At the residence of Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou.
"Your Excellency, you've taken the money and the benefits, and I've even given you two beautiful women!"
"But almost half a month has passed, why is there still no movement from the imperial court?"
The Right Grand Commandant of the Xiongnu was constantly on edge, unable to eat or sleep properly.
Today I came to Zhang Yi's place again to urge her to answer.
He had been waiting in Jinyang City, Taiyuan Prefecture for more than ten days.
Due to the border barrier, he knew nothing about what had happened in Dingxiang County and Meiji.
Ten days ago, Zhang Yi accepted a bribe and wrote a memorial in front of the Right Grand Commandant, then had it sent to Luoyang by express courier.
The Right Grand Commandant then had two large packages brought in, which contained two beautiful Xiongnu women.
That made Zhang Yimei start learning a foreign language that very night.
"Grand Commandant, the Celestial Empire naturally has its own set of rules. Everything must be done according to procedures. There's no way we can get a reply so quickly."
"I advise you to wait patiently for a while longer; you'll hear from them soon, haha!"
"This is fine tea from Guanzhong, Grand Commandant, please have a taste."
Zhang Yi remained calm and composed in the face of the Right Grand Commandant's questioning.
He received so many benefits, yet the matter was not handled to the liking of the Right Grand Commandant, but he showed no remorse whatsoever.
This made the Right Grand Commandant want to kill him on the spot.
However, since I need his help now, I have no choice but to endure it.
In fact, Zhang Yi had received the imperial edict from the court five days earlier.
Dong Zhuo, the governor of Hedong, was promoted to General of the Left of the Army and put in charge of military affairs in Bingzhou.
He was about to come to Bingzhou to recruit soldiers in preparation for a military campaign outside the pass, and ordered Zhang Yi to prepare provisions to fully cooperate.
Now that's good, Zhang Yi doesn't need to worry about the princes and Qiang tribes fighting in the border regions.
Ding Yuan hasn't returned for so long; he's probably died out there.
Even if he didn't die, Zhang Yi subtly mentioned in his secret letter to He Jin that Ding Yuan had taken supplies to seek refuge with that prince.
Ding Yuan's refusal to be removed from He Jin's list also aroused suspicion.
This General Dong Zhuo, the Left General of Pingbei, was likely a close confidant of He Jin.
Because of this matter, Zhang Yi has now also become connected with Empress He's faction, which is also part of the General's faction.
He used to have some dealings with Zhang Rang, one of the Ten Attendants, but now he's playing both sides.
No matter how the two factions of Empress Dowager Dong and Empress He fought in the court, Zhang Yi managed to win both sides and remained unshaken.
As for the Right Grand Commandant of the Xiongnu in front of us, there should still be plenty of opportunities to exploit him.
At the same time, He Jin also agreed to allocate a large amount of military supplies, which would be sent to the Xiongnu people through the Bingzhou Governor's Office, and then used to appease the Qiangqu.
The military supplies departed from Luoyang and traveled for many days, already entering Bingzhou.
Zhang Yi would definitely need to make some adjustments and release the supplies from the Bingzhou Prefecture warehouse first.
Then they falsified the data and accepted supplies from the imperial court.
Of course, there was a large discrepancy, which Zhang Yi pocketed.
"Your Excellency, I would appreciate it if you could keep an eye on this matter!"
Seeing Zhang Yi's behavior, the Right Grand Commandant became suspicious.
"Also, please give us a pass, the kind that allows us to return after we leave the pass!"
"We've been here from Shanwu for so many days, and we have absolutely no idea what the situation is like outside Shanwu City!"
The Right Grand Commandant's plan was to surround the isolated city where Liu Wei was located.
Then they kept asking the people in the Han court who wanted the prince dead for supplies.
His plans were elaborate, but he overlooked human nature, such as the greedy and power-hungry Zhang Yi.
Leaving aside the fact that in the past ten days or so, a tremendous change has taken place outside Shanwu City: the Xiongnu army was annihilated, Qiangqu fell from his horse and died, and Huchuquan fled back to Yunzhong in panic...
Even the Right Grand Commandant's staunch brother, the Left Grand Commandant, has already gone very far down the road to the underworld.
The Meiji royal court of the Southern Xiongnu no longer exists, and the elderly Zuo Guli King led his remaining troops to hide in the city of Guluo in the desert.
This is the helplessness of ancient times when mountains and rivers separated people and information was delayed.
Often, the fighting on the front lines had already ended long before the rear received news of the stalemate between the two armies.
In addition, the Xiongnu launched a major offensive, and the Han garrison at passes such as Pianguan, Loufan, and Yanmen were afraid and their defenses were relaxed, allowing the Xiongnu to take advantage of the situation.
They sealed off the border, allowing only exits but no entry.
The area north of the Great Wall became a vacuum zone.
The Right Grand Commandant had been eager to know the current situation outside the pass for the past ten days or so.
But the three passes of Bingzhou only allowed his men to leave, but not to enter.
Of the more than one hundred followers who came with the Right Grand Commandant, half of them have already been sent out, but none of them have returned.
What the Right Grand Commandant didn't know was that his men, after passing through the three passes and heading towards Shanwu, encountered Liu Du leading his men to wipe out the remaining Xiongnu enemies within Dingxiang territory, and they were all killed!
"This is not my fault! Your people went and never came back, so sending the message to them is useless."
"Unless you go back in person."
Zhang Yi spoke slowly and deliberately.
"I'll have to go myself. Goodbye!"
Seeing that there were no results on Zhang Yi's side, the Right Grand Commandant had no choice but to leave it at that.
No sooner had he left than news arrived by fast horse from Pianguan:
"Lord Ding has returned safely!"
"The troops are stationed at Pianguan. Lord Ding, Zhang Congshi, and Marquis Lüqu are leading five hundred men and are on their way to Jinyang."
"What!"
This left Zhang Yi stunned.
How could Ding Yuan be so lucky to have returned safely from the territory of the Xiongnu?
Ding Yuan will probably find out soon about Zhang Yi's slander against him.
It seems I need to find a way to deal with this situation. Zhang Yi suddenly became preoccupied.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up:
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