"Adjutant! Come in! I want to pass on the message!"
First of all, of course, there are harsh punishments for those who spread despair. In the Roman Empire Army's military manual, deserters need to receive at least twenty lashes, but for General Dreshuka, in this special case, "lashing" is meaningless.
After all, it is well known that human beings are creatures that want to delay death even if they are destined to die.
So what General Dreshuka had to do was to directly execute all those who spread rumors and despair, and through bloody deaths, force the now desperate Romans to calm down temporarily.
Afterwards, of course, a large-scale brainwashing propaganda was carried out. After all, the fall of that continent did not seem to have much impact on the Elucia continent.
I heard that there was a brief earthquake and tsunami in the coastal area on that side, but for Roman, these impacts were not that big...
In this case, if we can ensure in a strict manner that this world will not end, and that the world will not collapse because of a piece of land falling from the sky...
By combining his own military force, it would not be a problem to at least ensure complete stability for the people in the area under his jurisdiction.
However, the most General Dreshuka could do was to ensure that the people in "his jurisdiction" were stable.
He could only ensure stability in his own area under a strict rationing system; he did not have the energy to help stabilize the Romani people in other places.
On the one hand, General Dreshuka had the important responsibility of preventing the invasion of Isgard and the possible counterattack of the living dead. On the other hand, General Dreshuka had to take advantage of this time to cultivate the land and replenish military rations.
His human resources are extremely scarce, not enough for his own use, so how could he possibly use them to help other nobles
But if those nobles don't help, if their homes explode, their own families will not have an easy time either.
What's more, he didn't know what the situation was with the bomb called "Royal Capital" behind him.
General Dreshuka sighed heavily, ordered the messengers to convey his orders to various places, and then decided to send someone to the capital to collect intelligence in person.
Because he had a hunch.
The situation in the royal capital will only get worse.
…
General Dreshka was very efficient. His soldiers strictly followed his orders, executing all those who spread rumors of doomsday, while also rewarding civilians who strictly followed discipline in times of crisis.
The military district had been implementing a rationing system, and when General Dreshuka's new order was passed down, there was an immediate contrast between the executed rumormongers and the steadfast people who received double food supplies. Combined with people's sensitivity to surprise and their instinct to "struggle as long as they can," the citizens of the military district quickly restored order.
Although their morale was still low, at least in the eyes of General Dreshuka, they had become "unpolished gems" who could barely accept brainwashing education and regain confidence in the military region.
"Now immediately proclaim that the continent was only a vision - there is nothing else in our sky, everything is safe here, let the inhabitants distract themselves with labor."
General Dreshuka said, "In addition, let our soldiers maintain their confidence as much as possible - don't let the residents have any doubts, even if it means lying, just answer their questions."
"yes… "
The messenger nodded and left with new orders.
Under the double efforts of General Dreshuka, the spread of the "Doomsday Prophecy" was suppressed in less than a morning.
In other places outside the area actually controlled by General Dreshuka, the soldiers there would try their best to maintain order even without the general's orders. This was considered lucky for General Dreshuka, and it was also the best result of his own emphasis on building military discipline.
Although they did not have many weapons, at least in terms of discipline, they were indeed a qualified army.
General Dreshuka did not relax his vigilance, because he knew that just because he handled the situation well, it did not mean that other places could handle it well.
So his third move came up: "If refugees or nobles from other places expect us to accept their cities, we will reject them."
He said with a serious face, "We are almost exhausted just dealing with our own control zone... Those bastards will only hope that others can save them when things are completely out of control, but why should we obey their wishes
Leave it alone and guard the city gates strictly. If anyone makes a scene, execute them directly. Prince Gassen is not doing anything now anyway. If a few more nobles die, he might be even happier. So be it."
General Dreshuka was worried that nobles from other places would demand that he take over their cities at this time.
He naturally decided to refuse, because as a Romani, he knew best how bad the Romani nobles could be.
The Roman nobles regarded their territory as their own house. Under what circumstances would the Roman nobles be willing to let an outsider like Dreshuka control their house
That is of course when the house is about to collapse - they no longer have the ability to repair their own house, so don't they have the only option left to gamble on General Dreshuka's ability
But General Dreshuka is not that stupid. He is not a regent, and he has no intention of making all Romans better - because many Romans do not deserve to be better.
What he had to do was to guard against it and kill all those who tried to come in from outside...
Just as a clean city will avoid bringing in plague victims from outside during a plague outbreak, he must ensure that cities that have been controlled by public opinion will avoid contamination from the outside world...
But how long can this last? With human resources extremely scarce now, is General Dreshuka's only option to further increase efforts and offer more generous conditions to encourage people to join the army
He frowned and finally sighed heavily.
…
While General Dreshuka was busy, outside the military zone, chaos and despair, guided by the "Doomsday Prophecy", dealt the most fatal blow to other cities in the Roman Empire.
If towns in other places could barely maintain order before the floating continent fell from the sky, then after the floating continent appeared and fell, despair inevitably began to appear and spread at an incredible speed under the guidance of those with ulterior motives.
“This is God’s punishment for us!”
A priest was crying in despair, holding the holy book of the God of Light in his hand. He seemed to be a religious man from the north. The fact that he was not beaten to death on the spot during the chaotic period when the living dead came was enough to prove how highly respected he was in the area.
But because of this, a man with a high reputation among the people began to express his despair. Then for the people of this place, apart from blindly following, the remaining weak doubts would be too powerless in the face of the sea of despair.
"The God of Light has decided to punish each of us! The living dead are the devout believers chosen by the God of Light. Only by entering the state of living death in advance can we avoid falling into hell... It's too late! Everything is too late! We should have opened the city gate and become one of them, but now it's too late!"
"It's too late! Everything is too late!"
Believers and desperate citizens cried and wailed, and the town guards who tried to come in from a distance to maintain order were blocked and unable to move forward or backward.
They tried to cut a bloody path with swords to capture the bragging bastard and hang him, but they were soon dispersed by the desperate citizens.
A dozen or so capable guards still seemed too weak when facing hundreds of desperate and crazy citizens.
They were thrown to the ground and trampled to death, while the frenzied citizens spread chaos and terror in their desperation.
If you had a grudge against someone in the past, you can just kill him in the street now - after all, everyone will die when the end of the world comes, so why can't you die more easily in my hands
The woman I once loved, I can now grab and drag away to seek happiness. After all, everyone will die when the end of the world comes, why can't I try hard at this time, at least have some happy days before I die
What's more, they think that those who are still upholding order at this moment are crazy -
After all, everyone is dying. If you still remain rational when you are dying, who else would be crazy if not you
In this way, the chaos that originally involved a few hundred people quickly spread into despair among thousands or even tens of thousands of people.
The nobles' previous laissez-faire attitude only exacerbated the breakdown of order. When they finally realized the seriousness of the problem, they could do nothing about it.
Faced with a group of crazy people who were raping and killing people in the streets and even started eating people in the streets, this group of pampered nobles had no choice but to leave their fiefdoms under the protection of their family guards and place their hopes in the military district where General Dreshuka was, or the royal capital where Prince Gasen was.
Those who went to the military district were soon stopped at the border, unable to move forward or backward. The soldiers in the military district had received the news long ago, and they had built temporary low walls with wood and compacted earth everywhere. They guarded the few passages and shot at anyone who approached with crossbows.
"Hurry up and stop the fire! Hurry up and stop the fire!" The nobles wailed, "We are the nobles of the Central District! Hurry up and stop the fire! We have an urgent order to explain to General Dreshuka! You can't stop us, you can't stop us!"
What greeted them were thick javelins and live ammunition one after another. After watching their fellow nobles and their own guards being stabbed to death or smashed into pieces, the nobles could only flee in panic, either trying to enter the military area from other places, or looking back for Prince Gassen, and some simply planned to return to their mansions in the mountains and forests to spend the next days and nights in fear.
The military district successfully stopped the "attack" of the nobles, but they did not have any room to relax. Because not long after the nobles left, a request from the "people" came.
They were a group of citizens who claimed that they had finally escaped from the chaotic city. They tried their best to maintain order, but a group of lunatics made their city a mess.
They did not directly attack the border of the military zone, but instead sent representatives waving white flags in the hope of negotiating with the border garrison of the military zone.
Seeing that they still had some sense, the garrison used their initiative to consider them as "negotiable" objects, and accepted them into the camp.
After personally judging the mental state of the fugitives and obtaining General Dreshuka's consent using a long-distance communication magic item, the border garrison allowed this group of still orderly residents to enter the military zone.
"But you cannot leave the area we have planned for you within seven days! You need to earn your living through labor, and you cannot spread rumors about other places, otherwise you will be executed directly. Do you understand?!"
The soldiers' stern voices made the citizens nod their heads in approval. They were the only citizens allowed to enter the military zone, because the next people to go to the border of the military zone were either a group of shirtless lunatics biting human flesh, or a group of crazy weirdos who had other intentions.
The soldiers were on high alert, and in the royal capital area outside the military zone, the chaos was even more terrifying.
The royal capital had already been put into a closed state when the zombies appeared earlier.
The originally closed capital was maintained in order by the Imperial Knights and Guards, but they suffered heavy losses in previous attacks. Even though they are recruiting again, due to the deliberate influence of the Ares people, it is still difficult to replenish these soldiers directly under the capital.
With fewer and fewer soldiers maintaining order, it will naturally be more difficult to calm people's hearts once chaos occurs in the city.
Not to mention, apart from Prince Gasen who has completely stopped doing anything, there is also a devil in the royal capital who is fanning the flames.
Under the illusion of world peace deliberately created by the devil, Prince Gasson was enjoying delicious grapes while receiving a massage from the head maid.
Outside the palace, the already nervous citizens went even crazier because of the "doomsday prophecy".
The residents were desperate to escape from this closed city. They tried to fight against the Imperial Knights and Guards. When they found that they could not defeat these tin cans no matter what, they turned around and attacked the citizens who still had order.
The imperial knights and guards were busy, but their numbers were too few to cover every corner of the royal capital.
Desperate cries of women and beast-like horns were heard from every corner of the slums and downtown area of the royal capital. When the guards finally arrived at the scene, all they saw was a mangled corpse and a monster that was wriggling with only its lower body left.
If a human with that horrible expression can still be called a "human", then all the ugly things in this world are more human than the Romans—
In fact, the guards killed all the criminals who could be killed, but the chaos still inevitably spread.
They began to shrink their defense lines and guide the citizens who were still orderly to seek refuge on the avenue and square in front of the palace.
They tried to ask these citizens for permission to enter the palace for refuge, but the people of Arese used their air guns to tell them: You can guard outside, but Prince Gasson did not give them the authority to let any outsiders into the palace area.
"Let them in! They are the people of the Empire!" The Imperial Knights were so angry that their beards stood up. "This is our territory!"
"But we are accepting orders from Prince Gassen, so you have no right to warn us with the belonging land."
The Alessian was not to be outdone, and from a high position he placed the head of the Imperial Knight on his crosshairs:
"I will ask Prince Gassen for your opinion, but if he is unwilling, then you can either come back or maintain order outside - there are nearly a million people in chaos outside! How many of you are there? Instead of wasting manpower outside, you might as well come in early to strengthen the palace's defense!"
The people of Ares actually hoped that the imperial knights and guards would quickly abandon the unruly people outside and then enter the palace area to ensure that every blind spot was guarded and stationed.
After all, in such a chaotic situation, it is always a good thing to have more soldiers on our side.
Besides, at least you can ensure that you have enough food in the palace area. What's the point of you being outside protecting the people who are destined to die in the chaos
But those imperial knights and guards didn't know if they had lost their minds or what, they would rather try to establish an order zone outside without any food supplies than return to the palace area to continue their work.
This gave the Arese commander a headache, and for the first time, the Arese wanted to quickly take Prince Gasson, the strong man, and leave the country.
There was no other reason. The country was becoming increasingly chaotic. The people of Alese were very suspicious that the country would perish in despair in a few months. By then, there would be no point for them to continue staying in the Roman capital.
After all, if the Roman Empire is really destined to die, then it would be better for us to wait for him to die and then eat the rotten flesh than to die together now, right
But they had to wait for the emperor's order. If the emperor didn't give the order, they couldn't attack Prince Gasson who was living a life of luxury in the palace...
This is really weird.
"Damn it! How long can our ammunition supply last in the fierce battle?" Commander Alesse cursed, "And what is the current maintenance status of our guns?"
"We can hold out for two weeks at most. As for the maintenance of the guns... some supplies have arrived earlier so it's okay, but it's hard to say what will happen next."
"Then we must use the weapons in the Romans' arsenal for defense. Try not to use air rifles if possible - distribute the remaining weapons in the arsenal immediately. Who the hell would have thought that the Roman Empire would drag us down with it before it dies? Alas!"
Commander Alesse sighed as he prepared for the next tough battle. As the situation in the capital became more chaotic by the minute, Prince Gassen's attendant walked to the kitchen, smiling as he felt the results from the other "Demon Missionaries" while thinking about the next arrangements.
Not long ago, by utilizing the magic residue from the eastern mines, the demon servants successfully created several "missing persons" in the palace and transformed them into modern demons with missionary abilities.
In the minds of the demon servants, if the demons of the future still like to use brute force and special abilities to win on the frontal battlefield like the primitive people of the past, then it is difficult to guarantee that when this demon disaster occurs, the demons will be able to occupy this world and transform it into a demon world.
He believes that demons should also keep up with the times. After years of being influenced by the human world, he believes that humans do not have to be killed or eaten through "violence".
Demons and humans can achieve a symbiotic relationship of "mutual benefit" - of course, all mutual benefits refer to demons, not humans.
"We can obviously create more "despair" by inducing corruption and chaos in the human world, just like we are doing now... When "despair" reaches a certain height, naturally, these human countries that may prevent the attack of the Great Rift will be unable to cope with the attack of our large forces...
In this case, the demons can achieve more results with fewer casualties - isn't this more practical than relying solely on brute force like before
Not only that, if we can cultivate the devil's followers in the human world and let them develop to a certain extent, we can even cooperate with them from inside and outside, and finally turn those devil's followers into delicious meals on our plates... Right? Why didn't we do that before
Come to think of it, I seem to be the only high-level demon who has experience surviving in the human world... Indeed, wisdom is always more practical than brute force."
The demon servant whispered.
He had been improving his "intelligence" for a while. As a result, his physical strength became weaker and weaker.
If he could flap his wings and fly high into the sky easily before, now he needs to spend a lot of effort to barely fly to the sky where he could easily fly before, and then glide.
But what is the use of the former strength compared with the present wisdom? The attendant thought, isn't he more real now than before? More useful
Sure enough, brute force cannot determine victory or defeat... After so many years, the demons should also know that only "wisdom" can make everything better, right
That's how it is...
"I cannot do without the strength of my fellow tribesmen in the north."
The demon servant murmured. Now that his physical fitness has weakened as his intelligence has grown, he has fully understood the importance and efficiency of the theoretical "division of labor and cooperation" in human society.
If he is the intellectual brain among the demons in the future, then inevitably, he will need a strong arm to execute his plans...
The Ice Disaster was his arm. Although the demon servant was somewhat confused by the aura of the same race coming from the floating continent, he finally chose to focus on the Ice Disaster.
After all, he is an ancient Titan demon... With him, it will be just a matter of time before the demons take over the entire Elucia continent before the demonic disaster arrives.