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Huang Xianliang and Lieutenant Zhao's soldiers faced each other, weapons raised, neither side willing to back down…
Huang Xianliang had initially only suspected something was amiss. After all, Lieutenant Zhao's actions and the movements of the enemy across the river seemed somewhat unreasonable. First, the enemy across the river didn't attempt to seize the pontoon bridge immediately. Second, when enemy forces appeared on the opposite shore, Lieutenant Zhao's focus seemed to be on Huang Xianliang himself…
Especially the way the enemy commander across the river and Lieutenant Zhao looked at him—it resembled how large wild beasts in the mountains watch their prey. Therefore, in the urgency of the moment, he didn't wait for further developments but took the initiative and acted first.
While it might have been possible to avoid the charge of insubordination if he had waited for Lieutenant Zhao to make an overtly hostile move first, doing so would have had two major downsides. First, he wouldn't have been able to rescue more of the Cui family guards and clerks on the far shore. Second, his own forces weren't numerically superior. If a misstep allowed the enemy soldiers across the river to cross the pontoon bridge, it wouldn't just endanger him, but also put the main camp on this side of the river at risk.
However, by taking the initiative, although he averted danger, he also failed to secure concrete evidence against Lieutenant Zhao. Consequently, he now found himself in this rather awkward situation.
Insubordination, assaulting a superior officer—these were charges he couldn't easily explain away.
Could he argue that he sensed Lieutenant Zhao might take detrimental action?
Where was the evidence?
Without clear evidence, that would just add another charge: false accusation and slander…
What to do?
Should he resist forcefully, leading to a clash where both sides suffer casualties? Or should he submit himself, possibly facing punishment and death, but avoiding needless bloodshed?
The main issue was that Lieutenant Zhao was under the jurisdiction of Hedong Commandery. If fighting broke out because of him alone, and it adversely affected Inspector Fei's relations in Hedong, what then?
Huang Xianliang looked at Lieutenant Zhao, let out a long sigh, and planted his ring-pommeled sword into the ground.
Lieutenant Zhao grinned, about to order his soldiers forward to bind Huang Xianliang…
"Halt! Halt! I have official court documents! Who dares act recklessly!" They saw Cui Hou, leading guards and soldiers from the main camp, hurrying over, holding aloft a document stamped with a large crimson seal…
Cui Hou rushed to Huang Xianliang's side, brandishing the document, and proclaimed clearly: "By order of Fei, Biebu Sima under the General Who Protects the Xiongnu, transporting grain between Hedong and Sili—all county lieutenants, military lieutenants, and lower ranks along the route are to obey his command! None may disobey! This is the order!"
This document was the protective umbrella Fei Qian had left for Cui Hou, specifically to prevent the supply convoys from being plundered by roving Liang Province troops who might not know the situation. Fei Qian had obtained it from Li Ru.
However, the cost wasn't small. Of the military provisions purchased from Hedong, thirty percent were given freely, thirty percent were sold to Li Ru at Luoyang market prices, and only the remainder could Fei Qian freely dispose of. Calculating it out, Fei Qian was actually supplying provisions to Li Ru at a slight loss, though he could make up for it in other areas…
Overall, it was a relatively fair exchange. After all, the most common encounters during grain transport were with the Army Hou at various checkpoints and the County Captains in towns. As the saying goes, it's easier to deal with the king of hell than his minions—that's the idea.
Lieutenant Zhao stared at the document bearing the Grand Preceptor's seal, unwilling but unable to act. He pondered for a moment, then said, ""You two are not Biebu Sima Fei—how can you command me?"
Cui Hou gestured behind him. "Men, bring forth Lord Fei's ceremonial staff!"
During the Han Dynasty, the ceremonial staff was a symbol of an official's authority and a token for transmitting orders. Apart from formal documents, temporary orders were generally authenticated by seals, ribbons, or ceremonial staffs. Items like command tallies could only be used internally within a specific general's own system; for external affairs, items like seals and ribbons were still required.
Lieutenant Zhao's eyes widened. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but ultimately couldn't say anything. He could only let out a frustrated "Hah!" sound, turn angrily, and walk away.
×××××××××××××××
Gaonu County town was originally a small frontier county town, but it had been abandoned years earlier amidst warfare.
The rammed-earth city walls, lacking maintenance, had crumbled. Gaps eroded by wind and rain had gradually collapsed, rendering the defenses practically non-existent.
There had originally been some Han border troops and civilians stationed in the town, but now they were either dead in battle or had migrated away. The entire town was empty, once becoming a playground for wild dogs and other animals.
However, it now had some inhabitants again, though originally they were Han people, now replaced by Hu people. Yu Fuluo had brought his tribesmen and temporarily stationed here, finding some relatively well-preserved houses in the town for shelter.
In the original county government office, Yu Fuluo also sighed, looking at his younger brother Huchuquan before him, speechless for a long time.
Youjia Nazha's hundred-man unit had been completely trapped in the mountain valley, enveloped by Fei Qian and the Qiang chieftain Rinagu like dumplings in a wrap. The entire force was annihilated; no one escaped to report. It was only today, from bits of news heard from other Hu people who went to trade at the Beiqu market, that they learned a little about what happened…
"By the Eternal Blue Sky, my dear brother, how do you think we should handle this matter?" Yu Fuluo said.
"Respected Chanyu, that damned Shang Commandery Inspector Fei Qian actually dared to attack our people! We must avenge Youjia Nazha!" Huchuquan clenched his fist, his face full of indignation.
Not only did they kill our tribesmen, but they are also forcing them into labor—this is simply an insult!
"Fight?" Yu Fuluo shook his head. If force could solve it, that would naturally be simplest. But—"Have you considered, although Youjia Nazha only had a hundred men, why was not a single person able to escape and return?"
The Hu people all had 'four legs' (horses). When they couldn't win a fight, they naturally ran. For a force like Youjia Nazha's to be completely wiped out, with no one escaping, in Yu Fuluo's view, there were only two possibilities:
First, the entire force was ambushed, their escape route blocked. This meant the enemy had at least someone familiar with the terrain.
Second, the enemy also had sufficient 'four-legged' cavalry. To pursue and block Youjia Nazha's hundred-man unit, they would need at least three hundred or more cavalrymen…
But whichever of these two possibilities it was, neither was good news for Yu Fuluo.
"Send a message to that Fei Qian. Tell him I wish to meet and talk."
"Ah?!" Huchuquan was stunned. "Talk? Not fight? Then what about Youjia Nazha's vengeance?"
Yu Fuluo was silent for a moment. "We already bear too much hatred. Sooner or later, there will be a day of reckoning. But now is not the time. Our most important task now is to gather more scattered tribesmen, not to rashly open another front of conflict…"
Yu Fuluo looked towards the north, as if speaking to Huchuquan, yet also as if talking to himself: "For us now, if we expend one more measure of strength, our hope of returning to the royal court diminishes by a little…"