Chapter 235 The Science of Killing
Yipu River Port, the residence of the Fia family.
"Noxus may be preparing a massacre this time." Riven said solemnly.
This made Fia and the others, who had just dodged the Noxian soldiers all over the street and got home safely, think they had escaped danger, pale again: "No, no way?"
Fia shrank her cat ears and asked cautiously, "We walked all the way back from the port, and we didn't see any Noxian soldiers killing anyone."
"Fiya, you don't understand Noxus, nor do you understand how to massacre a city." Riven sighed.
Although she herself was unwilling, because she followed the bloodthirsty and murderous perverted general Amistan, she could be said to be very familiar with the process of Noxus's massacre.
He Feiya, unlike what most people imagine , the massacre did not mean breaking down the city gates and then rushing into the city like headless flies, robbing money and killing people.
This is something only the barbarians of the Freljord would do.
No matter how bad the military discipline of the Noxian Empire is, it is still a modern military empire. It is still much better than the Freljord robbery gangs who go south to collect money every year and whose social system is still in the primitive nomadic tribal era.
"Noxus actually attaches great importance to military discipline - this does not mean that the Empire pays attention to the protection of the people in the occupied areas, but literally, it pays attention to the discipline of the army itself."
Want to rob? Sure.
But it must be approved by superiors.
Noxian soldiers can be more brutal than barbarians when it comes to burning, killing, and looting.
But as long as their superiors order them to enforce military discipline, they must be more civilized and lawful than the law enforcers in Piltover.
As for the small number of soldiers who disobeyed orders and acted recklessly, once discovered, Crete's fate would basically be the same as theirs.
"Because disorderly massacres will cause the military discipline to completely collapse, and an out-of-control army will also be a headache for the commander of the empire."
"So whenever the imperial army arrives at a place or conquers a city, if they don't want to massacre the people in the city beforehand, the first thing they do after entering the city is to gather the soldiers and enforce military discipline—"
"Not only can't you kill people, you can't even rob people."
This is not to say that the Noxian army is so kind as not to rob the civilians in the city.
But if all the benefits were taken away by the out-of-control soldiers, what would the officers have to eat?
Therefore, in order to maintain military discipline, consolidate occupation, and their own interests, the imperial commanders generally prefer to enforce military discipline and maintain order after breaking into the city, and then systematically exploit the rich and seize the land in the city.
"But what did we just see? Noxian soldiers were scattered in the city in groups of three or five, extorting money from each house."
"Not only did the officers fail to restrain them, they also divided the soldiers into small groups and led them to participate in the looting on the front line."
This behavior has a scientific name in Noxus: "plundering."
Allowing soldiers to plunder is usually a prelude to a large-scale massacre.
Riven's complex analysis made Fia and the others even more panicked.
They all subconsciously looked towards the tightly closed door of the mansion, listening to the chaotic and noisy sounds coming from outside the courtyard wall, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.
But Feiya still had a glimmer of hope: "Or, maybe... those Noxians just wanted to rob money, not massacre the city?"
"Ah." Riven sighed deeply: "That's what they want you to think."
Why did the Noxians let their troops plunder first instead of just entering the city and attacking like the barbarians in the Freljord?
Because entering the city and starting to hack people indiscriminately would only make the people in the city realize the reality in an instant and fall into despair.
When people become desperate, they will collapse and run away, or they will fight to the death, causing the situation to completely get out of control.
A city can have tens of thousands of people, or even hundreds of thousands. What would it look like if hundreds of thousands of people were to flee or rebel at the same time?
Faced with such chaos, it would not only be difficult for the Noxian army to prevent these large numbers of civilians from escaping, but it might even result in unnecessary casualties due to their resistance.
Therefore, this kind of extensive massacre will not kill many people (relatively speaking).
"So..." Riven swallowed and said something chilling in a complicated tone: "In the countless wars over the past few hundred years, Noxus gradually summed up a set of 'orderly, efficient', 'clean and thorough' city massacre procedures."
"On the first day they enter the city, they will plunder and loot everywhere, knocking on doors and extorting money from every household."
"If the citizens pay the money honestly, they will naively believe that the Noxians are only interested in money and not life. They think that as long as they cooperate honestly, they can get rid of the disaster by spending money."
"But in the next few days, the Noxians came to our door more than once."
"Every time they come to your house, they will ask you for money, more money than before, until all your belongings are gone—"
"When a few days have passed and you really have no more money to give them, they will use the excuse that you 'are not telling the truth' to drag out your family members and execute them in front of you as a demonstration."
At this time, the civilians had been domesticated unknowingly.
After several days of bullying and torture like boiling a frog in warm water, and after repeated compromises and obedience in exchange for paying money to save their lives, they had long lost the courage to fight to the death and the determination to resist to the death.
"You will just watch your family being killed, and then continue to live on with the last bit of fantasy left in your heart."
"You thought the Noxians were after your money. You thought they would stop after they confirmed that you really had no money and vented their anger. But... in fact, the Noxian massacre had just begun."
At this point, Riven's voice was already trembling.
But she persisted in exposing Noxus' crimes:
"After several days of extortion and torture, almost all the property of the people in the city had been plundered."
"At this time, the Noxians had already conducted several days of door-to-door looting and had roughly figured out whether there were people in each street and each house, and how many people there were."
"So the Noxians will stop looting, and they'll start looking for all sorts of reasons to make you vacate your houses for the army, and drive you out of your homes one by one, and centralize and manage you—"
"If you resist at this point, they will use this as an excuse to kill you on the spot."
"And if you cooperate honestly, you will be imprisoned by Noxus like sheep to be slaughtered in the 'camp' they have prepared... and here is the real hell."
Riven recounted how Noxus gradually undermined the citizens' will to resist and tamed and enslaved them like livestock.
Once the livestock leave their homes in large numbers and enter the slaughterhouses, the next step is efficient centralized slaughter.
"At this time, after several days of wanton looting, the Noxian soldiers had already been aroused to their bestiality."
"They have long been immersed in the pleasure of doing whatever they want to the weak, and can inflict any evil you can imagine on those servile civilians without any guilt."
"Plus, there is a mandatory order from the superior to massacre the whole city... Then, they will launch an inhumane massacre against the gathered civilians."
"At this time, everyone will fall into a morbid frenzy. Not only will they kill, they will also enjoy killing, and even treat it as a game, launching killing competitions and killing people in all kinds of ways that you can't imagine."
"Even if there are still a few rational people in the army who can't bear to see this, they can't stop it at all."
"They may even be forced to participate in the massacre by their superiors and colleagues in this perverted environment."
At this point, the explanation of the Noxus massacre process came to an end, and Riven's emotions reached their limit.
Her voice was trembling, her breathing became rapid, and cold sweat was unknowingly oozing from her forehead.
"Orianna, are you... okay?" Fia suddenly held her hand with concern and asked her.
"I... I'm fine." Riven finally reacted.
She had obviously gotten used to it before. With a superior like Amistan, she should have gotten used to it a long time ago.
But why is there such a reaction now?
"Orianna, did you..." Fia noticed something: "Have you personally experienced the massacre in Noxus?"
"I... didn't." Riven was suddenly speechless.
"No." Feiya shook her head: "You are talking about your own experience, I can hear it."
Riven became increasingly silent.
She didn't dare to look at Feiya at all and could only lower her head in shame.
After a long time, she answered with a difficult voice: "Yes."
“Janna, God.” The little girl’s eyes showed deep sympathy. “Orianna, it turns out that you are a survivor of the Noxian slaughter!”
Riven: “…”
"Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned this." Fortunately, Feiya didn't ask any more questions.
She just held Riven's hand comfortingly, and asked worriedly: "Orianna, if Noxus really wants to massacre the city, what should we do now?"
"Run." Riven answered directly.
"Run, just run like that?" Feiya was stunned for a moment: "What about the rest of the people in the city?"
Riven's silence said it all.
At present, there are at least two regiments of troops occupying the Yipu River Port. These troops are enough to sweep across the entire Barue Province, not to mention her, a deserter without a sword.
In this situation, you are lucky to be able to escape, so why would you have time to think about anything else?
"Fia, I'm sorry... there's nothing we can do."
"No, no!" Feiya lost her composure.
The Ionians have no concept of a nation and only care about their fellow villagers and relatives, so they generally have a strong sense of local sentiment.
For Feiya, Yipuhe Port is her home, and many people in this city are her relatives and friends.
"Orianna, is there really no other way?" she asked unwillingly.
"No." Riven answered rationally.
"But I want to save everyone!"
Riven could only sigh: "Some things can't be done just because you want to."
"Then we will do nothing? Just watch our hometown destroyed like you did before?"
"Yes." Riven said helplessly, "If you still want to live!"
"But you are the leader!"
"The ability of the leader is also limited!" What's more, she is a fake: "Feiya, don't be naive!"
"..." Feiya was speechless.
She bit her lip to hold tears of grief, but the tears still fell.
Riven felt that she had used too much emphasis on her tone, so she said, "I'm sorry..."
"No, you don't have to apologize." Feiya said comfortingly: "This is what you have experienced in the past, right? Your hometown has also experienced this, right?"
"This is the pain of carrying hatred and blood debt, and having to remain calm and move forward for the sake of ideals..."
"I finally understand you, Orianna."
Riven: “…”
No, she is not in pain. She is the pain.
Riven thought painfully.
"Orianna, I'll listen to you. Let's run away." Finally, Fia faced the reality.
But looking at Fia's tears and her forced mature and strong face, Riven said in a mysterious way: "No."
"Maybe I can find a way to save everyone."
