We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

The city gate was lost and the Feng army rushed in in droves.

Li Che, under the escort of the Royal Guards, walked through the city gate below the city gate tower. Looking at the mess in front of him, he sighed in his heart.

The victory was a little too easy, and Li Che had a feeling it was unreal.

After all, Guangning City is a strategic city, and those responsible for its defense are either the Khitan Khan's confidants or the leaders of major tribes.

Unexpectedly, they were so vulnerable and had basically no effective defense organized, which gave Li Che the feeling that the opponent was a human-machine.

For example, a normal city not only has a city gate, but also has at least a urn city, which is a semicircular or square gate-guarding city built outside the city gate.

In this way, even if Wang Sanchun captured the city gate, Yue Yun's heavy cavalry would not be able to rush in directly.

But there is no such thing in Guangning City. It was not that it was not built when the city was built, but that it was later demolished by the Khitans and the bricks and stones were used to build other buildings.

Li Che could not understand the thought processes of these Khitan people. They had not inherited any of the wisdom of the Khitan ancestors of the Liao Dynasty.

Seeing Wang Qi entering the city, Wang Sanchun hurried forward to greet him:

"Your Highness, the commander defending the city was the leader of the Yanran tribe. He was already dead when we pulled him out of the rubble."

"There were over 15,000 defenders in the city originally. 8,000 of them went to Xiangping City to reinforce them, leaving 7,000 defenders in the city. In the previous battle, our army beheaded 3,000 people. Aside from some missing, all other Khitan soldiers have surrendered."

Li Che nodded. The Fengtian Army was so bloodthirsty just now that it was normal for the enemy to have more casualties.

Artillery can only be regarded as a deterrent, and it is Yueyun's armored cavalry that really caused heavy casualties.

Two hundred armored cavalrymen crushed the crowd like bulldozers, and at least a thousand Khitan soldiers died under their horses' hooves.

This is why I don’t give up on developing cavalry. If used properly, cavalry is more powerful than gunpowder.

After all, when you only have black powder, the deterrent power of firearms is far greater than their lethality.

"Besides that, we found a large number of... slaves inside the vehicle."

"Oh?" Li Che was shocked when he heard that.

The barbarians outside the Great Wall still have a pure slave system, but those who are enslaved are generally other ethnic groups besides the Khitans.

In Daqing, at least in the open, there are no slaves anymore. Even if there is human trafficking, it is done in secret.

Wang Sanchun then complained:

"Those Khitans treated these slaves like dirt, not human beings. They forced them to do six or seven hours of hard labor every day, and if they didn't do their job well, they would even punish them. They would even take the women away for their own amusement. Life was even worse than in the prison camp."

Li Che was not surprised by this. Isn't it common sense that slaves have no human rights?

The Central Plains dynasties had moral constraints and the impression of Confucianism, which prevented those in power from blatantly using people as tools.

The barbarians outside the Great Wall don't have these things. They really treat slaves like animals.

Li Che thought about it for a moment and felt that this was good news for him.

Fengguo is short of people.

Even if the Mohe and Korean people are included, the number is still less than 200,000.

What can 200,000 people do?

All the newly built departments in Chaoyang City are in urgent need of additional labor.

"Come on, take me to see you."

"Here."

The area of ​​Guangping City is not small, approximately equivalent to three-quarters of Chaoyang City.

This city seemed to be used for the centralized management of slaves. There were no felt tents that the Khitans liked to live in. Instead, there were dilapidated and messy adobe houses everywhere. They looked very old and were probably products of the Liao Dynasty.

The slaves were gathered in an open area in the center of the city, and Ninggu soldiers guarded the important roads.

Li Che looked around and saw desperate and numb faces.

There were Mohe people, Korean people, Xi people, Shiwei people, and even some Qing people.

You can hear the crying of children and the sobbing of women.

Li Che silently stretched out his hand behind him. Qiu Bai understood what he meant and quickly handed him a trumpet made of iron sheets.

Looking at the more than 10,000 slaves in the field, Li Che slowly said: "I, the King of Daqing, Li Che!"

The crowd gradually quieted down, and everyone looked ahead at the majestic figure.

The king! It turned out to be a king!

You know, the king of Daqing is not like the king of the barbarians, he is not worth anything at all.

Everyone held their breath and looked at Li Che anxiously, waiting for the judgment of their future fate.

"From this moment on, the land you are on is the land of the Khitan people! This Guangning City is the fortified city built by the Liao Kingdom!"

"It is the land of Fengguo!"

Everyone looked confused, and most people couldn't understand Xia language. Fortunately, there were some Daqing slaves in the crowd who stepped forward to translate.

"This king sees that before me, there are many nations standing, each one groaning in humiliation!"

"The Mohe people who once dominated Liaodong!"

"The Koreans dominate the peninsula!"

"The Shiwei people, who originated from the Donghu and rose in the north!"

"There are even people from Daqing who are from the Central Plains just like me!"

After translating to this point, some Qing slaves' voices became softer and they slowly lowered their heads.

"The Khitans are tyrannical over your necks, trampling on your dignity at will, stealing your food, and playing with your women!"

"Although your bodies are still alive, your dignity has been trampled upon, and your souls have long since vanished!"

"You might be thinking: 'The Daqing princes are talking bullshit. I need a roof over my head and enough food to eat, not some bullshit dignity.'"

"Yes, you are right. Life is very important, but... I want to tell you!"

"What you need isn't just a piece of dry food or dried meat! You need to first become a person, someone who can decide your own future!"

Li Che pointed to the filthy, narrow adobe house behind him with a look of contempt on his face: "What kind of house is this? The pigs in my Fengguo live in a pigpen that is more spacious than this!"

"How dare you call yourself a human being when you live in a place like this?!"

"And now, I will give you the chance to become human again!"

"The Khitans bully you, but you can only wail in pain and beg for mercy humbly. Such people are spineless! Such people are lowly! Such people are only fit to be slaves!"

"You should use the swords in your hands to make the enemy tremble! You should crush their dignity and lives, and let them know that you are not a group of lowly slaves!"

The slaves' breathing gradually became rapid and their faces turned red.

The men's eyes were bloodshot and their fists were clenched tightly.

Li Che suddenly felt itchy under his nostrils, stretched out his hand to scratch it, and continued:

"Join us, join Fengguo. My kingdom accepts all races. Even foreign races can strive for the same status as the Daqing people!"

"Now, make your choice."

"Let me see whether you are ten thousand slaves or ten thousand loyal and unyielding servants!"

After a brief silence, a Qing slave suddenly stood up and shouted:

"I want to be a servant, not a slave!"

"I want to be a servant too!"

"Damn it, we are all nomads, why are we slaves!"

Tens of thousands of slaves shouted at the same time, venting their long-accumulated anger.

Li Che drew the long sword from his waist, grasped the hilt with his right hand, and raised his arm 45 degrees.

"Now, pledge your loyalty to me and join the Feng Kingdom!"

Many slaves knelt on the ground and shouted in unison:

"Greetings to His Highness! Greetings to His Highness! Greetings to His Highness!"

Li Che put away his sword with a faint smile on his face.

The mouth cannon skill was activated successfully!

Ten thousand workers, get it!!!

I just don’t know what’s going on. I don’t have a beard, so why is my philtrum getting more and more itchy?