Chapter 276: Boosting Morale

Within Luolong County, as long as someone dies on the battlefield, their family members will be properly provided for; they will have clothes to wear, food to eat, and their children will be able to read and write.

In the final days of the dynasty, human life is worthless, and the lives of these destitute refugees are even less so; for the sake of their families having a safe living environment, they are willing to risk their lives.

Therefore, many newly arrived refugees also decided to stay, obey Meng Yifan's orders, and fight the Demon Race to the death.

The army is pressing on the border, and hearts are wavering.

There were still several hundred newly arrived refugees who were terrified and decided to flee; Meng Yifan did not stop them. If they wanted to leave, they could leave; keeping these cowards in the city would only waste food and affect the combat morale of the other soldiers.

Meng Yifan had people keep a count of these fleeing refugees; if they wanted to join Luolong County again in the future, it would not be so easy.

The refugees who decided to flee, under the scornful gazes of the entire city, lowered their heads, dressed in rags, and carrying their pitiful belongings, left the city.

Inside Luolong City, those who chose to stay were all determined, preparing to fight the Monster Army to the death.

In the next two days, the whole city was of one mind, reinforcing city defense works day and night, preparing siege weapons, and racing against time to prepare for the upcoming battle.

"Strange, why is the Monster Army's marching speed so slow?" Meng Yifan was puzzled and sent people to investigate; soon the scouts reported back that the Monster Army was carrying over ten thousand humans, and it was precisely because of them that the Monster Army's marching speed was delayed.

"Why is the Monster Army bringing so many humans? As military rations?" Meng Yifan frowned.

Logically speaking, speed is the essence of war, and high-grade Demon Beasts have intelligence no worse than humans; since they want to attack Luolong City, they would certainly rush to the foot of Luolong City at the fastest speed. Why are they now carrying so many burdens and moving forward slowly?

Two days later, the one-hundred-thousand-strong Demon Race army surrounded all four gates of Luolong County.

As the saying goes, when there are ten thousand people, they are boundless; the army of over one hundred thousand Demon Beasts was even more vast and mighty, with no end in sight.

Outside Luolong City, it was a sea of Demon Beasts everywhere, and the rising and falling roars of beasts were earth-shattering.

The avian-type Demon Beasts spread their wings, truly blotting out the sky and sun, and the entire Luolong City was shrouded under the wings of the Demon Beasts.

The soldiers of the Salvation Army had firm gazes and gripped their weapons tightly, ready to open fire at any moment, while those young and able-bodied men who had newly joined Luolong County had never seen such a scene; they were trembling with fear and could not even hold their Bird Guns steady.

A bearded low-level officer, seeing that the young men were very afraid, said loudly: "Haha, don't be afraid, those Demon Beasts aren't anything impressive. In the last battle, I blew up the heads of five Demon Beasts with five shots, and later when the Demon Beasts rushed up, I used my Stabbing Blade to thrust through three more Demon Beasts, earning merit and going from a common soldier to being your Squad Leader."

"Hehe, after getting promoted, the benefits and treatment are much better, and there are women willing to follow me. You all fight well later, kill a few more Demon Beasts, and you too can become officials and get rich, marry a wife; good days are waiting for you!"

The morale of the new recruits and young men around him was boosted; looking at these Demon Beasts, it was as if they were seeing their own bright future, and they were not so afraid anymore.

The bearded 'Zhao Jincai' then put on a straight face and said: "You all follow me to fight the Demon Beasts later, no one is allowed to mess up. Whoever the hell dares to be a deserter at this time, I will blow his head off with one shot."

Zhao Jincai's gaze was fierce, and he swept the Flintlock in his hand across the new recruits and young men, saying through gritted teeth: "I don't want to kill my own brothers, but if you dare to run away, even if I don't fight the Demon Beasts, I will have to kill you first."

All the new recruits pointed at by the Flintlocks were startled; they knew Zhao Jincai was not joking. Meng Yifan had long since issued the order: once the great battle began, the Squad Leader could execute military law. If a soldier fled and the Squad Leader could not stop them, the Squad Leader would also be shot. That was why Zhao Jincai used such coercion and inducement to conduct pre-battle mobilization for these greenhorns.

After being hammered by Zhao Jincai, these new recruits and young men understood that rather than being killed as deserters, it was better to risk their lives against the Demon Beasts; at least if they died in battle, their families would be properly provided for.

There were many Squad Leaders like Zhao Jincai; they were distributed in various positions on the city walls, saying similar things. These words were taught to them by Liu Dengke after they became Squad Leaders.

With veterans leading new recruits, the entire garrison force would not panic, and everyone was battle-ready, prepared to fight at any moment.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The avian-type Demon Beasts overhead hovered at an altitude of a thousand meters, showing off their power; some Demon Beasts even defecated and urinated toward the city wall, which made the soldiers curse in anger and want to fight back, but the Flintlocks and Bird Guns in their hands could not hit the Demon Beasts at a thousand meters altitude at all.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The AK47 in Meng Yifan's hand opened fire. Others could not hit the avian-type Demon Beasts at a thousand meters altitude, but for Meng Yifan, it was easy.

Meng Yifan never missed a shot; every time he fired, a Demon Beast had its head blown up and plummeted down. After emptying two magazines in a row, sixty flying Demon Beasts had been shot down.

The avian-type Demon Beasts were shocked and dared not fly recklessly at high altitude anymore, one after another leaving the airspace above Luolong City.

Sixty flying Demon Beasts compared to an army of over one hundred thousand was simply a drop in the bucket, but Meng Yifan taking out sixty flying Demon Beasts greatly boosted the soldiers' morale.

Everyone cheered and shouted one after another: "Lord Meng is mighty!"

"Lord Meng has great marksmanship!"

"Follow Lord Meng to fight the Demon Beasts."

Meng Yifan shouted from a high vantage point: "Victory!"

The forty thousand people in the city shouted in unison: "Victory! Victory! Victory!"

The shouting of over forty thousand people was earth-shaking, and the vanguard of the Monster Army was so frightened that they kept retreating, not daring to approach the 1,500-meter zone of Luolong County.

Hu Dameng, Zhu Ganglie, She Qingqing, and Zhu Meimei, these four Fourth Grade Beasts, all looked at each other in dismay. They had led the Monster Army to roam across Dongchuan Prefecture and had never seen such high-morale human troops.

Before the fight even started, the momentum of the Demon Race army had been suppressed by the humans; this was something Hu Dameng could not tolerate.

Hu Dameng waved his tiger claw, the Monster Army parted, and six hundred humans were pushed to the front of the formation, forced to kneel on the ground by the Demon Beasts, and then the Demon Beasts extended their sharp claws, directly disemboweling them and devouring them alive.

"Meng Yifan, you listen to me, you kill sixty of my Demon Race, I will slaughter six hundred of your humans. If you are sensible, surrender the city early, otherwise, when the city is broken, all the humans in Luolong County will have to become food for our Demon Race," Hu Dameng shouted loudly.