Chapter 513

Duan Yu's brows furrowed instantly.

What was going on here?

Had they been slaughtered to the last man?

"My Lord… should we go and take a look?" Zhang Xiu asked.

Duan Yu nodded, then looked back at Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, saying, "Benchu, Mengde, let's go. Let's head over and see what exactly is going on."

After saying this, Duan Yu spurred his horse and rode toward the front of the cavalry formation.

Behind him, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and several hundred riders from Duan Yu's Personal Guard camp followed quickly.

Before long, Duan Yu and the others had arrived inside the Mucheng Valley.

*Book of the Later Han, Records of the Western Qiang*: In the early years of the Zhanghe era, "Zhang Yu sent the Attendant Sima Fang to lead over a thousand cavalry and Jincheng troops to meet in battle at Mucheng Valley, where the Miwu forces were defeated and fled."

Mucheng Valley was not like the Shehu Valley; it was a valley passage that ran through the river basin.

The Huang River, originating from the Western Sea, flowed through the entire Jincheng Commandery, forming countless branches of varying sizes.

Under the erosion of years and months, the original plateau had formed a series of river valley terrains.

Coupled with over a thousand years of silt accumulation on both banks of the river, large stretches of river valley wetlands had formed.

Here, whenever spring and summer arrived, the water and grass were extremely lush, making it a natural pasture, and the banks on both sides could also be cultivated.

The Qiang people learned farming from the Han people, while grazing and fishing/hunting at home, multiplying endlessly here.

The canyon area formed by hundreds of river valleys made this place a natural labyrinth.

In the early years of the Zhanghe era, the Qiang people here were called the Miwu Qiang, simply because every time the Miwu Qiang came out of Mucheng Valley to raid, they would flee back into the valley.

Hiding among the hundreds of large and small river valleys, they were nowhere to be found.

The Han army had tried to encircle and suppress them here many times, but never succeeded.

If they could win, the Qiang would fight; if they couldn't, they would simply run.

After the Yongqiang Rebellion, the Qiang people were divided into two parts: the Western Qiang and the Eastern Qiang.

The Western Qiang were the Qiang tribes entrenched in Jincheng, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Longxi.

The Eastern Qiang had migrated further inward, some even moving to the Fufeng region.

However, after hundreds of years of assimilation, most of the Eastern Qiang had become accustomed to the life of the Han people, and because their living environment was more stable, the tribes themselves were much more stable.

But the Western Qiang had always continued the earliest fishing, hunting, and grazing lifestyle of the Qiang people.

After the Yongchu Qiang Rebellion, the power of the Qiang people began a massive reshuffling.

More Qiang tribes sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, and at the same time, the Shaodang Qiang ushered in a period of strong development.

After the Shaodang Qiang became powerful, they occupied the Mucheng Valley area.

Duan Yu's trip this time was aimed at Mucheng Valley.

Since he wanted to sweep through the Western Qiang tribes, he naturally had to strike the big ones first.

The Shaodang Qiang, the County Magistrate Qiang, and the Baima Qiang were the three most powerful tribes among the Western Qiang.

It was just that the Baima Qiang were active in the Longxi area, and this time they had not participated in the Shaodang Qiang's rebellion.

In the labyrinth-like Mucheng Valley, led by cavalry scouts, Duan Yu, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao soon arrived at a spacious river valley.

While still a long distance away,

Duan Yu saw a large area of camp that had been burned black.

It was not until they got close that Duan Yu saw clearly.

In the camp, there were not only tents burned to ashes,

but also countless charred corpses.

Those corpses seemed to have been killed first and then thrown into the tents.

Then, a fire was set to ignite the tents.

All the blackened corpses were piled together in layers.

Looking from afar, they looked like black burial mounds.

"This…"

Yuan Shao was stunned for a moment.

They had clearly come to wipe out these Qiang tribes.

But before they had even made a move, how had the Shaodang Qiang disappeared?

And in such a miserable state.

"Could this be them devouring each other between tribes?" Yuan Shao asked with a frown.

Duan Yu shook his head with a gloomy expression.

"No, absolutely impossible!"

Duan Yu said firmly, "Although the Qiang people fight and devour each other, their methods would never be this cruel."

"For the Qiang people, population is also a kind of resource; the women and children in the devoured tribes are all spoils of war for other tribes."

"Look at these charred corpses; a large portion of them are women. If it were inter-tribal warfare, it would never be like this."

But then the question arose.

Since it wasn't the Qiang tribes fighting and devouring each other, who did this?

Duan Yu dismounted from his Red Dragon Stepping Cloud Beast and walked toward the pile of charred corpses.

Looking around, the entire river valley was filled with such scenes.

One couldn't see the end of it.

What kind of person would insist on using such methods?

Was it a blood feud of the Shaodang Qiang?

Or was there someone else?

Just as Duan Yu was thinking,

the scouts in front came to report again.

They said they had discovered a *jingguan* (monument of heads) ahead.

Duan Yu mounted his horse again, rode through the burned Qiang camp, and arrived at the end of the river valley.

At the exit at the end of the river valley, a *jingguan* made of several thousand human heads was piled up.

After killing people, piling up a *jingguan* of heads

mainly serves two purposes.

One is to vent anger, and the other is to intimidate.

To intimidate people's hearts.

If he hadn't seen a row of characters written on a cliff wall in the river valley,

Duan Yu really wouldn't have known what this guy who wiped out the Shaodang Qiang tribe was trying to do.

However, when he saw that row of large characters clearly written in blood, Duan Yu finally understood.

"The killer… is… Duan Yu?"

Cao Cao looked at the words on the cliff, then turned to look at Duan Yu, who was on his horse: "Ziyi, this… this is an attempt to frame you!"

Anyone with a brain could figure out what was going on now.

Someone had wiped out the Shaodang Qiang tribe before Duan Yu and his men arrived, then cut off the heads, burned the corpses, and written "The killer is Duan Yu."

This was clearly an attempt to frame him.

But why would they do this?

And who would do such a thing?

"Men…" Yuan Shao frowned and pointed at the large characters written in blood on the cliff, saying, "Men, go and wipe it off. Isn't this splashing dirty water on Ziyi? Wipe it off!"

Although it was true that they had come to attack the Western Qiang, Yuan Shao did not want to be associated with such an obvious frame-up, especially one using such low-handed tactics.

But Duan Yu stopped Yuan Shao.

"Benchu, wait." Duan Yu shook his head.

Yuan Shao looked at Duan Yu in confusion: "Ziyi, although we are here to attack them, the person who did this clearly has ill intentions."

"He is trying to splash dirty water on you."

Duan Yu didn't say a word.

Splashing dirty water?

Although Duan Yu didn't know who this person was yet. ===== CHAPTER 515 =====