High Above

The black armor advanced on the street, and the body of Martin Xuanfeng, who was burned to fly ash, had begun to settle. Both the leader of the Xuanfeng tribe and the rebel mountain people had been killed. There was no trace of anything in the entire Leian City. Individuals or forces that can resist Ian.

[Residents of Ryan City, please don’t panic, I am the new Lord of Ryan appointed by the empire, Ian]

Walking slowly, a slightly distorted but clear enough voice came from the loudspeaker: [The rebels and those who caused trouble to people's hearts have been killed. The chaos that has happened in Ryan City these days is about to end, but now, I Everyone is asked to stay at home until noon the next day, when a food convoy from Nauman City will arrive]

[Those who want to get food, have enough to eat, and live a stable life, I order you to return home immediately. After an hour, if there are still pedestrians walking randomly on the street without giving a proper reason, they will all be shot and killed as remnants of the rebellion. Please let everyone know]

There was no trace of tenderness in this voice, only cold orders and the arrogance of forcing others to obey.

Therefore, while being extremely frightened, all the residents of Ryan City were able to understand this simple order.

——Go home and wait. There is food. If you wander around, you will die.

This is the normal behavior when the Ascendants of Terra give orders.

And Ian, who had just killed the other three Ascended Ones, was obviously the strongest one.

So they obeyed.

The crowd that had gathered for Martine's speech dispersed.

But there are still some unwilling remnants in the city who still want to struggle.

In the corner of the city not far away, a group of almost crazy mountain people pushed an alchemical cannon and aimed it at the Cyclops.

They launch.

An electric arc several meters long shot out, and the high-explosive warhead flew at several times the speed of sound. But the black armor raised its hand, and layers of ice condensed in mid-air, condensing into a layer of ice more than one meter thick. Opaque ice shield.

Bang - a huge explosive fire cloud more than ten meters high spread and bloomed on the street. The boiling hot wind and water vapor formed a circle of white impact cloud visible to the naked eye in the city of Leian.

But when the clouds cleared, the Cyclops remained intact.

More than a dozen beams of light focused from a distance, turning the last batch of mountain people who dared to resist into carbon slag from burning molten iron.

After that, there were continuous beams of light shooting out, lighting up the remnants of the mountain people who escaped from Ryan City into torches.

They trembled, they begged loudly for mercy, and they wanted to resist with swords, guns and artillery - there were other first-level ascendants who intended to attack the positions of the White People's soldiers, but they did not have the second level to surpass the neural reflexes of ordinary people. With the ability to move at such a high speed, how could it be possible to escape the focused beam?

They were all wiped out.

No one can be left behind. This is what Ian said, and these young people of the White People, who are dedicated to making great achievements, faithfully fulfill the orders of the family master.

--cruel? bloody? Violence?

The black armor just moved forward silently, towards the highest point of Ryan City, the ancient castle standing on the cliff.

It slowly took off and landed on the top of the castle amidst the awe-inspiring gazes cast by all the residents of Leian City through the windows. On the other side was the golden-red gap where part of the castle had been melted away.

The giant turned around and looked down at the city.

--neither. This is just necessary killing for peace.

And not enough was killed.

Ian stared at the city indifferently. He had been here half a year ago at the invitation of Baron Ryan and had seen the beautiful scenery of Ryan Territory - the Xiahui Nursery surrounding the city, the deep mountains behind the castle. The holy lake, the blue and clear sky, and the faint fragrance of flowers filling the air. Although the whole city is a bit boring, in general the people live and work in peace and contentment. No matter how crazy Baron Ryan is, he never eats the grass on the edge of his own city.

But what now? The peaceful city has disappeared, and what appears in front of Ian is a ruins full of barricades and fortifications, a group of territorial citizens who have been paralyzed by the rebellious mountain people and the Xuanfeng tribe.

The air here is full of gunpowder smoke, and the Xia Hui grass nursery outside the city has been violently mined. To say that the entire city is semi-ruined is a euphemism. Without special means, the average lord would have to spend a year or two to restore it to its original state.

Ian doesn't have that much time. He has no time to argue with anyone and play some kind of 'democratic game' with a group of local squires and mountain people's representatives in the countryside...

Anyone who does not obey his will should go to the late emperor.

The old man killed few people and was relatively lonely. Unlike Axel, he would definitely be welcomed by a large number of people in hell if he went to hell.

"Scott, leave no rebel mountain residents behind. If the Xuanfeng tribe members run far away, we will not chase them. If we can, we will kill them all."

At this moment, Scott has led the team closer, and Ian said to him through the communication device: "As for those mountain knights, as well as all the local businessmen in Ryan City, those who can speak, those who cooperate with the Xuanfeng Department, Baron An’s old men—told them to come here and do their bidding.”

"Yes!" Scott carried out the order without hesitation - not to mention Ian, even he knew that no rebel could be left alive... Let the other party live to spread independent ideas? Do you want everyone to think that rebellion can survive?

Even if it requires a group of idiots, as a happy comparison for the future development of the territory, aren't there other mountain tribes that can be used?

The backbone of the Yamaguchi and Kenya tribes should be eliminated.

Of course, there is the most important point.

"The army only has thirty people. It's difficult to defend even if we want to. No one will look after the prisoners."

Thinking of this, Scott breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Ian's ruthless instructions: "If Ian suddenly becomes kind-hearted, I would like to advise him. If you don't kill him or talk about the future at this time, you will definitely be killed soon." There will be big trouble."

When Scott reported to Ian that everyone who could speak in Ryan City already knew Ian's order and were preparing to come to Ryan Castle to obey his orders, the young man who was still thinking in the armor raised his head slightly.

"Very good. It proves that they are not stupid. We need to kill fewer chickens to scare the monkeys."

The red electronic eye of the Cyclops squinted at the Iron People who reported: "How is the atmosphere in Ryan City? Do they welcome us? What is the tendency of the people's hearts?"

Scott thought for a while, and then replied: "The atmosphere was very bad and gloomy. Martin Xuanfeng's speech did move a lot of people. There were indeed many mixed-race mountain people in Ryan's territory, and they all believed in the Empire." People will not sincerely treat them well... Even if Martin dies, they will not be able to get rid of this idea for a while. "

"As for the welcome... it's just average. Although the people's sentiments don't seem to be in favor of us, they are still willing to obey."

"This is enough."

Ian's voice was not discouraged at all: "People's hearts are the most useful and the most useless thing."

"Whether they support me or not, they can't prevent me from winning and Martin from defeat. This is where people's hearts are useless. Even if the entire city works together, it can't defeat a piece of armor."

"The useful thing is that if I really want to rule the Ryan Territory instead of completely destroying this city, I need to win the support of the territorial people. Let them think that I can bring them stability and security, and believe in me. Ability, then they will cooperate with my work without orders, and even help me imagine some benefits that I don’t even know about myself.”

"At that time, they can help me create more armor, better armor, or even something completely new that is beyond my expectation."

Saying this, Scott heard a hint of emotion in Ian's voice: "Scott, remember this. If one day you are like Martin and encounter this kind of situation, you think you have the support of Ryan's leader. If you can achieve military victory in a certain area... you will definitely encounter defeat."

"The verbal support and the tendency in the heart are just the foggy moon in the mirror. They are all illusions. They cannot bring any benefit to the actual battle at all. They will also bring illusory hallucinations."

"Huh?"

After saying this, Scott was a little confused, and after getting Ian's permission, he asked doubtfully: "But if there is support from the local people, both supply and intelligence work can be easily carried out... ...People’s hearts are still very useful, right?”

This is what Ian appreciates about Scott. Although the other person is loyal and obeys orders, he will definitely complete the orders given by Ian, but he also has his own ideas and will boldly speak out if he has doubts.

"Yes." Ian nodded slightly, and he controlled the armored camera to focus on the entire city of Ryan: "If the gap between the people's hearts and minds between the two sides of the battle has reached the point where they will provide intelligence and supplies to one side, then the so-called 'people's hearts and minds' will have From mere 'inclination' and 'verbal support' to 'actual support', it will naturally be powerful."

"But it is absolutely impossible for one party to be good to the people to get such popular support. There must be one party oppressing the people and one party helping the people, so that this tendency can be turned into reality. It is too harsh, for today's Terra It is almost impossible for this situation to happen.”

"The problem is that even such power is not what determines the real frontal battlefield, especially for the Ascended Ones who don't care about wiping out the living forces in the target area... The purpose of what I say is to tell you that we don't We need to make these people recognize our approach more, we just need to make them feel that we can do it too."

"We can be their rulers over others."

"That's all it takes."

Ian's eyes were indifferent. He had never planned to appear as a savior and rule the Ryan Territory.

What he wants to be is a dictator who orders and prohibits what he says.

If he wants this group of people to understand the implications of his various policies and new technologies, he will have to wait seven or eight years, or wait for the next generation.

Since they don't understand, they should stop talking and listen to him.

It sounds scary.

But in fact... this is the most common noble practice in the world of Terra.

The most accepted method of governance by the people of this world.

——So changes are needed. but not now.

Quietly thinking about what to do next, Ian sat in the armored driver's seat. He closed his eyes and rubbed his brows tiredly: "At least I have killed all the qualified and qualified people in Ryan City. The guy I'm grabbing leadership of... it's a really good start."

"The next step is to clean up the uncooperative people and squires in the territory... We have to kill some to make them obedient. Otherwise, we won't be able to free up positions."

Although he probably led the team to kill more people today than in the past few years combined, he smiled instead: "The plan has been mostly successful."

The Cyclops stood on top of the castle, staring at the entire city, suppressing all restless little thoughts.

At the same time, in Leian City, those who were not sublimators, but could be regarded as important people in ordinary eyes, also gathered towards Leian Castle with full of fear and panic.

Whether it was the rebel mountain people or the Hanging Peak Tribe, they all plundered a layer of oil and water when they settled in Lian City. To be honest, it was considered the normal state of war in Terra.

If nothing else, you have to have supplies, right? Especially for this kind of chaotic war in the countryside in a small place, all parties do not have a complete logistics system, so naturally they can only use it locally.

The chambers of commerce and shopkeepers involved in alchemy, food, transportation and construction in Leian City were all named. They were all acquaintances of each other, and they were all discussing quietly with each other before actually going to Leian Castle to meet the Lord. , discuss today’s situation.

"This is obviously a big shot who has people on top. Even a small place like ours can come here with a special armor. What's the background of this?"

The speaker was the boss of the Xiaguang Chamber of Commerce, who was once responsible for the purchase and sale of raw materials for alchemy potions under Baron Ryan. He was well-informed and could see Ian's background at a glance: "There are also those soldiers, all of them are impressive. Full of fighting spirit, even if they are not from the regular army, they are still the most elite private army of our 'new lord'."

"Have you seen those beam guns? Yishui's alchemy firearms. These weapons alone, coupled with a hundred or so ordinary militiamen protecting the front row, can push back the original rebels and mountain tribesmen in the city! "

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere of everyone on the scene was a little dull. Although in today's war-torn times, it is a good thing to have a stronger lord to protect him, but who knows the character of this new lord?

Although Baron Ryan may indeed have joined a cult and done many unbelievable evil things, he is really lenient with his subordinates, has little control, and does not pay much tax. He often uses the profits from Xiahui grass cultivation to Providing welfare to the people - from now on, I am afraid that it is just using money to paralyze the crowd, but for those of them who work under the nobles, those days are really like heaven.

And this new lord...

Apart from anything else, he is very murderous!

The tone of the person who said what he said and did not allow anyone to discuss or refute could tell that the rules in the future must be very strict.

Life is going to be tough.

The people on the Chamber of Commerce gathered together and noticed that on the other side, the old guard and the Ascendants of the original Ryan leader were also approaching. The local guard captain, the tax collector and the patriarch of the big family under Baron Ryan were all there.

Obviously, they did not dare to neglect. After hearing the order, they all set off immediately to Ryan Castle, ready to listen to the instructions.

Those who noticed this could not help but nod thoughtfully.

——All the important people arrived immediately. It seemed that their new lord was really vigorous and resolute in doing things, and he had no intention of slowing down after killing people.

"What kind of person is the new lord?"

With this in mind, they all came to the castle and waited in the hall with uneasiness.

Then they heard the sound of the stairs.