Immediately she shook the sack and indeed somebody rolled out of it. His hair was disheveled, his face was full of blood; he was wearing a Khoresm army uniform. Guo Jing looked at his face intently, and to his awe, found out that he was the Great Jin’s Prince Zhao, Wanyan Honglie. Guo Jing was ecstatic, “Amazing! Where did you capture him?” he asked.
Huang Rong said, “I saw the defeated and dispersed soldiers were fleeing toward the north gate. A squad of soldiers bearing the Prince Zhao’s banner were heading east with someone wearing a golden helmet leading them. I thought this scoundrel Wanyan Honglie was slyer than that; in no way would he blatantly flaunt the Prince Zhao’s banner in time of defeat. I thought if his banner flew to the east, he must be running to the west; so I took Elder Lu and the others to prepare an ambush in the west. We did indeed capture this scoundrel immediately.”
Guo Jing bowed deeply to her, he said, “Rong’er, you have avenged my dear father for me. I really don’t know how to express my gratitude.”
Huang Rong pursed her lips and smiled, “It was just a coincidence. You have rendered this great service, the Great Khan will generously reward you. Won’t that be great?” she said.
“I don’t want anything,” Guo Jing said.
Huang Rong stepped to the side and whispered, “Come here.” Guo Jing followed. “You really don’t want anything in the world?” Huang Rong asked.
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Guo Jing was taken aback, “All I want is never to be separated from you anymore,” he earnestly said.
Huang Rong smiled. “Today you have rendered this great service. Whatever you ask, I believe the Great Khan won’t get angry at you.”
“Hmm,” Guo Jing still did not understand. Huang Rong continued, “Right this moment if you ask him to appoint you as some high ranking official, he won’t deny it. If you ask him not to appoint you, it will also be difficult for him to deny. Important thing is, you have to make him promise in advance. Whatever you ask, he has to grant it.”
“Right!” Guo Jing said.
Listening to his short reply ‘Right!’ without saying anything else, Huang Rong shook her head; she was mad. “Looks like becoming the Golden Blade Consort is the best thing that ever happened to you, isn’t it?”
Her words made Guo Jing understand, he called out, “Hmm, I understand. You want me to ask the Great Khan to cancel my marriage; but I have to make sure he promises in advance he won’t deny whatever I ask.”
Huang Rong was hurt, “It all depends on you. You probably do want to be the Consort?”
“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “Sister Huazheng treats me with nothing but sincerity, but my love to her is a brotherly love. At first I thought I was holding to my gentleman’s agreement, since I did not object to the marriage arrangement a long time ago. But if the Great Khan is willing to nullify the agreement, that would certainly satisfy all parties involved.”
Huang Rong was overjoyed; she cast a sidelong glance to him with the sweetest smile on her face.
Guo Jing wanted to stay and talk with her some more, but the horn was sounded for the second time from the palace. He placed his hand on hers and said, “Rong’er, wait for my good news here.” He dragged Wanyan Honglie inside the palace to see the Great Khan.
Genghis Khan was very delighted to see Guo Jing arrived; he left his throne to greet him, and then took his hand to enter the hall together. He ordered Guo Jing to take a stool covered with embroidery work and tell him to sit next to him. Listening to Guo Jing’s report on the capture of Wanyan Honglie he was even happier. Seeing Wanyan Honglie kneel down in front of him Genghis Khan lifted his right foot to tread on Wanyan Honglie’s head. Smiling broadly he said, “That day you came to Mongolia flaunting your military power and prestige, did you ever think that there will come a day like today?”
Wanyan Honglie knew his death was imminent, he raised his head boldly and said, “That time my Great Jin country was rich and powerful. I regret the fact that we did not extinguish your tiny Mongolia early on, rather than living to this day.”
Genghis Khan laughed a big laugh, ordering his guard to take Wanyan Honglie out and behead him in front of the palace. Guo Jing remembered his father’s death was finally avenged; his heart was filled with happiness and grief.
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Genghis Khan said, “I have promised that whoever breaks the city defense and capture Wanyan Honglie I will give this city’s women and children, with all its gold and silk. Go ahead and receive your rewards.”
Guo Jing shook his head, “My mother and I have enjoyed the Great Khan’s benevolence. We have enough food and clothing. I don’t have any use of slaves or gold and silk.”
“Good,” Genghis Khan said, “That was precisely the true quality of a hero. What then you do want?
All you have to do is ask, I will not deny anything.”
Guo Jing left his seat and bowed in front of the Khan. “I do have a favor to ask; Great Khan, please do not get angry,” he said.
Genghis Khan laughed, “Just say it,” he said.
Guo Jing was about to talk about the betrothal when suddenly he heard a heart-rending, earth-shaking cry of thousands of people from a distance. The assembled generals leaped up from their seats, unsheathing their weapons. They thought the surrendered Khoresm soldiers and people suddenly staged a rebellion; they were ready to dash out and suppress it. Genghis Khan laughed.
“It’s all right! It’s all right!” he said, “This dog city refuses to subdue under the Heaven’s power, had killed many of my officers and soldiers, it even killed my beloved grandson; it has to be cleansed by slaughter. Let us go and take a look.” He left his seat immediately followed by the generals.
They left the palace on horseback heading toward the western part of the city. The nearer they got, the more miserable the cry became. Just outside the city gate they saw hundreds of thousands common people running around wailing loudly, they pushed and rolled and threw themselves down in panic, with Mongolian soldiers on horseback chasing them, killing the people with long sabers.
Earlier the Mongolian soldiers ordered all the inhabitants to go out of the city, nobody was left behind. At the beginning the people thought the Mongolians were going to search for spies among them; who would have thought that after searching for weapons, they also searched for all kinds of valuables; then they took all good looking young women, married or not, tied them together with long ropes. Samarkhand’s residents now realized that they were facing a grave danger. Some people showed resistance, but they were killed immediately with long sabers. Finally several thousands of Mongolian soldiers with loud battle cries charged toward these people, and went on a killing spree with their long sabers. Male or female, young or old, they were randomly chopped down. This massacre was truly with unprecedented brutality; from white or gray haired old men and women, to babies on their mothers’ arms, nobody could escape by luck.
When Genghis Khan and his entourage arrived to watch; more than ten thousands people had already fallen victim to the soldiers’ brutality; flesh and blood splattered to all directions, the Mongolian horses’ iron horseshoes tread on corpses everywhere; going back and forth among the people and kill some more.
Genghis Khan laughed big and called out, “Kill well! Kill well! Let them know my fierceness.”
After watching for a short moment, Guo Jing could not endure patiently, he dashed to the front of Genghis Khan’s horse and called out, “Great Khan, please spare their lives.”
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Genghis Khan waved his hand, shouted loudly, “Kill them all, don’t leave anybody standing.”
Guo Jing did not dare to say anything, but then he saw a boy about seven, eight years old, dash out from the crowd and threw himself down at a woman who was just knocked down by a horse, calling out, “Mama!” A Mongolian soldier dashed in and swung his long saber, mother and son were chopped into four parts. The child’s hands were still clutching tightly to his mother.
Guo Jing’s blood boiled; he forgot everything and called out, “Great Khan, you said that this city’s women and children, along with all gold and silk are mine; why did you give your order to massacre them?”
Genghis Khan was startled; he smiled, “You said you didn’t want it.”
“You said that whatever I ask you, you will not deny it, didn’t you?” Guo Jing asked.
Genghis Khan nodded, still smiling.
With a loud voice Guo Jing said, “The Great Khan’s words are like a mountain; I am asking you to spare this tens of thousands lives.”
Genghis Khan was greatly astounded, not in his wildest dream would he guess Guo Jing would ask him this; but he had already given his promise, how could he refuse? He was enraged, his eyes blazing with fire looking at Guo Jing. His hand squeezed his saber’s hilt, he roared, “Kid, you really want this?”
All the princes and generals were scared to see Genghis Khan this angry. Genghis Khan was surrounded by brave warriors, each one had fought countless battles, none were weak or had a feeble heart, they faced death straight in the face; but facing Genghis Khan’s anger they could not help but tremble.