Realm of Power

In Guanglingchuan in the southwest, in the center of the great plain where two rivers intersect and converge, the waves roll in the sparkling sunlight. The cascading wave-like houses extending from the city look particularly majestic in the afterglow of the evening. Along the edge of the twenty-meter-high outer city wall It extends along the river, leaving large tracts of shadow under the light. In other places, winter has just emerged. Here, there is already a bit of a smell of flying flowers in the city.

Dots of white pollen fall in the wind on the dark city walls. From time to time, deep gaps are exposed between the city walls. If you look closely, you will find that they are all made by huge rocks. These gaps record dozens of records in Guangling. The war smoke of the year, even though it is set off by the moon dragon flowers on the tall trees all over the city, cannot conceal the iron armor in the bones.

"It's spring again. I don't know how many of the Long family's disciples rode horses out of Guangling from here, and how many of them returned to Guangling covered with armor!" Long Qiushan, the guard of Guangling City, stood alone above the east gate tower, watching. Looking far away The vast land couldn't help but let out a sigh. The afterglow of the sunset in the distance was gradually disappearing. At the end of the sight was a vast expanse of farmland and a tranquil mountain scenery. However, it was the fact that tens of thousands of Guangling's children were still fighting bloody battles in Yanzhou.

The news coming from Yanzhou is becoming more and more difficult day by day. General Long Jue of the Long family died in the battle at Luokou Fort in Shangjing, along with 5,700 Guangling disciples. The Yelu family army broke through Luokou Fort and completed the battle. There was no news about the final encirclement of Yanzhou in Beijing! Even Guangling, the headquarters of the Western Army, is experiencing great fluctuations at the moment. The war in the north has killed tens of thousands of soldiers. The soul-calling pans hanging on the doors of every household are like white flowers scattered all over the city. Even the spring breeze I can't resolve this sorrow,

Due to the topography of the Southwest Basin, the local plot has always been strong. People in the Southwest believe that the terrain of the basin is easy to defend and difficult to attack. You only need to block the entrance and exit passes to watch the war spread outside the basin. Therefore, for a long time, Southwest people have been accustomed to their own. It is a custom to take care of family affairs by oneself. During this period, more and more wealthy noble families have moved out of Guangling. Even if Even Long Qiushan was keenly aware that these regional nobles left Guangling because they had lost confidence in the Long family. Chaotang's three-way investigation led them to the southwest, which proved that the Long family, which had been entrenched in the southwest for decades, was no longer able to control it. The situation in the southwest, and the war in the north is unknown. The entire southwest is dissatisfied with the Long family's southwestern troops defending Yanzhou.

The reason why the Long family has been able to stay in the southwest for so many years is because the Long family is fighting for the southwest. Countless Long family members have succeeded in winning the hearts of the entire southwest. But why did the Long family use southwesters to defend Yanzhou? Is it possible that the life of a Southwester is so worthless that I can’t even take care of it, why should I defend Yanzhou! Even for the Long family, this approach is not possible!

The situation in the hearts of the people is so uncontrollable. During this period, the special envoy Lu Ke was adding fuel to the flames. For three days, the special envoy went to the Long Family Mansion every day to question the Long Family's attack on the special envoy. Blocking the door of the mansion without paying any attention, this old man, who was nearly sixty years old, simply laid a floor in front of the Long family, claiming that the Long family was humiliated. Angel of the court, for this reason, the Long family has closed its doors for two full days. Such an attitude of the Long family naturally shakes the southwestern nobles in the city. The main force of the Long family is still in Beiyanzhou, and they don't know whether they are alive or dead. Now the headquarters has After being blocked, more than 60 members of the Lu family in Southwest China, a regional nobleman who had good relations with the Long family, were also killed overnight. The murderer has not been found yet.

The Long family has 30,000 to 40,000 troops stationed in the southwest, but at this moment, they cannot mobilize any of them. 30,000 are stationed on the border of the Falcon Empire, and 10,000 are stationed on the road to Yanzhou in the southwest. The base camp Guangling only has 3,000 city guards. Once something happens, it's unclear whether it will be effective. In this case, staying in Guangling is just waiting for disaster!

"Qiu Shan, how is the situation today? There are thirty-nine families in the city, and today, I'm afraid not a single one is left!" A Long family general wearing armor walked over from the city road in the distance.

"Sir, the Qian family, the Lu family, the Wen family, the Hu family. ☆→☆→... those who hesitated a few days ago have all left Guangling today. Now the Du family is the only one in Guangling City." Long Qiushan's figure Shocked, he quickly took a deep breath and stood up straight to salute. It was the Shangguan of Longqiu Mountain, the current person in charge of the Long family at the base camp, Long Po, the head of the family. Long Yang's younger brother, unlike the symmetrical figure of the family leader Long Yang, this Long Po is extremely strong, with a muscular body that is half a head taller than the average person, and his eyes are bright and piercing, giving people a feeling of being burned. , when walking, there was a dull sound under the feet, and only the breath of a warrior on the battlefield came directly towards him,

"Let's go, let's go, it's better if everything is gone!" The seemingly arrogant head of the Long family had a calm look in his eyes, indicating that he was not as restless as he seemed. Long Yang dared Taking the main force north to Yanzhou, naturally those left behind will not be mediocre. In fact, this Long Po is a very difficult character in the eyes of the Zhongbia court.

"Sir, the court is going to kill our Long family this time. If we keep giving in like this, I'm afraid that when the time comes...!" Long Qiushan's face turned ugly, his voice paused, and he didn't know whether he should continue speaking.

"What, are you afraid that our Long family will collapse like this?" Long Po sneered at the corner of his mouth, "These are these ignorant white-eyed wolves. Our Long family has not treated them badly for decades. It's just a little bit of bad news and nothing. The sixth-grade family bought them all. If the Long family had not promised back then that Guangling would no longer be filled with blood, and Guangling is the important place of our Long family. Killing someone without permission would have a great impact on the reputation of the Long family. I would have I ordered all these people to be intercepted. Come." Long Po's voice paused for a moment. As expected of a general in the army, his tone was filled with fierceness. He continued, "The departure of the noble clan is actually not a big blow to our Long family. As long as Yan With the victory of the battle in Yanzhou and the return of the main force of the Long family's Western Army, nothing is a problem. If Yanzhou fails, it will be the biggest blow to the Long family, so these nobles let them go. When the time comes, they will naturally, except for my Long family, The court has no power to protect them! "

"When is that time?" Long Qiushan's face was stunned. Hearing what Long Po meant, the Long family had already prepared.

"When it's your turn to know, you will naturally know it." Long Po reached out and patted his shoulder, and said slowly, "The court wants to take advantage of the war in Yanzhou to do something evil, because they just think that the Long family will be defeated in Yanzhou." , why have I never thought that the local snake that has been entrenched in the southwest for decades by my Long family can be manipulated casually. If it hadn't been for the order of the head of the Longyang family, I would have seized an excuse to harass the local area and comply with it. popular In the name of mercilessly expelling all the investigators who entered the southwest from the three routes, they actually showed a little weakness. The court immediately made a big move, directly smashing down thirty sixth-grade families, haha, let alone the southwest nobles The Long family is tempted, so it’s understandable that these nobles would do this. But it’s another matter if the other party sends people to kill the entire Lu tribe!

"Sir, are you saying that the oath of the Long family's Western Army not to enter the land that flatters Zhangwu can be broken?" A thought flashed through Long Qiushan's mind, and his body suddenly trembled with excitement. The scene in Guanglingchuan sixty years ago The bloody battle can be said to be a catastrophe for the entire southwest. At that time, when the Gallic Empire in the Western Continent was at its most prosperous, the Emperor of Gaul personally led his army into three groups to break through the southwest border defenses. They used their fleets to transport supplies and advanced their army along the river, from the upper reaches straight into the southwest basin of Central Asia. They burned and killed them all along the way, and almost reached the Guangling River in the hinterland where two rivers converged. A total of 200,000 Gauls were killed. The troops covered the Guangling River like leeches, and the sharp spears were like frost on the ground. There were also large Gallic fleets coming along the river, laden with supplies, following them. The sails were like forests, and the battle formations were like mountains.

After three months of bloody siege, the heavy catapults carried by the Gallic fleet almost flattened the hills near Guanglingchuan. In the end, a plague broke out among the Gallic army, and they had to retreat. That battle , the 200,000 Central Biya native garrison who defended Guanglingchuan, the final remaining number was less than 20,000, and the more than 37,000 military subordinates in Guanglingchuan Acropolis assisted in the battle, and they were almost wiped out.

The population of the entire Southwest at that time was less than 10 million. Because of this war, two million people were reduced to ashes. Southwest, which was originally like China, suffered heavy setbacks due to this war and was no longer able to stop the North Koreans. With the intervention of the court, the Zhongbia court sent General Long Feiyang, who had just quelled the rebellion in the south, to lead 100,000 troops into the southwest, which was no longer able to resist the court.

Many people believe that when Long Feiyang entered the southwest, he must have opened the way with swords just like when the south was suppressed. He first wiped out the local nobles in the southwest, and then slowly adjusted the southwest. At that time, people in the southwest were panicked, and the nobles from all over the country were preparing to move to avoid disaster. What a big deal. Leave Drive to the southwest and go to the land of the Song people in the south. The south is connected to the southwest. The noble families in the two places are not related to each other for a day or two. If it were not for the support of the Song people in the south, the southwest would not be able to independently block the power of the court for hundreds of years, but there are also those who choose to stay. , organizing the Southwest’s final Long Feiyang's strength resisted Long Feiyang's entry. Long Feiyang, known as the Living King of Hell, beheaded countless heads of southwest nobles along the way and turned many southwest noble families into bloody smoke. In the end, it was Guanglingchuan. The last strength of the southwest people was completely trapped by Long Feiyang's army. kill, count The corpses of tens of thousands of people from Southwest China were thrown into the river in front of Guanglingchuan, and the ground was stained with blood. Longjia Town was in Zhongbia Southwest. Over the following decades, Guanglingchuan, the bloody battle front with dozens of miles of mountain scenery, has gradually changed. It turned into Guangling City with smoke from cooking kitchens.

As the power of the Long family increased, they expanded many times, from ten miles to twenty miles, thirty miles, and forty miles. Finally, from the original acropolis of tens of thousands of people, it gradually turned into a city as wide as before, with boundless east and west. Guangling, a large southwest city with a population of 500,000, is boundless and has a beautiful scenery where two rivers meet. Even in the ranking of large cities in the Central Asian Empire, Guangling in Southwest China can definitely enter the top five most populous cities.

The unique Weishan iron ore in Guanglingchuan is the largest iron ore deposit in southern Central and South Sudan. There is even a saying that the Long family chose Guangling because of the Weishan iron ore they valued and the open terrain and convenient transportation of Guangling. As long as it is developed a little bit, it will be a powerful foundation.

At its peak before the Western Army was divided, the Long family had more than 300,000 troops stationed in the southwest, half of whom were from Guangling. They were the true direct descendants of the Long family who could make a final decision.

The Long family used Guanglingchuan as their base camp, constantly moving people from the surrounding areas to build more solid fortifications, and built four sluice gates on the Longyan River in the southwest where Guanglingchuan converges, completely cutting off the route that the Western Continental fleet might take along the Western Sichuan waterway. They also continued to devour the natives around the southwest, expanding the strategic buffer zone, and turning the southwest, which originally had only four provinces, into the size of six provinces in the southwest.

Finally, it changed from the original barrier of the court to the Western Continent to the biggest hidden danger in the minds of several generations of emperors of the Central Asian Empire. A minister in the court once said that if the Long family's Western Army rebelled, and 300,000 Long family Western Army left Guangling, the entire Central Asian Empire would at least collapse by half.

For this reason, the court painstakingly planned and spent more than ten years, and finally seized the opportunity of an internal conflict in the Western Army to pull out some of the elite troops in the Western Army that had opinions about the Long family, and announced that they would submit to the management of the court.

The court then asked the Long family to stay in Guangling in the southwest in the name of mediating the conflict between the two armies, and the divided Western Army was changed to the flattering Zhangwu Army. Under extreme humiliation, the head of the Long family angrily swore that "the Long family's Western Army will never enter the flattering Zhangwu area", which was considered a complete break with the court.

From then on, the Long family's Western Army would not enter the flattering Zhangwu Army area, and the court would not send troops to the southwest, which was equivalent to tacitly approving the Long family's control over the southwest.

For many years, this pressure The humiliation of the Long family was like an invisible rope, which made the Long family members feel a little suffocated.

Now, it is obvious that the court has broken its oath. It not only won over the people's hearts, but also sent troops to attack the southwestern gentry. Dozens of people in the Lu family were killed. Although there is no evidence pointing to the court, everyone knows that it was the court who did it.

"If the court does not keep the oath that day, then my Long family naturally has no need to keep it! The court has two thousand people and wants to do whatever they want. Do you really think that tens of thousands of my Long family's Western Army are just decorations?"

Long Po hit the cold battlement with his hand, and his tone was full of murderous intent. He swept his eyes across the scenery in front of him, sweeping across the Guangling River, which was dozens of miles of flat plains, and said sternly "My Long family has been in the southwest for decades, and we have done our best for the southwest. However, just because of the suppression of family status, there are many people in the southwest gentry who complain about the Long family. However, they don't say it out loud on weekdays, and my Long family can't find an excuse to make trouble. Now, it's good to jump out!

Since the people in the southwest are almost forgetting Guanglingchuan in the past, and have forgotten that Guanglingchuan was stained with human blood, then I, Long Po, will tell them that my Long family has suppressed family status, so it's just right for the entire southwest gentry to see how much the sixth-rank family in the court is worth! It's time to settle the account of splitting my Western Army in the past!""

(To be continued.)