It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"Listen to the Saint Lady."

Shi Yuan nodded, no longer as tender as she was when negotiating with Lid, but not coldly either. Seeing that Sean still looked unconvinced, Shi Yuan crossed her arms, tapped her arms lightly with her fingers, and suddenly changed the subject:

"By the way, I had a dream last night."

Sean shuddered and stood still.

Shi Yuan raised her head and said, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally:

"I dreamed that the city lord fell to the ground with wounds all over his body, and all the meridians in his body were broken. But at this moment, the space above his body suddenly tore apart, and a huge eye opened from the endless void. Then, purple viscous liquid flowed out and wrapped him in it. Not long after, his wounds were all healed, and the liquid flowed back into the void again."

Shi Yuan turned around, glanced at Sean, and said with a smile:

"You know, my dreams are always accurate. So I was thinking that maybe he could find the key that the twelve pillar gods need. The Void race has always been very mysterious, but their strength is unquestionable. If we can get their help, the Old Gods will no longer be our opponents."

Sean let out a long breath and unclenched his fists.

He didn't believe what others said, but if it came from Shi Yuan, Sean had no idea of ​​refuting it. That year, it was because she dreamed of the birth of the Son of Heaven's Disgust that the Abyss Church was able to create such a complicated situation. It's a pity that Shi Yuan's precognitive dreams don't happen whenever she wants, but appear randomly. Otherwise, the church wouldn't have lost so badly in the recent Northward Journey, and would have done its best to kill Lid, the uncertain factor.

Now that she said that Lid might be related to the void, Sean had to let go of his grudges even if he had a huge grudge. When it came to Kungu's interests, he could no longer care about his personal likes and dislikes. This was the iron rule of the Abyss Church.

After calming down Sean's dissatisfaction, Shi Yuan reconsidered the matter of preaching in Yuxi City. She knew very well that the reason why Lid allowed them to preach here was not just to introduce a new sect and culture, but to bring them into direct conflict with the temple dedicated to the old gods.

Many people believe in the old gods because they have no other choice but to put their faith in them. As generations of people kowtow and burn incense in the temple, it has become a habit that is deeply rooted in their bones, and it is very difficult to change this.

Lid hopes to bring the Abyss Church to the forefront to compete with the traditional temples and show the public more possibilities. By then, some people who have been exposed to more information will learn to look at problems dialectically and realize that neither the Abyss Church nor the traditional temples can be trusted. These people will not believe in any of the three upper tribes, but only in their own wisdom and strength. They will lead mankind to explore new possibilities.

Sean couldn't think of these things, but Shiyuan could.

But even though she realized this, she still couldn't give up on preaching in Yuxi City.

The Abyss Church has always been hiding in the dark. Although it has accumulated considerable power, once these forces emerge in the light, they will inevitably be wiped out by the traditional temples. Or if they encounter a territory like Lingwu that is also under strong control of the dark forces, the actions of the Abyss Church will be greatly restricted.

Over the long years, they carefully hid themselves in the darkness, building up their power bit by bit. Now their power in the dark has reached a peak, and if they want to seek another breakthrough, they must come out of the darkness and start to promote their beliefs to the public.

Reed gave them a good opportunity, and strictly speaking, this should be considered a mutual benefit.

Shi Yuan exhaled lightly and said to Sean:

"Go write a missionary application. Yuxi City will soon no longer be just a few small cities, but a brand new territory."

The figures of the two disappeared at the end of the alley in the blink of an eye, and soon they were completely gone, as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth. The few members of the Anbu organization sent by Shuang to follow them could not find them anyway, so they had to go back and report.

Shuang naturally didn't know that Lid had reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with the Abyss Church. Even if she knew, she had to be careful to guard against this giant active in the dark. After thinking it over, Shuang decided to train a group of death warriors to protect Lid's safety. Shuang was present when Lid single-handedly challenged King Qin Guang, King Chu Jiang, and King Pingdeng. She had some understanding of Lid's strength. But Lid was also a human being. He needed to relax and rest, and it was impossible for him to be vigilant all the time.

The purpose of Frost's training of death warriors is not to expect them to protect Lid's safety, but to hope that once there is real danger, they can use their lives to buy Lid some reaction time.

As for who can serve as Lid's death warrior...

Most people wouldn't want to be watched from all angles by a group of muscular hunks 24 hours a day, right?

Frost spun the pen in his hand around his fingers, and finally issued an order to the Anbu organization:

——Carefully select young girls aged 15-25, and those with good looks are preferred. This involves the city lord, so be careful. There are two initial requirements: first, the identity and background must be clean, and second, the physical fitness must be excellent and able to withstand long-term training...

On that day, all the members of the Anbu organization who received the order showed an expression of "I understand" without exception.

12. Yunyang's Declaration of War

Although the emergence of the Abyss Church caused quite a stir in Yuxi City, the ripples did not last long and began to dissipate slowly.

On the contrary, less than two months after the Spring Festival, the Yunyang Territory, which had been silent until then, suddenly became like a pot of boiling water and began to become restless.

According to the plan made by Yunye and Heyue, the young masters and young ladies of Yunyang would definitely make a fuss about the issue of the crown prince. This kind of fuss is not a bunch of ministers talking nonsense in the court, but a situation of warlords fighting each other. The princes of Yunyang who were given fiefs all had certain military power. Although each person had little power, the accumulated power was enough to give the lord of Yunyang a headache.

If they were the only ones causing trouble, they would either be in a situation where they had the will but not the courage to do so, or they would be easily divided and won over by the Yunyang lord. But with Yuxi City fanning the flames behind the scenes, it would be different. Yunye had already convinced most of the city lords in advance, making them aware of the situation they were facing:

First of all, they must make trouble and unite together so that they will not be easily dispersed. After all, the law does not punish the masses. It is impossible for Lord Yunyang to chop off all their heads, as they are all his own flesh and blood. So their first stage is to make trouble. No matter what threats Lord Yunyang makes or what benefits he promises, they will make trouble to the end until Lord Yunyang is forced to make up his mind to replace the prince, and then they will have the opportunity to take the throne.

After the first stage was completed, the city lords with their own ulterior motives began to compete for the throne of the crown prince. At that time, everyone would rely on their own abilities. Therefore, most of the city lords kept their backup plans for this time. At present, the top priority was to pull Li Yi off the position of the crown prince. For the first time, the city lords who had been fighting against each other for many years felt a little bit of happiness in sharing a common hatred of the enemy.

Someone boasted that he had a strong army and asked the Lord of Yunyang to let Li Yi lead his troops to fight him, and whoever won would become the crown prince;

Someone was loved by Lord Yunyang since childhood, and ran back to Lingyun City under the pretext of visiting relatives, knelt down under Lord Yunyang and burst into tears, and splashed Lord Yunyang's pants with snot;

Someone spent a lot of money to bribe the concubine of Lord Yunyang, and she whispered in his ear every day...

However, as Reed expected, Lord Yunyang remained sober.

Today, the people below are dissatisfied with the prince and ask him to remove him. If the people below are dissatisfied with him tomorrow, won’t he kill him with a knife and become the lord? Regardless of whether Li Yi is good or not, he is the successor he personally selected. The Lord of Yunyang has no choice but to maintain Li Yi’s status because it involves the foundation of his rule.

Then he only has two options.

He could suppress the city lords he had appointed on a large scale, or he could quickly and decisively defeat the Yuxi City that was causing trouble behind the scenes.

Of the two options, Lord Yunyang chose the latter after weighing the pros and cons.

He was a man who cared about his reputation. In the past two years, he had several opportunities to threaten Yuxi City, but he gave up in the end. A father did his best to support a son, but this son was eventually beaten to a pulp by another son. In the end, the father had to personally help his son regain his dignity... It was a bit embarrassing to tell others about this.

But this time, he didn't intend to hold back. On the one hand, Yuxi City instigated the Yunyang princes to cause trouble, which had already threatened his rule; on the other hand, the father-son situation in Zhaochen had become increasingly serious. With Fangyuan and Lord Zhaochen helping him share the pressure of public opinion, he naturally had no more scruples when doing things.

On April 11, Yunyang officially declared war on Yuxi City.

This is also a very rare direct conflict between the lord and the city lord in the history of Yongtian Kingdom.

In order to justify his actions, Lord Yunyang listed Lide's ten crimes in his declaration of war. He wanted to tell the world that he was not bullying the weak, but from the perspective of a former father, he was finally determined to eliminate this unforgivable rebellious son.

The first charge was: provoking border conflicts and causing discord among brothers in Yunyang, and quarrels between fathers and sons. The common people had no place to live, and were displaced and lived in dire straits. It can be said that Yunyang's recent decline was largely related to Yuxi City.

Once a territory takes action, it is like a tiger baring its fangs and roaring in the mountains and forests. The sound spreads thousands of miles and shakes the whole world.

Not long after, Yu Xicheng gave his answer.

There was no discussion or debate in the response, just a regular list.

Last year, the price of grain, the tax revenue, the average income of the people, the growth rate of productivity in Yuxi City were all clearly recorded. There was even a comparison list from Yunyang posted next to it, and by comparing the two, it was clear which one was higher and which one was lower.

This list was not circulated among the nobles of Yunyang because they generally did not care about these issues. Many nobles even took this list as a joke, saying that Yuxi City was confused and that fighting a war was nothing more than relying on strong soldiers and a legitimate reason. Could it be that just because the price of grain in Yuxi City was a few copper coins cheaper than elsewhere, the war could be won?

The people who were truly interested in Yuxi City’s response were the people of Yunyang.

Because of the limited influence of Yuxi City, their voices could not be spread to further places for the time being, and could not be known by more people. However, all the people who saw this list kept these numbers firmly in mind. These lower-class people could not calculate any complicated mathematics, but life had taught them the ability to calculate carefully early on.

How much less tax can people living in Yuxi City pay in a year? How much money can they save in a day because of the cheap prices? How much more salary can they get by working there? How much extra money can they save in a year in the long run? How many years earlier can they build a house and get married... They will calculate all these, even if it takes a few days, they will do the calculation.

Then, after calculating it, you will feel emotional.

——I wish I was born there.

This idea would not support them to do anything rebellious against Yunyang, but it would plant a seed in their hearts. At the same time, it would slowly wear away their dissatisfaction and hostility towards Yuxi City. After all, the crimes written by the Lord of Yunyang, such as brothers killing each other and fathers fighting each other, had nothing to do with them.

They just want to live, live like human beings, and live better and better.

If Yuxi City can satisfy their needs, they will be full of expectations for Yuxi City. After dinner, before going to sleep, when they work hard but cannot get enough rewards, they will think of some strange ideas in their hearts.

——Although I was not born there, it would be nice if they had the final say here.

Lord Yunyang had many retainers around him who offered advice, but by the time they realized this, it was too late to stop it.

April 18th.

A week after the declaration of war was issued, the angry Lord Yunyang personally led his troops and headed straight for the sphere of influence of Yuxi City.

13. Recruitment Wave

After Yunyang's series of actions, Yuxi City became completely quiet.

In fact, the various recruitments, explosion experiments, military exercises, and various luxurious carriages entering and leaving the city gates before the New Year had already made many people with a keen sense of smell realize that something big might happen. However, at that time, it was just some rumors among the people, and everyone talked about who the opponent would be this time.

Last time, they captured Yunyang Prince Li Yi and extorted several cities and a large amount of wealth, which further improved the living standards of the people, which was equivalent to everyone reaping the benefits of winning the war. Many people discussed privately that if they were to fight Yunyang Prince again this time, it would be great if they could capture him alive again.

Now the result is out. The son has been beaten away, and this time it is the father's turn to take action himself.

To be honest, many people in Yuxi City had little confidence in fighting Yunyang. But with this result, most people had no complaints. Many people began to analyze what it would take to fight Yunyang and what the chances of winning were. Some members of the Brave Guild and the Evil Valley who lived in the city had some grudges against the Yunyang Territory, and at this moment, they took the initiative to contact some high-ranking military officials in Yuxi City, intending to join the army as a vanguard.

No matter what, now in Yuxi City, even the children running on the streets know that a war is about to break out.

The City Lord's Mansion was still very quiet, with normal people coming in and out, and normal work and rest time, without any sense of panic. Slowly, the tension of the people of Yuxi City was slowly dissipating. After all, in the past two years, they had seen Zhaochen go south, Yunyang come east, the demons invade, and too many storms, but Yuxi City not only did not fall, but it was getting better and better. Even if some people with ulterior motives began to spread panic rumors, the people would not be easily incited.

During these two years, many people initially disliked the new city lord privately, thinking that he was a child not liked by the Yunyang lord, and without a strong backing, he could not bring any changes to this impoverished world.

But slowly, Lide did a lot of things quietly. Under Heyue's propaganda, the people also remembered Lide's various benefits. Although the outside world rumored that the changes in Yuxi City were all achieved by Heyue and Fang Shisan, weren't Heyue and Fang Shisan also taken over by Lide against all odds?

During this period, Yunyang did not give Yuxicheng any help.

On the contrary, when Yuxi City and Zhaochen were fighting, Lord Yunyang severed his father-son relationship with Lide and stabbed him in the back. When the demons invaded, Prince Yunyang ignored the national justice and led his army to attack the rear battlefield of Yuxi City, forcing Yuxi City to fall into the dangerous situation of fighting on two fronts.

The people remember the city lord personally risking his life to participate in the war against the demons, remembering the white-clad chief minister of internal affairs standing alone on the city wall with the people, remembering the girl in a wheelchair commanding the army all night long without sleep. They remember the monument engraved with countless names after the defeat, remembering the blood splattered on it, remembering that Lid once said that he would make all enemies pay the price -

Everyone knows that Yunyang is difficult to defeat.

But on the day the war was declared, the recruiting offices were suddenly packed, with countless people lining up in an orderly manner outside.

There were many women, elderly people and children among them.

They didn't make any noise, they just stood there with their backs straight, waiting to sign up. Everyone said they could be useful, the women said they could cook, the old people felt they were still strong, and the children said they were not much younger than the young men in the Shao Yu Camp, and they could always do something if they went in.

"Child, you see, I am an old man, and I probably won't live long. Everyone takes good care of me in the welfare home. The food is delicious, the songs are nice, and I get some sunshine every day, and the day goes by quickly. But I feel really guilty... My wife died early, and I don't know where the children are. I am the only one left, and I can hardly speak clearly, but I still make you worry about me. When I heard that they were going to have a war, I thought, if I go to the front to block it, they will have to kill me first if they want to kill our children. If I help them block it, one more of them can survive. They are different from me, they still have many years to live..."

"I see that many of your cooks are men. You don't cook at home every day, but go out to cook? You are really promising. From now on, we will take care of all the cooking in your place. Transfer those big and strong men out of the kitchen! Let them go to the front line to fight!"

"Big brother, please judge for me. Those people in the military academy can go, but I can't? Adults just like to be partial! Let me tell you, I'm already twelve years old this year. Don't look at me as young as I am. Last year I was able to work in the fields. I had countless strength in my body. Really! Many adults can't beat me in arm wrestling!"

……

……

……

The person in charge of the recruitment center spoke earnestly for a whole afternoon before he persuaded most of the people who wanted to join the army to go back.

War is actually very different from what ordinary people imagine. For example, if the number of human sandbags cannot exceed a certain value, then they are useless except for destroying their own formation, and Yuxi City will not do such inhumane things. For another example, many people think that women should be the cooks, but cooking is done in a big pot, which is a physical job. If you are not strong enough, you can't persist at all and get tired after cooking a few times.

As for those children… even the Young Feather Camp, which was mainly for teenagers, must have undergone professional training and strict selection, and only those over 16 years old could enter. For ordinary children who wanted to enter the Young Feather Camp, they had to spend at least one or two years in a military academy, and they had to have excellent grades to have a chance of being promoted.

Li De once told He Yue that the people's hearts are the most precious thing in the world.

The people need to wake up, take action, and give full play to their wisdom to make their own contributions to this country and this race. But if a certain group needs unarmed people to fight on the front line when the time comes, it is a failure of the entire management.

The people at the recruitment office couldn't bear to reject the good intentions of the people, so they couldn't bear to tell the people who came to join the army that they couldn't help them now. These staff members could only tell them with great effort that Fang Shisan was already in charge of the front line, and the city lord would soon go to express his condolences, and everything was moving in a good direction.

At the same time, some people who are really qualified will be absorbed into the army. However, they will not be sent directly to the battlefield, but will become reserve troops and be trained in a relatively stable rear area.

The military's calm attitude gave the people of Yuxi City great confidence.

The fact that they didn't need to go to the battlefield meant that the military believed the situation wasn't that bad at all. It also meant that in the eyes of the upper echelons of Yuxi City, although Yunyang's offensive was critical, it was far from a do-or-die battle.

But these small fourteen cities...can they really compete with the huge Yunyang?

14. People’s hearts are like water, and people’s movements are like smoke.

Yuxi, Zhenmo, Tiebi, Lieyang, Tianqi, Rivet, Fengyan, Lianbo, Nanyan, Loulan, Zhantian, Jiling, Songguang and Xiaxin, these are all the cities owned by Lid.

Among them, the longest-running one is naturally Yuxi City, which has undergone several expansions. The city walls are majestic and solid, and the entire city is divided into the inner city and the outer city. Some important areas in the city are protected, so even if the war is critical and turns into street fighting, places like the Northern Industrial Base and Yuxi Academy can hold out for as long as possible.

Demon Suppression, Iron Wall, Lieyang, Apocalypse, and Rivet, these five cities were taken by Lide from his brother Liyi, and together they formed a relatively independent and complete city defense array. In particular, Rivet City was protected by natural barriers, just like Hangu Pass, which blocked the road to the west. If the front line really lost, there was also a natural barrier here to protect the West City, and there was still time for Lide and others to regroup.

Finally, there are Fengyan, Lianbo, Nanyan, Loulan, Zhantian, Jiling, Songguang, and Xiaxin. These eight cities just joined Lide last year and are also the main battlefields for this battle with Yunyang. Especially Jiling, Songguang, and Xiaxin, they need to face the three major iron and coal producing cities of Heigang City, Zhujian City, and Gaolu City under Yunyang. They are the front line of this battle and the most tense place at present.

"It's a pity that these eight cities have joined us for too short a time. If it had been longer, we would definitely be more confident now, and the general wouldn't have to work day and night to deploy troops. Although the people's hearts can be used, they are far from being willing to die for us. They have been under the rule of Yunyang for too long. Although many people don't say it, they think in their hearts that it doesn't matter if Yunyang attacks. At most, they can kowtow to them and continue to live as Yunyang citizens."

When the battalion commander of Wangdong Battalion, Juanbai, introduced the situation to Lid, he was not particularly optimistic.

He was the type who would fight when he was pushed into a corner, but was usually cautious. Even after being promoted to battalion commander, he still ate and slept with the soldiers, treating them as his brothers. Now that his brothers were going to the front line, the people they were trying so hard to protect were still in a daze, so Selaginella was naturally not in a good mood.

Lid patted his shoulder and said:

"We can't help it. Most of the people have an incredibly high tolerance. They were able to survive under Li Ze's rule, so they naturally felt that it was no big deal if Yunyang invaded. It was nothing more than having some wealth taken away, and they would just have to kneel down and make a living again. These cities have only been with us for half a year, so it's normal for them to have a weak sense of belonging. All we can do is to defeat Yunyang and show them. As long as we win once, they will naturally be willing to die for us. After all, who doesn't want to live a better life?"

Selaginella nodded solemnly.

As a refugee, he knew the thoughts of these lower-class people. After Lide took over these cities, he used work-for-relief and subsistence allowances to help everyone get through the cold winter safely, and most people even saved some spare money. They therefore remembered Lide's kindness and were willing to cooperate with Yuxi City to build various defensive fortifications.

But in fact, in their hearts, they have never really regarded the money in their hands as their own. People who are used to being exploited either spend money lavishly without leaving any spare money, or spend money extremely carefully, carefully hiding all their property and praying that it will not be found by others.

These people basically belong to the latter. Although they have money in their hands, they always feel that it will be taken away one day, so they dare not have any expectations for the future, and naturally they don’t have much sense of belonging.

The soldiers under Juanbai were in high spirits. They were all people who had been exploited in Yunyang and could not make a living. Now they were going to attack Yunyang, and they were as excited as chicken blood. The name Wangdongying was originally given for the purpose of attacking Yunyang. Wangdong, Wangdong, the east of Yuxi City is naturally Yunyang.

The men under Luger were as calm as ever. The second battalion, the Black Armor Battalion, was the elite among the elite. It was the current Yongtian Kingdom's very small number of heavily armored infantry. Most of them were veterans who had fought all the way through the battles. They were like the pillar of Yuxi City. As long as they were stationed there, they would make their own people feel at ease and bring deterrence to the enemy.

"My swordsmanship has improved a lot compared to before."