Realm of Power

"So, the emperor already knows about the marriage between the Long family and the Song family?" Long Benliu stood in a wide hall dressed as a scribe. His hand under his robe gently picked up a piece of paper and threw it away after reading it. He entered the fire basin in front of him, and it wasn't until he saw the paper turning gray and being swept away by the wind that he turned around and looked at a figure behind him with twinkling eyes.

"Song Li accidentally let it slip, but the Falcon Emperor seemed to have guessed something!" The person who answered him was a young man with a stern look, and said cautiously, "I think it's good that I have discovered it now, so I can open my mouth completely." The southwest river channel is equivalent to opening up the road network of our Long family. If the empire really just wants to use the southwest water channel to enter the south, then the Song people who control the southern water channel will be tied to us, which will always provide an extra guarantee."

"I hope you are right."

Long Benliu glanced at the bright spring outside the window, took a deep breath of warmth, and then sighed and said, "I didn't expect that the emperor would value that painting so much. He asked to meet the Song people secretly on the day he came to Guangling. Fortunately, this time We took the initiative to put aside decades of grievances and successfully married with the Song people. Otherwise, I can’t even imagine what the consequences would be."

"That person is quite reckless. He only brought more than a hundred riders and went deep into Guangling. Even if he is powerful, he is still quite limited. If our Long family really turns against him, I don't believe that he can leave the southwest alive!" I heard Long Benliu's tone. There was a trace of fear in his heart, but the cold young man was not He thought that the corners of his mouth were cold and he said, "Moreover, no matter how you use the southwest waterway, it is still just a waterway. It is great to be able to get some convenience in transportation, but what else? Is it worth an emperor's personal survey? An imperial emperor, go to Let’s look at the waterway here. What does this mean?

"Some words, please don't say them nonsense!" Long Benliu glared at him, "Don't look at the unimpressive appearance of the emperor, and his somewhat foolish appearance. He dared to go straight into Guangling with more than a hundred guards in a light carriage. It seemed reckless, but in fact he was A murderous figure who slaughtered countless cities and countries in the Western Continent, even the Long family has been often shocked by various news in the Western Continent in the past few years."

"Killing God?"

The young man looked stunned, "No way, a stupid fat man like that deserves such a title? The young man has been observing him for several days. The emperor of the Western Continent has been wandering around the waterways around Guangling. This kind of thing is almost direct. Tell us, the real purpose of asking the Long family to release the Southwest Waterway is to use the Southwest Waterway to connect to the Southern Waterway "There was quite a bit of disdain in the young man's tone, and he couldn't help but look down upon it even more." This kind of military secret needs to be kept tightly concealed even if it is placed on the negotiation table. The other party is so unconcealed that it shows no scheming at all. But, to put it bluntly, the truth has been completely revealed even before the discussion. Can such a person be called a murderer?

"Don't you see? The other party has no intention of hiding it! Do you understand? The other party just wants to tell us that he wants the Southwest Waterway just to enter the Southern Waterway." Long Benliu looked at the young man and didn't know how to laugh. , it is still time to express helplessness, "If the other party doesn't make it clear like this, how can the Long family be willing to completely let go of the Southwest Waterway!"

"That emperor is no ordinary person"

Long Benliu took a deep breath and told the young man in an extremely solemn tone, "The Gaul Empire, which had been at war with the Long family for decades, was destroyed by him. It is said that millions of people in the Gaul Empire died in his hands, and then he attacked the Western Continent. Among the various countries, this emperor slaughtered five to six million people in one breath, reaching Feishan, a powerful country in the middle of the country, and killed them in one day and night. The killing of 300,000 King Feishan's army shocked the entire Western Continent, and eventually led more than a dozen countries in the southern part of the Western Continent to unite and form a huge crusade of 700,000 people. Guess what, in just two months, they were defeated. The emperor casually wiped out the 700,000-strong army, and not even one-tenth of the 700,000 troops returned alive!

Long Benliu's voice paused and continued, "This time, in order to clean up the local opposition voices in the southwest, we not only wiped out the face of the court, but sending troops to the central part of the country is directly tantamount to breaking with the court. If there is such a transcendent figure again, there will be With the intention of annexing the southwest, and the Song clan in the south as a side support, under attack from two sides, not to mention one Long family, even ten Long families may be destroyed! "

"If you are so powerful, why would you come to Guangling to look at the water?" The young man heard a little impatiently. He had also heard about these achievements. His first instinct was that this was simply not something that humans could do, but it was the elders of the family. Still believing them, he said angrily with a red face, "Although conflicts broke out between the southwest and the south in the past, the navies of both sides also fought to obtain water transportation lines. And the big fight, just a water transportation line, is worthy of a person like this to come and survey in person. This can only show that either they are all exaggerated words to put themselves in front of themselves. Who wouldn't say one or two things? Or maybe the people in the Western Continent are simply country rats who have never seen the world. A waterway in the southwest of China and Bibia, which is so vast and rich in resources, can even be visited by an emperor! "

"Haha, whatever you think!"

Long Benliu laughed. In fact, he didn't completely believe it. The Long family was a general in the past. How could he not know what the war was about? Killing the city and destroying the country sounded terrifying, but the Long family was not other Central Asians. For Westerners, The mainland still has some understanding. In the Western Continent, Wang States are worthless, and there are a lot of princes and principalities. For example, in a large area like the Southwest, it is not surprising that there are seven or eight princes and principalities. In this case, massacre of the city and the destruction of the country is really as commonplace. Why did Ximanzi believe the exaggerated words about killing millions of people! Our Long family has been fighting against Gaul for decades, and the number of people we have killed in total is not even that high! What Civil War? Seven hundred thousand troops line up the camp. Do you know what a terrifying area it is? It’s more than a hundred miles away! However, the Falcon Emperor is indeed a powerful figure. At least Onnatso killed 50,000 Wolf Army troops in the first battle. However, it is said that the empire mobilized more than 200,000 troops at that time, which does not seem so impressive. Got it!

If I had an army of 200,000, I would be able to kill 50,000 Wolf Cavalry. Not only young people think this way, but also many Central Asians think so. The arrogance of Central Asians is the self-confidence of being superior to others that has existed for thousands of years. , is something that goes deep into the bone marrow, the central country, the center of all nations! For foreigners, no matter what their status is, even if they are emperors, they will unconsciously look down upon them. Anyway, I just don't accept it!

Like the youth, the younger generation of the Long family is not inferior to ordinary generals in terms of ability and quality. It is just that they have not been sent to practice border defense. They lack a bit of insight and are a bit more unruly. If those standing here are on border defense. Long Wuyang, who had been here for a while, would never be able to say such ignorant words.

But this is Guangling, the headquarters of the Long family, and a gathering place for countless young heroes of the Long family. The Long family has been relatively peaceful in the past few years. The war between Gaul and the empire has long ago, and there has been no military action against the Long family. The Long family members who have grown up in the past few years have not experienced any decent battles, but all of them are still arrogant and ruthless.

They are all of the same age, who would admit that this unattractive and even somewhat silly Emperor of the Western Continent is much more powerful than himself? When the initial curiosity turned into comparison, and when they learned that the emperor who came to Guangling in person was only a young man who had just turned twenty-eight, the young people of the Long family naturally felt a sense of comparison. Regarding this, Long Benliu did not mean to suppress him. A young man without any arrogance and vigor is not a member of the Dragon family. If it were on the battlefield, would he give up the attack knowing that the emperor of the empire and the god of the army of the Western Continent were on the opposite side? Iron and blood, strong and weak, warriors must move forward bravely, face all enemies, and challenge all enemies. Only after defeating them will you know! Isn’t it the case that every generation of the Long family rushes to the battlefield against the Western Continent like this?

"Tell the Falcon Empire that the Long family can keep their promise and open the southwest waterway." Now that he knew the empire's intentions, Long Benliu thought there was no need to delay further. He walked in front of the table, picked up a letter lying on the table and handed it over. He gave it to the young man and said in a solemn voice, "Because we, the Long family, are charged with attacking the envoys from China and Libya, Thousands of elites were detained by the empire, and they still have no intention of releasing them. With thousands of hostages in hand and hundreds of thousands of troops pressing down on them, it’s no wonder that the emperor dared to march straight into Guangling with such arrogance. The empire should Put Long Wuyang and the others back! If you don’t even have this bit of sincerity, there’s really no point in talking about it!”

"Yes, I understand." The young man nodded and took the letter.

Watching the young man leave, Long Benliu touched Sanbeard's chin with his hand. Is the empire using the southwest waterway to go to the south really just for revenge?

The Long family is a general. The head of the family, Long Yang, and the deputy head of the family, Long Po, are both famous generals. However, Long Benliu was trained as a wise general since he was a child because of his weak constitution. Although he is only the fifth figure in the family, he has He is the logistics manager of the entire Long family. China and Bia are still a traditional land country. There is nothing in terms of maritime trade and naval construction.

Because for thousands of years, all the major battles in the Central Asian region have been inland, and the ocean has been ignored. No one has ever thought that the ocean outside the mainland is also a battlefield that is not inferior to the mainland, so even if Even a strong figure in the Dragon family like Long Benliu never thought that what the empire wanted to use the southwest waterway to pass through was actually the imperial navy, not just commercial ships!

Thinking of the painting mentioned in the report, Long Benliu actually breathed a sigh of relief.

He had also heard something about that painting. The Long family and the Song clan had been entangled for decades, and they each had countless informants. Basically, there was nothing that could be completely closed. What's more, the painting was still in the Song clan. There was a small internal turmoil. It was said that an imperial warship was attacked and sunk by the Aden people in the southern sea of ​​Central Asia. Someone from the Song family happened to pass by and recorded the incident with a painting.

There was a moderate discussion within the Song clan over whether the Song clan needed to intervene in the dispute between the Falcon Empire and the Aden people. The Falcon Empire had helped the Song clan and also provided refined iron trade. But the people of Aden are not easy to mess with. They are truly the overlords of the southern seas. Aden merchants from the sea control 80% of the maritime trade in Central and South Africa.

The risk of offending the people of Aden is obviously greater than the value of pleasing the Falcon Empire. This is a problem that even a fool can see.

So in the end, the person who the Song people came to meet with the Falcon Empire Emperor was not a person of high status, but just an unknown woman. In this way, even if the people of Aden were to investigate, the Song people could explain this matter as a personal act. From this point of view, the Song clan did not behave authentically. The dignified Southern Song clan pushed a weak woman in front as a shield out of fear.

However, judging from the meeting process mentioned in the report, Emperor Falcon didn't seem to pay much attention.

Although the Falcon Empire once helped the Song people, there is nothing wrong with the Song people's current attitude, because everything ultimately comes down to strength. The Falcon Empire's strength is in the Western Continent, which is too far away from the Song people, and the Aden people It is only separated by a sea, and the Aden navy may suppress the Song clan's ships in the coastal areas at any time. The thirty-six soldiers under the Song clan's command Among the mountain people, there are six fishermen who make a living from the sea. Once they are retaliated by the Aden navy in the coastal area, it will not be the life or death of a few people, but a disaster of blood flowing into the river. Although the Song people are gradually gaining My own naval force is actually just a few rafts that can be used on inland rivers. They can be used on inland rivers. But when they reach the sea, they will be overturned by waves.

If it were him, I'm afraid he might not be doing any better by the Song clan! Long Benliu sighed secretly in his heart. He still knew the difference between the navy and the navy.

Returning to his residence from Guanglingchuan, Fatty soon received a notice from the Long family that they agreed to open up the water channel. He knew that he had been running back and forth around Guanglingchuan outside the city for the past few days, and finally had results. What the Long family in the southwest feared most was the imperial congress. Using force against the southwest, we now know that the empire’s purpose is just to use the waterway as a way , it is still within the tolerable range. After all, the Long family completely fell out with the court because of the attack on the central part. Even if the Yanzhou war was a victory, the vitality was severely damaged and could not be recovered within a few years. Moreover, according to the empire's military strength, it was really To attack the southwest, what waterway is needed? Just by releasing the southwest waterway, we can attract strong support like the Falcon Empire. If we miss this good thing, there will be no next chance!

As long as the other party sees this clearly, they will not delay any more on the waterway issue. After all, the other party is still waiting for a word from him, Yanzhou, should the empire continue to watch, or should it help the Long family?

The official head of the Long family, Long Yang, still didn't know whether he was alive or dead in Yanzhou and Shangjing. The deputy head of the family was fighting desperately in the middle of Zhongbia. Long Benliu didn't know that he had ordered the North King's cavalry to go south. He didn't know that he was attacking Yanzhou and Shangjing for half a month. Yelu Hongtai is now thinking about how to sneak away with his tail between his legs, but for the Long family, this is not a good thing, but a bad thing.

Yelu Hongtai stormed Shangjing for half a month. Although Shangjing's defenses were exhausted, he was still exhausted and suffered heavy losses. The morale of the army was almost at its limit.

Withdrawing from Yanzhou now, the Beiwangting cavalry rushing south will hit the Long family's already extremely weak Yanzhou defense line.

The Long family can survive, but Long Yang must die!

This is not a matter of personal feelings, but as long as Long Yang exists for one day, the empire's ultimate control of the southwest will be an empty dream!

(To be continued.)