After Being Abducted by the General

chapter 147

These two Xiongnu men were spared, but all the other Xiongnu were mercilessly killed.

Even those who regretfully shouted "surrender" and claimed they could lead the way were not spared from the swinging blades.

The two Xiongnu who had stepped forward first witnessed the deaths of their fellow tribesmen and were scared to the point of having weak legs. They were both trembling with fear and relieved that they had stood up in time and received a chance to live.

However, they soon realized that this opportunity to live was not as good as it seemed. They were kept imprisoned the whole night without a drop of water. Early the next morning, they were roughly tied to horses and told that they would only be given water when they led the way to a barbarian tribe.

The faces of the two Xiongnu changed.

Nomadic people on the grasslands understood the importance of water sources and the feeling of thirst. Without water, a person would die in three or four days, and the process of dehydration would be agonizing.

These detestable Central Plains people were using the tactic of withholding water to force them to lead the way quickly. It was truly cruel!

However, driven by their instinct to survive, they dared not say anything and anxiously led Yuan Li's group deep into the grasslands.

In order to survive, they had to find a barbarian tribe within three days.

Generals like He Lang and Duan Yuquan remained in the borderlands, while Yuan Li led Jia Qing and Yang Zhongfa on a journey deep into the grasslands.

Yuan Li had trained an elite cavalry unit, which had grown from a thousand to eight thousand strong. When Chu Hechao went to attack Jizhou, he took three thousand of them with him, and when Yuan Li came to the Northern Territory, he brought four thousand.

Now, he divided these four thousand into two groups, and along with Yang Zhongfa, they lightly equipped themselves and silently entered the grasslands, each with a Xiongnu defector, a guide, and a compass.

The compass was a simple one made by Yuan Li using water and a needle, and he had taught Yang Zhongfa the method. With the combination of the compass, guide, and Xiongnu defector, their chances of finding a barbarian tribe in the grassland would be greatly increased, and the possibility of the Xiongnu people lying would be minimized.

Fortunately, the Xiongnu defector was quite obedient and didn't have any crooked thoughts. They were even more anxious to find a barbarian tribe than Yuan Li's group. Finally, after three days, the Xiongnu people led Yuan Li to the first barbarian tribe.

By this time, the Xiongnu people were extremely thirsty, their bodies weakened, their lips chapped and turning purple, their eyes dark, and their minds blurred. They desperately pleaded, "Water, water... we found the tribe, give us water."

Yuan Li nodded to his nearby guard, who stepped forward with a water bag, removed the cork, and roughly lifted the Xiongnu man's head by pulling his hair, then fed him water.

The Xiongnu man didn't mind the guard's rudeness at all. He clung tightly to the water bag, tears of joy streaming down his face as he drank the water. He swallowed mouthful after mouthful, unwilling to let go of even a drop in his thirst.

But when the water bag was half empty, the guard cruelly snatched it back, threw some dry food to the Xiongnu man, and said to him as he struggled to get more water, "You'll get more water when you lead us to the next tribe."

The Xiongnu man swallowed his saliva, his thirsty gaze fixed on the water bag, "I understand."

Ahead, Jia Qing looked at the distant tribe's tents and asked, "Lord, what's your plan?"