Chapter 256: Grasslands

Chapter 256: Grasslands

He impatiently rode his horse out of the pass, gazing at the faintly discernible military tents on the horizon.

Suddenly, he quietly took a detour while silently cursing himself for being so foolish and confused as to why he was in such a hurry.

He Lei’s death had been announced to the world, and there had been no such thing for Yue Hongling. She was still on the Ranking of Man. Since there was no announcement pertaining to her death, that at least proved that she was alive.

It seemed that aside from causing trouble and revealing your accomplishments sometimes, the greatest advantage of the Tome of Troubled Times was reporting one’s safety...

From this, Zhao Changhe could easily extrapolate that when it came to someone as prominent as Yue Hongling, if she had truly been captured by the barbarians, they would have definitely publicized it. Since they had not done so, this indicated that she had not been captured at all. It was more than likely that she had not encountered any danger at all, and he had simply been worrying himself by overthinking things.

The vastness of the Grasslands was immense. To the west lay the Gobi, while to the north lay yet another great desert. Regardless of whether one crossed the desert or the Grasslands, it was entirely possible to travel for months without making contact with anyone. It was completely normal not to be able to communicate with anyone for a month or two.

Cui Yuanyong must be speechless right now. One moment, he was praising my intelligence, and then I went and made a stupid move the next. Well...whatever, there’s nothing I can do. Concern brings poor judgment. If it was his sister instead of Yue Hongling, I’d just be as anxious, and he’d be anxious too. UppTodated from nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)/m

Anyway, now that I’ve left the pass, I’ll complete the task he gave me while searching for information about Yue Hongling.

Zhao Changhe calmed down and quietly rode his horse at a slower pace, taking a detour and observing the surroundings along the way. The areas beyond and behind the pass, separated by merely one city, were like two different worlds, and the difference felt like quite the impact.

Beyond Yanmen Pass, where barbarians roam,

no worm silk woven, nor flax grown.

For hundreds of li, no pear or jujube tree,

in three springs, neither peach nor apricot thrive.

This marked the division between those who led agricultural and nomadic lifestyles. Two distinct civilizations separated by a mountain.

Seeing the countless rugged mountains within the pass failed to evoke any poetic sentiments within him, but as he crossed beyond them, the scenes portraying the distinct forms of civilization suddenly brought forth many verses from within him. He suddenly thought of the line “make the barbarians dare not cross the Yin Mountains[1].” It had not occurred to him before, but now, upon seeing the Grasslands and the military tents on the horizon, he suddenly remembered that this was precisely where the Yin Mountains met the Taihang Mountains, where the barbarians could cross the Yin Mountains!

The meeting point of different civilizations, separate yet connected in time and space. The feeling was intriguing.

This area was still a war zone, and it was not where his mission lay, so Zhao Changhe made a wide detour and headed westward.

“The northern barbarians” was a collective term; in reality, it was not a single nation but a union of multiple tribes. Although the Khagan Timur was also called a king, in the eyes of the Central Plains, his position was more akin to that of an alliance leader. Even his own tribe was subdivided into countless groups. He was from the Golden Wolf Tribe, and the Warring Lion and Black Wolf tribes were subordinate to him. Recently, however, his tribe had encountered some difficulties.

He Lei was the leader of the Warring Lion Tribe, and just like the Black Wolf Khan, whom Yue Hongling had killed to enter the Ranking of Man, he was a powerful figure from Timur’s tribe.

It was hard to say if this would cause any thoughts to rise among the other tribes, as the deterrent power that Timur had, while being ranked third on the Ranking of Man, was much lower than Xia Longyuan’s grasp on the forces of the Central Plains.

Who was second on the Ranking of Heaven?

The Great Shaman of Tngri.

“It’s hard to say.” Someone sighed. “You do know that it isn’t just those from the tribes of the Grasslands who pretend to be bandits, right?”

“Then who else?”

“Of course, it’s Huangfu Yongxian. If he robs you, all you can do is grit your teeth and bear it. The old man would eat you to the last bone if you let him.”

Zhao Changhe has the answer.

Damn, so the merchants of the Central Plains are selling grains to the barbarians at this time, huh? I mean, it’s not like I haven’t heard of this kind of thing before, but I never thought they’d still be doing it during wartime. It’s honestly quite impressive.

Huangfu Yongxian ruled the border, so he probably knew about what was going on. There were probably various considerations preventing him from taking direct action, so resorting to robbery might not be a bad idea.

Meanwhile, those in the caravan were still chatting.

“What’s even more disgusting is that there’s been another type of lone bandit on horseback lately.”

“Ah? What do you mean by lone bandit? Can they still rob anything when they’re alone?”

“When her name is Yue Hongling, she can do whatever the fuck she wants.”

Zhao Changhe: “...”

“So it’s better to move in bigger groups. There have been several instances where Yue Hongling has robbed groups on her own.”

“I see...” The man shrank his neck. “She wouldn’t be nearby now, would she?”

“We’re quite a big group this time, so she wouldn’t dare. She might be waiting on the road to Huangsha Market ahead. Some people have been messed up by her on this path before, and it’s been making everyone anxious.” The man gritted his teeth. “Just wait until I report this to the clan head. We’ll find a way to get revenge on that bitch. She’s from the Central Plains, so she’ll come back eventually. She won’t be able to escape the consequences for offending us!“

Someone laughed and said, “With thousands of us this time, if she dares to come, we can just strip her naked and let some of our brothers have some fun.”

What followed was a slew of obscenities.

Zhao Changhe frowned and pondered for a moment, then he had a sudden realization and looked up at the sky.

The Big Dipper points north, and that’s the direction that this group of people is traveling.

He thought it over and roughly understood what was going on... These people were probably delivering grain and weapons to the tribe he originally intended to visit, but he had gone off course, heading north instead. After unloading their cargo, they were probably heading to Huangsha Market to restock.

Zhao Changhe hesitated for a moment.

Should he go south to visit the tribe, or should he continue north to Huangsha Market?

1. This is a line from a poem by Tang Dynasty poet Wang Changling (王昌龄) titled “Leaving the Frontier” (出塞). ☜