382 Conques (1/2)
As the blasts from the Dragon King's horn traveled to their camp, the entire body of soldiers from the Great Snowmountain cast their chores aside and came running towards the source of the blasts regardless of where they were.
No matter how many days they had been resting for or how much tender loving care they received from the local women, they became warriors again at this moment.
The blasts grew increasingly urgent; the Dragon King seemed to be faced with a formidable foe.
Tuo Nengya did not have a horn of his own, but it was his suggestion for all the swordsmen to blow on their horns at the same time, as a reply to the Dragon King.
The conquest of the Land of Fragrance turned out to be unexpectedly successful, at least at first glance.
The nine remaining tribal chiefs had already respectfully surrendered to the Dragon King when the soldiers were still a significant distance away from the altar. Everyone of the locals, regardless of class, was willing to accept the Dragon King's rule. Generations of obedience training allowed them to switch back to a monarchy very easily.
All of a sudden, the population of the Great Snowmountain grew by tens of thousands of people. There was an intense debate on how the 'new citizens' should be treated.
That night, Gu Shenwei sent out a small force to garrison the capital. They went around searching and tallying the number of people in the city, as well as guarding against any probable ambush and selecting a suitable location to station all the troops.
It was the first time the army of the Great Snowmountain had ever conquered a country, and even if the Land of Fragance did not have any armed forces, its population and wealth were significant.
The machetemen under Tuo Nengya were loyal to the Dragon King, but it did not affect their love for money. It was one of the reasons why they had kept striving till now. Therefore, they naturally thought of the entire population of the Land of Fragrance as their captives and felt that they should be distributed evenly to each soldier as the valuable items and money were.
The machetemen, very prudently, did not bring their request up immediately. Instead, they took turns inculcating the values of dividing the spoils of war to the 'unenlightened' swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain and the conscripted savages.
”Every army behaves in the same way. Even larger bandit gangs also have similar practices.”
”Indeed, we were not part of the actual conquest; the Dragon King conquered the entire country nearly by himself. However, we've fought in many battles and many of our friends are dead. Even those of us who survived are covered in wounds now. Furthermore, we've always stayed by the Dragon King's side and provided him with unwavering loyalty. Shouldn't we receive some rewards?”
”As long as the Golden Roc Fort still stands, we'll have to leave this paradise to fight again sooner or later. We should enjoy ourselves here while it lasts, who knows how many of us will die in the next battle?”
...
After experiencing the hardships of battle and their expedition, the swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain had fell for the beauty of the local women and were thus immediately convinced. Furthermore, it was part of their tradition for the winner to take all the spoils.
Only the conscripted savages who reported directly to the Dragon King were unmoved. Basically, they could not grasp the concepts of slavery and wealth, and thus answered each person who tried to coax them with the same words, ”Ask the Dragon King.”
The prayers of the majority of the soldiers were answered. The chiefs and Tuo Nengya came to visit the Dragon King together, asking him about the issue of dividing the spoils of conquest.
”We used to be their guests and acted accordingly. However, they attacked you, Dragon King. Now that we're enemies, we shouldn't stand on ceremony,” said Long Xiaoshi, the chief of Danduo Peak. He was the first to speak and his thoughts were exactly similar to the other swordsmen. ”If it were up to me, I would conscript all of the able-bodied men and divide them up into the various tribes. The old and feeble can stay and be left to survive on their own. As for the women, why don't we give a few of them to each soldier. If we manage to produce a bunch of babies, the population of the Great Snowmountain would boom again.”
Everyone in the main tent roared with laughter. Even though the swordsmen were unsophisticated, they somewhat despised women. Earlier on, during the civil war between the five peaks, incidents of snatching and raping the women folk of their enemies were common.
As usual, the Dragon King did not voice his opinion immediately. Instead, he let everyone speak their mind first.
The other chiefs were of nearly similar thought to Long Xiaoshi. Only Long Fanyun, the young chief of Canopy Peak, disagreed. ”Let the women remain behind. We're an army after all, how can we fight with them accompanying us?”
”You're probably afraid that your wife back home would be unhappy, Fanyun. Don't worry, we'll keep your secret safe with us,” Long Xiaoshi replied, blinking his only good eye. His statement sparked off another round of uproarious laughter.
The army of the Great Snowmountain had not been in such a jovial atmosphere for a very long while.
Gu Shenwei hoped that Tuo Nengya would offer a different perspective, but he was a machete man after all. ”The Land of Fragrance is a gift from the heavens to the Great Snowmountain. We'll never find another country that is so easy to conquer. If we don't take it, the Supreme King will be sure to send his people over once news reaches him.”
Gu Shenwei had much to say, but could not find the right words all of a sudden. As such, he requested for everyone to return to their tents and said that he would give them an answer the next morning.
They were surprised at his indecision but still followed his orders. All of them went back and informed the soldiers under their command to wait patiently for the Dragon King's decision.
Gu Shenwei had many tasks to do, but the most pressing issue was that both Shangguan Ru and Maid Lotus were still not completely conscious.
The five women who were nearly burnt alive were still in a state of partial unconsciousness. They could eat, walk, sit and sleep, but had to be attended to for everything they did. Once their servants left, they were no different from zombies; they had no reaction to other people and objects.
The remaining nine tribal chiefs of the Land of Fragrance were kept as hostages in the Great Snowmountain's military camp. They were also surprised at the condition of the five women. One of them, who knew Central Plains Chinese, said carefully to the Dragon King, ”They should have recovered by now. Have they not taken the antidote to the Indra fragrance?”