It doesn't matter what the lord is.

Reed smiled, his eyes a little cold.

Lingwu Lord lowered his hand, and the golden flames extended further, flowing on the ground like a poisonous snake. The strong wind blew up her long skirt, messing up her three thousand black hair. Half of her peerless face was covered by a veil, and the other half was slightly murderous. But before drawing his sword, Lingwu Lord said lightly:

"I'll protect your two maids for you. The first batch of reinforcements should be arriving soon when I leave. If nothing unexpected happens, they should be fine."

Reed glanced at her and was still hesitating whether to thank her, but the next moment the Lingwu Lord had already drawn his sword.

To be precise, it was not a sword. It was a line of fire extending between heaven and earth, like a sword, but also like a long whip.

Thunder roared in the air, and the flames burned the sky into a shocking red. Lid was stunned for a moment. This was not the common ninth-level perfection, but this attack was almost at the tenth level. No wonder she was able to kill the red copper giant.

Reed clenched his fist and punched out, but before the punch could shatter the flames, his gaze couldn't help but drift behind the Lingwu Lord.

It was not because of anything else, but because at that moment, the red sun in the sky sank into the sea.

A gap suddenly appeared on the cold purple sea surface, forming a huge vortex covering dozens of miles. Then the water in the center of the vortex seemed to be sucked dry, turning into a hollow bottomless abyss. The surrounding seawater fell down like a waterfall, and the huge ball made of blood soul slowly sank to the bottom of the sea along it.

There was no time to see the result of the fire explosion. At the moment when the environment changed, the Lingwu Lord calmly wiped out the golden sword in his hand, leaned back, and fell into the abyss. Lid almost passed through the smoke produced by the explosion without thinking, and before the hollow area formed by the sea water completely disappeared, he jumped and jumped into the sea following the woman.

1. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is back

Imperial West City.

After several consecutive days of sudden temperature drops, the first snow of this year finally arrived quietly one night.

In the early morning, He Yue, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Yuxi City, came out of the house to wash up as usual. As soon as she opened the door, she sneezed because of the cold. She rubbed her nose, and the last bit of sleepiness disappeared. She looked at the yard with a thin layer of snow, closed the door, and bought an extra winter coat.

When he went out again, He Yue, whose hair was obviously thicker, rubbed his hands and muttered to himself:

"It's almost the end of the year again."

Recalling last year's Spring Festival, their boss, Li De, who was used to being a hands-off boss, left for the capital after hosting a dinner party. Three hundred and sixty-five days passed in the blink of an eye, and this year's Spring Festival, this guy was still running around outside, leaving He Yue with no place to report his year-end summary.

He fetched some water to wash up. The cold water stimulated his mind and made the dark circles under her eyes more obvious.

At this moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door outside the courtyard. After He Yue answered, an unexpected visitor came in -

Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Ye.

After joining Yuxi City, this young girl quickly took over the diplomatic affairs of Yuxi City. She first dealt with the diplomatic issues between the Huaiwang Territory and the Qiming Territory, then went on a diplomatic mission to various territories to start forming an alliance, and then returned to the Yunyang Territory, secretly meeting many of the Yunyang princes who had been enfeoffed.

She had great ambitions. Yuxi City had already accumulated considerable strength. After the temporary peace in the northwest and south, it was not difficult to march east to Yunyang. But it was not the best time to show off here, not to mention that Li De's identity as the fourth prince of Yunyang was a secular restriction after all. So Yunye proposed a solution in the middle, which was to support other princes of Yunyang to "seek to usurp the throne."

This is not an impossible thing. Especially now that the reputation of Yunyang Prince Li Yi has already fallen to the bottom, many city lords who also have the blood of lords can no longer hold back, and they just lack someone to take the lead. In Yunye's opinion, lobbying them is not a difficult task.

He Yue wiped her water-stained hands with a towel, raised her eyebrows in surprise, and asked:

"You're back?"

Yunye looked a little tired, probably because she didn't drink today. She was a little timid when she saw Heyue. When Lide was away, Yuxi City was managed by Heyue, Fang Shisan and Shuang, but Heyue, who was in charge of internal affairs, still took the leading role. Yunye, the "outsider", fought hard outside, but was a little timid inside. She nodded nervously and said:

"Yeah. I'm almost done with my work, and there's no point in staying any longer, so I came back early."

He Yue smiled and said:

"You did a good job. Take a good rest after coming back this time. I don't think there will be much to do before and after the New Year. It doesn't matter if you sleep until noon every day these few days."

Yunye was silent for a moment and said:

"Among the Yunyang City Lords who went on this mission, about one-third were willing to accept our assistance, but with the recent rumors, the situation has changed... The people from other territories who went north have already returned. Do you know about this?"

He Yue nodded and replied:

"I know."

Yunye was silent for a while. He Yue glanced at her, put the towel on the wooden barrel, poured the water in the basin into the sink, and said gently:

"This should be the first time you encounter such a situation, but we already have experience. You will gradually get familiar with it in the future. Lid gave us the power to ensure that Yuxi City would not be in chaos when he was away. Don't worry, according to the news, the Lord of Lingwu has not returned to Lingwu, which means that the matter in the north is not over yet. Although we don't know what happened over there, we must have confidence in our own city lord."

He Yue joked:

"Maybe next time we meet, he can lure Lord Lingwu to Yuxi City."

Yunye chuckled twice and said:

"Then I'm relieved. In fact, after hearing the news that Lid didn't come back, many more Yunyang princes were willing to cooperate with us, and the number has reached about half. I always feel that it's hard to put it into words. Lord Yunyang probably didn't expect that one day he would face such a situation. Father and son killing each other... It's a bit sad."

Yunye didn't finish her words and sighed softly.

Li De is also the fourth son of Yunyang, although he has been expelled from his family long ago. It is difficult for Yunye to guess his thoughts, so Yunye sincerely hopes that the city lords can help and take the time to play the villain before Li De comes back, so that when Li De comes back, he can take over the power of Yunyang in the name of revenge for his father, and the whole process will not be a bit of fireworks.

He Yue deeply agrees with this point.

"You said that the number of people willing to cooperate has increased instead of decreased..."

He Yue thought about it for a while and understood what Yun Ye meant. Under the rule of the monarchy, everyone has a strong sense of bloodline. When they start a rebellion, they have to find a royal bloodline to serve as a banner. This small-scale chaos is no exception. In the eyes of most people, no matter how noisy it is, the descendants of the Yunyang lord will eventually manage Yunyang.

When Lide was alive, Yuxi City was a contender for the lordship; when Lide was gone, Yuxi City was a knife. Even if Heyue Fang Shisan had great abilities, could he suppress the rejection of the people of Yunyang? Could he persuade other territories and royal families to recognize their rule?

Impossible. Therefore, in the eyes of the sons of the Yunyang Lord, there is no longer any competitive relationship between the two sides, and the current Yuxi City will eventually be dependent on a certain city lord.

After figuring it out, He Yue shook his head and said to Yun Ye:

"No matter what they think, we just have to follow the plan. Since they have such an idea, they will definitely come to our place during the Spring Festival. We can then find out what they have to say. I will go to Fang Shisan and Shuang to discuss the situation. You should take this time to get a good night's sleep."

Yunye hummed, turned around and left Heyue's residence. When she reached the door, she suddenly turned back and asked carefully:

"Um, is the city lord really okay?"

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen. He has never made a mistake at a critical moment."

He Yue showed a reassuring smile, and Yun Ye was relieved and dragged her tired body back to rest. In order to complete the missions to all the city lords as soon as possible before the New Year, her average sleep time per day in the past half month was only about four to five hours.

After she left, He Yue put away his smile and sighed softly.

The city lords of Yunyang were willing to cooperate with Yuxi City, probably because they thought that Li De would not come back, and they planned to use this time to take over Yuxi City. This is called keeping the wealth within the family. Judging from the information brought back by Shuang, most of the outside world also had this view.

As the Prime Minister of Internal Affairs, He Yue must have confidence that "Lide will be back soon".

Therefore, he could only show his concern for Reed when no one was around.

2. The prototype of the cavalry camp

"The preparations for the Shenji Battalion are almost complete. The Xuanjia and Wangdong Battalions have also expanded their enrollment. Only the Shaoyu Battalion has not changed for the time being. Most of the soldiers there are still too young. From several actual combats, they can easily be blinded by enthusiasm. They still need a few more battles to become real warriors."

Fang Shisan sat in a wheelchair, her hands folded together. A snowflake landed on the tip of her nose, stayed there for a while before slowly melting away.

He Yue put his hands in his sleeves, stood beside her, and said:

"We should add another battalion starting today. The Ceylon Territory sent us 4,000 war horses, which were said to be won by Lide in a bet. Lingwu Prime Minister Yu Zuo personally supervised the fulfillment of the bet, and it would be difficult for Ceylon to renege on the debt. Although they sent people to threaten us with something like 'I dare to give it to you, but do you dare to accept it?', after thinking carefully, we really dare to accept it."

The smile on He Yue's face looks a bit sinister no matter how you look at it.

This matter is simple. The disappearance of Lingwu Lord is known to everyone. Under such circumstances, Lingwu is actually in a state of chaos. Unlike Yuxi City, the power of Lingwu is basically concentrated in the hands of Lingwu Lord. Her disappearance will have a considerable impact on Lingwu. At this time, Lingwu must show enough strength to make other territories give up the idea of ​​taking advantage of the situation.

The bet between Supervisor Lid and Prince Mu Risheng of Ceylon was just one of the things.

"Even if the lord is not here, what happened in Lingwu will not be written off" - they probably intended to send such a signal to the outside world. The Ceylon Territory obviously did not intend to be the first to oppose Lingwu at this time. No matter how reluctant he was, the Ceylon lord finally chose to pay for the debt owed by his son.

"Four thousand war horses... what a great gift. This is something that money cannot buy. Moreover, the pastures in Ceylon are quite famous, and the horses exported there have always been in short supply."

Although he said so, Fang Shisan's expression was a little worried, and he continued to ask:

"You've read the bet, right? If Lid loses, what will Yuxicheng have to pay?"

He Yue was silent for a moment and replied:

"His life."

Fang Shisan's fair hands suddenly clenched the hem of his clothes.

After a while, she let go of his hand and said softly:

"Four thousand war horses are enough for us to create a cavalry unit. It is impossible to expect this unit to be comparable to the Lingwu Iron Cavalry in the short term, but this army is still a rare treasure for us. The Xuanjia Camp and the Wangdong Camp are mainly infantry. Although the Shenji Camp has strong combat effectiveness, its mobility is also poor. One more cavalry can solve many problems."

He Yue nodded:

"Speaking of which, this bet also brought 20,000 gold coins to Yuxi City. Although this money is not a huge sum of money in our eyes now, it is still of great help to the construction of the army. I will add the full amount to the military expenditure, and it is up to you how to use it."

Twenty thousand gold coins is a bit embarrassing for Yuxi City now. It is not too much, but not too little. Yuxi City is developing various industries now, and each industry is almost a bottomless pit. Twenty thousand gold coins invested in research and development can only last for a year or two at most. In the current chaotic situation, it seems to be a better choice to use this money as military expenditure.

Fang Shisan wrapped his clothes tightly around himself and replied:

"I will recruit another batch of soldiers before the New Year. Cavalry is different from infantry, and the recruitment conditions are much stricter. As for weapons and armor, some will be sent to the Forging Bureau, and the rest will be imported from Yunhai."

He Yue yawned, patted her cold lips with her hand, and said:

"I don't know if this is good news or not. This winter is colder than in previous years, and there are many more disaster victims in Yunyang and Zhaochen than before. It won't be difficult to negotiate with the city lords in Yunyang to take over some of their people. After all, disaster victims are most easily misled. If they listen to the propaganda of the rebels and start a rebellion, the city lords will probably be troubled and won't be able to solve the problem until next year."

Fang Shisan quickly understood what He Yue meant.

Selecting suitable soldiers from the disaster victims is also the option that Fang Shisan agrees with:

"From the past few years, disaster victims are the best source of soldiers. We have always treated our soldiers well. Every time we recruit disaster victims, there is an unusually large number of people who sign up. Moreover, most of the people we recruit are hardworking and tolerant, and few of them are cunning and treacherous... But only a small number of people are recruited, and most of them may not survive this winter."

After Fang Shisan finished speaking, he looked a little sad.

He Yue did not speak. The productivity of Yuxi City has been greatly improved, and the western demons will have a large amount of food flowing into the granary of Yuxi City. It can be said that Yuxi City is not short of food. With the further upgrading of the industry, money can keep up with the speed of development. The only disadvantage is the lack of population.

After all, no matter how advanced the development is, it is difficult for the population to grow explosively. Even if the current affluent life makes the people of Yuxi City willing to have more children, it takes time for these children to grow up. If you want to support a strong army, you can only recruit enough soldiers from outside. Ironically, this is easy to do, because human life is cheaper than grass.

When He Yue thought about the fact that Yunyang, which was ranked middle, had already started to have such a large number of disaster victims, he couldn't help but think of the Tiancheng Territory where he was born.

I'm afraid that place is another hell where people eat each other.

At this moment, a voice came from the door:

"It seems that I came at a bad time. Why do the Prime Minister and the General look unwell?"

He Yue looked towards the door, and standing there was the head of the Anbu organization in Yuxi City, Shuang, who was wearing a veil.

Shuang walked over the snow in the yard, first covering Fang Shisan's legs with the cotton coat in her hand, and then said to He Yue:

"I'll make it short. The Anbu members we sent out have sent back the first batch of intelligence. It has been half a month since the northward march ended. It is said that this northern expedition encountered an ambush in the giants' territory, with heavy casualties. Those who survived have basically returned to their respective territories, but there is still no news about Lid."

He Yue looked at Shuang, waiting for her next words.

Shuang calmly took out two letters from his chest and handed them to He Yue. As He Yue read them, Shuang said to Fang Shisan:

"Two things. First, we found out the last whereabouts of the city lord. It seems that they actively provoked the Lingwu Lord and were kicked out of the team. Aleiya and Shiloh are fine. Aleiya stayed there to wait for the city lord, and Shiloh should be back soon."

"second……"

Frost paused and continued:

"The senior general of the rebel army, Bicas, contacted us on her own initiative. She seems to be thinking of forming an alliance."

3. Delis’s doubts

The fact that Lide had not returned could not be hidden from the people of Yuxi City, and He Yue and Fang Shisan did not intend to hide anything. However, this matter did not cause much trouble at present. First, Lide had just gone to the demon tribe not long ago and returned safely despite everyone's pessimism. Second, the Spring Festival was approaching. Most families were immersed in the joyous atmosphere of the New Year, and some worries and panic emotions did not get out of control in such an environment.

After all, in the eyes of most people, as long as He Yue Fang Shisan and his group are still there, Yuxi City will not fall. People are talking about where Li De went, but they don't really worry about how to solve this problem. Pasting Spring Festival couplets, setting off firecrackers, and preparing New Year's Eve dinner have occupied most of their energy. The adults are wrapped in cotton-padded winter coats and sitting on the kang, talking about this year's harvest and next year's plan, and the children are running around in groups of three or five on the street.

There are now fourteen cities under the Yuxi City. The five cities of Yuxi, Zhenmo, Tiebi, Lieyang, and Tianqi have been developing for nearly two years, and the living standards of the people have changed dramatically. Except for some lazy people, most of the hardworking people can have a full and warm festive year, and many families can have some spare money to buy a few new clothes for their children. The nine cities of Rivet, Fengyan, Lianbo, Nanyan, Loulan, Zhantian, Jiling, Songguang, and Xiaxin were added this year. The conditions here are relatively worse. Heyue can only guarantee that no one will die of hunger and cold.

When the industrial transfer accelerates next year, there will be a large demand for labor in these cities, and they will gradually follow the development path of Yuxi City. If nothing unexpected happens, these cities will be self-sufficient by the end of next year, and the living standards of the people will improve rapidly compared to now.

In order to make the people have confidence in Yuxi City, He Yue specially carried out a major project before the New Year, which was the renovation of the city walls. The dilapidated walls of these cities were renovated with cement. Although it is impossible to reach the current level of Yuxi City, it is definitely much stronger than the walls of most cities. During the transition from autumn to winter, and throughout the winter, most civilians in the farming economy have nothing to do and no means to make money. Through this work-for-relief method, He Yue has made those who are willing to work benefit, and they will naturally be full of confidence in the development plan for next year.

He Yue was very skilled in internal affairs. Even if Li De was not around, he could still manage the fourteen cities in an orderly manner.

Of course, in addition to busy people like He Yue, Fang Shisan and Shuang, there are also some idle guys in the City Lord's Mansion.

Delis was wearing an expensive robe, holding her cheek and staring at the fireworks outside the window.

"Hmm... Is this a human festival? These fireworks are really shabby. I don't understand. A few magic spells can create a more brilliant effect."

Uncle Cheng, who was standing at the dining table making tea for her, raised his head and explained:

"From what I understand, humans seem to be very poor at using magic here, and most magic has been lost here. Apart from the half-demon who is proficient in using magic, there is basically no qualified magician in this city."

Delis said lazily:

"I know. I just feel a little bored."

Cheng handed the gold-threaded teacup filled with black tea to Delis. Delis sighed softly, took the teacup from him, and asked:

"Is Reed not back yet?"

Cheng shook his head. Delis took a sip of tea and casually placed the cup on the windowsill, feeling confused. When Lid was around, she always disliked this bastard. He was obviously inferior to the elves in race, but he would make fun of her every now and then. She was furious just thinking about it. But now that Lid was gone, Delis felt like something was missing, and she felt lazy and unmotivated.

Seeing that Delis had no appetite for tea, Cheng said: