“How is it? How did the battle go? Who won?”
The showdown between Shu Yichao and Asudo had a direct influence on the rebel army’s and the Tibetan army’s morale. Their fight had been extremely short, but their clashes had covered the battlefield in dust and ashes, making it hard to see what was going on.
The two armies waited with bated breaths.
The rebel army hoped for Shu Yichao to emerge victorious.
The last thing they wanted was another Tang hero dying to a Tibetan mage, but Asudo was a powerful mage whereas Shu Yichao didn’t look to be a powerful warrior. Worry seeped into their hearts.
The Tibetan army was also feeling uneasy.
If Asudo won, they might just be able to hold the fort until reinforcements arrived. But if he lost...
Ssss!
Just the thought of that made many sweat profusely.
Bam!
Just then, a figure suddenly descended onto the highest platform in the vicinity.
“Hm?”
Everyone turned their eyes over, wanting to know the outcome of the clash. The figure was shrouded amidst a fog, but it was quickly revealed when the fog scattered under the night wind. It was Asudo’s head!
However, he had been decapitated, and his head was hanging at the end of a modao.
“Who else?!” Shu Yichao roared at the Tibetan soldiers. “Who else dares to challenge me?!”
“Long live the Tang army!”
“Long live Great Tang!”
The rebel army screamed and cried out of sheer excitement. They were finally relieved from the heaviness in their hearts.
They had won!
Tak tak tak!
“General, this man is Shule’s vice city lord,” one of the rebels clasped his fist and reported. “Should we keep him or...”
“I thought I have made myself clear?” Shu Yichao rolled his eyes. “Kill everyone. There shall be no prisoners!”
“NO!” the vice city lord screamed in horror.
This shouldn’t be! I am at least a vice city lord; I know many important secrets, and I have connections in the Tibetan Empire too. Someone as important as me, even after losing a war and being captured, shouldn’t be executed so carelessly!
Isn’t it better to hold me hostage and use me to negotiate with the Tibetan Empire for goods? Otherwise, why would the rebels, despite hating me to the core, only tie up and bring me before you?
Even the rebels know better, so why does this young general insist on taking my life?
“Spare me!” the vice city lord howled. “I surrender, I surrender! I’ll give you everything you want, be it riches or crucial military intelligence! I can even reach out to other cities and convince them to surrender to Great Tang! Please spare my life!”
Paying no heed to the vice city lord, Shu Yichao shot an arrow at a roaring war slave’s eye. “How noisy... Drag him out and have him executed!”
“Thank you, general!”
The rebels were overjoyed to hear that. Some of the younger ones raised their blades with reddened eyes and charged forward.
“Damned barbarians! I bet you never thought that such a day would come. Today, I shall avenge my big uncle, second uncle, third aunt, seventh uncle, fifth uncle-in-law...”
In a matter of moments, the vice city lord was smashed into meat paste by the people whose families he had killed.
After the City Lord Manor was taken down, the flames of war spread to other places.
The rebels were baffled to see skeletons staggering across the streets, but they let it go after learning that they were summoned by an ally mage. They were so consumed by their desire for vengeance that they couldn’t care about anything else.
While following Shu Yichao to the various places where Tibetan soldiers were stationed, the rebels didn’t forget to break into the houses of Tibetan nobles to dice them apart. They freed their slaves, who, despite looking domesticated, turned into the most terrifying avengers as soon as they regained their freedom.
The ghost horsemen showed no mercy to the Tibetan nobles. The rebels were even more cruel. But the slaves were ten times more vicious than the ghost horsemen and the rebels.
Smoke choked up the city. Blood flowed down the streets, drowning everyone’s feet.
It was a night of primal savagery.
By the time the morning sun shone upon the city, Shule’s Tibetan flag had been replaced by a crimson Great Tang flag.
Today was the day Shule fell under Great Tang’s rule once more!