Chapter 267: The future intelligence agency, Liu Qing! [1]

Night fell.

Outside Gao Liu of Dai Commandery.

Behind a hill in the wilderness that blocked the wind, a campfire was lit.

The camp of over a thousand people was bustling with activity.

Duan Yu sat beside a campfire, his gaze looking toward the north.

At this moment, the northern horizon seemed to have a reddish color, clearly visible even from over a hundred li away.

That was the direction of Mount Tanhan, which was still burning with a great fire.

After killing Kuitou at the Shuochou River, Duan Yu began to head south all the way.

On the way, he also routed two groups of Xianbei cavalry that came to pursue them.

After galloping for an afternoon, they were now only a few dozen li away from Gao Liu City.

A young girl wearing a wide robe held a pottery bowl in her hand, and in the pottery bowl was freshly cooked hot porridge, with some meat jerky that had been soaked until soft added inside.

The girl held the bowl, carefully came to Duan Yu, and then knelt gently on the ground, presenting the pottery bowl in her hand to Duan Yu.

"Please... please Master, eat," the girl said softly with her head lowered.

Duan Yu smiled helplessly and took the pottery bowl from the girl's hand.

"Didn't I say, don't call me Master." Duan Yu placed the pottery bowl beside the campfire in front of him.

The girl didn't seem to care about Duan Yu's words, but seeing Duan Yu reach out and take the pottery bowl, a sweet smile appeared on her face.

The girl was one of the hundred or so children brought back from Mount Tanhan.

She was also one of the few who were older.

She was thirteen years old this year.

Duan Yu looked up at the children not far away, all sitting honestly beside the campfire.

Duan Yu had originally thought that these children had been plundered by the Xianbei to Mount Tanhan.

After saving them all, he would send them back to their former homes.

But it wasn't until they rested at night that he learned that these children were not plundered by the Xianbei to Mount Tanhan at all.

Since the rise of Tanshihuai, he had been plundering the border commanderies and counties of Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou.

From grain, livestock, to people.

The Xianbei, like the Xiongnu, were extremely backward.

They were far, far worse than the Central Plains, which were vast and rich in resources and filled with skilled craftsmen.

Their life could be described as barbaric.

Tanshihuai naturally realized this; to grow stronger, he needed craftsmen and needed to learn.

But the Xianbei didn't have them, so they could only plunder them from the Han people.

Thus, Tanshihuai ordered that as long as they were Han craftsmen, they must be plundered and brought back.

And these children were all descendants of the Han people who had been plundered to the grasslands.

In order to keep the Han craftsmen in the Xianbei, Tanshihuai did not kill these Han craftsmen or directly force them into hard labor.

Instead, he provided these craftsmen with housing and found wives for them among the plundered Han women.

To put it bluntly, these children were the next generation of Han people born in the Xianbei.

Upon hearing the life stories of these children, Duan Yu had to admit that every race has some talented leaders.

Like Maodun at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, like Tanshihuai of the Xianbei.

The long-term vision and far-reaching planning of these people made one shudder.

It was a pity that Tanshihuai did not have a qualified successor.

After Tanshihuai died, his son Helian did not inherit Tanshihuai's magnificent ambitions at all.

Therefore, the Xianbei were once again divided.

If Tanshihuai had lived for another ten, or even fifteen years, I fear the lifespan of the Great Han would have been even shorter.

But it must be said that Kuitou's idea was also very novel.

He actually thought of training these children well and then sending them to the Han Dynasty to act as spies.

Of these hundred or so children, half were boys, and the other half were girls.

Kuitou's plan was to train these children until they grew up and then send them back to the border commanderies like Youzhou and Bingzhou.

Let these children find ways to mix into the homes of officials.

And then lurk.

Duan Yu didn't need to guess the source of this idea; he knew it must have been learned from the Han people.

Precisely because of this, Kuitou had a bias when choosing these children.

The girls chosen were all those who were beautiful and delicate, and the boys were the same.

Duan Yu looked up at the girl in front of him.

The girl's name was Qing.

Only one character, Qing.

This was the only character her parents left her.

As for why there was no surname.

Qing herself said that her parents said that they, who could never return home and had already lost their homes, were not worthy of possessing their former surnames.

Hearing this sentence, Duan Yu could imagine how desperate Qing's parents were at the beginning.

As Han people, they were plundered to a strange place, with no possibility of ever returning home.

How many tens of thousands of such Han people died in the Xianbei lands.

"Go and rest, we have to be on our way early tomorrow morning." Duan Yu said to Qing.

The girl Qing stood up and nodded: "As you command, Master."

Duan Yu shook his head helplessly.

Beside the campfire, Tie Shitou and Wang Hunu watched this scene quietly.

It wasn't until Qing left that the two looked at Duan Yu.

"Big Brother Duan, what should we do with these children?" Tie Shitou said with worry: "They have no homes anymore; even if they return to their former hometowns, they won't be able to find their former relatives."

"Furthermore..."

"That group of damn Xianbei dogs tortured them into this state; even if they returned to their hometowns, how would they survive."

Tie Shitou gritted his teeth, the firelight reflecting in his eyes, which were filled with hatred for evil. ===== CHAPTER 269 =====