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It is about 600 miles from Jingbian to Yinchuan across the Hetao area. If it is advanced by infantry, it will take about twelve days even without any interference.
This time, the 20,000 Qin cavalry, with no logistical constraints, advanced to the bank of the Yellow River in just three days. The speed of their advance was beyond Yatu's expectations.
At this time, Qitate had just completed the clearing of the area north of Keyimen, and then ordered the abandonment of Wucihai City located at the northwest corner of the "J" shape of the Yellow River, and withdrew all troops back to Keyimen.
After receiving the news that the Qin army was approaching the Yellow River, Qitate arranged the defense of Keyi Gate and then rushed back to Yinchuan City without stopping, preparing to stop the 20,000 Qin troops on the east bank from crossing the river.
He was exhausted and had just entered the back court of Yinchuan Prefecture when his wife Mutabu pulled him into a side room.
"What?" A roar suddenly came from the side room, and soon Kitata was seen rushing out of the side room like an angry lion and running towards Yatu's room.
Yatu looked a little haggard. Suddenly, she saw Qitate rushing in. Just as she was about to speak, Qitate slapped her in the face. With a crisp sound, Yatu fell to the ground, and half of her face turned red.
"You bitch, damn bitch, I, the Khan, have been living in the open air to resist the enemy, but you have been cheating on me at home. I will kill you, bitch."
Qitate was furious, and with a clang, he drew his saber and chopped at Yatu's neck.
"Khan, I don't know what you are talking about. Just listen to me..." Yatu ignored the burning pain on his face, turned around and threw himself at Qitate's feet, hugged his thighs, and screamed.
Qitate's saber stopped in mid-air, and he shouted sternly, "Bitch, don't think I don't know. I always see you flirting with that beast Sukhbaru. Now that you've done something like this, what else can I say?"
Yatu was shocked and confused. She said anxiously, "Khan, please don't listen to the rumors. I have not done anything to let you down. Khan, think about it. Now the enemy is approaching. I have been thinking about this day and night. I am exhausted. Even if I want to steal a man, I can't do it at this critical moment. Khan..."
Yatu's words were half true and half false. To be honest, what happened two days ago was not so much that she committed adultery with Sukhbaaru, but rather that she was raped by Sukhbaaru. At that time, Sukhbaaru was like a madman. He didn't care what she said at all and just forced himself on her.
However, Yatu did not dare to say anything afterwards and tried his best to cover up the matter, but he never expected that Qitate would find out.
She could guess that it must be her sister who was passing on the message. It couldn't be anyone else except her.
"Khan, it must be my sister who spread the rumors to you. How can you believe her? She has always been dissatisfied with the Khan's favor towards me. She has been trying to alienate the Khan and me. Khan, in order to prove my innocence, I would rather die..."
As Yatu said this, he tried to grab the saber from Qitate's hand and slashed it towards his neck. Qitate quickly struggled hard to get the saber back. After hearing what Yatu said, he was full of doubts and didn't know who to believe for a moment.
Thinking back carefully, Sukhbaru must have had evil intentions towards Yatu, but he just didn't believe that Sukhbaru had such courage. From this point of view, what Mutab said was probably not groundless.
But it was also true that Mutab was secretly jealous of Yatu, and although she tried her best to hide it and pretended to be happy, Qitat had been married to Mutab for many years and knew her very well. She was not a tolerant woman.
"Khan, it's been so long, don't you know how I feel about you? Now that you doubt me like this today, I really don't want to live anymore. Please let me die..." Yatu cried, crawled to the bed again, pulled out a dagger and committed suicide.
Qitate remembered her kindness and didn't know who to trust. He couldn't bear to let her die. He rushed forward and grabbed the dagger, saying, "Princess, it's not difficult for me to trust you. I will have someone tie up Sukhbaru and you kill him. If you can do it, it will prove your innocence. Then I will apologize to you."
"Great Khan, we are facing a powerful enemy, and we must kill them on the battlefield..."
"You won't?"
"Great Khan..."
For Yatu, it was really a case of adding insult to injury. The Qin army was approaching, and at this critical juncture such a thing happened. If things went wrong, they would be defeated by internal strife without the Qin army having to fight.
To protect the overall situation, Yatu had to harden his heart and said, "Okay, since the Khan insists on doing this, I will do as you say. But you can't just kidnap someone like this. Sukhbaru is a general in the army after all. What will the other soldiers think if you kidnap someone at this time? I will send someone to invite him to the government office to discuss matters, and then we can quietly capture him."
Sukhbalu forced himself on her that day, and Yatu felt very uncomfortable. However, out of concern, she not only dared not speak out, but also had to help cover it up as much as possible. Now that she could no longer cover it up, she decided to kill Sukhbalu.
She immediately sent someone to call Sukhbaaru. Sukhbaaru didn't know what was going on and hurried to the government office.
Without saying a word, Yatu hid the dagger in his sleeve, and stabbed him hard in the heart. Sukhbaru never dreamed that Yatu would suddenly attack him like this.
"Princess... you... you..." Sukhbaru's mouth was filled with blood. At this time, Qitate walked out of the room. Yatu was afraid that Sukhbaru would say something, so he pulled out the dagger with force and stabbed again. Sukhbaru's chest was bleeding like a fountain, his eyes were wide open, and he fell to the ground twitching continuously. After spitting out several mouthfuls of blood, he became motionless.
Yatu was covered in blood. He turned around and said coldly, "Khan, are you satisfied with this? If you still have doubts, you might as well kill me too."
"Princess, I'm sorry, I... I shouldn't have listened to the gossip, Princess, please forgive me."
Yatu felt exhausted and could not think about it anymore. She said weakly, "Great Khan, the Qin army is approaching. The defense of the river was previously under the charge of Sukhbaatar. You should find a way to stabilize the army and prevent the enemy from crossing the river. Otherwise, no matter whether you suspect me or not, we will both die."
"Okay, Princess. I will go to the river to organize defense. Don't worry, it won't be easy for the Qin army to cross the river."
Qitate felt guilty, and strode out of the yamen after he finished speaking. Yatu stopped him and asked, "Khan, how are you going to explain Sukhbaru's death to everyone?"
"I said he was plotting to assassinate the Khan."
"No, Khan, the soldiers may not believe you if you say that. They will be suspicious and waver."
Qitate thought for a while, but couldn't come up with a good excuse, so he just walked up to her and asked in a flattering manner: "Princess, how do you explain it?"
"Great Khan, don't let everyone know about Sukhbaru's death yet. Tell the soldiers that Sukhbaru has been sent to carry out an important sneak attack mission. At the same time, tell the soldiers that as long as Sukhbaru's sneak attack succeeds, the enemy will be defeated."
"Okay, I'll do as the princess says."
Chitat hurried to the Yellow River and took over Sukhbaru's command of the tens of thousands of troops on the riverside. At this time, the Yellow River had thawed, and the water was very turbulent, flowing northward.
Chitaga sent out patrols and strengthened patrols along the entire west bank to prevent the Qin army from sneaking across the river from other places. He also explained Sukhbaru's whereabouts according to what Yatu said, and his soldiers did not doubt it much.
On the other side of the Yellow River, one could clearly see 20,000 Qin troops happily cooking sheep and slaughtering cattle on the grassland without even setting up camp. It looked like they were not coming to fight, but rather for a spring outing.
Qitate could hardly believe his eyes. He couldn't help but feel a little angry. Qin Jun's behavior was tantamount to contempt for him.
Perhaps because he saw that Qitate had stepped up patrols on the west bank, Qin Mu had someone put up a large sign on the east bank that read, "Don't bother, I'll cross the river here after dinner.
The sign was large enough that the Qitat and his nearly 10,000 soldiers on the west bank could vaguely make out the words on it, but the content...
Anyone who can recognize a few Chinese characters will have a strange look on their face when they see the sign on the bank. "I will cross the river here after dinner." What does this have to do with anything? Why does it feel like the emperor has finished his meal and is preparing to take a walk in the imperial garden
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ps: The beginning of the month is always the most critical time, just like a track and field competition. If you fall behind at the starting line, there is little hope for the rest of the race. Brothers and sisters, please give us your guaranteed monthly tickets. I look forward to your support. Please give me your monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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