“Listen up! We are from Luoyang and we have crushed every single tribe around. You are all alone. Throw down your weapons and come out with hands behind you and you’ll leave. If you don’t, my imperial army will crush you under their feet.”
Zhong Yu rode his horse till before the gate, his loud and clear voice reaching everyone. Yet it only worked to make them angry and thirst for Zhong Yu’s blood.
Since when could someone threaten these brave savages? They only listened to the strong, yet even then it wouldn’t be any easier.
Or the savage plains would’ve been crushed decades ago by the invaders, teaching them civilization and culture; the meaning of strength in numbers and discipline.
The tribes around here would be in the thousand people at best, or any larger and they’d be a mid-sized tribe. While those tiny ones under a hundred could get wiped out at any time.
These million savages were scattered across the plains, fighting over hunting grounds and slaughtering each other over petty reasons.
In this scenario an outsider came, bringing civilization. He came with new blood to show these philistines the meaning of kingdom, what a real city looked like and the benefits of centralized power.
To survive, the tribes united, yet it only drove their infighting for power and profit even harsher. At one point, they formed one large tribe after another. Making their population rise from a thousand to ten thousand by taking in hundreds of tribes to survive the invasion.
These uncouth and backward savages now understood the meaning of the city. This legendary settlement was made of countless rocks and mud, piled up dozens of meters high to defend against other tribes.
Safety was guaranteed inside for thousands of people. The tribe would hunt in the day and rest at night, to keep warm in winter.
Wasn’t that a tribe of ten thousand people? These tribes of thousands and hundreds used to not have the resources to build such a structure. All they cared about was hunting and surviving.
Only those few tribes in the tens of thousands could, by dispatching hundreds of men every day to build the walls and the foundation so that in thousands of years, they had one big city to house the alliance leader.
The warriors among the alliance army gathered for war were fortunate to see Alliance Leader’s city with their own eyes, its 50 meter tall walls.
Made entirely of rocks and impervious, something the local tribe craftsmen could never achieve with just beast skins and sharp objects. It kept thousands of people safe, a haven for humans to thrive and multiply, making it dozens of times larger than any tribe out there.
To say nothing of how common ranked men were in this place. This entire place belonged to Alliance Leader, reaching hundreds of thousand in population through decades of hard work.
‘Where did these strange people riding magical beasts come from? What’s Luoyang and since when was there a city forming around here?’ Such an army meant it had to be of more than ten thousand people, with dozens of second ranked people. ‘So why haven’t we heard of it?’
To be fair, the swift growth of this tribe would shock even the alliance. ‘He must be lying. I’d have known if such a tribe formed.’
Even with the alliance’s communications shabby and rare, each time a tribe of ten thousand formed, the Alliance Leader would send word to its allies it existed and avoid conflicts.
But by the looks of those riders and their excellent weaponry and armor, there was no way they came from a small tribe. Only a tribe in tens of thousand could create.
The chieftain was conflicted on the right course of action. Accept surrender or resist for a chance to survive for longer.
While he was unable to come to a decision, Zhong Yu had no mind to ask him again.
The silent and pondering look made Zhong Yu angry. ‘No one has dared slight me since I now lord over thousands of people.’
Then and there he made sure to make this guy pay for this even if surrendering, to let him see real power. He ordered the cavalry to attack.
Arrows fell like rain on the tribe with how the crossbow could fire ten bolts, one every three seconds.
After the 7th volley and 700 arrows peppering the tribe along with howling and wailing, dead bodies lay strewn everywhere. Of 150 warriors, only 50 remained standing since none of them knew the power of the crossbow.
Coming in front again, Zhong Yu restated his demands. The lucky chieftain survived and at the sight of so much death, his heart howled with grief and righteous furry.
But he knew the tribe suffered too much to win now. His people would die without even taking one enemy soldier down with them.
The chieftain relinquished the anger and snuffed out his hatred as he gathered the survivors and surrendered with hearts filled with fear.
Zhong Yu honored his word by making the chieftain and the rest join the service army. He reckoned he’d use them on the last two tribes. They’d fight while he would stand behind to stop them from running. This was how he’d deal with the rude chieftain.
The other two tribes were in the dark about him as well and Zhong Yu had no trouble dealing with them. Besides the 50 cannon fodder now laying dead, the rest of the killing came from the crossbows.
Against deserters, Zhong Yu had no mercy, especially those that crossed him.
