"You can't do this! Stop right now!"
"I swear I'll kill you!"
The captive Qiang nobles reacted fiercely when they heard Zhang He's plan, hurling abuse at him like madmen.
The Qiang had a deeply rooted sense of ethnic identity.
Even the Eldest Prince fought back his fear and cursed, "How dare you do this! Aren't you afraid of bringing our people's frenzied retaliation down on your Han State?"
"You're provoking a war!"
What Zhang He intended would condemn the entire Qiang people to death and drive them into a dead end. It was even more terrifying than killing them!
From then on, neither side would rest until the other was dead!
But the Mo Dao Army soldiers were all tremendously excited by the plan. The Han people had no affection for the Qiang and would have liked nothing better than to wipe them out to the last person.
How could what Zhang He was doing be called merely breaking the Qiang's backbone?
He was scattering their ashes to the winds!
When the deputy general recovered his wits, he said excitedly, "General, I'll take the men and get started at once!"
With that, amid the Qiang captives' frantic curses, pleas, and despairing gazes, he led the Mo Dao Army soldiers away.
After laying out the plan, Zhang He first had the surviving civilians in the Royal Court gathered together and sent them ahead to Ye City with the Qiang prisoners.
After all, there were still quite a few Han civilians in the Royal Court. The civilians traveled slowly and had to leave first, or Ma Chao and the Qiang armies might catch up with them after receiving word.
He led the remaining Mo Dao Army troops to carry out the Extirpation Plan.
Burn the land and poison the water