Tibet.

Chapter 1349: Bravely Saving the Orphans
He went back and called a waiter, and whispered to him, "These young ladies are going to be abducted and sold to Sogdia. You should immediately report to my cousin. You know his family."

The shopkeeper's cousin was a constable in the county government, and whenever the shopkeeper had troubles, he would go to him for help.

The guy nodded and quickly slipped out the back door.

The magistrate of Guangwu County is named Liu Chi. He was a fellow Jinshi as Wei Yingwu. He served as a chief clerk and a county magistrate. Last year, he was promoted to magistrate of Guangwu County.

In the middle of the night, Liu Chi was awakened by a maid who said that Captain Zhang wanted to see him urgently. His wife muttered, "Why are you still awake in the middle of the night?"

Liu Chi had no choice. He was at the frontier and usually didn't have much to do. But if there was an emergency at night, it would usually be a big deal.

He put on his clothes and came to the outer hall. Captain Zhang stepped forward and said, "County Magistrate, my men have found the group of young ladies that the inner guards told us about."

Liu Chi was so frightened that he disappeared from sleepiness. Five days ago, a group of internal guards arrived and brought them a report of a major case, asking them to pay attention to a group of Han girls, about fifty in number, about ten years old, who were going to the Western Regions. This was a Class A serious case for the internal guards and even the emperor was paying close attention to it.

Liu Chi asked anxiously: "How did you find out?"

"My humble subordinate Xu Manzi's cousin runs an inn, the Old Peace Inn outside the city. These young ladies are now staying in his inn. They will stay for three days and leave the day after tomorrow."

Liu Chi didn't dare to sleep, and hurriedly brought Captain Zhang to the posthouse, where three guards stayed. The other guards went to Wucheng Guardhouse in Wushaoling for interrogation.

The three internal guards consisted of a captain and two soldiers. The captain was called Jiang Xin. When Captain Jiang heard that the group of young ladies had been discovered, he was overjoyed and thought he had taken the credit.

He quickly asked: "How many people are there on the other side?"

"There is a Hu man in charge, five coachmen and three horse guards, which makes nine people. The young lady has a total of fifty-five people."

Captain Jiang thought for a moment and said, "I want to see these young ladies with my own eyes. Is there any way?"

Captain Zhang is very experienced. He nodded and said, "There is a way. I will take Captain Jiang there tomorrow morning."

At the same time, Captain Jiang sent one of his men to rush to Wucheng, eighty miles away, to report the news overnight. There were fifty-eight internal guards led by the Tiger Guard General Wang Qian.

The next morning, Jiang Xin, a member of the Internal Security Team, followed Captain Zhang to the back wall of the inn. The two men, dressed in ordinary people's clothes, quickly climbed up a large tree with lush branches and leaves.

Captain Zhang pointed to the two-story inn in the distance and said, "They live on the second floor. They have booked the entire inn. The entire second floor is their residence."

Jiang Xin nodded, took out a monocular telescope, and looked toward the window on the second floor. It was already hot, and all the windows on the second floor were open. He could clearly see a row of five rooms filled with young ladies. There were eleven people in each room, which added up to exactly fifty-five people.

"It's them!"

Jiang Xin and his soldiers stayed to continue monitoring the inn, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

In the evening, fifty-eight inner guard cavalrymen rushed back from Wucheng, and Jiang Xin immediately went to meet them.

The leader of the inner guards was none other than Wang Qian, the Lieutenant General of the Tiger Guards. He led sixty men to rush to Wucheng Guard at Wushaoling day and night, and arrived at the entrance to Hexi five days earlier than the enemy.

The entrance to Hexi is Wushaoling, which lies at the southernmost part of the Hexi Corridor, blocking the entrance to the Hexi Corridor like a giant dragon. There is only one road with a slightly gentle slope, which is also the only passage through Wushaoling to enter the Hexi Corridor.

The Tang army built a military city, Wucheng and Herong City, on the south and north sides of this passage. This was the only way for merchants or troops traveling from south to north.

At that time, Master Xuanzang did not have a pass and tried to sneak through Wucheng several times, but failed and was sent back to Chang'an.

After using various connections, he finally got through to the commander of Wucheng and was able to pass through and continue northward.

Wang Qian led fifty internal security soldiers to stay in Wucheng, waiting for the fish to take the bait. The fish did not come to Wucheng in the end because it was discovered in Guangwu County in advance.

Jiang Xin bowed and said, "General, the inn delivered a lot of large wine barrels last night. I think they want to put the young lady in the barrel and put a real barrel outside. It will be difficult to find them even if they are checked. However, they used to bribe the guards heavily to get through. Now they are probably planning to do the same thing again."

Wang Qian didn’t care much about how the other party was going to get through. He was concerned about the present.

Wang Qian thought for a moment and asked, "When is the best time to start?"

"Reporting to the general, it is best to eat during mealtime. The ladies should eat first and go upstairs after they are done. The nine of them will continue eating. This is the only time they will be separated."

Wang Qian nodded and asked, "When will they eat?" "General, they have already started eating."

Wang Qian immediately made arrangements. Fifty of his men sneaked into the inn from the back door. Two soldiers climbed up to the second floor first, and everyone else hid outside the main hall, waiting for the opportunity to come.

A quarter of an hour later, the young ladies finished their lunch together. Kongsberg clapped his hands, and the young ladies rushed upstairs.

Kongsberg and his seven men sat down and began to eat. The shopkeeper and the waiter served them wine, food and barbecue.

There was also a subordinate watching over the young ladies upstairs to prevent them from climbing out of the window on the second floor and escaping.

"Have a good rest tonight and set out early tomorrow morning. The person who will pick us up has bribed several soldiers in Wucheng and will ensure our safe passage!"

At this moment, a scream of fear suddenly came from upstairs, and a young lady found the body of her strangled subordinate.

Kang Shibo secretly thought that something was wrong and just as he jumped up to run, countless internal security soldiers suddenly rushed in from outside, pinned them down and tied them up.

Kongsberg was the most important one. The soldiers removed both of his arms and his jaw, dislocating them so that he could not commit suicide. Then they tied him up and took him away.

Soon, fifty-five young ladies were brought down by five female soldiers of the Internal Guard and lined up in several rows in the yard. Wang Qian looked at these innocent young ladies who looked like flower buds and felt heartbroken. How many young ladies like them had been sent away and never came back.

He said softly to the group of young ladies, "We are not bad people. We are the inner guards from Chang'an. We are here specifically to rescue you. Your owner is actually a human trafficker. He has sold many batches of young ladies who are with you."

"Master Kang said that he would send us to Anxi to learn the Huxuan dance!" a young lady said tremblingly.

Wang Qian shook his head. "Among the more than 200 music houses in Chang'an, no one has ever gone to Anxi to learn Huxuan dance. He is deceiving you in order to sell you to the distant Sogdiana or even more distant Daqin. If you go there, you will never have the chance to return to the Tang Dynasty in this life."

More than fifty young ladies were so scared that they hugged each other and started crying. Five female guards hurried to comfort them.

At this time, more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages prepared by the county magistrate Liu Chi arrived. Wang Qian rewarded the innkeeper handsomely. He led thirty of his men to escort the prisoners back to the capital first, and the fifty-five young ladies were escorted by the rest of his men and slowly returned to Chang'an.

At night, after Li Ye had finished his dinner, he was sitting in his study carefully reading the Liaodong battle report that had just been delivered today. The Tang army had won three battles in Xi territory and wiped out more than 50,000 Xi troops. In addition to the previous burning of 20,000 Xi troops, more than 70,000 Xi troops had been wiped out. The Xi tribe had no soldiers left to fight. The Xi King Molixie fled westward with hundreds of nobles and tens of thousands of tribesmen, and was captured by Ma Lin's army.

Nan Jiyun led his army to defeat 30,000 Silla troops on the east bank of Liaodong. The Tang army had captured Liaodong City on the Yalu River. Guo Ziyi's army had already been deployed in Bohai Kingdom and was about to launch an encirclement and annihilation campaign against the 50,000 Japanese troops entrenched in Shangjing City.

Li Ye put down the battle report, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and felt the cool night breeze on his face. The war in Liaodong had been going on for more than four months. During the war, the soldiers' salaries were paid double. With an army of 200,000, the monthly salary was over one million. Now the expenditure on military salaries alone was close to five million strings of cash, and a large amount of food, meat, vegetables, and various military equipment and supplies were consumed, with expenses also exceeding one million strings of cash.

It is true that war is a test of national strength. The imperial court has already spent five or six million strings of cash, and with Nanzhao's war expenses, it has reached nearly eight million strings of cash.

The reason why the court did not complain was that they were eagerly waiting for the dividends of war.

The financial pressure was too great, and Li Ye was considering whether Silla and Japan should be put aside for the time being, allowing the court to prepare for another year or two. Silla, in particular, needed to be destroyed, the prefectures and counties redivided, and a large number of officials and troops sent to station there.

At this time, his wife Dugu Xinyue said at the door: "Husband, excuse me for disturbing you!"

Li Ye smiled and nodded, "What's the matter?"

Dugu Xinyue handed a report to her husband, "This was just sent by Li Chenghua."

Li Ye quickly took it and opened it. He immediately laughed, "I found the group of girls I told you about before!"

Dugu Xinyue was overjoyed. She had been worried about the fate of these young ladies these days.

She asked anxiously, "Where did you find it?"

"In Guangwu County, Lanzhou, the traffickers were also caught. All 55 young ladies are safe and sound and are on their way back to the capital."

Dugu Xinyue heaved a long sigh of relief, and then suggested with a smile: "If those young ladies are homeless, just adopt them into the palace!"

Li Ye nodded, "Let's wait and see when we get back! If he is indeed homeless, it would be fine to adopt him in the palace."

(End of this chapter)