Night falls, the world is shrouded in gray, the smell of earth and moss mingled with a chill in the air.
A pale mist rose from the sky, and the flames lit by the Doth illuminated the entire city.
This place is a small town on the border of Sichuan. It was just attacked by the Dos people and has now become their camp.
Countless Dos soldiers moved back and forth through the town; they were burly and rugged-looking.
Mo Yuanhang, the border garrison commander of the Great Xia Dynasty, rode a tall horse through the towns of the Dos people.
He saw a boy running briskly toward the riverbank. A Doss mounted warrior blocked his way, forcing him to turn around, while the rest surrounded him, whipping his face and urging him to run away.
Another soldier rode up behind him and whipped his buttocks relentlessly until blood stained his thighs. Yet another soldier hooked his ankle with his whip, causing him to fall to the ground.
Finally, the boy could only crawl, and they got bored, so they shot an arrow through his back.
They hadn't walked far.
Across from them stood a girl not much older than Mo Yuanhang's daughter, sobbing in a high-pitched, shrill voice. A Dos warrior pushed her down onto a pile of corpses of Great Xia people, face down, and assaulted her on the spot.
The other Doth warriors dismounted and took turns enjoying themselves.
Mo Yuanhang suppressed his emotions and forced himself to move forward. "I came here with a mission from General Li Hu, I can't act impulsively!" he reminded himself as he turned away.
Then, Mo Yuanhang pursed his lips, hardened his heart, and rode his horse toward Chief Dos's house.
"General Mo, are we really going to fight these people..." Mo Yuanhang's deputy couldn't help but say.
Not long ago, Li Hu sent a secret letter, instructing him to go to the Western Regions to negotiate with the Dos people in exchange for ceding 80,000 square kilometers of territory north of Shu, so that the Dos people would cooperate with the local chieftains of Shu to destroy Lin Mo.
Mo Yuanhang did not answer, but simply walked forward silently.
Not long after they left, behind them, the girl who had been gang-raped let out a heartbreaking sound—a long, drawn-out sob that continued endlessly.
Mo Yuanhang gripped the reins tightly and turned his horse around. "Tell them to stop! She is a citizen of my Great Xia..." he ordered his adjutant.
“General, you mustn’t!” a civil official acting as translator pleaded. “You are kind-hearted, but I’m afraid you don’t know this is the custom here. The Dos people have shed blood for their leader, and now it’s time for them to receive their reward.”
Across from him, the girl continued to sob, her high-pitched, almost sung voice sounding strangely unfamiliar to Mo Yuanhang. The first person had finished, and another was coming to take their place.
“In the eyes of the Dos, foreign women are no different from their cattle and sheep,” the civil official continued. “Even Dos women are nothing if they are captured by other tribes.”
Mo Yuanhang gritted his teeth, his nostrils practically spitting fire.
At this moment, a Dos warrior who could speak the language of Great Xia stepped forward and said, "Great Xia General, did her wailing offend your ears? Hahaha, then I'll go and cut out her tongue!"
After saying that, he drew his Doss scimitar, walked straight to the girl, and cut off the poor girl's tongue.
The Doth warriors, who were committing violence, showed no concern for the bloody scene and continued their atrocities.
Upon seeing this, Mo Yuanhang trembled all over.
He only brought a few dozen followers this time, while there are now at least 100,000 warriors in the town.
Taking a deep breath, Mo Yuanhang led his entourage to the official residence in the very center of the city.
The leader of the Dos people, Zhuolun, sat in the main seat, hosting a banquet for his generals in the hall that originally belonged to the Great Xia government.
Around him was a pile of heads, stacked higher than him.
Those are the heads of people from the border regions of the Great Xia Dynasty!
The hall was filled with wine and meat, and the generals were eating and drinking to their hearts' content, having a great time.
Kago held a bloody leg of lamb in his hand, tearing at it with his yellowed teeth.
Behind him, several Blood Guards were present.
Blood Guardians are the honor guards of the Dodos chieftain, as well as his brothers and companions. They usually protect and accompany the chieftain, sharing everything with him, and sometimes even his wife.
They would live and die with their leader. Once the leader was killed, the Blood Guardians would do everything in their power to avenge the leader, and then commit suicide to follow the leader in death.
Mo Yuanhang looked up and saw the Blood Guards with scimitars hanging diagonally between their legs, their faces cold and stern, staring directly at the Great Xia soldiers who had just entered the hall.
"Your Excellency, Great Chieftain!" Mo Yuanhang knelt on one knee. "I am Mo Yuanhang of the Great Xia Dynasty. I have come to discuss with you the possibility of sending troops to annihilate..."
Kago glanced sideways, then pulled the Daxia girl next to him into his arms and roughly reached his large hand towards her chest.
The force was so great that the girl screamed in pain.
Mo Yuanhang's face turned ugly, but he still suppressed his anger and said, "Great Chief, we have shown our sincerity. Would you be willing to agree?"
It turns out that this harassment of the border was not a sudden disturbance, but rather a premeditated act.
All of this was naturally the work of General Li Hu, the Grand General Who Protects the Nation.
At that moment, Kago chuckled inwardly upon hearing Mo Yuanhang's words.
He knew that Li Hu regarded the Lin family as a thorn in his side and was willing to cede half of Shu to him in order to destroy the Lin family, so it was naturally a good thing.
The Great Xia Dynasty fights its own people, and those who benefit are itself!
Kago completely disregarded Lin Mo, whom Li Hu had mentioned.
According to reports from scouts, Lin Mo only has 10,000 troops, half of whom are exiled civilians.
He has 100,000 Roaring Dos warriors under his command.
The Xia army, led by Kago, had fought against him many times, and apart from Lin Wenzhong, no general had ever gained the upper hand.
Now, with 10,000 against 100,000, even if Lin Wenzhong were to come back to life, he would be courting death.
Thinking of this, Kago laughed loudly, looked at Mo Yuanhang, and rattled off a whole bunch of words in the languages of the Western Regions.
Upon hearing this, Mo Yuanhang's accompanying civil official translated with a grim face: "General, he said that General Li's promised benefits have not yet been fulfilled."
"What are the benefits?"
“Five thousand sheep, two thousand cattle, and… three thousand women from Great Xia!” the civil official said bitterly. “He also said that the sheep and women they currently have do not count, because these are their spoils of war and are not considered gifts!”
"The Sheep Woman?" Mo Yuanhang asked. "What does that mean?"
“Yes!” the civil official explained, “Like sheep, beasts at their mercy!”
Upon hearing this, Mo Yuanhang couldn't help but clench his fist.
Kago immediately looked up at Mo Yuanhang, his expression grave, but his dark eyes revealed a murderous intent.
"General, calm down!" the civil official hurriedly advised. "This is their territory; we must not offend them."
Mo Yuanhang closed his eyes, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
He joined the army at a young age and served for more than ten years. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?
"I will take care of these benefits!" he announced helplessly.
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