Realm of Power

At eight o'clock in the evening, the wind blew through the grass and swept the broken grass to the sky. A huge infantry group of ten thousand people under the Imperial Eagle appeared in the southeast.

"Woooo" the exciting trombone shook the night sky. The fourth arriving Imperial Army Corps, the 11th Imperial Infantry Flag Regiment, entered the battlefield. In terms of total strength, the number of the Imperial Army Corps was already equal to the 30,000 of the Aden Army. The numbers were even, 12,000 Imperial cavalry and 16,000 Imperial infantry. The outcome was decided at this moment. There is no suspense, Poros can only order the cavalry to break out, the infantry can no longer control it, and there is no way to control it. Under the two attacks of the imperial cavalry, the infantry except for the main formation has fallen into chaos. The colorful flags, Almost all battalions and teams were engaged in deadly battles, and the damage was increasing at an alarming rate.

The eleven infantry teams that constituted the main combat force of the Red Dragon Cavalry were either collapsed by the impact of the imperial cavalry, or struggled to resist. The 24,000 Red Dragon warriors brought this time have now suffered more than four battle losses. Success, if the direction of the formation had not remained stationary, the flag of the Red Dragon Cavalry was still flying, and the infantry group had a glimmer of hope. Maybe if you hold on a little longer, the Red Dragon Knights will charge! As long as the imperial cavalry is repulsed, everyone may still have a chance to evacuate. At this point in the war, everyone in the Aden army knew that it was impossible to evacuate to the south. The only way was to go back. No one expected that the imperial cavalry would be retreated. The Japanese army actually built such a large encirclement. Not only did they enclose the 200,000 southern princes' coalition forces inside, but even the Red Dragon Cavalry wanted to eat them in one bite!

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted

"Run away, our formation has escaped." The infantrymen who were still resisting desperately looked in the direction of our formation with hesitant expressions. Sure enough, they saw the flags waving. Thousands of red dragon knights who were the backbone of the army finally moved, but the direction was not the battlefield. , but to the north, ran away. Thousands of red dragon knights who they regarded as the only ones who could save the situation just ran away.

"What's going on?"

"We were abandoned, and our formation ran away!" the Red Dragon warriors yelled. They wanted to live and go back.

The Empire's black-armored cavalry rushed in like a tide, and the companions around them began to waver. One person, a group of people, and thousands of people suddenly lost the will to fight. "Run, ah, ah, ah, ah," the hysterical voice penetrated everything. Holding back the tears in his eyes, he watched the battle flag representing the golden thread pattern of glory being trampled into the blood. His eyes were filled with emptiness. What else could he fight for?

The red dragon knights all ran away, the army collapsed, and all those who could fight were killed. The only ones left were cowards whose courage was broken. The battle situation was so rotten,

"Run if you don't want to die."

The red dragon warriors of the brigade abandoned their helmets and their clothes were torn. They had lost their organization in order to escape for their lives. Almost everyone on their bodies was spattered with blood and battle scars. At a glance, it was clear that they were bloody men who had not experienced bloody battles. But at this moment , just running back desperately, the bloody warriors who were carrying the imperial cavalry in front of them had already disappeared bit by bit. Behind the defeated troops of this brigade, the imperial cavalry and infantry were pushing forward like a line.

The armor of the war horse is ferocious, and the armor of the cavalry above is also stained with blood and battle scars. It can be seen that the men and horses are exhausted, but the spirit is still extremely excited. The man and horse array moves forward, like a wave pushing forward, and crossbow arrows are continuously shot out. Some of the defeated troops fell to the ground screaming. The rest of the defeated army was running numb. No matter who fell, no one took a second look and just focused on escaping for their lives.

"Stop, before the red dragon, no one can stop it!" A red dragon knight commander shouted hysterically, facing the rolling black torrent, and was immediately submerged without a shadow. Not all the red dragon knights They all chose to escape. Except for our formation, the red dragon knights from other teams looked lonely and angry. Our formation fled. It was tantamount to completely abandoning the infantry. I don’t know how many elite warriors carefully cultivated by the Red Dragon Palace collapsed under the advancement of the imperial army. The tens of thousands of imperial troops were like a cold light that was hundreds of meters long. The arc is approaching, and the bloody battle ahead is like a dull knife rubbing open its edge. Wherever it passes, corpses are everywhere.

"Red Dragon Knights, charge!" With a sad, angry and lonely cry, some Red Dragon Knights stepped hard on the ground with their flying hooves, and rode their horses hard. The entire line faced the imperial cavalry galloping from the opposite side. Just a few seconds later, bang bang, the two armies collided crazily. The cavalrymen who collided with each other rolled off their horses and fell to the ground. The sound of the cavalrymen's armor shattering was like a series of firecrackers, and the cavalrymen who collided together were like dry wheat stalks. It was squeezed and broken from the middle, and the sound of the armor shattering was mixed with the impact of metal and flesh.

This scene. The red dragon warriors who were running behind and didn't dare to turn around to look at them finally stopped some people. What they saw when they turned around was that dozens of red dragon knights who were desperately trying to block them were roaring and rushing in order to allow them to escape. In front of the incoming Empire cavalry group, they were as thin as a wooden plank squeezed open by a heavy hammer. They were broken under the powerful multi-layered attack and under the torrent of the Empire's armor. These red dragon knights with excellent martial arts struggled to resist the surging black tide from the opposite side. With every impact, some people fell down, until their guns were broken, their swords were broken, and their bodies were covered with scars. The imperial cavalry finally overwhelmed these obstacles.

"Pay attention to cleaning the battlefield and don't leave any fish that slip through the net!" Begita Lie, commander of the Ninth Banner of the Central Army, swept his eyes coldly across the front. The Aden people's main formation was running really fast. If it had been slower, they would have been able to run away even if they wanted to. It's difficult. After a slight pause, the imperial cavalry of the Ninth Banner accelerated forward again. The Aden infantry was finished!

More than a thousand meters away from the battlefield, Boros, who was evacuating, was unexpectedly blocked by the imperial cavalry. His thin body had shrunk into a very small ball, clinging tightly to the horse's back, with a black shadow approaching from the side. , he originally thought they were wilderness shrubs, but these shrubs were actually moving, and the speed was not low. The direction of movement was exactly the direction of his side.

"Attention, southwest direction!" The red dragon knight on the flank yelled crazily. Before he could finish his words, he heard the loud sound of whooshing through the air.

"Poof" a fire flew from a distance into the sky. It was a rocket shot into the air. Under the fire, the silhouette of the empire's black-armored cavalry could be vaguely discerned. At this moment, everyone could see at a glance that the touch Behind the hill where the two armies split, there were more imperial black-armored cavalry surging, and the arrows rained down like a heavy rain as the bowstrings buzzed and trembled in the night.

"There's an ambush!" The Red Dragon Knight's panicked shouts came one after another, and his ears felt the sound of whooshing, whizzing down against the hilly ground. Fortunately, the opponent's shooting was not accurate enough, and the arrows were like raindrops. Drifting around, ordinary horse archers can shoot at a distance of fifty meters from high-speed horseback if they don't cover an area. The targets are all sharpshooters, not to mention that at night, it is impossible to judge the opponent's specific terrain and height. Just the airflow driven by the running horses is enough to make most arrow clusters lose their accuracy. A true grassland marksman, who is really on horseback Almost none of them hit the target at high speed with their backs on their backs. Most of them held their horses steady, or simply stood on the ground and shot!

"Target found!"

"Four hundred meters to the northeast!"

With various shouts, the Sixth Banner of the Imperial Central Army bit the Aden Red Dragon Knights who wanted to evacuate at night. They chased after the Red Dragon Knights and shot wildly with the bows and arrows in their hands. Although the mountainous wilderness is vast, the flag of Poros' main formation is also very conspicuous in the dark night. In order to highlight the sacred red dragon flag of the Red Dragon Palace, the red dragon flag with a white background and a red edge can be seen from a hundred meters away without being blind. What do the people of Aden think? It’s such a waste to escape at night! Originally, the imperial cavalry did not notice the retreating Red Dragon Knights. They saw this flag and then tentatively shot a few arrows. Who knew that thousands of Red Dragon Knights were shot out in one fell swoop?

"Shoot, don't let the Aden people escape!"

"To the northeast, over to the mound!" "When you're on the slope, raise your bows and arrows a little higher, and measure twenty meters in advance."

Some imperial archers were joking and shooting wildly in the direction of the flag. It felt like they were hunting on the prairie.

"What's going on?" Poros wanted to vomit blood when he heard this. Although the language used by these imperial cavalry was not Aden or the common language of the empire, and the intonation had a unique jumping syllable, but Poros never stopped flying. You can also guess from the cluster of arrows fired at him that the other party is shouting to his companions where he is. Damn it, Boros is thinking in his heart. The trembling, high-speed running horses in the darkness could barely see the scenery more than twenty steps in front of them. Sure enough, as soon as they left the direction of the flag, the attack they received immediately disappeared. The night pursuit battle was so fast. These are battles that extremely test the pursuer's ability. Once the target is lost, it is even more difficult to find the target again in the vast darkness.

But the other party found him effortlessly. He was like a rat crossing the street and was hammered away. He saw his subordinates being stabbed through easily like pieces of paper. The arrow was hit by a war horse running at high speed. , like a puff of red blood mist exploding in the night, being thrown away in an instant Without a trace, more imperial horse archers seemed to have smelled the smell of blood floating in the wind, and were still coming from all directions. They raised the grassland bows in their hands without hesitation, and shot like locusts. The well-equipped red dragon knights fell into disrepair and the queue was in chaos.

"Bastard!..." Poros's face was ashen. He was running away. Why were the imperial cavalry still chasing after him? Why were the opponent's arrows so accurate? He just tried running a curved slash, but he was still hit by the opponent. Take care, do these imperial cavalry have eyes that can see at night?

Boros was so depressed that he was already sweating on his forehead. A Red Dragon Knight Commander seemed to have discovered something and suddenly shouted, "Flag, put the flag down quickly, otherwise we will be living targets." The Red Dragon Knight Commander raised his head high Shouting, he spurred his war horses to run up a nearby mound, looking down from a high position. He led more than a hundred of his subordinates to block the front of the imperial horse archers.

"The opponent has discovered it, prepare for close combat!"

The imperial cavalry saw the target flag that suddenly disappeared and knew that the Aden people had realized that the flag betrayed their position. Since they could no longer harass the opponent from a distance, they had to fight in close combat. Otherwise, once the opponent got rid of the entanglement, in such a dark night, such a vast area It's very difficult to find the other party under the terrain.

"Forward team, draw your sword!" the imperial cavalry captain leading the team shouted. The imperial cavalry's hot red eyes flashed with ruthless light, the sharp prairie scimitar was unsheathed, and the wind blew in the face, mixed with moist water vapor. Another group of galloping horse archers have also drawn their strong bows, calculating the distance in their hearts.

"Sixty degrees ahead, one hundred and fifty meters!" The melee cavalry running at the front found the target, shouted, and arrows flew out.

"Let's go!" Boros glanced in the direction of the mound with complicated eyes and said with a complicated expression.

"Kill!" On the higher mound, the two cavalry troops collided together like two iron walls. They completed the formation change for the attack almost instinctively. It came like lightning, and immediately the men and horses were Deeply plunged into the Aden Red Dragon Knights, the Aden Red Dragon Knights were caught off guard and huddled together, with people shouting and horses neighing. All kinds of long and short weapons collided wildly. The war horses rolled on the ground in the squeeze, and blood exploded from the collision. In the fierce collision of the cavalry, even if they were slightly protected, they could not dodge, and the unarmored war horses screamed and roared. Falling to the ground, the people behind could only try their best to stabilize their position, and also worked hard to disperse the crowded formation.

Some people kept falling off their horses, and they complained endlessly because they were suppressed. They could only get up desperately. The two sides were fighting in a small area. Every moment, countless weapons flew each other, and people fell heavily from their horses. Trampled to pulp by countless horses' hooves. Even a scream was difficult to utter. Under the hills, the men and horses were covered in blood and breathing heavily. The confrontation was brief but twice as fierce.

The red dragon knight who rushed up the mound with his men fell and rolled up covered in mud, trying desperately to pull his mount up. The war horse was sweating all over its body, snorting feebly, and its legs were weak and could not stand up. The red dragon knight naturally knew that this war horse was completely finished. Four arrows were shot on its body, and its belly was also wounded. A half-meter-long opening was made.

The war horse crashed into the formation with a strong wind, and he flew out in the way. Without the war horse, the red dragon knight completely regarded himself as an infantryman. He stood up unsteadily again and struggled to catch an imperial cavalryman in the melee. Legs, knocking him off his horse! Immediately, more than a dozen red dragon knights desperately covered the pale young red dragon knight, using their bodies to block the imperial cavalry rushing towards the young man. The focus of the battlefield suddenly gathered here, and then Taking this opportunity, Boros's red dragon knight quickly disappeared into the distant forest...

In the dark night, the southern princes’ coalition camp is brightly lit

Countless figures of men and horses swayed, and the 200,000-strong army camp covered an area of ​​seven or eight miles. Except for the real soldiers, who were about 70,000 to 80,000, the others were half-fighting and half-auxiliary servants. The camp is set up according to the status of each family of the southern princes. The most central ones are naturally the four marquis families, followed by the camps of counts and viscounts outwards. The lowest barons are arranged directly outside the camp. Most of the barons are The knights of major families are promoted to middle-level commanders in the family's combat power.

At the gate of the camp, a baron who had just inspected the surrounding area entered the camp in a state of embarrassment. The war horses were quickly pulled to the stable by the servants. Because of the collective nature of the scouts, they were killed by the imperial scouts. The coalition of southern princes could only recruit from the major families. The baron was transferred to personally lead the team to patrol the surrounding area, and these barons naturally did not dare to After running too far, he just circled around a mile or two nearby and then hurried back. Now the entire southern coalition of princes is crying, and the grass and trees are all soldiers. Because all the scouts have been lost, the people of the southern coalition are even more panic-stricken, and there is news in the morning The news of the arrival caused the southern princes to explode, and the Aden people ran away!

The people of Aden would rather not stay with the 200,000 southern coalition forces than to leave quietly. It is obvious that they are not optimistic about the current war situation. This is a heavy blow to the southern princes.

"What do you think of the empire's demands?"

At this moment, in the big tent of the southern princes, more than thirty people from the southern lords, large and small, were sitting on both sides of the long table. There was a depressing atmosphere in the air.

Sitting in the most prominent position are naturally the four major marquis families in the south, who are also the most determined lords in the south. Sitting on the left are the lords who have existed in the south since the beginning, while those sitting on the right are the lords who were originally conquered by Eero. The noble family exiled by the royal family, a letter brought back by Atrice, the second daughter of the Kentam family, was spread out on the long table

"The empire basically wants to provoke an alliance between us and the Aden people. If we do what they do, not only will we lose the support of the Aden people, but the royal family will also have no way to explain." A middle-aged nobleman with a radical expression came from the seat on the right. He stood up, glanced at everyone's faces, and said in a solemn voice, "And this letter itself is an existence that no one can trust. Why did the empire let people from the Kentam family send it? Who dares to say, Kentam Didn’t the family secretly join forces with the empire and sell us all?”

"Yes, the Kentam family is not trustworthy!"

"In order to gain the support of the empire and become the new Eero royal family, there is nothing the Kentam family can't do. Now they have directly become the lackeys of the empire!" Various voices discussed in low voices, sitting on The Marquis of Kentam in the front looked silent and said nothing, allowing all kinds of ridicule. In fact, from the moment the empire agreed to support the Kentam family in buying back the capital of Hello, Marquis Kentam knew that he had become the target of public criticism. At this time, the only way to survive calmly was to shrink his head. As for what it means to become a The new royal family of Hérault did not even dare to think about becoming the Emperor of Hérault.

"Lord Kentam, can you tell me in private, are you really not joining forces with the empire?"

A middle-aged nobleman sitting next to him couldn't help but approach him and whispered, his name is Lulbeki. The friendship between the Lur family and the Kentam family can be traced back to the great flood era in the south. The family saved the ancestors of the Katam family from the flooded land. In the end, the marriage lasted for forty years. Strictly speaking, Marquis Kentam was his sister-in-law. With family connections, Lulbeki is particularly active.

"Lord Luer, what do you think the status of us southern princes is in the eyes of the emperor?" Kentam tilted his head and looked at him, his tone full of helplessness, which meant that even the entire Egypt I'm afraid Luo Nannan won't be attracted by that person. The emperor takes it seriously, not to mention the southern princes like them. You must know that even in the heyday of the Aero Empire, it was severely beaten by the empire in the North-South War. Even the Aero Empire was unable to compete with them. The empires are parallel, what do the southern princes mean!

"Lord Kentam, you know, I originally didn't believe that the empire would choose the Kentam family to become the new royal family, but after seeing the letter brought back by Atrice, I began to believe it." Lulbeki He glanced left and right at the lords who were still discussing, and gave Kentam a mysterious smile.

"As you said, we have no status in the eyes of the Emperor. But it is precisely because of this that to the Emperor, it doesn't matter who can become the Eero royal family. The premise is that we must be right. The empire is beneficial, and the Kentam family is very suitable for this condition."

"Don't talk nonsense, Lord Luer, such a joke is not funny."

"It's a joke, it's just talk, why take it seriously?" Lulbeki said with a smile on his lips and stretched out his fingers. "You see, the Kentam family is closely connected with Mount Edmund, which has been included in the empire. It can be regarded as the southern part of the country." The pro-imperial faction among the princes also owns the largest chamber of commerce in southern Hérault. , this means that the Kentam family will not oppose the empire's business policy, and in terms of status in the south, the Kentam family is ranked among the four major marquis families. It has a long history and has good relations with many southern families. Help the empire greatly reduce the resistance and friction caused by taking over the south,

Of course Luke paused and smiled mysteriously.

"All of this, if combined with the peerless appearance of my cousin Atrice, would make anyone's heart flutter, wouldn't it?" Lulbeki smiled, but his eyes were bright and scary. His Lur family and The marriage relationship between the Kentam family means that no matter whether he supports the Kentam family or not, in the eyes of other families, he belongs to the Kentam family. And if the Kentam family really becomes the new royal family of Ero, then the Lur family will naturally rise. And the biggest benefit is that the imperial army is moving south, the Aden people are fleeing, and the southern princes are in panic all day long. I don’t know when the imperial army will sweep in.

But if the top officials of the empire really have contact with the Kentam family, then it will be different.

At least the Kentam family will definitely be safe, and if the Luer family can stand on the side of the Kentam family, they will naturally be safe! In fact, he was not the only one in the Lur family who had this idea. He was reminding the Marquis of Kentam, who had not yet realized that he was actually a shining golden life-saving talisman in the eyes of the southern princes.

"Really? It sounds like it makes some sense."

Marquis Kentam was such a cunning and cunning figure. He blinked his eyes. He was a little annoyed that the empire had broken its promise and went south, but suddenly he understood that the empire going south was definitely a good thing for the Kentam family, not a bad thing. , if the empire does not go south, the Kentam family will become the new royal family of Eero. It’s a joke. Even if the empire agrees to sell the capital of Eero to the Kentam family, the Kentam family will suffer all kinds of suppression from the Eero royal family after taking back the capital of Eero. As for wanting the Eero royal family To keep their promise, the Aero royal family only needs to put forward conditions that require the approval of the southern princes. The Kentam family will never be able to do this.

But now, under the huge pressure of the empire moving south, this impossibility has actually become loose, and even caused a split within the princes of the southern part of Elro. Just like the Luke family who has a good relationship with him, others who have a relationship with him The southern lords may not have the idea of ​​pushing the Kentam family to the throne of the Eero royal family, and by the way, they may also have the idea of ​​ascending to heaven. This kind of opportunity may not be encountered once in hundreds of years. If it were replaced by their own, it was from another family. The heads of the house can’t help but push it.

It turns out that all this is the real intention of the empire to move south!

My situation would not be so miserable! Marquis Kentam's eyes began to become sharper in his old and sunken eyes. He glanced at the faces of the lords present, and sure enough, he saw kindness towards him in the eyes of some lords with good relations, and even some A few of them nodded slightly to their own gazes,

"This letter from the top of the empire is really incomprehensible. What does it mean that as long as we capture the Aden people who attacked the imperial army, we will be allowed to return to the south safely. This is Eero. When will it be the empire's turn to have the final say? "A nobleman from Ayrault stood up with an excited expression, and said with undisguised ridicule, "And the Aden people have run away, where can we find those Aden people!"

"Yes, the people in Aden have all run away. I am afraid they have all passed the central border now."

"If the Imperial Army hadn't caused us to lose most of our scouts, we wouldn't have waited until the Aden people ran away for a long time to react."

"So, this letter means nothing to us. We have an army of 200,000. Why should we be intimidated by the empire?" Most of the people who stood up and strongly opposed were the lords who stood on the side of the nobles. Kenta The Mu family is a long-established southern noble. Everyone knows the bad temper of the old southern nobles. They would not move to the north even if they were beaten to death. They would rather live in the south and eat the wind and sand every day! If the Kentam family really becomes the new royal family of Hérault, there will be no hope for those families who dream of returning to the north of Hérault.

"It seems to be true. This letter came too late." Some lords also expressed emotion. If the Kentam family could take this out earlier, it might not be negotiable. The one who ambushed the Imperial Army was People of Aden, why do you have to bear the revenge of the empire now? What's more, the Aden people ran away. In this case, who would think that the Aden people are allies worth relying on!

At this moment, the sound of "woo woo" ox-horn trombones calling for reinforcements in the dark night echoed through the wasteland, making it look so sad and shrill in this vast land.

"What's going on!"

"Has the Empire started an attack?" The southern princes who were in the meeting looked at each other and stood up one after another. The Aden people ran away. Is the Empire going to start a general attack?

"Sir, I have just received news that the Aden Army was attacked by the Imperial Army during its retreat to the south. It suffered heavy casualties. Poros, the deputy commander of the Aden Red Dragon Cavalry, was injured and was seeking urgent help outside the camp." An attendant hurried away with a pale face. come over