The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 358: Extra: Respect for Freedom

Above the mine pit, hundreds of meters above, dust and sand billowed, and the wind howled.

As Chang Tianchen's voice faded into the wind, Su Weihua narrowed her eyes slightly and used her hand to shield herself from the fine sand that was rushing towards her.

By the time he lowered his hand, Chang Tianchen's figure had already completely disappeared into the distance.

Su Weihua stood at the very edge of the pit, gazing intently at the center of the swirling dust and sand. Only the outline of the buildings atop Serkin City was faintly visible, while the sand and gravel beneath her feet tumbled down.

At that moment, he suddenly understood why Ling Chengen always looked so disgusted when talking about slaves, and why he repeatedly emphasized that beastmen should not be divided into different classes, and that slavery was an extremely cruel system of exploitation and oppression.

The orcs of the Northern Wilderness, even though they walk on the edge of life and death every day, are still free.

They are like clouds drifting freely across the wilderness, like the untamed wind.

From the day they were born on the grassland, they have been slowly learning a principle.

In this world, no one is born weak, and no one is born strong.

On this land, fighting and survival are the lifelong lessons for every orc.

It concerns the beast tide, territory, and resources for survival.

They are all teaching them a truth.

The strong live, the weak die.

Therefore, the land of the Northern Wilderness cannot nurture a numb and indifferent race.

Even when faced with a powerful enemy, even when oppressed, even if they can't win, they will try every means to escape.

They will keep the hatred in their hearts and wait until they are stronger to avenge themselves.

When Su Weihua was very young, she envied the Southern Plains Beast City that adults talked about.

In their words, Nanyuan was rich, prosperous, beautiful, and powerful; even the air seemed sweet.

But now he is incredibly grateful that he is a person from the Northern Wilderness.

……

The prisoners exiled from Sergin City to the Northern Wilderness were almost all descendants of nobles; none of them were born slaves.

This was something Ling Chengen discovered by chance when he wanted to find someone familiar with Sergin City to learn more about the city after the Battle of Sergin City began.

After some searching, Ling Chengen found a female from Serkin City through Zhi Lü.

This female is quite old, sixty-seven years old this year, and her name is Senetia.

It is said that at the age of seventeen, he was exiled to the northern wilderness with his father's clan, who had been stripped of their noble status.

Their clan is known as the Hunyuan Dragon Owl Clan.

All the beastmen of the Hunyuan Longxiao clan can fly, and their wings have claws.

The beast form combines features of the pterosaur and owl tribes, and is not large in size, with a wingspan that usually does not exceed two meters.

Only a quarter to a third of the adult Golden-Crowned Eagle Clan and Silver-Horned Night Owl Clan beast forms.

The head and neck of the Hunyuan Dragon Owl are covered with colorful and beautiful feathers, while the feathers on its back and wings are very short, looking almost like scales attached to its skin. Therefore, their body feathers are also called scale feathers. In addition, their tail feathers are like those of a phoenix, very long and extremely gorgeous.

Therefore, the tail feathers that naturally fall off from the Hunyuan Dragon Owl Clan are collected and made into decorations for clothing and hats, and they are quite expensive.

The Hunyuan Dragon Owl Clan are natives of Sergin City and are rarely seen in the Northern Wilderness. So much so that a single exquisite hat made from the tail feathers of the Hunyuan Dragon Owl can be traded for seven perfectly grown, horned bulls.

This thing is considered a luxury item in the Northern Wilderness, and Ling Chengen happens to have one.

However, this hat was not obtained through trade of goods or currency. Rather, it was something Chang Tianchen had done when he attacked the southwest region. He killed several Hunyuan Longxiao tribe beastmen who had instigated rebellions in the southwest. During the battle, he plucked their magnificent tail feathers with his bare hands and later gave them to a female who made handmade clothes and hats to customize.

Chang Tianchen was no pushover either. When dealing with the rebels, he would first humiliate them before killing them, and finally hang their heads at the gate of the rebel tribe's territory for seven days.

His ruthless and bloody methods, coupled with Bai Qingyu's subsequent appeasement policies, brought the long-turbulent southwest region to complete stability.

This exquisite hat, made from the tail feathers of a mixed dragon owl, was both his trophy and a medal for suppressing the rebellion.

Finally, he personally gave it to Ling Chengen.

The Hunyuan Dragon Owl Clan has a total population of no more than two hundred in the Northern Wilderness.

More than half of the tribe members lived in the southeastern region and, after decades of integration with the local indigenous people, eventually merged into a multi-ethnic tribe.

The Hunyuan Dragon Owl Clan in the southeastern region is considered relatively well-behaved.

The last news that reached the City of Ten Thousand Beasts was about an underage male member of their clan named Weng Mi who had cultivated a hybrid bean.

The document presented to Ling Chengen's desk stated that the boy had hybridized an annual soybean plant with a perennial Eastern soybean tree.

Later, this bean was named Wengmi bean, but it is more commonly known as madder bean.

Because this hybrid bean is a perennial plant, and the beans it produces are a deep reddish-brown color, large and plump, it is very suitable for oil extraction.

There are not many bean seeds available yet; they are currently being cultivated and saved only in the area where Wengmi lives.

Ling Chengen plans to promote its cultivation in the central and southern regions of Xiao State three years from now.

The pea is not particularly cold-hardy and has a long growth cycle, making it unsuitable for cultivation in northern regions.

However, the cold-resistant Wengmi bean is also under research. This project is led by Wengmi, and next year he will go to the northern lands with researchers from the agricultural science department of Xiao Kingdom to conduct experimental planting.

Yu Shaochen also wrote a letter of recommendation for Weng Mi, recommending that the young man enter the Academy of Agricultural Sciences after he comes of age, so that he can systematically learn more about agricultural planting and participate in more agricultural projects.

Senetia was extremely uneasy when she was led into a side hall of the administrative center by Chikuro.

Zhilu was very familiar with the administrative center; she could practically find her way around it with her eyes closed. So she got some tea from the receptionist and prepared some snacks before casually sitting down next to Senetia.

She pushed the snacks toward her and whispered, "You don't need to be too nervous, Your Majesty has a very good personality. He asked me to bring you here because he wanted to hear what kind of city you're talking about, Sergin City. Just tell me what you know."

Senetia fidgeted with her fingertips, sitting hunched over in her chair, barely daring to sit properly, her entire body tense. After a long pause, she hesitated before saying, "This... I've been in the Northern Wilderness for so many years, and I don't know what the situation is like in Sergin City now. Fifty years have passed; it must have undergone earth-shattering changes..."

As the two were talking in hushed tones, Ling Chengen entered through a small side door. Upon seeing them, he greeted the elder, whose hair was now half silver and half gray, with a gentle smile.

It took Ling Chengen some time to gradually put Senetia at ease. At first, he would actively guide her to talk about some topics, but later he listened more to Senetia talking on her own.

She spoke in a disorganized manner, and her logic wasn't particularly good, so she just talked about whatever came to mind. But because she was talking about things that Ling Chengen was curious about, everyone in the room listened attentively as the old woman slowly recounted her memories of living in Serkin City.

Senetia wasn't always a particularly noble lady. She was the daughter of an ordinary nobleman in Sergin City. Her father was a mine manager at the No. 7 mine in Sergin City. Although he wasn't the lowest-ranking nobleman in Sergin City, he wasn't much better off.

Tailwa No. 7 is the smallest mine in the Tailwa series.

Tailings mine was developed 268 years ago.

In nearly two hundred years, the first six mines of the Weiwa series have been mined out, leaving only the last mine, No. 7, unmined.

Because the reserves of giant patterned ore in Mine No. 7 are small and of low quality, this mine is not valued by the upper-class nobles of Sergin City.

The mine was handed over to a minor nobleman, but because the higher-ups didn't pay attention and the lower-level managers plundered it, the amount of giant patterned ore handed over decreased year by year, and it was seriously different from the initial amount explored.

Fifty-one years ago, the upper-class nobles and lord of Sergin City began to investigate the output of Mine No. 7. They discovered that every manager of Mine No. 7 had been involved in embezzlement, pocketing the property belonging to Sergin City. Enraged, the lord dismissed all the managers of Mine No. 7 from head to toe, stripped them of their noble status, and prepared to send them to the mines to work.

The embezzled resources were all traded by the stewards with the lord of Sixwind Dock.

It was precisely because of Lord Six Wind Dock that none of the managers of Mine No. 7 were sent to the mine; instead, they were exiled to the Northern Wilderness.

Xix Wind Dock holds a very special place in the Southern Plains; it is far more mysterious than Beast King City.

Wind Dock has more than a dozen lords, each of whom is powerful.

Moreover, all the orcs of Windwood can fly. They are proud, bloodthirsty, and warlike, but they disdain to associate with other cities and selectively obey even the orders from Beast King City.

More than half of the lords of Wind Dock are led by the lords of the Giant-Winged Serpent Eagle Clan.

The Giant Winged Serpent Eagles are specifically designed to defeat the Serpent Clan.

Sergin City is also a city under the rule of the Serpent Orcs, so the two cities have a very bad relationship.

For thousands of years, they have lived and died without ever interacting with each other.

Before the manager of the Tailwa No. 7 Mine made connections with a lord of Sixwind Dock, Sergin City and Sixwind Dock had no business dealings whatsoever.

After the steward and his clan were exiled to the Northern Wilderness, the upper-class nobles of Sergin City took over the connections left by the steward of Mine No. 7 and established a trading relationship with Sikswindwood.

Otherwise, Senetia and her people wouldn't have come to live in the Northern Wilderness...

……

From mid-February to mid-April, over a period of two months, Chang Tianchen launched twelve attacks.

Every attack ended in failure.

With just over a month to go before the weather gets really hot, and the temperature around Sergin City going to be even higher, making it even more unfavorable for the army's operations, Chang Tianchen's mood gradually became anxious.

At that moment, Su Weihua proposed a solution.

First, destroy all the mines outside Serginham. This plan is destined to kill many slaves.

Because mining work in Sergin City is done day and night, slaves work in two shifts, working a full twelve hours a day or even longer before they can leave the mine.

However, the main resources of Sergin City all come from the giant veined ore that is currently being mined.

Their biggest problem during the siege was the endless barrage of heavy arrows.

These heavy arrows are fast, have strong armor-piercing capabilities, and are also designed with special bleeding grooves and barbs.

Anyone within two kilometers of Sergin City can easily don ordinary armor.

The armor of the Northern Wilderness was as thin and brittle as cardboard when it came into contact with these heavy arrows made of serpentine.

Therefore, only by cutting off Sergin's source can we begin the next step of the plan.

Chang Tianchen pondered, "Cutting off the supply of giant rune ore outside Thorin City is easy, but the problem is that the entire Thorin City is made of Thorin. After they consume the Thorin Heavy Arrows, they can simply demolish the old buildings to replenish their supplies."

Su Weihua shook her head and said, "This won't work."

"I have experimented with this many times before."

“After being refined from giant veined ore, Sergin is in a liquid state and must be shaped in one go.”

"Once the Sergin weapons and building materials are finalized, they will no longer be afraid of high temperatures. You can try it if you don't believe me."

"However, I already know how Sergin achieves secondary forging, but Sergin City definitely hasn't overcome this technical difficulty. Because their old Sergin buildings from eight or nine hundred years ago have just been left there unattended, and no one has gone to dismantle and recast them."

Chang Tianchen asked in surprise, "How did you find out?"

"The waste left over from the research and refining of serkin."

Su Weihua's understanding of various minerals and metals has reached an extreme level. Sergon is very stable and needs to be catalyzed to be reforged; otherwise, it will just be a lump of metal.

Chang Tianchen thought for a moment and said, "I need to reconsider this plan. First, we need to make sure they really don't know how Sergin achieves secondary forging."

Su Weihua nodded and said, "I'm just giving you some suggestions. How you actually do it is up to you."

Chang Tianchen quickly found out about the news of Sergin City.

The reason why the nobles in the city kept mining outside was indeed because they did not know how Sergin was forged a second time.

Therefore, Su Weihua's plan is feasible.

Blow up all the giant veined mines that are being mined, and lie in ambush near the mines, killing them instantly as soon as they show their faces.

If they are beaten so badly that they dare not step out of Sergin City again, the plan will be half successful.

The remaining strategy will be to borrow a plan from the military strategy book that Ling Chengen gave him.

— Borrowing arrows with straw boats.

Acting is about blurring the lines between truth and fiction.

They repeatedly probed and attacked, depleting Sergin City's heavy arrow reserves.

Once they lose their long-range weapons, Sergin City will be no different from a turtle with its teeth pulled out.

Either they cower in their shells and wait until they run out of ammunition and food.

Either we fight with our backs against the wall.

The battle officially began against them.

Chang Tianchen has been quietly training his troops in Nanyuan for several years, and he is determined to bring out the true potential of this army in the battle of Serjin City.

The overall course of the siege of Sergin was almost exactly the same as Su Weihua's original design.

After the army blasted down all the giant veined mines around Sergin City, they quietly lay in wait, hoping to ambush any reinforcements.

The mining teams that ventured out of Serginham suffered extremely high casualty rates, and the slaves, due to being controlled and suffering from chronic malnutrition, were even less capable in combat than a healthy, ordinary female orc from the Northern Wilderness.

Once these slaves were brought to the mines, they served no purpose other than being pushed to the front lines as cannon fodder to block arrows.

Countless slaves died in Sergin, and later some slaves discovered a pattern.

As long as they gather together immediately after the battle begins, crouch down with their heads in their hands, the arrows will not be directed at the slaves.

The nobles of Sergin City who were away fighting naturally discovered this pattern. At first, they tried to disguise themselves as slaves to escape, but after being discovered by the Xiao Kingdom's army, Chang Tianchen ordered that the slaves protecting the nobles be killed.

This news spread widely among the slave communities in Sergin City.

Later, when slaves were used as shields, they almost always huddled together to avoid being ousted, preventing the nobles behind them from squeezing into their inner circle.

Although not all slaves would do this, slave casualties decreased significantly in the later stages of the war.

The siege of Sergin lasted for a full thirteen months.

It took three months of lying in wait and ambushing at the Giant Pattern Mine.

It took a full nine months to deplete the city's ranged Thorium weapons.

This was the longest siege battle Chang Tianchen had ever fought.

The city of Sergin was besieged and, unable to trade with other cities, was facing severe shortages of supplies, especially salt and water.

Once the heavy arrows were exhausted, the nobles in the city could no longer sit idly by and wait for their doom.

They had been expecting support from the armies of various cities, but...

For thirteen months, they were almost out of ammunition and food, but they did not see a single reinforcement.

In the later stages of the siege of Sergin, Su Weihua was mainly in charge of command.

Chang Tianchen, Jing Shan, and three level 17 warriors led a team to garrison on the only route for reinforcements from other cities, intercepting and blocking them.

This battle demonstrated the tacit understanding among the senior commanders of the Xiao Kingdom, further enhanced the overall obedience of the army, and also tested the Xiao Kingdom's ability to conduct multi-front joint operations.

Although the battle lasted thirteen months and consumed countless provisions, supplies, and other resources, Ling Chengen saw much more than that.

She was quite satisfied with the outcome of the battle and generously rewarded all the troops and officers who participated in the operation.

The day Sergin was captured.

This miraculous city, perched on the land of the Southern Plains.

It is also a city of despair built by countless slaves with their lives.

On that day, we finally heard the clarion call of freedom.

From that day on, Sergin City was free of slaves!

……

On the Sergin City rail bridge, hundreds of meters above the ground, Su Weihua leaned against the railing, letting the smoke, dust, and sharp wind lash his face. He raised his hand, pulled out the flagpole stuck in the flag hole in the railing, pulled down the black and red flag on it, and stretched his hand out to the outside of the high-altitude rail bridge.

The fabric rustled and fluttered in his hands.

The next second, he released his fingers.

The flag was whipped up by the strong winds blowing from below and flew toward the dark horizon.

Beneath the railway bridge, deafening shouts and cries filled the air...

Chang Tianchen threw a can of strong liquor at him. Su Weihua raised her hand and caught the can precisely. She glanced at him and her usually indifferent face was now adorned with a bright smile.

"How do you feel?" Su Weihua asked.

Chang Tianchen pulled out the cork, tilted his head back and took a big gulp, laughing heartily: "Great!"

"I've never felt this good before."

Su Weihua also pried open the bottle stopper, held it up to him, and then held it up to the outside of the railing.

"To freedom—"

"To freedom." Chang Tianchen raised his hand, tilted his head back, and poured the strong liquor down his throat.

Congratulations!

Starting today, I have freedom.

From then on, the sea is wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky is high enough for birds to fly.

This article was published on April 8th last year.

I'm aiming to finish it by April 8th this year.

There's not much more content to come.