It doesn't matter what the lord is.

Ferrog himself was also secretly looking forward to what methods Fang Shisan, who was ranked tenth on the strategy list and was young enough to be his granddaughter, would use to break his plan.

43. No one is sure of success

The eagle flapped its wings and flew high across the sky, overlooking the Rivet City filled with flames of war.

Near noon, the blazing sun was hanging overhead, as if it was going to melt everyone. The armor and weapons were all scorching hot, and even the bricks and stones of the city walls looked like they had just been taken out of a brick kiln. Such weather was very unfavorable for the attackers, so Ferrog chose to lead his troops back to the camp to replenish the physical strength of the soldiers who had fought hard for a whole morning.

At the same time, he took off his armor, filled a bowl of rice, and took a short rest in a cool place.

The snow-white stubble was covered with beads of sweat, which rolled out and fell into the rice, and were scooped into the mouth.

"Have you finished the discussion with Liz?"

Ferog wiped the sweat from his face and asked an adjutant standing beside him.

Li Ze is the fifth son of Yunyang and Li De's younger brother. His fiefdom is close to Li Neng's fiefdom. Outside Rivet City, to the east is Li Ze's territory. After Li De took over all the five cities of Li Neng, Li Ze directly bordered the current sphere of influence of Yuxi City. He, who originally had no sense of existence, suddenly became a bridgehead against Yuxi City. All troops and supplies must pass through him to reach Rivet City.

That is to say, when Li Yi fought against Li De, the fief of the fifth son Li Ze was equivalent to the strong support he relied on. However, Li Ze didn't know where he got the slander and demanded that Li Yi's army pay a certain amount of tax when entering and leaving his territory. Not only did the soldiers have to pay a fee to pass, but Li Ze also had to deduct a little from the food and supplies when they were delivered.

In response to Ferrog's question, his personal adjutant replied respectfully:

"It's settled. He also knows that it's too expensive to take too much money, so in the end he only asked for 3% of the toll."

At this point, the adjutant changed the subject:

"But in my opinion, it doesn't matter if we don't pay the money. Li Ze's strength is probably not as good as his brother Li Neng. Even if we force him to borrow the road, he will probably just watch helplessly."

Ferrog shook his head, dozed off against the tree trunk behind him, and said slowly:

"No need... We have to share the meat with them. With this soup, we can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble. Petis, when you become a general and lead the army, you must remember this truth. There are many villains in this world. They are not good at doing things, but they are good at making trouble. Try not to provoke them. Our most important goal now is Rivet City."

The adjutant named Pettis nodded and said:

"I will keep this in mind. Please make sure to rest, as we will continue the siege this afternoon."

Ferrog said "hmm", but refused to take a nap. He kept squinting his eyes and thinking about what would happen next. After more than a day of siege, Ferrog had probably figured out that the number of defenders in Rivet City was about a thousand. This deduction method was very simple and commonly used. As long as you remember the appearance of a few soldiers, you can roughly guess how many defenders there are in the city from their rotation frequency.

Before coming here, Ferrog looked through the household registration statistics of the five cities of Yuxi, Zhenmo, Tiebi, Lieyang, and Tianqi in the past few years, and estimated the number of troops that Lid might have at hand based on the normal ratio of soldiers to civilians. The number of one thousand was slightly more than he had imagined, but it was also completely within his control.

What really surprised him was the fighting power of Lid's army. Feirog had led his army to fight against the elite troops of the Lord of Cangzhou. He felt that Lid's army was no less powerful than the elite troops of the Lord of Cangzhou. But it was incredible that a small city lord had such a tenacious army. Feirog had led troops himself, and he knew that leading an elite army was not a problem that could be solved simply by excellent generals. The most important step was to spend money.

Where does Lid get so much money to train and arm the army?

He has only been in Yuxi City for a year!

Ferrog couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it. This was not a problem that a general like him should worry about. Pointless distraction would only make him more tired.

In the afternoon, Ferrog continued to launch a strong attack on Rivet City. This time, he met Fang Shisan on the city wall of Rivet City.

It was a beautiful girl who was blind and unable to walk, sitting in a wheelchair, as the rumors said. She seemed to be inspecting, arranging tactics, or simply telling Ferrog where she was. Ferrog immediately ordered the sixth-level archer in the team to shoot her, but the arrow was split in two by a sword on its way to her.

Alayya, the talented swordsman ranked fifth on the rookie list, stood in front of Fang Shisan on the left, holding her sword horizontally to block the rain of arrows for her. The sword energy drew streams of light in the air, and no arrow could get close to Fang Shisan.

Fang Shisan seemed to sense something and turned her face to the direction of Ferrog. Although she couldn't see anything, she still frowned slightly.

Then, the shield soldiers beside her rushed forward, and Fang Shisan disappeared from Ferrog's sight.

Li Yi, who was watching the battle from the sidelines, did not pay attention to Fang Shisan's actions. His eyes were always on Alaiya, who had an indifferent expression. Especially when Alaiya blocked the arrow shot at Fang Shisan with her sword, Li Yi's eyes widened instantly, and he clenched his teeth with a complicated expression, and said bitterly:

"I gave you a chance, but you insisted on going against me. You'll end up dead in the end! You'd better not fall into my hands, or I'll make you live a life worse than death... Yunyang doesn't need an ungrateful ungrateful person like you. What a genius swordsman, stop being so arrogant!"

Unlike the emotional Li Yi, Ferrog loosened his clenched hands and breathed a sigh of relief.

After confirming Fang Shisan's position, Ferrog could finally launch an attack without reservation. The siege vehicles crashed into the city gates, and each impact raised a cloud of dust. The deafening sound echoed in the mountains. The soldiers guarding Rivet City kept pouring down rolling logs and rocks. After all, siege equipment needed people to control it, and it was also cumbersome to move. Simple attack methods could cause considerable casualties at this time.

In this high-intensity offense and defense, Ferrog's numerical advantage was reflected.

No matter how powerful the formation is, it is impossible to restore the soldiers' physical strength out of thin air. People need to rest after all. But Ferrog can let his soldiers take turns to rest for a long time, but Fang Shisan can't. Ferrog shot 100,000 arrows in three days, and only four of the 30 siege vehicles were still usable. But in this process, the defense formation of Rivet City was almost completely reduced to zero, and the soldiers defending the city were tortured and exhausted.

Next comes the final battle.

It happened that it was already evening. On the one hand, Ferrog commanded the army to calm down and continue to set up camp to prepare for tomorrow's attack. On the other hand, he asked Li Yi to take people to meet the next batch of supplies. Considering that there were five cities to be attacked after Rivet City, Ferrog did not intend to forcibly capture Rivet City by sacrificing a large number of soldiers. Anyway, as long as he had another 100,000 arrows, he could cover the siege soldiers to climb the wall of Rivet City with very few casualties.

What Ferrog never expected was that after the long night, he did not wait for the arrival of this batch of supplies, but waited for a piece of bad news that he absolutely did not want to hear...

44. My escape route…is gone!

The story begins a few weeks ago.

Lineng chose to go all out and emptied out all his savings in Rivet City to build a strong army, but this strategy itself was not accepted by the nobles of Rivet City. The nobles pursued stability, and the richer they were, the less willing they were to take risks, so no one was willing to gamble with Lineng.

Therefore, when Li Neng focused on recruiting soldiers and purchasing armaments, more than half of the nobles in Rivet City chose to move eastward with their property, crossing the rugged mountain roads to Li Ze's fiefdom. These people were very rich and were welcomed wherever they went. In order to keep them, Li Ze even gave them many privileges.

These people quietly settled down in Lize's fiefdom and continued to live the life of upper-class aristocrats.

The injection of funds gave this stagnant water new vitality and vigor, and many refugees chose to work here for the nobles. During an incognito visit, Li Ze saw a pitiful woman, who was probably the daughter of a refugee family. She was separated from her relatives and was looking for them with a tearful look. Her thin and skinny figure seemed particularly lonely even in the crowd, which immediately aroused Li Ze's sympathy.

Of course, the main reason why Li Ze sympathized with her was because the girl was beautiful, like a lotus in clear water, like a curtain of dreams.

Li Ze took her home and asked her name.

"My name is Ah Ping. My parents were originally honest hunters. After arriving in Lianbo City, the local gangster Hei San took a fancy to me and wanted to force me to marry him... My parents refused, so he brought people to our house. My parents pushed me away from his clutches, but I was separated from them. Please, sir... please, sir, save my parents. I will repay your kindness with a gift of grass and a ring."

As she spoke, the girl named Aping rubbed her eyes and began to cry.

Her voice was soft and sticky, and Li Ze's male chauvinism instantly exploded after hearing it, and he turned into a messenger of justice to help her find the whereabouts of her parents. First, the body of the local tyrant Hei San was found, with several iron arrows stuck in it, and then a pair of nameless bodies were found. Ping fainted from crying when she saw them.

Li Ze arranged for Ah Ping's body to be buried solemnly, and Ah Ping moved into the City Lord's Mansion and became Li Ze's concubine. Although Li Ze had not been able to officially roll with her, he would take advantage of her whenever he had time, and he was very happy to see her blushing face, half shy and half annoyed.

In addition, Li Yi's army borrowed the road from him, and Li Ze also collected a wave of taxes comfortably. At this time, he didn't know how many good things happened at the same time. Li Ze couldn't help but feel that his luck was really good. He had money, power, and beauties. He was at the peak of his life.

Until this morning, when Li Ze woke up, he found Ah Ping sitting by the bed with her back to him. Last night, the two of them drank together under the moonlight. Li Ze drank a little too much and was still groggy and had a dull headache. But when he saw Ah Ping's petite and pitiful back, Li Ze couldn't help but turn over and sit up, leaning forward and moving his hips backward, and began his difficult life of suppressing the gun.

Perhaps the sound of Li Ze getting up startled Ping, she turned around and smiled sweetly at Li Ze, revealing two dimples. Li Ze couldn't help but stretch out his hand, wanting to take advantage of her, Ping also lowered her head, reluctant to refuse but also willing to accept.

Seeing that the house was about to become beautiful, Ping suddenly raised her hand.

A dagger pierced Liz's arm accurately!

After the heart-wrenching scream, there was no commotion. There were still only Ah Ping and Li Ze in the room. Ah Ping was still smiling, with her hands clasped together on the sides of her cheeks, and she said in a coquettish voice:

"Brother Lizhe~ Let me introduce myself again. My name is Pingzi, and I'm an assassin from the Anbu of Yuxi City. You can also call me Little Green Tea~"

Liz clutched her bleeding arm and shrank to the wall in fear, but Pingzi leaned forward and crawled to Liz's side like a kitten. She reached out and gently pinched his sleeve with two fingers, saying coquettishly:

“Oh, oh, oh, Li Ze brother, can I discuss something with you? I’d like to borrow two cities from you for a while, and I’ll return them to you soon. It’s okay if you don’t agree, since I already have them anyway… Hehe, I love Li Ze brother the most! Come, give me a pat on the head~”

Pingzi smiled and ruffled Liz's soft hair, then wiped the blood off his hands.

Not to mention Liz, even the battle-hardened Ferrog was in disbelief when he heard that his retreat was inexplicably cut off.

Li Yi had already started to curse Li Ze for being an idiot in the next tent, and his voice was so loud that the soldiers resting nearby could hear it clearly. However, Ferrog was just staring at the map on the table in a daze. Adjutant Pettis stood beside him, watching Ferrog's gray head shaking slowly again and again with worry.

Finally, Ferrog said in a heavy voice:

"I understand."

He raised his head, looked at the sky that was just getting brighter outside, sighed, and said:

"Li De has more than a thousand troops. Fang Shisan has ambushed a troop on the mountain road in advance. If I try to bypass Rivet City, I will fall into her ambush. If I attack Rivet City by force, this army will bypass me and attack Li Ze's fiefdom, cutting off my way back."

So no matter which choice you make, it will be wrong.

In fact, Feirog was very careful. He specially sent a lot of people to escort food and other consumables. If Fang Shisan adopted the tactic of cutting off food, he would definitely return empty-handed. But Feirog never expected that Fang Shisan would directly attack Li Ze's territory. In this way, even if there were more guards escorting supplies, they would still be unable to get through if the road was cut off.

Pettis stared at the map on the table, still unable to understand:

"But they can't possibly have more than 2,000 soldiers. The army that bypassed us probably only had a few hundred people. How could they capture both Fengyan City and Lianbo City in one night?"

Ferrog looked at Pettis and said with a wry smile:

"Yes, I was thinking about this question just now. Now I understand. They probably started planning a long time ago. There are probably their people among the nobles who moved to Lianbo City and the refugees who came from all directions. It is impossible to check the wealth brought by the nobles one by one. It is easy to bring dozens of sophisticated weapons and armor into the city without anyone knowing. And the identity of the refugees is even more impossible to confirm. It only takes one night when Li Ze is not on guard, and the soldiers of Yuxi City who mixed in with the refugees can put on armor and seize the city gate. Then, they can cooperate with the army outside to attack together. It is not impossible to take two cities from Li Ze."

Seeing that Pettis was in a low mood, Ferrog pulled himself together and said loudly:

"Don't be too depressed, Petis! Throwing a whip to cut off the water is ultimately illusory. Fang Shisan thought he had won by besieging us, but the situation is still on our side. Fengyan City and Lianbo City are easy to attack but difficult to defend. Even if they are taken, they will not be able to stand. The pressure from the east will continue to be applied to those two cities, and we can also allocate some troops to cooperate with the attack. It is too unrealistic to think of using a ribbon to divide the river in two."

45. The fire that burns everything

Ferrog believed that he could retake Fengyan City and Lianbo City and reopen the channel for material transportation because he thought Fengyan City and Lianbo City were much easier to attack than Rivet City. There was no complicated terrain, and the number of defenders inside was definitely less than that of Rivet City. It was impossible to be unbreakable under the two-sided attack.

But he also had to guard against the situation where Fang Shisan commanded the elite troops to take the initiative to attack when he turned back to attack Fengyan City and Lianbo City. Even if Fang Shisan only had a thousand men under her command, Feirog believed that she dared to do so, otherwise it would be meaningless for her to spend so much effort to create the current situation. It was like when the battle in Go was fierce, the opponent suddenly inexplicably placed a chess piece in an insignificant position, either giving up completely or laying the groundwork for the subsequent dragon slaying.

Ferrog believed she was the latter.

Not only did she want to defend it, she also wanted to defeat Ferrog head-on, whose military strength was three times that of hers!

Ferrog didn't know what she was relying on, but he didn't dare to let down his guard. Although he felt that Fang Shisan's risky move was not feasible, it was also a fact that the food and grass had been cut off. The remaining food and grass could only last for fifteen days at most. If they could not capture Rivet City, Fengyan City and Lianbo City within these fifteen days, the entire army would collapse on its own, and by then, no matter how many troops Ferrog had, it would be useless.

The troops had to be divided. Ferrog gave Petis an army of about 2,000 people to command and asked him to launch a tentative attack on Fengyan City and Lianbo City to test the situation. He himself continued to attack the city with 3,000 people, not giving Fang Shisan a chance to breathe.

Without Fengyan City and Lianbo City, Lize still has six cities, each with a garrison and troops stationed there.

Without Li Ze, there were still several hundred guards escorting food supplies.

Even without the guards, there are still the Prince of Huai and the Prince of Qiming. They will not sit idly by and watch Li Yi lose the battle. They will definitely provide new support...

Ferrog thought he had layers of insurance, but he didn't understand what Fang Shisan had.

In Rivet City, Fang Shisan sat quietly in a wheelchair, unconsciously clenching her left wrist with her right hand. Tira quietly pushed her along the street, breathing as quietly as possible, fearing that she would disturb Fang Shisan's thoughts. Fang Shisan sat very straight, not saying a word until the wind blew up her hair. She then raised her head, closed her eyes, and said softly in the direction of Lianbo City:

"please."

At this time, the city of Lianbo was already a sea of ​​fire.

The piles of food and grass were engulfed in flames, and the wooden carts that transported them were also burned and crackled. Countless guards and logistics personnel trampled on each other, trying to escape from the sea of ​​fire but not knowing where to go. Many were buried in it, and many of them struggled and screamed when they died, but they could only slowly die in the smoke and fire.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky.

At dawn, the logistics team from the east arrived near Lianbo City. As long as they passed Lianbo City, they could smoothly deliver the bows and arrows and food to Ferrog, ensuring that his army could continuously suppress Rivet City.

As a result, the guards found that the city gate was not open, and the gatekeeper was sleeping soundly against the parapet. The captain of the guards rode forward and woke up the gatekeeper loudly, ordering him to come and open the gate quickly. The gatekeeper opened his sleepy eyes and angrily asked the guards who disturbed his sweet dream to wait near the drawbridge with food and fodder, while he slowly took the key to find the mechanism.

Ten minutes later, the guards had gathered with food and fodder, waiting for the city gate to open before entering the city, but the drawbridge was still not lowered. The captain of the guards looked up and found that there were no guards on the city wall, only a woman in a black robe standing there.

Her long silver-white hair fluttered in the wind, and her golden eyes looked coldly and ruthlessly at the city. The captain of the guard couldn't help but be fascinated by her noble and dignified figure, until he noticed that the strange-shaped staff in her hand was already surrounded by flames, and then he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

But it was too late. The army that was not in formation didn't even have any protection. They were just a group of ordinary soldiers with mortal bodies.

When the raging fire turned into boiling molten flames and fell from the sky, even the clouds in the sky seemed to be scorched and took on a strange red and black color. Death enveloped all the creatures on this land at that moment. The fire seemed to burn everything to ashes. Even though many people jumped into the moat to save their lives, at least all the food was burned. This kind of large-scale AOE damage is simply impossible to resist with human flesh and blood unless there is a very strong military formation to protect it.

The ashes were blown upward by the hot wind and danced in the wind at the tips of the flames.

On the city wall, Pingzi sheathed the dagger in her hand. She had thought she was going to go out of the city to fight, but she witnessed hundreds of guards being reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye. With some curiosity, she said to Fileta, who cast the magic:

"Is this really okay? I've heard rumors about Sister Fileta. They say you never kill humans. Why did you act so decisively this time? Did the city lord give you an order?"

Fileta lowered her hand holding the staff and replied indifferently:

"No. On the contrary, the master said that I don't have to participate."

Fileta looked at the raging fire below the city, paused, and continued:

"But if my absence from the war causes our side to suffer greater sacrifices, then it is equivalent to many people dying because of me. If they are all dead, I hope that the dead ones are the master's enemies. They don't deserve to live in this world."

Having said this, Fileta's hand that was not holding the staff tightly grasped the robe on her chest, and she hunched over slightly, curled up, her face flushed abnormally, a smile on the corner of her mouth, and said with a somewhat intoxicated look in her eyes:

"Because the master is the best person in the world. He can understand me, tolerate everything about me, and save me at great risk when I lose my humanity and become a demon. He can hold me tenderly, punish me harshly, and whip me with love from a high position, satisfying all my desires that cannot be told to others. So everything I have belongs to the master. This dirty blood and lowly body are at his disposal, because I am the master's [running dog]."

Even though Pingzi had seen many storms and waves, he was still frightened away by Fileta's passionate emotions.

She felt that if Fileta had a long tail, it would swing around happily every time she mentioned Reed.

But she quickly adjusted her mood and changed the subject:

"It's really amazing, Sister Fileta~ This is also the first time I've seen a magician who has reached the sixth level of perfection. A team of hundreds of people was instantly broken apart. I'm really happy to be able to see such a scene with my own eyes~"

She put the dagger back into the belt around her waist, lowered her hands, and said with a smile, not caring whether Fileta was listening or not:

"In comparison, Fengyan City may have a harder time. There's nothing we can do about it. Brother Juanbai is not as powerful as Sister Fileta. I'll go over there to check out the situation. During this time, little Xiluo will protect Sister Fileta's safety."

As he spoke, Pingzi turned around, with a hint of complexity in his smile.

She knew that it might be a happy thing to give her whole body and soul to someone without reservation, but she thought to herself that she would never do that, because she liked the feeling of playing with others, watching them fall into an irretrievable situation little by little, while she simply withdrew from it and drew happiness from their pain.

At least in terms of their views on love, the two people can be said to be worlds apart.

46. ​​It will rain heavily and the road will be blocked

There are only two ways from Yunyang Territory to Rivet City, one passes through Lianbo City, and the other passes through Fengyan City.