Tuoba Xiong knew what he was worried about, but he thought Jiao Xi was overthinking it: "He just has a grudge against that Holy King. The Holy King is currently carrying out a large-scale crackdown on bandits in the North, which has also put his bandit den outside the North in danger. He doesn't want to be wiped out, so he wants to cooperate with us. Firstly, to save himself, and secondly, he has his own ambitions. He hopes that after we take over the five cities in the North, we will give him one of them."
"He wants the cities in the north?" Jiao Xi really didn't expect that this White Eagle had such big ambitions.
What they wanted was actually one of the cities in the North!
Tuoba Xiong sneered: "Do you think we'll just give him cities if he wants them? Once we truly conquer the five cities of the North, won't we be in charge of everything? The White Eagles only have ten thousand men. Even if I break my promise, what can they do to me?"
Jiao Xi's fear wasn't about giving a city to Bai Ying in the future; he was just worried that Bai Ying might have other motives: "What if Bai Ying has other motives? Perhaps he's just pretending to surrender. You, Chanyu, also said that the mountain path is very dangerous. What if they have someone lying in ambush on that mountain path? Wouldn't we be wiped out?"
What Jiao Xi said was something Tuoba Xiong had really paid attention to when he walked the mountain path: "The mountain path can only accommodate two people walking side by side. On one side is the mountain and on the other side is a cliff. There is no way to set up an ambush. I also noticed that the mountain path is full of trees. How can we set up an ambush? Besides, if we are really afraid of any danger, we can let the people from Liuying Village go ahead and lead the way. I don't believe they would dare to play any tricks."
Seeing that Tuoba Xiong seemed to have made up his mind, Jiao Xi frowned and asked, "So, Shanyu plans to take that mountain path?"
This question stumped Tuoba Xiong. He was indeed worried that Bai Ying might be up to something, but he didn't want to give up such a good idea.
Jiao Xi saw through Tuoba Xiong's thoughts and thought for a moment before saying, "How about this, let's leave that white eagle out for two days and observe him carefully. At the same time, if you really want to take that passage, we can also catch you off guard."
Tuoba Xiong nodded. Indeed, it was necessary to take them by surprise. That way, even if the white eagle was only pretending to surrender, he could catch them off guard and prevent them from setting up an ambush!
After agreeing on a plan, Tuoba Xiong simply left Bai Ying hanging, ignoring him completely, as if he didn't exist in the Sky Dome Camp.
Of course, Bai Ying wasn't in a hurry to see Tuoba Xiong. He continued to eat and drink as usual in the Tianqiong tribe's camp, seemingly not caring much about Tuoba Xiong's decision.
Tuoba Xiong stayed outside Beifeng City for three more days. Watching the Northern Rong soldiers try to break down the city gate time and time again, but they couldn't break it open at all, his patience was about to wear thin.
As soon as night fell, Tuoba Xiong could no longer resist and turned to leave.
On the city wall, Xuan Yuanzhan watched Tuoba Xiong's departing figure and immediately followed him down.
"Xuanyuan Zhan!" Mu Lingchen rushed over upon seeing Xuanyuan Zhan: "It's been three days, and there's still no news from Bai Ying. When are we going to ambush them?"
He was genuinely afraid that something might go wrong. If those Northern Rong soldiers were to sneak into Beifeng City, it would be a disaster!
Without a second thought, Xuanyuan Zhan ordered, "Take your men and ambush them right now!"
"What?" Mu Lingchen was instantly stunned, and asked nervously, "Did White Eagle send a message back?"
"No. It's because Tuoba Xiong couldn't hold back any longer!" Xuan Yuanzhan thought of the waning patience in Tuoba Xiong's eyes when he left just now, and said with certainty, "Tuoba Xiong just left the battlefield. He must have gone back to make arrangements. Beifeng City has been under attack for more than twenty days. He can't bear it any longer."
Although Bai Ying hadn't sent a message yet, he still knew what Tuoba Xiong was thinking.
"Then I'll take the soldiers there now. From this moment on, we'll lie in ambush on the cliff. No matter how many days it takes, we must wait for them." Mu Lingchen said, turning to lead the troops.
Seeing this, Xuanyuan Zhan instructed, "Tell everyone to carry some dry rations with them, so that we don't have to wait for several days."
He didn't quite understand Tuoba Xiong's character yet. If he was suspicious, he might really have to wait another two days.
"Understood." Mu Lingchen replied and immediately summoned Zhang Debiao, Li Yuanbao, Qian Ergou and others to set off.
Zhang Debiao and his men already knew about these things beforehand, and they were all looking forward to it. Now that they heard they were going to set up an ambush, they were all very excited.
Meanwhile, Tuoba Xiong rushed back to the Tianqiong tribe.
Upon returning to the tribe, he summoned Jiao Xi and ordered, "Send word to gather all the soldiers in the camp."
Because they couldn't break through Beifeng City in time, the Beirong soldiers took turns resting. This time it was the turn of the Tianqiong tribe's soldiers to rest. Now they summoned all the soldiers, which could gather about 100,000 soldiers.
As soon as Tuoba Xiong said this, Jiao Xi immediately understood what he was going to do: "So Shanyu is planning to take that mountain path?"
Tuoba Xiong frowned and said, "This has dragged on for too long. If it continues, we will lose this battle. Rather than waiting to die, we should take a risk and try. Maybe we can take the five northern cities without bloodshed. At that time, I will not only unify the Northern Rong, but I might even be able to establish a Northern Rong Kingdom!"
Jiao Xi had followed Tuoba Xiong for many years, so how could he not know his ambition? Moreover, he knew that once Tuoba Xiong made up his mind, not even ten oxen could pull him back.
"This subordinate will go and gather the soldiers now."
Jiao Xi bowed, said something, and then left.
The brothers of Liuying Village, who had been secretly observing the movements of the Sky Dome soldiers, immediately returned to report to Bai Ying when they saw the soldiers gathering: "Boss, Sky Dome is assembling soldiers outside."
Upon hearing this, Bai Ying was overjoyed and immediately went outside. Seeing the soldiers heading in one direction, he secretly fired a signal flare.
No sooner had the signal flare been fired than soldiers came to invite them: "Our Chanyu invites you."
Bai Ying glanced at his brothers, and the group followed the soldier to see Tuoba Xiong.
On the way, they secretly released all the signal flares they carried.
Firstly, they were afraid that Tuoba Xiong and the others would search them, and secondly, since the signal flares had no effect at all, they were worried that Xuan Yuanzhan's side wouldn't see them, so setting off a few more wouldn't be a mistake.
After all, those people in the passage now know about it. If they actually go through the passage and there's no one to ambush the prince, wouldn't they be losing more than they gain, which would be a big problem?
Soon, Bai Ying and the others were brought before Tuoba Xiong.
Tuoba Xiong looked at Bai Ying and said, "I have decided to accept your cooperation. I will have to trouble your brothers to lead our Sky Warriors through this mountain path."
Bai Ying laughed and said, “No problem. We brothers from Liuying Village may not have any other skills, but we are experts at walking this mountain path. We can lead the way, or if you are not comfortable with that, we can walk beside you!”
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