"Wake up, stop daydreaming. Don't you have to go to work?" The butcher looked at Er Gou, who was lost in his fantasies, and slapped him awake without any politeness.
Er Gou snapped out of his daze, gave the butcher a resentful look, and listlessly packed up his stall and left the market.
Upon arriving at the town gate, several farmers covered in yellow dust greeted Er Gou and slowly walked towards their homes.
Er Gou responded weakly. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed; he saw something approaching in the distance.
In the distance, dust billowed, and Er Gou looked into the distance, and it seemed that a group of people were approaching on horseback.
Could it be some important figure or business association that has come?
wrong!
Er Gou noticed that this group of people were wearing animal skin clothes, had strange patterns on their faces, and looked somewhat different from the people of the Shang Kingdom.
alien race!
Alien attacks on villages and towns! This has happened before, but not in Qingquan Town, but in Yuhe Town, which was attacked by aliens ten years ago and turned into ruins.
This angered the imperial court, which sent troops to conquer these foreign tribes. However, the matter was dropped because the tribes waged guerrilla warfare and offered gifts as an apology, thus saving face for the court.
"Oh no! The barbarians have invaded!" This was what the people of the Shang Kingdom called foreign tribes. Because they were uncultured and ignorant of the law, the people of the Shang Kingdom looked down on foreign tribes and called them barbarians.
When Wutugu saw several townspeople fleeing ahead, a cruel smile appeared on his lips. He roared, spurred his horse, and rode off.
Human legs are no match for a horse's four legs, and soon Wutugu caught up with a farmer. Wutugu drew his curved sword, which was engraved with a wolf totem, and slashed down fiercely.
A cold glint flashed, the knife rose and a head fell. Before the farmer could react, his head flew up, and the headless corpse took a few steps forward by inertia.
Bang!
The body crashed to the ground, blood gushing from the huge gash in its throat, forming a small blood pit.
The farmer's head rolled to the side of the corpse, his eyes wide open, as if he could not believe that he had died like this.
Wutugu sneered, took out a feathered arrow from the quiver on his horse's back, turned to the side, used the arrow to lift the man's head, took it in his hand, and tucked it onto the horse's back.
This is a tribal tradition: hanging up the heads of their prey to symbolize their achievements. Originally used only for wild animals, these nomads saw no difference between the Shang people and livestock.
The other large, foreign men cheered when they saw their leader so brave, then spurred their horses and charged at the others, drawing their scimitars and making strange noises.
A human tragedy was about to unfold, and a massacre was about to befall these ordinary civilians.
Hearing the screams coming from behind, Er Gou's pupils dilated as fear spread through him, overwhelming his senses. However, the will to survive kept urging him to run forward as fast as he could.
Just a little bit more!
As we approached the town entrance, the place, which normally seemed unremarkable, now radiated the glow of life.
Sizzle!
A sharp pain shot through his chest and abdomen, and a metallic taste rose in his mouth. He looked down at the half-pierced arrow that had pierced his body; the blood-stained arrowhead seemed like a grim reaper, grinning menacingly at him.
“Foolish Shang people, my greatest skill is not riding horses, but archery,” Wutugu said disdainfully, putting away his longbow.
They then rode into the town, where several guards were sleeping against pillars because the weather was a bit chilly.
No wonder these nomadic tribes are so arrogant; with an army like that, who can they possibly protect?
"What's that sound?" A soldier, awakened by the cacophony of cries for help, rubbed his still-closed eyes and said with some annoyance.
Sizzle!
Before he could regain his senses, Wutugu shot an arrow that struck him between the eyebrows, ending his life instantly.
The other soldiers realized something was wrong and immediately fled into the town.
Wutugu drew his bow and shot an arrow, each arrow taking a life. He had already investigated beforehand; the town was in a remote location with only two hundred armed soldiers. These soldiers were equipped with ordinary iron swords and had not received any professional training; they were just a group of conscripted militia, nothing more than a rabble.
However, a large number of people will eventually bring hidden dangers, so the more soldiers we eliminate, the less resistance we will encounter later.
He brought all 392 young men from the tribe with him. The death of even one of them would be a great loss to the tribe. As one of the most influential people in the tribe, he had to consider the future of the tribe.
A skinny soldier returned from urinating and saw this scene. Realizing something was wrong, he didn't disturb the group of foreigners who were slaughtering them, and hurriedly rushed towards the magistrate's mansion.
The magistrate's mansion has an armed force of nearly a hundred men, and many wealthy people live nearby with their own private soldiers and servants. Only staying there is safe.
So the skinny soldier made a decision on the spot: go to the county magistrate's office first. As for the massacred civilians, he was powerless to help them. After all, everyone has to look out for themselves.
Wutugu did not find the captured man and began to plunder the grain.
Looking at the large amount of grain piled up, a warm smile appeared on his face, as if he could see that he could safely get through the winter and that no one in the tribe would starve or freeze to death.
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Chapter Thirty-Two: Carnage (Continued)
Inside the magistrate's residence, Magistrate Liu sat on a sandalwood chair with a plush blanket underneath, so it wouldn't hurt his bottom. Wisps of white smoke rose from the incense burner beside him—fine sandalwood incense sent by someone, meant to calm the mind and focus the spirit.
Magistrate Liu had been suffering from insomnia, but since using this sandalwood incense, his overall mental state has improved.
He took the tea that his wife had just brewed, blew on it gently, and the rising steam danced in the air before disappearing completely. He took a sip of the tea; it was initially astringent but then sweet, and his unease and worry vanished without a trace.
"My lord, something terrible has happened!" came a cry from outside the door, the voice extremely urgent.
"What's going on? What kind of behavior is this, shouting like that?" Magistrate Liu frowned and reprimanded. He placed great importance on family etiquette and manners, and he had already strictly forbidden such shouting. How could anyone dare to violate this rule?
After a while, the door was pushed open, and a figure stumbled in. Seeing Magistrate Liu sitting in the hall, he said in a sorrowful voice, "Magistrate, something terrible has happened! The barbarians have attacked our Qingquan Town!"