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The Black Wolf Army spent the whole day handling the dead and wounded on the battlefield, collecting the foodstuff, weapons, horses, tents, and everything else that the Golden Wolf Army left behind, the abundant spoils of war.

The enemy’s remains were piled together on top of firewood and were cremated to ashes, while the wounded were captured.

In this battle Tuli’s side lost more than eight hundred men, while Xieli’s side lost nearly three thousand. It was certainly a beautiful victory; it’s a pity that because the men were weary the horses tired, they were unable to immediately pursue and attack the enemy, and thus were unable to seize the opportunity to expand the outcome of the battle.

The dead were put together inside more than twenty tents. By nightfall that day they held public memorial service. They killed horses as sacrificial offering in front of the tents, to be used as a libation to the departed spirit. Under Tuli’s leadership they walked around the tents seven times. Each time they passed the door of the tents, they used the saber to strike their own arm and wept. And then the deceased and the articles, clothing, and all funerary objects were cremated together. Afterwards they collected the ashes to be brought back for burial at their villages later.

After the dead were handled properly, the celebration began. The entire army built campfire everywhere, the warriors brandished their saber and played their spears, putting their arms up to sing loudly and to dance. The aroma of roasted meat permeated the whole camp, brimming with the atmosphere of victory.

Tuli, along with a group of tribal chiefs and high-ranking military officers, accompanied by Kou Zhong and the others, made a round to visit every camp, to share their happiness and to encourage their morale, before returning to the main tent, where they were holding the highest level of banquet to celebrate the heroic deed.

This victory was really not easy to come; the tribal chiefs and the generals knew that it was entirely due to Kou Zhong making an effort to offer advice. They also admired Kou Zhong and the others’ magnificent feat in resisting Xieli’s main forces at the Helian Fort. They held the three in the same regards as they would a god [idiom].

After three rounds of wine, Tuli solemnly toasted Kou Zhong, who was seated on his right-hand side, saying, “From life to life, from age to age, Shaoshuai and I are brothers. When in the future Shaoshuai is striving for the Central Plains, and you need a brother’s place, I, Tuli, dare to wear an oath on the grassland and high mountains that I surely will go through water and tread on fire, and will not hesitate to do it.”

Jieshelu and the others, more than a dozen tribal chiefs and generals, also raised their cups. Their gaze steady, they looked at Kou Zhong.

Kou Zhong hurriedly raised his cup, while his heart was surging. This promise was akin to Tuli showing his position clearly, in that he gave up Li Shimin and was leaning toward him. Tujue people regarded trust and promise of the utmost importance, this promise was certainly not a small matter, it would influence the changes in the Central Earth’s situation.

On the other hand, Xu Ziling did not know whether he should be sad or happy. Now, Kou Zhong obtained the full support of two big powers, Tuli in the north and Song Que in the south. He was no longer powerless to stake it all against Li Shimin. Moreover, from the battle of the Rushing Wolf Plains, Kou Zhong has demonstrated his intelligence in battle, which indeed awed the people’s heart. Even in Xu Ziling’s heart, a deep and immeasurable feeling toward this old friend, as well as a partner and a brother, started to grow.

Shi Feixuan’s wish for Li Shimin to be the emperor was no longer as easy to achieve as before.

The crowd noisily drank their fill.

Tuli turned his attention to offer a toast to Pusa, who was sitting on Kou Zhong’s other side; he said, “After the general situation is somewhat stabilized, I will send my envoy to notify Shijian and your honorable tribe’s various big tribal chiefs to re-elect new Shijian; I want to see if they dare not to elect you.”

Pusa hastily returned the toast to express his gratitude; his face was full of joy.

Before the battle of the Rushing Wolf Plains, the old Shijian had Xieli’s support behind his back, practically he did not need to owe Tuli anything. But now the time has come that the power would easily move; naturally it was a different matter altogether.

Tuli would also be delighted to support Pusa as the master of the Huihe. Apart from Tujue, Huihe was one of the powerful tribes in the prairie. Obtaining this ally, Tuli did not need to consider Xieli in his eyes even more.

Ba Fenghan’s gaze was fixed on the campfire flickering erratically in the middle of the encirclement. Tuli cut a piece of delicious roast meat from the lamb leg and handed it over to him. He said, “Xieli has Bi Xuan, but I, Tuli have you, Ba Fenghan; why would I be afraid of Bi Xuan?”

The crowd of generals cheered loudly while raising their cup to salute.

While chewing, Ba Fenghan thought about Bi Xuan’s name. His pair of tiger-eyes shining brightly, he laughed aloud and said, “Let’s drink this cup for Bi Xuan.”

And he drained the cup in one gulp.

It seemed like Tuli has turned into another person; his heroism reaching to the clouds, he was brimming with self-confidence.

“I wonder if Khan knows Ma Ji?” Xu Ziling asked.

Tuli was slightly startled. A bit awkward, he said, “Of course I do. I haven’t had any chance to ask you guys why you went out the Great Wall, is it related to this person?”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “I have no idea how many people are related with it. Du Xing is another muddled-egg that is related with it. He even said that he is friends with you.”

Tuli turned to Jieshelu, “Doesn’t Du Xing have friendly relations with you?” he asked.

Jieshelu’s old face blushing slightly, he said, “From time to time he sends gifts to me, in relation to some warhorses transaction.”

Letting out a cold humph, Tuli said, “If he dares to offend my brothers, I will make him die without a burial site.”

Xu Ziling secretly thought that he still preferred the former Tuli that has undergone trials and tribulations together with him. The Tuli now had some kind of above-every-one-else feeling, an air of the hegemon that could decide other people’s life and death at any moment.

Ba Fenghan proposed, “Perhaps it would be better if Shaoshuai narrates the rise and fall of the terrain you are coming faraway to the grassland this time; maybe many things will be like bamboo splits when it meets the knife’s edge.”

One of the tribal chief general nodded and said, “As long as it is within our powers, we will definitely do it for Shaoshuai.”

From this remark, one could see the difference between the nomadic khanate and the Central Earth’s ruler and his ministers system. In the Central Earth, only the monarch had the capacity to make decisions, but in Tujue Khanate, the leader was elected from among the big tribal chiefs. The army was also formed from various tribes. Each tribe’s tribal chief had a position of authority. As for Xieli became the Supreme Khan, he went through the same process as Tuli in ruling the huge khanate.

While drinking and eating the meat, Kou Zhong narrated his story from start to finish, and then finally spoke fiercely, “Ma Ji is certainly a key figure. If I can find him, I can dig the wolf-bandits out, Da Xiaojie’s eighty-thousand sheets of sheepskins will also fall into my hand, and then we will turn around to look for Du Xing and Xu Kaishan to settle the account.”

Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “Looking for Du Xing and Xu Kaishan to settle what account? These two fellas, one disguises himself as a clown [in the opera], the other pretends to be a good man, surely they can push things aside nice and clean, are you saying that you can just chop them with a saber and kill them? Jianghu rules put emphasis on this ‘reason’ word.”

Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “You are right. These two fellas are definitely slippery, it’s hard to catch their fox’s tail.”

Laughing involuntarily, Tuli said, “With me, Tuli here, you can rest assured. Let’s not talk about anything else first, as long as you give me three months, I can raise eighty-thousand sheets of sheepskins for you, which you can report to Da Xiaojie as the completion of your mission, and you can send people to deliver the goods to her.”

Ba Fenghan shook his head vehemently, he said, “Eighty-thousand sheets of sheepskins is not a trivial amount; besides, there is not much delight in obtaining the sheepskins like that. I want Ma Ji to spit the sheepskin out.”

Tuli agreed. “I understand Fenghan’s feeling,” he said, “What kind of thing Ma Ji is? Right now, if I want him to kneel, he will never dare to stand up.” And then he asked the generals, “Anybody know where Ma Ji currently is?”

“I do,” Pusa said.

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong pursued further.

Pusa said, “I don’t know where he is right this moment, but I know he is going to Longquan to take part in the ceremony of Bai Ziting founding his kingdom, and also to conduct a big business deal with Bai Ziting at the same time.”

The murderous aura in Tuli’s pair of eyes flaring greatly, he spoke in heavy voice, “Ma Ji has the guts not to consider me in his eyes.”

Kou Zhong seized this opportunity to ask, “Bai Ziting establishing his kingdom, what exactly is that?”

Jieshelu replied, “That is one conspiracy between the Gaoli people and Xieli, in order to control the Qidan people, to prevent them from interfering in the entanglement between us and Xieli. Frankly speaking, Qidan people helping us in secret is with bad intentions; they are hoping that our conflict will last a long time, that we will be in endless war, and then they can wantonly expand their territory, strengthen their power.”

Xu Ziling’s heart was moved, he took the five-colored stone out of his pocket and said, “This was given to us by Meiyan Furen at Tong Wan, the Five-Colored Stone that she entrusted to us to be delivered to Bai Ziting.”

None of Tuli and the others was not emotionally moved. Evidently they knew the origin of this stone.

Shaken, Pusa said, “Is that really the Five-Colored Stone, the Mohe people’s subduing-tribe treasure? How could Meiyan Furen give this exotic treasure to you?”

Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, and Ba Fenghan you looked at me I looked at you, thinking wasn’t this stone snatched away from the Qidan people’s hands? How could it be the Mohe people’s subduing-tribe treasure?

Stretching out his hand, Tuli said, “Can I take a look?”

Without the slightest hesitation Xu Ziling put the Five-Colored Stone into the hollow of Tuli’s palm. The latter took the stone and held it up between his two fingers in front of his eyes. He said, “During your Northern and Southern dynasties [420-589] era, Leiluan has not been split up into seven divisions, their chief’s name was Mohe, he obtained this exotic treasure from the Persians, thereupon he used this as the ornament on the crown cap of the chief of the big tribe. Henceforth the Five-Colored Stone became the emblem of the Mohe leader. Later on, the Qidan invaded, Mohe perished, his people fled all over the place, forming the seven divisions of Mohe. The most powerful are the northern side’s Heishui [black river] Mohe and the southern part’s Limo Mohe. The other five divisions are considerably weaker and not worth mentioning. Since then the Five-Colored Stone fell into the Qidan people’s hands. Supposing Bai Ziting can obtain this stone, it would be like you guys, Central Plains people obtaining the Jade Annulus of He Clan; it could increase his prestige in a big way, and thus it would be only logical for him to seize the opportunity to establish his kingdom.”

The three suddenly saw the light, but at the same time cried ‘Bad!’ inwardly. Such object would only be harmful without any benefit to Tuli. But if they simply handed the Five-Colored Stone to Tuli, how would they answer Meiyan Furen?

This is called Jianghu rules.

“Could this stone be fake?” Kou Zhong asked.

Chuckling slightly, Tuli, contrary to everybody’s expectation, returned the Five-Colored Stone back to Xu Ziling, shook his head and said with a sigh, “Such an exotic treasure, how could it be fake? But even if it was fake, it doesn’t matter. As long as Bai Ziting pretends that it is real, it will still be effective.”

Tuli was worthy to be called the second most powerful figure of the Eastern Tujue; his analysis drew blood on the first prick of a needle [idiom: to hit the nail on the head].

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling looked at the Five-Colored Stone in his hand; he said, “Now what do we do? I hear that the Qidan people might join forces with the Shiwei people to forcibly take this stone.”

Cursing in rage, Jieshelu said, “That wh0re Meiyan Furen is really repulsive. It is clear that she wants to drive a wedge between us and the Qidan.”

Everybody nodded in agreement. If Qidan people butted head with Kou Zhong and the others, then it would be difficult to the pinched-in-the-middle Tuli to conduct himself left and right.

His brows knitted, Pusa said, “Meiyan Furen has never had any friendly relations with Bai Ziting, why would she want to do this enormous favor for Bai Ziting? And how did the Five-Colored Stone fall into her hands?”

Naturally no one was able to answer his question.

Greatly astonished, Ba Fenghan said, “Pusa Xiong knows everything that happened in the grassland like the back of your hand.”

Pusa smiled and said, “That was the only thing I have been able to do.”

Tuli spoke calmly, “Just consider me never see the Five-Colored Stone. Tomorrow I will send Pusa Xiong off back to your home country first, I will personally tell Shijian what a glorious deed his son has accomplished. He is old! The older he gets, the more muddleheaded he becomes. It is long overdue that he ought to give way to his outstanding son.”

Everybody was stunned. Just now he said he would send his envoy to talk to the old Shijian, but now suddenly he said he would personally send Pusa off back to his home country to seize the throne; he made the people unable to make any sense of the matter.

Greatly shocked, Pusa could only stare blankly.

Surprised, Ba Fenghan asked, “Didn’t Khan need to pursue and kill Xieli?”

Tuli sighed and said, “After seeing the Five-Colored Stone, I changed my mind. If I send military expedition to Mount Dujin during this time where a myriad of changes might happen in an instant in the northeast, by the time I return, I don’t know what will happen. Without any better option, I have to dispel this tempting idea; I need to pacify the inside before resisting the threat outside. If Pusa Xiong can subdue Huihe, I don’t believe Xieli would dare to send his army to the east.”

Kou Zhong agreed. “That is indeed a sensible act,” he said, “Furthermore, Xieli has learned a lesson, he won’t be easily defeated again.”

Wrapping his arm around Tuli’s shoulders, he said, “Laoxiong, we are going to part again! I really hate to do it.”

Tuli also wrapped his arm around Kou Zhong’s bear waist, he said, “Separating and meeting again, life is just like this. I really am grateful to you guys.”

Xu Ziling nudged Ba Fenghan’s ribs, he said, “Old Ba, don’t you need to see someone?”

Tuli said, “Before you leave, you have to come to Youdu to let Xiaodi act as a host a little bit. Perhaps we won’t need to wait until then, we could meet again at Longquan.”

Astonished, Kou Zhong said, “Unexpectedly you are willing to attend Bai Ziting’s founding a country ceremony?”

Tuli laughed and said, “He has enough guts to found a country, I have enough guts to come; there is nothing to be afraid of.”

He who comes is surely ill intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come [idiom], Tuli showed clearly that even if he had to move his men and horses, he would never let Bai Ziting become the overlord who unified Jinyin. This matter involved Heishui’s two divisions Su and Mo’s armies. If the situation was reversed, he would have no more misgivings.

This was precisely the main reason Tuli was willing to abandon his plan to chase and kill Xieli.

From another point of view, Xieli’s strategy in assisting Bai Ziting already showed result, which made Tuli unable to move a single step.

Ba Fenghan laughed and shouted, “Tonight, we won’t go home before we get drunk.”

Everybody roared in laughter and drank.

Tuli leaned over and spoke in Kou Zhong’s ear using Han language, “If we can’t meet at Longquan, remember to go to Youdu to look for Xiaodi. I have a present I want to personally give to you.”

Immediately Kou Zhong’s two eyes lit up; he tried to probe, “Is it something that can fly?”

With a smile on his face Tuli nodded; he also spoke in low voice, “Remember to get Old Ba to come to see Badai’er, I really don’t mind.”

Tuli raised his arms and using his internal power, he shouted loudly, “My three brothers, Kou Zhong, Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling join hands, is there anybody in the prairie who can do anything to them?”

The entire Black Wolf Army roared in response, “No one!”

Their voices went straight up to penetrate the starry sky, shocking the mountain and fields and startling the grassland that it trembled in amazement.

At the same time, the three remembered the ‘Demonic King’ Shi Zhixuan.