When he stepped onto the deck of the Woolley, a smile appeared on Gulu's face. Because Woolley had already walked towards him quickly, and when he was still more than 20 steps away, his arms were already open...

"You little brat!" Wu Lai laughed and gave Guru a bear hug. His body suddenly froze. "Huh? How did you lose so much weight?"

"I was sick for a few days on the road, and I got better last night." Guru smiled and replied, "You know what? I don't know how to address you now, Lord? High Priest? Or..."

"Don't try to play tricks on me. Just yell whatever you want." Wu Lai let go of Guru with a smile and punched him on the shoulder.

"Well, I will call you 'King'." Guru smiled, "That is the king you mentioned, Wu Lai. In my mind, you are the only king of the continent, and no one can compete with you."

"Come on, you're trying to blow me up." Wu Lai smiled bitterly and shook his head, "According to you, the Tianjuan Empire is as good as non-existent."

Guru shook his head seriously: "It exists, but it can't compete with you after all, because even their emperor was taught by you. Don't deny this. The Assyrian Citizens Academy can't teach her as much as she does."

"It's the Assyrian Civic College, hahaha, now it's called the Assyrian Administrative University. Come on, I'll take you to the bow to see the harbor scenery. The wind these two days is particularly pleasant." Wu Lai said with a smile and took the lead.

Guru quickly followed him: "My king, I have a question for you."

"You really call me that, little bastard?" Wu Lai was stunned.

"You gave your permission just now, you are not going to deny it, are you?" Guru smiled and waved his hand, "Don't dwell on it, I have a question I have wanted to ask for a long time, in fact, I have asked similar questions before, but it seems that your answer is a little different every time, so, I want to ask it again today, but this time you have to answer me seriously, and you are not allowed to be perfunctory."

"Hey, I'm afraid the only ones who dare to talk to me like this now are you two brothers and sisters. Well, go ahead and ask." Wu Lai said with a smile.

"My question is - why are you so determined to promote this 'civilization' you mentioned?" Gulu asked. He had always been curious about this. Although he would unconditionally support Wu Lai in whatever he wanted to do, it did not mean that he did not have doubts. Back then, he was ordered by his family to contact Wu Lai with the intention of making friends with Wu Lai and gaining strong support for his family. Because in this world where the strong prey on the weak, the noble families must be able to maintain vitality in every generation, otherwise they will inevitably decline.

The current situation is quite different from what Guru had originally envisioned, because although the Kochi family and he have gained great glory, Wu Lai has abolished the nobility...

Wu Lai slowed down his pace. "Gulu, I understand why you ask this. You think that my abolition of the nobility is inappropriate after all, right? Especially after I abolished the nobility, I also held an open selection examination for government officials, right?"

Guru nodded and said, "Wulai, even if the Kochi family does not understand, they will fully support all your decisions. But your other followers may not think the same way as the Kochi family." What he said was true. Wulai had many followers, but not many of them were used by him. Now the situation in Assyria was not yet completely stable, so no one would complain for the time being. But Guru knew that many people just kept their words to themselves.

"Gulu, remember what I said about civilization?" Wu Lai stopped.

"Remember." Gulu nodded, "You said that civilization is the combination of all social and natural behaviors that have enabled humans to escape from the state of barbarism. This combination at least includes family concepts, tools, language, writing, beliefs, religious concepts, laws, city-states, and countries, etc."

"I envy your good memory." Wu Lai smiled and nodded. "The meaning of civilization is to get rid of barbarism. Slavery and the aristocracy are both symbols of barbarism. You may think that the elegance of the aristocracy and its outstanding contributions to the city-state are also civilization, but its essence is not. Take the previous continent as an example. It was the aristocracy that pushed the four territories to fight each other because they thought they were strong and needed to expand. They all wanted to dominate..."

"...I despise this kind of behavior, and I have to admit that civilization is more advanced than barbarism, but it cannot completely replace barbarism and war. The higher the level of civilization, the greater the probability of solving problems peacefully. What do we use to ensure civilization? It is the law, but what should we use to ensure the feasibility of the law? Is it the army that represents barbarism and violence? Or is it an efficient government system? Gulu, I can't make decisions for everyone. What I want to do is to make the entire continent one family, without any distinction between territories, and no distinction between Assyrians, Hurrites, Kimos, and Tianjuan people. In that case, perhaps there will be no more wars on the continent." Wu Lai sighed softly, "Even if everyone thinks that I am imposing my ideals on everyone, I don't care."

Guru was silent for a while, then smiled and said, "My king, you should know that no matter what you do, I will stand with you."

"Okay, then let's work together to make sure civilization no longer loses its meaning in the face of barbarism." Wu Lai patted Guru on the shoulder, "Let's go and see the scenery. We can talk about business later. I've been bored for many days. Let me chat with you for a while."

"Okay." Guru nodded, and frowned again. "By the way, I heard that there was a lot of commotion in Hatra in Annan. How is it going now?"

"Hatra." Woolley grinned. "I threw a natural enemy at him."

"Natural enemy?" Gulu was stunned...

…

It was late at night and the rain was pouring. Hatra stood at the window with a frown on his face, his left foot stepping on a corpse dressed in general's uniform. Behind him, more than a dozen civil and military officials were walking cautiously, not even daring to breathe.

After a long while, Hatra slowly turned around and said, "You all should not need me to remind you again, right?"

More than a dozen civil and military officials hurriedly shook their heads.

Hatra frowned and glanced at the corpse at his feet. He took out a handkerchief from his belt and gently covered his nose with it: "Someone, throw this disgusting thing out."

In response, two military attachés hurried out, one grabbed the head and the other lifted the feet, and half-lifted and half-dragged the body out of the meeting room.

"Oh, poor General Toisnan." Hatra looked at the corpse with a joking look on his face. "Everyone, although you have all seen the lesson, I still think there are some things that should be reiterated. First, the Assyrians are only worthy of being slaves of us Tianzhu people. All sympathy or friendship towards them is a blasphemy against the dignity of Tianzhu people. Second, you must focus on fighting instead of eating, drinking, having fun and plundering money. Third, in Armenia and Titania, my words are the royal decree. Have you all remembered it clearly?"

"I remember it clearly!" everyone answered loudly.

"That's good." Hatra nodded, walked to the big table and sat down. "Let's continue the meeting. We have been playing tricks on Annan for a long time. What does this prove? It proves that our tactics are correct. Next, we should promote this method of warfare more widely, involve more troops, and make the enemy suffer more severe losses. We must turn the area between Titania and Annan into a no-man's land!"

"Yes!" The civil and military officials responded loudly...

…

A few days later, in a valley a hundred miles away from Annan City, a thousand-man team of the Hatra Army was making preparations for departure. It had rained for several days in a row, and today the sun finally came out, which meant that they could go out for killing and fun again.

"Oh, this is really good. We've rested for several days and are fully refreshed. Hehehehe, I wonder which Assyrians will be in trouble again." A young soldier said to his comrade beside him while tying up the tent bag.

"Not bad? You can actually say that. This should be called wonderful." The comrade replied with a smile.

"Wonderful? Hahaha, what do you two brats know?" The bearded soldier opposite the two said as he wiped his sword, "The most wonderful thing is not the weather and rest."

"Then what do you think is the most wonderful thing?" The young soldier who was tying up the tent stopped involuntarily.

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The bearded soldier raised a grim smile. "It's to capture an Assyrian woman, tie her to a tree, strip her naked, and then enjoy her while cutting her flesh with a dagger... Tsk tsk, you two must have never done this before, so you don't know how tempting their cries, begging for mercy, and trembling bloodstained bodies are... Tsk tsk... This is called wonderful."

"That sounds a bit disgusting," said the young soldier who was tying up the tent with a smile.

"Bah, what do you know, you haven't even grown all your hair yet." The bearded soldier spat.

"By the way, we should be setting off soon. Look, the sentries on the top of the valley are gone. We should come down and gather." Another soldier said, pointing above the valley.

The bearded soldier turned around, looked up and nodded, "That should be it. I heard from the leader that there is a large village of four to five hundred people forty miles to our left. That is our target for today's attack. You two should charge with me today, and then...hahahahaha!"

"Okay." The young soldier just nodded when he heard a loud roar in his ears.

Thunder again? The young soldier was startled, and subconsciously turned his head to the right where the sound came from. Then, he saw flying dust, debris, and some broken limbs flying towards him...

What happened? As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, he was like being swept up by a hurricane, or hit hard in the chest by an invisible giant hammer, causing his body to fly backwards involuntarily. In a panic-stricken glance, he saw the bearded soldier who was still grinning just now. No, to be more precise, he only saw part of him...

There was chaos in the valley, but all the cries for help, screams and warnings were quickly drowned out by the huge sound of artillery fire—"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"...

After an unknown amount of time, the young soldier opened his eyes with great effort. Then he found that he was unable to move, and his whole body was in severe pain. He was also very thirsty.

There was a smell in the air that he couldn't describe, but he could tell it was mixed with a strong smell of blood.

We were attacked? Just as the young soldier finished thinking this, he heard chaotic footsteps. He tried hard to move his neck or something else, but he soon found that these efforts were useless.

After the footsteps stopped, a face appeared in front of him, looking down at him - the owner of the face was looking down at him, or rather, sizing him up.

The young soldier felt that the face that was looking down at him would definitely be very popular with the girls in Tianjuan Territory, because it was young, handsome, and had a bit of the perseverance that was unique to soldiers. Of course, it would be even more perfect if the faint smirk on this face could be restrained, and the corners of the mouth were not chewing grass leaves...

"Hey, little guy, what's your name?"

The young soldier was stunned for a moment before he realized that the other party seemed to be talking to him. He opened his mouth with great effort, but suddenly a blood clot appeared in his throat.

"Oh, General, this kid is going to die soon." said another voice.

"Really? What a pity." The owner of the face shrugged. "This kid has a good-looking face. I promised my new cook that I would find some fun for him. Hehe, he likes this tune. Alas, the lord's cannon is too excessive. It's only been a few shots, and there are already very few survivors."

What is he talking about? As soon as the young soldier finished thinking this, he suddenly felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, getting colder and colder...