The loud noise sent the horses into flight, and Bakut hurriedly unleashed his horses, mounted his mount, and gathered the panicked horses.

As Bakut swung his pole to drive his horses together, he didn't notice that Suluk was still leaning on the trunk of the tree, his gaze like an invisible rope, firmly locked to the black dots in the Suye River.

Alone in his own pursuit, Bakut drove back and forth, and when he finally gathered the horses together, he heard the neighing of horses on the riverside.

"Why did you miss a horse?" Bakut was full of doubts, and as he drove his horse towards the neighing place, he suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance on the south bank of Suyeshui on the opposite side.

"Brother Suluk, look at the other side!" Somewhat flustered, Bakut hurriedly called out to Suluk, like a soldier who had lost his command calling for his own general.

Bakut shouted several times, but still could not hear Suluk's response. He hurriedly jumped into the saddle and searched for Suluk's traces.

At this time, he was shocked to realize that Suluk had one more person and a horse by his side.

"Who?" Bakut was Al Bar's best companion, and knowing that Suluk's combat strength had declined after losing his left arm, he was afraid that he would be in danger, so he hurriedly sat back in the saddle and clamped it. Tighten the horse's pole and use it as a spear to drive the horse to charge.

"Don't be rude!" When Bakut's long pole was about to knock down the stranger, Suluk swung his harness and struck it crookedly.

"Brother Suluk, why are you stopping me?" Before Bakut knew why, Suluk had already knelt on the ground and wept bitterly: "See His Highness the Special Service!" ”

"Special Service?!" Seeing Suluk kneeling, Bakut didn't have time to think about it, so he hurriedly knelt down.

"What special service?" The stranger asked cautiously.

Bakut secretly raised his eyes and saw that the stranger was a teenager slightly younger than himself, dressed as a Sogdian. He was soaked with the water of the early spring river, and he was shivering with cold. Beside the young man, there was a tall and divine horse.

"Kudulu Special Service, my name is Suluk, I used to serve as the Khan's attached personal guard, and I met you when I was in Broken Leaf City. Later, he was captured by the Shatuo people in the Battle of Broken Leaves and enslaved until now. Suluk hurriedly replied.

"Attached to the guard?" The boy stared at Suluk's empty left arm and asked incredulously. On the south bank of the Suye River, the sound of horses' hooves is getting closer and closer, which makes people feel pressured.

Listening to the sound of horses' hooves on the other side, Suluk didn't care to prove himself, but said sincerely: "Your Highness, you must be in trouble at the moment!" Please believe me and Bakut, we are all your people and will help you at all costs! ”

The young man hesitated for a moment, turned his head to look at the other side of the river, and then said vaguely: "Those people on the other side are the army of the Qarluq tribe......

After thinking for a moment, Suruk immediately commanded majestically like a commander of ten on the battlefield: "Bakut, immediately change clothes with His Highness the secret service, and then you ride on His Highness's war horse, take your own mount, and hurry back to the camp of the Shatuo people, saying that the Qarluq people want to rob our horses." Remember to change into your mount halfway through, and then drive the special service's horses westward. ”

"No!" Although Bakut had only been on the battlefield once, he still began to carry out the orders of the Ten-Commander to the letter, like a soldier, and took off his tattered robe in the still cold air.

"Your Highness has been wronged!" Seeing that Bakut began to undress, Suluk turned his gaze to the teenager.

The boy had apparently understood Suluk's train of thought, and had already taken off his Sogdian coat. Suluk stepped forward to take his coat, handed it to Bakut, and then reached out to mess up the boy's hair, covering most of his face.

Bakut handed the boy his robe, then put on his wet coat, grabbed the leash, jumped on his tall warhorse, drove his mount, and rode north.

No sooner had Bakut set off than dozens of Qarluq, wielding scimitars, appeared in the woods on the other side of the river. They didn't care about the coldness of the river, and drove their mounts into the water.

"Your Highness, your current name is Al Bar, and your identity is my younger brother. We are all slaves of the Shatuo people, herding horses for our masters. For a while you hide behind me and don't talk much. When Suluk saw that the Qarluq cavalry was beginning to cross the river, he hurriedly confessed.

Seeing that the young man nodded, Suluk waved the horse pole and shouted loudly: "Damn horse thief, you dare to steal the horse of the noble Shatuo, don't you want to live!" ”

"Who are you?" Suluk had just shouted a few times, and the bright scimitar with cold droplets of water was placed around his neck.

"The smaller one is the manu of the noble Shatuo, who was ordered to graze horses by the river." Suluk leaned down and replied tremblingly.

"Despicable turkey slaves!" The Qarluq cavalry laughed and taunted their defeated generals. He slapped Suluk's face with the side of his knife, and then asked, "Tell me, what were you shouting just now?" ”

"I didn't dare to hide it from the general, but a horse thief suddenly crossed the river from the other side, grabbed a horse, and fled to the north!" Suluk replied pretending to be very flustered.

"Horse thieves? What does he look like? The Qarluq cavalry's tone was urgent.

"He moved too fast, and the small one didn't see clearly. However, the horse he rode when he crossed the river was particularly imposing, and seemed to be taller than the general's warhorse. Suluk gestured to the mounts of the Qarluq cavalry.

"You dog slave, you can't look at people, but you pay attention to horses!" The Qarluq cavalry removed the scimitar from Suluk's neck. Behind him, all the Qarluq cavalry had already crossed the river, and dozens of horses kept shaking their heads and tails, throwing off drops of water on their bodies.

"General, is the little one a manu!" Suluk smiled flatteringly.

"Is he a manu too?" The Qarluq cavalry pointed at his knife and looked up and down at the young man behind Suluk.

The young man hurriedly knelt on the ground, kowtowed in horror and said, "Little Al-Bar has seen the general, and I am also a manu. ”

Suluk took advantage of the gap where the attention of the Qarluq cavalry was focused on the young man, and carefully observed the young man's every move.

Suluk noticed that although the boy's voice was frightened, his lowered face was calm and there was no trace of fear. This made him even more convinced that the boy was a Khudulu agent.

However, Suluk suddenly found that the tattered robe that Kudulu had just changed into was being moistened by the cold and wet undershirt, becoming as deep and shallow as a summer leaf. His heart tightened, praying that the Qarluk cavalry would not notice anything unusual in his clothes, and thinking about how to deal with the worst.

"Why are your clothes a little weird?" The Qarluq cavalry seemed to have noticed something, and rode forward, as if to get a closer look at the young man kneeling on the ground, his hair covered his face.

Worried that the Kudulu special service would not respond, Suluk was about to reply for him, but was stopped by the Qarluq cavalry with a scimitar.

"The little one has never seen a big man like a general, and he is so nervous that he is sweating all over." The boy hurriedly explained.

"Haha, I haven't seen the world's despicable things!" The boy's flattery made the Qarluq cavalry laugh wildly. Suluk was so nervous that his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

"General, the little one vaguely saw the appearance of the horse thief just now, as if he was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy. He was as fierce as a wolf, and he snatched my mount and ran north. The boy stammered without waiting for the Gerluq cavalry to cease laughing.

"Sixteen or seventeen-year-old?" The Qarluq cavalry's face changed, and they hurriedly drove their horses to a gentle slope and looked at the distance, and there were indeed two black dots running wildly in the north.

The Qarluq cavalry looked up and down at Suluk, who was missing his left arm, and the young man who was kneeling on the ground and was silent, before he shouted with a grin: "Seeing that you are doing well, I will spare your life!" ”

Then, raising his scimitar, he summoned the cavalry behind him and said: "The enemy has run north, hurry up and chase after him!" ”

Dozens of Qarluq cavalrymen let out all kinds of strange howls like ghosts and wolves, and roared their horses north. As they passed by Suluk, their eyes were fixed on the north, and no one paid any attention to the kneeling boy behind him.

Seeing the Qarluq cavalry walking away, Suluk waited for a while before picking up the young man, and said ashamedly: "I have just wronged the special service!" ”

"Suluk, you were a close guard? Who is the commander of the Thousand Commanders who rule over you? After the boy got up, he slightly hammered the numb calf and asked solemnly.

"Your Highness, I was an attached guard in the Ika Hundred under the command of Captain Balta, and my Captain Ten was Koons." Suluk reported in one breath the commanders of the ten, hundred, and thousand teams to which he belonged in the attached army.

The young man recalled briefly, but there was no affirmation or negativity on his face: "Then how long have you been in the attached army?" ”

"Your Highness, I have been in the Attached Army for more than three years. If he hadn't lost his left arm in Kulan City, he would have been working for much longer. Suluk replied respectfully.

"Kulan City? Did you have a conflict with the people of Shiguo? The boy was a little curious.

"The opponent should be a big cannibal." Suluk said succinctly, like a soldier on review.

"Great cannibal ......," the boy muttered.

Suluk found that the boy looked a little embarrassed after listening to his answer, but he didn't understand if he had said something wrong.

"Suluk, then you should be particularly familiar with the road from Shattered Leaf City to Kulan City, right?" The teenager changed the subject.

"Your Highness, blindfolded in the dark night, I can also find my way to Kulan City like a bat." Suluk was very confident.

"That's good!" The young man nodded in satisfaction: "How many Turquoise warriors can you contact now?" ”

"These days, I don't have much contact with people from other tribes, but I know more than 30 people in this small tribe of Shatuo." Suluk roughly calculated before cautiously replying.

"It's already good! Suluk, you guessed it right, I'm Kudulu. The boy finally admitted his identity.

Although he had already recognized Kudulu, Suluk was still excited when he heard him admit it himself, and he knelt on the ground with tears in his eyes: "Your Highness, with you, the Turgish Khanate will be restored one day!" ”