Shengmasu was Heshima's confidant and, at the same time, could be considered Heshima's brother-in-law. Heshima intended to cultivate him, so he had long served as the commander of the Iron Bone Tribe's roaming cavalry Thousand-man squad. Though his rank was not high, every man under his command was an elite.
This time, Shengmasu had volunteered to take on the order to clear out the enemy's roaming cavalry. Heshima had even detached a Thousand-man squad from the elite troops he had brought and assigned it to him. Together with Shengmasu's original cavalry force, they numbered nearly two thousand men.
By all rights, nothing should have gone wrong. Yet not only had the troops under his command been wiped out, but Shengmasu himself had vanished as well. This left Heshima utterly enraged.
Heshima stared at the warrior who was supposedly one of the Iron Bone Tribe's roaming cavalry, hoping to get some useful information from him.
Yet this warrior, who had once belonged to the Iron Bone Tribe, now trembled like a frightened quail in Heshima's tent.
He did nothing but repeatedly mutter things like, "Don't kill me!"
Annoyed by his babbling, Heshima asked directly, "What are you saying? What exactly happened?"
But the terrified soldier only cowered. Other than those same few repeated phrases, he would not say another word.
Heshima gave a look to the guards who had long been waiting in the tent, and several of them immediately stepped forward and hauled the man up.
The leader of them shouted sternly at the terrified soldier, "The chieftain is asking you a question! Are you playing dead?"
Then he viciously slapped him several times. When the man still refused to speak, the guards continued to punch and kick him.
Seeing this, everyone present was terrified. The messengers responsible for bringing