Tibet

Li Ye and his party have been walking for thirteen days and entered the endless grassland area. This is the boundary of the Xue tribe. Although the names of the Xue tribe and the Xueyantuo Khanate in the early Tang Dynasty are similar, they are completely different. The Xueyantuo Khanate has already Destroyed by Tang Taizong Li Shimin.

The current Xue tribe is just an ordinary grassland tribe established by several branches of the Xue Yantuo Khanate. It has shrunk into one area and has long lost its ambition to unify the grassland.

Although it was marked as Xue Yantuo on the imperial map, all the tribes in the grasslands called it Xue Bu.

This morning, a large river appeared in front of them. The river was very deep and they could not cross it. They could only continue walking north to find a shallow water area where they could cross the river.

After walking for about a hundred miles, tents gradually appeared in front of them. The further they walked, the more tents there were. In front of the tents, many children looked at them curiously. Some girls gathered together, watching them and giggling.

Li Ye smiled and said: "Alan, go ask them if there is a way to cross the river?"

Allen immediately urged him to ask, and a young woman in her twenties answered while staring at Li Ye with blazing eyes, as if she were seeing a relative who had been separated for many years, making Li Ye very uncomfortable.

After a moment, Allen came back with a strange expression: "They said the water in the first thirty miles is relatively shallow, so you can cross the river directly on horseback!"

"Then why do you look so weird?"

Allen covered his mouth and suppressed a smile and said, "The woman asked Joining the Army if he had a wife in his family, and I said no. She said she hoped Joining the Army would stay, and she was willing to recruit Joining the Army as her husband!"

"What?" Li Ye was stunned.

"That woman wants to join the army!"

After saying that, Allen finally couldn't help holding his stomach and laughed wildly, and Su Bi couldn't help laughing either.

Allen touched his face pitifully again, "I'm not bad looking either! Why doesn't she like me?"

Li Ye said angrily: "Then you can stay!"

"I do think so!"

Allen's eyes suddenly lit up and he said with a playful smile: "Join the army, you probably won't be able to leave tonight!"

When Li Ye turned around, he saw the woman smiling and carrying a bowl of goat's milk. This is the custom of Tiele tribes. If a woman gives you a bowl of goat's milk, it means that she is interested in you. If you take it and drink it, Then you can stay in the women's tent.

Li Ye was so frightened that he turned his horse's head and fled. Allen and Su Bi laughed and urged their horses to catch up.

Seeing that Li Ye refused to accept it, the woman was so angry that she spilled the goat's milk on the ground, turned around and returned to the account angrily.

She mainly took a fancy to Li Ye's tall and strong figure. Although men in Xuebu were strong, they were generally not tall. Men as tall and strong as Li Ye were rare. She actually hoped to have a tall and strong son.

After walking for more than ten miles, the tents became more and more crowded. Allen went to inquire again and came back: "Join the army, this is Xue's tribe!"

Li Ye was slightly startled, "What do you mean?"

Next to him, Su Bi smiled and said, "In other words, Chief Xue is here!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a low horn sound came from not far away, "Woo--Woo--"

The three of them, Li Ye, all wore Tang army armor. Not long after they entered the tribe, the herdsmen in charge of sentry rushed to report to the chief.

After a moment, a cavalry group came up, about a hundred people, led by a young captain, about twenty years old, who was extremely powerful.

The young captain was polite and stepped forward to ask a few questions in Tiele language. In the past half month, Li Ye has been learning Tiele language from Allen. He has the powerful Suzaku mental method as the foundation and can learn the language very quickly. , he has mastered thousands of daily vocabulary and sixty or seventy sentences in just half a month. If the expressions are not very complicated, he can understand and speak them.

He understood what the captain said, and the other party asked them if they came to Xuebu specifically or if they were just passing by.

Li Ye didn't need an interpreter and said unskilledly: "We are going to Beiting and passing by your place!"

The captain nodded and said with a smile: "My father invites you to have a glass of milk wine and show your loyalty to the landlord!"

The three of them, Li Ye, were wearing the military uniforms of the Shuofang Army, especially Li Ye, who was wearing the general's fish scale armor, which indicated that he had a certain status in the army, so whether he was on a mission or passing by, Chief Xue would not neglect him.

The majesty of Tian Khan still exists, and all tribes in the grassland respect the Tang people very much.

Li Ye nodded, "Then excuse me!"

He turned back to his two men and said, "Let's take a rest before leaving!"

They also need to add some dry food.

The three of them followed the captain and rushed towards the chief's tent. It was a huge tent covering an area of ​​about two acres. It was located among countless tents. Its white dome could be seen from a distance.

At this time, the captain suddenly saw the jade gourd on Li Ye's waist. He was stunned for a moment. He shook his head again. Impossible. His uncle had taken it away for a long time. How could it be on the waist of the Tang army general.

This jade gourd is carved from mutton-fat white jade seed material. It is just the size of a handful. It has a picture of the mountains and rivers of the Western Regions carved on it. More importantly, the gourd head is a lifelike wolf head. It is extremely precious and has always been the possession of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. His favorite plaything later fell into the hands of Li Shimin, but Li Shimin didn't like Yang Guang's thing and regarded it as a relic of the subjugated king, so he shelved it in a high cabinet.

At that time, when the tribes in the grassland respected Li Shimin as the Khan of Heaven, Li Shimin gave many valuable gifts to the tribes. This jade gourd was given to the Xueyantuo tribe. Later, the Xueyantuo Khanate was destroyed by the Tang Dynasty, and this jade gourd did not exist. It was captured by the Tang army, but fell into the hands of the Xue tribe. It became a token of the Xue tribe chiefs in the past dynasties and was called the Jade Wolf Head.

Li Ye saw that the other party was always staring at the jade gourd on his waist, so he smiled and asked, "Do you know it?"

Li Ye never imagined that Xue Lun, whom he killed on the battlefield, was actually a noble of the Xue tribe. This strange jade gourd was a token of the past Xue tribe chiefs.

The captain shook his head, "I've seen similar jade gourds, but it shouldn't be this one!"

At this time, they came to the chief's tent, and the captain went in to report. Li Ye took off the jade gourd and put it in his arms. He had a vague hunch that maybe the jade gourd was really related to Xue Bu.

Soon, the great chief Xue Tuo came out. Li Ye saw that he looked like the captain of ten thousand he killed. Li Ye immediately understood that the captain of ten thousand he killed was probably from Xue tribe.

At that time, when registering the merits, he knew that the captain of ten thousand men was not from the Tongluo tribe, but he never imagined that that person turned out to be a noble from the Xue tribe.

Li Ye and the other three were welcomed into the tent. Li Ye took out the emperor's gold medal and asked with a smile: "We are looking for the Beiting Army to deliver a message. Does the chief know where their camp is?"

Xue Tuo saw the emperor's gold medal and respected him even more. He could speak fluent Chinese and said quickly: "I also heard that they are operating in the Jinshan area, but where exactly? I really don't know, that is Ge Luolu's territory. .”

Li Ye nodded, "How far is it from Jinshan?"

"About a thousand miles or so!"

"We have a mission, let's take a rest and set off!"

Xue Tuo chuckled, "Since I'm here in Xue Bu, I have to have a meal before leaving!"

He clapped his hands, and immediately a group of girls came in, carrying rich fruits and wine, and then a group of warriors came in, offering roasted mutton, and several nobles accompanying the wine came and sat down.

The host was ready, so Li Ye couldn't just leave, so he had to sit down and have a good meal before saying goodbye.

After drinking and eating, Xue Tuo asked quietly: "I heard from Quanzi that there is a jade gourd in the army. Can you let me have a look?"

Li Ye's heart trembled, and he was indeed here.