Chapter 667: Bisha Miao stockade
Editor: Atlas Studios
Qi Haoran walked around the room a few times and said, “Although this matter involves Chief Sanglin’s second son, it might not have been instructed by Sanglin. There’s a huge difference.”
Fan Zijin frowned. “But we’re not close to the Bisha Miao stockade, and it’s always difficult to seek information about the Miao stockades. How can we find out their intentions?”
Qi Haoran stopped in his tracks and snorted. “Looks like we should go to the Bisha Miao stockade to meet Chief Sanglin.”
“No.” Qi Haoran’s advisor, Advisor Qian, hurriedly stopped him. “An important figure like Your Highness should not put himself in such a perilous situation. If the Bisha Miao stockade truly has the intention to rebel, won’t Your Highness be walking into a tiger’s den?”
Qi Haoran laughed and said, “I don’t dare to say anything else, but I can guarantee my own safety. As long as you guys guard Ju Prefecture City well, everything will be fine.”
Advisor Qian was secretly anxious. One of the reasons why the Emperor had sent him to the Prince’s side was to ensure his safety and prevent him from being in danger.
Advisor Qian looked at Fan Zijin anxiously.
Fan Zijin, on the other hand, was very confident in Qi Haoran. He only asked who was in charge of the Central Camp’s military power.
Qi Haoran said, “Leave it to the generals below, but I’ve handed the token to Ah Ling. If anything happens, Ah Ling will lead the troops. When the time comes, I still need you to lend her reinforcement.”
Fan Zijin knew that he was referring to Dali and West Xia’s potential invasion of their borders. As for the Miao stockade’s betrayal, it could be left to the subordinate generals to take care of.
Advisor Qian was slightly surprised that the Prince and the Duke trusted the Princess Consort so much. Seeing that the Prince had already made up his mind and obviously wouldn’t listen to his advice, he could only sigh.
Upon seeing this, Fan Zijin said with a smile, “Advisor Qian doesn’t understand Haoran’s abilities. As long as he’s on the ground and has an army of soldiers following his command, no one in this world can make things difficult for him. Moreover, the guards he brought this time are all experienced guards. Self-preservation is certainly not a problem.”
“But considering the Bisha Miao stockade has already rebelled, it’s still too dangerous to go now. Why don’t Your Highness send an envoy instead?”
Fan Zijin snorted. “I’m afraid the other envoys won’t be able to find anything. Don’t worry, the danger of Haoran going personally is much lower. The Bisha Miao stockade doesn’t know how much evidence we have right now. Plus the Central Camp has a 100,000-strong army at the foot of the mountain, versus only 8,000 people in the Bisha Miao stockade. They won’t be so dumb as to strike a rock with an egg.”
“What if they take His Highness hostage?”
Fan Zijin said, “No, Haoran isn’t stupid and Chief Sanglin isn’t stupid either.”
With Qi Haoran’s ability, he would not be easily caught. Moreover, the Miao stockade had lost a lot of young men in the battle of West Xia. Right now the stockade consisted mostly of the old, weak, women, and children. As long as Sanglin still had the Miao stockade and the Miao people in his heart, he would not make such a mistake. Otherwise, while he might be able to take away some young and strong men, he would have broken the roots of the Miao stockade.
They were going to visit and investigate, not directly interrogate them. Smart people knew what to choose.
Mu Yangling was also very assured and even packed a few sets of clothes for Qi Haoran. Seeing that the two people who cared about the Prince the most were so assured, Advisor Qian could only suppress the anxiety in his heart.
He thought self-deprecatingly in his heart. If he didn’t know that the Prince and the Princess Consort were deeply in love and that the Prince and the Duke were close as brothers, he would almost suspect that the Princess Consort and the Duke had joined forces to make the Prince fall into a dangerous trap.
Advisor Qian stopped his imagination from running wild, then quickly looked straight ahead with a straight face to show that he was not letting his imagination run wild just now.
Qi Haoran looked at him strangely and felt that Advisor Qian was a little strange just now.
This time, Qi Haoran brought along a translator. Although the people in power in the Miao stockade all spoke Mandarin, he felt that it was better to bring along a translator.
When Chief Sanglin heard that Prince Rong had come to visit, he was slightly surprised. He didn’t know why a Prince of the Great Qi Dynasty had come to his place when he wasn’t sucking up to the Imperial Court like Ji’an.
On the other hand, the Second Prince, Sanglin Zhong, who was standing behind Sanglin, changed his expression slightly. He clenched his fists tightly, and a dark look flashed across his eyes.
Sanglin Ji glanced at his second brother before lowering his eyes, seemingly thinking about something.
Sanglin Zhong’s actions were only hidden from his parents and a few younger brothers, but it was common knowledge between the older ones. Sanglin Ji did not have a good impression of Dali and had always opposed his second brother’s interactions with them. Doing business with them was fine, but he actually tried to collaborate with Dali against the Imperial Court when their stockade totally wasn’t capable of that.
Sanglin Ji had always been worried that his second brother would drag the entire stockade down with him, so he did not stop him when the latter was getting rid of future troubles. But now, Qi Haoran had come looking for them. Had he found out?
Although the brothers of the Sanglin family knew that their second brother was close to Dali and that he wanted to silence a Miao citizen who had accidentally overheard this, they did not know the details. After all, it was a confidential matter, so it was not good for them to probe too much lest they attracted hatred. Therefore, when Qi Haoran came to the Miao stockade, other than Chief Sanglin and his younger sons who were still a little confused, everyone else was nervous.
Seeing a smiling Qi Haoran dismount with just 20 personal guards, they felt slightly relieved. If he were here to interrogate them, he wouldn’t dare to bring so few people to their Miao stockade, right?
Accompanied by everyone, Qi Haoran briefly toured the Bisha Miao stockade before he suggested to talk to Chief Sanglin alone.
Sanglin Zhong suddenly looked up at Qi Haoran and narrowed his eyes. Qi Haoran looked at him without avoiding his gaze, then smiled and asked, “This must be the second son of the chief, right? Looks like a talented young man.”
Chief Sanglin was stunned for a moment before he replied with a smile, “Your Highness is too kind. He’s far inferior to Your Highness.”
Chief Sanglin wasn’t being polite. Though he’d just turned 20, Qi Haoran was already able to lead the three armies and help his Big Brother bring peace to the world and guard a region. Meanwhile, Sanglin Zhong was already in his thirties and was only helping him deal with some matters in the Miao stockade. He didn’t have any outstanding talents.
Chief Sanglin turned around and waved his sons away, then invited Qi Haoran into the house to have a serious chat. “May I know why Your Highness came to visit personally this time?”
Qi Haoran didn’t beat around the bush and showed him Ah Yin’s confession. As it was written in Miao and Chinese, even if Sanglin didn’t recognize the Chinese words, he could understand what was written.
Sanglin took it in confusion. After taking a look, his expression changed drastically. He slapped down the confession in his hand with a bang, and his expression changed a few times before he asked, “Is Your Highness here to condemn me?”
“What do you think?”
Sanglin clenched his fists, closed his eyes, and asked, “You’re here to punish my stockade for the crime of rebellion?”
“Will you lead the Miao people to rebel against the Imperial Court?”
“No!” Sanglin said firmly. “The Bisha Miao stockade can’t withstand a war anymore.”
At this point, Sanglin was almost in tears.
At 53 years old this year, he could be considered to have lived a long life among the chieftains of the Miao stockades.
He had many sons, but many had either died or become crippled. Qi Haoran only knew that two of his sons had died because of the war, but he did not know that because of the war, three of his other sons were crippled.
There were originally 10,000 people in the Bisha Miao stockade, with young and strong men accounting for a majority of their population. When the war started, they combined with the nearby Miao stockades. Out of more than 40,000 people, only 8,000 survived in the end. Most of the survivors were the old, weak, women, and children. It was all because the Bisha Miao stockade was located at the node where West Xia and Dali attacked. After West Xia’s army entered the pass, they had to pass through their Miao stockade, so they suffered the most casualties.
Back then, when the Imperial Court asked him to pledge his allegiance, he ignored his sons’ dislike of the Imperial Court and insisted on surrendering because he did not want to fight again. However, he did not expect his son to secretly put the Miao stockade in danger.
Even though Chief Sanglin’s heart ached, he did not dare to protect him at the expense of the entire stockade. He was not so shameless or ruthless.
Chapter end
