Fang Er, who had received the notification, walked over slowly with his hands behind his back.
Seeing these fellows pointing and gesturing at the nearby artillery positions, he smiled faintly.
"What, are you gentlemen interested in seeing them in action?"
"Greetings to the Great Tang's Marquis of Liaodong!"
Ashina Bobi led the group in a bow to Fang Er.
"No need for formalities. Since you're here, this Marquis must show you the foundations of the Great Tang, mustn't he?"
"Old Eighth, find an open space and fire a few rounds to broaden their horizons!"
Fang Er's intention was clear: he wanted to let these people know that whether they surrendered or not, they were nothing to the Great Tang.
"Yes!"
Tie Lao Ba was excited. Seeing so many people coming to surrender earlier, he thought he had missed his chance to fire the cannons.
"All cannons from one to ten, take your positions!"
"Yes!"
The artillerymen also perked up.
Tie Lao Ba stood on the four wheels, scanned the surroundings, and shouted again. Read!
"Direction northwest, elevation forty, charge one, prepare!"
"Ready!"
"Ready!"
"Ready!"
~~~~~
"Fire!"
Boom boom boom boom!
Ten cannons fired simultaneously. Charge one had a firing range of one thousand meters, and the distance to the outer perimeter tents of the artillery position and Qikou was about the same.
Ten cannonballs landed in unison not far from those tents, exploding instantly.
Boom! Boom!
The violent explosions carried over, and the flying soil and shrapnel were clearly visible from the artillery position.
"This... this...!"
Ashina Bobi and the others felt their legs go weak, their mouths trembling, unable to speak.
At such a distance, if a real battle broke out, the cavalry from the grasslands would likely be blown to pieces before they could even charge towards the Tang army.
"Hahahaha, gentlemen, do these little toys of this Marquis meet your approval?"
Fang Er pointed at the artillery positions and chuckled.
"We were ignorant and offended the Heavenly Might of the Great Tang. We beg for the Marquis's forgiveness."
Ashina Bobi realized that this was the Tang army's display of power to the tribes of the grasslands. It was a blade whether they advanced or retreated, so he readily knelt and admitted his mistake.
Following him, Yinan, Nada Biyou, Guroun Xianglian, Bale Menggan, and Gezhi Woyang all knelt down with a thud.
"This is truly terrifying!"
"What is this? Old Eighth, help them up quickly!"
Fang Er beckoned to Tie Lao Ba with feigned magnanimity.
Tie Lao Ba hurried over, but tripped and fell after only a couple of steps.
"Marquis, I twisted my ankle..."
"Ye Chen, go quickly!"
Tie Lao Ba got up and squatted on the ground, rubbing his ankle. He looked at Fang Er with a smile, then turned and shouted to the deputy commander of the artillery regiment.
Deputy Commander Ye Chen looked at Tie Lao Ba, and he didn't seem to have sprained his ankle at all.
So, he pretended to walk a few steps towards Fang Er, then clutched his lower back and shouted.
"Ah~! Marquis, I strained my back firing the cannons just now!"
"Shenzi, you go, quickly! The ground is cold, help the leaders up."
Shenzi grunted, looked at the shell casing he had just picked up, and turned towards the shell boxes.
But as he put the casing back and closed the box, he suddenly cried out.
"Ah!! Marquis, I've caught my hand!"
Fang Er was stunned.
"Damn it, do I owe you guys an Oscar?"
Ashina Bobi and the others looked embarrassed. Damn, these guys' acting was too poor.
In the end, they could only awkwardly stand up themselves.
"Heh heh, no need for their trouble, we can get up ourselves."
"Hahahaha, what bad timing, what bad timing. This Marquis is allergic to the smell of sheep, so I can't help you up. My apologies, my apologies!"
Fang Er pointed to the small stools placed on the side and continued, "Sit, sit down and talk."
He Yiji Ke was a bit confused. What was "allergic"?
Didn't you invite us to eat mutton hot pot yesterday?
But he dared not say this out loud. After they were seated, he smugly walked behind Fang Er and stood there.
"Heh heh, you guys chat slowly. We're not on the same side anymore."
With Tie Lao Ba and the others causing such a commotion, Fang Er's carefully brewed emotions had to start all over again.
"Are you sure you are sincerely submitting?"
"Yes, yes. Offending the Heavenly Might of the Great Tang was all Jieli's idea. We beg the Marquis of Liaodong for your understanding!"
Ashina Bobi kept his posture very low and turned to look at his personal guards.
"Bring forth the sincerity!"
Four people, tied up like zongzi, were brought forward.
"Marquis, this is Ashina Shabi. He was the one who attacked Chang'an before, he went with people from the Shini tribe."
Shini Madan died in Chang'an, and Shini Niudan was killed by He Yiji Ke yesterday.
The other three are all commanders of the Ashina tribe who owe blood debts to the Tang people.
Bobi has brought them all to the Marquis.
As for the soldiers, Bobi has also dealt with them.
Ashina Bobi pointed at the few people and explained.
Fang Er nodded and turned his gaze to the other five.
"And you?"
"Quickly, bring them forward!"
Bale Menggan directly stood up and walked towards the crowd he had brought.
One, two.
The five people, as if unwilling to be outdone, pushed out the guilty generals they had selected.
"Very well, since that is the case, this Marquis will keep his word. Following the example of the He Yibu and Bayanbu, since you are submitting to the Great Tang, then your tribal names shall also be changed."
"Yes, yes, yes. Everything is at the Marquis's command."
Ashina Bobi finally felt his heart at ease. As long as the Ashina family could continue to prosper, he was afraid that Fang Er would suddenly go back on his word at this moment.
Fang Er took seven command tokens from his pocket and threw one engraved with Tiangang to He Yiji Ke behind him.
"Well done. You can recall your original subordinates from the Tiankui Department and establish a new Tiangang Department."
"Thank you, Marquis, thank you, Marquis."
He Yiji Ke accepted the tokens with both hands and kept thanking him.
Then Fang Er threw the remaining tokens to Ashina Bobi.
"From now on, your tribes will be renamed according to the names on these tokens."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Ashina Bobi fumbled to receive the six tokens, kept one for himself, and distributed the remaining five to the others. Read!
ps: Fourth update