As the sun sets, the desert is littered with corpses for ten miles in the evening. Broken limbs are everywhere, and the flesh and blood of humans and horses are mixed together, staining the yellow sand.
Batu's army was invading Heshan's camp. Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling watched from behind him and found that there was no slaughter as they had imagined. After all, they were of the same clan. Once the "chief culprit" was eliminated and the flags in the camp were changed, they would directly become Batu's forces. The transition was so convenient that it didn't even take an hour.
In fact, it is not just the same ethnic group that can do this, different ethnic groups can often do this, and the snowball effect will get bigger and bigger.
However, different ethnic groups often form a "franchise" system, which is different from the system in Middle-earth.
He Lei was a loyal subordinate who truly submitted to Timur. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent to the Central Plains to stir up trouble like a special forces soldier. Precisely because he was a member of the Earth Ranking, he knew better than anyone how terrifying the third place on the Heaven Ranking was.
But Batu did not have such cognition. Ignorance means fearlessness.
Zhao Changhe secretly criticized Batu for being ignorant and fearless. Batu was also looking at the couple with squinted eyes, and in his heart he also thought that this couple was really fearless.
If they really dare to follow two people like this in, aren't they afraid that they will be tied up and handed over to the Khan
But he knew he didn't dare.
Batu had experienced the events in Yangzhou, and Chi Li had analyzed to him that Zhao Changhe was most likely a member of the Demon Suppression Division, that is, an official of Daxia, and it was obvious that he was here to cause trouble. His current behavior had definitely angered the Khan, and although he might not be punished, he would be a complete fool if he did not leave a way out for himself. Zhao Changhe was a way out that was delivered to his door, so how could he dare to offend him easily
Even though he knew that he had been deceived by him using the identity of Maitreya, he did not dare to express his anger. Instead, he showed a generous and hospitable smile: "Come on, set up the wine. This Khan wants to entertain his friends!"
Although they were talking about a banquet, everyone in the tent was dismissed. Only the three of them sat in the tent, each with their own ulterior motives in their smiles.
Yue Hongling crossed her arms in annoyance: "When did you become friends with him again?"
Zhao Changhe pulled her to sit down and blinked: "When we were in Yangzhou, Brother Batu and I fought each other. We were both enemies and friends, and we respected each other."
Batu also said: "Just now, Miss Yue also saved me. Batu would like to thank you."
As he said this, he picked up the wine bowl and drank it first as a show of respect.
Yue Hongling said with a straight face: "I just stole the horse."
In fact, everyone knows that saving Batu will create strategic significance, and it is tacitly understood.
Batu then said, "That is a Ferghana horse from the Western Regions. When my uncle went south, someone presented him with a colt. But my uncle never came back... and the shameless Heshan took the horse."
Zhao Changhe said: "In other words, should this horse belong to you?"
Batu waved his hand: "No, this is what Miss Yue took during the battle, so it belongs to Miss Yue."
Both parties paused at this point. They were suddenly out of topics to talk about and didn't know how to start a deeper discussion.
When Zhao Changhe called himself Fadian, he said the most serious words to Batu: Brother Batu, I suggest you give up your luck, because the one who wants to swallow up your tribe is none other than the Khan.
It was these words that prompted Batu to draw his sword against Hulie, and then to raise an army, destroy the wild wolves, unite the lions, and start his own tribe's resistance for survival.
But there is a prerequisite for this, that is, "Fadian" claimed that "our potential power is very large", and Batu felt that he dared to make the idea only after he had external assistance.
It turned out that this bastard was not Fa Dian at all, he was Zhao Changhe, and the foreign aid became Da Xia... Although he knew that this was the only way, his uncle just died in Da Xia, and Batu really couldn't get over it for a while.
The two sides were silent for a while, and Zhao Changhe took a sip of mare's milk and said, "Logically, there should be a lot of Wubalu people around this mountain looking for me, why can't I see them?"
Batu came back to his senses and said casually, "They were looking for you on the hill where you disappeared... Actually, there weren't many people there, most of them had already withdrawn. There are even fewer people here."
"Withdrawn?"
"Of course, there is no way that Ubalu would abandon his army in the mountains to look for just two people." Batu paused and sneered, "He was mediating between me and Heshan, but my army set out ahead of time, deliberately leaving their envoys empty-handed and ending the battle ahead of time. The so-called mediation is nothing more than splitting my tribe in half for a long time. How can I do as he wishes?"
Zhao Changhe asked: "Will he come and beat you?"
"Right now, he has far fewer troops than I do."
"Then do you dare to hit him?"
"Ubaru is the commander sent by the Khan to Huangshaji. If you touch him, you are touching the Khan." "Do you still expect the Khan to be kind to you? Or are you just satisfied with unifying the tribe and will turn around and kneel down to Timur?"
Batu said nothing.
When he unified the War Lion tribe, he became a powerful warlord. It was unlikely that Timur would be at odds with him during the decisive battle at Yanmen. He would most likely accept his position as the War Lion Khan and then attack Yanmen together.
But it’s hard to say whether they will turn against each other afterwards.
The logic of the grassland is very simple. If you don’t want to turn against each other afterwards, you have to become stronger.
Batu is not without an overall plan... Hulie is still in his hands, and the next step is to use this tribe to threaten Hulie. If he can try to annex it, even if he can't, he can exchange it for a large number of cattle, sheep and horses. By that time, the power can really compete with the Khan, and the Khan will have to consider the consequences even if he wants to turn against him.
In other words, he didn't have to rely on Zhao Changhe, a foreign aid from Daxia who couldn't fight the grassland at all. This was just a way out, and the significance was actually relatively small. The best strategy was actually to reconcile with the Khan, express his submission, follow his command to attack Yanmen, and secretly plot against the Hulie tribe.
Thinking of this, he didn't even want to socialize with Zhao Changhe. If his secret affair with Zhao Changhe were to get to the Khan's ears, it would cause more trouble.
Just as he was thinking this, a personal soldier came in through the tent, hurried to Batu's side, and whispered in a low voice.
Batu listened with a frown, then suddenly smiled at Zhao Changhe: "It's getting dark, Brother Zhao, please stay here tonight. I have some other things to deal with, so I'll excuse myself for now. Please forgive me for being rude."
Zhao Changhe ate mutton and drank wine by himself, saying indifferently: "Go ahead."
Batu smiled and said, "You two may not have properly stayed in a tent on the grassland. It would be nice to experience it once."
After saying this, he left quickly, and the tent for entertaining guests was directly turned into a guest house.
Zhao Changhe was chewing on the lamb leg, and turned to Yue Hongling and smiled: "Everything is good in the belly of the mountain, except for food. It's purely energy-filled, and my mouth is empty. It feels really good to come out here chewing on the roasted lamb leg and drinking mare's milk."
Yue Hongling sipped the wine: "This wine tastes fishy, I don't like it."
Zhao Changhe asked: "Would you like to drink Zhongyuan wine here?"
Yue Hongling asked: "What's your idea?"
Zhao Changhe stood up, opened a small gap in the tent and looked out. There were many torches outside and some guards were patrolling back and forth, staring at this place nervously.
He smiled slightly: "Batu is too rough... Even if a pig were to analyze this situation, it would know that the envoy of Ubaru has arrived."
Yue Hongling nodded: "Yes."
"Batu didn't push himself to the edge and didn't make the decision to completely break up with the Great Khan Timur. He was still considering using a strong tribe as a backing to make Timur cautious and unite the war. If he continues with this idea, we will just create a brand new War Lion Tribe to participate in the attack on Yanmen instead of Helei."
Yue Hongling understood what he meant: "Not only that, if he makes a firm decision, we will both be sacrificed."
"It's not that easy." In the light of the fire, Zhao Changhe's eyes were somewhat fierce: "He can't make a decision, we help him make the decision... But we are just repeating the same trick in front of the Wang family."
Yue Hongling looked at her lover's profile, unable to hide her admiration in her eyes.
When Ubaru's envoy died in Batu's tent, the Khan would not listen to your excuses. Batu was speechless and had no choice but to go all the way and turn to Daxia.
Just like killing the Maitreya messenger in front of Wang Daoning, Maitreya was not there, he would only think that Wang Daoning, a dignified person on the Heavenly Ranking, could not protect the messenger, and that he was deliberately killed. It was the same here, among tens of thousands of soldiers, the messenger was assassinated? If it wasn't you who wanted to kill him, who else could it be, Meng Gui
However, assassinating an envoy in the midst of thousands of troops is not comparable to a small fight in front of the Wang family’s gate.
Zhao Changhe turned to look at her and said with a smile: "This is where tens of thousands of troops are. Are you afraid, my heroine?"
Yue Hongling smiled slightly: "With you by my side, even if there are millions of soldiers in front of me, what do I have to fear?"
"Then let's go. It's a dark and windy night for murder."
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(End of this chapter)