() Liao Qiu's question was more direct: "When will the troops be dispatched?" ”

Tianhao raised his head, looking at the sky firmly covered by dense clouds, feeling the chill touching his skin, and his black eyes rippled with calming purity: "Almost, just these days." ”

……

The territory of the pig tribe, the fierce tooth department, and the cottage.

Three thousand soldiers attacked a village of 2,000 inhabitants, and the outcome of the battle was undoubted.

Pig people can fight well, and the pig people in Heshanzhai are no exception. From village leaders to ordinary civilians, they swore that they had never seen such a powerful Niu army in their lives.

The offensive pace is uniform, and the head-numbing spear array is impeccable, dense like a moving forest. They were well-armed, covered with heavy armor, and even the head protection area exceeded 90 percent, and there was not a single gap except for the eyes and nostrils.

The terrible thickness of the shield made all the pig archers despair. Everyone knows that the ox people are good at smelting and blacksmithing, but they never thought they had so much steel. Even the most lethal triangular arrows still couldn't penetrate the heavy shields that the Ox warriors were marching in a row. This shield is tall and hard, with an arc-shaped surface. The pig archers did not know the mathematics, and they did not understand the reason that inclined protection is stronger than vertical protection. They stood on the towers and walls, let out a fierce and insolent roar, and pulled the longbow in their hands to the extreme, only to see the flying arrows hit the shield wall, either bounce off the spot or glide away against the semicircular arch, leaving at most a small shallow pit or scratch on the surface of the shield, unable to pose a threat to the advancing attack array.

The heavy bumping wood easily broke through the gate of the wall, and the bull warriors in helmet and armor poured in like a tide. It wasn't until they faced each other in hand-to-hand combat that the pig people of Heshanzhai were stunned to find that the opponent holding the butcher's knife blade was exactly the same as themselves, and they were all the same clan with bulging fangs.

"It can't be!"

"Who are you?"

"Stop, our own people, we are all pigs!"

The world is so large that there is little information exchange between the northern barbarian villages and cities. Except for the caravans and the caravans that were transported to the clan city every year to pay the grain tax, there was little contact with each other. The people of Heshanzhai have heard that Fangs City was captured by the Niu Clan, and they have also heard that the Crazy Fang Department was annexed, but those things are too far away from them, and although the habitual thinking regards the Niu people as opponents, they subconsciously do not think that the captured compatriots will become enemies.

They paid for it.

The Heavenly Maniac who led the attack captured the village leader. Although the man lost his right arm in the battle, he was still bloody, gritting his teeth and insisting on covering the escape of the old and young and the woman. It's just bad luck that the search force found out from the pile of dead people, and the villagers who fled didn't make it far, and were blocked by the stragglers who roamed the outer line, and many of them were captured.

The soldiers are absolutely elite, and Heshanzhai can pick out less than a hundred warriors equal to its combat power at most.

The way the Celestial Maniac deals with the problem is simple and brutal, and it has never changed. He grabbed the long hair of the leader of the severed arm with his left hand, and held the dagger in his right hand, and let out a heart-palpitating sinister smile: "Surrender honestly, this is your best choice." ”

The village leader, who had lost an arm, had lost so much blood that he turned pale. His eyes were full of hatred: "You killed my son, and he died...... He's dead! ”

His tone was flat at first, but he tried his best to utter the last few words.

Tian Mad scratched his itchy scalp with the hilt of the knife, frowned and asked, "If your son is still alive, you will surrender?" ”

This is a very complex and difficult to choose.

Although there are only two answers.

The dying leader of the severed arm had red eyes, shook his head with grief and indignation, and roared: "It's impossible, he...... He's dead. ”

"Then you're talking so much bullshit!"

The Heavenly Madness stabbed out suddenly, and the tip of the knife pierced deep into the heart of the leader of the severed arm. Seeing him slowly fall down with angry eyes, Tian scolded and pulled out his knife: "If you want to die, say it early, it's a waste of Lao Tzu's time." ”

……

A mountain col more than 20 kilometers north of Heshanzhai has become a temporary garrison for the army of Panshi City.

It is a well-located basin, surrounded by mountains and with several exits. Tianhao ordered observation posts to be set up on the surrounding hills, and mobile and dark posts were set up on the outer hillsides. Any stranger who tried to approach was blocked on the perimeter of the mountain beam, and if they could not make the pre-agreed code, the guards immediately killed them without mercy.

This is the first time for Rock City. The total number of soldiers and auxiliaries was as high as 80,000. In addition to the 20,000 reserve troops, Tianhao only left 3,000 soldiers, and the rest of the forces were sent out, with this temporary garrison as the core, to attack all the walled cities of the Lieya Department except for the clan city.

In the face of a large-scale army, the chances of holding a small village are very low.

Curved Tooth and Broken Tooth each led 6,000 soldiers, plus 18,000 elites who had already captured the surrounding villages, and attacked the other two cities under the jurisdiction of the Fierce Tooth Division.

The small number of pigs means that there are fewer urban dwellers, and the average population of each city is about 11,000, with the largest one not exceeding 13,000.

Heshanzhai is located in a remote area, and when Tianmad led his team to escort the pig-people prisoners of war to the mountain pass, the Curved Tooth and Broken Tooth had already completed the task, and a large number of prisoners from the villages of the Crazy Tooth Department were gathered here, with a total of more than 40,000.

The top of the huge tent was made of wood and lined with thick cotton cloth, and the women sewed the hides together with needles and threads to form the outer layer of the tent. Although it was freezing outside, it was warm inside the tent where the charcoal fire was burned. The guards took out pieces of dried meat from the grain bags and threw them into the cauldron, and the melted snow quickly boiled and slowly changed in the direction of the broth.

Tianmad took a piece of dry noodle cake from Tianhao's hand, pinched the edge of the cake that was harder than a stone with his hand, and began to bake it on the red charcoal fire, and the air gradually filled the air with a strong aroma of wheat noodles after heating.

"It's damn cold!" Tianmad gently kneaded his earlobe with his left hand, and that part was almost frozen, feeling numb, as if it did not belong to a part of his body: "More than twenty people froze to death on the way here, all of them are old people and children, I really can't help it." ”

Tianhao obviously didn't care about this: "How many people have you lost?" ”

"Sixteen dead, twenty-two wounded." Tianmad is now particularly sensitive to numbers, thanks to the fact that for two consecutive years, Tianhao sent someone to watch him memorize the ninety-nine multiplication table, and even used the cruel means of starvation to force him to learn the mixed operation of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

In terms of learning, except for the scholars who really have the talent of self-awakening consciousness, they are actually forced out.

Saying that, Tianmad suddenly became interested, he crossed his legs and moved his position in the direction of Tianhao, and shouted: "Third brother, the quality of the armor they built this time is very good, and those stupid big ones can't be cut with an axe." ”

Tianhao smiled slightly, did not speak, his dark black eyes revealed a touch of transcendence of the times, only he himself knew the calmness of enlightenment.

Ox craftsmen have a high degree of forging skills, and they can make excellent quality chrome alloy steel plates, but they do not know that these steel plates are heated at high temperatures, quenched in oil or water, and hardened. The steel plate treated by this procedure is hard and brittle, and needs to be tempered for several hours in a furnace at 400 to 650 degrees Celsius before the product has a homogeneous microstructure with suitable toughness and rigidity.

This is the homogeneous steel of the civilized era. This steel is very malleable, can prevent external forces from causing cracks in the armor to extend, and the surface hardness exceeds that of ordinary steel, which can withstand the impact of high-speed arrows.

The tomahawks made by the Pig people are huge in size and full of weight, but the quality is very average, and it can even be said to be shoddy. The steel plate improved by Tianhao is far more difficult than it in terms of hardness and tension, especially the armor, which is difficult to destroy with the power generated by human impact, slashing, and direct stabbing, and the wearer's survival probability on the battlefield is naturally doubled.

The only downside is production. Homogeneous steel was very demanding in terms of manufacturing process, and despite the concentration of all the skilled blacksmiths in Rock City, it was still possible to muster enough 8,000 sets of armor (6,000 for the Ox and 2,000 for the Pigs) before the war. Considering the close cooperative relationship with Mishui City, as well as the idea of the King of Thunderhorn, Tianhao divided the armor into three parts, and each of the three armies took one of them.

There are 80,000 in Rock City, 100,000 in Thunderhorn City, and almost 80,000 in Mishui City. With such a large army, a few thousand sets of armor are certainly not enough. But warfare in the age of cold weapons has its characteristics, and the fighters who rush to kill in the first row must have the best equipment. Although the armies of the three cities each attacked different goals, they were all attacks, and it was almost impossible to encounter a confrontation in the open area, so that the number of equipment of the front-line soldiers could be ensured, and as long as the first charge was undefeated and the overwhelming attack advantage was maintained, there was basically no suspense in the outcome of the battle, and the casualty rate was also very low.

The hot bread softened slightly, and the madness gestured to the guard standing on the side, who thoughtfully stepped forward and brought him a bowl of soup from the pot. Tian Madness broke off a piece of bread and soaked it in the soup, watching the dry food absorb the soup, then he picked it up with his short and thick fingers, stuffed it directly into his mouth, and inhaled the hot air in his mouth.

"Third child, the one you got is extremely powerful." Tian Madness licked his thumb and cocked his finger high at Tian Hao, who was sitting opposite: "If it weren't for that thing, we wouldn't have so many new armors." ”

The energy generated by the flow of the river not only drove the mill, but also connected the new forge. The principle of mechanical reciprocating motion is very simple, at least in Tianhao's opinion, there is no technical difficulty. A complete set of homogeneous steel body armor is mostly done in the forge. In particular, the armor of the chest, arms, legs, front and lower abdomen, and back buttocks can be stamped and molded. The assembly line works very quickly, and the joint between the armor joint and the soft connection is handed over to the blacksmith shop to deal with, and the efficiency is naturally doubled.

"If we keep playing like this, we'll win easily." Tian Mad chewed on the food, and there was a light in his black eyes: "At least it won't be a problem to take off the fierce teeth." ”

"By the way, how are you going to clean up those captured pig people?" Swallowing the cake in his mouth, pausing slightly, he asked seriously: "Third child, do you really want to feed them?" We don't have much food. Besides, when we capture the royal city of the Pig Clan, it will not be easy to feed hundreds of thousands of captives at that time. ”

Tianhao patted Tianhao's shoulder kindly: "I'm here to save them, of course I have to be kind to them." ”

Save?

This word drilled into his ears, like a cold claw strangling Tianmad's neck, causing the nerves to contract suddenly, he was choked and breathless, his face was red, and he hurriedly grabbed the bowl on the ground in front of him, and poured a large mouthful of hot soup in a panic, washed away the dough that was stuck in the esophagus, his breath was smooth, and his hand stroked his chest up and down several times, and then he looked at Tianhao with palpitations, and made an extremely strange tone.

“…… Third, do you call this kind of thing salvation? ”

This is clearly war, robbery, and plundering of population.

"Salvation, of course." Tianhao responded with a faint smile: "Everything in the world has its reasons. What do people live for? Except for a very small number of people with extreme thinking, most of them are for a better life. We've come into contact with a lot of pigs, black-toothed, crooked-toothed, broken-toothed, and red-nosed whales...... If they hadn't come with us and stayed in their villages and cities, would their lives have been the way they are now? ”

The heavenly madness does not deny this: "This is. They didn't even have enough to eat at that time, and maybe they would have starved to death by now. ”

Tianhao smiled and picked up the dagger that was placed in front of him as a meat cut, and stared intently at the sharp blade: "Holding a knife and axe means that you have the intention to kill." Whether it is chopping off an opponent's head or digging out his heart, it is a dirty trick in the final analysis. Because of the blood, water can wash away the red, but it can't completely eliminate the blood. But if I don't kill them, I'll be the one who dies, and I'll have to pull all the people in Rock City. ”

Tianmad broke off a thumb-sized piece from the edge of the hard dough, and didn't stuff it into his mouth, but just pinched it in his hand and rolled it slowly, as if it were a toy. He pondered: "You have said something similar before, war and murder are only a means, not an end in itself. ”

Tianhao clapped his palms and exclaimed with satisfaction: "You have figured it out." This is not really some esoteric secret, but just a transformation of logical concepts. Second brother, you are now qualified to be a city lord, not just a commander with an army to kill. ”

A celestial madness is a person who is susceptible to external influences that lead to mood changes. He was excited, satisfied and excited by Tianhao's two or three words, but as the initial excitement in his mind gradually receded, he suddenly felt as if something was not quite right.

"Third child, you just talked about saving ...... But the people who refused to surrender are dead! ”

"It's the difference between being in different positions and seeing the same thing." Tianhao had a charming smile on his face: "They are role models, using their heads to warn others, and at the same time save their souls." ”