That night, the entire Liangshan Island gradually descended into hell amidst flames and slaughter.

As the sun set, Fang Duxing, the commander of the Wu Rui Camp, stood at the front of a warship with his hand on his sword hilt. He watched the banner of "Acting on behalf of Heaven" fall from its flagpole on the distant island, foreshadowing Liangshan's fleeting rise and fall in the fiery, burning clouds. At the same moment, on the island itself, or on the other side of the mountains, leaders watched the chaos emerge, expand, and finally become irreversible, issuing cries of despair.

The entire war process of the Wu Rui Camp attacking Liangshan Island only lasted two days. On June 20th, the government troops launched their offensive cautiously. This was because the Wu Rui Camp had already suffered several defeats at Shuibo before Liangshan had reached its current scale. Although the Dulonggang battle had occurred prior to this, Commander Fang Duxing still could not take it lightly. He began by blockading the waters, carefully figuring out Liangshan's defenses on the surrounding small islands. Only at noon on this day did they begin a probing attack.

The attack on the surrounding small islands actually encountered a lot of resistance, but honestly, this resistance was not as fierce as the previous times. Even with the government troops' conservative defense, Liangshan's harassment seemed clumsy. Noticing this, Fang Duxing began to order a formal attack, destroying several ships on the periphery. The offensive against the small islands came to an end on the night of June 20th, and then, a strange situation occurred.

As the battle neared its end, there would always be some who surrendered, and this time, the first surrenderers brought the heads of their companions. Then, as if demons released by the night were breeding in people's hearts, some of the Liangshan soldiers chose to flee, while others began to engage in infighting in the darkness.

Everything was just as the man from the capital had said, heads for lives, heads for rewards. The first few people who came over may have brought the heads of comrades who had already died in battle, but later, when a small number of people could not escape and did not have enough corpses, they turned their knives on the people around them. And Fang Duxing had already issued a strict order, those with heads could live, those without heads would die.

On June 21st, the attack on Liangshan Island itself began. The fleet fought fiercely on the waters near Liangshan, and that afternoon, the main force of the Wu Rui Camp began to land on the island. When they occupied the first position and were ready for attack, they were not met with Liangshan's great resistance, but with… the self-destruction of the entire Liangshan bandit force.

Compared with the previous battles, the Wu Rui Camp's attack on Liangshan this time was like a steel knife cutting into tofu. No one realized that the whole process would be so fast, and even the collapse in the second half could not be considered as cut open by this steel knife.

For Fang Duxing, he could only gradually piece together the whole story from the mouths of the captured prisoners.

In the days before the government troops' attack, the entire Liangshan was already in a state of suspicion and fear. Things developed so quickly that many people had not yet reacted, but the cruel facts had already appeared before everyone's eyes, forcing them to believe it or not.

Friction, discord, quarrels, and small-scale skirmishes were not the most serious things. The most troublesome and sensitive thing was the disappearance of a small number of people after the news of heads for merit spread. Sometimes, corpses would even be found behind someone's house, and even people inside Liangshan could not be sure whether this person was killed by the other side, or if someone had framed them.

The big leaders tried to suppress the situation, but they could not avoid mutual vigilance and collusion. The patrols were increased, and the efforts to investigate were intensified, but this did not help. The smartest people were trying to organize small groups from the beginning, and then people from different factions in various places were also contacting each other to protect themselves. They guarded their families, and became particularly sensitive if anyone spied on them. People were dying every night, in secret conflicts and open conflicts. Although it was an island of tens of thousands of people, the death of a few or a dozen people was still very frightening.

After the accusations and conflicts became obvious, everyone realized that the collapse was coming, and the leaders above could no longer suppress it. Close confidants would begin to test whether their boss planned to surrender or run away, and the leaders above were also testing the thoughts of their confidants. In this process, when the government troops began to attack, the entire Liangshan was like a patient with a large ball of fever wrapped in his body, ready to erupt at any time. But without external force, the whole process would probably have to continue for some time.

Even when Fang La rebelled, or when famine came, when nine out of ten houses were empty and starvation was everywhere, the suspicion and vigilance between the famished people and refugees had not been suppressed and stimulated to such an extent. Not only had the people on Liangshan never experienced such a situation, but even Fang Duxing had never seen such a thing before.

After dusk on this day, when the government troops rushed onto the island, they did encounter small-scale resistance in waves. The battle was still going on in the waters around Liangshan, and the ships that broke through had several conflicts with the Wu Rui Camp's warships. But in terms of the overall situation on Liangshan Island, it had become a floating island in hell, simply to test human nature. The killing between companions, the mutual slaughter for the sake of heads, was constantly going on. People who wanted to make the chaos bigger and fish in troubled waters were setting fires all over the mountains and plains.

Heads could save lives, and heads could also make money. In order to avoid excessive damage to his soldiers in this chaotic situation, Fang Duxing ordered some soldiers to simply surround the island without attacking, allowing the people on the entire island to fend for themselves. Only those who brought heads down were tallied and protected. Allowing the evil of human nature to run rampant on the entire island. And outside the island, the breakouts, the pursuits, the stragglers, the fragmented battles were still going on in the flames.

That night, watching all kinds of survivors rushing down the island, Fang Duxing sighed to He Rui, "We soldiers mostly believe that human nature is inherently evil, but only now do we know to what extent human nature is evil." Relatively speaking, the scholar from the capital now seemed like a demon to him. He Rui also said, "But such means are too cruel, I fear they are detrimental to the harmony of nature..."

One method, while bringing cold to the enemy, also brings chill to one's own people. Ning Yi's mind would probably wonder what to think about this. But when Fang Duxing and He Rui were making such sighs, on the waters near Liangshan, amidst the flames and wreckage, a medium-sized warship was also moving slowly. Wang Shanyue stood at the front of the ship, recalling the expression on Ning Yi's face a few days before he was about to take action, when he was sitting under the eaves of the Zhujiazhuang, rotating that bracelet as if it were prayer beads. Some information was also being transmitted to this ship, gathering and summarizing.

"When I was young, I often heard people say that people are born good, but after this, I don't believe it." Su Wenyu murmured there, and Ning Yi, who was also watching this water and fire next to him, frowned and glanced at him.

"Su Wenyu, remember this, human nature is neither good nor evil." After a moment, Ning Yi said, "You thought that human nature was inherently good before, that's not necessarily right. If such a thing makes you think that human nature is inherently evil, then it can only show your narrowness. Human nature is chaotic, neither good nor evil, but it is not firm, it is easily tempted, and what it becomes depends entirely on external forces. It is not easy to get to this point, but there are ways to make people better. If you wholeheartedly think that human nature is inherently good or that human nature is inherently evil, that is the idea of a coward who doesn't want to put in any effort. They have no thoughts and no self, so they have to attribute it to essence. You shouldn't have this kind of thinking if you want to do things."

Witnessing the collapse of Liangshan, Ning Yi's mood was probably not good in the eyes of everyone. He did not focus on these ordinary people of Liangshan. What he was waiting for at this time was also some more critical information. After thinking for a while, Su Wenyu said, "I will remember." Ning Yi smiled, sat down on a chair at the bow of the boat, and looked at the distant island with flames and chaos.

"Seeing this, you should think about the preciousness of order and the greatness of morality. The spiritual civilization, culture, and morality of a world, all these things together, protect everyone. Morality comes before law. Once they collapse, it is easy to become like this on Liangshan. No matter how much we can manipulate human nature, we should have awe for human nature, for culture, and for morality. If you don't want to become like this yourself, you have to remember this."

The ship moved forward gradually, passing over the wreckage of a large ship, flames were still burning on the water, and floating corpses floated past the side of the ship. Ning Yi shook his head, looking at the flickering lights ahead, frowning, his voice low and slow.

"I used to... actually see a lot of people who always thought they were very powerful, clamoring for personality, for decisive killing, not knowing what morality is. This kind of person is actually the lowest class of people in the world, with neither power nor wisdom, only arrogance and stupidity."

Ning Yi sighed and pointed to the flames on Liangshan, "Only knowing a little bit of immediate benefit, but not seeing their own fragility. In fact, what morality really binds is not the common people, but those who have the ability, power, and wisdom are the most bound. Once morality is let go, ordinary people get a little bit of immediate benefit, and are complacent. They don't know that at this time, those big people, every time the shackles are released a little bit, they harm the interests and lives of thousands of people. Human nature is very interesting, and also very cruel, good and bad are mixed together, if you want good things, then you have to work hard. If you always think that it has nothing to do with you, maybe one day, morality will fall below a certain level, and there will be nothing left."

The light flowed, shining brightly and dimly, Ning Yi's sigh was immersed in the night, and everyone around was quiet. A small boat crossed the water and came over, bringing Qi Xinhan, who brought the information.

"Song Jiang broke out from the island not long ago, and several ships of the Wu Rui Camp wanted to intercept him, but they were caught off guard. I have already asked some prisoners... as you said, Zhuangshi Duanwan (壮士断腕 - lit. a brave warrior cuts off his wrist, meaning to make a painful sacrifice)."

The news he had been waiting for finally came, and Ning Yi stood up: "How many people?"

"Less than four thousand people finally gathered together." Qi Xinhan said, "In recent days, Song Jiang and his party have been feigning inaction on the surface, but in fact, they have been waiting for the conflict to intensify. They secretly selected a group of people on the island who were the least likely to surrender, either because they had a blood feud with the government, or because they had committed too many crimes, or because they were the closest direct relatives. After the conflict intensified, they saw more clearly, contacted each other privately, and then gathered them all together. As for the others, on the island, they were all abandoned."

Ning Yi pressed his palms together and nodded, "Zhuangshi Duanwan… they were quite decisive."

Qi Xinyi next to him said, "There are still people with ulterior motives among them, right?"

Ning Yi shook his head, "There are still spies, but it is difficult to affect their combat power. First, they are hardliners themselves, and second, those who want to exchange heads for rewards don't need to follow them, as long as they stay on the island and kill people, it's over. In this way, the influence I placed in their hearts can be removed. Four thousand people, probably a part of them are family members. But after leaving Liangshan, it is still a big problem. Let's leave Liangshan for now. This group of people must all be killed... We should prepare to chase after them, and notify the two thousand people from Dulonggang to come and join us, and notify the states and counties to cooperate."

He turned his head and pointed to Su Wenyu, "Wenyu, you take a few people over to Commander Fang's side and let him divide his troops. You are responsible for contacting both sides. Tonight, you will watch this scene over there. In addition, no matter whether there are family members on the mountain or not, on average, anyone who brings down more than three heads should be detained by Commander Fang. After this battle, either they join the army, or they will go with me temporarily. This group of people cannot be allowed to flow into society now - of course, there is no need to explain this clearly for the time being, wait for me to come back. Also, once the fighting on the mountain is not so fierce, let Commander Fang send troops to clean up. Even if there are no heads, as long as they don't resist, they can all be released. They are the cleanest now. Killing these people... is no longer of great significance."

"Yes." Ning Yi finished arranging, Su Wenyu nodded, and led a few people to the island by small boat. Here, he issued an order, the warship set sail and broke through the waves, under the moonlight, following the flickering lights of the imperial warships to pursue the distant waters, and further away, were the silhouettes of dark mountains and water.

On one side of the field of vision, the huge island was still burning and fighting in the darkness, and no one knew when it would stop...

On June 22nd, Liangshan fell, with only Song Jiang and his three thousand or so men remaining on the run. Their pursuit became a new problem facing the states, counties, and government troops...

************

Thank you to the alliance master archicad for the red reward, and congratulations to the "三千米的" (San Qian Mi De) classmate for becoming the alliance master of this book. Thank you for your support.

Also asking for monthly votes. ^_^