Chapter 419 Pulling Weeds
Zhao Jiu had no interest in whipping an old man in the middle of the night. He really didn't have that problem.
When Hebule, covered in sweat and stinking of blood, arrived at the back hall of the Zhending government office amidst the faint stench of corpses, the official did not ask anyone to perform any impromptu performance art of washing feet in a basin, but just sat there in silence, looking tired.
However, after Hebule knelt on the ground surrounded by soldiers and finished the respectful and serious greeting, Zhao Jiu fell asleep right there... In the silent night, the sobbing sounds from the whole city yesterday were gone, and only the faint snoring of Emperor Zhao could be heard, which sounded particularly clear in the back hall.
Hebula lay motionless on the ground, and the soldiers around him stood still. Liu Yan, the imperial commander in front of Emperor Zhao, and Shao Chengzhang, the chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, looked at each other, but had to stand still.
I don’t know how long I waited. It was already dawn and Hebule, whose legs were completely numb, suddenly heard a rustling sound, followed by some movement.
After a while, I heard the voice I had heard several times before:
"Isn't it? I was not deliberately making things difficult for you just now."
"My Lord knows." Hebule still didn't raise his head, and his tone seemed a little difficult. It was not only because his dialect was difficult to understand, but also because he had been kneeling for too long and hadn't slept all night, so he suddenly spoke with stiffness. "If the Lord was pretending to be asleep, he wouldn't have pretended for so long. My Lord came at a bad time and disturbed the Lord's rest..."
"You should take a rest too!" Zhao Jiu wiped his face and continued. "We can talk about things after we have rested enough and have a clear mind... I am not as free today as I was the past two days, and I have to take care of some things."
As he said this, the official stood up, turned around, and walked out of the back hall. As for Hebule, as the footsteps behind him faded away, he suddenly fell from his kneeling position to a paralyzed state.
In any case, Hebule finally got the chance to rest. Not only that, after he woke up, someone took him to have a simple but sufficient breakfast. He even took a shower and changed clothes... By the time he walked out of Zhending City with several Mongolian princes from the Red Heart Team to meet the Zhao Song officials outside the city, it was obviously already afternoon.
Compared with last night, the stench of corpses in Zhending City at this moment has not only been greatly reduced, but there has also been a constant stream of people coming and going. Civil and military officials, chiefs of various ethnic groups, military generals and soldiers, auxiliary troops, civilians, as well as a few merchants and civilians, are constantly coming and going.
The strength displayed by just one important military town made all the tribes on the entire Mongolian Plateau put together pale in comparison. And because of the trade exchanges in previous years, Hebule had long known that with a country as big as China, there must be dozens if not hundreds of such towns.
After walking out of the city, Hebule saw many familiar faces - on the open space to the north of the city, there was a large typical Mongolian camp, surrounded by large carts, patched yurts scattered around, and livestock gathered in the middle. Many Mongolian chieftains from the central and western regions that he was familiar with were leading their light cavalry to and from the camp gate, coming in and out constantly.
Among these people, some were neatly equipped and riding on horses, leading one or several teams of light cavalry to the edge of the camp and shouting military orders to the Song officers, as if they were preparing to go or had just finished their military duties; some were in casual clothes, leading war horses, and stopping in the Song merchant warehouses on the side of the road with some trophies, gesticulating and preparing to exchange iron pots, needles and thread, and cloth; and the scene that shocked Hebule the most was that when he turned around a corner of the camp that was obviously owned by the Western Mongols, he clearly saw that the open space in front of the large central tent at the rear side of the camp was almost full of trophies!
Countless armor, gold, silver, copper ingots, iron ingots, silk, and furs were piled up nakedly on the open ground, and a group of nobles from various Western Mongolian tribes who had already changed into armor were arguing there with red faces... If there were not civil servants and soldiers from the Song Dynasty next to these things, I'm afraid these people would have fought on the spot.
Hebule knew very well that Emperor Zhao asked him to come out from this road so that he could see this scene, and also so that these Mongolian leaders could see him... Along the way, he was looking at these people, but these people also noticed that he was surrounded by the imperial guards... But even though they knew this, both sides couldn't take their eyes off him.
Everyone in the Western Mongolian tribe knew that Kublai Khan had come alone to see Emperor Zhao to apologize, and Kublai had confirmed two indisputable facts from what he had seen and heard before - first, of course this battle was truly an unprecedented victory, and the Jurchens really collapsed in one battle; secondly, the Emperor Zhao Song did indeed clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments.
If either of these two factors were missing, it would have been impossible for the Western Mongols to take away so much spoils.
However, after witnessing this scene, Hebule felt relieved for some reason.
After passing through the camp in the north of the city and crossing an open space where corpses were being buried (this should be the source of the stench of corpses last night), Hebule finally came to the bank of a big river, and here he saw the Zhao Song official, whom he did not dare to look up and take a real look at last night... The latter was dressed in plain clothes, sitting by the river. In addition to the armored soldiers surrounding him, there were countless civil and military officials gathered, and someone was reporting something at this moment.
It can be seen that the official’s words this morning were not false.
In fact, Hebule still had not been summoned. He could only be guarded on the side like a prisoner, waiting obediently to be summoned.
"So, although you swept away many Jin troops along the Qinshui River (a semi-artificial and semi-natural river running from north to south connecting the Hutuo River and the Hulu River), you only captured one Wanhu, Wulin Datai?" Zhao Jiu seemed to be thinking about something.
"Yes." A Song general in front of Emperor Zhao replied respectfully. He was Zhang Zhongfu, a commander of the imperial cavalry. "Let Emperor Zhao know that when Deputy Commander Liu captured Wulinda Taiyu, this guy had already changed into ordinary clothes. However, he had been living a life of luxury in Beijing for many years and was not good at running when being chased. That's why he was seen through... It can be seen that the other defeated generals had long abandoned their leadership and escaped one by one. I'm afraid it would be very difficult to catch them in a hurry... Emperor Zhao, do you want to meet this person?"
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