This is a very small tribe, with only about a hundred households.
"Capital, their tents are weird!" a captain said in a low voice.
From a distance, I thought it was a tent, but when I got closer, I realized it was not. It was a shack made of birch bark and covered with animal skins.
"This should be from Shiwei, Yang Ji'an, can you speak to them?" Zhang Dian turned around and asked.
Yang Ji'an is one of his scouts. He is a Han from Liaodong. He followed his father to buy medicinal materials everywhere in Liaodong since he was a child. He can speak many tribal languages.
Yang Ji'an nodded, "The Shiwei people speak the same language as the Khitan people, and they are also called Northern Khitan people."
As soon as he spoke, dozens of strong men wearing animal skins suddenly emerged, holding hunting forks and wooden bows, nervously looking at the five hundred Tang army cavalry coming from afar.
Yang Ji'an stepped forward and said in Khitan: "We are the army of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. We have been ordered to pursue the fleeing Khitan generals. Please cooperate with us and hand over the fleeing generals. Don't cause trouble for yourself!"
A group of people discussed for a while, and an old man came out and said: "I am the elder of this tribe. There was indeed a group of Khitan cavalry before, about a hundred people. They thought our tribe was too small, so they took a batch of our prey and went to the larger tribe.
"
Yang Ji'an turned back and reported to Zhang Dian. Zhang Dian carefully looked at the more than a hundred birch leather tents. Even if the Khitan people were hiding in the leather tents, the horses could not hide, but maybe the horses would hide elsewhere.
"Tell them that we must search the tent. If it is not found, we can leave!"
Yang Ji'an translated, and everyone was furious and wanted to fight the Tang army. The old man stopped them, "There are many people on the other side, they are all troops. You want to die, what will happen to your wives and children?"
The Tang army had five hundred men, more than ten times their number, and the hunters had no choice but to lower their heads.
The old man said to Zhang Dian in unskilled Chinese: "You can search, but please don't hurt our people and don't rob our property!"
Zhang Dian nodded and said to a school captain: "Take fifty brothers to search, watch carefully and don't touch their people or things!"
The school captain led fifty cavalrymen in to search, and they searched carefully. After a while, the school captain came back and said to Zhang Dian: "Nothing unusual was found!"
Zhang Dian pondered for a moment and said to Yang Ji'an: "Go and tell their elders that we need a guide, and we can pay for it!"
Yang Ji'an went over to negotiate, and not long after, he brought in an Orion who was in his thirties, "General, this is the elder's son. He can speak some Chinese and is willing to take us to most places."
Zhang Dian immediately asked the soldiers to tidy up and, under the leadership of the Orion guide, ran toward the northeast.
The hunter's name is Weng Jiang. He used to go to Liucheng County to sell fur goods. He can speak some Chinese, but when it comes to business, he has to use a translator.
"General, this big brother Orion said that his father is actually very grateful to us. If we hadn't been chasing after him so fast, those Khitans would have killed all the men in their tribe and seized their women."
Zhang Dian smiled and said: "Ask him again, how far away is the big tribe? Will they hand over the people?"
Yang Ji'an exchanged a few words and said a little worriedly: "Orion said that it would take two days to walk to the big tribe, but he believed that the chief would not hand over the Khitan leader because they are sworn brothers!"
Zhang Dian's heart sank, and he said to Yang Ji'an: "You should learn more about the situation of the big tribes!"
Soon, Yang Jian brought detailed information.
The big tribe is Nanshiwei among the five tribes of Shiwei. It consists of more than twenty tribes, large and small. The small tribes they passed through before also belong to Nanshiwei. The place they are going to now is the main tribe of Nanshiwei.
There are thousands of families, the leader is called Imohe, and there is a standing army of 2,000 people. If all the tribes mobilize all the people, there will be more than 20,000 troops.
However, the characteristics of the Shiwei tribe are that they are very loose. The small tribe they encountered before has no blood relationship with Nan Shiwei. As long as they live within the sphere of influence of Nan Shiwei, they must surrender and pay tribute to prey and pigs every year.
Accounting for 30% of their annual harvest, the burden is very heavy.
Zhang Dian smiled and said: "Tell him, if they are willing to become subjects of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, they can move to the original Khitan territory and live. The Tang Dynasty does not levy taxes on them, and only needs to pay tribute to one of the most powerful animals every year."
Good prey for the Emperor of Tang Dynasty."
When Yang Ji'an translated, Weng Jiang was very excited and bowed and said: "We are very willing to become the subjects of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and no longer be oppressed by the nobles of Shiwei!"
Two days later, five hundred Tang Army cavalry arrived at Nanshiwei Camp. The place was much more impressive than the small tribe they had encountered before.
Zhang Dian gave Yang Ji'an twenty taels of silver and asked them to move to the Songmo area. Yang Ji'an thanked him repeatedly and left.
Zhang Dian looked at the Wei tribe camp in Nanshi again, and it actually felt a bit like a military camp. A river about two or three feet wide surrounded it, and there was a camp fence ten feet high on the bank. At this time, the suspension bridge was pulled up, and hundreds of soldiers held
Bows and arrows were staring at the Tang army cavalry outside, each of them waiting seriously.
At this time, dozens of people appeared above the camp fence. Among them was a middle-aged man of medium build but unusually strong, wearing a leather hat.
Behind him stood a tall Khitan army general, also in his forties, wearing a golden helmet and looking at the Tang army outside with a half-smile.
Yang Ji'an recognized him at a glance, stepped forward and whispered to Zhang Dian: "The Khitan general wearing the golden helmet behind is Yelu Salade."
Zhang Dian also expected this, so he urged his horse forward and asked, "Who is the chief of Shiwei here?"
He spoke in Chinese, but both the middle-aged man and Yelu Salade could understand it. The middle-aged man said loudly: "I am Chief Imoh. What can I do with this general?"
Zhang Dian said coldly: "The Khitan general behind you is a criminal wanted by our Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. We are chasing him all the way. Please hand him over to us immediately!"
Imohhe laughed twice and said, "Yelu Salade is my brother and an honored guest of Nan Shiwei. No matter who it is, there is no way you can take him away from me."
Zhang Dian's face was as dark as water and he said slowly: "I'm warning you, the Tang Dynasty has destroyed the Khitan. If Shi Wei persists in his stubbornness and wants to fight against the Tang Dynasty, he will definitely be dead."
"I won't hand you over, so stop dreaming!"
Imohe turned around and left. Yelu Salade sneered twice at Zhang Dian. He was so angry that a soldier next to him raised his crossbow and fired. Zhang Dian held down the crossbow and said coldly: "There is no hurry now.
We’ll deal with them tonight!”
Zhang Dian immediately sent out several scouts to hide at several key nodes near the camp to prevent Yelu Salad from escaping on a raft.
As night gradually fell, in a large tent, Imoh and Yelu Salade sat on sheepskins and drank wine, while two maids grilled meat on the firepit in the middle.
"Brother, please be more lenient! It is estimated that the Khitan nobles have been taken away, but the Khitan people are still there. You can completely establish yourself as a khan, rebuild the Khitan, and have a few more sons. You are not afraid that there will be no heirs in the future."
Yelu Salade nodded, "The Tang army was really ruthless and determined to kill everyone. They even pursued me for thousands of miles and even chased me to Nanshiweilai."
"It means you are important! If you are not important, why would they persist like this?"
Yelu Salade sighed and said, "I'm just worried about bringing trouble to my brother!"
Imohhe chuckled, "Don't worry, my place is far away and the main force of the Tang Army cannot come here. There is only a small team of spies outside. If they dare to mess around, I will kill them directly!"
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, with countless people shouting. Imohe was startled, wondering what happened?
A blazing rocket hit the big tent and got stuck in the big tent. The tent was immediately ignited. The two maids were so frightened that they rolled out and ran out. The rocket fell and landed right in the fire pit. There was an explosion of 'Bang!'
Suddenly, sparks flew everywhere, and Imohe stood up in shock and ran out of the tent quickly. Yelu Salade also ran out quickly.
I saw rockets flying all over the sky, one after another landing in the tribal camp. Hundreds of domes in the south were burning, and new domes were constantly being set alight. The people were panicking, and groups of people were running towards the south.
"Tear down all the tents quickly!"
As soon as Imohe finished speaking, he heard two deafening loud noises of 'Boom! Boom!'. The ground was shaking. Many people lost their footing and fell to the ground.
Imohe quickly squatted down and was stunned. At this time, a soldier came crying and reported, "Great Chief, the Tang army caused thunder and killed more than a hundred of our soldiers!"