Realm of Power

The north wind was blowing. On top of the newly built Tianlang Valley City Fortress, Murphy O'Brien stood on the top of the tallest stone archery tower on the city wall. He held his armor and pressed his sword, silently looking at the vast white mountains and rivers around him, whistling. The passing wind swept his shirt behind him, and under the city wall, a group of black and solemn imperial cavalry were galloping towards them.

In the silvery white of the desert, the empire's black armor looked extremely cold and cold.

Looking down from the commanding fortress, one can see that various large and small ring-shaped fortresses have formed a complete defense system. The most important entrance to the valley from the north to the east of the river is tightly blocked. They are all solid bars dug from the nearby mountains. Stone, tight and solid even with a heavy trebuchet It was also difficult to shake for a while. With such equipment, the Tianlang Valley where Ruitang Tingna once killed hundreds of people could truly be called a strong bridgehead that could support the army's advance, and would not be destroyed like the previous battle of Tianlang Mansion. The people easily used cavalry to complete a strong attack and breakthrough from the mouth of the valley.

On the left side of the fortress are large areas of grassland tents, with grazing cattle and sheep looking for grass roots. On the right side of the fortress is a large town with a large flow of people, and the sound of the blacksmith shop is clear and melodious. , in the lingering morning mist A large market was revealed. The tents on the left belonged to the grassland tribes who originally belonged to the Dongting people. After Jamuhebi was beheaded by the empire, the Dongting forces withdrew from this wilderness, and these grassland tribes consciously relied on them. The area with Tianlang Valley as its core,

Although they are all tribes who escaped from the grassland war, their combined population is 70,000 to 80,000, and there are more than 10,000 grassland light cavalry capable of combat control. The empire organized them and joined forces with Murphy O'Brien's Twenty thousand Imperial Dragon Armor and ten thousand light infantrymen from Yue Valley formed the backbone of the Imperial Wilderness Legion.

In the past half a year or so, this empire's Western Wilderness Legion, equipped with infantry and cavalry, has conquered and wiped out other forces entrenched in the wilderness. Most of those small forces were the remnants of the army that fled from the battlefield in Central Asia. Like Yue Valley, relying on the terrain to stay in one place and become a local emperor, being able to draw out five thousand skirmishers is already a very impressive force. How can it be the opponent of the empire's 40,000 army? The small forces that have been broken up have some options. Some surrendered, and some went to the border and became marauding horse bandits.

Horses loaded with goods are crowded in the market. Many merchants from China and the Empire stop here to replenish supplies. People and horses are everywhere. No matter what the size of the people and horses coming and going, they dare not make any difference. Arrogant and arrogant place. Silence. Even the weapons were put away, because in the past six months, Tianlang Valley has used its own strength to establish its actual control over this area. Even the powerful Dongting people are consciously not appearing here. Where the Sirius Valley Cavalry appears

In the eyes of businessmen coming and going, the dividing line between war and peace is this city in the wilderness.

The caravans heading towards the empire can relieve their inner tension here. Passing through here is the territory of the Falcon Empire. The entire powerful empire may have a reputation of being cruel, but it rarely treats merchants well, and the caravans heading towards the Dongting Grassland will buy weapons in large quantities here. There is never a shortage of horse thieves on the grassland. Even though the imperial cavalry in Tianlang Valley has advanced two hundred miles, there is nothing that can be done about the grassland horse thieves that appear and disappear on the border.

Central Asians. People from the East Courtyard and people from the Empire can all be seen here. No matter how everyone fights to death outside, they will endure it with a tacit understanding when they arrive at Tianlang Valley. No one will dare to fight with weapons without permission, because at this time, Tianlang Valley has officially been renamed Falcon Empire Tianlang Mansion. The province, together with the Eastern Province of the Empire and the Yue Valley Province of the Empire, is one of the three newly established provinces of the Empire. It is the base camp of the Western Wilderness Legion of the Empire. All the elites of the Empire are stationed here, and occasionally a team will be sent out. Murphy's dragon armor patrolled around. The passing teams hurriedly avoided the road. Those who could not avoid it quickly dismounted and waited with bated breath for the Emperor to pass.

"Sir, it's coming from the long wall!" A deputy general came up hurriedly from behind, holding a just-delivered letter in his hand, with a look of desire on his face. There was finally movement in the direction of the long wall. What's going on with tens of thousands of troops always doing things like suppressing bandits? "Cleaning the border?" Murphy O'Burn opened the letter and looked at it. There was not much surprise. For Murphy O'Burn now, it doesn't matter whether the empire has ambitions for Dongting Grassland. , but the Murphy Dragon Armor Cavalry that he devoted his whole life to can no longer be delayed and buried like this.

More than 20,000 loyal and loyal old subordinates followed him to the wilderness thousands of miles away without any regrets. They were hungry and cold in the cold wind. The first time they arrived was also the most difficult. In order to reduce the consumption of food, how many stubborn Mo Mo... The Philippine Dragon Armor Cavalry reluctantly killed his own horse. Looking back now, even he doesn't know how he spent that time.

Things are finally getting better now. We have resources for war horses and no need to worry about food. However, the emperor has always valued military merit first. How much military merit can these small forces that he wiped out in the wilderness have? Murphy's Dragon Armor Heavy Cavalry should be a sharp weapon in the battle of the army, the power to make the final decision. Without military merit, how can it be used to make conditions with the emperor to move the family members of more than 20,000 people here?

More than 20,000 men who had left their hometowns were not in tears when they mentioned their home. What kind of thing would it be for them to be buried in this nonsense wilderness with them? I have seen that the empire has been continuously transporting supplies outside the long wall for more than half a year. I heard that the granary in the Yue Valley has occupied more than half of the valley. Even if it is 100,000 people, it is enough to feed them for three or four months. He said It's to prevent winter famine, what a liar! Ruitang Tingna of the East Courtyard drove 50,000 prairie cavalry out of the North Wall. Tens of thousands of the Imperial Central Army were frequently mobilized in the Long Wall area. In name, it was to strengthen the border defense. But it was not to allow the army to quickly adapt to the wilderness environment and prepare for the attack. Like lifting a bow and stretching its string,

At this time, Murphy O'Brien didn't know that the emperor was going to make big moves on Dongting Grassland.

The vast prairie in winter is the season of silvery white. A group of cavalry wearing thick felt and leather armor slowly entered the camp built along the curved water. The howling wind brought the cold and hit their faces, and each face was covered with frozen dark red. The faces of the prairie people looked at each other. The snow had just stopped last night, and there was a fresh smell in the air. The horses' hooves stepped on the soft snow and soil, making a squeaking sound.

The leading cavalry captain, Boguo Zhuoying, jumped off his horse and leisurely scanned the situation in the camp with his square eyes. The earth is crystal white, and the wind blows, like a pair of invisible hands gently brushing the pieces of snow rice, rolling forward neatly, the earth is boundless, what a beautiful place, so vast that people forget their own existence Land, "I am also a respected centurion, why should I be a horse thief?"

Boguo Zhuoying sighed secretly as he removed the tribal mark from the armor. It’s the third month of becoming a horse thief. Horse thieves are no stranger to the grassland people. In fact, there have never been horse thieves on the grasslands. Only those cowardly southerners will call those tribal cavalry who want to rob a horse as horse thieves. Grassland people generally welcome caravans. Caravans that can bring weapons, food, and take away excess cattle and sheep have always been the most popular existence. Therefore, grassland tribes generally automatically control caravans within their control range. to protect the caravan. Otherwise, if the caravan is destroyed by the enemy or does not come next time, no one knows how many years it will take before a caravan arrives, but that is the order from above. Various tribes mobilized elites from the frontier army to pretend to be horse thieves, keeping an eye on the movements of the Falcon Emperor on the opposite side.

The power of the imperial army is now like a dark cloud shrouding the sky. This country has a vast land and a large number of powerful cavalry like raging wolves. It represents cruelty and power, so much so that even Master Zhamu Hebi in the Eighth Army of Dongting died at the hands of the empire. It is said that there is a huge quarrel in the grassland royal court, and the dignitaries of various clans are clamoring for revenge, but until now, no cavalry from any clan has been seen coming. Boguo Zhuoying is not clear about this doubt, but the order from above is , the patrol range must be expanded to 50 miles every day. It seems that the above has noticed something.

Boguo Zhuoying came to the edge of a river beach that had not yet frozen in the camp and stopped. The clear river water gushes out from the snow-white ground. Just as Boguo Zhuoying poured water into the skin bag he carried with him at the riverside, A cavalryman who was bending to wash his face suddenly pointed to the distance to the west, with a horrified look on his face and shouted, "Look, what is that?" "Boguo Zhuoying turned around quickly, took one look, and shouted with a changed expression, "Hurry up, it's the Imperial Cavalry!" The prairie men who were resting in the camp quickly ran around and saddled their horses again. On the war horses, some even looked around for the war horses that had gone to graze in the distance, which can be described as quite chaotic.

To the west, in the direction of the ice sheet, a swift black line wrapped around something like white mist, rushing towards this side with great force. The sun had only just revealed half of its face from the clouds, and the light dark clouds hung low like a layer of black gauze. The morning fog has dispersed. In the hazy morning light, black lines emerged from the edge of the grass. A dark and messy expanse stretched to infinity. Groups of cavalry began to run down like a huge arc, and the air was filled with blood. At this moment, it was suffocated and solidified. The brilliance of the metal flashed with the breath of killing. The black sky also revealed its light at this moment. The east A layer of golden light appeared on the edge, and dozens of narrow black spots began to move forward slowly. Teams of elite cavalry in light mail appeared on the frozen grassy hills in the distance. Under the horses' hooves was the mist that had not completely dissipated. The cavalry spears in their hands formed a forest of cold light in the mist, and several huge queues were like a sea of ​​war horses.

Murphy O'Brien was standing on a horse on a grassy hill, with his thick short hair blowing in the cold wind, wearing a cross-shaped collar helmet on his head, looking at the distance with dignified and ruthless eyes,

"Instruct all squadrons to move forward and destroy the nests of those horse bandits one by one!" Murphy O'Brien raised his hands with a calm expression. The horse thieves here chose a good camp. They found a place in the frozen wilderness that was still alive. It’s not easy where there are grass roots and water sources, in the distance On the horizon, some messy grassland tents are scattered there. From a distance, they look like a large field of white sheep. In the early morning air, which is as thin as smoke and dust, the white smoke from cooking breakfast is still floating. Boguo Zhuoying is the most popular among the horse thieves. A tough one,

Murphy Obuen, a fierce battlefield general who has been silent since the Southwest Sorrow, naturally knows what is going on with the horse bandits that appear and disappear on the border. If they are really horse bandits who rob caravans, they would have been strangled by the Dongting cavalry on the opposite side. There will be more and more people there. The largest group is like Boguo Zhuoying in front of him. It has increased to 500 cavalry. Many of them are fast horse light cavalry who are good at archery. They are simply a replica of Dongting's elite cavalry. Dongting's regular army chose to retreat. It is normal to use horse bandits as spies. In the face of the upcoming big move of the empire, how can we tolerate the existence of these jumping clowns?

The nest of the horse bandits has been explored long ago, just 50 miles beyond the border of Dongting. The long wall requires the border to be cleared, which basically means that we can go to war with Dongting people to a certain extent. This will be the last chance for Murphy Dragon Armor Cavalry to show its sharpness. If it can't catch the eyes of the Falcon Emperor again, this elite on the battlefield will be completely destroyed by himself. So this time, I will go all out. If they could provoke the Dongting regular army to attack, it would be the best situation.

The grassland was filled with thick smoke, hundreds of tents were emitting thick smoke, and the red flames licked the felt tops of the tents like a greedy cat. A burning tent frame made a crackling sound in the flames, and the sparks were blown away by the wind. In the camp burning with flames, thousands of corpses were lying in a mess in the muddy blood. There were scattered supplies, broken scimitars, and piles of warhorse corpses all around. There were also The sheep kept crying, but their masters had become cold corpses on the ground.

The Murphy Dragon Armored Cavalry galloped by, splashing the ground with blood with every step of the horses' hooves. The thick and frightening blood splashed on the sheep's curly hair, which was so shocking.

Half of Boguo Zhuoying's body lay in the winding water, and almost all of his bones were crushed by the heavy horses' hooves. He couldn't figure it out until his death. Was it worth it for the opposite empire to send tens of thousands of people to encircle and suppress such a camp with only a few thousand people?

On February 4, Murphy Obuen of the Northwest Wilderness Corps of the Empire personally led 20,000 Murphy Dragon Armored Cavalry into the territory of Dongting. In the name of encircling and suppressing horse thieves, he strangled more than 3,000 Dongting border troops, opening the prelude to the second war between the empire and the Dongting grassland (to be continued...)

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