Realm of Power

The Six Nations Allied Forces took a turn, and the reinforcements turned into enemies. Naturally, the biggest reaction came from Istanbul and Kyoto.

The 100,000-strong army suddenly turned around while advancing north, and 15,000 cavalry rushed straight towards the outskirts of Kyoto of the Stan Empire like spikes. They deceived three lines of defense in succession under the pretext of being ordered to enter the capital. If it weren't for the emperor's need for the outer defense lines of Kyoto, Istan Only with the order to enter, the coalition forces The cavalry had already arrived at the gates of Kyoto, causing the emperor's flag that had just been established less than three months before the Istan Empire to turn red again. The sudden turn of the coalition forces initially gave Istan some illusions. Was it dissatisfaction caused by the delay in the southern delivery, or was it The coalition has new demands? It’s all negotiable, so why should it be so? Kyoto sent people to negotiate, but as the news disappeared, the prince of the Istan Empire, whose life and death was unknown, stood up from the coalition forces. The special envoy who went to negotiate was not even willing to negotiate for a moment. Stayed, the eldest prince is back, the crown prince is back! This news was like a stone falling on the surface of a mirror lake. It immediately caused countless ripples and spread in all directions. It quickly spread in Kyoto at an irrepressible speed. The direction of the entire Istanbul Kyoto changed. There was still a loyal look on the front. The ministers who had died showed their hesitant nature at this moment.

Compared with the difficulty of the second prince to ascend to the throne, if he were the eldest prince, he would have become the emperor long ago. After all, the eldest prince is the orthodox prince whom Emperor Thoradin I has painstakingly cultivated for more than 20 years. The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty also regarded this crown prince from the bottom of their hearts. Treated as the future emperor, people's wishes will come naturally. But this time, the eldest prince raised the banner of restoring the empire, and suddenly The situation is turbulent. In the past half year or so, the central government of Kyoto has chilled the hearts of local factions. Now that the eldest prince has raised the banner of restoration, the regional governors who are dissatisfied with the current situation of the second prince being surrounded by confidants are no longer interested. A few, everyone knows that Kyoto has already begun to take action against the local area. If we do not seize this opportunity, there will be no chance again.

The forces that had been suppressed in the region for many years suddenly burst out. The local troops marched towards Kyoto under various banners of supporting the king, but their support for the king was not for the new emperor, but for the eldest prince. The new emperor was despised by the regional governors as the "Puppet King." The central government's strength had been very weak before. If it hadn't been for the entry of 100,000 southern coalition troops, who among the regional governors would have cared about the central government's decisions? Not to mention that this time the central government used six southern provinces in exchange for sending troops, which made the regional governors feel bitter and gave up six provinces at once. One-third of the southern region, who can trust such an imperial emperor? I don’t know who will give up those regions next time!

"Those who betray the monarch should all be put to death,"

"The other party is well prepared. With a hundred thousand people under pressure, you still need to calm down!"

"It's already this time, is there any room for calm? Can't you see? This is a conspiracy, from beginning to end! There is no room for concession. This is war, a naked declaration of war!"

Above the Kyoto court, the ministers were silent, and the generals had become a mess. Today's Istanbul Kyoto is no longer what it used to be. Nearly 80,000 war-trained troops have just completed three operations near Kyoto. The suppression of the province is no longer the same as it was when it was dominated by tens of thousands of rebels. With the overwhelming weakness of Kyoto, and the fact that the rebels had been defeated and could no longer recover, the military's confidence began to grow rapidly.

An army of 80,000 was certainly nothing in the Istan Empire in its heyday. When Thoradin I conquered Feishan, there were only 300,000 elite troops. However, looking at the current Istan Empire, compared to the 10,000 or 20,000 in the region, it is very small. In terms of tremendous military strength. It was already powerful enough to make the opponent surrender by just launching it. After a small test, the governors of the three nearby provinces immediately panicked and went to Kyoto to plead guilty. From the new emperor to the generals, they were excited for several days.

"The time for the empire to revive has arrived. Your majesty's heroic demeanor should be seen by the entire empire, so that those clowns can feel ashamed and submit to the central government!" The Ministry of Military Affairs submitted a plan for a comprehensive revival to the new emperor, believing that Kyoto's strength Already full, it is the perfect time for external expansion. At that time, the only thing that was limited was the military strength. But with the three provinces in hand, with some hard work, we should be able to expand the two legions to 60,000 people. By then, Kyoto will have an army of 150,000 people. Whoever dares not to surrender to the direction of the army will be defeated. Within a year, the once glorious Istanbul Empire will reappear with the Oriental Obarro

"They are all a group of people who clearly have eyes but can't see them!"

In the queue of ministers, an imperial minister wearing a gold-threaded collared uniform glanced contemptuously at the corner of his mouth. A reckless man is a reckless man. Besides shouting about fighting and killing people, what else can he do? Expanding the army and fighting wars all cost money. Do you know what is going on in Kyoto now? Such crazy military expansion has caused Kyoto's economy to be under pressure and on the verge of bankruptcy. The food on the market must be given priority to the army. The iron ore on the market is purchased by the military at a low price. Businessmen who cannot afford it are rushing to flee Kyoto because of the lack of food. Due to labor, more and more fields outside Kyoto are becoming empty. This autumn will definitely see a big drop in production. It would be great to have half of last year’s production.

Even so, the military only shouts about military expansion, thinking that as long as it has troops, it is strong. Who knows that the most important thing for military expansion is money? It recruits troops wantonly and expands without limit, but does not see that Kyoto is changing. It became a huge barracks, like a deformed monster. In order to maintain it, it ruthlessly devoured everything it could. The most important department was the Imperial Ministry. Eighty percent of Kyoto's tax revenue was used to expand the army. , three-quarters of the people on each promotion list are military personnel,

At this time in Kyoto, Istanbul, you will see that among the people on the street, three or four out of ten are soldiers in uniform. The ones who loudly talk about state affairs in the tavern are soldiers, standing by the street with a look of contempt, The people who were glaring at the carriages of wealthy and distinguished people passing by were soldiers, and the people who were begging on the street with their lame legs and broken hands were still soldiers. In the planning steps, the most important centralization of power had unknowingly become the one from before the beginning of the year. A massive military expansion plan from 20,000 troops to the current 80,000 troops,

The central power has not been gathered, and the regional financial resources have not been obtained. Instead, the heavy military expenditure has doubled several times in a short period of time. Even in a place like Kyoto, even if the ministers and dignitaries are desperately squeezing the region, the feeling is the same. The empire's money bag is being sucked out of the bottomless pit of the military. Naturally, the ministers will complain about the military's actions.

They tried their best to push His Highness the Second Prince to the position of emperor, seeking more benefits and status, but who knew that after the new emperor ascended the throne, he would only give them a bunch of empty titles of little use. The real benefit is still to let the soldiers occupy it for counter-insurgency wars in order to absorb troops as quickly as possible. More than 200,000 civilians were absorbed into the imperial army. In order to resist the approaching rebels, civilians were pushed forward in large numbers to die. The prosperous Kyoto, which once had a total population of more than 600,000, experienced a disastrous defeat by Fei Shan. After experiencing the counter-insurgency war, the current population is less than 300,000, of which 80,000 are soldiers. The ratio of nearly three to one has greatly exceeded Kyoto's capacity.

Many of these soldiers who fought bloody battles during the war lost their families, their wives and children, and countless others were injured and disabled because the national treasury was already empty. The bounty promised by Kyoto for the counterinsurgency war was naturally released, and there were also many people who had their land annexed by the nobles because of their recruitment into the army!

How could such a huge group, filled with resentment after witnessing the drunkenness and opulence in Kyoto and the harsh oppression of civilians in Kyoto, have any good impression of such a Kyoto!

It is really ridiculous that such an army is still relied on by the generals as a barrier to Kyoto. This situation. The new emperor is invisible, but the ministers can see it, but the ministers are all staring at the land of the common people, so naturally no one will speak for these future slaves. The Istanbul Empire adopted a slavery system, and a large number of bankrupt civilians were the best source of slaves. The military generals would not even say that they wanted to benefit from military rewards and persuade the emperor to agree to a comprehensive military expansion. Naturally, they could not Mention the plight of lower-class soldiers. The issue of military expenditure cannot be brought up, and the military expansion should be continued with all efforts. As long as Kyoto's troops are rushed out in one fell swoop and occupy a few more provinces, all problems will be solved! These generals who were promoted by His Majesty the Emperor from mid- to low-level officers in one fell swoop still have the same level of thinking as middle- and lower-level officers. The new emperor himself is not the material to lead troops. Naturally, he does not understand these things. He is full of thoughts about the ZTE Empire. Ideas, these details will naturally not be considered.

The rain fell continuously, covering the sky and the earth into a vast expanse of white, turning it into a wetland with puddles everywhere.

The horse's hooves stepped on such ground, causing water to splash. Varisien stopped his horse and looked at the half-water, half-saline land in front of him. The camp along the river was the flag of the Hayela pro-army camp. There were fifty thousand people crowded near the river bank, stretching for three or four miles, and spread out around several large towers with big flags. The layers were stacked on top of each other like a huge plane, showing a very rigorous attitude. Arrangement

"Lord Hayela, you are indeed the most famous general in the former Istan Empire. Just looking at this camp in front of me makes me secretly frightened!" Varisien raised his riding crop and sneered at Dongfang beside him. Provincial Governor Hayela said

"Sir Varisien is too polite. Compared to you, who dominates most of the northern part of Oparo, and is even among the top twenty famous generals in the mainland, I, Hayela, am just a country bumpkin living in a small place."

Haye touched his belly with his hand, smiling from the corner of his mouth to his ears. He looked very happy, wearing a bulging tube armor, shiny by the rain, like a huge wild boar wearing a red cloak, riding a horse. On a war horse that is larger than other war horses, the heavy weight and armor make the giant horse panting. ordered to withdraw from the Istan Empire, losing more than 20,000 highland warriors. Logically speaking, this notorious war pig should have complaints about the empire's decision, but judging from his current enthusiasm , but he didn’t even mean to complain at all. The reason was very simple. Most of the highland warriors who died were not direct descendants of Hayela.

The fact that the highlanders moved to the Eastern Province with them does not mean that they are all willing to submit to Hayela's management.

In this raid by the Six Nations Allied Forces, he used his strength to teach the disobedient tribes a lesson. When they attacked the Istan Empire some time ago, several tribes who attacked their own compatriots in order to seize supplies and military honors were punished. After suffering a lot of secret losses, these tribes became much more submissive during this period, and Hayela also married several people in succession. Women are naturally full of energy when happy events happen. The famous imperial general Varisien personally led 100,000 imperial elites to the Eastern Province, which made the highlanders know for the first time the terror of the imperial military front. Hayela, the imperial eastern province The identity of the governor made the highland tribes more and more fearful. Hayela's direct lineage was a very formidable elite, and now he had the support of the Hundred Thousand Emperors.

At the Highlanders meeting that ended yesterday, Hayela has been elected as the new leader by the Highlanders. The empire has sold Hayera such a big favor, and Hayela is now dead set on the empire.

Originally, according to the plan, Hayera would gather troops within five days and launch another attack on the Istan Empire. At the same time, Varisian's one hundred thousand imperial elites would also march in. Of course, this was an illusion. Two of the one hundred thousand imperial troops Ten thousand cavalrymen would turn back halfway and push directly towards Feishan Capital. According to the information from the informants in Feishan Capital, with the departure of the imperial team, the nobles in the royal capital frequently conspired with the envoys of the six southern countries. More than ten The weapons and equipment of the ships were delivered to Feishan Capital. Ten ships of weapons were enough for thousands of soldiers. It was obviously insufficient to launch a direct resistance against the empire, but launching a sudden attack at the critical moment was enough. Obviously, Feishan Capital His target should be an important general of the empire like Varisien, but Varisien didn’t know why King Feishan was so sure that he would suddenly withdraw from the front line and even set up an ambush to kill him!

"Lord Varisien, urgent report from Istan!"

The messenger cavalry sent shocking news. The Crown Prince of Istan had appeared outside Kyoto, accompanied by 100,000 six-nation coalition troops. Varisien and Hayera couldn't help but look at each other. This plot change was so bloody. Okay, Varisian smiled coldly at the corner of his mouth, I see. He looked fiercely at the eagle flag fluttering on the top of the camp. Although he was not entirely sure of his thoughts, Varisian roughly guessed part of it.

It is unbelievable to say that the sudden changes in Istanbul and Kyoto would actually involve me.

It's very simple. The only one who can assist the Istan Empire against the six-nation coalition is the powerful Falcon Empire. Istan Kyoto is surrounded by people. Even if there are reinforcements, they cannot arrive quickly, but the imperial army can because the empire has something that other countries do not have. Due to the naval superiority, it only took two or three days from Feishan's deployment to Istanbul.

If the new emperor of Istan is willing to pay a high enough price, the possibility that the empire will agree to send troops to assist is very high.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. In any case, the empire has essentially declared war on the six southern countries.

It's messed up, the plan is completely messed up! Varisien frowned slightly and held the emergency report tightly in his hand. This situation was definitely beyond the emperor's expectation. So is it still necessary to carry out the previous plan? (To be continued.)

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