Chapter 467: Little Lamb

The Great King blurted out sending troops to the border, and Dong Fu discovered that no one in the court dared to oppose—not even the constantly frowning, sighing, crying-poor Grand Minister of Finance opposed mobilizing troops. You know, if the army doesn't move, it's fine; once it moves, it's not a small number.

He didn't know that when the Great King spoke of military matters, his word was final—whatever he said went.

"Although we're a bit poor now, if we can't even collect the first year's tribute, what face will I have left? I won't even need to show my face—I'll have to cover it when I go out!"

Xie Yuan finally interjected, "Your Highness, this is just ordering the Upper Valley Pass and Northern Pass……"

The Great King waved his hand handsomely, "No need! I'll go myself, and by the way take everyone to hunt at Branch Yan Mountain, storing some meat for winter."

The officials: ……

As expected.

The Great King's elite cavalry and snow cavalry were to leave a detachment in Youzhou; this time they left the elite cavalry, and he prepared to take the snow cavalry on an external mission.

Most of the troops stationed at the border still had to go out through the passes, and the Great King still issued urgent orders to the two passes.

The Western Regions and Eastern Xianbei envoy groups, who had come to deliver tribute, hadn't even left Youzhou when they heard that the Great King's cavalry had set out to garrison the border; once the tribute deadline passed, they would launch a northern expedition.

The envoy groups hurriedly gathered at the North City Gate to watch the cavalry depart; in the autumn wind, the military banner bearing the characters 'Northern Border' fluttered loudly, and at that moment they felt only relief.

Just say this sum of silver can't be spared—the Northern Border King is no ordinary ruthless person.

First came a pair of endless silver-armored white horses; besides the Northern Border Army's main banner, the unit also flew the new snow cavalry banner made for them by the Great King—a silver field with gold-edged 'Snow' character. Lastly came the famed Black Armor Cavalry.

Seeing five or six thousand cavalry pour out of the North City Gate, no one thought the Great King was joking. Relying on the Northern Border King's feat of taking Shaodang with four hundred cavalry, the onlookers confidently believed these troops might even capture the Two Xianbei Tribes—who knows? Fighting the Xiongnu would take some effort, but that's fine; don't the Upper Valley and Northern Passes still have a border army of a hundred thousand?

This time the Great King brought only Wei Shen; Wei Ke was left behind at the North Great Camp. Before departure, the Great King spent a fortune buying Wei Shen a horse blind box, dreaming of drawing another white dragon, but the horse he drew only matched in color.

It was a white, muscular big chunk; when it moved, its bulging muscles looked like sloping hills. The horse's trait is good intelligence and stamina, but the Great King insisted its eyes were too lively, like a sly, mouse-eyed look. Wei Shen said his criticism carried a sour note, but anyway the horse successfully bewildered Wei Shen to the point he couldn't find north, and this guy insisted on naming a pure-white horse Xiao Jin, to commemorate the warhorse he left behind on the plateau.

Now the two of them rode the white horse, mingling with the snow cavalry, with the elegant White Marsh Sir following behind. As the Great King ran, he suddenly shouted at Wei Shen, "What does this sound sound like to you?"

Once out the North City Gate, the terrain opened up; their troops had already started running. Wei Shen only heard the sound of ten thousand horses galloping and metal clashing. The Great King asked that, and he thought the Great King had made some discovery, so he listened closely for a moment, "With such a huge noise, what can you hear?"

The Great King said solemnly, "It's the sound of silver flying away!"

Wei Shen: ……

White Marsh: ……

As expected of you.

At this time and scene, it's rare for the Great King to still think of money. Is it just his own boundless vigor? This is a role reversal—they're going to besiege the Northern Bearded, alright!

Before, only the Northern Bearded harassed the borders and threatened the Great Jin!

"I brought out six thousand cavalry; if they just stay in Youzhou it's fine, but do you know how much money moving them costs? Yesterday alone, the supplies taken from the grain stores by the logistics camp, converted to silver, amounted to 150,000 taels! If it drags on, we'll need a second batch—this is just the minimum budget for six thousand cavalry for half a month, not counting the cost of even a slight move by the Upper Valley and Northern Passes."

"There's no helping it—this money has to be spent. Otherwise, if the tribute from the Xiongnu and the Two Xianbei Tribes doesn't come, not to mention that even if the Western Regions manage to deliver sixty percent next year, that would be considered honest of them. Speaking frankly, Great King, if on the last day of the deadline they don't pay the silver, will we really launch a northern expedition?"

The Great King shook his head and swayed, "That's not what I wanted to say—everyone from deep in the desert has come, and the Two Xianbei Tribes being this close yet doing nothing is just not giving me face! We can't just stubbornly wait at the border despite our difficulties; my meaning is we should go straight into the grasslands to hunt!"

Wei Shen: ……

Missed the boss.

"This hunt, you don't mean hunting the Xianbei tribes, do you? Although my cousin supports you… but… this isn't what we said when we set out!"

The Great King said solemnly, "What's not the same? Let the East Capital Marquis and General Li garrison the borders; we'll go hunting—I can't stay idle!"

Wei Shen also felt eager, "Is this okay?"

"How could it not be? We've come all this way! This opportunity is also a gift from the Xiongnu and Xianbei to the Great King—who let them give the Great King a chance?! Those who honestly delivered the tribute had no chance to march north!"

The two bandits hit it off immediately; having received the order to garrison the Xianbei border, the East Capital Marquis waited left and right, but still didn't see the Great King's shadow.

When he was thoroughly puzzled and wanted to send scouts back to find out where the Great King had gone, the Great King had already led the cavalry charging into the grasslands!

Is the grassland lamb not tasty?

【Due to health reasons, I've stopped updating; sorry for keeping everyone waiting, I'll try to release two chapters tomorrow.】