Douluo Continent II: The Peerless Tang Sect: I, Huo Yuhao, join the Sun Moon Sect

"Elder Mu's insight is brilliant!" Gong Changlong said respectfully.

........

"Sigh, Dai Hao's son is ultimately useless!" Xu Jiawei rubbed his temples. "A twenty-year-old Title Douluo, what a prestigious title!"

The Sun Moon Empire was far too hasty, prioritizing short-term gains over long-term interests. Huo Yuhao, as a genius Soul Master, you must have dreamed of becoming a Limit Douluo, but now that dream has been ruthlessly shattered like a bubble. I wonder if you regret not staying with the Star Luo Empire after the tournament.

“Your Majesty, it seems the Sun Moon Empire intends for Huo Yuhao to follow the path of a Soul Master,” said Zhao Zhehan, the head of the Star Luo Royal Hall of Worship.

Chapter 727 It's been twenty years since Xingluo collected its taxes!

"Oh? The path of a Soul Master?" Xu Jiawei was somewhat surprised. "Although I know that Huo Yuhao is also a genius in Soul Tools, compared to his talent in Soul Masters, his talent in Soul Tools should not be so unparalleled."

"Otherwise, Huo Yuhao would not have shown his Soul Master skills during the competition, but would have focused on showing his Soul Craftsman skills instead."

"After all, the competition is extremely important to all parties. Facing a host of formidable opponents, Huo Yuhao must do his best to showcase his strengths in order to win!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhehan sighed and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right, but with that old fellow Kong Deming's boldness, he shouldn't be so short-sighted."

A titled Douluo is indeed useful in war, but not significantly so. A level nine Soul Master, however, would be far more useful.

"A level nine Soul Master can contend with a Super Douluo! In the past, it would have been fine, but the Allied Forces were betrayed by that brat Xuanzi and suffered heavy losses. How many Super Douluos are left?"

"Moreover, Huo Yuhao possesses both the Ultimate Ice Martial Soul and the Spirit Eye Martial Soul. He became a Title Douluo with the Ultimate Ice Martial Soul, but according to the twin martial soul cultivation method invented by Tang San's ancestor, Huo Yuhao can naturally and quickly raise the Spirit Eye Martial Soul to the level of nine spirit rings as well."

"By then, Huo Yuhao's combat power will expand rapidly. Even I might not be his match. The pressure on the allied forces will increase dramatically. What a brilliant plan! Destroying a genius and quickly gaining a high-end combatant. Is it all for the Sun Moon Empire to unify the Douluo Continent?"

As the head of the Royal Hall of Worship, Zhao Zhehan is frequently involved in political affairs, so his perspective on issues naturally differs from that of academics. Moreover, the Star Luo Empire is currently under the greatest pressure in the face of the Sun and Moon Army.

Upon hearing these words, Xu Jiawei's mind went blank, and he realized that Huo Yuhao had now become a big problem.

He had just entertained the idea of ​​sending someone to join forces with Xuanzi, who was far away in Mingdu, to assassinate Huo Yuhao and sabotage the Sun and Moon Project, but he immediately abandoned it.

After all, cooperating with Xuanzi meant the plan would fail and result in heavy losses. The Star Luo Empire had suffered greatly in this matter, and Xu Jiawei, as the Star Luo Emperor, naturally learned from past experiences and did not want to repeat the same mistakes.

"Old Zhao, tell the men to speed up the construction of the ocean-going fleet. If the empire is defeated, we will still have a way out. If we win, the resources on the new continents overseas can also become an asset to the empire!" Xu Jiawei sighed.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Zhao Zhehan replied respectfully.

........

As the sun rises, golden rays of dawn bathe the earth.

The Spirit Pagoda pavilion was also draped in a hazy golden veil.

Nana stood in front of a long table, looking at Huo Yuhao sitting at the end of the table. Her voice, as clear as a silver bell, rang out in the pavilion. She was reporting some intelligence about the Star Luo Empire and the Allied Forces to the Tower Master, Huo Yuhao.

Nana has fair skin, long dark red hair tied in a ponytail, a slender figure, and a spirited and heroic air between her brows. When she speaks, she is vivid and expressive, as if she were personally gathering intelligence in Xingluo.

Huo Yuhao listened attentively, and after a moment, Nana finished her intelligence report.

Huo Yuhao tapped the table lightly with his finger, a helpless look on his face: "I know that the corruption within the Allied Forces is shocking, and it undoubtedly has a huge impact on the Allied Forces' combat strength. However, you just said that the Star Luo Empire is now collecting taxes for the next twenty years?"

Nana nodded, her voice gentle: "Master, according to various investigations, this is indeed the case. To this day, large swathes of the Star Luo Empire's territory have been occupied by the imperial army, and many of these territories are noble lands."

"Some nobles died on the battlefield, but their descendants all fled, while some nobles were unwilling to leave their territories and were willing to submit to the Emperor of the Sun and Moon."

As for the many nobles, they abandoned their territories and fled. All the fleeing nobles are now basically residing in the remaining territories of the Star Luo Empire.

"For these nobles, losing their ancestral lands is undoubtedly a huge loss, and they naturally have to find ways to make up for it."

So they set their sights on the people of Xingluo, using the pretext of national hardship and the need to levy future taxes to fund the suppression of the Sun and Moon Army, to extort money from the so-called Xingluo people. Little by little, they actually amassed a considerable fortune. Of course, the taxes were collected twenty years later, and the people suffered terribly as a result.

The reason she is called "master" is because Huo Yuhao once saved her and a group of people from the clutches of the Holy Spirit Cult, and she and those people voluntarily became Huo Yuhao's servants.

Huo Yuhao frowned, knowing that many nobles did not treat ordinary people as human beings at all, and exploited them to the extreme. After all, most nobles were Soul Masters. In this world where strength is respected, the gap between Soul Masters and ordinary people was like an insurmountable chasm, almost like two different species.

Even Shrek Academy, which prides itself on justice, would lend a helping hand and severely crack down on evil spirit masters when they massacre civilians, but it would turn a blind eye to the oppression of the people by nobles.

"Nana!"

"What are your orders, Master?" Nana asked.

Huo Yuhao said, "Arrange for people from the Spirit Pagoda to secretly help the common people in the Star Luo Empire and the Dou Ling Empire who are oppressed by the nobles, and guide them to pray to the Spirit Pagoda Master. As long as they are sincere enough, they can be granted the power to change their fate and help these people become Soul Masters!"

Perhaps to many soul masters in this world, ordinary people are insignificant, like weeds, but for Huo Yuhao, it is not so; he needs the power of faith.

"Yes, Tower Master!" Nana said respectfully, and then left the place.

Subsequently, Huo Yuhao used spatial magic to tear through space and arrived at the commander's tent, where he met Ju Zi.

Ju Zi was overjoyed, her face showing surprise. She exchanged pleasantries with Huo Yuhao for a while. Then, Huo Yuhao's expression turned serious, and he asked, "Ju Zi, are there still any Star Luo prisoners of war and Dou Ling prisoners of war in the Sun Moon Empire's army who don't want to continue fighting and just want to go home?"

"Of course! Moreover, these people need to consume a lot of food every day. If the Sun Moon Empire's territory hadn't expanded so much and food wasn't plentiful, they probably wouldn't be able to afford such a huge expense."

"To be honest, if it weren't for your private request before you attacked Dai Hao to treat prisoners of war well, I would have wanted to organize these people into a reserve force and put them at the forefront to resist the Allied forces' artillery fire, thus reducing the losses of the Sun and Moon Army." Orange said with some helplessness.

"Ju Zi, let the ordinary prisoners of war go home, arrange routes for them, give them some dry rations and copper soul coins, and don't send anyone to hunt them down," Huo Yuhao said.

Upon hearing this, Orange was taken aback.

She pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, "Yuhao, I understand what you mean. In this way, these prisoners of war will surely spread the word about the benevolence of the Sun Moon Empire after they return home."

For the Allied Forces, ordinary people on the battlefield are just cannon fodder, but for us, they are a sharp dagger aimed at the heart of the two great empires. When we continue to wage war and conquer new territories, the obstacles we encounter will be greatly reduced.

After all, if even ordinary people of very low status are treated well after becoming prisoners of war, what will the other members of the Allied forces think?

Chapter 728 Release of Prisoners of War

"The Star Luo Emperor and the Dou Ling Emperor pride themselves on justice and refute the Sun Moon Empire as an evil empire. In addition, there are too many ordinary prisoners of war. With a formidable enemy at hand, it is simply impossible for them to send people to question them one by one."

It's also impossible to reorganize these people and incorporate them into the Allied Forces. After all, who knows if these people might disrupt morale and lead their comrades to defect on the battlefield?

Even ordinary soldiers, considered cannon fodder, defecting on the battlefield can negatively impact the course of the war!

Ju Zi looked at Huo Yuhao with increasing admiration: "However, Yuhao, since this is the plan you came up with, why don't you go to the POW camp and announce it? I will arrange the other related matters."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao nodded, his voice gentle: "Okay."

He did not refuse; after all, a good reputation was also a good way to gather faith power.

.......

The Sun and Moon Army, prisoner-of-war camp.

Under the bright sun, a large number of prisoners of war were having lunch. A cacophony of sounds floated in the sunlight—the sounds of people enjoying their meal.

The so-called lunch was porridge, which contained large chunks of meat and vegetables. In addition, the chef was quite skilled, so it tasted very delicious.

Because the Sun and Moon Army adopted a strategy of providing ample food for the prisoners of war, the prisoners even gained some weight after being captured.

There were many ordinary prisoners of war, but they had no restraints on them. There were fewer Soul Master prisoners of war, but they all had Soul Guidance Devices specifically designed to suppress their Soul Power.

For the vast majority of prisoners of war, their time in the Sun and Moon Army's POW camps was actually much more comfortable than their time in the Allied forces.

Corruption is rampant within the Allied Forces; even the soul tools specifically designed for soul masters can be embezzled by noble soul masters.

Therefore, the food allocated to ordinary people, and even Soul Masters, was naturally subject to being secretly withheld by noble Soul Masters, since this food could be exchanged for Gold Soul Coins.

Some people have good backgrounds or strength, so they don't need to worry about this situation happening to them. Even noble soul masters are bullies who are afraid of the strong and will change their stance depending on the wind.

However, such people are ultimately a minority. Most people do not live well in the coalition forces and are sometimes even oppressed by their superiors.

Admittedly, although Marshal Sun Moon ordered that prisoners of war be treated well, some people still mistreated them, since prisoners of war did not have a high status in Douluo Continent.

However, the matter was soon discovered by the strict military commander, Marshal Sun and Moon, who then arranged for people to punish the Sun and Moon soldiers who violated military orders.

In fact, as the busy Marshal of the Sun and Moon, Ju Zi should not have bothered with such trivial matters, but should have focused on more important things.

After all, the mistreatment of prisoners of war has occurred frequently throughout history, and many people have become accustomed to it.

However, remembering that Huo Yuhao had instructed her to treat prisoners of war well, Ju Zi naturally paid more attention to them.

"Gentlemen, after you finish your meal, a very important person will come to the prisoner-of-war camp to announce something!" Wang Yiheng, the leader of the Evil Monarch Soul Master Corps, flew into the air and said loudly.

He used his soul power when he spoke, so everyone in the vast prisoner-of-war camp heard his voice.

At this moment, many prisoners of war stopped eating and began to communicate verbally.

"Is some important figure coming to the POW camp to announce something? I have a bad feeling about this."

"Are they going to start killing prisoners or make us serve as auxiliary troops, standing at the forefront to withstand the allied forces' artillery fire? Sigh, I knew it. There's a price to pay for being fed and cared for these past few days. The Sun Moon Empire has finally shown its fangs!"

"This meal is probably my last meal before I die!"

The prisoners of war were filled with anxiety, and they ate their lunch much more slowly.

After all, thanks to the persistent propaganda of the two royal families, the Sun Moon Empire had a very poor image in their minds.

Even though their impression of the Sun Moon Empire had changed somewhat when they were prisoners of war, fear still rose in their hearts in the face of possible death.

After a while, the prisoners of war finished their meal, and Huo Yuhao also came to mid-air, looking at everyone. Relying on his powerful mental strength, he transmitted his voice to all the prisoners of war present: "Gentlemen, I am Huo Yuhao, the Prime Minister of Sun and Moon. I am here today to release most of you."

Anyone who doesn't want to continue fighting and wants to go home can collect some rations and travel expenses to leave the prisoner-of-war camp and go home on their own!

These words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky. The prisoners of war were stunned, and their faces showed disbelief. After all, such a thing had never happened before.

For a moment, the sound of conversation rose and fell.

"This... I'm probably not dreaming, am I? I can actually go home?"

"I want to go home to see my parents, my wife, and my children!"

"How is this possible? Could there be a conspiracy?"

Soon, the ordinary prisoners of war in the area all chose to go home. Even though some prisoners of war still thought it was a conspiracy, they decided to take the gamble when they thought of their families. The Sun and Moon Army also provided these people with rations and travel expenses and planned the best route home.

In the long night, the moon hung like a silver hook, and the silver light of the Soul Guiding Lamp shone, blending with the moonlight, as if a layer of salt had been sprinkled on the ground.

Because a large number of ordinary civilian prisoners of war left, only Soul Master prisoners of war remained in this place.

These people were all whispering among themselves.

"Those ordinary people are simply stupid as oxen. Throughout history, when has there ever been a good thing like releasing prisoners of war to go home and providing them with food and travel expenses? I'm afraid those ordinary people have already become the victims of the Sun and Moon Army's swords!"

"Hmph, it's better to live a miserable life than to die. Every day I can live is a day better than this. Staying in the POW camp is much better than the so-called 'going home'!"

After some time, one of the most imposing men finally couldn't hold back any longer and mustered his courage to ask, "Prime Minister Huo, as a Soul Master prisoner of war, I don't want to fight anymore. Can I go home?"

Upon hearing this, some people ridiculed the man for daydreaming, while others mocked him for not being clever enough.

Huo Yuhao replied seriously, "Of course, Soul Master prisoners of war can go home, but not now. After all, Soul Master prisoners of war are different from ordinary prisoners of war."

The man's eyes instantly dimmed.