spend time

A month later.

General Zuo, carrying a letter written by Her Majesty the Empress herself, led 50,000 elite cavalry and marched out of the capital in a mighty force.

These 50,000 cavalrymen came from five armies. The Imperial Guards' Shenwu Battalion and Yongwei Battalion each sent out 10,000 cavalrymen, and the Yingwei Battalion and Nanyang Qinwei Battalion also sent out 10,000 cavalrymen, adding up to exactly 50,000 cavalrymen.

In addition, there were 10,000 auxiliary soldiers who were responsible for transporting food and supplies. These auxiliary soldiers were all from the Yingwei Camp. Although they were called auxiliary soldiers, they were actually brave and good at fighting. The auxiliary soldiers had to transport food and supplies, and their marching speed was several days slower than that of the cavalry. Along the way, bandits and mountain bandits fled at the first sign of trouble, and no one dared to approach the imperial army.

The army marched eighty miles a day, neither hurried nor slow, and set up camp after covering eighty miles.

The Rouran Khan, Fu Mingdun, was held in a prisoner car. After being captured alive, he was kept in custody but not tortured. After all, he was the Great Khan of the Rouran, and he could be killed, but not humiliated at will.

He had originally prepared himself to be cut into pieces, but he never expected that the empress of the Liang Dynasty would let him go back to the grassland, just to exchange for those lowly slaves.

The kindness of women!

Fu Mingdun despised him in his heart. If it were him, he would definitely kill the other party to eliminate the trouble forever and would never let the tiger go back to the mountain. A woman who becomes an emperor is kind and soft-hearted.

One day, he will make Queen Daliang pay the price for her wrong decision today!
Fu Mingdun cursed fiercely in his heart, and the muscles on his face twitched from time to time.

There were more than a hundred elite soldiers guarding the side. So many people surrounded the prisoner car that not even a fly could fly in.

"General Liu!" "Greetings, General Liu!"

When the elite soldiers saw the newcomers, they all saluted solemnly.

This General Liu was none other than Liu Hengchang, who was famous for his two battles.

Liu Hengchang was now a second-rank military commander. Among the tall soldiers, Liu Hengchang was of medium build and not very burly. Wherever he went, he received respectful looks from all the soldiers.

Liu Hengchang smiled and nodded: "I'll bring dinner to Rouran Khan."

During the march, each person could only eat two meals. Rouran Khan Fu Mingdun was no exception. He had already eaten all the food in the morning and was starving.

The dinner Liu Hengchang brought was a bowl of porridge and two steamed buns. For Fu Mingdun, who was used to eating meat, he would not even look at such a simple and crude meal in the past.

Now others are the chopping board and he is the fish. He is lucky to have a hot meal to fill his stomach. There is no room for him to be picky.

Fu Mingdun could not speak Daliang dialect, so he could not understand anything. He did not know who the ordinary-looking man in front of him was. He only knew that this man had been delivering meals to him every day along the way.

Fu Mingdun's wrists were locked with iron chains, and the chains rattled when he moved a little. Liu Hengchang had the key, but he had no intention of unlocking the door for Fu Mingdun Khan, and he sent hot porridge and steamed buns to Fu Mingdun.

Fu Mingdun could only pick up the steamed buns in an awkward position and stuff them into his mouth awkwardly. The two steamed buns were swallowed in an instant, and the porridge was warm and just right for his mouth. Fu Mingdun drank too fast, and some of the porridge spilled onto his clothes.

Liu Hengchang watched Fu Mingdun finish his porridge with cold eyes before taking away the bowls and plates. After returning to the military tent, he smashed the bowls and plates and threw them away.

When breakfast was delivered the next day, Liu Hengchang brought new bowls and plates. The hot porridge and steamed buns were all brought from the kitchen, but before they were sent to Fu Mingdun's mouth, they had to pass through Liu Hengchang's military tent. Liu Hengchang did nothing else, just took out a porcelain bottle and added a little white medicine powder to the porridge. These medicine powders are colorless and tasteless, and they are not harmful to the body if taken occasionally. If taken for more than two months in a row, it will slowly erode the internal organs of the human body. After a year or two, the intestines will be ruptured and the stomach will eventually rot and die.

This is the medicinal powder specially developed by Imperial Doctor Sun for the Rouran Khan.

Before leaving, the Empress summoned Liu Hengchang to the palace and gave him the bottle of powder: "You must handle this matter yourself, and no one else can get involved. You must not let anyone else know about this."

It was not so decent to exchange Rouran Khan Fu Mingdun for all the people of Daliang, and he had to die in agony. It was indeed not appropriate to publicize it.

Liu Hengchang is calm and steady, and is the confidant of Her Majesty the Empress. It is indeed most appropriate for him to handle this matter.

As for General Zuo, it is unknown whether he knew the truth and turned a blind eye or was completely unaware of it.

The march was smooth and uneventful.

After arriving at the border, General Fan, Marquis of Jingbian, came to greet them personally and selected 10,000 elite troops from the border troops to join the army that was about to march deep into the grassland.

After resting at the border for half a month and waiting for the auxiliary troops to join the main army, each cavalryman took several thick bags of dry food.

I heard that this was the military ration developed by Marquis Changning when he was in Nanyang County. It was made by frying and grinding wheat, millet, corn and other grains, adding dried vegetables and meat, and then filling it in a long and narrow bag, wrapping it around the shoulder two or three times, which was enough for about seven days of food.

This is much more delicious than eating dry biscuits, and it is also convenient to carry. Now it is the most popular military ration.

After the army entered the grassland, they encountered small groups of cavalry. These cavalry were few in number and posed no threat to the army. They did not attack, but just moved around the army.

"They want to find out how many people we have, and they also want to make sure that the Rouran Khan is in our hands." General Zuo sat in the military tent and talked to a group of generals: "The Rouran cavalry of more than 100,000 people has been defeated by our Daliang elite soldiers. Now the Rouran simply does not have enough troops to fight us. We have 70,000 elite soldiers, which is enough to dominate the grassland."

Some generals could not help but raise an objection: "What if the Rouran asks Tatar or Gaoche for troops, or if they jointly send troops?"

"We only have 70,000 people. If all the tribes on the grassland work together, they can gather at least 200,000 or 300,000 cavalry. How can we resist?"

General Zuo said calmly: "Then we will kill Fu Mingdun first, and then fight to the death."

"Before we came, my duke has already told you that this trip to the grassland may bring us great achievements, but it may also be the place where we die. Since we are here, we must be prepared to fight to the death."

"If anyone is afraid of death, pack up and go back now."

The talkative general replied awkwardly: "That is not what I meant."

General Zuo was strict in his military discipline and was never polite to his subordinates. This talkative general was from the Shenwu Camp. General Zuo scolded him smoothly: "If you don't mean it, don't talk too much. Don't say these nonsense that will shake the morale of the army."

The talkative general immediately shut his mouth like a clam and never opened his mouth again.

...(End of chapter)