Chapter 470

In Long Peace, everyone dreamed of seeing those rebel kings fight each other, preferably both sides suffering losses, so that whichever side grew strong, they wouldn't be able to sleep.

Now don't even mention that vassal state of Ailao; even Hanshou, which seemed the weakest, failed to suppress the rebellion, and changing commanders had little effect, instead draining the national treasury dry.

That day, news spread throughout Long Peace that the Northern Border King's main forces were about to go to war with the Xiongnu and the Xianbei; Baili Jin believed Long Peace certainly wasn't only hosting Northern Border spies, estimating that each faction had plenty of them.

Never mind, let's not mention that such propaganda actually swayed some people.

The Great King was still engaged in profitless trade on the grassland, getting addicted to it; the Xianbei and Xiongnu, who had been watching the Northern Border's movements, finally received news; the Xiongnu Supreme Ruler flew into a rage and summoned the Left Valley King.

"Take half and send it to the border, to get rid of them!"

"Yes."

"Wait…! Do we truly have no strength to fight back? Our grassland men truly can't defeat the weak Jin people?!"

"……No, it's that their armor and weapons are too strong. When I was in You Prefecture, I heard that a set of armor for the You Prefecture Mystic Armor Cavalry costs as much as five hundred taels of silver. Our leather armor and weapons are simply……" Powerless to turn the tide.

He saw the Supreme Ruler's face was so grim, he finally changed the subject: "But this year, not only is our grassland suffering drought, the Great Jin is even worse. The Central Plains now has corpses littering the fields, rebel kings carve out domains; I estimate the Northern Border King has no choice but to strongly garrison troops at the border right now."

The Central Plains people are invariably crafty; this is merely their means of consolidating rule!

In the south of Great Jin, warfare erupts everywhere; once they've fought to a stalemate, that'll be our time to march south for revenge! Our hundred thousand men won't die in vain!

The Left Valley King was still waiting for the fisherman's gain, while many Xianbei tribes had already been cleaned out by the Great King; it wasn't the Xiongnu's turn yet, merely because the road is far. The plundered tribes set out one after another for the Royal City, seeking winter shelter.

By the time the bald-headed Xianbei cavalry finally managed to block the Great King, who had penetrated deep into the grassland, a month had passed.

The Great King was getting a bit addicted, saying, "How else could people always say war profits are easy to make? Looting others' sheep really is faster than raising your own!"

Wei Shen: ……

Is this just learning to be bad in one go?

The troop-leading Hu Ye witnessed the tribes scattered and ruined by the Great King's looting, anger flaring straight to his head.

"Stop! Give me stop! What does the Northern Border mean? Ten days ago we already handed over the silver and lambs in full to the Marquis of the Eastern Capital; what are you doing now?!"

Wei Shen patted his ears, "Why shout so loud? Did you hand over the correct amount? Where's the receipt? How do we know you actually paid?"

Hu Ye took out a slip with a big red seal at the bottom and compared it, "Here's the receipt!"

Oh, they really did hand it over.

The Great King looked at the scattered lambs still not caught on the ground, and said regretfully, "Fine then, since you've handed it over, we'll withdraw our troops! See you~"

Who's going to see you again!

He was quite frank, Hu Ye almost choked to death from him, "Don't rush off, how are we going to calculate our tribe's losses now?!"

Your Majesty said innocently: "What loss are a few sheep? That's the toll for our cavalry to collect tribute! Don't we need to feed all these troops? Go remind your chief: next year, it's best to pay tribute on time; if you're even a day late, this king will come again!"

Hu Ye was instantly startled upon hearing him refer to himself as this king; he narrowed his eyes to scrutinize him, his age also matched, and even the legendary beast that usually accompanies the Northern Border King was present—so, the Northern Border King himself actually came?!

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and he said: "I was truly rude; it turns out the Northern Border King has arrived in person."

Your Majesty smiled narrowly: "No problem. I quite like the grasslands; riding horses here is exhilarating. See you next year?"

By this point, Hu Ye knew the things weren't coming back; he didn't have the leisure to care, his mind had already followed the king away.

Watching the black-and-white cavalry turn away, his close aide asked resentfully: "Are we just going to let them go so easily? The Tuoba tribe has been left with only torn tents after they looted us—that's tens of thousands of mouths to feed! And the Northern Border King himself is here—what a rare opportunity! Looking at their numbers, they're only about ten thousand..."

Hu Ye pondered for a long time, then sneered: "You're right, the opportunity is indeed rare."

They'll definitely take the Mengge valleys on their way back to Youzhou with all that loot; we'll take a small path to set an ambush! Even if we can't kill the Northern Border King, we must make them leave their belongings behind.

"Yes!"