Chapter - 491 Descending From the Sky (12) (2/2)
Guo Jing left his seat and bowed in front of the Khan. ”I do have a favor to ask; Great Khan, please do not get angry,” he said.
Genghis Khan laughed, ”Just say it,” he said.
Guo Jing was about to talk about the betrothal when suddenly he heard a heart-rending, earth-shaking cry of thousands of people from a distance. The assembled generals leaped up from their seats, unsheathing their weapons. They thought the surrendered Khoresm soldiers and people suddenly staged a rebellion; they were ready to dash out and suppress it. Genghis Khan laughed. ”It's all right! It's all right!” he said, ”This dog city refuses to subdue under the Heaven's power, had killed many of my officers and soldiers, it even killed my beloved grandson; it has to be cleansed by slaughter. Let us go and take a look.” He left his seat immediately followed by the generals.
They left the palace on horseback heading toward the western part of the city. The nearer they got, the more miserable the cry became. Just outside the city gate they saw hundreds of thousands common people running around wailing loudly, they pushed and rolled and threw themselves down in panic, with Mongolian soldiers on horseback chasing them, killing the people with long sabers.
Earlier the Mongolian soldiers ordered all the inhabitants to go out of the city, nobody was left behind. At the beginning the people thought the Mongolians were going to search for spies among them; who would have thought that after searching for weapons, they also searched for all kinds of valuables; then they took all good looking young women, married or not, tied them together with long ropes. Samarkhand's residents now realized that they were facing a grave danger. Some people showed resistance, but they were killed immediately with long sabers. Finally several thousands of Mongolian soldiers with loud battle cries charged toward these people, and went on a killing spree with their long sabers. Male or female, young or old, they were randomly chopped down. This massacre was truly with unprecedented brutality; from white or gray haired old men and women, to babies on their mothers' arms, nobody could escape by luck.
When Genghis Khan and his entourage arrived to watch; more than ten thousands people had already fallen victim to the soldiers' brutality; flesh and blood splattered to all directions, the Mongolian horses' iron horseshoes tread on corpses everywhere; going back and forth among the people and kill some more.
Genghis Khan laughed big and called out, ”Kill well! Kill well! Let them know my fierceness.”
After watching for a short moment, Guo Jing could not endure patiently, he dashed to the front of Genghis Khan's horse and called out, ”Great Khan, please spare their lives.”
Genghis Khan waved his hand, shouted loudly, ”Kill them all, don't leave anybody standing.”
Guo Jing did not dare to say anything, but then he saw a boy about seven, eight years old, dash out from the crowd and threw himself down at a woman who was just knocked down by a horse, calling out, ”Mama!” A Mongolian soldier dashed in and swung his long saber, mother and son were chopped into four parts. The child's hands were still clutching tightly to his mother.
Guo Jing's blood boiled; he forgot everything and called out, ”Great Khan, you said that this city's women and children, along with all gold and silk are mine; why did you give your order to massacre them?”
Genghis Khan was startled; he smiled, ”You said you didn't want it.”
”You said that whatever I ask you, you will not deny it, didn't you?” Guo Jing asked.
Genghis Khan nodded, still smiling.
With a loud voice Guo Jing said, ”The Great Khan's words are like a mountain; I am asking you to spare this tens of thousands lives.”
Genghis Khan was greatly astounded, not in his wildest dream would he guess Guo Jing would ask him this; but he had already given his promise, how could he refuse? He was enraged, his eyes blazing with fire looking at Guo Jing. His hand squeezed his saber's hilt, he roared, ”Kid, you really want this?”