"What's going on? Who are these troops? Are we, the mighty Han border army, afraid of them?"

Cai Yong was greatly puzzled.

"It must be this prince's troops."

Chen Ji also frowned, "However, it's quite puzzling that the Bingzhou army is so terrified of it."

Chen Ji had no idea that this general from Bingzhou had once had a verbal altercation with the troops from Yunzhong during a patrol, which later escalated into a brawl.

With fewer than a hundred men, they routed the general's thousand-strong force, severely injuring dozens.

Fortunately, no one was killed.

This matter alarmed Zhang Xun, the governor of Yunzhong, and Li Jue, the garrison commander of Dingxiang. After sitting down to negotiate, they agreed that the two sides should not meet during their patrols.

If you encounter them, you should take the initiative to avoid them.

Now that the delegation from Yunzhong is coming to welcome them, the Bingzhou army naturally has to make way.

Just as the two were filled with doubt, the cavalry that had been galloping from afar arrived before them like a whirlwind.

Leading the group was a general in white robes, riding a white horse, exuding great power and prestige.

Behind him were about a thousand soldiers in black armor on horseback, their military bearing impeccable, their aura of menace soaring to the heavens.

hiss!

Chen Ji gasped.

Such a powerful army has never been seen among the garrison troops in Luoyang.

If this marquis commands an army of tens of thousands.

Then defeating the Xiongnu and Xianbei was without a doubt.

But how does this marquis manage to command such an army?

He immediately remembered He Jin's instructions to find out the situation of Yinshan Marquis's troops, and he perked up.

Dozens of the fifty guards in the delegation immediately became serious.

They were sent by Empress Dowager Dong to infiltrate the imperial guards and carry out an assassination attempt on Liu Wei.

If Marquis Yinshan is surrounded by such elite troops, it would be quite difficult to make a move against him.

Cui Hao narrowed his eyes.

He recalled the instructions given to him by Empress He's younger brother, He Miao, before he left, and his brows furrowed in the same way.

Cai Yan's curiosity was piqued when she saw the white-robed general approaching from afar.

With such a handsome and dashing general, and those imposing cavalrymen, she simply couldn't believe that these were actually troops under the command of some prince.

“You are an envoy from Luoyang.”

The white-robed general walked in, his cold gaze sweeping over the crowd before landing on Cai Yong and Chen Ji.

"That is us!"

Cai Yong spurred his horse forward, cupped his hands in greeting, and asked, "May I ask who this general is...?"

"I am Xue Rengui, a lieutenant general under the command of the Marquis of Yinshan. I have come here on the orders of the Marquis to welcome and escort you all to Wuyuan City!"

Xue Rengui replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Chen Ji's mind raced. Good heavens, this Marquis actually appointed his subordinates as Lieutenant Generals. He's got quite the ambition!

"General Xue, isn't the Marquis of Yinshan in Yunzhong?"

Cai Yong didn't think about these things in detail, but instead asked Liu Wei.

"Since we drove out the Xianbei and recovered Wuyuan and Shuofang, the Marquis has made Wuyuan City in Shuofang his residence."

"The Marquis said that, after all, his fiefdom is only there!"

Xue Rengui said calmly.

Chen Ji's mind immediately started working.

This prince actually remembered that his fiefdom was only Shuofang Wuyuan.

This emphasis suggests that he will not oppose the imperial court for the time being.

Are the other three prefectures just waiting for the imperial court to take them over?

Marquis Yinshan is, after all, a member of the Han Dynasty and the son of the current emperor. He should still be loyal to the country!

Perhaps the Marquis of Yinshan just wanted to see how His Majesty would reward him this time!

So, does this mean that I could actually become the military supervisor and get the Marquis to reduce the size of the army?

However, these are all Chen Ji's subjective assumptions, and everything may only be known when he meets the Marquis.

"My lords, the weather is cold and the north wind is blowing. This is not the place to talk. Let's chat on the way."

Seeing that they were all standing still, Xue Rengui urged them on.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Cai Yong said repeatedly, "Please lead the way, General Xue!"

Xue Rengui divided his thousand cavalry into two teams, front and rear, and protected the delegation of about one hundred people in the middle.

He rode his horse alongside Cai Yong and Chen Ji.

The grand procession passed through Wujin, arrived at Chengle, and crossed the Huanggan River. Instead of taking the route through Yunzhong, it headed west through Manyi Valley and entered Wuyuan County.

Along the way, Chen Ji noticed that the garrison in each city was not large, and even in the strategic location of Manyi Valley, there were only two thousand soldiers.

Upon entering Wuyuan County, the number of garrison troops decreased further.

Cui Hao, on the other hand, was so shocked when he saw a huge herd of nearly 100,000 horses on the Urat Grassland that his jaw almost dropped.

Saliva was already dripping all over the floor.

Bingzhou is short of horses, and the Central Plains is even more lacking in horses!

If I hadn't been ordered to do something else this time, I really would have bought a batch and taken them back to the Central Plains; I would have made a fortune.

However, if the operation succeeds, the three prefectures of Hetao may fall apart and disintegrate.

We must seize these horses as soon as possible.

"General Xue, they're repairing the road, right?"

Just after crossing the Wula Mountains, before even entering the territory of Shuofang, Cai Yong discovered a completely different scene.

Every so often along the official road, hundreds of people were working on the project.

They dug up soil, picked out stones, burned quicklime, widened the road, and compacted the land.

“That’s right. The Marquis plans to widen the official road from Yunzhong to Linrong so that eight horses can ride side by side.”

"In that case, from Linrong to Yunzhong, even if the fast horse travels day and night, it will only take one day and one night."

"The Marquis has mobilized 100,000 laborers to repair the road, and perhaps by next spring the entire line will be open to traffic."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!