Bai Sunizhi, at least on the surface, did not show much shock. As for what he felt inside, Li Hong was too lazy to guess.
"Haha, I didn't expect that in the end, it was my least beloved daughter who saved me. I would like to thank Your Highness the Crown Prince very much." Bai Sunizhi sighed to the sky, but no matter what, going to Chang'an to end his life is much better than ending his life here like a slave.
He watched Li Hong's men helping others bandage and treat the bloody wounds on their wrists and ankles, but no one was helping him.
He shook his head helplessly and smiled. It seemed that Bai Chun held a very important position in the Crown Prince's heart. He helped others bandage their wounds, but turned a blind eye to the wounds on his own wrists and ankles. I guess he was punishing himself for Bai Chun.
After the old woman's wound was bandaged, she carefully and timidly moved Bai Suni to her side. She looked at the faint smile on Li Hong's face and saw that he was not angry because of her coming. So she bravely asked for some trauma medicine and began to help Bai Suni clean and bandage her wound.
"What do you plan to do with him? Or leave it to me?" Li Hong glanced at Ze Luo and asked Bai Sunizhi.
Bai Sunizhi raised his old and turbid eyes and glanced at Zhe Luo, with a trace of helplessness on his face, and said: "No matter what, he is from the Kingdom of Kucha. Although he betrayed his king in the end, I think His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not let him continue to live. Why bother me, the king of a fallen country?"
"It may not be a country, nor a state, but just a tribe, just a tribe of our Great Tang. Kucha does not even have the qualifications to be called a country or a state, because every inch of land here belongs to the Great Tang, so... you don't have to feel sentimental, let alone think that one day you will be able to dominate this land. Bai Chun saved you, so you don't have to thank me. For Bai Chun's sake, see if God will give Zeluosheng a chance. Wu Tian, put it on." After Li Hong finished speaking, he stood up and walked out.
After hearing what Li Hong said, Wutan looked at the handcuffs and shackles in the soldiers' hands, waved his hand and signaled them to take them all.
...
...
Ze Luo opened his eyes wide in disbelief, looking at so many handcuffs and leg shackles with some horror. He knew that if his guess was correct, all of them would be hung on him.
Sure enough, before he could resist, several soldiers rushed forward and put handcuffs and shackles on him, making it impossible for him to resist.
The next step was to put them on layer by layer. When they couldn't fit any further, they were hung around the neck and shoulders.
More than forty pairs of handcuffs and leg shackles were suddenly hung heavily on Ze Luo's body. Ze Luo was pressed to the point that he could not stand up straight, raise his arms, and even lifting his legs was very difficult.
The blood vessels on Ze Luo's neck were clearly visible, and his forehead was also exposed. He shouted with all his strength: "Your Highness, you can't do this to me. I am a meritorious official of the Tang Dynasty, and I am the Dingyuan General of the Tang Dynasty, who is of the fifth rank."
Li Hong had already walked outside the fence gate. He turned his head and looked at Zhe Luo's body, which was straightened up with all his strength. He said coldly, "I am just warning you that no one can disrespect my people's family. Bai Chun has served me for ten years, so as his master, I should help my people solve their troubles. Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by God. Whether you can return to Qiuci alive depends on your luck."
As soon as Li Hong finished speaking, a soldier came out with a large wooden basin of cold water, and without saying a word, poured all the water on Zhe Luo. Zhe Luo screamed in pain, and the water drops on the shackles on his hands and feet immediately froze into ice, hanging on Zhe Luo's body coldly, making it impossible for Zhe Luo to stay still.
The group returned along the original route. If they went south from the big intersection in front, they could bypass the Tanklamakan Desert and lead to places like Khotan. There were two roads to the north. One led to Qiuci and then west to the Western Regions. The other was the Silk Road that also led west to the Western Regions.
As a vital throat and important military town, Yumen Pass controlled all the routes on the three Silk Roads running from east to west, and became the only route into the heartland of the Tang Dynasty.
Before this, the ancient city of Loulan had always served as a fortress into the Central Plains. However, given that the people of Loulan had often served as lookouts for the Xiongnu and other countries, the Tang Dynasty never trusted Loulan very much.
The sun has set, casting long shadows on the trees on both sides of the road. The Peacock River, as the only river flowing through Loulan, has not changed its course. Loulan has also been dredging and transforming the river through artificial means, hoping that the river will not get farther and farther away from Loulan.
After choosing the camping site, Bai Sunizhi and others could not help but marvel at the fact that the thousand men led by Li Hong, under the command of the two generals named Wufa and Wutian, were carrying out various camping tasks in an orderly, quick and efficient manner.
The moonlight gradually climbed up the night sky. The 9,000-year-old Populus euphratica forest, which is known as "living for three thousand years without dying, dying for three thousand years without falling, and falling for three thousand years without decay", stood tall in the cold wind. When the wind blew, the leaves that had not fallen off in the winter slowly floated down from the branches, and together with other plants such as red willow, saxaul, and anemarrhena asparagus, they covered the mysterious night.
After all this journey, Zhe Luo had lost his human form. The cold handcuffs and shackles on his hands and feet were covered with blood and ice chips. His face was pale and weak from exhaustion, and his eyes were dull and lifeless.
"Let me go, Your Highness, please, let me go. I am a meritorious official of the Tang Dynasty." Zhe Luo, who was still at Li Hong's feet, pleaded in a low voice.
Li Hong looked at the place not far from the Peacock River, about twenty miles away, which was the ancient city of Loulan that was full of mystery in his previous life.
"The long clouds from Qinghai darken the snow-capped mountains, and the lonely city looks towards Yumen Pass in the distance. After a hundred battles in the yellow sand, my golden armor has been worn away. I will not return until I have conquered Loulan." Li Hong ignored Ze Luo's pleading, and stared at the invisible ancient city of Loulan in the distance in the night, slowly reciting a few lines from "Song of the Army" by a Tang poet who was not yet born: Wang Changling.
He originally thought that Loulan had disappeared long ago, but he did not expect that Loulan still existed during this period and was still very powerful, and was secretly colluding with Tubo.
Just like how he sometimes depended on the Huns and sometimes submitted to the Han Dynasty, this fence-sitter has actually survived until now.
Today's Loulan is still following the traditions left by its ancestors. On the surface, it submits to the Tang Dynasty, but secretly colludes with Tubo, becoming Tubo's spies in the Tang Dynasty, monitoring every soldier of the Tang Dynasty.
If the river had not changed its course, Loulan would probably still be standing here, and the Taklamakan Desert in the previous life would not be much larger than the desert today.
The massive felling of trees, coupled with changes in terrain, caused the desert to expand under the power of the wind, eventually submerging the city of Loulan and turning it into part of the sea of sand.
Ze Luo's hand and foot shackles were removed, and he was wolfing down a bowl of leftovers.
Bai Sunizhi's eyes flickered in the light of the fire. He looked at Zhe Luo who was squatting on the ground eating, and then at Li Hong who was sitting at the door of the tent, wearing a big fur coat and drinking grape wine.
"How is Bai Chun now?" Bai Sunizhi asked, looking at the bandage on his wrist.
"She's very good, but don't worry, she won't hold a grudge against you." Li Hong walked to the fire, sat on the chair Xiaoxue brought out, stretched out his hands to warm the fire and answered.
"Yes, he should hate me. Her mother died soon after giving birth to her. From that time on, some people thought that she was an unlucky daughter and that she killed her mother. Because I was grieving for her mother, I had always been cold to her. A few years later, under the pressure of my clansmen and various forces, I had no choice but to send her to the Tang Dynasty, hoping to exchange her for the cavalry support of the Tang Dynasty. Things are unpredictable. I didn't expect that before I could make the next plan, the craftsmen we smuggled from the Tang Dynasty would be discovered by you. Bai Chun lost her freedom from then on and became your slave." Bai Suni's gray hair was particularly conspicuous in the firelight, and her old cheeks, which were illuminated red, were full of memories.
"Does she know the real purpose of your sending her to the Tang Dynasty?" Li Hong picked up a dead branch, fanning the small flame in front of him, and asked lightly.
"She doesn't know. She only knows that she is an ominous person for the Kingdom of Kucha, and because of her, the Kingdom of Kucha was besieged by other countries. She had no complaints when she was sent away, and she has even been planning to recruit craftsmen from the Tang Dynasty for Kucha in order to solve Kucha's predicament." After Bai Sunizhi finished speaking, she looked at Li Hong, flames dancing in her amber eyes.
"Oh...then is there anything you need me to bring to her?" Li Hong looked at Bai Sunizhi. A superior like him, even if he is already a prisoner, still has to retain his dignity. It would be a shame to save face.
"Your Highness is truly a brilliant and quick-witted man. I admire you so much for your poem just now. I don't want to talk to you for a few words, but Your Highness has understood my thoughts. I am ashamed of myself." Bai Sunizhi smiled bitterly. This young man is simply too smart, and too smart. If he can successfully inherit the throne of the Tang Dynasty in the future, the Tang Dynasty will probably be even stronger than it is now! I am afraid that by that time, the Tang Dynasty will begin to reach its peak.
Li Hong ignored Bai Sunizhi's praise, smiled conceitedly, looked at Zhe Luo who had been eavesdropping with his ears perked up, and said, "Help me keep watch tonight. If you don't freeze to death tomorrow, I'll let you go."
When Ze Luo heard what Li Hong said, he immediately put down the bowl and chopsticks he had licked clean and said hurriedly: "Don't worry, Your Highness, I promise to guard the door for you and not let you be disturbed in the slightest."
Li Hong smiled and watched Bai Sunizhi and Ze Luo look at each other. The enemies were extremely jealous when they met, but he couldn't guess what the old Bai Sunizhi was thinking at the moment.
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