“Knight,” Duke Blackwater sneered, “the Knights’ organization can only resort to such petty tricks.”
Li Yunshou suddenly said, "As far as I know, the knights killed the Silver Duke. You don't need to underestimate them."
Duke Blackwater stared intently at Li Yunshou: "It seems you've prepared some things as well, hence your more assertive tone. It's alright, I'll show you how they're destroyed."
Within just half an hour, the civilian airships prepared by the Li family crashed one after another, setting off a sea of fire in City 18.
The next moment, outside City 18, countless Li family military airships flew in, numbering as many as five hundred.
Duke Blackwater laughed: "So, this is what you prepared."
Li Yunshou remained silent.
In the first round of ambushes, Hengshe used 512 civilian airships.
This ambush involved all 318 civilian airships and 191 military airships controlled by the Li family in the city.
Civilian airships formed a solid wall in front, protecting the military airships behind them as they charged into the sky.
They flew towards the aerial fortress from all directions, like tiny moths flying towards the black island standing tall in the sky.
In the wind and snow.
They relentlessly crashed into the air fortress, even at the cost of overloading and damaging the nuclear power plant and engines.
However, the Blackwater had already made all the preparations.
The 72 main guns of the Blackwater air fortress slid rapidly along the tracks, and one electromagnetic gun after another charged up and fired.
The alloy bullets pierced through civilian airships one by one, and the originally solid and dense walls were shattered in just ten minutes, revealing the military airships behind the 'walls'.
Inside the military airships, Li's generals were directing their respective 'warships'.
They watched as civilian airships completed their missions and plummeted back to the ground.
The people there were not soldiers, but rather residents who had volunteered from the Central Plains.
Those people's mission was to send the Li family soldiers on their way, at the cost of an airship and their lives.
One of the generals whispered, "Success or failure hinges on this battle. I'll go down and join you later..."
Inside the airship.
"Power compartment temperature warning!"
Engine temperature warning!
"We've entered attack range. Should we launch the missile?"
"emission!"
Nearly two hundred military airships opened fire simultaneously, firing without hesitation until they used up all the ammunition they carried.
At the same time, Li's soldiers could see the airships around them crashing one by one.
As nearly a thousand missiles flew toward the Blackwater, an astonishing scene unfolded: sections of the protective deck beneath the Blackwater suddenly opened, and tens of thousands of interceptor missiles, each as thick as an arm, emerged, spewing white smoke and creating a vast white net in the sky.
All missiles launched by Lee's military airships were intercepted.
Duke Blackwater sneered, "Can you see the difference? Your airships are utterly useless against our new aerial fortresses. Forget airships, even if your aerial fortresses came, it wouldn't work. According to our calculations, you would need at least two aerial fortresses to replace one of ours."
Li Yunshou remained silent.
The Li family soldiers below the Blackwater air fortress were in despair. They stared blankly as their missiles were destroyed into a series of fireworks, not a single one hitting the Blackwater itself!
"What do we do now?" an adjutant asked from inside the airship.
The general laughed and cursed, "What the hell can we do now? We can't escape now. No one is allowed to retreat! Keep charging! No deserters allowed! Don't bring shame to the Li family! Those civilian airships escorted us here; we can't back down now. This altitude was earned with their lives! Charge!"
Inside the Blackwater air fortress, everyone watched the holographic projection as the Li family airships launched another attack, determined to fly up and die even without ammunition.
Twenty minutes later, all the military airships also crashed.
Along with the heavy snow in the sky, it fell into the dust.
Duke Blackwater sneered: "A meaningless sacrifice."
“It makes sense,” Li Yunshou suddenly said.
Duke Blackwater turned to look at him, his eyes narrowing slightly: "I thought you would become my loyal servant, would care about the 31,922 lives of the Li family, and would care whether they became slaves, but now I feel that you don't care at all."
Li Yunshou calmly watched the holographic projection, watching the Li family's airships continue their charge into the sky, the billowing black smoke rising from them like the waving banners held by warriors.
Charge, then get hit and fall.
Li Yunshou thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I didn't want to be the head of the family. If my seventh brother hadn't taken the spot, I probably would have preferred to be a knight. In fact, the Li family are descendants of the knight Li Yingyun, which is why I corrected you earlier and said never to underestimate a knight."
Li Yunshou bowed slightly to the women of the Li family, saying, "I apologize. It is my incompetence that I, as the head of the family, failed to protect the Li family. If the old master were here, he would have done a better job than I have."
Duke Blackwater stared at Li Yunshou, trying to glean some clues from him.
Li Yunshou looked at him neither humbly nor arrogantly: "For thousands of years, countless people have come to this land, wanting to conquer it and defeat it. We have indeed been conquered and defeated, but in the end, we are still the ones standing here. I'm not trying to make any harsh words, but I want to tell you that perhaps you can enslave this place for a short time, but sooner or later someone will drive you all out or kill you all."
Duke Blackwater sneered: "You think you can take me on?"
Li Yunshou calmly shook his head: "I can't."
The Li women gradually stopped crying. They didn't know the inside story, so their crying was genuine.
The condemnation of Li Yunshou is also genuine.
Li Yunshou endured all of that without ever saying a word.
But now, they suddenly realized that things might not be developing as they had imagined, and that the head of the family's spine remained straight.
Duke Blackwater sneered again: "Since you think you're incapable, then what makes you think you can kill us? With Qing Chen's help?"
Li Yunshou shook his head again: "With our indomitable will."
The Duke of Blackwater paused for a moment, then burst into laughter, and all the white men joined in, as if they had heard a hilarious joke.
Someone asked in an exaggerated tone, "Can an indomitable will be used as a weapon? Are there still ambushes in the sky? Where are the Gods and Green Mountain ships? Quickly, let them out."
Li Yunshou said, "They have already reached the southwest."
"Then you'll have to watch what happens to the women in your family," said the Duke of Blackwater. "Tough talk... won't save the world."
Li Yunshou suddenly laughed: "Four months ago, I had a chat with that old man on Ginkgo Mountain. We talked about many things—humanities, philosophy, Go, and the future. This morning, or the day before yesterday, a man named Qing Ji came to the Half-Mountain Manor and asked me if I regretted it..."
"Hmm?" Duke Blackwater frowned, what kind of nonsense is this?
Li Yunshou said, “The Qing family always looks down on others. They say they have the belief that success doesn’t have to be theirs, and they have the determination to tear everything down and start over. They always boast that their army is the most elite and fearless in the Federation… as if everyone else is inferior to them. Now, let me show you, and let them see, what the Li family’s belief is.”
Time is up.
“I will use the lives of 31,992 people in the Li family as a price, and the lives of the remaining 810,000 elderly, weak, sick and disabled people in this city as a price, to drag you all down to hell.”
"Qingchen and the others have already done a lot for this land, now it's our turn."
In everyone's eyes, Li Yunshou has always been a gentle and refined gentleman. He does things in a calm and unhurried manner, even somewhat slow and deliberate.
It seems that no matter how angry he is, he will never get angry with anyone.
At this moment, Li Yunshou stood in the vast and empty Blackwater air fortress, as resolute as a warrior.
Duke Blackwater had a feeling that something bad was about to happen, but he didn't know what it was.
Is there a destiny that fortune tellers cannot see?
...
...
At this moment, Li Shu had already escorted a group of prisoners to Prison No. 18.
The gate opened, but the prison inside was different from the one Qingchen had first seen.
There were no cells, no prisoners, only staff members in white coats moving around.
At the center of Prison 18 is a nuclear bomb that is 8 meters long, 2.1 meters in diameter, and weighs 27 tons.
After the Federation was established, all nuclear weapons were destroyed, but the research data on nuclear weapons were not destroyed, and now the Qing family has quietly obtained it.
You may not use this sword, but you cannot be without it.
The nuclear bomb, named "Tyrant," was manufactured by the Qing family four months ago, but instead of launching it, the Qing family transported it back here under the pretext of rebuilding Prison No. 18.
The old man on Ginkgo Mountain took away the forbidden item ACE-002 Heaven and Earth Chessboard from here, but this is not the end.
After negotiating with the Li family, he placed the 'tyrant' next to the Li family's bedside, which was the final step in this plan.
And Li Yunshou, this mild-mannered man, actually allowed the Qing family to do so.
This is Li's territory. Without Li's consent, this 'tyrant' would never have been allowed in.
The informants in Blackwater City had been keeping a close eye on the recent changes in the Li family, but they never expected that someone had been preparing for this day four months ago.
Four months ago, some people learned of their fate, and Li Yunshou was one of them.
Therefore, he would prevent Lee from launching missiles to destroy City 10 during the rat swarm.
Therefore, when Qingzhun transforms into a god for a quarter of an hour, he will allow Li Changqing to take the Qingshan ship to provide assistance.
Because he had seen a glimmer of hope.
Li Yunshou knew that he wasn't the only one who saw hope.
He is not alone.
They remained silent, observing and waiting, carefully nurturing everything they saw in their destiny, step by step, until they reached this point, not daring to make any changes on their own.
They were fairly satisfied with the outcome.
So, with trepidation but also immense courage, they went to embrace their destiny.
At this moment, Li Shu led the Li family's resistance fighters into Prison No. 18, and those who had opposed Li Yunshou stared blankly at this scene.
How powerful is it?
"With a yield of 50 million tons, the shockwave will have a radius of 600 kilometers. Within 46 kilometers, nothing will grow, and everything will be annihilated... including the sky above. At that time, even a sneaky glance from 200 kilometers away will burn your eyes, and even in City 10, 600 kilometers away, the windows of buildings will be shattered."
Even if the Blackwater flew high enough, it would only reach an altitude of 12 kilometers.
Such a height is insignificant in the face of a tyrant.
If they could find the exact location and route of the Blackwater, and if they didn't have to sacrifice human lives to fill the time frame visible to the Fates, they could have achieved this brief victory at a much lower cost.
Duke Heishui thought that Li Yunshou and the Li family wouldn't dare to risk the lives of 31,922 members of the Li family, but they really did.