"Xi Nu, what novel punishments do you Han people have?"
A disturbance had broken out at the Greqi Mountain mines. To make an example of the culprits, Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King of the Xiongnu, had captured the Kunlun slave and others, intending to execute them publicly.
The Xiongnu certainly had their own brutal punishments, but Ao Deng had grown weary of them, and so he asked a Han slave.
"Your subordinate is ignorant and knows neither punishment nor penalty," Xi Nu replied calmly.
Xi Nu's surname was Ye, his given name was Guan Ting. He was from Anding Commandery, in his early twenties, and was a scholar. Because he had been captured by barbarians by a stream and sold to the Xiongnu royal court, he was called "Xi Nu."
"A scholar is useless," in this chaotic world, what use was studying? What use was a scholar? Ye Guan Ting was full of learning, yet he could only return to his village and till the fields. When the barbarians swept south and plundered the Central Plains, he was taken captive to the northern grasslands.
Because Ye Guan Ting could read and write, he was highly regarded by Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King of the Xiongnu, who kept him by his side as a scribe, though Ye Guan Ting's status remained that of a servant.
"Xi Nu, if you refuse to speak, you will share the same fate," Ao Deng said coldly, pointing at the Kunlun slave bound to the execution platform.
"Right Gu Li King..." Ye Guan Ting hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "In ancient times, the greatest punishments were hanging, beheading, execution by owl, dismemberment by chopping, death by chariot, and execution in the marketplace. These were extremely cruel and all were horrific human tragedies. My lord should exercise clemency and justice, and pity the innocent..."
"No need to say more, it's too long-winded," Ao Deng interrupted with a wave of his hand before Ye Guan Ting could finish. "Lingchi? I've heard of it. Hmm, we shall use this punishment. Guards, carry out the execution."
Ao Deng was impatient with Ye Guan Ting's advice, but he did not blame him.
Ao Deng was surrounded by too many coarse men. Such a cultured man was a rarity, and at the same time, it made him feel somewhat proud in front of the assembled Xiongnu nobles.
The so-called lingchi was a punishment of slicing the body into a thousand pieces, an extremely brutal form of execution.
Helpless, Ye Guan Ting retreated to a haystack, sat on the ground, and sighed, not daring to look at the Kunlun slave tied to the execution platform.
"Right Gu Li King, what is lingchi?" Ao Deng knew what lingchi was, but his warriors did not. So, a Xiongnu warrior leader stepped forward and asked.
"Have you never cut up cattle and sheep for sacrifices?" Ao Deng retorted, glaring at the leader.
The Xiongnu warriors suddenly understood and hurried off to prepare the execution implements. Ao Deng also ordered the preparation of sacrificial items.
It was a pity to execute such a strong slave, so Ao Deng intended to kill a hundred to warn the rest and conduct a sacrifice at the same time.
Using humans as offerings to the gods was called human sacrifice.
According to Xiongnu custom, captured prisoners were usually handled as follows: women were made female slaves, children were either adopted or killed, and men were partly used for human sacrifice to the gods and ancestors, and partly made into slaves.
In a short while, all the items were ready. Several Xiongnu warriors carrying swords ascended the execution platform, preparing to carry out the lingchi on the Kunlun slave.
The dark-skinned, muscular Kunlun slave was shackled with iron chains to the bloodstained execution platform, his eyes wide with anger, staring westward, but he remained silent.
The Kunlun slave was originally from the Congling region to the west. He had a loving family, with kind parents and filial children. But one day, a fierce enemy invaded his home, killed his elderly parents, and abducted him and his sister. His sister was now lost without a trace, with little hope of survival. The Kunlun slave was sold multiple times, eventually ending up on the northern grasslands.
The Kunlun slave's life was extremely tragic, and now he was about to be brutally executed in public by the savage Xiongnu.
"Rumble! Rumble!"
At that moment, thunderous roars echoed from outside the camp, like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting apart. The entire camp was stunned, unsure of what was happening.
"What is happening?" Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King, who was about to conduct the sacrifice, was greatly alarmed. He cast aside the sacrificial items, grabbed a saber, and shouted loudly.
By now, everyone had faintly sensed that the earth-shattering roars were the sound of galloping horses. They could even hear the rhythmic pounding of hooves on the ground.
Could it be an attack by cavalry from an enemy tribe? Ao Deng and the others thought of this in unison.
"Right Gu Li King..." At that moment, one of Ao Deng's subordinates, crawling on hands and knees, rushed to the tent and reported to Ao Deng, "There's... an enemy attack on the camp, an enemy... attack on the camp."
"Who are they? How many troops?"
On the grasslands, mutual conflict was commonplace, so Ao Deng did not appear overly panicked. He mounted his horse, saber in hand, and asked loudly.
"We don't know... where they're from..." Ao Deng's subordinate stammered, "The dust covers the sky, we can't tell how many there are. But in my estimation, no more than a few hundred."
No matter how much they bluffed, they couldn't deceive the experienced Xiongnu who lived on the grasslands, especially on the flat plains.
"A few hundred men? Hahahaha..." Ao Deng not only wasn't angry but burst into laughter. After several hearty laughs, he raised his saber and roared, "Little wolves want to steal our lambs! Warriors, mount your horses and meet the enemy!"
Currently, Ao Deng's camp had over a thousand cavalrymen, as well as several thousand slaves. The remaining troops were deployed elsewhere. The slaves were naturally unreliable, but a thousand cavalry were more than enough to deal with a mere few hundred "lamb thieves."
Ao Deng was also a fierce general among the Xiongnu, otherwise, he wouldn't have been left to guard the royal court. Moreover, Ao Deng was quite confident in his combat prowess.
Upon hearing this, over a thousand Xiongnu cavalrymen scrambled onto their horses, surrounding Ao Deng, and charged out of the tent.
Who was coming? Ye Guan Ting, who had been huddled near the horse fodder, also looked up curiously at the outside of the tent, then lowered his head again, appearing listless.
What did it matter to Ye Guan Ting who was coming? He had long grown accustomed to the feuds and plunder between tribes. Even if he were captured by the newcomers, he wouldn't be surprised. Being captured and recaptured, he was still a slave.
The worst outcome was merely death, which was better than this living hell.
The Kunlun slave was not much different from Ye Guan Ting. Could whoever was coming change his tragic fate? The answer was no, or so the Kunlun slave believed.
...
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Bandits invading our territory, kill them!"
As Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King of the Xiongnu, led over a thousand men out of the tent, the enemy cavalry was already fast approaching.
Indeed, it was a show of force. Ao Deng saw that the approaching cavalry created a great commotion, but there were not many of them, only a little over a hundred horsemen. How arrogant! Ao Deng felt greatly relieved and shouted, waving his saber, "Xiali, Huer Tu, each take two hundred men and outflank them from the sides. Do not let a single one escape!"
Such small bandits, daring to attack a camp with so few men? Ao Deng mistook Zhou Fugui and the Yan army for bandits.
Kill half, capture half, and Ao Deng would have more slaves.
Xiali and Huer Tu, the two Xiongnu generals, upon receiving the order, each mustered two hundred men and charged out from the center, splitting off to the left and right wings to outflank and annihilate these "bandits."
Flanking from the wings and breaking through the center were common tactics for cavalry.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
As Xiali and Huer Tu, the two Xiongnu generals, had just charged out of their formation and had not yet separated, two arrows whistled through the air with a chilling sound.
The two sides had not yet entered the range of arrows, yet the enemy was already shooting? This caused the Xiongnu soldiers to feel somewhat surprised.
However, they were only slightly surprised, because at such a long distance, the arrows would have little effect, and the probability of hitting the target would be extremely low. At most, it was a scare tactic, its deterrent effect greater than its actual impact, much like the commotion created by these "bandits" galloping their horses, a mere show of force.
But the result was beyond the expectation of all the Xiongnu. These two arrows shot from afar not only flew at an incredibly fast speed, reaching them in a moment like lightning, but also had excellent accuracy.
"Thud! Thud!" With two sounds, one arrow accurately struck Xiali, piercing his heart and sinking all the way to the fletching. The immense force directly shot Xiali off his horse. With a "thump," Xiali fell to the ground, landing in the dust, and was then trampled into a bloody pulp by the chaotic hooves. However, for Xiali, the impact was already insignificant, as he had died before falling from his horse.
The other arrow was even more miraculous. It actually curved in mid-air and, with a "thud," embedded itself in the back of Huer Tu's head. Huer Tu fell from his horse with an arrow in the back of his head, but one foot remained in the stirrup. He hung upside down on the horse, dragged forward by the galloping steed, and in a short while, his body was mangled, flesh and bone exposed.
Was the title of "Great Yan's Yang Youji, Little Li Guang" merely for show? Zhou Fugui, riding his galloping warhorse, shot the first two arrows, killing two brave generals of the Xiongnu Right Gu Li King's command, causing immediate chaos among the Xiongnu army. Some Xiongnu soldiers reined in their horses, hesitating to advance, while others continued to urge their horses forward, resulting in collisions of men and horses, shouts and neighs, forming a chaotic mass.
"Idiots! It's just two arrows, they won't kill all of you. Quickly, quickly charge forward and engage the dog bandits in close combat, then you won't fear their arrows."
Seeing this, Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King, was both angry and anxious, almost spitting out a mouthful of blood. Before the formation could be set up to meet the enemy, the "bandits" were about to charge over. He waved his saber and shouted frantically.
"Capture the king first, kill!"
The warhorses flew, and the distance between the two sides narrowed. Zhou Fugui, brandishing his Heaven-Shaking Dragon Halberd, charged like lightning towards Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King.
With his brocade robes and a retinue, who else could he be but the leader? Zhou Fugui had already spotted Ao Deng, the Right Gu Li King, and intended to capture him first, thereby defeating the thousand-plus Xiongnu soldiers before him.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Xue Wentai, the Great Monk of Guanzhong, wielding a large ringed saber; Xu Mancang, his hands gripping a ring-pommel saber, on his right; and Suo Dacheng, holding a battle-axe, with Zhou Fugui in the center, all charged irresistibly towards the Xiongnu soldiers.
A white tiger battle flag fluttered in the wind, appearing exceptionally striking.