Han official!

Chapter 177 Huns
The bonfire danced by the salt lake, making the tattoos on the craftsman's face look even more hideous.

"The steward of the Dou Mansion asked us to fill the core of the arrow with lead." Craftsman Zhao San shuddered and spat out salt grains. "He said he wanted to imitate the 'Wei' arrows used by General Wei's army."

Wei Guang suddenly ripped open Zhao San's robe, revealing the burn mark on his shoulder blade, which bore the mark of a craftsman in the Imperial Household: "In the second year of Yuanshuo, the Records of Craftsmen stated that you were branded and exiled for illegally selling a crossbow mechanism."

He dipped the salt water in the branding, and when heated, the blood-red "Five Vermin" pattern appeared. "During exile, I was recruited by the Dou family as a death squad, is that correct?"

Guo Jie plunged his ring-handled sword into the ice, Zhao San's pale face reflected on the blade. "The springs for this chariot's hidden compartments are made from copper bolts from the Weiyang Palace's ice well."

He took out the jade pendant and inserted it into the keyhole of the secret compartment. The moment it closed tightly, the mechanism popped open the interlayer, and bundles of plain silk agents scattered. The ink of the red mark "In the sixth year of Yuanguang, 10,000 stones of salt were exported to the Xiongnu" was not dry yet.

Eight hundred light cavalrymen escorted the salt carts back south, leaving deep marks on the ice.

Guo Jie unhooked his black horse and let it gnaw on the saltwort beneath the ice. "If this poisonous salt gets into the Great Wall, it will destroy the farmland in the three counties."

Wei Guang grabbed a handful of salt mixed with lead sand and said, "The Dou family wants to destroy the foundation of the Han Dynasty."

The north wind blew up the carriage curtains, revealing the stiff body of the craftsman Zhao Qi. He took advantage of the defenders' unpreparedness to commit suicide by swallowing salt, and the malachite poison corroded his internal organs.

"The assassins have poison hidden between their teeth, and they share the same origin as the remnants of Wang Meng's gang."

Guo dissected the stomach of the corpse and found half a piece of white silk stuck on the undissolved salt block. When it came into contact with blood, a map of the granaries of Wuyuan County was revealed.

While camping overnight on the east bank of the Salt Lake, the scouts captured a Hun messenger.

The sheepskin letter tube was sealed with fish glue. Wei Guang used a bowstring to pull it open. The fishy sheep fat wrapped around the Dou family silk letter read: "Guo Jie's troops have captured Longcheng. Let the Xiongnu enter Wuyuan."

Guo Jie pressed the silk scroll into the bonfire, and the flames shot up with strange green light: "Aconitine becomes visible when heated. This ink is mixed with the bone powder of Xiongnu shamans."

He picked up the burnt ashes with the tip of his knife, and the scorch marks actually pieced together a map of the secret passage to the Ice Well Platform in Changle Palace.

Zhang Teng, who was on duty at night, suddenly shouted loudly, and a thunderous cracking sound came from the ice of the salt lake.

Guo Jie stepped barefoot on the ice, and ripples appeared where his jade handle struck him. "The Huns are blasting the salt mines upstream!"

Eight hundred light cavalry retreated quickly to the high ground and watched helplessly as the baggage train was swallowed up by the ice waves.

"What a way to destroy the body and cover up all traces." Wei Guang grabbed Zhao Wu, a craftsman who was about to slip into a crevice. "The Dou family even wanted to kill their own assassins."

Zhao Wu suddenly laughed crazily, black blood mixed with salt crystals oozing from the corners of his mouth: "You can't escape the Five Territories, they are everywhere."

As the waning moon disappeared into the salt mist, wolf howls rang out from all directions.

Guo Jie kicked over the salt pile to use as cover, and set up the last three crossbows with his hook-shaped hands.

"They're not Xiongnu." Wei Guang's hand trembled as he put his arrow on it. "The Han silk lining is visible under the leather armor. They're Dou's assassins!"

The rain of arrows pierced through the wind and snow, but what was nailed to the salt cart was the Shaofu-style whistling arrow.

Guo Jie swung his sword to split the arrow shaft, and a wax ball fell out of the bamboo tube. The blood writing "There is a change in the Weiwei, return to Chang'an quickly" was blurred by salt water, and it was vaguely visible that it was the handwriting of the prince's retainer.

The cracks on the ice of the salt lake spread like a spider web. Guo Jie pulled the reins of his black horse and galloped across the ice. The horseshoes rubbed against the ice, making a sharp and harsh sound.

The Xiongnu horns pierced through the wind and snow. Thirty ponies came from behind the salt dune. The riders on horseback held scimitars in reverse grips, and the blades were deliberately polished to a dull finish. This was the night attack knife commonly used by the North Sea herdsmen, and it would not reflect light in the moonlight.

"Loose salt!" Wei Guang roared and tore off the straw mat on the cart, and the poisonous salt mixed with lead sand flew into the wind.

The Hun horse in the front suddenly fell down with a snort, and salt particles entered the nasal cavity, causing violent spasms.

Zhang Teng took the opportunity to throw out the hook, and the copper spike pierced into the ice and hooked the horses' legs. The three war horses crashed into a bloody mess under the action of inertia.

Guo Jie chopped the charging Xiongnu centurion away with his backhand. The feeling of the ring-handled knife cutting into his ribs along the seams of his leather armor reminded him of slaughtering sheep in the North Sea.

The warm blood sprayed on the ice and solidified instantly. He slid to avoid two cold arrows. The dull sound of the arrows piercing the ice overlapped with the sound of the whip in the Shanyu court's torture ten years ago.

The black horse suddenly stood up, and stomped its front hooves heavily to break the ice, revealing the hideous appearance of the caltrops array underneath. The dark blue color on the caltrops' spikes showed that they were tempered with malachite poison.

"Circle formation!" Guo Jie slammed his scabbard against the shafts of the salt carts, pushing the five surviving carts into a circle.

Wei Guang jumped onto the salt pile by stepping on the shaft of the cart, and the ox-horn bow of the ten-stone bow was bent into a full moon in the wind and snow.

At the moment when the whistling arrows tore through the night, the neighing of war horses was heard from behind the salt hill in the northeast. Twenty Han army officers suddenly rushed out from behind the Xiongnu formation. They were wearing brown robes and sheepskin covers. They were the scouts sent three days ago to explore the Wolf Mountain Salt Road.

The Xiongnu captain's golden earrings flashed in the firelight, and Wei Guang's poison arrow had pierced his throat.

The Xiongnu cavalry, having lost their commander, fell into chaos for a moment, and Guo Jie took the opportunity to lead his troops into the gap.

The tactic of using the ring-handled sword to cut the horse's legs was very effective on the ice. The fallen horses became natural roadblocks, and the subsequent charging Xiongnu cavalry were tripped one after another.

Zhang Teng crawled on the ice with his hooked hands, specifically targeting those who had fallen. The sound of copper spikes piercing into leather armor was like the sound of salt grains being sprinkled into a pottery jar.

The ice suddenly shook violently, and the salt mines that exploded upstream triggered a chain reaction.

A huge floe of ice floated downstream, pushing more than a dozen Hun cavalrymen into the icy undercurrent.

Guo Jie grabbed Wei Guang who was about to slide into the ice crevice and caught a glimpse of the blood ice stuck to the bottom of his quiver. That was the remaining blood of the Longcheng Shaman three days ago, which now solidified into a strange wolf-head pattern under the low temperature.

"Southeast!" Wei Guang suddenly shouted. Eight armored warhorses burst forth from the salt mist, their armor crevices revealing the unique inlaid gold craftsmanship of the Weiyang Palace's Artisans Supervisor.

The leading Han general had his helmet lowered, but the eight-foot-long lance in his hand was the standard of the Dou clan's troops.

Guo Jie spun around to avoid the spear tip and slammed the back of his knife into the man's heart-protecting mirror. The moment the bronze mirror shattered, he saw the tattoo on the man's collarbone. It was Tian Zhong, the assassin who escaped from the Hedong Salt Case in the second year of Yuanshuo!
The salt truck suddenly burst into flames, and the sulfur and saltpeter hidden in the secret compartment spontaneously combusted when it came into contact with ice water.

Tian Zhong's horse was frightened and went crazy, throwing him towards the burning salt pile.

Guo Jie took the opportunity to throw his ring-handled knife, and the blade rotated to cut the tendon of his right foot. This was the technique he learned to keep the victim alive when he suppressed the mob at the salt field in Chen County.

The ice melted rapidly under the high temperature, and the surviving Xiongnu cavalry began to retreat. The sight of their leather boots slipping on the icy water reminded Guo Jie of the escaped slaves from the North Sea in early spring.

When the lingering sound of the last whistling arrow dissipated over the salt lake, Wei Guang was using the Huns' scimitar to cut open Tian Zhong's leather armor.

The blood-stained silk fell from the interlayer and unfolded in the wind into a map of the granary distribution in Wuyuan County. A flame mark was painted with cinnabar next to each granary.

Guo Jie grabbed a handful of bloody salt and sprinkled it on the scroll. The salt crystals crawled along the cinnabar lines in the shape of a winding poisonous snake. This was exactly the secret signal for burning grain agreed upon by Dou and the Huns.

The black horse suddenly snorted towards the southeast. Guo Jie looked up and saw that the night sky in the direction of Wuyuan County was filled with a strange red light.

The smell of burning wheat straw mixed with the north wind, and the pupils of the eight hundred light cavalry reflected the raging flames at the same time. The granaries that were supposed to store food for the Northern Expedition were now turning into huge torches that illuminated the night sky of the northern border.

The night sky on the east shore of the salt lake was licked red by the flames, and thick smoke from the direction of Wuyuan County filled the nose with the smell of burnt wheat.

Guo Jie tore off his blood-stained robe and wrapped it around the muzzle of the black horse. The Beihai warhorse actually gnawed the bit to pieces in its anxiety.

"Exchange them for captured Xiongnu horses!" He kicked open the secret compartment of the baggage cart, and twenty sheepskins soaked in fish fat were spread out on the ice. This was the ice running technique he had figured out when he escaped from the Chanyu's court.

Wei Guang's whistling arrows tore through the wind and snow, and fifty light cavalry followed closely behind.

The sheepskin slid across the ice much faster than horse hooves. The rain of arrows from the Hun pursuers nailed into the ice behind them, and the exploded ice chips actually became a cover.

Zhang Teng suddenly roared and leaned forward, his sheepskin scraping against the ice as he entered the burning granary ruins. Three Dou family war horses were trampling over the embers and unburned millet, and the copper pots hanging on the saddles were dripping with sticky kerosene.

"Hooks and spikes to lock the horse's hooves!" Guo Jie turned around and threw out three hooks and spikes. The moment the barbs pierced the horse's legs, Wei Guang's poisonous arrow had pierced the driver's throat.

The flint in the arms of the Dou family assassin who fell off his horse fell into the scorched earth, and the gilded word "Changle" was glaring in the firelight. This was the special product given to clan members as a reward at the New Year's Eve banquet in Changle Palace.

The granary's beams and pillars collapsed in the explosion, and Guo Jie dragged Wei Guang into the reservoir. The dirty water, mixed with ice chips, soaked through their leather armor, revealing something strange at the bottom of the pool: bundles of plain silk sealed in lead boxes, floating in the water. These were the salt and iron reagents used by the Dou clan in their trade with the Xiongnu.

Wei Guang's dagger opened the wax seal, and on the map of the Yinshan Salt Road outlined in cinnabar, there was a secret mark of the Bingjingtai in the Weiyang Palace.

"Report to the prince immediately!" Guo Jie stuffed the lead box into his arms, but the ice water suddenly rippled.

A black horse neighed loudly as a man stood by the pond. Twenty heavy Xiongnu cavalrymen were approaching, stepping on burning beams.

The chain mail of these cavalrymen had a strange blue-gray color. It was made of the missing gold from the Shaofu. When the arrows hit the armor, golden sparks flew out.

Zhang Teng led the remaining troops to overturn the charred grain storage, and the pouring millet formed a natural roadblock on the ice.

The way the Xiongnu warhorses stepped on the rolling rice grains and their iron hooves slipped between the ice and the grains looked very much like the drunkard Guo Jie saw at the salt field in Chen County when he was a child.

Wei Guang took the opportunity to climb up the remaining wall. The ten-stone bowstring shook off the remaining fire on the beam, and the three-edged arrow pierced the collar of the heavy armor, nailing the Xiongnu centurion to the burning grain cart.

Suddenly, there was a crisp cracking sound from the ice surface. Guo Jie's pupils shrank suddenly. The burning granary accelerated the melting of the ice.

He roared and threw out the hook, the barbs hooked onto the willow tree on the opposite bank, and the surviving Han soldiers pulled the water-soaked hemp rope and swung across the ice crevice.

The last Xiongnu cavalry threw their scimitars before the icy water submerged their horses. The blade spun and cut the hemp rope, and half of Zhang Teng's left arm fell into the glacier with a splash of blood.

When the outline of Wuyuan County's city wall appeared in the snow and fog, the sounds of fighting at the city gate could be clearly heard.

Guo Jie tore off the dead messenger's badge, and found that the seal of "Wuyuan Duwei" on the bronze badge had been blurred by salt, indicating that the defending general had been replaced by Dou long ago.

Wei Guang's poisonous arrow pierced through the suspension cable of the city gate, and the moment the gate collapsed, they saw the tragic scene inside the city.

Women and children were driven to the salt piles, where Dou's private soldiers were throwing torches at the foul, poisonous salt.
The smoke from the salt lake had not yet dissipated, but the torches on the walls of Wuyuan County had already illuminated half of the night sky red.

Guo Jie rode his horse and stood under the ruined city wall, with black and red blood ice condensing on the broken edge of the ring-handled sword in his hand.

The harsh sound of armor rubbing against each other was heard from inside the city gate, and three hundred Northern Army officers filed out, with the leading captain holding the red dragon flag.

At the tear in the flag caused by the stray arrow, the Vermillion Bird pattern of the Weiyang Palace's weaving room can be vaguely seen.

"Grandmaster of the Crown Prince's Gate, Guo Jie, receive the imperial edict."

The eunuch's shrill voice pierced the north wind.

The Yellow Gate Minister unfolded a three-foot-long piece of white silk, and the cinnabar seal of "Zhizhao Yushi" on the corner of the silk looked like clotted blood in the firelight.

The eight hundred remaining cavalrymen knelt on one knee in unison, and the roar of their armor hitting the ice startled the crows.

"Behead 2,300 captives and burn 27 carts of Xiongnu supplies." The eunuch's recitation of the order was suddenly interrupted by horse hooves.

Wei Guang came riding a horse covered in blood, with five human heads tied to the horse's tail.

The last loyalist of the Dou family still had a gilded hairpin specially made by the Shaofu stuck in his hair.

When Guo Jie took over the heavy golden seal of Guannei Hou, his palm touched the engraved negative text of "轵".

This was because Emperor Wu had specially ordered the Shaofu to use his hometown as the seal name, but the turtle button on the seal was missing its left claw - ten years ago, when he was fleeing in Beihai, he had used this unformed seal blank to resist a wolf's kiss.

"Give the first district of armor and three hundred slaves."

As the eunuch ordered the roll call, Wei Guang suddenly started coughing violently.

Black blood mixed with salt particles splattered on the white silk edict, blurring out the words "Five Vermin".

The imperial physician hurried forward to take the patient's pulse. As soon as his fingertips touched the wrist, his face suddenly changed. The malachite poison had penetrated into the bone marrow.

Guannei Hou's black carriage rolled over the salt road in Chen County, and the salt water seeping from the ruts attracted wild dogs to lick it.

Guo Jie stood barefoot on the ridge of the field. The roots of the wheat seedlings in his palm were covered with crystal salt grains. This was the land that had been soaked in the poisonous salt of the Xiongnu. It took three years of fallow time for it to be reborn.

"My Lord, the land and house that Chang An has arranged for you."

Before the housekeeper finished speaking, Guo Jie had already swung his hoe and started digging the soil.

The bronze plow hit a hard object, which turned out to be half a rusty ring-handled sword.

The inscription "The Third Year of Jianyuan" on the blade was mottled by salt corrosion, and a hibernating blind snake was curled up in the blood groove.

Wei Guang's tomb is located in the sunny part of Yanshan Mountain, and the tombstone is made of the fragments of the golden man for offering sacrifices to heaven that were seized in Longcheng that year.

Guo Jie placed the seal of Guannei Hou in front of the stele, and the character "轵" at the bottom of the gold seal just happened to fit into the crack.

In the distance, there was a lot of smoke and dust on the official road. The carriage of the new Hedong Salt Official was carrying the "Salt and Iron Theory" to Chang'an. The salt grains leaking from the cracks in the bamboo slips shone like fresh snow in the sunlight.

A boy from Chen County found half a jade coin in Yan Gou.

The "five pests" pattern on the body of the statue is filled with salt crystals, which turn into the four words "Mountains and Rivers Forever" when it encounters spring rain.

The old farmer said that this was a relic of Lord Guo, so he offered it in the Salt Temple. Amid the smoke of incense, the marks on the bronze scabbard gradually emerged, coinciding with the war between the third year of Jianyuan and the Yuanshou years.

However, the villagers all told it as a myth, and only the temple priest saw starlight falling into the salt pond every night, like a ring-headed sword breaking through the air.

The cold wind carried ice chips from the Yellow River, which whipped against Guo Jie's newly made rhinoceros armor, making a clanging sound.

He leaned over and grabbed a handful of sand from the riverbank, rubbing the salt crystals apart with his fingertips.

This is a mudflat that the Huns irrigated with salt water, and horses' hooves will slip when they step on it.

"Three miles to the southeast, the flags of King Xiu's tribe are located."

Wei Guang's arrows drew the outline of the enemy's formation on the ice, and the ten-stone bowstring was covered with fine frost flowers.

Guo Jie squinted his eyes and looked at the opposite bank. The dome of the Huns' tent was covered with salted sheepskin, which glowed with a strange white light under the morning sun, just like the prison tent in the North Sea ten years ago.

Suddenly, there was a crisp sound of ice breaking on the river surface.

Thirty Hunnic dwarf horses came charging forward with specially made horseshoes, and bundles of grass soaked in fish fat hung on both sides of the saddles.

Guo Jie roared, and the three hundred officials behind him simultaneously took off their disguises.

The hook-studded barbs embedded in the ice suddenly bounced up, and the moment the poisoned copper spikes pierced into the horse's belly, Wei Guang's whistling arrows had already penetrated the leather cap of the Xiongnu centurion.

"Put down the salt carts!" Guo Jie swung his ring-handled sword to cut the ropes, and twenty iron-clad carts slid along the ice towards the enemy camp.

The mechanism hidden in the shaft of the carriage suddenly popped open, and salt powder mixed with saltpeter exploded like snow mist.

The Hun horses smelled the salt and licked it frantically, completely ignoring the riders' whips and breaking the formation into pieces.

Wei Guang's poison arrows chased the fleeing soldiers and pierced into the ice. The whistle from the hollow arrow shafts intertwined with the ox horn.

Suddenly, the golden wolf flag of King Xutu was raised on the opposite bank. Hundreds of Xiongnu cavalrymen came like a dark cloud, with their horses' hooves wrapped in straw bags to prevent them from slipping. It was obvious that they had been prepared for this.

Guo Jie pulled off his frozen cloak, revealing the chain mail lining.

(End of this chapter)