DLERB -Chapter 201 Hang Their Heads Up — That’s My Toll Fee!

The wind and sand were fierce.

This was the Western Regions, the only passage connecting the East and the West.

A massive convoy moved forward like a black serpent, winding through the yellow desert.

Wheels crushed over gravel, producing a harsh, grating sound that made one’s teeth ache.

The wheel ruts were deep.

Every cart was piled high with boxes.

Some lids were not fully closed. With each bump, a few gold coins slipped through the gaps, falling into the sand—only to be instantly crushed under the hooves of the following carts.

No one bothered to pick them up.

There was simply too much.

Ying Ziye rode a blood-red steed, holding a water bag he had just taken down. He took a sip.

The water was warm, carrying the faint fishy smell of the leather pouch.

“Your Highness.”

Qinglong rode over and pointed ahead at a yellow-colored city.

“Up ahead is the Kingdom of Sand Sea.”

“Their troops are blocking the road.”

Ying Ziye lowered the water bag and narrowed his eyes.

At the city gate, several thousand Western Region soldiers in leather armor stood in an uneven formation, holding curved sabers.

On the city wall, a man fat like a ball was leaning over the battlements, greedily staring at the endless convoy.

He was the king of Sand Sea Kingdom.

He had never seen so many carts in his life, nor so many boxes.

Even if they were filled with stones, it would still be a fortune.

Let alone—his scouts had just reported that the thing dropped on the ground earlier was gold.

“Stop!”

An envoy riding a camel came forward, shouting in stiff Qin language.

“My king says!”

“You may pass, but this road was built by my king, and the sand is under my king’s control.”

“If you want to pass, you must leave half as toll payment!”

He raised his chin and pointed at the thousands of soldiers behind him.

It was a show of force.

Ying Ziye reined in his horse.

The horse stamped uneasily at the sand.

“Half?”

Ying Ziye asked lightly.

His tone carried no emotion.

The envoy thought he was afraid and became even more arrogant.

“Yes! Half!”

“Judging by your convoy, there must be at least several thousand carts.”

“Leave two thousand carts behind, and you may pass!”

Ying Ziye smiled.

He turned to glance at Wang Jian behind him.

The old general was sitting on a wagon shaft, calmly chewing dry rations.

Hearing this, he didn’t even lift his eyelids—only split the ration in two.

Ying Ziye turned back to the envoy.

“Go back and tell your king this.”

“I have money.”

“But does he have a life to spend it?”

The envoy froze.

Before he could react, Ying Ziye had already raised his whip.

“Move on.”

“Anyone blocking the road—run them over.”

The convoy started moving again.

Panicked, the envoy turned his camel and fled.

“Your Majesty! They refuse! They’re forcing their way through!”

On the city wall, the fat king smashed the wine cup in his hand to the ground.

“Rebellion!”

“Fire the arrows! Shoot them all! Take their carts!”

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

A scattered rain of arrows fell from the wall.

Most stuck into the sand, not even reaching the carts.

Ying Ziye raised his hand and caught a stray arrow.

Poor craftsmanship—its tip was already rusted.

He casually snapped the shaft and tossed it aside.

“Qinglong.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Before nightfall, I want this road cleared.”

“Also—”

Ying Ziye pointed at the shouting “ball” on the city wall.

“I don’t like being looked down upon.”

“Yes.”

Qinglong replied.

There was no large-scale assault.

Not even the convoy stopped.

Only dozens of black shadows—like desert lizards—slipped across the sand and vanished into the wind.

Night fell.

In the palace of Sand Sea Kingdom, music and dancing filled the air.

The fat king was still drunk on dreams of wealth, arms wrapped around two dancing girls, his face flushed red.

“Tomorrow… tomorrow I’ll demand it again!”

“If they refuse, we’ll cut the road apart!”

“BOOM!”

The palace doors were suddenly kicked open.

Wind rushed in, extinguishing all the candles.

In the darkness, several short, muffled screams rang out.

The sound of bones being crushed.

The next morning.

The sun rose as usual.

The city gates of Sand Sea Kingdom stood wide open.

The thousands of soldiers who had blocked the road now knelt on both sides, heads lowered so deeply they didn’t even dare to look up—even when sand stung their eyes.

At the city gate’s flagpole—

Four heads were hung.

The top one, fat and wide-eyed, was the king from last night.

Below him were his three sons.

Ying Ziye’s convoy slowly entered the gate.

A weak young man in an ill-fitting royal robe knelt in the middle of the road.

He was the king’s youngest son, a cripple who had always been thrown into the sheep pens to raise horses.

Now, he was king.

He held a rusted copper key in both hands.

It was the key to the royal treasury.

His whole body trembled, his teeth chattering louder than the wheels of the carts.

“G…Great Qin Prince…”

“This is… everything in our treasury…”

“Please… please accept it…”

“Just… don’t kill me…”

He had personally witnessed how the man in green clothes had used just two fingers to snap the neck of his older brother, who was said to be incredibly strong.

Ying Ziye did not dismount.

He looked at the crippled new king.

Then at the key.

“Too little.”

Ying Ziye said only two words.

The new king’s tears and mucus poured down together. It was pure despair.

“But it’s enough to buy your life.”

After saying this, Ying Ziye squeezed his horse’s flanks.

The blood-red steed stepped right over the new king—and over the copper key as well.

Behind him, the convoy rumbled forward.

Not a single cart stopped.

Not a single person even bothered to pick up the key.

Because anything that fell from their carts was worth more than the entire treasury of this impoverished little kingdom.

……

News traveled faster than the wind.

“King of Sand Sea Kingdom set up tolls—entire royal clan wiped out!”

“New king knelt to offer the nation, Ninth Prince didn’t even look at him!”

When the news reached the Qin border, the governor of Longxi Commandery was drinking tea.

“Crash!”

The teacup fell and shattered.

“Quick!”

He shot up, not even putting his shoes on properly as he rushed out.

“Issue the order!”

“Clean the official road!”

“From the commandery city all the way west to the border!”

“One hundred li! No—two hundred!”

“Even a single stone must be picked up!”

The clerk carefully asked from the side:

“My lord, why such urgency? The Ninth Prince is still a prince of Qin—would he really harm us?”

The governor slapped him so hard he spun in place.

“You idiot!”

“You think that’s just the Ninth Prince?”

“That’s the Living Yama!”

“He has killed more people in the west than the population of our entire Longxi Commandery!”

“If even his horse stumbles on a stone, we won’t have enough heads in our families to pay for it!”

In the following days, a strange sight appeared along the Longxi border.

Thousands of officials and laborers, holding brooms and baskets, knelt on the official road.

They swept inch by inch.

Even the soil from cracks in the ground was dug out.

Every ten steps along the roadside, a large vat of clean water was placed to wash and suppress dust.

Everyone held their breath, staring toward the west.

Even when their legs went numb, no one dared to move.

……

Half a month later—Yumen Pass.

This was the westernmost frontier of Qin, and its throat.

The garrison commander, Zhao Polu, was a man in his forties.

His face was covered in wrinkles carved by wind and sand.

He was a soldier trained by Meng Tian, had killed Xiongnu on the Great Wall, and had guarded Yumen Pass for eight years.

Today, he was not calm.

He stood on the highest watchtower, gripping the battlement bricks so tightly his knuckles turned white.

In the distant horizon, a yellow dragon of dust rose into the sky.

A formation of that scale meant only one thing: a massive army.

“General! Is it an enemy attack?”

The deputy drew his sword, voice tense.

“That momentum… at least a hundred thousand troops!”

Zhao Polu said nothing.

He stared at the dust cloud.

It was closer now.

The ground began to tremble.

“Thump… thump… thump…”

Like war drums—or the footsteps of some colossal beast.

Zhao Polu’s pupils shrank violently.

He saw it.

Within the endless yellow sand—

A black war banner tore through the dust.

On it, a black dragon clawed fiercely through the air, and beneath its claws was a blood-red Qin seal character:

“Ying.”

“It’s the Ninth Prince!”

Zhao Polu shouted, his voice cracking.

Then he saw something even more terrifying.

Those weren’t horses.

They were monsters he had never even seen in nightmares.

Massive bodies like moving hills, long trunks swinging, tusks longer than spears.

Elephants.

Dozens of fully armored war elephants led the formation, each step shaking the walls of Yumen Pass.

Behind them were dozens of enormous iron cages.

“ROAR!”

A roar echoed out.

Horses pulling carts panicked and neighed wildly.

Inside the cages were lions with thick manes, baring their teeth at the Qin soldiers on the walls.

A pure, savage killing aura from the wilderness.

And at the center of it all—

Amid countless treasures of gold and silver, exotic beasts, and elite cavalry—

A red horse.

And a single man.

Ying Ziye raised his head and looked at the towering fortress.

His expression was calm.

But in Zhao Polu’s eyes, that face was more terrifying than all those lions and tigers combined.

This was the legendary Ninth Prince who had exterminated dozens of nations in the west?

The one who turned foreign temples into latrines?

Zhao Polu felt the bones in his knees go weak.

All the dignity of a general, all duty of defending the land—collapsed in that instant.

“O-Open the gates!”

He roared.

He shoved the deputy aside and stumbled down the tower.

The gates swung open.

Zhao Polu rushed to the front of the convoy, stopping ten steps from Ying Ziye.

Thud!

He dropped heavily to his knees, the impact cracking the ground beneath him.

He took off his helmet and threw it aside.

His forehead pressed firmly into the earth.

“Zhao Polu!”

“Commander of Yumen Pass, with five thousand defenders!”

He shouted with all his strength, his voice breaking.

“We respectfully welcome the Ninth Prince back to the capital!!”

Behind him—

Five thousand Qin soldiers looked at the towering war elephants, the mountain-like wealth, and the godlike young man.

They dropped to their knees in a wave.

The sound shook the tower so hard dust fell from it.

“Welcome, Your Highness!!”