It doesn't matter what the lord is.

He turned his head, looked at Yunye, and said with a smile:

"Because I don't have much desire myself, when others give me interesting dreams, I will help them realize them."

Lid put his hands in his sleeves, looked at the night sky above his head, and sighed:

"Let's drink, we have to be worthy of this night."

Yunye nodded vigorously, pulled out the cork with force, and filled her and Lid's glasses with wine. Today they were drinking plum wine, and there were pickled green plums in the bottle. The light yellow wine had a sweet plum fragrance, and it was refreshing. After drinking it, you will feel just the right warmth all over your body, like the feeling of being wrapped in a summer quilt in an air-conditioned room in summer.

As she drank glass after glass of wine, Yunye's vision became dazed.

She lifted her hair, unbuttoned the top two buttons of her clothes, closed her eyes, and instantly the memories of the past came pouring out. To be honest, since she woke up from the alcohol last time and learned that she had joined Yuxi City, Yunye had almost no sense of reality. Every night when she lay in bed tossing and turning and couldn't sleep, Yunye suspected that her current life was just a dream. Once she closed her eyes, she would return to that home again, back to the life bound by countless invisible chains.

It wasn't until she drank with Reed today that she felt a little safe.

Once you relax your body and mind, you can't help but think of your past self.

……

In fact, the earliest Yun Ye was not what she is now. At that time, she was full of energy from beginning to end.

No matter what kind of setbacks and difficulties she goes through, she can heal herself. Not only can she bear all the pressure by herself, but she can also bury all the sadness deep in her heart. She touches her brothers and sisters' heads with a smile, and patiently coaxes those clingy kids who will cry for half a day if they fall.

When she came to Lingyun City, she was wearing old gray clothes, with a hole in her shoe, exposing her little toe. She was reluctant to hire a car, so she walked out of the mountains on her own. She was covered in mud, her light gray hair was dry, and her face was dirty. Only her eyes were still bright.

She looked at the outside world with curiosity, and when her eyes met the people on the roadside, Yunye would sigh in her heart, Wow, everyone is so beautiful.

She is clean, beautiful, and elegant, completely different from my rustic self.

After arriving at the envoys' group, Yunye put down her worn-out bag and tried to talk to the people around her, but was laughed at because of her country accent. The young girls didn't care whether their words hurt others or not, and always teased Yunye intentionally or unintentionally, saying that you can't even speak Mandarin properly, so why are you here to be an envoy? The old lady selling eggs on the roadside is more suitable than you.

Yunye just smiled foolishly, but for the first time in her heart she felt a little inferior.

She wanted to prove herself and show her talents, but no one was willing to listen. Just like most people didn't want to listen to the old beggar's chatter, no one in Lingyun City wanted to listen to Yunye. Similarly, there was no room for promotion in the envoy group in the short term, and Yunye didn't want to get promoted by sleeping with others. She was still a very traditional girl, and she thought that even holding hands was something she could only do with someone she liked.

Even if she has many ideas, she will never have the chance to speak them out until it is her turn to speak. Even if she finally gets the chance to speak, she will not be taken seriously because of her status, qualifications, interests, etc., or her opinions will soon become someone else's original ideas.

As time went on, even Yunye couldn't help but begin to doubt her own abilities.

The last straw that broke the camel's back for Yunye was the way passers-by looked at her.

Every time she walked on the street, she was met with silent scrutiny. The ridicule in those eyes was obvious, but she couldn't say anything. Yunye was still very energetic, because she knew she had to be lively and talkative in order to get a chance to speak at the negotiation table, but gradually, she began to get used to walking with her head down to avoid catching other people's eyes.

——Am I really cut out for this?

Is there really anyone who wants to listen to me?

——Could it be that I don’t have any talent for this and am just a shallow frog in a well? I just studied with my grandparents for a few years, learned some debating skills, and thought about the general situation of the world a few times, but this is the extent of my ability, right?

Yunye wants to believe that she has the power to change the future, but she inevitably falls into a state of self-doubt.

So she often gave herself a bitter smile in the mirror, saying in a voice that only she could hear, "I'm really exhausted," but she quickly put away all the negative emotions. She was like a delicate earthenware jar, which would respond crisply no matter who knocked on it, but no one had ever looked inside, and no one had ever seen her empty heart.

……

Under the night sky, Yunye held the cup with her ten fingers and drank the wine in small sips, sitting side by side with Lid, her voice as clear as the night sky:

"In fact, it doesn't matter to me even if the salary is a little less. I have already told the Prime Minister that it won't be too late to get more money after I have made some achievements. I can't sleep well at night when I get such a high salary right after I arrived."

Yunye turned to Lid who was holding a wine glass and said with a chuckle:

"The most important thing is that here, someone finally looks at me in the right light and is willing to believe in me. Because of this trust, I can realize that I am not useless and there are still things in this world that only I can do."

So I can muster up courage even when I don't have any alcohol.

Without any worries, you will not be afraid of generals or kings.

67. If you are worried, I am also worried

Time turned from midsummer to early autumn, and Yu Xicheng stepped out from behind the scenes.

At this juncture, Yun Ye's arrival was like a sudden relief for Yuxi City. Although she was not as famous as those lobbyists ranked high on the Zongheng list, both Li De and other senior officials of Yuxi City were willing to take a gamble and leave Yuxi City's diplomatic relations entirely to her.

Just like Lide said, Yunye is like a pair of wings. If Yuxi City is as powerful as a tiger or a wolf, then Yunye is like a tiger with wings. On the contrary, if Yuxi City is as small as an ant, then Yunye is just a flying ant with wings. So when he and Yunye were drinking in the yard until late at night, Lide asked Yunye:

"You said Lingwu is a tiger, Xiqin is a giant elephant, Nanchu is a hyena, Yunhai is a grizzly bear, the righteous army is a poisonous snake, and the royal family is a sick dragon. Then what is my Yuxi City in your eyes?"

Yunye burped, propped up the wooden board with one hand, held the wine glass with the other, thought carefully for a moment, and replied:

"It's a lion."

Reed was very satisfied with this answer. As we all know, lions are social animals that are very strong in single combat, and the people in Yuxi City are all young talents who can stand on their own if released, but can work together when gathered in Yuxi City.

However, when Lide sobered up the next day, he thought more and more that something was wrong. As we all know, lions have another major characteristic, which is that female lions work hard outside to hunt every day, while male lions sit at home and enjoy the fruits of their labor. This is exactly the same as the current situation in Yuxi City. But Lide couldn't ask Yunye if she meant this. First, it was useless if she meant this, after all, it was so real that Lide himself felt a little guilty. Second, asking now would not yield any results. Yunye would probably forget the truth she said after drinking when she woke up.

In addition, Lid vaguely remembered that after the two of them got drunk, Yunye mentioned that when they were in the council hall, she thought that Lid's "I want you" meant something else. Lid naturally denied it while drinking with a wry smile, but before he could react, Yunye directly "knocked" him to the ground in the corridor. Yunye put the wine glass next to Lid, and the slightly shaking wine in the glass reflected the stars in the sky. She lifted up her drooping hair with one hand, supported Lid's chin, with a confident and handsome look on her face, smiled evilly, and said, "It doesn't matter if there is, I just don't know if the city lord has heard a word."

The atmosphere was full of charm for a moment. The wind blew up Yunye's skirt. She leaned close to Lid's face and stared into his eyes. Her sight passed from his eyebrows to the tip of his nose and stopped at his lips. She said in a slightly hoarse bass:

"If you love, love deeply. If you don't love, let go."

Reed couldn't help but burst out laughing when he turned his head away.

Yunye certainly didn't know that she had a faint rural accent when she was drunk. She said this seriously, which really gave off a non-mainstream girl vibe. Lide laughed for a long time and then got up and asked Yunye if she had flirted with others when she was drunk before. Yunye thought about it and said that if there was a girl around, she might flirt with her, but it seemed that she had never flirted with her since the beginning. Lide asked her what she said when she flirted with others before, and Yunye answered in detail:

"Every time I see you, I feel like everything is ready, except for your kiss."

"We have known each other for such a long time, why do you still want to hurt me and make me like you so much?"

"I don't really like drinking. What I like most is taking care of you!"

"Look, the stars are in the sky, and you are in my heart..."

As she spoke, Lide slapped the floor and laughed until he was out of breath. However, he was so happy that he woke up Bai Huang who was sleeping soundly. He was pinned to the ground and beaten. When Bai Huang went back to sleep, Lide got up from the ground with his clothes in disarray. He touched Yunye's head with heartache, and messed up her hair that she had finally put back. He said:

"It needs to be improved. Ah, it needs to be improved."

Lid thought about it and realized that he had nothing to teach her in this regard, and he couldn't help but feel sad. In the end, he could only solemnly recommend Liu Shi, the only designated love authority in the City Lord's Mansion, to her, and asked her to learn from Liu Shi the skills of first chatting up, and not to bombard her with cheesy love words right away, otherwise it would be a miracle if she could seduce him.

According to the schedule, Yunye will temporarily leave Yuxi City next month to start lobbying various lord organizations for an alliance.

She should be the one who has the hardest time going home among the senior officials of Yuxi City. Even Fang Shisan, who has been training the army outside, can go back to the city lord's mansion on the days when the soldiers are resting. But every time Yunye goes on a diplomatic mission to other territories, even she herself cannot predict how long it will take. If she is lucky, she can go back to Yuxi City once every few months. If she is unlucky, it is normal to be out for a year or two. Although they can communicate through letters, and the people in the Anbu organization will often report news to her, there will always be a long period of time in a year when they can't see each other again, which is still a bit lonely for both parties.

Over the next month, Reed went out drinking with her many times.

Yunye chose this time to lobby the various lords after careful consideration. After midsummer, until the arrival of winter, there was only one major event left in Yongtian Kingdom, which was the Northern Expedition that would begin in two months, to conquer the Giants in the north of the human territory and weaken them as much as possible to prevent the Giants from invading the south and causing huge losses next time.

This annual world boss subjugation battle is commonly known as "Northward Journey".

Yunye planned to resolve the conflict between Yuxi City and either the Huaiwang or Qiming territories before that. After the external pressure was reduced, she would use the subsequent impact of this trip to the north to further persuade some lords or princes to form an alliance. This was a difficult matter, so Yunye needed to sort out her thoughts and prepare her speech while drinking.

And the matter of "Heading North" was precisely the reason why Lid accompanied Yunye to drink many times.

He was also very worried.

Originally, this kind of activity had nothing to do with him, a small lord of Yuxi City. Tiance Mansion and Lingwu Territory discussed a plan. The rich territories contributed some money and soldiers, and went north together to fight a heroic war, so that the giants would suffer a little and dare not go south easily. He did not participate last year. It was not his turn to join in such a national-level collective activity.

But last time, in order to bring the flowing stone back from the territory of King Huai, Li De personally facilitated the alliance between Xi Qin and the royal family. This matter was seen by the Lord of Lingwu, who had always been at odds with the royal family. He wrote a warning letter to Yuxi City, forcing Li De to go to Lingwu territory in person when he went north this time to give her an explanation in person.

How else can this be explained?

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I apologize to everyone. Hehehe, Reed-chan is such a confused kid~☆"

If he said this, the snow in the northern frontier would bury him so deeply that he wouldn't even be able to find his grave.

Yuxi City is in the southwest corner of Yongtian Kingdom, and Lingwu is in the northeast of Yongtian Kingdom, almost straddling a diagonal line. There are still two months before heading north. He will set off next month at most, and he will probably set off with Yunye at that time. The difference is that Yunye will go to Huaiwang first and then to Qiming. Even if there is any problem, she can return to Yuxi City. But if there is any problem with Lide's trip, it will really be like a pig hitting a tree.

---It's completely over.

68. The giant python of the southern wilderness intends to swallow the dragon

The Great Wilderness Ridge of Nanyue, Qianlongyuan.

This is the southernmost area of ​​Yongtian Kingdom, but it does not belong to any territory.

To be precise, two hundred years ago this place belonged to the territory of Nanyue. However, even Nanyue, which is currently ranked tenth, could not conquer this vast mountain range. After a long period of struggle, Nanyue took the initiative to give up this mountain range, and Dahuangling has since become an ownerless land.

But few people actually noticed that the founding king of Yongtian Kingdom was born in Dahuangling, and he conquered all the way to the north to own this vast land. Therefore, Qianlongyuan in Dahuangling has always been regarded as the place where dragons rise. Unfortunately, the natural environment of Dahuangling is too harsh, with mountain roads connected by ladders and stone planks, cliffs as steep as iron, miasma that fumes the body during the day, and dew that soaks clothes at night. Travelers who mistakenly enter this desolate mountain are basically doomed to die.

In addition, the Nanyue Wilderness Ridge is also the border between humans and the [Lava Clan]. Although the Lava Clan is a member of the Lower Nine Clans like humans, the bonus of the National Defense Array near the Great Wilderness Ridge is extremely low, which has led to the Lava Clan often crossing the mountains and ridges to launch invasions a long time ago.

Because of the above, even though the Qianlongyuan in the Great Wilderness Ridge has a legend that "the common leader of the world came from here", no one would go to such a deep mountain forest to live just for an illusory legend. This vast mountain range has been waiting for its owner for such a long time, until the arrival of the rebel leader Huang Yan.

Huang Yan is the new owner here.

In front of Qianlongyuan, there stood two figures, one tall and one short. The short one was a sloppy old man holding an astrolabe, and the tall one's face could not be seen clearly. He was wearing a cloak, with only a pair of eyes exposed under the hood. A circle of water ripples appeared in the center of Qianlongyuan, and there were countless golden carps tumbling in it. The short old man turned the worn-out astrolabe in his hand over and over again, sighing without saying anything. Instead, the young man next to him spoke first:

"My horoscope hasn't changed, has it?"

His voice was a little hoarse and sounded a little strange. It didn't sound like a young boy's voice, but more like a girl deliberately speaking in a hoarse voice. The old man knocked the astrolabe on the stone, put his face against the astrolabe, stared at the words closely, and after a while, he replied:

"Nothing has changed. Although Mars is in the Heart Constellation, it has shown signs of disappearing. It is exactly the same result that Senior Brother calculated back then... He had guessed this day would come fourteen years ago. You will not be able to escape the calamity that will happen during your Coming of Age Ceremony in three months."

The young man in the cloak was not at all panicked. He just looked at the gray sky above Qianlongyuan, with a hint of cruelty in his eyes.

The old man threw the tattered astrolabe to the ground, picked up a young branch from the ground to pick his teeth, and continued incoherently:

"But after all, Senior Brother has learned 120% of the ability to deceive the heavens from Master. At the cost of his own life, he has left you a glimmer of hope in the north. In two months, we will head north. The rebels cannot reach Lingwu, and they will have to use all their strength to arrange for you to go there. Your glimmer of hope is outside the Great Wall. If you can survive this catastrophe, that will be the time for the giant python to transform into a dragon."

The young man said calmly:

"Since I was born, the heavens and the earth have wanted me dead, my relatives have wanted me dead, and my best friends have wanted me dead. Now, the royal family of Yongtian wants me dead, and the thirty-six territories want me dead... but I'm still alive. My foster father once said that as long as the sky above doesn't change, the world won't get better. If I can survive, he will chop down the sky with a knife one day."

The old man patted the boy's shoulder with his dirty hands and said:

"Huang Yan, going north to Lingwu this time is extremely dangerous. I have heard that many territories have sent their elite disciples to go there, so you must not reveal your identity. The Lord of Lingwu seems to want to find something in the giant's lair outside the Great Wall this time, so you should not get involved. The hopes of tens of thousands of people in the Great Wilderness Mountain are pinned on you, and your senior brother even risked his life for you. What they want to see is you sitting on the throne and bringing peace to the world."

The young man - the leader of the southern uprising army and the young genius ranked first on the rookie list, Huang Yan nodded.

At the age of seventeen, he was the same age as Lid, but he already controlled a force that was more influential than Yuxi City, and he was lurking in the Great Wilderness Mountain and living tenaciously under the siege of the entire Yongtian Kingdom. The several attacks organized by the royal family did not cause any serious damage to the rebels in his hands.

Huang Yan was staring at the fish swimming in Qianlongyuan in a daze. The strong wind blew across the wild mountains and ridges, and the fish underwater seemed to sense something and swam towards the deeper bottom of the lake. A hurried sound of footsteps was heard, and a middle-aged man in heavy armor walked quickly. The armor weighed two or three hundred kilograms, and every step he took would leave a footprint on the hard ground.

Seeing Huang Yan, the burly middle-aged man cupped his hands and said in a deep voice:

"Please forgive me for not being able to perform the ceremony in full due to my armor. Lord Huang Yan, the war in the Nanyue territory is over. Our army won a great victory, killing tens of thousands of northern coalition troops and capturing 20,000. Bicas is still marching east to hunt down the remaining bandits. I will go back first to ask Lord Huang Yan what to do with the 20,000 people."

Huang Yan didn't look back, and calmly uttered two words:

"killed."

The middle-aged man's eyes widened instantly, and cold sweat flowed like a stream on his resolute face.

He opened his mouth, thinking that Huang Yan didn't hear clearly, and said again:

"Lord Huang Yan, that's 20,000 people... it's unlucky to kill them."

Huang Yan turned around, his eyes looking coldly at the general who was much taller than him. His aura instantly became fierce, and murderous spirit overflowed, causing ripples on the calm surface of Qianlongyuan.

"We don't have any extra food. If we feed them, we will go hungry. Their wives and children are in the Eternal Kingdom, so they won't be willing to serve us wholeheartedly. If we use them for negotiations, no matter what the result is, releasing them is like letting a tiger go back to the mountain. So killing them is the best option. I heard that the Qianlong Abyss is ten thousand meters deep, and it will probably take a while to fill it up."

The middle-aged man trembled all over, took a deep breath, lowered his head, and said:

"Yes! ... I understand."

He finally understood why the woman called "The Devil on the Battlefield", Bicas, asked him to come back to report the results of this battle. He had joined the rebels for a short time, and although he had won more than ten battles in a row and his status in the rebels had risen steadily, it was still the first time he had seen Huang Yan.

He had long heard that the top leaders of the rebel army privately called Huang Yan "Lord Shura", and today he finally understood the reason behind it.

Although he was a prisoner of the enemy, the thought that he would soon personally sink 20,000 soldiers who had lost their will to fight into the bottom of the lake made even the strongest heart tremble. The fortune-teller had long been accustomed to this scene. He picked up his star plate from the ground, wiped it on his clothes, and then stared at the stars in a daze.

For Huang Yan, taking away 20,000 lives was as easy as eating and drinking. He turned his head, looked silently towards the north, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

69. The world should be mine

Yunmengze, the territory of Southern Chu.

The young man in black held a bowstring as big as a full moon and shot three arrows with one shot. In the blink of an eye, the tiger roaring in the forest was pierced through the throat, back and abdomen. It clapped down with its front paws and struggled to death.

The young man in black wiped the sweat from his head and boasted to the people behind him:

"What do you think, Xiaobai? Your brother Hei's skill of shooting three arrows with one bow, let alone other things, just look at the accuracy, can anyone else do it?"

Following behind him was a young man in white with an icy face. At this moment, he put his hands in his sleeves, holding a sword in his arms, and answered expressionlessly:

"In our Western Qin, any one of our archers can shoot arrows ten times better than you."

The young man in black waved his hand and said:

"But they can't come to my Yunmengze, so naturally they can't hunt tigers here. So in reality, I, Hei Ye, am the best tiger shooter in Yunmengze. You have to admit this, right?"

Just as the image of a tiger appeared in the rich Yunmeng Lake, the black-clothed youth was about to perform his tiger-shooting stunt again, but the longbow in his hand was suddenly taken away by the white-clothed youth without a word, and the quiver behind him was also taken away. The white-clothed youth held the sword in his mouth, freed his hands, drew the bow and shot arrows, and shot four arrows in a row. The full quiver of arrows was emptied in the blink of an eye. Looking at the tiger in the forest again, it was surrounded by a circle of arrows, and it was still crawling to accumulate strength, but it didn't dare to pounce, and just stood there stupidly.