"Praise the Main God! The fleet has landed!..."
"Warriors, board the ships! Bring all the captives down!..."
The fighting along the shore gradually died away, and the long serpent of ships moored by the coast. The Wajin sailors went ashore in terror, while the Kingdom Warriors took control of the Kan-style ships. After a meticulously prepared encirclement, it was time to harvest the prey to their hearts' content.
"Step... step!"
"The Great Chieftain has ordered the cavalry to ride sixty li south along the river and keep watch on the southern riverbanks and mountain passes!"
"Awooo, awooo!"
"Hunters, take the dogs and search! Drag out every last one of the scattered bald Wajin fighters!..."
"Yes! The Great Spirit protects us!"
The blood-red afterglow scattered into the cold sea, and pitch-black night covered the Ezo wilderness. The sound of galloping horses and barking dogs lasted from night to day, and the Tribal Hunters' search continued for a full two days.
"Da-da-da!..."
By noon on the third day, Harman Chieftain Ali once again returned with twenty Jurchen cavalry, escorting the last seven or eight Warrior Monk captives. The traces of the fighting and fires from several days earlier had already completely dispersed from the camp. Beast-hide tents, large and small, had been erected again. Only the dark-red bloodstains soaked into the grass roots and soil, and the burial mounds piled outside the camp, still hinted at the cruelty and savagery of that battle.
"String these newly captured prisoners together with rope and tie them up tight! Tie the rope end to the branch, yes, just like those two hundred captives!..."
Beneath the great tree at the center of the camp, the bald Wajin captives either squatted or sat, huddled together in a mass. Ali counted briefly and came up with two hundred