Tiger Guards

Chapter 148: The Clan Thief's Arrow Letter
That night, several groups of elite Xiongnu cavalry advanced, some holding torches and some in the dark.

These people approached the military camp outside Jiangyi and shot arrows in the darkness.

Arrows flew through the air and landed on the edge of the camp.

However, this is a permanent camp, and these arrows are of no use at all.

Zhao Ji inspected the outskirts of the camp.

Seeing the Hun knights holding torches and the Huns dismounting and shooting crude arrows, he immediately killed them with his strong bow.

Jia Xu's daily routine was very unstable, and he followed Zhao Ji everywhere like a night owl.

The Tiger Infantry stationed in the camp were not disturbed. The Huben, Yulin, Hedong Knights, and Xiongnu volunteers in the eastern area of the camp had experienced the battles during the day and were occasionally awakened, but they were emotionally stable.

These Huns who came to harass the camp mainly came from the northeast, and also harassed the north and south ends of the camp.

After repelling a group of Xiongnu knights, Zhao Ji was restocking his chest quiver with arrows when Jia Xu said, "The Xiongnu have been harassing us from time to time since nightfall. This is to rob our morale and tire out our officers and men."

"Then let them come at night, and I will take it back during the day."

Zhao Ji replied with a smile that he really wanted to build a fence, but the trees near Beijiang had long since dried up.

The remaining trees along the Chidao Road, the fruit trees in the villages and ruins, etc., are of no use at all.

If you want to build a fence, you can only cut down trees from the upper reaches of the Huishui River and transport them down by water; or you can cut down trees from Zijin Mountain.

Jia Xu asked in return: "Should we just let the Xiongnu come and go as they please?"

"Give them a little hope. If they all scatter, it will be difficult to deal with them."

Zhao Ji thought for a moment and said, "If we fight in Jiangyi, our food supply is close. If the Xiongnu retreat, the risk of our army pursuing them will be too great. I don't want to take any risks."

Seeing Zhao Ji being so cautious, Jia Xu joked, "The Minister of the Court shouldn't be so reserved in the court."

"Mr. Wenhe, please don't talk nonsense."

Zhao Ji corrected him, "I now command over ten thousand soldiers. Behind me are the lives of tens of thousands of families in Hedong and hundreds of thousands of men and women. Naturally, I must be cautious. In the court, my life and reputation are at stake. If there is danger, I can kill them decisively. A ruined reputation can be restored, but if they die suddenly, the final word will be cast into the grave, bringing disaster to my family and making the world laugh at me."

Jia Xu smiled without saying anything. It was obvious that those people in the court had lost the ability to resist or retaliate.

Those people were eager to regain power. Power was a limited resource. The more they had, the less Zhao Ji would have.

As they have more power, they naturally have the ability to resist and retaliate.

So when there were signs of a power grab, Zhao Ji immediately swung his sword and struck without mercy.

Jia Xu did not discuss this issue in depth with Zhao Ji. The ancestors and grandchildren of the Zhao family were able to stabilize the court. As for the current court, so many people had died anyway, so the death of a few more senior officials and palace officials would not be a big deal.

A stable and orderly court is the most important thing.

Then, Jia Xu began to tell about his experiences in Xihe, Shangjun and Beidi counties, and Zhao Ji was happy to listen.

The two men stood near the southern gate of the camp and discussed the possibility of reviving the border county.

From time to time, they also observed the campfires of the old Huben camp and the emperor's camp in the distance. Although they were located south of the Huishui River, the Huishui River was only navigable and could not stop the Xiongnu knights from swimming across.

Not to mention the Huns who are good at riding horses, even Zhao Ji can ride a horse across the river without wearing heavy armor.

Horses naturally float and paddle in water. After training, they can carry riders and cross water in a relatively stable posture.

It is the dry season now, and as for the situation of the Hui River, the Hun knights can just step on the riverbed and pass through directly.

But be careful of the silted-up mudflats on both sides of the river. There are also reeds growing on both sides, which can hide ambushes.

Zhao Ji just watched quietly, hoping that the Hun knights would make some big move.

At this time, Guanqiu Yi, escorted by several Yulin knights, arrived at the South Gate and, gazing at the Xiongnu torch-bearing procession moving through the night, said, "Minister, the Emperor is in danger. Please send troops to support him."

"No need to worry. We must believe that there are many loyal and brave people around your majesty. Why should we worry about the small Xiongnu?"

Zhao Ji refused, pointing to the faint torches in the northeast. He said, "Now a small group of Xiongnu are invading, and our army is rushing out to rescue them. But if the Xiongnu learn of this, they might return tomorrow night and set up an ambush. What will happen then?"

With the Rui River blocking the way and the old camp of the Huben Army next to them, could a few hundred Xiongnu knights break through the emperor's camp?
Zhao Ji didn't believe it. If the city was unfortunately breached, he could just take it back.

Anyway, the emperor won’t get pregnant, so what does it have to do with me if he does?

Seeing this, Guanqiu Yi no longer asked for anything. After all, he came to make a request, but it was Zhao Ji who refused to send troops to support him.

At this moment, a small group of elite Xiongnu cavalry crossed the Ruishui River one after another, surrounded the old camp of the Huben Guards and the emperor's camp, rained arrows on them, and made strange howling sounds.

In the main tent of the field camp, Liu Xie, already dressed in armor, sat at the head, observing the camp through the open tent door. From time to time, the tents were hit by arrows, and occasionally there were rockets fired, and the armored soldiers with shields on their heads would beat them with branches to put out the fire.

Fu Wan sat beside him, also wearing a suit of armor, with a calm demeanor.

Perhaps if the Huns rushed in, he would be able to scold them loudly.

Guanqiu Xingkuo walked on the inside of the low plank wall, holding a powerful crossbow in his hand.

With more than a dozen palace guards following him, Guanqiu Xing finally participated in actual combat.

Under his command, these people placed their crossbows on the five-foot-high earthen wall and aimed at the Hun knights who were lighting fires outside the camp.

After all the strings are buckled, turn around and squat on the ground, and either use the strength of the waist to string the strings or step on the stick to string the strings.

After firing his arrow, Guanqiu Xing handed the crossbow to his personal guard. While the guard was stringing the bowstring, Guanqiu Xing observed the Xiongnu outside and said, "The enemy is few in number, so there is no need to worry."

A Hedong official spoke up, "Why won't the Hu Ben soldiers in the camp leave and drive them out? Why are they allowing the Xiongnu to disturb the emperor?"

"Most of the soldiers in the camp are recruited infantrymen. We can't rely on them."

Guanqiu Xing explained, "When the situation becomes critical, Xue Yu will lead his troops to support us. We will just escort the emperor to the Tiger Guards camp."

As he spoke, he took the crossbow handed to him by the guard, took aim, raised the angle slightly, and pulled the trigger casually.

There is no shortage of bows, crossbows and arrows in the camp. Even if they are all used up, we can get supplies after dawn.

The supply route is short and safe.

As long as they stayed within the camp, the Huns could only harass us quietly.

If a large force were to attack fiercely, nighttime lighting would be necessary.

This would make too much noise, and the Hu Ben troops would naturally come to rescue.

What's more, the Huns may not know that the emperor's camp is here.

They had just encountered each other, and the other side hadn't even captured any decent prisoners, so how could they obtain military intelligence?
Just as Guanqiu Xing was thinking about it, an archer in the palace guard looked around and saw the patrol officer walking away. He immediately drew the string of his bow and shot an arrow at the suspected Hun army.

How could the blood feud between the Wei and Fan families be settled so easily?
However, the Huns harassed the people until midnight, and then they retreated one after another at the sound of trumpets.

As the sky gradually brightened, inside the Huben camp, Xue Yu looked out over the wall at the wasteland outside the camp.

His fellow Tiger Infantrymen were worried and anxious: "Infantry officer, if our army remains closed, the emperor will surely blame us."

"I have been ordered to defend the camp. The emperor's camp is secure. I have no imperial edict or military orders. How can I rescue him?"

Xue Zhu looked at the officials around him and said, "Don't worry, Minister Zhao will take care of everything."

He also heard what happened in the court of Anyi. What about Huan Dian, the General of the Imperial Guards? Didn't he have both legs broken?
Ding Chong, who was also a minister, actually drew his sword to chop down the Huben. Wouldn't the Huben who killed Ding Chong be fine?

In the eyes of court officials and scholars, Zhao Ji's behavior may have been domineering and his reaction was too extreme.

But Xue Jun was already thirty years old and had fought in many bad battles outside. He knew very well that military orders must be specific.

Even if the emperor was captured, as long as the Tiger Guards' camp was stable... at most he would lose his job and run to a corner to hide from the limelight.

How could someone like him, who was so stubborn in following military orders, be severely punished?
As the sky gradually brightened, Guanqiu Yi led more than a hundred Yulin knights across the wooden bridge over the Ruishui River and saw sparse arrows nailed outside the emperor's camp.

He rode his horse around the camp and observed the hoof prints left by the Huns. Suddenly he saw an arrow letter, followed by a second one.

Several Imperial Guards wanted to go forward and take it, but Guanqiu Yi stopped them, saying, "You are not allowed to look through it. Form teams of three or five and search for the arrow books. Bring them all here!"

"Here!"

The Yulin Knights responded and scattered to conduct a careful inspection.

Guanqiu Yi had a gloomy expression. Perhaps the information about the army and camp, which the Huns needed to spend time and money to find out, was easily leaked by Zong Ze last night.

It is impossible to kill all these clan thieves.

As long as you still want high-quality talents to serve as military officers and backbones, you must use these people.

Obviously, these clan bandits have betrayed the collective interests of the people of Hedong.

In order to take revenge on the imperial court, he began to seek the power of the Huns.

Even at the cost of dying together.

(End of this chapter)