Chapter 375

The two of them, one as the Qiang tribe's Great King and one as the Qiang tribe's Prime Minister, did not see things as clearly as Yue Ji, the martial general, when facing difficulties.

After settling his emotions, Yue Ji came to the high platform on the city tower and looked at the crowd of Qiang soldiers with a solemn expression.

After scanning them with a sharp gaze, he shouted loudly to them:

"My Qiang tribe warriors, now, the moment of life and death for my Qiang tribe has arrived."

"The great battle that follows will be a tough fight, because the Han army does not accept our surrender."

"The people the Great King sent to negotiate peace have already been beheaded by Ma Teng, who even sent their heads back."

"Now, we have no way out."

Speaking to this point, Yue Ji looked at the crowd with a solemn expression.

As Yue Ji's voice fell, the crowd below all had somewhat panicked expressions.

Watching the noisy crowd below, Yue Ji immediately shouted:

"Silence!"

As Yue Ji's shout rang out, the crowd below slowly became quiet.

Yue Ji scanned the crowd with a majestic gaze; those who met Yue Ji's majestic gaze all lowered their heads in fear.

Seeing the crowd that had become completely quiet, Yue Ji continued to shout in a deep voice to them with a solemn tone:

"Now, we can only fight to the death to carve out a path to survival."

"As for surrendering, don't even think about it!"

"Now, tell this Marshal, do you dare to fight the Han army to the death?"

Yue Ji's last shout was almost roared out with all his strength.

And as Yue Ji's impassioned voice rang out, the fighting spirit of the Qiang soldiers also slowly rose.

When Yue Ji's last shout fell, a roar rang out across the entire city tower.

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death..."

The roar of the Qiang soldiers was even heard by Ma Teng and Guan Yu and the others standing outside the city.

"General Ma, it seems there is a capable person in this Linqiang City!"

"To be able to raise the morale of these soldiers in such a predicament, he has some ability."

At this time, Guan Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and said to Ma Teng.

"Hehe, it's just a death struggle!"

Before Ma Teng could speak, Ma Chao on the side said with disdain.

"Haha, Mengqi is right!"

As Ma Chao's voice fell, Zhang Fei beside Guan Yu also laughed loudly immediately.

"Hey, Third Brother, do not be careless!"

Seeing Zhang Fei's attitude, Guan Yu immediately pretended to scold him.

"Hey, General Guan, do not be angry; General Yide is a man of temperament, and besides, with our strength, are we afraid of them?"

Seeing Guan Yu scold Zhang Fei, Ma Teng immediately comforted Guan Yu.

Seeing this, Guan Yu said no more, just nodded in approval of Ma Teng's words.

Subsequently, he asked: "General Ma, when can we attack the city?"

"Hehehe, General Guan, do not be anxious; let's surround it without attacking first to stir up panic in the city."

"After the third watch, the Dark Guard members lurking in the city will naturally help us seize the city gates."

"We just need to attack into the city when the Dark Guards open the gates!"

Regarding Guan Yu's question, Ma Teng explained calmly while stroking his beard.

"Oh! Since there are Dark Guards taking action, then breaking the city will be easy!"

Hearing that there were Dark Guards taking action, Guan Yu also nodded in understanding, stroked his long beard with his hand, and said to Ma Teng.

"By the way, General Ma, how will we deal with the Qiang people in the city when the time comes?"

"We won't really kill them all, will we! One must know that there are 100,000 Qiang people here!"

Thinking that there were still 100,000 Qiang people living in Linqiang City, Guan Yu immediately asked Ma Teng with a troubled face.

If they were soldiers, they would kill them, but these were unarmed civilians; killing them all would be somewhat inhumane.

Although it was said that the Qiang people had killed many Great Han people, these were all killed by their rulers and armies.

Those civilians hadn't stained their hands with much of the Great Han people's blood, and besides, no matter which ethnic group it was, there were many innocent people.

After Ma Teng heard Guan Yu's words, his expression was also somewhat solemn; he looked at Guan Yu before saying with a solemn expression:

"To tell General Guan the truth, before this General came to Linqiang City, I had already sent Dark Guards to ask His Majesty."

Hearing this, Guan Yu immediately tightened his expression and asked Ma Teng hurriedly:

"Oh, then what was His Majesty's decision?"

"Hehe, General Guan, do not worry; His Majesty has already issued an edict that the Qiang soldiers cannot escape their crimes and cannot be kept."

"As for those Qiang civilians whose hands have not been stained with the blood of our Great Han people, they can be demoted to slaves and will serve as the labor force for Liang Province in the future."

Originally, Ma Teng was also worried about this matter, so he had sent Dark Guards to ask Liu Bian early on.

If they had really followed Liu Bian's previous words and left no Qiang people behind, that would have included these civilians, and in that way, the slaughter caused would have been too heavy.

And Liu Bian had indeed intended to destroy the Qiang tribe at the beginning; after all, in the later Five Barbarians' Rebellion, the Qiang tribe existed.

However, he was stopped by Jia Xu and Guo Jia and the others, so in the end, Liu Bian took a step back.

It just so happened that the Great Han Empire was in need of a labor force now, and these foreign people could be utilized very well.

After all, now that Liu Bian had high-yield food seeds in his hands, there would be no lack of food in the future, and these slaves would also have the ability to be fed.

Moreover, with Liu Bian's current means and strength, he was not afraid that these slaves would riot in the future.

And the most important point was that the Great Han of the future would be a kingdom of immortals and gods.

By then, as long as the high-end combat power and resources were in the hands of the Great Han people, these people would never have a chance to turn things around.

This was the biggest reason why Liu Bian truly decided to spare these foreign people; otherwise, these slaves would really cause trouble in the future.

Liu Bian, as a traveler from the later generations, knew these principles clearly; after all, these things had happened quite often in later generations.

And Guan Yu, after hearing Ma Teng's answer, also let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.

Even Zhang Fei beside Guan Yu had a much better expression on his face.

Although they were martial generals and killing for them was like chopping melons and vegetables, this also had to be distinguished by who they were killing.

If you asked them to kill enemies on the battlefield, they wouldn't be happy if they killed too few!

But if you asked them to take action against civilians, their conscience would be somewhat uneasy.

However, these situations were only like this for the Great Han's generals and armies; other foreign people were much more cruel when treating civilians.

This was also another reason why Liu Bian had insisted on destroying the Qiang tribe at the beginning...