The Battle of Helan Mountain years ago saw him defeated by the Zuo Xian King and flee back to Shuofang in disarray.
General Tian’s sudden appearance shattered the barbarians, and the Zuo Xian King, now an envoy from the barbarians to Da Qian, had met him several times in the north. The Zuo Xian King, still arrogant and beholden to the powerful families, had dared not act rashly, only enduring in silence.
Now, the Zuo Xian King, along with Liang Xiao’s defeated forces, was a prisoner!
No one could comprehend the joy coursing through Lü Yi’s heart at this moment.
Upon seeing an “old acquaintance,” the Zuo Xian King quickly put on a fawning smile. “Your Excellency, the General of Cavalry, I trust you are well…”
“I must correct you,” Ding Wuyi said coldly. “He is now a Grand General of our Da Qian, promoted from Prince Consort to Grand General of Cavalry!”
The Zuo Xian King nodded hurriedly. “So Commander Ding is here too. A pleasure! Might you two put in a good word for us with the Son of Heaven? Our barbaric land is willing to submit entirely…”
Ding Wuyi replied with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “That depends on our Prince Consort’s wishes. His Majesty has already granted the Prince Consort the authority to deal with you and the barbarian Chanyu as he sees fit!”
“What?!” The Zuo Xian King’s face turned ashen with shock, and the Chanyu beside him flinched.
If Liang Xiao could decide their fate, it meant they might not even have the chance to see the Son of Heaven of Da Qian!
Lü Yi ignored the Zuo Xian King and turned his gaze to the Chanyu, a smile on his face.
“You are the barbarian Chanyu? I’ve heard you repeatedly vowed to see my Da Qian annihilated and our people wiped out?”
The Chanyu stammered, “N-no such thing! This king has already witnessed the divine might of the Marquis of Anguo and is willing to surrender to Da Qian, never to betray you!”
This time, even Ding Wuyi and Lü Yi were taken aback.
“The esteemed Chanyu of the barbaric realm, reduced to a coward!”
The two great ministers, along with the generals behind them, felt utterly disappointed.
They had already envisioned scenes of the Zuo Xian King and the Chanyu making heroic last stands in their minds, only to be met with this anticlimax.
Learning that his wives were safe, Liang Xiao felt a great burden lifted.
The soldiers behind Lü Yi, upon hearing that the Chanyu and Zuo Xian King had slaughtered three hundred thousand of their own people, were shocked and enraged. “Are you any different from beasts?!”
Being cowards was one thing, but to kill three hundred thousand of their own subjects for it was unprecedented in history!
The Chanyu and the Zuo Xian King were filled with shame and had nothing to say.
If they had succeeded, they could have escaped!
But now, having failed, they would be damned for eternity!
After a long silence, the Zuo Xian King finally mustered a flimsy excuse. “We did it to protect the remaining barbarians…”
“So you let Attila lead hundreds of thousands of your people to cover your retreat?” Liang Xiao sneered.
The Zuo Xian King was utterly speechless.
The forty thousand barbarian captives, all disheveled and dejected.
The Da Qian soldiers did not mistreat them in terms of food and drink, but they could not provide water for these prisoners to bathe. Only infants were cleaned.
This resulted in the vast majority of the barbarian captives emitting a foul odor, forcing the soldiers guarding them to cover their noses with cloth, a miserable sight.
“The barbarians are not innocent. Without their support, how could the barbarian cavalry have marched south, bringing devastation to the northern regions!” Lü Yi sighed.
When he learned that Liang Xiao intended to prohibit their reproduction, he was also surprised, but he chose to support it, even taking the initiative to offer advice to Xiao Qing, wanting to shoulder the burden for Liang Xiao.
According to Da Qian’s past national policy, these “barbarians” should have submitted to Da Qian and become its citizens. Liang Xiao’s insistence puzzled even Lü Yi.
Of course, Liang Xiao did not leave them with no options, offering them another way out: to leave Da Qian and go to the Western Regions, to become slaves in the kingdom of Qiuci, never to return to the desert.
Prohibiting marriage and procreation meant separating unrelated barbarian men and women, monitoring them until they died of old age.
These barbarian captives had already learned of Liang Xiao’s intentions, but to survive, they could only accept their fate.
The kingdoms of the Western Regions also deeply resented the barbarians. Once they went to Qiuci, the consequences would be dire, no better than in Da Qian.
By comparison, at least in Da Qian, as long as they worked, they would have normal meals and would not have to worry about being abused or killed by the Western Regions’ people.
As for the prospect of extinction? Barbarians in the desert had extremely high rates of miscarriage and infant mortality. Moreover, many of their men had been beheaded by Da Qian soldiers, leaving many families without descendants…
As captives, having supported their men in invading Da Qian, they had forfeited their right to seek leniency.
The forty thousand barbarian captives remained in the desolate northern lands, gazing longingly at Liang Xiao and Lü Yi on the high platform, as well as their former Chanyu and Zuo Xian King.
The Chanyu and the Zuo Xian King knelt before Liang Xiao, kowtowing repeatedly.
Under the expectant gazes of the soldiers, Liang Xiao and Lü Yi offered incense to the souls of the hundred thousand fallen soldiers.
“Zuo Xian King,” Liang Xiao said sternly, “I am aware that you supported the Right Xian King and cast the corpses of my hundred thousand martyrs onto the road where our army marched. Your crime is unforgivable!”
The Zuo Xian King quickly kowtowed, begging for mercy.
Their original intention was to demoralize the Da Qian soldiers, but this act only fueled their hatred.
The Da Qian army was no longer the conscripted rabble of the past!
“Today, I, the General, shall offer the blood of the Zuo Xian King to commemorate my hundred thousand martyrs!”
As Liang Xiao finished speaking, the entire field erupted in cheers, “Commemorate our martyrs!”
The Zuo Xian King, terrified, begged, “Spare me! I will serve you wholeheartedly, at your beck and call! When will this cycle of vengeance end?”
“Vengeance ends today!” Liang Xiao declared gravely.
Lü Yi sneered, “Zuo Xian King, you were once the foremost of the three great warriors of the barbarians. How could you be so pathetic? Has wealth and debauchery eroded your courage?”
The Zuo Xian King fell silent.
The Chanyu exclaimed, “Must I die too?!”
Liang Xiao glanced at the Chanyu, his expression unchanged. “You will be escorted back to the capital for trial.”
“Th-thank you, Marquis of Anguo!” The Chanyu nodded repeatedly, as if reprieved from a death sentence.
From afar, the barbarian captives watched the Chanyu kowtow incessantly and fell into despair.
Even their supreme Chanyu was so pathetic, and their lands were now annexed by Da Qian. They had completely lost the will to resist…
In front of tens of thousands of soldiers and forty thousand barbarian captives, Liang Xiao enumerated the crimes of the Zuo Xian King and the Chanyu.
“Their crimes are beyond enumeration!”
This was the soldiers’ final verdict on the two.
The slaughter of the people in the northern regions of Yanzhou and Helan Mountain alone was an outrage to both gods and men!
The Zuo Xian King, knowing his doom was sealed, finally lost all hope, his face pale, murmuring to himself.
“I do not wish to die! I want to enjoy decades of wealth and luxury…”
The Da Qian soldiers witnessed the Zuo Xian King’s reaction and shook their heads in disappointment, devoid of even the desire to mock him.
No one pleaded for the Zuo Xian King, nor did anyone urge Liang Xiao to act.
All eyes were focused on Liang Xiao.
Moments later, Liang Feng, Liang Xiao’s cousin, who had been indignant, finally ascended the high platform. He cast a hateful glance at the Zuo Xian King and brought Liang Xiao a precious sword.
“Second brother, this is the family heirloom sword worn by our Second Uncle, the Danxin Sword!”
After Liang Feng’s introduction, Lü Yi added, “Years ago, Anguo entrusted this sword to me to take back to Yanzhou. I am ashamed! But today, this sword is most fitting for beheading the Zuo Xian King…”
Cheers erupted from below.
It was said that when Liang Anguo and Liang Dingguo died in battle, the Zuo Xian King, enraged that they had resisted and killed countless barbarian cavalry, refused to release their bodies and personally beheaded them.
Now, the son of Liang Anguo, the nephew of Liang Dingguo, would personally carry out the execution!
Overwhelmed by an endless fear, the Zuo Xian King completely broke down, letting out a hysterical roar. “Liang Xiao! Can’t you let me die a decent death?! I want to duel General Tian! Hurry and make General Tian appear!”
“No? Or is it that you, Liang Xiao, are General Tian himself?!”