It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"What do you think, brother? Can you think of a way to fuck him?"

The gunner looked at Lid with a look of surprise, his body stiffened, and he answered in a loud voice:

"All is up to the Lord's orders!"

Lid loosened his arm from around his neck, pointed to the flag on the city wall, and said to him and the others present:

"Fire the cannons in a moment. The first cannon will knock down the flags. The second cannon will be fired at crowded areas to break their morale. The third cannon will be fired at the city gates. Don't worry about whether it can be knocked down or not, as long as it can make wood and rocks fly everywhere and scare them. If there are any unexpected situations later, don't be afraid and concentrate on attacking the city. Can you do it?"

The soldiers stood at attention and said in unison:

"can!"

Lid clapped his hands and said with a smile:

"Okay. I heard that there have been a lot of strange things about Tiancheng Territory recently, and they have also been circulated in the army. But I believe in you, so I can stay at the front line without worry. And what about you? You should believe in your superiors and the artillery in your hands. All demons and monsters must bow their heads in front of you. The truth is always within the range of the artillery."

Lid casually patted a soldier on the shoulder and said:

"I'm right here, watching you fire the first shot of Yunyang's external conquest. Do you have confidence?"

The soldiers raised their heads again and answered in a loud voice:

"Have!"

Reed nodded and walked away alone.

This is the westernmost city of Tiancheng - Anju City. Although it has an auspicious name, it has nothing to do with "living in peace". On the contrary, the people here live in poverty and have a natural hatred for Yunyang: they are all the same kind with one nose and two eyes, but just because of a visible and tangible border, one end is heaven and the other end is hell. So they often think about how to drag the people of Yunyang into the water and how to snatch Yunyang's wealth.

At first, they were pitiful, because they didn't want to become like this. When the food they worked so hard to grow was snatched away, when the children they raised carefully were taken away, when they had to tighten their belts and risk their lives to fight for a bite of moldy bread, they would naturally lose all their enthusiasm for work and start to move towards the direction of bad people.

Killing people and setting fires will earn you a gold belt, while building bridges and paving roads will leave no corpses. Is it this world that has forced them to become evil people, or is it that all the goodness has been lost in the chaos of war? Everything is the result of natural selection.

But on the other hand, when Yunyang opened the border and wanted to help them out of their misery, they also committed sins with the mentality of "If I don't live well, others won't live well either." These people are indeed pitiful, but there must be something hateful about pitiful people, and Lide will not have any mercy on them.

Whether they are innocent or not is something that God should judge. Lid’s mission is to send them to see God!

The people in Anju City walked up to the city wall and looked at the army gathering outside with dead eyes. They were no different from the walking dead, showing no fear at all, because they had friction with the soldiers of the previous Yunyang Lord. At that time, the leader was still the general of the Yunyang Eastern Army, Kalpas. That man led the army to station on the border between Yunyang and Tiancheng. The people of Tiancheng were very hungry, so they went to rob the army of food. Those who were unlucky died, and those who robbed had a full meal and continued to survive. They were already used to this process.

But this time seemed different from before. Yunyang’s army was just stationed far away and did not attack.

The people of Tiancheng don’t know why either.

But they still stood on the top of the city, looking at the troops and thinking about how to bite off a piece of meat from them.

They are not afraid of death, and those who are not afraid of death are often the most difficult to deal with. Especially when many people who are not afraid of death gather together, they will become a completely uncontrollable chaotic force. As the saying goes, the barefoot are not afraid of the ones wearing shoes. This is the secret of Huang Yan's powerful rebel army. However, compared with these idle forces, Huang Yan's well-trained troops are even more terrifying.

Lid looked at the people of Anju City, looked at those eyes filled with viciousness, and smiled.

People can suppress their fear of death, but they cannot completely eliminate this fear. They rely on hatred and blood to cover their vision and continue to commit sins to strengthen their courage, but these are only temporary appearances.

And now, Yunyang’s army will help them remember the feeling of being helplessly stepped into the abyss in the face of absolute power.

In ways that are completely beyond their comprehension.

"Ready. Release—"

Torches lit the fuses, hundreds of cannons roared in unison, and the black shells instantly blew up everything on the city wall. Flags were broken, blood was spilled, and dust covered the sky. The "defenders" on Anju City could not understand what was happening at all, and there were already large-scale casualties. This round of volleys almost directly destroyed half of the city wall.

The survivors crawled out of the dust, holding all kinds of looted weapons and looking down at the city, but found that the spears and lances in their hands were completely useless. Yunyang's soldiers were still several hundred meters away, not to mention their close combat weapons, even bows and arrows could hardly shoot that far.

If it is a close combat, they can entangle the opponent in groups, gaining courage from the battle.

At least they could fight with the idea of ​​"even if they die, they will bite off a piece of flesh from the other side", and this crazy fighting style could easily suppress those inexperienced troops. But now they were facing a completely different situation, the other side did not move at all, and their side had already fallen. This was not a hearty close combat, but a cruel crushing.

There are many fears in the world that transcend death, and the most direct one is the fear of the unknown.

The Tiancheng people had never seen a cannon, and most of them were unfamiliar with the concept of magic. When faced with weapons beyond their understanding, the fear in their hearts was finally reawakened.

"Reload. Ready, fire again—"

Another round of volleys of gunfire, the gate of Anju City was shaking constantly and could collapse at any time.

But before it collapsed, the gate suddenly opened inward, and countless people poured out of the city.

They rushed towards Yunyang's army like passing locusts or swarms of termites.

This was perhaps a desperate charge for them, the last hope in despair. As long as they could get close to Yunyang's army, they could use their best fighting style, their skinny arms, and their tattered weapons to kill, plunder, and fall into a new abyss.

However, this time they failed to reach the Yunyang army.

A thick wall of ice rose from the ground, blocking their way forward; rumbling thunder added countless new casualties.

Lid exhaled and said to Fang Shisan beside him:

"Don't tell He Yue about this."

14. Who is the real devil?

How to save Tiancheng?

This question that He Yue has thought about many times seems very simple to Lid.

The people of Tiancheng are like a group of bad kids. They are not born bad, but most of them gradually go astray because of "family pressure". They bully weaker peers, vent their pain and get happiness by bullying others, and even gradually develop a habit.

For such people, Li De could accept giving them a chance to reform first. So he allowed He Yue to give them a "sermon", that is, to bring them to Yunyang and tell them that there are still many beautiful things in the world and not to be blinded by the hatred of the past.

As a result, the people of Tiancheng said, “I won’t. Not only will I not obey the discipline, I will also launch a sneak attack on you, my old comrade.”

Reed didn't mind, OK, then I'll make you understand through my fists.

It is said that all living beings suffer, but the most miserable is Tiancheng. But what does it matter to him whether the people of Tiancheng suffer or not? If the people of Tiancheng unite today to overthrow the Tiancheng lord, Lide will definitely support it with both hands, but what will be the result? The 300,000 people in Tianyue Mountain are dying. Although the people of Tiancheng have the courage to draw their swords, they draw their swords against the weaker ones. How innocent are those who died because of them?

Master He, this is not the way to save people.

"For example, if a person is shot by a poisonous arrow, the poison will form a sore, and then spread throughout the body, even his life will be in danger. At this time, there is no medicine to cure it. The only way to slowly remove the poison from his body is to use a sharp knife to cut out the sore. This process will make him feel extremely painful, but only in this way can the tissues that have not yet completely died be saved."

This is what Reed once said to He Yue, and of course the faster the process is, the better.

Therefore, Lid not only transferred the newest firearms battalion, but also blatantly transferred many magicians from under Skadi's nose. The output of these magicians was average, and their realm was obviously different from that of Fileta, but they were trained to chant a magic together, and rely on teamwork to have a decisive impact on the battlefield.

The large-scale lightning strikes filled the air with a burnt smell. At this time, a burst of shouting and killing came from the north of Anju City, and an army that looked somewhat simple rushed over with swords brandished.

It was obvious from their movements that this was an army that had just been formed. Although they had been trained, their muscle memory was clearly not enough to support them in charging like a real army. Even the sound of their running was chaotic.

But this army has two advantages:

First, there are many people.

Second, when they saw the confused people of Tiancheng, greed flashed in their eyes.

This is enough.

The leader of this army is naturally the current Zhaochen army commander Juanbai. As always, he rushed to the front with a spear in hand, mercilessly piercing all the guys in front of him. The soldiers recruited from Zhaochen also knew that only by earning enough military merits could they support their relatives who were waiting hard at home, so their fearlessness of death was no less than that of the people of Tiancheng.

This winter is destined to be uneasy, and many people are destined not to survive.

Someone has to die to ensure that others can live, so why not let my enemies be buried here so that I and the people I love can live well?

There was limited food, limited housing, limited cold-weather facilities... If you wanted something, you had to risk your life to fight for it. This was the same for Zhaochen and Tiancheng. Therefore, the army formed by Zhaochen was actually the same as the original Wangdong Camp. They were all warriors who were not afraid of death. Others might be afraid of the hungry ghosts of the people of Tiancheng, but they were not.

Because they, too, had lived turbulent lives.

Because they also did everything they could to survive!

Lid silently watched the scene of raising a Gu in front of him, without any ripples in his eyes, and even smiled and helped Fang Shisan to massage his shoulders. First, use unknown firearms to remotely suppress the defenders of Anju City, then use magicians to block their way, and finally let the newly recruited Zhaochen army do the final finishing. Lid's goal was not to kill these people, but to drive them to escape to the depths of Zhaochen.

The reason why the victims of natural disasters are difficult to deal with is that their humanity has become increasingly weak, and they have become like wild beasts.

But in Lid's view, human nature is not a burden to mankind. Losing their humanity may make them look extremely ferocious, but the disadvantages will soon become apparent.

All wild animals have the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm.

And when the number reaches a certain level, it will form an avalanche-like situation.

"My Lord, my General."

Even though he was nominally on the same level as Fang Shisan, Juanbai still showed no disrespect when he saw Fang Shisan. Instead, he lowered his head and asked seriously:

"Anju City has been controlled, but there are still tens of thousands of people in the city who have not had time to escape. How should we deal with them?"

Fang Shisan turned her head to listen to Lid's thoughts, but Lid just patted her shoulder, indicating that she could handle the matter. Fang Shisan hesitated for a moment, clasped her hands tightly together, and replied calmly:

"Since we want to drive the tiger to devour the wolf, we must show enough toughness... There is no need to keep those people."

Selaginella exhaled and replied:

"I understand. Leave this matter to me."

Fang Shisan leaned back in her wheelchair and said no more, as if the words she had just spoken had exhausted all her strength.

Li De pressed the acupuncture points on Fang Shisan's forehead to relieve her stress as much as possible, thinking that Fang Shisan was indeed different from Huang Yan. If Huang Yan was here, she would handle it more calmly. But Li De would not compare which one was better, Fang Shisan or Huang Yan, because the two had different past lives, and Fang Shisan was more humane in life.

Noticing Lid's concern, Fang Shisan smiled and said gently:

"I'm fine...I've done similar things before anyway. I'm not a kind person."

That year, she led her troops to attack Yuxi City, and also left the bodies of the soldiers who died in Yuxi City under the sun to dry, in order to force the remaining people in Yuxi City to go out of the city for a decisive battle.

Lid gently touched her head and said:

"Well, hard work."

Soon, cries were heard one after another in Anju City, followed by the wailing of thousands of ghosts.

Dark clouds covered the sky and the cold wind made people feel chilled.

The people of Tiancheng who were fleeing eastwards heard the crying and could not help but look back, their eyes full of fear. But the soldiers of Zhaochen did not give up chasing them, after all, they had rare military merits. The two sides kept running, and Zhaochen's soldiers drove the people of Tiancheng to run non-stop. Of course, they would pass by some cities during the process. The people of Tiancheng fled into the city to hide, and the army of Yunyang immediately went to the scene and slowly began a desperate siege.

What beasts fear is not love and influence, but more powerful beasts.

Tiancheng is indeed a swamp. Once you get stuck in it, it is very difficult to get out because there are countless hungry zombies wandering around.

But Reed is not a pushover either.

15. Drive the tiger to devour the wolf

Yunyang's army remained behind while Zhaochen's army continued to attack.

In Lid's eyes, wherever there is war, there will be casualties. The trolley problem involved has always been a philosophical thought that has troubled mankind. Lid once told He Yue a point of view. He said that for the law, procedural justice is more important than outcome justice; and for war, outcome justice is higher than procedural justice.

Because it has risen to the level of war, only the winners are qualified to write history and sit down to discuss which side of the war is just. For a territory, the most important thing is to achieve the desired result at the smallest possible cost.

Zhaochen's army followed the victims of Tiancheng, but kept a certain distance from them most of the time. They gave them hope, and then made them despair, so as to constantly break their minds. If there were people familiar with Tiancheng here, they would soon find that this cat-and-mouse game had an end -

Because Zhaochen's army had been driving them towards the main city of Tiancheng.

To the people of Tiancheng, it seemed like the devil's territory, which gave them an innate fear. So they changed their escape routes several times, but Zhaochen's army would soon realize this and immediately send people to encircle them. In the end, only a few people were able to escape, and the vast majority were forced to flee to the main city of Tiancheng as Lid wanted.

This is also part of Lid's plan.

Why would the people of Tiancheng rather kill each other than rebel against the Tiancheng lord?

Why is Huang Yan unwilling to interfere in Tiancheng’s affairs and unwilling to organize the people here to join the rebel army?

Why did those extremely hungry people launch an attack on the foreign army and spontaneously become the defenders of the Tiancheng territory?

The answer is simple, because after hundreds of years of slavery, the people of Tiancheng have developed a deep-rooted fear of the Tiancheng regime. Even Huang Yan felt that there was no need to save these people. If a person has lost the courage to resist, what else can you expect him to do? You can only let him fend for himself.

But Reed thought there was another way.

That is to let the people of Tiancheng chop off the family that has enslaved them for hundreds of years with their own hands, and perhaps they can find back the courage lost in the long river of history. Of course, if they don't have this courage, Lid doesn't mind rushing to the Tiancheng Lord's Mansion, holding the Tiancheng Lord hostage to control the people, and in disguise control the entire Tiancheng territory.

All things are difficult at the beginning. It is so difficult to get the people of Tiancheng to attack the Lord of Tiancheng. After thinking it over, Li De felt that there was only one way to do it, which was to make himself more brutal and more terrifying than the Lord of Tiancheng in the minds of the people. So he drew out the elite troops of Yunyang to quickly break the mentality of the people of Tiancheng, and then drove them to the place where the Lord of Tiancheng was like driving sheep.

The people of Tiancheng naturally dare not resist the notorious Tiancheng Lord, but Zhaochen's army will not be polite to them. As long as they deviate from the expected route, Zhaochen's army will immediately take action without hesitation. It is already the limit for these people to restrain themselves from killing people at will, so don't expect them to have any extra mercy.

Finally, the people of Tiancheng saw the purpose of Zhaochen’s army, knelt on the ground with horrified faces, and said in a trembling voice:

"Master Bing, please be kind. We dare not become an enemy of that master no matter what..."

"Yes, according to legend, that man has three heads, six arms, an indestructible body, and a whip that can shatter a person's soul. He is a messenger sent by God to enslave us..."

"If you let us go, we will repay you by working like slaves..."

A junior officer of the Zhaochen Army listened carefully to what they said, then he held the hilt of his sword with one hand and said in a deep voice:

"I'll let you go..."

The people of Tiancheng who were kneeling on the ground were immediately delighted, but the officer's expression turned cold and he continued:

"Who will let me go?"

The people of Tiancheng knew that this road was blocked, so they immediately got up from the ground and rushed towards the officer. But the latter was obviously prepared. After he drew his sword and killed several people, the soldiers behind him also rushed up and blocked the way. The two sides once again opened up some distance. The young officer looked at the disheveled people of Tiancheng and silently told himself in his heart that he must not become like this, and must not return to the time when his life and property were in the hands of others.