Chapter 74 Heading to the Turks
Liji hid the herb in his robe and carried it back to the tent as if it were a treasure.
There was a faint stench in the tent. A skinny woman was lying on the bed. She was the source of the stench.
"Sister, I brought some more herbs." Liji didn't care about the unpleasant smell at all. He rushed to the pile of grass where the woman was lying. "The gentleman said that if you eat it, you will gradually get better."
The woman forced a smile. Her cheeks were thin and sallow, but one could still see some of her former good looks from her pair of beautiful eyes.
"That gentleman is here again?" the woman said with a smile. "That's a good thing."
Liji also smiled. When he smiled, the wound at the corner of his mouth split open and blood oozed out. He hurriedly wiped it off so that the woman wouldn't see it.
The woman was his sister, named Ilig. They were both born slaves. When Ilig was feeding horses at the stable, she was unfortunately spotted by a nobleman because of her pretty appearance. After a few days, he got tired of her and almost whipped her to death. When Ilig was still breathing, she was rolled up in a straw mat and thrown out of the stable.
But Ilig could never get up again.
Some time ago, a masked man suddenly appeared near the slave tent. He would come every night to treat some sick slaves. Liji was very vigilant at first, until he saw the masked man cure Itah's cold in the tent next to them. You know, colds are almost fatal to slaves like them!
After that, Liji went to ask the man to check on his sister's illness. The masked man gave him some herbs and asked him to crush them and apply them to Ilig's wound. He then gave him another bag of herbs and asked him to boil them in a pot and let Ilig take them. The masked man said that Ilig was seriously injured and he could not cure her completely, so he could only let her recover slowly.
After taking the medicine for a few days, Ilig, who was originally on the verge of death, really slowly regained some strength.
The masked man gradually became a common secret in the slave tent. The people in the slave tent called the masked man various names, the most common one was master, and later the masked man asked them to call him "sir". Everyone in the slave tent knew that the gentleman only appeared after dark.
...
Liji and Ilig were talking in the small tent. This was a rare moment for them to relax.
Around them, every day, there were slaves covered in wounds, wrapped in straw mats and thrown into the wilderness.
At this moment, flames suddenly shot up into the sky outside the tent, and a huge noise was heard near the slave tent, followed by crying and sounds of smashing.
Before Liji could react, two Turkic soldiers rushed into the small tent and dragged Liji and Ilig out of the tent without saying a word.
"Master, my sister is injured, please let her go!" Liji knelt on the ground and begged bitterly.
One of the Turkic soldiers kicked Liji hard in the face. Liji screamed and curled up on the ground in pain. Blood from his nose gushed out from between his fingers.
"No!" Ilig burst into tears.
The two were dragged out of the tent, and Liji was horrified to find a group of soldiers coming outside the slave tent.
The soldiers threw the slaves together like dead dogs.
Liji noticed with his sharp eyes that the only slave standing next to a soldier was Itah!
"Where is the spy from Central Plains?!" The leading soldier held a torch in his hand and fiercely questioned the slaves kneeling on the ground.
"Master, the spy will only come at night. According to the time, it should be around now." Itah said with a flattering look on his face.
Liji glared at Itah.
If it weren't for that gentleman, Itah would have died of a cold long ago!
"You!!" A slave pointed at Itah angrily.
The man ignored his fear of the Turkish soldiers and shouted, "Itah! You are an ungrateful villain! Have you forgotten who cured you of your cold?"
Yitah was very proud. "I only know that he is a spy from the Central Plains! The herbs he has are only found in the Central Plains!"
"Shut up! Watch out for your heads!" said the leading soldier angrily.
"You still won't tell me, Gerkan? Kill these ignorant slaves!"
One of them drew out a long knife and was about to chop off the neck of a random slave.
“There!”
In the area illuminated by the fire, a dark shadow seemed to be trying to escape.
"Chase! Capture the spy!"
A group of soldiers quickly chased in the direction the black shadow fled.
Liji looked around the slave tents blankly. Many of them had been chopped down by the Turkic soldiers. The outsides were in a mess, with broken clay pots scattered on the ground and the howling and screaming of slaves could be heard everywhere.
For the Turkic nobles and soldiers, the status of these slaves was even lower than that of pigs and sheep.
The lives of Turkic civilians were not much better than those of slaves; they could even be turned into slaves and driven around at will.
And his sister, who could have slowly become healthy, never did so again, and they went to catch the gentleman who would give them herbs and cure their illness.
After an unknown amount of time, Liji shouted angrily, suddenly rushed towards Itah and punched him hard.
Yitah was knocked to the ground, shocked and angry. He shouted loudly: "Liji! Are you crazy? Be careful or I will tell the soldiers that you are also a spy from the Central Plains!"
...
That night, the people in the slave tent spent their time in a state of anxiety. They were worried about the gentleman and also worried about whether they themselves would be killed by the soldiers.
The next day, the soldiers seemed to have forgotten about the incident and did not come to arrest them.
The slaves gradually felt relieved, but they were still worried about the safety of the gentleman.
Until this day, a Turkic soldier on horseback suddenly came to the slave tent. After the slaves knelt on the ground on both sides, he loudly asked who Itah was.
Itah stepped forward with a joyful look on his face, "Master! Master, I am Itah!"
The soldier sneered, "You're lucky, kid. You've done a great job helping Teller catch the spy from the Central Plains. Here, this is your reward."
He took out a purse and was about to throw it on the ground when he suddenly remembered something and stopped. He said to Itah, "My boots got dirty when I came here. Come here and lick them clean for me."
"Yes, yes, sir." Itah did not dare to hesitate. The soldier was sitting on the horse, and he was kneeling on the ground just enough to reach the other's boots.
After the soldier was satisfied, he threw the money bag into the mud and said, "Be grateful to the king."
Before he left, he told the people in the slave tent a piece of news that they had caught a spy from the Central Plains, who said that he had originally wanted to poison the slaves here first.
"What's the point of poisoning you? The Central Plains people are really stupid." The soldier sneered and walked away. "Untouchables are untouchables. They don't even know they're being poisoned to death."
Liji was also in the crowd. He stared blankly at the soldiers leaving, at Itah retching in pain, and at the mess left by the Turkic soldiers yesterday.
...
"It's good that I can get away." Yan Xuanyu breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he was well prepared.
He couldn't predict what others were thinking, nor could he predict what would happen in the future, so he could only make preparations for both scenarios before acting. He didn't expect that they would be useful this time, with one person in the open and several others in the dark to provide support.
Because the medical conditions of the Turks were too poor and their treatment methods were very backward, he originally wanted to have someone who appeared in the open appear in the Turkic slave camp as a doctor, and by the way, understand the situation of the Turks first and then keep quiet.
In fact, the person sent to the open area could escape, but if he ran away, the Turkic soldiers would kill the slaves there. So he asked his companions to hide again, and he chose to go back without hesitation. Before leaving, he sent a letter to the Great Zhou by pigeon to explain the situation and apologize.
"They are all Turks! Do they need his pity?!" For the first time, Su An ignored the presence of Yan Xuanyu and said angrily.
These people are said to be spies, but in fact they were all trained by Su An, and they have a very deep relationship with each other. That person is called Ji You, and he is the best among this group of people. He is proficient in medicine and good at hiding, so Su An agreed when Su You recommended himself.
Yan Xuanyu was silent. From their point of view, Su You's actions were indeed enough to make Su An angry. Su An was angry because Ji You actually disregarded his own safety for the sake of the Turkic slaves. Were the people he saved really worth saving? It was obvious that Ji You's whereabouts were exposed by the slaves he rescued!
Ji You only knew how to act on his emotions, but forgot what Su An had taught them.
"That's all." Yan Xuanyu rubbed his temples. "Don't blame him. Among those slaves, there are not only those who snitched on him, but also those who are truly grateful to him. That's why he chose to go back and expose himself."
"Fortunately, there is still a way to escape." Su An also sighed, "As a human being, it is good that he has a kind heart; but in a time like this, there is no choice at all."
Ji You's choice put their entire plan of infiltrating the Turks on hold.
"The people in the dark have already planned how to rescue Ji You, but I'm afraid the Turks have also realized that there is more than one Ji You, and are preparing to catch him in the trap." Su An said.
Yan Xuanyu also nodded and said, "Indeed."
However, Yan Xuanyu seemed to be favored by the goddess of luck again——
A few days later, the Turkic king died suddenly, and the Turkic people fell into chaos again.
It was a month later that the next news came. Taking advantage of the chaos in the Turkic royal family, Ji You was successfully rescued from the Turks.
There were two pieces of news that surprised Yan Xuanyu.
First, someone helped them on the day of rescuing Ji You.
Second, a new Turkic king appeared in this chaotic time. Yan Xuanyu felt familiar with that man's name, as he had heard of it in the original owner's memory.
It was the vicious and resourceful Turkic king in the original owner's memory.
Ashina Ziluo.
This person was just as the original owner remembered. He seemed to have never been found before, but as soon as he came to power, he quelled the royal civil strife with thundering means. It turned out that he had developed a force that could not be underestimated in secret over the years and had the Turkic royal family firmly in his hands.
What shocked Yan Xuanyu was that Lian'er, who was once sent to Yan Xuanyu and whom she described as a weak young man bullied by his half-brother and the second former prince of the Turkic judiciary, actually had the real name Ashina Ziro.
Yan Xuanyu had previously received information that was revealed by Jiang Yuanhua's followers. Jiang Yuanhua had made several appointments to meet with a man in a bamboo hat, but they never knew the specific time and place. They only knew that Jiang Yuanhua had always been in contact with that man.
Calculating the time, that period was when the second prince disappeared.
The sudden death of the Turkic king was definitely the work of this person. Considering that the original owner had a slightly similar illness to the Turkic king, the poison in the original owner must also be related to him.
Yan Xuanyu had a premonition that after he became the new Turkic queen, it would not be long before the Turks would actually declare war on the Great Zhou.
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