Realm of Power

The hilly areas of southern Istan received the heaviest snow since the beginning of winter. It was like white covering the sky and the earth in front of us. The cold wind howled and carried large snowflakes on the face. When the horse's hooves fell, there was a snow pit sinking into the horse's ankle. Such Under the heavy snow, a middle-aged Istani nobleman whose whole body was almost covered with wind and snow turned into a snowman, and the stubble that he had carefully maintained in the past had frozen into ice. His eyes looked sadly at the seemingly endless snowfield in front of him, and his body almost They were completely lying on the horse's back, and their feet were tied tightly to the horse with leggings. The purpose of this was only one, that is, even if the person fainted, he would still not fall off the horse. The only thought in the heart of the young Istan noble was to keep moving forward, "How far is it from Gangwa?" The middle-aged Istan noble straightened his back and cheered up, "Sir, we should be in the south now. Allen Hills is about a hundred miles away from Gangwa! "A guard cavalry who was familiar with the terrain glanced around, glanced at the heavy snow above his head, and exhaled thick white air and said, "If the snow stops tonight, you should be able to reach Gangwa tomorrow. If the snow doesn't stop, That’s hard to say! ""How many days have we set out? ""Eleven days! ""Just keep going! "The middle-aged noble took a deep breath of air-conditioning and rubbed off the ice and snow on his stubble with his hands, revealing a resolute middle-aged face, with an elegant temperament, but much paler. If someone sees it now, why? Nor would they believe that this Istan nobleman, who was almost like a tramp, would be the governor of Salum in the province of Kabul in the north of Istan, known as the Pearl of Istan.

More than a dozen cavalry were guarding Marquis Salum, and the entire queue was heading south in a straight line. Even though everyone was exhausted and wanted to die, with their faces and bodies covered with the coldness of snowflakes, and their eyes as red as rabbits, there was still no The man stopped his horse's hooves heading south, but he could no longer run fast. It is completely the instinct that drives the horse forward,

Their target is Gangwa in the south. Gangwa is an important town in the south of Istan and is also the current base camp of the Falcon Emperor's regional army in Istan. At this time, one month has passed since the Civil War, and they have crushed the Six Nations and Seventy The imperial army of the Ten Thousand Alliance Army not only shocked the entire south, but also completely made the governors of the Istan region surrender.

The imperial general Varisien, who had already practiced his skills in Feishan, was once again ordered to rectify the Istan area. Varisien is well aware of the temperament of the governors of these regions. In the absence of central power, many people have become accustomed to a wait-and-see mentality. They obviously have little capital in hand and still hold on to bargaining plans. The governors of Istan in the south are relatively good, anyway. The main force of the emperor's army was stationed in the south. Under the military power, the governors all rolled up their tails. In the final stage of the War between the North and the South, the southern governors, in order to show their sincerity, also took out all the troops in their hands, no matter they were regular troops. The miscellaneous army, which consisted of 50,000 to 60,000 people, fiercely fought several blocking battles with the Southern Allied forces who were frantically fleeing south, resulting in heavy casualties. Even if there are still some left in his hand, it is no longer a concern. What worries Varisien is the governors of the northern region of Istan.

During the Civil War, the North did not contribute any force. Later, when they saw that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, they hurriedly joined the Empire. Now that the war is over, the governors in the North once again returned to a wait-and-see attitude. They all still thought that the Falcon Empire wanted to swallow Istan in one go. No matter what, we must adopt a gentle strategy to win over people's hearts. In this case, everyone can take advantage of the spring breeze of surrendering to the Falcon Empire and make a good profit. The north is not a border military town, and it has never been regarded as a military barrier by the Istanbul Empire. Therefore, the prosperity of the northern region is worse than that of the south, but its military strength is not as good as that of the south. The south has been fighting with the south for a long time, and the mountainous and hilly areas , it is not a place where you can recuperate for a long time. Most of the soldiers in the Istan Empire era were drawn from the southern region.

After experiencing the early rebellion and the ravages of the Six-Nation Alliance, the population and economy of the South also fell to its lowest level in thirty years. On the contrary, the North was not affected by the rebellion and the ravages of the Six-Nation Alliance. The population and cities remained intact. No one could say that the empire had taken control of the Istan region. In the name of export, it is not easy to rectify the governors in the north.

Considering that the rectification of the north would encounter resistance, Varisien also reported his pain to Fatty after accepting the order. In the situation in the north, it would be difficult for mild integration methods to be effective. If tough military methods were adopted, he was afraid that a good Istanbul would be destroyed. The north was destroyed, and the fat man gave Varisien an answer to his pain.

"The Empire will order all the provincial governors of the Istan region to report to the Empire's base camp Gangwa within a certain period of time. Those who fail to do so will be immediately dismissed!" Varisien was stunned by this opinion. What kind of opinion was this? ?

The report transmitted from the Imperial Navy made Varisian, who was thinking about how to rectify the governor of Istan, a little embarrassed. As the highest military commander of the empire stationed in Istan, with hundreds of thousands of imperial troops in his hands, he was condescending and looked down upon. No one in the entire south dared to raise his head, but when it was really necessary When mobilizing the army, the hundreds of thousands of troops could not be mobilized without the order of His Majesty Falcon. When the Aero Empire went to war against Aden, Varisien instinctively sensed an opportunity. However, the order from His Majesty Falcon failed. It's "Just wait and see what happens. Without orders, you must not send troops without permission!"

This is completely inconsistent with His Majesty Falcon's past style of always taking a bite when seeing benefits. Where is the "change" in His Majesty Falcon's orders?

Varisien could only suppress the enthusiasm in his heart and fixed his gaze on the battlefield of Cornelia. He watched the 300,000 troops of the Erro Empire swooping down on the Cornelia area, and watched the Aden Army’s frantic rescue. In the Cornelia Corridor, which is hundreds of miles away, the two armies' total strength of nearly half a million people were strangled together, and the fight almost turned into a bloody corridor. In the end, the Eero people finally decided the battle with difficulty a month later, and the Aden people were unwilling to give in. evacuation

Varisien finally understood that the target of the Eero army was not the lonely Cornelia, but the main force of the hundreds of thousands of border troops rescued by Aden.

If the purpose of attacking Cornelia was the Eero Army, it would not even take half a month to capture Cornelia. However, the Eero Army's attack was very fast from the beginning. It can be said to be a model of taking the enemy by surprise. It is absolutely It was a long-planned operation. One hundred thousand rebels moved in, and then troops under the banner of crusade entered, one after another. However, as soon as the Aden people moved out, the situation immediately changed. The 100,000 rebels could obviously quickly reach the walls of Cornelia in one fell swoop, but they deliberately slowed down the process. Instead, the Aero army that cut in from behind spread out their army on top of each other, with canine teeth interlaced, obviously hunting with nets. Trick, the final fatal blow to the logistics line. If it weren't for the fast running of the Aden frontier army, hundreds of thousands of people would have been wiped out by the Eero Army.

"Forward this report to His Majesty immediately!"

Varisien folded the report in his hand with a serious expression and handed it to the adjutant who came in. Seven or eight of the Istan governors who came to report had already arrived. It was at this time that Varisien realized that His Majesty Falcon was vicious and stubborn. It was difficult to govern the north because these governors were there, and that was their territory. Now, he wanted to transfer these governors out of their original areas. How to do it is not what the empire wants.

Set the meeting point in Gangwa in the south, and the governors in the south are better off. It can always be reached within three or four days if it is a short journey, or seven or eight days if it is a long distance, but the governors in the north are complaining a lot. From the north to the south of Istan, even on the fastest horse, it is a journey of eleven or two days, bumping on the horseback for more than ten days. Even a strong man made of steel will have his butt broken into several pieces.

What's more, northern Istan is the core area of ​​the Istan Empire. The proportion of civilian officials serving as governors is much higher than in the south. It is conceivable that a group of civil servants carried the wind and snow southward in the snow, and they probably lost most of their lives. It was freezing in the ice and snow. Half dead, just hoping to get there as soon as possible No matter where the place is, all the bargaining calculations and vigor have been thrown away. The so-called deadline is actually a warning to the governors in the north. As long as it is within the time limit, the empire can naturally withdraw on the spot with legitimate reasons. the northern governors

The fat man who received Varician's urgent report had no intention of interfering in the war between the Elro Empire and the Aden people. The Empire was not the savior, and the war between the Elro people and the Aden people was too muddy. The Elro Empire was fighting With the idea of ​​​​going deep into the hinterland of the Kingdom of Aden, the people of Aden were planning to lure the Eero army to go deeper. Otherwise, hundreds of thousands of border troops would have evacuated in such a timely manner. The two countries have been fighting each other for a hundred years, and who doesn't know the other? If the Kingdom of Aden was destroyed so easily, then the Kingdom of Aden would have been destroyed many times before. It’s just that Emperor Aero was a little too confident and eager, otherwise he might not have been able to see some clues.

Fatty is now fully arranging the affairs of the Imperial Bank. After all, military expansion is limited, and it affects the attitudes of all parties. After the First World War, hundreds of thousands of troops were mobilized and consumed, destroying the reconstruction of the region. It is better to expand directly economically. Better,

The powerful countries in the south are now busy with themselves. The rapid expansion of the strength of these small and medium-sized countries has also triggered a sense of crisis in neighboring countries. You expand your troops, and I also expand my troops. You buy weapons, and I also buy weapons. This has invisibly triggered a crisis in the entire region. military competition, some poor small countries, in order not to be defeated by this competition, have begun to sell royal jewels privately.

The Imperial Bank signed more and more contracts, and most of the loan money flowed back to the Empire as military expenditures for the purchase of weapons. By March, the Empire's trade volume for arms exports to the South had tripled. Following the precedent of the Paput Kingdom, the Imperial Bank is now in the southern part of Obarro Seven small and medium-sized countries on the coastline signed a contract, and in one fell swoop they secured nine hundred-year mortgages on coastal ports, as well as more than a dozen mines and various regional resources. It can be said that the situation in the south has been opened up. This is much better than what was spent at the beginning. It took a lot of effort to get a Kailuo port from the Eero people. It was too powerful.

The Imperial Bank's expansion in the internal regions of the empire has also developed very rapidly. Since the Imperial Bank became famous at the Business Alliance Headquarters meeting and showed its extremely strong background, Salon, the governor of the southwest region of the most prosperous province in the empire, expressed his To express our welcome to the Imperial Bank branch’s establishment in the Southwest District,

In April, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Empire in Kyoto loaned 60 million to the Imperial Bank for construction in various places. At this time, the reputation of the Imperial Bank had been completely established in the empire.

Unlike the Commercial Alliance, whose main business is commercial trade, the Imperial Bank's main business is loans and deposits. In particular, the Imperial Bank introduced the measure that merchants can receive interest after their deposits reach a certain amount, which can be said to have caused thousands of waves in the entire empire. Lang, in the past, merchants had to pay custody fees when depositing money in the Business Alliance, but the Empire had interest Withdrawal is simply unheard of. Although the interest is negligible, the savings in storage costs is a huge sum. As for the credibility of the Imperial Bank, it is guaranteed by the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs, affirmed by the Imperial Southwest District, and even the Imperial Bank Fang boss Crolisate is supporting it, and with the empire’s business queen Sokutus Stellan personally taking control, what problems will there be? With the rapid rise of the Imperial Bank, the commercial nature of the Business Alliance has become more prominent. The loan function that originally belonged to the Business Alliance has been replaced by the Imperial Bank, which holds 80 million Business Alliance gold tickets.

When the warm heat of early summer in May hits the face, the Imperial Bank has completely become a part of the empire's economy. Deposits and loans are not limited to the south and the empire. The kingdoms in the northwestern part of Obarro have surrendered to the empire. Also began to borrow money from the Imperial Bank,

The purpose of the loans from these kingdoms is not to purchase weapons and expand armaments, but to purchase merchant ships to form caravans and build domestic road facilities. The development of the empire's commercial industry has allowed these surrendered kingdoms to consciously rely on the empire as the economic core. On the circle, the empire rarely experienced a period of peace. The empire stationed in the Istan area The main forces began to withdraw to their respective stations in April, leaving only Varisian's 200,000 legions stationed there. After the Istan region was reorganized, the empire re-planned it into seven southern Istan provinces and four Istan provinces. In the northern provinces, although the positions of governors were retained, the jurisdiction of each region was taken over by administrative officers sent by the empire.

"Your Majesty, after the Aden Army captured the Philo Oasis in the Kingdom of Aden, it was counterattacked by the Aden Army. More than half of them were damaged in the battle. Emperor Aero was seriously injured and is in the process of retreating hastily!"

In July, in the office of the Red Palace in Kyoto, the fat man drank ice cold water and finally waited for the results of the war between the Eero Empire and the Kingdom of Aden. Although the Eero army had taken advantage of it in the early stage, they took over the outskirts of the Kingdom of Aden in one go. There are four oases in the desert, but after all, they are still not accustomed to the climate. It is even more stupid to want to compete with the Aden people in the desert area. As a result, the two desert heavy regiments that the Aden people transferred back from South and Central Asia were severely punished. A slap in the face,

The calculating Emperor Eero was said to have been slashed on the arm by the attacking Aden camel cavalry. Logically speaking, this was not a fatal wound. The problem was that it was the hinterland of the desert, and there was a sandstorm. , the wound is infected, and now the entire Eero country is in chaos. The situation is just like when the Emperor of Istan died outside in the battle, and all the domestic forces wanted the royal power.

What is even more chaotic than the country of Ayrault is that the entire south is completely out of control.

The medium-strength Kingdom of Kangson first declared war on the small Kingdom of Ambiya. The Kingdom of Paput once again sent troops to capture the Nan'anfu area in one go. The Kingdom of Feize sent a special envoy to request peace with the empire and was willing to cede a port as compensation. It seemed that this was also the case. I couldn't stand this kind of chaos anymore, and chaos broke out in the south... (To be continued.)