That night, the entire Liangshan Island gradually fell into hell amidst flames and killings.
As the sun set, Fang Duxing, the commander of the Wu Ruiying Battalion, stood in front of the warship with his hand on the hilt of his saber. He watched the flag of "Enforcing Justice for Heaven" falling from the flagpole on the distant island. In the fiery red clouds, it indicated the short-lived rise and fall of Liangshan Island. At the same time, on the island or in the foothills on the other side, the leaders cried out in sorrow as they watched the chaos appear, expand, and eventually become irreversible.
The entire war of the Wu Ruiying Battalion attacking Liangshan Island lasted only two days. On the 20th of June, the soldiers were extremely cautious when they launched the attack. This was because the Wu Ruiying Battalion had failed several times in the lake before Liangshan reached its current scale. Although the battle of Dulonggang had happened before, Fang Duxing, the commander, still could not let his guard down. In the beginning, he sealed off the waters and carefully figured out the defense of Liangshan Island on the surrounding islands. At noon, he began to launch a tentative attack.
The attack on the surrounding islands actually met with a lot of resistance. But honestly speaking, these resistance were not as strong as the previous times. Even under the conservative defense of the soldiers, the attack on Liangshan Island seemed clumsy. Realizing this, Fang Duxing began to order an official attack and destroyed several ships on the periphery. The attack on the several islands came to an end at night on the 20th of June. Then, something strange happened.
When the battle came to an end, there would always be people who surrendered. This time, the people who surrendered first brought the heads of their companions. Then, as if the demons released because of the nightfall were breeding in people's hearts, a part of the soldiers guarding Liangshan Island chose to escape, while the other part began to fight among themselves in the night.
Everything was like what the person from the capital had said. Heads could be exchanged for lives and rewards. At first, some people brought the heads of their companions who had died in the battle. Later, when a small number of people could not escape and there were not enough corpses, they waved their knives to the people around them. On Supervisor Fang's side, he had given a strict order. Those with heads could live, and those without would die.
On the 21st of June, the attack on Liangshan Island began. Fleets fought on the water near Liangshan. In the afternoon, the main force of the Wu Rui Battalion began to land on the island. When they occupied the first position and were ready to attack, what greeted them was not the great resistance of Liangshan Island, but … the collapse of the entire Liangshan Island.
Based on the experience of previous battles, Wu Ruiying's attack on Liangshan this time was like a steel knife cutting into a piece of tofu. No one had expected that the whole process would be so fast. Even the collapse of the latter half of it was not caused by this steel blade.
For Supervisor Fang, he could only gradually piece together the whole story from the mouths of some captives.
Just a few days before the attack, the entire Liangshan had already fallen into a state of suspicion and fear. Things developed so fast that many people did not have time to react. However, the cruel fact had already appeared in front of them, and they had no choice but to believe it or not.
Frictions, estrangement, quarrels, and small-scale fights were not the most serious things. The most troublesome and sensitive thing was that when the news that people's heads could be exchanged for merits spread, a few people went missing. Sometimes, the corpses were even found behind someone's house. Even the people inside Liangshan could not be sure whether the person was killed by the other party or framed by the enemy.
The leaders tried to suppress the situation, but they could not avoid being on guard against each other and colluding with each other. The higher-ups increased the frequency of patrols and the intensity of investigations, but it did not help. The smartest people tried to organize small groups from the beginning. Then, people from different local factions also contacted each other for self-protection. They looked after their families. As long as someone was spying on them, they would become extremely sensitive. For several consecutive nights, people died. There were conflicts in the dark and conflicts in the open. Although there were tens of thousands of people on the island, it was still very frightening when a few dozen people died like this.
After the accusations and conflicts began to become more obvious, everyone realized that the collapse was coming. The higher-ups could not suppress the situation anymore. The close subordinates began to test whether the higher-ups planned to surrender or run away, and the higher-ups were also testing the thoughts of their subordinates. During this process, when the soldiers began to attack, the entire Liangshan was like a patient wrapped in a large mass of dry heat, which would erupt at any time. But if there was no external force, the whole process would probably last for a while.
Even when Fang La rebelled, or when the famine came, and people were starving, the suspicion and vigilance between the starving people and refugees had never been oppressed and stimulated to such an extent. Not only had the people on Liangshan not experienced such a situation, but even Governor Fang had never seen such a thing before.
After dusk, the soldiers rushed to the island, and in fact, they also encountered small groups of resistance. On the water around Liangshan, the battle was still going on. Several conflicts broke out between the ships that broke out of the encirclement and the warships of the Wu Rui Battalion. But in terms of the situation on the entire Liangshan Island, it was like a floating island in hell that was purely used to test human nature. Killing each other and killing each other for the sake of heads continued. Those who wanted to make the situation even more chaotic and wanted to fish in troubled waters set fires all over the mountains and plains.
Heads could save lives, and heads could also make money. In order to prevent the soldiers under his command from suffering too many casualties in such a chaotic situation, Governor Fang ordered some soldiers to only surround the island and not to attack. He let the people on the island fend for themselves. Only those who brought heads down were counted and protected. The evilness of human nature was allowed to wreak havoc on the entire island. Outside the island, there were sporadic battles between those who broke out of the encirclement, those who chased after the enemy, and those who were alone.
That night, looking at all kinds of survivors who rushed down the island, Governor Fang sighed and said to He Rui, "We soldiers believe that human nature is innately evil, but only now do we know how evil human nature is." Relatively speaking, the scholar from the capital was like a demon in his eyes. He Rui also said, "But this method is too vicious. I'm afraid it's against the harmony of the world …"
This was a method that not only brought a chill to the enemy, it also brought a chill to his own people. No one knew what Ning Yi would think about this. While Fang Duxing and He Rui were sighing, a medium-sized warship was moving slowly on the surface of the water near Liang Shan amidst the flames and wreckage. Wang Shanyue was standing at the bow of the ship. She recalled the expression on Ning Yi's face when he was sitting under the eaves of the Zhu Family Village and spinning the bracelet like a prayer bead a few days before he made his move. Some information was also transmitted to this ship and gathered together.
"When I was young, I often heard people say that human nature is innately good. After this, I don't believe it anymore." Su Wenyu murmured. Ning Yi, who was also watching the water and fire, frowned and glanced at him.
"Su Wenyu, remember that human nature is innately neither good nor evil." After a while, Ning Yi said, "Previously, you thought that human nature is innately good, but that's not necessarily true. If this incident makes you think that human nature is innately evil, then it only shows that you are narrow-minded. Human nature is chaotic. It's neither good nor evil, but it's not determined. It's easy to be tempted. What it will become depends on external forces. It's not easy to reach this step, but it's not impossible to make people better. If you think that human nature is innately good or evil, then that's the mindset of a coward who doesn't want to put in any effort. They don't have ideas or self-awareness, so they can only rely on their nature. If you want to do something, don't have this mindset. "
After witnessing the collapse of Liangshan, Ning Yi didn't seem to be in a good mood. He didn't focus on the ordinary people on Liangshan Island. At this moment, he was waiting for some more crucial information. After thinking for a while, Su Wenyu said, "I'll remember." Ning Yi smiled and sat on a chair at the bow of the ship. He looked at the burning and chaotic island in the distance.
"When you see this, you should think of the value of order and the greatness of morality. The spiritual civilization, culture, and morality of a world. These things add up to protect everyone. After morality comes the law. Once they collapse, it's very easy to become like Liangshan. No matter how much we can manipulate human nature, you and I should be in awe of human nature, culture, and morality. If you don't want yourself to become like this, you have to remember this. "
The ship gradually moved forward and passed the wreckage of a large ship. The flames burning on the water had not yet been extinguished, and floating corpses floated past the side of the ship. Ning Yi shook his head and looked at the specks of fire in front of him. He frowned and spoke in a low voice.
"In the past … I've actually seen many people who always think they're very powerful. They clamor for character, decisiveness, and clarity of mind. They don't know what morality is. This kind of people are actually the lowest kind of people in the world. They have neither strength nor intelligence. The only thing they have is arrogance and stupidity. "
Ning Yi sighed and pointed at the flames on Liangshan. "They only know some immediate benefits, but they can't see their own weakness. In fact, those who are truly bound by morality are not the common people. Those who have the ability, strength, and intelligence are the ones who are bound the most. Once morality is released, ordinary people can get a small benefit and be complacent. They don't know that at this time, when the shackles of those big shots are loosened a little, they're hurting the interests and lives of thousands of people. Human nature is a very interesting thing, but also very cruel. Good and bad are all mixed together. If you want good things, then you have to work hard. If you always feel that it has nothing to do with you, then maybe one day, your morals will fall below a certain level, and there will be nothing left. "
The light flowed and shone over. Ning Yi's sigh was immersed in the night. The people around him seemed quiet. A small boat rowed across the water and came over. It was Qi Xinhan, who brought the news.
"Not long ago, it was Song Jiang who broke out of the island. A few of the Wu Ruiying's ships wanted to intercept him, but they were caught off guard. I've already asked some of the captives … It's just as you said, a strong man cuts his wrist. "
The news that he had been waiting for finally came. Ning Yi stood up. "How many people?"
"In the end, less than 4,000 people were gathered together," Qi Xinhan said. "In the past few days, Song Jiang and the others have been holding back on the surface, but in fact, they're waiting for the conflict to intensify. They secretly chose the part of the island that is least likely to surrender. They either have a blood feud with the government, committed a huge crime, or are the closest direct relatives. After the conflict intensified, they saw it more clearly. They contacted each other in private before gathering all of them. As for the others and the island, they've all been abandoned. "
Ning Yi pressed his palms together and nodded. "A strong man cuts his wrist … They're quite decisive."
Qi Xinyi, who was beside him, said, "There are still some disloyal people among them, right?"
Ning Yi shook his head. "There are still spies, but it's difficult for them to affect the combat power. First, they're diehard. Second, those who want to exchange their heads for rewards don't have to follow them. As long as they stay on the island and kill people, the matter will be over. This way, my influence in their hearts will be removed. Among the 4,000 people, some of them are probably family members. But after leaving Liangshan, there's still a big problem. Let's not worry about Liangshan for now. We must kill all of these people … We should prepare to chase after them. In addition, inform the 2,000 people from Dulonggang to meet up with us. Inform the counties to cooperate. "
He turned around and pointed at Su Wenyu. "Wenyu, take a few people to Commander Fang's side and ask him to split up the troops. You're responsible for contacting both sides. Tonight, you can stay there and watch the show. In addition, regardless of whether they have family members or not, ask Commander Fang and the others to detain those who bring more than three heads on average. After this battle, they can either join the army or leave with me temporarily. These people can't enter society now. Of course, there's no need to make this clear for now. Wait for me to come back. Also, once the fighting on the mountain is less intense, ask Commander Fang to send troops to clean up. Even if they don't have heads, as long as they don't resist, they can all be released. They're the cleanest now. Killing these people … doesn't have much meaning anymore. "
"Yes." After Ning Yi made the arrangements, Su Wenyu nodded and led a few people to the island on a small boat. As the order was given, the warship set sail and broke through the waves. Under the moonlight, it followed the sparks of the imperial court's battleship toward the distant water surface. Further away was the dark silhouette of the mountains and water.
On the other side of the field of vision, the huge island was still burning and fighting in the darkness. No one knew when it would stop …
On the 22nd of June, Liangshan fell. Only 3,000 people led by Song Jiang were left on the run. The pursuit of them became a new problem for the counties and the soldiers …
*****
Thank you, Alliance Master Archicad, for your flashing red tips. Congratulations to the student "3,000 meters" for becoming the Alliance Master. Thank you for your support.
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