Chapter 112: Establishing a State on the Grasslands

Chapter 112: Establishing a State on the Grasslands

Xiao Ce indeed did not notice the raven that had flown out earlier.

However, Xiao Ce listened without seeming to care, instead revealing a sly smile.

“Thank you for the reminder!”

Hearing Xiao Ce’s words, Wuqimu Gesa’s face stiffened as he asked, “What do you mean?”

Xiao Ce naturally did not go along with what Wuqimu Gesa said.

He looked at Da Lei and said, “Da Lei, I need to ask you for a favor.”

Da Lei said to Xiao Ce, “Prince, do you want to send him to Yanbei City?”

Hearing Da Lei’s words, Xiao Ce patted his shoulder approvingly: “Correct! Because looking around here, only you have the strongest individual combat ability. Right now, the Mobei-Tujue Border is full of Turkic armies. It won’t be easy to take someone across!”

Da Lei patted his chest: “Prince, I promise to take this person there alive. But, if I leave, what about your side here…”

Fu Niu, who carried two giant axes on his back, said: “Captain, I’m not useless either… these Turks are no match at all. If I am here, the Prince is safe! Even if I’m not here, the Prince will still be safe!”

Hearing Fu Niu’s words, Xiao Ce nodded: “Exactly, Da Lei has Fu Niu here. Besides, you’ve seen it yourself, I don’t like fighting recklessly in war! Just rest assured. If what this Wuqimu Gesa says is true, then Yanbei City is under great pressure right now!”

Da Lei did not fuss either and nodded, saying: “Prince, no problem! I’ll set off right away.”

Xiao Ce then told Da Lei to go find some good horses.

Da Lei cupped his hands in acknowledgment, hoisted Wuqimu Gesa onto his shoulder in one move.

Wuqimu Gesa’s face changed dramatically: “You… what are you doing… if you insult me…”

Da Lei slapped her on the bottom and scolded: “An old hag like you? Am I blind to want to insult you?”

Just as Wuqimu Gesa was about to curse, Da Lei randomly picked up something from the ground and stuffed it into her mouth.

…

Xiao Ce paid him no more mind and went to find Yan Jia.

“Prince? Do you have any orders?”

Xiao Ce asked: “Have you found any ravens here?”

Yan Jia nodded and said: “Yes, they kept the ravens far away from the living tents, so they survived unscathed. There are quite a few left…”

Xiao Ce had Yan Jia take him to see them and also called for Wei Wuji.

After arriving at the raven shed, they looked at these ravens.

Fu Niu was the first to notice something wrong: “Who’s there! Come out!”

Fu Niu shouted, pointing at a raven cage in a dark corner.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll chop you to death!”

After Fu Niu’s words, a pleading voice came from inside.

“Don’t… don’t… my lords, I’m coming out…”

A thin, middle-aged man came out from inside. Judging by his attire, he should also be a slave from here.

After coming out, this middle-aged man kowtowed to Xiao Ce.

“My lords, I… I… I am also from the Northern Desert… I am not a traitor… I was forced too… my lords, I beg you, spare my life!”

Looking at this man’s appearance, Xiao Ce didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “This Prince never said he would kill you?”

The middle-aged man kept kowtowing to Xiao Ce.

“Thank you, Prince… thank you, Prince…”

Xiao Ce asked in surprise: “You know me?”

The middle-aged man shook his head awkwardly: “I heard all the commotion outside just now! Prince, I like raising ravens, so these Turks brought me here specifically to raise ravens for them!”

Hearing the middle-aged man’s introduction, Xiao Ce’s eyes lit up.

“Are all these ravens under your care? Were the letters just now sent out by you?”

Hearing this, the middle-aged man nodded and knelt down again: “Prince, I… I didn’t dare… I didn’t dare not do it… they forced me!”

The middle-aged man had a sorrowful face, kowtowing repeatedly.

Xiao Ce waved his hand and said: “This Prince is not blaming you. Get up.”

The middle-aged man studied Xiao Ce’s expression. Seeing Xiao Ce’s kind face, he finally let out a long sigh of relief and stood up trembling.

“What is your name?” Xiao Ce looked him over.

The middle-aged man said to Xiao Ce: “Reporting to the Prince, my name is Fei Jie.”

“What is your relation to Fei Du?” Xiao Ce quickly asked.

Fei Jie was stunned and said somewhat excitedly: “Prince, do you know my elder brother? He is my elder brother…”

Hearing this, Xiao Ce couldn’t help but laugh heartily: “Fei Du, Fei Jie… you come from a family that raises ravens! Good, your elder brother now works under this Prince!”

Hearing this, Fei Jie knelt on the ground with a thud and said to Xiao Ce: “Prince, I am willing to work for you too!”

Xiao Ce smiled: “Alright, this Prince does indeed have a task for you! What letters did that Wuqimu Gesa have you send just now?”

Fei Jie cupped his hands and said: “Because it happened so suddenly, what was sent out was just a simple distress signal. This was agreed upon here! When suffering an attack they couldn’t handle, they would send out such a signal! Then they would all attack the attacked tribe together!”

“Is there any way to recall the ravens?”

Fei Jie shook his head repeatedly: “No! However, we can send a follow-up letter! Prince, I know the format they use for letters, and I know their tone. I can send a letter telling them it was a misunderstanding.”

Xiao Ce waved his hand: “No need.”

Fei Jie looked at Xiao Ce with some confusion.

Xiao Ce pondered for a moment and said: “What I mean is, don’t explain to them that it was a misunderstanding. Instead, say, you have figured it out! The attack was carried out by people from the Ashina Tribe. Now all the people of the Gesa Tribe have been killed, and the rest of the Gesa Tribe people have all fled… tell them to directly attack the Ashina Tribe.”

After hearing Xiao Ce’s words, Fei Jie nodded.

After speaking, Xiao Ce asked: “Fei Jie, do you think they will believe it?”

Fei Jie nodded and said: “The Helu Tribe and the Ashina Tribe have had many conflicts. After all, one is the first tribe, the other is the second tribe. There have always been various open and secret struggles between them! They will believe it! However, they might not necessarily send troops to attack the Ashina Tribe. They might come to investigate instead!”

Xiao Ce nodded: “It’s fine, send it just like that! Don’t send anything to the Ashina side. Later, this Prince will also disguise this place. The attire of the Turks here is all the same, right?”

Fei Jie nodded: “Correct, only the banners are different!”

Xiao Ce understood and nodded.

Fei Jie then went to one side to busily write the letter.

He was very efficient. Shortly after, he completed the task and released the raven.

When Xiao Ce walked out of the tent, the eastern part of the grasslands was already turning pale like a fish’s belly, and the sun had just peeked over the horizon.

Vibrant sunlight spilled onto this stretch of grassland, bringing some life to this tribe full of corpses.

At this time, Wei Wuji and the more than twenty thousand slaves had already herded the cattle and sheep together.

Yan Jia stepped forward to report: “Prince, a lot of the food here was burned, but there are still tens of thousands of ‘dan’ left that can be used! The silver and gold were not damaged.”

“The gains are considerable! Over one hundred thousand taels of gold, over three hundred thousand taels of silver, and countless jewels. Over ten thousand head of cattle, over twenty-one thousand sheep, over three thousand warhorses! And all kinds of weapons and armor.”

Hearing this, Xiao Ce was indeed somewhat surprised: “Have the slaves been tallied? How many are there?”

Yan Jia cupped his hands: “Reporting to the Prince, they have been tallied. A total of over eighteen thousand people. There were originally over twenty thousand, but their Celestial God sacrifice killed nearly two thousand.”

Xiao Ce nodded.

Yan Jia asked: “Prince, what should we do next to settle these people?”

Xiao Ce said to Yan Jia: “The number of slaves here exceeds my expectations, and this is only from a few of the sub-tribes! It’s impossible to take them all! I have already thought of a way. Let them become the masters of this tribe. They have cattle, sheep, horses, and money here! Most importantly, they have people! Go to Zhang Yunqing’s side and bring all those people over, let them merge together!”

“Then reorganize a cavalry force here. We will support this army in battle. I am confident that by fighting through this Turkic tribe, we can gather all the slaves. There will be at least hundreds of thousands of commoners, and tens of thousands of cavalrymen!”

Hearing this, Yan Jia’s eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly before going to Zhang Yunqing’s camp.

Xiao Ce went to call Wei Wuji and Fei Jie over.

He explained his plan. Wei Wuji nodded and said: “Prince, actually, I have been thinking about this issue. There are so few Turks, yet we have hundreds of thousands of slaves here. Why don’t they rebel? Later, I concluded it’s because they lack a leader.”

“Now that you have come, Prince! I think there is no problem! Especially now, the Turkic Kingdom is unprecedentedly empty…”

Xiao Ce looked at Fei Jie. Fei Jie smiled awkwardly: “Prince, I don’t understand anything, I only know how to raise ravens!”

Xiao Ce said to Fei Jie: “Then you set up a raven intelligence network here, just like your elder brother!”

After hearing this, Fei Jie was somewhat surprised.

Xiao Ce said: “This is rather complicated. I’ll explain it to you in detail another day!”

“Wei Wuji, this Prince wants you to organize an army. You will be the Great General. How about it?” Xiao Ce looked at Wei Wuji and said.

Wei Wuji trembled all over, looking at Xiao Ce with great excitement.

“Prince, is that true? I… I… am I capable?”

Xiao Ce said with a smile: “If this Prince says you are capable, then you definitely are! Just tell me if you are willing or not.”

Wei Wuji nodded: “Willing… willing… of course willing! Prince, I will definitely live up to your expectations…”

Xiao Ce said: “The army you organize will be called the Running Wolf Army. All treatment will be the same as the Northern Desert Army!”

Wei Wuji nodded and went off to work busily.

Xiao Ce got paper and a brush from Fei Jie and drew a rough sketch.

He had everyone start working busily on construction. The most urgent task was to have them dig a circle of Horse Trap Pits on the outermost perimeter to prevent cavalry from charging over suddenly.

He also had the slaves change into Turkic clothes and hurriedly make some banners with the Ashina totem to plant here!

Even if their scouts came to look, it should fool them.

After finishing all this, Xiao Ce had Yan Jia’s soldiers take turns resting.

Xiao Ce, who hadn’t slept all night, found a shady spot to rest.

It wasn’t until nearly noon that he heard a commotion.

Xiao Ce looked sleepily and saw Zhang Yunqing leading a large group, herding cattle and driving sheep over.

Compared to yesterday, these former slaves now appeared in a completely different mental state.

Zhang Yunqing came directly to report the situation to Xiao Ce. Originally, they were all busy slaughtering sheep, but there were too many. They had slaughtered less than a third when word came for them to gather here, so they stopped.

Then, with some concern, he said to Xiao Ce: “Prince, how should we settle these slaves next?”

Xiao Ce said to Zhang Yunqing: “The number of people here has exceeded our expectations, and there are so many cattle and sheep. Moreover, if we just finish fighting here and then leave! It doesn’t have much meaning. But if we gather all the slaves and establish a new kingdom!”

Zhang Yunqing’s eyes lit up slightly: “Prince, that is feasible! We have people, we have money, we have cattle, sheep, and horses, even weapons are ready-made!”

Xiao Ce nodded: “Exactly! That is my thought now, but we are only lacking a leader to oversee everything!”

Zhang Yunqing saw Xiao Ce staring directly at him.

He felt both excited and nervous: “Prince… you… you mean me? I can’t… I’m just a merchant…”

Xiao Ce said: “If you are unwilling, just help me manage it temporarily. When a suitable person comes along later, I’ll have him replace you. Actually, managing a trading firm and a city are quite similar. Moreover, I need someone I trust! Of course, if you are willing, you can be this leader permanently! This is much more impressive than being a merchant.”

“You must understand, a person doesn’t get too many chances in life. This is also an opportunity for you. How much merit would an ordinary person need to earn to get a fiefdom like this?”

Zhang Yunqing nodded awkwardly: “Prince, this land must be held to be mine! Mainly, I’m afraid I’ll hold you back.”

Xiao Ce looked at him: “This Prince is still here! This Prince will go help you fight through the Turks. Right now, their main forces are not here! This is our perfect opportunity! By then, you will have hundreds of thousands of commoners, and hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep, money, and grain! Do you think the Turks will still be a match for you?”

“If everything were ready-made, it wouldn’t be your turn! This Prince will charge into battle for you, and you just manage things here! This Prince asks you one last time, are you in or not!”

Hearing this, Zhang Yunqing’s expression changed, and his eyes grew firm: “I’m in!”