Zhang Yi's eyes widened as he stared at the large package of gold and silver jewelry, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.

The Xiongnu Grand Commandant was truly generous, presenting gifts as soon as he arrived.

Judging by its appearance, this gold and silver jewelry must be worth at least a fortune.

"Hehe, easy, easy! May I ask what business the Grand Commandant has with me?"

Zhang Yi hurriedly invited the Right Grand Commandant to take a seat.

"Your Excellency, our Southern Xiongnu tribe is under your jurisdiction!"

"Upon hearing that you have taken up your post in Bingzhou, my family's Chanyu has sent me to inquire after your well wishes."

The Right Grand Commandant wasn't in a hurry and spoke slowly.

Zhang Yi was very satisfied with the Grand Commandant's attitude, but he narrowed his eyes and remained expressionless.

He knew perfectly well that while the Xiongnu had a tradition of paying tribute to each new governor, it was never as much as it was now.

There must be something they want.

Seeing the Grand Commandant's hesitant manner, Zhang Yi coughed lightly, thinking to himself, "Since you're keeping me in suspense, then I'll start!"

"Grand Commandant, your Qiangqu Chanyu is a loyal subject of our Great Han!"

"I've recently heard about a large-scale troop movement. Is it preparing to march south and plunder the borders of our Han Dynasty?"

"The supplies bestowed by the imperial court by the governor of Bingzhou have surely been received by the Qiangqu Chanyu."

"Why haven't my thousand men from the governor's office returned from Luo County, even though they left through Pianguan several days ago? Is it because your ministry is keeping them as guests?"

"Furthermore, two envoys and their entourage from my Great Han Dynasty have been at your Meiji royal court for many days and have not returned. The Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies sent an urgent report from 800 li away, ordering me to go to Meiji to find them."

"The Grand Commandant is in charge of foreign affairs under the Qiangqu Chanyu, so he should be very clear about this!"

The Grand Commandant seemed to have been prepared, guessing that Zhang Yi would ask these questions.

However, Zhang Yi asked all three questions in one go, which was enough to show the anxiety in the heart of this governor of Bingzhou.

If anything goes wrong with any of these things, it will likely affect his official position.

The Grand Commandant's expression immediately turned serious, and he angrily protested, "Your Excellency, I was just about to report to you and ask you to show us the way, but you're blaming us first!"

"Don't you know that one of your princes, who was sent to Shuofang to assume his fiefdom, seized Shanwu, killed our Chanyu's youngest son, and massacred tens of thousands of Xiongnu people?"

"Our Chanyu has raised an army to go to Shanwu to demand an explanation from this prince!"

"He even sent me to Luoyang to lodge a complaint with the emperor!"

"That is His Majesty's son; how could we possibly win a lawsuit against him?"

"But I'm just passing through Jinyang on a diplomatic mission, and I've come to ask the governor for some guidance!"

Yufuluo was the son-in-law of the Right Grand Commandant. His beautiful daughter was widowed at a young age, so he was naturally very angry.

hiss!

Such a thing is unbelievable!

Zhang Yi immediately jumped up; this was a hot potato, not something to be trifled with.

“I also heard about this prince from my colleagues in Bingzhou. He passed through Bingzhou half a month ago and went out of Yanmen Pass.”

"But as far as I know, he only had about twenty followers. How could he have killed the Right Wise King? This...this is completely impossible!"

The Grand Commandant looked puzzled: "This prince is leading nearly 20,000 elite troops, as well as several thousand Xianbei retainers."

"With so many troops, does the governor not know anything about them?"

"It's rumored that this prince has come to drive us Xiongnu out of Yinshan and reclaim the four commanderies of Yunzhong!"

"It's still the same troops. The governor already knew that, but he's pretending not to know?"

Zhang Yi's eyes widened in disbelief. He exclaimed, "What? Twenty thousand troops? My entire Bingzhou standing army doesn't even have that many. How did this prince manage to do that?"

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Why would I lie to you about the deaths of the Right Wise King and tens of thousands of his followers?

The Right Grand Commandant was furious. "Your Excellency, if you don't believe me, you can send someone with me to Shanwu to see for yourself!"

Zhang Yi thought the Grand Commandant didn't seem to be lying.

His heart was already in turmoil.

He had heard about what happened to the prince in Luoyang.

Anyone with discerning eyes in the court could see that it was Empress He who could not tolerate him, which was why the censor submitted a memorial.

Under pressure, Emperor Ling of Han had no choice but to issue an imperial edict, demoting the Prince of Taiyuan and exiling him to Shuofang.

What right does a marquis have to establish his own residence or build his own mansion?

Even if they recruited a guard, it would only amount to three to five hundred people at most.

Now, this prince has gathered an army of tens of thousands of people as soon as he arrived in the border region, and even killed the Right Wise King of the Xiongnu.

Not to mention that when the imperial court was suppressing the Yellow Turbans and pacifying the Xiongnu, this prince had stirred up a huge mess.

Just the fact that he suddenly had 20,000 troops is a violation of ancestral rules and an act of abusing his power.

Moreover, these 20,000 soldiers were not recruited all at once.

It could be described as a long-planned rebellion!

This matter needs to be reported to the imperial court, and General He Jin, who is currently in power, will certainly take it very seriously.

They will definitely provide money and manpower when needed to strengthen the defenses of Bingzhou.

And he, as the first person to report it, also caught the eye of Empress He and her entourage.

Thinking of these things, Zhang Yi's body trembled slightly.

What lies before me is immense wealth and honor.

He was just worried about not finding a way to get in touch with Empress He and General He!

"Grand Commandant, what you're saying is no small matter!"

“I will write a memorial immediately and submit it to the imperial court.”

Zhang Yi quickly got up and prepared to take out paper and pen to write a memorial.

"Your Excellency, I have another unfortunate matter to tell you. We accidentally found the bodies of those two Han envoys you mentioned on the roadside outside Shanwu City on our way to Yanmen Pass."

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