You, a tyrannical ruler, roam the heavens; you cannot understand my joy.

The Wenhua Hall of the Jinling Imperial Palace.

It was a hot summer afternoon, and cicadas were chirping noisily outside the window, but the hall was quite cool because of the ice jar placed inside.

Lu Zuo leaned against the cool couch by the window, holding a memorial that had just been sent urgently by the Ministry of War. It was from Yue Fei on the front lines in Western Xia.

His gaze swept quickly over the powerful, vigorous words, and his lips twitched slightly involuntarily.

Goodness...

He clicked his tongue inwardly in amazement. The report detailed how the Battle of Lingzhouchuan had defeated the main force of 100,000 Western Xia border troops, and how the troops had subsequently divided their forces to seize territory. The prefectures, counties, cities, and strongholds within Western Xia territory either surrendered or fell, with almost no decent resistance.

Now the army has approached Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Western Xia. Emperor Li Renxiao of Western Xia has issued several letters of surrender, offering to relinquish his imperial title and submit to the throne, only asking to preserve the lives of his ancestral temple.

It's only been a little over a month...

Lu Zuo put down the memorial and looked at the palace walls outside the hall, which were somewhat whitened by the scorching sun.

He knew that "Divine Machine One" would bring a generational advantage, but he did not expect the advantage to be so overwhelming, and the Western Xia's will to resist to collapse so quickly.

It seems that the military thinking and city defense systems of the cold weapon era were indeed vulnerable in the face of the nascent modern firepower.

Han Shizhong's progress on the Tibetan side also seems to be extremely smooth, with frequent reports of victories.

At this rate...

The blueprint for "unifying the world" in his mind is becoming clearer and clearer, and the process seems to be progressing faster than expected.

After conquering the Western Xia and subjugating the Tibetan Empire, the northern grassland tribes, the oasis city-states of the Western Regions, and even the more distant south and east...

They no longer seem like unattainable goals.

A sense of exhilaration, a feeling of being in control of the historical currents and directing them in a predetermined direction, mixed with an expectation for a wider world, surged within him.

He composed himself and said to Li Qingzhao, who was standing by his bedside and gently fanning him, "Draft the decree."

Li Qingzhao immediately put down her fan, walked to the desk beside her, spread out the imperial silk, and picked up her vermilion brush.

"General Yue Fei, the Grand General Who Conquers the West, is to properly handle the matter of Western Xia's submission after accepting the surrender."

"The former ruler of Western Xia, Li Renxiao, and his direct male relatives, as well as the concubines, unmarried princesses, and other female relatives in the harem, must all be clearly registered, and capable personnel must be selected to strictly guard them and escort them to the capital to await their judgment."

"Make sure there is no danger along the way, and that nothing goes wrong."

He dictated his instructions in a calm tone, as if he were giving a routine official order.

Li Qingzhao's brush flew across the paper, her delicate handwriting falling onto the silk.

However, when she wrote about "the imperial concubines, unmarried princesses, county princesses and all other female relatives," her pen paused almost imperceptibly.

A faint, complex emotion flickered across her delicate features.

His Majesty……

She sighed silently in her heart.

Possessing both literary and military talents, and extraordinary martial prowess, he turned the tide and ushered in a new era of prosperity. No wise and powerful ruler in ancient times could surpass him.

But it's precisely when it comes to matters of the heart that...

Ugh.

She quickly regained her composure. His Majesty was, after all, His Majesty; his achievements were enough to overshadow this "moral failing."

……

Meanwhile, on the Tibetan Plateau.

The sky here is almost blindingly blue, the sunlight is intense, but the air is cold and thin.

Han Shizhong's army advanced westward with unstoppable momentum, capturing more than a dozen cities, temples, and manors of all sizes.

At this moment, he was temporarily staying in a fortified fortified mansion that had just been submitted to the rule of a local chieftain.

The hall was quite spacious, but dimly lit, and filled with a strange smell of ghee, mutton, and old wood.

The once vibrant religious murals on the walls have been blurred and obscured by smoke and dust.

Han Shizhong stood before a huge, roughly pieced-together sheepskin map, his brow furrowed as he studied the next route of advance.

The plateau has a complex geography and scattered tribes, which are very different from those in the Central Plains. Although it has an absolute military advantage, how to effectively govern and control it in the long term is a difficult problem.

"General."

The captain of the personal guards lifted the heavy yak-hair curtain and entered, clasping his hands in greeting as he reported: "There are two local men outside the mansion gate who claim to be freed slaves. They are crying and begging to see the commander-in-chief, saying they have suffered a great injustice and begging the commander-in-chief to save them."

"Slaves? Injustice?"

Han Shizhong looked up from the map and pondered for a moment.

Wherever the army went, it did abolish the power of life and death over slaves held by many local chieftains and temples, and liberated a large number of slave households to win the support of the lower classes.

"Bring them in."

Shortly afterward, two men were brought in.

They were dressed in rags, their faces covered in dust. His skin was dark and rough, covered with frostbite and signs of hard work.

Upon entering the hall, he knelt down with a thud, banging his head on the ground in Han Shizhong's direction. Before he could speak, he wailed, his voice hoarse and shrill, filled with endless sorrow and despair.

"Your Honor! Your Excellency!"

"You living Buddha! I beg you, save my sister! Save her!"

The older man looked up, his face streaked with tears and grime, his eyes filled with unfathomable fear and pleading.

Han Shizhong was taken aback by their grief-stricken appearance and said in a deep voice, "Get up and speak."

"Tell me your grievances slowly, and I will do my best to avenge you."

The two refused to get up, but instead shuffled forward a few steps while still kneeling.

The younger man choked up as he said, "Sir, my sister..."

"My sister has been kidnapped by the monks at the temple!"

"We should use her to make 'Sister Drum'!"

"Please, sir, send troops to save her! It will be too late if we wait any longer!"

"Sister Drum? What is that?" Han Shizhong frowned even more; the name sounded rather strange.

The older man trembled, as if recalling something extremely terrifying, and his voice shook: "Yes..."

"It's a drum used in temple rituals... It requires... it requires the skin of a virgin girl under sixteen years old, who has never been married, to be peeled off from her entire back while she's still alive..."

"Then they covered the drum..."

"It is said that drums made in this way possess the strongest magical power and are most favored by Buddhist monks..."

"What?" Han Shizhong's pupils shrank sharply. Even though he was a veteran of many battles and had seen countless life and death, he was still shocked by the description.

"Skinned to make a drum? Or skinned alive?"

"This...this is simply monstrous behavior!"

"Do you know what the crimes are for making false accusations and disrupting the morale of the army?" His first reaction was disbelief.

"Sir! It's absolutely true!"

The young man pounded the ground with his fist in agitation, crying out, "It's not just the Sister's Drum!"

"And there's the 'Kapala Bowl,' which must be made from a virgin's skull!"

"The flute for 'Okabayashi' must be made from a virgin's leg bone!"

"The 'Swallowing Su' rosary must be made from human intestines!"

"Those Buddhist monks said that using parts of a pure young girl's body to create ritual implements is the best way to communicate with the gods and suppress evil spirits!"

"But what kind of demons are we?"

The older man also broke down in tears, adding, "Sir, you don't know, in the eyes of the Buddha and the chieftain, our lives are worth less than a straw rope!"

"The Buddha said we were born sinful, 'lowly' from the 'borderlands,' and that living is an act of atonement, making us merely the Buddhas' property and tools!"

"They can kill and slay at will, arbitrarily requisition our cattle, sheep, and barley, and abduct our daughters!"

"They say they'll collect taxes, so they collect taxes; they say they'll use ritual implements, so they arrest people!"

"We have nowhere to run, and resistance is a dead end..."

"Waaah, my father just wouldn't hand over my sister, and he was beaten to death with an iron rod by the monks who were protecting the Buddha..."

"My sister was taken away after all..."

"Please, sir, save her! Save the girls who have been kidnapped!"

Their tearful accounts, each word dripping with blood and tears, paint a horrifying picture of extreme darkness, cruelty, and the utter disregard for the lives of the lowest classes, hidden beneath the veneer of sacred religion.

The guards and personal guards in the hall turned pale upon hearing this, both shocked and furious.

Han Shizhong's face was so gloomy it could drip water.

He was not unaware that the borderlands were wild and had bad customs, but such large-scale atrocities, and the fact that they were "sanctified" by religion, were truly appalling.

He turned to his deputy general, who had served in the Northwest Frontier Army for many years and was quite knowledgeable about the situation in Tibet, and asked in a deep voice, "What they said... is it true?"

"This...this is truly something the Buddhist sect would do?"

The lieutenant looked grave, cupped his hands, and said in a low voice, "General, I have indeed heard of the names of these 'magical artifacts' they mentioned."

"As for whether its origin is truly as they say... this humble general dares not make a rash judgment."

"However, in the Tibetan region, Buddhist temples wielded immense power, colluding with local chieftains to control the population and wealth, and arbitrarily killing and seizing the lives of their subjects. This is indeed true."

"In many temples, there are indeed ritual implements made of human bones and skin, which are regarded as sacred objects."

He paused, lowering his voice even further, tinged with sarcasm and coldness: "As for whether this is the true path of Buddhism..."

"In my humble opinion, the Tibetan Tantric Buddhism of today is no longer what it was when it was introduced."

"Its doctrines and rituals are a mixture of too many blood sacrifices, witchcraft, and spirit worship practices from the indigenous Bon religion of Tibet."

"Many of their actions are less Buddhist teachings and more like Bon shamans wearing Buddhist robes, using the name of Buddha to do demonic things in order to consolidate their power and subdue the ignorant masses."

Upon hearing this, Han Shizhong felt a surge of anger welling up inside him, rushing straight to the top of his head!

He had long disliked that damned Tantric Buddhism, and the Tibetan monks who aided and abetted the tyranny during last year's Northern Expedition had made him deeply resentful.

Now I hear that in their old stronghold, there are still such heinous acts of torture and murder in the name of religion!

boom!

He slammed his hand down on the heavy wooden table beside him, causing the solid table to scatter wood chips and make a buzzing sound!

He suddenly stood up, his eyes wide open, his beard and hair standing on end, and a chilling murderous aura filled the entire hall.

"What a fine 'Buddhist sect'! What a fine 'ritual implement'!"

"They skinned living people to make drums, used skulls to make bowls, and pulled out human intestines to make prayer beads..."

"This doesn't look like a monk who eats vegetarian food and chants Buddhist prayers!"

"They are clearly a pack of wolves in sheep's clothing!"

"They are demons that roam this plateau, sucking human blood and harming all living beings!"

His eyes flashed with a cold light, and he shouted sharply, "Guards!"

"Yes, sir!" The guards inside and outside the hall responded in unison, their voices echoing across the roof tiles.

Han Shizhong spoke each word slowly and deliberately, his killing intent soaring to the heavens:

"Pass on my orders!"

"Wherever my army goes, I will capture every single monk in every Tibetan temple, large or small!"

"Anyone involved in the capture, torture, or murder of civilians to create such evil objects, regardless of whether they are a 'Buddha' or a 'Dharma King,' will be punished once verified—"

He took a deep breath, as if exhaling the polluted air of the plateau and his pent-up resentment, his voice like that from the deepest hell, resolute and unquestionable:

"I'll be torn to pieces!"

"To uphold the Way of Heaven! To appease the souls of the departed!"

"The remaining monks should be carefully examined; those with bad deeds or who aid and abet evil should be severely punished without exception!"

"I'll be torn to pieces!"

"To uphold the Way of Heaven! To appease the souls of the departed!"

"The remaining monks should be carefully examined; those with bad deeds or who aid and abet evil should be severely punished without exception!"

"All temple lands and slaves shall be confiscated and distributed among impoverished slave households!"

"I hereby issue this proclamation to reassure the people: From this day forward, anyone who has been bullied by a temple or whose relatives have been kidnapped may report this to the army!"

"This commander wants to see just how many more of these man-eating 'Buddhas' are hidden in this Tibetan land!"

"Understood!" The soldiers responded with a thunderous roar, their morale soaring, and they carried with them a righteous spirit of eliminating evil for the people.