Chapter 1475

But when he saw the struggling and crying girl, the shopkeeper, who was over fifty and had half-gray hair, gritted his teeth and raised the wooden stick in his hand to charge at Tuoba Liwei.

"I'll fight you to the death!" The old shopkeeper raised the wooden stick in his hand and smashed it toward the top of Tuoba Liwei's head.

However, it was grabbed by Tuoba Liwei's raised arm.

Then, a curved saber pierced into the old shopkeeper's chest.

Behind Tuoba Liwei, several Xianbei soldiers rushed in and quickly finished off the old shopkeeper with their blades.

They also conveniently hacked to death the assistant hiding in the corner.

The glass beads on the dangling hairpin jingled among the girl's hair; the girl's almond eyes were split with rage, and her fingernails scratched ten bloody marks into the tabletop beneath her.

A satisfied Tuoba Liwei pulled up his sheepskin trousers and walked toward the door while laughing.

He left the girl behind like a lamb, swarmed by the surrounding pack of wolves.

Under the locust tree at the alley entrance, a young girl with hair in buns huddled behind her mother's still-warm corpse.

When a curved saber adorned with turquoise lifted her chin, the child's pitch-black pupils reflected the vultures circling in the sky.

Budugen turned around without a hint of pity on his face: "Kill them all, leave no one alive."

The moment the blade cut through her throat, her collar embroidered with intertwined patterns was suddenly soaked through with blood, looking exactly like the flowers of evil blooming one after another in the twilight.

Throughout the entire Pingcheng Pass, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians let out desperate wails under the ravages of the Xiongnu and Xianbei.

Budugen rode his horse to the official residence located in the center of the city.

He saw Guo Tu standing in front of the residence and then dismounted.

"It has been a long time since the warriors of the tribe set out on this expedition; only in this way can their fighting spirit be ignited. I think... Mr. Guo, you shouldn't mind, right?"

Budugen, having dismounted, said to Guo Tu who was standing in front of the residence door: "After all, Duan Yu treated the Xianbei in this exact way back then."

"That great fire at Tanhanshan burned tens of thousands of my people to death, and there are not even ten thousand people in this city; it doesn't even count as interest."

Guo Tu smiled indifferently and said: "Of course I don't mind. Their lives or deaths have nothing to do with me, as long as the Great Chanyu remembers our previous agreement and our common goal."

"As for the dead..."

"How can there be no deaths in war?"

"If we can wipe out Duan Yu at such a cost, this sacrifice is still very worthwhile."

That night, the entire Pingcheng Pass was shrouded in a bloody cloud of gloom.

The four closed gates blocked all paths of survival for the soldiers and civilians within Pingcheng Pass.

Only a few extremely lucky children were spared because their parents buried them in the cellars of their homes.

But it is unknown whether that sealed entrance to the cellar will ever be opened again.

Chang'an.

Liang Prince's Mansion.

Duan Yu, who had been back from Hanzhong for some time, was sitting in the study of the Liang Prince's Mansion.

The desk in front of Duan Yu was piled high with reports from all over the place.

Looking at these reports, Duan Yu understood for the first time why an Emperor needs ministers like the Chancellor, the Three Excellencies, and the Nine Ministers.

Sometimes, it really isn't that the Emperor is not diligent in government.

Very few people can be as diligent as Ying Zheng.

When the big and small affairs of a country, from the vast lands of ten thousand miles away, fall before one's eyes and need to be handled one by one, Duan Yu truly understood why it is not easy to be a good Emperor.

And he understood why so many Emperors chose to be incompetent rulers.

The livelihood of the world, military and state affairs, government positions, epidemics, and natural disasters—Duan Yu didn't feel much when these things fell upon a single commandery.

But when they fell upon a province, or even a larger territory, he knew just how difficult it was to handle.

Duan Yu now basically rose at sunrise every day and worked until late at night before he could sleep.

During the time he went to Hanzhong, the government affairs sent from Liangzhou that needed his decision had piled up like a mountain, and there were also those sent from the Western Regions.

And then there was the fact that he needed to gather and deploy troops for the three-front war.

Duan Yu was fortunate to have many capable ministers assisting him.

Otherwise, whoever wanted to be this Liang Prince could have it.

Fa Zheng and Guo Jia, the two newly promoted young attendants, were in the study helping Duan Yu organize the memorials that had not yet been reviewed and those that had been reviewed and were ready to be sent to the imperial palace.

Xun You was kneeling about two steps away from Duan Yu, and there was also a desk in front of him.

Lunch was placed on the desk at this time.

In order to speed up the processing of government affairs, Duan Yu now basically ate lunch in the study.

"The Military Intelligence Department sent news that Liu Bei and Huangfu Song have reported 150,000 troops and have already set out from Hangu Pass in Xinan County."

"I intend to lead an army myself to meet the enemy. What does Gongda think?"

Duan Yu looked at Xun You and asked.

Just as Duan Yu's voice fell, Duan Liuqing walked in from outside the study door holding a secret letter from the Military Intelligence Department.

"Reporting to His Highness the Liang Prince, there is a red secret memorial from the Military Intelligence Department." Duan Liuqing said, bowing.