.

He slumped heavily back onto the ground, repeatedly murmuring in his mouth, "How is that possible? How is that possible?"

Following closely came a wave of piercing heartache.

He cursed loudly, "Idiot, utter idiot."
"Simply beyond foolish."

Although the Hou Stronghold could not be called impregnable, it was not somewhere just anyone could breach.

Had Hou Tiancai not fallen for the enemy's diversionary tactic of luring the tiger away from the mountain, the Hou Stronghold would never have fallen into trouble.

At that moment, for the very first time, Hou Wen felt furious that he had fathered such a foolish son; he would have been better off shooting him against a wall back then!

And that old codger, he truly grew more muddle-headed with age—how could he fail to see through such a simple conspiracy?

It seemed his brains had been completely drained dry by women, turning his head into a block of dead wood.

"And then?" Hou Wen asked impatiently.

"They're all dead, everyone in our Hou family is dead," the man said tearfully.

During the night, he had sneaked back to the Hou Stronghold to take a look, only to discover that all the members of the Hou family had been hacked to death by indiscriminate blades, causing him to completely break down on the spot.

He had immediately run to the Maman tribe to tell Hou Wen everything.

"Pfft~"

Hearing this, Hou Wen was overwhelmed by a surge of pure fury, and he spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

His entire body swayed unsteadily before he collapsed flat onto the ground.

"Older brother, older brother~"
"Chieftain."

The two Hou family members anxiously helped him up, but Hou Wen was already streaming with tears, his eyes bloodshot and his expression ferocious.

He gritted his teeth and snarled, "Hexi Fortress, Li Xiao!!"
"Everyone in the Li family deserves to die, every single person in Hexi Fortress deserves to die."
тельстве
"I will slaughter every last one of you."
……

The marching speed of a large troop was very slow, especially since the people from the Hou Stronghold included many elderly and children, along with a massive amount of cattle, sheep, and belongings.

The livestock stopped and went along the road, needing to graze and drink water, which severely dragged down their pace.

Although the distance was only sixty li, it took an entire day to arrive.

By this time, it was already dusk.

Looking from afar at the familiar outline of Hexi Fortress, Li Xiao felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Finally, they were home.

"Is this Hexi Fortress? It really is much bigger than the Hou Stronghold."

Huang Xiuer gazed continuously at Hexi Fortress, speaking in a soft voice.

Because the relationship between Hexi Fortress and the Hou Stronghold had traditionally been somewhat antagonistic, this was actually her very first time coming to Hexi Fortress!

"Hexi Fortress has over thirteen hundred people, so it's naturally much bigger than the Hou Stronghold," Li Xiao chuckled and said.

In reality, at the very beginning, the population of Hexi Fortress and the Hou Stronghold had been roughly equal.

After all, the ancestors of both families had been military commanders in the Western Expedition army, holding the same rank and commanding similar numbers of troops under their banners.

The feud between the two families had also been planted back then.

It was just that later on, the population of Hexi Fortress steadily grew, whereas the Hou family treated their subordinate troops like slaves and servants.

The resulting consequence was that the Hou family's numbers grew increasingly bloated while the actual retainers of the stronghold dwindled.

Thus, the glaring disparity between the two families had come to pass.

"If you had returned to Huangsha Fortress, your parents would certainly have found another family for you to marry into, but those cattle, sheep, and property might not necessarily belong to you anymore," Li Xiao said, looking at Huang Xiuer. "Just settle down peacefully here in Hexi Fortress from now on. With me around, no one will dare bully you."

Hearing this, Huang Xiuer nodded gently, her slightly flushed cheeks acknowledging that what Li Xiao said was the truth.

The Hou family were the masters of the Hou Stronghold, so Hou Tiancai's personal property was no small sum; even if only half remained, Huang Xiuer would still be quite a wealthy young woman.

Yet in this era, the status of women was exceedingly low.

If she returned to Huangsha Fortress, her maternal family would undoubtedly take control of those assets, at best giving her a small dowry when she remarried.

Whereas if she stayed in Hexi Fortress, under Li Xiao's protection, Huang Xiuer could continue to retain those assets and live quite comfortably.

Of course, Huang Xiuer also understood that Li Xiao had ulterior motives in making such a decision.

Remembering how earlier at noon during a rest stop along the road, Li Xiao had dragged her off to a secluded spot to "practice her speaking skills," ultimately leaving her coughing until she choked and unable to speak a word,

Huang Xiuer felt a surge of bashful anger in her heart.

Despite being married for two years, in front of Li Xiao she felt like an utterly ignorant and innocent maiden.

This fellow was simply rotten to the core.

Huang Xiuer cast a sideways, surreptitious glance at Li Xiao, yet for some reason, she felt no sense of aversion in her heart.

At that moment, Li Xiao had summoned Lin Dazhuang to arrange matters regarding the Hou Stronghold.

"Those tents on the eastern side all belong to the people of Sanhe Fortress."
"Separate yourselves from them and settle on the western side."
"Live in the tents for a while first; I will mobilize the people of Hexi Fortress to help you build houses," Li Xiao arranged.

"Understood, Fortress Master," Lin Dazhuang nodded heavily.

He quickly embraced his new identity; now that they were people of Hexi Fortress, they naturally had to address Li Xiao as 'Fortress Master.'

Moreover, Li Xiao's prestige in the hearts of these people from the Hou Stronghold was extraordinary.

He was like a dragon-slayer, having helped the herdsmen of the Hou Stronghold slay the evil dragon that was the Hou family.

He was the hero of the Hou Stronghold.

Yet Li Xiao's formidable strength and ruthlessness also inspired awe and reverence among everyone from the Hou Stronghold.

It could be said that Li Xiao had now replaced the position of the Hou family, becoming the spiritual leader in the hearts of the Hou Stronghold's people.

Even the original residents of Hexi Fortress did not hold a fraction of the reverence for Li Xiao that these people from the Hou Stronghold possessed.

The people of the Hou Stronghold had become yet another foundational base for Li Xiao, causing his sphere of influence to expand once more.