novelAbuy Chapter 68 Wild Geese Sacrifice to Heaven, Smoke of War Rises
Chapter 68 Wild Geese Sacrifice to Heaven, Smoke of War Rises
Khitan, the ninth year of Tianxian, the fourteenth day of the eighth month, Renwu day.
Yelü Deguang personally led his army to invade the south. He had a deep obsession with this expedition and great expectations for it.
eight years.
Ever since his mother chose him over his older brother, he has been under immense pressure, working diligently every day without daring to slack off in the slightest.
His great father, like an insurmountable mountain, inspires awe.
Yelü Abaoji received the throne from the Dieci tribe, which was then divided into two departments: the Five Courts and the Six Courts. Together with the two prime ministerial departments, the Yishi and Bali, the four major tribes monopolized the highest power.
Although they were unified by the royal family, they lacked personal guards, and the fact that each tribe possessed its own army remained unchanged.
This did not stump the ambitious and resourceful Abaoji. He established the Ordofa, divided the prefectures and counties, reduced the population, strengthened the central government and weakened the local powers, and took military power back from the chiefs of the eight-tribe alliance.
Ordo refers to the imperial palace tent.
Following the example of Li Siyuan, Abaoji also established a personal guard, the Imperial Tent Army, which served as the imperial army. When the emperor entered the palace, the guards would accompany him on his journeys, and the guards would protect his tomb. This force, directly under the control of the imperial family, was called the Ordo Army, or the Palace Division Army in Han Chinese.
The Hongyi Palace of Emperor Abaoji – Suanwoduo;
Empress Dowager Shulüping's Changning Palace - Pusuwan Ordo;
Yelü Deguang's own Yongxing Palace—the Kingdom of Alian Ordo;
Each palace had over 10,000 regular households and 20,000 households converted from Han to non-Han ethnic groups. Each household produced two able-bodied men, totaling 60,000 palace men.
The Ordo army consisted of 60,000 palace guards, including one regular soldier with three horses; one household guard for gathering grass and grain and one guard for defending the camp, totaling 20,000 cavalry and 40,000 auxiliary soldiers.
"Our great Khitan people have passed down their lineage for generations, far exceeding just three palaces. In the future, if we complete all twelve zodiacal palaces, that will amount to 200,000 households and 400,000 people. How can we not conquer the prosperous Central Plains!" (Note 1)
Moreover, Yelü Deguang, based on the Ordo army, selected the best soldiers in the land to serve as his henchmen, all of whom were Khitan sons, and called them the Great Tent Skin Chamber Army.
Shulu Ping then selected strong and skilled individuals from the Bohai, Liaodong, and Han peoples to form the Shushan Army.
Pi Shi means Vajra Warrior, while Shu Shan describes something as precious as coral.
The Pi Shi Army numbered 30,000, and the Shu Shan Army numbered 20,000. These 50,000 men were the most elite force of the Khitan, with each man being equipped with ten horses, and were known as 500,000 cavalry.
Each tribe still divided its land for grazing, selecting the strongest and most capable to be incorporated into the military, much like the regional military governors of the Central Plains. Their leaders were equivalent to military governors, and were called tribal armies.
The larger ones numbered three to five thousand cavalry, while the smaller ones numbered only a few hundred. They were all privately owned by the leaders of various tribes, and their organizational structures were also quite diverse, including various military commands such as the Commander-in-Chief's Office, the Pacification Office, the Military Command, the Stability Office, the Deployment Office, the Patrol Office, and the Commander-in-Chief's Office, among others.
The twenty tribes commanded numerous light cavalry, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, who were used to suppress local territories in peacetime and to fight together in wartime.
As for the Relic Army composed of the sons of princes and nobles, it was merely a facade.
The Khitan army was mainly composed of cavalry, while the soldiers stationed in the two capitals were all infantry, known as "xiang ding".
Yelü Deguang was quite dissatisfied with this: "The Great Tang Dynasty has five capitals and five prefectures: the Central Capital Jingzhao Prefecture, the Western Capital Fengxiang Prefecture, the Nanjing Chengdu Prefecture, the Eastern Capital Henan Prefecture, and the Beijing Taiyuan Prefecture. The small state of Bohai has also followed suit and built the Upper Capital Longquan Prefecture, the Central Capital Xiande Prefecture, the Eastern Capital Longyuan Prefecture, and the Western Capital Yalu Prefecture."
"My Great Khitan currently only has two capitals, Shangjing and Nanjing. Only when we expand our territory and establish five capitals will it be in accordance with my wishes."
This opportunity seems to be coming soon.
Yelü Deguang inspected his troops, full of confidence.
The army of the Great Tent Pishi, with cavalry carrying four bows, including longbows for foot shooting, horn bows for mounted shooting, short bows for close shooting, and parry bows for ceremonial purposes, and four hundred arrows; their weapons included long and short spears, iron maces, and axes; their armor was modeled after the fish scale and mountain patterns of the Tang Dynasty.
The Khitan selected soldiers into three ranks: the best horsemen and archers received full sets of armor, the next best received five sets, and the rest received no armor. The emperor's personal guards were all brave warriors, and naturally, they were fully armed and well-equipped.
"With such dedication to military preparedness, who else but our people could gain the world? Although the Han people are numerous, their martial spirit is weak, making them like lambs."
Only two years after ascending the throne, he suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Dingzhou, losing 10,000 cavalry. For the next few years, he was suppressed by the Central Plains and dared not invade the south. He endured hardship and bided his time until now, finally waiting for his opportunity.
"Li Siyuan is dead, Li Congke has murdered the emperor and established himself, the Dangxiang people of Xia Prefecture are willing to be the vanguard, and with my elder brother as an inside accomplice, the timing, location and popular support are all on my side."
The thirty-three-year-old Yelü Deguang became increasingly convinced that victory was assured, and the great cause of revitalizing the Khitan was beckoning him.
As my thoughts wandered, I suddenly saw a wild goose in the sky land on the lakeside where our large tent was set up.
"This is a gift from heaven; who will go and fetch it for me?"
Yelü Deguang was filled with heroic spirit. At his command, his personal guards were eager to step forward.
A soldier spread his arms to block the crowd: "Don't shoot arrows! The dead are no match for skill. Watch me capture it alive."
Everyone was curious, and they saw him approaching cautiously, like a thief.
The goose, head bowed and playing in the water, was unaware of the intruder's malicious intent. Just as it flapped its wings to take flight, the soldier pounced, firmly gripping the goose's feet with both hands, preventing it from escaping despite its struggles.
"We have captured this goose and are presenting it to Your Majesty!"
"Excellent! Catching a flying goose with your bare hands, what a hero!"
The name "Zhuai La" means "strong soldiers and foot soldiers." Yelü Deguang was very pleased with this auspicious omen and immediately promoted Jie Li to the rank of military officer.
The Khitans had a custom of offering swans or wild geese as sacrifices to the heavens. Yelü Deguang took the mournful goose, snapped its neck with a soft crack, and held the corpse high above his head. (Note 2)
"This southern expedition will surely be victorious!"
……
"I won!"
Gao Huaide cheered and confidently played his cards: "Four of a kind, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand cash, plus a Golden Peacock. No one has a higher hand than mine, right?"
"Wait a minute, how about this?"
Yang Chonggui, lacking confidence, spread out the leaf cards in his hand and showed them to Gao Huaixuan and Gao Huaide.
"A straight of the same color, and a Jade Kirin card..."
Gao Huaide sighed and threw the last broken card, which he couldn't escape, onto the table: "Ever since I taught this kid to play cards, why do I always lose more than I win?"
The game that the siblings and Yang Chonggui were playing was called Leaf Cards, which was said to have been invented by the monk Yi Xing for Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his palace maids to enjoy in their leisure time.
The monk Yi Xing was a descendant of Zhang Gongjin, a meritorious official who helped found the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, his family declined. He became a monk at Huishan Temple on Mount Song and devoted himself to studying Buddhism, eventually becoming a leader of Esoteric Buddhism.
This person claimed to be an expert in astronomy, calendrical calculations, and the principles of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. It is said that the two characters "Ye Zi" (叶子) on the Ye Zi brand, written vertically, represent "Li of the 20th generation".
From Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan to Emperor Ai Li Zhu, the dynasty indeed lasted for twenty-one emperors before its demise. (Note 3)
The deck consists of forty-eight leaf cards, divided into four suits: Coins, Hundreds of Coins, Ten Thousand Strings, and Ten Thousand Strings, each numbered from one to ten. In addition, there are eight special cards: Ten Million Strings, Ten Thousand Strings, Capital Ten Thousand Strings, Immeasurable Number, Golden Peacock, Jade Kirin, Empty Bottle, and Half a Coin.
The dealer goes first, and can play a single card, a pair, three of a kind, four of a kind, a straight, etc. Higher-ranking cards beat lower-ranking cards, and the first player to play all their cards wins. The game can be played with three or four players.
Gao Huaide and his sister both loved playing, but they could only play a few rounds during holidays. When Gao Huailiang learned to count, the two of them would invite their younger brother, and now it was Yang Chonggui, who wasn't very quick-witted, to join them.
Gao Huaide put in a lot of effort to teach Yang Chonggui how to play cards, and even agreed to spend an extra half hour practicing his marksmanship with him every day, finally managing to put together a card game.
Gao Huaide scratched his head in frustration: "Tell me, what do you want me to do this time?"
Yang Chonggui was a novice, but he had a good run of luck and won several rounds in a row, leaving Yang Chonggui speechless.
According to the rules, the winner can make a request to the other two, which is mostly a harmless joke, and they enjoy it.
Gao Huaixuan smiled. Yang Chonggui never made strange or difficult requests to make things difficult for her, but he was very rude to Gao Huaide.
He was ordered to make all sorts of strange gestures, from crying and laughing loudly to posing coquettishly, smearing ink on his face, and walking gracefully in women's clothing. If Gao Huaide hadn't been so shameless, he would have hanged himself or banged his head against the wall long ago.
Unexpectedly, Yang Chonggui shook his head: "Fine, I'll let you off today. I'm going to sleep."
Seeing his solemn expression, as if he were preoccupied, Gao Huaixuan asked softly, "Has something happened at home?"
Since Yang Hongxin sent a letter two days ago, Yang Chonggui has been preoccupied and somewhat distracted while practicing martial arts. His siblings invited him to play cards, partly to help him relax.
"My father wrote that the Khitans were showing signs of a major invasion, and the military governor Yang Tan summoned our family to join the fight against them. My father led the entire clan on the expedition, and I don't know how the battle will end."
Upon hearing Yang Chonggui's words, Gao Huaixuan and Gao Huaide's expressions changed. How could they not know the ruthlessness of the Khitans? They began to worry about Gao Huailiang's safety.
"Why don't we go ask Father?"
Gao Huaixuan hesitated before speaking. The three of them were young and knew nothing about military and national affairs, so they could only ask Gao Xingzhou for guidance.
"It's no use looking for it."
Gao Huaide said with dissatisfaction, "My father spends all day in the government office discussing matters with his staff, but he never invites me. When Lu Qian returned after being away for several months, he refused to tell me where he had been or what he had done."
Gao Huaixuan thought about it and realized that her father was a strict rule-maker and would most likely not disclose anything involving military secrets.
Seeing her younger brother's sullen face, she comforted him, "After all, you're still young. In a few years, Father will definitely let you participate in the council."
Her attempts to persuade him only made things worse; Gao Huaide became even more defiant: "Do you think I'm a child? Isn't it just about Li Yichao of Xiazhou colluding with the Khitans to invade?"
A bold idea popped into his head, but he still pretended to be nonchalant: "It's getting late, let's all go to sleep."
In the past, Gao Huaide was reluctant to go to bed early, but today he was acting out of character. Gao Huaixuan could only assume that he was in a bad mood.
Yang Chonggui was oblivious to the dangers and, worried about the safety of his father and clansmen, did not notice anything amiss.
……
Late at night, the White Tiger Hall was still brightly lit.
Gao Xingzhou gazed at the map, pondering a solution.
During the day, a fast horseman arrived with the news.
"The Dingnan Army has already marched out of Xia Prefecture, numbering approximately ten thousand cavalry, and their advance is aimed directly at Sui Prefecture and Qingjian!"
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Place Name Comparison
Longquan Prefecture: present-day Bohai Town, Ning'an City, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province
Xiande Prefecture: present-day Helongxi Ancient City, Jilin Province
Longyuan Prefecture: present-day Baliancheng, Hunchun, Jilin Province
Nanhai Prefecture: present-day Cheongtoseong, Bukcheong County, Hamgyongnam-do, North Korea
Yalu Prefecture: present-day Linjiang, Jilin Province