The emperor's favorites are treated well

Chapter 54: The emperor’s beloved ones are treated well

Chu Huaibei ordered the chief scout to send a team of people who were familiar with the routes of the Mongolian royal court to collect some information about the Khan's tenth son. They should prioritize their own safety. No matter how much information they collected, they must return after half a month.

She signaled Lu Shun to follow the general. They would receive as many wilderness survival kits as the number of people they sent. This was something Chu Huaibei had prepared specifically for the scouts. In the summer heat, bringing food along was a major issue. Items like pasta wouldn't last more than two days. They worked so hard for her, so she couldn't let them eat spoiled food. Chu Huaibei wasn't a shrewd scoundrel; he wouldn't do such a thing.

The survival bag is a backpack with khaki and dark green stripes. There are two straps at the bottom and middle of the bag, which are convenient for tying the bag around the waist and chest while riding.

The bag contained the usual items: a small bottle of alcohol, wound medicine, a small bottle of salt, a dagger, two tinderboxes, and a shallow pot with two handles. This pot could be used for both cooking and self-defense. Even if someone attacked from behind, the arrow would simply ping off the pot. Unless a sharpshooter could manage to land a single shot on a scout's head, they were difficult to capture. The first criterion for selecting scouts for the Zhenbei Army was speed on horseback and endurance.

Lu Shun packed food into his bag based on the number of days he'd be outside. A standard bag of air-dried pork jerky lasted three days, and a bag of dried steamed bread slices lasted two days. A combination of both would last fifteen days, meaning three bags of jerky and three bags of steamed bread slices, along with three bamboo tubes of boiled water. He also received a set of clothes the same color as his bag and a set of pure black nightwear.

The guards had been using these things for a long time, but the scouts had never seen them before. Previously, they could only get some dry biscuits from the barracks' kitchen, but this time, the prince had actually arranged for dried meat! He also prepared two sets of clothes. Although the colors were quite ugly, who would dislike new clothes for free? The eyes of the eight selected scouts sparkled, and their joy was visible.

"You can wear this yellow and green clothes during the day. You will understand why when you enter the grassland." Lu Shun explained so that they would not think it was too ugly and unwilling to wear it.

"Yes, Consul General Lu!" The eight people responded in unison.

After making the arrangements, these people changed their clothes, packed their bags, took their beloved horses, and brought an extra spare horse, and set off towards the Mongolian royal court.

As the eight men and sixteen horses entered the grassland, the scout running at the end immediately noticed something was wrong. The leader at the front was so fast that he seemed to have merged into the entire grassland, leaving only two horses running. This was incredible! The prince could actually come up with such a wonderful method!

When the last ray of sunlight fell on the grassland, the eight people stopped to rest. Fearing that they would encounter a patrol of the Mongolian army, they did not make a fire. Instead, they opened their backpacks under the starlight on the grassland and took out the dried meat in unison to taste it.

The meat jerky was very hard. Several people pulled the long strip of meat jerky, gnashing their teeth, their facial features flying, and struggling to tear off a small strand of meat. The more they chewed, the more delicious it became. It was very addictive, but it was quite difficult to eat...

It was Xiao Ba who was running last. He rolled his eyes, took out a dagger from his bag, cut the meat into small strips, put it in his mouth and chewed it with a smile on his face.

"Hey, you have a quick mind, kid." The captain running in front praised.

"Hehe, that's the prince's thoughtfulness. But Boss, today I was running behind you and noticed that after you put on this dress, you seemed to blend into the grassland when you ran. People who were farther away might think you were just two horses running. This dress is amazing."

"I discovered it too. No wonder General Lu said we'll know once we enter the grassland." Xiao Qi continued.

"Really? I can't find anything myself. Then we can speed up our journey tomorrow. But we can't let our guard down too much. We are still within the detection range of the Mongolian army." After listening, the boss thought for a while and decided to hurry to the royal court as soon as possible to have more time to collect information.

"Yes, boss, I got it. Okay..." Several people agreed.

The eight of them traveled arduously across the grasslands, finally arriving near the royal court at noon on the fifth day. To avoid detection, they changed into night clothes before exploring again. During their rest stop, Xiao Ba nibbled on a steamed bun. It was either oven-dried or sun-dried, but it was incredibly hard. However, the seasoning gave it a salty, fragrant taste. It was truly delicious.

Oh my god, if I hadn't been chosen based on my strength this time, I don't know how long it would take me to eat something this delicious. It would be great if I could have these dry rations when I go on missions in the future, but I guess I won't be able to grab a spot then... I feel a little sad, what's going on...

Not only were the eight of them incredibly skilled at finding their way around, they could also understand Mongolian. The most impressive of all was Little Eight, a self-taught man who spoke authentic Mongolian. At night, they'd go to a nearby village to borrow some local clothing and disguise themselves. Hey, civilized people can't afford to steal.

The eight people wandered around the royal court for ten days, remembering the prince's instructions that they must return to the city in half a month and pack up their things to return to Youzhou.

The news I heard was quite magical. It turned out that the emperor treated his favorite sons in the same way.

On the way back to the city, it is best to go back to Youzhou from the direction of Qizhou to avoid encountering the Mongolian army. So many days have passed, and I don’t know if the Mongolian army has attacked Youzhou again.

When they returned to Youzhou from Qizhou, they were relieved to see that Youzhou was calm.

"Greetings, Your Highness!" The eight people were taken directly to Chu Huaibei's tent as soon as they returned from a long journey.

"Thank you for your hard work. What news did you get? Tell me slowly."

The boss signaled to let Xiao Ba report back as planned. This guy is eloquent and quick-witted.

"Your Highness, I have quite a bit of news. First, the people living near the royal court have very few cattle or sheep, and they only have one meal a day. Second, most of the adult males in the people's homes have gone out to fight, leaving only the elderly, weak, and sick at home. Third, it is the Tenth Prince who is accompanying the Third Prince on this expedition. Fourth, the Khan has punished Dahatun for the sake of the Tenth Prince's mother, who is the Third Prince's mother. Fifth, after hearing that the Tenth Prince was seriously injured, the Khan asked the Third Prince to escort him back to the royal court first. Sixth, there are rumors that the Khan wants to make the Tenth Prince the Crown Prince."

"Well done, go back and have a good rest." Chu Huaibei asked them to go back and rest, and asked Lu Shun to deliver the reward later.

"It really is the Tenth Prince." Xue Zhan exclaimed.

"This time you unexpectedly hit the mark and delayed the Mongolian attack." Qin Feng commented to Xue Zhan with a smile.

"Indeed, I didn't expect that. I just pulled out my triangular bayonet and stabbed him, haha."

"The good thing about your knife attack is that it prevented the attack. The bad thing is that you eliminated a strong competitor for the Third Prince. The Third Prince may be thanking you in his heart now." Chu Huaibei raised his eyebrows.

"Huh? No way!"

"Since he has to be sent back to the royal court for treatment, it means that the current treatment is ineffective. It seems that you have hit the right spot. Even if the tenth prince saves his leg, he will still be a cripple, which directly cuts off the possibility of the tenth prince inheriting the throne. The Khan thought that the third prince was obstructing it and punished Dahatun. This kind of slapping his own wife in the face is comparable to our Majesty." Chu Huaibei was quite disgusted with this behavior.

"Ahem, Your Highness has ears." Xue Zhan was choked by his own prince's blunt words.

"No wonder the scouts said recently that the Mongolian army had been mobilized. They must have sent a lot of people to protect the Tenth Prince back to the royal court." Qin Feng immediately thought of what happened two days ago.

"My guess is that their morale has been damaged, so they might not attack the city again. But we should still strengthen our defenses," Chu Huaibei said, tapping his fingers on the table. They'd been caught off guard by the new defensive weapons during the initial siege, and then with the Tenth Prince's misfortune and the Khan's constant messages of concern, the Third Prince's men were probably furious.

The next day, Chu Huaibei asked Lu Shun to go to the scout camp and reward the two scouts who had previously explored the Mongolian army with ten taels of silver each, and promoted their military merit by one level. He also rewarded the eight scouts who went to the royal court with five taels of silver each, and promoted their military merit by one level.

When these scouts heard that the prince had taken the initiative to award them military merits, they were so excited that they couldn't hide their joy. This treatment was almost comparable to that of the prince's personal soldiers! The other scouts who were not selected for important missions secretly made up their minds to intensify their training and make sure to surpass these people so that they could receive military merits in future missions!

Of course, Chu Huaibei's action did have this implication. Competition is the driving force in any place. Healthy competition can keep a team constantly improving. Just like this time, with more than a dozen vacancies for personal guards, she knew many people were eager to try.

As expected, three days later the Mongolian army began to move out of their tents, and scouts discovered that they were heading towards several small tribes in the northwest.

As September came, they could no longer wait and had to steal other people's meat to fill their teeth. This was the only solution they had.

These small tribes have a maximum population of around 20,000. With 50,000 troops, the Third Prince could practically sweep across the entire northwest. I wonder if last year's blizzard affected the northwest. If it did, we probably wouldn't have been able to grab much supplies.

In the past, Mongolia treated these small tribes like ants on the grassland, ignoring them. Occasionally, they would rob cattle and sheep when they encountered them, but they rarely took lives. Compared with the Daxia people, who were killed on sight, those tribes were still relatively good.

Chu Huaibei thought it might be due to some historical intermarriage. The people on the grasslands were open-minded, and people from different tribes sometimes fell in love. Since they shared similar living habits, intermarriage was likely quite common. This was why, when the Mongol army encountered them, they would at most rob rather than kill.

After waiting for a few days and confirming that the Mongolian army would not launch a counterattack, Chu Huaibei withdrew the highest alert order and began to write memorials to the emperor to report the situation. After this period of time, all inventory had been completed, and everything that needed to be reported had been reported, waiting for the emperor's reply with an edict of reward or punishment.

Chu Huaibei speculated that given the current situation, the Mongolian royal court might send envoys to discuss a food exchange when winter arrived. After all, his people were starving to death, so face was unimportant. This Khan was no fool.

Half a month later, the ban on the northern border was completely lifted, and the major cities gradually returned to their former bustle, and the noble families began to feel like going out to banquets again.

Fortunately, they managed to catch up with the last sowing time of wheat. The people were working hard in the fields, looking forward to a good harvest next year.