Chapter 134 Where did Hulun Yarong go?

Chapter 134 Where did Hulun Yarong go?

Chapter 134 Where did Hulun Yarong go?

Ten days later, the slowly advancing army had passed the Lianfeng Valley and completely left the sphere of influence of Buir Lake.

The soldiers seemed extremely excited.

Arriving here, I have finally embarked on the journey home.

The atmosphere in the military camp was somewhat solemn.
The division of credit after the war made the soldiers feel like they had eaten gunpowder and were on the verge of exploding.

Some soldiers suffered severe psychological shock during the war and became increasingly irritable.

They became increasingly dissatisfied with the grassland captives who delayed most of the progress, and fights often broke out in the barracks.
If it weren't for the pressure from superiors and military discipline, the grassland captives might have been killed or injured every day.

Even so, the prisoners had a hard time.
But for them, being able to eat every day is the best life they can imagine.

They worked very hard, whether it was dismantling the camp, transporting military supplies, or delivering horse feed, they did their best.
They looked thin and weak due to long-term malnutrition.
My legs were shaking as I carried the military supplies.
They could only grit their teeth and hold on, or at most lean against the wall to rest for a while.

Not only Jiang Li, many grassland generals have discovered the usefulness of these grassland criminals.
A meal can make them work wholeheartedly. It's really a good thing.

At this time, just in the morning,
After resting for a night, most of the troops were about to move forward again. The camps in various places were taken down one by one by these grassland criminals.

They wore thin clothes and folded the tent with great effort.
The sweat produced by their labor made them feel hot, but they still worked hard.

Near the central army tent, Jiang Lin and Changxing Hou Geng Bingwen stood together, looking quietly ahead.

Changxing Hou was very satisfied. He was a general who was good at defending.

All the arrangements of the tents and the deployment of the troops were handled by him.

It is the best defensive formation that the Ming Dynasty can come up with, and it can withstand some attacks even at night.

Naturally, the non-existent tent of Jiang Li’s troops was also arranged by him.

Jiang Li narrowed his eyes and looked at the soldiers working in front of him. His voice was flat and hoarse:

"Lord Changxing, these grassland people are the best laborers. It would be even better if we could drive them into battle."

When Changxing Hou heard this, he glanced at him with a look of emotion:
"They made great efforts in conquering the Kharajang camp.
But those who were sent to the battlefield have already died, and it is difficult to order them to die.

Some people in the army have already tried it.

They can work and even be beaten and scolded.

But if they were asked to fight a pack of wolves, they would flee in panic and be defeated, not to mention fighting in battle."

Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, looked at Jiang Li with a hint of sarcasm:

"You Jinyiwei are good at attacking people's hearts, is there no way to stop it?"

Jiang Li's plain face showed no expression at all, and he slowly shook his head:

"The Northern Yuan Dynasty's control over them could even be traced back to Khara-Khara.
It took more than ten years of rule to make them obey orders and even lose their own inner thoughts.
We have only captured them for a month, and if we want to make them obey us, we need to work hard and use some tricks.”

"That's all nonsense." Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, said coldly.
The king's rule over these criminals was very simple and brutal. If they obeyed, they would have a little food, but if they disobeyed, they would die.

But the Ming Dynasty ruled the world with benevolence and filial piety, so even if it was a bit harsh on them, it couldn't do so, otherwise there would be endless impeachments.

Jiang Li smiled gently with a deep look in his eyes.

But the Marquis of Changxing looked at him with great interest, his eyes pondering:

"I heard that you've been wandering around the camp lately, always going to the prisoner-of-war camp. What do you want to do?"

"just looking."

The face of Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, turned cold, and his voice also took on a hint of frost:
"You, the Jinyiwei, have stretched your hands too far. It would be fine if you just investigated the civil servants.
It even reached the military. This is not the way to seek death.
Do you know how many eyes are staring at you?

For the sake of His Royal Highness, I advise you to stay away from the prisoner-of-war camp, do your job as a watchdog well, and don't have any other thoughts. "

"Lord Changxing is right."

Geng Bingwen turned his body sideways, his eyes full of contempt:
"Then why don't you go and defend the central army tent? What are you doing here?"

"I'll take my leave." Jiang Li's face was full of smiles, just like a fawning dog.

But when he turned around, the smile on his face disappeared in an instant, replaced by the usual dead silence.

The Ming Dynasty was newly established, and the world belonged not only to Your Majesty, but also to these founding heroes.

Jiang Li knew that the Jinyiwei had great powers and was directly under the emperor.

But a watchdog is still a watchdog after all, and these military officers are masters just like the emperor.

Jiang Li, who had left his place, did not go to the central army camp.
Instead, after a lot of twists and turns, we came to a horse farm.
Now that the main defense of the central military tent has been taken over by the general's confidants, all the Jinyiwei can do is to find out the shortcomings and fill them up, and it is no longer as important as before.

Watching the dawn, the sky turned pale blue.
The dew on the trees beside me was still sparkling.

Tender green shoots have appeared on the grassland.

Jiang Li stood on a high place, looking forward.
The grassland captives had already stood up under the command of the officers and started their day's work.

They were ragged, their faces were haggard, there was numbness in their eyes, and they moved unsteadily, but they were still trying to walk.

They first went to the stables and began preparing breakfast for the horses.

Baskets of hay and grain were carried to the stables, and the food was distributed expertly.

It is not yet autumn, there are no grass seeds,
Therefore, the food that the war horses eat is much better than that of these grassland captives.
Barley, beans, mixed with some sorghum, buckwheat, oats, and half-cooked eggs.

Most of the grassland captives smelled the fragrance of the grass and couldn't help but pursed their lips.

They didn't know what it was, and had never even seen it, but just by smelling it, they knew it smelled good.

They carefully held the food close to the horse's mouth.
Watching them chewing with relish, my dry mouth began to move little by little, as if I was eating myself.

After the horses had finished eating, the captives began to lead the horses out of the stables and comb their manes and tails.

They run their fingers through the horse's hair,

Gently comb each strand of hair, stroking your fingers over the horse's body, applying a little pressure.

It helps horses relax their tense muscles, lift their hair, dissipate heat, and remove dead skin and hair dander.

This is something we have to do every day.

If the warhorse charges, this process will last for a day.
The horse also enjoyed this treatment, standing quietly, occasionally snorting with satisfaction and paddling with its hooves.

After doing all this, the grassland captives gathered their horses in the central open space.
Pick up the shovel and broom beside you and go into the stable to clean up.
The excrement must be collected, for the filth is of great use to the army.
Whether it is used as fertilizer or fuel, or as gold juice for attacking and killing, dirty things are needed.

After doing all this, they were so exhausted that they couldn't even straighten their backs.
But the morning's work has not yet stopped,

They also had to dismantle the stables, and the long rolling log required two soldiers to hold it.
And they need four, or even five, so that they won't fall down.

The stable roof is fixed with specific clips.
More than ten people carefully dismantled the roof piece by piece and placed it on a cart that had been prepared on the side.
The empty cart was filled to the brim in less than half an hour.

The donkey and the inferior horse pulling the cart were overwhelmed and were panting heavily.

Some kindhearted grassland captives came forward and quickly stroked their fur to dissipate the heat from their bodies, whispering words of comfort.

But what came towards him was a horsewhip, accompanied by the angry curses of the Ming soldiers.

"Hurry up, the camp is about to set out, if you don't hurry up you won't have any food!!"

Although they were extremely tired, they moved faster.

The heat radiating from my body was increasing.

The slightly dirty clothes stuck to the chest and back and were already wet.

Half an hour later, at the hour of Chen,

The army slowly set out, and the captives from the grassland had just finished their work.
Seeing the convoy slowly moving,

They heaved a sigh of relief, rubbed their hands, and waited expectantly. The grassland captives had two meals a day, one in the morning when they moved out of the camp, and one in the evening when they set up camp.

Soon, a large cart loaded with barrels and filled with hot air slowly approached.
The grassland captives were extremely excited and took out the "bowls" that had been with them for a long time.
They were of different shapes, with cracks and gaps filled with dirt, and there was even a half-broken chamber pot.

The army's food was extremely simple, made of rough flour, black steamed buns.

And a slightly simple stew with no meat, just some fat.

But even so, it was the best thing they had eaten in these years.
At least some of the grassland people had never seen this thing called steamed bun before they became prisoners.

The outer and inner parts of the grassland camp are two completely isolated worlds.

Soon, the grassland captives held a bowl in one hand,
Holding two steamed buns in each hand, he walked slowly behind the stable cart, his face full of satisfaction.

Jiang Li stood on a high place on one side, with his hands behind his back, watching everything quietly, his eyes were deep and his expression was inexplicable.

In his opinion, this was a spy who was more loyal than anyone else, but it was a pity that he could not use her for his own purposes.

At this moment, the sound of war horse hooves came from behind him.

A soldier wearing armor and with an ordinary face rode a warhorse and walked slowly towards them, leading another warhorse.
"Sir, it's time to go."

Jiang Li sighed slightly and turned his head: "How did you know I was here?"

"You have to stand on a high place and look at it every day, but you don't know what's so good about this war horse."

Hearing the soldier's words, Jiang Li smiled lightly, with a hint of disappointment in his eyes, and said nothing.

Instead, they jumped on their horses and left quickly.

Soon, a day passed.

The sun slowly set, the army began to set up camp, and the grassland captives became busy again.

Tents were erected one by one.
The same was true of Jiang Lin's tent.

The war was over, and he left the army tent early and returned to his own tent.

He did not rest, but arranged the furnishings in the house first.
It's square and there's nothing out of place.

Then he placed the made-up bed opposite the entrance of the tent.
These things cannot be relied upon by soldiers,

Because he cannot let the soldiers control where he sleeps every day, this is something the Jinyiwei should be vigilant about.

After doing all this, he sat on the bed.

Feeling the cool breeze blowing in from the entrance of the tent, a look of comfort appeared on his face.

After a while, he stood up and walked to the table, opening the books that had been placed on it.

It is called a book, but in fact it is a register of the grassland king's account.
These days he has been looking for ways to control those grassland captives.
In order not to alert the enemy, he could only look for some names he heard among the prisoners on the grassland.
Those people were all those who were entrenched around the Princess of Beiyuan.

Some belong to the Tianbao slaves, some belong to the Dibao slaves, but most of them are the royal tents.

He took out a piece of paper from the book, on which were densely written more than a hundred names.
This was the person he speculated could control these grassland criminals.

Their names often appear in the mouths of grassland sinners!

But now, most of the names on this piece of paper have been crossed out.
Looking at this piece of paper, Jiang Lin's eyes narrowed.
As a member of the Imperial Guard, he was best at such insidious tactics, and he was keenly aware of the unusualness in it.

It's so weird. Too many of these people died. When we checked them one by one, they were all dead.

This is obviously not right.

During the great battle, most of the casualties in the central army's tent were the royal guards and guards of various grassland nobles, all of whom were young and strong men from the grassland.

Because of the Northern Yuan Dynasty princess, most of the people on the list are women.

They are the wives, women, and family members of some of the grassland dignitaries.
They formed an alternative circle with the princess as the core.

The men in the king's tent control the royal guards and the young and strong soldiers.

The women in the royal tent controlled the criminals outside the camp and maintained the fragile balance of the Northern Yuan Dynasty's court.

Jiang Li was keenly aware of this.
But now, these women are all dead.

He searched for nearly a month but didn't find even a single living person.

He searched for them in the front, middle and rear armies, and even among the prisoners captured on the grasslands.

But there was none.

Jiang Li doesn't believe in coincidences.

He took a deep breath, put away his thoughts, and continued to look through the list in his hand, comparing it over and over again.

There were more than a hundred names on the list, but now only ten are left.

If we can’t find it, all our efforts these days will be in vain.

It will also confirm his guess that someone is behind this.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Li's face was extremely gloomy. He picked up the page and
There were 127 names recorded, 123 of which had been crossed out.
Because of their noble status, even their corpses were identified and recorded.

Only the last four people are missing, and their whereabouts and life or death are unknown.

"Tengger Toya, Geerle Maraqin, Bayar Nuomin, Hulun Yarong"

Jiang Li kept repeating these names, his eyes becoming more sinister and deeper.

Surrounded by this huge army, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Where had these people gone?

No one can see the person alive, and no one can see the body after death. Although there is a possibility that the face is completely unrecognizable,
But Jiang Li was a member of the Imperial Guard, and his established way of thinking and inertia of thinking,
It made him feel that there was some conspiracy involved.

Maybe it's been hidden by someone with big plans.

Or maybe he is hiding in the ranks of some grassland noble, with evil intentions yet to give up.

Once this idea came into his mind, it lingered in his mind for a long time.

In the battle at the Kharajhang camp, the power displayed by the grassland captives was beyond everyone's imagination.

Therefore, the death of the princess did not cause any waves.

Even her suicide made many military officers feel relieved.

Such a powerful force is a taboo, whether it is controlled by the court or by an individual.
So the best outcome for her is death.

Death would maintain the status quo and prevent things from becoming unbalanced, and this was the smallest price to pay.

But now, the princess is dead,

But the person who could control the grassland captives might still be alive, which made Jiang Li very uneasy.

His eyes narrowed, filled with ice.
"Where is everyone?"

Jiang Li stood up suddenly, quickly left the camp and walked towards the southeast corner of the central military camp, where the royal relatives of the Northern Yuan Dynasty were housed.

The Northern Yuan nobles were of high status, so they could not place the grassland captives as arbitrarily.
Their camp was well-organized, and besides being guarded by three thousand elite soldiers,
Even their movements were not restricted, and their food, drink, and entertainment were all guaranteed.

Jiang Lin went through layers of searches and came to a tent in the center.
This is the residence of the most distinguished grassland people in the army today.

The second prince of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Di Baonu.

When he entered, the smell of alcohol made Jiang Lin frown.

The scene inside the house came into view.
The slave was wearing a luxurious robe, slumped in front of the bed. They had just set up camp, and there were already two wine jars piled up beside him.
The land security guard vaguely saw the person coming, grinned, and asked vaguely:
"Why are you here again? What are you doing here? I don't know anything."

(End of this chapter)