The author said: Here we introduce a main line, the dispute between Han and Yi
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Zheng Rong has been immersed in an awkward atmosphere these days. Although the burning of grass went very smoothly, the hundreds of Turkic people who were captured for no apparent reason seemed like a dark fire lurking underground, which made him ponder but could not figure it out. Where did this group of people come from? Why are they all old, weak, women and children? Why are there no guards? Why did they appear on the front line of Youyan at this time? Who is the Dali Khan they are talking about? These problems are unreasonable in every way. After several discussions with Zhongli Kuang, they still could not figure out the clues. It was like a mess, blocking Zheng Rong's thoughts and making him puzzled.
The troubles did not end there. The intelligence about the Turks, which should have been transmitted continuously, was almost cut off at this time. The few pieces of information were mostly speculation and inference. "Could it be that the Turkic army had gone to heaven?" Zheng Rong was so anxious that he called the officer in charge of intelligence and scolded him for no reason. After venting his anger, he felt that it was pitiful that the officer had suffered from his nameless karmic fire for no reason, so he rewarded him with a short knife that he often carried with him.
The officer walked out of Zheng Rong's room, holding a dagger in his hand, in a daze. While he was still in shock, he saw Qiu Yizi leading a little girl dressed in Turkic clothes into Zheng Rong's study, and he bowed to them.
Seeing that he was his adoptive father's trusted and beloved general, and holding his adoptive father's short knife in his hand, Qiu Yizhi knew that he had just received a reward from the prince, so he nodded and said with a smile: "My adoptive father has been working day and night and has been unhappy recently, but you have won the prize, which is really a cause for celebration!"
The officer bowed and said, "Your Highness, you are joking! But I see that the prince is still angry. Your Highness, please be careful and don't make noise and cause trouble." After saying this, he retreated tremblingly.
This was another strange statement. How could the King of Youyan grant a precious sword in his rage? Before he could think about it, Yizhi had already arrived at the door of the study. He quickly stopped, straightened his clothes, and shouted loudly to the door: "I, Qiu Yizhi, would like to pay my respects to my adoptive father."
Zheng Rong was feeling depressed. When he heard Yizhi coming, he wondered, "Didn't I pay my respects to him early this morning? But it's not bad to have a chat with this kid to change my mind." He called Yizhi in. Seeing Yizhi having fun and coming to pay his respects with dishevelled hair and dirty face, Zheng Rong was angry and amused. He was about to scold him, but he saw a little girl dressed in Turkic clothes following behind Yizhi. He swallowed his words and asked, "Yizhi, who is this girl?"
Qiu Yizi had followed Zheng Rong in investigating cases on the Henan Road. He had seen quite a bit of the world and understood the pros and cons. He turned around and closed the door before bowing and saying, "Please let my godfather Rong Yizhi come forward and report in detail." Seeing Zheng Rong nod, he gently walked up to his godfather, lowered his voice, and explained the whole story clearly.
The more Zheng Rong listened, the more shocked he became. He was shocked that if what the child said was true, it would be a huge uncertainty on the grassland and he must not deal with it carelessly. So he asked seriously, "Miss, is what you just said to Tong Yi true?"
The reputation of Zheng Rong, the Prince of Youyan, is even higher than that of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty in the northern grasslands, and his prestige is no less than that of the Khan of the Turks. Yi Ran thought Qiu Yizhi was lying to her when she first heard him say that he would take her to see this famous Han general. However, in full view of everyone, Yizhi led her through the outer city of Guangyang, through the inner city, into the palace, and all the way to the study of the Prince of Youyan. She had no choice but to believe that the promise of this urchin she had just met was not just empty talk, and she began to secretly think about how she should answer the Prince of Youyan when she really met him. Therefore, when she heard Zheng Rong ask this, she straightened her chest and said with some pride: "We children of the grassland never lie!"
Zheng Rong saw that the girl's eyes were clear and firm, and she looked at him without any fear. He concluded that what she said was true. However, this matter was of great importance, so he ordered Yizhi beside him to go and find Zhong Likuang. Yizhi got the order, turned around and pushed open the door of the study. Just as he was about to go out, he bumped into someone and knocked him to the ground. Yizhi hurriedly stepped back and looked down. It turned out to be Zhong Likuang, whom he was going to invite. He hurriedly helped the gentleman up and kept apologizing.
It turned out that Zhongli Kuang heard that several princes had a conflict with the Turks at the horse market, and that Qiu Yizhi, the adopted son of the prince, had saved a Turkic girl and ran away. He felt that this matter was quite strange and must be reported, so he went to the study of Prince Youyan. However, Zhongli Kuang was a scholar with inconvenient legs and feet. He was late to arrive and bumped into Yizhi at the door of the study. Zhongli Kuang was hit hard. He rubbed his stomach and struggled to get up from the ground. He was still muttering to Yizhi: "You kid, why are you in such a hurry? A gentleman should remain calm even when facing a collapse of Mount Tai. How can you take on important responsibilities in the future when you are so flustered?"
Seeing that Zhong Li Kuang was even more panicked than Qiu Yizhi, and he even dared to teach his students, Zheng Rong laughed in his heart, but told Yizhi to make tea for the teacher, and then stood up and helped Zhong Li Kuang to sit on a chair. Seeing that the King of Youyan came to help him, Zhong Li Kuang certainly couldn't get angry. He took the green tea brewed by Qiu Yizhi with warm water, took a deep sip, put down the teacup, and nodded to Yiran who had been standing there for a while, and asked Qiu Yizhi in a pretentious tone: "Is this the Turkic girl you rescued from the horse market?"
After hearing the gentleman's tone, Qiu Yizi felt a little scared and had to answer truthfully, "Yes." He didn't dare to say another word.
"Yes." Zhong Li Kuang took a sip of tea and said, "You go down first. I have something to talk to your adoptive father."
"Hey, hey~ This girl was rescued by Yizhi, so it's okay to leave him here to listen." Zheng Rong stopped him immediately after hearing this.
Zhongli Kuang originally wanted Qiu Yizhi to stay so that they could confront each other at a critical moment, but he didn't know what Zheng Rong meant, so he tried this and asked Yizhi to explain the whole story. This was Qiu Yizhi's second time to explain the matter, so she was naturally more organized and even described some details clearly, which made Zhongli Kuang nod his head. After carefully thinking about Yizhi's words, Zhongli Kuang asked, "Miss Yiran, do you recognize the Turkic man who wanted to kidnap you?"
When I first saw this withered old scholar, I already felt a little disgusted. After being ignored by him for a long time, I replied unhappily: "Even if I don't know them, I can guess who they are. They are just the mangy dogs of the Viromele family!"
The Viromele clan was well-known on the grasslands, and they were the tribe of the current Turkic Khan, Bishimi. Bishimi was cunning in his military tactics and cruel in his character. People on the grasslands would be terrified when they heard his name, and no one had ever dared to insult him like this. Zhongli Kuang took a sip of tea and asked again, "The Viromele clan is the overlord of the Mobei grasslands. How can you, a little girl, speak like this?"
"Humph! Why not? We, the Wulin Yala clan, are competing with them on the grassland." Yiran said, with a proud light gradually shining in his eyes, "We want to take away their whips, cook their cattle and sheep, and tame their hawks and dogs!"
Zhongli Kuang knew about the Wulin Yala clan: they were originally a tribe in Bohai, a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, and they made a living by being good at metallurgy and casting. Since Bohai was conquered by the Turks, the Turks ordered them to forge weapons and called them forging slaves. The Wulin Yala clan was not of the same ethnicity or origin as the Turks, so it was understandable that they established themselves as Khans, which was consistent with the caliber obtained when they first captured this group of Turks.
However, Zhongli Kuang felt that there was still something hidden in his heart, so he simply provoked her again: "What do you know, little girl? The Wulin Yala clan is just a group of blacksmiths, how can they compete with Piximi? I think you are just bewitched by the adults, so you are talking nonsense here. I advise you to quickly ask the prince to exonerate Wang Yan. I, the prince of Youyan, am magnanimous. Considering that you are young and ignorant and a girl, he will definitely forgive you for your past mistakes!"
Qiu Yizhi had been in contact with Zhongli Kuang for some time, and of course he could see the provocation of this tricky man, but he was afraid that Yiran would fall into his trap due to her fierce temper, and he could not point it out. In the midst of the contradiction, he could only stare at Yiran with concern. Yiran's expression became extremely serious, as if he had grown up a few years in an instant, but he ignored Zhongli Kuang, turned to Zheng Rong, who had been silent for a while, and said, "Are you really the King of Youyan of the Han Dynasty?"
After hearing this, Zheng Rong smiled and said, "Miss Yiran, if you don't trust me, do you trust Qiu Yizi who saved you?"
Yiran nodded, lifted the hem of her Hu robe, pulled off the lining, held it up with both hands and said, "Since that's the case, Yiran will no longer hide it. I am the princess of Dali Khan of Wulin Yala. Please ask King Youyan to accept the letter from my father Khan!"
Zheng Rong saw the solemn look of the girl, and his heart trembled. He thought it was true, so he stood up and took it in person. The letter was written in ink on the back of a piece of perfectly nitrated sheepskin. Zheng Rong unfolded it and saw that it was in Turkic language, so he gave it to Zhongli Kuang to translate. Turkic only has oral language. If it is to be written, it must be pronounced in Chinese characters. However, Chinese characters have many homophones, and there are also differences in dialects. Therefore, the same Turkic sentence, when written by different people, is likely to become two completely different sentences. Only after the words are read out loud can the meaning be expressed.
Zhongli Kuang was fluent in Turkic. He recited it several times in his mind and repeated it. The Wulin Yala clan was a tribe that made swords, spears and arrows for the Turks. Because of their bravery in battle, they were always used as pioneers to fight in all directions. They often suffered heavy casualties, and the spoils they obtained were less than one-tenth of those of other tribes. The leader Dali could not bear the oppression and humiliation, so he called himself the Khan and linked several tribes to attack Bishimi Khan. He won the first battle a few months ago and robbed Bishimi's royal tent by surprise. However, the Piromele clan was always powerful and could not be taken suddenly, so they were still fighting. Therefore, in order to relieve his worries, thinking that the Han Youyan King Zheng Rong had always been famous for his benevolence and would not massacre innocent people, he deliberately placed the old, weak, women and children of his clan on the front line of Youyan and let them be captured by the Han army. He also gave this secret letter to his daughter in person. If he could not see the King of Youyan, it would be fine. If he had the chance to see him, he would hand over this letter to express his feelings.
The more Zheng Rong listened, the more he felt that Dali Khan was really interesting. He could actually put such a subtle choice question in front of him. After thinking about it, he had already made a decision in his heart, but he said to Qiu Yizi, who had been standing aside for a long time: "Yizi, you say!"
Zheng Rong was thinking, and Yizhi was also thinking, so he counted on his fingers and said, "Yizhi has heard that Bishimi is greedy and aggressive by nature. In the past few years, he was only trading with the Han Dynasty to recuperate and build up strength. Now that Dali Khan is fighting him, it is a godsend opportunity. If he can win, the Han Dynasty can eliminate the huge threat without a single soldier. Even if Dali wants to invade the south after taking over, it will take at least ten years for him to unify the grassland and build up his strength. If Bishimi wins, according to his 's personality, he would have slaughtered the Wulin Yala clan and other clans that resisted him. By then, Bishimizu would have been seriously injured and would not have the energy to march south. "He took a breath and continued, "This Dali Khan is really smart. He deliberately sent the old and young in the tribe to the Han Dynasty, just to give hostages to show that he would never rebel. "Yizhi also had another meaning: if Bishimizu won, then the King of Youyan would hand over the more than 700 people in his hands and earn a great favor. But Yiran was in the room, so it was inconvenient to say it clearly.
After hearing what Yizhi said, Zheng Rong kept nodding his head in agreement. Seeing Zhongli Kuang nodding his head secretly, he knew that the three of them had the same idea. So he smiled and said to Yiran, "I agree with what Yizhi said. Since your father Dali Khan has this intention, I will treat his elders and children well. Please rest assured, Princess." He closed his eyes and thought for a while, then continued, "Since you are Her Highness, it is really inappropriate for you to show up in the horse market. If the princess does not mind the simplicity of my humble house, I can arrange for you to live in the palace and send someone to serve you. As for the other followers, please strictly control them and order them to support themselves in the horse market and not cause any trouble."
Zheng Rong's arrangement seemed a little petty to Yi Ran, but she was pleasantly surprised that the dignified King of Youyan agreed to take her in so readily, so she crossed her hands in front of her chest, performed a standard grassland etiquette, and suddenly pulled out a piece of sheepskin from under her robe and handed it to Zheng Rong.
Zheng Rong felt strange, took it and looked at it, and was shocked - this second document was a short Chinese text, written in extremely beautiful small regular script, with quotations from classics, detailed and progressive, it must be the handwriting of a learned man. And what it said was that the Wulin Yala clan was willing to follow the example of Bohai, submit to the Han Dynasty, and fight against the Turks together. Zheng Rong laughed after reading it, and handed it to Zhongli Kuang and Qiu Yizhi to read. Yizhi also smiled after seeing it, this Dali Khan was indeed a little clever, and actually prepared two documents - the first one was a test, and the second one was the real meaning.
Even the unsophisticated Qiu Yizi could see this little attempt to save face, so how could Zheng Rong not know it? However, he did not want to point it out, so he asked Zhongli Kuang to carefully copy it on tribute paper, and personally wrote a memorial to express his opinion. He then put all the information in a secret letter and asked a confidant to send it to the capital Luoyang at an express speed of 800 miles.
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PS. The original form of the Turks was not the Turks, but the Mongols, who used the Mongolian style of fighting with horseback archery. The original form of the Bohai was the Jurchens (not the Jianzhou Jurchens, but the ones defeated by Yue Fei), whose fighting style was mainly heavy cavalry assault. (To be continued)