Tiger Guards

Chapter 158: Desire to be King

The night is calm.

As the sky gradually brightened, Jia Xu walked out of the house and had a rare good night's sleep.

It was obvious that Zhao Ji had hurt the Huns so much that they did not dare to harass him easily.

Xu Huang also finished his midnight duty and returned to the barracks with heavy steps. With the help of two personal soldiers, he took off his armor and lay down on the couch.

He only felt his boots being dragged and pulled off by his personal guards, and he felt comfortable all of a sudden. Waves of fatigue came over him, and Xu Huang fell into a sleep.

The air was thick with smoke from cooking. The officers and soldiers on duty at midnight had breakfast and then returned to the camp to sleep.

This is a permanent military camp with wooden beds, so there is no need to sleep on haystacks.

Zhao Ji came to the central army watchtower and leaned against the railing to watch the sunrise.

He took in all the changes in the camp and felt a sense of accomplishment.

Turning his head to look at the city of Jiangyi in the east, Zhao Ji's eyes and emotions remained calm.

Not to mention myself, even my original self was not interested in talking about supporting the imperial court.

He was so poor that he could only make a living by hunting in the mountains, and his loyalty to the court, the county government and the prefecture government was very limited.

To themselves, the imperial court and the emperor were merely stepping stones to be used; perhaps in their eyes, people like themselves were consumables.

The court needs to cross the bridge, and I also need to cross the bridge.

The friction between them is huge. If they force it, they will need someone of higher status than Zhong Yao and Dong Zhao.

If we continue to kill, we will inevitably lose control.

There is really no need to help Cao Cao kill people and send all the ministers over intact. It will only cause headaches for everyone.

As long as the emperor doesn't resort to tactics like secret decrees, everything can be discussed. At most, he will eliminate powerful officials like Zhong Yao and Dong Zhao, but will not target the current officials. This is the last bit of dignity left to the court.

If they really have to kill him, they have to use the Supreme Court and Han laws to execute him. Otherwise, what's the difference between him and Li Jue and Guo Si?

As he thought about it, Zhao Ji couldn't help but feel some sympathy and pity for Liu Xie; but when comparing it with his original childhood and youth memories, this sympathy immediately evaporated, vanishing without a trace.

The west gate of Jiangyi was opened. After breakfast, Hou Xuan and Li Kan led their troops out of the city in an orderly manner.

Go around the military camp outside the city and enter the Xintian area.

Xintian is surrounded by the Fen River and the Hui River, making irrigation convenient; the abandoned area is also very flat.

Zhao Ji didn't want to argue with the court envoy, so when he saw Jia Xu coming to find him after washing up, he immediately slid down the ladder.

After a brief handover, Zhao Ji led dozens of cavalry out of the military camp and marched north along the road for more than ten miles.

I saw that the Huns had cleaned up the battlefield, and I didn't know where they dragged the corpses to.

This gave him a bad feeling, as the Huns did not have the custom of cremation.

Similar to the Han Dynasty, coffins were used for burial, but there was no burial mound and no pine or cypress trees were planted as markers. In addition, the scale of human sacrifice was larger.

Gradually approaching the battlefield, Zhao Ji looked around and didn't see any decent mounds of earth within his field of vision.

Based on the bloodstains on the ground, it was seen that the Huns dragged the bodies either to the north or to the western bank of the Fen River.

It is likely that after some screening, the bodies of the barbarians and slaves were thrown into the Fen River before dark.

The Huns in the north have already gathered and are now behaving themselves, working behind the existing fence.

They were still very arrogant yesterday, forming a battle array in front and building a fence behind.

As Zhao Ji was watching, he saw a Xiongnu knight riding alone, with his arms spread out to show that he was harmless.

Zhao Ji subconsciously pinched the arrow, only to feel some pain in his fingers, and gently pushed the half-pulled arrow back.

Han Shu rode his horse forward and stood in front of Zhao Ji's horse, then leaned over and asked, "Minister?"

"No problem, let's see what he wants to say."

Zhao Ji pulled the reins with his left hand and said, "It's time to negotiate with them. We can't rely on Qu Bei for everything." "Yes!"

Han Shu drove his horse to the side, and Zhao Ji lightly kicked the horse's belly and took more than twenty steps forward.

The man approached and reined in his horse, then bowed, "Is it the General of the Tiger Guards who is here with you?"

"It's me, how do you know it's me?"

"I heard that General Zhao is very brave and extraordinary, so I made this guess."

The man was also in his early twenties, with slightly curly black hair and brown-yellow eyes. He introduced himself: "I am the commander of the Qiangqu tribe, commanding over fifty tribes. When I was young, I was fortunate enough to enter the Imperial College and was given the name Liu Kun by the elders."

Then he bowed again and said, "The Qiangqu King is my uncle. I beg General Zhao to return my uncle's head. I am willing to lead the Qiangqu tribe to retreat three hundred miles. After General Zhao wins this battle, I will return to join him."

"Do you want to be the new King of Qiangqu?"

Zhao Ji asked in return. Liu Kun smiled shyly and replied, "I don't know what the agreement is between the Right Wise King and the general. I am willing to submit to the general and serve as his vanguard."

Zhao Ji raised his hand to interrupt, saying, "I swore an oath to him, before heaven and earth, that the Xiongnu tribes that have migrated into the Great Wall will henceforth be divided equally between the Right Wise King and us, each taking half. We can discuss the matter of submission after this battle is over. I'm curious, what old grudge did the Right Wise King have with the Qiangqu King?"

"To avenge the theft of my mother, my uncle has a son who is the younger brother of the Right Wise King from the same mother."

Liu Kun was a bit embarrassed when he answered, and continued, "Now the leaders of the various tribes in the country have been persuaded by Li Jue's envoys. Some are against the counterattack against the emperor, while others want to seize the opportunity to take all of Hedong. I am under the command of my uncle, so I can only lead my troops to join the battle."

"I have already sent the head of King Qiangqu to the Right Wise King. I will persuade him when I return. If he can resolve his hatred, I will send an envoy to deliver the head by this time tomorrow."

Zhao Ji raised his left arm and pointed at the north bank of the Fen River: "Who's in charge there?"

"It started with He Lai's troops, and recently the Da Lou troops have also joined the battle, with no less than 20,000 men."

Liu Kun answered readily, saying this information wasn't confidential. He went on to say, "The Lou tribe has a close relationship with the Right Wise King. King Lou is vying for power with King Helai, which is why they're staying put. Now that our Qiangqu and Black Wolf tribes have suffered losses, they might cross the river to seize military control."

Liu Kun observed Zhao Ji's expression and said, "If I can retrieve my uncle's head, I can persuade the leaders of the Qiangqu tribe to withdraw at the right time."

Zhao Ji didn't believe his words. When the opportunity for war came, even if Liu Kun wanted to fulfill his promise, he would be coerced by other tribal leaders.

Zhao Ji said nothing more, but raised his right hand and waved at Liu Kun. Liu Kun bowed and said, "I'm leaving."

After seeing Zhao Ji nod, Liu Kun turned his horse around, slowly accelerated, and rode north.

After he walked away, Han Shu approached him and asked, "Can he really become the king of the Qiangqu tribe?"

The Qiangqu tribe is a relatively large tribe among the tribes that migrated inland, and is far stronger than the Heilang tribe.

Zhao Ji raised his eyebrows. "Who cares? Before he becomes the King of Qiangqu, it's not worth it for me to owe him a favor. Favors from humble people are easy to borrow but hard to repay."

Even though Qubei had lost his enthusiasm for King Qiangqu's head, he would not give it up easily.

Liu Kun wanted to use the head of King Qiangqu to do something, and perhaps Qubei also wanted to do the same.

Qubei even wanted to control and assimilate the Qiangqu tribe through his brother from the same mother. After all, the Qiangqu tribe, like Qubei, were members of the Xiongnu royal family.

As for some of Zhao Ji's dark cognitions, he supported his half-brother to be king, and then the new king accidentally fell to death while hunting.

Then he would adopt a child to the other party, wouldn't that mean he would take the throne?
Seeing the Huns hiding behind fences in the distance, cutting wood, transporting wood, or digging trenches, Zhao Ji no longer wanted to harass them.

He looked around and said, "We are all tired. Let's go back to camp and rest. The decisive battle is not far away. Once we defeat them, I will give each of you a riding slave, a servant, and a family property!"

Everyone laughed and some whistled in celebration.

Han Shu looked regretful: "It's a pity that there are so few beautiful women among the Xiongnu women."

Zhao Ji said gravely, "Hundreds of thousands of men and women have been abducted by the Xiongnu. Rescue them and you will all be given beautiful concubines. Then you will manage agriculture and animal husbandry, and bear children for me. The world is in chaos, and it is beyond our generation's ability to pacify it."

The laughter around gradually stopped. Hedong was so small that everyone had distant relatives abducted.

The imperial court is unreliable. If we want to protect our homes and rescue our captured relatives and fellow villagers, we can only rely on ourselves.

Seeing these people's consciences taking over and their expressions becoming solemn, Zhao Ji smiled instead: "Everything will pass. From now on, everyone will have at least three concubines. If you don't have ten children, it would be disloyal to your fallen comrades!"

Thinking of the good days to come, the leaders of the Tiger Guards, their personal soldiers, and their mounted slaves all looked relieved.

The world is already in such chaos, how much worse can it get?
(End of this chapter)