The mastermind behind the scenes starting with the calamity of all races

Gradually, Yun Jie got closer and closer to the mainland, and he was able to clearly see the trees, houses, and even people in the distance.

At that moment, the people on the shore also saw him.

"Holy crap! Look, there's a ship on the sea!"

"It's just a ship, what's the big deal... Holy crap! How can it move on its own? And so fast!!"

Sure enough, the word "Holy crap" is contagious...

The two men's shouts instantly attracted countless eyes. Others followed their gaze to the sea, and the next second, a "Holy crap!" came out of their mouths.

Everyone's expressions were remarkably similar: they stared into the distance, their eyes wide and their mouths agape, wide enough to fit a whole egg.

They all stopped what they were doing, some didn't even realize they had dropped what they were holding, and stared blankly at the ship on the sea.

While they were still in a daze, the ship had already docked.

Hey!

A white and blue boot appeared first, followed by a handsome young man in a white robe with an elegant demeanor and extraordinary temperament, who stepped off the ship.

Yun Jie glanced at the passerby who was in a daze, raised his eyebrows slightly, and immediately understood.

For a moment, he was at a loss for words, wondering what to say. In a few years, when they saw this scene again, they wouldn't find it strange.

Shaking his head, Yun Jie had no intention of lingering. Before everyone could recover, he planned to leave first.

Using the familiar technique of shrinking the distance to an inch, he covered a hundred meters in a single step, and in the blink of an eye, he left the small village.

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Crossing the North Sea from the central mainland, the first place you arrive at is the three northern provinces: Beihai Province, Heyuan Province, and Wu Province.

The three northern provinces all border the North Sea, allowing people to choose which province to land in based on their own circumstances.

Yun Jie has now landed in Beihai Province. Unlike the others, he chose it randomly. Whichever province he arrives in is the province he will be in. In any case, it makes no difference to him.

That said, the three northern provinces are still under the control of the royal family.

Well, to be precise, it was under the control of Kou Shiming, the Governor-General of the Three Provinces and the General Who Guards the North.

Kou Shiming was the Governor-General of the Three Provinces, jointly appointed by the Nine Departments, while the title of General Who Guards the North was conferred by the imperial family. At the same time, he was also the imperial family's flagship figure in the north.

Information transmission is not as fast as it was at the beginning of the original story in later generations. Well, even twenty years later, it is not easy to send messages across continents.

Therefore, Kou Shiming was unaware that the royal family and the Nine Departments had encountered trouble. He was still leisurely living as the retired emperor in the three northern provinces, occasionally carrying out massacres to deter rebels.

As a result, the entire three northern provinces were shrouded in Kou Shiming's bloody shadow, and countless people trembled in fear, afraid that the butcher's knife would suddenly fall on their heads one day.

Kou Shiming, the name of General Kou, was so powerful throughout the three northern provinces that he could stop a baby from crying. People turned pale at the mention of his name, fearing him like a tiger or a scorpion.

To prevent and quell any rebellion, Kou Shiming issued the following order: Anyone who rebels will be punished collectively; if one person rebels, the entire village will suffer, and in severe cases, the entire village will be wiped out!

Yes, you heard right, it's that ruthless!

If a village had rebels, the best outcome was that all of them would be imprisoned and thrown into jail; the worst outcome was that the entire village would be slaughtered with knives.

It was precisely because of this policy that Kou Shiming was able to quell the rebellion in the three provinces in the shortest possible time.

Because he swiftly quelled the rebellion, and with the strong support of the imperial family, the Nine Departments were unable to punish him. In the end, they had no choice but to reluctantly grant him the title of Governor-General of the Three Provinces, making him the highest-ranking official in the three northern provinces.

note!

He was the highest-ranking official who held real power and the power of life and death over three provinces, not just in name. It was not an exaggeration to describe Kou Shiming's position as that of a regional governor.

Moreover, in emergencies, Kou Shiming also had the power to control all 19 provinces of the northern continent.

Of course, this refers to emergency situations. Generally speaking, Kou Shiming was only responsible for the three northern provinces.

If the Dali Dynasty north of Cangshan were to invade Tianxing, then Kou Shiming could rightfully become the supreme commander of the northern continent and have the right to command the armies of the 19 northern provinces.

Kou Shiming, as the biggest pawn planted by the royal family in the northern continent, stayed in the three northern provinces for decades. Twenty years later, he naturally and securely sat in the position of governor of the three provinces until he was later eliminated by the royal family's own people.

Yes, that's right. The person who killed Kou Shiming twenty years later was one of their own royal family members. At that time, in order to completely throw the Northern Continent into chaos, the royal family sent a prince to kill Kou Shiming directly and then frame Hou Xiaochen and others.

As a result, everyone in the world believed that Kou Shiming was killed by Hou Xiaochen, Huang Yu, and others.

Because the Nine Divisions knew they hadn't intervened, and Kou Shiming, being a member of the royal family, was the last person the royal family should have intervened with.

So, aside from the Nine Departments and the royal family, in the entire Northern Continent, aren't the only people capable of killing Kou Shiming Hou Xiaochen and his ilk the only ones left? Naturally, they became the prime suspects.

In reality, it was the person least likely to make a move who did it: the royal prince personally intervened and killed Kou Shiming.

The reason is quite simple: one is to muddy the waters so that no one can suspect them.

Another point is that Kou Shiming was already out of control at that time. He outwardly complied with the orders issued by the royal family but inwardly disobeyed them. Every time an order was issued, he would find excuses to deal with it. In addition, he had been in charge of the military and political affairs of the three northern provinces for many years, and he had already shown signs of becoming too powerful. In order to avoid raising a tiger that would become a threat, the royal family had no choice but to take the painful step of eliminating him.

Of course, all of the above is a story for later. There are still nineteen years before the start of the story. At this time, Kou Shiming is still loyal to the royal family. He has not yet become the ambitious General Kou of later generations.

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Half a day later.

Yun Jie walked to a small town called Qingye.

This small town is about the same size as Yincheng, but its population and economy are much better, probably because it is not far from the sea, so its development is better than that of Yincheng.

At first glance, Qingye City seems pretty good, but that's not the case at all. Just in terms of residents' happiness index, Yincheng is miles ahead of Qingye City.

In Yincheng, you can clearly feel the tranquility of the place. Just like an ordinary city, people work at sunrise and rest at sunset. Their pace of life is very slow. Even strangers can chat for a while while walking on the street.

But in Qingye City, Yun Jie's first impression was one of oppression. Everyone here had a gloomy face, as if someone owed them a fortune. Forget about talking to them; it felt like you were lucky if they didn't curse at you.

After thinking about it, Yun Jie didn't care. After all, the people of the three provinces were under that man's thumb. Anyone living here would probably not be treated well. It was already quite good that they didn't move away directly.

Although it wasn't exactly a matter of life and death, no one could say for sure when the executioner's blade would fall on their heads. So, although the atmosphere was oppressive, Yun Jie could completely understand.

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Chapter 628 Trouble [Requesting monthly tickets! Requesting full subscription!]

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Aoba Castle.

An unnamed small town near Beihai.

Yun Jie stayed for about half a day before preparing to leave.

Hong Yitang was in Yinyue Province, which was north of Beihai Province, so Yun Jie naturally had to continue northward.

Over the course of several days, Yun Jie had traversed the Beihai Province and arrived at the Linjiang Province.

Along the way, he traveled at a considerable speed, especially in desolate areas where he often covered a thousand miles in a day. Only when passing through a city would he stop briefly to see and experience the local customs and culture.

Therefore, if we exclude the time he spent in each city, the actual time he spent traveling was not much.

At this moment, he had passed through Beihai Province and arrived at Linjiang Province.

Linjiang Province is basically one of the northernmost provinces of the Tianxing Dynasty. Further north lies Yinyue Province.

Upon arriving in Linjiang Province, Yun Jie witnessed countless horrific scenes; the people living there were worse off than those in the three northern provinces.

In the three northern provinces, as long as you don't rebel, you can still make a living, but in Linjiang Province... no.

Here, the phrases "deep water and scorching fire" and "war and chaos" are insufficient to describe it. Here, thieves and bandits roam freely, and countless people have become outlaws, committing heinous crimes.

That's not all. The soldiers here are even more cunning than thieves. They are ten times, a hundred times, more despicable than thieves!

The massacre of villages and clans, burning, killing, looting, killing innocent people to claim credit, and other such acts were countless. Along the way, Yun Jie had never seen a province worse than Linjiang Province.

When Yun Jie read the original novel, he had a general understanding of the situation in Linjiang Province, but that was only a theoretical understanding. Now, however, he saw it with his own eyes, and it was more than ten times worse than what was described in the book.

At this moment, Yun Jie wished he could kill everyone in Linjiang Province, from the governor to the lowest soldier!

Throughout the entire Linjiang Province, from top to bottom, from beginning to end, there isn't a single good person left. To sum it up in one sentence... they all deserve to be killed!

Just now, Yun Jie wiped out a group of soldiers who were burning, killing and looting a village. These people were openly wearing military armor and committing robbery. They were truly hateful and deserving of death. Therefore, Yun Jie did not show them any mercy and crushed them to ashes, leaving them with no place to bury their dead!

only……

Yun Jie looked at the village, now only inhabited by the elderly, women, and children, and felt a headache coming on.

When he arrived, the bandit army had been there for a while. All the men in the village had been killed, and the entire village was in ruins, with only a pile of broken walls remaining. It looked like it was no longer habitable.

Moreover, all the able-bodied men are dead, leaving only the elderly, women, and children. It is clearly unrealistic to expect them to repair the houses.

Most importantly, all the grain and other supplies had been burned to the ground. The remaining grain in the entire village wasn't even enough to feed these people for two meals.

Therefore, Yun Jie could not ignore them.

But another problem arises: the situation in this village is by no means an isolated case. He still has to go to Silvermoon, and along the way, he doesn't know how many villages, towns, and cities he will have to pass through. Does he have to save them all?

Okay, he has to save her, otherwise he can't bear to do it.

It wasn't that he was being overly compassionate; anyone with a conscience and a heart would feel pity upon seeing this.

Moreover, as the saying goes, "When you are successful, you should help others; when you are unsuccessful, you should cultivate your own virtue." Yun Jie undoubtedly belongs to the former category. He has the ability to save people and can save them. So, since he has this ability, how can he not save them?

The answer is, of course, no!

We definitely have to save them, even though it will be very troublesome. After all, a province has at least one or two hundred million people. With so many people, it's impossible to say it won't be troublesome.

Even though it's troublesome, there's nothing he can do unless Yun Jie can be heartless enough to ignore them and let them fend for themselves. But... as I said before, he can't bear to do that.

Ugh!

Yun Jie sighed inwardly. These damned corrupt officials, I don't expect you to lead the people to prosperity, at least let them live in peace and contentment. But instead... the officials are more ruthless than thieves, and the soldiers are more vicious than thieves. How can this be allowed?

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"Waaaaah..."

The village was in complete disarray. Although Yun Jie had extinguished the fire, the burned houses were still emitting white smoke. The remaining elderly, women, and children knelt on the ground, wailing and crying.

"My son!!"

"Father, I want Father! Mother, why is Father lying on the ground, not moving at all? I call him, but he won't answer me. Is he doing this on purpose? I'm such a good boy, I haven't made him angry, why..."

Some children, too young to understand, clung tightly to their mothers out of fear, crying as they pointed to their fathers lying on the ground and then asked their mothers questions.

Looking at their children, the mothers felt a pang of heartache. They wiped away their own and their children's tears with their muddy hands, comforting them, "Honey, your dad is just too tired and fell asleep. He didn't mean to ignore you."

It is said that women are inherently weak, but become strong when they become mothers. These women were heartbroken, but for the sake of their children, they had to pretend to be strong and even smile to comfort them.

They... told their children the biggest lie of their lives, a lie that wouldn't be exposed for long...