Chapter Six If I Still Can't Stay There

  The man in the green shirt and long gown caught Fang Jie's attention as soon as he entered, to be honest, this kind of man would become the focus of people's attention no matter where he appeared, whether it was in a bustling city or in a temple.

  His clothes were not bright, and he looked a bit shabby. But without a doubt, such a person would never be overshadowed by the sons of wealthy families in brocade clothes, even if he stood among them.

  A seemingly calm yet fiery splendor.

  It's strange that in this world, there is always a kind of person who doesn't need to show off their knowledge through words, doesn't need to show off their status through clothes, and doesn't need to show off their wealth through money. Just standing there, they possess an extremely strong aura.

  Although he only took a glance, Fang Jie felt it in his heart. The luxurious private room on the second floor across from the dance stage was probably reserved specifically for this person.

  If it's for a wealthy merchant or a high-ranking official, then no matter what, it seems somewhat vulgar. The red sleeve invitation is just an entertainment business, and the women here can't be said to be of noble status.

  However

  Hongxiu's invitation was never a common thing, and Mrs. Xi was never a common person.

  Fang Jie looked at the man and thought, should I invite him for a drink?

  As soon as the thought was born, the man in the green shirt and long gown had already followed the old cripple directly up to the second floor. It was the first time Fang Jie saw the old cripple being so respectful to someone. At the corner of the stairs, the man turned his head and looked at Fang Jie again, seemingly taking an interest in him. Although they were quite far apart, Fang Jie still caught a glimpse of a hint of meaning in the man's eyes that was faint but not hidden at all.

  It's not just curiosity, but also... disgust.

  What does he dislike?

  Fang Jie didn't know and had no time to guess, because just as the man stepped onto the second floor, several border soldiers rushed in from outside, dragged Fang Jie out without saying a word.

  "General is looking for you, go quickly to the market side!"

  He found him with a rather unsightly complexion, panting and speaking in short gasps. Apparently, the Hongxiang Inn was not the first place he had looked for him, perhaps he had already run half of Fanggu City.

  "What's wrong?"

  One side followed and asked while running.

  "You'll know when you get there."

  He ran in one breath to the newly built wooden building of the Market Supervision Mansion, where Fang Jie had roughly understood what had happened. The hundreds of tall horses in the market were standing there, and the Northern Liaoning people wearing leather coats were leaning against the wooden stakes, seemingly leisurely blowing flutes, but the music was a bit trembling.

  The reason why Fang Jie recognized the man in leather coat as a Northern Liao person at a glance was because of their unique appearance. This is a strange nation, and when Fang Jie first knew about this nation, he even thought that he had traveled to an era where palace dramas were popular.

  Men of the Northern Liaoning ethnic group wear braids.

  Just like the men of a certain dynasty, they shaved their foreheads clean and combed a long braid at the back, looking somewhat strange.

  They roughly knew the attitude of the Northern Liao people, who were unwilling to be oppressed by the Mongol Empire and had expressed their willingness to surrender to the Great Sui Empire more than once. However, perhaps due to consideration for the overall situation, the Emperor of the Great Sui Empire had not made any statement regarding the request of the Northern Liao people. Although the vast territory of the Ximan Mountains in the extremely cold land was vast, it was indeed a bit barren. The Emperor would not go to war with the Mongol Empire for this poor land and backward nation.

  "Think of something!"

  Li Xiaozong looked at Fang Jie with a frown, his eyebrows tightly furrowed.

  "How did you get in?"

  Fang Jie didn't answer Li Xiang's words but instead asked: "So many war horses, how did they enter the city?"

  "Today's on-duty Li Daren is a damn idiot!"

  Li Xiaozong furiously shouted: "You took a gold coin from that Northern Liao person and let him in. When I asked him, he actually had the nerve to tell me that the one who was let in wasn't a Mongol, but a Northern Liao person. The agreement between the Great Sui Empire and the Mongol Empire is invalid for Northern Liao people!"

  "This guy..."

  Fang Xian couldn't help but let out a wry smile, he knew that Li Gan was notorious for being greedy.

  "But what Li Gan said is actually quite right!"

  Fang Jie picked up the teacup on the desk, took a sip, cleared his throat and said: "The agreement between Your Majesty and M?nke seems to have made no mention of the Northern Liao people? So the Northern Liao people are not within the scope of the agreement... If the Mongol Empire's people entangle themselves in this matter, they will not be able to extricate themselves. In the end, it will be up to those officials from the Ministry of Rites to haggle with the grassland barbarians. I hear that the officials from the Ministry of Rites are even more arrogant and cunning than one another. As for the skill of haggling, the grassland barbarians are certainly no match."

  "You mean... just forget it ever happened?"

  Li Xiaozong asked uncertainly.

  "How is that possible!"

  "There is no trade between the Great Sui and the Northern Liao people. The Northern Liao people have always done business with the barbarians of the grasslands... Of course, they must have suffered a lot because of this. However, it's undeniable that the Northern Liao people coming to our doorstep uninvited is against the rules! For foreigners who haven't been permitted by the Great Sui court and yet entered the border city..."

  Fang Jie glanced at Li Xiaozong: "Are they all considered aggressors?"

  "That makes sense."

  Li Xiaozong thought for a moment and said.

  "What is the general waiting for?"

  Fang Jie smiled and asked.

  "Understood!"

  Li Xiaozong patted Fang Jie's shoulder with force: "You're really a talent!"

  ……

  ……

  That afternoon, an explosive message spread in Fan Gu City. The Northern Liao people who came to trade with over 500 war horses were taken down by General Li Xiangzong himself. The Northern Liao's war horses were confiscated, and more than 30 Northern Liao men were locked up in the dungeon of Fan Gu City with iron chains, reportedly subjected to severe torture.

  The news spread like a whirlwind and soon the Mongol garrison in Nirvana City on the other side of Wolf's Milk Mountains knew everything clearly.

  Qian Fuzhang Agu Da Mu didn't dare to delay, and immediately sent someone to hurry to the residence of Mandu La Tu, the flag owner of Mandu Qi, 200 miles away.

  The vast territory of the Mongol Empire was the first in the world at that time. Someone once said that one of the most troublesome things for the successive Khans of the Mongol Empire was that none of them knew exactly how much land they owned and how many subjects they had, because the territory of the Mongol Empire was too vast to be mapped out.

  The Mongol Empire was divided into forty-eight banners, with the smallest banner managing thousands of miles of pasture. The closest to the Great Sui border town of Fanju was the Mandu Banner, whose master, Mandulatu, was a hardline war hawk. The Mongol Empire's banners were like the Great Sui's prefectures, varying in size, and the selection of their masters was appointed by the first Khan of the Mongol Empire and then inherited.

  Mandula was a warlike man who had more than once requested M?ngke Khan of the Mongol Empire to attack the Song Dynasty.

  But it is said that this guy has six wives, three of whom are Han people.

  What happened in Fanggu Castle will become the war between the Mongol Empire and the Great Sui, no one can say clearly. But Li Xiaozong knew he had to be prepared at all times, he ordered the 800 border troops to cancel their rotation and gather together to prevent a surprise attack by the Mongol Empire. At the same time, he sent someone to report to Wu Peizhi, the governor of Jibei City, to make a decision.

  The news reached the city of Jibei, and Wu Peizhi was immediately frightened.

  He scolded Li Xiang for being a pig, then immediately wrote a memorial and sent it to Chang'an City with a thousand miles of urgency. The distance between Jibei County and Chang'an is not just ten thousand miles, who knows if the news will arrive in Chang'an when the battle has already started? To ensure that nothing unexpected happens, Wu Pei gathered all the county soldiers to prepare for battle, while writing a letter to send to the Youhou Wei Dajun camp three hundred miles away.

  The Great Sui's Right Marquis Wei commands 50,000 elite imperial guards, and is the shield of the northwest border of the Great Sui!

  Youhoushuai General Li Yuanshan is also from the Longyou Li family, and is a direct descendant of the Li family. This person has outstanding military achievements and is highly trusted by Emperor Yang Yi. To say that anyone who can be honored as the Great Sui Twelve Wei Fu Bing Da Jiangjun is not a meritorious and prominent figure, and which one does not come from a distinguished family?

  Compared to those high-ranking generals, Li Xiaozong, a small border town's castle commander, is really not worth mentioning. If even Li Xiaozong isn't worth mentioning, then there's no need to mention Fang Jie, who only holds the lowly position of deputy commander of a scouting team.

  At this time, this insignificant person was sitting in a dungeon, talking incessantly.

  "This is something you Northerners have done too stupidly."

  Fang Jie looked at the leader of the Northern Liaoning group and sighed, "Do you think I can't see what you're trying to do? Trying to force Mong Yuan and Da Sui to take action? Forcing Da Sui to accept you? Idiots! Even a small official like me on the border can see it, are the big shots in the imperial court all blind?"

  Fang Jie glared fiercely at the Northern Liao man: "Do you think that with your inferior and stupid plan, you can drag two empires in? Do you think you Northern Liao people have this qualification? You're too naive, I dare to bet that no matter if this matter reaches Mongke's ears or is known by my Great Sui Emperor... it will only be laughed at."

  The man standing opposite Li Xian, a Beiliang person, was around 24 or 25 years old, with a sturdy build, raised eyebrows, angry eyes, a thin and long face, and thin lips. Just by looking at his facial features, he seemed to be a resolute and determined individual.

  "Your Excellency!"

  The Northern Liao Hanzi clasped his hands together and said, "I admit that you have seen through our thoughts, and the outcome may indeed be as you said. But as long as the Great Sui and the Mongols go to war, we Northern Liao people will once again exhaust all our strength to assist the Great Sui in defeating the Mongols. Would the Emperor still not accept us? You may never understand that we Northern Liao people want to change our place of residence."

  "I just don't get it!"

  Fang Jie Meng stood up, pointing at the man's nose and asked: "What's wrong with living a simple life? Must you fight and kill people to be happy? Don't you care how many people die? Aren't you afraid that Mong Ke will order your tribe to be destroyed in a fit of rage? Can't you just guard your own home and live well?"

  "Adult..."

  Bei Liao Hanzi looked at Fang Jie with a hint of pain in his eyes: "You must not have been to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, so you don't know how cold it is there. Maybe you think that the winter in Fan Gu Cheng is already unbearable, but in our hometown, the weather in Fan Gu Cheng now is even warmer than our spring! If you've been to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, then you'll know what's called bitter cold, despairing cold."

  "We Northern Liaoning people are not afraid of the cold, we are afraid of being exterminated... From the beginning of the last Khan of the Mongol Empire, every five years, the Mongols would launch a recruitment campaign for our tribe, saying they wanted to recruit strong Han men to join the wolf cavalry. But in reality, those who were taken away were all slaughtered halfway. Because the Mongols are afraid that our tribe will become powerful, they use such cruel means to slaughter our people, if this continues... within thirty years, our tribe will disappear from this world."

  He looked at Fang Jie and asked word by word: "Do you think we shouldn't go to protest?"

  "What's your name."

  Square root of question mark.

  "Wanyan Liuyao"

  Bei Liao Hanzi replied.

  "Alright, Wan Yan Li Yao... can you Northern Liao people work with iron?"

  "Of course! The curved knives in the hands of our tribal warriors are sharper than those in the hands of the Mongol cavalrymen! However... we don't have iron. So we don't have enough weapons, not enough feathered arrows, and can't resist the Mongols' wolf-like cavalry."

  "There will be."

  Fang Jie smiled and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, just stay here. If nothing unexpected happens, it won't be long before you're taken to a very large city. There will be people much higher than me who will talk to you. Who knows, maybe this is a good thing for you."

  "Finally..."

  Fang Jianning said with a smile: "My general says, let me thank you for your war horse on his behalf."

  "Don't be polite"

  Wanyan Luyu waved his hand indifferently: "The Northern Liao people lack iron tools and salt, but what they don't lack is good warhorses! Moreover, in this world, only we Northern Liao people have cold-resistant warhorses. I don't know if you've heard of one thing... the reason why the Mongols always want to destroy my tribe is because our Northern Liao cavalry is the only one that can charge to the foot of the Great Snowy Mountains. That's why the Buddhist sect doesn't allow us to have such power. The Buddhist sect... they're a group of devils!"

  Fang Jie nodded and turned around to leave.

  At this moment, in the second floor elegant room of Hongxiu Building.

  "You're here"

  The corners of her eyes already showed signs of aging, but the face was still captivating. Xi Dainiang looked at the man in front of her and spoke. Without a doubt, it was a waste of words. The ageless Xi Dainiang's expression remained calm, but the fluctuations in her heart were much greater than usual.

  Still towering chest stunning, full of mature women's charm.

  "Let's go, so come first."

  "Are you leaving again? Where are you going?"

  "The most mysterious place in time"

  The man in the blue shirt smiled faintly and said, "We have to go anyway, or it will be a pity."

  The old lady gasped, and a tear mark slowly flowed out from the corner of her eye: "Don't you have any other regrets?"

  Desolate and helpless.

  "If even such a perilous place cannot hold me back, I will return to look for you."