It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"Yuxi City can withstand your attacks during the war, but if you go there again after the war, it may not be able to hold out."

"Just think about it. With an army that is almost dead and five dilapidated cities, it is impossible for them to put all their energy into guarding against you. They have to engage in production and be on guard against the demons. Who would have thought that you would sneak over there at this time? If you win, you can just refuse Kaia and Norn. If you lose, you just have to wait for their support. Anyway, Yuxi City can be taken sooner or later."

"In the final analysis, people like you have such a narrow mindset. You will probably spend your whole lives scheming against each other in this mountain den. Whether it's the Fourth Brother or you guys, the men of the Yunyang family are superficial."

Finally, in a summary speech, Rixin ignored the gloomy Riyi and Risin, and left while shaking his head and sighing. Riyi looked at Risin's eager eyes, but he still didn't dare to refuse. Last time, he promised to take the four cities back to him, but he returned empty-handed. This time, Risin formed his own army and hoped that he would send some people to help. Riyi couldn't refuse anyway.

But when he agreed to Lineng, Li Yi frowned slightly.

He vaguely remembered that when he sent the envoys to the territory of King Huai, a new girl named Yunye in the envoys advised him not to act rashly during this period.

The girl named Yunye was introduced by a friend of a distant relative of his lover, so they were not related at all, so Li Yi did not give her any important position. He put her in the envoy group where she was not used at all in normal times, which was like arranging a sinecure for her as a civil servant.

The consul of the envoy group was a charming and beautiful woman named Zi Pu. This name was given by Li Yi, and it was said that there was a romantic story behind it. Most of the women in the envoy group also had affairs with Li Yi, but Yun Ye was spared for the time being because she was too young to be picked.

The flash of memory did not alert Li Yi, and he almost immediately put it out of his mind. After all, Yun Ye's status was too low, and her suggestions were not in Li Yi's eyes. If it weren't for the impression of that playful face with a few freckles, Li Yi would have forgotten what she said at the time -

"Well, I think that diplomacy is not about the gains and losses of a city or a place. Some time ago, I looked up the affairs of the Lord of Yuxi City from the Lord Crown Prince. I felt that this person was like the hibernating snake that my grandparents talked about. He looked lazy on weekdays, but if you are determined to get rid of him, you must succeed once, otherwise there will be endless troubles. So I hope that Lord Crown Prince can restrain his desires and wait until the support of Prince Huai and Qiming Territory arrives before making plans... That's all I want to say. Sorry to bother you!"

Alas... After all, she is a girl from a small rural family, so her skills are not good enough. Look at this analogy, can Li De be called a snake? Just a small caterpillar in the field. Since Li Neng is willing to attack Yuxi City, let him go, so that fewer people will die on our side... Anyway, Li De is dead, it doesn't matter who killed him, if Li Neng wants to take back those cities, he can give them to him.

The whole of Yunyang will belong to him in the end, so why bother about those little details? The only thing he wanted to do now was to get revenge and release the resentment that had been accumulated in his heart for almost a year.

With this mentality, Li Yi did not accept Yunye's suggestion.

At this time, Lid, whom he described as a little caterpillar, was so bored that he was ready to spin a cocoon.

After the task was assigned, the City Lord's Mansion, which had been busy, suddenly became much quieter.

Things were going smoothly for Fang Shisan, as there was an endless stream of people joining the army, and soon they had enough people. For the young men in Yuxi City, who were full of vigor and vitality, they were not so afraid of death, because they had walked the line between life and death many times before under the oppression of the old nobles. They were afraid of dying unclearly, afraid that their families would not be able to support them after their death, and afraid that they seemed to have never been to this world. But now Yuxi City has solved these problems at once: equipping them with the best weapons, leading them to fight the most exciting battles, and even if they died on the battlefield, Yuxi City would engrave their names on the stone tablet, and they would be remembered by countless people. In addition, Yuxi City promised that if one person joined the army, the whole family would benefit, and the resettlement fee was also sufficient, so this time the conscription was still very smooth.

[For those who will never come back], many people in Yuxi City still remember this sentence.

After recruiting enough soldiers, Fang Shisan moved back to the barracks, and she and Lid rarely saw each other for ten days or half a month. In the army, she was an emotionless commander, and any love was suppressed in her heart, because as a general, she had to set an example for the soldiers, and it was not right to go to the city lord's mansion every few days.

He Yue no longer returned to the City Lord's Mansion and slept in the Internal Affairs Department instead.

The Heroes Guild has already taken shape, but it has been followed by countless problems, big and small. Not only that, Fang Shisan left with the army, and the mess behind was actually left to him to deal with. The pensions for the soldiers who died in the last war need to be paid in time, and the resettlement allowances given by the conscription this time must not be delayed. The weapons and equipment purchased from the merchants in the Yunhai Territory need to be negotiated, and the newly developed precious perfumes in the northern industrial base also need to be sold. In addition to the various tasks of connecting with the demons, He Yue now basically only sleeps three or four hours a day. Although he is energetic, he can also see obvious dark circles around his eyes.

Shuang also took Xiluo away. If the business of the Succubus House is to be fully expanded, Xiluo will have to help her solve some problems secretly. However, with Xiluo's way of doing things, he will most likely leave a small note on someone's pillow and send a warning letter to scare the other party before the assassination. This kind of assassin is unique in the world.

The hut that He Yue had built in the woods was given to Felita. She had to study the inheritance given to her by Snake Eyes. There were many complex and ancient magics in it. She was afraid that if she studied it in the City Lord's Mansion, it would blow up Lid's house, so she went to the outskirts of the city to experiment. Lid didn't bother her during this period. It felt like Felita was practicing in seclusion in there, very mysterious.

Alayya also spent more time practicing sword skills every day.

Liushi and Amo basically got up early every morning to work as blacksmiths, worked while eating, and even when going to the toilet they would not forget to find a whetstone to sharpen the swords they had just made.

So Lid is boring.

Apart from playing with Bai Huang, Li De really had nothing to do. But Bai Huang had to go out on patrol every day, so he didn't see her very often unless Li De was willing to go out on patrol with her. But as the saying goes, spring makes you sleepy, autumn makes you weak, winter makes you weak, and summer makes you sleepy. Li De basically didn't want to go out now.

This is how life goes until Reed receives a mysterious magazine.

14. Rookie th

"The Royal Capital Review" is a book published by the Royal Capital every year. In the past, it simply ranked the thirty-six territories, but this year it is different. The territory ranking has become one of the sections "Territory List". In addition, there are "Hero List", "Rookie List", "Famous Minister List" and "Beauty List", a total of five lists. The whole book is several times thicker than before. Although the price has increased, the sales volume has not dropped. The popularity has increased dramatically and it is sold in every corner of the streets and alleys.

Lid estimated that this was most likely the idea of ​​the White-robed Minister Wumi, and he admired him a little more. In the past, simply ranking the territories and introducing the situation of each territory in the past year, let alone the common people, ordinary nobles had no interest in it and could not arouse any desire to buy.

It is different now. Without saying too much, the Hero List records the stories of those masters. Everyone buys it and reads it with great interest. The next day, they go out and start arguing about who is better. Life is much more fun. Not to mention the Beauty List. In the past, we only heard that someone was good-looking, but now we can see their beauty. Who would not want to spend some money to buy it and take a look? Even if we can't see the real person, we can still lick the portrait.

After Li De got the book, he first looked at the Territory List. The rankings were basically the same as last year. Xi Qin Territory was still number one, followed by Nan Chu Territory, and then Ling Wu Territory. There was a comment under Ling Wu, saying that Ling Wu was now as good as Nan Chu, but its specific strength was unknown, so it was temporarily ranked third. Li De flipped for a long time and finally found Yun Yang Territory at the back, ranking 23rd, one place lower than last year. Yun Hai rose to 7th, which showed that the fight between Bai Feng and Bai Ye did not seem to affect the vigorous development of Yun Hai Territory.

Naturally, the name of Yuxi City would not appear in this ranking, so Reed threw it aside after reading it.

There were too many names on the "Heroes List", and Lide had never heard of more than 80% of them. He only glanced at the top few, and now the world's number one has been replaced by the great swordsman Jia Erbode, who is also the tenth-level swordsman in Lingwu. It is said that he is older, not a handsome middle-aged uncle like Qingyun, but a white-haired old man. Although he is old, his swordsmanship is famous for its extreme violence. It is said that one sword can make the snow outside the Great Wall fly back into the sky.

Also on the list is Mr. Tingchao, the only remaining great swordsman in the world. He lives in Western Qin and is said to be a hermit who is too lazy to argue with anyone. Apart from swordsmanship, he is a single father who raises two daughters and a son. He is always smiling and polite to everyone. When he sees a beggar on the roadside, he will smile and hand over a pot of good wine. But no one can forget that four years ago, a group of blind and brutal bandits in Danyang City kidnapped Mr. Tingchao's little daughter and demanded that Mr. Tingchao give him the swordsmanship secrets in exchange. As a result, Mr. Tingchao killed 3,700 people with one sword. At that time, the little girl could not speak clearly. After being rescued, she lay in Mr. Tingchao's arms, sucking her fingers, and said in a baby voice:

——"PAPA, it's raining."

It was indeed rain. It was falling in a steady stream, red and sticky.

There were three great sword masters in the world before, but after Qingyun left, there should be only two left. But there is another familiar name on this list, Xige, the commander of the Royal Capital Jinyiwei, who also entered the tenth level of swordsmanship not long ago. However, there is no "great sword master" in front of his name, maybe because he just entered the tenth level and is not stable, or maybe he has not yet won a battle to become famous, anyway, he has not been given this title.

What surprised Lid was that the only great magician of the tenth level of magic recorded in the "Heroes List" was not Merlin. It was another female magician named Skadi. It is said that when Skadi's mother was pregnant, all the plants in the house bloomed in pairs. She immediately used magic to check her body and found two feminine signs of life in her belly. They should be twin sisters. So Skadi's mother was very happy and gave her two daughters the nickname "Twin Lotus" in advance. As a result, when giving birth, the two sisters didn't know why only Skadi survived alone, so Skadi got a new title, called "The Di among Di".

Reed looked at Skadi's life again and felt that he was a completely different person from Merlin. Recalling He Yue's description of Merlin, it was basically certain that Merlin had hidden his realm, so he was not included in this list at all.

He probably used his proud illusion to conceal the unusual celestial phenomena when he ascended to the tenth level, thus deceiving everyone.

In addition to the human ceilings of the tenth level, some people who have reached the ninth level of perfection have also been selected. Among them are Narus, who once stabbed Lid in Yunhai, and Bai Feng's brother Bai Ye. When Lid saw Bai Ye's name on the "Hero List", he knew why Bai Ye could compete with the already established Bai Feng for the identity of Yunhai's prince. It turned out that he himself was a master of the ninth level of perfection in boxing, and he was only one step away from the tenth level. This was his greatest asset. Although the competition for the prince is not a competition of whose fist is harder, Bai Ye, who has reached the ninth level of perfection, is at the other extreme compared to Bai Feng, who suffers from hemophobia. Bai Feng is more literary, while Bai Ye is more martial. Naturally, there are many martial arts enthusiasts willing to gather around Bai Ye, gradually forming another force in the Yunhai territory that cannot be underestimated.

After reading "Heroes List", Lide smacked his lips. He still remembered the scene when Qingyun put the bamboo in his hand against his throat and said to him, "As long as you don't step into the realm of the tenth level, I can kill you." The terrifying aura pressed Lide so hard that he could hardly move. It seems that the experience summarized by the predecessors is correct. The ninth level to the tenth level is indeed a very difficult threshold to pass. There are two worlds inside and outside the door. According to Alaiya, Qingyun, who threatened him with the bamboo, had already reached the pseudo tenth level because he broke his own Zen. How strong would the real tenth level be?

Thinking of this, Lid recalled the words that Lingwu Lord had asked someone to bring to him last time, saying that this year's [Northward Journey] required him to go to Lingwu Territory in person and explain the relationship with Xiqin Territory to Lingwu Lord in person. If nothing unexpected happened, the great swordsman Garberd should be there. Being watched by such a master of the tenth level of swordsmanship, he would have nowhere to run. He didn't know if he could let him go because they were both of the [De] generation. It was probably impossible.

As he thought about it, Reed flipped open the "Rookie List" at the back.

On this list, Reed immediately saw an unexpected yet reasonable name.

There is no need to start from the beginning and look for them one by one. The moment you turn the page, your eyes will automatically focus on that person's name, just like when you were in school, you always had a natural sensitivity to the name of the person you liked.

Fifth place on the "Rookie List": Kendo rookie, Alayya of Yuxi City.

15. The recognized second

Lide carefully read the biography of Alaya and found that there was no description of him. It only said that Alaya was a talented girl from Yunyang Territory. She taught herself swordsmanship before meeting Qingyun. Later, she got half of Qingyun's inheritance in the capital. At the age of sixteen, she had completed the sixth level of swordsmanship and had an extremely abundant sword energy, so she ranked fifth.

In fact, the people in charge of commenting in the capital obviously don't know the specific situation of Alaya. They only know that when Qingyun died, half of his sword energy was given to Alaya. This cannot be concealed. This alone is enough to make Alaya rank in the top five of the "Rookie List". But in fact, Qingyun can only be regarded as half of Alaya's master. Alaya's swordsmanship was originally taught by Lid. If you consider that she is now actually a dual-wielding player, Alaya's ranking can be raised a few places.

After all, in Reed's opinion, Alayya is the protagonist template of this world.

She was once gifted, but was harmed by her enemies. After being taken in by the Yunyang Lord's Mansion, she was bullied and ridiculed. Everyone thought she was just an ordinary ugly girl! But she never expected that her fate would change so drastically overnight. She met a handsome man with unfathomable strength (that is, Lid himself) who taught her by words and deeds, secretly helped her to warm up her meridians, allowing her to grow smoothly and be reborn, and severely slapped the faces of all the guys who looked down on her! The eldest son of Yunyang, who used to disdain her, now scrambled to take her in, but she sneered! When she went out to gain experience, her luck was so good that she was personally taught by the world's number one swordsman, and after his death, she inherited his sword energy...

Alaiya, you still say you are not the heroine? !

There's no one more like you.

It seems that if nothing unexpected happens, Alayya's future achievements will definitely be unprecedented, and he just needs to cling to her thighs. But the only problem is that she looks silly, not the kind of smart heroine. Such a cold and cute heroine will most likely be seduced by a seemingly inconspicuous male protagonist in the end, which makes Lid very worried.

The cabbage is our own cabbage, we can’t let it be given to other pigs for free.

Therefore, Lid often flirted with Alaia in recent years, just to make her able to withstand such people in the future. This is essentially consistent with the tactical guiding ideology of raising sons in poverty and daughters in wealth, improving the girl's aesthetic ability so that she will not be easily taken away.

Lid looked at the top four on the "Rookie List" again. Indeed, each of them had their own unique qualities. The first place was a bit peculiar. It was not given to any member of the territory, but to Huang Yan, the leader of the rebels who were active in the southeast of Yongtian Kingdom some time ago. This young leader was said to be born in an extremely poor family. When he was four years old, his family could no longer afford to support him, so they abandoned him on a snowy night. He was finally picked up by a blind old beggar. Huang Yan once asked the old beggar: How can the world get better? The old beggar replied:

——"As long as the sky above our heads does not change, the world will never be better; this sky will always be like this, and the world will always be like this."

The year after the blind old beggar died, Huang Yan started a rebellion, targeting the entire Yongtian Kingdom. The people of Tiance Mansion surrounded and suppressed them several times, but the southern barbarians were mostly poor and mountainous, and Huang Yan's rebel army had never been completely wiped out. They just waited for changes in the north and immediately marched north to compete in the Central Plains.

Huang Yan is 17 years old this year, the same age as Lid, and he can definitely wait.

After reading the "Rookie List", Lid opened the "Famous Ministers List". The rankings in the famous ministers list are divided according to positions, which is indeed necessary. There is a saying that there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. When various martial arts masters fight, they can always determine the winner and the ranking, but how can ministers of different directions be compared? Can the assistant ministers who handle internal affairs and the spies who handle intelligence be distinguished?

So in fact, it is divided into many directions. The opening chapter is the internal affairs chapter. Li De took a quick look and found that there was no member of Yuxi City. He Yue was simply eliminated. Thinking carefully, this is normal. After He Yue came to Yuxi City, most of the work he did was kept secret. If He Yue was included, the comment column would have to explain the reason, and the background of Yuxi City would have to be explained.

Lid believed that Wumi must have secretly investigated some of the information, but if he announced it at this time, it would be tantamount to a complete fallout with Yuxi City, and he would not be able to continue the business of improving seeds. So Wumi simply kicked Heyue out of the ranking.

The title of the best minister of internal affairs fell on the old prime minister beside the Lord of Lingwu, and Lide felt that it was very exaggerated. The strength of the Lord of Lingwu was known to everyone, and it was also known that the Lord of Lingwu knew everything. Under such circumstances, how could the old prime minister beside the Lord of Lingwu have such great power? It was even more ridiculous to say that "one person pushed the entire Lingwu forward with great weight" as the comment said. The second place was the white-robed minister Wu Mi. In addition, Lide also saw the old man Hualong, the old counselor beside Bai Feng, who was ranked ninth.

Turning the next page, it was the strategy chapter, and this time, Reed finally saw his sister again.

The tenth strategist in the world is Fang Shisan.

Compared to what He Yue did, Fang Shisan's achievements are clearly visible. When she was in Zhaochen, she was already famous. She had fought countless wars of subjugation. In addition, she was blind, lame, and beautiful, which made her a topic of conversation for many people. After arriving in Yuxi City, she seized four cities from Lineng, repelled the attacks from Yunyang several times, and defended Yuxi City against the invasion of the demons not long ago... Any of these things can scare many people.

Therefore, Fang Shisan was also ranked as the tenth best strategist in the world, and was also the youngest person on the list.

At that moment, Reed seemed to see countless people carrying shovels and running towards the foot of his house.

Li De sighed deeply, and couldn't help but think of another question. Although Fang Shisan and He Yue cooperated well now, they might not even be friends in private, and they usually talked about business when they met. Now Fang Shisan, as a colleague, is already the tenth best strategist in the world, but He Yue herself is still unknown. Would she feel uncomfortable?

While thinking about this question, Li De flipped through the lists. After the Strategy Chapter, there was the Anbu Chapter, etc., but Li De hardly saw any familiar names on these lists, not to mention the names of his subordinates. So Li De glanced at them and skipped them directly, and couldn't wait to flip to the finale, "The Most Beautiful List".

Open the first page, the best in the world, the Lord of Lingwu.

Open the second page, the second best in the world, He Yue from Yuxicheng.

16. Our Way

Seeing that He Yue didn't even have a place on the "Famous Ministers List", but ranked second on the "Best Beauty List", Li De laughed mercilessly. Not only that, he deliberately turned over, put on slippers, took the book to the Internal Affairs Department, pulled He Yue up while he was working, and showed him the ranking result.

He Yue was also stunned after reading it, and finally said with a wry smile:

"I didn't expect that I, He Yue, would become famous for my looks in the end... I always feel a little unwilling to accept this."

Lid put his arm around his shoulders affectionately and said righteously:

"It's okay. How can being famous not be famous? In my heart, you, He Yue, are the best in the world at internal affairs. It doesn't matter whether you are the second most beautiful woman in the world or not."

“That being said… huh?”

He Yue sighed and turned another page of "The Most Beautiful List".

Then he was stunned for a moment and didn't speak for a long time. Reed also looked over there, and then Reed was also stunned.

There are several big words written on the list:

Tied for second place is Yuxicheng Lide.

He Yue patted Lid's shoulder sympathetically and said gently:

"It's okay. How can being famous not be famous? In my heart, you are the best city lord in the world. It doesn't matter whether you are the second most beautiful girl with me."

"I'm really convinced..."

Lid covered his forehead and put the booklet on the table. After thinking for a while, he picked up the book and flipped through it. Seeing that Fang Shisan was not on the list, he couldn't help but sigh. There are many beautiful girls in Yuxi City, but the gap between Fang Shisan and He Yue is the smallest. It's a pity that the audience for imperfect beauty is still too small. In the eyes of most people, no matter how beautiful Fang Shisan is, it's useless. The fact that she has to sit in a wheelchair with her eyes closed for her whole life and needs others to take care of her is enough to prevent her from participating in this kind of selection.

He Yue envies Fang Shisan for being the tenth best strategist in the world. Does Fang Shisan feel envious of He Yue?

Most likely there will be. Which girl doesn't want to be recognized? When she was in Tianxing City, Fang Shisan once planned to use herself as compensation to keep Li De, who was then using the alias Jiade. At that time, Fang Shisan described herself as "I heard others say she was pretty", and she was not very confident when she said this. So Li De has been thinking that if her name can be on this list, Fang Shisan should be more confident.

If possible, Li De really wanted to give his spot to Fang Shisan. He could understand why Wu Mi wanted to put him on the list. After all, he was also the most beautiful lady in Yunhai this year. If even the most beautiful lady failed to make the list, wouldn't it mean that Yunhai was just entertaining itself in all those elections? Not to mention that Li De was a man, even if a dog was chosen as the most beautiful lady in Yunhai, its name and portrait would have to appear on the list of most beautiful ladies this year.

But Lid originally bought this book to appreciate beauty in the dead of night when he couldn't sleep alone. What about now? Every day when I open the book and turn two pages, I see a portrait of myself in women's clothing. Do I relieve stress by looking at myself? The top three on this list of beauties have half of their faces covered with red gauze, one can see the real person anytime he wants, and the other is me. This is too hard to bear.

"However, this ranking is indeed very useful. Wu Mi has come up with a good idea."

Lid moved a chair and sat down, then said to He Yue:

"Entertainment is only one aspect. The most important thing is to control public opinion. Don't underestimate such a list. When everyone in the world is convinced by the ranking given by the royal family, Wu Mi can mix in a lot of personal opinions... Oh, he has already mixed it in."

Li De opened the "Rookie List" and said to He Yue:

"The first row of rookies was given to the leader of the rebels, Huang Yan. But judging from the introduction, Huang Yan's own military strength is not exaggerated to that extent. The rebels have been entrenched in the poor mountains and bad waters of the southern barbarians, and the royal family has no good way to deal with them. But if Huang Yan is pushed to the first position of rookies, countless people will want to take advantage of him. It is conceivable that the pressure on Huang Yan will not only come from the royal family in the future. He has to guard against guys from all over the world who want to cause trouble for him. For those who are scrambling to become famous, killing him may very likely allow them to compete for the next "Rookie List."

He Yue nodded in agreement and sighed:

"The Prime Minister in White... is indeed amazing."

Lid patted her shoulder and said:

"Don't be sad. If you are sad, I will blame myself too. Your ability is not worse than his, but you are on a different platform and see different things. No matter how decadent the royal family is, they are still the legitimate and nominal rulers of Yongtian Kingdom. Wu Mi is the second in command of the royal family, so naturally he can see many things that others cannot see. Yuxi City is a new force, and it does not have many problems, but it also lacks a lot of foundation."

He Yue smiled and replied:

"It's okay. Besides, Wu Mi was selected by the White Guards after visiting all over the world and comparing them repeatedly. He must be one of the smartest people in the world. I won't be surprised at what he can do, and I don't think I will lose to him by much."

She raised her head and asked Lid:

"Is Yuxicheng going to make something similar?"

Reed shook his head:

"We can't do this for now. The most important thing about this kind of thing is the volume of dissemination. The more people see it, the more convincing it will be. Looking at the entire Yongtian Kingdom, only the royal family can do this. Their reviews are convincing, and their books can be sold to various territories. Others, even the Lord of Xiqin, can't do it well, let alone our Yuxi City. There is no need to compete here. He goes his way, and we go our way. Let's see who is more powerful in the end."

He Yue thought about it for a moment and agreed with Lid's opinion.

But Lid added:

"But our Yuxi City must also have its own means of cultural dissemination. We can publish it in the form of a newspaper, published every week or month, printing the important events that happened in Yuxi City this month, as well as the stories of some small people in Yuxi City. These small people can be soldiers, vendors, or ordinary farmers. Pick out some representative people and events and write about them and publish them. It can be considered as publicity and also as a kind of encouragement. When Yuxi City's influence expands in the future, this newspaper can do more things. Prepare in advance to avoid being at a loss in the future."

"This is simple."

He Yue smiled and said:

"I'll come up with a plan in the next two days and hand it over to the people below to do it. The newspaper you mentioned already has a prototype in Yuxi City, but it has not been formalized yet. When the time comes, we can select a suitable person to take on the responsibility, and this industry can naturally be established. Although it will probably still lose some money at this stage, it's not a big deal."

He paused, then frowned slightly and said to Lid:

"Speaking of which...there is one more thing that I need you to think about."