A few days later, Su Jin's leg injury had basically healed, and he left Li Yuanhao's imperial entourage, and his movements were much freer, at least he didn't have to hide in the car every day to live a snail's life, and he could ride a horse and follow the team.

Originally, Su Jin planned to leave the Lingzhou territory and return to the south, but after hearing Yeli Duanyun say that the ranch of their Yeli tribe was in Hongzhou, Su Jin wanted to go and see, since he had reached an agreement with Yeli Dulan to trade with the war horse Song Kingdom, then he should go to see the goods; In addition, although the two countries have stopped fighting, but the peace agreement has not yet been reached, it is a safe road from Hongzhou to the south through Liangzhou and back to the territory of the Great Song Dynasty.

The farther you go northwest, the higher and darker the sky becomes; It's already September, and although it's still a scorching heat in the south, it's already autumn in the northwest, and the weather is cool, and there is already a thin dew on your clothes when you wake up in the morning; After crossing several mountains, I finally found myself in an endless savannah.

Su Jin has never been to the grassland, soil erosion in later generations is serious, many grasslands have become a place where wind and sand are raging, without the nourishment of the river, you can only see a speckled barren beach, but this grassland in front of you is a real prairie.

The green carpet of grass stretches to the end of the horizon, and in the distance, under the white clouds, several snow-capped mountains stand silently there, and it is the meltwater of these snow-capped mountains that converges into several rivers to nourish the entire savannah.

Yeli Duanyun also gave up the car and rode a horse side by side with Su Jin, along the way to Su Jin introduced the scenery along the way, Yeli Duanyun's riding skills are very good, after entering the grassland, she was obviously in a much better mood, changed out of the Chinese clothes and put on leather riding boots, tied dozens of small pigtails behind her head, the whole person looks charming and capable, and her riding skills are very good, with a wave of the whip, in the grassland freely, not inferior to the men of the Yeli tribe under it.

Su Jin sighed to himself, no wonder the party members were able to defeat the Song army in the field, a party woman's riding skills were better than the soldiers trained by the Song State, and cavalry combat was obviously a major advantage of the party members; However, since he has reached an agreement with Yelidulan on the exchange of war horses for food, in time, this advantage of the party members will also be lost.

Su Jin also understood that Yeli Dulan was only using himself to get through the current difficulties, and when the Xia Kingdom resumed production, the Song State would no longer need the grain assistance of the Song State within a few years, and at that time, the war horse trade would inevitably be suspended; At that time, tens of thousands of warriors will grow up in the next generation of the Yeli tribe, and Yeli Dulan will definitely not do war horse business with himself under the condition of protecting himself, which is a matter of great condemnation in the world.

Su Jin also thought about it, anyway, it is to use each other, and it is understandable to be kicked away by others when there is no use value, Su Jin also thought about it, to find a large area in Jingyuan Road in a few years to plant pasture, and select the good breed of horses from the transaction as stallions, and establish a horse farm in the northwest, so that you can supply horses in a steady stream, and you don't have to look at the eyes of the Tangut people.

The pasture of the Yeli tribe is in the south of Hongzhou on this steppe, neither belongs to the jurisdiction of Hongzhou, nor does it belong to the Liangzhou moderation in the south, just like an independent small kingdom, it can also be known that the power of the Yeli tribe used to be how respected, but it is a pity that the war and calculation have greatly damaged the vitality of the Yeli tribe, on the huge grassland, scattered villages and tents are scattered, cattle, sheep and horses are not grazing, and the pasture grows wildly, up to the knees of people.

Along the way, there was no village or tent gathering place, the yellow-faced old man and the woman and the girl came out to greet each other, and the men of the surviving Yeli tribe were embraced into the village with tears in their eyes, and most of the women and children ushered in a handful of ashes and relics of their relatives, and along the way, the tears along the way flowed into a river.

Yeli Duanyun's eyes were red and swollen, and she was about to weep before a ruined village, she could not see the sorrow of her own people, and she could empathize with the pain of every family that had lost a loved one, because she herself had just lost the two mountains of the Yeli family, and the death of Yeli Yuqi and Yeli Wangrong was like a rolling thunder sweeping through the grassland, and every Yeli tribe mourned in their own unique way for their leader.

The evening before arriving at the central walled city, Yeli Duanyun pulled Su Jin for a walk on the grassland, the two stood side by side in silence, the sunset set at the end of the grassland, the sky was full of bloody sunset, under the solemn deep blue sky, a line of geese chirped and flew south, the situation was magnificent, but a little gloomy.

"Master Su, thank you very much." Yeli Duanyun looked at the sunset, and his pretty face was as beautiful as the sunset.

"Why thank me?" Su Jindao.

"I now know why you took the risk to burn the grain and grass in Huizhou, because only by burning the grain and grass will the war end, and my people may come back alive, otherwise, I am afraid that there will always be cries on this vast prairie."

Su Jin said: "I burned grain for the sake of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Weizhou City, not for your Yeli tribe, so you don't have to thank me." ”

"I understand, but in fact, you not only saved the soldiers and civilians of Weizhou in your Song Kingdom, but also saved the lives of many people in my Great Xia, so thank you."

Su Jin sighed and said: "I understand your feelings, but I have to pour cold water on you, this is just a temporary calm, the killing war will never stop, maybe in a few years, there will be another beacon fire, and there will be a river of blood." ”

Ye Li Duanyun's beautiful face distorted, and he gritted his teeth and said: "I don't understand, why some people just like to fight, like to let others die, don't they have the slightest compassion?" Is it not possible to live a happy life without peaceful coexistence and friendly exchanges? ”

Su Jin said: "Desire dominates everything, those who have money want to be richer, those who have power want more power, people's greed is endless, this is the sin of people; Human nature is like this, and I am afraid that it will never change. ”

Yeli Duanyun turned his head to look at Su Jindao: "Are you that kind of person?" Will you have thousands of people shed their blood and die for you in order to compete for power and money? ”

Su Jin smiled and said, "Do you want to hear the truth?" ”

Yeli Duanyun said: "Of course you have to tell the truth, I ...... I think you're a good friend, you can't lie to me. ”

Su Jin said: "I won't just compete for power and money, but if I want to survive in this world and protect more good people, I will!" The sacrifice of 100,000 people is exchanged for the happy life of millions of people, and such bloodshed is meaningful; And the dead will be remembered by these millions, and that is true eternal life. ”

Yeli Duanyun said: "Are you saying that the people who died in the war in both countries are meaningless deaths now?" ”

Su Jin said: "Yes, it is sad to die for someone's inflated ambitions. ”

Ye Li Duanyun said thoughtfully: "What do you mean is that it makes sense for the deceased to live happily for their relatives, so what kind of life can be considered happiness?" ”

Su Jin turned around and looked at Yeli Duanyun's face and said softly: "Maybe you won't understand what I said, I will answer your question in one sentence, this sentence is 'A dignified life is true happiness, and a numb life is no different from cattle, sheep, grass and trees.'" ’。 ”

Ye Li Duanyun frowned and said, "I really didn't understand what you meant, isn't it happiness to be alive and have food and clothing?" What does it mean to live with dignity? ”

Su Jin smiled: "I can't explain it to you, maybe you will understand in the future." Su Jin really couldn't explain to her what it means to live with dignity, standing on the land of ancient times, it seems a bit stupid to talk about democracy and human rights in the future with a girl from the party clan, Su Jin is just a feeling after experiencing a lot, he will not be stupid enough to talk about democracy and human rights in this era.

……

The next morning, the convoy finally arrived at the central city of the Yeli tribe, which was a fortified fortress built in the middle of the grassland, with a tall wall and a wide ditch.

Men, women and children in the walled city came out to welcome the ashes of the two Yeli kings and the return of the county lord, and the old and young people in the tribe chanted the names of the two deceased kings with tears in their eyes, and surrounded Yeli Duanyun into the walled city.

The leader of the Yeli tribe originally had three brothers, Yeli Yuqi and Yeli Wangrong were the eldest and second, and the third was Yeli Duanyun's father, Yeli Mosui, but unfortunately as early as more than ten years ago, Yeli Mosui had already died in the battle against the Uighurs, and now Yeli Yuqi and Yeli Wangrong are also dead, and the entire Yeli tribe is only left with Yeli Yuqi's ten-year-old son Yeli Shangjun and Yeli Duanyun two direct descendants.

At noon on the same day, Yeli Duanyun took his cousin Yeli Shangjun, under the witness of the tribal elders, sent the ashes of the two kings to the pagoda for burial, and at the same time held a meeting of tribal elders.

Su Jin witnessed all this throughout the whole process, he knew that all this was arranged by Yeli Dulan, originally, Yeli was still young, and the affairs in the tribe should be decided by the elders, but Xia Yi ordered Yeli Duanyun to take charge of the tribe, in fact, to clear the obstacles for trading with himself, which Su Jin was willing to see.