After the fiasco of Fengzhou two years ago, the army of the Utu tribe captured the Turkic tent, and the southern Turks were devastated and had to bow down to the northern khan and present the title of the Great Khan and the golden wolf head banner to the northern khan Utu.

Two years have passed, and in these two years, the Utu tribe has more than 200,000 soldiers with strong troops, while the Southern Turks have experienced a crushing defeat in Fengzhou, and their strength has been sharply reduced to more than 100,000.

The disparity in strength made Wei Fang Luo Khan bow his eyebrows and pleasing his eyes, and every three months he had to send envoys to the north to pay tribute, more or less, but his attitude was the most pious and humble.

However, Utu was generous, often remembering the kindness of the Khan of Qimin, and was unwilling to increase troops in the southern Turks for no reason, which made these two years a rare period of peace on the steppe.

As time passed, the wounds of war on the steppe were gradually healed, cattle and sheep began to flourish again, newborn children began to cry in the tents, and troops of merchants reappeared on the grassland, bringing in a large number of daily "wing-spreading watermarks", taking with them furs and medicinal herbs.

However, just as the spring of the steppe was coming to an end, the Great Khan of the Northern Turks, Utu, unfortunately fell ill, and this is not a surprising thing; Utu is 38 years old this year, and in the steppe, where the average life expectancy is generally not more than 40 years old, the age of 38 is the first ghost gate encountered by the steppe people.

The tooth tent of the Northern Turks is located on the shore of Kusugul Lake, which is the core of the large lake basin of the Mobei steppe, and is a vast grassland with rich pastures, and the tooth tent is equivalent to the capital of the Turks, gathering tens of thousands of tents.

"The swan goes south and returns north"

Bringing in information from afar.

The north wind is rising.

―Tweets of longing.

Urging the swans on their journey south.

On the shore of the grassland lake, the beautiful and graceful singing of the girl echoed in the air, and the snow-white sheep grazing leisurely on the grassland, and on the lakeside - on the big rock, Asduo sat on his knees and gazed at the blue surface of the sea.

It's been two years, and she doesn't know if she can go back to her home in the south, if she can go back to him again, the distance of time and space fills her with fear, if he no longer recognizes her, if he no longer accepts her, what will she do?

The girl's singing voice filled her heart with melancholy and helplessness, she was getting older, she was twenty-four years old, and in Zhuo Yuan, such an age had long lost the charm of youth, and she had already been a group of children, but she had no children of her own.

Despite this, when she recalled her youth, she remembered that she had been with him day and night, and she still had no regrets.

"Are you melancholy here again?" Behind him, there was the poisonous voice of her sister Anuri.

"Sister, I don't!" Asto whispered.

"And say no!"

Anuri sat down beside her, a noble Northern Turkic Kedun, with a few maids standing not far away, and dozens of guards standing farther away.

Anuri and Utu have been married for thirteen years, and they have three children for him, Anuri is three years older than her sister, and she is only twenty-seven years old this year, but she looks much older than her sister.

"Actually, my sister is also very envious of you! Yesterday Kotun of Gaz also said that you are only seventeen years old, and you look at your skin, which is smooth and delicate, and see that your eyes are as clear as the water of the lake, and you are still sad, so what should you do with your sister? ”

Asto held her sister's hand and sat side by side with her, she sighed, "Sister, I actually really want to go back!" But I was afraid, afraid that he would no longer accept me, and I was very distressed. ”

"Why won't he accept you? You haven't done anything to be sorry for him, your heart is still as pure as a lake, what are you worried about? ”

"But...... He never sent someone to pick me up? He must be annoyed that I will say goodbye. ”

"You stupid boy, you are the princess of the grassland, the daughter of the Ashina family, how can you become like a Han woman who feels sorry for herself, if he dares to abandon you, you will kill him with a knife!"

"But he is the king of Chu of the Sui Dynasty and the future emperor of the Great Sui Dynasty, how can I kill him?"

Anuri laughed, "Isn't this okay, you also know that he is the king of Chu, he is the dignified king of Chu, how can he mess with the beginning, and the princess of Chu is also good to you, you always don't believe in yourself, the longer you delay, the more worried you are, why don't you muster up the courage to try?" ”

"Okay!"

Asto plucked up the courage and said, "I'll listen to my sister, go back, and if he ignores me, I'll come back immediately and stay with my sister forever." ”

"You! I can't help it. ”

Anuri always felt that her sister was like a child, such an old person, and her temperament was about the same as that of her nine-year-old daughter.

"Sister, how is the Khan?" Asto suddenly remembered his brother-in-law's illness and asked with concern.

"He is sick from drinking too much, and the famous doctor from the Central Plains who invited him said that he will be raised for at least one year, and he can't get a drop of alcohol, so I prayed to Tengger all day long, hoping that he can recover soon!"

As soon as Anuri finished speaking, there was a fierce sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and someone shouted: "Kedun! Hurry back to the king's tent, the Khan is getting sicker. ”

Anuri was taken aback, and hurriedly got up and said, "Asto, I have to go back." ”

"Sister, I'll have a relationship with you."

Asdora took her sister and ran up the slope quickly, turned on her horse, and galloped towards the king's tent under the escort of dozens of guards.

At this time, in front of the side tent next to the king's tent, it was surrounded by Turkic nobles who rushed to hear the news, and the Utu tribe was composed of more than 20 large and small tribes, in addition to the Sijie-Gangasi and other allied tribes.

The Khan had been ill for more than a month, and the disease had recurred several times, and the doctors on the grasslands could not find the cause until 10 days ago, when a Taoist priest who had come to the grassland from Guanzhong to collect medicine diagnosed that Utu had drunk excessively and had caused the decay of his internal organs.

It's just that Utu is a heavy drinker, and usually Anuri restricts him, and he can't drink, but today Anuli went to talk to his sister, and Utu's brother Umuza came to visit his brother, and the two couldn't help but drink again, and Utu's illness worsened.

Anuri rode back to the big tent, she turned over and dismounted and walked to the side tent, everyone dodged away, and at the door, there stood Utu's brother Umuza, who stopped Anuri, "Kedun, the tent is treating the Khan, and you can't disturb it for the time being." ”

Umuzha is a few years younger than Utu, the two are half-siblings, Utu is tall and straight, and he is talented, while Ebony Za is short, fat, dark, and ugly.

Not only was he the brother of Utu-wei, but he was also very good at talking and pleasing people, so that Utu trusted him very much, gave him a lot of animals, and named him Yehu, and the tribe of Umuza had become the second largest tribe of the Utu tribe.

Anuri did not like this little brother-in-law, and even hated him very much, and repeatedly advised her husband not to trust this brother too much, let alone let him have too much power, but Utu thought that this was his only brother, and could not listen to his wife's advice.

At this time, Anuri was so anxious that she couldn't care about her dislike for her brother-in-law, and asked anxiously, "What's going on?" I was fine when I left, but why did I get sicker? ”

Umuza sighed, and said with remorse on his face: "I came to visit my brother, and when I talked about my youth, my brother was full of interest, and he was going to drink, but I didn't listen to any way I stopped him, so I had to let him drink it, and as a result, it became like this, and I regret it!" ”

"Who told you to give him a drink?"

Anuri was trembling with anger, "You know that he can't drink anymore, why don't you grab the flask and throw it out, why do you still let him drink?" ”

Ebony gave himself a slap in the face, almost to the point of obscurity, "I hate myself! Why didn't I stop Khan? ”

At this time, Asduo stepped forward and asked, "Sister, where did the wine come from?" Didn't my sister say that there was no wine in the tent? ”

― A reminding Anuri, who immediately asked, "Umuza, where did the Khan get his wine?" The Khan's tent has no wine at all! ”

She turned and asked some of the Khan's guards, "You say, where did the Khan's wine come from?" ”

The guards hurriedly shook their heads, "We don't know, there shouldn't be any wine in the tent." ”

Anuri turned around slowly, staring at Emuza suspiciously, not even the guards knew it, so there was only one possibility.

"Ebonyza, did you bring the wine into the big tent?"

"Kedun, what you said is not right, will I harm my eldest brother? I definitely didn't bring wine into the account, and I don't know where my eldest brother's wine came from? ”

Ebony Zha was loud and a little angry.

"Get out of the way!"

Anuri pushed him away, "I'm going to go in and ask the Khan, who did it?" ”

Umuza did not stand firmly, and was pushed forward, Anuri walked quickly to the tent, but as soon as she reached the door, the curtain was lifted, and two Turkic doctors came out, looking very sad, "The khan has gone!" ”

"No!"

Anuri shouted heartbreakingly, and rushed into the tent, and suddenly her cry broke out in the tent, and outside the tent, everyone knelt down, and the cry rang out, and the northern khan Utu died of illness.

……

In the king's tent, more than 20 Turkic nobles were discussing the establishment of a new khan, and they had been arguing for three whole days, but there was still no result, and they divided into two factions, the faction insisted on appointing the eldest son of Utu, Roji, as the new khan.

On the other hand, the faction was led by Umuza, who insisted on opposing it, believing that Utu's eldest son, Roji, was too young to lead the Turks to rise to prominence, and that the powerful man should be the khan, which meant that he should be appointed khan.

Hundreds of paces away, Kedun Anuri sat in his big tent with a sad expression and two young sons in his arms, five years old and three years old.

She can now only count on the support of her son's ascension to the throne of the Khan by the army loyal to her husband, who died so suddenly that she suspects that Umuzha did it, but she has no evidence.

At this time, the curtain of the tent was lifted, and Asduo walked in briskly from outside the tent, followed by a Han Taoist priest in his forties, who was the last Chinese doctor who gave Utu the last diagnosis, a monk Taoist priest surnamed Sun, who had just left the tent not long ago, and was chased back by Asto.

"Tell Koldun!" Asto said to the Chinese doctor.

Daoist Sun hurriedly stepped forward to give a salute, "Kedun, I said that the Khan can't get a drop of wine, but he will definitely not drink it - the pot of wine will die, no, he must drink continuously, and he will drink for at least a month before he will die, and now he actually - the pot will not be cured, this can only be explained - there is a kind of explanation, if the Khan has no wounds on his body, it is poisonous in the wine!" ”