At dawn, a sudden burst of shrill horns sounded in the camp, flags were hunting, and horses’ hooves were thundering.
Yao Ying woke up suddenly, the light in the tent was dim, a figure beside the long desk was motionless, his clothes were neat, and he was concentrating on identifying the sound of the horn coming from a distance.
After a moment, he looked down at her.
"Today, I'm going to lead a Chinese army to set up the camp. Bi Suo and Mobido will stay to take care of the food and grass, escort the luggage, and the princess will stay in the camp. Yuanjue will come to you and discuss with him if you have anything."
Serious tone.
Yaoying responded, and before she got up, he picked up the long knife placed beside the blanket and walked out.
"The general is still injured, don't forget to change the medicine, be careful in everything."
Yaoying was wrapped in a felt blanket and instructed softly, just woke up from her sleep, her voice was soft and hoarse.
Tamaroka stopped in her footsteps, turned her back to her, and with a soft hum, opened the felt curtain and went out.
But listening to the voices, footsteps, the neighing of horses, and the dull sound of armor and swords colliding one after another outside the tent, it sounds busy but not chaotic, and the wind is howling.
Yaoying calmed down and quickly put on her clothes and got up. Yuanjue hurried over and took her to another camp.
On the long road under the hillside, there was a large area of darkness, and the sun was shining.
Yaoying ate some naan and processed the documents to record the distribution of war horses. Bi Su's personal soldiers came over.
"The commander inadvertently captured a small tribe of skirmishers. They wanted to attack the Kake, but they were surrounded by the Kake for several days and nights. The commander captured them alive. Two or three hundred of them were Han Chinese, and the general did not know. How to deal with them, can Young Master Bayan go to hand over? Others don't understand Chinese."
Yaoying agreed immediately.
Wang Ting marched vigorously. In order to prevent revealing the main force of the army, he strictly guarded the prisoners he took in. Now the situation is tense. She has helped with several disputes these days.
Yaoying rushed to the camp where the prisoners were being held with her personal soldiers. The lieutenant was busy. Seeing her coming, she did not lift her eyelids and pointed to the two soldiers to her.
"A group of Han slaves, why should General Ashina bother? In my opinion, killing them will save trouble."
Yaoying's face changed, she shook her head at her, and followed the soldier to the cowshed without saying a word.
"You remember, this is the royal court. We have no way of saying how the royal court uses its troops and decides its strategy. The Han prisoners currently being held are fighting for Beirong. In the eyes of the generals of the royal court, they are enemies."
After leaving the camp, Yaoying reminded her soldiers in a low voice.
The soldiers froze in their hearts, and they should be respectful.
When we arrived at the cowshed, there was a long distance away from the smell of blood, filth, and filthy, rancid feces. The cowshed was low and low, and the prisoners were held in it. They had to look up to look up at the guards.
The soldier stood in front of the cowshed and shouted a few times, and asked the soldier to pull out a few Han people to interrogate.
The personal soldiers looked down on the crowd and asked loudly, "Why did you attack the Kake Department? Why did you fight for the Beirong people?"
He spoke in pure and fluent Chinese, and the Han prisoners were dumbfounded and silent for a while.
Yaoying stood aside to observe their reactions, noticed that the Han prisoners subconsciously looked in the direction of the corner after being shocked, and pointed to the men in the corner: "Bring them up."
The soldier picked out three captives and pressed them on the shoulders, forcing them to kneel.
Yaoying shook her hand and asked the soldiers to release them, "Where are your ancestry? How could you fight for the Beirong people?"
The three prisoners glanced around and saw a group of tall and large personal soldiers standing behind her. The personal soldiers were both Han and Hu people, and they should have a considerable position in Wang Ting's army. They exchanged glances.
After a few snaps, the soldier was impatient, whipped a few whips in the past, and shouted sharply: "Don't answer!"
Yaoying frowned lightly, but did not stop her and said, "As long as you tell the truth and stop working for the Beirong people, I can plead with the general and leave all of you alive."
The oldest man among the captives sneered: "How can you guarantee that? We are Han people, and we are the lowest pariahs in Beirong. When we arrive at the royal court, we are no different from Beirong."
Yaoying said lightly: "It's different. The monarch of the royal court is a Buddhist son. You are defeated and become his captives. He never kills captives indiscriminately, and will forgive and forgive you. No one dares to question his decision. The people of the tribe are all the children of the Buddha, and the Buddha treats them equally.”
Her gentle and calm gaze stayed on everyone's face for a moment.
"If you refuse to submit, it will be the spoils of the royal court, which will be rewarded as slaves to nobles and generals who have made meritorious deeds, and cannot be redeemed for a lifetime."
The man and the other two looked at each other with a suspicious look: "As long as we surrender, will the Buddha really forgive us?"
Yaoying said, "Have you never heard of the Ujiri tribe? Their tribe used to loot the royal caravan for a living. Later, they surrendered to the Buddha and the tribe was preserved."
"I'm a Han Chinese, so if I dare to make a promise, I'll have full confidence."
She paused, her tone slightly lower.
"The premise is that you are willing to surrender."
The man narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, "We can surrender, and we can tell you what the Beirong people asked us to do—but we have one request! As long as we meet our request, we are willing to do nothing for Wang Ting!"
Yaoying said: "But it's okay to say it."
The man stared at her closely: "We ask the Buddha to give us people to Princess Wenzhao! The royal court nobles and Beirong nobles are the same, only Princess Wenzhao will treat us kindly."
Yaoying: …
Yuanjue, who was on the side, could gradually understand some simple Chinese. Hearing the words of Buddha and Princess Wenzhao, his eyes immediately lit up and cast a questioning look at her.
Yaoying explained to him in a low voice.
Yuanjue thought for a while and said, "The princess can agree, and the king is merciful, and it is strictly forbidden to kill prisoners in the army. As long as the princess pays the ransom for these heads according to the custom, the king will definitely give these people to the princess. The lieutenant general has nothing to say."
Wherever Yaoying's caravan goes, she will try her best to rescue the local remnants of the Central Plains Dynasty who have become slaves. After more and more people have been rescued, in order to avoid attracting hatred from the local royal family, she takes rare treasures from the world from two. The city lord of the small city-state bought two small oasis cities, moved everyone out of the royal court, and let those people follow the first rescued Lao Qi to learn farming and business, and let them build up armed forces step by step, no matter whether they are male or female, as long as they can carry it. Knives have to be trained.
She did all this generously and did not hide it. Her caravan had close contacts with Hu merchants. She often used some strange and new things to win over dignitaries and nobles. The royal court was sent out one after another, and the nobles of the royal court were happy to see it succeed, and wished she could save more of the survivors.
Yaoying smiled, "No wonder Bi Suo asked me to hand over these Han prisoners. He already knew what these Han people wanted."
"Yuanjue, go to the lieutenant and let him know."
Yuanjue thought it was unnecessary, but seeing Yaoying insisted, she had to find the lieutenant to explain the situation and take out her own seal. He was the bodyguard of Tanmaraga, and the lieutenant did not dare to disagree, but agreed.
With the promise of the lieutenant, Yaoying then told the Han man: "As long as you submit, Princess Wenzhao will try her best to find a way to redeem your life for you."
The man was overjoyed and his eyes became sharp: "Do you know Princess Wen Zhao?"
Yaoying nodded and said word by word, "Yes, my guarantee is Princess Wen Zhao's guarantee."
The three men looked at her, their expressions shaking, and joy flashed on their faces.
"We believe in Princess Wen Zhao!"
The man at the head looked back at the people in the bullpen, made up his mind, and answered Yaoying's question with a fist: "We are from Hexi and were born in Izhou. Our fathers were all taken captive to Izhou, and we and The local people marry and serve as cattle and horses for the Beirong people, and they have to pay heavy taxes, cattle, sheep, cloth, animal skins, women, whatever they want, we have to give. The young and strong men in the clan were all forced to go to the battlefield. We were originally escorting food and grass for the Beirong people. This month, the commander suddenly asked us to spread out and follow a few cavalry to attack all the small tribes. If we did not obey the order, we would be killed. ."
Yaoying frowned.
The Northern Rong people were indeed forcing their small vassal tribes to attack the tribes that had surrendered to the royal court.
The Han man took a breath and continued, "I can tell you one more news - Prince Haidu Aling has invited reinforcements for the Beirong people!"
Yaoying's pupils shrank, and for a moment, countless guesses ran through her mind.
"What reinforcements?"
she asked calmly.
The Han man shook his head and said, "No one knows who the reinforcements are. We happened to escort Prince Aling of Haidu. The prince took a detour to the north with his guards. His guards were drunk and boasted that the prince would Bring tens of thousands of reinforcements to Beirong, and when the time comes, the gods will fall, even if the Buddha is blessed by the gods and Buddhas, he will not be able to win this battle, but no one believes this."
Yaoying was silent for a while, and slowly calmed down, leaving a personal soldier to deal with the rest, instructing the soldier to treat the Han prisoners kindly and turn around and leave.
Wang Ting was originally short of troops, so he had to concentrate his troops to fight against Bei Rong. If Bei Rong really invited a strong reinforcement, then Wang Ting would have to face a coalition army with several times their number.
She was afraid that the Han man was a meticulous work sent by Beirong on purpose to disturb Wang Tingjun's heart. Although she was nervous in her heart, her face remained calm. As she walked, she recalled the sand table she had seen in her mind. If what the man said was true, Haidu Where will A-ling go to find reinforcements
Just after walking a few steps, the Han man remembered something and raised his voice to stop her: "This son, if you can see Princess Wenzhao, please give Princess Wenzhao a message!"
Yaoying stopped.
The Han man stepped forward, glanced left and right, and whispered, "Please tell Princess Wen Zhao that there are Han people in the Central Plains asking for news about her."
Yaoying was still thinking about the reinforcements, she was a little absent-minded and didn't respond for a long time. After realizing what the man said, there was a bang in her head, her whole body froze, and her heart was beating wildly.
She moved her lips and wanted to ask a question, but she couldn't utter a complete word for a long time. The blood all over her body seemed to be flowing backwards, and she could even hear the sound of them running through the blood vessels.
In this war-torn chaotic world, someone who is not afraid of risks and travels thousands of miles to inquire about her news...
It could only be Li Zhongqian.
Brother is here.
He came to take her home.
Her hunch was right, the Han Chinese sent by Wakhan Khan to hunt down were probably Li Zhongqian.
How did he go to Beirong
Is he out of danger now
He was in a hurry to save her, and he became irritable and disorganized. If he was caught by the Beirong people...
The cool wind was blowing with turbid air, Yaoying's eyes were hot and wet, the tip of her nose was sore, and she finally heard her trembling voice: "Who is that Han man?"
The Han man shook his head and said, "I don't even know who it is... I just heard that it was a Han man. From Zhongyuan, they inquired about Princess Wenzhao in Beirong."
Yaoying closed her eyes.
It must be Li Zhongqian.
On the way back to the camp, Yaoying was silent, feeling both happy and worried.
She remembered the dream of the night before, Li Zhongqian, dressed as a herdsman, ran towards her on a horse, and was stabbed through his body by a long knife.
Yaoying fought a cold war.
…
Back at the camp, Yaoying sorted out the information she got from the Han men and sent it to Bi Su's tent.
After reading it, Bi Suo frowned and asked, "Princess, are those Han people trustworthy?"
Yaoying shook her head and said, "I'm not sure, these information are just their side words. Maybe Haidu Aling specially arranged for them to confuse me and interfere with the regent's use of troops."
Bi Suo pondered for a moment: "It's possible, but if what they say is true, we have to adjust the layout as soon as possible. Wakhan Khan is hiding his tracks, maybe he is waiting for reinforcements."
Before Tanmaraka had returned to the camp, he wrote a few letters to have his confidant messengers send them out immediately on fast horses.
Yaoying returned to her camp.
The soldiers gathered around and asked in a low voice, "Princess, is Lord Lang here?"
Yaoying said softly, "Maybe it's..."
The soldiers looked at each other in surprise and delight.
Except for the few barbarians that Yaoying recruited later, most of the personal soldiers who escorted her and her relatives were the guards that Li Zhongqian personally selected for her. They were naturally excited when they heard that Li Zhongqian had come over.
Yaoying's hands in her sleeves were still shaking, she drank a bowl of cold mare's milk, forced herself to calm down, and wrote a letter from her desk.
Before the letter was finished, the personal soldiers sent a parchment scroll: "Princess, General Jin sent it just now."
Yaoying unfolded the sheepskin scroll, sighed, smiled, and rushed to Bi Su's tent.
"I don't know if the reinforcements from Haidu Aling are true or not. The reinforcements I invited for the royal court have arrived."
Bi Suo remembered this, and raised her eyebrows: "Are they really here?"
Before leaving the holy city, Yaoying asked Tanmoraga for instructions. Although she has few troops, she is willing to contribute to the royal court. If things go well on Yuchi Damo's side, she can also send troops to assist. Of course, Bi Suo and the others would not refuse such a good thing.
Yaoying nodded: "It's from the Ale Department, and it's already in Baiquan."
Bi Suo clapped her palms together and chuckled, thinking of something, she frowned.
Yaoying smiled, "General don't need to be embarrassed. The platoon of Wang Ting's army is confidential. After all, the Ale Department is an outsider. They don't know where the army is and will be stationed in Baiquan."
Bi Suo breathed a sigh of relief: "It's the best, thank the princess for your understanding. I can send a team to guide them."
Yao Ying hummed and said, "Ale is suspicious, and I have to come forward in person before he can let down his guard. When will the general's team set off?"
Bi Su checked the sand table and found that there were royal scout stations from Baiquan to the camp. There were large flat and wide plains and low hills in this area. There were no deep forests and ravines, so the main army of Beirong would never hide here.
"You can leave in half an hour. I will ask Mobido to escort the princess."
Half an hour later, Mobido led a team to escort Yaoying to Baiquan.
After a few swoops, the strong wind slapped the flag, and the personal soldiers raised the flagpole and followed on both sides of the team.
Maubido looked back at the flags flying under the clear sky.
This is not the flag of the royal court.
It belongs to Princess Wen Zhao.
He looked at Li Yaoying.
Yaoying was wearing a narrow-sleeved robe and crouched on the horse's back, her posture becoming more and more proficient.
Moviduo smiled and turned back to concentrate on driving the horse.
…
The name Baiquan came from a spring pool in the desert. After Ale sent the letter, he led his tribe to camp on the spot beside the spring pool. Just after planning the camp, the north was dusty, and dozens of horses rushed to it.
The camp scout had already warned him, and Ale rode up the hill on horseback, squinting for a while, and recognizing the flag fluttering in the wind, he said, "It's Princess Wenzhao."
The cavalry still did not relax their vigilance, bowed their bows and set up arrows, and could fire ten thousand arrows at any time.
Yao Yingchi came to the camp and stopped.
After a while, Ale ran out of the camp on horseback and clenched his fists at her: "Princess, I'm here."
Yaoying smiled and gave a salute, and gestured to the soldiers behind her.
The personal soldier turned over and dismounted, carried a few large boxes forward, opened the lid of the box, and suddenly a golden light floated.
Ale's eyes lit up, and he let his men carry the box away, laughing loudly: "Princess is really refreshing."
After the greeting, he took out a letter from his arms.
"Yang Qian's letter to the princess, he was afraid that the letter eagle would be intercepted by the Beirong people, so he asked me to send it over."
Yaoying thanked him, took the letter, and drove her horse to the side, looking down at the letter.