"What?"
As soon as this statement came out, almost all the Han children subconsciously looked at the Mongolians around them, and the Mongolians looked at each other.
Someone whispered: "That's Genghis Khan's younger brother! Genghis Khan will come back!"
Some people whispered: "Beelgutai can summon at least three thousand people, or five thousand!"
The old Mongolian looked bitter, hesitated for a long time, and finally said in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, we are willing to find the missing members of the caravan! Even if we have to search every pasture, running like hounds chasing hares, we I’m also willing to get him back.”
"oh?"
Guo Ning's hand holding the knife paused, and he shook his head with a smile: "Did I not make it clear? We will find the missing people sooner or later. What I want now is Belgutai's head... Why? , aren’t you willing to get it for me?”
The people around him were silent.
Guo Ning smiled and asked again: "Didn't you say that you are willing to be a wolf in the night and an eagle in the day? As long as I give my order, you will never stay when you move and serve me wholeheartedly?"
"This..." The old Mongolian really didn't know how to answer.
He wanted to explain that it was His Majesty the Emperor who made things difficult, but he did not dare. He wanted to lower his head to avoid Guo Ning's smiling expression, but he didn't dare. The intense struggle made the wrinkles on his face become deeper and deeper, like the deep lines on the rocks deep in the grassland.
While he was hesitating, several younger Mongolians moved quietly, trying to stand closer than others.
One of the young men who specially wore a big Zhou was the one who said he wanted to be a wolf and an eagle. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
However, the customs of the Mongols have always been to respect the elderly nobles very much. Even if the Great Zhou Dynasty spread the status of Qianhu Nayan, making dozens or hundreds of people have the same status, the reputation of the elderly is still far beyond that of others, so he gasped After a few rough breaths, he didn't dare to object face to face.
This performance made several young people behind him very dissatisfied, and someone pushed him. But his face was red and his ears were red, and he remained silent. He only grabbed the brand-new general's robe with all his strength, and the veins on his forehead were pulsing.
Some people stood forward, and more people had similar thoughts to the old man, so they stepped back a little, as if they could avoid the emperor's sight.
Is the emperor going to take action against the Mongols? Is this a little too hasty? The emperor wants to first drive us to fight with the Golden Family's force? Is this too harsh?
People with different thoughts each made different subtle movements. The large circle formed by dozens of people around Guo Ning seemed to sway for a moment, then became slightly larger than before and became a little looser.
This situation fell into Zhao Xuan's eyes, and his face immediately became gloomy.
He was an important general of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Jinshan. He controlled a lot of troops, financial resources and power, so even if he faced members of the Golden Family alone, he would not be at a disadvantage. On a daily basis, he treats these tribesmen like chickens and dogs, who can be driven around at will.
This time he gathered these people, intending to report to Guo Ning, select the loyal and available ones, and personally lead them to Usha Castle. As a result, these people were so shaken by the emperor's personal instructions?
Those standing forward were talking loudly. Why do you need to look forward and backward in front of the emperor? This ghostly look makes me embarrassed! As for those who are retreating, you are so timid, why is the court supporting you?
Guo Ning raised his head and looked at Zhao Xuan: "This is much better than I expected."
Zhao Xuan was ashamed, and immediately knelt down on one knee, bowed his head and said: "Actually, there are still a few who are particularly timid. Please give me a day, Your Majesty... No, no, just give me half a day, and I can rectify them. Tomorrow morning at the latest, I will Pick out the elite and rush to Usha Castle!"
Guo Ning stretched out his hand to support his arm and asked him to stand up: "I have specially arranged for special personnel to find Lu Shu. What we have to do now is to take Belgutai's head to shock all the grassland tribes!"
Zhao Xuan couldn't help but ask: "Could it be... ahem, could it be too hasty?"
"There's no rush, it's time."
Guo Ning lowered his voice slightly: "There was a special person on the grassland who reported that the Mongol Khan had sent envoys back to the grassland and asked all the ministries close to him to prepare for the re-division of the grassland to welcome the return of the Western Expeditionary Army. That's why I agreed with Lu Shu to hurry up. It's time to go north to avoid the war between the two families, and many things will not have the chance to be done. But now..."
Zhao Xuan was surprised: "Beelgutai's actions are so intense, maybe the Mongolian army will return very quickly? Could it be...two months, three months?"
"That's not the case. I heard that the journey from the Onan River to the place where Genghis Khan stayed is separated by thousands of mountains and rivers. Even if you ride quickly, it will take more than two months to arrive. The march of the army will be difficult along the way, not to mention We have to spend the winter again, and I have gathered all the generals to make plans so that they can return next spring."
"Then there's still time to deal with it."
Seeing Zhao Xuan's relieved look, Guo Ning patted him on the shoulder and continued: "If you look at what happened in Belgutai, it is obviously to gain time and time for him and even the members of the Golden Family who stayed behind in the grassland to expand their troops. Financial resources. That’s why he values the market so much, instead of grabbing a handful and making a ready-made sum!"
"And what we have to do is take advantage of Lu Shu's disappearance to completely disrupt the situation at the lowest cost possible!"
Zhao Xuan suddenly realized: "We have to disrupt the rhythm of the Mongols and disrupt the situation on the grassland! It is best if the Mongolian army comes back and faces chaos. It cannot be used as support to continue fighting south! Your Majesty, this is what is called It hurts people without hurting them!"
"Well, so our Dazhou troops are immobilized, so we have to use these people."
Guo Ning looked at the Mongolians next to him.
Seeing Guo Ning and Zhao Xuan whispering, some of them looked curious, while others seized the time regardless and argued with their companions.
These Mongolian people who were active on the edge of the grassland all believed in the Zhou Dynasty, but the differences among them were greater than the differences between the Mongolian Han'er.
Some people are willing to obey the order of the Central Plains and admire the culture of the Central Plains.
Because the Mongolian grasslands have been fragmented since ancient times, the Mongol Uluth established by Genghis Khan has only existed for less than fifteen years. By launching aggressive wars, the Mongols consolidated their awareness of themselves as a unified whole and shaped their pride as conquerors, but this process has been interrupted by Guo Ning.
Therefore, the more many Mongolians admired Genghis Khan, the more they bowed under Guo Ning's might.
Especially the younger Mongolians. They had not experienced the cruel unification war on the grasslands, and lacked direct understanding of the power of Genghis Khan. They once accompanied the Mongolian army in their southern expedition, but if you think about it carefully, during the southern expedition, there were certainly devastation and tragic defeats. Not to mention that the Great Khan also killed most of Qixue's army in Hebei and had to swim to escape?
In this situation, they had no psychological advantage over the Central Plains Han'er. On the contrary, what the Central Plains Zhou Dynasty showed to the Mongols was a comprehensive and overwhelming advantage in military, economy and even culture.
Once the younger Mongolians came into contact with the system from the Central Plains and felt the rise of a Central Plains dynasty, it was easy for them to no longer take their identity as Mongolians seriously, and instead became keen on becoming a member of the Han Dynasty.
Of course, there are also some people who are still cunning and cunning.
What happened to the two missing men did not matter to this group of Mongolian families. But with their familiarity with the grassland, it is not difficult to use some manpower to search; at the same time, they can exaggerate this small move into a life-and-death heroism in the Great Zhou Dynasty, thereby earning more support from the Central Plains court, and then It is an ancient tradition of descending on the grassland.
When Genghis Khan's power was weak, he served the Jin army in front of and behind the horse. In fact, he did not fight a few tough battles. Instead, he took advantage of the main force of the Jin army to fight with the Tatar tribe, and sneak attacked the Tatar tribe's lair, and captured all of them. Food for carriages and horses.
With this merit, Genghis Khan not only became the "Zhawu Tihuli" of the Kingdom of Jin, which is also the Mongolian envoy, and thus obtained the privilege of taking refuge in the Kingdom of Jin during the war.
Later, when he was fighting against the Naiman tribe, he retreated into the Jiehao Great Wall of Dajin. He and Tuoli Khan relied on the Jin defenders in Alansai on the boundary trench to push back the coalition forces of the Naiman tribe and Jamuka, and then won the battle of Kuoyitian.
People on the grasslands are naturally familiar with the rise of Genghis Khan, so at this moment, many people still maintain this attitude even towards the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty.
It's okay to do some chores, and it's okay to do some dirty work. But Your Majesty the Emperor, you want us to take action... Ahem, we are powerless. We know how terrifying the Zhou Dynasty’s force is. But when Dajin is strong, isn’t force also terrible? The Central Plains court has always been the Central Plains court. Can it really be the master of the grassland?
At present, there are only a small number of Mongolians who are attached to the Great Zhou Dynasty. The imperial court must treat us tolerantly in order to attract more people to follow us. It will never force us to do anything. And we are all smart people on the grassland. We all know how to gain benefits by relying on the power of the Central Plains!
Guo Ning looked around them, looking at each of their expressions one by one, as if he saw their thoughts.
Especially those few who clearly remain opposed.
'Their acting skills have been accumulated over time, and they may be outstanding among the Mongolians. But Guo Ning has been on the frontier since he was a child and is very familiar with the behavior of the Mongols. In the past two years, he has dealt with civil servants in the DPRK and China a lot, and his eyesight has improved rapidly, so he clearly sees cunning in their eyes, and a little bit of smugness.
Seeing the emperor looking at them, they actually cheered up, gave up their excuses, and began to complain.
Maybe some of them really didn't want to fight with their fellow tribesmen on the grassland, and some of them were deliberately opposed, hoping to get the emperor to increase the reward.
Several Mongolians were noisy and looked at me and said something, which was quite interesting.
If you spend some time and do some ideological work, or follow the wishes of these Qianhu Nayan and increase the reward, you should be able to convince a few people.
It's a pity that Guo Ning doesn't like to bargain with others. He has always maintained the style of an army commander, emphasizing that military orders are like mountains, and will not tolerate such a gesture of waiting for a price at any time.
But he is the emperor after all, and there is no need to deal with this kind of thing personally.
Guo Ning glanced at Zhao Xuan and said in a deep voice: "Sixteen agree, eleven oppose, and about thirty have no idea."
After all, there are more people who agree than those who oppose it, and all the hard work in the past few years has been wasted.
Zhao Xuan followed Guo Ning's eyes and looked at them, and finally nodded with certainty. After nodding his head, he couldn't help but say: "Those who objected all bore the title of Qianhu Nayan! There were a total of twenty-two Qianhu Nayans present, and half of them opposed it! These people are really unwilling You know life and death!"
Guo Ning couldn't help but laugh, laughing very easily. He gestured to the knights behind him, and Ni Yi immediately pursed his lips and whistled.
When Guo Ning climbed up to the Luotuochang City to look out, his cavalry remained within a stone's throw away. Upon hearing the whistle, flags were waved several times, and then a group of cavalry came out of the crowd and galloped over.
Obviously, the equipment of this cavalry is very outstanding. The horses are all tall horses. The knights all wear iron armor. Each of them is equipped with a lance, bow and arrow, and a straight knife. There are also handy short weapons such as bones and hand axes hung on the side of the saddle. , dagger and so on.
After they ran to the bottom of the slope, they didn't stop at all. Everyone shook their reins casually, and the horses leaped into the air, climbing over the overgrown shrubs on the slope one after another, and came directly to the nearby place as if they were walking on flat ground!
This kind of operation not only requires long-term training of the war horse, but also requires strict riding skills. Such riding skills can only come from the Mongolians deep in the grasslands! Moreover, among the Mongolians, the carefully selected masters are the ones who can truly make people and horses work as one!
When they rushed to the top of the slope, the Mongolian nobles who had been ordered to assemble began to feel that something was wrong.
The old Mongolian narrowed his eyes at the cavalry, and suddenly shouted: "Shi Mo is also in charge of the first prison! Sukhbalu Qianhu! Bilige Qianhu! Why are you here?"
When Shi Moye, a Khitan man, arrived at Jinshan, he was a small leader guarding prisoners. But after all, he was a capable man who had been praised by Mu Huali. After being sent by Zhao Xuan to control the remaining troops of Lakshen Qianhu, his status continued to rise as if he were sitting on a hot air balloon.
Now he was appointed as the Deputy Superintendent of Soldiers and Horses of the Recruitment Department. He was specifically responsible for commanding the Mongolian army, the Yi army, and even the Khitan and Bohai soldiers and horses under the Recruitment Department. His status was equal to that of Jinshan Defense and Zhao Xuan.
While rushing to Xuandezhou, Guo Ning also wrote to Shi Mo to summon six thousand Mongolian soldiers who were serving in the army to go north together with the emperor's retinue.
The group of Mongols under Shi Moye's command included Nayan Sukhbalu and Bilige, the first two thousand households to defect to the Zhou Dynasty.
These two people were loyal to the Great Zhou Dynasty. They had already given up control of the tribe, fully integrated into the Great Zhou Dynasty's military household system, and became the generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Moreover, they also fought against the grassland tribes in Xijing Datong Prefecture and Qinzhou respectively, proving their loyalty. They and their men all had blood on their hands!
They heard the Mongolian old man's surprised question, but ignored it and only saluted Guo Ning uniformly.
Guo Ning put the golden sword back into its sheath, nodded slightly to them, turned around and mounted his horse.
Riding on the horse, he pointed at Zhao Xuan and Shi Moye first: "You two will be responsible for what happens next. The reward I gave remains unchanged, and the goal remains unchanged. I want Belgutai's head!"
"Yes!" Zhao Xuan and Shi Mo also bowed together on their horses.
Guo Ning shook the reins lightly and headed down the slope.
Shi Mo also watched Guo Ning leave first, then glanced at the Mongolian nobles gathered in Gaixin, who were generally confused: "What's wrong with these people?"
Zhao Xuan was very familiar with him and was not polite. He gritted his teeth and said loudly: "Your Majesty asked these Mongolians to gather their subordinates to go to the grassland and attack Belgutai. For this, they promised a heavy reward! But among them, actually Someone dares to disobey orders!"
General Zhao, what does this mean? Are you going to punish us? Did the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty do things so simply that he didn't even give everyone a chance to discuss it?
Hearing what Zhao Xuan said, the crowd surrounded by the cavalry instantly started to stir.
"We are not disobeying orders! General Zhao, we are just in trouble!"
"It's not me! I didn't! It was the old man Hai Rigu who spoke nonsense and angered His Majesty!"
"I am not a Mongolian, General! I am a Han'er, and I have always obeyed the orders of the imperial court!"
Amidst the repeated shouts, the leaders of the Han'er caravan or the leaders of the refugees and horse thieves who were present quickly retreated to keep distance from the Mongols. Then there was a chaos among the Mongolian crowd, and a group of Mongolians who had been surrounding the old man were violently pushed out. Someone was pushed outside in a daze, and suddenly felt something was wrong. He quickly turned around and tried to squeeze back into the crowd, but was punched in the face and knocked to the ground.
Shi Mo also hurried from his home base first, and only this morning joined the emperor's cavalry. Because he traveled all night, he didn't have the chance to ask the emperor about his intentions. He was quite keen on fame and wealth, and when he heard Zhao Xuan say that he was going to the grassland to attack Belgutai, he was overjoyed.
He couldn't wait to set off immediately, so how could he have the thought to slowly pay attention to details with these Mongolians? Then he asked Zhao Xuan: "Then what do you think we should do?"
Zhao Xuan had previously lost the relatives of the Zhou Dynasty. Today he summoned the leaders of local forces and encountered many people who violated the emperor's will. At this moment, he felt disgraced and had no intention of dealing with it slowly. He said angrily: "The emperor just pulled out his sword! What do you think!"
"ha!"
Shi Mo also laughed ferociously: "Eleven people, not that many... Kill them, and you and I must gather our troops and take action!"
As soon as the words "Kill them" were spoken, the two Mongolians on his left and right, Sukhbaru and Bilige, immediately urged their horses forward.
The sounds of the cavalry unsheathing their swords came one after another, and then the screams of the Mongolian nobles also came one after another.
