It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"If you have something to say, just say it. If you don't, don't beat around the bush. We are all adults now. Can you be more direct... like reveal my background, or tell me what you want to do?"

Then he woke up.

Lid didn't really care. He would see the reincarnated goddess in his dreams every year at the end of the year. Recently, he didn't know why he dreamed of her before the end of the year. It might be because he had been doing well recently and finally stopped slacking off like before, which made the goddess who dragged him to another world very happy.

After waking up, Lid quickly put the dream behind him. There were still many important things waiting for him to do, such as calling Alaiya to take a nap, or going out for a group sport in the early morning when it was not too hot - playing football or something.

Inspecting the army is also an important part. It's not that he has any great help in training the army, but there are many newcomers in the army. Lide's inspection can boost the morale of the soldiers and make them work harder in training. So Fang Shisan often drags him to inspect, which makes Lide feel like a tool, but for the decisive battle at the top of Yunyang soon, this seems to be necessary.

He Yue has been coming to Li De recently to talk to him about performance appraisals. Half of Yunyang has been brought under the rule of Yuxi City. The war can be delayed, but the territory cannot be left without governance. The political and economic students who graduated from Yuxi Academy have already participated in the work of governing the people. For a territory that was still in war not long ago, this is not a good job, but a hard job.

Villagers would make trouble for all kinds of things, and many problems at the grassroots level were never clear. Today, Zhang San went to Li Si's well to fetch a bucket of water, and Li Si was unhappy and wanted to make a fuss; tomorrow, Zhang San sucked the skin off Aunt Wang's cat, and Aunt Wang was unhappy and wanted to make a fuss; the day after tomorrow, Zhang San accidentally shoveled the carrots in Uncle Liu's vegetable garden while loosening the soil, and Uncle Liu was unhappy and wanted to make a fuss. So all kinds of messy cases, including many old cases in Yunyang, were all piled up in front of these students.

In the first evaluation, everyone’s results were not very good.

Lid took the report from He Yue, glanced at it, and said:

"This young man named Feilin is quite capable. He can manage a poor place like Huanghua Village in an orderly manner. But his academic performance in school is average. I don't think I've seen such a person before."

He Yue glanced at Feilin's file and said:

"You still call him a young man... He is 19 this year, one year older than you. But he is indeed capable. The only problem is that he is a little radical in his work. Many rules can be implemented to the end with his efforts, but he is not good at handling interpersonal relationships, and his relationship with his colleagues is a bit strained."

Reed took another look at the report sent by the Anbu and said:

"He has no record of corruption or bribery, so he seems reliable. Promote him. His achievements in managing Huanghua Village are enough to get him promoted. Observe him further, and if he is indeed suitable, transfer him to the Internal Affairs Department. It would be best if I could help you share some of the work, otherwise I'm always afraid that you will suddenly collapse in a pile of documents at such a young age."

It is not without reason that practice makes perfect.

Li De and He Yue knew this before, but Yuxi City was so small that there was no place for them to test and select talents, so basically they could only do the assessment by themselves. Now it is much easier, everyone is assigned a place, and their ability can be seen at a glance.

He Yue looked at Lid and suddenly asked a question:

"Should we appoint a city lord for a conquered city?"

Lid replied casually:

"There is no need for this now, and we don't have the power to do so. Let's wait until we take over Yunyang."

After a while, Lid suddenly came to his senses, put his arm around He Yue's shoulders, and said with a smile:

"No, I always feel that your question is like a sudden pop quiz. What you actually want to ask is not whether to have a city lord, but who will be the city lord."

He Yue did not refute and said with a smile:

"After all, you will have 3,000 beauties in your harem in the future. I don't know how many children you will have."

Lid shook his head and replied:

"One is enough of a headache."

This is quite true.

Lide let go of the hand that was hugging He Yue and said to him:

"There's no need to think about things that are too far in the future, but knowing that enfeoffment of city lords is a strategy to weaken the feudal lords, how could we still fall for this trick? We can't openly establish the position of city lord now, but I can guarantee that this position will definitely be held by people with virtue in the future, and it will not be a hereditary system."

He Yue put her arm around Lid's shoulders and said with a smile:

"It's easy to say now. But what about the future? For example, if we have a child, would you bear to leave him with nothing?"

Lid shrank his neck in disdain, looked at He Yue, and replied:

"I can't bear it. Why can't I bear it? If you are still worried, find the reserve candidates for the city lord first, and then arrange for them to take the position after taking Yunyang."

He Yue patted Lid's shoulder and said with a smile:

"To be honest, I've already found it."

"...So you're just waiting for me to say this, right?"

"It really is."

He Yue kissed Li De's puffy cheek, then released her hand around his shoulders and continued:

"Okay, don't be angry. I'll give you some compensation tonight?"

Li De looked at him with disdain. He had been fooled by this trick before. That night, he jumped to He Yue's boudoir and found that He Yue was dressed neatly and took his arm and said she would take him to dinner. As a result, He Yue drank too much and fell on the table. Li De had to reluctantly give up and use his own private money to pay the bill, exposing the fact that he had hidden multiple small coffers. He lost a lot of money.

Lid finished reading the internal affairs report and selected a few young people who he liked. These people might not have the most outstanding achievements, but they were all trying to use what they had learned and the theories they had summarized to govern this land. Some of their ideas were still immature, but people need time to grow.

In this land, they will grow faster.

Sure enough, Yunyang still needs a major blood transfusion, or rather, Yongtian Kingdom needs a blood transfusion.

Only when the entangled old forces are cleared away can new vitality be brought into being.

53. Poisoning

The Lord of Yunyang rarely opened the Yunyang treasury.

This is where he stored his wealth accumulated from traveling all over the country when he was young. The dazzling collection looks like it has not been touched for a long time. He picked up a trident on the ground, brushed off the light dust on it, and waved it briefly in his hand. This was taken from a general under the Cangzhou lord when he successfully led his troops to ambush him when suppressing the uprising of the Cangzhou lord.

There are many such weapons and various treasures in this treasury. For so many years, Lingyun City has been like a blood pump, constantly squeezing the people of Yunyang, bringing countless treasures to the Lord of Yunyang. He enjoys the happiness of accumulation, and taking is always more pleasant than giving.

But now, Lord Yunyang had to open the treasury in order to exchange for more important things.

The soldiers of the border army were fully equipped, but the food, clothing, and military pay of the 200,000 people received from other princes required real money. The Yunyang territory had never expanded such a large number of troops at once, so the weapons and equipment stored in the family's inventory were definitely not enough, and it was too late to manufacture them now, so they could only be purchased.

Lord Yunyang's face was as gloomy as water. In his opinion, these were all unnecessary expenses.

If Li Yi hadn't stabbed him, Kalpas would have attacked Xiaxin City long ago. Even if he lost, it wouldn't matter. At most, he could transfer the northern and southern border troops to the city to wear out Fang Shisan's troops. But during his coma, Yuxi City, which was already a bit uncontrollable, had a chance to take off directly. Although the Lord of Yunyang stopped the civil strife among the other princes as soon as he woke up and saved the remaining manpower, the future direction of Yunyang was still confusing.

Now he knew that he had to spend a lot of money, otherwise if he lost the battle, all the things he had saved up with great effort would be used as wedding clothes by others. It is better to exchange some materials at this point in time, and he can earn them back sooner or later after suppressing the rebellion in Yunyang.

The only regret is that you can never buy the best weapons and equipment through purchase, which is inevitable.

Compared with the predicament of Lord Yunyang, the situation on Lid's side is much better.

The industrial system of Yuxi City has not yet developed to the point where it can mass-produce weapons, but its steelmaking technology is already ahead of the times to a certain extent. After taking over Black Steel City and Sword Forging City, Yuxi City controlled two relatively large iron mines and was no longer subject to others in terms of steel. It could outsource to Yunhai’s craftsmen to produce more advanced weapons and equipment. Yunhai also tacitly agreed to this cooperative relationship, with one party providing the best steel and the other party responsible for processing, and finally dividing the results according to a certain ratio, so that neither party would suffer a loss.

Fang Shisan is arming the army at a faster speed. Every weapon and equipment used by a soldier must be tested and qualified before it can be put into use. Many people will die in the war in the near future, so Lid must hope that more people can survive on his side.

Because Yunyang's civilian strength will reach its limit after two more conscriptions. A large amount of land needs to be cultivated, and before mechanized planting becomes popular, farming requires young labor to do it. So now Fang Shisan's army must be used as little as possible, and it is very important to ensure the survival rate.

Five days later, Frost met with Lid and reported two important things.

The first thing was the movement of the Abyss Church in Yuxi City. After Lid approved the church's mission, the Abyss Church seemed to be much more honest and did not continue to do things secretly behind the scenes. But at the same time, the Traditional Temple issued a solemn statement, ordering Lid to shut down the Abyss Church as the city lord, otherwise it would launch a holy war against Yuxi City.

"Don't worry about them for now. Since the revised doctrine of the Abyss Church has passed the review, we will allow these people to preach in our territory. If the people in the Temple are unhappy, let them be unhappy. It would be best if they withdrew from Yunyang in anger. Then I will wake up from my dreams with a smile."

Lid paused and continued to say to Shuang:

"We are the first place to openly allow the Abyss Church to preach. They will definitely protect us. We don't need to worry about the Temple forces. Let the Abyss Church fight them first. Those people live in the dark all day long. It's time for them to come out and bask in the sun."

Frost nodded.

Traditional temples are spread all over Yongtian Kingdom. They are a very large, bloated and terrifying interest group. If you make enemies with them, you will cause countless troubles. However, Shuang has always been the type who obeys orders in the workplace. Since the leader has spoken, she will nod and agree, and then think of ways to implement it.

As for the second thing, it was a succubus girl who risked her life to sneak into Lingyun City and sent intelligence. After the general Takis of the southern border army entered Lingyun City, although he was not dismissed from his military power, the two deputy generals who had been accompanying him for many years were all imprisoned on trumped-up charges and replaced by Yunyang Lord's own confidants. Yunyang Lord's attitude was very clear: I won't touch you, but I will arrange two people to monitor you, you'd better work hard for me.

Takis looked calm, probably because he had expected something like this to happen.

After communicating with the succubus, the Anbu organization gave her a heavy task.

He tried every possible means to poison the two lieutenants who were sent to prison.

Because the succubus stayed with Li Yi for a while, although Li Yi had lost power, she was well-behaved and sensible, so she stayed in the lord's mansion and served as an ordinary maid. She had the opportunity to deceive the jailer's trust and falsely spread the order of Lord Yunyang to poison the two lieutenants, because the jailer was not aware of the tacit agreement reached between Lord Yunyang and Takis, and they thought that the people who were trapped and imprisoned by Lord Yunyang were about to die.

If it succeeds, the southern border troops will definitely have resentment towards the Yunyang Lord, and the northern border troops will probably be in danger. However, the escape must be quick, and the retreat route must be planned before executing the mission.

After listening to Shuang's report, Lid thought for a moment and asked:

"I think I've heard the Enchantress and the Demon Man mention this person before. A fan of the bottle?"

A smile appeared on Shuang's face, and he replied:

"Yes, Pingzi has quite a few fans now."

Lid yawned with a smile, his tone a little lazy:

"It would be great if it succeeds, but it doesn't matter if it fails. We will win on the front battlefield. These strategies are just added value. If they succeed, we will save lives, but if they fail, it won't have a big impact. Let the little succubus guarantee her own safety, and think it through before taking action."

Shuang said "hmm" and turned and left.

Reed looked at the blue sky outside the window. The wind blew through the clouds in the sky, and the chirping of cicadas in midsummer made people a little annoyed.

Both sides are already making final preparations. Soon, the battle will begin.

54. Pre-War Speech

The short truce period passed quickly, and the final battle in Yunyang was about to come.

Lord Yunyang was also a little panicked, because he was not sure whether Yuxi City was willing to fight him. With Yuxi City's current level, as long as they stabilized the rear, they could drag him down. So Lord Yunyang wrote a letter specifically to provoke Li De, hoping that the young and energetic Li De would not swallow this breath and come out to fight him to the death.

Yu Xicheng’s reply was yes.

"During the Eastern Expedition, we announced that we would lead Yunyang to a better future. We would ensure that everyone has enough food and clothing, that the widowed, the orphaned and the lonely are provided for, that poor children can afford to go to school, and that talented people will no longer be buried. Now, we are still working hard to implement this promise, even though the road ahead is full of difficulties and obstacles."

"Until now, we can still drag it out. Drag it out until the other side runs out of ammunition and food, until they collapse without a fight. But since we have promised to save the people of Yunyang, we will definitely carry it out to the end. There is no justice on the battlefield, but we are willing to accept Yunyang's request for a decisive battle out of humanitarianism, because this will save many lives."

"Including the Yunyang army, as long as they can turn from evil to good in time, we can forgive their past. Everyone has the right to live, but the prerequisite is that the person must make the right choice. The only result of being stubborn and stubborn is death. I hope you can figure out what you are risking your life for."

This is Yuxi City’s response and also Yuxi City’s solemn declaration to the outside world.

Although the outcome of a war will always be determined on the battlefield, Lord Yunyang did feel that he had been tricked again. When he saw this declaration, Lord Yunyang realized that Lide should have been ready for war a long time ago, and Yuxi City had been waiting for Yunyang to take the lead and then respond with justification.

When seeing this declaration, Lord Yunyang was silent for a long time.

He didn't expect that Reid would really dare to fight, and he didn't expect everything to go so smoothly.

For a moment, he even suspected that Lid was cheating, or that Yuxi City had invited some powerful foreign aid. But from the intelligence sent by the scouts, they really intended to fight head-on and put an end to the chaos in Yunyang in the simplest and crudest way.

Lord Yunyang also had a hard time describing his current mood. If he had predicted the current situation earlier, he would have done everything he could to strangle Lid in the cradle in the past two years. But Lid acted too well, a lazy dandy, a useless slacker city lord, a pole dancer in women's clothing, a fool who traded cities for people... He almost never showed his fangs, always looked like someone who was at the mercy of others, despised and ridiculed, but he also bought enough time for Yuxi City to develop.

Then, when Lid really raised his hand and said that he wanted to take Yunyang, the inconspicuous town instantly gathered enough strength to fight against him. Lord Yunyang asked himself, if he had not been injured by the strange firearm that day, if Li Yi had not chosen to backstab him when he was at his weakest, would the situation be better? Perhaps, but Lord Yunyang had a vague feeling that even without these coincidences, the current situation would have appeared one day.

This is the inevitability of history.

The Lord of Yunyang shook his head, suppressed the negative emotions in his heart, ordered the announcement to be blocked so that his army would not see it, and then continued to conduct closed training for them. The date of the decisive battle was set for three days later, in a wilderness that had never had a name before, the armies of both sides would fight a battle that would determine the future of Yunyang.

The night before the battle, Reed also went to meet his own army.

The previous training was already very sufficient, and Lid did not want to put more pressure on them, so he mostly talked to them about trivial matters:

"Lingyun City is a big city with all kinds of people. I picked up Alayya there, and I lived there with her for many years. Most of the time, we had happy things, so I would occasionally want to go back and take a look."

"When I first came to Yuxi City, my entire property was about 2,000 gold coins. If it were someone else, I could have become a wealthy man, but it was far from enough for me. What lay before me was a ruined city, and demons would attack every now and then. The 2,000 gold coins I invested in the construction were consumed in an instant."

"Until now, we are still very short of money. My Minister of Internal Affairs has only a few pieces of clothing throughout the year, most of which are plain white. Only in a few cases will he change into a red dress to show off. Your general, Fang Shisan, was so poor when he was in Zhaochen that he couldn't even afford to eat eggs. He was so thin that his skin was just skin and bones, and his slender wrists seemed like they would break if he exerted the slightest force. As for me, I have never gotten rid of the nightmare of stewing radishes and cabbages for so many years. Now I am afraid every time I go to the table."

A low laugh broke out in the crowd.

Fang Shisan sat in a wheelchair with his arms folded. He did not refute, but just listened quietly with a smile.

Reed raised his head and looked at the stars in the sky. The bonfire in front of him crackled.

His tone was very calm, ensuring that everyone present could hear clearly:

"We have also developed slowly from nothing, so we can understand your hard work over the years. Many people died heroically because they shouldered the responsibility of defending their country and because they had hopes for tomorrow. The only thing we who are still alive can do is to remember their sacrifices and move forward with their dreams. For a Yunyang where everyone is entitled to happiness, for a better tomorrow."

It was late at night, and Lid did not use an impassioned tone to mobilize the soldiers' emotions. He just narrated these things calmly. The people present listened silently, holding their weapons in their hands, and felt the responsibility on their shoulders. They had seen the benefits of Yuxi City, and naturally did not want to return to the previous life of having no food to eat and living in fear all day long. Now they really have a chance to fight for the future, that is, to fight everything to win the next battle.

"There should be something in this world that is more noble than life. It is not those illusory beliefs, but a future that can be seen and touched. Before going to bed tonight, I hope everyone will silently recite the names of their companions in their hearts and remember everyone around them. Tomorrow, you will experience a severe test, but I believe you will win. Because we have no reason to lose, there is no need to hope for a miracle. As long as everyone does their job well as they did in training, we will win."

Reed felt like a teacher who was watching his students enter the examination room and was still giving them the final psychological counseling.

However, he did not think he would lose. Even when faced with a three-fold difference in military strength, he did not panic at all.

He has always been full of confidence in the people around him.

55. There is no justice on the battlefield

Lied has seen many kinds of armies.

There are armies that are fighting desperately because they have no other options, there are armies that are united by strange beliefs and are fearless, there are armies that are well-equipped and armed to the teeth, and there are armies that are desperately moving forward with lofty honor in their hearts... There is not only one rule that leads to victory, every outstanding general has his own unique way of training troops, and every army gives people a different feeling.

Generally speaking, experienced generals only need to take a look at the aura of the army to understand what kind of training they have been undergoing. For example, Yunhai's army is calm and confident, adhering to the concept of "I will not offend others unless they offend me"; in contrast, Lingwu's army is obviously more aggressive and oppressive. Lid still remembers those armored soldiers standing solemnly in the heavy snow, and those pairs of cold and ruthless eyes.

But when he saw Lord Yunyang's army, Reed only felt a sense of emptiness.

There was light in their eyes, their weapons were held straight, and the military formations they formed were remarkable. Lord Yunyang was indeed capable. Even though he had not personally fought in battle for many years, and even though his stubborn character had penetrated into his bones, he was still able to train a capable army in the shortest possible time.