Chapter 138: Fierce but Not Chatty

Chapter 138: Fierce but Not Chatty

Wanyan Tiesa snorted coldly, “Dream on!”

Xiao Ce glanced at Fu Niu, “Fu Niu, do you have that small axe with you? The one you used last time to chop off Mosi Ashina’s finger?”

Fu Niu nodded and pulled out the small axe from his waist.

A hint of excitement showed on his face, “Prince, I have it. Following you lately, there hasn’t been a chance for it to taste some blood.”

“Now the chance is here! Go on, cut his fingers first, then his toes, until he’s willing to cooperate.”

Xiao Ce took a sip of tea and said softly.

Wanyan Tiesa swallowed hard, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

Mosi Ashina had a finger cut off by Xiao Ce. On the surface, no one in the Turkic tribes talked about it.

But secretly, everyone knew.

Wanyan Tiesa gritted his teeth, “How dare you! I am the third prince of the Tiesa Tribe… You…”

Before Wanyan Tiesa could finish, Fu Niu stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and pressed it firmly to the ground.

He swung the small axe in his hand, and with a crack.

Wanyan Tiesa cried out in pain, tears bursting from his eyes.

Seeing a little finger chopped off, Fu Niu’s eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty excitement.

He didn’t pause at all, the small axe swung in his hand.

Another chop.

“Ah… I didn’t even say I wouldn’t talk! You ask me… I’ll talk… I’ll talk! Just ask me!” Wanyan Tiesa watched as Fu Niu didn’t stop at all.

There was absolutely no sign of stopping. He was terrified.

As soon as his words fell, Fu Niu’s axe came down again, and another of his fingers was chopped off.

Wanyan Tiesa was almost broken, wailing miserly with a hoarse voice, tears streaming.

“Why are you still chopping… I already said… I’ll talk… I’ll talk…”

Fu Niu awkwardly put the chopped-off middle finger back, then looked at Xiao Ce, “Prince, sorry… my hand was too quick.”

“Don’t apologize; he was too slow talking!”

Xiao Ce took another sip of tea, “Why did you give in so fast? I thought with all that toughness earlier, you’d at least hold out for the time it takes to lose a whole hand.”

Wanyan Tiesa looked at his hand, now with only two fingers left, his face twitching. Only his ring finger and little finger remained.

With just these two left, they weren’t much use.

Though he felt resentful, he didn’t dare say anything.

“What do you want to know?”

Xiao Ce asked, “Where did you get those foreign girls from?”

“I had some merchants from the Tianzhu Kingdom get them for me,” Wanyan Tiesa said.

Xiao Ce was stunned for a moment. Tianzhu must be what later became the A3 Kingdom.

“You have trade with the Tianzhu Kingdom as well?”

Wanyan Tiesa clutched his hand, his face full of pain as he nodded, “Of course. The Tianzhu Kingdom borders the lands outside our Turkic Kingdom. Before, when your Xiao Kingdom closed its borders and wouldn’t trade with us, we traded cattle and sheep with Tianzhu Kingdom…”

According to Wanyan Tiesa, many things they had were brought to their Turkic Kingdom through the Tianzhu Kingdom.

“Then why do you always want to attack the Xiao Kingdom? Why not attack the Tianzhu Kingdom?” Xiao Ce asked Wanyan Tiesa.

Wanyan Tiesa said, “First, even though we border the Tianzhu Kingdom, getting there involves rugged mountain paths. It’s not good for our cavalry to attack. Second, the Tianzhu Kingdom isn’t as fertile or rich as the Xiao Kingdom… And also, those Tianzhu people are good fighters. At least, attacking them wouldn’t be as easy as attacking you Xiao Kingdom people…”

Xiao Ce felt speechless after hearing this. This Xiao Kingdom was at least a great nation, yet it had been treated as an easy target.

That cheap father of his, Emperor Xiao Dingbang in the Capital, he didn’t know how he became Emperor.

Internal troubles unresolved, external threats not eliminated, always thinking about fighting among themselves.

With an Emperor like that leading the country, how could it not fall?

Good thing he had come.

After listening to Wanyan Tiesa’s words, Xiao Ce felt even more that having Zhang Yunqing establish the Urgen Kingdom in the Turkic Kingdom was absolutely correct.

If the Tianzhu Kingdom had any ideas, it could serve as a buffer.

It could also become a barrier for the Xiao Kingdom.

After getting this information from Wanyan Tiesa, they still hadn’t learned about the origins of those foreign girls.

Xiao Ce waved his hand and stood up, “Fu Niu, make it quick for him. Finish him off.”

Fu Niu cupped his hands and agreed.

Wanyan Tiesa was absolutely terrified.

“King of Northern Desert… You can’t do this… I told you everything you wanted to know! Don’t kill me… I beg you… don’t kill me.”

He had no doubt about Xiao Ce’s words.

Xiao Ce was completely different from the people he knew. Those he had met before would at least scare him for a long time and wouldn’t dare kill him.

But this Xiao Ce really showed what it meant to be fierce but not chatty.

Xiao Ce didn’t pay him any attention and walked straight outside.

Facing death, Wanyan Tiesa completely broke down.

He kept kowtowing toward Xiao Ce, “Don’t kill me… don’t kill me… I can be useful to you. Our Tiesa Tribe has connections with the Tianzhu Kingdom! King of Northern Desert, since you’ve taken our Turkic rear, you’ll surely have to do business with the Tianzhu Kingdom… I have contacts, I have resources! I…”

Xiao Ce showed not a flicker of emotion. He said to Xiao Jiu beside him, “Go bring those foreign girls over.”

Xiao Jiu nodded.

Seeing this, Fu Niu dragged the man out and glanced at Xiao Ce.

Xiao Ce said, “Wait a moment!”

Not long after, Xiao Jiu came back with Boudica and the other foreign girls.

Xiao Ce said to Boudica and the others, “Was he the one who captured you?”

The group of foreign girls looked at Wanyan Tiesa, who was pale with fear and had soiled himself, and nodded.

They looked at Xiao Ce with questioning eyes, not quite understanding what he intended to do.

Seeing their nods, Xiao Ce said to Fu Niu, “Chop him.”

Fu Niu, seeing this, swung his big axe.

Before his death, Wanyan Tiesa shouted hoarsely, “Xiao Ce, you scoundrel! You kill me… you’ll regret it! You’ll regret it!”

Before he could finish, Fu Niu’s big axe swung and cut him in half at the waist.

This scared those foreign girls terribly.

Xiao Ce walked over to Wanyan Tiesa’s body and kicked it twice with his foot.

Confirming he was thoroughly dead, he said to the corpse, “Not killing you is what I would regret.”

He turned and said to Boudica and the other foreign girls, “I avenged you for you!”

These foreign girls were full of fear, looking at Xiao Ce, not daring to say a word.

Boudica was the calmest among them. After a long pause, she managed to say, “Thank you.”

Xiao Ce told Xiao Jiu to take them back.

Da Lei spoke to Xiao Ce, “Prince, did you kill him for those foreign girls?”

Xiao Ce smiled and said, “What are you thinking? I merely did a favor. From the moment I cut off Wanyan Tiesa’s finger, we were destined to be enemies. No matter how humble he acted, it was just his way of trying to survive. If I let such a person live, given even the slightest chance, he would turn on me.”

“Why would I keep him alive? All his so-called connections are useless. Merchants care about profit. As long as I have good goods and plenty of silver, those merchants will come to me naturally!”

Hearing Xiao Ce’s words, the expression on Da Lei’s face softened.

“Then I am relieved.”

Xiao Ce looked at Da Lei, amused and exasperated. “What? Were you afraid I lost my mind over women?”

Da Lei gave an awkward smile. “This was what Uncle Zhong told me. Uncle Zhong said you are excellent in every way, except you might not be able to control yourself when you see women.”

“Uncle Zhong said, since ancient times, beautiful women are like knives, each strike fatal. Beautiful women are like poison, bewitching the soul.”

Xiao Ce raised an eyebrow. “You still don’t understand This Prince. However, your reminder is right!”

“Those foreign girls, I have big plans for them.”

After saying this, Xiao Ce went back inside and learned about the matters in Tianzhu.

He wrote a letter to Zhang Yunqing overnight. Tianzhu had various spices, which were quite good.

He wanted Zhang Yunqing to start organizing a trade caravan.

That Wanyan Tiesa didn’t know yet that the benefactor Zhang Yunqing mentioned was also a merchant from the Tiesa Tribe.

This connection could be used to establish ties and bring those spices over. Then, things like the spicy hot pot could be recreated.

…

Within the Four Northern Desert Prefectures, they all opened their city gates to welcome the Turks.

Once these people entered the cities, they burned, killed, and looted.

This was their inherent nature.

In just a few days, discontent was already spreading widely.

The common people were already poor and had nothing to lose anyway. After the Turks looted them, they found nothing of value.

So the Turks turned their targets toward the prominent families and nobles!

The prominent families and nobles were plundered one after another.

Not only were they robbed, but their beautiful concubines, if caught the eye of the Turkic soldiers, were violated on the spot, one after another.

These Turkic beasts even forced the family head to stand by and watch.

This made them furious enough to see smoke.

The family heads of various prominent families all went to Chanda City where Cai Yong was.

At Cai Yong’s estate, since the family heads of the New Four Great Clans were all there, serving the Turkic leaders,

the prominent families from each prefecture gathered and blocked the entrance to Cai Yong’s estate.

The family heads of the New Four Great Clans had no choice but to receive them.

“You few family heads, before we didn’t want to listen to you. We all wanted to listen to that useless prince! You insisted he was a grasshopper after autumn. You told us to surrender to those Turks, and we did. And the result? Those Turkic beasts looted our grain and possessions, and that’s not all… they… they slept with our wives and daughters… You tell me! This is utterly shameful, utterly shameful!”

“Yes, they said they would stay for two days. It’s been how many days now? Four days! They show no intention of leaving. You must stand up for us…”

“The common people are already full of complaints. If they don’t leave soon… I fear there will be a rebellion…”

The family heads of the New Four Great Clans stood up. “Gentlemen… gentlemen… watch your words… watch your words. Be careful, walls have ears. If the Turkic lords hear this, you will not escape the crime of being beheaded!”

One of the prominent family members said, “Death be damned. Back when we followed the King of Northern Desert, even if we died, we would die a worthy death. But now… we shame our ancestors! If you don’t resolve this, I will lead our clan to fight the Turks to the death!”

Kan Shanyue, seeing the crowd growing more agitated, said sharply, “What? Have you come here to condemn us? Do you think we want this? Now you think that useless King of Northern Desert is good? Are you blind?”

“When that so-called King of Northern Desert fled from Yanbei City, did he think of you? Now he has retreated to Lingxiao City. Do you believe that if a great army presses forward, he can still run? He can flee back to the Capital. There, he has Prince of Zhenguo Xiao Dingshan to protect him. What about you?”

“This time, the Turkic army came out in full force! Their momentum is enough to change the heavens and the earth. Suffering a little hardship now is nothing! Your concubines and daughters being favored by them is your honor. Someday, when those soldiers head south and become generals, you will be laughing secretly.”

A young man from one of the prominent families couldn’t bear to listen any longer. He pointed at Kan Shanyue and shouted, “Kan Shanyue, listen to yourself! Is that human speech? Why don’t you send your own daughters and concubines to sleep with those Turkic dogs! Then you can gain protection too!”

Kan Shanyue’s face darkened.

“Say that again. Believe me, I will hand you over to the Turkic leaders! Go and curse at them!”

No one dared to speak. They knew these family heads of the great clans had become dogs for the Turks.

They were truly capable of doing such things.

Cai Yong came out, trying to smooth things over. “Gentlemen, gentlemen! I understand your feelings. We are here, behaving like grandsons too. But there’s no other way. Who made that useless King of Northern Desert talk so nicely but run faster than anyone?”

“Wasn’t it you who cut off the provisions for their defending army? Otherwise, could they have retreated? At the beginning, they fought so fiercely!”

“Yes, don’t take us for fools. How many years have the Turks not tasted defeat in Turkic lands? Yet they lost twice at Yanbei City, with losses in the tens of thousands! If you hadn’t cut off their supplies, the Turks could never have breached Yanbei City.”

The family heads of the prominent families now spoke with clear resentment.

Kan Shanyue’s face remained dark. “Are you blaming us? You are hopelessly stupid. If you really let that useless person consolidate his hold on the Four Northern Desert Prefectures, the fate of everyone here would be worse than when the Turks came. That waste, the King of Northern Desert, only cares about those lowly commoners! Are you lowly commoners?”

“Moreover, do you really think that waste could be a match for the Turks? The Turkic army was merely careless. In a real fight, that Northern Desert Army of theirs would crumble.”

“Enough. If you want to go find that waste Xiao Ce, he’s holed up in Lingxiao City. Go ahead… we won’t stop you!”

The crowd looked embarrassed and said nothing more. After all, even if they wanted to leave, they couldn’t.

Seeing that no one spoke, Kan Shanyue showed an arrogant expression. “Since none of you want to leave, then stay. Obey us and don’t cause trouble!”