Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 15: Atrocities

Shaking like a sieve, the chief of the small Di-Qiang tribe spilled everything he knew like beans pouring from a bamboo tube. Another chief, afraid of being left behind, stood by to fill in the gaps. The Han officers quickly gained a general understanding of the entire situation. In fact, Ou Yang’s guess was correct: the Lion and his men had indeed come from the land of the Di people in the west. The Lion claimed to be a prince of the Oak Empire and had brought a dozen or so men to the East in search of glory and profit. The first tribe they encountered was this Di-Qiang tribe. The Lion was a formidable warrior; none of the Di-Qiang warriors could stand up to him even for a single exchange. He was also extremely generous, presenting the tribe with over a hundred weapons, including iron axes and iron spearheads. It is said that their goal was to unify all the local Di tribes under the leadership of the Oak Empire’s royal family and turn all humans into slaves of the Di people. After receiving this supply of iron weapons, the tribe’s power grew significantly, and they quickly overran Takurai’s tribe. Seeing an opportunity to profit, these two small Di-Qiang tribes also defected to join them. This explains why Takurai stated that the Di-Qiang had one hundred able-bodied men, when in reality there were over two hundred. As for Takurai’s people, not all of them were killed. When the Lion arrived, he was accompanied by a beastman caravan. After leaving behind a considerable amount of wine and grain, they traded for most of the women and children. It is said that in the capital of the Oak Empire, black-haired, yellow-skinned slaves are rare and fetch a good price. Ou Yang, standing nearby, said to Huang Dexia, “Sir, we need to find out what the Oak Empire is all about.” Huang Qianzong immediately signaled his son to continue the interrogation. However, these two minor tribal chiefs had no idea; they merely said that the Lion had once boasted that his empire (referring to the Oak Empire) had 100,000 tribes and 30 million able-bodied men, making it the most powerful nation in the West. Yet for a prince of such a vast empire to have only a dozen or so subordinates was, to say the least, somewhat absurd. The elderly Di-Qiang tribal chief suddenly burst out laughing, “These two thieves don’t know a thing—you’re wasting your time!” Huang Junxian grabbed him by the hair and threw him to the ground. He pressed his broadsword against the old chieftain’s throat, his cold eyes radiating a chilling intent to kill. “They don’t know, and neither do you?” “Pah! I have been officially appointed by the Empire and will never betray it! You yellow monkeys, don’t even think about it…” Huang Qianzong looked at his son and made a downward slashing motion with his palm. The young man immediately thrust the sword forward; the tip pierced the old chieftain’s neck, and blood gushed from the wound, silencing all his boastful words. Huang Qianzong said nonchalantly, “You fool, do you really think I’ve never seen Westerners before? Since they dare to call themselves the greatest power in the West, all I had to do was ask a few Western Barbarians to find out.” He lost interest in these old men, nodded to his son, and then turned to leave. Huang Junxian first severed the head of the already dead tribal chieftain with a single stroke of his sword, then kicked the two junior chieftains out of the crowd with a single kick each. Only then did he say to Takurai and the others, “Keep these two; the rest are yours.” “Wait~~~ I’m willing to surrender too~~~!” Several Western barbarians roared frantically, ignoring the pleas for mercy from the remaining Di and Qiang elders as they charged forward, hacking and slashing wildly. In an instant, blood spattered everywhere and limbs flew through the air; the two surviving Di and Qiang elders had been terrified into collapse on the ground. At dusk, the Han officers unanimously agreed to treat themselves to a fine meal as a reward for the victorious troops. The soldiers slaughtered over a dozen sheep; after a quick preparation, they stewed the meat and bones together with wild vegetables and mushrooms, filling the air with a delicious aroma. Several senior officers even brought out their personal supplies—fine salt and sugar. Ou Yang never expected that those able-bodied barbarians would simply throw all these ingredients into the stew together; the lamb soup with added sugar tasted indescribably strange. He found eating it nothing short of torture, but the barbarian soldiers relished it. Liu Chenyong explained to him, “White sugar is extremely valuable in the Western Regions. In the eyes of the barbarians, it’s actually considered a medicinal herb; many believe it can cure all ailments. So no matter what the meal is, adding sugar turns it into a feast. Otherwise, no matter how exquisite the delicacies—whether from the mountains or the sea—the meal is considered a notch below.” Ou Yang pushed away the large bowl of sweet mutton soup in front of him and muttered under his breath, “Sweet hell!” Ten wounded soldiers had not survived the makeshift surgeries performed that day and had already died. The rest were each given a large bowl of mutton soup. Huang Qianzong selected a number of barbarian female slaves and assigned one to each of them; these women’s task was to keep the wounded warm during the cold nights. Otherwise, spending a night in the drafty thatched huts would surely result in the freezing deaths of several who had lost a great deal of blood. The newly captured Di and Qiang slaves were locked in dungeons they had dug themselves. The released barbarian slaves, however, were allowed to stay in the thatched huts. Soldiers from various units took turns standing guard; having just launched a night raid on others, it would be a real joke if they were raided themselves. Only now did the officers, who had been busy for a full day and night, have time to rest. Huang Qianzong, being advanced in age, simply chose a wooden hut and went to sleep. Several senior officers and Huang Junxian, however, began picking and choosing among the Di and Qiang female slaves. In the end, each selected a young girl—ignoring their desperate struggles—and dragged them by the hair into their own rooms. Even Song Wenmu, who usually appeared refined and well-mannered, joined Liu Chenyong in dividing up the two granddaughters of the elderly Di-Qiang tribal chieftain; his slave helped him lock the girl in a room. Soon, the heart-wrenching cries of a woman could be heard from inside the wooden hut. Heheli, Takurai, and the others looked at Ou Yang, seemingly waiting for him to choose his own plaything. “What’s going on here? It’s just like when the Japanese invaded the village,” Ou Yang muttered to himself. Noticing the look of disgust on his face, Hu Lanshan gently urged, “My lord, you really should choose one. All the other officials have taken their share; it wouldn’t look good if you didn’t. Besides, these women will all be tortured tonight by those barbarian brutes. The weaker ones likely won’t make it back alive. By choosing one, you’ll actually be saving her life.” Ou Yang looked around. The foreign soldiers’ eyes had turned green, and their breathing was growing heavier—clearly, Hu Lanshan was telling the truth. He sighed. If fighting and killing were part of his duty as an officer in the Pai Jia Army, this sexual violence perpetrated by the victors was in stark contrast to the values he had cultivated over twenty years of his previous life. Moreover, Ou Yang was completely powerless to do anything about it. He wasn’t a company commander; he couldn’t issue orders to everyone. With hundreds of men behaving so brutally, he couldn’t even keep the few dozen under his direct command in check. “The morality of this era…” A beautiful Di-Qiang woman suddenly stood up. Before the guard’s staff could strike her, she dragged a young girl—who appeared to be only thirteen or fourteen—out of the crowd and made her kneel before Ouyang. “My lord, please choose her. This child is so beautiful—just look at her fair, tender skin…” The woman pleaded with Ou Yang in a tearful voice, trying to sell him the girl. Ou Yang recalled that this was the same woman who had struggled to her feet that morning while Liu Chenyong was indiscriminately killing people; she seemed to have some connection to the burly Di-Qiang man who had been the last to die. He pointed at the sobbing girl and asked, “What is your relationship to her?” The woman pressed her forehead against the ground, kowtowing as she wept, “This is my daughter. I beg you, my Lord, to take her in. She is still a child; if left to the barbarians, she will surely not survive. You are a kind-hearted man—please grant my daughter a chance at life…” This woman clearly knew that the fate of a female slave would inevitably be more tragic than that of a male captive, but her resolute decision to offer up her own daughter still shocked Ou Yang. ‘What is this? Should I call her clever, or blame her for being cruel?’ Ouyang shook his head. He couldn’t spare everyone, so he’d save as many as he could. ‘Back in my previous life online, I might have been called a “do-gooder.” But with such a tragedy right before my eyes, I still can’t bring myself to act like a true monster.’