130: Chapter 130 Kill Without Mercy

“My Lord, shall we attack the city now?” Wulu’s eyes flickered with bloodthirsty light.

“No,” Gao Feng shook his head. “Why use a butcher’s knife to slaughter a chicken?”

He walked to the foot of the city wall, facing the garrison guards who were stunned by the events outside, and shouted loudly: “Listen, defenders on the wall! The demonic woman who colluded with the evil cult and harmed the common people has been executed by me! Yunzhong Prefect Zhang Chengye, who aided the evildoers, closed the gates for self-preservation, and refused to save those in danger, is guilty of treason!”

“I am the new Martial Arts Champion of the Great Qian Dynasty, here under the Emperor’s order to eliminate rebels! Open the city gates immediately and join me in clearing the Emperor’s side and slaying the national traitors! If you resist, you will be killed without mercy!”

He held high the pure gold token representing his status as the Martial Arts Champion. It shimmered in the sunlight, so bright it was blinding!

A dead silence fell over the city wall. All the guards looked at each other, at a loss. Martial Arts Champion? What... what is going on here?!

Just as they hesitated, Gao Feng moved.

The ground beneath his feet exploded, and he shot into the sky like a cannonball!

In the horrified gaze of everyone, he leaped over ten zhang high relying solely on his Physical Body, and kicked hard against the massive city gate, which was cast from refined iron and half a foot thick!

“BOOM—RUMBLE—!!!!” An unprecedented, deafening sound!

That sturdy city gate, capable of withstanding the charge of thousands of troops, was shattered into pieces by his seemingly effortless kick!

Iron shavings and wooden splinters flew everywhere!

Gao Feng’s figure, bathed in dust, slowly walked in through the huge hole.

Behind him were tens of thousands of refugees whose eyes had changed from numbness to fanaticism!

“KILL—!!” The mountain-shaking, ocean-roaring shouts of battle echoed through the sky!

Upon seeing this scene, which was like a god or demon descending to the world, the psychological defenses of the garrison inside the city completely collapsed. They threw down their weapons, knelt on the ground, and trembled in fear.

Gao Feng ignored them. He took Big Fool and Wulu straight to the Prefect’s Office in the city center, and no one dared to block his path along the way.

When Yunzhong Prefect Zhang Chengye, whose body had long been hollowed out by wine and lust, was startled awake from a beauty’s belly, Gao Feng’s blade was already at his throat.

“You... you can’t kill me! I... I am an official of the Imperial Court!” Zhang Chengye was so scared he was wetting himself, speaking incoherently.

There was not a ripple of emotion in Gao Feng’s eyes. He simply, in front of all the Yunzhong City commoners who had rushed to the scene, swung his blade and severed his fat head.

Then, he opened the government’s granary, which had been piled high with grain while they let the common people starve to death, and distributed all the food to the hungry people inside and outside the city.

That day, the entire Yunzhong City was empty of people as everyone gathered. All the commoners who received relief spontaneously knelt on both sides of the street, kowtowing desperately to the figure who brought them new life and hope.

“Great and just official!”

“Long live the Champion!”

The hearts of the people were completely won over at this moment.

In the deepest part of the dark and damp Prefect’s prison, Gao Feng finally met the other unexpected gain of his trip.

It was a young scholar wearing prison clothes, covered in scars, yet still standing tall with eyes as clear as the stars.

He was Gu Changfeng, the Yunzhong City Registrar, who had been thrown into death row by the enraged Zhang Chengye for daring to speak the truth and advising the Prefect to open the granaries to feed the people.

“You are Gu Changfeng?” Gao Feng looked at him and asked calmly.

Gu Changfeng raised his head, looking at the man before him who, despite being filled with Evil Qi, had eyes that were incredibly clear. There was no fear in his eyes, but rather a hint of scrutiny and curiosity. “Yes, that is I. May I ask, Your Excellency, which hero are you?”

Gao Feng smiled. He did not answer but instead asked: “I killed the Prefect and opened the government granary. Do you think I am a hero, or... a rebellious traitor?”

Gu Changfeng also smiled upon hearing this, his smile full of the unique free-spirited and uninhibited nature of a scholar. “To kill those who deserve to be killed, and to save the people who should be saved. This is the mark of a great hero; how can you be called a rebellious traitor?”

“Well said, a great hero indeed!” An unprecedented look of appreciation exploded in Gao Feng’s eyes! He stepped forward personally and severed the shackles on Gu Changfeng’s body with one strike of his blade.

“Mr. Gu, although you are a scholar, I see that you possess the talent to govern the world. Is it not a pity to be trapped in this small Yunzhong City?”

“Now, the world is about to descend into chaos, and the Imperial Court is corrupt. Only a hero can stabilize the Universe.”

“I, Gao Feng, wish to create a world of equality and no oppression for all the people of the world in this bitter, cold northern border! I wonder, sir, are you willing to lend me a hand?”

Gu Changfeng looked at the man before him, filled with endless domineering Aura and grand strategy, and looked at the firm conviction in his eyes that could change the very heavens and earth. His heart, which had long been completely disappointed with this corrupt Dynasty, was reignited at this moment!

He tidied his tattered prison clothes and then bowed deeply to Gao Feng, his posture as standard as if he were meeting a monarch.

“My Lord!”

“Changfeng is willing to plan for your eternal foundation!”

This bow from Gu Changfeng was one of sincere submission and stirring passion. It was as if he could already see a brand-new era rising in the hands of this man.

Gao Feng personally helped him up, looking at the young strategist before him, who, despite being in rags, had eyes flashing with endless wisdom, and felt a surge of heroic spirit in his heart.

Tigers have claws and teeth; Dragons have reverse scales. Now, he, this hidden dragon of the northern border about to take flight, finally possessed his own “reverse scale” — someone capable of governing the world and devising strategies!

However, just as Gao Feng was preparing to reorganize Yunzhong City, gather available talent and resources, and then continue north to return to Panshi Stockade, a huge “trouble” he had not expected came rolling towards him like a snowball, at an incredible speed.

At first, it was just the tens of thousands of commoners inside the city whom he had pulled back from the brink of starvation and death, spontaneously gathering outside the City Defense Office, kneeling and kowtowing day and night, begging this “great and just official” to stay and continue to protect them.

Immediately after, Gao Feng’s benevolent acts in Yunzhong City— “killing the Prefect, opening the granaries, and distributing land to everyone”—spread like wildfire across the entire Yunzhou land.

For the refugees who had long been plunged into boundless despair under famine, war, and harsh government, this news was no less than a ray of dawn cutting through the long night!

Panshi Stockade! That legendary paradise located in the northern border! That earthly utopia where everyone could eat their fill, wear warm clothes, have land to farm, and have houses to live in!

All of this was no longer a vague, ethereal legend, but a living, breathing reality happening right before their eyes!

For a time, refugees from the entire Yunzhou, and even several surrounding prefectures, went crazy, dragging their families and helping the old and young, pouring frantically from all directions toward Yunzhong City, this newly born “Holy Land of Hope”!

Within just over ten days, the refugees gathered outside Yunzhong City surged from the initial tens of thousands to nearly two hundred thousand!

The dense crowd, like a boundless black ocean, surrounded the entire Yunzhong City, leaving no gaps.

Those faces filled with hope and pleading, those heartfelt shouts of “Champion, living Bodhisattva,” converged into a majestic public opinion capable of shaking the heavens and earth, and also became an incredibly heavy, sweet burden pressing on Gao Feng’s shoulders.

Inside the meeting hall of the City Defense Office, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

The newly appointed Military Advisor and General, Gu Changfeng, and the Left Chancellor of the Political Affairs Hall, Xu Changqing, who had rushed over from the northern border to take charge of the overall situation, both looked at the latest statistics on the number of refugees outside the city just presented by the scouts, their expressions so grave that water could almost drip from them.

“My Lord,” Xu Changqing’s feather fan stopped waving for the first time. His voice carried an unprecedented harshness. “Two hundred thousand... this is already beyond the limit we can bear. The grain stored in the Yunzhong City treasury, even adding what we brought from the northern border, can at most support these two hundred thousand people for less than ten days.”

“After ten days, once the food runs out, these two hundred thousand hopeful commoners will immediately turn into two hundred thousand chaotic rioters, driven completely mad by despair! At that time, the destructive power they erupt with will be enough to tear us, along with this newly reborn Yunzhong City, into pieces!”

Gu Changfeng also nodded. His wise eyes were filled with rational calmness and a hint of reluctance.

“My Lord, Brother Changqing is absolutely right. If you hesitate to act, you will suffer from the consequences. The only plan now is that we must emulate the overlords of old, using thunderous means while showing a Bodhisattva’s heart.”

He walked to the sand table, pointed to the mark of the dense crowd, and said in a deep voice: “We must immediately select the fifty thousand young and strong, craftsmen, and their families that we need most. As for the remaining majority of the old, weak, sick, and disabled... we can only leave them some food and medicine, and then... and then leave them to fend for themselves.”

This was an incredibly cruel, yet incredibly realistic choice.

The other generals present, although they could not bear it in their hearts, all knew that this was likely the only, and the most correct, choice at the moment.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Gao Feng, who had remained silent from beginning to end.

Gao Feng did not speak. He just slowly stood up and walked to the window of the meeting hall.

He pushed open the window and looked at the boundless sea of people outside, filled with anticipation and longing.

He saw an old woman with white hair carefully feeding the only bit of thin porridge in her bowl to the sallow and emaciated grandson in her arms.

He saw a tattered man taking off the only ragged cotton jacket he had to cover his body, wrapping it tightly around his wife who was shivering from the cold.

He saw a seven or eight-year-old child tiptoeing, looking curiously and admiringly at the “Panshi” banner fluttering in the wind above the city wall with eyes as clear as if they contained no Impurities.

Those faces, those gazes, were like invisible needles, stabbing fiercely into Gao Feng’s heart.

Fend for themselves? He couldn’t do it.

In his past life, he was a soldier. A soldier’s duty is to protect.

In this life, he is the master of Panshi. The belief of Panshi is protection.

He can be cold, ruthless, and bloodthirsty toward his enemies.

But he could not treat these innocent people of the Great Qian Dynasty—who regarded him as their only hope and knelt before him as if he were a god—like discarded shoes.

"If I abandon them, how would I be any different from that corrupt Dynasty, sitting high in the halls of power and viewing the common people as nothing more than blades of grass?"

"If I abandon them, how would the Panshi Stockade I built be any different from those bandits and thieves who only know how to burn, kill, loot, and prey on the weak?"

"If I abandon them, wouldn't the 'bright and clear world' and the 'equality for all' that I have sought in this life become a massive joke?!"

Gao Feng slowly turned around.

There was not a shred of hesitation or struggle left on his face.

Replacing it was an unprecedented, rock-solid determination!

He looked at the shocked faces of Xu Changqing and Gu Changfeng, and said, word by word, in an unquestionable and resolute tone:

"Pass down my orders!"

"Not a single one can be left behind!"

"I want all two hundred thousand of them!"

"I will take them back to the Northern Territory alive!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole hall was shocked!

"My Lord! Think twice!" Xu Changqing and Gu Changfeng exclaimed in unison.

"This... this is impossible! Two hundred thousand people, from Yunzhou to the Northern Territory, a journey of a thousand miles. The food required and the risks to be faced are simply astronomical! We simply cannot..."

"There is no such thing as impossible!"

Gao Feng's voice, like a thunderclap, ruthlessly interrupted them!

In his eyes, a crazy fire was burning, enough to make heaven and earth change color!

"If there isn't enough food, we will use labor for relief and forage for food on the spot! If there aren't enough vehicles, we will mobilize all craftsmen to build them day and night! If the roads are blocked, we will organize all the able-bodied men to open paths through mountains and build bridges over rivers!"

"I not only want to take them back, but I also want to turn this thousand-mile journey into an unprecedented armed parade to show the whole world the strength and determination of my Panshi Stockade!"

"I want everyone to see how I turn these two hundred thousand, who they consider worthless burdens, into an army capable of shaking the world!"

Gao Feng's voice echoed in the council hall, every word like a heavy hammer, striking hard at the hearts of Xu Changqing and Gu Changfeng.

Looking at the madness and confidence in the eyes of the man before them, which seemed to burn the Universe, they were stunned by his unparalleled spirit and could not say a word of rebuttal.

This had gone beyond the scope of strategy; this was a pure suppression of will, stemming from absolute self-confidence!

"My Lord..." Gu Changfeng spoke with difficulty, feeling his throat incredibly dry, "But... the migration of two hundred thousand people is unheard of throughout history. The organization, coordination, and consumption involved... are simply unimaginable astronomical figures. Can we... can we really do it?"

"Yes!" Gao Feng's answer had no hesitation, his gaze like the sharpest blade, cutting through all doubts and anxieties, "Because I am not leading a group of hungry lambs to flee; I am leading a disciplined army to conduct a strategic transfer!"

He turned abruptly, walked to the huge sand table, picked up a command rod, and with an unquestionable posture, began his deployment that could only be described as crazy.

"Pass my orders! From this moment on, using Yunzhong City as a temporary base, establish the 'Labor for Relief' headquarters! It will be jointly managed by the two strategists, Xu Changqing and Gu Changfeng!"

"All refugees are to be reorganized based on their origin, clan, and village, with one hundred people per squad and one thousand per battalion! All veteran soldiers and officers of the Panshi Army are to be assigned to these battalions to serve as military law officers and instructors! Within three days, I want to integrate these two hundred thousand seemingly scattered refugees into two hundred construction battalions that absolutely obey orders!"

"All construction battalions have only one task! That is labor! Use your own hands to exchange for the food and dignity to survive!"

"The Craftsman Battalion must work day and night to build the simplest and sturdiest wheelbarrows and two-wheeled mule carts for me! The more, the better!"

"The Able-Bodied Battalion is responsible for repairing roads, opening paths through mountains, and building bridges over rivers! I want our migration route to become a smooth thoroughfare!"

"The Women and Children Battalion is responsible for cooking, mending clothes, and taking care of the wounded! I want every man sweating on the front lines to be able to have a bowl of hot soup when he returns!"

"I announce the implementation of the 'Wartime Work Point System'! One cubic meter of earth excavated earns one point! One cart built earns five points! One mile of road repaired earns ten points! The points earned can be exchanged at the logistics department for everything you need! From black flour buns to dried meat and rice wine, to brand new cotton clothes!"

"More work, more pay; those who do not work shall not eat!"

Gao Feng's orders were like the most precise scalpel, quickly, efficiently, and systematically cutting and reorganizing the two hundred thousand chaotic refugees into a huge machine running wildly for a single goal!

At first, the refugees were full of doubt and anxiety. But when they saw the once high-and-mighty soldiers of the Panshi Army actually take off their armor, pick up shovels, and sweat in the mud with them; when they really used the work points they earned from their labor to receive heavy, steaming meat buns from the logistics officer, all their doubts vanished.

Replacing it was an unprecedented fire called "Hope" and "Fairness"!

The entire area outside Yunzhong City became a bustling, massive construction site.

The sounds of heaving while felling trees, the clanging of building carts, the chants of road repairers, and the hearty laughter of women in front of the porridge stalls merged into a symphony of labor full of vitality.

In just ten days, an unprecedented, massive army for the northern migration, consisting of thousands of mule carts, tens of thousands of able-bodied men, and over a hundred thousand family members, was officially formed!

When this team, like a giant Dragon, slowly left Yunzhong City under the protection of the Panshi Army and embarked on the long journey back to the Northern Territory, all the people of Yunzhong City who came to see them off shed tears of excitement.

They knew that what they were witnessing was a miracle that would go down in history!

...

The migration path was far more difficult than imagined.

Sleeping in the open and traveling day and night.

They encountered attacks from bandit gangs driven completely mad by hunger, but those mobs were as fragile as eggs in front of the Panshi Army's battle formation, which was like a Great Wall of steel, and were easily crushed.

They also encountered the prying eyes of powerful Yao Beasts entrenched in the deep mountains, but after Big Fool and Wulu, those two giant men who were like gods and demons, smashed the head of a "Iron-Backed Bear," which was comparable to a fourth-rank Martial Artist, straight into its chest, no blind beast within a hundred miles dared to approach them again.

Gao Feng led by example, eating and living with the most ordinary soldiers, personally leading the scout battalion to explore the road ahead and clear away all potential threats.

His existence was the anchor of this massive team.

As long as that black banner with stone patterns was still fluttering in the wind at the front of the team, everyone's hearts were filled with infinite strength and the belief in victory.

A month later, when this massive team, which had gone through thousands of hardships and lost nearly twenty percent of its members, but had also been honed to be more resilient and united, finally reached its destination.

The newly joined refugees craned their necks, looking at this land, which was legendary as a paradise, with curious and apprehensive eyes.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Everyone, whether they were refugees who once had fantasies about the future or veteran soldiers of the Panshi Army who were already familiar with every blade of grass and tree here, stood frozen as if struck by an immobilization spell.

Their mouths opened unconsciously, and their eyes were filled with extreme shock that could not be described in words!

Before them, a true, majestic steel city, full of the beauty of iron, blood, and power, lay quietly in the center of the valley like a dormant ancient beast, exuding an unsettling and magnificent Aura!

The towering city walls were no longer built of wood and stone, but cast entirely from a smooth and sturdy gray Material they had never seen before, shining with a cold metallic luster in the sun.

On the city walls, rows of giant, menacing-looking ballistae stood like silent steel guards, pointing far into the distance, their black muzzles seemingly ready to spew flames of death at any moment.

Inside the city, tall chimneys were puffing out billowing thick smoke, shooting straight into the sky.

Those were the steel mills and arsenals, working day and night to pump fresh blood into this war fortress.

And outside the city walls, that once barren land had long since turned into a golden ocean!

The golden waves of wheat, stretching as far as the eye could see, rolled endlessly under the mountain breeze like the most magnificent waves.

The heavy ears of wheat bent the stalks, and also bent the hearts of everyone who saw them.

After a brief silence, a thunderous, earth-shaking cheer erupted from the crowd!

"My God! Is this where immortals live?!"

"We... we've arrived! We've really arrived!"

"Wuwuwu... Am I not dreaming? We... we are really saved!"

Countless refugees knelt on the ground, kissing the land full of hope beneath their feet and crying loudly.

In those cries, there was the relief of surviving a disaster, infinite longing for a better life in the future, and even more, the most fanatical and sincere worship for the man who created all these miracles for them!