Chapter 150 Wolf Ambition
Chapter 150 Wolf Ambition
Three days later, Xiao Xia, with 51 men, followed the guide into Jiaohe County. This was the land controlled by the Sui Dynasty, and there were also many Qiang tribes grazing along the Yellow River.
Xiao Xia rewarded dozens of Tuyuhun herdsmen who were driving horses and sent them home. He then spent a large sum of money to hire a hundred herdsmen from the Qiang tribe.
These herdsmen belonged to the Sui Dynasty. After they were given twenty strings of cash each, they were overjoyed and immediately agreed to drive the war horses to Chang'an for them.
Of course, the expenses of hiring herdsmen and the food and fodder along the way were all borne by Xiao Xia.
In addition to rewarding the soldiers with a large amount of wealth, Xiao Xia also kept tens of thousands of taels of silver and a large amount of gold objects for himself, and all expenses along the way were borne by him.
The team arrived at Hejin County, where five thousand Sui troops were stationed. The main general was called Wang Long. Wang Long led his troops out of the city to meet them. He was very surprised that fifty Sui soldiers could come out from Jiuqu and drive nearly two thousand war horses.
Xiao Xia took out the gold medal given by Changsun Sheng, showed it to Wang Long, and said, "I am the deputy envoy sent by the emperor to Tuyuhun. I have made a special trip to investigate the situation of the Dangxiang tribe. These horses are gifts from the Dangxiang people to the emperor. I hope General Wang can provide some fodder when we pass through Jiaohe County."
Wang Long was startled when he saw the emperor's golden medal, and hurriedly said, "There is fodder, please ask the envoy to go into the city to rest!"
Xiao Xia shook his head. "We need to rush to Jincheng County to meet up with General Changsun, the mastermind, and report to him about the situation of the Tanguts. I need to travel overnight and don't need to enter the city."
When Wang Long heard that the envoys were going to investigate the Dangxiang people, he understood why they had to take the long route back to the Sui Dynasty. He quickly sent people to fetch a thousand dan of fodder and three hundred dan of grain, and sent twenty carts to transport the grain and fodder. Xiao Xia declined the carts, and he directly asked the soldiers to load the grain and fodder on the horses. The team did not stop, and immediately said goodbye and left Hejin County, continuing to travel east.
After walking for more than ten miles, Li Wang asked in a puzzled voice: "Sir, why don't you rest in Hejin County for a night before going on?"
Xiao Xia sneered and said, "This Wang Long has a very unfriendly face, with typical white eyes, narrow forehead, and thick face. His eyes are very suspicious and he has been staring at our horses and luggage bags. My gold medal can only temporarily suppress him, and he dare not act recklessly.
But if he finds the mark on the horse's leg, he will definitely be suspicious, especially since we are carrying a lot of wealth. If he finds out, he will most likely kill us to silence us. So we can't stay for long and must leave immediately. I asked him for food and fodder to distract him and not give him time to think too much."
Li Wang gave a thumbs up and praised: "Young Master is wise and knows how to avoid risks. If he discovers our secret, it will be too risky."
Xiao Xia said calmly: "We finally managed to escape from Tuyuhun, but we don't want to end up in the hands of our own people."
Xiao Xia asked Wang Xiaoping again: "I want to cross the Yellow River to the other side, is there a way?"
"Yes! The Dishuiya Ferry is in front of us, and the other side of the Yellow River belongs to Xiping County."
Xiao Xia immediately ordered to speed up and asked the guide Wang Xiaoping to take them by another route.
In fact, Xiao Xia's worries were not unnecessary. When Wang Long returned to the military office, he felt something was wrong. The horses were of varying quality. Some looked like military horses, while others looked like ordinary horses owned by herdsmen. They did not look like horses presented to the emperor at all. Moreover, the grooms who drove the horses were all Qiang people from Jiaohe County. Logically, they should be Dangxiang people.
Wang Long began to become suspicious. He had a strong feeling that the other party must be hiding something from him.
Wang Long was a lustful and greedy man with a cruel character. He had vaguely guessed that those horses were not presented to the emperor. One horse was sold for more than one hundred strings of cash, which was twenty thousand strings of cash. They must have carried a lot of wealth with them. If they were allowed to go away like this, it would be too cheap for them.
Wang Long had murderous intentions in his heart, and he immediately sent his trusted general Zhou Hu to lead 500 cavalrymen to chase Xiao Xia and his group, and to "invite" them back to find out the situation.
Zhou Hu led 500 cavalrymen in a galloping pursuit, chasing for more than 30 miles in one breath, but did not find any trace of the enemy, nor did they find any horse hoof prints on the ground. Could it be that they had escaped with wings?
A lieutenant said: "General, they are going to the other side of the Yellow River, right?"
This sentence reminded Zhou Hu that it was only March, the dry season, and it was entirely possible to cross the river to the other side.
"Go to the Dishui Cliff Ferry!" Zhou Hu turned his horse around and led his men to rush towards the Dishui Cliff Ferry. In fact, they had walked more than ten miles, and took an extra thirty miles of detour back and forth.
The bank of the Yellow River at Dishui Cliff was covered with dense horse hoof prints, indicating that the other party had indeed crossed the river.
Zhou Hu was a little hesitant. The other side of the river was Xiping County, not their defensive territory. If they crossed the river without permission, they would be in big trouble, but they would not be able to explain to the commander-in-chief when they returned.
After hesitating for a long time, Zhou Hu gritted his teeth and said, "Cross the Yellow River!"
There are usually no patrols by Xiping County's garrison troops along the banks of the Yellow River. Xiping County's main forces are all in the Chiling area, so as long as they are within fifty miles, they will basically not be discovered.
Zhou Hu took the lead and led 500 cavalrymen to rush to the other side of the river on the splashing water. When they were still dozens of steps away from the shore, suddenly a wolf-tooth arrow whizzed out from behind a big rock. The arrow was so powerful that Zhou Hu could not dodge it in time. The arrow hit him right in the shoulder, causing him pain in his bone. Zhou Hu screamed and fell off his horse. The cavalrymen were so scared that they reined in their horses and rescued Zhou Hu.
At this time, Xiao Xia rode out from behind a large rock, holding up a golden medal and shouting, "This is the emperor's golden medal. I am an envoy appointed by the emperor. Do you bastards want to rebel?"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment and dared not chase them anymore. Their families were in Guanzhong. If the emperor thought they were rebelling, what would happen to their parents, wives and children?
The leading captain bowed and said, "It was Wang Long who ordered the pursuit. We don't know what happened. The messenger has given the order, so we will go back now!"
Xiao Xia said coldly: "If that's the case, why don't you retreat?"
Seeing that Zhou Hu had been helped onto the horse, the captain waved his hand and said, "Retreat!"
The cavalrymen turned around and retreated to the south bank. They did not dare to stay and went straight back to Hejin County.
When Xiao Xia saw them walking away, he sped up and caught up with the team.
Because Xiao Xia took a long detour and walked for more than ten days, Changsun Sheng and his party returned to Chang'an first.
In the imperial study of Chang'an, Changsun Sheng respectfully handed over the status quo agreement signed with the King of Tuyuhun to the emperor.
Yang Jian nodded with satisfaction, and asked with a smile: "Well done, how is Buqa Khan doing? Is he willing to hand him over to the Sui Dynasty?"
Chang Sun Sheng bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Buqa Khan is dead!"
Yang Jian was suddenly surprised and happy, "Datau is dead?"
Chang Sun Sheng nodded. Yang Jian suppressed his joy and asked in confusion, "Wasn't Buqa Khan their VIP? How did he die?"
The two prime ministers Gao Jiong and Yang Su beside them looked at each other with confusion in their eyes.
Chang Sun Sheng took out the report and gave it to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, the greatest achievement of this mission was not made by me, but by Xiao Xia. He saved me and the delegation, and he also killed Bujia Khan, causing the Tuyuhun king to completely give up and sign the agreement with me. What is particularly admirable is that he led only fifty Sui cavalrymen to charge into the Turkic camp and kill Bujia Khan. Thousands of Turkic soldiers were defeated, and more than a thousand were killed by them, while fifty of them survived and no one was injured."
Gao Jiong could not help but exclaimed: "Your Majesty's grandson can be called the Ban Chao of the Sui Dynasty!
Yang Jian was overjoyed and praised repeatedly: "He really lived up to my expectations and performed so well. Where is he now?"
"Your Majesty, he has captured many war horses and the head of Bujia Khan. They will take another route back to the Sui Dynasty and will arrive in Chang'an a few days later than us."
Yang Jian nodded, "I look forward to their triumphant return!"
(End of this chapter)