My brothers are all warriors capable of taking on ten thousand men; I'll roam freely in the Thr

Xiang Yu, who was swinging his halberd to knock away a burning tent and let it ignite the nearby hay, paused, a glint of light flashing in his double pupils.

Ran Min and Yang Zaixing also rode up to them.

"Tan Shihuai's grandson?" Yang Zaixing asked in surprise.

"How did he end up here?"

Ran Min snorted coldly: "Who cares who they are? If they are barbarians, they are enemies. Kill them all."

Xiang Yu hesitated for a moment.

Tan Shihuai was a powerful ruler who unified the Xianbei people and dominated the southern desert twenty years ago. Even after his death, his name still had a huge influence on the grasslands.

His son Helian was incompetent, leading to the division of the Xianbei people, but among his grandchildren, there may well have been ambitious individuals.

This leader appeared alone in the Kezui tribe...

"Bring him here," Xiang Yu said in a deep voice.

Before long, several soldiers brought a young man with his hands tied behind his back, dressed in fine clothes but now covered in dust and grass clippings, to the front.

The young man was in his early twenties. His face was different from the broad faces and high cheekbones common among the Xianbei people. He was rather handsome, but there was an undisguised arrogance and fear between his brows.

He struggled, shouting in broken Chinese mixed with Xianbei, "Let me go! I am Kui Tou, grandson of Tan Shihuai, the Great Xianbei Wolf Lord! How dare you Han dogs treat me like this! When Lord Ke returns, he will tear you to pieces!"

Xiang Yu sat upright on his horse, looking down at him with a cold, emotionless gaze in his double pupils: "Ke Zui? He's not coming back."

Kui Tou's shouts stopped abruptly. He stared wide-eyed at Xiang Yu in disbelief, then looked around at the burning camp, the corpses lying in disarray, and the indifferent Han cavalry. A chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He originally came in secret, trying to win over Ke Zui, the chief of the Central Plains, to support his bid for the Xianbei throne.

Who would have thought that instead of receiving Ke Zui's alliance, they would be met with the iron hooves of the Han army and the destruction of the tribe.

"You...you all..." Kui Tou's voice began to tremble.

"Take him away and keep him under strict guard," Xiang Yu ordered the captain, no longer looking at him.

"They were separated from Ke Zui and transported back to Shanggu Camp together."

"promise!"

After Kui Tou was taken away, Xiang Yu's gaze swept across the battlefield.

The soldiers of the Jingnan Army are spontaneously collecting spoils of war.

Scattered weapons, intact leather armor, unburnt grain sacks, and even some gold and silver ornaments.

Some soldiers even tried to drive away the cattle and sheep that had not been disturbed and had gathered on the riverbank.

Xiang Yu frowned slightly and rode his horse to a cavalry commander who was directing his soldiers to load the spoils.

Upon seeing their commander arrive, the cavalry commander hurriedly bowed and said, "General! The spoils of this battle are plentiful. We have several thousand head of cattle and sheep, as well as a considerable amount of grain and furs..."

"Who told you to stop?" Xiang Yu's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable authority.

The cavalry commander was taken aback: "General, this humble servant... this humble servant was counting the spoils so that..."

"I order a reorganization, with only three days' worth of rations, and we shall depart immediately," Xiang Yu interrupted him, his double pupils fixed on the other man.

"Did you not hear the order clearly, or do you think these spoils are more important than the order?"

The cavalry commander's forehead instantly broke out in a sweat, and he hurriedly said, "This subordinate dares not! It's just... the soldiers feel it's a pity to burn these spoils; if they can take them with them, it would be a great achievement..."

"Foolish!" Xiang Yu shouted, his voice still clear amidst the chaos of the battlefield.

"Our army is deep in enemy territory, isolated and isolated! How can we march and fight with all this cattle, sheep, and supplies? Do you want to turn our entire army into sitting ducks for the wolves of the grasslands?!"

He pointed his whip at the cattle, sheep, and piles of supplies, and said decisively, "Except for the essential three days' rations, arrows, medicine, and a small number of carefully selected warhorses, burn everything else! Leave nothing behind!"

The cavalry commander's face turned pale, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Then... what about those prisoners?"

Xiang Yu looked in the direction he was pointing.

In one corner of the camp, hundreds of Xianbei prisoners.

The wounded soldiers and the elderly, women and children who did not have time to escape were mainly kept under guard.

They huddled together, their eyes filled with fear, hatred, and despair.

The faint sound of a child crying could be heard.

Xiang Yu's gaze lingered on the group of prisoners for a moment.

The firelight illuminated his resolute profile and his unusual double pupils, flickering between light and shadow.

He saw the terrified eyes of the Xianbei children who were no different from Han children, the despair on the faces of the women, and the resentful anger in the eyes of the wounded soldiers.

He suddenly remembered what his elder brother had once said: "Decisiveness in killing is the foundation of a general, but excessive slaughter easily sows hatred and is not the way to long-term peace and stability."

He recalled how his elder brother patted him on the shoulder and instructed him before he left Zhuojun: "Brother Yu, you are brave and unparalleled, but you are also hot-tempered and prone to extremes. When leading troops in the field, you should know how to combine strength and gentleness. In the midst of battle, you must also leave room for maneuver."

room?

Xiang Yu sneered inwardly.

On this grassland, to show mercy to the enemy is to be cruel to oneself.

If we let these women and children go today, their children and nephews will grow up to be another batch of wolves invading Han territory.

The Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes, every time they invaded, burned, killed, and looted. Did they ever show the slightest pity for the women and children of the Han people?

The corpses of women who had been raped and killed at the foot of Jundu Mountain, the babies impaled on spear tips... scenes flashed through my mind.

"You guys figure it out yourselves."

He slowly withdrew his gaze, his voice cold and hard as iron. He uttered a single sentence, then turned his horse around, refusing to look at the prisoners again.

These words, spoken calmly, sent a chill through the surrounding air.

The cavalry commander stood there dumbfounded, not understanding what he meant.

What do you think?

To release, to lock up, or...?

Ran Min, who had been standing silently to the side, suddenly spoke up.

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of the cavalry commander and several nearby officers: "Higher than the wheels of a cart."

He pointed to an overturned cart not far away, its wheels pointing skyward: "Kill them all."

After speaking, Ran Min spurred his warhorse and followed Xiang Yu expressionlessly toward the Jingnan army that was assembling.

Throughout the entire ordeal, he did not glance at the prisoners again, as if he were not issuing an order that would determine the lives of hundreds of people, but rather a trivial matter.

The cavalry commander was startled, his gaze suddenly fixed on the overturned wheel.

The wheels were only a little over a foot off the ground.

Taller than this wheel?

Doesn't that mean...?

He instantly understood the true meaning of Xiang Yu's words, "You decide what to do," and he also understood that General Ran Min's additional statement was not a merciful act of "leaving the children," but a more ruthless and thorough order of extermination!

A chill mixed with a twisted sense of excitement surged through me.

This is the commander's tacit approval, and it is a military order!

It's revenge!

This is the punishment these barbarians deserve!

He turned abruptly, all hesitation vanishing from his face, and roared at his officers, "Order! Shoot all prisoners on the spot! Leave no one alive!"

"Sima..." A younger squad leader, his face pale, pointed to the trembling children and women among the prisoners.

"General Ran didn't say that only those taller than a cartwheel could..."

"Fool!" the cavalry commander interrupted abruptly, pointing at the inverted wheel and growling.

"Look closely! That wheel is upside down! How high is it off the ground? Even a one-year-old lying down is taller than it! Do you understand? All of you! Did you get it?!"

The captain's pupils constricted, instantly understanding the cruel scheme involved. His face turned ashen, his lips trembled, but he dared not ask any further questions, and could only reply in a trembling voice, "...Yes."

The order was conveyed swiftly.

The sounds of bowstrings vibrating, crossbows whirring, screams, cries, and curses rang out again, more intense, more mournful, and more fleeting than during the previous battles.

Flames soared into the sky, illuminating this blood-red hell in a corner of the grassland, and also the large "Ji" banner fluttering wildly in the wind.

In the distance, in front of the Jingnan Army, which had already assembled, Xiang Yu stopped his horse and looked back.

The towering flames stretched his shadow long, and his double pupils reflected the burning camp and the gradually fading wails, calm and undisturbed.

Ran Min stood shoulder to shoulder with him, their gazes also fixed on the firelight, but a faint, cold, almost ethereal smile seemed to curve at the corner of his mouth.

Yang Zaixing, who was a little behind, tightened his grip on the reins, but in the end he just sighed softly and looked away.

"All troops, listen to my command!" Xiang Yu's voice broke the silence, drowning out all the distant noises.

"Target: Shanggu Camp! Return!"

The sound of hooves rang out again, and the eight hundred iron cavalrymen, like a black tide, slowly retreated into the ever-deepening twilight, leaving behind only a sea of ​​fire, a mountain of corpses, and the embers and blood of a tribe that had been utterly wiped out and quickly swallowed by the night winds of the grasslands.

The night on the grassland is still cold.

The infamy and terror of the Jingnan Army, along with this raging fire and massacre, will spread rapidly throughout the Xianbei tribes and even the entire southern steppe, like the fiercest north wind.