It doesn't matter what the lord is.

8. Best Ordinary Friend

For Lid, the movements of the dragon clan must be found out clearly.

But he really couldn't spare the time. Nanchu and Yunhai, he had been to two territories in succession in the past few months. If he slipped out again, He Yue would have to pick up a kitchen knife and block him at the door. Li De also felt that it was inappropriate to entrust all matters to Shuang. Yunyang's Anbu organization was more suitable for dealing with the situation within the human race, and it would take some time to develop new business.

Lid couldn't help but recall the first Sky-breaking Conference, when he had appointed Merlin to set up an intelligence organization targeting foreign races, but no results had been received so far. The lack of a phone was inconvenient, and Lid had almost no means of actively contacting a wandering magician like Merlin.

Two days later, a person who surprised Reed visited Lingyun City.

The prince Xihe of Wanze Territory.

Lide had met her once at the Potian Conference and had a deep impression of her. One reason was that she was a very rare female prince, and the other was that Wanze Territory was ranked fifth in the last ranking, which was a very advanced territory. As members of the Potian organization, they were not arrogant to each other. Lide simply cooked a few dishes and said as he took off his apron:

"I heard you just came back from Yunhai?"

Xihe waved his hand and said with a smile:

"I heard about the invasion of the Sea Tribe, and I wanted to go and help, but when I got there I found that the matter had been resolved. I came here to meet you and take a look at the latest situation of our army."

Xihe said, looking at Lid's bandaged hand, and said with a little emotion:

"It seems that the rumors are true... Narus originally practiced the spear technique, the king of all weapons. The stab of the tenth level above the ninth level is even sharper. I didn't expect that you would easily block it. Judging from your realm, it seems that you haven't dropped much. I couldn't tell your realm before, and I still can't tell it now. It's true that people will die if they are compared with others, and goods will be thrown away if they are compared with others..."

Reed waved his right hand, looking like a lucky cat, and Xihe couldn't help laughing.

Reed then said:

"The army we trained at the beginning has already shown initial results. Jiang Lianqing is indeed a genius in marching and fighting, but he still needs to be honed. Has your Wanze been fighting frequently with the demons recently? I want to transfer this army to your place to find some battles to fight."

Xihe clapped his hands happily and replied with a smile on his face:

"Yes, yes! You are welcome anytime."

Lide also smiled. In fact, there was nothing wrong with Jiang Lianqing's training rhythm, but he could see that Xihe came here to ask for something. She mentioned the army as soon as they met, so Lide did her a favor. Except for a queen with means like the Lord of Lingwu, it was very difficult for ordinary girls to inherit a territory. Lide thought for a while and realized that Xihe must have encountered some troubles at home and needed to borrow this army to establish her prestige.

However, Xihe did not point it out, so Lide did not ask.

As if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Xihe praised the dish made by Lide:

"I think it's delicious. To be honest, is this how you win the hearts of so many beautiful girls?"

Li De crossed his legs, poured himself a glass of wine, and then asked Xihe if he wanted to drink.

Xihe nodded, and Lid poured her another cup.

Li De doesn't smoke and only drinks lightly. Although he is busy from time to time, he lives a very happy life. He said to Xihe:

"Speaking of which, I heard that the marriage your father arranged for you some time ago was cancelled again. What happened?"

Xihe raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, took two bites of food, and said with emotion:

"It's difficult... Our Wanze Territory ranks fifth, and the ones ahead of us basically have no chance of marrying me. Because I'm the prince and will inherit the position of lord in the future, I can only recruit a son-in-law. I understand this, so I don't care about the other party's background, as long as he is barely presentable. But the other party is obviously here to eat gigolo, but he has many women outside and requires me to be loyal to him for the rest of my life. I can't accept it."

Lid commented:

"Indeed, if you're a gigolo, you can't dream of having a harem... But as a male compatriot, I have to say that human greed is limitless. You can't always expect the other person to solve problems through self-awareness. For example, I'm not a self-aware person."

Xihe poured himself another glass of wine and muttered:

"You don't eat free food."

Lidd replied:

"Eat, if you don't eat free food, how can you have time to cook and chat?"

Xihe took a sip of wine, propped up his head and said:

"How can a gigolo block a stab from Nailus with one hand in Yunhai, and can he sit firmly on the top position of [Potian] in Nanchu?"

Reed smiled but said nothing.

Xihe took another sip of wine. It was rice wine brewed by Alaiya, not too strong and very smooth.

Xihe exhaled a breath of alcohol, chuckled and said:

"Sometimes I think it would be great if I were a man. When I went to brothels with my brother, the girls' eyes were so seductive. If I were a boy, I would find it hard to let go. So I have never been against having girls on both sides. It's just that I want to be a lord in the future, and the one who is qualified to take me into his harem must be at least the king. I also told the guy I went on a blind date with last time that if he could become a king, I wouldn't care how many girlfriends he had outside."

Seeing that the dishes on the table were almost cleared, Li De fried some peanuts, put them in front of Xihe, and said:

"You are open-minded."

Xihe seems to have a normal alcohol tolerance and looks a little tipsy:

"Jiang Lianqing, I will take her away from you first, and I will definitely send her back to you in good condition in the future. Is there anything you need me to do? I will probably be traveling outside for a while. When I last saw you, I was in the middle of the ninth level, and now I am close to the great perfection. If there is a chance for me to reach the tenth level, I won't have to suffer anymore when I go back... although the chance is slim."

Lid thought about it and told Xihe about the dragon clan.

Xihe shook his hair and agreed without hesitation:

"I'll help you check the dragon tribe. If you see Merlin, I'll help you ask everything you need to know."

Xihe picked up a peanut, put it in his mouth, and chewed it with a crunching sound.

She suddenly let out a long sigh and said:

"It's much easier to talk to you."

Lid asked:

"Then you need to make a few more close friends. After all, you don't come to Yunyang very often."

Xihe shook his head and replied:

"This has nothing to do with close friends. When I was a kid, I was bullied by my brother. I went to etiquette class crying, but the teacher saw me and sternly ordered me not to go in. She told me to control my emotions and not let my negative emotions affect the people around me. Later, I gradually found that the more I was with familiar people, the more I would restrain my emotions. I had things in my heart, but I couldn't say them out. What I like most is my teenage self. I could go out and roam the world with a sword, and I didn't need any friends to wander the world alone. Today we would chat and talk about everything under the stars, and tomorrow morning we would go our separate ways. It is that kind of life that can make me feel at peace."

Reed smiled, raised his glass and clinked it with Xihe.

他 说:

"Then, I hope we can always be the best of ordinary friends."

Xihe was stunned for a moment, and a hint of smile appeared in his dark eyes.

She stood up, finished the wine in the glass with Lid, and responded in a casual manner:

"Yeah, I hope we can always be the best of ordinary friends."

9. Swampy Nature

The drunk Xihe lay on the table all night and woke up very early the next day.

Lide threw the half of the military token for mobilizing Jiang Lianqing to her. Xihe caught it and carefully put it in her arms, then said to Lide:

"Are you going to fight Tiancheng next?"

Lid nodded:

"We also plan to get a piece of the fifteen territories that Tiancheng has allocated to the royal family."

Xihe said seriously:

"Then you better move faster. I heard that Zhaoxin Territory and Shenghe Territory have already sent out troops, and Prince Huai has also secretly assembled troops. In addition, there is Yunhai. If Yunhai does not want to fight you head-on in the north, they can only break out to the northeast. Tiancheng Territory is also a must-fight place for them."

Lid was certainly aware of this. Not long after he came back, he heard that Bai Feng had not withdrawn his troops at all, but had Yunhai's elite troops stationed directly in the north of Yunhai. Currently, Yunyang has sent another general, Takis, to lead troops to confront Yunhai, but Yunhai does not seem to have any intention of attacking. Fang Shisan listened carefully to the report from the front line and judged that Yunhai should want the 20 cities in the south of Tiancheng, which involves an important marching route.

Just like playing Go, Yunhai's current situation is not optimistic. After occupying a corner, he was suppressed by Yunyang, so he naturally planned to fight back; Tiancheng is the next battlefield. If Yunhai gets Tiancheng, Yunyang can only move forward to the northeast in the future, but there is another troublesome opponent there - the territory of King Huai. Bai Feng probably intends to use this method to force Yunyang to face some powerful territories in advance, so as to consume Yunyang's strength, which can be regarded as an open plot.

On the contrary, if Yunyang took Tiancheng, Yunhai's idea of ​​going north would be completely thwarted, and he could only go east to seek a breakthrough. But the situation in the east was not particularly optimistic. Even if Yunhai could defeat several powerful opponents in succession and go all the way to the east, he would directly run into the rebels led by Huang Yan.

The current situation is still unclear, and Xihe can't see the future direction, so he can only kindly remind Li De to take the initiative. However, Li De just smiled and nodded, and replied:

"The mountain man has his own clever plan, don't worry."

Xihe didn't say anything more. He just said yesterday that they wanted to be the best ordinary friends, and the most taboo thing for ordinary friends is to talk about deep things with people they just met.

In fact, Yunyang does have the capital to be calm, because Yunhai can only be regarded as a "lonely child" now, but Yunyang can echo Zhaochen. If Zhaochen is not under Yunyang's control now, the situation will be very unfavorable to Yunyang. Once Tiancheng is taken away by others, Yunyang will face three fronts of fighting in the east, north and south in an instant. But now Zhaochen is holding the north, even if Yunyang suffers a loss in the battle for Tiancheng, the worst that can happen is that Zhaochen is used as a springboard to continue to break out.

Of course, Reid wouldn't just stand there and watch. He was waiting for an opportunity.

In the eyes of many territories, Tiancheng cannot be said to be a piece of fat meat, but it is definitely a territory worth fighting for. Tiancheng does not have a decent army and ranks last, but the population is large, and the people are almost forced into desperation, and those who stutter can be tricked into serving as soldiers. The most important thing is that Tiancheng is a relatively important transportation hub in the west of Yongtian Kingdom. Getting it is equivalent to strangling the throat of Yunyang and Yunhai.

But it's also like a swamp.

The army of Zhaoxin Territory was the first to move, because it was ranked relatively low among all the surrounding territories, and only occupied the 19th place among the 36 territories of Yongtian. It also knew that this crusade against Tiancheng would inevitably develop into a fight between gods, and if it entered the battlefield slowly, it would probably gain nothing. For Zhaoxin Territory, the only chance was to act quickly, so that it could possibly gain some benefits before others.

But something strange happened.

The army did not encounter any resistance when it approached the border, so that Lord Zhaoxin was complacent about his decisiveness at first. However, soon there was a report from the front line saying that many soldiers had lost contact inexplicably. The officers of Zhaoxin Territory did not take it too seriously, thinking that those people had robbed many civilians and made enough money and ran away, and continued to lead the army to the hinterland of Tiancheng Territory.

This advance force of about 20,000 people never returned.

The whole thing was horrifying. Lord Zhaoxin once suspected that the Tiancheng family had practiced some evil magic. It was said that there was a kind of witchcraft that killed people invisibly in Nanchu. As long as the formation was set up, no matter how many people came, they would never return. However, it was impossible for the 20,000-man army to be completely wiped out. Afterwards, a dozen people ran back sporadically, and their eyes were full of fear.

They said it was not a place for people to stay.

After the army was stationed, many people from Tiancheng were active around, but the generals didn't care. Their goal was to capture the main city of Tiancheng. Seeing that there were no Tiancheng troops around, they plundered around without worry. Unexpectedly, one night countless people from Tiancheng poured into the military camp and plundered them.

Those people robbed their food, killed their horses, took away their armor, and even devoured their flesh and blood! At that moment, Zhaoxin's army actually felt a chill on their backs, as if this was no longer the human world, but a living hell. Those hungry people were not afraid of death at all, and launched an attack like crazy, using their hands, feet, teeth, and weapons to fight non-stop, biting them like gadflies to suck blood, and killed Zhaoxin's army and made them flee. Once the army was dispersed, it would be even more impossible for the soldiers to return to Zhaoxin's territory alive - within a hundred miles, there were pairs of eyes staring at them!

The same thing happened once in the army of Shenghe Territory. However, Shenghe Territory was more cautious, and the 100,000-strong army did not disperse, and was finally saved. Although they escaped unscathed, those soldiers felt a little scared when they recalled what they had experienced in Tiancheng. In the dark night, the people of Tiancheng stared at them, without any expression on their faces, and that look was not what normal humans should have.

When the Yunyang territory was caught in civil strife, the various Yunyang princes also formed so-called "large armies", which often started with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, but they collapsed at the first touch of the regular army. Because those people have not lost their basic humanity and are still afraid, they will be extremely timid in front of a stronger army.

But the people of Tiancheng will not.

They have been so poor over the years that they have to eat their own children. Who among those who are still alive is not covered in blood? Brothers kill each other, fathers kill each other, and lovers kill each other. They have become accustomed to cruelty and ruthlessness, and even numb to the feeling of death. They only know that those troops have food, so they will go and grab it, grab it with all their strength, and grab it without fear of death.

Because hunger is worse than death.

The burning feeling in the stomach, the dizziness, the unsteadiness of walking. The torture of a blunt knife cutting flesh happened to them for years. Compared with this, death might be a relief that could come in an instant.

10. Strategies of each company

The reason why Lid was not in a hurry to attack Tiancheng was because he had already anticipated the internal situation of Tiancheng.

Last year, Yunyang opened the border with Tiancheng, allowing the people of Tiancheng to come and seek refuge, which resulted in a large-scale public security chaos. Faced with the kind people who provided them with food and shelter, the refugees from Tiancheng chose to brutally kill them while they were asleep in the middle of the night, took away all their belongings and fled far away.

However, they did not escape for long. The Anbu organization in Yunyang was not a pushover. They quickly contacted the local security department to capture them directly. All the people who committed murder were sentenced to death. But even if they were cut into pieces, it would be useless. The people of Yunyang who died because of them would not come back. In the end, Yunyang closed the border with Tiancheng, and He Yue, who formulated the "accepting refugees" policy, bowed and apologized in public.

With this previous experience, Reed knew long ago that Tiancheng was already a hell inside.

After losing their humanity, humans are actually no different from the beasts in the jungle.

It is not difficult to conquer Tiancheng, but anyone who steps into the swamp will eventually fall into it. Although Yunyang's army is considered the best in the world, its number is limited after all. It is best suited to the kind of point-to-surface offensive, rather than the kind of protracted war that requires constant vigilance. Yunyang needs to find a way to suppress the millions of disaster victims in Tiancheng, otherwise it will be impossible to solve the mess of Tiancheng with just a few hundred thousand troops.

Not only Yunyang, but any territory that has ideas about Tiancheng is facing the current situation as an obstacle that cannot be avoided.

While the various territories outside were scratching their heads trying to think of a solution, Lord Tiancheng was still at ease.

This situation was exactly what he wanted. Tiancheng Territory was no longer valuable, so he could give it away easily. So he didn't even keep any troops to defend against the foreign enemies. It was like opening all the locked doors of his house and welcoming others in.

The problem is that he offered his own territory with both hands, but who dared to take it?

No one has the ability to suppress these two million people, so this piece of land is still his. Even if it is like purgatory, there are countless people scrambling to get it. If all the territories choose to give up in the end, he can continue to live his life as a lord comfortably here; on the other hand, if someone really wants to take over, he will be the first to raise his hands and surrender, the other party can't kill him, right?

At that time, he will be provided with good food and drink to show his kindness.

Lide is waiting to let territories like Zhaoxin and Shenghe wade in first to see how deep the water is. Although Tiancheng is not Yunyang's only option for external expansion because Zhaochen has been taken into his pocket, he must take it if he can. Tiancheng is to Yunyang as Yunyang is to Yunhai, a thorn that blocks the territory's external development. Especially if Yunhai or Prince Huai takes Tiancheng, it will definitely not be a good thing for Yunyang.

What's more, Lid was well aware of He Yue's obsession with Tiancheng Territory.

This obsession accompanied He Yue as he grew up, and also accompanied him through the lonely years in the brothel. Now it also accompanies him as he handles various official documents. He failed to save Tiancheng's people before, but now he has enough power, and he absolutely does not want to give up.

Lid once said that Yunyang’s top leaders tried their best to create a better territory and realize the wishes of the people of Yunyang.

And Reed is responsible for realizing their wishes.

During this period, he traveled to various places to bring in strong support for Yunyang and rescued the two brothers for Baihuang. This is what he did. Since He Yue's wish is that there will be no more cannibalism in Tiancheng, Li De will also find a way to achieve it. Of course, this is just He Yue's small goal. Once the small goal is achieved, he will consider making all living beings peaceful and tranquil.

After the affairs of Zhaoxin Territory were made public, Yunhai took action first.

Bai Feng was very decisive this time because Tiancheng was really important to Yunhai. In order to take down Tiancheng, he was willing to pay a very high price, so he adopted the strategy of "throwing a stone to test the water". Since the people in Tiancheng's territory had turned into hungry ghosts wandering in the world due to hunger, Yunhai would first feed them and let them regain their sanity.

Yunhai's army arrived at Tiancheng territory with a large amount of food and distributed it.

Li De didn't pay any attention to this matter. He knew the ending after reading the beginning. How could such a guy be moved by a little food when he could kill the family who kindly adopted him? What's more, Tiancheng has two million mouths. What can you Yunhai use to feed them and fill the hole?

The first few days were relatively peaceful, and the hungry people spread the word that Yunhai and his men were living bodhisattvas. So people from dozens of miles around came to collect food. Yunhai couldn't hold on any longer, so he used cloth strips to distribute rice and flour on the first day, and changed to porridge on the second day. In the following days, the porridge became thinner and thinner. As a result, the hungry people who arrived late rushed in, overturned the porridge shed, beat and killed the soldiers who kindly distributed food, and stole all the food from them.

Some of the people who had already eaten their fill and praised Yun Hai at the beginning watched from the sidelines, some applauded, and some mixed in with the victims, stretching out their long hands to ask for more. The scene was like countless hands like waterweeds stretching out from under the Styx, pulling those kind-hearted soldiers into a deeper abyss.

Hundreds of people died in Yunhai in this riot. When the news reached back to Yunhai, Bai Feng's face turned pale and he spat out two mouthfuls of blood.