Yang Yu's sudden change in attitude immediately drew dissatisfaction from the Luo Ze negotiation team:
"Apologize? Why should we apologize? Once on the battlefield, they should have the awareness to sacrifice for their country!"
"Awareness?" Yang Yu spoke, "Then, your soldiers should have this awareness as well, right?"
Several Luo Ze negotiators unanimously replied, "Of course. The soldiers of the Luo Ze Empire, everything is for the Empire, naturally have an unyielding determination to fearlessly face death."
Yang Yu kept a stern face, stood upright, formed a fist with his right hand, and fiercely struck his chest, questioning again:
"Then there's no difference. You demand our soldiers to have the awareness to die, your soldiers must also correspondingly have the awareness to die.
Your soldiers can heartlessly slaughter beastmen, as your enemies, why can't I kill your soldiers?
Silence, the scene was completely silent.
After a long while, a Luo Ze general with a mustache stood up and sternly reprimanded Yang Yu:
"Those soldiers who sacrificed in battle cannot be compared to the soldiers you ruthlessly killed.
On the battlefield, both sides exert all their effort, life and death are left to fate.
If you don't want to be killed, then give it your all, compete in skills, compete in strength, so that even if you die, no resentment is left in the heart, and the soul can ascend with peace.
But your actions left them with no opportunity to fight back.
They were sent to the flame without understanding why, with no way to struggle even in death.
Can you comprehend what kind of despair that is!"
Looking at his hand, lifted at some unknown point, Yang Yu slowly closed it, clenched it tightly, sighed, and shook his head:
"You still haven't understood what I am trying to express.
I will not absolve myself of my actions, I know my hands are stained with the blood of countless human soldiers.
This burden of guilt indeed falls upon my shoulders.
To this day, I can still feel the weight of those lives on my hands."
The braided general slapped the table once more:
"You speak of the weight of life, yet I haven't seen a shred of remorse from you!
After that day's event, you still dared to blatantly use that method, forcing our soldiers to surrender.
If our soldiers hadn't surrendered, you surely would have used that black rain again to send all our soldiers into the flames.
You talk of the weight of life, that's utterly ridiculous.
If you truly understand the weight of life, you should have stopped and sealed that method away forever."
Facing the Luo Ze Empire's attack from both sides, Yang Yu stood where he was, showing not even a trace of negative emotion, only calmly sharing his own experiences and thoughts:
"A year ago, I was just a minor centurion, and through various battles, I gradually achieved what I have today, becoming a general of Wansheng Country.
This year, I led by example, gradually becoming familiar with the situation on the battlefield.
The more I understood, the more I dared not confront the colossal entity that is the Luo Ze Empire.
Which made me even more resolute in the demonic plan I harbored within.
When your soldiers slaughtered our subhuman races, they showed no mercy and could unhesitatingly raise weapons and strike.
Even though there's a great disparity in strength and numbers between our troops, you mercilessly killed the subhumans.
Could our soldiers really use all their skills and strength to survive under your iron hoof?
They were just crushed, weren't they?
Crushed, crushed, advance, advance, until all obstacles in the way are cleared.
Was this the only thought in your human troops' minds as they advanced?
And have you never considered how many subhumans fell under the advancing iron hoof?
If you still want to say they could resist, and failure to resist is due to lack of strength, then I could also tell you that when I burned down Benliang City, your soldiers could have resisted, and failure to resist was due to lack of strength!
No matter the cause, no matter the method, killing is killing.
What you do and what I do are essentially no different.
On the battlefield, should I be grateful because you could quickly chop off my head?
What a joke, it truly is the biggest joke.
However, I can't find it in myself to laugh."
Clenching his fists, Yang Yu slowly looked towards Latis:
"Now, let me answer once more why I chose to continue using that method to force the Luo Ze Empire army to surrender.
There is only one reason.
I just want to stop this war.
The Luo Ze Empire, this ravenous beast, came attacking us, and we must use equally dangerous flames to defend ourselves."
"Stopping this war by killing so many, we can never accept that," Latis said firmly.
Yang Yu smiled, a slightly weary smile,
"Then I must ask the referee across, if this war continues, how many more beastman soldiers, human soldiers will die because of it?
How many have already died in this war between the two countries in the past?
Not to mention anything else, this winter alone, your Luo Ze Empire is so well prepared, planning to fight desperately, right?
If our two armies clash, many more will die.
Or do you think the soldiers on both sides are just a string of cold numbers, merely tools for you to seek benefits and glory?
Living far from the battlefield, indulging in comfort, not feeling death, naturally you consider the death of soldiers unrelated to you, and the mass killing of enemies by the army doesn't concern you either. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⸺fire.net
All of you hide behind the guise of a group.
The enemies killed by all soldiers are counted as the achievements of this group. One soldier kills one, kills two, kills three..... all are included in the total count of enemies killed.
When looking at the rising death toll on our side, are you internally pleased somewhere?
If I were to hide behind the guise of a group, would those I killed also count as killed by the entirety of Wansheng Country?"
"Such satisfaction doesn't exist," General Wolishi firmly denied, "We too hope for the swift end of this war. Furthermore, the incident at Benliang City is your doing alone, pushing that onto the group to absolve yourself is too cunning."
Yang Yu smiled, like a warrior wielding an iron rod, driving it into the heart of the Luo Ze Empire, this monstrous entity,
"Is that so? I acted under the directives from above.
Calculating it this way, you've killed far more subhumans than we have.
Do you still have the qualification to blame me here?
I can feel helpless and sigh for the deaths of your soldiers, and issue a sincere apology for the fallen soldiers, but you... it seems you've never felt regret or pain, everything is so taken for granted.
Your human soldiers' lives are lives; are our subhumans' lives not lives?"