Ch.286Fury of the Plains (1)

“Run!”

Mongol soldiers appeared.

At their arrival, people in the cities near Lin’an screamed in terror.

“R-run away!”

“It’s the Mongol army!”

“Show no mercy!”

Since even the Song Dynasty capital of Lin’an lacked sufficient troops, nearby cities had too few soldiers to defend against the Mongol offensive.

As a result, ordinary civilians began to die.

“Aaaagh!”

“Guhk!”

As they died helplessly, the Song people raised their hands and begged for surrender.

“P-please spare us!”

“Just spare our lives!”

The Mongol soldiers accepted their surrender.

Then they bound them and herded them into a corner.

Most of those gathered were men capable of bearing arms.

The Mongol soldiers handed them shovels.

“Dig the ground!”

“Dig or we’ll kill you!”

Threatened by the Mongols, the Song people began digging to save their lives.

Those without shovels used their hands to dig into the earth.

“I-I’m digging.”

“I-I’ve finished. Now p-please spare me.”

The pit dug by several hundred people was enormous.

Because of its size, mounds of excavated soil piled up around it.

Seeing this, a Mongol soldier handed shovels to people who hadn’t yet dug.

“Fill it in.”

“W-what?”

When the Song person hesitated, the Mongol soldier kicked him straight into the pit.

The man fell onto the people below and disappeared.

“Next.”

At the Mongol soldier’s command, another Song person was dragged forward.

Trembling violently, he spoke.

“P-please spare me.”

“Fill the pit with your shovel.”

“If I do, w-will you spare me?”

The Mongol soldier didn’t answer.

Instead, he positioned himself to push the man’s back.

Seeing this, the man grabbed the shovel and frantically began filling the pit.

“Ptui! Ptui!”

“W-what are you doing! If you just throw dirt on us, we’ll all die!”

The Song people in the pit cried out in anguish.

But the man continued shoveling desperately.

“I have to survive somehow…!”

The Mongol soldier smiled with satisfaction at this sight.

Then he looked at the remaining Song civilians around him.

“Follow his example.”

At his command, the civilians began filling the pit to save themselves.

The people in the pit struggled desperately to survive.

“We need to get out now!”

“Let go! I’m getting out first!”

Some people were stepping on others’ heads to climb up.

It was hell on earth, a scene of utter chaos.

A living hell where people bit and clawed at each other.

But everyone’s desire to live was strong.

They grabbed the legs of the man who had climbed to the front, trying to follow him up.

“I want to live too!”

“I don’t want to die!”

When one person climbed up, others pulled him down.

Then someone else climbed on top.

This hellish scene repeated itself in reality.

Everyone fought desperately to survive.

But what they overlooked was that soil was piling up above their heads faster than they could climb.

“S-stop! Please!”

“C-can’t breathe…”

They grabbed the feet of those shoveling dirt and screamed.

But with Mongol soldiers holding swords at their backs, those shoveling couldn’t stop.

So they squeezed their eyes shut and chopped off the hands with their shovels.

“Aaaagh!”

“M-my hand!”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“I have to survive.”

When all the soil had been returned to its place,

only the hand of someone who had fought to the end still twitched on top of the mound.

“Haa… haa…”

“Haa…”

The people who had thrown dirt on others to save themselves stared blankly at where the pit had been.

“W-what have I done…”

“W-what is… this…”

The Song people looked around in a daze.

Everyone around them wore the same expression as they looked at each other.

Their eyes held complicated emotions.

As if denying reality with looks that said, “I didn’t do this.”

While they were still in shock, suddenly a terrible sound rang out.

“Aaaagh!”

“Guhk!”

The Mongol soldiers waiting above the Song civilians plunged swords into their hearts.

They collapsed like puppets with cut strings.

“Have you confirmed they’re all dead?”

“Yes, confirmed.”

“Good.”

The centurion nodded and mounted his horse.

Behind him was a woman, bound hand and foot like livestock.

“Set fire to the entire village. Then spread salt around it so no life will ever take root in this land again. This is the stern command of Gurkhan.”

“Yes!”

The soldiers mounted their horses.

They galloped across beautiful fields where golden rice once grew.

As the horses passed, the fields were ruined by hoofprints, and the remaining weeds were completely consumed by flames.

The fire spread throughout the village.

This place was once a village with a blue river and beautiful sunsets.

But those sunsets were gone, replaced only by flames and the sounds of crows pecking at corpses.

“Sob… sob sob.”

“My homeland…”

The women dragged along on saddles wept as they watched their burning homeland.

Though they moved farther from the village, their eyes remained fixed on it.

* * *

I looked at the map.

Then I sighed deeply.

“Better for me to be cursed than for my son to be remembered as a butcher.”

In modern times, Genghis Khan was known by several names.

Lord of the Four Seas, the Great Conqueror, and the Butcher.

There were even studies claiming he delayed global warming by massacring 20 percent of the world’s population.

Of this 20 percent, the largest portion consisted of Song Dynasty people.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Song Dynasty was the first human civilization to reach a population of 100 million.

So naturally, they represented the largest share of the total population.

Moreover, they were using coal as fuel.

Therefore, the research suggesting that the Earth became healthier(?) with the disappearance of Song people wasn’t entirely exaggerated.

Anyway, apart from that, my reason for massacring Song people was simple.

Scorched earth tactics.

Literally destroying production facilities to inflict major damage on the enemy.

But in this era, there weren’t many production facilities, and most products came from people.

This was because human labor was equivalent to productivity.

For this reason, I had also used scorched earth tactics in Iran.

“But this is on an enormous scale.”

Iran was also a large land.

But its population was relatively small.

China was different.

The land was vast and densely populated.

Therefore, to efficiently kill them and reduce Song productivity, I had no choice but to use highly inhumane methods.

“History will remember me as a butcher. That’s fine.”

Mongolia’s attack on the Song and Jin Dynasties was inevitable.

So this one-sided massacre was bound to happen.

Therefore, it was better for me to take the disgrace.

That way, Temujin would face fewer restrictions when governing later.

While I was thinking this, Munglig approached.

After bowing, he began his report.

“Great Khan, we have scorched all cities near Lin’an.”

“Good work.”

I had used this method when attacking Xingqing, the Western Xia capital, Zhongdu, the Jin capital, and Qara-Ordo, the Western Liao capital.

One might ask if using the same method repeatedly would make it predictable to enemies.

But this tactic was unavoidable even if anticipated.

Because to prevent scorched earth tactics, the enemy would need to engage in field battles.

However, most Song soldiers were moving to attack Sichuan.

In other words, they couldn’t come out even as their surroundings were thoroughly ravaged by our forces.

“How do you plan to attack the Song capital of Lin’an?”

“I will subdue it with fire.”

“Fire… you say?”

The modern name for Lin’an is Hangzhou City.

During the Three Kingdoms period, it was part of Kuaiji, where Sun Quan had established himself.

With the Yangtze River nearby, it was a city close to water.

Munglig couldn’t help but look puzzled when I said I would use fire against such a city.

“Yes. I will burn the entire city with fire.”

The core reason for the scorched earth operation was to eliminate the Song Dynasty’s tremendous productivity.

Otherwise, even if we subdued them, they would likely rise again in rebellion.

So I intended to thoroughly destroy any elements that could allow people to gather.

Among such destructive methods, fire was visually the most effective.

It could instill fear in the enemy while also inflicting damage on civilians.

“Burn the city with fire and spread salt on the surrounding fields. And completely destroy the walls so they can never be used again.”

Munglig nodded at my words.

Then he looked at me and murmured softly.

“We will turn all lands south of the Yangtze into pastures.”

In the original history, the North China Plain was completely destroyed and turned into pastureland.

But in this world, the Mongols had driven out the Jin Dynasty and become masters of the North China Plain, so there was no need for that.

So instead of North China, the Jiangnan region would be scorched.

Tall buildings and magnificent pavilions would disappear, leaving only ashes.

And there, as if human hands had never touched it, horses would roam and graze.

“I permit it.”

At my command, Munglig led the Kheshig out of the ger.

As soon as he left, Elunka entered.

“Great Khan, the Mongol Pirates now control the entire Yangtze River.”

“Good. This means the main Song forces will attack Sichuan without knowing what’s happening in Lin’an.”

The Mongol Pirates had taken control of all waterways.

As a result, Lin’an was effectively cut off from any rescue.