It doesn't matter what the lord is.

He was afraid that when he really faced the corpses all over the ground, his courage would collapse irreparably.

28. Not even qualified to be a chess piece

After much hesitation, Old Man Hualong decided to follow Fang Shisan to Anning City to check out the situation.

Anyway, it won't take long, and Yunyang has always been very cunning. If all this is a scam, then it would be so embarrassing to go home like this.

Old Man Hualong was unwilling to admit that Yunyang really had the ability to kill hundreds of thousands of people with a snap of his fingers, but the facts were unchangeable. When he saw the still burning An Ning City, Old Man Hualong felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained.

That sigh carried with it a kind of despair of having to face the abyss.

"As Miss Thirteen said... Yunhai has always been based on business. War is a waste of money and labor, and it is not what we want to see. Since Miss Thirteen is willing to lend us the twenty cities in the southern part of Tiancheng, I will accept it on behalf of the Lord and the Prince. For the follow-up matters, we will send an envoy to Lingyun City in person to negotiate with Lord Yunyang."

Fang Shisan still closed his eyes and said with a faint smile:

"Then I'll trouble you, senior."

Old Man Hualong glanced at the charred corpse on the ground and asked in a hoarse voice:

"Miss Thirteen, you can't see it. Right now, An Ning City is ablaze, the city walls are pitch black, and outside the city there are wreckage everywhere. As the saying goes, weapons are ominous tools, and they should only be used when necessary. Miss Thirteen, don't you think that what you did was a little... too violent?"

Fang Shisan said softly:

"As the old man said, maybe it's because I can't see. I can't see how painful it is for the enemies who died in the war, but I can realize how many lives I have saved through my daily interactions with them. Precisely because I can't see, I have always been much more ruthless than others in using troops, and I don't mind what others think of me."

Old man Hualong smiled, stood up and said goodbye.

He was naturally unwilling to leave like this. Before leaving, he ordered some of Yunhai's soldiers to stay in this chaotic battlefield to find a way to investigate the reasons for the defeat of the coalition forces. Fang Shisan seemed to focus his main energy on chasing the fleeing coalition forces, and did not allocate enough manpower to drive away Yunhai's soldiers. In the end, the soldiers sent back an investigation report, saying that many traces of magic residue were found in the soil, and it was suspected that Anning City was bombed by a super-ancient large-scale magic.

This result also seems to be the most reasonable explanation.

Lid probably reached some kind of agreement with the tenth-level magician, and she calmed the situation down. Only in this way could she explain the incredible scene before her eyes. However, while comforting herself, the old man Hualong could not help but have some doubts: Can a tenth-level magician really destroy an elite force of more than 100,000 people with a snap of a finger? Why did Skadi help Yunyang to this extent? Or was this devastating blow not actually caused by Skadi, but was similar to the unknown lethal weapons that Yunyang used when he attacked Yunhai...

Old Man Hualong returned to the sea of ​​clouds in confusion.

Compared to him who had witnessed the burning Anning City with his own eyes, the lords and nobles in high positions behind the coalition forces were truly confused.

When the news reached the Huaiwang Territory, the Huaiwang Lord, who was drinking tea, froze all over, and the precious ice-cracked teacup in his hand fell directly to the ground and shattered into countless fragments. Everyone present, including the Huaiwang Prince Kaiya and the top nobles in the Huaiwang Territory, all stood up. No one spoke, leaving only endless silence.

The entire reception hall was eerily quiet; no one even cleaned up the broken pieces of teacup on the floor.

"The whole army was wiped out...? Are you sure you're not kidding?"

Lord Huai looked at the soldier covered in blood, kneeling on the ground to report the news, and said this after a long time.

The soldier's eyes were dull and his voice was low as he recounted his experience in full. When he mentioned the explosion, he was incoherent for a while and could only describe the scene he saw in a sporadic manner:

"Suddenly, there was a loud noise from the city. Before we could see what happened, cracks appeared in the army's protection. Then there was fire. There was fire everywhere, and everywhere was red, as if it was going to roast us! The smoke went straight up, and the sound was as loud as thunder in the sky exploding near us. The broken soil under our feet was like quicksand, which could sink both feet... When we escaped, we found that there were dead bodies with incomplete limbs everywhere. None of the brothers who entered the city came back... As we fled, Yunyang's people chased us, and their people were everywhere..."

Lord Huai seemed to have caught some flaw in his words and asked hurriedly:

"If that's the case, then how did you manage to get back here? This is a complete contradiction. Come, take him out for a thorough investigation—"

Before he finished speaking, Lord Huai Wang saw the soldier looking at him with despair, and he suddenly came to his senses and stopped talking for a while. Whether the soldier's words were true or false would soon be known. If the coalition forces were really destroyed, Yunyang would soon deploy defenses on the Tiancheng border and then accumulate strength to attack the next territory. If the survivor did not make up stories, there was only one possibility: he was deliberately released by Yunyang.

It's like a provocation.

If someone kills you, I will tell you the whole process; not only will I kill you, I will also destroy your heart.

Lord Huai could even imagine Lid sitting with his legs crossed and saying to him with a smile:

"Yes, I was the one who killed them. All the troops you worked so hard to raise, both the infantry and the cavalry, are gone. But what can you do to me?"

Lid, who sent a businessman to deliver messages for two consecutive meetings, would definitely say such hurtful words.

Prince Kaiya of Huai said nothing the entire time, but just clenched his fists silently, not daring to believe every word he heard.

He always felt that he was the chess player who was constantly calculating behind the scenes. No matter how fast Li De grew, he was only qualified to compete with him. This time, he planned two Huai Wang meetings, wanting to grab most of Tiancheng's interests without any effort. In his eyes, the only opponent was Yunhai in the south. He always looked down at Li De and Yunyang, thinking that Li De just made a few right moves by luck. Did he feel superior by bullying the weak?

It was not until today that he realized something very cruel.

He schemed against Lide in the capital, in Chaobeixing, and during the Yunyang Civil War. But Lide never seemed to launch any counterattack against him, so Kaiya always regarded him as an insignificant chess piece on the chessboard of the world, to be manipulated by others. It was not until this moment that Kaiya realized that he was the same in his eyes.

To Reed, Kaia had never been much of a chess player.

He is not even qualified to be a chess piece.

29. Do you want to try it?

Yunyang Lingyun City.

When the news of victory at the front line spread back to Yunyang, it naturally led to another carnival.

Starting a war before the Lunar New Year is actually a very risky move. If you win, it will be a happy family situation, but if you lose, you will face many subsequent problems. For many people, the New Year is an important annual festival that they have been looking forward to for a long time. If bad news comes at this time, their trust in the territory's top leaders will drop rapidly, panic will spread, the territory's protection will weaken, and it will be more difficult to resist foreign invasion.

In fact, when people learned that Yunyang was using foreign troops, they were anxiously waiting for the result. Now that the war was won, they were able to vent their previously suppressed emotions, and the night in Lingyun City almost became a carnival party for all the people.

Neither Li De nor He Yue chose to ban this fanatical sentiment.

But Yunyang's top management will not be overly disturbed by such emotions and remain calm. Winning the battle is good for everyone, and the expansion of territory also means more opportunities are waiting for them, but it is obviously not enough... Yunyang has only taken the first step in the eastward expedition, and everything is going according to plan. There is still a long way to go in the future. The good news is that this year's year-end bonus is expected to be quite a lot, and everyone can go back to have a good year.

In a secret room in Lingyun City, He Yue once again saw the face he once hated to the core - the second son of Lord Tiancheng, Wen Cai.

The Lord of Tiancheng died in the war in Tiancheng, and was killed by the people on the spot. So He Yue had no chance to see the man who sold himself to the brothel again, but he didn't care about this. It was his decision to attack Tiancheng, and Yunyang's ability to attack Tiancheng was inseparable from his assistance. This revenge can be regarded as his personal revenge.

On the night when he learned that Lord Tiancheng had died, He Yue sat silently in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, wiping his red eyes with the back of his white hands several times. He thought of his playmates who were sold to the Lord's Mansion when he was a child, and the chaos in Tiancheng that he had seen from a child's perspective. The skinny victims who looked like humans appeared in his mind, and everyone's facial features were still clear, and everyone's shouts seemed to linger in his ears.

Li De often says that you cannot save the people of the world. Isn't He Yue aware of this?

But she had seen too many cruel and cruel things in the world, and too many tragic scenes in the world. When she suddenly heard the news that Lord Tiancheng was strangled to death by an ordinary citizen, she no longer felt much joy of revenge. She just felt sorry for those who died because of Lord Tiancheng.

Death is a very magical thing. When you are far away from the dead, no matter how many people die, they are just a number. But if you see with your own eyes a crying child struggling helplessly when being picked up by a gun, an old man with wrinkles on his face squatting in the corner crunching on bitter grass roots, a woman with disheveled hair smiling foolishly and crying, a paralyzed man lying on the road with his mouth and eyes crooked and no one paying attention to him, then death becomes a cruel and close thing.

Anyone who has witnessed purgatory would naturally want to save all the people in the world.

He Yue went through that purgatory, experienced the warmth and coldness of the world in the brothel, and then looked back at his past self and those he failed to save. The always strong Minister of Internal Affairs couldn't help but shed tears in the lonely night. What he didn't know was that Li De sat quietly on the roof that day, accompanying him through the difficult night, but did not break the tranquility that belonged to He Yue.

When He Yue saw Wen Cai, the first thing he said was:

"You deserve to die. You and your brother both deserve to go to hell."

Wencai looked at Heyue with confusion in his eyes:

"Is it because my father sold you to a brothel? But I think what my father did was nothing. It was you who said that you wanted to lock me and my brother up for questioning. My father must have been on our side."

He Yue's hands began to tremble, and her voice slowly turned cold:

"Wencai, when you and your brother treat human lives as commodities and continue to consume them, aren't you afraid that the ghosts of those who died unjustly will come to claim your lives?"

Wencai still just scratched his head:

"I'm not afraid. My father said that they are just slaves. What's wrong with slaves sacrificing their lives for their masters? Even they themselves think so. If it weren't for Lid... If it weren't for Lid asking people to drive those slaves here, I would still be getting along well with them. And as you said, those people have such a hard life, wouldn't it be better for them to die?"

He Yue's aura rose instantly.

She had no martial arts skills, but at this moment, the look she gave Wencai was as if she wanted to eat him alive.

Wencai was also frightened by Heyue's reaction. He shrank his neck and said helplessly:

"How about this, we treated you badly before, but you also indirectly killed my father, so we're even, okay?"

He Yue let out a breath, then laughed and said to Wen Cai:

"I can get even with you, but what can you use to get even with the people in that land who have lived like no human beings for hundreds of years? They died, died in a place where no one remembered, in excruciating pain but could only cry quietly alone. Do you know what it feels like to chew a grass stem thousands of times? Do you know how many people have no money to buy medicine and can only rub their swollen joints over and over again? I was still young that year, and I could always hear wheezing sounds in the middle of the night. Later I learned that it was the child next door who ate soap clay. His stomach grew like a ball, his whole body ached but he couldn't die, and he could only get weaker day by day. Such scenes appeared in every household in Tiancheng."

He Yue looked at Wen Cai and said softly:

"…Doesn't your heart ache?"

Wencai was silent for a while and replied:

"To be honest, I feel uncomfortable listening to your description. But, but, if it were me again, I wouldn't do anything. Tiancheng only has so much food. If they are full, what should I eat?"

He Yue smiled and said:

"Yeah, you never think about anyone other than yourself."

Wencai waved his hand:

"It's not like that. I still think about my brother and my dad. For example, when my dad died, I cried for a long time."

He Yue said nothing more.

She just closed her eyes, thought for a long time, and said to Wencai:

"Finally, do you have any wishes? In Yunyang, we will give good treatment to those who are about to leave, so that they can have a full meal or fulfill some of their smaller wishes."

Wencai said with shining eyes:

"Leave, are you going to let me go back?"

He Yue just smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Wencai glanced at Heyue and asked in a low voice:

"Actually, I've always been curious, are you a man or a woman? When you first came to the Lord's Mansion, I thought you were the most beautiful girl in the world, but then I heard that you were a man, and I was immediately bored. Until I saw Lid in the sea of ​​clouds last time, I thought a man could actually be fine..."

He Yue smiled and replied:

"Then you can start to regret it."

Wen Cai smacked his lips and said regretfully:

"Indeed, looking at your appearance, you have delicate skin and tender flesh... ahem, um, when can I leave?"

He Yue stood up, pushed the chair back to its original place, opened the door and left while saying:

"It will be soon, don't worry."

The door closed again.

He Yue stood quietly in front of the door. After a moment, his shoulders twitched slightly and his eyes felt a little sore again.

Tiancheng fell, but for some reason she did not feel happy from it. It was not the emptiness of revenge, but a kind of bitterness, or even helplessness and disappointment.

At this moment, He Yue suddenly seemed to sense something and turned around quietly.

Reed leaned against the wall next to the door without saying a word.

Seeing He Yue looking at him, he stood up and walked forward, greeting He Yue:

"Yo. What's wrong with you? You look so sad."

He Yue exhaled and said with a smile:

"Really? Maybe someone has started slacking off recently and it's made me a little tired."

Reed stopped trying to get to the bottom of the matter, perhaps he already had the answer in his heart from the beginning.

He just walked up to He Yue, rubbed her head, and asked:

"I heard that there is a powerful girl in Yunyang who likes to dress up as a man. Is it true? I don't believe it."

He Yue's heart trembled suddenly.

When she raised her head, she met Reed's deep eyes. At that moment, He Yue seemed to feel something in her heart and smiled unconsciously. All her melancholy was melted in those smiling peach blossom eyes.

She took a step forward, tilted her head, and asked naturally:

"Why, do you want to try it?"

30. Increase your efforts

For Yunyang, this was an ordinary night.

Alayya slept alone in the cold bed, while Felita studied ancient magic under candlelight. Shiloh lay on the roof looking at the moon and the stars, while Liushi clanged and knocked on the iron in the basement. Baihuang read a romance novel with great interest, while Yunye staggered through the garden after drinking half a pot of wine. Lid showed his hardworking side, staying in the soundproofed interior hall with Heyue to work all night.

At dawn, He Yue and Li De came out of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and seemed to be still talking about the political affairs they had discussed last night.

The people in the Lord's Mansion also turned a blind eye to this scene, thinking that only Lord He Yue could cure the Lord who was addicted to slacking off and could take him to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to work properly. But when they saw He Yue and Li De walking side by side, the people in the Lord's Mansion still vaguely felt that the two of them were a little different than usual, but they couldn't tell what had changed, and could only assume that they had an illusion.

Li De and He Yue walked to the garden, and He Yue said with a smile:

"Today I plan to meet with Filin to talk about what he saw and heard in Zhaochen. Perhaps it will help us fill in the gaps in our policies for governing Tiancheng."

Lid nodded:

"You talk first. Afterwards, I will probably call a meeting of all the staff in the Lord's Mansion to discuss future plans."

He Yue put his hands in his long sleeves and replied:

"it is good."