Chapter 28: The Price of Defeat

The once tranquil grassland had now turned into a scene of carnage. Tents were torn apart, and burning flames still licked at remaining objects, making crackling sounds.

Where horses had trampled, mud mixed with blood, forming patches of dark red mire.

Some Karluk warhorses ran panic-stricken on the battlefield, their neighs piercing the night sky.

And those dead Karluks, most of their eyes stared blankly at the night sky, as if recounting the helplessness of fading life and the cruelty of war.

The battle was over!

But the suffering of the Karluks had just begun…

Most of the Karluks in Sanhe Fortress had basically been eliminated, with only a few still hiding in the corners of houses.

The next focus was to clear out these people.

Li Dashan led people into a courtyard. Everyone held a torch in their hands, taking in everything in the courtyard at a glance.

“Search!”

“Turn this place inside out for me; find all the Karluks.”

“Don’t let go of any corner!” Li Dashan shouted loudly to the others.

Some people rushed into the house, rummaging through chests and cupboards to check if anyone was hiding.

In the courtyard, just as Li Dashan walked near the sheep pen, a Karluk suddenly jumped up from among the sheep, holding a knife and hacking at Li Dashan.

“Careful!”

Chen Erqiang shouted loudly, while Li Dashan’s face changed. Retreating backward, he raised the knife in his hand and hacked at the Karluk who suddenly attacked.

Clang!

Two knives clashed together; neither could do anything to the other.

But fortunately, Li Dashan’s blocking bought time for the others.

Chen Erqiang and Old Zhu, holding spears, stabbed rapidly at the Karluk.

Both were experienced and knew how to cooperate, so the Karluk was soon stabbed in the stomach.

“Ahhhh!”

“I’ll fight you to the death!”

Spitting blood, with a ferocious face, the Karluk looked one last time at the stack of fodder for feeding cattle and sheep, roaring loudly.

Disregarding his injuries, he tried to fight Li Dashan and the others completely in a life-for-a-life manner.

However, his actions were completely futile.

He was eventually surrounded and killed by several people.

“Hmph, dog thing, almost got me.” Li Dashan looked at the corpse on the ground and said angrily.

Chen Erqiang nodded and said: “These Karluks are truly insidious.”

Others agreed deeply.

The Karluks on the main battlefield had collapsed, yet they started playing guerrilla warfare here.

But fortunately, the terrain of Sanhe Fortress was simple, and there weren’t too many houses.

It wasn’t difficult to find the hidden Karluks.

“Continue searching!”

“Don’t let go of a single Karluk!” Li Dashan shouted in a deep voice.

While others were searching everywhere, his gaze fell on a haystack in the courtyard.

He remembered that before the Karluk just now died, he seemed to glance there.

“Someone there?”

Li Dashan was secretly vigilant and winked at Chen Erqiang.

The two walked slowly toward the haystack. Just as Chen Erqiang picked up his spear preparing to stab into the haystack…

In the next second, danger appeared again. A figure rushed out from the haystack.

Holding a worn-out short knife, charging at Chen Erqiang.

But Chen Erqiang reacted quickly. Leaning his body slightly, he dodged directly, then kicked heavily, sending the attacker flying against the back wall.

“Hehe, turns out to be a little wolf cub!”

Chen Erqiang chuckled. No wonder he felt the person’s attack lacked power and was easily dodged.

It turned out to be a Karluk child.

Such a sneak attack was nothing to him.

Then turning to look, he discovered that four more Karluks were hiding inside the haystack, all old, weak, women, and children.

An old woman with a wrinkled face holding a three or four-year-old girl in her arms, and two younger women in their twenties.

Each held a knife, pointing the blade at Li Dashan and the others, their faces full of anger and fear.

There was also a Karluk boy around twelve or thirteen years old, the one just kicked in the chest by Chen Erqiang, curling up in the corner, spitting blood, rolling in pain.

The adult Karluk men had mostly become corpses outside. All that remained of this Karluk tribe were these old, weak, women, and children.

“A noble family, even!”

Looking at the women and children in the haystack, Chen Erqiang said with a smile.

From the clothes worn by these women and children, as well as the daily necessities in the house, it could be seen that this family held some power in the Karluk tribe.

But unfortunately, as this Karluk tribe was wiped out, their honor, privileges, and dignity would vanish completely.

“Get them out first, then take away the valuable things,” Li Dashan ordered.

Saying that, the two strode directly toward the two Karluk women.

“Don’t come over!”

“I’ll kill you!” The two Karluk women shouted in panic.

Each holding a knife, they attacked Li Dashan and Chen Erqiang simultaneously.

Although nomadic women were also warriors, unfortunately, the gap in strength was too great; they were no match for Li Dashan and Chen Erqiang at all.

Li Dashan and Chen Erqiang didn’t even need to draw their sabers; they easily knocked the two women to the ground.

Chen Erqiang even ruthlessly punched the older woman on the jaw, knocking her out directly.

“Mother, Aunt!”

“Ahhh!”

“I’ll fight you!”

Seeing his mother and aunt injured, the Karluk boy was instantly enraged. Like an angry little calf, he charged at the two with his knife.

Completely risking his life!

His father had already been killed by these demons; he wanted to protect his family and avenge his father.

A thirteen or fourteen-year-old child could barely be considered an adult; on horseback, he could fully become a warrior.

Facing the boy’s desperate attack, Li Dashan and Chen Erqiang didn’t dare to be careless either.

Chen Erqiang drew his saber and slashed. With a clang, the curved saber in the boy’s hand was knocked flying directly.

Li Dashan’s face was cold. His war saber instantly slit across the boy’s neck. Blood sprayed, and the light in the boy’s eyes slowly faded…

The two coordinated quite tacitly. In the blink of an eye, the danger was nipped in the bud.

“Anu, Anu!”

“My grandson!”

Seeing the boy killed, the old woman screamed, her aged face full of anger and pain.

“You demons, the spirits won’t let you off!”

Putting the girl in her arms on the ground, she picked up the knife her daughter dropped and charged over as well.

Unfortunately, her danger level was far less than even those two women.

Just rushing in front of Li Dashan and wanting to slash, she couldn’t cut down at all.

Her wrist had been grabbed by Li Dashan with one hand, unable to move a fraction.

Li Dashan’s face was cold, and he said in a low voice: “Old thing, since you miss your grandson so much, go down and accompany him.”

Saying that, he raised his other hand, and the war saber instantly slit across the old woman’s neck.

Pfft!

Blood gushed out instantly. The old woman showed despair and anger, her body slowly collapsing to the ground.

Li Dashan’s behavior was undoubtedly brutal, but war had always been so.

When the Karluks breached Sanhe Fortress, weren’t their actions against the original residents of Sanhe Fortress brutal too?

Of the original thousand-plus Han people in Sanhe Fortress, less than half remained now.

All became ghosts under the Karluk blades!

The world itself was survival of the fittest. Moreover, resources in the Western Regions were scarce; for survival, slaughter between tribes had never ceased.

It had always been so!

This old woman was old, long past childbearing age, and struggled even to work. She had no value to the Han people and would only waste food.

Even if they didn’t kill her, she wouldn’t survive.

The fighting in the courtyard alerted others. Soon, Li Xiao and others rode over.

“Sixth Uncle, are you okay?”

Seeing Li Xiao covered in blood and holding a horse lance, Li Dashan smiled gently.

He waved his hand, saying carelessly: “It’s nothing, just a little wolf cub, already dealt with.”

Li Xiao glanced at the corpses on the ground and knew what had happened.

The status of this Karluk family in the tribe should not be low.

Besides daily necessities and clothing, the number of cattle and sheep in the courtyard was much higher than other Karluks.

It was just that no matter how noble they were before, now their family was ruined and dead.

Except for two young women and a little girl, everyone else was dead.

Li Xiao had no sympathy for this at all.

This was a gamble.

Since they chose war, these Karluks should bear the price of defeat.

Men beheaded and slaughtered, women enslaved into the army.

It had always been so.

If one day Hexi Fortress was breached by enemies, the outcome for the villagers of Hexi Fortress wouldn’t be much better than the Karluks.

In this cruel land of survival in the Western Regions, this was the bloody rule.

(End of this chapter)