At the borders of Yanzhou, a large flock of crows swept over the crowd.

Hearing the cawing of the crows, people threw clods and stones at them—these were once the residents of Yanzhou City, living their daily lives. Although they had known about the long-standing friction between Da Chen and the Desert North, they never imagined that war would suddenly break out.

Afterward, they were displaced.

Perhaps this is war; war never brings anything good. At least for these common folks, war means leaving their homes and losing everything—of course, these people of Yanzhou also knew that the grassland people have already started to loot and revel in their homeland, and everything they lost would be plundered by the grassland people.

This was their understanding of war: something far more chaotic than natural disasters.

And for this reason, their gazes at the crows became all the more irritated.

"Caw—"

A crow hit by a stone screeched and flew hurriedly into the distance.

They flew over desolate villages, soaring over the broken Ziyang Mountain, and the crows descended into Yanzhou City.

In the ruins of Yanzhou City, more crows were pecking at the broken corpses on the ground.

These bodies were once the elite of the Desert North Royal Court, top-tier warriors, who had traveled south under the Khan’s orders to launch a massive war—on their way here, they had thought about what the war would bring them, like wealth, merit, status, and everything they could imagine.

But all the war brought them was death.

Other than death, they gained nothing. Not only were their lives lost, but even the flesh still clinging to their bones was pecked away by the crows.

The only ones pleased, perhaps, were these crows. It had been some time since they had such a feast. The last time must have been further north in Jizhou—of course, crows don’t remember place names, but they at least remember that another giant bird was also feasting on bodies back then, so they didn’t get as much to eat as this time.

So after all this time, that big bird has probably flown away?

If they go now, they might still eat a bit more.

"Caw—"

Following the direction of the food, the crows flapped their wings and flew north to Jizhou.

Although Jizhou wasn’t far from Yanzhou, many crows fell behind; some returned to Yanzhou City, while others flew into the countryside to try their luck. Only a few crows, driven by their obsession with food, flew northward, crossing hills and rivers, forests, and trails, reaching the desolate land known as Jibei.

Then a few golden eagles swooped down from the sky and slaughtered the crows.

The golden eagles had no interest in eating crow meat; they killed out of sheer disdain for the noise crows made in their territory.

Of course, the reasons didn’t matter; after all, they were just a few crows, dead or alive.

After stretching their muscles with some killing, the golden eagles continued northward, mountains and rivers passing beneath their wings. Shepherds on the ground saw the shadows of the eagles and hastily knelt, praying that the noble golden eagles would not take their lambs.

Luckily, these abnormally large eagles had no intention to hunt this time, merely flapping their wings as they flew over the herders. They flew over felt tents, over campsites, over armored warriors, and over the well-equipped armies.

It was not until they entered a lavish large tent that the golden eagles landed before the throne inside, pecking at the fresh raw meat on the ground.

"Good children, very good children..."

A corpulent man stroked the heads of the golden eagles as he looked up at the figure kneeling before the throne.

"So what were you saying just now? The flapping of the kids’ wings was too loud, I didn’t catch it."

"Great Khan! How can you still be indulging in such trifles at a time like this!"

The elderly figure kneeling on the ground was filled with grief and indignation.

"Why are you waging war now? Why fight those southerners? What can war bring us? What can it bring to the grassland people?"

"Mmm, keep talking, I’m listening."

The corpulent man nodded repeatedly, still feeding the massive golden eagles in his hands.

"And then? Go on?"

"Great Khan! Are you even listening!"

Seeing the corpulent man remain unmoved, the elderly kneeling figure burst into tears.

"It’s all a lie! We shouldn’t be heading south now! That Southern State Preceptor is getting our warriors killed! He has his own calculations! So much money and grain, so many warriors, clearly so many lives could have been spared, and yet, this damned war..."

"I know."

"...Ah?"

The kneeling minister raised his head in shock, unable to believe what he’d heard.

Their Khan, he actually knew?

Their Khan, he truly knew all this?

"Why would you think I didn’t know?"

The corpulent man wiped his hands and then looked at the kneeling minister with a puzzled expression.

"I personally appointed the State Preceptor, so I naturally know his little schemes. Or rather, who doesn’t have their own little schemes? These things don’t matter, as long as he is willing to fight, that’s all that matters..."

"But what about the money and grain? The warriors? The lives lost on the battlefield? Are these also insignificant?"

Hearing the corpulent man say this, the elder minister was speechless.

"What can war bring us? Why fight such an exhausting and costly war? If we need to protect the herders’ lives, to help the grassland people survive the harsh winter, wouldn’t it be better to use the money and grain to build our homeland? Wouldn’t using manpower for construction in Desert North be better? Why must we..."

At this point, the elderly minister paused.

Seeing that he had spoken to such an extent, yet the corpulent man before him was still smiling, the elderly minister realized that the reason for the war was not what he just mentioned.

Those were merely public excuses, palatable reasons.

The true reason the Khan chose to go to war was something else, something unspeakable.

"You tyrant..."

Realizing this, the elderly minister raised a trembling hand to point at the corpulent man on the throne.

"You tyrant!"

Bang!

The heavy spear smashed his head like a cucumber.

"If you want to talk, just talk properly, why resort to insults?"

Shaking his head, the corpulent man casually returned the bloodstained spear to the throne behind him.

"What can war bring us? Do you even need to ask?"

In the firelight, the corpulent man’s enormous shadow engulfed the corpse being pecked at by the golden eagles, and even the entire tent.

"Of course, it’s because war can bring us joy."