Realm of Power

south of hérault,

In the rain, a group of cavalry slowly drove towards the outline of the city ahead. A young flaxen knight stopped his horse and looked ahead with a slight frown.

"Why, Your Highness, the city of Bo Valley is just ahead. We finally don't need to sleep in the wild tonight." A red-cloaked captain with a serious face rode up from behind, stopped next to the flaxen-colored young man, and said in a solemn voice.

"Is it the home city of the Botani family? Once you pass here, you have completely entered the south."

There was a hint of self-mockery on the corner of the young knight's mouth, and he turned his back to the sky. A large drop of cold rain hit his face to wake him up. He looked at the twenty subordinates behind him. The rainwater soaked his helmet, entered through the gap in the brim of the hat, and flowed down from the thin chins of his subordinates. No one made a sound, only the sound of raindrops splashing on the iron plates of the armor. Under the black iron helmet, there were lines of dark faces dripping with rainwater.

This is the last royal guard

Although the Hérault royal family has nominally moved from the capital of Hérault to the southern part of Hérault, in fact, the Hérault royal family has never really entered the southern part of Hérault. The royal family is not stupid. * broke through, but the central region of Hérault is still under the control of the royal family, and this is also the capital of the Hérault royal family to encourage the southern princes to counterattack the royal capital. The young man knows very well that once he really enters the southern region, he will be the mouth of the southern princes. The meat inside

For decades, the relationship between the northern royal family and the southern princes has been tense. In order to suppress the south, the northern royal family can be said to have done everything possible. At the beginning, there were 47 southern princes. It was because of the decades of high pressure from the northern royal family. Under the policy, in the end there were less than twenty-one people left. Later, in order to continue to weaken the southern states, With the power of the princes, the northern royal family sent the nobles who had been exiled to the south to annex the vacant lands of the southern princes. Finally, they forcibly gathered thirty-seven families in the south. Although the total number seemed to be less than The initial number of southern princes was not much different, but in fact half of them had already been quietly replaced

If nothing else happens, thirty years from now, only a few of the old-school princes in the south will be left.

But it is a pity that during the period of Emperor Farouk, the vigilance of the south was finally alarmed. This hero who wanted to turn the Héro Empire into a true southern hegemon brought the Héro Empire's national power to its peak. Naturally, the southern princes The pressure has reached its maximum. Just three years ago, Emperor Farouk saw the rapid rise of the Falcon Empire in the north. In order to truly unify the power of the upper and lower Ero, relying on the power of the royal family to reach its peak, Emperor Farouk will definitely take action against the south.

During the five-year meeting banquet of the southern princes, Emperor Faruk suddenly announced that four princesses from the royal family would be married off to the four southern marquises. Suddenly, the entire banquet fell into silence. The Cullo family, one of the four marquis families, The head of the family, Kurona, had a livid face, and the hand holding the wine glass rattled angrily. Marquis Kentam's face was extremely ugly, and the faces of the other southern old-school princes were ashen.

"It is a great honor for us that Your Majesty is willing to let Her Royal Highness the Princess marry the South, but Her Royal Highness the Princess's age is really..." Marquis Kentam stood up and wanted to speak.

"Shouldn't you all be so grateful for the royal marriage? Why don't you all look very happy?" Emperor Farouk pressed his right hand on the table, and his cold smile made everyone feel a chill on their necks. , the whole Eero knew that His Majesty the Emperor had four daughters, namely Princess Helena. Princess Mosidis, Princess Angelia, Princess Edith, it is naturally a good thing for the princess to marry into the south, which can greatly ease the stiff relationship between the northern royal family and the southern princes, but of these four princesses, the eldest Princess Helena is Eight years old, the youngest Princess Edith is just one month old, and the youngest of the four southern marquises is forty-one, and the oldest Ogliny is already sixty-seven years old.

This is not a marriage, it is simply a matter of eagerness to seize power.

Because once a marriage is established, there will be special ceremony officials to squeeze the so-called royal bonus from the four southern princes in various names, and these annual bonuses will continue until the marriage is completed when the princess comes of age. For the eight-year-old Princess Helena, for example, it will take at least eight years before the marriage can be completed. As for the one-month-old Princess Edith, it will take another sixteen years. And the real most powerful trump card is here.

Everyone knows that the climate in the south is harsh and people's life span is far less than that in the north. The four major marquises in the south are not too young anymore and may die in a few years at any time. As the matron of the family and the princess of the royal family, The royal family can immediately send personnel into the territories of the four southern marquises without ceremony.

This is a naked robbery of the royal family!

But the southern princes dared not speak out because the power of the royal family in the north was now so strong that they could hardly breathe. Under Faruk's hard work, they expanded their armies and prepared for war every year. The number of troops in the Eero Empire increased from half a million to , broke through to 800,000, and finally reached an astonishing 1.5 million, already becoming the most powerful country in southern Europe, and the strength of the southern princes is only 100,000, Emperor Faruk They only needed to dispatch one regiment to destroy them all. In this case, they had no other choice but to agree. However, no one expected that three years later, Farouk, known as the wisest monarch of Eero, would unexpectedly fight. Those who died at Lutia Castle were buried with them, including the 50,000 Royal Guards of the Aero Royal Family, the most effective fighting force of the Aero Royal Family, the 110,000 Aero Royal Capital Guards, and the 200,000 Eastern Front Frontier Army, a total of five A hundred thousand troops were wiped out like this.

If we say who is the biggest beneficiary from the fall of Emperor Faruk, it is the old-school princes in the south.

This young man is none other than the escaped Prince Eltrega of Eero. As the emperor guessed, this prince is extremely talented in escaping. He originally escaped from the capital of Eero with his astonishing acumen. But this time, when he realized that something was wrong, he chose to escape without hesitation. More than a thousand subordinates were all abandoned. Moreover, they did not flee south as guessed at the first time, but found the people who were about to go south. Count Samuta, one of the old-school princes in the south who returned

"I have an extremely important matter that I need to meet with His Royal Highness Prince Govny," Ettelega said directly without concealing it. "This is the biggest secret related to the entire southern Eero, and it is also the biggest secret of our Eero royal family."

Count Samuta can only be regarded as average among the southern princes, but Eltrega knows that Count Samuta is actually an undercover agent of the Aden people in the south of Aero. The secret behind the landing of the 30,000 troops of the Red Dragon Palace in Aden The location is the territory of Earl Samuta. Now that the southern aristocratic faction is no longer reliable, the only option is to rely on the Aden people.

In addition to Poros, the representative of Aden this time is the seemingly incompetent Prince Gofni. It is said that this Prince of Aden, who is talented as a businessman, comes here as a puppet in name only. However, in fact, Behind the destruction of the 30,000-strong army of the Red Dragon Palace in Aden, this prince’s palace He did not run back to Aden in fear as others thought. Instead, he still stayed in the south of Erro and was active frequently. In just a few days after the destruction of the Red Dragon Palace army in Aden, he quickly joined forces with Some families in the south have established cooperative relationships. How could such a figure be just a puppet?

When the news that the royal family of Aden was to be promoted to an empire spread throughout Obarro, Artriega even speculated whether the destruction of the 30,000-strong army of Poros in the Red Dragon Palace was due to the contribution of this prince. , of course this kind of thought just passed by, but now, he really thinks , the Aden royal family deliberately set up a trap for the destruction of the Red Dragon Palace army. In order to avoid the blockade of the southern aristocratic factions and not arouse the suspicion of the southern old-school princes, Aitetliega proposed to meet with the Aden people. As expected, Count Samuta disguised himself as a messenger returning to the south to evade detection.

Even if they encountered imperial cavalry on the road, they did not stop the princes' messengers returning to the south.

Looking at the pale yellow city outline from a distance, Eltrega, who was soaked by the rain, shuddered. As the gateway to the south, Po Valley City itself is a fortress, twenty-five meters high, with an outline of the city wall. Oval in shape, the entire perimeter is made of boulders one meter wide and two meters long. The city wall is four meters thick and is large enough for seven people to walk side by side. The light blue towering city wall gives people a heavy sense of oppression. There are semi-permanent wooden railings built on the city wall, which can withstand most long-range attacks launched from the ground. The guards on the city wall can easily shoot attackers on the ground through the gaps in the railings. In addition, stars are densely scattered on the city head. those defensive weapons

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that to a certain extent, this fortress is not aimed at the south, but the north. This shows how bad the relationship between the princes in the southern part of Hérault and the northern royal family is, and the northern royal family is also They really hate this fortress. If it weren't for the existence of this barrier, the royal family would have arrested all the southern princes in one go. Even if they didn't kill them, they could have imprisoned them as hostages.

The sky was gloomy, black clouds filled the sky, and the rain started to fall again. The white rain seemed to be endless. On the distant horizon, there was a low roar of thunder. In the distance, a group of cavalry rushed from the direction of the road in front of the fortress, and a nobleman in the lead came straight towards this side.

"Are you from the north?"

The young nobleman with the Botani family logo on the chest of his armor reined in his horse in front of Eltrega. His young face had the enthusiasm of a young man. The news that has been coming back in recent times has made the entire south agitated. In panic, the imperial army moved south, and the 200,000 coalition troops of the southern princes were trapped. In the end, even the messenger cavalry was unable to pass the imperial blockade. No one knew the extent of the war. 200,000 people would never fight. Don’t win 80,000 people! , that is the Imperial Army, led by the famous Empire's first general Hu Keqili. As for the Aden people, the Aden Red Dragon Cavalry should be able to contain part of the empire's power! There are different opinions. Some say that the Southern Allied Forces not only defeated the Imperial Army, but also recaptured the capital of Eero. Others say that 200,000 Southern Allied Forces have surrounded the Imperial Army and are only waiting for the last step. If we fight, we can take back the capital of Ero.

Anyway, no one said that the Southern Allied Forces suffered a disastrous defeat, because it was very simple, they did not see the collapse! All 200,000 people will not be killed by the empire's 80,000 people. If the Southern Allied Forces are really defeated, there will always be people who escape, but until now, no one has escaped.

Ettelega raised his helmet's eyes, "What's the matter, Your Excellency?"

"I'm sorry, I'm rude. I would like to ask, are you from the north?" The young noble took a deep breath. His appearance was not bad. As a prince, he naturally showed a bit of nobility. And running around for days made his face even more ugly His face was stained with a layer of vicissitudes of life, and the two blended together to form an extremely unique temperament. This kind of pressure had never been seen by the young nobleman even from his own father. He couldn't help but tremble in his heart. Whose messenger is this character?

"Yes, I'm from the north." El Tejiga grinned. From this young noble, he seemed to see some shadows of his former self.

"You are really from the north, so can you tell me, are we winning or..." The young noble's face turned red with excitement, and he was speculating in his heart. This is what he saw after the news from the north was cut off. The first person from the north, how could he not be excited?

"If I say it was a disastrous defeat, would you believe it?" Eltre glanced over, the rain was pouring down, and the war horse was kicking the ground uneasily, and he let out a low voice. If it was possible, he really wanted to go to the south. It would be best if all the princes died in battle. The empire just casually teased them, and they killed all the Aden people without hesitation, and then pointed their swords at the royal family. These people who betrayed the royal family should die!

But Eltrega was extremely calm in his heart. He even wanted to shout loudly despite the outstanding methods the empire showed in this southern war! To be fair, this time, whether the empire adopted a mountain-like trapping attack on the Aden people or adopted a mind-attack strategy against the southern princes, he saw the use of tactics that were like magic. It turned out that the war could still be fought like this. The imperial mission Minister Hu Keqili is known as the most famous general in the empire, and it is indeed not for nothing.

Silence fell. The young noble's face turned even pale

"Haha, I'm just kidding. We didn't suffer a disastrous defeat, but a victory. I believe we will be back soon, adults." Eltrega smiled and felt relaxed. He put on his helmet and waved his hand calmly. The twenty cavalry soldiers behind him poured into the open Po Valley City.

At this moment, in the Imperial Camp,

The nobles from the southern part of Héro gathered nearly a hundred people, tall and short. They wore brown uniforms, with colorful medals representing their status on their hats and shoulders. They wore red or silver cloaks behind them, and their heads were lowered. Seeing the imperial envoy Ankluo approaching, they all bent their thick waists. Hundreds of people spread out in rows, and the cloaks of various colors undulated like waves.

This is a historic event for the entire southern Hérault. The empire's re-division of the central Hérault region means the establishment of the empire's right to rule in the central Hérault region. From this moment on, the Hérault region can be regarded as truly surrendering to the empire. ’s rule, for a time, in the drizzle around the belt, everyone had the shocking feeling of watching history happening in front of their eyes. No one made a sound, only Anklo’s clear voice echoed,