Chapter 148 Return to Sui Dynasty
Chapter 148 Return to Sui Dynasty
The large tent where hay was stored was set on fire, flames shot up into the sky, the fence was pushed open, and thousands of war horses rushed out in panic and galloped south.
Xiao Xia rode on a warhorse and rushed out following the torrent of warhorses. Li Wang saw Xiao Xia and shouted, "Master Xiao, we are here!"
Xiao Xia galloped over, jumped onto his warhorse in the air, picked up his long spear, and shouted, "Brothers, the Turks have no warhorses left. Follow me to kill the enemy!"
Li Wang and forty-five soldiers shouted in unison. They were aroused with unprecedented bravery and the will to fight burned in their hearts. They rode their horses and followed Xiao Xia to charge towards the enemy's gate in the south.
At this time, the camp was already a sea of fire. The Turks fled in terror, watching in despair as the camp was engulfed by the flames.
Suddenly, the Turkic soldiers were in chaos. A cavalry unit came to kill them, led by a young general, who looked like a killer god, extremely ferocious. A long spear flew up and down, killing anyone who was touched by it. Behind them followed a Sui cavalry unit, who were also equally ferocious and killed the Turkic soldiers, leaving corpses all over the ground.
The Turkic Khan was dead, the camp was burned, the war horses were lost, and most of the men were unarmed. The soldiers had long been demoralized, and many of them did not even know how to fight without their horses. Seeing that the enemy was coming fiercely, they had no intention of fighting and ran for their lives.
Xiao Xia led more than 40 soldiers to chase after them, killing more than a thousand people before giving up the pursuit.
Xiao Xia found Buqa Khan's body and cut off his head. According to Li Wang's suggestion, Xiao Xia preserved the head in a bag of mare's milk.
The soldiers also found a large amount of gold, silver and gems on the bodies of the dead Turkic soldiers and in the burned camp. Xiao Xia immediately distributed the silver to everyone as a reward, and the more than 40 soldiers cheered.
Xiao Xia left behind more than 10,000 taels of silver and a large number of Buqa Khan's gold and gems.
Three days later, Changsun Sheng and his party were escorted to Fuqi City by the army sent by the Tuyuhun King. The Tuyuhun King was very enthusiastic and personally brought his queen, Princess Guanghua, to the outside of the city to welcome Changsun Sheng's return.
Changsun Sheng was detained by the Tuyuhun tribe who opposed the Sui Dynasty, but they only opposed negotiations with the Sui Dynasty and did not dare to kill the envoy. After all, the powerful Sui Dynasty was behind the envoy.
They wanted to detain him for a year or so, and the Tuyuhun king was unaware of this, so the negotiations ended in failure.
But the King of Tuyuhun came forward to demand the release of the envoys, which thwarted the intentions of these tribes. They dared not disobey and had to release the envoys. However, they still suffered a loss as the five hundred soldiers escorting Xiao Xia and his party were killed.
But these tribes didn't dare to say anything and could only swallow their anger.
The killing of the Turkic Buga Khan completely shattered the idea of Tuyuhun King Murong Fuyun to collude with the Turks to deal with the Sui Dynasty. Murong Fuyun had to face reality and continue to maintain a balance with the Sui Dynasty.
Changsun Sheng and his party were welcomed into the city by the Tuyuhun people and were arranged to stay in a VIP guesthouse.
Deputy Envoy Yu Renxiao asked in confusion: "The Tuyuhun people are so enthusiastic, could they be hiding some conspiracy?"
Chang Sun Sheng smiled slightly and said, "We were secretly detained, how could the Tuyuhun King know about it? Didn't you think that it was because Xiao Xia and the others informed Princess Guanghua?"
"I thought they couldn't escape. After all, Young Master Xiao is just a teenager."
"Then you are totally wrong. Why would I dare to give him the gold medal given to me by the emperor? Because he is not an ordinary person. He is the one the emperor asked me to bring to Tuyuhun. Otherwise, why would I bring such a strange person to Tuyuhun as an envoy?"
Yu Renxiao and Song Laosheng were both surprised. "It turns out that Xiao Xia was appointed by the emperor. Who is he?"
Chang Sun Sheng shook his head. "Don't worry about who he is. If I'm not mistaken, the Tuyuhun king gave us such a grand welcome because of him!"
At this time, a soldier came to report, "General Changsun, there is a merchant named Liang Zan outside who said he has important information to tell us!"
"Please let him in!" Soon, the old merchant Liang Zan was brought into the hall. He bowed and said, "Traveling merchant Liang Zan greets General Changsun!"
"Are you from the Sui Dynasty?" Chang Sun Sheng asked.
"I am from Chang'an, and have been traveling between the Sui Dynasty and Tuyuhun for many years. It was I who brought Master Xiao into the city and took him to see Princess Guanghua!"
Chang Sun Sheng suddenly realized and asked quickly, "Where are Xiao Xia and the others now?"
Liang Zan bowed and said, "It was Young Master Xiao who asked me to deliver a letter to the general. He took out a letter from his bosom and presented it to Changsun Sheng."
Chang Sun Sheng opened the letter and read it carefully. He was immediately overjoyed. It turned out that the Turkic Buga Khan had been killed by Xiao Xia and his men. No wonder the Tuyuhun King was so kind. They had no choice.
Xiao Xia led more than 40 soldiers and drove more than 1,400 captured war horses back to the Sui Dynasty via a detour.
Chang Sun Sheng handed the letter to others to review, and then asked Liang Zan, "How are they going to get back?"
Liang Zan smiled and said, "Chiling is heavily guarded, so it's not easy to go back, but we can go back from Jiuqu Jiaohe County and follow the Yellow River. There aren't many troops stationed there, so as long as we are careful, we will basically not encounter the Tuyuhun army. I'll ask a guy to guide them, so it shouldn't be a problem."
Everyone was delighted after reading the letter. Yu Renxiao said, "In this way, our mission will be easily accomplished!"
Changsun Sheng rewarded Liang Zan handsomely, and Liang Zan thanked him again and again before leaving. Changsun Sheng then said to Yu Renxiao, "We will visit Her Royal Highness the Princess tomorrow, and then we will start negotiations with the Tuyuhun King the day after tomorrow. As long as both sides reach a consensus to maintain the status quo, our mission will be accomplished."
Song Laosheng sighed: "It is all thanks to Xiao Xia that we were able to do so smoothly this time. He has made a great contribution!"
Chang Sun Sheng nodded, "I also hope that they can return to the Sui Dynasty safely!"
Xiao Xia led more than forty soldiers and drove more than a thousand war horses eastward. Their guide was called Wang Xiaoping, a native of Xianyang, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He had followed Liang Zan to and from Tuyuhun and Sui for nearly ten years and was very familiar with the route. He knew exactly where the Tuyuhun military camps were. He led Xiao Xia and his party to avoid the two military camps.
That afternoon, they came to the valley where they had been captured before and found the five soldiers and more than four hundred war horses who had stayed there. Xiao Xia rewarded each of them with three hundred taels of silver. The five men were overjoyed and expressed their gratitude one after another.
Xiao Xia also promised to reward the guide Wang Xiaoping with three hundred taels of silver, which made Wang Xiaoping work harder.
At this time, the guide Wang Xiaoping said to Xiao Xia, "If we go further east, there will be two roads. One leads to Chiling Pass, which is less than a hundred miles from here. But there are tens of thousands of Tuyuhun soldiers over there, and we can't drive so many war horses through. We can only take the other road to Jiuqu, which is a roundabout way. It will take about ten days and finally go along the Yellow River to Jiaohe County."
"Isn't there any Tuyuhun army over there?" Xiao Xia asked.
Wang Xiaoping laughed and said, "The Tuyuhun people have another enemy, the Dangxiang people in the south. Their troops on the Hequ side are all defending against the Dangxiang people. On the other hand, there are not many troops stationed on the Yellow River side. There is only one Mantou City and one Shudun City, each with 500 troops stationed.
It is easy to deal with these two military cities. We can go around them at night. The Tuyuhun people generally have night blindness and usually do not come out at night. We always travel at night to evade taxes and have never been taxed. If we go through Chiling, we will definitely be taxed. This is the experience we have summed up over the years. "
Xiao Xia nodded and smiled: "Then we are going to evade the horse tax this time!"
Everyone laughed, and the team set off immediately, taking another road to the Jiuqu area and following the Yellow River Road over there.
(End of this chapter)