At one of the four gates of the Imperial Capital
Under the scorching heat and burdened by tedious work, several soldiers began chatting.
Soldier A: "Hey, hey, hey, did you hear?"
Soldier B: "Hear what? As guards, shouldn't we be patrolling seriously?"
Soldier C: "You can't say that. After all, if we don't know what's going on, the guard corps can't do its job properly either."
After some meaningless pleasantries, they finally got to the heart of the matter.
Soldier A: "I heard that after Lord Isaac Stamp was dismissed from the Justice Department, he earned General Budo's favor and became the commander guarding the Empire's northern border. He even obtained Imperial Arms and buried alive eight hundred thousand Northern Barbarians in this campaign."
Soldier A: "So many Northern Barbarians died that those left were only the elderly, women, and children. The northern border simply annexed them, and the Northern Barbarians have now been completely wiped out. Is this the power of the strongest Imperial Arms?"
Soldier B: "Gulp... So this is the strongest Imperial Arms? It really is powerful. Good thing it didn't fall into the hands of bad people."
Soldier C: "Shouldn't we be talking about the fact that eighty thousand barbarians were killed? Don't you think that's terrifying..." This was the normal reaction. After all, those were four hundred thousand—eight hundred thousand was merely a rumor—living lives, killed so easily. How could anyone not be awestruck?
It was like the Battle of Changping during the Warring States period. King Zhaoxiang of Qin ordered every male over fifteen in an entire commandery to enlist. Under Bai Qi's command, they surrounded and slaughtered the Zhao Army. As the Records of the Grand Historian recorded: "More than half of Qin's soldiers died, leaving the country empty." Though four hundred thousand