Realm of Power

readx; Immediately on the slope outside the Yanzhou North Camp, Dongting Right Prime Minister Yelu Hongtai looked at the Baihe pro-army under his command with complicated eyes, like a rolling dragon pouring into the already withered and ruined Yanzhou in front of him. In Beiying, the wind is cold and chilly. It is expected that Beiying will encounter the fiercest resistance. The tall outer walls are already covered with moss. Some newly repaired urban areas have long been empty of people.

The once glorious Beiying was like discarded garbage. No one took a look at it anymore. It is hard to imagine that back then, the Beiying was bustling with people, with illustrious soldiers, and a constant stream of transport convoys. The absolutely stunning scene once shocked the young man named Yelu who came with the family caravan.

In Yelu Hongtai's memory, there are six or seven large-scale commercial towns outside this city-like Beiying. But now, these towns outside the city are already ruins covered with weeds. In the hearts of the prairie people, Yanzhou Beiying is the memory of blood. It is adjacent to Shangjing, the core of the Yanzhou barrier, to the south, to the Hural Pass to the north, and to the central city of Xiong, which echoes Baihulin, the northern important town of Yanzhou.

The Zhongbia Empire has launched large-scale military operations against the northern grasslands many times, all based on these two points. Many people in the grasslands may not know that the Zhongbia Empire has a hundred-mile long court, but they have never known it. They have known the names of the two Central Bian places, Yanzhou Beiying and Baihulin, since they were sensible, because their fathers or ancestors died at the hands of the Central Bian people in these two areas.

I don’t know how many grassland people’s resentment and fear clung to this majestic city, but now, it is just a weedy existence.

The Yanzhou barrier has been breached once. During the last retreat, the grassland people destroyed the Yanzhou defense system to a considerable extent. The ruins of the barrier, the desolate barrier, and the large sections of collapsed stones were reflected in the blood-colored sunset. Without enough manpower, it would be impossible to restore the defense system to a usable state in a short period of time. The Luzhou Army that entered Yanzhou obviously did not expect that the grassland people would move south again so quickly. The five thousand defenders at the Hural Pass fought desperately. Most of it collapsed, but it only blocked it for a day. The northwest gate of Yanzhou was opened, and the prairie people's horse hooves finally stepped into the weeds of Yanzhou that still had a hint of early spring.

If there were a pair of eyes in the sky at this time. You will see a picture like this,

Groups of grassland Qingqi, carrying horn bows on their waists and wearing light hard leather armor, methodically approached the hinterland of Yanzhou, plowing open the land in front of them like sharp blades.

While the overwhelming cheers of countless other horses were heard, a group of people and horses hurriedly returned to the boiling northern Yanzhou. Most of these prairie people were wearing dirty leather robes, and they were stocky and rough. Originally, the whole body was full of fishy smell. Most of them were composed of four to five hundred riders, and the personnel were also made up of several tribes. They raided Yanzhou, which was almost deserted, and then they had to return. Yanzhou was mostly in ruins. In this state, the food and grass that can be found is very poor. At most, it was two to three hundred kilograms of various miscellaneous grains. Behind the slowly returning team, there were more than a dozen skinny sheep and horses. The people above were lazily riding back, and some were still tearing at two pieces of raw materials for workmanship. The women's clothes, which were not very good, simply rolled to the ground and started fighting with each other. No one cared about it. At the front of the queue, the tribe's little heads had their leather robes open. In addition to mud, they were also covered with heavy sweat. The smell of blood. The ugly face with scars is always distorted. .

The Yanzhou war clouds are spreading out like a storm according to Yelu Hongtai's deployment.

Yelu Hongtai is worthy of being the right prime minister who has been in charge of the royal court for thirty years. Once out of danger, he immediately showed his true colors as an old fox. As soon as he came out of the mountain pass, he immediately ordered the 80,000 Right Prime Minister Baihe's troops who were originally pressed behind to be divided into three groups and march towards Yanzhou Shangjing, forcing the main force of the Central and Asian troops to press on Shangjing did not dare to move. Baihe's pro-army troops were prepared for war after getting the Langrui army camp. The equipment is already pretty good.

The group of light cavalry and fast horses rushed to the core of Yanzhou and Shangjing. Although they lacked a bit of toughness after experiencing the brutal battle, there was no problem in pretending. What's more, the predecessors of Baihe's pro-army were Wang Tingwei. Among the 80,000 Baihe pro-army, there are still more than 10,000 Royal Guards with real combat capabilities. The appearance of these more than 10,000 real guards in front of the Central Bian army is enough to hold up the entire scene.

The other tribes that came in afterwards easily launched a sweep of the areas along the way. It seemed that Yanzhou was already on fire, and there seemed to be combat troops of the grassland people everywhere. The scale of the attack was no smaller than the previous one. In this way, the Central Asian army You will not notice that in fact, except for the elites who number no more than 10,000, most of the grassland armies are quite average in combat strength, and may even be inferior to the regular army in Central and South Africa.

Urgent reports for help from all over the country were flying to Beijing like snowflakes. As long as they broke through Yanzhou, even if the Central and African troops tried to stop them, it would be impossible! Yelu Hongtai had this idea, so the 80,000 Baihe pro-army troops pressed forward completely, without giving the main force of the Luzhou army a chance to breathe. The sharp turn of the war smoke in the north of Yanzhou really made the Zhongbia court who had just moved south immediately Feeling the pressure,

Who would have thought that these hundreds of thousands of grassland people were actually forced to go south. Instead, they thought that with the coming of spring in the east, the war that the grassland people usually launched only in the autumn was brought forward. In order to continue to defend Yanzhou, there was already a quarrel in the court whether to abandon Yanzhou. It became a pot of porridge, and most civil servants Expressing that they must stick to Yanzhou, otherwise Yanzhou will be lost, a large number of prairie cavalry came down madly, and another catastrophe in the imperial capital was before their eyes. The generals were silent one by one. What was the situation in Yanzhou? Even if the generals did not know clearly, they had a rough idea. I can guess part of it,

Yanzhou is not called a century-old barrier to the north for nothing. Even if it was demolished once, the basic framework of those strong city walls is still there. Some important cities can still be used after repairs. The Luzhou army that arrived in Yanzhou is not a weak force. , but the elites who gained great fame in suppressing the barbarians in the south. The Luzhou heavy armored soldiers are known as the best in the world in battle.

However, in such a short period of time, the 60,000 Luzhou Army was forced to reduce its strength to guard the capital. It is conceivable that the strength of the grassland people is at least two to three times more than the Luzhou Army, or more. Otherwise, the Yan State is so big. State, how could it be possible that it was immediately reported to all places? It's a hornet's nest. The strength of the armies in China and Libya has not yet been restored. Even for those legions that have been replenished, three-quarters are new recruits who have never been on the battlefield. Moreover, because of the huge gap in armaments, many soldiers do not even have armor. How can such a legion compete with the powerful forces on the grassland? The Luzhou Army, which was number one in the battle, was so frightened that it stayed in Luzhou. What was the use of going up there on its own?

Sure enough, three days later. More shocking news came from the Luzhou Army. The Luzhou Army captured a grassland leader during a raid and learned that the number of grassland people heading south this time may be as many as hundreds of thousands. Only a part of the troops were outside Shangjing, and there were more troops coming to Shangjing. The civilian officials who insisted on resisting changed their faces when they heard the news.

At this time, if you still insist on defending Yanzhou and never let the catastrophe of the imperial capital happen again, it is a joke. The eyes of the generals on the opposite side have also become cold, as if they are waiting to make fun of someone.

The Luzhou Army only had more than 60,000 troops heading north, and they had no follow-up supplies. They originally planned to seize Yanzhou first and then transport the baggage up. Who knows. This time hundreds of thousands of prairie people were killed at once. . . . . . What else are you fighting for? Urgently ordering the Luzhou Army to evacuate Yanzhou is the only way to go. We have already lost the Imperial Capital, and it doesn't matter if we lose another Yanzhou. If even the Luzhou Army that suppressed the southern forces is lost in Yanzhou, it will be fundamental to the empire's shake. Prime Minister Li Tai stood up from the top of the list of civil servants and said a fair word that both sides had to step down from.

"But once Yanzhou is abandoned, the prairie people will move south in large numbers..."

There were also people who wanted to stand up and refute, but were immediately stopped by their superiors with harsh words. Didn't you hear that? What the prime minister said this time was not what would happen if the war was defeated, but that losing the Luzhou Army would shake the foundation of the empire! Abandoning Yanzhou, the grassland people may not necessarily go south. If the Luzhou Army is lost, the country will be shaken. Can't you tell which is more important?

Hearing the words of this important minister of the empire, the air in the court suddenly froze.

"Kunimoto...!" There was a low voice of discussion. Everyone's eyes were more or less glanced at the last few in the list of civil servants. Standing at the end meant that they were not favored among the civil servants, but there was no trace of loneliness on the faces of these few. On the contrary, they looked He was high-spirited, especially a middle-aged man standing at the front of several people, wearing a white hairband, with a straight face and a trace of He has a rebellious temperament, and the civil service uniform on his body depicts the color of a three-eyed unicorn. The unicorn is originally the first color among civil servants. It should be among the top three in terms of position, but the three-eyed unicorn also has purple, red and white 6 colors. The bright color seems a bit nondescript, and the standing position is not really at the end, but it is a specially created position in the court.

The three-eyed unicorn is the symbol of the Song people in the south.

In this court, they can have their own position entirely because the Song family has a transcendent position and does not need to participate in the court proceedings. The reason why we saw them today is because these people undoubtedly came with some purpose. Or maybe you want to know the direction of the wind in the court of China and Libya, or you have heard some rumors, or even more Most likely, they are here to put pressure on the court. The arrogant-looking middle-aged man at the head of the queue is Song Kulian, the son of the current Song Clan leader. The reason for coming this time is to congratulate the empire on its move to the capital. How does that sound? There is a bit of irony in it, but unfortunately, the entire Zhongbia court can only pretend to be deaf and dumb to this,

The Song clan is one of the four major first-class clans in the empire. It is located in the mountains of the southern border of the empire. It is the leader of the thirty-eight barbarian tribes in the south. It is only a nominal submission. When the Central Asian Empire was first established, the power of the Song clan had already covered most of them. South, there was even a faint intention to compete with China and Bia for the world at that time. Ten years of tug-of-war After hard fighting, the barbarians suffered heavy losses, and the Zhongbia region became increasingly stable. Seeing that the opportunity was gone, the Song people finally chose to compromise, accepting the enfeoffment of the first-class clans in Zhongbia, and retracted their power to the barbarian region south of Nanyu Mountain, and fought with The Zhongbia court has always been a small dynasty.

During the battle of the Central Asian Imperial Capital, the barbarians led by the Southern Song Clan had been watching the battle coldly. The 100,000 Desert Mountain Army had also been frequently mobilized recently. It was unknown where they had obtained the technology for forging fine iron, which had completely gotten rid of the bottleneck of collecting iron ore and sending it to the central part of the empire for forging. The Desert Mountain Army, equipped with a large number of iron weapons, had a rapid increase in combat power, and was already showing a trend of confronting the heavily armored Luzhou Army. Song Kulian had arrived at the newly migrated Imperial Capital of Central Asia at this time, and the significance of this was very interesting. If the Luzhou Army, which was suppressing the south, really had to half-cover Yanzhou, the Central Asian court would be unable to suppress the rise of the Southern Song Clan. At that time, who dared to imagine what would happen!

Now the grassland people are pressing into Yanzhou, and the life and death of the Luzhou army is unknown. Who is full to provoke these southern barbarians? Even His Majesty the Emperor only frowned slightly and turned the topic to the Long family's Western Army. He heard that the special envoy he sent was still in Guangling, and the several generals he secretly bribed were now wavering. Long Yang, who should have died in the Western Continent, miraculously survived. The head of the Long family has returned, so naturally he can no longer plan to seize the Western Army, not to mention that Long Yang actually brought a list of iron ore trade from the Western Continent. Really... He couldn't find any reason to find fault, and in a rage, he took advantage of the war in Yanzhou to scold the civil officials and military generals again.

The old hall loft exuded a sour smell. Coming out of the hall where people were still discussing, Song Kulian covered the sun with his hands and looked at the mountains and waters in the distance. Huge lotus flowers covered the lake, and the golden lake was swaying with fishermen's songs. Luling, which had just moved to the capital, had many tall masted ships parked at the port. It was the most beautiful time of spring.

"Song Hua, are you sure this Do the grassland people really have no intention of continuing to move south this time? "

Retracting his gaze from a distance, Song Kulian tilted his head to look at a young man behind him. He had a fair complexion, a long loose robe, and a white scorching sun scarf on his head. Standing in the sun, he exuded a refreshing breeze blowing through the Yanghe River, and his bright eyes were filled with a hint of coldness. Just now in the court, everyone had only Song Kulian in their eyes, and few people noticed the disdainful glance of the young man named Song Hua.

"The grassland people who went south this time are not strong in combat power. They may look fierce, but in fact they are not strong enough to fight to the south." Song Hua's eyes flickered, and he smiled slightly. "On the contrary, the Luzhou army that went north this time, the family can rest assured, they will definitely not come back!"

"You know, this kind of thing is not a joke! The 60,000 Luzhou troops are really determined to evacuate, even if the grassland people try their best to stop them, they may not be able to stop them!" Song Kulian's face sank. Although they are both from the Song clan, this Song Hua has already left the family. It's a pity that such talents are used by the Falcon Empire!

"The Luzhou Army was advancing northward, and the Empire had known about it for a long time. They let the Right Prime Minister's Army march southward and trapped them in Shangjing just to confuse the view." Song Hua's mouth curled up slightly, and his eyes swept across the mountains and lakes in front of him, and he said in a positive tone, "What really destroyed the Luzhou Army was the entire Zhongya court!" (To be continued.)

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