Chapter 468: The Great Powers Are Me

The Xianbei Two Departments had already communicated; the Great King didn't want a small amount, and it happened to be a famine year. Over these years, friction between the two sides had been constant, and they firmly believed that even if they gave in, it would be like throwing a meat bun at a dog.

They also did not dare to underestimate the strange rise of the Youzhou cavalry; as the deadline approached, they were not so careless as to idle in the royal city doing nothing, and there were also many people on the border watching the movements of Upper Valley Pass.

Autumn on the grassland, the grass tips had already turned yellow, as if the fierce sun had bleached their color.

Snow-white flocks walked among the dry grass; from afar, they looked like pieces of blue sky that had fallen as clouds.

Everything was wonderful; the Great King showed a delighted smile. 'Hand-grabbed meat, roasted lamb legs—all mine! Haha~'

After the role reversal, the Xianbei people obviously couldn't react in time; their tribal settlement was surrounded by a sea of silver-armored soldiers, and they thought it was the neighboring Tufa or Xiongnu.

The light reflected from the silver armor was dazzling; in the blink of an eye, the cavalry had already reached close range.

'Put down your weapons, surrender and you won't be killed!'

'Everyone squat down! Squat where you are!'

'Civilians who surrender will not be killed!'

Archers raised their bows, straight swords pointed at their throats; the unprepared Xianbei quickly realized the situation and gave up resistance.

Could they resist the fully armored cavalry with flesh and blood? Not to mention people, even the warhorses clad in armor could trample them to death just by running.

External possessions are nothing compared to life.

The Great King still didn't forget to blame the innocent, saying, 'It's all the fault of the Western Xianbei king, who embezzled the tribute that should have gone to the Northern Border; your losses are entirely the responsibility of the Western Xianbei royal court~'

Wei Shen laughed loudly, 'Hurry and send someone to inform the royal city; if the tribute isn't paid, next month we'll come to collect interest~'

The Great King quickly looted the first Western Xianbei tribe he encountered and left triumphantly; the Western Xianbei scout ran into them head‑on but couldn't catch up, looking bewildered as a cavalry unit charged into their land, with only one thought in mind: 'It's over!'

They lost the bet.

The Youzhou cavalry really marched north!

But the intelligence they received was that the Great Jin, including the entire Northern Border, was suffering a great drought, with people unable to eat enough—how could they still have the energy to march north? This really doesn't fit the usual conduct of the Central Plains people!

The first stop of the hunt was successfully completed; the Great King led the team westward on horseback, continuing to bump into another unfortunate tribe, overjoyed beyond measure.

Sky-Covering also became excited, discovering it could casually catch sheep on the grassland, and the Great King didn't care about it!

'Gold, furs, lambs—the leaders of the grassland tribes live quite well too~' The Great King was very satisfied with the harvest of the first stop.

'The tides of feng shui turn; who would have thought that being a bandit feels this happy?!' Looking back suddenly, the great powers are none other than myself!

The Great King was overjoyed! Just saying it out loud, moving around and hunting can make you rich! On the vast grassland, the galloping warhorses couldn't stop the two bandits' smug laughter.

White Marsh's steps slowed, wanting to keep distance from those two fellows.

Having had enough of their smugness, Wei Shen asked the Great King why he let the young and strong they had just encountered go; the Xianbei are all soldiers, and if those people mounted horses and picked up knives, they'd become Xianbei cavalry.

The Great King deliberately slowed down to answer him, 'If I met them on the battlefield, I would not let them go. On this trip we only seek wealth, which you can also understand as attacking the weak Hu. They hold whips for driving sheep, not swords. So I also won't aim the Sun-shooting Bow at civilians. I don't want to become the person I once hated most~'

What the Great King didn't say was that he also didn't want to drive the Xianbei and Xiongnu to desperation; if these neighboring countries threw caution to the wind and marched south together, though he wouldn't fear them, it would completely drag down the Northern Border's already tottering economy. Although it's already pretty much collapsed……

But with the south in such chaos, he couldn't really just be happy however he wanted.

The Great King shook his head and then told Wei Shen the origin of the present Northern Border princely mansion: '……Back when I first arrived in Youzhou, Youzhou was a hundred times poorer than now, and most people couldn't eat enough. I encouraged them to reclaim land; that very day I went out of the city to watch them reclaim land, and I encountered a Xianbei southward slave‑capturing squad……They used livestock‑catching ropes to bind the young and strong, dragging them off into slavery, slaughtering the old and weak for fun, and in their eyes, Jin people were not human. At that moment I swore that when I had regained strength and spare capacity, I would certainly march north to exterminate these cruel, bloodthirsty savage barbarians. They and Youzhou share a deep blood‑sea hatred, and now this oath remains unchanged. Cousin, do you believe me? We will surely trample the courts of the Xiongnu and Xianbei one day!'

'I believe~ There's also Goguryeo and Buyeo!'

'Eh! Not even as good as my Liaodong Commandery—I don't want it!'

'You still look down on it?!'

These two people happily became bandits, solely seeking wealth; the Marquis of the Eastern Capital finally received the scout's report, saying that the cavalry that had emerged from Youzhou had already charged into the grassland hunt.

He pondered this hunt and understood.

He also wrote a hand‑letter and sent someone to deliver it to the Xianbei Two Departments; although he had issued an ultimatum, he actually felt this fight couldn't be started.