496: Chapter 476 Purge the Internal Areas and Clean Up the Surroundings

When Zhang Mu rushed from the royal capital to the Ninth Legion's station on the eastern border and abruptly appeared before the Ninth Legion Commander, the commander nearly thought he was being attacked by an enemy High-tier Professional.

It wasn't his fault for subconsciously imagining Zhang Mu as an enemy.

The Ninth Legion Commander had never met Zhang Mu since joining the army; he had always followed the great legions in their southern and northern campaigns. After being promoted to Legion Commander, he was assigned by Domit to handle various military affairs in the Eastern Border, missing the military parade—the only opportunity for close contact.

Naturally, he was also unaware of the elusive nature of Zhang Mu's Shadow Technique.

Furthermore, the Ninth Legion Commander had recently utilized a Grand Duke and another Saint-level to deal a heavy blow to the harassment from High-tier Professionals of various Kingdoms outside the eastern border.

They had suffered heavy losses and had long since held a grudge against him, claiming they would soon send a Saint-level squad to take the Ninth Legion Commander's head.

Staying in his tent, a person suddenly appeared with a scrutinizing gaze, as if calculating how to dismember him. It was inevitable for the Ninth Legion Commander to associate him with the Saint-levels dispatched by the various Kingdoms—Zhang Mu was simply curious as to why the Ninth Legion Commander's style was so different from the other Legion Commanders.

In the end, the misunderstanding was not cleared up by Zhang Mu revealing his identity.

Zhang Mu rarely appeared before Lake's Soldiers or Legion Commanders, so the people were not familiar enough with him. Domit, worried that his subordinates might offend the Marshal, had described Zhang Mu's appearance, speech, and behavioral characteristics to everyone in detail.

The Ninth Legion Commander glanced at Zhang Mu's hands behind his back and his clothes, which were vastly different in style from the various Kingdoms on the continent, and asked tentatively, "Lord Marshal?"

"Oh? You shouldn't have seen me before, right?"

"Greetings, Lord Marshal." The Ninth Legion Commander quickly walked around the side of the wooden desk to the front of Zhang Mu, knelt on one knee in salute, and then explained, "Lord Domit described your... image."

"In that case, Domit must have also mentioned that I don't much care for empty formalities?"

"Yes."

"Then what are you standing there for? Get up."

Happily sitting behind the Ninth Legion Commander's desk, Zhang Mu asked if he knew the purpose of his visit. The Ninth Legion Commander shook his head, indicating he did not.

Zhang Mu smiled and said, "I heard you are cold-blooded in your military discipline. Is that true?"

The Ninth Legion Commander lowered his head slightly. "Lord Marshal, my cold-bloodedness is only for the enemy."

"Hahaha—interesting." Zhang Mu stopped laughing and studied his expression. "I have a job for you. I'm not forcing you to take it, but if you do, you must do it well for me."

The Ninth Legion Commander seemed a bit unable to understand the meaning of "job," and only after a moment of thought did he realize it referred to work. "Lord Marshal, please give your orders. This subordinate will do his utmost to complete it."

"Don't be so quick to agree. First, listen to what the job is." Zhang Mu sat up straight, his expression becoming solemn. "I plan to purge a batch of the Kingdom's nobles. Um... the very thorough kind.

Probably... in the end, not a single noble will be left."

The Ninth Legion Commander's pupils constricted. "Not a single one left?"

"Correct, regardless of whether the noble themselves is good or bad."

Zhang Mu knew that for the vast majority of the noble class, hanging them a hundred times wouldn't be enough. However, there were always outliers in The World—individual kind-hearted nobles who treated their subjects with mercy and truly never violated the Kingdom's laws. This was an understandable phenomenon.

However, Zhang Mu also knew that a class does not lose its natural exploitative nature because of the good deeds of an individual.

Unfortunately, Zhang Mu didn't have the leisure to explain this to the Ninth Legion Commander, and he didn't care if others considered him brutal or bloodthirsty. He wanted someone who could carry out his will; otherwise, that last bit of clarification wouldn't have been necessary.

The Ninth Legion Commander truly lived up to being the candidate recommended by Avril.

Sensing Zhang Mu's determination from his phrasing, he didn't ask another question. "Lord Marshal, please describe the task process in detail."

The corners of Zhang Mu's mouth curled into a satisfied arc. "Simple.

Before coming to the Eastern Border, I already issued a government decree to investigate whether the nobles have committed crimes in secret that violate the Kingdom's laws. You were a Farmer before you joined the army; you should know very well whether nobles break the law."

The Ninth Legion Commander said, "There are no nobles who do not violate the Kingdom's laws. It's just... gathering evidence of their crimes takes time."

"No need for such trouble; I don't have time to mess around slowly." Zhang Mu crossed his legs, lacking any image of a superior, and said coldly, "When you arrive in a city, the way to investigate nobles is very concise: find a local commoner and ask them.

Ask if the nobles in the city have broken the law. As long as they nod, that's a witness. A witness is enough."

The Ninth Legion Commander looked enlightened, then said, "If we do this, within three months at most, the Kingdom's nobles will inevitably band together and rebel."

"That they rebel is exactly what I want." Zhang Mu put his leg down and stared at him, asking, "Assuming all the nobles of Lake launch a collective rebellion, how many Soldiers would you need to suppress it?"

The Ninth Legion Commander grasped Zhang Mu's plan, his voice trembling slightly. "If the Lord Marshal gives me five Special Operations Squads, the Ninth Legion alone can annihilate all the rebels within our borders."

"Five? You've got them."

Zhang Mu stood up and activated his Shadow Technique. As his body became illusory, he said, "I'm very busy, so I'm leaving now.

Remember, time is tight. Raid the homes of the Lake nobles as quickly as possible. Afterward, we still have to deal with the neighboring Kingdoms; they are very annoying."

"As you command, Lord Marshal."

The Lake nobles had their own family forces, which included many High-tier Professionals. Their strength was decent—after all, they had climbed to where they were through fighting—but compared to the army Professionals who had been tempered by long-term warfare, their courage was still quite lacking.

Considering that the Raghu front was about to advance, Zhang Mu decided not to draw Special Operations Squads from Domit's hands. Instead, he entered "The World" and mobilized five recruit squads to hand over to the Ninth Legion Commander.

Analyzing solely from the perspectives of Firearm Magic Circles and sniper rifle proficiency, the combat power of the recruit squads was not much weaker than Damu and the others, but their actual combat experience was indeed lacking.

If their first battle were on a battlefield without veterans to look after them, the number of casualties would certainly exceed normal figures. However, there was no need for such concerns when dealing with disorganized family Professionals.

The five recruit squads were personally delivered to the Ninth Legion's station by Zhang Mu an hour later.

Once all personnel arrived, the Ninth Legion Commander immediately assembled his Soldiers. After handing over military duties to the Tenth Legion Commander, he led his troops out.

The Marshal's order was to leave not a single noble behind. Since every city in Lake had nobles, the Ninth Legion Commander saved time searching for their locations and headed directly to the city closest to the border.

He ordered his Soldiers to blockade the four gates of the city. On the surface, he only led ten low-tier Professional Guards, but in reality, under the secret protection of the Special Operations Squads, he rode his horse through the city gates in a grand manner.

The nobles received the news shortly before he reached the city gates.

Initially, they weren't very nervous. After Lake occupied the Coalition cities, they hadn't treated the nobles within the cities brutally, and they maintained smiling faces when interacting with commoners. They seemed very reasonable.

They were unclear about the Ninth Legion Commander's purpose. Having no results from their guesses, they simply brought heavy gifts to his door to test the waters.

The Ninth Legion Commander warmly accepted the gifts. Upon hearing this, the nobles were relieved; the acceptance of gifts meant they weren't the target, and they could continue enjoying their lives.

The nobles smiled again, unaware that as soon as they left, the Ninth Legion Commander ordered his adjutant to record the gifts in a ledger titled—Rebellious Nobles' Property Statistics Ledger.

Afterward, the Ninth Legion Commander walked out of his tent and wandered around the city, quickly finding the slums.

As a former member of the lower class, the Ninth Legion Commander understood this social stratum very well. For people living in the slums, even if the nobles had never bullied them, if you asked if they hated the nobles, the answer would still be yes.

When they were shivering in the corners during winter and a noble's carriage with a lit heater drove past them, it was enough to make them remember it for a lifetime.

Unsurprisingly, the Ninth Legion Commander, disguised as a commoner, found several "peers" in an alley. After questioning them and getting satisfactory answers, he called over the Guards hidden around a distant corner and brought the bewildered people back to the temporary camp to serve as witnesses.

The Ninth Legion Commander had entered the city late at night and didn't want to disturb the normal rest of the citizens. It wasn't until the next morning that he arrived at the gate of a noble's estate with the witnesses.

He ordered his adjutant to read out the crimes—which were just the curses of a few commoners.

Then, with a wave of his hand, he ordered the Soldiers to charge in.

Resistance was inevitable. Standing with his back to the gate, the Ninth Legion Commander first heard several angry shouts from inside, questioning why the Soldiers were intruding into a private residence, followed by the sound of the Soldiers' gunfire.

Presumably, the Professionals kept by the noble were casting magic, as violent explosions echoed. The invisible Special Operations Squad beside the Ninth Legion Commander jumped onto the top of the courtyard wall, raised their sniper rifles, and pulled the triggers repeatedly. Everything fell into silence.

The Ninth Legion Commander turned around. The Soldiers split into two teams: one team searched the noble's treasury, while the other moved out the corpses and cleaned the pools of blood on the ground—the estate was also noble property to be sold and confiscated, and poor hygiene would affect the sale price.

Following this example, the Ninth Legion Commander cleared out the large and small nobles in the city before the army set out for the next city.

As the nobles in various cities of the Eastern Border were exterminated one after another, the nobles in Lake's original territory received the news.

They weren't worried that they would suffer the same fate, thinking that the royal family was settling in and beginning to purge the remnants of the Coalition. Thus, they very excitedly rushed to the royal capital to find Avril, stating they could help handle the matter—in plain terms, they wanted to join in and share the spoils.

Avril told them with a smile to go home and wait quietly.

In the end, they didn't wait for Avril's government decree, but rather for the Ninth Legion Soldiers who kicked down their doors like wolves and tigers.

The nobles finally came to their senses: the royal family's target wasn't the Eastern Border nobles, but all Lake nobles!

Although they deeply understood how terrifying Lake's military power was at this time, the royal family clearly didn't intend to leave them a way out. Since they were dead either way, it was better to risk everything.

The surviving nobles banded together, concentrated their family Professionals, and tried to break through the blockade of Lake's second-tier legions to flee to neighboring countries.

Unfortunately, the Ninth Legion Commander had long anticipated their plan. He not only dispersed all the drones of his own legion but also urgently mobilized a large number of drones from various cities, making the monitoring range cover almost the entire territory of Lake.

This group of nobles soon discovered that no matter where they went, the Lake pursuers seemed to have all become Saint-levels with superhuman perception, accurately locking onto their hidden positions.

With a completely unequal mobilization of resources, their struggle lasted less than half a month before their voices were completely extinguished.