It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"You have only one way."

The young officer looked at the people whose eyes were filled with hatred and said:

"Just go east all the way to Lord Tiancheng! No matter if he has three heads and six arms or is indestructible, you must kill him. Otherwise, we will kill you because we want to survive too!"

That's right, when they were in Zhaochen, they also tried to protect themselves in the chaos, but in the end they lost everything they had. After Yunyang took over, they were given the opportunity to make achievements, but they didn't cherish it at first. However, after coming to Tiancheng, the soldiers of Zhaochen immediately realized how rare this opportunity was - they should have become as pitiful as these people in front of them, but now they at least have their destiny in their own hands.

They still live like human beings.

The people of Tiancheng, filled with incomparable pain and despair, walked towards the Tiancheng Lord's Mansion as they were chased by the Zhaochen soldiers.

Hundreds of thousands of people walked very slowly, but they also formed a mighty force. However, this surging crowd no longer had the sharpness that they had when they attacked the armies of other territories. Instead, they were as dejected as prisoners. If it weren't for the long spears behind them stabbing at their backs, they would not even be willing to move forward.

In Yunyang's camp, Lid fiddled with the chess piece in his hand, and Fang Shisan said:

"Lord Tiancheng's deadline is approaching, but the war has just begun. After all, we are not playing a turn-based game. Other territories will soon realize our plan, especially dogs with sensitive noses like the Huaiwang Territory. They will definitely try their best to pounce on us and bite us before we succeed."

Fang Shisan stroked a specially made map with both hands and replied:

"The strategy we use is not complicated. Once other territories realize what's going on, they will definitely imitate it and drive the people from all directions to attack the Tiancheng Lord's Mansion. If nothing unexpected happens, we will end up fighting a decisive battle in the center of Tiancheng."

Lid smiled and said:

"We are definitely faster. It's too late for them to act now. But no one stipulates that whoever conquers Tiancheng will own it. Once Tiancheng is settled, it will lose its swamp properties. Then the territories of Yunhai and Huaiwang will definitely want to come and pick the peaches."

Lid held Fang Shisan's hand and pressed it on the location of Tiancheng Main City:

"So our real goal this time is not just as simple as Tiancheng... We have to make them feel the pain."

16. How to get rich together

On a land where flies were swarming and vultures were circling, a man and a woman stood side by side among countless corpses.

The woman was Shi Yuan, a high-ranking member of the Abyss Church who had dealt with Lid before. The man looked a little strange, with golden-brown stripes on his bronze skin, and his eyes lacked the gentleness that was unique to humans, instead looking like a cheetah lurking in the forest.

By the way, its name also sounds related to leopard - its name is Leopard.

At first glance, it sounds like a cute name, but its true identity is the King of the West, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Race. As for why this person is here, it is mainly due to the ability of the Abyss Church. Their people can make such a big scene in the most strictly controlled Lingwu, so it is naturally not a problem to secretly bring the demons to the human territory.

At this moment, the two were only a few hundred meters away from Zhaochen's army and Tiancheng's people. They could even look down at the pursuit going on from the slope, but neither of them had any intention of intervening.

After a moment, the King of the West, Leopard, spoke:

"It is said that we demons often have internal strife. In my opinion, you humans are no exception."

Shi Yuan's beautiful, enchanting peach blossom eyes were as still as the surface of water at this moment, and she replied with a faint smile:

"Ever since ancient times, when the old gods forced us to wage wars in the name of preaching, our greedy evil thoughts have been out of control. We also had an era when ancient sages drew a clear line between themselves and the old gods, built a national defense formation, and bid farewell to the gods. But it was too late. Look, there are still many temples in this shabby land, and many people would rather not eat or drink, but donate all their little money and faith."

Baobao was silent for a while and said:

"I understand why you brought us here, little girl. The old gods and our demons are mortal enemies, but we have gradually forgotten that; your visionary ancestors once bravely resisted the gods, but you have also gradually forgotten that. That history should not be forgotten, and we have the same anger."

Baobao looked at the people who were crying and shouting, and slowly narrowed his blue eyes:

"Now, dissatisfaction with the gods is accumulating. If one day, I sit in the position of the Demon King, I will use everything the demons have to take revenge on the old gods."

Shi Yuan said calmly:

"It's good that the King of the West has such an idea. I know that the King of the West has been keeping a low profile for hundreds of years. He just can't stand the current situation of the demons splitting up and attacking each other, and he wants to do something big. We, the Abyss Church, will also do our best to help the King of the West achieve that goal."

Baobao turned his head and looked at Shiyuan, who was a head shorter than him.

This woman is very mysterious. She dares to go to the demon tribe to meet it alone, and she has never revealed her true face until now.

She made her face look very ordinary, but her peach blossom eyes were so beautiful that even Leopard was moved.

Leopard Leopard said:

"But I heard that your church's plan to resurrect Clenus failed."

Shi Yuan's eyes finally showed some emotion. She raised her eyebrows, looked up at Bao Bao, and answered without hiding anything:

"Yes...some unexpected situations occurred, and we encountered a person who was not easy to control. Until now, that person is still conquering cities with ease, and everyone underestimates his threat. But it doesn't matter, he does his thing, and we do ours. If we have the same interests in the future, we can reach a cooperation. If the interests are different, we can compete. The King of the West will not be scared by a human male, right?"

Facing Shi Yuan's beautiful eyes, Bao Bao didn't know why he had developed a competitive mentality towards the man he had never met before. He snorted coldly and said:

"I'm just worried that your so-called help is completely meaningless. If you can really help me, I will naturally fulfill my promise."

Shi Yuan smiled and said:

"In fact, the King of the West has accumulated countless experience in keeping a low profile for a hundred years, which is why we chose you. Everything you have done is extraordinary in our eyes... As for whether we can provide enough help, the King of the West should know what kind of people are behind our cult."

Leopard nodded. He knew that the Abyss Church was helping Kungu, one of the three upper tribes. Although he had never seen the terrifying power of the Twelve Pillars of Kungu with his own eyes, he could get a glimpse of it from various rumors.

If it were just humans, there would be no need for cooperation.

But behind the Church of the Abyss is Kungu, and everything is different.

"If you want to fight against the old gods, it's not enough for us to enter the arena. You have to win over another race."

Baobao said to Shiyuan seriously:

"There are many strong but weak tribes among the six tribes. For example, there is no need to contact the elves. But the dragon tribe is still the best among the six tribes, and they also have enough ambitions."

Shi Yuan smiled and replied:

"Great minds think alike... We have contacted the dragon clan's envoys, and they are on their way."

……

At the same time, Lid was watching barrels of oil being loaded onto horse-drawn carts as they were transported from the border to Yunyang.

According to the king of the Ocean Tribe, all kinds of seabed minerals are too conspicuous and will be checked many times along the way. But oil will not be like that. As long as it is named "Devil's Blood" as before, the soldiers in charge of inspection will not even want to take a second look. Therefore, the Ocean Tribe mined a huge amount of it on the seabed and transported it to Yunyang continuously.

No one knew where these things had gone. Only in the gradually forgotten Yuxi City, the vast factories were processing and producing various ammunitions. Thick black smoke was constantly billowing from the towering chimneys, and the rumbling sound of the machinery was blocked by the sound insulation tape, but it still echoed in the factory.

After the inspection was completed, a fishman transformed into a human form stretched out his hand and said to Lid with a smile:

"Last time you gave the nobles those 'treasures from the land', and they liked them very much...Now among the ocean tribes, the majority agree to trade with humans, and I guess they will soon increase their efforts to exploit the resources you want. I heard that your territory is at war with other territories, I wonder if it will have an impact on our future trade?"

Lidd replied:

"of course."

The fishman's smile froze for a moment, but Lid continued slowly:

"The demand in Yunyang will be greater, and you can make more money."

The fishman immediately smiled brightly and said to Lid:

"Then on behalf of the Ocean Clan, I wish you good luck in fighting! I hope we can join forces in the future and make even more money!"

Reed shook its hand and said in agreement:

"Yes, we must make a lot of money this time."

17. Someone I definitely don’t want to be

As Lid expected, when Zhaochen's soldiers were driving the people of Tiancheng towards the Lord's Mansion, other territories could not replicate his success in a short period of time. There were many reasons, such as the time required for military deployment, and because these people had signed an agreement in Jufeng City and had selfish desires for the "ownership" of various cities in Tiancheng, there would inevitably be some internal friction when taking action.

Of course, the most important reason is that, apart from Yunyang, there is no other territory that can quickly break the mentality of the people of Tiancheng.

Their army may have a pretty good fighting capacity, but the fighting style they use is still within the scope of understanding of the people of Tiancheng. The people of Tiancheng are still very brave when they unite together. Maybe the armies of other territories can kill more roadblocks with minimal casualties after gathering together, but as long as both sides are still using primitive close combat to determine the winner, the people of Tiancheng can use more numbers to consume them endlessly.

Finally, the other territories reached a consensus.

After Yunyang took over Tiancheng, the negotiation meeting was reopened. If Yunyang was sensible, it would never dare to take over the entire Tiancheng. At that time, Yunyang gave up about two-thirds of the land, and the other families allowed Lide to keep one-third of the harvest. Of course, with Lide's character, it was impossible to make him spit out what he had eaten, but the other territories didn't care. They naturally couldn't take down Tiancheng, but they felt that it was easy for them to take down Yunyang.

The intergeneration and mutual restraint of all things is also a cycle.

At the same time, the people of Tiancheng gradually completed the last section of the journey and arrived at the main city of Tiancheng territory - Anning City.

There were obviously no difficulties or obstacles on this road, but they still walked a long way.

The inner contradictions kept tormenting them. The situation of being surrounded by wolves in front and tigers behind brought them great psychological pressure. Many times, they really didn't dare to be enemies with Lord Tiancheng, so they sat down to rest in a strike-like manner. But Zhaochen's army was equally ruthless. They advanced at a constant speed, and once they touched the strikers, they never spared the long swords hanging on their waists.

Some people kept throwing stones at Zhaochen's soldiers and shouted:

"You are forcing us into a dead end...you demons!"

"You are afraid to go to the Lord's Mansion by yourselves, so you let us die in front!"

"You are also human! Can you really do this—"

In Zhaochen's army, there was a teenager named Qi Chang. He was hit on the forehead by a stone. He felt dizzy at first, and then felt a warm liquid flowing down the sides of his nose. Qi Chang was only about fifteen years old this year, but perhaps because of his parents' good genes, he was much taller than the adults around him. In this situation of flying stones, he was like a living target.

Qi Chang had a good temper, and he didn't get angry even when this happened. He could fully understand the people of Tiancheng who were being driven away. The reason they were so angry was that they didn't have enough sense of security in this turbulent era.

But then again, no matter where you are, isn't a sense of security something you have to fight for yourself?

Qi Chang wiped the blood off his forehead, and a bearded uncle beside him silently handed him an old cloth strip, indicating that he should simply bandage it. Qi Chang recognized this uncle. He used to be the only "unemployed vagrant" in the village without a stable job. At that time, everyone called him lazy brother. But in fact, lazy brother was not really unemployed. He just liked gambling when he was young and lost his ancestral land, so he had to change his lifestyle. He used to work more than a dozen jobs in a row during the busy farming season in exchange for a minimum standard of food rations.

Qi Chang didn't like him because there was a severe drought in Zhaochen one year, and fewer and fewer people were willing to hire him. The lazy brother had no choice but to borrow to make ends meet. Qi Chang's mother had lent him three liters of rice, saving his life. But then Zhaochen was in turmoil, and many soldiers broke into people's houses to rob money and food. Qi Chang's mother protected the grain bag to prevent them from robbing, but a soldier stabbed her in the chest with a gun. The tip of the gun pierced her body, cut the grain bag, and the gray rice was scattered all over the ground.

Lazy Brother was also there at the time, but facing those soldiers in armor, he chose to put on a smiling face and carefully try to please them, instead of repaying the kindness with a spring of water as Qi Chang hoped, rushing forward to save people with anger. Later, the village held a simple funeral for Qi Chang's mother, and Lazy Brother did not come.

It was as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth.

Qi Chang saw him again when Zhaochen was under Yunyang's jurisdiction and Yunyang began to recruit soldiers. When the two met again, the lazy brother smiled and hugged his shoulders as before, but he broke free. There was no more communication between the two sides, but the two were unexpectedly assigned to the same team and stood very close to each other in the military formation.

Qi often looked at the people in the distance, thinking silently about their future.

One day, they will join an army, and their comrades may be people they don't like. In troubled times, people have no choice but to accept everything around them and keep living. So he took the cloth handed over by the lazy man, tied his head, and continued to hold the spear tightly in his hand and followed the crowd forward.

Qi Chang gradually felt that perhaps all this was destined.

The people of Tiancheng had no other choice, and the soldiers of Zhaochen had no choice either.

When the people of Tiancheng finally arrived at the city of Anning, they saw a city that looked like a hellish fortress amidst the smoke and fire. Suddenly, the people of Tiancheng remembered the rumors they had heard since childhood, saying that the Lord of Tiancheng was a messenger of God, sent down to punish their sins. Each of them was born with "original sin" and had to spend their entire lives atonement to avoid endless torture after death.

And now, they are rebelling against God’s messenger!

This was something they had never dared to think about. It was like forcing generations of Buddhists to tear down temples. Perhaps it was just a common act in the eyes of non-Buddhists, but it was a huge pain for them. Countless people were so scared that they knelt on the ground, kowtowed to An Ning City, and prayed that the so-called "messengers of God" would forgive their sins.

Others shouted for help, asking the lord to come out and "save them."

Zhaochen's soldiers watched coldly from the sidelines, as if they were watching a strange farce.

In the eyes of Yunyang people, Yunyang was never good enough until they met Zhaochen.

In the eyes of Zhaochen's people, Zhaochen had always been miserable, the kind that was horrible to look at, until they saw Tiancheng.

In fact, when those Tiancheng people knelt down, many Zhaochen soldiers thought of themselves, thinking of themselves who were humbly trying to survive in the chaos of war. The lazy man licked his lips unnaturally, and his hand holding the gun kept shaking.

It is difficult for a person to figure out what kind of person he wants to be.

But in the process of getting along with others, a person can easily understand what kind of person he absolutely does not want to be.

The soldiers of Zhaochen saw the shadow of their past in the people of Tiancheng: ignorance, cowardice, narrow-mindedness, and inability to distinguish right from wrong. They were unwilling to admit it, but in the future, they would subconsciously draw a line between themselves and this kind of people.

This may also be the reason why Reid asked them to come here.

A large number of people knelt down in front of An Ning City, and countless of them cried and begged the Lord to show his divine power to avenge them.

They are willing to continue to dedicate their lives to being enslaved by Lord Tiancheng.

Amidst this massive petition, there was finally some movement in Anning City—

That was a situation no one had expected.

A white flag fluttering in the wind.

18. Knife in hand, follow me

No one knew who discovered this first around Anning City, and someone shouted:

"Lord Tiancheng has surrendered—"

The people kneeling on the ground raised their heads and stared at the scene in front of them, their hearts filled with shock. In Anning City, Lord Tiancheng himself was also filled with mixed emotions. He was a ruthless man, but he didn't expect to meet someone even more ruthless. Lid actually dared to drive the people to attack the city. Wasn't he afraid of being criticized by the whole world in the future?

You know, the last regime that drove the people to serve as vanguards was the Yongyuan Dynasty before Yongtian.

The Yongyuan Dynasty has long been nailed to the pillar of shame in history.

And what on earth did Lid show to the people to surpass the deterrent power established by generations of Tiancheng lords through tyranny? Tiancheng lord couldn't figure it out, but he was very clear about one thing, that is, if Tiancheng territory was really capable of resisting foreign invasion, it would not be ranked last among the thirty-six territories. He was cruel, cold-blooded, and indulged his two sons in doing evil, but he was actually very clear-headed: he must not show up at this occasion, otherwise once the people found out that he was not as scary as the legend said, they might rush up and tear him to pieces.

You must surrender to Yunyang, immediately! Anyway, there is nothing worth reminiscing about in Tiancheng Territory. He had thought of his own retreat long ago. Being a captured lord and continuing to enjoy the good life is also a good destination. As a human being, what is dignity for the sake of survival? It is not shameful to surrender.

However, what he didn't expect was that Juanbai, the commander-in-chief of Zhaochen's army, just glanced at the city wall and ordered the troops beside him:

"Fire arrows."