The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 186 Visit
Li Heng asked people to take Abu Muslim back to Kesai City first, while he stayed by the Sher River to organize the cleanup of the battlefield.
The Tang army soldiers who died in battle needed to be brought back to their homeland for burial, and the injured needed timely treatment.

The dead Arab soldiers also needed to be cleaned and buried, otherwise it would cause a plague.

From the morning when the battlefield was cleaned up to noon, the pursuing soldiers began to return one after another. In the evening, An Sishun escorted Qiyad back, and Aqisi also returned with An Sishun.

An Sisun brought Qi Yade to Li Heng and was about to speak when Aqisi, who had dismounted from her horse, suddenly fainted on the ground.

Everyone was shocked and immediately surrounded him.

Gao Xianzhi stretched out his hand and probed Aqisi's nose, saying, "Your Highness, she is still breathing."

Li Ying took a look at the unconscious Aqisi and saw that her face was pale and the bright red blood on her left shoulder had stained her clothes and seeped out of her armor. The blood flowed down her arm and onto her hand.

"Send him to treatment first."

Li Ying asked someone to send Aqisi away first, and then said: "Her wound doesn't seem to be new."

"No." An Sishun replied, "Before Your Highness came, she led the army and I to repel the Arabs. The wound on her left shoulder was left from the last time we repelled the Arabs."

"So that's how it is." Li Heng's focus before had always been on the war, and he hadn't paid much attention to it.

Li Heng looked at Xieerhe in silence for a while before going back with everyone else.

That night, the kingdom of Bakhchisar spent all its money to hold a banquet to reward the soldiers of the three armies. However, Ayis was unable to attend the banquet because of her serious injuries.

After the banquet, Li Heng returned to the tent, but just as he sat down, Asida, the Khan of Bactria, came hurriedly.

"Your Highness Prince Shou, Aqisi's wound is bleeding profusely, and I have come here to ask for a medicine." Ashida said as he entered the room.

Li Heng asked, "What medicine does the Khan want?"

"Top-grade dragon bones." said Asida.

The dragon bones that Ashida mentioned are the skeletal fossils of large mammals.

This type of bone fossil is the core material of ancient wound medicine, and some of them are also the carriers of oracle bone inscriptions. The better the quality of the dragon bone, the better its therapeutic effect, but also the rarer it is.

In the Tang Dynasty, only high-ranking officials and nobles could use the best dragon bones, while it was difficult to find good dragon bones in a remote small country like Bactria.

"Okay, I'll have someone deliver it." Li Heng agreed and asked, "How is Princess Aqisi's injury?"

Ashida shook his head and sighed.

Li Heng hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll go take a look."

Ashida said: "I thank your Highness on behalf of Aqisi."

"Thank you for your courtesy, Your Majesty." Li Heng said politely and asked someone to find Zhang Lingzhi to bring medicine and go visit Aqisi.

Li Heng arrived at Aqisi's residence and waited until Aqisi's wounds were healed before going into the house to visit her.

Aqisi, who had just finished bandaging, saw Li Ying and showed a look of surprise on her pale face. Then she smiled and said, "The sun has risen from the west. Your Highness actually came to see me on his own initiative."

In the semantic habits of the Tang people, "the sun rises from the west" is mostly used in a derogatory sense to express abnormality.

But what Aqisi wanted to express was obviously a compliment.

Li Heng was already used to Aqisi's frequent mistakes in expression, so he didn't care. He looked at Aqisi and said, "Since you were injured before, why did you still lead the troops to fight in person? If Bukhara replaced the general, I could still repel the Arabs."

Aqisi leaned against the head of the bed and said, "As the princess of Bukhara, I should be the first to fight bravely and shed blood to defend Bukhara."

"You are quite courageous." Li Ying pondered for a moment and asked, "What you wore before was not clothes, but bandages for wounds, right?" "Yes." Aqisi admitted, "I have been injured in several places in the past few years. There are scars on my back and arms. The last time I injured my left shoulder, it has not recovered yet. According to this injury, there should be scars too. When the time comes, as long as I wear lower-cut clothes, I will be able to see it."

Li Ying said: "Every scar is your achievement. Women are as good as men. This is what girls like you are like."

Aqisi asked, "Your Highness, do you not care about these scars?"

"of course."

Li Heng answered fluently, but then he realized something.

Based on Aqisi's expression, Li Ying knew that Aqisi's "care" and his "care" had two different meanings.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and changed the subject, "As a princess of Bactria, you don't have to work so hard. Managing government affairs in the rear is also a great contribution."

Aqisi said, "In the past few years, the Kingdom of Bactria has been at war. I can indeed choose to stabilize the rear, but that would not make the soldiers in the front convinced. I am also a woman, without any merits, how can I mobilize the soldiers under me? I said that I would let Your Highness see my value. The more power I have, the greater my value will be."

Aqisi brought the question back to the point. Li Ying couldn't escape the question, so he said bluntly, "Why are you doing this? You know how much I love the princess."

Aqisi said: "The more I know about your highness's affection for the princess, the more I feel it is necessary to do this."

Li Heng found it difficult to understand Aqisi's train of thought for a moment and fell silent.

Aqisi continued, "I was originally worried that Your Highness would care more about whether a woman's body is smooth and flawless. Since Your Highness doesn't care, it means I did nothing wrong."

Li Heng looked at Aqisi and could feel her deep affection for him. He couldn't bear it and said, "What if I say I care?"

"what?"

Ayis's expression suddenly became weak and she started coughing violently.

She had just rebandaged her wound, but because of the coughing, the wound was pulled, causing severe pain, and her face became even paler.

Li Ying quickly went over to support her, patted her back gently, and soothed her cough.

Aqisi stopped coughing, grabbed Li Heng's hand, and said, "You said you are a man of your words and would never lie to me. Do you really care?"

Aqisi's exotic and beautiful face, due to the loss of blood color, has become more breathtakingly beautiful.

There is earnest expectation in those beautiful and deep eyes, which makes it difficult to suppress the love in one's heart.

Li Heng's heart softened, and he could not help but say honestly, "No."

"I knew you wouldn't." Aesop laughed, "You are different from others. There are many beautiful flowers blooming along the Cher River these days. Can you accompany me to see them in a few days?"

Li Heng hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

Aqisi said, "We can go west along the Sher River. To the west is the Stone Kingdom. The Khan of the Stone Kingdom is appointed by the Arabs. His name is Bister. He often comes to Bukhara to provoke war. We should go there to gather military intelligence. Do you agree with this?"

Upon hearing this, Li Heng couldn't help but laugh and said, "This is abusing public power for personal gain."

Aqisi said: "Then are you willing?"

Li Ying pondered for a moment and asked, "Are you really willing to be my concubine?"

"Yes." Aqisi looked puzzled. "Last time we parted, I said that I would let you see my value and then take me as a concubine. Now you personally led the army to repel the Arabs for Bukhara. The next step should be to drive the Arabs back to Khorasan, right?"

(End of this chapter)