Snowy Chang'an Road

Chapter 21 Delivering Messages

After Wei Shao left, Shanshan walked to Pei Ying, stretched out his fingers from behind her, and stroked the white back of her neck.

"Master Dalan, what are you doing?"

"The messenger is afraid?"

"Men and women are not allowed to be intimate."

"But are you a man?"

Pei Ying saw her staring at him blankly, watching as her fingers traced his throat and reached his earlobe.

"You are a woman."

"Dalan has good eyesight."

"I can agree to your request, but I can't guarantee that he will listen to me."

"Thank you so much, Lord Dalan. We will do our best and obey fate."

"I guess you are the Princess of Peking, right?"

"Yes."

"You Dawei men also have three wives and four concubines. I'm afraid you will encounter many troublesome women in the future."

"My ambition has never been between women, and I will never fight them to the death for a man."

"Very good. I like you very much. I hope I can see you again if I have the opportunity in the future."

"If we are destined, we will meet again."

When Wei Shao saw Pei Ying walking out of the tent, he hurried to her side.

"She didn't do anything to you, right?"

"No."

"How's it going?"

"She agreed."

Pei Ying noticed that many Huns were looking in the direction of the two men, and what Shan Shan said was true.

"This place is dangerous, let's leave quickly."

Pei Ying and Wei Shao galloped back to the Xihe Gorge.

Xiao Shen and Bai Zheng saw the two men coming back and greeted them.

"Sister-in-law, everything is going well. Has Dalan agreed?"

Pei Ying nodded, turned to Wei Shao and said, "Wei Shao, I need you to do one thing now. Send spies to survey the terrain of Mount Stirrup, find a place where the Xiongnu guards are weakest, and wait for an opportunity to go up the mountain and capture us. Tell Your Majesty the plan."

"How can you guarantee that Hunan Chanyu will definitely listen to Shanshan?"

"Hunang Chanyu will not listen to her words. I just asked her to provide Hunan Chanyu with a combat idea. If what Hunan Chanyu thinks in his heart is exactly what she said, Hunan Chanyu will definitely go with the flow."

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

"Remember, after you go up the mountain, you must tell your Majesty that we have negotiated with the Huns and asked them to open an opening for the army to escape. No matter how cold, tired or hungry the soldiers are, they must line up in an orderly manner. You can't show your weakness, you must retreat quickly, the faster the better."

Wei Shao nodded, remembering Pei Ying's words in his heart.

"I asked Bai Zheng to stay and protect you."

"No need, you take Bai Zheng with you, Xiao Shen is here, and there are 20,000 troops, I will be fine."

Xiao Shen said: "Brother Wei, listen to my sister-in-law and I will protect her to the death. Don't worry."

Seeing Wei Shao and others riding away, Pei Ying became nervous. Now that the matter has come to this, she can only treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor.

On the north side of Stirrup Mountain is a cliff hundreds of feet high. There are occasional Hun cavalry scouts here, but there are no soldiers stationed there. Wei Shao used the tree growing on the cliff as a fulcrum to move upward with difficulty. Bai Zheng wanted to follow him, but he stopped him.

Three hours later, before dawn broke in the sky, Wei Shao finally climbed Mount Stirrup with difficulty. His sleeves were scratched in many places and there were two small wounds on his face.

The patrolling soldiers heard a strange noise at the bottom of the cliff and hurried forward to check. When they saw that the person coming was the Queen of Peiping, they found a rope and hung him up.

In the military tent, Wei Yuan was sitting in the main seat. His eyes were slightly closed and he didn't know what he was thinking.

"Father, my son's rescue came too late, and you are suffering."

Wei Yuan thought he was hallucinating. He opened his eyes and saw Wei Shao kneeling in front of him. He couldn't believe it was true. He rubbed his eyes to make sure it was him.

He stood up excitedly, walked quickly to Wei Shao and helped him up.

"Shao'er, it's you. The Huns here are like an iron barrel. How did you get up here?"

"Back to my father, I came up from the cliff on the north side."

"What? The cliff on the north side."

Wei Yuan couldn't believe what he heard. He was silent for a long time, returned to the main seat, and said softly: "Good boy, my father has wrongly blamed you."

"Father, you don't need to blame yourself. As long as you are safe, it doesn't matter no matter how much suffering I have. I came to you because I want to tell you something."

"Good boy, sit down and talk."

Wei Shao did not sit down directly, but walked up to Pei Kai first and saluted him.

Seeing what he did, Pei Kai was puzzled and hurriedly supported him.

"Father-in-law, my son-in-law is guilty, please forgive me."

"King Peiping, why is this? There is no need to be polite."

"Pei Ying also came with me this time when I went north. Before the army split up, she disguised herself every day and followed me as a follower."

"What? Ying'er is here too? Where is she now?"

"Fifty miles away, in the Xihe Gorge, Xiao Shen is by her side. You don't have to worry. If you want to punish me, then punish me."

"Why did the King of Peiping say this? I know my daughter best. She will do what she wants to do no matter how many people stop her. Is it her idea to come out with you this time?"

Wei Shao said nothing.

"I don't blame you for this. If I really want to blame you, I, the father, am also at fault. It is the son's fault for not teaching his father."

Yong Bo advised from the side: "As long as Ying'er is safe and sound, there is no need to worry about anything else. You two, father-in-law and son-in-law, sit down quickly and discuss with your majesty how to deal with the Huns next."

Wei Shao sat down and said: "Yesterday morning, Pei Ying pretended to be the envoy of the Wei Dynasty, and took gold and silver treasures with me to visit Shanshan of the Dalan clan who called Nan Shanyu. At first, she didn't want to help us. Pei Ying After negotiating with her for a long time, we finally gave her a picture of a beautiful woman and talked to her a lot before she agreed to be our lobbyist and asked him to explain the pros and cons to us and ask him to leave an opening for us. We can retreat down the mountain.”

Wei Yuan asked: "Will Shanyu Hunan listen to a woman?"

"will not."

"Then what are you looking for her for?"

"Pei Ying said that Hunan Chanyu did not really want to kill his father. They just wanted to coerce the emperor and order the princes to extort more gold, silver, horses, cattle and sheep from our Wei Dynasty. Otherwise, they would have attacked the mountain long ago. Even if there are natural dangers in Mount Stirrup, it can't withstand the Xiongnu's attack. The reason why she asked the Dalan clan to give Hu Nan Shanyu a pillow blow was to let the Dalan clan verify whether her conjecture was correct. If it was correct, , Hu Nan Chanyu will definitely follow the current situation, if it is incorrect, this is also a way for Hu Nan Chanyu to rethink the battle."

After a long time, Wei Yuan said: "As expected of the daughter of Duke Pei, she is indeed brave and resourceful."

Pei Kai hurriedly stood up, bowed and said, "Your Majesty is ridiculous. A mere girl is just making random assumptions. Pei Kai teaches her daughter poorly, which makes Your Majesty laugh."

"Pei Guogong, I don't like to hear what you are saying, so what about the girl? If your daughter Pei hadn't come up with a countermeasure, how would we be able to break the situation now?"

Pei Kai lowered his head and said nothing.

　On the last day of 2023, it’s time for the princess and prince to wake up and read a book!

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)