Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

As the lone bald horse team stumbled down the last ridge, a gleaming silver chasm suddenly opened before their eyes. Turbid water, swirling with ice, rushed down from the snow-capped mountains. The roar of the Yarlung Zangbo River stung his eardrums, and the treasure chests on the yaks' backs clanged in the violent jolt. The great wizard's dying roar exploded in his mind—"Yarlung Zangbo... the evil spirit of Zhangzhung..." On the other side, through the mist, the shadow of the city-state loomed faintly.

As the lone cavalry stumbled to the riverbank, the Yarlung Zangbo River, carrying melted ice from the snow-capped mountains, surged past. The roar of the turbid waves crashing against the riverbank was ear-piercing. "Chief! There are no boats on this river!" The guards gazed at the vast expanse of the river, their voices filled with despair. "The other side is the Zhangzhung Kingdom, but because of this natural barrier, the two countries have never had any contact. Where would we get a boat to cross the river?"

Gu Tu stared at the roiling river, the Han treasures clutched in his hands hurting his palms. He suddenly turned around and knelt down in front of Ma Chao's horse: "General Shenwei, spare my life! As long as you are willing to spare my life, I will give you all these treasures! I am willing to lead my troops to surrender and never rebel again!"

Ma Chao looked down coldly, the blood stains on his silver armor glowing dark red in the setting sun: "When you led your people to burn, kill and plunder, did you ever think of sparing lives? Two hundred thousand women and children died tragically, and you escaped with the treasure. Do you still dream of surviving today?"

Gu Tu's face was completely drained of blood, but he still struggled to defend himself: "General, you slaughtered 200,000 of my Di people. Isn't that cruel and ruthless? We were just trying to survive!"

"Fighting violence with violence is the only way to achieve peace!" Jia Xu stepped forward, waving a black feather fan. "You Di people are fickle, surrendering and then rebelling again. If you don't thoroughly settle the score, there will never be peace on the grassland!"

Knowing it was futile to beg for mercy, Gu Tu suddenly stood up and roared, "Okay! Ma Chao, even if I become a ghost today, I will not let you go!" Before he could finish his words, the long spears of the Xiliang army were already piercing like a forest. At Ma Chao's command, crossbows burst through the air, and Gu Tu's remaining troops were instantly engulfed in a hail of arrows.

Gu Tu's personal guards formed an iron wall with their yak bone shields, their rotting leather cords snapping under the hail of arrows. Their leader, Mu Chi, wielded a chipped bronze axe, its blade still etched with fragments of Xiliang army armor. He roared and kicked aside the arrow-wounded tribesman beside him: "Push those treasure chests to fill the river! Build a pontoon bridge!" Before he could finish his words, Xu Huang's Xuanhua axe had split open his skull, sending brain matter mixed with gold dust splattering across his tribesman's face.

"Chief, move on!" The old chief, Dama, tore off the amber beads from his neck and threw the scalding oil sac at the approaching Xiliang cavalry. In the blazing flames, his withered body turned into a fiery figure, yet he clung to his warhorse's hind legs until he was crushed to charcoal by the iron hooves.

Gu Tu trembled on horseback, the jade disk in his arms rubbing against his ribs. He watched his trusted leaders struggle like trapped animals—the young Sang Ji threw a golden crown at Ma Chao, only to be pierced through the palm by a spear; Batu, in charge of the ordnance, ignited the last half of the sulfur cart, the blast knocking over three horses and reducing himself to a charred figure in the sea of ​​fire.

Gu Tu suddenly jumped up and pulled out a dagger from under the body of his personal guard, but saw Ma Chao's spear, like a venomous snake, pressed against his throat in an instant. "Let me go!" Gu Tu twisted and screamed, "You Han people will not be in trouble..."

A flash of cold light, and his left ear fell to the sand. Ma Chao dragged him by his hair, passing corpses scattered along the path: some impaled on treasure chests by spears, others with necks twisted at strange angles. Bloodstained prayer flags wrapped around broken bone flutes fluttered in the river breeze. As Gu Tu was slammed to the riverbank, he saw the last leader, impaled on the end of Dong Huang's spear, twitching like a fish out of water.

Amid the turbulent waves of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the outline of the Zhangzhung city-state on the opposite bank gradually became clear in the twilight. The sound of bronze horns pierced the air, and rows of soldiers clad in ochre-red felt and crowned with skulls formed up along the riverbank. Yak bone shields shone coldly in the setting sun. The soldiers wore dried human ear ornaments dangling from their waists, and their rusty iron spears, polished to a shine, formed an eerie scene against the scattered Di corpses on the ground.

"General, the Zhangzhung people are moving." Jia Xu lightly tapped the surface of the river with his black feather fan, and his wide golden sleeves were lifted by the river breeze. Ma Chao looked at the ferocious roc totem on the flag on the opposite bank, and frowned slightly under his silver armor: "Is this the Zhangzhung royal court that the high priest mentioned?"

"It's rumored that Zhangzhung was established hundreds of years ago, using Bon religion to rule the people." Jia Xu lowered his voice, his eyes sweeping over the shamans burning incense and dancing before the battle. "The nobles treated slaves like livestock, using them as private soldiers during wartime. The area is cold and oxygen-deficient, and people from the Central Plains experience shortness of breath and chest tightness when they reach the plateau..."

"They are just some half-naked savages!" Xu Huang snorted coldly, and slammed his Xuanhua axe down hard, splashing blood and mud. "Look at their armor, it's as tattered as fishing nets, and their weapons are so rusty that you can scrape off the rust. Why are you afraid of them?"

Jia Xu shook his head, pointing his feather fan at the Xiangxiong army forming their battle formations: "General Xu, don't forget that the Di people were also regarded as a mob in the battle of Qingshi Gorge." He looked at the human-skin drums waving in the hands of the wizards, his tone becoming more serious. "Besides, Xiangxiong's witchcraft is treacherous, and the local miasma (actually altitude sickness) and severe cold are both sharp blades. If we really have to cross the river to fight, our army will not be able to adapt to the climate and water, and we may suffer losses before the battle even begins."

Ma Chao reined in his horse and stood by the river, watching the flames of the Zhangzhung army's battle array on the opposite bank flicker on the surface. The waves of the Yarlung Zangbo River crashed against the rocks on the shore, making a deafening roar. "Although the river is dangerous, if we don't establish our authority, we may face future troubles." His voice was shrouded in chill, and he turned to look at Jia Xu, "Pass the order down, and bring all the prisoners to the river."

In the twilight, Di captives were dragged to the beach by chains. Amidst the wailing cries, the swords of the Xiliang army gleamed, and heads tumbled onto the sand. Blood seeped into the riverbank gravel, mixing with the water in a dark red stream. Soon, a mausoleum made of skulls rose on the riverbank. Crows, drawn to the scent, circled in the blood-filled sky.

The lone tu was forced to his knees before the Jingguan. The Di leader, as burly as a wild boar, watched the heads of his guards and subordinates piled high, and fear finally showed in his eyes. "General, spare my life! I wish..." His plea was cut short by Ma Chao's sneer.

"Spare you?" Ma Chao stepped forward slowly, his silver armor gleaming coldly amidst the blood. "The children of Qingshi Gorge, the women and children at the altar, did they ever even hope for survival?" Before he could finish his words, a flash of cold light suddenly appeared, and several spears simultaneously pierced Gu Tu's body. Amidst screams, Gu Tu was riddled with spears, his body riddled with blood and flesh, leaving only a bloody head that rolled to the ground.

"Wash this head and send it to the Western Qiang King, Cheliji." Ma Chao lifted Gutu's head with his spear, his black cloak rustling in the river breeze. "Say this is the fate of a traitor. Tell him to inform the Jie tribe that if they don't surrender, this boar-like head will serve as a warning to them!"

The setting sun dyed the Yarlung Zangbo River into a boiling sea of ​​blood. Blood dripped from the peak of the Jingguan, flowing through the hollow eye sockets of the skull into the river, stirring tiny ripples. From the Zhangzhung army on the opposite bank, cries of surprise rose one after another. Nobles wearing golden masks brandished whips to lash the agitated soldiers. Wizards frantically rang bronze bells in an attempt to steady their position. The rapid thud of human-skin drums mingled with the roar of the river, shaking the very air.

"Erect the monument!" Ma Chao's voice drowned out the clamor, and the blood scabs on his silver armor fell off with his movements. After much effort, the soldiers mined the stone from a distant source, and a single huge stone was painstakingly transported here. A stonemason carved vigorous official script on it:

The Great Han Dynasty Monument

In the first year of the Han Dynasty's Jian'an era (Cao Cao welcomed Liu Xie to the throne and changed the era name to Jian'an, as the book's description differs from the historical Jian'an year), the Di people, a small tribe, were treacherous and ambitious. They had sworn an alliance with the Han court, but their ties to the Han Dynasty were fickle. Whenever they saw the border defenses slacken, they would invade the south, encroaching on the fertile land of Longxi. They burned, murdered, looted, and committed all sorts of atrocities, slaughtering Han civilians, raping women and children, abducting men, and burning villages. Nine out of ten homes in Longyou were left empty-handed, and the people were filled with grief and tears of blood that stretched for thousands of miles.

Fortunately, the great Han King of Liang, the mighty General Ma Chao, guided by divine authority, led the Western Liang cavalry in a thundering attack. Pursuing the fugitives northward, they swept across the Qiang wilderness. On the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River, they annihilated 200,000 Di people. The ringleader, Gu Tu, who had abandoned his people and fled, was also captured alive and his head displayed for public display. A Jingguan was built to warn wolves, and a monument was erected to demonstrate Heaven's punishment.

I now declare to the world: All nations in foreign lands, know that the Mandate of Heaven rests with you. The majesty of the Supreme Being must not be violated, and the covenants of alliance must not be broken. If you dare to emulate the Di people, covet Han territory, and rashly resort to war, you will be punished by Heaven. Wherever Heaven's troops arrive, all will be destroyed, and the calamity of genocide will be a warning to you.

Established in the first year of Jian'an

Each word carved into the stele struck like a hammer against the hearts of the Zhangzhung people on the other side. Xu Huang swung his Xuanhua axe to split the last boulder. The moment the stele rose with a thunderous thud, the Zhangzhung army on the other side suddenly fell silent. Ma Chao spurred his horse forward, piercing the sand beside the stele with his tiger-headed golden spear. "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts! Today's Di people are proof of this!" His voice, carried by the river breeze to the other side, startled a flock of vultures.

Jia Xu waved his black feather fan and pointed his golden sleeves at the trembling Zhangzhung soldiers on the other side: "Let them see clearly that this river is not only a natural barrier, but also a sharp knife hanging over their necks." Before he finished speaking, the Xiliang soldiers threw torches at the Jingguan. A blazing flame soared into the sky, illuminating the inscriptions a crimson and the pale faces of the Zhangzhung nobles.

As the night wind whistled, Ma Chao's black cloak swept across the bloodstains on the stele: "Pass the order down, if any Zhangzhung people dare to set foot on the river bank within three days, they will be killed without mercy!" A suppressed commotion came from the other side of the river. The Zhangzhung army began to slowly withdraw. The retreat song blown by the bronze horns was particularly harsh on the river filled with the smell of blood.

The smoke of gunpowder cleared from the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River, leaving only scorched earth and bones in the Di territory once shrouded in curling smoke. Withered bones shimmered pale in the blowing sand, tattered prayer flags entangled rusted weapons, and even the circling vultures abandoned this blood-soaked land. Ma Chao reined in his horse, looking back, and fiercely plunged his blood-stained banner into the desert sand. His dark cloak fluttered in the strong wind—the Di tribe of yesteryear, forever wiped from the map.

Three days later, inside the Longxi County government office, Ma Chao thrust a bronze tiger talisman toward the emissary of Cheliji, King of the Western Qiang. "The Jie people are in rebellion, and we've sent Dong Huang with 5,000 elite soldiers to assist." His gaze swept over the emissary's trembling fingertips. He suddenly snatched up the sheepskin map on the table and heavily traced the Di territory with a cinnabar pen. "I'll tell you, Your Majesty, this land is now nothing but ruins. If the Qiang are willing to move, they can occupy it. It's better than letting jackals and wolves target them."

As the envoy left the palace, he encountered Xu Huang escorting the final batch of Di treasures into the city. Gilded wine vessels and jade-inlaid armor blinded the eyes in the blazing sun. The escorting Xiliang cavalrymen wore dried Di earrings dangling from their waists. That night, swift horses galloped toward the Western Qiang royal court. The clatter of their hooves startled crows, which cast ominous black shadows in the sky.