Chapter 197: We can only go south, that's all
In the Hengshan camp, the piles of dead bodies had turned white due to the heavy rain, and streams of dirty blood were washed away by the rain and flowed into the ravines.

Shulido stood on the watchtower, still wearing the soft armor and a black cloak. He just watched the scene with empty eyes, watching the organized people dragging corpses one after another from the village wall in the rain and pushing them into the ravine for burial.

Meanwhile, teams of soldiers were moving back and forth, holding shields and gathering on the wall of the village.

However, the mountains were quiet. There was only rain and fog under the dim sky. There was no movement at all, but it seemed that continuous trumpet sounds would be heard soon, and teams of royal court infantry would emerge from the rain and fog to attack the stronghold.

"You are right. Yelu Lage's offensive has indeed become much more urgent in the past two days."

Shuliduo stared at him for a long time before finally speaking: "However, I still don't understand how you convinced Yao Guang to believe you? I taught him a lot of things, the first of which was not to trust others easily..."

Behind her, Sanqianyuan laughed and said indifferently: "Whether the queen believes it or not, my mission is just to bring you the news. As for the rest, the queen should be able to judge for herself."

Shuliduo turned around and glanced at him, "Is this also a plan he had already made?"

Sanqianyuan pretended to think, stroking his chin, and then said: "The queen only needs to know that Xiao Yan has never forgotten the promise he made to you."

The queen frowned.

She didn't know what the Sanqianyuan said, that Xiao Yan had never forgotten the promise he made to her, was about. Would he send troops to help her? Or would he allow Yelu Yaoguang to successfully become the King of Mobei...

For a moment, she fell silent, as if she was considering and weighing something.

Sanqianyuan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked meaningfully, "So, has the queen made a good choice?"

After that, he narrowed his eyes and reminded, "It is true that Xiao Yan was delayed for more than a month because of Li Zhen's affairs in Youzhou, so he was unable to send troops in time. However, he has always been aware of the situation here. He knows that you are under siege, and he also knows that you, the queen, have persisted until today.

However, he knew better why the queen had been holding Yelu Lage back and refusing to withdraw easily.

Shuliduo said calmly with a cold face, "Did he ask you to relay this as well?"

"Half and half." Sanqianyuan laughed casually, then crossed his arms and said, "Because I communicate with him from time to time, even though Xiao Yan is far away in Youzhou, he has always known the situation in Mobei..."

After he finished speaking, he stroked his chin again, and suddenly realized something and said, "Perhaps this is also the reason why he has the confidence to wait until now to send out troops? After all, the letter I wrote to him said that the queen could still hold out for more than a month under Yelu Lage's attack."

"Is it you?"

Shulido was stunned at first, and was obviously shocked speechless by this sentence.

Then, her face became colder, and her beautiful eyes also had some chill, staring directly into Sanqianyuan's eyes, "If you are really in the Yelu Lage camp, you should know that the royal court has a huge force of 50,000 people heading south this time."

"But isn't the Queen's camp also located on the mountain?" Sanqianyuan coughed dryly, then pointed at the camp and said, "In my opinion, it is really as solid as a rock, easy to defend but difficult to attack. It shows that the Queen has long been prepared to defend it."

"Nonsense."

"But don't be upset, Queen." Sanqianyuan shrugged and said indifferently: "I tricked you once, but I saved the second prince for you, right? And Queen, you are all right now, aren't you?"

Shuliduo stared at Sanqianyuan for a long while, then suddenly sneered and narrowed his eyes and said, "Aren't you afraid that I will use you to exchange conditions with Yelu Lage?"

"That is the Queen's right."

Sanqianyuan smiled and said, "I told you, I am just a messenger, and I am here to give the queen another choice. But..."

He hesitated for a moment, then spread his hands and said, "The queen captured me and sent me down the mountain, and told Yelu Lage that I was Ba'al. I'm afraid Yelu Lage would kill the queen's messenger first, and would think that the queen was just teasing him."

"what for?"

"Your Majesty, you should know that what you see in this world is not necessarily true." Sanqianyuan turned his face away, covered his mouth with his arms for a few breaths, and then suddenly turned around.

Shulido's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

But the person in front of him, whose originally ordinary face suddenly turned into that of Xiao Yan.

A feeling of inexplicable nervousness suddenly rose from her heart, as if she was saying something bad about someone behind their back but was caught in person. Her brain couldn't help but shut down for a moment.

However, when she looked more closely, she found that this person's eyes were not as sharp, his aura was not as sharp and upward, and his body shape was also very different.

Her face turned cold again.

Sanqianyuan smiled playfully, then realized that this was boring, so he took off the fake skin on his face and said, "The queen should now know why I was able to stay by Yelu Lage's side, and why I was able to rescue the second prince?"

After that, he said indifferently: "The queen wants to capture me and take me down the mountain, so be it. As for whether the queen thinks this move will disrupt the alliance between Yelu La Ge and Jin State... the queen may be able to guess that the real Ba'er had already returned to Jin State after Yelu La Ge usurped the throne, so he had the opportunity to pretend to be by Yelu La Ge's side."

Shuliduo frowned and continued to think on his own.

The first thing she did was to doubt whether this Ba'er was real, because she had known in Youzhou that the reason why Yelu Lage was able to seize the throne in a timely coup was because this 'Ba' was involved in the planning. But at that time, Xiao Yan also told her that the turmoil in the royal court had nothing to do with him, and it was Li Siyuan of the Jin State Tongwenguan who planned it...

Now it seems that they are connected in series.

I just don't know where Xiao Yan found this capable person in front of him, who could seamlessly connect with the 'Baer' who had already returned to Jin State...

Seeing her deep in thought, Sanqianyuan was not in a hurry. He pointed down the mountain and said, "In the camp of Yelu Lage, next to the south side of the Wuluan River is Yelu Huage's camp. He has been urged by Yelu Lage to attack this side day and night recently, and has lost a lot of troops. He is also often scolded by Yelu Lage for his slow progress. The queen should know this person, right?"

After hearing this, Shuliduo said calmly, "This man has a violent personality and is a mediocre person. He often makes mistakes because of drinking. That's why I have never let the king use him. He is extremely resentful of me."

"That's exactly the reason." Sanqianyuan said, "This man wanted to break into the camp very much, but his subordinates suffered heavy casualties, and he was scolded by Yelu Lage every day. He was already angry and humiliated. He drank as soon as he returned to the camp, and when he drank, he beat and scolded his subordinates..."

"Your Excellency means..." Shulido narrowed his eyes.

"The direction of the breakout has been told to the Queen. As for whether or not to break out, or how to break out, I hope the Queen will decide for herself."

Sanqianyuan began to go down the watchtower, and at the end, he added: "By the way, Xiao Yan forgot to convey one sentence to the queen. He said that in Mobei, there should be only one family left."

"..."

Shuliduo held the wooden railing of the watchtower, staring at the rain and fog below the mountain, without saying a word for a long time.

"My queen, the slave has been put back under the care of Yaoyan."

After a while, Shili Qixiang came up.

But seeing that Shuliduo did not respond to her for a long time, Shili Qixiang just stood there silently.

"Seri Kika."

"I'm here, slave."

"Your Majesty, what you mean is that we can only negotiate peace with Yelu Lage, and we really cannot fight for the throne with him again?"

Shili Qixiang hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Queen, you also know that the king has only two or three thousand elite soldiers under his command. Negotiating with Yelu Lage is just a temporary measure. In the short term, I am afraid..."

Shuliduo nodded slowly, and then asked, "You said, if Xiao Yan really rescued Yao Guang, would he... I mean, if, if I really regretted not cooperating with him, would he still go north and join forces with Yelu Lage to kill me and the king...

After all, he has Yao Guang in his hand..."

"..." Shili Qixiang's Adam's apple moved slightly, and he lowered his head without saying a word.

It would be more accurate to say that Shuliduo was asking herself rather than asking her.

Ask yourself, does Xiao Yan have to cooperate with Shuliduo?
There are not only Shulido and even Yelu Abaoji on this grassland, there is also Yelu Lage who has almost no bottom line and is even more fanatical about power. This person does not care about the honor of Mobei or whether he can rise or not, and he does not care whether he will be labeled as a brother-killer. He will recognize whoever can help him sit firmly on the throne, such as that 'Bal'.

Not to mention, Xiao Yan now has Yelu Yaoguang in his hands. After all, Yelu Yaoguang is Abaoji's legitimate son. If Xiao Yan really has the ambition to intervene in Mobei, he doesn't need to care about the process. He only needs the result to be what he wants.

Of course, judging from the previous plan, joining forces with Shulido is the best way, but Xiao Yan now has a better choice.

If he really didn't care about his promise, he could have kicked out Shuliduo, the middleman, and cooperated with Yelu Lage to kill Yelu Abaoji. After waiting for a few more years, he might have dared to go north and become Yelu Lage, supporting Yelu Yaoguang, the legitimate son of the previous king, to take the throne...

This is what Shuliduo thought of after Sanqianyuan said, "In the end, there can only be one family left in Mobei."

To this day, she can no longer guarantee whether the audacious Li Jiulang also has the same idea. Otherwise, why would he arrange for the Sanqianyuan to bring out Yelu Yaoguang so early?

"I can't gamble..."

For a long time, Shuliduo murmured to himself.

Shili Qixiang cupped her hands, swallowed her saliva, and asked cautiously: "Queen, then we should..."

Shuliduo closed her eyes and smiled bitterly with regret.

"We can only break out and go south. We can only go south...

He asked these three thousand courtyards to pass on the message, but it was not to give me another choice. It was clearly just to tell me that I could only go south...

I was wrong. It’s not that he didn’t understand me. He, understood me too well…”

Shili Qixiang was also silent, and he couldn't describe the feeling in his heart.

But she understood that after these words were spoken, the great king far away in Xifengkou had been abandoned...

But what can be done?

She always thought she was smart, but her queen could always see through her thoughts at a glance, and she needed the queen's guidance before she could finally understand the important things.

The chess pieces in this game have been piled higher and higher in Xiao Yan's hands.

He had an invincible army, all the resources of Hebei, and Yelu Yaoguang. Apart from that, he didn't even have any direct conflict with Yelu Lage...

In Mobei, there was only a fragmented situation, three groups of people with their own agenda, and a great defeat that had cost the lives of 20,000 elite cavalrymen...

The queen even had a thousand Mobei cavalrymen under Xiao Yan's command. Perhaps they were in his army at this moment, preparing to go north to sweep Mobei for him...

But thinking of all these, Shili Qixiang still gritted her teeth and said, "Queen, he didn't send out troops for two months. Maybe he did it on purpose. He wanted Yelu Lage to consume our strength and wait until the king appeared. We must not compromise with him..."

"and then?"

“And then…” Serika’s voice paused.

"One step back, all steps back." Shuliduo said coldly, "After taking a step back at the Beishui River, I should have known that I had no more room to retreat. The foundation for the rise of Mobei collapsed overnight, the situation has deteriorated to this point, the royal court has fallen apart, and the Yelu family has fallen into internal strife and ignored external enemies. It is an irreversible situation."

"The Yelu clan is huge. The king's brothers, uncles, nephews, and even distant relatives, all of them are secretly coveting the throne. If we catch one Yelu Lage, we can pull out countless Yelu Lages! I ask you, if we listen to the king's words and negotiate with the royal court, even if we can successfully gain a few years to slowly grow stronger, will the king really kill the Yelu family after a few years?"

"slave……"

"will not."

Shuliduo said expressionlessly, "Your Majesty is not my queen, and he can never be my queen."

"I have been trying to remove those thorns in the past few years, but was stopped by the King. I have already anticipated that even if Yelu Lage causes trouble this time, the King will not be able to kill everyone. He is the son of the Yelu family, he can't do it... Even if we gather strength and make a comeback, we can only kill Yelu Lage. If it keeps going on like this in the future, will all the brothers cause trouble one after another?"

Shili Qixiang's face turned pale. She didn't dare to listen any further. The queen had never said such thoughts to her before, and it was impossible for her to tell her. Even though she was a close attendant who grew up with the queen, she didn't dare to listen to such heart-piercing remarks.

But Shuliduo didn't mean to tell her.

She was talking to herself.

"With Xiao Yan's help, I can clear up everything."

“……” Shiri Qixiang lowered her head and dared not speak.

She didn't know who was included in the phrase "clear all". She only knew that the queen had made up her mind under the pressure of the situation.

"Seri Kika."

"Slave, slave is here."

"Believe it or not, I can make Mobei rise again, surpass the Uighur Khanate and the Turkic Khanate, and become the true ruler of the grassland."

Hearing this question, Shili Qixiang nodded without hesitation: "Nu Xin!"

"Go and gather Zhao Siwen and the others. I want to break out and head south."

Shuliduo had a cold expression on his face. He flicked his cloak and walked down the watchtower.

she knows.

From this moment on, the game with Xiao Yan truly began.

This process will be long, and she must ensure that the royal court and the throne are in her hands. Only in this way can she bargain and mediate with Xiao Yan.

Finally, she suddenly turned around and looked to the south.

In her eyes, she seemed to see through thousands of miles and see that arrogant young man, the man who made her fail.

Can we only go south?

Li Jiulang, this is the last time you retreat.

(End of this chapter)