After setting up camp, the group of people, who had rested for a while, got on their horses again and headed up the river.
Wang Mancang turned around and saw that walking beside him was the Mongolian boy Zhurik that he had captured before.
In the faint ray of sunset, the child showed his broad forehead, his eyes were quite clean, his body was thin, his limbs were short, but his riding skills were very good.
In fact, we have been getting along for a long time, but it was only today that Wang Mancang suddenly had a sudden impulse and asked: "How old are you?"
"Nine years old."
"Huh? I thought you were thirteen or fourteen years old."
"On the grassland, nine years old is already a man."
Wang Mancang sneered and disagreed.
After a while, he teased Zhurik and asked: "You lead us to find water every day. How does it feel to be a Mongolian traitor?"
Ahead, Wang Li turned around and glanced at Wang Mancang with a warning look.
But Zhurik already patted his chest and said: "Only heroes are served on the grassland. If you allocate food and spoils fairly, I will follow you!"
"Ha ha ha ha."
These words made Wang Mancang laugh.
However, Wang Li once again put on a serious face and reminded Wang Mancang: "Don't say 'Mongolian traitor' again. Your Majesty has repeatedly issued edicts that Mongolia also belongs to China..."
"I know, I know." Wang Mancang said: "I have told you many times in the army that I am just teasing this child."
"I'm not a child anymore." Zhurik turned around and said.
"Hey, the two of you combined are not as old as me, and you are used to speaking in this tone of voice."
Wang Mancang immediately went over, stretched out his hand and patted Zhulik on the head, saying: "You are not a child, who is a child? I am older than your father."
Zhurik touched his head and said nothing.
He has learned Chinese in the past few months and knows that his father is Abu.
But he was very disappointed with the father who sold both him and Eji, so he fell into depression.
Wang Mancang was always cheerful, humming songs to himself, and then raised his hand in the last twilight of dusk.
"what is that?"
... They were two groups of men and horses chasing each other. The fleeing side had seven or eight riders, and the chasing side had about fifty horses.
Perhaps they saw the dust and smoke rising here early, and the fleeing party ran towards Wang Li and Wang Mancang.
"Help us!" someone shouted in Mongolian at the top of his lungs.
Soon, a horseman caught up from behind, opened his long bow, and shot an arrow, knocking the man who asked for help off his horse.
"Kill Aslan."
"Friends in front of you, please don't mind your own business. We are robbing the bride and have already killed the groom..."
The shout came over, and Wang Mancang immediately moved.
"drive!"
As soon as a flying horse came out, he took the lead and galloped to the opposite side.
The soldiers who originally belonged to Wang Mancang also followed suit.
After wandering on this grassland for a long time, they became more and more unfettered.
When Wang Li saw this, he was angry and anxious. He raised his telescope and glanced around, and then ordered everyone to follow.
Gradually, a woman's cry and a man's shout could be heard coming from the front.
Wang Li lowered his body and galloped, squinting in the strong wind, and saw Wang Mancang leading people to go behind the opponent, obviously wanting to surround the opponent and seize the opponent's horses and belongings.
The leader of the other party was the big man who had just killed the groom with one arrow, and was shouting loudly at this time.
"Where are you warriors from? Make friends and I can treat you to a drink. But if you become my enemy, my arrows will pierce you..."
"Whoosh!"
Wang Li first shot an arrow, pointing directly at the opponent's face.
At the same time, the sounds of fighting could be heard all around.
Wang Li didn't even look to see if the arrow hit, he lowered his head so that his helmet could
Protecting his face, he continued to rush in the direction of the other party.
There was a "ding" sound and an arrow hit his head.
He didn't care, he raised the long knife in his hand and listened carefully to the sounds around him.
Suddenly, he raised his head sharply and glanced around like lightning. He saw the opponent driving his horse forward and slashing with his sword.
There was a sound of "dang", he raised the knife to block it and then swung it.
"puff!"
The young Mongolian man who was so arrogant just now was cut down like this.
The surrounding Mongolians were also frightened, grabbing their reins and trying to flee.
"Surround them!" Wang Li shouted, commanding his cavalry to surround Wang Mancang. The grassland was wide open, so it was inevitable that more than ten cavalry would flee.
But they still captured more than thirty war horses and some trophies.
When the fighting subsided, they lit a bonfire and counted the spoils.
Wang Li stood by the bonfire and stuffed a piece of cheese into his mouth. When he looked up, he saw the soldiers bringing over the bride who had been robbed.
For a moment, he froze there and forgot to chew the cheese in his mouth.
He is eighteen years old this year, which is the age when love begins. Where he looks now, he sees a pitiful and beautiful girl with tearful eyes, looking at him timidly...
a long time.
Wang Li came to his senses, swallowed everything in his mouth, and asked: "Are you Han? Can you speak Chinese?"
"I will say... my mother is Han, and she remarried a Mongolian and gave birth to me."
"Your father is Mongolian? It doesn't look like you talk like that."
"I have never met my biological father. Since I was a child, I have followed my mother to live with my half-brother. The elder brother is a scholar and teaches me etiquette."
"oh."
Wang Li probably understood something, and looked at the woman again, but suddenly he didn't know how to ask.
Over there, Wang Mancang came over with a weird smile, glanced at the woman lightly, pulled Wang Li and walked aside.
"I asked her people, and I got a big deal this time."
"What?"
"That is the half-sister of Li Dehui, Prince of Anxi of Meng Yuan Dynasty..."
In the middle of his words, Wang Mancang suddenly smiled, changed the subject, and said, "I mean, General Wang, she didn't attack you, right? This little girl has some scheming intentions."
Wang Lidao: "I haven't asked in detail yet."
"I'm here to ask."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Mancang turned around, picked up a red-hot branch from the bonfire, and stretched it straight in front of the woman.
The woman was so frightened that she fell pale and fell to the ground, terrified.
"If I ask a question, you answer." Wang Mancang said, "If you tell a lie, I will burn a hole in your face."
"No...don't dare."
"What's your name?"
"Li Yuping."
"Didn't you say that your biological father is Mongolian?"
"Yes...it was the name given to me by my half-brother."
"What's your brother's name?"
"Brother..." Li Yuping bit her lip and replied, "Li Dehui."
"Why are you here?"
"I originally lived in Jinlianchuan with my elder brother. My elder brother was appointed as the king's prime minister. He promised to send someone to pick him up when the palace of Xi'an was completed. However, more than three months ago, someone said that after my elder brother was captured..."
As Li Yuping spoke, she glanced at these people secretly and continued: "My brother has returned to the Tang Dynasty."
Wang Mancang and Wang Li looked at each other and asked, "When was Li Dehui captured?"
They were forced into the vast grassland, and it was rare for them to get this information.
Although Li Yuping didn't know much, after she told everything she knew, they were still able to piece together what happened in the subsequent war.
In November last year, Li Xia defeated Mong Ge La's army and captured Li Dehui; in February this year, in the battle of Helan Mountain, the Tang army won a great victory...
"In April of this year, the news reached Kaiping. When my mother heard about my brother, she decided to take her family to the Tang Dynasty. We traveled westward for more than three months and arrived here, only to find out that the guide had sold us."
"ha."
Wang Mancang sneered and said: "Why surrender to the Tang Dynasty? You are afraid of being implicated and don't believe that Li Dehui will surrender, so you want to ask Brother Gang for assassination."
Li Yuping was startled and kowtowed, saying: "I don't dare to lie to the general."
Wang Mancang thought for a moment, put aside the burning branch, and put his hand on the handle of the knife.
The next moment, Wang Li held his hand and asked in a low voice: "What do you mean?"
"We are fleeing in enemy territory, and it is inconvenient to take a woman with us."
"Didn't you hear what she said? Her brother has joined the Tang Dynasty."
"I only heard that her brother was captured and perhaps beheaded by His Majesty."
At this point, Wang Mancang suddenly asked: "Do you like it?"
"What?" Wang Li was startled.
Wang Mancang was already laughing loudly and said: "If you like it, then take it with you. What's the big deal for a man?"
"I do not……"
"Hahaha, it doesn't matter, just think of it as stealing a bride."
Wang Mancang waved his hands and sang folk songs again casually.
"The sweetheart I want to hold in my arms has gone over the mountains and is far away. The sweetheart I want to cry for has waded far away. I cry so hard that my heart aches. It is better to come into my arms and stop crying..."
And in a tribe not far in front of them, Xiong Er, a thousand households of the Yuan army, were sitting by the fire drinking.
Xiong Er was a Qixue general under Mang Ge La, and he was also the general who escorted Mong Ge La to the north of Yinshan Mountain to meet Kublai Khan.
After the poisonous soup incident happened, Zhang Hongfan said a few words to Xiong Er in private.
"I believe you have nothing to do with this matter, but it is no longer appropriate for you to continue to lead the troops to follow King Anxi. Why don't you lead the troops to pursue the remnants of the Tang army that dared to attack His Majesty, and wait until the truth about the poisonous soup case is found out..."
Today, Xiong Er has received news from Jiuyuan City, learning that Princess Ye Rihan was killed and King Anxi fell ill.
Only then did he realize that Zhang Hongfan had actually known the truth for a long time. He had been trying to evade King Anxi's military power for the past two or three months, and he actually succeeded.
However, as the "Marshal of the Mongolian and Han armies", Zhang Hongfan was only a young Han Chinese. No matter how trusted he was by the Great Khan, he could not directly take charge of the battles along the way like the Mongolian Boyan.
Therefore, the nominal commander-in-chief is still the clan king Tuohu, and Zhang Hongfan has to rely on Tuohu's identity to issue orders...
Just as I was thinking about this, I heard the sound of horse hooves ahead.
Xiong Er came to his senses and guessed that the leader of this tribe had come back to steal his bride.
He heard that the bride was very beautiful and planned to see it with his own eyes.
If it was really good, he wouldn't mind snatching it away from the tribe leader again.
However, at this time, only a dozen or so people were seen escaping back in panic and rushing to Xiong Er.
"Qianhu, if you want to find that Tang army, it's right in front!"