Chapter 623: Making An Inventory

The next morning, Huwei Hall was already filled with military officers of various rankings above the commandant rank from White Stone Pass, as well as Qian Su and Lu Wenbin who were brought in by Yan Liqiang to observe the members of the Qiyun Protectorate. They all were listening to Tie Yunshan detailing the situation of yesterday’s hostilities with invigorated spirits. Those who participated in the said fight, including Wang Naiwu and Xiao Yuman, were overjoyed and in high spirits. Those who did not participate yesterday, however, were gazing at the participants with envious eyes. Some were also filled with regret, almost to the point of beating their chest in sorrow. All they could do was blame themselves for missing out on the fight.

News of yesterday’s fight had already been transmitted throughout White Stone Pass, which entailed that Qiyun Protectorate General Yan Liqiang led his troops to guard the Wind Border Stockade before they proceeded to annihilate the Tuli Tribe. He then heroically drove off the reinforcements from the Bakeyi Tribe, thus securing three victories from the fight, intimidating all opposing forces. The guards in the Great Han Empire’s White Stone Pass hadn’t felt as proud and satisfied for the last few years. Before this, they were always abused by the Shatu Seven Tribes to the point that they had to be cautious of everything they did. However, with Yan Liqiang’s arrival, he was able to swiftly turn things around. The armies in White Stone Pass were all in high spirits and their morale was high as if they were on steroids.

The process where Yan Liqiang took the life of Burk’s number one champion—Balsa, and forced thousands of Bakeyi Tribe reinforcements to retreat with just an arrow had already spread throughout White Stone Pass, thus becoming a word of myth within the army.

Tie Yunshan’s uninhibited voice reverberated throughout the room, which sounded like a voice of heaven to the audience.

“The proceedings of yesterday’s battle are as follows…”

“After yesterday’s battle, our troops killed nearly tens of thousands of people from the Tuli Tribe. In return, we have seized a galore of spoils of war. We made an inventory of that last night and came down with a grand total of 14,566 rhinodrake steeds, 41,588 yaks, 3,684 sheep, and 2,818 sets of swords, bows, and armor. As for the other forty-seven crates of jewelry including gold and silver, three hundred thousand taels of silver, and one hundred thousand sheep, we were not able to bring them back as we could not carry them anymore. As a result, we had to leave them on the Gulang Plains instead… ”

A lot of the officers were secretly shocked to hear about the Tuli Tribe’s abundance of wealth from Tie Yunshan. Besides flocks and herds, they didn’t expect that they would find bountiful amounts of gold and silver jewelry as well. Moreover, most of the offices were grieving and calculating the value of those one hundred thousand sheep, should they be able to bring them back. As of now in the northwest region, the hype for wool was tremendous. If they could herd those sheep from the Tuli Tribe into White Stone Pass, then their wealth would soar to unimaginable figures.

Qian Su had a pained expression on his face as he listened to Tie Yunshan’s deliverance. In the past when he was overseeing the Gan Province Manufacturing Bureau, he had never felt any shortage of money before. Now that he had been entrusted with the important position of handling the finances of the Qiyun Protectorate, he suddenly felt that money was quickly flowing out like water. No matter how much money they acquired, it never felt like it was enough. Therefore, when he heard that Yan Liqiang and the others were able to bring back the ten thousand sheep yesterday, his expression turned bright as he kept repeating those numbers over and over again. With air sucked in through his teeth, he murmured, “One hundred thousand sheep, one hundred thousand sheep…”

Tie Yunshan continued to iterate those numbers while glancing toward Yan Liqiang who was sitting at the head table, listening to him intently without changing his countenance. Even as Yan Liqiang remained quiet as water, Tie Yunshan felt a chill down his spine despite being a veteran.

“How many of my men were injured yesterday?” Yan Liqiang asked calmly.

“It is estimated that 487 White Stone Pass troops were injured and 267 men died during yesterday’s battle. Forty of my lord’s closest guards were injured as well, and six were lost in the battle… ” Tie Yunshan replied with a heavy heart.

Death was inevitable in wars and battles. No matter how many victories Yan Liqiang acquired through fighting, the deaths of those who participated could not be avoided. Fortunately for Yan Liqiang’s troops, their number of deaths was comparatively low as a result. From the perspective of most high-ranking officials, this was already considered a perfect victory. The injured few were a necessary price to pay to achieve such a result.

Yan Liqiang was not as relaxed as the commandants inside the room. Instead, he felt somewhat gloomy. As military men, these commandants of White Stone Pass had more or less gotten used to the concept of paying the necessary price for the sake of victory. But for Yan Liqiang, it was his first time experiencing the true meaning of leading an army of men to the battlefield against the Shatu Seven Tribes in a full-scale confrontation. Even though yesterday’s battle was considered to be victorious, Yan Liqiang still felt an unavoidable responsibility for each of the soldiers who followed him to the battlefield and unto their deaths.

Amongst the three hundred lives lost in battle, six of them were his guards, as well as students from his archery academy. From the moment these six stepped into the academy two years ago, they followed him wherever he went. Yan Liqiang was quite familiar with each of their faces too. He could even call out their names with ease — Cao Kun, Luo Zhenwei, Qian Mingui, Yang Zizhong, Tang Xingke, Zhang Wei. Among these six energetic youngsters, four of them — namely Cao Kun, Luo Zhenwei, Qian Mingui, Yang Zizhong — were shot dead by archers of the Tuli Tribe during the raid yesterday. Tang Xingke and Zhang Wei, on the other hand, were stabbed to death by a few Shatu people who jumped from their steeds after they hid themselves in the bushes, during the pursuit of the men fleeing from the Tuli Tribe.

When Yan Liqiang returned last night, he thoroughly cleaned those six corpses before stitching up their wounds and giving them a change of clean clothes. As he recalled the faces of these six people, his heart was filled with sorrow and despair.

The entire room fell silent as soon as Tie Yunshan was done with his response. It wasn’t until half a minute later that Yan Liqiang regained his composure and realized the whole room was quiet. Everyone was looking at him as they waited for him to speak first.

The dead may be gone, but the living were still here. The best way to commemorate the deceased would be to honor their sacrifices, and live a better life in the future with more dignity!

Yan Liqiang said those words to himself inside his mind while clenching his fists tightly on his knees. He then took a deep breath before asking Tie Yunshan, “According to the previous army structure, how will the deceased from yesterday be compensated?”

“According to the previous army structure of the Great Han Empire, the family of the deceased will be compensated with twenty taels of silver. The Military Governor’s Office will send official documents to the other organization to avoid the conscription of any of their family members within these five years…”

“Only this much?”

Tie Yunshan remained silent for a while before he looked at Yan Liqiang and continued, “If the higher-ups are not corrupt, it is already good enough for the family of the deceased to receive ten taels of silver. In some places, the family of the deceased will not be able to receive more than ten taels of silver as compensation. Some are able to receive three to five taels of silver, and some might not be able to receive anything at all as their compensation money will be embezzled by the upper officials. If the deceased does not have a family, the local duration for the exemption of conscription will be lessened, changing from five years to two or three years. Their local bureaucrats and despotic landlords will sometimes withhold their benefits and give the conscription exemption to their own family members…”

Yan Liqiang’s face darkened as he listened to Tie Yunshan’s explanation. He then asked, “Does this happen in Qiyun Prefecture as well?”

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