Since the 10,000 Khitan soldiers who surrendered together with General Lin Zhenyuan returned from the northern expedition against the Huns, the 20,000 Khitan prisoners who built the Great Wall in the north have been treated better than before.
Now, in addition to three meals a day of white porridge and pickled mustard, they can also eat braised beef noodles or Laotan pickled cabbage beef noodles three times a week.
Although building the Great Wall is a physical job, among the 20,000 Khitan prisoners now, not one of them complains of suffering or tiredness, and not one of them wants to escape.
The life of building the Great Wall here is much better than living in the open air on the Khitan grasslands.
Because most of the captives here are Khitan civilians, they are not like the Khitan nobles who can kill delicious cattle and sheep anytime and anywhere and use their meat to fill their stomachs.
For ordinary people on the grassland, cattle and sheep are their last protection.
Every time a cow or sheep is slaughtered, it means that one's treasure is one point less and one point closer to death.
But now they don't need to worry about it at all. As long as they work hard every day, they will naturally be able to have enough food and don't have to worry about starving or freezing.
Although the 10,000 Khitans who followed Lin Zhenyuan in the northern expedition to the Huns only returned more than 7,000, Zhou Yi held a commendation meeting for them and fulfilled the promise he had made to them on the spot, allowing the Khitans who participated in the war to surrender and return to the Khitan grassland. .
Zhou Yi held a large copper trumpet and shouted: "The results of this northern expedition against the Huns are outstanding, and I have seen your efforts. So in accordance with the previous agreement, I announce: Now you are free, you can choose to stay and serve me, Zhou Yi , become a member of my mighty army of guards!”
"Of course, you can also ride back to your Khitan grassland on the war horses you used when you attacked the Huns!"
In fact, Zhou Yi was not worried about anything wrong with letting these Khitan soldiers go back. In Zhou Yi's view, these people could not only spread how the Huns hated the Khitans, but also spread Zhou Yi's generosity and kindness.
Zhou Yi originally thought that many Khitan people might choose to go back because they missed their wives and children at home. To Zhou Yi's expectation, none of the more than 7,000 people wanted to return to their hometown on the grassland.
It's not that these Khitan people are heartless and don't miss their families, it's actually because the Khitan people like them were defeated and didn't return home, and their families were very likely to be annexed and occupied by relatives, friends or tribesmen.
Therefore, after they return, there may be no home or property on the grassland.
With nothing left, they can only starve and freeze on the grasslands, and may even become slaves of other tribes in the end.
Especially when Yelu Abao and the others failed to complete the tasks assigned by Zhou Yi during their mission, Zhou Yi not only failed to punish them, but also provided food security to these Khitan people whose hands and feet were cut off by Karasuma Chanyu.
Those people did not complete their mission and should have been executed on the Khitan grassland, but the kind-hearted General Tiance believed that the Huns were ignorant and did not blame these people for their faults.
If he failed to complete the task assigned by his master and was not executed, then he would be crippled by fighting for Zhou Yi on the battlefield, and Zhou Yi would definitely not give up on meritorious people like himself. This group of Khitans also became more determined to follow Zhou Yi.
Yelu Abao, who was in the front row, was the first to kneel down in front of Zhou Yi, and swore to Zhou Yi with the highest Khitan etiquette: "I, Yelu Abao, would like to swear in the name of Zeng Tian to follow Tian Khan, Lord Zhou Yi, forever and ever. If there is any betrayal, I wish my soul to be saved." Fall into the netherworld forever and be eaten by the howling moon wolf."
The name Tian Khan was created by Yelu Abao by combining the title of General Tiance of Zhou Yi and the leader of the Huns and Khitan, King Khan himself.
The title of Tian Khan is indeed powerful. With Yelu Abao taking the lead, more than 7,000 others followed suit and swore allegiance to Zhou Yi with the highest Khitan etiquette.
What these Khitan soldiers swore was the most vicious blood oath on the Khitan grassland. Those who swore such a blood oath would never betray their masters.
The meeting originally planned by Zhou Yi to release the prisoners suddenly turned into a swearing-in meeting for allegiance, not to mention the scene was quite spectacular!
After the Khitan soldiers took the oath to surrender, Zhou Yi walked to Yelu Abao and helped him up, "Okay, since you are willing to surrender to me, I will not be stingy with you. From now on, you will be my Khitan in Yongzhou." The common people of our clan. Your treatment will be the same as that of our Yongzhou soldiers."
"But I have to say something ugly beforehand. We, the Mighty Guards, are the people's army. We follow orders and prohibitions. If anyone disobeys military orders or harasses the people, he will be killed without mercy!"
Yelu Abao quickly patted his chest with the palm of his hand that was missing a little finger and promised: "We are waiting for Weitian Khan to follow the lead!"
I have to say that Yelu Abao gave Zhou Yi'an the title of "Khan of Heaven". Zhou Yi was extremely happy. Which man can refuse such a title as "Khan of Heaven"!
Zhou Yi secretly cursed: "I don't know if the title of Sky Khan was given by Sledgehammer! Hehehehe, but I like it!"
Zhou Yi again warned Yelu Abao: "Since you are all the people of Yongzhou, you must also learn Chinese characters and various cultural knowledge in the future, do you understand?"
"Commander, now I am teaching these people to learn Chen Guohua every night. General Lin also sent people to teach us some words and knowledge!"
An Pinbai's heart skipped a beat when he heard General Lin, and he subconsciously looked around the school grounds.
Sure enough, An Pinbai saw a tall man wearing gilt black lacquer mountain pattern armor and a tiger pattern bronze mask.
Although the man in the tiger-patterned bronze mask could not be seen, judging from the man's figure, An Pinbai felt that he was very familiar.
The man in the tiger-patterned bronze mask seemed to have felt An Pinbai's gaze, and just turned around and left.
An Pinbai also followed suit, wanting to see if the man wearing the tiger-patterned bronze mask was who he thought he was.
Zhou Yi listened to the Khitan soldiers below shouting "Heavenly Khan" in broken Chinese. Zhou Yi couldn't help but think of Wang Dachui who went to Liangzhou.
“I don’t know how Sledgehammer is developing in Liangzhou!”
Since Wang Dachui was awarded the title of Liangzhou Jiedushi to command Liangzhou and Qingzhou, Wang Dachui has brought Wei Qiuning, Zhao Xiaomao and other civil and military generals from Zhouyi. The two have been separated for more than a month now.
Although the letters between the two have not stopped, such communication is really troublesome and not timely. Zhou Yi also realized the true feelings of the ancients about the slowness of their carriages and horses.
"Hey! It would be great if I could take out the phone. Then the communication problem can be solved in time."
The imagination is beautiful, but the reality is very skinny. If Zhou Yi gets a mobile phone, it will be like a brick without a communication base station and cannot be used.
