Han official!

Chapter 176 Yuan Shuo
In the twelfth month of the first year of Yuanshuo, all the remaining followers of the Dou family were killed.

Guo Jie sat alone on the Ba Bridge and sank the jade scepter into the icy river.

Wei Guang presented a newly made rhinoceros armor and said, "His Majesty wishes to appoint you as General of Cavalry to fight against the Xiongnu."

"I have been drinking snow for ten years, not for the sake of becoming a marquis."

Guo Jie picked up the broken token and said, "I only pray that there will be no more poisonous salt in the border market, and that the young children will not lose their fathers and brothers."

The evening snow swallowed up all the words, the salt carts on the other side of the river creaked, and the spring chill of Yuanshuo was still faintly lingering.

The salt lake at the northern foot of the Yin Mountains was frozen with the lingering ice of winter. Guo Jie squatted down and scooped up a handful of brine.

When the bronze scabbard was immersed in ice water, fine salt crystals appeared. This was a habit he had developed during his ten years in the North Sea. He would wash the blade before every battle.

"Report! The scouts have spotted a herd of Xiongnu in the southeast valley."

Zhang Teng, the head of the timber officer, dismounted, his leather armor frosted with frost. "About three hundred sheep, and no more than twenty cavalry escorts."

Guo Jie placed the ring-handled knife across his knees, the blade reflecting the cold moonlight: "Let the boys have a good meal. Remember, only kill the sick and weak lambs, and don't hurt the breeding sheep." This was the truth he learned when he was herding slaves in the North Sea: cutting off the source of livestock is worse than killing the enemy.

The bonfire in the Han army camp gradually died down, and Guo Jie sat alone in front of the whetstone.

Ten years of wind and frost in the frontier had eroded fine lines on the blade. He used brine from the salt lake as a whetstone, and the sharp sound of the bronze rubbing against the sandstone startled the night owls.

Wei Guang opened the tent and walked in. The ox-horn halberd of the ten-stone bow turned yellow in the firelight.

"Scouts say the Chanyu moved a hundred miles west the day before yesterday," Wei Guang said, dipping his arrowheads in aconitine. "This attack might be a tactic used by the Dou clan to lure the tiger away from the mountain."

Guo Jie tried his sword to cut off the falling eagle feathers: "What I want is for them to report the news."

Blade pointed at the sheepskin map, "The salt road at Wolf Mountain Pass should come in handy."

Eight hundred light cavalrymen lined up in the cold wind, and Guo Jie checked the equipment of each of them.

Each pair of hook-studded copper spikes must be dipped in salt to test their toxicity, and the leather bag on the side of the saddle must be filled with salt grains mixed with snow water.

This was a military system improved after the bloody battle of Baqiao in the third year of Yuanshuo. Salt can both heal wounds and kill enemies.

"Is the bowstring coated with seal oil?" Guo Jie tugged at Wei Guang's mulberry wood bow. "The winds in Mobei are fierce, so we must use the methods of the North Sea."

He threw over the oil bag made from wolf stomach, which was the secret item he hid in his crotch when he escaped from the Huns.

As the morning mist drifted over the mountain ridge, the Han army occupied the commanding heights.

Guo Jie used his sword sheaths to draw a battle formation on the saline-alkali land: "The front team used hooks to lock the horses' feet, the middle team threw salt to blind them, and the rear team fired poisonous arrows."

This was a tactic adapted from the Xiongnu cavalry's usual surprise attacks; the salt spray could cause the horses to stumble.

Wei Guang led fifty officers to lie in ambush on the flank, their mulberry wood bowstrings wrapped with horsehair: "Wait for me to sound the arrow as a signal, then shoot the shepherd first."

He pointed to the smoke rising from the valley. Xiongnu herdsmen were slaughtering sick sheep, which were the plagued animals that the Han army had deliberately driven away last night.

When the morning sun broke through the clouds, the Xiongnu cavalry discovered something unusual.

Guo Jie waved the red flag, and the front team officer suddenly lifted the salt-stained disguise.

The hook-studded copper spikes reflected a poisonous gleam in the sunlight, and the frightened flock of sheep charged back to disrupt the Hun's formation.

"Salt!" Zhang Teng shouted. The Han soldiers scattered salt grains from leather bags, and the morning mist instantly turned into a white barrier.

The Hun war horses inhaled the salt mist and fell down one after another with snorting.

Wei Guang's whistling arrows pierced through the mist, and before the escorting cavalrymen could draw their arrows, blood had already burst out of their throats.

"Twenty-three heads were beheaded and seven herdsmen were captured."

Zhang Teng presented the blood-stained parchment scroll, "I found it in this man's arms. It contains a map of the Han army's granaries."

Guo Jie unfolded the leather scroll and saw that it was Dou's private warehouse in Wuyuan County that was marked with cinnabar: "What a way to kill someone with a borrowed knife."

He used Xiongnu blood to fill in the back of the scroll, creating the illusion that the granary was empty, and then "sent two herdsmen back to report the news."

Wei Guang set up an iron cauldron and cooked the spoiled mutton mixed with salt: "If the Chanyu knew that the granary was empty, he would definitely send his elite cavalry to plunder it."

He sprinkled in licorice to detoxify, and then "ambushed the troops on the Wolf Mountain Salt Road"

Guo Jie paused as he was carving arrow shafts. "That's not enough. We need to make the Xiongnu think that the Dou family has hidden gold in their warehouses."

He split the captured arrowheads, revealing the Shaofu inscription on the inner core. "Mix these into the wounds of the corpse."

The Han army disguised themselves on the battlefield and inserted arrowheads engraved with "Wuyuan Dou" into the corpses of the Xiongnu.

Wei Guang "left" half of a jade talisman in a conspicuous place, which was exactly the same as the token given by Empress Dowager Dou to the Xiongnu envoy.

Zhang Teng led his team to drive the flock westward, leaving their hoof prints deliberately messy as if they were fleeing.

"The Chanyu is suspicious by nature. Seeing this scene, he will definitely send troops to investigate."

Guo Jie sharpened his last arrow and said, "Our army will attack for a hundred miles at night and directly attack the altar of Longcheng."

As the setting sun dyed the salt lake red, eight hundred light cavalrymen lined up and sharpened their swords.

Guo Jie beat the rhythm with his scabbard and sang the Xiongnu war song he had learned when he was a herdsman in Beihai.

The Han army's response shook the mountains and startled eagles into hiding.

"This blade drinks blood, not for a title of nobility!" Guo Jie cut off the Dou clan's banner, "but only for the children of the border counties, who do not know the sound of sharp arrows!"

Eight hundred ring-headed swords were unsheathed at the same time, shining coldly like stars in the salt mist.

The horse's hooves are wrapped with hemp, and people hold wooden pieces in their mouths.

The Han army marched quietly along the salt lake, and Wei Guang led the scouts forward ten miles.

Guo Jie reached for the jade scepter in his arms. Inside was engraved a map of the secret passage to Dragon City. This was the information he had gained through ten years of herding sheep.

"Report! Xiongnu scouts spotted five miles to the southeast!" the scout panted. "About thirty light cavalrymen, heading towards our army."

Guo Jie and Wei Guang exchanged glances and simultaneously uttered two words: "Snowstorm is coming."

As dusk swallowed up the last ray of sunlight, goose feather snow fell on the Yinshan Mountains.

Guo Jie tore off the sheepskin that disguised his battle robes, and the eight hundred light cavalry turned into ghosts in the salt mist.

Wei Guang's whistling arrows were ready to be launched, and the clatter of the Xiongnu scouts' hooves was so close that he could hear the scrape of their scimitars being unsheathed.
The white-haired wind at the Yinshan Pass blew up salt grains, which whipped the leather armor of the Han army, making a crackling sound.

Guo Jie pulled the sheepskin mask tightly, and ice crystals condensed into frost on his eyelashes.

He leaned over and pressed his lips against the horse's neck. The black horse brought back from the North Sea was galloping along the hoof prints it had left when it escaped ten years ago.

"Southeast, thirty riders!" Wei Guang's whistling arrows pierced through the wind and snow.

As soon as the Xiongnu scouts drew their scimitars, the Han army's vanguard had already swung out their hooks.

The moment the copper spike pierced the horse's belly, Zhang Teng led his team to throw salt bags, and the snow and fog instantly mixed into a white barrier.

The frightened Hun horses swirled in the salt mist, and the cavalrymen on saddle fell one after another.

Guo Jie led the central army to break into the enemy camp, and used his ring-handled sword to cut the horses' legs. This was a technique he learned when he was herding slaves in the North Sea and fighting against wolves.

Wei Guang's poisonous arrow flew over his shoulder and accurately pierced the centurion's throat. The whistle from the hollow arrow shaft whistled along with the wind and snow.

"Leave him alive!" Guo Jie knocked the last Xiongnu soldier unconscious with the back of his sword and tore off his robe.

The "Five Vermin" tattoo on his chest was infused with malachite poison, exactly the same as that of Dou's assassins.

The sheepskin map slipped from the corpse's arms, and the cinnabar mark was exactly the Dragon City altar that the Han army was going to attack tonight.

Eight hundred light cavalrymen crept along the frozen river, their horseshoes wrapped in plague sheepskin to prevent slipping.

Guo Jie took out his jade handle and tapped the ice lightly. The hollow sound startled a night owl. This was the ice-detecting technique taught by the Xiongnu shaman.

Wei Guang suddenly reined in his horse and pointed his arrow at the dark blue water beneath the ice: "Undercurrent of brine!"

The Han army used hooks as staffs to carve a dipper-shaped hole in the ice. When the brine gushed out, Guo Jie threw in a fire stick, and the blue flames rushed along the river toward the Xiongnu outpost.

After ten years of suffering in the bitter cold of the North Sea, he had already understood the property of saltpeter that it would ignite when exposed to fire.

By the time the Dragon City sentinels discovered the Ice River Fire, it was too late.

Fire snakes licked the salt-stained city walls, and the thousand-year-old rammed earth collapsed in the explosion.

Guo Jie led the army with a red flag and divided the eight hundred light cavalry into three teams.

The left team used hooks to collapse the arrow tower, the right team used poison arrows to suppress the watchtower, and the central army rushed straight to the altar.

"Guardian drum!" The roar of the Xiongnu shaman was drowned in the roar.

Wei Guang fired seven arrows in succession, each of which penetrated the leather of the bronze drum, and the salt and iron substances hidden in the drum poured out, which was the ironclad evidence that Dou was collaborating with the enemy!
The wolf-bow team of the Chanyu's guards rushed out from the valley, and their heavy arrows penetrated three layers of leather armor.

Guo Jie ordered a change of formation, and the Han army suddenly split into teams of ten, fighting among the ruins in the wind and snow.

This was the wolf pack tactic he had figured out when he was avoiding pursuit in the North Sea. Each team was equipped with three hook-studded men, three poison-arrow men, and three swordsmen and axemen, specializing in attacking the gaps in heavy armor.

Wei Guang was guarding the broken wall, and the ten-stone bowstring had broken twice.

He used the captured Hun horn bow instead, and shot poisonous arrows through the seams of the bronze armor, stringing together the commander and deputy commander of the Wolf Bow Team, turning them into blood gourds.

The wind and snow wrapped in salt grains poured into the wound, and the dying man laughed madly in the severe pain.

The golden figure on the altar twisted in the fire, and the melted gold mixed with the Xiongnu blood to form a red stream.

Guo Jie chopped the last shaman in half, and broken bones were stuck to the gap of the bronze knife.

Wei Guang suddenly pulled him down, and three heavy arrows brushed against his hair and were nailed into the salt bricks. There was a crossbow hidden in the dark!
"The ruined tower in the southwest!" Guo Jie threw out his hook and locked the tower pillar.

Zhang Teng led his assassins to climb up, and when he stabbed the crossbowman's eyes with his dagger, he discovered that he was a Han Chinese, and Dou's private military token was sewn into the lining of his leather armor!
When the morning light pierced through the snow curtain, Longcheng had become a Shura field.

Guo Jie counted the heads with his sword and beheaded 473 people, and captured two shaman priests.

Twelve volumes of Dou's silk book containing the treasonous message were seized, stamped with the seal of Changle Palace.

Seven golden men used for offering sacrifices to heaven were melted down to obtain three hundred kilograms of zhuo gold.

"The Chanyu's Golden Tent has moved a hundred miles west." Wei Guang unfolded the blood-stained map. "Last night, the captives confessed that the main force of the Wolf Bow Team is here."

The north wind suddenly blew up the salt snow, and the sound of horse hooves like thunder rang out between heaven and earth.

Guo Jie's hand holding the knife suddenly tightened. At the snow line of the distant mountains, the Chanyu's royal flag was passing over the salt lake, and the Golden Tent Wolf Flag was shining with a deadly light under the morning sun.

The ice surface of the salt lake trembled under the iron hooves, and Guo Jie licked his cracked lips.

The black horse seemed to smell the scent of its homeland, and its front hooves were restlessly scratching the ice.

Wei Guang inserted the last three poison arrows into the snow. The malachite poison on the arrowheads seeped into the ice, drawing a ferocious wolf-head totem.

"It's time to settle the old accounts of the past ten years." Guo Jie tore off the tattered sheepskin mask, and the sixtieth scratch on the scabbard was soaked with blood salt.

Eight hundred remnants of the army lined up behind him, their hooks and barbs hanging with pieces of flesh, resembling the fangs of a pack of North Sea wolves after a kill.

In front of the Chanyu's golden tent, three thousand wolf-bow troops drew their heavy bows.

Junchen Shanyu's golden sword cut across the ice, and prayers to heaven flew with the salt grains.

The red flags of the Han army were swirling into a blood-red vortex against the north wind.
Spring of the fourth year of Yuanshuo.

The wolf flag of the Chanyu's Golden Tent was dazzling in the reflection of the salt lake, and the three thousand wolf-bow troops were like a dark cloud pressing in.

Guo Jie tore off the tattered sheepskin mask, revealing the scars carved by the wind and frost of the North Sea.

The black horse smelled blood and used its front hooves to dig through the ice angrily.

"Form a cone formation and split into wings!" Guo Jie pointed the red flag forward, and the eight hundred light cavalry split into three groups.

The hook-studded soldiers on the left wing dragged salt bags to stir up the snow and fog, while the poison arrows on the right wing took advantage of the wind to throw arrows, and the elite cavalry in the center rushed straight towards the king's flag.

This is the formation-breaking technique that Beihai has developed after ten years of research. It uses salt and snow as a barrier to turn a small number of people into a large number.

The moment the wolf bow team's heavy arrows left the bowstring, the left wing of the Han army suddenly opened the salt bags.

The strong wind blew snow particles and salt crystals towards the Hun line, and the rain of arrows lost their accuracy in the chaos.

Wei Guang led the right wing to cut in from the flank and shot poison arrows into the horse's eyes. This was the method he used to kill Dong Yan in the Battle of Baqiao.

Guo Jie's central army advanced like a sharp knife, and the ring-handled swords were used to kill the flag bearers.

When the black horse leaped over the fallen wolf flag, the blade of the sword split the cowhide war drum, and the gold ingots hidden in the drum flew everywhere. The Chanyu actually melted the annual gift from the Han court to cast the drum!
The scimitar team of the Chanyu's guards surrounded him like a pack of wolves, and Guo Jie ordered a change of formation.

The Han army suddenly formed a circular formation, with hook-and-hook soldiers setting up a copper and iron wall on the outer layer, and poison arrows shooting arc arrows in the inner circle.

Wei Guang sat in the center of the formation, the ten-stone bowstring vibrated like thunder, the whistling arrow pierced the centurion's iron helmet, and the salt powder exploded from the arrow shaft confused the enemy cavalry in the back row.

"The flaw is on the left!" Guo Jie pointed his scabbard at the deputy general of the Wolf Bow Team.

Zhang Teng led his assassins forward, and at the moment when the hook locked the horse's legs, the triangular arrow had already been nailed into the seam under the armpit of the armor.

As the deputy general screamed as he fell off his horse, the circular formation of the Han army suddenly cracked, and poisonous arrows swarmed like locusts towards the fleeing Xiongnu cavalry.

Guo Jie kicked over the sacrificial brazier in front of the golden tent, and the flames shot up to the dome along the salt-stained felt.

The Chanyu's personal guards chopped at him with golden swords, and their sword techniques actually had traces of Han official training. It must be the formation-breaking technique privately taught by Dou!

Guo Jie spun around to avoid the blade, and the ring-handled sword smoothly pierced the collar of his armor, unleashing all the strength he had acquired through ten years of suffering in the bitter cold of the North Sea.

"This knife will return you to the North Sea as a prisoner for ten years!" The blade twisted, tearing the armor like paper.

The personal guard stumbled and fell to the ground, and Dou's jade chariot rolled out of his arms, the "five vermin" pattern on the inside soaked in blood.

When the Golden Tent collapsed, Junchen Chanyu's white-flagged ox cart had already traveled two miles.

Guo Jie snatched the Xiongnu horn bow and fired three arrows in quick succession.

One arrow shot through the ox yoke, two arrows pierced the driver's hand, and the third arrow nailed into the carriage.

Wei Guang led the cavalry to encircle the envoy, but encountered a strange scene in the snow and fog. The secret compartment of the ox cart popped open, and the body of Dou's envoy rolled out with the salt bag.

"What a shrewd attempt to frame someone!" Guo Jie split the shaft of the carriage. The grain route to Wuyuan County was marked with cinnabar on the sheepskin map. "Hurry and inform the Weiwei that the Dou family is trying to cut off our army's route back!"

"The main force of the Wolf Bow Corps remains intact." Guo Jie stroked the sixty-first notch on the scabbard. "The Chanyu's flag is heading west, bound for the Wolf Mountain Salt Road."

The north wind suddenly rolled up the snow waves, and dust rose faintly on the horizon.

The scout came on horseback to report: "Thirty miles northwest, the Xiongnu baggage train is escorting salt carts!"

The black horse suddenly raised its head and neighed loudly. Guo Jie looked towards the west bank of the salt lake.

The baggage train was moving slowly in the wind and snow, and the iron hoof prints of the horses were as deep as ravines. This kind of load was definitely not ordinary food and fodder.

Wei Guang ripped open the confiscated wolfskin coat, revealing the Han silk map lining it. "Looking at the direction of the wheel tracks, I'm afraid the Dou family is trying to use the Xiongnu to transport poisoned salt into the Great Wall!"

Guo Jie grabbed a handful of bloody salt snow and let it melt into red water in his palm: "Stop the salt cart, I want you alive."

The scabbards slammed heavily onto the ground, and the eight hundred remaining riders turned into ghosts in the twilight, their horses' hooves wrapped in the flames of revenge, rolling towards the darkening salt lake sky.
The ice surface of the salt lake was soaked in blood. Guo Jie stepped on the crunching salt grains, and the soles of his boots were stuck with unfrozen blood ice.

Wei Guang was leading his men to pry open the copper locks of the Xiongnu baggage carts. The friction of the iron startled vultures and caused them to circle around.

"The arrowheads were hidden between the salt bricks, and the iron ingots were placed at the bottom of the millet bag." Wei Guang lifted up half a piece of armor with his bow. "This method is exactly the same as the illegal casting case filed by the Sanfu Iron Officials."

The mark of the word "Dou" on the inside of the armor plate has been corroded black by salt water, but the seal of the Shaofu official from the first year of Yuanshuo can still be identified.

Guo Jie squatted down, grabbed a handful of salt snow, and drew the outline of Baqiao on the shaft of the cart: "The salt cart that killed Dong Yan back then had its axle and mortise and tenon joints modified in the same way."

He knocked the scabbard of his sword against the carriage board, and the echo in the hollow cavity startled the warhorse and made it raise its hooves. In the secret compartment, there were two Han craftsmen curled up, with the tendons of their hands and feet all severed.

(End of this chapter)