It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"I said, one of the core concepts of Yuxi City is the so-called spirit of contract. You all gathered here and led Yuxi City from a remote corner to a territory, and you all have contributed. So I will also realize your wishes, whether it's the general of Tiance Mansion, the queen of the Anbu who controls thunder and lightning, or the diplomat who travels all over the world...even world peace so that everyone can survive! I will work hard to achieve it. I don't have any ambitions, but at least I can assure you of this, I will not stop until your wishes are fulfilled!"

Reed raised his glass high, and everyone also raised their glasses of wine.

Drink it all in one gulp.

Lid put down his glass with a snap, exhaled and said:

"He Yue, you take care of the people's livelihood. We have confiscated so much land from the nobles and will distribute it all to the people to cultivate. As for the issue of status, just ask the king for it. It doesn't matter if he doesn't give it to you. Sooner or later, we will attack the capital, and by then, it won't be something that can be dealt with by just a title."

62. Higher Vision

Yunyang is bordered by Zhaochen to the north, the sea of ​​clouds to the south, Tiancheng to the east, and the Mozu to the west.

Such a long-standing territory had experienced prosperity and decline, and finally met its end one day. In September of 334, Yunyang officially changed hands, and its ranking in the new territory list continued to decline, falling to the tenth from the bottom.

The last war in Yunyang Territory was also called the least valuable war in recent years by various territories, because both sides seemed to be hastily assembled armies, and one side collapsed very quickly on the battlefield. When people mentioned these things, they inevitably had some contempt in it. Although Yunyang was ranked in the middle and lower in the past, it still had some deterrent power because of those old foxes guarding it. Now, after the major blood transfusion of Yunyang, it has become a hot commodity in the eyes of various territories.

It seems like anyone can come in and have a piece of the pie.

In order to minimize the interference of external forces, Yun Ye, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, traveled thousands of miles to visit countless territories and made various empty promises, as if he would share Yunyang with everyone. Because the leadership of Yuxi City was too young, many lords did not think they could govern Yunyang well, so they basically believed Yun Ye's words and did not interfere too much in the internal struggle of Yunyang Territory.

Now that the situation in Yunyang has been settled, various territories have begun to send people to ask for benefits.

Lid met with the envoys from each family individually. He was very polite to everyone and had a smiling face from beginning to end, but what he said was not human language:

"Ah, it's not like I won't give it to you. But you see, Lingyun City hasn't been conquered yet, and His Majesty the King hasn't recognized my identity. Even if I want to give it to you, I can't. Don't worry, I'll take care of the remaining things here, and I won't lose a penny of what I promised you!"

"You are right to be anxious. I understand. I completely understand. But you can see that we in Yunyang are too poor now. We promised everyone all kinds of benefits at the beginning, but now we can't give them all at once. So who should we give them to first and who should we give them to later? We have to think about it. Otherwise, what if other families are not satisfied and start a fight with you?"

"Are you here again to collect the debt? Didn't you just come here not long ago? Come on, come on, don't worry about the debt collection. We just got a batch of fine wine not long ago. Let's drink and talk until we are drunk! Yunye, bring up our signature water of life!"

In this way, batch after batch of envoys from the territory were sent away.

Of course, this is just a delaying tactic. Sooner or later, other territories will lose patience. However, as long as they still want Yunyang's things, they can only go through the procedures to appeal. Because the era of competing with the princes for the position of lord is different, now Lide's control over the entire Yunyang territory is high enough, and other territories no longer have the possibility of abolishing Lide and replacing him with a puppet lord.

Either they start a war with real guns and swords, or they can only use diplomatic wrangling. At present, the two sides are still in the wrangling stage, and it will not escalate to a military conflict for a while. During this time, Fang Shisan once again gathered some of the defeated troops in Yunyang, and at the same time further strengthened the training of the original troops, trying his best to ensure that the troops always maintain a fairly high level of combat effectiveness.

Takis still had 40,000 Yunyang border troops, and Fang Shisan maintained their existing organization. However, because Lide and Yunhai had always had a good relationship, Yunhai would not expand outward before the crown prince was decided, so these 40,000 border troops were temporarily recalled for unified training. Fang Shisan formulated a targeted training plan based on their shortcomings and arranged Takis to implement it.

There were quite a few Yunyang generals like Takis who surrendered to Yuxi City, but most of them were mediocre or self-proclaimed capable. Yuxi City would naturally not allow such people to take positions, but some truly capable guys lacked opportunities to show their talents with the Yunyang lord, so Yuxi City could arrange them to suitable positions.

Farming and training troops are top priorities, and He Yue and Fang Shisan are working hard to do them.

But other things cannot be stagnant. Even though Lingyun City has not been fought yet and the new Yunyang Territory has not yet decided on a main city, the reconstruction and development of Yunyang has begun to get on track. This is what Li De had said to He Yue before, Yuxi City must have a set of rules that can be implemented and lead the people of Yunyang to a better future.

Industrial development, talent introduction, new crop promotion... every link cannot be left behind. Fortunately, Yuxi City had already rehearsed the situation after conquering Yunyang, and made a lot of preparations in advance, so that they would not panic when facing such a situation. Conquering Yunyang was an exciting thing for everyone, but after the blood was over, everyone quickly calmed down, and everything was stable as usual.

Of course, not everyone can continue to be passionate.

"We have taken Yunyang", "We can enjoy ourselves", "It's time to make money"... Some people began to think like this. He Yue asked Li De about his thoughts, and Li De's answer was simple:

"It's just human nature. Are there many people like this?"

He Yue shook his head.

From the beginning, Yuxi City's ambitions were not limited to Yunyang. Since Lide became friends with Yunhai, opened up trade routes with Zhaochen, and cooperated with the demons, people living in Yuxi City gradually began to get in touch with the outside world. The emergence of various groups such as the Valley of Evil, the Hero's Guild, and the Abyss Church also caused the influence of the "suffering and endurance" ideology promoted by the traditional temple to plummet.

Open trade routes, freedom of speech, cultural diversity... When these factors come together, they will subtly begin to change people's minds and make them gradually curious about the "outside world".

Their horizons are not limited to Yunyang, or even to Yongtian Kingdom.

The lower level demons have no intelligence and are convenient labor.

The lower giants are tall and can build all kinds of high-rise buildings.

The elves...although they look like vases, they can cure many diseases that traditional medicine is powerless to treat.

What about further away?

Is it true that there is a huge treasure buried in the sea? Can the dragon carriages that only the royal family can use be popularized in every household? How prosperous is the capital? How strong are the Lingwu Iron Cavalry? What are the Western Qin and Southern Chu like? It is said that the princes of the Huaiwang Territory and the Tianqi Territory are not on good terms with Li De, and they secretly helped Li Yi attack Yuxi City. Can this revenge be avenged?

There are people who start to enjoy life, but more people are still in a state of dissatisfaction.

It’s just that Yunyang—it’s the tenth territory from the bottom—is not enough.

We have more advanced technology, more efficient systems, more brilliant culture, and a more competitive army, so why should we stop here? This is just the beginning, just a springboard to a broader future!

This is already the trend under the rule of Yuxi City. I believe that in the near future, some changes will take place in the entire Yunyang area.

The torrent of history is unstoppable. Once the snowball is formed, it will keep rolling.

Lid looked at He Yue and said with a smile:

"It's too early to start to degenerate. Let's keep a clear head. If you can't calm down, take a vacation, get some fresh air, look at the hungry and cold people, and come back when you calm down. Then continue to work. I haven't indulged in pleasure, so others should not act like the war is over."

63. The rainy night eighteen years ago

In Lingyun City, Lord Yunyang spent the darkest period of his life.

No one attacked, but Fang Shisan sent a large army to set up camp outside Lingyun City, surrounding the impregnable main city. Lord Yunyang had no idea what was happening outside, and the few masters he had left had no ability to break out of the siege. Instead, Lord Yunyang had to worry day and night whether they would take his head for money on a whim.

In panic, Lord Yunyang slowly understood the purpose of Yuxicheng's actions.

On the one hand, attacking Lingyun City is a difficult task, but besieging Lingyun City is not difficult. As long as the food and grass in Lingyun City are exhausted, even the strongest city will fall. On the other hand, as long as Lingyun City has not been captured, Lid can declare that the ownership of Yunyang is undecided and argue with other territories and royal families.

But what can we do even if we understand?

Lord Yunyang was lying on an empty bed, with his beautiful wife and concubines all missing. Since he found out that a concubine had an affair with a guest official three days ago, he had driven away all the people around him, locked himself in his room every day, thinking about how to break the situation. At this time, he didn't know that most of the cities had chosen to surrender without any resistance, and he was planning to use those cities that were nominally under his control as collateral to counterattack Yuxi City with the help of external forces. But the problem was that the news could not be spread. The dark army outside Lingyun City almost completely cut off his communication with the outside world.

Gradually, Lord Yunyang stopped thinking.

No matter how much he didn't want to admit it, he was facing a situation of being killed. Lord Yunyang began to recall his past life, from being famous at a young age to being on the battlefield, drinking strong liquor with passion, and holding a warm and soft jade in his arms. But what happened later? After the uprising of Lord Cangzhou was suppressed, everything seemed to have changed. Countless praises came, and the title of wise lord was worn on his head like a crown.

Precious swords, strong liquor, beautiful girls, good horses, rare animals, hymns... Who doesn't like these things? But when did I start to be blinded by these things and frantically make money at all costs, so that the people of Yunyang are gradually declining, to the point where the people are living in misery?

After taking a sip of wine, Lord Yunyang gasped for air. He still couldn't figure it out. There were many lords who were more greedy than him, but why could they still sit in the position of lord? Why was he forced to this point? He had raised Li De for so many years. It was said that a son should not blame his father. Why did Li De raise the flag of rebellion against him? Even if he had a thousand faults, as long as he was a father, wasn't it all justified to beat and scold him?

Even though this father-son relationship is not real.

In a trance, Lord Yunyang laughed.

He recalled the rainy night eighteen years ago, with rumbling thunder and silvery white lightning exploding outside the window, briefly illuminating the darkness inside the house. A baby was sleeping in his cradle, but his mother knelt on the ground, tightly hugging Lord Yunyang's legs, begging him to spare her life.

"I have not betrayed the Lord, and I don't know why I am pregnant—"

The woman with a hoarse voice kept repeating this sentence, her face full of tears.

Unfortunately, it was not Lord Yunyang who could make the decision. The young Lord could only swallow his saliva and turned his head with a little fear, looking at those tall, mysterious people wearing masks and cloaks. Those guys were exactly the same height, and their voices were no different. Only the masks on their faces depicted different expressions, which looked extremely hideous and terrifying in the rainy night.

Their words contained a power that Lord Yunyang could not disobey:

"Kill...that woman..."

"Child... raise him until he is twelve years old... someone will come naturally then..."

"Only you can know this... If it gets out..."

At that time, Lord Yunyang was breathing hard and stabbed down heavily with a knife.

Blood splattered everywhere, even on the baby's face.

"I have killed the man, can you leave now?"

Lord Yunyang said in a low voice.

He turned around and looked behind him.

But behind him was a void. There was nothing, no furniture, no people, nothing. There was blood splattered on the wall, and it seemed that no one had been standing there from the beginning, only him talking to himself.

Lord Yunyang looked around, but could not see any shadow of the men in black. So he laughed, threw away the knife in his hand, looked at the body of the woman lying at his feet, and spat on her face. Obviously, in this secret room, even a tenth-level master could not move so silently. Lord Yunyang began to suspect that those men in black were hallucinations that appeared in his anger when he found out that this woman was messing around outside.

So he raised the knife again and pointed it at the baby in the cradle - the bastard whose father was unknown.

But just as the knife was about to fall, a bolt of lightning exploded in the lord's mansion, hitting the courtyard not far away. The window was shattered, making a sharp sound. Lord Yunyang looked over there, but in the glass fragments illuminated by the lightning, he saw the figure of the man in black again.

It seemed like those guys had never gone far away and were always standing behind him.

Lord Yunyang was so frightened that he dropped the knife in his hand and staggered away.

He never told anyone about this.

Anyway, in such a big manor, one more person is not too much, one less person is not too little. Over the years, Lord Yunyang has never looked at the child named Li De. He knows that the child has been suppressed in the manor because of his mother's death, but he is too lazy to care. He is too lazy to care about the warehouse deducting Li De's monthly salary, the evil servants teasing Li De, and the other brothers and sisters playing with Li De like a fool. Anyway, the man in black never showed up again, and no one came to take him away when he was twelve years old. Lord Yunyang just thought that the gang of men in black were dead, and Li De was left to fend for himself.

Thinking back now...it was around the time Reed was twelve that he seemed to have completely changed.

He would smile. He would block all the conspiracies and plots with a smile, take revenge on all the servants who bullied him with a smile, touch the buttocks of girls on the street with a smile, just like a dandy boy. The disgust of Lord Yunyang towards him was also constantly accumulating. Finally, after confirming that those men in black seemed to have no intention of coming to take people away, Lord Yunyang thought it would be better to let Li De be the whetstone for the eldest son Li Yi.

At that time, Li Yi assassinated Li De more than 120 times a year, all of which were done under the instruction of Lord Yunyang.

In a blink of an eye, it has been two years since Reed left Lingyun City.

Now he is back, and he wants to take back everything that belongs to him——

Lord Yunyang's hand shook and the wine glass smashed to the ground.

Half asleep and half awake, he heard someone enter the room, kneel in front of him, and say in a panicked voice:

"Fang Shisan, Fang Shisan has begun to attack the city!"

64. Leave nothing behind

To defend or not to defend?

The constant urging and reports were like heavy mountains pressing down on Lord Yunyang's back.

He stood up shakily and walked outside the mansion. This was the first time he had left the mansion to take a look at the scenery outside. Many people were standing along the street. Everyone was pale and thin, as if they would fall down immediately if the wind blew. Lord Yunyang then realized that Lingyun City had been out of food for some time. There had been reports submitted to his desk before, but Lord Yunyang just glanced at it and threw it aside.

During this period of time, Lingyun City is no longer as prosperous as it once was.

The water here is still clear, and the buildings here are still elegant. However, the number of victims has increased, and the price of food has also soared. Lingyun City was designed with great emphasis on defense. Normally, the granaries in the city would store enough food for the people of the city to eat for several months. However, in order to afford the huge army, the Lord of Yunyang has overdrawn the savings here, and the current Lingyun City simply cannot sustain that long.

In order to raise food and fodder, the Lord of Yunyang would occasionally threaten the wealthy in the city, but the food obtained by the wealthy families at the cost of their lives would still be quickly consumed. Some people began to commit crimes out of hunger, and the soldiers guarding the city not only did not stop them, but followed them to rob food, accelerating the internal consumption of Lingyun City.

Before anyone knew it, the most prestigious brothel was deserted. The top courtesan was hanged on the window frame, unable to bear the humiliation, and no one came to collect her body. After a few days, her body was so rotten that her facial features could not be seen clearly. The big restaurant that was once full of guests is now deserted. Even if someone in the city can still afford it, they will never go there for fear of being targeted. Many precious antiques were smashed at random. No one knows what tomorrow will look like, or even if tomorrow will come.

Lord Yunyang looked at the people on the street. Those people looked at Lord Yunyang without the usual awe in their eyes, but with a kind of desperate calmness.

Lord Yunyang didn't like that kind of look, so he ordered his men to break those people's legs.

He walked along the street to the edge of the city, climbed up the stone steps to the top of the city wall, and looked down. This time, Lid was not seen in the army, only Fang Shisan was sitting quietly in a wheelchair. Her eyes were still blind as before, but the commotion caused by Lord Yunyang climbing the city wall reached her ears. Fang Shisan raised her head and faced the direction of Lord Yunyang.

"The bitch from the Zhaochen family..."

Lord Yunyang squeezed out these words from between his teeth, narrowing his eyes and looking coldly at Fang Shisan. Fang Shisan naturally couldn't see his expression, so his face was a gentle smile from beginning to end. Lord Yunyang felt insulted. This was a civil strife in Yunyang. Li De should have come in person, but he didn't. Instead, he only sent Fang Shisan, who was born in Zhaochen, to confront him. Who doesn't know that Lord Yunyang's biggest enemy in this life is Lord Zhaochen?

Fang Shisan opened his mouth and said in a calm tone:

"Excuse me, is the lord in the city?"

Lord Yunyang clenched his fists, turned around and left without responding.

Fang Shisan nodded and continued:

"Our Lord Mayor said that the Yunyang clan had brought the current situation upon themselves. Over the years, Yunyang has demanded all kinds of things from the people, causing the Yunyang territory to gradually decline. The solution adopted by the Lord Mayor was to pin his hopes on marriage with the royal family and Yunhai, borrowing external forces to make up for his own shortcomings, but he did not repent for exploiting the people. Our Lord Mayor said that he had no intention of pursuing the personal grudges between them, but the Yunyang clan still needed to be punished by law. Now that the city is open and surrendered, they can still be given a lighter sentence."

Lord Yunyang waved his hands angrily and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"He still has the nerve to bring up these things! If that bastard hadn't messed up Li Yi's wedding, why would Yunyang be in this situation? He was just lucky and succeeded in a sneak attack when I was not prepared. Don't be ungrateful! Even if Yunyang is given to you, what does it matter? Do you know how many people are eyeing this place? Apart from anything else, when Yunhai goes north one day, Yunyang will be the first to bear the brunt! Do you really think you can defeat Yunhai, who has accumulated hundreds of years of experience?"

Fang Shisan smiled calmly and replied:

"Whether we can win or not, we have to try to know. Besides, since we have defeated the Lord, it means that the army that we cannot stop, the Lord cannot stop either. In this case, the Lord, please do not worry about it."

Lord Yunyang clenched his fists, and felt his heart swell with anger, and his eyebrows trembled. But he also knew that the soldiers under his command could no longer reverse the situation, so he could only angrily order the soldiers:

"Defend the city! Defend the city at all costs! Don't let even a fly in! Lingyun City is easy to defend but difficult to attack, no one can get in! Cheer up, or I'll make you lose your heads!"

Lord Yunyang strode down the stairs and continued to give orders to the guards beside him:

"Take some people with you... and raid the few wealthy families left in the city. Burn all the houses and take as much treasure as you can! Brothels, taverns, markets... burn them all, don't leave anything behind!"

The guard nodded in agreement.

Lord Yunyang stepped into the mansion and looked at the pavilions and waterside pavilions here, with a smile on his face. His laughter became louder and louder, and the next moment he drew his long sword from his waist, chopped off the four corners of a pavilion in a few strokes, and smashed all the precious vases placed in the corridor.

Today, the Yunyang lord has no hope of turning the tide, but he has found a new thing that makes him happy. The most prosperous place in the Yunyang territory is Lingyun City. Hundreds of years of oppression of the people have created this magnificent city. The area of ​​the lord's mansion alone is larger than that of an ordinary town. This is the richest place in Yunyang, and it concentrates most of Yunyang's luck. Now the Yunyang lord intends to destroy all of it.

Nothing left for Reed!

Amid the crazy laughter, maids, housekeepers, and concubines came over after hearing the noise. They were all shocked to see Lord Yunyang destroying things recklessly. Some people wanted to step forward to stop him, but were knocked to the ground by Lord Yunyang's sword. Blood splattered on Lord Yunyang's already white stubble, further stimulating his desire to destroy.

"Without these...without these...! I wonder how you can rebuild this shabby Yunyang!"