Colonial Era: From Remnants to European Dominator

Amidst the haystacks and beside the horse manure, the cries of a woman evoked both heartache and fervor.

"Let me go, let me go----"

"You little brat, if you cry again I'll kill you right now!!"

A border soldier, his chest bare and wearing only coarse trousers, roughly dragged a tribal child dressed in tattered animal clothing, completely disregarding the child's bleeding wounds. He simply tossed the child onto a haystack and then sternly warned:

"You little brat, if you weren't so young and worth some silver if you were sold to these men as a servant, I would have just chopped you down and fed you to the dogs."

Hearing the familiar Turkic language coming from the other end, perhaps the child had suddenly become perceptive, or perhaps he was of unusual status, for he mustered his courage and began to curse:

"You beast! You speak our language too, yet you treat your own people so cruelly! Aren't you afraid of going to hell? If you go to hell, the gods will not let you off the hook!!"

The border soldiers who were about to leave, upon hearing this, simply chuckled and replied in the same Turkic language:

"My home is in Kobdo City. I receive a monthly salary, and no one dares to delay payment. But you are in the Xisuo tribe. My life is worth more than yours, you little brat. Besides, who said we were related? My mother is Mongolian, and my father was a Han Chinese who was exiled here. We are not related at all."

"Your clansmen? I'm not one of your clansmen at all!!"

"Then why are you speaking our language?"

The child's eyes were filled with fear, but even more so with anger and confusion, and his question only earned him a single sentence in return:

"The words are the same, but I'm not one of you Turkic barbarians, and I never will be in my next life!!"

"You beast, you're not even as good as a wolf in the mountains."

The child's shouts lasted only a few minutes before his mouth was gagged with a dirty cloth. He could only watch helplessly as these evil-doing "own people" stabbed his own people again and again, and he could do nothing about it.

This scene is just a microcosm of the many fishing and hunting tribes in this wild land. For these mountain tribes who have lived here for generations and made a living by fishing and hunting, they never imagined that just because they speak Turkic, their fate would be regarded as "traitors" by the Qing soldiers who used to serve them carefully like gods. As Turkic bandits, they were subjected to a cruel trial with blades stained with the blood of their people and with the strong bodies they had fed.

And this is just the beginning!!

--------

The raging fire devoured the souls that had lost their reverence and extinguished the last vestiges of humanity in the border troops.

Amidst severed limbs and the weeping blood of infants, the looting had only been halfway through, and even this halfway point made Khansai, who had come to oversee the battle, twitch his eyelids repeatedly.

Behind him, several military leaders who had just vented their lust sat together, watching the garrison commander from afar, and whispering about the secrets they had heard a few days ago. However, as they talked, perhaps influenced by the looting happening around them, their words became increasingly disrespectful.

"I've heard that this garrison commander's mother was a Turkic mixed-race girl raised in a Mongolian noble family, and he himself still has Turkic blood!!"

"This is such an old story. I heard that the garrison commander's father was actually a Turk, but he later infiltrated the Manchu ranks and managed to pass himself off as a Turk and survive until now."

"Damn it, this guard is inhuman! He has Turkic blood on his body, yet he's still killing Turks. Even the beasts in the wild have more conscience than him!!"

"Those Turkic bastards, they really think they're royalty, daring to ride roughshod over us. Now they're being led around like dogs, ordering the slaughter of their own kin."

"That's right, this bastard is a Turkic bastard, thinking he's all that! Pah! While we were eating sand here, he was still in his bastard mother's belly!"

"Keep your voice down, don't let them hear you—"

The discussion among the group reached a climax at first, then fell silent, as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Saihan, who had been observing the situation on the field, was experiencing unprecedented torment.

Gazing at the mounds of Jingguan (a type of human pyramid) that were constantly being cut down and then picked up to form small mountains in the distance, and the shouts that kept reaching his ears and washing over his heart, a crack suddenly appeared in his heart, which was originally as solid as a rock. It was as if a voice was calling his childhood name, "San Nu'er". That was his mother, a Mongolian woman with Turkic blood.

"Stop! Stop the indiscriminate killing!!"

The orders from Hanse were extremely unsettling for the fierce border soldiers who had been fighting so fiercely. Some officers, still clutching bloodied heads when they received the orders, even cursed upon hearing them.

"Could it be some kind of divine intervention? Otherwise, why would this prince be so timid?!"

"Do not kill them! Issue a general order to the entire army to prepare fast horses to deliver the message: the ringleader has been eliminated, the rest have surrendered, and will be dealt with by the court. Anyone who abuses their power to kill will be executed!!"

Perhaps feeling that ordinary orders wouldn't be enough to subdue these unruly border soldiers, Saihan deliberately emphasized his words and gave them a red line of execution.

To his surprise, before he could even give the order, the scout was intercepted by a steel blade. At a glance, it was Harun, who usually acted like a nice guy in front of him but turned out to be extremely cunning at crucial moments and seemed like someone anyone could bully.

Harun rode leisurely on his chestnut-colored steed, clutching a newly written military order with a command arrow inserted in his hand, a sight that filled Saihan with rage:

"What is the purpose of this?"

Feeling Saihan's cold gaze, Harun, who was used to feigning weakness, straightened his back for the first time in front of him. He merely gave a respectful official salute from horseback, without even dismounting. Hearing the question filled with dissatisfaction, he simply replied casually:

"Reporting back to my lord, the soldiers are now like birds returning to the forest, or hungry wolves devouring sheep, and their pockets are still half empty. How can we let these Turkic traitors go?"

"Besides, there's nothing we can do about it. Kobdo is a harsh, cold place beyond the Great Wall, and the soldiers are used to hardship. It's rare to have a good harvest, so it's only natural that they might go a little overboard. How can we be too harsh on them?"

As he spoke, Harun's tone shifted from casual to admonishing Saihan for his own good.

"Shut up! Didn't you see how long they killed and how much they looted? The money in their pockets could probably cover several months' worth of rations. At this point, how many more people will they kill and how much longer will they loot? Are they still not satisfied?"

"If they are still dissatisfied, they may turn their anger towards me and the imperial court."

Hearing Saihan invoke the imperial court to pressure him, Halun inwardly sneered several times, but outwardly bowed and said:

"The soldiers are used to killing; they must be killed until they've had their fill. As for the word 'not satisfied,' you can use it to scare me, sir, but if you frighten them, there will be trouble!"

Looking at the border soldiers waiting for their "answers," their faces filled with murderous intent, even if Saihan was afraid at this moment, he had to give it a try. Otherwise, once this matter got out, not only would his future orders be impossible to issue, but even the cooks and servants in the government office might disrespect him.

After a few moments of mental calculation, perhaps knowing that the other side wouldn't dare do anything to this guard of princely birth afterward, the scoundrel jumped up and gave the order:

"Someone just committed murder on my orders. Step forward."

Within a few breaths, someone stepped forward. That person was the military leader from before. When he stepped forward, he wiped the animal skin around his waist with his blood-stained hands. If you looked closely, there was a faint red stain mixed in with the animal skin. If you had a discerning eye, you would know that it was a bib, probably sold to this tribe by a traveling merchant.

"Very well, since you have the guts, you must know that disobeying orders is a major taboo in the army. Guards, take him out and execute him!!"

After giving the order, Hanse gave a subtle signal to the guards who had come with him from the capital. Sensing that expectant gaze, the guards, despite the beast-like stares around them, drew their swords and rushed out to carry out the execution.

"slow!!"

The knife had just been drawn when a shout stopped him. Hanse stared wide-eyed at Harun, who had repeatedly opposed him, his hatred threatening to engulf him like a raging torrent.

"What are you trying to do now? Are you looking for death?"

This time, Harun was no longer arrogant as before, and pleaded with Hanse with a sincere look in his eyes:

"My lord, these are all fine young men who have rendered great service to our Great Qing. How can they lose their lives because of mere Turkic bandits? If this continues, how can we win the hearts of the people?!"

These words, seemingly pleading but actually a warning, enraged Hanse. But before he could act, the unruly soldiers, swayed by his words, all stepped forward. Before anyone could react, one of them took the lead:

"I also chopped, I am guilty too----"

"Me too, I'll chop you up if I want, stop talking nonsense, take my head if you want it----"

"Me too----"

"You, you all-----"

Seeing the soldiers all claiming they had disobeyed orders, Hanse trembled with rage, his legs shaking. Harun, witnessing this, suppressed a laugh, utterly disillusioned with this so-called prince. He had initially thought this man was someone of importance, at the very least someone who would die for his country. Now it seemed the opportunity was lost; all that remained was:

"Please, sir, rescind the military order to reassure the troops!!"

"Please, sir, rescind your order—"

Please—

As everyone bowed and pleaded with Hanse, Hanse, whose legs were still trembling, could no longer stand up and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

It had only been three days since he was last kicked down. In just three days, Hanse, the Beile garrison commander from the capital, had fallen twice in full view of everyone. Even with his ironclad prestige, once the news spread, he was left with nothing but bones like wild dogs hunting for food.

For those border soldiers who had gained complete freedom and would not listen to anyone's orders, this absurd "just war" became an important tool for them to accumulate merits, plunder wealth, and abuse Turkic women.

What's most amusing about this war is that most of the border troops who were carrying out their mission to slaughter, as well as the fishing and hunting tribes that were constantly resisting the slaughter, spoke Turkic languages.

Many of them even have Turkic blood flowing through their veins; after all, the garrison commander himself, broadly speaking, could be considered a "Turkic barbarian"!

So much so that a folk song was later passed down:

"I don't know either of them, I don't recognize the knife, so I pluck a yellow flower to offer as a sacrifice to my parents."