There is magic in words.
This is not just a magic spell in the usual narrow sense, but is closely related to the fundamental matter of the understanding of the world by humans and even other beings who also have language.
How do you know if a cat is a cat and a rock is a rock?
In a social and cultural context with common cognition, a simple word can separate something from the vast background - the wildness in the forest, the noisy cicadas in summer, when someone uses words At the moment of "definition", these individuals break away from the chaos and become independent existences that can be observed and recognized.
So societies have names because people want to distinguish themselves from other humans; so kings and nobles have titles because they want to do everything possible to make themselves look different from the ruled.
People try their best to classify everything, name everything, and associate each name and word combination with a specific meaning.
hope.
despair.
justice.
evil.
A simple phrase can make people hate or make their blood boil.
If an unarmed man is called a king, even the civilians who far outnumber him will worship him.
So yes.
There is magic in words.
Because language is the way people use to observe, record, and understand the world. It defines the way people of an ethnic group, region, and country understand the world, and in turn, because of its own existence, it becomes a constraining and restraining force - a country cannot live without a king for a day, and the king cannot talk about it. The person who is called a king needs to show the measure and style that matches this title. Everyone lives more or less in the words and evaluations of others - in order to change the low evaluation or to make them Work hard to deserve the praise.
Small words, but with endless power.
The phrase "your home" touched the villagers of Wenquan Village, causing the entire village to operate with unprecedented efficiency: going up the mountain to cut firewood, stockpiling burning materials, using saws to cut bamboo to make weapons, and the labor force brought by the large number of people. The advantage was put into good use under the command of Ryunosuke's experienced ronin, and combat preparation materials were prepared as much as possible in just a few days.
But the power of words does not only affect what some people expect.
"You are still young, run away."
Many farmer parents, who thought they were old and frail but still had a future for their children, packed up their teenagers overnight and sent them to flee. Although Ryunosuke had already warned them about the severe punishment of deserting farmers and the horror of losing their fields and homes and living a wandering life, their parents did not think so much when the calf-licking passion broke out. And in their opinion, anything is better than staying and dying.
When the labor force was being counted early the next morning, he looked at the parents who knelt on the ground in Kazuto's unique "Dogeza" style and allowed their children to escape. Although the former county magistrate's expression was extremely cold, he did not issue any punishment in the end. .
He was based on the idea that punishment would lead to further loss of labor force and combat effectiveness. But this kind of tolerance gave an opportunity, and many people escaped in the next two days, and without exception they were young people with strong vitality.
They feel they still have a future. Most of the people who are touched by the idea of conserving their homeland are the old people who have worked on this land all their lives, while most young people have the idea of going out to explore and do not want to fight to the death for their hometown.
During the subsequent investigation, a group of people discovered that those who instigated such remarks were the young adults who participated in the battle on Huxin Island who were not present when Manager Yazhi summoned the villagers. They had experienced the danger and witnessed the loss of life on the front line, so they were naturally better than others. People think more, so although they have fought side by side, these people are the ones who least agree with this statement.
To a certain extent, maybe these people have seen through the nature of this operation and understand that the entire hot spring village's defense line is just to buy time.
While this is nearly impossible given their tactical literacy and military knowledge, those who have fought and survived battles have always had a subconscious sensitivity to danger. However, Ryuunosuke did not completely lie. These people escaped and ended up being mostly beggars and bandits. It is almost impossible for a boy from a peasant family in the strict class society to have a bright future when he goes out to work.
People's hearts are intertwined, and everyone is fighting for something different.
Ryuunosuke wanted revenge, and the villagers wanted to protect their homes. The reason why Rigar and the Qingtian family stayed to fight was also very simple - they couldn't run away.
In the previous confrontations, it was obvious that the ghouls were in hot pursuit. If Henry had not followed Henry's plan to divide the troops and paid heavy sacrifices, even the current strength of the troops would not have been saved. Just running away, it is difficult for human feet to outrun these dark and twisted monsters. And they didn't have enough good horses. Instead of running for your life in the unprotected wilderness, it is better to choose the battlefield yourself, set up traps and defend the line of defense, and then have a higher chance of survival.
Although the purposes and ideas are different, now is not the time to care about these differences. Rather, it would be better to spend your energy thinking about how to deal with the coming crisis.
On the second day after returning to the hot spring village, the sage informed the others and entered the swamp alone with a hemp rope, and then returned struttingly dragging a ghoul. He deliberately walked on the road so that all the villagers could witness this scene, which also completely silenced those who still doubted the existence of the monster.
The ghoul, clearly different from both animal and human, was killed in one blow, but Henry didn't just bring it back for fun and deterrence.
He summoned everyone else to gather at the village residence on the hillside far away from the village - the owner of this place had unsurprisingly fled with the young people. Considering what Ryunosuke had done, this village scholar was most likely to be He ran to his superiors to punish this rogue who had seized power.
But the former county magistrate didn't care about this problem, because they had to survive before they had a chance to be punished.
The body of the ghoul spread out on the table was still warm because it had just died. Helping him were the doctor lady who was good at biology and our Luoan girl - although both of them had the urge to vomit because of the smell and the corpse. , they still maintained professionalism and restraint.
The clean and carefully polished hunting knife passed through the two collarbones of the ghoul, and then cut along the middle to the groin. The blood mixed with black liquid overflowed, and the internal organs that were still radiating heat made the throats of several warriors who were standing a little distance away to watch move. However, they controlled themselves with extremely high willpower and still watched.
Even Mira and Ling stopped their movements and took a breath with pale faces. Only Henry skillfully and indifferently reached out to open the ribs from the cut place, and then checked the internal organs one by one.
"Basically, they are the same as humans." The sage quickly came to this conclusion, and the samurai did not ask him why he knew they were the same as humans.
"The only difference is this." He used a knife to cut off a mass of soft tissue that looked like the sea urchin that is a delicacy on the beach - it grew next to the heart.
"This is the core of the ghoul, equivalent to the mana pool of humans. It is also the source of mutation. It is also the source of its extraordinary vitality and physical abilities." The sage said, although most people They half understood what they heard, but the warriors still keenly captured the message Henry wanted to express - "In other words, this is a weakness?"
"Well, and it's not just this place." Before the sage could finish speaking, Mira and Ling on the other side moved closer after suppressing the overwhelming feeling in their stomachs. Miss Doctor immediately noticed that the ghoul was The cut ribs on the rib cage were obviously not natural growths: "Here." She pointed to the top, and people followed her pointer to look.
"The ribs have become wider, and there are signs of closure at the edges." The ribs on the ghoul's left side near the core are obviously different from the right side. They are not bones like humans, and the smooth edges are beginning to fuse. Traces, obviously an evolution of enhanced protection.
"Well, this is incomplete weakness protection. Because these are defective products." Henry's words brought back Mira's memories. The ghouls that appeared near the swamp village were indeed weaker than those seen in Rigar. They are much smaller and easier to kill.
"It's more than that." The sage reached down, took out the stomach bag, and cut it open with a knife.
The sour smell immediately filled the room, and several people finally turned around and ran out, but Ling became interested at this time: "Is it half-digested food?"
"That's right." Henry nodded: "Completely transformed ghouls are creatures that are beyond the normal cognition of humans. They hardly need to eat and can only rely on the magic power provided by the core to operate efficiently."
He looked at the Qingtian family samurai and Ryunosuke: "It's equivalent to an army that doesn't need logistical supplies."
When this concept was thrown out, the expressions of those present who knew something about military affairs changed. The supplies needed by an army of several hundred people must be specially prepared. If an army of thousands or even tens of thousands of people does not have a dedicated quartermaster to handle it, non-combat attrition will occur before the war begins. The so-called home field advantage in many battles in history is actually just this - being able to withstand the supply line and relying on supplies to fight a war of attrition on one's own territory will often eventually wear out invaders coming from afar.
But what would it be like if an army did not need logistical supplies in the usual sense?
It means that they can travel at high speed and will not be weighed down by material baggage; it means that they can pass through areas where supplies cannot be found, such as barren mountains and snowfields - and in terms of the conditions for the birth of ghouls, it also means that dead bodies Can be directly converted into combat power instead of being used as food.
It was a bone-chilling coldness that was understandable. Their efficiency in expanding their troops, their marching speed, and the places they can march are far beyond what humans can compare to. Once this power is maturely mastered, the established nobles and even fortress territories that have spent decades expanding and accumulating troops will be overwhelmed by overwhelming monsters before they can react.
"We should be thankful that these things are only defective products, and they still need to rely on food." Henry used the tip of the knife to open up the stomach contents, and immediately revealed the indigestible black hair, which was obviously from humans: "Considering this At one point, Saburo’s troops should be smaller than we thought.”
"It's possible that he led the troops away from the sailboat just to capture the bandits who were lured away by us." The dissection of this ghoul provided the group with very important information, although Henry had already speculated on part of the information before. But now it is completely settled.
"In other words, a war of attrition is also detrimental to him." Ryunosuke said as he took a puff of cigarette and exhaled to use the smell of tobacco to dispel the stench in the air. Although the information Henry revealed about the ghouls was frightening, it was somewhat reassuring to know that what Saburo had under his command was only half-finished.
"Yes, but the fundamental problem now is that even taking into account internal consumption, this force still has a very high scale."
"Moreover." The sage said word by word: "Because you will feel hungry, you may launch the attack earlier."
"He will not necessarily attack after capturing all the rogues and converting them and gathering enough troops." Henry said this, and then as if to confirm his words, a rogue who was on guard in the village at this time Suddenly ran over.
"Adults, yes, someone is coming." He expressed it poorly, making it unclear whether the enemy was coming or reinforcements from Pingshan County were coming. But all this came to light when they went to the makeshift defense line outside the village - it was rogue bandits who came.
There were about seventy or eighty of them, and they all looked dazed and exhausted.
These were the bandits who had been attracted by the trick to lure the enemy and scattered in all directions. Most of them were hunted by their companions who had turned into monsters. They fled towards the hot spring village in panic. At this moment, they were stopped in the newly established village. Above the line of defense.
They clamored to come in, but the villagers refused to let them in. Conflict with these people before fighting the ghouls will only waste strength in vain, but letting these rogues into the village will also be a matter of endless trouble.
The Aoda family warriors who still had some good intentions chose to remain silent, but Ryunosuke was not such a person.
"Tell them that we have to check to make sure there are no people who will turn into monsters. Build another line of defense in front and give them some supplies." The former county magistrate knew very well the sacrifices required to achieve his goals, and he would not let these people Enter the village, but you won't start a fight with them.
Naturally, he didn't mean it when he said that he needed to take time to check when he already knew from Henry's investigation that Saburo would attack at any time.
He won't let them in. The idea that the bandits will buy it and the material benefits given to them are just excuses to let these people stay outside with peace of mind. During his 11 years of life as a ronin, he had seen a lot of gangsters who came up to him and used his name to gain prestige. He didn't think these people would be moved by any rhetoric, nor would they willingly sacrifice their lives for him.
So to make good use of this power, we can only put them in a position where they have to fight for themselves.
The warriors of the Qingtian family watched all this in silence. This kind of cold-bloodedness and decisiveness required as a commander was to a certain extent contrary to the virtues and creed of the warriors. But this is the most efficient and realistic approach.
The strategy is still the same as what was formulated at the beginning - to decapitate Saburo.
Ghouls almost only obey the owner of the original magic power, because that is the embodied projection of the magic power itself. By what method did Saburo and those in the feudal territory succeed in driving these weakened versions of ghouls as mortals? They had powerful power that could expand rapidly in a short period of time, but they also created a force that was more powerful than a traditional army. Serious Weakness - Heavy dependence on the leader.
The traditional beheading of generals in the army is enough to cause a serious loss of morale, but as long as there is still a backbone of middle-level and grass-roots officers and non-commissioned officers, the army can still maintain a certain combat effectiveness.
But ghouls are just beasts.
They are twisted beasts that have been contaminated by magic and transformed into "what living things should be". They do not follow social structures or military systems and act only on instinct.
So once the leader who single-handedly controls the overall situation is killed, they will collapse instantly.
The complete defense line built in Hot Spring Village was just to buy time for the elite team to kill Saburo and to provide cover and distract attention.
