Chapter 2182 True or False
Erg went to see his elder brother.
The eldest boss's face darkened and he said, "Send out some people to look around and find out if they are from the Liangzhou Army or some other garrison."
Erge said, "Brother, if we send anyone out now, they might never come back."
The eldest boss frowned. "What do you mean? Just stay on the mountain and wait? Cover your ears and eyes, what's the difference between that and being blind and deaf?"
"What I mean is that we can't let them scatter and search. It's too late today. Tomorrow morning I will personally lead people out to check."
"After a day, they've already reached Liangzhou City. What can we find out now?" The Third Chief disagreed with pursuing the matter further. "Maybe they were just some stragglers who happened to run into us and attacked us. In my opinion, it's just bad luck for them. Killing the remaining people in the village will be revenge for our brothers."
Many people agreed with what the third in command said.
They like to plunder, but they don't want to have another big fight with the Liangzhou Army. They have fought so many times and have never gotten any benefits, and the experience is really not very good.
The boss and Erge frowned at the same time. Although they didn't want to fight the Liangzhou army, it was very frustrating to see their subordinates so lacking in ambition.
The boss weighed the pros and cons and finally agreed to Erge's proposal.
It is impossible not to investigate. We don’t know what kind of opponents are lurking in the dark. It’s scary to think about it.
The eldest boss suddenly thought of something and asked, "Could it be the team you saw last night? Didn't you say they were government troops?"
Erge's eyes flickered, his expression becoming somewhat solemn. "We entered their camp last night, and there was nothing unusual..."
"It must be them," the Third In Command shouted, "Who else is around here besides them? There's nowhere to hide in the surrounding areas. They couldn't have gotten very far yesterday..."
Erge said, "Third brother just said yesterday that it would take them one day to reach Liangzhou City. Why are you changing your mind now?"
The two men immediately started arguing, and finally the eldest boss stepped in to stop them. He then sent people to investigate their camp. "No one has passed through the foot of the mountain today. They are either still there or have returned to Liangzhou."
"If it's the former, it may have nothing to do with them. If it's the latter, they must have done it," he said. "If it really was these people who did it, I don't believe they won't take my route to the Western Regions. When the time comes, humph!"
Someone immediately took the order and left, and did not return until nightfall to report, "Their camp is still there."
Erg was puzzled and asked, "Why are they stationed there? Why don't they set off?"
"We sent some people pretending to be herdsmen passing by with their cattle and sheep to inquire. They said that their masters were very interested in the migration routes of the herdsmen, so they wanted to stay in his tower for a while." He said, "We also inquired about it. Their masters went to his tower early this morning with generous gifts. I heard that they gave gifts to his tower yesterday evening and sent more today. They brought a lot of luggage in a car, and it was all packed with good boxes..."
"Alright, alright, we all know this," Erge interrupted him, turning to the headmaster and saying, "Brother, I went to see those people last night. Several of the young men were particularly distinguished, and the old man leading them looked like a teacher. We guessed last night that the leader of this team was a female imperial physician from the capital."
The Third Master asked, "So what?"
Erge glanced at him and said, "I heard that this Imperial Physician Zhou is very favored by the Emperor and is also the Crown Prince's personal advisor. He has been living in the palace and is very familiar with those around the Crown Prince. I see that those young men are well-mannered yet brimming with arrogance. They must be the nobles of the capital."
The third boss's eyes lit up, and he turned to the first boss and said, "Brother, these are fat sheep. If we rob them..."
Erge: "...Are you crazy to provoke such people? They are of noble status. If anything goes wrong, the Liangzhou army will definitely crack down on the bandits."
"Damn it, Duan Ge wouldn't let us go anyway. We might as well just grab a big one and leave. We can set up camp somewhere else."
The people on the grassland are different from those in the Central Plains. They don't have much fear of imperial power. After all, more than ten years ago, their leader was still the Khan, not the emperor of the Central Plains.
Moreover, the capital's control over the grasslands was not that strong. Apart from conscription and taxation, the imperial court had almost no requirements for the tribes, and the herders were basically self-governing.
Sometimes the tribes traveled far away and had good luck, and took advantage of the fact that other tribes occupying the land were not paying attention and slipped away to another place. When the government came to collect taxes, they could not find anyone, so the taxes could not be collected three or four times out of ten.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible to expect the bandits to be afraid of the emperor, let alone the young bastards from the capital's aristocracy below the emperor.
So the boss was also tempted, but only for a moment. He didn't want to move yet, and even less wanted to confront the Liangzhou army.
Seeing his hesitation, Erge breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Brother, they are going to the Western Regions to serve as officials. Even if they are nobles and have a lot of things with them, they are mostly their daily necessities. I heard that those children of noble families even bring a special toilet when they go out. What's the point of us robbing them?"
He said, "Although the goods are good and plentiful, not much can be converted into cash. It would be better to rob a caravan, where all the goods can be converted into cash. It's not worth changing places for them."
The eldest boss finally became firm and said, "That's right. It's not worth it to change places suddenly. Third brother, don't provoke them."
The third in command curled his lips.
The boss said directly: "If they leave in a few days, restrain your men and let them go directly."
Erg agreed.
The third in command agreed reluctantly.
The eldest leader finally had time to think about other things. "Why did they think of checking the migration trajectory of the tribe? Would the Ta tribe be so stupid as to tell them such a deadly thing?"
"That's the survival secret of each tribe. The Ta tribe won't tell them, but it's not impossible to tell them some false information or simply reveal the whereabouts of other tribes." Erge's eyes were deep. "But if court officials ask about this kind of thing, I'm afraid the Emperor of the Central Plains is dissatisfied with the grassland and wants to take action against it."
It was also because of this speculation that Erge did not doubt Zhou Man and his men's behavior of staying in the camp.
The emperor in the palace sneezed loudly, wiped his face with a handkerchief, and glanced outside before gathering his clothes. "Strange, I don't feel cold."
Gu Zhong silently poured the emperor a cup of hot tea and said with a smile, "Perhaps one of the princes misses His Majesty."
The emperor immediately said, "Isn't it possible that someone is scolding me?"
Bai Shan stood in the wind, watching the afterglow disappear bit by bit. The sky became completely dark, and there was no movement on the other side of the mountain. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Lieutenant Nie strode over, frowning and asking, "Master Bai, were you the one who sent word that we wanted to find out about the herdsmen's migration routes?"
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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