Chapter 427 Hostage Exchange]

There is abundant water and grass near the two cities of Huaining and Shuozhou, and there are also fields originally reclaimed by the border residents of Dayu. In addition, the city defenses are advanced. With these two cities in hand, the Northern Rong can retreat to defend or advance to attack, which is of great benefit.

Therefore, these two cities have always been important towns fought over by Beirong and Dayu.

Zhao Ye said seriously, "Father Khan, we must not give up these two cities. Once we lose them, I'm afraid our Northern Rong will be driven to the even colder and more barren north. Then, it will be impossible for us to rule the Central Plains!"

"Do you think I don't want to? Now that Crown Prince Dayu is still alive, even if we take back these two cities with hostages today, how long can we hold them? Your brother's life is more important."

"Father Khan! As long as I am here, as long as Father Khan is willing to give me military power and let me deploy the troops, these two cities will never be lost. We can even take advantage of the internal strife between Emperor Dayu and Crown Prince Dayu to seize Yanmen Pass!"

"Enough! Zhao Ye, you keep talking about those two cities. Don't you care about your brother's life at all?"

There was a flash of coldness in Zhao Ye's eyes, but he didn't say anything else.

The Khan of the Northern Rong said, "We are the Northern Rong now, facing defeat. How could Crown Prince Dayu allow us to impose our terms? It's better to rescue your brother first. By the way, Crown Prince Dayu said that besides Empress Dayu and the Ninth Prince, there should also be the Crown Princess and her two younger siblings. You only mentioned Empress Dayu and the Ninth Prince, but where are the Crown Princess Dayu?"

Zhao Ye's eyelids twitched, and he said, "I did capture Crown Princess Dayu and her twin siblings at first. However, the Crown Princess was very cunning and took advantage of my unpreparedness to escape with her siblings. I thought she was of little value as a hostage, and since we were rushing to Yanmen Pass, I didn't pursue them..."

The Khan of the Northern Rong listened and looked at him for a moment before saying, "Is that really the case?"

Zhao Ye was silent for a moment, then said, "I, your son, will never lie."

Shen Fenghe, who was outside the tent, felt a sinking feeling in his heart when he heard this.

This Zhao Ye seemed to be planning to wipe out the existence of her and her younger brothers and sisters, so naturally... he would not take her back as a hostage.

The Khan of the Northern Rong, whose personal expedition had failed and whose age was evident, said, "As long as I can get your brother back, that's all that matters."

Zhao Ye continued, "Father Khan, going to exchange hostages is too dangerous. I am willing to go and get my elder brother back."

The Khan of Beirong looked at him gravely and said, "Alright. You can go."

"yes."

Seeing that their conversation was almost over, Chen Fenghe entered the space, changed out of the Northern Rong soldier's clothes, and put back on her original clothes. Then she returned to the tent where they were imprisoned.

Shen Yichuan and Shen Qingxing haven't woken up yet.

Chen Fenghe pondered for a moment and came up with an idea in his mind.

At this moment, there was a noise outside the tent, and then Zhao Ye walked in, holding a tray in his hand. Chen Fenghe looked up at him warily.

Zhao Ye said, "Here are three sets of Beirong clothing. You and your brothers and sisters should change into them. I have military matters to attend to and will be away for a while. I will leave someone behind to protect you. It's best if you don't speak. If you are discovered to be from Dayu, your lives will be in danger."

Shen Fenghe looked at the three sets of clothes, all of which were men's clothes, and two of them were actually children's clothes, which seemed to be just right for Shen Yichuan's body shape.

"Does the Beirong even want to recruit children as soldiers?" Shen Fenghe couldn't help but ask.

"Bei Rong men have always grown up on horseback. Everyone can serve as a soldier, so what's so strange about that? However, we are not so inhumane. This time, the children under the age of twelve were only brought to the battlefield for training, and were not sent to fight on the front lines. Naturally, our children will be trained in the same way in the future..."

"I understand!" Chen Fenghe quickly interrupted him after hearing him talk endlessly.

Seeing her like this, Zhao Ye couldn't help but smile and said, "What's the big deal? It turns out that even the most fierce women tend to be shy..."

As he was speaking, someone outside the tent reminded him of the time.

Zhao Ye then looked at Chen Fenghe again and left the tent.