Fan Xian smiled at the young man, but the thoughts hidden deep within the smile went unnoticed. He had been standing on the meadow for a while, watching the young man emerge from the royal tent and waiting for him to approach before speaking those six words.

He wanted to give the young man a chance to strike up a conversation because he knew the young man who had come out of the royal tent must be eager to talk to a merchant from the Central Plains. And initiating conversations was one of Fan Xian’s specialties. Back then, even Haitang, the Saintess of Northern Qi, had ultimately fallen to his persuasive tongue, let alone this young man.

"Of course, it's good," the young man chuckled, "Although it's only six words, the spirit of the grassland is immediately forced out."

This was an excuse. This was a lame excuse found by a young man who had been lonely on the grassland for too long and urgently needed to chat with someone from the Central Plains to relieve his homesickness. Years of working as a spy for the Supervisory Council allowed Fan Xian to quickly make a decision: this young man's appearance was obviously not that of a Hu person, but he had come out of the royal tent, so he must be related to the person he was looking for, which was why he had intervened.

"A person from the Central Plains?" Fan Xian looked at him with feigned suspicion and asked, "I didn't see you in the caravan."

"I came with the last one, but some goods didn't sell. The Great Khan treats us guests very well, so I stayed to see if there are any benefits," the young man said. Clearly, he wasn't a skilled liar, and Fan Xian detected some issues in his tone.

"This is my first time here," Fan Xian chuckled, pointing to Crescent Moon Lake and the grassland in front of him. "I didn't expect the scenery on the grassland to be so enchanting."

"You get tired of it after seeing it for a long time," the young man said with a wry smile.

"Oh? I just arrived today, so I haven't had time to get tired of it. How long have you been here?" Fan Xian asked curiously. "They say the Hu people are barbaric. Aren't you afraid they'll suddenly go crazy?"

Fan Xian, disguised, possessed a handsome and sincere face. Coupled with his easy-going tone and incredibly sincere attitude, it was easy to gain the trust of others. His conversation with this young man progressed very naturally.

The young man's surname was Wei, and his given name was Wu Cheng, which was probably a fake name. According to him, he was also a member of the group trading in the grassland, but he had been forced to stay in the grassland and had been there for more than three months.

However, Fan Xian had already made up his mind and naturally wouldn't believe these excuses. If he was a merchant, how could he enter and exit the royal tent so easily? With a calculated mind against an unsuspecting one, using insidiousness within sincerity to deal with a homesick young man, he easily extracted some information.

Especially the young man's attire, the pair of Hu leather boots that had been worn, exposed that he had been on the grassland for a long time. Through these conversations, Fan Xian obtained a lot of useful information. For example, there should be more than just this young man staying in the Crescent Moon Lake royal tent. At least ten people had been staying there for a long time. Also, there had been some subtle changes in the royal tent in the past two years, and things like that.

"After all, this is the territory of the Hu people. After these goods are cleared out, Brother Wei should return to the Central Plains," Fan Xian invited sincerely. "Come with our caravan. Safety is guaranteed along the way."

Wei Wu Cheng was stunned and didn't know how to respond. Looking at the young merchant's sincere expression, he felt a little guilty. He didn't quite understand why he had chatted with this seemingly ordinary young merchant for so long, but he could feel that this conversation was comfortable, and the other party was a trustworthy conversationalist.

If Wei Wu Cheng's conclusion were to be spread, it was feared that people all over the world would laugh their teeth out. Nan Qing's Fan Xian, a trustworthy person?

"Okay, I'll ask my elders in the clan for instructions," Wei Wu Cheng responded with a forced smile. Fan Xian wouldn't be so foolish as to directly point this out. He stood up from the meadow, patted his butt, and said, "Brother Wei, see you tonight."

In the evening, the Western Hu royal tent hosted a banquet to entertain merchants from the Central Plains. If Wei Wu Cheng was really a merchant, then he would definitely be encountered at the banquet. Wei Wu Cheng hesitated for a moment and explained, "The banquet in the evening is to entertain you. We probably won't come."

……

……

"Wei Wu Cheng doesn't have an accent, but he's definitely not a merchant," Fan Xian said, taking a sip of sheep's milk wine and frowning uncomfortably. "Moreover, he's been on the grassland for at least a year, and there are at least ten other people who can enter and exit the royal tent with him at will."

Mu Feng'er glanced at the master and asked in a low voice, "Is it the person we're looking for?"

"It should be close," Fan Xian said. He didn't seem to expect his luck to be this good, but then he shook his head. "But this Wei Wu Cheng isn't a professional spy, otherwise he wouldn't make such a big mistake. I'm wondering, what exactly are these people from the Central Plains trying to do in the Western Hu territory?"

Fan Xian put down his bowl and looked at Mu Feng'er. "The most important thing is that the person called Songzhi Xianling hasn't shown himself yet. Regardless of what this group of Wei Wu Cheng can do for the Western Hu, the Western Hu royal tent trusts this group of people so much, it must be because of Songzhi Xianling."

"According to your instructions, I inquired, but I didn't dare to directly say the name, for fear of attracting the attention of others," Mu Feng'er reported. "However, in the past two years, the Xihu Chanyu has not taken any concubines, or even had any women other than his legitimate wife."

Fan Xian paused for a moment. From the beginning, he had believed that Songzhi Xianling was a woman, so Mu Feng'er would start from this angle to investigate. But hearing Mu Feng'er's report at this time, Fan Xian couldn't help but laugh at himself and said, "If it really is her, how could she become the Chanyu's favorite concubine?"

"There's another problem," Mu Feng'er said seriously. "I think Wei Wu Cheng's appearance is too coincidental, so coincidental that it can't be explained. What he said can't be completely trusted. What if it's a trap, or misleading?"

"My goal was never those people from the Central Plains in the royal tent," Fan Xian said in a low voice. "Wei Wu Cheng's appearance seems very coincidental to you, but it doesn't seem coincidental to me at all."

He shook his head and said, "The grassland and the Central Plains are completely two different worlds. You can't understand those people unless you stay here for a year or two. The longing for home… Wei Wu Cheng is still a young man, and his homesickness is hard to suppress. Seeing us merchants from the Central Plains, he naturally wants to talk and hear what interesting things have happened on the homeland."

Does homesickness really make people so uncomfortable? Mu Feng'er frowned, thinking to himself that after he was transferred from one place to the Qi Nian group, he had also been sent out on missions, but he didn't feel any different.

Seeming to guess what Mu Feng'er was thinking, Fan Xian said, "There will always be a day when the dispatched missions are completed, but those people from the Central Plains who enter and exit the royal tent… or rather, the people of Northern Qi, they may never be able to return to their homeland."

After saying this, he fell silent. The reason why he understood Wei Wu Cheng's thoughts so clearly was entirely because Fan Xian knew very well how much emotion a wanderer who couldn't return home and was stranded in a foreign land would accumulate in his heart.

Just like himself, he left that world full of the smell of medicine, and he could never go back. Although he never mumbled about it, he still missed it.

"Even… if Wei Wu Cheng is eager to return home and wants to talk to merchants from the Central Plains, aren't the people in the royal tent afraid that he will let something slip?"

"He's using a merchant identity, and we can't go deep into the royal tent to see the Western Hu nobles' discussion process, so no one can prove anything."

Obviously, Mu Feng'er was still worried about Wei Wu Cheng's accidental encounter with Supervisor Fan, and frowned and said, "I just think it's very strange. Since it's just a casual chat, why didn't he go to the merchants of the Xiong family, or find me… but instead, he found you, my lord?"

Fan Xian was silent for a moment, and a lovely smile floated on his face. He opened his mouth and said, "My encounter with Wei Wu Cheng wasn't a coincidence… You have to know that when he came out of the royal tent, I was already standing on the meadow, watching his every move."

Mu Feng'er also saw that scene clearly. He stood at the entrance of the tent beside Crescent Moon Lake, watching Supervisor Fan standing on the meadow, overlooking the grassland and lake.

"I'm better looking, even if I'm disguised, I'm still better looking…" Fan Xian said with a smile. "And I give people a feeling of wanting to be close. When I was standing on the meadow, the Hu women beside Hai Zi were looking at me hotly, didn't you notice?"

Mu Feng'er's face changed. This kind of narcissistic words was really not easy to answer, but he also knew that what Supervisor Fan said was just the truth. He might be able to dress up as an ordinary merchant, but he was definitely the most attractive one among the merchants.

"I stood on the meadow to attract the attention of the young man who hurriedly walked out of the royal tent," Fan Xian said. "I wanted him to see me at a glance, and then… come and find me. If I say that I seduced Wei Wu Cheng to come and talk to me, it's not far from the truth."

Mu Feng'er helplessly spread his hands and said, "So it turns out to be a honey trap."

The two were chatting idly in the tent, but in reality, they were waiting for the arrival of the royal tent banquet when the sun slanted over Crescent Moon Lake. Not long after, a translator among the Hu people came to respectfully invite guests. The merchants from each tent came out one after another, not carrying goods, but looking at their arms, they should be carrying valuable gifts to present to the Chanyu.

Mu Feng'er also brought some with him. Fan Xian was not very clear about the specific arrangements. He just walked at the end of the crowd, advancing towards the royal tent without attracting attention.

That biggest tent at the foot of the mountain, that tall royal flag, signified the noble status and powerful strength of the people inside. Looking at this scene, Fan Xian couldn't help but feel a strange feeling in his heart. This was the royal tent of the Western Hu, where the masters of the grassland lived. The Qing army had fought and chased the masters of the grassland for countless years, but had never been able to find this royal flag.

Because the Western Hu royal tent moved at any time and its whereabouts were mysterious, neither Emperor Qing leading the army westward in those years, nor the Crown Prince and the Ye family's repeated attacks later, had been able to find the other party, or even get close.

Fan Xian's footsteps moved slowly, thinking in his heart that the royal tent that tens of thousands of cavalry could not approach was actually in front of him. This kind of attraction and temptation was incomparably huge. However, he quickly calmed down. The fact that the Western Hu royal tent dared to declare itself to the world in this way also proved the other party's intentions and the changes brought about by those people from the Central Plains in the royal tent.

Entering the royal tent, he realized that this tent was no longer like a tent, but more like a uniquely styled palace. The high dome was painted with strange patterns, with strange lights appearing in the clouds, flowing with unique colors, giving Fan Xian a few familiar and strange feelings, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

His identity was the second manager of the Shazhou First Trading Company, whose status was much lower than that of other large merchants, so he just followed Mu Feng'er and sat in the position closest to the door.

And the master of the grassland, the monarch of the Western Hu, was sitting in the main seat at the deepest point.

The tent was dim, and it was impossible to see the Chanyu's face clearly. Fan Xian squinted his eyes and stared at it as unobtrusively as possible, only vaguely seeing that it was a middle-aged man in his thirties.

Then Fan Xian realized that his calmness was indeed very necessary, because beside the Western Hu monarch, there were six or seven Hu experts looking coldly at the people below.

They were real experts. Three or four of them were even stronger than Huge. Fan Xian lowered his head and secretly estimated that even if he exerted his ultimate level, he could only deal with four people at most. Moreover, the grassland king's face was hidden in the shadows, and his posture was stable and had the momentum of a wolf and a tiger. It was really unknown how strong he was.

Trying to capture the tiger king in the tiger's den was not bravery, but stupidity. Moreover, Fan Xian's trip did not have the awareness of being a death squad of the Qing army cavalry, so he lowered his head, chewed on the lamb leg, remained silent, and listened attentively.

It was just a pity that there was not much information to remember at the banquet. The mutton was good, and the Hu maids who poured the wine were full of healthy beauty, but the merchants' praises and the enthusiastic toasting words of the two Great Danghu were really a bit annoying to listen to. And the grassland king was not as full of the rough taste of the grassland as Fan Xian had imagined. In fact, throughout the entire hour-long banquet, the Chanyu only said three sentences in total.

But it was these three sentences that made Fan Xian feel a chill, because although the tone was polite, it revealed a frightening feeling.

In the Supervisory Council's detailed intelligence, there were not many records about this Chanyu. On the one hand, the royal tent had always been secretive, and on the other hand, because of the constant attacks by the powerful Qing Kingdom in recent decades, the Western Hu had been defeated in successive years, and the Chanyu royal court's control and influence had been far inferior to before. The prestige of the Left and Right Wise Kings had gradually increased. When this Chanyu's father died, there had even been rumors of choosing one of the two Wise Kings to succeed him.

Although this Chanyu later struggled to inherit the royal court, the entire grassland vaguely regarded the two Wise Kings as the strong ones. The Qing Kingdom's intelligence work had long since turned to the tents of the two Wise Kings, somewhat neglecting this Chanyu.

Unexpectedly, the young Chanyu in his thirties had actually controlled the situation on the grassland very well and had begun to vigorously weaken the power of the two Wise Kings, especially by rejecting all opinions and welcoming the barbarian brothers from the snowy plains of the north. He had incorporated the more than 10,000 elite Northern Barbarians into the royal court's personal guard, and his strength had suddenly increased.

What's more, there were so many people from the Central Plains in the Chanyu's royal tent. What exactly did he want to do? Fan Xian drank his wine while pondering the thoughts of the Chanyu in the shadows.

At this moment, the Chanyu seemed to feel a strange feeling. He frowned, raised his head, and showed eagle-like eyes, sweeping over the people at the table.

He didn't find anything, because when his gaze fell on the doorway, Fan Xian was drunkenly peeking at the bulging breasts of the Xihu girl beside him, with a trace of restraint and a trace of reluctance, playing the role of a merchant's follower very well.

Still the old saying, Emperor Qing and Fan Xian were the two most powerful actors in the world.

……

……

After a grand banquet, I don't know how many merchants were drunk by the Hu people. Oil lamps hung high in the tent, emitting wisps of black smoke. The Chanyu and the Left and Right Guyi Kings had all gone to rest, leaving the two Great Danghu and the heroes of the Hu tribe, still relentlessly grabbing the merchants from the Central Plains to drink wine.

Fan Xian and Mu Feng'er had long been drunk and unconscious and were carried back to their tents. It was only a pity and fortunate that the Western Hu's actions were not as absurd and shameless as the people of the Central Plains denigrated them. At least in these Central Plains merchants' tents, there were no alluring, wild-flower-like Hu girls to accompany them.

After the lights went out, Mu Feng'er sat up with great difficulty. When he turned his head, he saw Fan Xian's bright eyes, wolf-like eyes, and couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

In the common bunk in Qingzhou City, Mu Feng'er had also seen this kind of eyes, completely unlike the Master's usual gentle clarity. He didn't know if it was the knife-like autumn wind on the grassland that had caused some of the Master's fierce things to resurface.

Fan Xian handed over a hangover pill, without giving any additional instructions, and left the tent. Taking advantage of the cover of the night, he passed through the Hu people's camp and came to the isolated mountain behind Crescent Moon Lake. He fastened his clothes and climbed up the mountain.

When he was about to climb to the top of the mountain, he found a protruding rock, sat on the side behind the rock, took out a small tube from his arms, carefully adjusted it twice, and then stretched the small tube and brought it to his right eye.

The latest telescope produced by the Internal Treasury, designed by Fan Xian himself, was the first one to be used.

The cylinder quietly faced the noisy Western Hu royal tent camp below. After an unknown amount of time, Fan Xian frowned, because in the cylinder, he saw the Chanyu walking out and turning to a small tent on the right.