Chapter 875: Releasing the tiger back to the mountain, poison enters the bones

When Tu Lan ran back, that gray-white line on the horizon had just pressed onto the horizon.

He rushed into the Royal Tent, the ice dregs on his boots scraping out a string of crisp sounds on the mud ground, his face whiter than the snow outside the tent.

"Leader, something happened."

Chen Yan was squatting in the corner of the tent, grinding the ashes of the Golden Wolf Order into the mud slurry with his feet, and looked up when he heard the words.

"What happened?"

Tu Lan swallowed his saliva, his voice flipping up by half a tone.

"Counting the corpses of the Helan Clan, one person is missing."

Chen Yan's foot hung in mid-air, and the action of grinding the ashes stopped.

"Who?"

Tu Lan's hand gripped a piece of white on the horizontal blade hilt at his waist.

"Helan Du, Wu Da's son, the young master of the Helan Clan."

The air in the tent seemed to be frozen by a layer.

Chen Yan's knees bent down and then propped up, his whole body bouncing up from the squatting posture.

"What did you say?"

Tu Lan's lips moved.

"Searched through all the living and dead, looked at the faces of more than three hundred corpses one by one, no Helan Du, and several captured Helan Clan herdsmen also identified, saying the young master was not in the tent, maybe ran away in the chaos."

Chen Yan's horizontal blade was pulled out from his waist, the blade hilt turning a circle in his palm, his voice shattered into sentences when squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Ran away? Where did he run?"

Tu Lan shook his head.

"Don't know, the wind and snow were too big, all hoof prints were buried, but two fast horses were missing from the Helan Clan's stable area, he probably ran away riding a horse."

Chen Yan kicked over the low platform in front of him, the sundries on the platform smashing on the ground and scattering all over.

"Chase, give me the chase, see the person alive or see the corpse dead."

He turned and rushed out of the tent.

Before his boots stepped out of the tent curtain, a hand stretched out from the side and pressed on his shoulder.

Gao Jiong stood beside the tent curtain, his fur coat covered with crushed snow, expressionless.

"Don't chase."

Chen Yan shook his shoulder, but didn't shake it off.

"Let go, Helan Du ran away, if he goes to the Royal Court to report, the whole scheme of framing the Turks will be in vain."

Gao Jiong's fingers tightened on his shoulder.

"This official said don't chase."

Chen Yan turned his head and glared at him, his voice covering the sound of the wind outside the tent.

"Do you know the consequences? If Helan Du reaches the Royal Court and tells everything about tonight, Nuhe Ti's iron cavalry can flatten the Chen Yan Clan within three days."

Gao Jiong loosened his hand.

He walked back into the tent, squatted on the mud ground, and his boot tip drew a long line on the ground.

"Leader Chen Yan, this official asks you one thing."

Chen Yan stood at the tent entrance, panting heavily.

"Ask what?"

Gao Jiong's index finger pointed a dot at one end of the long line.

"When Helan Du ran out of the camp tonight, what color was the sky?"

Chen Yan was stunned for a moment.

"Black."

Gao Jiong pointed a dot at the other end of the long line.

"How big was the wind and snow?"

Chen Yan's breathing had not yet calmed down.

"Couldn't see one's fingers."

Gao Jiong raised his head and looked at him.

"Black sky, blizzard, visibility less than five steps, when Helan Du ran out of the tent, did he see clearly who rushed into his father's camp?"

Chen Yan's mouth opened slightly.

Gao Jiong connected the two points on the ground with an arc.

"You people wrapped in white felt, wrapped in white cloth, even if Helan Du stared for ten breaths, could he see that it was the Chen Yan Clan people? Did your white felt have tribal totems embroidered on them?"

Chen Yan shook his head.

"No."

Gao Jiong walked toward the tent entrance, his voice lowered to a level only the two of them could hear.

"Helan Du was let go by this official."

Chen Yan's whole body stiffened.

"What did you say?"

Gao Jiong turned around, his two hands tucked into the pockets of his fur coat, the outline of his jaw cutting out a cold and hard ridge line under the reflection of the remaining charcoal fire in the tent.

"This official had people block six people running out on the south side of the camp, intercepted five, and let one go."

His voice was as flat as a frozen river surface.

"The one let go was Helan Du."

Chen Yan's horizontal blade turned a circle in his hand, the blade tip tilting three inches toward Gao Jiong's direction.

"You deliberately let him go?"

Gao Jiong didn't look at that blade.

"Leader, this official asks you, is framing the Turks just enough by throwing a few fake blades on the battlefield?"

Chen Yan's fingers loosened and tightened on the blade hilt.

Gao Jiong's index finger pointed toward the south direction.

"Who will pass this news to the Royal Court? You, Chen Yan, personally run to Nuhe Ti and say, Great Khan, look, the Helan Clan was destroyed by the Turks, how miserable?"

Chen Yan's mouth closed.

Gao Jiong withdrew his finger.

"Need a person from the Helan Clan, a survivor, a survivor who saw the camp being raided, running to the Royal Court and crying, saying the Turks have come, the Turks killed my father, the Turks burned my granary."

His voice sank by two degrees.

"Helan Du is that survivor."

Chen Yan's horizontal blade slowly retracted.

He stared at Gao Jiong, a heavy, rough breathing sound coming from his throat.

"He reaches the Royal Court, Nuhe Ti asks who raided it, what does he say?"

Gao Jiong squatted back on the ground and drew two circles beside the long line on the mud surface.

"Helan Du can only say three things."

His finger tapped on the first circle.

"First, raided in the dark blizzard, unable to see the opponent's numbers and banners."

His finger moved to the second circle.

"Second, the weapons used by the opponent were sharp to the point of cutting a curved blade in one slash. This is not the equipment level of ordinary grassland tribes, but rather more like the refined steel weapons the Turks intercepted from the Western Regions trade route before the Battle of Gold Mountain."

His finger drew a third circle on the mud surface.

"Third, the residual evidence left in the camp all points to the Turks, the short curved blades are the standard of the Turks, the arrowheads are the style of the Turks, and the torn arm guards have the tribal totems of the Turks."

He stood up.

"Helan Du reports these three things to the Royal Court, Nuhe Ti has only one conclusion."

Chen Yan's lips moved.

Gao Jiong said it for him.

"Turkic remnants."

The tent was quiet for five breaths.

Chen Yan's hand loosened from the horizontal blade hilt, the blood scabs on his fingers shattering into several pieces and falling onto the mud ground.

"You planned to let him go from the beginning."

Gao Jiong put his hands behind his back.

"This official does things and never blocks all the exits; I leave an opening to pour news to the enemy, pouring the news that this official wants him to know."

Chen Yan was stunned for a long time, then suddenly bounced up from the low platform, his two legs no longer able to support the strength.

He looked up at the old ox hide on the tent top that had been patched and patched again, his voice rolling out from the depths of his throat, shattered to the point that even he couldn't hear it clearly.

"You kind of person, crawled out of hell, right?"

Gao Jiong didn't take this sentence.

He walked to the tent entrance, lifted the tent curtain, and the sky outside the tent was already bright.

The blizzard weakened a lot, the crushed snow drifting on the tail of the wind, and the Helan Clan's camp revealed the full picture after the war in the morning light.

More than half of the tents were flipped over.

The position of the granary tents was left with only three piles of black ruins emitting green smoke.

Blood marks dragged and flipped sundries were everywhere on the snow ground.

Amu Ri led people to drive the captured horse herds and cattle herds toward the Chen Yan Clan direction on the south of the camp, the hoof sounds stepping out a dense dull sound on the frozen soil.

Tu Lan led another team to count the grain and fur searched out from the Helan Clan's tents, carving a vertical mark on the wooden stake outside every time a tent was counted.

The number was growing.

The number of horses, the number of cattle and sheep, the number of grain, every vertical mark meant that new blood was poured into the blood vessels of the Chen Yan Clan.

Chen Yan walked out of the tent and stood on the open space in front of the tent.

His gaze swept from the horse herd on the south to the herd on the west, and then to the captured materials piled up like a small mountain on the east, his lips moving and moving for several rounds, finally spitting out a sentence.

"How many?"

Amu Ri ran over from the horse herd side, the blood stains on his face shining in the morning light.

"Six thousand seven hundred warhorses, three thousand one hundred pack horses, all good horses, at least two thousand are top-grade stallions, four times more than all the horses of our entire tribe combined before."

Tu Lan also ran over.

"Twelve thousand cattle, more than thirty thousand sheep, still counting, two thousand four hundred piculs of millet searched out from the tents, countless dried fodder, fur felt cotton clothes added together enough for our entire tribe to wear for two winters."

Chen Yan's fingers gripped the horizontal blade hilt, the wound on his knuckles split, blood seeping out from the crack, he was completely unaware.

Amu Ri added another sentence.

"More than four thousand women and craftsmen of the Helan Clan, all gathered, no one resisted, the leader was killed and they were like losing their souls, following as long as they were given a bite to eat."

Chen Yan's Adam's apple rolled twice.

Yesterday, his Chen Yan Clan was still the most miserable tribe in the eastern part of the grassland, counting days while gnawing on frozen horse bones.

When the sun came out this morning, the livestock and population under his hand had more than tripled.

Tu Lan's voice drifted from the side.

"Leader, the Helan Clan's three hundred li of wind-sheltered pasture, we occupied it all."

Chen Yan's boot tip ground twice on the snow.

This pasture was surrounded by hills on three sides, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, with abundant water sources, having grazed the fat cattle and strong horses of the Helan Clan for thirty years, now it was under the feet of his Chen Yan.

Gao Jiong walked out of the tent entrance and stood three steps away behind Chen Yan.

His voice was not high, but it was sent clearly in the morning wind.

"Leader, tasted the sweetness, right?"

Chen Yan turned his head and looked at him.

Gao Jiong's fingers were pinching something in his fur coat pocket, pinching and loosening.

"Horses have it, cattle have it, sheep have it, pasture has it, people have it, the Chen Yan Clan doesn't have to go hungry from now on."

He took a step forward, his voice lowered to a range only the two of them could hear.

"But has the leader thought about it, so many horses and cattle, feeding them alone won't keep them alive, you need grain, you need salt, you need blacksmiths to nail shoes for the horses, you need bow makers to change strings for the bows."

Chen Yan's brows twisted.

Gao Jiong continued to speak.

"The Helan Clan's stored grain is enough to eat for two months, what about after two months? Even the best pasture has to wait until spring to graze. What will these ten thousand cattle and thirty thousand sheep eat before spring? Drink wind?"

Chen Yan's mouth opened.

Gao Jiong's hand was pulled out from his pocket, his fingers comparing a number in the air.

"This official can help the leader solve this problem."

Chen Yan stared at his hand.

"How to solve it?"

Gao Jiong put his hand down.

"The leader has good things in his hand that the Royal Court dreams of."

He tilted his chin toward the direction of the horse herd on the south.

"Six thousand warhorses, this official only wants two thousand."

Chen Yan's brows twisted tighter.

"What do you want two thousand warhorses for?"

Gao Jiong's voice had no room for negotiation.

"This official won't tell you what it's used for, but this official can tell you that after two thousand warhorses are sent out, this official will exchange back five thousand piculs of millet, three thousand jin of refined salt, one thousand cotton clothes, and five hundred new horizontal blades."

Chen Yan's breathing stopped for half a beat.

"Five hundred horizontal blades?"

Gao Jiong nodded.

"Plus the previous three hundred, the leader has eight hundred Central Plains refined steel horizontal blades in his hand, enough to arm eight hundred of the most elite cavalry. In the entire eastern grassland, except for the Royal Court headquarters, no one can beat you."

Chen Yan's lips moved several times, a sentence turning three times between his teeth before it turned out.

"What about the Royal Court? If the Royal Court knows that my Chen Yan Clan is doing business with Central Plains people, that's not just exterminating the tribe."

Gao Jiong's voice was as flat as a mirror.

"The Royal Court won't know."

He walked back from the direction of the convoy, bent down on the road and picked up a Turkic short curved blade that had fallen on the snow ground.

"This official's goods enter the grassland through secret paths, and the goods are shipped out using the skin of Fengzhou black merchants. Your horses go out using the name of the Chen Yan Clan trading with small Western Regions merchant teams, separated by three layers of shells in the middle. Even if Nuhe Ti gouges out his eyeballs, he won't be able to trace it to this official's head."

Chen Yan was silent.

Amu Ri ran back from the horse herd side, his voice shouting from afar.

"Leader, the secret sentinels on the south report, no pursuit troops, the Royal Court direction is as quiet as death, Helan Du is probably still on the road."

Gao Jiong glanced at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan tucked the horizontal blade back into his waist.

"Two thousand warhorses, when will you come to take them?"

Gao Jiong sat back on the stone.

"Verify first, after verification, this official's grain and salt will be handed over simultaneously, and the cotton clothes and horizontal blades will be sent to the south slope of the leader's new pasture through the secret path three days later."

Chen Yan nodded.

"Deal."

Gao Jiong turned and walked toward the direction of the convoy.

Walking seven or eight steps, he stopped and turned to look at Chen Yan.

"Leader, this official will say one more thing."

Chen Yan looked at him.

"The Royal Court's iron cavalry will come to investigate the Helan Clan's matter sooner or later. When that time comes, the leader just needs to keep an innocent expression on his face, saying that you also discovered the Helan Clan was destroyed by the Turks after the White Disaster, and you came to clean up the mess."

His voice dragged out a faint tail in the morning wind.

"Leader, remember, you don't know anything, you are just a kind neighbor."

Chen Yan's mouth twitched, not knowing if it was a bitter smile or blown by the wind.

"A neighbor killed the whole family next door, and then moved into their house, you call this kind?"

Gao Jiong didn't answer, and walked to the side of the convoy with big strides.

Songqi greeted him, his scar crooked.

"Boss, withdraw?"

Gao Jiong jumped onto the shaft of the lead cart, and when his butt sat down, he patted the dark pocket at his waist containing the Mingjing Si secret codebook.

"Don't withdraw yet, find a wind-sheltered place to camp, this official has a letter to write."

Songqi flipped an old ox hide from the second cart and spread it on the cart board, then took out an ink stick and a thin iron pen like a chopstick from the secret compartment and handed it over.

Gao Jiong turned the iron pen in his palm, the pen tip dipped in the black liquid of the ink stick dissolved in snow water.

His fingers fell on the ox hide, the pen strokes extremely dense, every word being a substitution cipher that could only be interpreted within the Mingjing Si, mixed with numerical arrangements that looked like account lists.

Songqi squatted by the cart and watched him write, unable to understand a single word.

"Boss, for whom?"

Gao Jiong didn't raise his head.

"Xiazhou."

He didn't write fast, the pause between each line longer than the writing time.

When the pen reached the last line on the ox hide, Gao Jiong's hand stopped for two breaths.

He drew a task level mark dedicated to the Mingjing Si at the end, the ink mark slowly solidifying in the cold wind.

Then he added ten words below the mark.

Chen Yan has entered the trap, please let the Pillar of State decide. ===== CHAPTER 876 =====

"Xia Prefecture."

He did not write quickly; the pauses between each line were longer than the time spent writing.

When the brush reached the final line on the cowhide, Gao Jiong's hand paused for two breaths.

At the end, he drew a task-level marker exclusive to the Mingjing Si; the ink of the mark slowly solidified in the cold wind.

Then, he added ten characters below the marker.

Qifu has entered the trap; please let the Pillar of State decide.