The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 808 Rescue Jie Li
A smaller tribe was staying by the water in a place covered with green grass.

The Suni tribe was previously a small tribe in the south of the desert that followed Misu'a, a general under Jie Li. After the Bayegu tribe was attacked by Yinan and Bibi, more than a dozen subordinate small tribes were dispersed. Small tribes like the Suni tribe that were unwilling to surrender to the Tang Dynasty went north through the Tongmo Road to avoid the war.

The Suni were a small tribe with a population of only a few dozen people, two to three hundred cattle, sheep and other livestock, and dozens of horses. Therefore, no one paid attention to such a small force.

During the migration, the leader Sunihe was met by Shiluodie and Li Yan who came from Mobei.

Along the way, they encountered many Turkic and Tang troops traveling on the Tongmo Highway, but the Suni people caught Li Yan's attention and he asked Shi Luodie about them.

After learning about the specific situation of this tribe, he immediately sent Shi Luodie to this tribe as the crown prince.

Although Jie Li failed, his power remained undefeated. Jie Li ruled the grassland for more than ten years and countless people died. Even if he had no virtue, he still had power.

Sunihe's facing of Shiluodie's secret visit was like a local tyrant facing the Crown Prince in distress, both were under the tyranny of the Khan's son.

He did not dare to resist at all and accepted Shi Luo and Li Yan.

Although Sunihe's tribe is small, it has very rich family members, including a large number of old people, women and children. The structure is very reasonable, with only more than ten young and strong people. Such a tribe can easily make people let down their guard.

Shi Luodie and Li Yan both changed into ordinary herdsmen's clothes and easily blended into the crowd.

After asking along the way for many days, the two had already figured out the trajectory and route of the Tang Dynasty's escort to Jie Li.

Near sunset the next day, a convoy slowly approached from a distance amidst the raging sandstorm.

This team of Tang troops had about two hundred men, all wearing armor and holding spears. Months of war and more than twenty days of sleepless pursuit had made these Tang soldiers very tired. They escorted the Turkic Khan all the way and were constantly attacked by stragglers.

The team was led by Zhang Baoxiang, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Datong Road Army and the one who personally captured Jie Li.

Originally, the group escorting Jie Li was accompanied by a thousand soldiers, but small groups of bandits that appeared from time to time made the large group restless day and night and their nerves were highly tense. It seemed that if this continued, they would be either defeated or dragged down.

Zhang Baoxiang was a veteran of the battlefield and had considerable talent. He decisively divided the thousand soldiers into three groups: front, middle and rear echelons.

There were five hundred people leading the way in the front, also escorting a prison cart, but they chose a man who was not much taller than Jie Li, with a curly beard, messy hair, and tattered clothes, which were in a mess to attract other people's attention.

There are three hundred people behind, doing the same thing, to cover the rear and clean up the mess.

He took his most elite 200 men with him, without using a prison cart. He dressed Jie Li in the armor of a Tang soldier, tied his hands behind his back, and mixed him in with the army formation. No one could discover Jie Li's true location.

Sure enough, after this adjustment, the front and back teams encountered accidents from time to time, while the team in the middle was very relaxed and was safe for several days.

When they encountered the first batch of prisoner cars, Li Yan and Shi Luodie were about to take action. Li Yan suddenly found that the general leading the team in front looked very familiar. After a careful inspection, he remembered that this person was Xue Rengui when he went to Dingxiang.

One of the four confidants he asked Wang Xuance to arrange. Two of them stayed in Cheng Yaojin's central military tent according to Li Yan's instructions, and the other two, one followed Li Ji and the other followed Zhang Baoxiang.

After nearly a year, the spy who had gotten close to Zhang Baoxiang, through the use of money and connections, as well as unconditional flattery, had infiltrated Zhang Baoxiang's side and was promoted to the position of captain of Zhang Baoxiang's personal army.

This time, Zhang Baoxiang entrusted him with an important task, commanding the first team of 500 people and acting as bait in the front.

Li Yan found an excuse to bring him out, and then he found out the truth.

He could not help but feel lucky that he had an insider, otherwise he would have alerted the enemy. At the same time, he secretly complained about Zhang Baoxiang's cunningness.

The first prisoner rescue failed before it even started, which made Li Yan and Shi Luodie more cautious and careful, and they safely sent the first group away.

By the time Zhang Baoxiang arrived here, the people leading the way had already informed him that everything was safe.

So when he came here and saw the Suni people camping and grazing by the river, Zhang Baoxiang was not surprised at all.

Sunihe brought his family to the door and greeted them respectfully: "Sunihe of the grassland tribe leads his family to welcome the general. You have worked hard on the journey. I have prepared the freshest mutton and mare's milk. I hope you will come to our tent as a guest."

Zhang Baoxiang dismounted, handed the whip to the deputy general, and happily returned the greeting: "Chief Suni, you are too polite. To be honest, we have encountered many tribes along the way while escorting the bandit chieftain, but none of them had a very good attitude towards our Tang Dynasty."

"I didn't expect the leader to be so enthusiastic. I'm a little flattered, right?"

Sunihe said calmly: "General, you don't know that my tribe is a branch of the Tongluo tribes. Our leader was brutally killed by Jie Li two years ago because he loved peace and opposed Jie Li's invasion of the south. Jie Li is the devil of the grassland."

"It dragged countless tribes into the quagmire of war, and caused countless elders to send their sons, wives their husbands, and children their fathers to the battlefield." "The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty led a righteous army to conquer the unjust, and brought peace to the grassland. We thank the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty from the bottom of our hearts."

The news Zhang Baoxiang received from the troops ahead had confirmed this tribe's favorable attitude toward the Tai Tang army. After reconfirming it, he saw the warm smiles on the other side's faces, as well as the tribesmen, young and old, at home behind him, and he let down his guard.

"Chief Suni, I have too many people. So, we, the leaders, will disturb you. The others will camp nearby. I will buy some beef, mutton and kumis from you. And I will ask you to send a few skilled firemen to help cook the food, okay?"

In this pursuit of Jie Li, most of the generals, in order to gain credit, left their subordinate troops behind and chased after him with their bravest and most elite soldiers.

The attack was successful, but the logistics were not guaranteed. In the absence of people, the soldiers had to eat only bread.

It's so hard to meet someone who can cook, so of course we have a good meal!

"No problem, that's what the general did yesterday, you're welcome, General."

After arranging the large group of people to set up camp, Zhang Baoxiang, with several guards, entered the tribe's tent under Sunihe's warm hospitality.

Li Yan and Shi Luodie mingled among the people of the Suni tribe, herding a flock of sheep and carrying some cooking utensils and ingredients, and entered the temporary stove built by the Tang Dynasty soldiers.

Even so, when they entered, the Tang army conducted a thorough search of the several people.

Since Li Yan had inquired about the situation in advance, after entering the camp, Shi Luodie looked around carefully. When he saw a burly general wearing Tang army armor, he was shocked and quickly nudged Li Yan with his elbow.

He suppressed his excitement and said, "Li Yan, I saw Father Khan, the general wearing Mingguang armor over there, surrounded by more than ten soldiers."

Upon hearing this, Li Yan looked around quietly without making a sound. As expected, he saw a sturdy man in the crowd, about fifty years old, with a broad face, a full beard, a lion nose, a wide mouth, eyes like copper bells, and looked very tough and brave.

At this time, his hands were tied behind his back, his hair was disheveled, and he was sitting on the ground, exuding a distant aura.

Probably because the ordinary Tang army uniforms could not suit this man's body shape, Zhang Baoxiang found Jie Li a set of Ming Guang armor commonly worn by generals.

When worn by this person, it looks more majestic and domineering. Among the Tang army soldiers sitting next to him, he stands out from the crowd.

So even though there were a lot of people there, Li Yan still recognized Jie Li at first sight.

Although Jie Li was in a sorry state and looked haggard at this moment, his eyes were sharp and his expression was ferocious; even at a distance of more than ten feet, one could still feel the heroic aura emanating from him. He was indeed the overlord of the grassland for the past decade!
In this era when the grassland cavalry was rampant throughout the world, the Great Khan on the grassland was actually more powerful than the emperor of the Central Plains, and had a greater influence on the countries in all directions. It can be said that Jie Li was a more authoritative figure than Li Shimin.

The political system and ruling style of the grassland were different from the agricultural culture of the Central Plains, although people like Tuli and Yinan were also called Khans.

Such a Khan is equivalent to a prince of the Central Plains dynasty, and only the Great Khan is similar to the emperor of the Central Plains.

Therefore, general local overlords can be called Khan, and only the ruler of the entire grassland can be called the Great Khan.

Throughout the early Tang Dynasty, during the Wude and Zhenguan years, the only person recognized by the world as the Great Khan was Jie Li. Although Yinan only called himself Khan after he rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, he did not dare to call himself the Great Khan.

His influence has been suppressed by the Tang Dynasty and he has been hiding in the western part of the grassland.

He was only recognized by the grassland tribes as a local Khan, rather than a great Khan like Jie Li who could represent the entire grassland.

Otherwise, Li Shimin and the court officials would not have been so excited after learning that Jie Li had been captured.

Li Yan's mood also fluctuated. This was the most powerful person in this era. Only such a person could shoulder the heavy responsibility of expanding territory for himself and carry the big black pot that he had tailored for him.

Compared to him, Shi Luodie was like a stink bug.

Suppressing the excited Shi Luodie, the two men obediently came to the makeshift stove and started to make fire and cook with the help of several Suni tribe members.

Shi Luo stacked a roasted lamb on the fire, squatted aside, and kept sprinkling spices on the lamb.

He whispered, "Li Yan, tell me, the Suni tribe only has so few people, only a few dozen men, women, old and young, how can we defeat these 200 Tang soldiers and rescue my father?"

"Don't worry, my lord. I've already thought about it."

Li Yan mixed a large bag of salt directly into the spices and whispered, "Put more salt in there. The more they eat, the thirstier they will get. I have some knockout drugs on me. I'll put them in the soup. Once they drink the soup, I guarantee that they won't wake up even if there's thunder tonight."

(End of this chapter)