Chapter 55: Xun Yu's Doubts

  After a period of development and consumption of a large amount of human and material resources, the road from the pasture to Lingzhou City has been repaired.

  A three-zhang-wide road, first tamping the mud, then paving with gravel, and then paving with sand, and finally tamping again. Each layer was tamped to a thickness of more than one foot, and the entire road was four feet higher than the surrounding flat ground.

  After the heavy snow melted, the water on the ground was frozen into a thick layer of ice, making it very hard and slippery. Qingyun's hooves hit the road surface, producing a crisp and clear sound, but she couldn't speed up to her full pace.

  After all, the road was smooth and with Qing Jia's war horse's speed, even if they didn't rush, it took less than half a time to see Lingzhou City in the distance.

  This road is not as desolate and bleak as it used to be. Although some of the fields on both sides of the road are covered with a thin layer of snow, they cannot hide the lush green wheat seedlings. In the severe cold, these lovely wheat seedlings stubbornly stick their heads out of the snow, showing off their vitality and also heralding a bumper harvest next year.

  From time to time, an old farmer carrying farm tools walks by the field, looking at the wheat seedlings in the ground, and a smile of expectation blooms on his weathered face.

  Li Zheng was also smiling.

  Lingzhou's current situation is a credit to him, but he doesn't care about the credit. What makes him feel happy and contented is being able to realize his own plans.

  Entering Lingzhou City, Li Zhong entered the Hu Qiang School Lieutenant's Mansion. Before he could even take a sip of water, Zhou Fei appeared before his eyes.

  He excitedly told about all the changes in Lingzhou over this period of time, with a look of eagerness to be recognized overflowing from his words.

  He was originally a steward, existing as a domestic slave.

  And now he is the head of a county.

  It was Li Zhong who gave him this opportunity, and he yearned for Li Zhong's recognition.

  It's human nature.

  Li Zheng naturally understood Zhou Fei's thoughts and praised him repeatedly, making Zhou Fei smile with joy and feel invigorated.

  The good things were said, and Zhou's chubby face wrinkled up, looking very worried.

  However, Li Jing handed over most of the Jie prisoners to Zhou Fei for distribution, using them to build all the infrastructure in Lingzhou. This was done openly and aboveboard, so Xun Yu naturally wouldn't fail to notice.

  According to Xun Yu's thoughts, he must have had some guesses and hurried back from Fuping to Lingzhou a few days ago. Every day, he would bother Zhou Fei, asking to see Li Zhen immediately.

  Xun Yu's status was not ordinary, and Li Jing had entrusted him to be treated well. Zhou Fei could only respond with kind words, but his dissatisfaction was suppressed in his heart.

  Li Zhong is back now, and Zhou Fei immediately felt relieved.

  However, he was tactful and considerate, so he didn't immediately inform Xun Yu about Li Zong's return to Lingzhou, but instead came to see Li Zong first and listened to his opinion.

  Li Zhēng couldn't help but laugh and said: "That's unnecessary, go invite Mr. Xún Gōngdá over, I'll wait for him here."

  "Ah!"

  Zhou Yu retired for just a moment, and Xun You arrived.

  The two men exchanged a bow, and after Xun Yu sat down, he opened his mouth and said: "Huo Qubing has gone to the grasslands as the Protector of the Qiang, Li Jue, can you give me an explanation?!"

  In Xun Yu's view, Li Zuo's approach was already dereliction of duty.

  As the Protector of the Western Regions, he was already very dissatisfied with not being concerned about the affairs of Liangzhou itself. Now, a large number of slaves suddenly emerging from the entire Lingzhou made Xun Yu, a man who had seen and known much, have speculations in his heart.

  "Hahaha!"

  Li Ding burst out laughing, but then asked: "I wonder what Han Sui has been up to this month?"

  Xun Yu's face turned serious: "Commander Li, please don't change the subject."

  "Hmm..." Li Zheng rubbed his nose and said: "Alright, Mr. Gongda, what questions do you have? I'll answer them all, without holding anything back."

  Xun Yu was also helpless.

  Given his status, reputation and talent, to be honest, it's basically impossible to meet someone like Li Zhen. No matter how arrogant one is, when meeting Xun Yu, they would still have to be humble. Even the emperor treats him with great courtesy.

  But Li Zhong was an eye-opener for him.

  As for reception, Li Zhong did a flawless job. However, when it comes to the important matters of the imperial court and the rebel army's main business, Li Zhong put them aside.

  This guy is really not doing his job properly!

  "May I ask, General Li?" Xun Yu asked sternly: "Where has General Li been for the past month? And where are the elite soldiers under his command?"

  "This is the case..." Li Zhēng stroked his chin and said, "I've always been at home. Mr. Gong Da knows that I have my own business, can't leave it unattended..."

  "Hold on." Xun You's face had already turned somewhat dark: "Then let Xun ask again, where did the Hu prisoners who filled the counties of Lingzhou come from?"

  "Are you all refugees?!"

  Li Zhuang talks nonsense with his eyes open.

  "Shut up!" Xun Yu could no longer hold back: "Does Li Shou think I don't know the origin of these barbarians? These barbarians are obviously a branch of the Xiongnu's Baidao tribe!"

  Li Zhong was taken aback by what he heard.

  It turned out that Xun Yu also knew the identities of these barbarians.

  "Hmm..." Li Zhēng was somewhat embarrassed: "Still can't deceive Mr. Gongda. Never mind, I won't hide it either. Indeed, as Mr. Gongda expected, this month, Li led his elite troops and wiped out the Xiongnu tribes north of the Lingzhou northern hills."

  "You're really bold!"

  Xun Yu pointed at Li Zuo's nose and scolded: "Do you know what the consequences would be if we were to provoke the Xiongnu again in the current situation of Liangzhou?!"

  "This is indeed known." Li Zhong smiled and said, "The Xiongnu's power is great, if the Xiongnu sends a cavalry from the north, I will naturally be attacked on both sides, which is not beneficial to the imperial court's plans."

  "You know it's detrimental to the imperial court's plans, why are you still doing this?!"

  "That's right, isn't there going to be an internal strife within the Xiongnu soon? I know they don't have the energy to bother with me for now." Li Zhēng said with a smile.

  "What?!"

  Xun Yu heard this and was taken aback for a moment, then hastily asked: "The Xiongnu are going to have an internal upheaval!? How did you know that?!"

  "...". Li Zhēng was taken aback, the two of them stared at each other, after a while, Li Zhēng said: "I fought against the Xiongnu Shibei tribe on the northern grasslands, captured a prisoner, and got the news from the prisoner's mouth."

  "Xū Bǔ shì?!"

  Translation: "Is it Xubu?!"

  Xun Yu's eyes widened in surprise.

  He had always thought that Li Zhong only gave the remaining to be beaten, but he didn't expect that he had also fought with the Xiongnu people and even captured a Xiongnu person, who was actually a member of the Xubu clan!

  "Y-you..." Xun Yu was at a loss for words for a moment.

  "He patted his forehead: 'You're the bravest person I've ever met, no one else!'"

  "Too kind! Too kind!"

  Xun Yu was speechless for a long time.

  After a long while, he let out a sigh and said: "Alright, what's done is done, regretting it won't help. Since the Xiongnu are in internal turmoil, I suppose it's just as you predicted - they'll be too busy to bother with this place for a short while. It seems you've gotten what you wanted, so shouldn't we focus on dealing with Han Sui's rebellion now?"

  "I humbly obey the orders of my superior!"

  Xun Yu was annoyed again.

  Then Li Zong ordered someone to bring wine and dishes, and said to Xun Yu: "Mr. Gongda, I rushed from the grassland, without eating or drinking, really starving, do you want to have a meal together?!"

  "It is better to obey than to show respect."

  "Uh..."

  After waiting for the servant to bring up the food, the two of them ate their fill and drank enough, and Xun Yu finally felt relieved.

  Xun said, "I've met many people and seen a lot of things, but I've never met anyone like Li Xiaowei. To be honest, Li Xiaowei's audacity is nothing special, what I find mysterious about him is..."

  "Oh?"

  "Earlier, I saw Li Xiaowei's green armor war horse, although I was surprised in my heart, but after all, the number is not many. Maybe it's an occasional encounter with such a war horse in the old mountain and forest, and Li Xiaowei took advantage of it."

  "But what about those so-called mountain wolf riders who came to Fuping the other day? A whole hundred of them, that's no small number!"

  "Even Xun Yu was bewildered by the excellent equipment of the soldiers under General Li's command."

  "In the Great Han border army, there are not many elite troops equipped with iron armor. Moreover, as far as Xun knows, the quality of the heavy infantry armor in the Great Han border army is far inferior to that of the heavy armored soldiers under Li Xiaowei's command! Unless it's some high-ranking generals' armor, they can barely compare. But what's surprising is that high-ranking generals' armor is often carefully crafted by famous master craftsmen, which takes a lot of time and effort. However, Li Xiaowei's troops can mass-produce such equipment for low-ranking infantrymen, which leaves me baffled!"

  "There are also horse armors, and only a small number of heavily armored cavalrymen have them. But under Li's command, regardless of whether they were light or heavy cavalry, all wore armor. And the quality of the armor was exceptional, one glance and you could tell it wasn't ordinary!"

  "There were also weapons, which I couldn't even imagine."

  "Mounts, armor, and blades, as well as the so-called San Mai, Red Jade Bird, and Thorny Boar, even the mighty beast from the other day, all of these things, the vast imperial court probably can't produce them. You, a small Protector of the Western Regions, where did you get them from?!"

  "There are also tens of thousands of Hu prisoners scattered throughout Lingzhou! You, Li Colonel, have only a few thousand men under your command. How can you be so bold as to arbitrarily order them around? Don't you fear that these Hu prisoners will rebel? Xun certain doesn't believe it, you, Li Colonel, haven't thought of this!"

  "Sometimes Xun would be dazed and wonder if you, Li Xiaowei, were dropped from the sky?"

  Listening to Xun Yu's words, Li Jing's heart was full of praise.

  This man was meticulous in his thoughts and remembered everything he saw. Li Zhong's details, as long as they were not intentionally hidden, were almost all grasped by him.

  Li Zhong's thoughts turned rapidly, his eyes narrowed, and after a long while, he saw a determined look on his face, and suddenly said: "Mr. Gongda, aren't you very curious, wanting to know why all this is?!"

  "That's natural."

  Xun Yu replied firmly, his intense and pressing expression gradually subsiding, a smile appearing on his warm and refined face.

  "All right, today I can satisfy Mr. Gongda's curiosity." Li Zhēng raised his head and looked straight at Xun Yu, saying: "However, I have a condition."

  "Oh?"

  "Mr. Gongda wants to know the reason, okay, then please let Mr. Gongda treat me as the host!"

  "What?!"

  Xun Yu's eyebrows rose, and his bright eyes turned sharp.