The Demon Lords-Chapter 772 - 169: King of the Wild People_3

Some contents of imperial edicts were to be kept secret, but some were not.

Therefore, due to the deliberate disclosure by the eunuch who announced the Imperial Edict, the soldiers of Lord Jingnan's army inside and outside Xinsu City soon began to cheer spontaneously.

Shouts of "Prince Jingnan!" echoed through the night sky.

Sitting in the prison cart, A'lai, with a touch of melancholy, leaned his head against the iron bars.

That Southern Marquis of Yan… he's been made a king? Is it because of this great victory that he was ennobled? Did he build his crown upon the bones of over a hundred thousand wild people?

A'lai couldn't bring himself to hate. He was already somewhat numb. At the same time, he knew that, like him, the tens of thousands of Chu people in Jade Plate City were just as numb.

When crossing the river near Jade Plate City, A'lai had seen from afar that a new wall was being built outside the city. The Yan people planned to trap the Chu people inside the city and starve them to death.

Perhaps the Chu people inside Jade Plate City hoped to grit their teeth and hold on until spring, until the Wang River thawed, waiting for their navy to rescue them.

But would the Yan people not have foreseen this?

A'lai lowered his head. He wanted to raise his hand to pull his hair back, but because of the shackles on his wrists, he couldn't lift it at first. A'lai simply knelt on the ground so his hands could reach the hair at the nape of his neck and then scratch an itch.

"Hey, look at him. He's like a dog now," a Yan Army soldier guarding the prison cart chuckled.

A'lai understood the Xia language. Hearing this, he turned his head to look at the Yan soldier. The Yan soldier was also looking at him, a slight smirk on his lips.

A'lai laughed. Then, facing the soldier, he barked, "WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!"

「 」

Construction work at Snow Sea Pass had begun. Over twenty thousand wild people captives couldn't just be fed for free, even if what they were given barely passed for human food. But even for this pig slop, they had to fight.

The Shengle Army had a tradition of treating prisoners of war well, but that was purposeful: they aimed to recruit those prisoners. As for these wild people, since there was no intention of recruiting them, they were naturally not treated as humans.

These wild people had once wielded blades and ridden horses, living freely and fiercely; they had no one but themselves to blame for their current plight. What comes around, goes around.

Stakes were erected, upon which hung recaptured escapees. They had been left to die of thirst and sunstroke, their bodies severely dehydrated. During the day, birds of prey would come to peck at them. This was the most primitive and straightforward warning.

When evening meals were distributed, the Shengle Army soldiers would indeed bring buckets and scatter the food into the crowd like slop for pigs, watching these wild people scramble and tear at each other for scraps as if it were a highly amusing spectacle.

Simultaneously, a detachment of soldiers would run drills here every day, doing nothing but observe the wretched state of these wild people. These observers included many new recruits—former Jin people slaves rescued from Shengle City—as well as established units of veteran soldiers.

A tradition of the Shengle Army was that ideological and political indoctrination must never be neglected; even if their chief ideologue was absent, it had to be vigorously pursued.

The leading captain would loudly tell them, "If we had been defeated, they would have shown us no mercy! Our fate would have been many times more miserable than theirs!"

This was a brutal era.

Even if General Zheng had originally wanted to live a peaceful life as a humble innkeeper, he had nearly been thrown into a conscript laborer camp as bait. If it hadn't been for Liang Cheng and Xue Three by his side, General Zheng's flesh and blood would likely have long since nourished a patch of lush pasture.

Therefore, this era was not suitable for pure souls.

Even among the states of Zhuxia, when true conflict erupted, there was absolutely no mercy shown. The Chu navy hadn't hesitated when they indiscriminately shot Yan Army soldiers floundering in the Wang River because they were poor swimmers. Likewise, Lord Jingnan showed not a shred of compassion in his plan to trap tens of thousands of Chu army soldiers in Jade Plate City until they resorted to cannibalism.

If this was how they treated their nominal 'brother states' within Zhuxia, their handling of these foreign races, those not part of the Zhuxia confederation, was naturally even more direct and thorough. The Earl of North Border's estate in Beifeng Prefecture frequently dispatched troops to annihilate various barbarian tribes. That a madman like Li Fusheng could hold the position of General was a concrete manifestation of this national policy.

Even the Literary Sage Yao Zizhan, during his most 'ethereal' and 'detached from worldly affairs' period, never naively penned poems about 'world peace and the cessation of war'.

Every day, numerous wild people captives died on the construction site; every day, progress on the construction site was visibly apparent.

It could be said that Snow Sea Pass and the chain of beacon towers and forts along its line were soaked in the blood and tears of the wild people.

General Zheng would also ride out from time to time to inspect the progress, as he really had little else to occupy him.

Back home, Ke's health had improved somewhat. Her figure quickly regained its former lusciousness. Her every smile and frown, along with the words she had once proactively spoken about offering herself to him, made it quite difficult for General Zheng to restrain himself.

So, sometimes, a man really shouldn't be too clear-headed. If he had drunk a bit more back then, he might have just taken her, and then he wouldn't have this psychological burden now.