Anti-war, peace - this is the mainstream public opinion in the two provinces of Hulett and Kimo.
Before Helen personally led the army to Kayikede to provoke a war, most of the people were keen to learn about the expansion of Tianjuan's territory. However, after Helen returned to Hurriyet Province in disgrace, their thoughts took a 180-degree turn -
Because they saw the miserable condition of the wounded soldiers...
Because among those wounded soldiers were their relatives and friends...
Because they knew that many relatives and friends remained in the Assyrian territory forever...
The most realistic problem is that the huge number of wounded soldiers has become another heavy burden on them. Whether they are willing or not, they must bear the follow-up treatment and life of these wounded soldiers, because Helen's arrangement for these wounded soldiers is simple and crude - those with a short treatment cycle and who can recover their combat effectiveness will stay, and those with a long treatment cycle and who have been disabled will receive a standard severance pay and go home.
Helen knew that such an arrangement would cause criticism and discourage many people, but she had to do it - it was true that Tianjuan was very rich after years of accumulation, but most of it had been consumed in the past few years for bribery, stability and continuous expeditions. If all the wounded soldiers were left behind, many things would come to a standstill.
If you fall behind, you will be beaten - Helen always remembered Woolley's teachings, and stagnation is equivalent to falling behind.
So Helen had to do it.
The severance pay was accompanied by a pension, but what Helen had not expected was that the money would be siphoned off by those who handled it, and by the time it reached the person concerned, it had been reduced by more than half...
No one dared to tell Helen this, because it would offend many people whom they could not afford to offend...
…
After turning around and bowing to Helen for instructions, Lawrence raised a large flag. Then, twenty soldiers were divided into four groups, carrying artillery shells and running to the four cannons. An officer dressed in the uniform of a lieutenant general quickly ran up to Lawrence.
"Yilier, His Majesty the Emperor is watching us, please don't cause any trouble for me, okay?" Laurence said in a low voice.
"No problem, uncle." Yi Lie'er replied quickly.
"Is everything ready at the target?" Laurence asked again.
"Everything is ready."
"Okay, His Majesty the Emperor orders that each of the four guns fire once, and then fire another salvo. Do you understand?"
"I heard it clearly."
"Go, and listen to my command on the flag. When I wave it, you must release the troops there and make those soldiers fully energized and motivated." Laurence ordered again.
"Okay." Yi Lier grinned and glanced secretly in the direction of Helen.
"Stop looking, or you'll lose your eyeballs. Go away quickly." Laurentsa glared at Yi Lier.
"yes."
...Helen raised her telescope because Laurence's flag had been raised.
Five steps behind the four cannons, Yi Liel drew his sword: "Aim!"
Under the push of twenty soldiers, the muzzles of four cannons were aimed at four large earthen mounds at 800 steps. Needless to say, Laurentia had put a lot of thought into these earthen mounds - each one was twenty cubits high, wide and thick, but the wall was only one cubit thin. If it was filled with water, it would be a pool. In the mounds, there were many dry firewood and pottery jars filled with kerosene. Why? To ensure the effect.
After the report of aiming completion sounded, Yiliel turned around and looked at Laurence.
Laurent exhaled, exerted force with both hands, and waved the flag fiercely, breaking through the breeze...
Hula...
"Release!" Yi Lier shouted loudly.
Four gunners pulled the trigger cord at the same time...
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”, the muzzles of the four cannons simultaneously spurted out flames several elbows long…
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" Four artillery shells hit a pile of earth respectively. Amid the roar, the four piles of earth exploded. A huge fireball suddenly rose up. Flames, black smoke, mud and firewood chips immediately covered a large area of the sky.
"Good! That's great!" Helen clenched her fist excitedly. The civil and military officials behind her were all shocked. They had never followed Helen to the battlefield. They had only heard of the power of artillery but had never seen it. Now that they saw that the power was so astonishing, they were naturally extremely shocked.
Laurencea raised the flag again, and the four cannons moved in unison, aiming at a "watchtower" 1,200 steps away. This "watchtower" with a height of 40 cubits and a width looked exactly like a real watchtower, but in fact, its solidity was almost the same as the four earthen mounds before. The stones on the outer wall were all pasted with wet mud, which was not thick enough to fill a finger, but it was pasted so skillfully and far away that it was indistinguishable from the real thing.
"Tong! Tong! Tong! Tong!"...
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”…
The "watchtower" was instantly shattered into pieces, and flames and smoke rose again...
All the civil and military officials cheered - they had forgotten about this during the last shooting, and if they didn't show any reaction this time, the Emperor would probably be furious.
Helen smiled with satisfaction.
After slowly turning around, Helen swept her eyes over the civil and military officials and said, "The Artillery Bureau is the key to the Tianjuan Empire's conquest of Assyria. I need the Artillery Bureau to produce a lot of artillery for me. Therefore, you must spare no effort to do whatever the Artillery Bureau needs. Anyone who hinders the Artillery Bureau from producing artillery will be eliminated. Do you understand?"
"We obey your order!" All the civil and military officials responded in unison, and they were all shocked. The emperor's statement seemed to mean that war was about to start again?
…
"...When there are problems or difficulties, the first thing we should think about is how to solve them, rather than suppressing public opinion and whitewashing the situation." Wu Lai looked at everyone with a serious face, and his eyes fell on De Leng, "Mayor De Leng."
"Lord." De Leng stood up quickly. Today, the Government Office was holding a work meeting for all government officials. He had just made an opening speech when Wu Lai walked in. His face looked a little unhappy and his tone was a little unpleasant, which made De Leng quite uneasy.
"Do you remember what Article 2 of the Civil Service Code says?" Wu Lai asked.
De Leng nodded quickly: "I remember, Lord."
"Then say it out loud," said Wu Lai.
"Yes." De Leng straightened his chest and said loudly, "Article 2 of the Code of Conduct for Government Officials states that we must maintain close contact with the public, listen to their opinions, accept their supervision, and strive to serve them."
"What about the third one?" Wu Lai asked again.
"We must establish the concept of public servants, care about the people, get down to the reality, think what the people think, do what the people hope for, and listen carefully to the opinions, suggestions and criticisms of the people." After De Leng answered, he was stunned and thought to himself, could it be that one of his idiots caused trouble?
"Mayor Deleng, please take a seat." Wu Lai nodded and said, "Everyone, what Mayor Deleng just recited is what everyone must strictly abide by. Why am I an uninvited guest today? It's because I heard some bad words when I passed by Yizhang Street..."
Sweat suddenly broke out on De Leng's forehead because he knew what Wu Lai wanted to say.
Wu Lai glanced at De Leng and said, "It was I who proposed that the government run entities. The purpose was twofold. One was to reduce the government's reliance on taxation, and the other was to promote job rotation so that our government staff could have more opportunities to exercise their management abilities. However, the entities are now run in a distorted way. They pursue quantity, squeeze the market operated by the people, and even use government functions to pave the way for entities! What kind of government-run street are we going to build? Is this reasonable?!"
"Pa" - Wu Lai's right palm slammed heavily on the table...
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At nightfall, De Leng walked into Wu Lai's cabin with a guilty look on his face: "Lord, I was wrong. I failed to live up to your expectations."
Wu Lai smiled and said, "Everyone makes mistakes when doing business. We should correct them if we make mistakes. The most important thing is that it doesn't matter if you let me down, but you must not let down the people. Without the support of the people, no matter how big our business is or how much money we make, it will still be useless. Hurry up and return the shop on Yizhang Street, and don't forget to apologize."
"Yes." De Leng nodded quickly...
…
"You're here again." Hatra raised his head.
"Yeah, time flies, and the three days are up." Wu Lai sat down on the chair in front of the bed, "How have you considered it?"
"I want to talk to you," Hatra said.
"What to talk about?" Wu Lai smiled.
"Just chatting, like my current situation." A smile also appeared on Hatra's face.
"I'm all ears." Wu Lai took out a pack of cigarettes from his arms, "Would you like one?"
"No." Hartla waved his hand, causing the chain to rattle.
"Let's get started." Wu Lai lit a cigarette.
"I guess you won't be willing to kill me, even if I don't agree to anything you say." said Hatra.
"Oh? Can I understand this sentence as your temptation?" Wu Lai asked.
"That's your freedom." Hartla moved his body, trying to get as far away from Wu Lai as possible, because he found the smoke very pungent.
"Go on." Wu Lai leaned back and rested comfortably on the chair.
"You may imprison me for life, because although I am a useless person, I still have some influence on Tianjuan... If you keep me, Tianjuan will be afraid to act rashly." Hatra said.
"Maybe..." Wu Lai did not comment.
"You are rare in the world. If it weren't for you, Assyria would have perished long ago. It's not shameful to fall into your hands." Hatra looked at Wu Lai, "I guess that I must have been regarded as a thorn in your side for a long time because I occupied Titania and Menia."
"That's about right." Wu Lai nodded, "But if I want, I can pull you out anytime. Do you believe me?"
Hatra looked at Wulai for a while and nodded: "You are not attacking because you are not strong enough, but because you are concerned about the lives of the civilians, right?"
Wu Lai laughed: "You have a very rich imagination."
"Don't deny it. At least in the Tianjuan Empire, Helen and Ye Renwu know you very well." Hatra said.
"Okay, I admit that I am concerned about the lives of civilians, but so what? If the situation comes to the point where I have to make a decision, I won't mind anything," said Wu Lai.
Hatra smiled and nodded: "Look, you have a compassionate heart. This compassion is your biggest obstacle. Of course, if you were not compassionate, Armenia and Titania would be in chaos now."
"I promise, they can't cause any more trouble," said Woolley.
"Why are you so sure?" Hatra frowned. Although he was captured here, he had already given orders to his generals at the beginning of Helen's withdrawal. Once he was trapped in the enemy camp, each unit had the right to abandon the city and fight on their own, without limit on time or place, to disrupt Assyria with all their strength.
"Because the one who is in charge of Titania now is Night Blade Dance." Wu Lai slowly exhaled a wisp of green smoke, "and my messenger had just set out before I came in. He will go to Titania and give my letter to Night Blade Dance. After reading the letter, Night Blade Dance will abandon Titania and then return to my side..."
"Back?" Hatra's pupils suddenly shrank, "She and you..."
"Oh, this is a matter between Ye Renwu and I, you have no right to know." Wu Lai smiled and put out his cigarette. "Of course, for me, I would rather see you withdraw your troops under your instructions, Hatra, it's not difficult to do this, you just need to write a letter, do you still need to hesitate?"
"No, I won't write." A sneer appeared on Hatra's lips. "You want to play tricks again, but I won't be fooled by you. Let Titania and Menia be in chaos. Anyway, the chaos is in Assyria."
"Really? You overestimate yourself, Hatra." Wu Lai stood up slowly. "Since you are so stubborn, well, I can only announce with regret that you will never see your wife, Emperor Helen, again."
"I don't care." Hatra closed his eyes.
"Well, although you make me very unhappy, I still decided to give you limited privileges, such as letting you walk out of this door and stretch your legs. But I have to tell you that this is entirely because your wife, Emperor Helen, once had a relationship with me... Oh, no, let's not talk about it." Wu Lai laughed and left Hartla with an angry look on his face...