After daybreak, the barbarians would come out of their tents to check on their cattle and sheep.
The Daling Army would also start intensive patrolling.
Outside the tents was barren land with wide open views, making it difficult to act covertly, so Li Yao had made preparations from the start to find a good horse for a quick getaway.
Using the tents as cover, she dodged two early-rising barbarians and silently arrived at a high fence.
This was the largest horse pen in the camp, and every horse inside was exceptionally robust, carefully chosen for breeding.
Li Yao's eyes narrowed with satisfaction.
She knew the best steed was here.
In this era, gold, silver and jewels still held value, but top-quality horses were rare treasures. The Barbarian King's famous wild horse was well known.
A major reason the Daling Army's cavalry was weaker than the barbarians' was their poorer horses. Bringing back some excellent breeding stock would be a great accomplishment.
Without further thought, Li Yao jumped over the fence and began cutting the tethers of the horses one by one.
Finally she reached the tallest horse, which was clearly not yet fully tamed, or deliberately left untamed to preserve its wild bloodline and temperament.
"Be good now, little one, and let me ride you," Li Yao said, reaching to pat its head. But the chestnut stallion had a truly nasty temper, and greeted her with a loud snort before swinging its head to lash its long tail at her.
"Oh, so you want to be difficult with me?" Li Yao wasn't about to back down either. She grabbed the horse's mane and swung up onto its back.
The huge stallion had never been ridden like this before, and immediately began bucking and kicking. But Li Yao clung on like glue.
After more than a dozen attempts to throw her off failed, the horse grew more and more irritated, and started crashing wildly around the pen.
Li Yao held tightly to its mane while squeezing the horse's belly with her legs to avoid falling off.
Though not extremely strong, she was incredibly agile, and had studied horseback riding extensively in her past life. After several passes around the pen, the stallion begrudgingly submitted and stood still, though it continued snorting heavily.
"There we go. Big sister will take you out for a run," Li Yao said, throwing open the pen gate and riding out on the stallion's back. Seeing this, the other horses followed them out one after another.
In no time, dozens of the barbarians' finest breeding stock were galloping around the camp.
The flying snow stirred up by their hooves swirled like mist.
The thunder of hooves woke the barbarians, but by the time they rushed from their tents, they saw only the horses' rear ends disappearing into the distance.
Realizing something was wrong, some jumped on their own horses to give chase, but their mounts were no match for the prime breeding stock unburdened by riders. The barbarians couldn't bear to shoot them dead, so there was no way for them to catch up. They could only watch helplessly as the horses vanished into the snowy plains.
Seeing no pursuit, or at least none that had caught up, Li Yao returned to where she had hidden her things and headed straight for Xiu City with the stallion.
This time, not only had she obtained a large quantity of letters, but more importantly she had figured out the location of the barbarians' lair. That barbarian leader who was still unconscious was unlikely to sleep well in the future.
Two days later, Xiu City's towering walls appeared in the distance, and she could make out Wang San'er's figure standing atop them.
"Mother, you're back," Wang San'er called, opening the city gates.
"Mm," Li Yao replied.
"Where did these horses come from?"
"I brought them back from the Barbarian Royal Court. They're all excellent breeding stock, so I'm giving them all to you," said Li Yao.
As Li Yao's son, Wang San'er was extremely impressed by this mom of his.
She'd gone out and not only found the Barbarian Royal Court, but brought back dozens of their best horses?
He could tell these were exceptionally prime stock, just what the Daling cavalry needed most!
"You can ride this one," Li Yao gave Wang San'er the best horse. "Be careful, it has a fierce temperament."
"The fiercer the better for me!"
...
"Grand Marshal Xu," said the eunuch Imperial Secretary in the main military tent, "it's been five days already. What's taking you so long to get ready?"
"Almost done, almost done," Xu Zhan said. "Just two more days."
Seeing he still refused to leave, Imperial Secretary said coldly, "Grand Marshal Xu, could you be defying the decree?"
"Oh no, Sir Secretary, how could you say that?" Xu Zhan replied. "My loyalty to His Majesty is clear as day, how could I defy a decree? It's just that we brought back so much stuff, and the order to return was so sudden, I've been caught flat-footed trying to get it all packed up."
"Hmph. I don't care," Imperial Secretary said. "You're heading back to the capital tomorrow morning!"
Xu Zhan wanted to stall further, but just then a soldier came in and whispered that Li Yao had returned.
Hearing this, Xu Zhan felt relieved. With a smile, he said to Imperial Secretary, "No need to wait until tomorrow, we'll leave tonight! Nonstop, without rest! We won't stop until we reach the capital!"
Imperial Secretary: ???
Travel nonstop through the night?
Without any rest?
Was he trying to torture these old bones to death?
Inwardly, Imperial Secretary cursed Xu Zhan ten thousand times over!
"What's wrong, Sir Secretary? Weren't you in a hurry to report back?" Xu Zhan said with a smile. "Could it be you were just paying lip service?"
"This is..." What could Imperial Secretary say?
"Fine, let's go. I'm no delicate flower."
...
On the journey back to the capital, Li Yao stayed hidden in her carriage the whole time.
She also didn't hand over the letters to Xu Zhan. Those were her protective talismans, safer kept by herself.
Just as Xu Zhan said, they rushed day and night without stopping, only changing horses at relay stations. In this way they reached the capital in ten days.
The capital had always been a prosperous place.
But in Li Yao's eyes, today's capital was just a little bigger than Yizhou City, and actually less prosperous.
Of course, the imperial palace and buildings around it were quite majestic and dignified.
But sadly, the streets were empty and lacked liveliness.
After Li Yao and Grand Marshal Xu returned to the capital, Xu Zhan went to report to the palace while Li Yao, having no residence in the capital, was put up in an inn. A few guards were also assigned to her, supposedly for her safety.
She had thought about what to say when meeting the Emperor, but after waiting two days, no one came to summon her. The guards knew nothing when asked.
"You think His Majesty has that much free time to see anyone who asks?" said the captain disdainfully. "Wait patiently. When it's time, someone will naturally come to bring you to the palace."
Li Yao waited patiently another three days before losing patience.
She didn't know what this Emperor was thinking, saying he wanted to see her but then leaving her out to dry after she arrived.
Even more irritatingly, she had to sit in this inn every day and wasn't even allowed to go out, because what if the Emperor summoned her and she couldn't be found?
With ten thousand grass mud horses galloping through her mind, Li Yao decided she couldn't just sit around waiting. She had to take a look around the capital and try the local delicacies, at least once.
Barricading her room door, she slipped out the window and lightly dropped to the street below.
Never having visited the capital before, and without a map, Li Yao could only seek out Jia Zhanliang.
After partnering with her in business, Jia Zhanliang had become one of the hottest merchant princes in the capital. It didn't take much asking to find his manor.
Seeing Li Yao, Jia Zhanliang was so shocked he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Mistress Li, didn't you go to the northern border? How did you end up back in the capital?"
"It's a long story. Get me some good food first," Li Yao said, then added, "Has to be local specialties."
"Of course."
Jia Zhanliang quickly had a wide assortment of regional delicacies prepared. Li Yao's eye immediately fell on DONKEY MEAT HOT POT.
It was said that the best meat in heaven was dragon, and on earth was donkey. The braised meat was both crispy and tender, with rich, savory flavor. Eaten together with the hot pot, it was so aromatic and chewy.
After happily stuffing herself, Li Yao recounted being given the cold shoulder after coming to see the Emperor.
"Old Jia," she said, "you're a capital local, so you must understand these things well. Help me analyze what exactly is going on here? Why am I being strung along instead of received? At this rate I won't even make it home for New Year's."
"This is..."
Jia Zhanliang wanted to say, we don't know about the things in the imperial palace either!
Just then, an unexpected guest came to visit.
The visitor turned out to be an attendant of Right Minister Zhu Zilin. He said a few brief words to Jia Zhanliang before turning to leave.
Seeing Jia Zhanliang walking back with a worried frown on his face, Li Yao couldn't help but ask, "Has something happened?"
"It's not me who's in trouble," Jia Zhanliang said, "it's you, madam."
"Me?"
"Yes," Jia Zhanliang said, "Right Minister Zhu Zilin wants to see you."