spend time

Envoys from various tribes on the grassland came and went, leaving behind countless cattle, sheep and war horses, and taking away more than a hundred carriages of grain, salt and tea.

Both parties felt that this was a very good deal.

"If you surrender and pay tribute of war horses every year, you can get food, salt and other good things in return. It's really a good deal! Your Majesty the Queen of Daliang is a hundred times better than the greedy Rouran barbarians."

"That's right. We used to pay tribute every year and often offered beauties to the Rouran Khan. The Khan was very stingy and didn't give us any rewards. He even forced us to go to war at any time."

"It's all good now. We have the real sun on our grassland. From now on, we can raise horses with peace of mind and live a good life."

Some tribal envoys talked a lot and were in high spirits, but occasionally some were not so happy, such as the Tatar envoy.

The overlord of the grassland was the Rouran tribe, the Tatar tribe ranked second, and the Gaoche tribe could only rank third. The Tatar tribe was the happiest when the Rouran tribe was exterminated. It was originally thought that the emperor of Daliang would take advantage of the situation to support the Tatar tribe to become the new overlord of the grassland, but it was unexpected that the empress did not give any preferential treatment to the Tatar tribe, and even favored the Gaoche tribe. Even the rewards were the most generous.

Her Majesty the Empress rewarded the Tatar tribe with ten carriages of good things, and the Gaoche envoys received double the reward, a total of twenty carriages.

The Tatar tribal envoys have been feeling very upset these days.

They dared not make trouble in the frontier army camp, and now they have entered the grassland. The most common thing in the grassland is horse thieves. If the envoys of the Gaoche tribe encounter horse thieves, they can only blame their bad luck.

The Tatar envoy laughed grimly, called his confidant, and gave him orders in a low voice.

Five days later, the Gaoche envoys were attacked by horse thieves while camping in the middle of the night. Most of the 100 people were killed, and some managed to escape. As for grain, salt, and tea, they were all robbed.

The Gaoche people who escaped fled back to their tribe in panic, and fell to the ground in the leader's tent and cried bitterly: "...it must be the Tartar thieves!"

"The Empress favored our Gaoche tribe and gave us generous rewards. The Tartars were jealous and did not dare to resist the Empress. So they took all their hatred on us. They attacked us in the middle of the night when we were asleep, killed our warriors, and stole our food and salt."

"Please ask the leader to order the troops to go out. We, the Gaoche tribe, cannot suffer this loss in vain. We must avenge our blood debt."

Actually, fighting and killing are common on the grassland. A small tribe of dozens or hundreds of people can easily disappear. As for blood feuds, which tribe doesn't have them?

In the past, the Gaoche tribe would have endured such bullying. But now, the situation on the grassland is different. The Rouran tribe has been exterminated, and the new grassland overlord is of course the Daliang Empress.

But Her Majesty is the sun hanging high over the grassland after all, and she will return to the capital of Daliang sooner or later. Who the grassland tribes will listen to depends on who has the bigger fist.

Even without this excuse, the Gaoche tribe would have fought the Tatar tribe. Now that they have a legitimate reason and excuse, there is no reason not to fight.

The leader of the Gaoche tribe was very smart. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's send someone to report this to the emperor of Daliang and ask him to do us justice. If Daliang is willing to send troops to help us, our chances of winning will be even greater."

"You have been to the border army camp and met Her Majesty the Empress. You will go again this time."

"Her Majesty likes war horses, so you should bring the best war horses from our Gaoche tribe. Oh, and pick ten strong young men to present to Her Majesty."

They presented beauties to the Khan of Rouran, and when it came to the Empress of Daliang, they presented beautiful young men. There was nothing wrong with this.

……

More than a month later.

The envoy of the Gaoche tribe brought three thousand horses and led twenty handsome young men into the military tent of Her Majesty the Empress.

How can ten beautiful boys be enough?
Her Majesty the Empress of Daliang was dominating the grasslands, and only when she was surrounded by twenty beautiful boys could she demonstrate her empress's style. Jiang Shaohua looked at the beautiful boys of the Gaoche tribe kneeling in the military tent, and couldn't help but twitching his mouth.

Chen Jinyu, who was standing by, was having a hard time trying to hold back his laughter. Lu Zhen lowered his head and smiled secretly. General Zuo and General Fan looked at each other and smiled.

The only one who was not so happy was Marquis Changning.

Cui Du couldn't help but take a closer look at those handsome boys. Most of them were between sixteen and twenty years old, with slightly dark skin, strong arms and thin waists, and full of vigor.

You know what, compared to the pale-faced scholar, he has a different kind of heroic spirit.

The Gaoche envoy tearfully recounted how they were bullied, killed, and had their food robbed by the Tatars, and then begged the Empress to send troops to help.

Jiang Shaohua said slowly: "The Gaoche and Tatar tribes have surrendered to Daliang and pledged allegiance to me. If I send troops to help the Gaoche, it would be too unfair to the Tatar tribe."

The Gaoche envoy was somewhat disappointed, but still begged desperately.

Jiang Shaohua said calmly: "Sending troops is impossible, but I can give you some old armor and weapons."

The Gaoche envoy was greatly encouraged upon hearing this, and kowtowed repeatedly to thank the emperor for his grace.

The armor and weapons that Jiang Shaohua gave to the Gaoche tribe were all "harvests" after the Rouran's nest was wiped out. They were piled up and were an eyesore, so he simply gave them all to the Gaoche tribe.

To the Gaoche tribe, these were priceless treasures. They happily left their war horses and twenty handsome boys behind, and returned to the Gaoche tribe with a large number of weapons and armor. A great grassland war was about to begin.

This was exactly what Jiang Shaohua wanted.

Jiang Shaohua said to the generals such as General Fan, who were eager to try, "If the Rouran are annihilated, the Tatars and Gaoche will fight. No matter who wins or loses, their power will be greatly reduced."

"We will watch from the sidelines and support whichever side is in a weak position. Let their melee continue."

"We are the arbitrators and cannot leave easily."

General Fan admired from the bottom of his heart, and said with a folded hand: "Your Majesty is wise. I will remember it all."

Jiang Shaohua smiled and said, "I have been in the border army for a year. I can't stay here forever. In the future, I will have to rely on Jingbian Hou to guard the border and intimidate the tribes on the grassland."

"By the way, I have sent an edict to the capital, asking Prime Minister Chen and others to discuss military merits and rewards for the generals. The Marquis of Jingbian will become the Duke of Jingguo in the future."

General Fan was overjoyed and knelt down to perform the full ceremony: "I thank the emperor for his great grace."

Jiang Shaohua smiled and said, "Get up quickly. Guarding the border is the hardest job. The border troops must not slack off and must continue to recruit new soldiers for training."

"Only powerful force can scare the hungry wolves of the grassland and stop them."

"Behind you are hundreds of thousands of people from Guiliang City and countless people from Daliang. I entrust their safety to Duke Jingguo."

General Fan was overwhelmed with emotion and said in a loud voice: "I will obey your orders."

General Zuo, who could not stay in the frontier army without fighting, was so jealous that he was boiling with jealousy. (End of this chapter)