"Did you catch them all?"
Shen Tang wiped the remaining crimson from her sword with a handkerchief.
The extinguished campfire was lit again.
But this time, it was "hope" that had been kindled.
Xu Quan reported, "My lord, all the criminals have been captured. We have seventy-nine alive; the rest were executed."
These horse bandits were relatives of people from neighboring tribes.
They were all connected by marriage or blood, and pretty good at sticking together.
Still, Xu Quan hadn't insisted on taking them alive. He captured those he could and killed the rest on the spot. Dragging their corpses back counted as an explanation, too. He feared nothing—except his lord writing to his cousin to complain about him.
"Only seventy-nine alive?"
Xu Quan immediately pulled a long face.
Capturing people alive was much more troublesome than killing them.
These horse bandits were fierce and savage, and Xu Quan had gone to no small effort to keep them under control. That included, but wasn't limited to, breaking their hands and feet and dislocating their jaws to keep them from biting off their tongues and killing themselves... Seeing how pitiful he looked, Shen Tang swallowed the words she'd been about to say.
She left the horse bandits in Xu Quan's hands.
Then she headed toward the group of women.
Most of them were too stunned to move. On top of that, the night was pitch-black, and they hadn't seen what had happened. They only knew that someone had started fighting, then everything had quickly gone quiet again. Before long, they heard footsteps drawing near. The woman at the edge tried to hide herself in the crowd, her expression taut, silent pleas and fear written in her dark eyes.
Before long, quiet sobbing began to rise.
Then an unfamiliar, clear voice sounded