The end of the military era

After Deyang Town was acquired by the Zhou family, the Zhou family's territory has already bordered the area controlled by the imperial court.

Zhao Shicong hesitated for a moment and said, "Father, the Zhou family has now controlled fifteen feudal towns. I am worried that the Zhou family will have ambitions for the court in the future."

Zhao Rongguang shook his head and said: "Replace me with Zhou Rui, and I will also have ambitions for the court.

With the Zhou family's current strength, if they could control the imperial court, they would probably unify the entire Han and Tang empires. At that time, even if Zhou Rui wanted to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, and change the dynasty, it would be just a matter of thought. "

"Father, what shall we do?"

"For the imperial court, the top priority now is to completely annex Jinggu Town and Zhongfang Town.

Only when we have more strength in our hands, will we not be swallowed up by the Zhou family like shrimps like Feng Zhihuan, the Jiedu envoy of the South and Wang Yongxing, the envoy of the Beibei.

In addition, the connection with Shuodong Town needs to be strengthened, and then we can only deal with the Zhou family who is like a wolf and a tiger, only by hugging together to keep warm, alas."

"Father, since we want to keep warm, do we need to contact the five towns in the northwest, Shuonan Town, and the other five towns in the southeast?"

The Zhou family swallowed up the Southwest Alliance, and the so-called Northeast Alliance also attacked the imperial court and Shuodong Town, so there was basically no chance of a comeback.

Therefore, there were only six remaining of the eight major powers of the Han and Tang Empires. Except for the court controlled by the Zhou family and the imperial governor Zhao Rongguang, the other four powers were Shuodong Town, which was attacking Yongwei Town, and Botai Town in the Northwest Region. The Northwest Alliance formed by Fuping Town, Xiangxi Town, Ding'an Town and Luoshan Town; the Southeast Alliance formed by Lechang Town, Longnan Town, Anlu Town, Dongling Town and Puxing Town in the southeast; Shuonan Town funded by the Scarlet Tiger Empire.

Zhao Rongguang thought for a while and said, "The five towns in the northwest and the five towns in the southeast are destined to be Xiami's fate in the future. Therefore, the Northwest Alliance and the Southeast Alliance will only become the court's target, not its allies.

As for Shuonan Town, you can send people to test it out. Shuonan Jiedu Shi Desheng should know that with the power of Shuonan Town as a feudal town, even with the support of the Red Tiger Empire, it is impossible to fight against the Zhou family. "

The five feudal towns of the Northwest Alliance and the five feudal towns of the Southeast Alliance are similar to the four southwest towns annexed by the Zhou family. Each Jiedu government cannot control all the troops in the feudal town, and most of the military power is divided among the major families. .

In Zhao Rongguang's view, the Northwest Alliance and the Southeast Alliance are in a state of disunity, not to mention the wolf-like Zhou family, even if the imperial court is free, they can completely eat the Northwest Alliance and the Southeast Alliance.

Of course, Zhao Rongguang also knew that the Zhou family, Shuodong Town, and Shuonan Town would not just watch the imperial court annex the Northwest Alliance and the Southeast Alliance.

At the beginning of July in Tianyuan 1543, the courts of the Han and Tang Empires finally annexed Jinggu Town and Zhongfang Town completely. In this way, the court controlled the land of the four towns in addition to the holy city of Youtian and the four acropolises.

And just before the imperial court annexed Jinggu Town and Zhongfang Town, Shuodong Town had already eaten up Yongwei Town.

On the morning of July 1543, 7, in a meeting room of the Jiedu Mansion in Luoshan City, the capital of Luoshan Town, Cheng Jun of the Luoshan Jiedu Mansion said to the other four envoys of the Northwest Alliance: "The people who established the Northwest Army Things, I wonder what happened to the four of you?

Now that the Zhou family has completely annexed the four feudal towns of the Southwest Alliance, the imperial court has also acquired Jinggu Town and Zhongfang Town. If our five feudal towns do not move, they will inevitably be eaten up.

I don't know if the four of you are willing?

Anyway, I, Cheng Jun, are not reconciled. Now our Cheng family's family business was bought by the ancestors of our Cheng family with their blood and lives. It is impossible for me, Cheng Jun, to give up easily. "

Facing the dominance of the Zhou family and the annexation of Jinggu Town and Zhongfang Town by the Han and Tang Empires, the five Jiedu envoys of Botai Town, Fuping Town, Xiangxi Town, Ding'an Town and Luoshan Town, secretly They gathered in Luoshan City to discuss what to do with their five feudal towns in the future.

Cheng Jun of Luoshan Jiedu Mansion should be the most powerful among the five Jiedu envoys. Among the 25 cities in Luoshan Township, eight cities are directly subordinate to Luoshan Jiedu Mansion.

The direct-line troops controlled by the Luoshan Jiedu Mansion even exceeded 20 troops.

This secret meeting was also initiated by Cheng Jun of the Luoshan Jiedu Mansion, and Cheng Jun also proposed at the meeting to set up a Northwest Army with five feudal towns.

The main purpose of establishing the Northwest Army is to take over the military power of the major families in their five feudal towns.

Tang Fengxiang, the governor of Botai, immediately frowned and said: "Marshal Cheng, military power can't be confiscated if you want to. If it was that easy, I would have collected the troops in the hands of the major families in Botai Town."

Cheng Jun of Luoshan Jiedu Mansion said: "It is precisely because it is not easy, so I hope that our five Jiedu Mansions can unite to make this matter a reality.

If we want those families in our five feudal towns to hand over military power willingly, only the direct line troops of our five Jiedu mansions can be integrated into the Northwest Army first, which can play a deterrent role. "

Fuping Jiedu envoy Fang Chengen immediately asked, "Marshal Cheng, what exactly do you mean by integration?"

"Set up a general headquarters of the Northwest Army, and all the direct troops of our five Jiedu mansions will be assigned to this headquarters of the Northwest Army.

Next, all the armies of the major families in our five feudal towns will also be incorporated into the general headquarters of the Northwest Army. "

Tang Fengxiang's brows were frowned even more by Botai Jiedu, "Marshal Cheng, what is the general headquarters of the Northwest Army saying?"

Luoshan Jiedu Mansion Cheng Jun said with a smile: "Don't worry, I, Cheng Jun, don't have such a big appetite to annex the hundreds of thousands of direct troops of your four Jiedu Mansions.

After the establishment of the General Command of the Northwest Army, all the matters were discussed by the five of us. When there were differences of opinion, they were decided by voting.

In the current situation, if our five Jiedu Mansions don't gather together to keep warm, sooner or later we will be eaten up to the point where there are not even bones left. "

On July 1543, 7 in Tianyuan, Botai Town, Fuping Town, Xiangxi Town, Ding'an Town, and Luoshan Town in the northwest region jointly announced the establishment of the Northwest Army of the Han and Tang Empires and the general headquarters of the Northwest Army.

In the future, the troops in the five towns in the northwest region will be uniformly paid by the Northwest Army Headquarters, and the command of all troops will also be controlled by the Northwest Army Headquarters.

In a study room in the Jiedu Mansion of the Fifteenth Township in Ganyang City, Yan Shaoqiu smiled and said to Zhou Rui: "Marshal, the plaque of the Jiedu Mansion has been replaced with the Southwest Town Guard Mansion."

Zhou Rui nodded and said, "The Southwest Township Mansion is a good name. From now on, our Jiedu Mansion will use this name, so as not to have to change the plaques all the time."

After the bloodless annexation of Boting Town and Deyang Town, the plaque of the Jiedu Mansion became obsolete again, and then Zhou Rui did not ask anyone to make another plaque of "Jiedu Mansion of the Fifteen Towns", and directly gave it to the Jiedu Mansion of the Fifteen Towns. The mansion took the name of a southwest tutelary mansion.

Yan Shaoqiu jokingly said: "Marshal, our Zhou family not only controls the six towns in the southwest, but the name of the southwestern town guard mansion is actually a bit small!"

Zhou Rui said indifferently: "The southwest region is the foundation of our Zhou family, as long as we don't knock down all the feudal towns in the entire Han and Tang Empire, we will always call it this name from now on.

By the way, Lao Yan, what do you think of the Northwest Army to be established in the Northwest Five Towns? "

Yan Shaoqiu pondered for a while and said: "Commander, if the Northwest Five Towns can really follow what the Northwest Five Towns announced to the outside world, the Northwest Army will become a strong enemy of our Zhou family in the future."

Zhou Rui asked: "Old Yan, do you think the major families in the five feudal towns will hand over military power to the General Command of the Northwest Army?"

"Marshal, the so-called confiscation of military power by the Northwest Army does not abolish the officers of the armies of the major families, but only the command and financial power of the army.

In addition, with our Zhou family and the imperial court staring at us, I think the major families in the five feudal towns are likely to choose to compromise. "

Zhou Rui hesitated for a moment, "Old Yan, what if our Zhou family takes action against the five northwest towns now?"

"Marshal, given the current situation in the five northwest towns, it shouldn't be too easy to fight.

Of course, if the commander-in-chief really wanted to fight, the process would at most be troublesome. "

Zhou Rui was considering whether to take advantage of the establishment of the Northwest Army and swallow up the five towns in the Northwest at one go. The Silver Wolf Empire suddenly gathered millions of troops and once again attacked the Bauhinia Province, Tulip Province and Butterfly Province. The human resistance army in Lanxing Province launched a new round of suppression.

At this time, the Silver Wolf Column of the Rebel Army was still in New Wilk Province within the territory of the Bull Empire, engaging in a tug-of-war with the Bull Army.

The advance and suppression of the Silver Wolf Army immediately turned the Silver Wolf Column of the rebel army into a two-front battle, and because of this advance and suppression of the Silver Wolf Army, Zhou Rui temporarily canceled his plan to attack the five towns in the northwest immediately, and began to fight against the five towns in the northwest. The Silver Wolf Column provides support in all aspects.

After the five Jiedu prefectures in the Northwest region announced the establishment of the General Command of the Northwest Army, the major families in the five towns also knew that if the five towns in the Northwest continued to be in a state of disunity, the outcome of the four towns in the Southwest and the three towns in the Northeast would be very likely. In the future, it will fall on the heads of the five towns in the northwest.

Moreover, if the family army is assigned to the Northwest Army headquarters, the family does not completely lose military power, so they have chosen to assign the family army to the Northwest Army's sequence.

By the end of August in Tianyuan 1543, the strength of the Northwest Army on paper had reached 8 infantry divisions and 120 independent brigades, with a total strength of more than 280 million.

According to the establishment established by the General Command of the Northwest Army, the infantry division of the Northwest Army has about 2 people, and the independent brigade has about 5000 to 8000 people.

Seeing the successful integration of the five towns in the northwest into one force, the Jiedu Mansions of Lechang, Longnan, Anlu, Dongling, and Puxing in the southeast immediately couldn't sit still.