Chapter 2

It was morning, and the sunlight filtered through the branches. A group of colorful pheasants were foraging in the grass when they heard Zhao Chen's footsteps from a distance. Suddenly, they let out a series of "gag-gag-gag" calls, flapping their wings frantically and quickly disappeared from sight.

Zhao Chen watched the pheasants vanish into the distance, his face showing a moment of surprise. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and shouted excitedly.

"Ah, I finally made it out!"

Pheasants, also known as wild pheasants, are naturally alert and timid. They usually live in hills and fields and rarely venture far from the hills to forage, let alone in a primitive forest.

Seeing the pheasants in the forest, Zhao Chen realized he must be close to the edge of the forest.

He climbed up a tree, quickly took out his binoculars, and looked ahead. Through the dense forest, he could see a ridge with sparse trees, becoming even sparser as it went up.

Seeing this, Zhao Chen suddenly felt an overwhelming excitement, trembling all over. It had been a whole month, a full month, during which he had wandered like a lost soul in the primitive forest. Each day was a cycle of hope and disappointment, a physical and mental torment akin to hell.

Humans are social creatures; even the most powerful person would go mad without a group.

Putting down the binoculars, he jumped down from the tree and started walking forward with a light step, suddenly feeling an endless surge of energy.

Two hours later, Zhao Chen, supporting his knees, stood at the foot of the mountain, panting heavily. As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain can tire a horse," the distance that seemed not far in the binoculars actually took two hours to walk.

At this moment, looking at the steep ridge, Zhao Chen felt utterly exhausted. Seeing that it was still early and the sun was still shining brightly in the sky, he decided to sit down against a tree.

After a long day of walking, his stomach was already growling. Not knowing what lay on the other side of the ridge—perhaps a few farming households or a vast wilderness—Zhao Chen decided not to think about it for now. The most important thing was to fill his stomach first!

He took out the compressed food and water bottle from his backpack, eating and drinking in small bites, occasionally glancing around at his surroundings. Perhaps because he was near the edge of the forest, the animal roars that had been constant were now gone. The ground was solid yellow earth, covered with lush grass, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of wildflowers and grass.

Taking another sip of tea, he felt a hard object in his mouth. Frowning, he spat it out and blinked, looking at the small, golden grain in his hand, unable to help but laugh.

Gold doesn't just appear in a teacup; it must mean that the spring below is over a gold mine. The gold grain must have been washed out by the spring and then scooped up by him.

Was this a compensation from heaven?

Zhao Chen searched the water bottle for a long time, but found only one grain. One grain was better than nothing!

He then took out his phone and opened the trading platform in the Time-Space Supermarket. The screen displayed a scanning box similar to a QR code. He aimed the box at the gold grain and heard a "beep." The price immediately appeared below the scanning box.

153!

Zhao Chen sniffed and pressed the sell button without hesitation. The gold grain was immediately enveloped in a water pattern and disappeared after three seconds. His account balance increased by 153 yuan.

After eating and drinking, Zhao Chen stood up, put on his backpack, and took a deep breath, starting to climb the mountain.

At the foot of the ridge, the plain stretched as far as the eye could see. A wide river wound its way from north to south, cutting through the plain. The fields on both sides of the river were now golden with the autumn harvest.

Looking further, he could see a magnificent city, but only the grand walls were visible from the distance.

However, Zhao Chen had no time to admire the city. His attention was drawn to the hundreds of thousands of troops on either side of the river.

On both sides, hundreds of thousands of troops faced each other across the river. On one side were the nomadic people in leather robes with curved swords, and on the other side were the Central Plain troops in bright yellow armor with long spears. A golden wolf head flag and a five-clawed dragon flag stood on either side of the river.

On a makeshift bridge, a white horse lay in a pool of blood, and dozens of ox carts loaded with goods were crossing the bridge, heading towards the nomadic camp.

Zhao Chen hid in the grass on the ridge, silently observing the scene below, his mind racing.

The Qinling Mountains, the white horse, the river, and the hundreds of thousands of troops facing each other—all these pieces of information flashed through his mind, and he suddenly realized the answer—The Wei River Alliance.

In the eighth month of the ninth year of Wu De, just two months after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin had just ascended the throne. The Turks took advantage of the political turmoil in the Central Plain and brought hundreds of thousands of troops to approach Chang'an.

Under pressure, Li Shimin personally led six riders, including Fang Xuanling and Gao Shilian, to the Wei River, 40 miles from Chang'an, to speak with the Turkish Khan. He angrily accused the Khans of breaking their promise, and they eventually killed a white horse and reformed the alliance, after which the Turkish troops retreated.

This was the famous Wei River Alliance!

Thinking of the Wei River Alliance, Zhao Chen raised his binoculars to look at the Tang army camp, wanting to see what kind of person Li Shimin, the founder of the Zhenguan era, was.

His gaze passed over the Tang soldiers and finally rested on a man in a bright yellow dragon robe, about 30 years old, with a heroic and imposing presence.

At that moment, he was surrounded by a group of people, standing silently on a small hill, his face dark, his fists clenched, and his eyes fixed on the dozens of ox carts loaded with goods heading towards the Turkish camp, as if trying to suppress his inner rage.

This man was undoubtedly Li Shimin, the Emperor of Tang!

Zhao Chen remembered that according to the Tang Yulin, the Turks were able to retreat only after Li Shimin "emptied the treasury" and gave the Khan gold and silk. The Turks then returned with full loads.

It seemed that those dozens of ox carts were all that Li Shimin had in his treasury, no wonder he looked so dark and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

As the ruler of a nation, being forced to this extent by the Turks, it's no wonder that the Tang Dynasty's strength had not fully recovered when Li Shimin eagerly began to campaign against the Turks.

For a great ruler like Li Shimin, this humiliation was like an invisible whip, and as long as the Turks existed, the whip would mercilessly lash him.

Perhaps only the destruction of the Turks could wash away this humiliation!

As Zhao Chen observed Li Shimin through the binoculars, Li Shimin suddenly seemed to sense something and looked in Zhao Chen's direction. Even from a distance, Zhao Chen could feel the cold, murderous intent in Li Shimin's eyes.

"Damn, is this the aura of a king?"

Zhao Chen, meeting Li Shimin's angry gaze, quickly put down the binoculars and muttered.

Historically, Li Shimin was portrayed as an enlightened and broad-minded ruler, but Zhao Chen scoffed at this. While he was indeed a wise ruler, to say he was broad-minded was debatable.

He was just a skilled politician!

"Hey, you scoundrel, what are you doing hiding here so sneakily?" Just as Zhao Chen was lying in the grass, lost in thought, a furious voice came from behind him. The next moment, his collar was grabbed, and he was lifted out of the grass like a chicken.

"Let... let go! Cough... I'm not a Turk..." His collar was being squeezed, making Zhao Chen's eyes roll back, and he struggled to breathe, waving his arms and legs frantically.

"Damn..." The person holding Zhao Chen's collar was a young officer, about 17 or 18 years old, wearing knee-length leather armor, a steel sword at his waist, and holding a crossbow. His rough, dark face was filled with murderous intent.

Hearing Zhao Chen's cries, the young officer's expression changed slightly, and he spat, then released Zhao Chen, dropping him to the ground.

As the young officer released Zhao Chen, several dozen Tang soldiers suddenly emerged from the surrounding grass, each holding a crossbow. Seeing the glinting bolts, Zhao Chen's face turned pale.

Thankfully, these killers hadn't shot him with their crossbows right away; otherwise, he would have died unjustly!

"Speak, why are you hiding here so sneakily?" The young officer, though he had released Zhao Chen, didn't seem to intend to let him off easily, especially seeing Zhao Chen's suspicious appearance. He frowned and shouted loudly.

"Brother, I'm really innocent!" Zhao Chen cried, as if he had lost everything: "I just managed to get out of the deep mountains, and I don't even know what's happening!"

"Deep mountains?" The young officer looked at Zhao Chen suspiciously, noting his ragged appearance, which indeed looked like he had suffered a lot.

"Yes!" Zhao Chen nodded vigorously.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, many people in Guanzhong fled into the mountains to avoid the war. The young officer paused for a moment and believed Zhao Chen's story. He then looked at Zhao Chen suspiciously and asked, "Are you alone?"

"Yes!"

"What about your family?"

"..." Zhao Chen shook his head, looking extremely grief-stricken.

"Alright, come down the mountain with me to see His Majesty!" Seeing Zhao Chen's grief, the young officer thought it was because his family had all died. He sighed and waved to his companions, leading Zhao Chen down the mountain.

His Majesty?

Zhao Chen hesitated for a moment but quickly followed the young officer down the mountain, towards where Li Shimin was.

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