Chapter 183: Jochi Captured
The cold wind of spring was like a fierce beast breaking free from its cage, charging wildly across the vast grassland, emitting a sharp whistle.
Amid this cold wind, a cavalry team was advancing rapidly, the clopping sounds breaking the grassland’s tranquility.
Most of these people wore tattered sheepskin jackets, their bodies filthy and reeking of sheep stench, with disheveled and fluffy hair swaying in the wind.
Only a middle-aged man in the middle of the team wore a wolfskin jacket and a mink fur hat, appearing wealthy, his status clearly uncommon.
“Erke Qorlas Noyan, once we cross this mountain and travel another three hundred li, we will see Yudu Jin Mountain.”
Hearing his subordinate’s words, the middle-aged man sighed heavily and shouted loudly to the people behind: “Put some more effort in, let’s reach Yudu Jin Mountain early, finish the talks, and head back soon.”
“Understood.”
As soon as the words fell, the cavalry team’s speed increased again.
This man was named Erke Qorlas, Ong Khan’s own younger brother.
He had been dispatched this time to Yudu Jin Mountain to negotiate with the Jin Prefecture Army on how to make the Jin Prefecture Army withdraw, sparing the Kereit Tribe from the calamity of war.
Erke Qorlas was the head envoy of the delegation, and the deputy envoy was named Khitimir, also a noble of the Kereit Tribe.
This Khitimir had a very close relationship with Temüjin and was usually responsible for liaison matters between the Kereit Tribe and the Kiyan tribe.
In addition, there were two special people.
Temüjin’s confidant general Jelme, who came as Temüjin’s representative to this peace talks to prevent Ong Khan from doing anything detrimental to the Kiyan tribe’s interests.
The other was Temüjin’s eldest son, Jochi.
During a rest, Jelme sat beside Jochi, his expression grave, and said in a low voice: “The Liao Army is ferocious and bloodthirsty by nature.”
“This trip to Yudu Jin Mountain for peace talks is fraught with crises; one misstep and we will be beyond redemption.”
“You must not reveal your identity; treat yourself as an ordinary soldier, and leave everything else to me.”
“Observe more, learn more, understand?”
Jochi was only eighteen this year, young and vigorous, radiating youthful vitality.
His posture was agile, his eyes revealing an innate domineering aura; his every move bore traces of Temüjin, though somewhat forced in imitation.
He frowned slightly, a flash of reluctance in his eyes, but still nodded and said: “Uncle Jelme, I understand; I won’t act impulsively.”
Not far from them, Erke Qorlas and others were discussing the Liao Army.
“Truly, a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse; even after the Liao State has been extinct for so many years, who would have thought the Liao Army would return to the grassland and eliminate the Naiman Tribe—it’s truly unexpected,” Khitimir said.
Erke Qorlas appeared compassionate and merciful, sighing: “The Liao Army has crossed Yudu Jin Mountain and is now looting everywhere in our Kereit Tribe territory.”
“Who knows how many of our people will suffer at the hands of the Liao Army.”
“Are we just going to watch the Liao Army act so arrogantly? Even if we fight to the last soldier, we must fight,” Jochi’s face muscles tensed as he couldn’t help but say.
Erke Qorlas chuckled, glancing at Jochi’s naive appearance and laughing: “Young man, you speak lightly.”
“Real war is not child’s play; it’s not that simple at all.”
Erke Qorlas didn’t look down on Temüjin, but he did look down on Jochi, because he had heard Jochi was a Merkit wildling bastard.
Khitimir had a close relationship with Temüjin and treated Jochi like a nephew, explaining: “It’s not that we haven’t fought the Liao Army.”
“After the Drag River battle, our Kereit tribes gathered another force, conscripting nearly every male laborer from each tribe.”
“But in the end, we still couldn’t withstand the Liao Army’s offensive.”
Khitimir shook his head with a heartbroken expression.
The Liao Army was simply too formidable; unless the Kereit Tribe’s main force was transferred back from the Kuyitan Battlefield, they could only let the Liao Army rampage across Kereit territory.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, the atmosphere oppressive and suffocating.
The pressure brought by the Jin Prefecture Army was too great.
Finally, Erke Qorlas said: “This trip to Yudu Jin Mountain, we must convince the Great Governor of Jin Prefecture to withdraw troops.”
“As long as the price is not unbearable, we can agree to it.”
Afterward, everyone got up to prepare to continue the journey.
But at that moment, a rapid and chaotic sound of hooves suddenly came from the distance.
Everyone looked toward the sound and saw a group of disheveled herdsmen riding desperately toward them, their faces filled with fear and despair.
As if a great terror was behind them.
Seeing this, the surrounding guards all drew their sabers and gripped their spears tightly.
“They should be our Kereit Tribe’s people,” Erke Qorlas slowly released the hilt.
This place was still far from Yudu Jin Mountain, so the herdsmen encountered were likely from a subordinate tribe of the Kereit Tribe.
But the next second, Jochi and the others’ faces tensed up again.
Because as this group of herdsmen crested the distant hill, another cavalry team appeared behind them.
Only twenty people.
Some of them wore white clothes that looked very thick.
They, in uniform attire, charged on war horses with an intimidating aura.
The remaining pursuers all wore crude leather armor, exuding barbarism and ferocity.
“Is it the Liao Army?”
Erke Qorlas was shocked.
Because according to intelligence from the Drago battlefield, the Liao Army all wore a strange armor.
Some yellow, some red, some white.
All impervious to saber and spear, with defensive power nearly comparable to iron armor.
So upon seeing those ten soldiers in white cotton armor, Erke Qorlas immediately thought of the Jin Prefecture Army.
“This place is less than five hundred li from the Khanate, yet the Liao Army has already appeared here.”
“Utterly arrogant,” Khitimir said angrily.
Jochi, young and hot-blooded, felt his blood surge and snorted: “What are we afraid of?”
“The Liao Army has only a mere twenty men; we have over a hundred.”
“Kill them.”
Jochi brandished his spear, preparing to charge and fight the Jin Prefecture Army to the death.
But Erke Qorlas hurriedly stopped him, scolding: “Bastard.”
“We came to negotiate with the Liao Army; if we kill these Liao soldiers, we might enrage the Great Governor of Jin Prefecture.”
“Wouldn’t our Kereit Tribe’s people suffer even more disaster?”
Hearing this, Jochi was furious and retorted: “If you’re afraid of this and that, why fight at all?”
“Go home and make babies.”
Seeing this brat dare to talk back, Erke Qorlas felt displeased and snorted coldly: “At least this Noyan can’t sire a wildling bastard.”
“You~”
Jochi’s eyes instantly reddened, staring at Erke Qorlas like a maddened bull; he hated most when people brought up his background.
Khitimir hurriedly advised: “Jochi, don’t be reckless; Erke Qorlas Noyan is thinking of the big picture.”
Although Jelme stayed close to protect Jochi, he also urged him not to act on impulse.
Erke Qorlas was Ong Khan’s most trusted younger brother, and the current Kiyan tribe still needed the Kereit Tribe’s help; they absolutely could not fall out with him.
Jochi knew he couldn’t afford to provoke Erke Qorlas, so he snorted coldly, turned his head away, and said discontentedly: “For the big picture, you can just let your own people be slaughtered by the enemy?”
“That’s cowardice.”
Fortunately, the Jin Prefecture Army saw the delegation’s large numbers and immediately halted the pursuit.
They sent two men back to report, while the others stood at a distance watching Jochi and the others.
Soon, the fleeing herdsmen arrived before the delegation.
After inquiring, they were herdsmen living not far nearby; just recently, the Jin Prefecture Army had suddenly appeared and attacked their tribe.
Only these people had escaped.
Hearing this, Jochi burned with rage, clenched his fists, and shouted: “Damn it.”
“These Liao State people are utterly rampant.”
Then he looked at Erke Qorlas and asked: “Lord Noyan, is this the peace talks you want? The Liao Army only slaughters our grassland people and has no intention of negotiating.”
But Erke Qorlas said to himself: “We just arrived too late.”
“If we had come earlier, we could surely have succeeded in talks and stopped the Jin Prefecture Army’s atrocities.”
Hearing this, Jochi was furious.
He seriously suspected whether Erke Qorlas was even a Grasslander.
Their Grasslanders revered the strong, always fighting fearlessly, so how did this peace-talking saint suddenly appear?
Wasn’t this like a cotton ball popping out of a ditch?
Jochi was filled with reluctance, slamming his boot heel into the grass, mounting his horse, and riding away.
Afterward, everyone immediately changed direction to take another route.
But not long after, a dull rumbling sound suddenly came from the distance, like rolling thunder.
Jochi’s face changed drastically as he looked up and saw a vast cloud of dust rising on the horizon, like an enormous storm about to sweep in.
“Bad! A large force is coming,” Jelme said in a deep voice.
As soon as the words fell, a vast army appeared in everyone’s view.
Leading the charge were a group of Naiman soldiers.
They wore tattered sheepskin jackets, disheveled hair, eyes filled with madness and greed, like hungry wolves.
Following closely were the elite main force of the Jin Prefecture Army, clad in white cotton armor, like a surging white flood, emanating a cold aura.
Iron cavalry thundered, their weapons gleaming coldly in the sunset.
“It’s the Liao Army,” Jochi’s face grew serious.
The Jin Prefecture iron cavalry rolled forward like roaring beasts rampaging freely, the entire grassland trembling under their iron hooves, the air thick with a murderous aura.
In contrast, the delegation seemed tiny and helpless under the pressure of the forest of iron cavalry, like a lone boat swaying in the storm.
In the blink of an eye, the Jin Prefecture Army surrounded Jochi’s group completely.
A young general in white cotton armor, with his face and neck covered in cotton fabric, rode forward on his war horse.
This person was Zhao Dabao, chiliarch of the Jin Prefecture Army and Li Xiao’s aunt’s son.
His cold gaze swept over everyone as he directly ordered: “Kill everyone except those few women!”
Seeing this, Erke Qorlas hurriedly rushed forward and said: “General, hold on.”
“We are envoys sent by the Great Khan of the Kereit Tribe, here specifically for peace talks with the Great Governor of Jin Prefecture.”
Hearing this, a flicker of surprise passed through Zhao Dabao’s eyes.
He had thought the prairie barbarians were all uncivilized wildlings, but they knew how to back down.
They hadn’t been beaten hard enough.
As long as they were more ruthless than the Grasslanders, they would become as obedient as dogs.
“Peace talks?”
“Who allowed you to negotiate?”
“The Jin Prefecture Army hasn’t had its fill of killing yet.”
“No negotiations,” Zhao Dabao ordered with a dissatisfied expression.
Hearing the translator’s words, Erke Qorlas grew even more anxious; he mustn’t fail the talks and lose his life too.
He feared most these low-level Liao Army generals acting on their own without reporting to Li Xiao.
The Jin Prefecture Army before them numbered over a thousand, while the delegation had only over a hundred.
They weren’t even in the same league; if killed, there’d be no justice.
“When two armies clash, envoys are not slain; please reconsider, General.”
Zhao Dabao snorted coldly, his face full of disdain.
Jin Prefecture Military Regulations were strict; since the Kereit Tribe had sent people for talks, he certainly wouldn’t dare slaughter envoys without Li Xiao’s approval.
Though he couldn’t kill the envoys, he didn’t need to spare the others.
His knife-like gaze swept over everyone: “Coming for talks with so many soldiers—clearly harboring ill intentions.”
“You claim peace talks, but really plan to stir trouble at night!”
Sweat beaded on Erke Qorlas’s forehead as he hurriedly explained: “General misunderstands; with rogue armies rampant on the grassland now, we brought extra men for safety.”
Zhao Dabao ignored his explanation, waving his hand and issuing the order: “Men, except for these envoys and those women, kill all the other soldiers.”
“What?”
Hearing this, Jochi and the others were shocked, gaining a new understanding of the Jin Prefecture Army’s ferocity.
Though not killing envoys, slaughtering soldiers was sheer madness.
Of course, it was also because they had brought quite a few people.
A delegation of over a hundred, mostly soldiers—if they rebelled, wouldn’t the Jin Prefecture Army suffer?
Kill them clean first.
The Jin Prefecture Army soldiers, receiving the order, immediately spurred their war horses and charged at the delegation like hungry wolves pouncing on prey.
Unexpectedly, those charging at the front weren’t Jin Prefecture Army soldiers, but Naiman captives; to regain freedom, they fought like mad dogs without regard for life.
They roared, brandishing their weapons, fighting desperately against the Kereit Tribe and Kiyan tribe soldiers.
In an instant, shouts of killing, clashes of weapons, and agonized screams echoed across the grassland.
At the same time, several Naiman soldiers spotted a girl—the most beautiful girl from the tribe just destroyed.
About fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate features, timidly riding her horse, eyes filled with fear and helplessness.
Her clothes were torn, a few strands of disheveled hair sticking to her scraped cheek, adding to her pitiable charm.
The Naiman soldiers were delighted; they hadn’t expected such a pretty girl in a small tribe.
“Capture her, offer her to the chiliarch.”
“If the chiliarch is pleased, we’ll not only regain freedom but get heavy rewards.”
“Don’t let her escape.”
Three Naiman soldiers chased after the girl.
Seeing this, Jochi instantly flew into a rage; a pretty girl alone wouldn’t enrage him so.
But his youthful vigor couldn’t tolerate the Jin Prefecture Army’s arrogance.
The Kereit Tribe and Kiyan tribe hadn’t been defeated yet, just here for talks, yet the Jin Prefecture Army treated them as nothing, killing at will.
If Jochi could swallow this, he wouldn’t be Temüjin’s son.
“Kill~”
Jochi roared, spear in hand, charging at the three Naiman soldiers.
Trained under his father from youth, he was skilled in martial arts and robust in build.
Even against three, he held his own, killing one, badly wounding another, and scaring off the third in short order.
But his valor caught the real Jin Prefecture Army’s attention.
Three White Armored Army soldiers arrived in a flash.
“Die~”
One White Armor soldier shouted, thrusting his hooked scythe spear at Jochi’s chest.
“Hah~”
Jochi parried with his spear; his strong physique gave him no disadvantage in this clash of strength.
But this time, he faced not Naiman captives, but the tacitly coordinated White Armored Army.
The next second, a spear stabbed instantly from the side at Jochi’s neck.
Jochi was shocked and dodged sideways.
Though he avoided the vital spot, the hooked scythe spear’s hook still tore a chunk of flesh from his shoulder.
Blood spurted out instantly, his face paling in pain, cold sweat pouring.
But before he could react, the third White Armor soldier’s attack followed.
The hook directly tripped the horse’s leg; Jochi screamed as he crashed heavily to the ground.
In cavalry combat, once dismounted, it was basically a death sentence.
Fortunately, Jelme heard Jochi’s scream; trading injury for life, he dealt with the Naiman soldiers before him, then quickly rode over.
He leaped off, tackling a White Armor soldier about to spear Jochi to death right off his horse.
Then he stood up awkwardly and shouted loudly: “Stop! He is Great Khan Temüjin’s eldest son Jochi, envoy sent by Great Khan Temüjin.”
Although before coming, Temüjin had instructed Jochi to conceal his identity and temper himself as an ordinary soldier.
But the reality forced Jelme to reveal Jochi’s identity.
Soon after, the Jin Prefecture Army killed all the other soldiers, leaving only Jochi, the four envoys, and some women.
Zhao Dabao rode forward, circled them once, and showed a hint of surprise: “Temüjin’s son, that Merkit spawn?”
Hearing the translator, Jochi’s eyes widened instantly, endless rage burning in his heart as he shouted: “I’m not Merkit spawn; I am my father Temüjin’s son.”
He struggled continuously, as if desperate to fight Zhao Dabao.
But he only met Zhao Dabao’s cold laugh, looking down at Jochi: “The Great Governor often mentions Temüjin.”
“He must be interested in you too.”
He then directly ordered: “Bind them all and escort them back to the main camp.”
That night, Jochi and the others were detained in the camp of Zhao Dabao’s chiliarch force.
Under the moonlight, laughter from Jin Prefecture Army soldiers and screams from women rose in the camp.
These women had all been looted by the Jin Prefecture Army from nearby tribes and became the soldiers’ spoils of war.
Especially the pretty girl Jochi had saved today, who was taken into Zhao Dabao’s large tent under his furious gaze.
Imagining that pretty girl wailing in agony under Zhao Dabao, Jochi felt heartbroken.
He clenched his fists, vowing silently in his heart: “One day, I will make these people pay.”
