Realm of Power

At five o'clock in the afternoon, when the smoke outside the city shrouded the broadleaf forest like a thick fog in the drizzle, lingering on the branches, the soldiers of the Empire's Southern Second Army had completely blocked Lisbonto, and the city gate was densely packed. The spears rose like a forest from the ground, and fully armored sentries and rangers with guns stood at the gate of the city.

There was a force of 1,000 troops at all exits from the city, enough to deal with any incompetent attempt to break through. All personnel entry and exit were prohibited. The army began to fully enter the streets of the city, set up obstacles, control the city according to blocks, and issued orders. Martial law order,

At this time, the military has the power to directly kill any non-military personnel who appear on the streets.

No one knows why the army suddenly entered Lisbonto, but the suppression of the smugglers by the Imperial Army explains a lot. The citizens of Lisbonto can see black smoke pillars rising into the sky in the southwest neighborhoods of the city, where are The residential area where smugglers are most concentrated,

A citizen of Lisbonto stood in front of the window, looking at the black smoke in the distance. His face showed not surprise and anger, but happiness. Lisbonto was once destroyed, and then rose due to a large number of smuggling. The city was destroyed. Known as the City of Gold, it is also known as the City of Blood and Tears. In this city, smuggling, armed fighting, and slave trading are all fair and aboveboard affairs. Most of the people who have the ability to organize smuggling are inextricably linked to all parties. Contact, the whole city is like a huge colosseum where all forces are mixed.

In this case, not to mention that ordinary civilians are unable to resist, even the business alliance cannot contain it. The smuggling group is entrenched here like a huge dark kingdom, and it is arrogant. Although it has not reached the point of blatantly robbing money, each block collects Protection fees have become the norm, and killing people in order to seize docks and territory is commonplace. Ordinary small businessmen simply do not dare to provoke smugglers. The result of resistance is often either that the shop is smashed, or that the next day it turns into a bruised corpse lying in the sewer. Smuggling with underground force has become a group, and the methods of handling things have become more cruel and ruthless, even completely ignoring the empire. the existence of laws,

In Lisbonto, they are like the kings of an underground kingdom

In a huge villa in the southwest of the city, which is the headquarters of the largest smuggling group, Dark Snake, a strong, bald middle-aged man is walking back and forth with a solemn expression. There are more than a dozen people in the hall, all of whom are his leaders. The middle-aged man is Pahela, the leader of the Dark Snake, who planned this city closure.

After receiving the news that the army had entered the city, one of the largest leaders in the Lisbon underground world immediately ordered all his subordinates who were making trouble outside to withdraw.

There seemed to be some panic in the hall. These leaders were frightened. The Imperial Army and the Business Alliance were completely different things. One was a business organization. A violent organization whose profession is to kill the naked and naked. Everyone just wanted to force out the business alliance, but they didn't expect to hang up a giant whale.

"Sir, what should we do now? If the army comes, everyone will die." A leader looked at Pahela with a hesitant expression.

"Why are you panicking? The army has been marching into Lisbon for three hours. Apart from blocking the streets as usual, they have done nothing else. This should be just a common method to deal with the commotion in the city. It is not necessarily specifically to deal with us!" Pahela He threw the cigarette butt in his hand on the ground, kicked it hard, and said in a dissatisfied voice, "It's just a general martial law! This kind of situation is not unheard of. Every time there is a war on the front line, there will be martial law. It should be two or three days later." It will be lifted”

"But there is no fighting on the front line now!"

A leader in the hall said hesitantly, "Why did the army move into Lisbonto? The army came for us. As for why it didn't take action, it's still unclear, but this stalemate won't last long. Once the army moves, everyone will Everyone will die! The Falcon Army does this all the time!"

"Don't get into trouble before you understand the situation!"

Pahela stopped, glared at him angrily, and said in a solemn voice, "Judging from the armor signs of the patrols on the street, it was the Second Army of the local Southern Army that entered the city, and that was Saul the Rode." Dun's legion is not considered the main front-line legion among the imperial army, so the opponent is not so bold to go there. What is a little tricky is that all The goods have been sealed, and some of them are very important. If the deadline is delayed, we will pay a large amount of compensation. That is a batch of goods worth 500,000 gold coins! And it is very sensitive stuff! Believe me, as long as the Second Army of the South doesn’t take action within three days, someone will come out to help us soon!”

"Those people the leader is talking about?" After hearing Pahaila's words, the leaders perked up and one of them asked cautiously.

"Although it's a bit troublesome, it should be solved!" Pahela nodded slightly and looked out the window with gloomy eyes. The drizzle was hitting the window sill, which made him feel uneasy until the sky turned into night. There was no sign of a large army outside; Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. "Come here, light the lights in all the rooms!" Pahela pulled his collar and said to the housekeeper. He felt particularly cold tonight, and neither did the other leaders. When people spoke again, a cold atmosphere filled the hall.

"Creak!" At this moment, the door of the hall opened from the outside, and a young man wearing a black cloak walked in from the outside. This young man had a pale face, slender arms, and a thin body. He took off his face-covering clothes. Putting his hood on the table, he picked up a glass of wine on the table and took a deep sip in front of everyone in the hall.

"Lulin, what's going on? Why have you been here for so long? Has the message been sent out?" Pahela looked at the young man who came in and asked anxiously. This young man is the person he sent to deliver the message.

"No, I just encountered some accidents, so I was delayed for some time!" the young man replied nonchalantly.

"What accident?" Pahela tightened her heart and asked eagerly.

"I originally used a military crossbow I had secretly hidden to shoot the letter at the window of the small wooden house at the foot of the city wall. I didn't return until I saw Old Mu taking the letter away. As a result, on the way back, I accidentally saw a beautiful place. Drama!" The young man smiled slightly and deliberately pretended to be a fool. Under the eager eyes of everyone, he said proudly, "Remember those bastards on the street who robbed us of the slave trade?"

"The Blasphemers? What happened to them?" Pahela raised her eyebrows. The Blasphemers were another big smuggling group in the city. Although their strength is not as good as that of the Dark Snake, they are the kind of hob meat that dares to kill and fight. Therefore, although there are only more than a hundred people, they are still very successful, especially in terms of slave smuggling. A few times of friction,

"They're finished!" Lu Lin grinned and said, "When I came back, I happened to see the army surrounding their headquarters."

"What! The blasphemer's headquarters was attacked?" Pahela's expression changed. There was not much difference between the blasphemer and the Serpent of Darkness. The most important thing was that the army was attacking the blasphemer! That army may attack the headquarters of the Dark Serpent

"Actually, they deserve it!" Lu Lin curled his lips and said disdainfully, "The blasphemers are those idiots with heads full of muscles. I really thought you were so fierce. A group of military patrol cavalry wanted to inspect them, and they still Thinking that the army is here to destroy them , actually gathered a crowd to attack the military's patrol cavalry, and ended up attracting thousands of regular troops. When I left, the gate of their headquarters had been captured, and I am afraid they have captured it now! "Lu Lin said with relish, and suddenly heard There was a sound of inhalation all around. Others' faces turned a little pale;

Lu Lin shuddered and looked at everyone in disbelief. "You...don't you have such a plan? That is simply seeking death. When I came back, I paid attention to it. There were at least tens of thousands of them." The Imperial regular army has sealed off the entire city. As long as there is a situation there, thousands of Imperial regular troops will be attracted immediately. Whoever touches it now will die! "

"That's it. The army is not targeting us specifically, as long as it is not targeting us!" Pahela's eyes flickered and he asked in a slow tone, "It seems that the military has blocked Lisbonto for other reasons. Everyone should disperse first." Come on! Don’t take any action these days!”

"Yes" The leaders left the manor one by one. The army controlled the main road, but as gang members, they had enough secret roads.

The rain washed the nearby streets into a bright light. The sharp spear points reflected a frightening light in the rain. The soldiers' stern faces revealed a sinister murderous look. A group of cavalry passed by, and only a low pop was heard. The sound of horse hooves and the crisp clang of armor sounded in front of us. With rapid horse hooves, a cavalryman appeared at the corner of the street. He ran directly to a private house next to the city gate and jumped off his horse. After saluting a general who was at the door, he said, "Sir, the targets on the list are except Except for the four who committed suicide, the others have been captured!"

"Got it!" The general lifted the visor of his helmet, revealing Salton's chiseled face with Chinese characters. His thin lips were pressed tightly, and his eyes were slightly squinted. The whole of Lisbon was like a huge cage. Wait now. Called by the panicked prey, he believed that there would be many superstitions spread from the city to the outside tonight.

Blocking the whole city by yourself is just a show, the real purpose is to force the backers behind these smuggling forces to be revealed!

The trade in Lisbon has been stopped. Logically speaking, for the smuggling group that is holding the market hostage, the trade suspension is the result of their secret operations. However, a large number of smuggled goods in their own warehouses have also been seized by the army and cannot be smuggled out. That is another reason. It's the same thing. The entire smuggling network in Puntau has been completely paralyzed, and it has finally offended many people.

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Logistics began to allude to the Empire's Southern Second Army for being domineering, making a fuss, and behaving inappropriately. Just because of a small commotion, a million-dollar business center stopped functioning, causing the empire to suffer heavy losses. Loss, this is an irresponsible behavior! "

The accusation made by the Deputy Minister of Logistics was like a drop of water falling into oil. Accusations accusing the Southern Second Army and the head of the Putao region, Varisian, of massacring merchants quickly increased within the empire.

"Your Majesty, these are all the reports that have requested severe punishment for Varisian's massacre of merchants in the past ten days."

Hu Keqili placed a thick stack of documents on the young man's desk. The fat man flipped through it casually, and the coldness in his eyes was a little piercing. Most of them were ministers from the Ruidian faction, and even Deputy Chief Pula Plais was among them. The fat man looked at it again with some disbelief, and angrily threw the report from Plais on the table.

"This guy basically thinks that he is enough to be used as a bargaining chip, or he is deliberately seeking death!" The young man cursed in a low voice with an angry face. He believed that with Plais's keenness, he would not be able to see that this matter was a conspiracy. Bait, but the imperial lieutenant whom he entrusted with a heavy responsibility The leader still stood on the side of the Redians at this critical juncture. In Plais's report, he said about Varisian's massacre, "Enough people have died, even if they are pruned, they will grow like crazy." Please take pity on the fragility of the vines!"

The young man glanced at the half-foot-thick letter on the table, took a deep breath, and asked, "How many families are there in total here?"

"Involving one hundred and seventy families, about three thousand people!" Hu Keqili looked a little strange as he read out this number that shocked him a little,

Although he didn't want to admit it in his heart, Hu Keqili believed that Plais was not at fault in his position this time. His Majesty was obviously preparing to go on a killing spree this time, and the main target was the Ruidian faction. The hole had been dug. The knife was also sharpened, and just waiting for the order, countless heads fell to the ground. If Plais continued to remain silent on this matter, Hu Keqili would look down on this man who once resisted the iron hoof of the Dongting people from the bottom of his heart. After all, the Lieutenant-General is a compatriot of the same country, and the Ruilian faction has suffered irreparable damage. Who else can protect the interests of millions of Ruilian people, but the most powerful Weixia faction and the Dongting faction at that time. They will not hesitate to quickly swallow up the share that the Ruidian people have already occupied. This is a national war that cannot be seen with swords and swords. It is no wonder that Plais also has to assume the attitude of martyrdom.

"Three thousand people..." The young man said to himself, Hu Keqili stood in front of the young man and did not dare to speak.

"Where's Princess Haraudian? Is there any letter?" The young man's face was so gloomy that he wanted to drip water, and he tapped the table with his fingers.

"There is no letter from the princess!" Hu Keqili replied, with beads of sweat already forming on his forehead. Feeling heavy and out of breath, he knew that Plaice's performance made his master angry, but everyone knew that Plaice had nothing to do with this. It's all a desperate attempt to be a knife.

My Lord cares more about the attitude of the Ruidian royal family who was the instigator. This grace can be sold to Plais, but it must not be sold to the Ruidian royal family. If the letter from Princess Haraudian is also included, let alone the three thousand people. , even for 30,000 people, his lord would not hesitate to sign his name on the execution order. As for ordinary people, Rais will at least be deprived of his position as lieutenant-general. This is not a battle of tempers between husband and wife, but a fundamental battle for state power. According to the nature of the Lord, he will definitely tell the whole world at the cost of the blood of tens of thousands of people. Empire, it is the Falcon Empire that rules everything now, not the Ruidian Dynasty. The person who decides life and death is the Emperor of the Empire.

"If that's the case, send the order! All those who reported it will be demoted to three levels." The young man finally looked better. He took out a document from the drawer, signed his name and handed it to Hu Keqi. "Tell Salton to close the net! I'm in a bad mood and all the people captured will be executed!"

"Yes!" Hu Keqili took the document with a respectful expression, feeling a little moved in his heart. His Majesty's heart is still unable to be as cold as steel. I don't know if this is the empire's misfortune or the empire's luck! After receiving the order, Salton began to close the net. The Second Southern Army, which had completely controlled the situation, began to move towards several targets in the city. Because there had been no movement for ten consecutive days, several major smuggling groups in the city had already relaxed their vigilance. , no one seemed to think of escaping, or in other words, there was no time to escape!

When the soldiers of the Southern Second Army flocked to the manor fortress of the smuggling group, what amused the commander was that in the face of the imperial regular army armed to the teeth, the smuggling group also gathered hundreds of people, and the low outer walls of the manor Suddenly the lights were brightly lit. Countless large lanterns were lit as punctually as a couple on a date, with exactly the same rhythm. They were arrogant and domineering to the extreme.

"Forward!" The battle-hardened commander will naturally not be fooled by these small tricks. The smuggling group puts up lights to prevent the army's city-breaking equipment from approaching in the dark. Who knows that an army that is used to solid city walls will do this? In the eyes of the small house with earthen walls, the advance of the Nord soldiers who formed the Southern Second Army was a standard Nord style, running rampant and treating obstacles as nothing. A group of tall and strong heavy infantry wielded heavy hammers on the outer wall. Amidst the continuous cracking sounds of "click, click, click", a large piece was smashed out. This majestic scene saw those standing on the manor wall. The smugglers here are a little stupid.

"What do you want to do? This is private property!"

A strong man with a ferocious face stood under the night wind and roared wildly. The sound shook the whole country. In response to him, the harsh sound of the regular army's crossbows being cocked, thousands of crossbows raised in a straight line, countless pairs of eyes looked at it. Looking at him, the strong man's whole body was swaying, feeling like a dead leaf that would wither at any time in the autumn wind, intimidating! This is a classic deterrent! The Second Army of the South received an order to take no prisoners, so the officer leading the team felt that there was no point in being idle with these smugglers. Advance, charge, kill everyone, and then evacuate. This is the standard Nord mentality.

Although they are only facing a wall of earth, the Nord warrior group advancement is very distinctive. At the beginning of the charge, the heavy infantrymen walked in goose-step, and then began to accelerate slowly. In cooperation with the captain's orders, the neat pace and majestic momentum allowed opponents with poor psychological quality to defeat them without contact.

For example, now, the hundreds of smugglers on the wall have begun to feel weak in their legs, and the carved iron bars that make up the gate were shot off by heavy arrows in an instant. "Forward, no prisoners left!" The Nord officer leading the team drew his command sword, and the rain of arrows was like a black waterfall falling from the sky, drowning this poor manor. (To be continued...)