The prince loves me like his life, but I force him to rebel

Gu Nianzhi appeared calm on the surface, but he was nervous inside.

Batu was originally a fierce general of Qiangyi, but the young prince he was loyal to was defeated in the power struggle of the Qiangyi royal family in the previous few years and died tragically. As an old subordinate of the young prince, he was suppressed everywhere and even framed. In the end, he ended up becoming a bandit, and from being a respected General Batu, he became a despised bandit Batu.

"No matter what your current status is, you were once a general. You wouldn't go back on your word like that, would you?"

Batu was shocked.

His former subordinates had long been incorporated, and few of his current subordinates knew of his past. Apart from the name Batu, which was very common in Qiangyi, the bandit Batu and the general Batu seemed to have no connection. However, the Dasheng man in front of him could actually recognize him at a glance.

"Who are you?" Batu's tone was no longer as manic as it was at the beginning, and he asked tentatively.

"I am just a nobody. A friend of mine mentioned General Batu to me before. I admired the general's past achievements. Now I see General Batu fall to this state with my own eyes. I feel unwilling to accept it. That's all."

"friend?"

"Perhaps, General Batu still remembers the great cavalry general Shu Polu?"

Shu Polu once guarded the Western Regions and fought with Batu many times. Although the two were rivals, they also respected each other.

In the early years, Da Sheng and Qiang Yi had a short "honeymoon period". During those years, the border was stable, trade was prosperous, and there were few wars.

The two generals, each serving their own master, could even drink and chat together, until the domestic political situation in Qiangyi changed, the young prince died, the new king changed his strategy towards Dasheng, committed atrocities on the border, and provoked a war.

At that time, Batu had been removed from his post as general due to the death of the young prince. However, Nu Dahai, who succeeded Batu as general, designed to invite Shu Polu and his eldest son Shu Zhixing privately in the name of Batu after failing to capture Dingxi Prefecture for a long time. The two did not suspect anything and happily went to the invitation, but were ambushed and died in the Gobi Desert.

This incident had a crucial impact on the border situation between the two countries, and directly led to a drastic change in the fate of Batu and Shu Huaiyuan.

At this moment, hearing the familiar name of his old friend again, Batu was speechless for a moment.

If it weren't for their trust in me, the Shu family father and son wouldn't have died in vain...

This knot in his heart was also the most important reason why he became discouraged and eventually fled from the center of power.

"A good friend of mine once told me that my father had a friend who was the most courageous general in Qiangyi, named Batu. This general had a red mole between his eyebrows. When he was very young, this general once held him in his arms."

"Hold him? You mean Po Lu's youngest son?" Batu smiled for once when recalling the past. "He was only four years old at that time. He touched my red mole and asked me why men also have the same flower ornaments between their eyebrows as his mother... He actually still remembers things from such a young age... Where is he now? Is he doing well?"

"To be honest, General, we risked our lives to enter the heart of the Gobi Desert for no other reason than to find the missing Shu Huaiyuan."

Sima Yao didn't know Batu's identity, let alone the relationship between Batu and the Shu family. He couldn't get a word in and could only listen quietly as Gu Nianzhi and Batu talked more and more. It wasn't until Gu Nianzhi mentioned Shu Huaiyuan's name that he suddenly realized that Gu Nianzhi wanted to use Batu's power to help them find the whereabouts of Shu Huaiyuan and the prince.

He no longer had time to wonder why Gu Nianzhi knew so much about Batu's past. He only knew that Gu Nianzhi was indeed a different person who could not be judged by common sense. Now, all operations would be carried out according to Gu Nianzhi's plans and arrangements, and he would never act on his own.

As Gu Nianzhi expected, Batu was particularly concerned about Shu Huaiyuan, the son of his old friend. After listening to Gu Nianzhi's entire account, he immediately organized his men and began to secretly inquire about Shu Huaiyuan's whereabouts.

"Brother, I suspect..." Batu's men hesitated to speak and glanced at Gu Nianzhi and Sima Yao, as if there was something they couldn't say in front of them.

"Just say whatever you want to say. This is one of us."

"Could the Shu Huaiyuan they are talking about be one of the people that Bater and his team picked up the other day?"

"Oh, how is that possible? Although those Dasheng people were dressed gorgeously and claimed that they were sent by Dasheng to marry the princess, and the items they brought with them were indeed exquisite treasures, but I heard from Bater that they sent the news to Dingxi Prefecture and asked the other party to pay money to redeem the princess, but Dingxi Prefecture said that there was no such thing... If it was really such a big thing as a marriage, how could Dingxi Prefecture not know about it?"

Gu Nianzhi and Sima Yao looked at each other.

Although Dingxi Prefecture was a special agency set up by the imperial court on the border, it was too far away from the capital and had more autonomy than other agencies in many matters.

The father of Empress Xian, the adoptive mother of the Second Prince, was once the General of Dingxi. Although he has retired and returned to Beijing, Dingxi Prefecture is still his sphere of influence, and all the officials in the prefecture are his disciples.

Therefore, knowing that the prince was in danger, it is not impossible that the Dingxi Prefecture pretended to be unaware of his whereabouts and used the bandits' knives to kill the prince.

After all, the bandits' extortion of money was just verbal communication, and there was no written evidence. Once the prince died at the hands of the bandits, the second prince would have a great chance of entering the East Palace.

Thinking of this, Gu Nianzhi felt a chill on his back, but hope was rekindled in an instant.

Now the prince and Shu Huaiyuan were just captives. Although they suffered injustice and torture, they had a better chance of survival than getting lost in a sandstorm, being exposed to the scorching sun, or being torn apart by wolves.

As long as they can arrive in time and ask Batu to mediate, perhaps the prince and others can escape from Bater's hands.

"General Batu, this brother is talking about Huaiyuan and others." Gu Nianzhi said earnestly, "Dingxi Prefecture is now under the Second Prince's sphere of influence. They do not recognize the identities of Huaiyuan and others. They just want to kill people silently. If the envoys of the marriage were really killed by the Qiang people, the Emperor Dasheng would be furious and send troops to Qiang. Then no one would have a good life. Please take us to see Bater. No matter what the cost, I must rescue them."