Realm of Power

The terrible news that a gap had been opened in the northern defense line shocked the entire Gallic capital.

"Is it true? The Falcon Army just sat on a horse-drawn plank and defeated you!" Yalde, the first person in charge of Kyoto's defense line, looked solemnly at the desk in front of the two people in front of him who looked embarrassed and didn't know what to do. How to explain the Gallic general, his upright body wearing a strict Gallic military uniform, and the golden hem of the clothes looked heroic. He could no longer see the embarrassment of the beaten dog a day ago. It was precisely because of the huge contrast that Yarde looked at the two of them. His eyes were cold and more like he wanted to kill,

They were the New North Army's 5th Infantry Regiment Commander Gusef and 7th Infantry Regiment Commander Ya Nu who were defeated by Salon's Army two days ago. They lost their defense areas and lost more than 17,000 people. The person was escorted on the spot by the supervising team to Kyoto in Gaul.

"The enemy appeared too suddenly. Almost as soon as he discovered it, he had already entered the attack range. Our army didn't even have time to assemble and faced it in a hurry..." The new commander of the 5th Infantry Regiment, Gusev, looked ugly. head

"The same goes for our army. Although we moved closer with all our strength, we were still overwhelmed!" Ya Nu, commander of the 7th Infantry Regiment, said.

"Okay, you go down first. Someone from the War Supervisory Office will come to question you!" Yald rubbed his temples painfully, and waved his hands to the two generals who were trying hard to explain with a stern expression. Seeing the faces of the two men again, in fact, His Majesty the Emperor was very angry about the gap in the northern front. This meant that Kyoto's already stretched troops had to divert part of their troops to fill the north. This was very difficult for a country that was already facing a confrontation with the Falcon Army. The situation in Gaul and Kyoto during the month was even worse.

The current war situation is not optimistic. Starting from mid-September, after discovering that the defense line of Kyoto in Gaul was impeccable, the Falcon Army's frontal attack operations began to slow down, and began to very patiently pull out the barriers outside Kyoto one by one. , when the winter snow falls, Onda, a key city outside Kyoto, has been captured by the Falcon Army. Then came the fall of four cities including Birkeland and Hanseiden. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Falcon Army advancing towards Kyoto was gradually reducing its attack line.

When the two of them turned to leave, Alder stood up with a solemn look on his face, his eyebrows furrowed into the character "Chuan".

He began to feel that dragging the war into winter would not bring a period of peace to the empire as expected, but on the contrary, during this winter. The mobilization of the Falcon Army is becoming more and more frequent. According to the news, the Falcon Empire's most powerful Central Army Group is gathering in the southwest region, while the Confederation Empire in the south, which was originally used as a check, is now deeply involved in the war with the Istani people and has no time to spare. Considering the situation in the north, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Falcon Empire is preparing for a major offensive this winter.

He had a hunch that the gap in the northern defense line was only the first link in this major offensive, and the real test had just begun. The Falcon Army had already turned horse-drawn sleds, a tool for transporting supplies, into troop carriers for transporting troops. The investment in this new computing tool made the land unobstructed. Thinking of the Falcon Army being able to penetrate at high speeds on the winter snow, even Yard felt uneasy in his heart. The expected obstacles became the enemy's resistance. The vast snowfield in northern Gaul will no longer be an insurmountable natural barrier, so what can the empire do to fight the Falcon Empire?

Adair was a very pragmatic man. In order to resist the Falcon Army's new tactics, he wrote a letter requesting the Empire to recruit 50,000 horses for the Kyoto front. No matter what kind of horse it is, a war horse or a strong horse. Horse. As long as it can pull a cart, if he wants to deal with the Falcon Army's horse-drawn sleigh, he has to build a horse-drawn sleigh himself. As soon as his proposal was handed in, it immediately caused an uproar in the capital of Gaul.

"Are you kidding? Fifty thousand horses! Is this guy going to rob?"

The nobles heard this proposal as ridiculous as hearing horses running in the sky. Gaul is not a horse-producing country, because most of the land is located in a huge basin, and the mountains on the edge cut off the road to the north. Scarce materials such as roads and war horses were exchanged with the Slavs from the northwest, or were smuggled from Central Asia. As for the source of smuggling, Looking at this report, the family leader of Zhu Chenwood, one of the four Eastern Army rulers, felt that a storm was coming. As an edge area where two continents intersect, the area where the Eastern Army Four rulers were located was exactly the place where good horses were produced with abundant water and grass. The best place to produce war horses is Zhuchenwood's Lingshan Province, which is closest to the northern grassland. It is a huge swamp with lush water and grass, and is the habitat of wild horses.

"The Ministry of the Interior cannot raise 50,000 horses. Such a request is too harsh, even absurd. If it is 2,000 horses, it may still be possible!" Looking at the document with the word "urgent" in his hand, the Gallic Minister of the Interior Hector Duke Caston said in a hoarse voice,

"Actually, there are enough horses in Kyoto!" Yard said with a serious face and raised his head without giving in. "There are three hundred and eleven wealthy families in Kyoto, and none of them has more than five carriages. The whole family alone has more than 10,000 horses." There are excellent horses, not to mention the tens of thousands of nobles who own carriages in Kyoto. As long as all the horses pulling the carriages are requisitioned, this problem can be solved! "

"madman!"

The Minister of the Interior, Duke Hecaston, curled his lips slightly and did not speak. The royal meeting was locked in a silence that is suffocating today. There are indeed enough horses in the capital of Gaul, but the question is who will be the villain. Once the order to requisition is issued, the entire capital will be offended.

"I'm a little tired! Mr. Arde, there are more than a thousand horses in the palace, and they are rarely used, so I'll give them to you! As for the rest, you can take care of it yourself. I give you such power! "

In the silence, a slightly hoarse voice said, it was the pale young emperor of Gaul. He stood up from his seat, "Your Majesty, be careful!" Algernon Julia, who was standing behind him, quickly supported his shaking body. Body,

After winter, the young emperor's physical condition deteriorated sharply. A month ago, some blood could still be seen. Now, even with the efforts of the palace makeup artist, it has only turned pale into pale. After the emperor's affairs officer Algernon Jue With Lia's support, his steps seemed extremely heavy. He raised his head and glanced at the sky outside, and slowly left the venue.

"Your Majesty," Yalder's body trembled slightly. Looking at the back of the young emperor, his eyes turned red.

"My Liard family is willing to provide 170 horses for free."

"Our Sidya family provides war horses for free for one hundred and ten farts!"

"I have ninety-three horses from the Tiex family!" With the emperor's example, the ministers who participated in the imperial meeting reluctantly agreed to bloodletting. With your words and my words, by the end of the meeting, more than 3,000 good horses have been gathered, and the statements of these top wealthy families will also affect other wealthy families in Kyoto.

At the end of a red-carpeted corridor in the Gangfei Palace, a panting young emperor sat down on a railing, looking at these statues with deep eyes and envy, "It's a pity that I had already promised to bring those famous royal horses." It was given to the newly promoted Imperial Guards, but now it seems that it cannot be honored! "

"No. I think those good horses will be put to better use in the hands of Lord Ard!" Algernon Julia lowered her head and said calmly,

"Make the best use of everything. This sentence is very suitable for me! At the end of life, you can see many things clearly. You are young and frivolous, don't know what to do, let alone what the enemy is, so that you have moved the empire to such an extent. "Among the seven emperors of the Gallic Empire, I am probably the worst idiot!"

There was a hint of self-mockery in the corner of the young emperor's mouth as he looked at the 'Horse Gate' in the distance. The Horse Gate was a statue made by the first Gallic emperor for his most beloved war horse. The bronze horse stands on its hind legs, leaps high on its front legs, and its four hooves meet at a height of more than a hundred feet above the road. It forms a pointed arc, which is extremely majestic. You can imagine how high-spirited the first emperor of Gaul was.

"Your Majesty, don't talk nonsense." Algernon Julia said with a serious face. "Your Majesty is the rare British master in Gaul for hundreds of years. If he were not troubled by innate diseases, he would definitely be as good as the first emperor." It exists! And the imperial doctor has said that as long as you don’t work too hard, your Majesty’s illness will disappear on its own!”

Haha, a rare hero in hundreds of years! "Hearing Algernon Julia's words, the young emperor smiled slightly. "I know you are comforting me. What is a hero? Just like the Vecchia Falcon, only those who are invincible due to military force are called heroes. I heard that guy is about the same age as me, and they became one in a few years A great empire, and my first war ruined my father’s fifteen-year-carefully planned Seattle battle plan, causing more than a hundred thousand warriors of the empire to die in a foreign land, and finally had to cede territory and sue for peace. With such people In comparison, a "hero" like me really doesn't even have the qualifications to feel ashamed! "

"I heard that there are prairie people in the Falcon Army. Is this true? The last time it was said that the prairie people defeated Obalo was decades ago." The young emperor, who had never had the chance to leave the palace, showed a smile on his face. thoughtful look

"Indeed, the ones who fought all the way outside Kyoto last time were the prairie cavalry under the Falcon Empire!" Algernon Julia hesitated for a moment on her pretty face.

"Tell me, what is it like to fight with prairie cavalry?"

"'I'm not sure. But their equestrian skills are better than any knights." Algernon Julia saw that His Majesty the Emperor was in a good mood today, probably because of his amazing performance at the imperial meeting. The young man The emperor has not made a statement for a long time.

She explained, "We are in a killing battlefield where arrows are raining down. Wearing hard leather and chain mail, we are not afraid of anything. The range of our bows and arrows is far greater than ours. Most of our archers are on foot, hiding in walls or walls surrounded by shields." Behind the fortifications are made of sharpened wooden stakes, but the prairie people shoot arrows on horseback. They can move freely whether they charge or retreat. Your Majesty, they are very dangerous..."

"Yes, very dangerous!"

A trace of yearning flashed in the young emperor's eyes. He recalled the first time when he was seven years old, when his father's broad shoulders helped him onto a human-height war horse. What his father said was, "Straighten your back, look forward, and step forward bravely. I will The warriors of Gaul are not inferior to the people of the steppes!"

In the eyes of everyone, the young man was as dazzling as the sun in the spring breeze. He was radiant, with carved stone tents, a straw-woven mansion as big as a castle, a crumbling wooden tower, and a marble stepped pyramid. and a wooden palace with an open roof facing the sky. Some palaces even used thorn hedges instead of walls.

The cloak billowed in the wind like waves, and the falling snow rushed towards me. He was far ahead, looking back from time to time to make sure others were following. Only then did he stride forward as smoothly as silk again. Waiting at the edge of the woodland two miles away from the winter town, he has already thrown the attendants behind him far away.

"I can ride a horse"

The young emperor seemed to see himself laughing and shouting on the horse. It felt like flying, and then he flew out. At that moment, he felt like a bird spreading its wings. The memory of his childhood was so exciting. Fascinated, I didn't need to think too much at that time, because my father was the emperor of Gaul. His broad shoulders are enough to protect himself and the country from wind and rain. Now, the statue of his father is accompanied by the statues of the other five ancestors. Juxtaposed at the end of the corridor, the extremely majestic Diao sat on the throne, looking down coldly,

Below the statue, there are engraved figures of slender girls dancing on a marble base, with only flowers covering their bodies. They hold broken bottles and jars, and only air is poured out. No one glanced here. Or soon, there will be a statue of myself standing there,

Algernon Julia stood quietly beside the young emperor, watching the emperor fall into a trance again. This happened more and more frequently, which was a sign that the disease was in the final stage. The only good thing was that the emperor was fond of killing people when he was sick. The habit was gone, replaced by a kind of trance-like emptiness. The imperial doctor said this strange disease was called soul-resurrection syndrome. There is no cure. As the trance lasts longer and longer, one day I will never wake up again.

"Julia?"

I don’t know how long it took. The young emperor seemed to slowly come back from his trance. His eyes fell on the beautiful and rosy face of Algernon Julia who was sleeping on the corridor. He changed from confusion to clarity. This was something he could not remember. The second soul comes back. Each time, it takes a while to remember who I am, as the distant sunset shines over a remote mountain ridge. A long black shadow was revealed as it crossed the roof of the tallest building of the Gallic Palace. The palace in front of him made him feel cold.

The order to recruit war horses was issued throughout Kyoto. No one dared to object to the decision made by the Imperial Council and the example set by His Majesty the Emperor himself. However, this did not mean that they could do so willingly. Because of the fiscal deficit for several months, the army The nobles were unable to compensate the owners of these war horses, and this kind of thing itself was unconvincing. The nobles looked at each other, wondering why their own family recruited three horses, while the other family only recruited two horses. Quite a bit of criticism,

After being forcibly suppressed by the army, the nobles began to try their best to find all kinds of bad horses and sick horses to replace them. As a result, problems arose. In the winter, a plague appeared in the army. First, there were only two guards guarding the horse pens. The soldier fell ill and the two soldiers took advantage of their position , secretly sent the horses that died of illness in the stables to the market for sale. Now the prices are soaring. Even the ordinary nobles cannot afford the expensive but scarce pork. There are many people who eat horse meat. It did not arouse people's attention at first. Please note that this is treated as normal food poisoning.

As a result, the plague showed a trend of large-scale spread. In just five or six days, thousands of people fell ill in the army, and even more people fell ill in Kyoto, more than 2,000 people, who had been waiting for the opportunity. The nobles of Kyoto feel like they smell blood The mad dog pointed the finger at the outrageous horse recruitment order at the same time. People were panicked and rumors spread. They all believed that this must be because someone had sinned deeply and resulted in an angry divine punishment. The order to recruit war horses had to be temporarily stopped.

In the end, Yard only obtained less than 10,000 horses, of which more than 3,000 were disposed of due to the plague. The remaining 6,000 horses were turned into a transport team of six horse-drawn sleighs, and in Yard Opposite the Kyoto defense line, the Salon Army marching north Under the new tools of horse-drawn sleds, they advanced at a rapid pace. The New North Army in Gaul was completely stunned and was greatly delayed in maneuvering. They often received news that the Falcon Army was discovered somewhere, and reinforcements were still on the way. , that side has already fallen,

In late October, Salon's troops had reached Antura, an important northern town that was once the capital of the Slavs. The river in the morning light was like a shining blue-green ribbon. There were reeds in the shallows along the coast. Salon saw a water snake swimming quickly across the river, causing ripples behind it. Overhead, an eagle circled lazily.

Antura, which had just been swept by the Gallic army, was in a miserable state. Every place it passed was deserted and in ruins. The farmland, villages, towns, castles, churches, and barns all suffered the same fate. The Gallic army retaliated by burning and killing wherever they could, and even set fire to the woods everywhere. Fortunately, almost all the leaves had fallen off during the winter and it had rained recently, so the fire didn't spread.

"If the lake water can be used to make fire, I guess they won't let it go."

Salon joked to the adjutant beside him that this adjutant was a Slav. Looking at the mirror-like lake in front of him, he seemed to see the clan camp from the wilderness, just like ten years ago. When the ship carries him far from home,

That day he stood by the railing of the boat, listening to the paddling of the oars and the drumming of the oar officer, and watching the cliffs gradually shrinking in the distance.

There was silence,

As a guide leading the northward march, this Slav looked ugly, knowing that Salon was right.

The night he escaped, the blazing fire reflected brightly on the water, as if the lake was really burning.

The tragic great migration of 300,000 Slavs, pursued and intercepted by the Gallic army, is itself a story of blood and tears. I saw that the gate of my former home had been chopped down, the walls were half-collapsed, and there were white skeletons everywhere inside.

The guide just took one look and knelt on the ground, his eyes full of tears. "Dead, all dead." He said, "They were also chewed by dogs." (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!