Embers Ad Infinitum

Odik dialed the number, but no one answered.

"Maybe the sound was muted during the meeting..." Odik gave his guess as he ran.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao didn't say anything, and ran wildly behind.

…………

The city lord's palace, the meeting hall of the nobles.

A long table was placed in the center. At the head was the city lord Xu Liyan, who was dressed in luxurious clothes. There were three people sitting on each side.

These are the seven nobles and council members at the top of Weed City. However, since Scheldt, the center of power has shifted to the city hall and the city defense army. And in control of these two departments, there is a certain force from the "Primary City" The supportive city lord gradually sidelined the noble council.

But in the current critical situation, even if Xu De was reincarnated, he would not dare to ignore the opinions of the other six nobles.

They have private soldiers, manors, population, and various resource reserves. If they take advantage of the chaos and gather the wilderness wanderers, it will be enough to turn Weed Grass City upside down.

At this time, in the meeting hall, there were only two guards behind each of the great nobles, even the city lord Xu Liyan was like this.

This is a rule that has been gradually "developed" after frictions, leaks, coups, and bloodsheds after the Council was established:

You can only bring a maximum of two bodyguards with you when entering the chamber.

Similarly, nobles and bodyguards can carry weapons, but they cannot be exposed.

Weed City's regulations on weapons control originated from the council.

——At that time, the leaders of the various armed groups were not allowed to lead the guards and carry weapons. They must be afraid of being attacked. They were worried that the city lord would suddenly drop the cup and rush in with dozens or hundreds of gunmen, firing a burst. If they were allowed to carry them, , they have confidence in their hearts, and they are all people who have experienced troubled times and shed blood at gunpoint. If they disagree, a small fight may break out on the spot, involving other people.

Therefore, they can only let them put their guards outside and only bring a certain number of bodyguards inside to discuss matters. At the same time, the weapons must be hidden and cannot be seen by others, that is, they must be placed in a place that is inconvenient for them to use. In this way, If they want to draw a gun and blow their political opponent's head off, they will have a buffer to give the neutral a chance to stop him and allow him to calm down. In addition, they will also worry about whether the position of their gun is not good enough. Once the opponent draws a few seconds, or even ten seconds, slower than the opponent, the fun will be great. It is better to be more peaceful and just quarrel without using the gun.

As a supporting package, similar gatherings have strict explosive detection links to prevent anyone from sacrificing a happy family.

At this time, on Xu Liyan's left was the mechanical monk Jing Nian wearing a robe, and on his right was his assistant Liu Shu, who happened to be both martial and literary.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Uncle Liu has no fighting ability.

When he was young, armed with two guns, he killed countless enemies who wanted to break through Weed Grass City and those who staged bloody coups.

However, now that he is older and less angry, he has discovered that he has greater talent in handling political affairs, so his mantra has become "Everyone should regard peace as the most important thing."

Xu Liyan looked around and said with a smile without using official or formal language:

"Dear uncles and uncles, you should have seen what it looks like outside."

Seeing that his posture was very low, Zhao Zhengqi, the head of Zhao Mansion, touched his beard on his chin and said:

"City Lord, if you have anything to say, just say it. This is everyone's Weed City. Is there anyone who is unwilling to contribute?"

Zhao Zhengqi is over 50 years old, and his beard is slightly gray. In Huitu, who is generally on the thin side, he is impressively fat.

One of the bodyguards behind him is a dead soldier raised by his family, and the other is his eldest son in his early thirties. They mainly bring familiarity with the style and process of the noble council.

Our city of weeds... Xu Liyan sneered secretly and said sincerely:

"Now there are many casualties and manpower is very tight. The wilderness wanderers may break through the municipal building defense line at any time and rush into North Street. I hope all uncles and uncles will send out the private troops in their respective mansions to form a team and launch a counterattack. Try to break up the wilderness wanderers and drive them out of the city before they can truly organize themselves."

Zhao Zhengqi glanced at his son and daughter's in-laws, Meric, and asked him to speak first.

The Murrich family is of the Red River race, but after several generations of intermarriage, he also has obvious characteristics of the Gray Earth people, with softer facial features and less enlarged pores.

He has yellow hair and blue eyes, heavy nasolabial folds, and always speaks slowly and slowly, as if it would be no big deal if the sky fell:

"City Lord, it's okay to send private troops. Weed City belongs to everyone, how can we just sit back and ignore it?

"As long as you leave us the manpower to protect the mansion, the rest can be at your disposal.

"It's just that our people are not regular troops. They are trained to protect the mansion and the manor. It is not only difficult for them to carry out a counterattack, but it may not have good results.

"How about this, let our people replace the city defense army and your guards, guard the North Bridge and the Municipal Building, and let the replaced regular troops carry out the counterattack?"

Because Xu Liyan spoke a native dialect, Merich used the same language. Moreover, his words were clear and precise, and his words were skillfully used. It was obvious at first glance that he had put in a lot of hard work.

As soon as Muric finished speaking, Zhao Zhengqi and other aristocratic congressmen immediately agreed, saying that this was the truth.

The veins on Xu Liyan's forehead jumped, and his hands on both sides of the chair tightened unconsciously.

After receiving Uncle Liu's "peace is the most important" look, he squeezed out a smile and said:

"I can understand the concerns of uncles and uncles. I also plan to select a group of uninjured personnel from the city defense army and guards to form a separate team and carry out a counterattack. However, this number may not be enough. At that time, I will have to recruit from your private Choose some from the army.”

After looking at each other, Zhao Zhengqi took the lead in nodding:

"Okay, let's do it."

Other noble councilors did not bother with this issue anymore.

This is because they all have their own interests in East Street, West Street, and South Street. They are not the actual owners of certain warehouses, but they are also hotel owners, grain store owners, and nightclub major shareholders. They are all eager to deal with those wilderness wanderers as soon as possible. , making the damage to your property less serious.

After conveying this decision and making it officially effective, Xu Liyan turned to the second topic:

"Dear uncles and uncles, the riot should be calmed down soon. We have to discuss how to deal with the aftermath.

"Outside of North Street, countless civilians have been killed and robbed. The coming winter will be very difficult. I am willing to take the lead and donate part of the food to relieve them so that they can survive until the situation improves. Well, I also need to donate medical supplies. Some, there must be a lot of injured people, and they may not have the money to pay.”

As soon as Xu Liyan finished speaking, Zhao Zhengqi shook his head like a rattle and said:

“We don’t have any food left.

"Besides, how much food can be lost in the city in just one morning? If they are more frugal, it will not be a problem to survive the winter."

Are you kidding? This is not your own "property", why should you help them?

"Yes." Muric agreed, "What does it matter if some civilians die? Our slaves are enough anyway."

"That is, everyone who dares to cause trouble will be driven out to become wanderers in the wilderness." Another noble councilor Zhang Wenxin also expressed his opinion, "When the situation calms down, as long as we have food for sale here and many people come to live in Weed City, we can make up for it. Manpower gap.”

Listening to their objections, Xu Liyan raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, feeling his head buzzing.

He barely maintained his demeanor and began to analyze:

"We must consider that the families of the soldiers live outside North Street. If they defect, we will have no choice but to escape to the First City."

Zhao Zhengqi chuckled and said:

"City Lord, don't worry, the family members of our private army are all in the manor."

But the city defense army wasn't... Xu Liyan felt the veins on his forehead throbbing more and more.

Amidst the different objections from several other noble members, not only was his mind buzzing, but an illusory voice seemed to be shouting in his ears:

“Blow them up!

"Blow them up!"

Xu Liyan's eyes gradually became dazed. He held his head with one hand, reached into his pocket with the other, and took out a small black remote control.

“Blow them up!

"Blow them up!"

The devil's roar kept echoing in his ears, making his breathing gradually become heavier.

At this time, the door to the noble meeting room was opened.

A guard shouted inside:

"City Lord, Mr. Odik has something urgent to see you for!"

Jiang Baimian at the door had excellent eyesight. At a glance, he noticed that something was wrong with Xu Liyan's eyes.

It was dazed and crazy.

"Quick!" she reminded Odik, and immediately pulled out her pistol and fired a shot at the crystal chandelier above the long table in the noble meeting hall.

Shang Jianyao drew his gun and turned around to help Jiang Baimian guard his back.

There were banging and crashing sounds at the same time, and a large number of glass fragments fell down.

The noble councilors present, except for Xu Liyan, were all not too young. They had also experienced some wars and riots. They were very sensitive to the sound of gunfire and responded immediately.

Meric, who spoke slowly, slid down and hid under the table. The fat Zhao Zhengqi crouched, quickly jumped out of his seat, pulled his eldest son, and rushed into the corner...

Their bodyguards all pulled out their guns, found their positions, and aimed at the door.

The gunshot also startled Xu Liyan, who was at the head, sobering up a little from the devil's roar, and his movements stopped.

But this little bit of clarity was quickly submerged. Xu Liyan glanced around with red eyes before pressing the remote control in his hand.

At this time, his eyelids suddenly became heavy, and he lost consciousness instantly. He leaned back on the chair, as if he fell into a deep sleep.

Odik seized the short gap created by Jiang Baimian and rolled forward one after another. The distance between himself and Xu Liyan was close enough to use "forced sleep"!

Then he saw the black and thick barrel of the gun.

This is "stretched out" from the hand of the mechanical monk Jing Nian.

"The city lord was hypnotized by the 'priest' and wants to die with the people here!" Odik quickly shouted out his guess.

This sentence caused the bodyguards in the room and the guards outside the room to stop their counterattacks, and they started to confront Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao.

While continuing to aim at Odik, the mechanical monk Jing Nian stretched out his metal arm and forcibly tore Xu Liyan's coat apart.

The condition of the city lord was immediately revealed.

He tied several rings of explosives around his waist, all of which were high-performance products from the Orange Company.

Once this explodes, not only the people in the noble meeting hall will not be spared, but even the next door and the next door will be destroyed.

Perhaps the only person who might have survived was the mechanical monk Zen Master Jing Nian.