Chapter 972: Huge Winnings

Chapter 972: Huge Winnings

After every victory in a war, the most exciting moment is taking stock of the gains of the war.

Because the gains from this battle were so generous, and there were not many civil servants accompanying the army, it took a long time to take stock of the gains. It was not until the third day after the end of the war that Li Tai received a general summary of the results.

In this long list of war gains, cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock accounted for a huge proportion. Almost all the Turks are soldiers and all the troops are mounted. There are naturally a lot of horses, and the proportion of horses that have been fully trained and can directly serve as war horses is very high.

Since the Turks themselves do not have a more rigorous and systematic statistics of troops, even though the battle is over, there is no accurate number of Turks and horses who participated in the battle. However, nearly 30,000 Turks surrendered to the Wei army and were captured in battle. , the number of kills that could be counted reached more than 10,000.

Considering that the Turkic camps are relatively open and scattered, there must be a lot of fleeing people, so the total number of Turks and their servant tribesmen stationed here is estimated to be nearly one hundred thousand.

This number seems exaggerated, but it is actually related to the way the Turks recruited men and horses. First, the people directly under the Khan were mobilized, and then messengers were sent to inform the chiefs of all parties to gather in the Khan's tent on the agreed date. When the army was dispatched, all the tribes it passed along the way were also required to go out with them. It can be said that it was a real move. It's really a waste of time.

If some tribes along the way refuse to obey and send troops, they will become the targets of the army's conquest, and their resistance will be ruthlessly destroyed, and then all the remaining people and livestock in the tribe will be annexed and divided. In this way, even some tribes who were forced to join at the beginning will become happy.

It is precisely because of this mobilization method that the Turks can easily gather tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops. Facing other relatively independent grassland tribes, they naturally have overwhelming pressure like Mount Tai.

Horses are the Turks' main means of transportation and combat, and are naturally the most important presence in their army.

Although a lot of horses escaped in the previous battles, the number that was collected after the war was also very large, and the number was even too large to be counted. We can only make a general estimate, and the estimated result is nearly twenty Thousands of horses were captured, and war horses accounted for at least half of them.

Not to mention other harvests, just seeing the statistics of these war horses, Li Tai couldn't help but stare, and even asked in disbelief: "Are there really so many horses?"

"The exact number is not yet available, but the estimate is still somewhat conservative. The actual income should be only a lot more. There are also Hu troops wandering around and they are being recalled one after another, so the final number should be increased."

After hearing this, Yu Wengui, who was responsible for statistics of these data, quickly said with a smile that the huge gains from this battle far exceeded his previous expectations. If it were not for the figures obtained by his own supervision and statistics, even he would probably not be able to do so. I can't believe it either.

Although the situation became more and more turbulent in the late Three Kingdoms, the climate gradually warmed up, which also affected the harvest of agricultural and animal husbandry production. Based on this background, the Sui and Tang empires were indeed glorious and powerful, but the surrounding barbarian forces also ushered in an explosive period. The Turkic Khanate that dominated the grasslands was more powerful than the Rouran and other forces before it, and an unprecedented unified regime like Tubo appeared on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Today's Turks have initially completed the integration of the north and south of the desert, and the resources they control are also extremely rich. After the death of Ili Khan Ashina Tumen a few years ago, his son Koro succeeded as Yixiji Khan. At that time, the Turks were not so powerful. In order to continue to maintain relations with the Western Wei Dynasty, they invaded the Western Wei Dynasty all at once. Offer fifty thousand horses.

Nowadays, the strength of the Turks is stronger than before, and Mugan Khan and the Western Wei Dynasty jointly sent troops to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty in the hope of avenging their shame. It is not surprising that the army carries so many resources. However, due to his excessive greed and underestimation of the enemy, all these resources were captured by the Western Wei Dynasty.

The Western Wei Dynasty itself did not lack horses. On the one hand, it controlled the source of high-quality horses in Longyou and Hexi, and also established a large-scale official and animal husbandry between Hetao in northern Shaanxi. Secondly, in the early days of the establishment of the military system, the number of horses in the Western Wei army The proportion of cavalry is not too high. After all, the main body of the soldiers has changed from the original Xianbei soldiers to today's powerful Guanxi tribe.

But who can think of too many horses? What's more, Li Tai originally had the idea of ​​​​continuing to expand the army and upgrade armaments. The horses captured now can be used to continue to expand the scale of official herding in the Western Wei Dynasty, and to cultivate better war horses through the cross breeding of Long horses and Sai horses.

In addition to horses, there are also hundreds of thousands of other cattle and sheep. In the Turkic army, cattle not only served as transport capacity together with draft horses, but also served as military rations and meat together with sheep. If the journey is too far or the period is too long, the presence of these cattle and sheep can ensure that the army has sufficient supplies. There are also a large number of herdsmen in the army who are responsible for grazing, slaughtering and processing these livestock.

Compared with the huge number of livestock, although other types of ordnance and various materials are also quite rich, the quantity is not so gratifying. After counting, the biggest harvest besides the herds was the baits delivered by Li Yunxin, Yang Zhong and others. Although some were lost during the war, most of them have been preserved.

In addition to the seizure of supplies, the number of prisoners captured was also considerable. Nearly 30,000 Turkic troops were captured and surrendered, and more than 20,000 other members of the Chile and Jihu tribesmen were captured.

In addition to the Turks, the former also included the Tiele and other Hakka tribes, or slave tribes, who lived in Mobei. They belonged to the Hu tribe that was forcibly conquered and annexed by the Turks. However, because the generals of the Western Wei Dynasty also had no regard for these Hu tribes in Mobei. They are relatively unfamiliar, so they are generally classified as Turks.

As for the latter, they were not actually tribes who came from the north of the country to follow the Turks from the south, but the local Hu tribe who lived in the Chile River in the south of the desert. They were forcibly gathered here by the troops sent by Mugan Khan.

Originally intended to be the slaves of the Monan Khan Court, the Turks were defeated in this battle. Even the Mugan Khan was defeated and fled. Naturally, these local Hu tribes also set things right and returned to the Han Dynasty. The embrace of the Western Wei Dynasty. After all, these Hu tribe chiefs themselves each have the title of Jixi official awarded by the Western Wei Dynasty. At this time, they were all eager to reveal their identities and show that they were all their own.

But whether he is one of his own does not depend on what these people say, but depends on Li Taiyi. Taking advantage of this great victory, he will of course also want to reshape the order and rules of the Hetao area to strengthen control over the area.

As the harvest of the war here was clearly taken stock, good news also came from the north of Yinshan Mountain. He Ruodun and other pursuing troops and Li Xian's troops who had previously crossed the mountain to the north attacked in front and back, and successfully intercepted the wooden poles that had escaped there in the mountains of Yinshan Mountain. Khan and his more than 5,000 bodyguards were escorting Mugan Khan and his troops back.

Li Tai was overjoyed after hearing the news. At least half of his intentions in attacking the Turks were focused on the wooden pole Khan. Only by catching the wooden pole Khan can he be considered a complete success. So he immediately ordered Shi Jing to lead a thousand fine cavalry to Gaoque to garrison and respond.

Although the current personnel system of the Turkic Khanate is not as complete as it was later, it is already a self-contained system and has a prototype. Since Ashina Tumen became Khan, his family's lofty status as a Turkic royal family has been confirmed. The reign of the subsequent Yixiji Khan was too short and can be ignored.

In today's Turks, in addition to the leader Mugan Khan, the other two sons of Ashina Tumen also have the title of Khan, namely Controlling Khan and Buli Khan. Although they all have the title of Khan, they are still different from each other. It is roughly similar to the title of the Zhuguo in the Western Wei Dynasty. In other words, the Khans are also divided into big and small.

Under the Khan is Ye Hu, who is usually held by the Khan's uncles and elders as well as elders of the same clan. For example, Meng Yehu, who was previously sent by Mu Gan Khan as an envoy to Chang'an, is Mu Gan Khan's uncle. In addition, Tumen Khan's younger brother Shidian, whose secret number was Mohedu Yehu, was responsible for leading the Western Turks shortly after the establishment of the Turkic Khanate. His descendants later established the Western Turks.

The one who is slightly lower than Ye Hu is Shu. His status is probably equivalent to that of the general manager of the Western Wei Dynasty. He is a feudal official in charge of military affairs. Another familiar official position is the special service, which is usually held by the Khan's sons and relatives. They have their own territory and people, and are probably similar to princes.

In addition, there are also a series of official positions for non-Khan lineages such as Jielifa and Qijin. Turkic nobles who are not from the Khan lineage, such as Astid, often hold the position of Jielifa.

As for the other series of official positions under the Khan's court, there are even more names, which are similar to the civil and military official positions of the Western Wei Dynasty, and have their own division of labor.

The reason why we need to learn more about the official positions of the Turks is because the number of upper-class Turkic dignitaries captured in this battle was really impressive. Including the Wooden Khan, three khans, big and small, were captured. There are more than 20 other Ashina clan members, old and young, and hundreds of other powerful chieftains and officials holding official positions.

When he saw this long list of prisoners, as well as their respective identities and kinship relationships, Li Tai couldn't help but have a bad idea in his mind. If he killed all these people, would it count as giving up the upper-class ruling class of Turks? Destroy them all? So what will happen to the Turks next?

However, this thought only flashed in his mind. Li Tai knew that it would be difficult to uproot the Turkic forces in one war alone. What he had destroyed at the moment was just the troops recruited along the way.

If he really does this and does not have enough power to continue to attack the Turkic forces in Mobei and the Western Regions, then it is very likely that the remaining Turks will regard attacking the territory of the Western Wei Dynasty as a political way to legitimize their rise to power. Task. Just like the powerful officials in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties would start to raise troops for the Northern Expedition every time they had the intention of usurping the throne.