Chapter 6 Border Town (Part 1)

  Yang Yingqi and Cao Guangyi were shocked when they heard that the Khitan cavalry was coming from behind. Di Yu asked, "How many people are there?"

  Liu Qi said: "There were only three riders, they looked down on us and charged straight up, one was shot down by Young Master Ouyang, the other two retreated. Young Master Ouyang is going to seize the horse."

  Di Yu said: "What nonsense!" He turned to Cao Guangyi and said: "These are all Han people, please ask Brother Cao to pass on the message for us, let us enter the border to take refuge."

  Cao Guangyi said: "I can't make a decision on this matter, you all wait here first."

  As he rode back, his companion, a middle-aged veteran, listened to his words and said: "You're confused! How can you believe him in such matters? Even if these people are really Han Chinese, it's hard to guarantee that there aren't a few spies among them. Even if you report this to the authorities, neither the Defense Commissioner nor the Metropolitan Governor would agree, nor dare to agree!"

  Cao Guangyi said again: "I heard that there are also Khitan cavalry appearing in the back, you wait, I'll go and take a look."

  He didn't even respond to his companions' calls for him to stop, and instead rode his horse swiftly past the crowd of 500 people, coming to the end of the procession. Indeed, he saw a Liao soldier's corpse lying about 30 steps away, and Ou Yang was approaching slowly on horseback. Further away were two black dots, which must have been the Khitan cavalry who had just escaped.

  Cao Guangyi said: "You have a big nerve, you also dare to kill Liao soldiers."

  Ouyang Shi sneered, "Judging from your attire, you're a soldier of the Song Dynasty. I've heard that the northern border troops fear the Liao like tigers and would rather worship them as ancestors. It seems it's not an exaggeration."

  Cao Guangyi was furious upon hearing this, and just as he was about to erupt, someone behind him said: "Protecting the country and its people is a soldier's duty! The Great Song cannot recover Yan and Yun, resulting in Han families being enslaved in the north. Now that we have abandoned our sons and returned home, we only ask the Song court to give us a piece of land to avoid the alien tribes and preserve our lives - isn't this acceptable?"

  Cao Guangyi's heart skipped a beat, he turned his head to look back and saw a young man with an air of grandeur, about the same age as himself. He asked: "Who are you?"

  "He is our leader, called Zhe Yan Chong! I am Ouyang Shi."

  Cao Guangyi said: "We can't make decisions on this matter. However, we are already near the strategic location of Xiongzhou, you cannot proceed further, stop first and wait for me to report back and get permission from the governor before allowing you to enter the border."

  Ouyang Shi sneered: "Stop? The Khitan vanguard has caught up, if we stop here, by the time you beg for mercy and come back, I'll have 500 corpses left."

  "What do you want to do then?"

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "We are on foot, walking slower than you, it may take another day or two to reach the city of Xiong State. You go and report back, hoping to hear your good news when we arrive at the city."

  Cao Guangyi fell silent for a moment before saying, "Alright, but you'd better keep yourselves in check and don't cause any more trouble."

  "Look at them, do they look like they would cause trouble?"

  Cao Guangyi nodded and rode his horse away.

  Suddenly someone said: "Wait!"

  Cao Guangyi heard the words and looked away, only to see that it was the child who had just followed Di Yu's side. He couldn't help but feel a sense of surprise and asked: "Did Mr. Di ask you to come and deliver a message?" He thought that a child wouldn't have any insight! Most likely, Di Yu had sent him to deliver a message.

  Yang Yingqi said calmly, "You go back to Xiongzhou alone, what if you don't come back? How will we know your superior's intention? Why not let one or two of us follow you back?"

  "Absolutely not! To be honest with you, I don't entirely trust you either! How do I know this request of yours isn't some kind of hidden trick? What if you're spies and I bring you into Xiong Zhou, wouldn't that be like opening the door to thieves?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "How about this? We'll just send one person. That way you can control it better. Alright?" Seeing Cao Guangyi still hesitating, Yang Yingqi said, "Let me go with this little kid, will that make you feel at ease?"

  Zhe, Cao, and Ouyang were all shocked, Zhe Yan rushed to say: "How can that be!"

  Yang Yingqi said, "Delivering a message is just a simple matter, even a child like me can do it. Besides, I'm just a kid, and the governor of Xiongzhou won't harm me even if he doesn't accept us."

  Zhe Yan Chong and Ouyang Shi exchanged a glance, they naturally knew that Yang Yingqi this "child" was not as simple as he said, in terms of cleverness and cunning, it's likely that among five hundred people, there wasn't one who could match him.

  Ouyang Shidao said: "I think, let Ying Qi go. He is not yet thirteen years old, but he can also be considered a little adult."

  Zhe Yan hesitated for a moment before nodding his head and saying to Cao Guangyi, "You're not afraid of even a little kid, are you?"

  "Alright," said Cao Guangyi hesitantly. "Anyway, if you are really good citizens, it's best to follow some rules."

  "We just want to have enough food to eat and be able to survive, that's all we're asking for."

  Ouyang Yi jumped off his horse and asked Yang Yingqi: "Do you know how to ride a horse?"

  Yang Yingqi said, "After being sold to the Khitan with Kaifeng brother, I was a horse slave for several months and learned how to ride." As he spoke, he climbed onto the horse's back. In these few months, under the guidance of Diwu, a martial arts master, Yang Yingqi's skills had improved significantly, and ordinary 16 or 17-year-old boys were no match for him.

  Cao Guangyi saw Yang Yingqi's horse-riding skills and praised: "Good skill. When I was as old as you, I'm afraid I couldn't beat you either. What's your name? Are you from the North?"

  Yang Yingqi said: "My name is Yang Yingqi, I am from Jiangnan."

  "Is he from Jiangnan?" Cao Guangyi asked strangely.

  Yang Yingqi said, "My family was originally a scholarly family, but it was ruined by Hua Shi and became homeless. To escape the tyranny and go to sea, I coincidentally encountered a violent storm and was blown onto the coast of Khitan territory, thus becoming a slave of the Khitan people."

  Cao Guangyi heard this and couldn't help but feel depressed. He had also heard about the cruel rule of Hua Shi-gang. In fact, the lives of ordinary people in the northern border states were not easy either.

  At this time, Cao Guangyi was in the front and Yang Yingqi was behind him. After they left, Ouyang Shu walked to Zhe Yan's side and said: "What do you think?"

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "This Cao surname official rank is too low, we can't let him take charge. How about you? Are the pursuers from the Khitan border army's vanguard cavalry or..."

  Ouyang Shidao said, "I can understand the Khitan language. When they rushed over, they called us 'dog slaves'. Most of them were not Khitan defenders, but pursuing troops who came after us - I've already said that those seven people are unreliable. If it weren't for someone among them being a traitor and leaking information, the Khitan pursuit troops would never have arrived so quickly."

  "Anyway, we've already reached the Song-Liao border. For our few hundred escaped slaves, the Liao army may not necessarily make a big fuss. The Liao people have been deeply sinicized, and there are fewer of us, so we're not afraid. If they want to mobilize a large army, they'll probably need to report layer by layer, it seems we still have time. Let's set off, hoping to avoid the Khitan pursuit troops before they arrive in Xiongzhou."

  Ouyang Yi said with a sigh: "What I'm afraid of is that when we arrive at Xiongzhou City, they won't want us!"

  Zhe Yan's expression turned gloomy, and he said, "Let's go take a look first. Ying Qi is a clever person, if he's with that Cao fellow, things might go more smoothly."