Chapter 879

When Helan Du was helped off his horse, the frostbite on his right leg had already spread from his ankle to below his knee, a large patch of flesh turning black, and it took two people to support him and drag him forward.

Chen Yan did not go to the trade fair.

He had Zhang Wenqian carry Helan Du into a temporarily vacated courtyard south of Xia Prefecture City, with four Left Martial Guard personal soldiers standing at the gate and two Mingjing Si hidden agents squatting outside the courtyard wall.

When Chen Yan arrived, Helan Du was lying on a wooden bed covered with an old felt mat, and a military doctor was soaking his frozen leg in hot water; the water that came out was yellowish-brown, mixed with pus, blood, and shredded skin.

Helan Du was in his early twenties, with high cheekbones and broad brow ridges; the scabs from the frostbite on his face had crusted half his face into a layer of purplish-red hard shell, and his lips were cracked in three or four places, dry and upturned; when he spoke, his voice shattered into dregs.

Chen Yan sat down three paces away from the bed and looked at Helan Du's leg.

"Military doctor, can his leg be saved?"

The military doctor looked up.

"Pillar of State, the soles of his feet are frozen through, and three toes have already necrotized; the flesh below the knee can still be saved, but he will limp when he walks in the future."

Chen Yan nodded, his gaze shifting to Helan Du's face.

"You are called Helan Du."

Helan Du's eyeballs rolled twice in his half-swollen eye sockets, landing on Chen Yan.

"Who are you?"

Chen Yan did not answer his question.

"You are the son of Helan Bu's Wu Da; you ran out from the south side of the camp the night the tribe was wiped out. How many days did you run to reach Xia Prefecture?"

Helan Du's lips cracked open another seam, and blood seeped out, which he licked back with his tongue.

"Seven days."

His voice popped out section by section, his throat full of dry hoarseness.

"Two horses were run to death, and three people who followed me froze to death."

Zhang Wenqian stood by the door frame behind Chen Yan, holding a thin booklet in his hand, his voice lowered to the lowest level.

"Pillar of State, he didn't go to the Royal Court."

Chen Yan did not turn his head, his gaze fixed on Helan Du's face.

"Why didn't you go to the Royal Court?"

Helan Du's swollen eyes closed for a breath, then opened again.

"What for, to go to the Royal Court?"

Chen Yan looked at him.

Helan Du grabbed a handful of the felt mat, his fingernails full of frozen blood grime.

"When my father was alive, he paid the most taxes to the Royal Court every year and provided the best horses; during the Battle of Gold Mountain that year, he even provided three hundred able-bodied men. What did the Khan give?"

His voice flipped up by half a tone, but was stuck halfway by his dry throat, and he coughed twice.

"My father was killed, my tribe was wiped out. I ran to the Royal Court to beg for help? Beg for whose help? Would Yun Geti send troops to avenge a dead vassal chief?"

He coughed again, the phlegm containing blood streaks.

"Even if he sent troops, what then? Would the Helan Clan's pastures be returned to me? Or would they be confiscated by the Royal Court and distributed to other trusted aides?"

Chen Yan shifted his position on the chair.

"So you ran to Great Zhou."

Helan Du stared at him.

"I came to Great Zhou because I had nowhere else to go."

His fingers loosened and tightened on the felt mat.

"To the south is Great Zhou, to the north is the Royal Court, to the west is the territory of the Turkic remnant troops, and to the east is the direction where that mad dog Qifugu just swallowed my family's territory."

His voice shattered on the last few words.

"I could only run south."

Chen Yan tapped his fingers on his knees three times and looked back at Zhang Wenqian.

Zhang Wenqian understood, retreated from the door, and closed the courtyard gate.

Only Chen Yan and Helan Du remained in the room, plus the military doctor squatting in the corner soaking Helan Du's leg.

Chen Yan's voice lowered by two notches.

"Do you know who wiped out your tribe?"

Helan Du's swollen eyes flashed.

"The snowstorm was too heavy that night, I couldn't see anything clearly; the people who rushed in were wrapped in white things, and their faces were wrapped in cloth too. When I crawled out from the hidden compartment behind the tent, they were killing people in the tent and burning the granary outside."

His fingers drew a mark on the felt mat.

"I didn't see anything."

Chen Yan did not pursue the question.

He stood up from the chair, walked to the bedside, and looked down at the basin of yellowish-brown bloody water the military doctor was holding.

"Military doctor, save his leg."

Chen Yan's gaze fell on the basin of yellowish-brown bloody water, pausing for a beat.

"Amputate the dead toes, don't let the infection spread upward."

The military doctor looked up at him and acknowledged.

"Pillar of State, rest assured, I can handle the amputation of the toes, but it must be done as soon as possible; if it drags on for another day, the entire leg below the knee might not be saved."

"Then amputate today."

Chen Yan did not say more, turned around, and walked back to the chair to sit down.

Helan Du stared at him from the bed, two clusters of indescribable light spinning in his half-swollen eyes.

Chen Yan's fingers rested on his knees, his voice neither high nor low.

"Helan Du, this official will ask you one thing; think carefully before you answer."

Helan Du did not respond, the cracks on his lips seeping blood again when he pursed them.

"How many people do you have left?"

Helan Du's lips trembled, and his Adam's apple rolled.

"There were originally over a dozen who ran out with me."

His voice shattered into dregs, popping out word by word.

"Three froze to death on the road; counting myself, there are eleven alive when we reached Xia Prefecture."

Chen Yan's fingers spun a circle on his knees.

"Eleven people, not even enough to support one tent."

Helan Du's fingers gripped and loosened on the felt mat, saying nothing.

Chen Yan looked at him for two breaths.

"You have no livestock, no pastures, no tents in Xia Prefecture. Eleven people, two months left in winter—how do you plan to survive?"

A dry sound came from Helan Du's throat, as if he wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.

"You ask these things, are you trying to take us in?"

"I can take you in."

Chen Yan's voice contained nothing extra.

"Give you a place to live, give your people food to eat, and heal your leg."

Helan Du shifted half his body on the bed board, the wooden board under the felt mat making a dull sound.

"What do you want?"

Chen Yan stood up, pulled a small piece of cowhide from his bosom, and waved it in front of Helan Du.

"Your memory."

Helan Du was stunned.

Chen Yan stuffed the cowhide back into his bosom, his hands behind his back.

"Twenty years of growing up in the Helan Clan, the interpersonal relationships of the tribe, the distribution of power among surrounding tribes, the rules and routes of the Royal Court's tax collection, and the dirty business between the Royal Court and various vassal tribes."

He paused for a beat.

"How much you have in your brain, I want that much."

Helan Du's fingers stopped on the felt mat, and a small piece of frozen blood grime was scraped off by his fingernail.

"What do you want these things for?"

"What I use these things for, you don't need to know."

Helan Du stared at him.

"Once the granary is burned, the hearts of the herdsmen will be in chaos; no one will fight to the death for a tribe that has lost its leader and its food."

Chen Yan did not respond, walked to the door, and rested his hand on the door frame.

Helan Du spoke again from behind, his voice carrying a layer of rough probing.

"If I tell you everything I know, and you use it to deal with the Royal Court, when the Royal Court investigates, the first person they'll kill is me."

Chen Yan looked back.

"You are already a person without a tribe; whether the Royal Court wants to kill you has nothing to do with whether you tell these things."

Helan Du's mouth ground against the dry blood scab at the corner of his mouth with his own teeth.

"Then why should I trust you? You take us in, give us food, and after I pour everything out, you kick us out again—I wouldn't even have a place to cry injustice."

Chen Yan tapped his hand on the door frame.

"You have no choice."

His voice was not heavy, but every word landed solidly.

"You only need to know one thing: those who help me have food to eat and a house to live in; those who don't help me, I don't make things difficult for, but there are still two months of winter outside Xia Prefecture City."

He paused.

"That small one among your eleven people who is the thinnest won't last three days."

Helan Du's eyeballs rolled in his swollen eye sockets, stopping at the end.

The military doctor changed a basin of hot water in the corner, the copper basin hitting the ground with a dull sound.

Helan Du's mouth ground against the dry blood scab at the corner of his mouth, and a bead of blood rolled down, dripping onto the felt mat, staining a small dark mark.

"I'll tell you."

Chen Yan pulled his hand back from the door frame.

"But I have one condition."

Helan Du sat up straight with his arms on the bed board, half his face, crusted with frostbite, pulled into a purplish-red hard skin in the dim light.

"My eleven people are not things, they are people. If you take us in, you must treat us like people, not lock us in the courtyard as your interrogation prisoners."

Chen Yan looked at him for two breaths.

"I won't touch your people, but your people cannot leave Xia Prefecture City."

Helan Du's lips cracked another seam.

"Fine."

Chen Yan turned around.

"Starting tomorrow, Deputy Minister Zhang will come to talk to you; tell everything you know clearly, one by one. For every piece you tell, your people get one day's rations. Once you've told everything, I'll arrange a place for you to stay in Xia Prefecture."

"How long to tell?"

"Until everything in your brain is poured out."

Chen Yan pushed open the courtyard gate and walked out.

Zhang Wenqian was waiting outside the gate and followed Chen Yan's pace.

"Pillar of State, is Helan Du willing to open his mouth?"

"He is."

Chen Yan walked on the street, icicles hanging under the eaves on both sides, the sound of dripping water ticking in the cold winter air.

"But you must verify every piece he says, don't let him fool you with fake news."

Zhang Wenqian acknowledged.

"This subordinate understands; he is a Rouran person after all, what comes out of his mouth must be sifted."

"Not just sifted."

Chen Yan's pace did not stop.

"Every piece he tells, take it to compare with the news from the trade fair caravans, compare it with the letters intercepted at the checkpoint; keep what matches, mark what doesn't, and ask him again later."

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

"Pillar of State, rest assured, this subordinate will keep an eye on it."

At the bend of the street corner, Chen Yan stopped his pace.

"The matter of Helan Du not going to the Royal Court will eventually be known by Yun Geti."

Zhang Wenqian's pace also stopped.

"The Pillar of State means?"

Chen Yan's gaze followed the street toward the north city wall, the flags on the wall being pulled back and forth by the wind.

"The news of the Helan Clan being wiped out will reach the Royal Court, but the person who spreads the news won't be Helan Du, but those ordinary herdsmen who fled the battlefield."

Zhang Wenqian thought for a moment.

"What did those herdsmen see?"

"They didn't see anything clearly."

Chen Yan's fingers spun in his sleeve.

"The snowstorm was so heavy, the people who rushed in were wrapped in white cloth, and their faces were wrapped in cloth too; who could see clearly who it was? But the things scattered on the battlefield will speak."

Zhang Wenqian's brow furrowed.

"Turkic short curved sabers and arrowheads."

"Correct."

Chen Yan resumed walking forward.

"Those herdsmen will spread the news about these things, and the news that reaches the Royal Court will be that the Helan Clan was wiped out by Turkic remnant troops."

Zhang Wenqian followed, his voice lowered even further.

"Then what about Helan Du? If Yun Geti investigates his whereabouts..."

"The matter of Helan Du running alive to Great Zhou cannot be known by anyone."

Chen Yan's voice shattered halfway in the drafty wind of the street.

"From today on, Helan Du is a dead man."

Zhang Wenqian's pace paused for a beat behind him, then followed again.

"This subordinate understands; should the hidden agents in the Helan Clan be adjusted?"

"No need to adjust; the Helan Clan is already gone, withdrawing the hidden agents would only alert the enemy."

Chen Yan's boots stepped over a puddle of melted ice water.

"Let them stay in place and keep an eye on the movements on Qifugu's side."

At the bend of the street corner, a Mingjing Si hidden agent flashed out from the shadows of the wall, holding a carrier pigeon.

"Pillar of State, news intercepted from the north checkpoint: there is a large movement of horse herds in the direction of the Rouran Royal Court, heading southeast; the route looks like it's toward the old territory of the Helan Clan."

Chen Yan took the paper strip from the pigeon's leg and unfolded it to look.

He handed the paper strip to Zhang Wenqian.

Zhang Wenqian looked for two breaths, his voice tightening.

"Pillar of State, the Rouran Royal Court sent people to investigate the Helan Clan."

"They came three days faster than I thought."

Chen Yan returned the carrier pigeon to the hidden agent.

"Let them investigate."

He tucked his hands into his sleeves and continued walking toward the Governor's Office.

"After investigating, Yun Geti will find three things."

Zhang Wenqian followed behind.

"Which three things?"

"Turkic sabers, Turkic arrowheads, and an empty camp that has been burned to the ground."

His boots stepped over another puddle of ice water on the street, splashing water stains on the hem of his robe.

"Then he should have a headache."

Zhang Wenqian was silent for a few steps.

"If Yun Geti believes the story about the Turkic remnant troops, what will he do?"

"Whether he believes it or not is not important; what's important is that he has to investigate."

Chen Yan's voice formed a line.

"Investigate the origin of the Turkic remnant troops, investigate whether anyone under his command is colluding with the Turks, investigate whether Qifugu knew the news in advance when he swallowed the Helan Clan's territory. Every time he investigates something, his relationship with the vassal tribes beneath him loosens by a point."

The courtyard gate of the Governor's Office was open twenty paces ahead, with two personal soldiers holding halberds standing at the gate.

Chen Yan stopped for a step when he reached the gate and looked back at Zhang Wenqian.

"Tonight, I will interrogate that spy who bit the hollow copper tooth."

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

"He is already locked in the cellar of the Governor's Office; the copper tooth hasn't been taken out yet, this subordinate was afraid that if it were taken out too early, the things inside would be destroyed."

"Keep it, wait for me to see it personally."

When Chen Yan stepped over the threshold, the north wind poured in from the direction of the city wall, rolling up a few withered leaves under the old locust tree in the courtyard.

The withered leaves spun twice in the courtyard and shattered.