Yuan Shao cursed him incessantly. As the Execution Ground drew closer and closer, the terror in his heart grew ever stronger. "Stop!" he shouted fiercely. "I told you to stop!"
He dared not go there. He refused to face it.
But he was destined to rage helplessly.
The prisoner cart passed through the crowd and entered the Execution Ground.
Inside the Execution Ground.
Row after row of tightly bound Yuan Clan members knelt in the heavy snow. Men and women, old and young-over a thousand of them, packed together!
A saber-wielding soldier stood beside each of them.
Cries filled the entire Execution Ground.
When they saw Yuan Shao arrive, their cries grew louder.
"Master! Save us!"
"Great-Uncle, I don't want to die!"
"Yuan Shao, you rebel who deserves to be struck by Heaven's thunder! You've doomed our entire Yuan Clan! May you die a wretched death!"
"Xianyi! My nephew, save us!"
"Mercy, Your Majesty! Yuan Shao was the one who rebelled! We had nothing to do with it!"
Pleas for mercy, furious curses, and sobbing.
They filled Yuan Shao's ears.
Yuan Shao's face turned deathly pale, and his whole body began to tremble. He stared at the scene before him in disbelief, feeling as though he were dreaming.
Liu Xie... truly intended to exterminate his Yuan Clan?!
Yuan Xi jumped down from the carriage and knelt toward the High Platform standing within the Execution Ground. "Reporting to Your Majesty!" he said in a solemn voice. "The rebel Yuan Shao has been brought here!"
Atop the High Platform, beneath the canopy.
Liu Xie rested his cheek on one hand. His indifferent gaze passed through the curtain of beads on the Son of Heaven's Crown and fell upon the stupefied Yuan Shao below.
"Duke Wen, proceed with the execution."
Lü Bu