Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 12

  Li Hong started it off and his courage grew with it.

  "According to the scouts' reconnaissance, Muli Zhe is farthest from us, while He Lian is closest, and Que Ju is second. If they receive news of our annihilation of Ke Zhong in these two days, they will definitely speed up their advance to prevent the Commander-in-Chief from breaking through."

  "We'll deal with He and Lian first. General, you can dispatch 2,000 men to pretend to be the main force, feigning a breakthrough towards the Black Day Forest, leading him by the nose for two days. At the same time, General, send another 2,000 men to block Kongzhui, delaying his joining forces with He and Lian, so they won't form a large united force, which would be difficult for us to handle later."

  Then General led ten thousand iron cavalry to rush towards Tianma yuan. Meng Li Zhe thought that the general was fighting with He Lian in the Black Day Forest, and must be slack in defense. At this time, the general can take him by surprise and surround him at once. Ten thousand against five thousand, whether intentional or unintentional, the chances of winning are very high.

  "After General Da defeated Mong Ruo Zhe, he rushed to Hei Ri Forest and annihilated He Lian. As for Quan Ju, if he had successfully broken through the ambush before General Da annihilated He Lian, it would have caused a lot of trouble for General Da's plan to surround and annihilate them. Therefore, more troops should be sent to ambush Quan Ju, at least 3,000 to 4,000 people. If Quan Ju wants to preserve his strength, he will not dare to launch a strong attack. If he does, the losses will be severe, and he will be in a difficult situation."

  Li Hongxiao was seen pacing back and forth on the ground, his face showing a look of indecision and distress, muttering to himself nonstop. Mu Rongfeng couldn't control himself anymore and burst out laughing loudly.

  Li Hong accompanied him with a few dry laughs, and then followed suit with loud laughter. Murong Feng couldn't help but hold his belly in laughter at the sight of Li's silly grin.

  Murong Feng laughed enough, his cheeks were sore and aching.

  He sat on the animal hide, beckoning Li Hong to sit opposite him. "I don't know why you lost your memory, but before you did, you must have been very knowledgeable. Your fighting skills seem to be innate, and you can come up with many ways to counter enemies at will. Either you're an idiot or a genius."

  "Does General think what I just said is useful?" Li Hong asked.

  "It's useful." Murong Feng smiled and said, "Baozi, you must remember that the most precious thing for a person is self-confidence. In the future, if you have the opportunity to command an army alone, and I am not by your side, who will you ask?"

  Li Hong smiled, "Will I command an army?"

  "It's a pity you don't fight."

  "General, what's wrong with you this morning? Did someone betray you?"

  Murong Feng smiled slightly, "Nothing can be hidden from you, idiot. Seeing how clever you are, I feel uncomfortable if I don't scold you as an idiot. No wonder Tie Lang calls you an idiot in front of everyone. Now I understand, he's jealous of your intelligence."

  "I'm so happy today, we won another victory, I'll tell you a little secret about the Xianbei country, but don't tell anyone else."

  Li Hong patted his chest and vowed not to say anything about going out.

  "A few days ago, I told you that Murong Chui, due to his arrogance and extravagance, has been invading neighboring countries and plundering their wealth. The Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Wusun, Dingling, and Da Han have all become extremely hostile towards us." Murong Feng said, "Internally, he has been imposing heavy taxes and meting out unfair punishments, causing rebellions to erupt one after another. If we don't take drastic measures now, I fear that the vast territory we've worked so hard to build will immediately fall apart. If the Xianbei people return to their tribal divisions, with each tribe standing alone, it will lead to endless wars and suffering for our people."

  "So, General and the Longluo tribe's Qianju elder are joining forces to rebel?" Li Hong asked.

  "No." Murong Feng shook his head, with a desolate expression. "The internal situation is extremely complicated, really extremely complicated. The power struggle in Tanhan Mountain has become even more intense." (Tanhan Mountain was where the royal court of Xianbei Kingdom was located.)

  "Mika, the uncle of Huaiyin from the eastern Xianbei's Baiwar tribe, formed an alliance with the leaders of the three largest tribes of the eastern Xianbei: Qiumo of the Feima tribe, Suluo of the Mushen tribe, and Huaitou of the Yunhai tribe. Together, they united all the tribes of the eastern Xianbei to jointly support Huaiyin's son Kuitou as the new king of the Xianbei."

  To establish himself as the great king, He Qi must die. So, Mi Ga bribed a group of treacherous and corrupt people led by Tan Han Shan to constantly praise He Qi's achievements day and night, inciting him to eliminate me. In order to kill me, they set up a huge trap, with one ring linked to another, killing me was just one part of it.

  Murong Feng coldly laughed and said: "As long as I kill He Lian, Kui Tou can ascend to the throne of Pohan Mountain, and I will become a scapegoat, becoming a treacherous minister who assassinated the Great King of Xianbei. All the benefits will be enjoyed by that bastard Mi Ga. He's thinking very well indeed."

  "He and Lian found Ke Zui, told him the plan to kill me, and instructed Ke Zui to carry it out. But Mi Jia personally ran to Da Yan Mountain and told me about this conspiracy, vowing to form an alliance with me and help me kill He Lian. He thought I didn't know the inside story, so he hung that disgusting face around his neck every day, making people want to vomit."

  "Did General agree with Mika?" Li Hong asked.

  "I agreed with him, but I have my own plan."

  Murong Feng continued, "Ke found my best friend, the Bull Head tribe's Feng Lie, and spent a large number of cattle, sheep, horses, and treasures to bribe him. Feng Lie agreed to his request as I had asked. At this time, an unexpected event occurred. An unacceptable unexpected event."

  "I come from the Murong tribe, which was divided into three branches decades ago due to internal strife. I am from the Huojia Murong branch, and on the east bank of the Ruoshui River are the Jinya Murong branch and the Heijia Murong branch. The leaders of these two branches came to me and told me about this conspiracy with Lian, asking our three families to form an alliance, take advantage of the situation to kill Lian, create chaos among the Xianbei people, and then rebel and establish independence. What a group of reckless fools! I scolded them and told them to abandon this idea as soon as possible, lest they bring about their own destruction. Now it seems that not only have they not abandoned this idea, but they have become even more brazen."

  "According to my plan, among the twenty guards in the Tiger Cave, half should be from the Tiger tribe and half from the Ox Head tribe. Under their respective leaders' orders, once someone breaks out of prison, they will kill people from the other tribe. That guard said 'pig' before he died, definitely because he hated Long Lü Qiu for killing his tribesman, so he cursed with a 'pig' word, which means he was from the Long Lü tribe, not the Tiger tribe." Murong Feng sighed, "After all, Feng Lie did betray me."

  "The only person who can make Feng Lie betray me is Quan Ju. Feng Lie's three wives are all from the Quan family. Quan Ju is Ke Zui's wife's brother, and their relationship is very close, so he knows about the plan between them, and it's normal for him to help Ke Zui deal with me."

  "Murong Ji, the great man of the Golden Eagle tribe, and Murong Qian, the great man of the Black Eagle tribe, are also the husbands of Tuo's wife's sisters. Therefore, it is normal for Tuo to help them deal with me, forcing Feng Lie to betray us. However, Tuo's goal is probably not to help Ke Zui or Murong, but to help Mi Ga. If Ke Zui and I die, he will not get the position of leader of the central Xianbei tribe, only Quan Tou can take over, because he has contributed to killing Han Lian and me, this position belongs to him. On the other hand, the purpose of the two Murong families' losers is very simple. They exerted their strength to kill me and Lian, not only can they please Mi Ga and Tuo, but also cover up their own wolfish ambitions. Two despicable villains."

  "Do you understand now?" Murong Feng said to Li Hong, "Originally, the strength of the Longluo tribe, Jinyu and Heiyu tribes could be ignored, but it's different now. Now they are like Mika, all are my mortal enemies."

  "Mi Jia has been blinded by power and has lost his rationality. Who is He Lian? I've fallen into his hands, can he succeed? In terms of plotting, who in the desert is his match? If He Lian wakes up, perhaps he already has, Mi Jia will not only lose himself but also his head."

  Murong Feng was used to Tie Lang scolding Li Hong, and his mouth involuntarily blurted out a similar sentence.

  "He Duan was able to ascend to the throne that year, and why Hua Jiao thought about it for several days before finally giving up the struggle for the throne and would rather die on Tanhan Mountain, was because the Western Xianbei forces supporting He Duan were extremely powerful, far surpassing the strength of the two Xianbei tribes in the central and eastern regions."

  "In that year, Emperor Taishi led us to a great war against the Northern Xiongnu, driving them deep into the distant northern desert and occupying all of their former territory. We captured over 100,000 households of Xiongnu people, who later became spoils of war for the Western Xianbei, greatly increasing their power."

  "Now, the three major tribes of the Western Xianbei all have a marital relationship with He Lian. The Red Sun tribe's Luo Luohan is He Lian's father-in-law, the Kuangsha tribe's Riluoyan is He Lian's wife's brother, and the Wild Wolf tribe's Yan Liyou married He Lian's younger sister. The iron cavalry of these three major tribes add up to 500,000 or 600,000. Mijia really thought he could hide that little matter from Luo Luohan, what a joke."

  "Lord Duan's son was sent by his father to discuss with me in person at Mount Yan, on how to appease the various forces of the great desert and ensure that the Xianbei will not have internal conflicts again." Murong Feng said with a wave of his hand, "The Xianbei kingdom's vast territory was conquered by us under the leadership of Emperor Tan Shi Huai. How can we abandon the foundation of Emperor Tan Shi Huai's legacy? These people are all guilty and deserve to die."

  "In this internal strife, some people must die, such as Ke Zui, who has no benefit to the stability and development of Xianbei. Some people must be punished, such as Mi Jia and Que Ju, do not fantasize about having unrealistic power. Some people must be restrained, such as Da Wang and Lian, his reckless behavior directly led to the decline of Xianbei's national strength, someone needs to help him."

  "Are you going to kill him or let him go?" Li Hong asked in puzzlement. "Will General just kill one of the Kuo brothers?"

  "He and Lian cannot die," said Murong Feng. "If he dies, it may directly lead to the split of Xianbei State, or even trigger a civil war among the Xianbei people. I also cannot die. If I die, many tribes that are loyal to me will rise up in rebellion, which may plunge Xianbei State into endless internal strife, causing its national strength to decline day by day, making it impossible for us to achieve anything."

  "When the great lord of Western Xianbei, Lü Guang, led his troops on a southern expedition, he cleaned up the treacherous and evil people at Mount Tanhan. I was on the north bank of the river, pretending to be in a precarious situation, and caught all these suspicious people off guard."

  Murong Feng's concerns may have been pent up in his heart for too long, or perhaps it was because he was surrounded by Xianbei people and had no one to confide in. Today, facing this Han boy he liked, who was naive and innocent, he finally spoke his mind freely, scolded to his heart's content, and spoke without restraint.