That night.
On the vast grasslands of northern Mongolia, the deep blue sky resembles a giant bowl inverted on the grassland.
Under the bright moonlight, there were rows of various military tents rising from the ground, scattered like stars in the sky.
Inside the camp, bonfires illuminated the army's encampment with a bright red glow, and countless burly Turkic soldiers roamed among them, enjoying meat and wine around the fires.
Inside some tents, the cries for help from women struggling desperately mingled with the arrogant laughter of Turkic soldiers.
Every now and then, Turkic soldiers with flushed faces and satisfied expressions would come in and out of the tent, casually adjust their belts, and then continue to gather around the campfire to drink and chat.
This place is only a hundred miles away from Shuobei City, a key border town of the Great Xin Dynasty. A Turkic cavalryman, equipped with two horses per rider, can reach the city in just one or two hours.
The Turkic army that was stationed here was a force of 100,000 cavalry led by the Turkic Khan Timur himself.
At this moment, inside the central tent of the Turkic army, Khan Temur and his generals were enjoying a hearty meal of fragrant hand-pulled mutton and the strongest mare's milk wine.
He spoke of the 100,000-strong Turkic army marching south, sweeping across the area north of the Yellow River in the Xin Dynasty with overwhelming force, plundering money, grain, and women to make a fortune and secure a bright future.
It turns out that Timur had outwardly agreed to cooperate with Wu Qingyun, lending him an elite force to help eliminate their common enemy, Chen Huai'an, and the remnants of the Po Lu Army.
However, it was actually Timur who played a trick on Wu Qingyun, a classic case of "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
The 20,000-strong army led by the Turkic general Huobo Guiren was merely Timur's vanguard. The 100,000-strong army currently stationed on the grasslands, only a hundred miles from Shuobei City, was Timur's true trump card.
However, this trump card wasn't meant to be used to help Wu Qingyun deal with Chen Huai'an, but rather to be used to clean up the mess when Chen Huai'an and Wu Qingyun were fighting like dogs and both were badly injured.
At that point, Timur won't care whether you're Wu Qingyun or Chen Huai'an, and he certainly won't honor any so-called alliance with Shuobei.
Timur didn't care about the money, grain, treasures, and women promised by Wu Qingyun in the alliance for the twenty-eight counties of Shuobei, and he didn't care whether the women of Chen Polu's royal family, his mortal enemy, had to perform some kind of sheep-leading ceremony.
What Timur wanted was half of the country north of the Yellow River in this new dynasty!
If the situation allows, it wouldn't be unreasonable to march into the Central Plains and claim the throne.
If someone surnamed Zhao can sit on that dragon throne in the Golden Palace, why can't someone surnamed Tie sit on it?
"Great Khan, that brat Chen Huai'an is truly hateful. Not only did he offend the majesty of my Turkic Empire, but he also publicly executed my Turkic Empire's envoy. He is just like his dead father, Chen Polu. He has never put the Great Khan or our Turkic Empire in his eyes!"
"Such a person should be arrested and torn apart by five horses, and his head should be hung on the city wall to tell all Han people that this is the fate of those who dare not submit to the Turkic Empire!"
At this moment, a Turkic general in the tent, his face flushed from drinking, stood up and continued unsteadily:
"Great Khan, it's been ten years, a full ten years! I still remember the tragic scene at the Yumu River and Onon River, and it often wakes me up in nightmares!"
"Ten years ago, I swore a poisonous oath to the Eternal Heaven that I would personally kill that beast Chen Polu in this life to comfort the spirits of the soldiers who died tragically on the banks of the Onon River!"
"But alas, fate is cruel; that beast Chen Polu actually died of illness on his own!"
At this point, the Turkic general who had survived following Timur on the banks of the Onon River suddenly grabbed the wine jar in front of him.
Immediately afterwards, he downed most of the jar of strong liquor in one go, then went into the main tent, knelt on one knee before Timur, who sat in the center of the tent, and volunteered, saying:
"Great Khan, since I, Arslen, joined you in starting an uprising at the age of fourteen, I have fought in the south and north for over thirty years and have never once asked you for anything."
But today, Ars, for the sake of his brother who died tragically on the banks of the Onon River ten years ago, and for the sake of his brother-in-law Huobo who died tragically in the Jin Palace of Longcheng, dares to humbly plead with the Great Khan once more.
This humble general is willing to serve as the vanguard commander of the army, leading troops to conquer cities and seize territories, and personally slay the bandit chieftain Chen Huai'an!
"This humble general will surely tear Chen Huai'an to pieces and use his head as a sacrifice for the army's southward march!"
"We beseech the Great Khan to grant our request!"
After saying this, Arslen knelt down straight in front of Khan Timur.
Immediately, the other Turkic generals in the central command tent all stopped eating meat and drinking wine.
First he glanced at Arslan kneeling inside the tent, then he looked up at Timur in the center of the tent, his expressions varied and intriguing.
According to the military merit system of the Turkic Empire, this position of vanguard commander was a lucrative one.
After the battle, the soldiers of the vanguard general's unit have priority in claiming the spoils.
Most of the Turkic generals present were leaders of various tribes in the northern steppes who had submitted to Timur.
At this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the army to march south, each of these generals had their own agenda, all hoping to take advantage of the internal strife in the Great Xin Dynasty to make a fortune for their own tribes.
Everyone present knew that with Wu Qingyun, the Northwest General of the Great Xin Dynasty, secretly supporting the army's southward march, there was no need to risk their lives in a brutal siege.
The so-called vanguard general was nothing more than leading his cavalry to slaughter the Han infantry.
Even if the Han army has cavalry, there is absolutely no need to worry.
No matter how strong the Han army's cavalry was, could they be stronger than the Turkic warriors who had grown up on horseback?
Therefore, upon hearing that Arslen had volunteered to be the vanguard commander, none of the Turkic generals present spoke, but instead turned their gazes to the Great Khan Timur in the center of the tent, to see how he would decide.
In the center of the tent, Timur, the Great Khan of the Turkic Empire, sat upright on a wolf-head chair. He appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was already churning with turmoil.
Timur was perfectly aware of what the generals present were thinking.
His ability to rise again as the overlord of the grasslands with only thirteen men and thirteen suits of armor in just ten years was not solely due to his ruthless and daring tactics, but also to his masterful strategic maneuvering.
The Turkic Empire at this stage was not a monolithic entity, but rather a union of more than twenty tribes of varying sizes from the northern steppes. Timur's position as Great Khan was also jointly elected by the leaders of these more than twenty tribes.
Taking advantage of the internal turmoil in the northwest of the Great Xin Dynasty, Timur persuaded various tribes to jointly send troops south. This involved a complex and intertwined issue of interest distribution, and he still hasn't been able to come up with a perfect solution.
Who would have thought that Arslen, that brute, would spout nonsense while drunk? Wasn't this putting him in a very difficult position?
Timur was caught in a dilemma, unable to advance or retreat.
At that very moment, Arslan, kneeling inside the tent, uttered another startling statement:
"Great Khan, Arslen's actions are solely for the purpose of personally killing Chen Huai'an to avenge himself, not for the sake of military merit, provisions, or women!"
"Hereby, Arslan is willing to express on behalf of the Kereit tribe that, in the distribution of spoils after this great southern expedition, the Kereit tribe is willing to be at the very end of all the tribes!"
"We beseech the Great Khan to grant our request!"
Upon hearing this, the other Turkic generals present were taken aback, then delighted, and once again turned their gaze to the Great Khan Timur in the center of the tent.
At this moment, Timur desperately wanted to throw Arslan, that loose-lipped fellow, into the glacier to sober him up, but his expression remained unchanged.
He simply said, "General Arslan and the warriors of the Kereit tribe disregard personal gain and loss, and their willingness to charge into battle for the army is as clear as heaven and earth, as borne as the sun and moon. I am deeply moved!"
"As for the distribution of spoils after the army's southern expedition, we will discuss that later!"
With that, Timur raised the wine bowl in front of him and loudly addressed the group of Turkic generals in the tent, each with their own ulterior motives:
"Gentlemen, given this golden opportunity presented by the internal turmoil in the northwest of the Great Xin Dynasty, and the fact that you have all joined forces to march south, I hope that you will take a long-term view and not be concerned with immediate gains or losses."
"When the army returns victorious from its southern campaign, I, the Khan, will surely give you all an unexpected and satisfactory answer!"
"Come, everyone, let's raise our bowls and drink this cup of mare's milk wine to celebrate our great victory in the southern campaign!"
"Dry!"
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