Chapter 242 Take Them Away
The road in the valley had disappeared, and the ground was covered with mud and gravel. Occasionally, some Snake Cult warriors could be seen curled up on the ground, shivering with their heads covered with round shields.
More snake worshippers should have been shallowly buried by the sprayed mud.
In fact, it is impossible for the tens of thousands of troops in the valley to be completely destroyed by just one man-made landslide.
Although most of the snake worshippers were buried in the mud, there were still many lucky ones who were still alive, and many of them were not injured.
But at this time, none of them dared to stand up, or even look up.
Although these snake worshippers are not afraid of death, they are very afraid of the power of heaven and earth, even more than ordinary people.
After all, superstitious and ignorant people are more likely to attribute all disasters to divine punishment.
The previous movement, in the eyes of the snake worshippers, seemed to have angered the gods...
Until now, rocks are still falling from the cliff, but the Snake Cult army in the valley basically dares not move.
Li Ang didn't know how many members of the Snake Cult were still alive at this time, but he didn't plan to take the troops to investigate directly - it was too dangerous. Who knew when those bombed areas on the cliffs on both sides would collapse again?
Moreover, according to common sense, the direct casualties that the landslide and falling earth and rocks could cause to the Snake Cult army would only amount to half.
Those surviving Snake Worshipers are currently lying on the ground in fear of Tianwei and dare not move, but if they lead the troops down the valley to face them directly, they might have to fight another unprofitable and bad battle.
In fact, in order to ensure that all hidden dangers could be completely resolved, Li Ang had already asked the guards to make preparations.
Wendy had already appeared at the entrance of the valley with the Noldor Guards.
The previous explosion was caused by her and her men - the valley is very large and the fuse is not that long. To create such a large-scale explosion, one person must be arranged to light the fuse every small section.
This meant climbing to the top of the cliff to ambush, and then running away immediately after lighting the fuse. Only the Noldor Rangers had the efficiency and skills to escape the landslide after the explosion in time.
At this time, Wendy had reorganized the guards and blocked the entrance to the valley.
That is, behind the Snake Cult army .
The entrance to the valley had also become extremely narrow due to the landslide. A large amount of soil and rubble mixed with trees blocked the entrance, leaving only a gap of less than ten meters.
Wendy's mission was not to guard the gap. In fact, no one could predict what this place would look like before the explosion, and it was also difficult to predict whether the Noldor could reach this location in time after a large-scale landslide.
Li Ang's arrangement for her was to try her best to light a fire at the entrance of the valley.
A fire that can burn all night and seal the entire entrance to the valley.
As a Noldor elf, Wendilf had never touched fire before she met Leon, but she didn't expect that after meeting the lord, she would always do things like killing people, setting fires, and making explosions...
With only a gap of ten meters left at the entrance of the valley, the task of lighting a fire and sealing the entrance was indeed quite easy for the two hundred Noldor.
All kinds of messy trees were dragged over and piled together, blocking the entire entrance to the valley with their branches and leaves.
Then, thick smoke filled the air from the pile of trees with branches, leaves and some soil mixed in.
The fire didn't seem too big, with the flames only three to five meters high, but the thick smoke made it impossible to get close.
But no matter what, no one can get out from here.
At the entrance of Fidena village, Leon himself was also preparing to light a fire at this end of the valley.
"Sir Fabius, you light the fire... As a lord, you must do one good thing for your own territory... although this may be the only one."
Leon handed a torch to Fabius and motioned him to light several rows of wooden stakes.
The messy things stuffed between the wooden stakes were actually some tinder.
The villagers in the village were dragging a large pile of trees, apparently waiting to add firewood after the fire was lit.
"This... if we start a fire here, it won't burn the snake worshippers in the valley, right?"
Fabius obviously didn't understand what this meant, but he didn't dare to disobey, so he took the torch and started to light it.
"It is difficult for fire to burn people who can run and jump... The vast majority of people who die in fires die from the thick smoke..."
Li Ang said calmly: "Just like what you and your son did, although you didn't say you would kill people when you forcibly requisitioned food, your men killed most of the elderly like smoke in a fire..."
Fabius's hand holding the torch trembled violently: "Sir Leon, you said you would let me go... otherwise my father would definitely kill all the women and children!"
The fire was finally lit, but Fabius' heart probably cooled.
All the wooden stakes at the entrance of the village had caught fire, forming a wall of fire, and the villagers continued to throw trees and corpses into it.
Thick smoke accompanied by a foul smell began to spread throughout the valley, gradually covering the entire valley floor. This was what would inevitably happen if a fire was set at the valley entrance. The valley was a windy place, and the wind would continuously blow smoke into the valley. In addition, with the fires at both ends, the smoke could not disperse, and the thick smoke continued to accumulate in the valley, forming a rolling gray carpet within a few minutes.
The sound of coughing and heart-wrenching wails rang out one after another, along with the dull sound of falling stones from time to time, adding another layer of torture to the valley that had already become purgatory.
The coughing sound in the valley lasted for less than half an hour before it completely subsided.
Huge fires broke out at both ends of the valley, completely blocking all exits. The Snake Worshipers who had been afraid of the power of the landslide and had not been able to climb out of the mud and rocks in time now found it completely impossible for them to climb out.
The sky gradually darkened, but the fire illuminated the entire valley. The thick gray smoke gradually accumulated in the valley and formed a rolling cloud of smoke, burying everything at the bottom of the valley.
Tens of thousands of Snake Cult troops were buried in this valley without having much direct contact with Leon's troops.
Evening in the village of Fidner.
"Fabius, to be honest, it's stupid for you and your son to threaten me with the women and children in your own territory... Do you think I will be threatened by this?"
Le Ang is now basically certain that the Snake Cult army is doomed. Although he cannot go to the valley to check now, as long as they are not the walking dead of the Legion of Fear, they will definitely suffocate to death in the valley.
He looked at Fabius, who appeared to be powerful but was actually weak, and began to consider how to deal with the father and son.
Livius was not actually here; the governor was still hiding in the mountains with the women and children of the village—he had not released them.
After learning that Fabius was captured and forced to release the young and strong men in the mines, Livius probably wanted to use those women and children to ensure the safety of him and his son.
In order to deal with the Snake Cult army first, Li Ang had no time to deal with them before, and letting the women and children hide in the mountains was also the right thing to do when facing the enemy.
But now, this matter has to be resolved.
"This is not a threat. I just want to save my life... You asked me to release the young and strong, and I released them all. I don't want to go against you... Now that the snake worshippers have been killed, you should keep your promise and let me go!"
Fabius explained weakly.
"Fabius, I said that I would only let you go after all the Snake Worshipers were killed - all of them, understand? And now, there are still so many Snake Worshipers standing in front of you..."
Li Ang pointed at the two hundred or so soldiers dressed as Snake Cult warriors who were surrounded by villagers.
They were the private soldiers of the Levius family, wearing green robes, but now they were all unarmed.
"This! But they are not snake worshippers! They are..."
Fabius sat down on the ground dejectedly in the middle of his words, then turned his head and closed his mouth, no longer looking at the soldiers.
"Aren't they snake worshippers? ... They were the ones who abducted the villagers? They were the ones who forcibly requisitioned food, right? They were the ones who killed and burned people, right? Isn't this what snake worshippers do? It seems you have understood..."
Li Ang turned to look at the panicked soldiers: "Then... do you understand?"
"Sir... we are just following orders... we... please don't kill us! This is not fair!"
One of the smarter soldiers fell to his knees and began to cry.
Obviously, he had understood that Fabius wanted them to die!
"I was following orders. Whose orders were you following? When did I order you to kill the old people in the village? When did I order you to burn down the houses in the village? I only ordered you to recruit soldiers and food, not to kill or burn people!"
Fabius turned around and retorted, obviously unwilling to take the blame.
"It seems that you want fairness... How about this, I will give you fairness. You take the villagers to find all the property that the Levius family has plundered over the years, capture Levius, and rescue all the women and children. After you do all this, I will let you go. Otherwise, you will all be snake worshippers."
The lord smiled sarcastically and used the usual tactics that the nobles of Bacchus used to harm the common people.
…
The next morning, the villagers returned.
They brought back most of the women and children, as well as the food that originally belonged to them.
Levius was also brought back, but he was brought back sideways.
He died, a miserable death.
The bald governor had many small scars on his face and a huge gap on his neck - it looked like he had been bitten, with more than half of his neck bitten off.
In addition, most parts of the body seemed to have been smashed and almost turned into mud.
It looks even more miserable than those snake worshippers who died in the landslide. If Leon hadn't said he wanted to bring the people back, it is estimated that this governor would not even have a complete head left.
In the distance, many villagers still did not rest and surrounded the group of soldiers without leaving.
Fabius sat among all the soldiers, trembling.
"What happened? Did he encounter an ogre?"
Leon seemed quite calm. He didn't care whether Levius lived or died, but since he died so tragically, he had to ask about it.
"It was a villager who bit me..."
Lisadiran explained: "Many women died in the house where Levius was hiding. They were all naked and had signs of abuse... Some young girls were also killed. The villagers could not be stopped at that time..."
In order to avoid accidents, Risadilan brought some troops and went with the villagers, and witnessed the entire situation.
Originally, the villagers were only trying to rescue their own wives and children, but later, after hearing the cries of the women who were still alive, they discovered that many of them had been raped. Later, they saw corpses scattered all over the ground behind the house in the mountains.
A villager went mad after seeing the body of a young girl. He rushed into the yard and bit Levius' throat like a wild beast, and never let go.
That was his daughter, said to be only seven years old.
The other villagers also rushed forward, and it was hard to say whether Levius was bitten to death or beaten to death.
"He doesn't even let young children go?"
Leon frowned and looked at Levius's rag-like body.
Lisadiran shook his head. "Sir, there are not just a few female corpses, but hundreds of them. I have seen hundreds of female corpses myself, and the youngest girl looked only five or six years old. And after the villagers came back, at least three or four hundred families did not find their wives."
"Three or four hundred?! In two months... he definitely can't harm so many women by himself!"
Li Ang turned to look at the two hundred soldiers tied up at the other end of the village: "I'm afraid none of them are innocent!"
Lisadiran nodded: "Yes, sir, I think so too...but you said last night that you would let them go, so I tied them up first and wait for you to deal with them."
In order to survive, those private soldiers really wanted to capture Levius. They seemed to be working very hard when leading the way and even brought back several carts of property.
But they never mentioned before that so many women died...
"Go, throw that body into the fire...it's an eyesore."
Leon walked up to the group of soldiers and gave orders.
The soldiers' eyes lit up. They probably thought that Leon was going to keep his promise and give them a chance to live. Several soldiers lifted up Levius' body and planned to throw it into the still burning fire.
"…No! What are you doing?"
Fabius rushed over, pushed aside several soldiers, and tried to snatch his father's body.
But even with ropes tied to their hands, several soldiers still worked together to subdue Fabius.
Levius' body was then thrown into the fire.
"Levius was burned to death by these snake worshippers. Are you just going to watch? Why don't you kill these snake worshippers quickly?"
Li Ang said this calmly, and took a few steps back to make room.
The villagers didn't understand.
But the old tribune understood.
He stood up and shouted: "Burn them to death..."
The villagers already hated these soldiers, and now that they received clear instructions, they all rushed forward and submerged the two hundred soldiers and Fabius in the crowd.
"Since we want to kill them...it's only natural to kill them, but why do we have to let these villagers do it themselves?"
After returning to the manor on the mountainside, Amy looked at the villagers who kept throwing corpses into the fire and asked Leon in surprise.
"Because I want to take all these villagers away..."
Li Ang replied: "Let them kill the local lords and their soldiers with their own hands, and they will have no choice but to follow me... Speaking of which, my behavior is not noble, but at least I can let them live..."
