There can't be a Harvest Moon in the RimWorld.

"what book?"

"Improve yourself every day, and you, a slave, will eventually enter the Senate." "Servants, your master is making these demands on you so that you can become better." "Serfs should not envy their master's manor, because you have not seen his sweat." "Having gone through these storms, the rich man has become stronger." "Yang Bailao learned to manage himself, and ten years later, even Huang Shiren was impressed." "Slave members of the Houmuwu Ding production team: We should thank the overseers for their whips." "You only see the princes' extravagant lifestyle, but you don't see the hardships behind it."

I rattled off a long list of dubious book titles, then said helplessly, “Go read them, and you’ll understand. Although they all point to one thing: your efforts are futile, and the upward mobility you’re given is limited to this point. The rest of the path is suspended in mid-air, a height that cannot be reached through hard work alone.”

The leader of my direct subordinate unit said to me with a hint of anger, "I don't need your instigation. I've always thought highly of this young man, and I just can't bear to see him go astray and die a gruesome death."

After saying that, he looked at the traitor and said sincerely, "I told you before, if it weren't for your identity, I would definitely recruit you into my ranks. With your abilities, you could definitely make a name for yourself... It's not too late for you to repent now. I can ask the lord to spare you. Do you understand? This is your last chance!"

With a backhand slash, I used the barrel of my spear to pull back his outstretched hand. "Go back? Continue to be a disguised slave with no personal freedom? Listen to your arguments about how the efforts of three generations of us should be defeated by your ten years of hard study?"

I was so angry I laughed back, and I launched into a tirade against him: "The insurmountable chasm you keep talking about, is it really just this ridiculous background? You determine a person's ceiling by their background, not by their efforts? And then you stand on high and smugly express your admiration, feigning regret while secretly rejoicing as you say we admire you? What you're doing is simply maintaining the purity of this unattainable class, and then pushing those who try to climb up the cliff off a cliff!"

"If you wanted to help him, you could have easily brought this exceptionally talented young man into your team with just a few words, but you didn't dare! Why don't you dare? Is it some insurmountable barrier? Are you afraid that opening this breach will unleash a raging torrent that will drown your rotten corpses?"

"What's even more ridiculous is that you, relying on your heavy armor and firepower advantage, still crumbled and fell to these lowly people's clumsy tricks. I'm really curious whether the so-called elite troops are truly formidable warriors or a bunch of spineless cowards who have long been unable to fight and have declined to the extreme?"

As my words escalated, my actions became increasingly exaggerated, almost spraying him in the face. Even the commander was so excited that he almost stood up and raised his arms to shout, venting all the pent-up anger he had accumulated over the years.

But before he could react, he heard a gunshot beside him, and then blood splattered from the neck of the leader of his elite troops as he fell to the ground, his eyes wide open in death...

Chapter 357 The Deeds of Heroes

"Take cover! Attack!"

Those four words instantly flashed through his mind. As he shouted, his body reflexively fell to the ground, trying to stay as close to the ground as possible. He crawled to the side using his elbows, searching for suitable cover.

The attack came from an extremely strange direction, from right behind him. When he calmed down and observed the situation, he saw two town guards dressed in beggar's clothes, their hands trembling as they gripped their guns; the gunfire had come from them.

"You bastards! What are you doing!"

Seeing his elite unit leader lying in a pool of blood, he felt a wave of despair wash over him. How could the situation, which had been so promising, have turned into this? What was wrong with these two men's brains?

But before he could get a reply, a figure rushed out violently, abandoning the chopping, stabbing, hooking, slicing, and probing movements of halberd techniques, and mercilessly cut the two men and their assault rifles in two!

"It's time for you to purify the ranks. If these two are not traitors among traitors, or secret agents planted by the lord, then they are people in this town who do not want to rebel and leave. Once the death crisis is over, they will no longer be of one mind with you."

After I cut them in two, I turned to the commander and said helplessly.

But the traitorous commander didn't dwell on it. Instead, he frowned and said to me, "Their deaths are insignificant, but they killed Henry Kaiser. We've lost our chance to control the situation, and this is tricky..."

"Them? Neither of them has ever used a gun before, how could they be so accurate? They just fired a burst into the air..." I asked in surprise, "Is the Henry Kaiser you're talking about the leader? I killed him!"

"What?!!"

The traitorous commander was horrified. "Sir, why did you kill him! If what he said is true, then the shelling can't be stopped!"

I scratched my head and said nonchalantly, "I got so carried away talking just now that I thought about a lot of things from the past, and I couldn't help but chop him up. The younger generation always pushes the older generation aside, right? If I don't chop up these scheming upstarts, how will I ever have a chance to rise to power?"

Hearing this, the traitorous commander was speechless, a slight smile appearing on his face. He shook his head and sighed, "Sir... you only intervened to stand up for me... but it really wasn't necessary. I already knew the fate of the town guards; they wouldn't have stood a chance anywhere..."

I patted him on the shoulder. I don’t know how many times I’ve patted him on the shoulder. Anyway, apart from this gesture of passing on courage, it seems difficult to express emotions on the battlefield in any other way.

"Since you want to join me, I can guarantee that you have the same potential as me! We will have the same armor, the same weapons, and the same future!"

I turned around and shouted to the people around me, "I don't care if you were slaves, soldiers, or peasants before. As long as you sincerely want to join me, I can accept you and give you a glorious future! If any of you don't want to leave, you can leave immediately. Don't do anything irrational—although I don't mind killing a couple more people who don't know the rules!"

If someone else said something like that, someone would probably seize the opportunity to stab him in the back the next second, killing him right there.

But I have a system!

If there are any traitors among these people, they simply won't pass the colonist system's judgment and join my forces! For example, Burnett, he is alone and grateful, but he doesn't want to implicate me and has some concerns, so he hasn't shown any signs of joining or becoming a formal colony member yet.

Those who join the colonial forces can be easily observed through their character panel to understand their inner thoughts. If any scheming individuals are bribed, their opinion of me will turn negative...

Then I'll have no trouble killing them!

"I'll count to three! Those who want to leave, put down your weapons. I absolutely won't stop you. But if there's any further unnecessary movement afterward, then don't blame me for being ruthless!"

"See that flare gun in my hand? Once the bullets in here are fired, it will attract the lord's attention, and the bombardment will resume at any moment. I'll count to three and start firing! Those who don't want to leave, lie down on the spot. Those who want to leave, get out of here!"

When I spoke my first words, the people present were just whispering among themselves, seemingly considering whether what I said was reliable or whether I was trying to bait them into making a mistake. Therefore, most of them remained still.

But after I finished speaking the second paragraph, some of them suddenly changed their expressions and started to tremble and try to run away.

"I'll count to three and then fire!"

"one……"

As the count reached one, a blindingly bright signal flare soared into the sky, illuminating a range that could be seen across most of the territory. The indigo flames shone brightly on the faces of the stunned crowd, making them appear exceptionally foolish.

"Weren't we counting to three? Why did you suddenly open fire?!"

The traitorous commander cried out and tried to snatch the flare gun from my hand, but I kicked him to the ground, receiving a cold and ruthless reply: "A man only needs to know how to count to one! Two and three are unnecessary!"

The seemingly upright but actually treacherous commander finally lost his composure and shouted, "I think it's your head that's unnecessary!"

Pshaw, this guy's completely oblivious to the situation. From the moment we gained complete control and defeated our elite troops, our fragile alliance was practically on its last legs. These town garrison troops never had the guts to rebel, and now that their escape route is clear, they definitely want me to leave so they can go back to being peacekeepers. The end result will probably be everyone present running away, leaving only the traitorous commander to take the blame!

But would I let that happen? Would I inexplicably save these enemies, only to release them back to fight me? If I did that, I wouldn't even be able to take one of the slaves off the field!

The crux of the problem lies in the lack of external pressure, which leads to a loss of internal cohesion. The two who took advantage of the chaos to fire serve as a cautionary tale. Solving this problem is actually quite simple…

Create an even bigger enemy, drive these people into a corner once again, and force them down a dark path!

Such tactics are common in the Water Margin, a typical method used by heroes to force others to join the Liangshan bandits. Can the heroes' actions be called deception?

Wu Yong gave it a thumbs up.

Lu Junyi said he was very angry.

Now the road that was gradually appearing in front of them has disappeared again, and with the feint by the leader of their elite troops as a bonus, I don't believe they would dare to stay here, deep within the artillery's range, waiting to die.

"It seems none of you intend to leave, which makes me very relieved! Everyone, assemble immediately and follow my instructions, or your lives will be reduced to a countdown!"

Chapter 358 Full Map Artillery Barrage

About fifteen minutes later, a barrage of artillery fire began.

When the first wave of shelling arrived, the people on the field were searching for suitable cover. Some crawled into crevices in the rocks, some hid under trees, and others curled up on the ground trying to reduce their chances of being hit. The only thing they had in common was the religious-like piety on their faces, as if in this gamble of life and death, faith could bring them a better chance of survival.

The reason they didn't run away was because I stood in the center of the field, holding a steel halberd, and killed three people who tried to escape to the town.

I grabbed the man's empty skull, ignoring the blood on my hands, and threw it into the crowd, yelling, "You bunch of idiots! Those who escaped have already gone back to report! It's because of your incompetence that those who knew the news got away! The lord now knows the whole situation here and understands that there's a traitor among the town guards!"

"As for whether the traitor is you, him, or someone else, does it make any difference to the lord? You are all pathetic worms on the verge of death. Do you think that being blasted to death by a cannon isn't enough to make you feel better, and that you have to be hung on a flagpole, disemboweled, and slowly tortured to death?"

The lord's usual ruthless methods of establishing his authority had a strong deterrent effect on these people, finally awakening the headless flies to their last shred of consciousness. One of them asked what everyone was thinking.

"Then what should we do?"

When I looked, I realized that the person asking the question was none other than the fat slave warden. This guy had actually survived two waves of attacks, and resolutely stood in the crowd to ask the question, relying on his quick wit to blurt out the answer, thinking that I might not have noticed him.

"You! You fatso! Step forward!"

I pointed, and the slaves immediately parted, receding like a tide to reveal the fat warden among them—he was the fattest of all the people, so there was no reason for him not to be exposed.

The fat guard looked around nervously, and when he realized there was no chance to hide, he stepped forward and asked me respectfully, "Sir, what do you need me for?"

"What is it?" I slapped him on the forehead, and feeling unsatisfied, I slapped him again. "What could you possibly be doing standing here! Teaching you how to dodge artillery shells!"

I shoved him hard, dragging him to the edge of the city wall and making him stand at attention at the base of the wall. "Watch closely! All of you, come closer to this wall and stand there. Whether you can escape or not depends on your luck!"

Seeing my reaction, the bald man couldn't help but ask, "Boss... can you really avoid the shelling like this?"

I grinned and said resolutely, "Of course not! It would only attract artillery fire!"

"Huh???" The bald man looked at me with a blank expression, covering his head with his hands, indicating that he was very confused.

Among the crowd, only the commander seemed to be a smart man. He whispered to me, "Sir, do you mean we should all draw fire at the city wall, hoping the cannonballs will destroy it so we can escape?"

I nodded: "That's right, this wall isn't easy to breach by manpower, but it would only take a shot or two if it were shelled. I want to see what other troops he can send out, and whether they dare to fire on this place!"

The traitorous commander, true to his word, immediately thought of a problem: "What if the enemy doesn't shell?"

I laughed even harder: "I'll go collect the heads of his elite troops, pile them up into a mound of corpses, and place it under the city wall. I'll spread the bodies on the ground and write a big 'tragic' character on it. I don't believe he can still look at this place calmly."

The traitorous commander couldn't help but give a thumbs up, praising repeatedly, "Sir, your idea is brilliant! Given the lord's personality, he definitely wouldn't tolerate this. Everyone in the territory already knows he made concessions before, and everyone thinks he intends to retaliate tenfold. If he had just tolerated it without doing anything, his reputation here would be hard to recover!"

Hearing the commander loudly praise me, everyone, from his subordinates to slaves, had a gleam in their eyes and quickly lined up at the foot of the city wall. They stood close together but not crowded, even faster than those who had been trained. Indeed, the intelligence that people can unleash in the face of death is limitless.

But then the commander turned to me and said in a voice just loud enough for me to hear, without moving his mouth at all: "Sir... I've done the charade you asked me to play... but this method doesn't seem feasible! The lord's artillery skills are renowned throughout the faction. This distance is no problem for him at all. If he controls the shockwave well, he can shatter us all into pieces..."

I scoffed, "What a joke! No matter how good your artillery skills are, can they be better than the Second Battalion Commander? That shot at Ping'an Gole changed the entire Asian battlefield, directly triggering the PLA's shift from offense to defense!"

“Ping… Pingangler?” The traitorous commander repeated, shaking his head to indicate he had never heard of it. “Who is this Second Battalion Commander? Is his artillery skill even better than the lord’s?”

"Of course, the Italian cannons would be even more powerful." I stopped arguing with him and secretly began making arrangements. "But I've also considered what you said. Just waiting for the shelling is too passive. I still have some trump cards in my hand, so I need your cooperation. In a moment, you shout 'Lie down!' and then no matter what happens, don't stand up or talk to anyone. Do you understand?"

"I...I understand!" The traitor nodded decisively.

I nodded in satisfaction, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "Shout!"

Upon hearing my order, the commander immediately roared in his well-trained, loud voice, "Fire! Take cover!"

Then, with practiced ease, he dropped his weapon and lay down on the ground. The sound waves spread like a virus in all directions, causing a large number of people to crouch down in fear, some like tigers, others like prostrate themselves on the ground. After a brief scream, there was a long silence; no one spoke, as if the silence would last forever.

Some people tried to ask questions, but seeing that everyone around them remained silent, they quickly buried their heads in the ground again, not daring to utter a single word. Driven by herd mentality, these people huddled together, occasionally someone would look up, but no one dared to voice a question; they simply stayed obediently in place.

"call out!"

After waiting for about five minutes, a sharp whooshing sound came from high above. The sound wave was like a blade scraping in their ears. An invisible pressure suddenly increased, stinging their skin and causing a dull pain. The alarm of death was also ringing wildly in their hearts.

Then came a deafening explosion that shook the earth violently. A shockwave rushed through their bodies and spread further afield, causing the towering city walls to sway and shake like building blocks...

The shelling has finally begun!

Chapter 359 Comet Strikes the Moon

The lord of the loader's territory, with a poker face, was in the control room of the bunker turret. A ray of light shone on his gloomy face as he gritted his teeth, glanced into the distance through binoculars, and then continued to adjust the firing angle.

He had seen the signal flare fired by his elite troops and assumed the mission was accomplished. Satisfied, he returned to his lord's hall and sat down, waiting for his men to report back with the rebels' heads and news of victory.

In his mind, the invader was a formidable enemy, powerful enough to single-handedly alter the course of a local battlefield, and given enough time and space, even capable of overthrowing an entire power. Even more terrifying was the force behind him, an enigma that seemed to speak without thinking, yet his armor and weapons bore the hallmarks of a shattered empire.

Could it really be a member of the "ancient" force, as his subordinates suspected?

Unfortunately, this person didn't know when to advance or retreat. Relying on his great power, he acted arrogantly and made demands that were like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. He overestimated his abilities and wanted to seize benefits from this place. In the end, he could only fail at the last moment.

If establishing a foothold in the wasteland were so easy, why would he have needed to fight so hard to gain a foothold back then? This kind of insatiable greed really does seem a bit like the actions of "ancient" forces...

Just as he was deep in thought, a flurry of noises arose outside, seemingly from the grey-robed men who were in a panic. However, as they stepped into the lord's hall, their steps deliberately slowed, and their breathing became almost imperceptible—because of the lord's obsessive-compulsive disorder, anyone who dared to make a sound here was already dead.