Chapter 31: Clearing Bandits (Part 1)
On the way back, Xiao Zhiyan couldn't help but sigh and say: "Following you on the grassland for so long, I realized that I had been wasting my time on the grassland for seven or eight years!"
"I come from a merchant family, and I always consider personal gain first. Everyone has their own strengths, just like your archery skills which I will never be able to learn! Besides, there is a model in Zhangjiakou who can teach me!"
Xiao Zhiyan still found it hard to believe, and chuckled a few times, saying: "Tiemuerdai Khan, who was previously an unattainable figure, is now actually willing to collaborate with us Mongols!"
"We are not horse thieves, we are merchants." Zhai Zhe corrected Xiao Zhi's mistake.
"The Tumet people don't know our true intentions, Ormukhan thinks we are rich merchants from the interior. He will only cooperate with those who are useful to him, so we must act quickly!" Zhai Zhe urged his horse to speed up.
When the two returned to Uliji's residence in Tukhut Grassland, the guards who stayed behind were getting anxious and restless. Che Feng, who was stationed in the mountains, also sent someone out to gather information.
Di Zhe saw Che Feng and his first sentence was: "So many days, how have you been?"
"We, we!" Che Feng stuttered, "We stole the Tumet people's cattle and sheep!"
Di Zhe burst out laughing and said: "I was worried you guys would starve to death here."
The horse thieves in the mountains of Hulunbuir were rampant, especially against the Tumet people. Most of them had been pastoral slaves of the Tumet people, and the war made them lose their dependence, so they had to take action against their former masters. The Chahar people had a cavalry patrolling on the Tokto Grassland, prohibiting the Tumet people from gathering, which made it easy for the horse thieves to operate. They did not dare to attack the Chahar herdsmen and could only put their looting targets on the scattered Tumet people.
The horse thieves rely on their numerical superiority to rob and plunder. It's not like the old days, as long as it's not too excessive, the Tumet herders can only silently endure. The Chahar cavalry patrolling the area turns a blind eye to the horse thieves, and it's hard to say whether they haven't received instructions from Lin Dan Khan.
In mid-December, Temur and several other nomadic families drew closer to the mountains, a place that had previously been avoided by herdsmen.
At this time in the afternoon, Xiao Zhiyan was teaching Wuliji how to shoot arrows, and Di Zhe was chatting with several herdsmen. Suddenly, more than a dozen cavalrymen rushed out of the mountain forest.
"Bandits!" Temur's face changed color, and he rushed into the yurt to fetch his bow and arrow.
These people came over in an unhurried manner and surrounded us in a fan shape.
The leader drew his curved knife and shouted: "Don't panic, we only want some livestock!"
Xiao Zhiyan lowered his bow and slowly moved closer.
"No livestock, greedy bandits!" Temur spat a mouthful of saliva on the ground.
The leader of the horse thieves sneered, revealing a pair of yellow teeth, and shouted: "Don't toast without drinking, drink penalty wine!"
Two of the horse thieves made straight for the herd.
Suddenly, Xiao Zhiyan raised his hand and shot an arrow, hitting the bandit leader's chest. Di Zhe shouted "Take action!" and rushed towards a large black horse not far away.
The Tumet archers' arrows flew wildly, and four horse bandits fell from their horses immediately.
The horse thieves did not expect the herders to dare resist, and when they came to their senses, they saw eight or nine people wielding knives and shouting as they charged towards them. Two more were hit by arrows, and in a hurry, they turned back to counterattack while fleeing back into the mountains.
Di Zhe and others did not pursue, seeing the horse thieves disappear, they immediately pulled out of the camp, drove away the livestock and left the mountainous area to migrate to the grasslands.
Wu Li Ji followed behind Xiao Zhi Yan and asked in a low voice, "Will the horse thieves come after us?" Since witnessing Xiao Zhi Yan's archery skills, he had been deeply impressed, even among Mongolians, such exquisite marksmanship was rarely seen.
"It's a must, we killed six people, they haven't suffered such losses for a long time!" Zhai Zhe replied from the front.
The Mongolian yurt moved quickly, and the Tumet people drove their livestock to the west with all their might, where there was a vast grassland.
Go west, go further west! Half past noon scenery, left behind in the distance, Xiao Zhiyan's words caught up, shouting: "It's here!"
Di Zhe rode his horse up a grassy slope and saw a cluster of black shadows moving towards him from the distant intersection of the meadow and forest.
"Almost two hundred people!" Xiao Zhiyan stuck out his tongue, as if savoring a delicious taste.
The herdsmen continued westward, and Zhai Zhe and Xiao Zhisheng disappeared after crossing a grassy hill.
On the distant horizon, Ma Zei's anger was burning. For more than a month now, no Tumet person dared to resist his collection. Seeing the former master of the south grassland trembling under his curved knife today, there is an unspeakable pleasure in the grass flying. Today, a herdsman actually dared to resist and killed six brothers in the mountain stronghold! Ma Zei suspected that he was too kind to the Tumet people on ordinary days, now he wants to give these people a bloody lesson.
After tracking for half a day, they finally saw the fleeing herdsman. "Right ahead!" The horse thieves shouted and yelled.
"Charge! Kill them all!"
The bandits are getting closer and closer to the fleeing herdsman, and farther and farther away from the mountains.
As I walked through a grassy slope, I suddenly heard a bowstring sound, followed by a scream.
The arrows rained down on the hilltop, and the dense formation of the mounted bandits made it impossible for them to scatter quickly. Those who were shot fell off their horses, and from behind the grassy slope emerged a cavalry unit with over 300 men.
"An ambush!" shouted Cao Cao, who had been too careless and would not have been ambushed on the prairie if he had been more cautious.
Under Genghis Khan's command, the Mongol cavalry spread out like a net, their bows and arrows spitting out like venomous snakes devouring human lives, reaping the lives of the horse thieves.
Caosang Fei took a few glances and suddenly came to his senses. This was no ordinary herdsman, but an elite Tumet cavalryman!
"Retreat!" The grass on top of the hill flew as he turned his horse's head around. He was as arrogant when he came, and now he is just as regretful.
Xiao Zhiyan led fifty cavalrymen on the right side of the horse thieves, also constantly releasing arrows. These people were the most elite horse thieves in the mountain stronghold, and at this moment they looked like children compared to the Tumu Khan's cavalry.
Di Zhe and Princess Wulan halted their horses on the slope to watch the battle.
Princess Ulan whipped her little horse whip and praised: "Your guard is pretty good!"
"On the prairie, no one can be an enemy of the Mongols!" Zhai Zhe's words were not flattery. The Tumet cavalry was like a gadfly, stubbornly clinging to and surrounding the horse thieves in a circle.
Di Zhe whispered: "We must end this battle as soon as possible, we can't let Chahar discover us!"
Princess Ulan spurred on her horse in her small leather boots and caught up, ordering: "Surrender!"
Ge Dilu heard the order and shouted loudly: "Those who surrender will be spared from death!"
"Those who surrender will be spared!" The cries rose and fell. Some of the desperate horse thieves immediately jumped off their horses, knelt down on the ground, most of whom were just herding slaves half a year ago, and had never seen such a scene before.
Cao Cao looked towards the dense forest in the distance, he couldn't escape anymore, leaving his back to the skilled Tumuerte cavalry was no different from seeking death. Once confidence swelled and lost his life, Cao Cao bitterly smiled in his heart, urging his horse to charge towards the shouting Tumuerte cavalry, with his trusted followers closely following behind.
The two armies clashed, and the flashing blades on horseback avoided each other as they charged forward. The curved blade swept past the armpit of the opposing knight, then quickly struck down the Mongolians entangled with his own soldiers. Gerdaleth kicked his horse and thrust his long spear fiercely, hitting his left arm. Before he could react, Gerdaleth's horse momentum did not decrease, abandoned his long spear and approached him, drew out the curved knife from his waist and slashed it heavily on his neck. In agony, he lost control of his balance and fell off his horse, disappearing into the chaotic hooves.
"Those who surrender will be spared from death!"
The bandits on horseback were killed in battle and lost their will to fight. They surrendered one after another, for them the most important thing was to stay alive.
Half a time later, the surrendered horse thieves handed over their knives and arrows, tied the bodies of their companions to the horses, and retreated into the mountains under the escort of the Tumote cavalry, and the grassland was as calm as ever.
"Eighty-six corpses, one hundred and twelve captives!" Geriletu reported to Princess Ulan after counting the numbers.
Di Zhe secretly felt a chill, the Tumed cavalry's speed of killing was astonishing, and the untrained horse thieves could not resist head-on.
Princess Ulan pointed to the terrified captives with her braid and said to Chui Zhe: "These people, I'll leave them all to you!" The Mongolian cavalry never needed Han people. Through this battle, she declared to the Tumet people on the Tokto grassland that the Khan's account could still protect them, and she had achieved her goal.
"I'll take down their stronghold!" Zhai Zhe nodded and said, "The bandit leader is dead, I just interrogated him. There are only fifty or sixty people in the stronghold of Motian Ridge!"
Princess Wulan hesitated for a moment, then replied: "Alright, with a foothold, we don't have to keep taking risks on the grasslands!" Creating a bandit identity for the Tumet cavalry as cover, Wulan instantly understood Zhai Zhe's plan.
