That night, two small fishing boats quietly crossed the Yellow River under the cover of darkness.
At the same time, Zhang Liang, with nearly two thousand bodyguards, also left the mass graves and set out westward along the south bank of the Yellow River.
After walking a few miles to the west, the team stopped at a river bend and successfully connected with a junior officer from the Secret Service.
"Commander Zhang, the fishing boats you ordered are all here!"
The junior officer from the Secret Service pointed at the river and said.
Zhang Liang is now not only the chief of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, but also the deputy commander of the Zhenyuan Army.
Jin Feng usually doesn't care about things. As a deputy commander, he is actually no different from the orthodox leader.
Through the faint starlight, Zhang Liang saw a row of fishing boats parked on the river.
"Second and second alert, others board the ship."
Zhang Liang whispered: "Everyone, please be careful and look at your feet. Don't fall into the water."
The escorts immediately began to line up to board the ship.
It was too dark, and the escorts did not light torches, and they had to lead their horses onto the ship, so the speed was very slow. It was not until early in the morning that all the escorts landed on the north bank.
"Commander Zhang, there is the camp of the Eastern Barbarians more than ten miles away. You must be careful!"
The junior officer from the Secret Service reminded him sympathetically.
Zhang Liang only had a few manpower and a few hundred horses. If he was discovered by the Eastern Barbarians, he would surely die.
In the eyes of the people in the Secret Intelligence Department, Zhang Liang and others were cannon fodder sent by Jin Feng to die.
"It's okay," Zhang Liang patted the Secret Intelligence Department official on the shoulder: "You go back, pay attention to the signal!"
"Don't worry, Commander Zhang, I will arrange for people to keep an eye on this place day and night, and when I see the signal, I will send a ship to pick you up immediately!" the Secret Service official assured, hurriedly patting his chest.
Zhang Liang nodded, and under the leadership of the local guide, led the escort into the darkness.
…
On the north bank of the Yellow River, the camp of the Eastern Barbarians stretched for several miles.
It was getting slightly brighter, and the camp gradually became lively.
In the Chinese army's tent, a burly man with a scar on his face drank the goat's milk from the bowl in one gulp, wiped his beard casually, and asked, "Have you not found a boat to cross the river yet?"
"Reporting to your Majesty, Nanmanzi knew that we were coming and sent all the fishing boats away in advance."
A lieutenant knelt on the ground and replied: "My subordinates are sending people to search along the coast."
"Don't we have someone in Nanmanzi's court? Can't we just ask?"
King Yelu asked.
"Something seems to have happened to Nanmanzi's court. Now all the city gates have been sealed. The spies who sent us the message before can't be found..."
"What happened?" Yelvshu asked.
"My subordinates don't know yet and are currently investigating!"
"I don't know this or that, so what's the use of you?"
Yelu Shu said impatiently: "I don't care what method you use, I will cross the river in three days. If you can't find a boat by then, go and see the gods yourself!"
"Yes!" The deputy general quickly kneeled and retreated.
When I reached the door, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
The Eastern Barbarians were still in the tribal period at this time, and the ruling class was more brutal than Dakang.
The small tribe not only had to provide cattle, sheep and war horses to the big tribe every year, but also went to fight with the big tribe.
If there is even a slight resistance, the men of the entire tribe will be killed, and the women, children, horses, cattle and sheep will be taken away as trophies by the large tribe.
The Royal Court is the largest tribe, claiming to have countless horses and hundreds of thousands of warriors.
The grassland at this time was a place without even the most basic laws, and life and death were all in the hands of the leaders of the large tribes.
Under the royal court, there were two great sage kings on the left and right, and each sage king had a large number of tribal vassals under his command.
The man who led the Eastern Barbarian cavalry southward this time was Yelv Shu, the Xian King of Zuo.
This man was originally from a small tribe. When he was twelve years old, his tribe was wiped out by a medium-sized tribe, and his father risked his life to send him out.
Yelvshu wandered on the grassland for three years and fought for three years. When he was fifteen years old, he sneaked into the tent of the tribal leader and killed his whole family in an extremely cruel way. He also dug out the leader's eyes and ate them alive.
Go down.
Killing is common on the grasslands, but few people are so barbaric.
No one from that tribe dared to stop Yelvshu and allowed him to leave.
Later, the king's Chanyu heard about this and sent someone to recruit Yelu Shu into his command.
Yelu Shu relied on his ruthless fighting style to gradually climb to the position of King Zuoxian.
For this ruthless man, killing is as casual as eating and drinking.
The servants and maids around him changed very frequently.
Sometimes, just because you don't like the maid, you can kill her.
The deputy general was worried that Yelu Shu would kill him with a knife.
Fortunately, Yelu Shu is in a good mood today.
After calming down, the deputy general trotted back to his tent and called his men.
"The king only gave me three days. If I haven't found a boat to cross the river in three days, and haven't contacted the spies from the Nanmanzi court, I don't need to say more about the result, right?"
The deputy general again delegated the task to the people below.
The entire Eastern Barbarian Army knew King Zuo Xian's style, and no one dared to be careless.
Soon, the two cavalry teams ran out along the Yellow River, one to the east and one to the west, looking for ships along the river bank.
Dozens of people also pulled the cowhide rafts that had been prepared and threw them into the Yellow River.
However, Zhang Liang had already deployed manpower on the opposite side. When the cowhide raft reached the middle of the river, a haystack on the opposite side was lifted, revealing a catapult hidden in the middle.
The Eastern Barbarian soldiers who crossed the river were thrown into the Yellow River together with their boats.
"Is this the catapult that the man named Feng was talking about?" The deputy general put up a pergola and looked at the other side of the river: "It's really powerful. It can capsize a boat from a distance of dozens of feet!"
"What now?" one of the men asked.
"What else can we do? Send more people to cross the river together from upstream and downstream!"
The deputy general said irritably: "Look carefully before crossing the river next time. Make sure there are no haystacks or anything like that on the other side before crossing!"
Soon, two more cavalry teams ran out of the Dongman camp and headed upstream and downstream with their cowhide rafts.
At the same time, the ninth princess in the palace also received the news from Qin Zhen and hurried to the imperial study.
He asked the escort standing at the door: "Sir, have you gotten up?"
"Not yet." The escort shook his head.
After all, the two were not married. It was impossible for the Ninth Princess to take Jin Feng back to her palace, so she could only let him rest in the imperial study for the time being.
Although Jin Feng was itchy, he didn't force it.
The Imperial Study Room is said to be a study room, but it is actually a palace. There are guest rooms specially prepared for ministers in the side hall.
Not all emperors were as lazy as Chen Ji. For example, the ninth princess's grandfather was very diligent and often worked until late at night.
The ministers who accompany them to work often rest in the side hall.
However, after Chen Ji succeeded to the throne, Jin Feng was the first person to live in the side hall.
I slept for a while the night before yesterday, and after another busy day yesterday, Jin Feng fell asleep last night and has been sleeping until now.
I was drowsily asleep when I felt someone twirling my eyebrows.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Princess Ninth sitting beside the bed.
"Aren't you afraid of people gossiping now?"
Jin Feng put his arms around Princess Ninth's waist and rested his head on her lap.
"Didn't I ask Qin'er to arrange a maid for Sir? Why didn't I see it?"