Realm of Power

"The Battle of Yue Valley ended in a farce. This was just a small splash in the Empire's Eastern Expedition. The surrender of Yue Valley allowed the Empire to obtain the first strategic point of the Eastern Expedition. Its impact was to make the upper echelons of the Empire Starting to adjust the original strategy of conquering with absolute force, the empire's senior officials began to realize that the enemies in the vast land in front of them, except for the Dongting forces who were still lingering hundreds of miles away, were many other forces like the Yue Dynasty. valley The same loose organizations, these organizations are completely different from the opponents that the empire has brutally fought with before. These organizations are not military groups focused on military expansion. They gather on this land more for survival. For such opponents, Without wasting too much energy and time, the empire's spear pointed directly to the east, and the progress toward the east began to accelerate..." Excerpted from "The Empire's First Eastern Expedition: Looking Away" by historian Bericant

Seeing that Yue Valley fell into chaos under the roar of ten thunder gods, and then quickly raised the flag representing surrender, Fatty's face looked a little surprised. He mobilized a hundred thousand troops to surround Yue Valley. Is this the result?

"Finally surrendered!" Murphy O'Brien next to him said to himself, his expression was a long sigh of relief, and there was a trace of solemnity in his eyes as if he had let go of a heavy burden, as if he was not surprised by such a result. "You knew this would be the case in advance, right?" The fat man turned to look at him, with a hint of anger in his stern tone. He raised his whip and pointed it at Yue Gugu, and asked in a solemn voice, "What's going on?" What? You said at the meeting how difficult the Yue Valley is to defend and how difficult it is to attack. It is simply a roadblock in front of the eastward advancing army. The purpose was to make me mobilize a hundred thousand troops to encircle the Yue Valley! "Fat man! His voice paused and he said coldly, "Now that your goal has been achieved, it's time to tell you what's going on! You should know that I don't like being plotted and used by others!"

"Your Majesty, please don't misunderstand me!" Murphy O'Brien's face showed a trace of paleness, and he said with a trembling voice that was rarely serious, "My subordinates did have the intention to exaggerate the Yue Valley during the meeting. But it was not selfish, and asked Your Majesty to attack with a large army. Yue Valley is completely considering the war of the empire's eastward advance! "

"Considering the war to advance eastward?" the fat man said with a cold face. "If you can't give me a suitable explanation, I will let you know how bloodthirsty the empire's sword is!"

"Your Majesty, do you want it?" Murphy O'Brien's body trembled slightly

"The best way to shock is of course to massacre the city! The fat man waved his hand to him and looked at Murphy O'Brien with sharp eyes like knives. He was indeed a little angry, but the most important thing was to know what happened to Murphy O'Brien. The real thoughts of the former Gaul general, he said coldly, "Even if Yue Valley raises the flag of surrender, I don't mind letting the army warm up before marching eastward." Slaughtering tens of thousands of people in the entire Yue Valley would not be bad even as a pre-war memorial for the Eastward Campaign! ""My subordinate's introduction to Yue Gugu was not wrong, but Yue Gugu's vulnerability was beyond my expectation." Murphy O'Brien, who is also a famous former Gaul general, felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave at this moment. A year of reclamation outside the long wall gave him a little more love for this wilderness. He bit the bullet and explained tremblingly, "In fact, the Yue Valley is just a place formed to survive in this wilderness." A loose organization is not the kind of kingdom His Majesty has faced. It is not an important town in either empire. I just want to use this to tell His Majesty that the army will march eastward soon, in accordance with the style of the previous Imperial Regiment. Wherever they pass, all the resisters will be crushed and destroyed. I just want His Majesty to see with his own eyes that these non-military groups simply do not have the ability to fight in the face of the empire's huge legion combat power. If they can be conquered easily with a little threat, all they hope is to have a way to survive in front of the imperial army! "

"I gave them a way to survive. Didn't I let them choose to evacuate or surrender within three days?" The fat man's eyes flickered. The riding crop in his hand was lightly slapped on his palm, and the majesty of the king unnaturally emanated from his body.

"Your Majesty, the Falcon Empire is too unfamiliar to these forces. Even the empire's general order is just a letter with a seal to them!" Murphy O'Brien raised his head after being suppressed, his eyes Looking at Yue Valley in the distance with a hint of determination, he said in a solemn voice, "My subordinates have stayed in this wilderness for a year, and have a general understanding of the psychology of these wilderness forces. The empire's reputation within the long wall , it is too far away for them, but the tentacles of the Dongting cavalry have extended here. The intimidating power of the Dongting people completely overwhelms the empire, so even though this area nominally belongs to the territory of the empire, these forces do not think that, The empire can resist the invasion of the Dongting people! So the final decision of the people’s hearts depends on whether the empire can defeat the Dongting people on this land as quickly as possible!”

"You mean to ignore these small forces and directly choose to go to war with the Dongting people to determine ownership rights?"

The fat man touched his nose with his hand. Murphy O'Brien's statement was somewhat correct. This is a wilderness. There is no unified political power here, so it makes sense whoever has the biggest fist. The forces were wiped out one by one, but it was a waste of time and effort. It gave the people of Dongting time to react and respond. They could directly choose to fight Dongting directly, or even more, they could gain control of the area once and for all! The situation here reminded Fatty of the Silk Road in the previous world.

When the Han Dynasty was able to open up the Silk Road, it did not need to occupy all the small countries on the Silk Road. It only needed to defeat the Huns who controlled the Silk Road. Similarly, in such a desolate wilderness, the empire's control method should be the same. Unlike the complete control of the outback,

Take this method of military deterrence control, or it may be more practical! The fat man glanced at the fully opened gate at the entrance of Yue Valley, and ordered to the guards behind him, "Tell Hu Keqili that the surrender of Yue Valley can be accepted, but everyone in the valley must come out first! Otherwise, it will still be regarded as resistance. The attack began an hour later. "His Majesty decided to accept the surrender, but asked all people in the valley to come out..." The cavalry was ordered to be in Hu. Keqili stopped in front of him and conveyed the fat man's original words, "Really? Okay, I understand!" Hu Keqili nodded with a stern face. Although he had the urge to have a big fight at first, after all, it was It was the first stronghold faced by the empire as it advanced eastward, and it had such an amazing terrain. If it were really captured, it would definitely be a battle that would leave its name in history. But his eyes swept over the white flag of surrender on the city wall, and the impulse disappeared immediately. The enemy was too weak. Fighting against an opponent who could not be called an opponent would have no glory even if he won. After receiving the order, Hu Keqili drafted a Give this document to the adjutant behind you and "order the infantry heavy ballistae to shoot this in!"

A few minutes later, as a heavy crossbow truck was fired, metal crossbow arrows as thick as a child's arm, with a whistling sound, penetrated deeply into the stones at the battlement on the opposite side. Rubbles flew everywhere, frightening the defenders above to lie on the ground. After a while, when they saw no movement, a brave soldier discovered that there was a letter tied to the front end of the giant metal arrow that had penetrated the battlements. The letter was quickly After sending it to Yue Shan, he glanced at the words on it. Yue Shan looked a little at a loss, as the leader of a force. He lacks decisiveness and determination, and has no ambition. He just wants to survive in this wilderness.

Therefore, although the Yue Valley is based on the natural terrain. Still just a loose organization. Yue Shan summoned the other leaders in the valley and showed everyone the letter in his hand, "Should everyone drive out of the valley? What if the other party issues a massacre order? Some of the leaders in the valley looked ugly after reading the letter. whisper

"If we don't drive out, the other party can kill us all!" Someone said disdainfully.

"The one-hour time limit now has less than twenty minutes. If there is no result, we will be dead!" The messy scene made Yue Shan frown together. It was really chaotic. If he had known better, he would not have accepted it. There were so many people scattered, and in the chaos, someone finally stood up,

"I do have a way to ensure that we will not fall into the other side's massacre, but also to convince the other side of our sincerity in surrendering. I just don't know if Mr. Yueshan is willing to part with it!" The man who stood up had a plain appearance, black hair and black eyes. He is about thirty years old, but black The ends of his long eyebrows are slightly upturned, revealing a slender phoenix eye. A pair of bright eyes reveals the wisdom and tenacity unique to the Central and African soldiers. This unique look makes his ordinary face look more ordinary. With a dazzling look, Yue Shan's face suddenly showed a trace of heat when he saw this person.

The person who stood up was called Song Hua, a descendant of the Song clan, one of the four powerful families in the Central Asian Empire.

It is said that he beat someone who shouldn't be beaten in Kyoto. He was specially monitored by the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs and assigned to a post on the northern border of Central Asia.

To a certain extent, this person is already an abandoned son of the Song clan.

The sphere of influence of the Song people has always been in the south of Central and South Africa, and few people are sent to serve in the north. The invisible power game here is no less than a small war. The result of the power confrontation is often compromise and exchange of interests, and the status is not the same. Song Hua, who was not very good, was sent to the north, and he was still an officer of the forward battalion who could be trampled to pieces by the Dongting Prairie Cavalry at any time. Another promising and important son of the Song family joined the Imperial Affairs Department on the same day. ,

The northern army in Central Asia was defeated by the Dongting Cavalry. It was this abandoned son of the Song family who suggested to Yue Shan who was at a loss what to do. "After the Dongting Cavalry breaks through the northern border, it will inevitably move south quickly and escape to the center of the empire. This is not the consequence." Caught by the pursuing Dongting people , they were killed as scapegoats by the panicked imperial ministers who urgently needed someone to blame. Instead of doing this, it is better to go west. At least the people of Dongting have no thoughts of going west for the time being. With the hundreds of elites under your command, they can go anywhere. Raise a flag”

The news that subsequently came from the migrants was exactly what Song Hua said.

Except for Ta Yue Shan who escaped westward with hundreds of his men and survived, the other Northern Army generals who fled towards the center of the empire, except for those with particularly strong backgrounds, were basically accused of defeat by the Zhongbia Emperor who was furious because of the loss of the northern border. Public beheadings were carried out. On that day, the streets of Kyoto, a hundred miles long, were crowded with people. A dozen important figures from the northern frontier army who were lucky enough to survive were locked in prison cars and circled around the city three times. Finally, they were beheaded in embarrassment, covered in filth. head. The corpses were cut up and broken up by the people all over the city. The scene was so horrific that even soldiers like Yue Shan felt cold.

"Song Hua, do you have any idea?"

Yue Shan said eagerly, in his heart, Song Hua is not only courageous but also has the aloofness of a child of a big family. He will not do anything to add insult to injury, and at least he is more trustworthy than others.

"If you want to gain the recognition of both parties, the best way is to take hostages!" Song Hua hesitated for a moment, and everyone's eyes fell on him, making his eyes twinkle even more. He looked at everyone, He looked at Yue Shan again, took a deep breath, and said slowly, "We can propose to the other side to hand over a hostage to the other side, and the other side will send 3,000 troops into the city at the same time to achieve control of the valley. We will gradually do so within three days." Exit the Valley”

"Well, this is a good idea!"

Immediately, some people began to agree that as long as they could survive, they would not mind handing over one person as a hostage.

"But who should be used as hostages outside? I heard that the Falcon Empire is very cruel! Someone said casually, and there was an immediate silence. Everyone, you look at me, I look at you. They are not familiar with the Falcon Empire, but they are Tens of thousands of innocent souls from the Tianlang Mansion that burned to the ground were placed there.

To say that the Falcon Empire is a country that treats its enemies gently is to deceive oneself and others!

"Song Hua, since it was you who proposed it, tell me who you have in mind!" Yue Shan looked at Song Hua. Since it was you who came up with the idea, you are the only one who can clean up this mess.

"I knew it would be like this!" Song Hua smiled bitterly. He knew Yue Shan's indecisiveness very well. Fortunately, he was well prepared and said slowly.

"Selecting hostages." He paused for a moment, glanced at everyone's faces, and then said in a stronger voice. "The subordinates think Lord Yueshan's only daughter is the best! I heard that Murphy O'Brien is outside the Falcon." In the imperial camp, he knows the young lady. With him here, the other party will know how sincere the Lord is! "

Yue Shan was stunned for a moment when he heard this. He wondered if he had heard it wrong. Song Hua, whom he valued so much, actually wanted his only daughter to be a hostage. Feeling that everyone was looking at him, his expression quickly changed. Hong waved his hand angrily and said angrily, "Impossible, how can I let Xin'er be a hostage for the Falcon Empire outside! Those prairie cavalry from the west are not necessarily kinder than the people of Dongting!"

"Sir, although we are helpless, this is the only way. The other party has the power to destroy us. If we want to save tens of thousands of lives in the valley, we can only make the other party believe in our sincerity!" Song Hua's cheeks twitched, and suddenly he made fists with both hands. He said, "If your lord is worried, I am willing to accompany Miss Xin'er." Yes, Lord Yueshan's lady is the best candidate! ""Miss Xin'er has extraordinary skills, and ordinary soldiers can't get close to her. Even if there is any problem, she can escape back! ""No, absolutely not! "

The guard at the door listened to the various sounds coming from the meeting hall, but looked at a girl standing outside the meeting hall with an extremely embarrassed face.

The girl is wrapped in a cloak trimmed with white fox fur, with half soft armor underneath. Her glossy black hair is tied up with a men's leather crown, and there are still girlish soft hairs on the temples on the back of her neck. Under the sun. I actually felt a little dizzy.

Listening to the quarrel coming from the meeting hall, the girl's face turned unexpectedly calm.

A messenger hurriedly ran over from the direction of the city wall and went straight into the hall to report, "My lords, there is news from outside the city. There are still ten minutes. If there is still no action, the opponent will launch an attack!" "Ah, ten minutes!" In the hall The quarrel suddenly stopped. Was the time already so short? "My lord, the lady is out of the city!" The voices coming from outside at the same time made Yue Shan, who was blushing, swayed, and Song Hua cupped his hand. "My lord, my subordinates will chase the lady immediately. As long as Song Hua lives, I will risk my life to protect the safety of the young lady!”

Thank you very much for your support to Baozi over the past few years. It is you who guide Baozi forward in the dark! Thank you very much! (To be continued...)