Realm of Power

Zhongbia, Qingyang

The rain was pouring, and the strings of water droplets formed on the eaves made it even more cold. It was obviously the hot season of June, but it turned into a coldness like late autumn. The phoenix tree beside the city wall Withering in the wind, the streets are covered with scattered leaves. The wind blows and rolls up the leaves, like fragments intertwined in mid-air, swaying in the wind and rain, just like the current portrayal of the Central Asian Empire.

Qingyang is the most important estuary town in the middle of the southern river. It connects the north and south, and is a transportation hub by water and land. Cars and boats flow through it. At its most prosperous time, the urban population exceeded 600,000, and the city span reached more than 40 miles. In the days of Huishang, businessmen from all over the world gathered in Qingyang. It was once known as the Phoenix Gathering in Qingyang at fifty miles.

Since the beginning of April, the Yelu family army, which lost the battle for Yanzhou, began to approach the Qingyang River and would launch an attack at any time, the city had lost its former prosperity. A large number of residents and businessmen began to move to the southern region, praying to escape the harassment of the war. Although the Central and Asian courts issued several orders prohibiting migration, it was announced that the grassland people could only ride horses and not take boats. There was a big river in Qingyang. It is extremely dangerous, and even the 50,000-strong army of the imperial court is guarding it. It is absolutely impregnable.

But it obviously had no effect. The bustling city with hundreds of thousands of people had become deserted and lonely in just over a month, as if it was on the verge of death. The wind swept across the empty streets, and the damp smell seemed to become stronger.

Twenty miles outside Qingyang City, the number one figure in the Central Asian Military Ministry, Li Long, who had high hopes for the Li family, was watching an imperial carriage coming from a distance. The person arriving was the Imperial Foreign Affairs Officer. An official of the Communist Party of China was actually an intelligence officer of the Imperial Supervision Department. Following the emperor's order, he went to the core hinterland of Central Asia to "take a look" at Lakhgedin. He did not look outstanding because he looked a bit bloated. , it is really difficult for people to associate such a ferocious creature like a tiger with him, but within the Imperial Supervision Department, Lacdinger is known as the Tiger of the Supervision Department for his extremely excellent memory and adaptability. There are rumors that , as long as the things that Lakgedin has seen can still be described very accurately by Lakgedin within three months, it is simply a human-shaped memory device.

This is a typical meeting that can only be imagined but not explained. China and Bia are also extremely vigilant. Li Long, the head of the military department, is even twenty miles out of the city. Naturally, he will not bring too many entourages. He is dressed in white. four guards,

Lakhgedin did not bring too many entourages, but there were still more than a dozen. Among these entourages, there were not many real entourages. Except for a few personal guards, the others were all people with their own strengths. Some people There are those who specialize in geography, and there are those who specialize in water networks. There are even those who specialize in studying the strength of buildings. The empire’s military operations in the wilderness have made it impossible for the Central and Asian courts to ignore them.

The strength of the empire's combat power can be seen from the fact that it was able to kill the Gotowolf Army in one fell swoop. Later, the Yelu family went south in panic, poured into Yanzhou, and poured into the central part of the country. They were also forced by the empire's force, and now they are carrying out a crusade. In the name of the enemy, he entered the wilderness, far away from the territory controlled by the Central Asian Court. The area is almost critical. No one will feel at ease with such a ferocious neighbor of the Western Barbarians. Moreover, from a strategic point of view, it is entirely possible for the empire to occupy the wilderness and then use the wilderness as a support point to compete with China. When the time comes to sub-regional expansion, what will the Central and Asian courts do to stop it?

"Lord Li Long"

"Lak Geddin"

The two exchanged simple greetings on the carriage. In order to express the empire's intention to come, Lakgedin sent the document in his hand directly to Li Long. Li Long opened the document nervously, glanced over it, and couldn't help but froze for a moment. He suddenly raised his head and looked. Towards the opposite side of Lakhgedin , asked in a condensed voice, "What does your empire mean? It has been two years since the Shanzhong Province was included in our Zhongbia. It is already our land in Zhongbia. Your country not only raised the banner of crusade this time, but even Also declared the mountain province as the empire’s sphere of influence.”

"The Mountain Province has always been part of the Gaul region, how could it be the land of Central Asia!" Lakgedin smiled disdainfully, pulled all the documents back, and said in a solemn voice, "And it's not me this time. The empire brazenly sent troops to the wilderness, and the mountain province was regarded as a high-ranking province in those days. Part of the Lu rebels actually supported the rebels in brazenly attacking our imperial troops. The crusade was justice. On the contrary, Algernon Julia, the leader of the rebels in Shanzhong Province, fled into the border of China and Libya. For the sake of the friendship between the two countries, he also We need Mr. Li Long to help us with the arrest!"

"Nonsense, don't you know that Algernon Julia is a fourth-grade official officially consecrated by our Zhongbia court? Your empire wants to arrest her as a traitor. It is simply confusing right and wrong!" Li Long held the ship with a heavy hand. He pressed a document on the table and snorted heavily,

"Rebels are rebels, no matter how dazzling they are, it will never change this!" Lakgedin took the documents back slowly, frowned slightly, and looked at the carriage through the window. In front of him, he murmured in a low voice, "I thought things would change when I got here, but I didn't expect that it would still be the same!"

Li Long was stunned for a moment, not understanding what this sentence meant. With a creak, the carriage suddenly stopped and was blocked by the flow of people.

"What's going on?" Li Long's face changed color. Looking out of the car window, he could clearly feel the atmosphere of war. The houses outside the tall city wall had been demolished and the trees had been cut down. There are still many workers cleaning up the site, digging deep into the moat, and there are many people Logs and boulders were piled up on the city wall, and there were overseers with whips everywhere, beating those workers who did not do their job satisfactorily. At the gate of the city, there were a large number of refugees from the North Shore with their families and children. On the loaded carriage, there were cups and pans, mosquito nets, everything. Some people even brought furniture with them.

"Master Li Long, I heard that the Yelu family on the north bank has closed the river. Where did these refugees come from? This scene has been like this for dozens of miles before. I thought it would be better in Qingyang, which is relatively prosperous. Unexpectedly, There are even more here!"

"These people are not from the north of the river, but refugees from the mainland sixty miles away from Qingyang. Wherever the earth dragon spread, more than half of the seven or eight cities were destroyed." Li Long's eyes showed a cold look, and his fingers fiercely Hold the ground tightly. The so-called earth dragon refers to an earthquake. People in Central and South Africa have always believed that earthquakes are caused by dragons turning over under the earth. Just a dozen days ago, an earthquake broke out in the Luzhou area. Although it was not very powerful, and the total number of casualties was only seventy or eighty, the houses in the Luzhou area were severely damaged. While a large number of refugees were preparing to flock to Qingyang City Gate, many residents in the city were also preparing to pack their bags. After leaving the city, the cavalry of the Yelu Army had already arrived on the north bank of the river. The Yelu family is no longer what it was more than a year ago. Even the naval fleet has a certain size!

"Let us go in, we're starving!"

"Let us get out, we are going to kill someone!"

So many people collided fiercely near the city gate. The noise, the cries of children, the cries of women, became a mess, and there were more miserable cries, which was heartbreaking. The Central Asian soldiers guarding the city were obviously used to what they saw. They turned a blind eye to the crying and scolding. They drove away all the refugees who entered the city and drove them out of the city gate without hesitation.

"What's the fuss? The grassland people haven't crossed the river yet! Be careful of the grassland people's spies mixed in." The soldiers also made things difficult for the residents leaving the city. They repeatedly searched their luggage and belongings, and some even searched their bodies. They were interested in some. Just keep valuable small items, and someone who knows the interest will immediately They came up to check and were released. Those who were reluctant to part with money were blocked at the Hengmen. They were not allowed to leave the city on the grounds that they had to be searched thoroughly. "Now is a national crisis. In order to resist the prairie people, we have also shed blood. Stay here Some of them should also make large-scale expenditure cuts as a matter of course.

The city gate is originally very wide, and if you open all the gates, you can walk through it quickly. However, the guards only opened half of the city gates, so it seemed particularly crowded. After waiting for more than two hours, the carriage arrived at Lak Geding. Li Long was not wearing official uniform, just a white suit. He had seen too many such Central and Asian nobles in the past few days, most of them were from families. A small family with bad morals, or a scholar,

If it were in a prosperous age, these literati might have become powerful officials overnight. However, since the fall of the Imperial Capital and the move of the Zhongbia Empire to the south, the Zhongbia court has not held an imperial examination for two years because of the need There are too many northern nobles to be resettled, and there are no vacancies for these literati. Under this situation, the original strong literary style has become thin, and even the local government no longer provides these literati.

So when they saw Li Long in white, several soldiers carried their spears as if nothing had happened, searching the items on the carriage. They soon discovered that there was a large amount of valuable property on the carriage, and their eyes were shining brightly. A cold light flashed in the eyes of the team leader, who came over to interrogate him. After asking a few casual questions, his words suddenly changed. , sneered at the corner of his mouth, "What a arrogant foreign spy. Don't think that I haven't seen what the grassland people look like. They just sneak around like humans and dogs. Come on, catch all these grassland people!"

"Wow!" When they heard the gap between the prairie people, all the nearby soldiers gathered around them. Seeing the few people on the carriage who were motionless, they thought they were scared out of their wits. Several soldiers had already grabbed the carriage and started carrying it. The belongings on the carriage seemed to have been given to them. They were very happy. They had already interrogated them clearly and knew that the goods on it were not ordered by a certain powerful person. You must know that with the influence of the empire in China and Belgium, The rapid peace and stability of the sub-region,

"Master Li Long, your country is really welcoming!"

Lak Geding smiled coldly, and Li Long's face turned red. Because the last time the Li family suffered an unreasonable disaster because of the empire, he came here in plainclothes just to stop those people's mouths. Unexpectedly, he just arrived This is the situation at the city gate. This is simply a slap in the face. As the head of the military ministry, position, commanding the military power of the whole country of Central and South-Bia, this is still the case in an important town like Qingyang. You can imagine the situation in other areas. This is all caused by the grassland people. In order to make up for the lack of military strength of the central court, the court has After agreeing to the family's proposal to recruit soldiers, the uneven quality of the soldiers naturally led to the same result.

"Tell them we are Falcon Empire merchants"

Lakgedin calmly waved his hand to the coachman in front of him. He said this very softly and calmly, as if a gust of wind blew by and disappeared in the blink of an eye. However, the faces of the city gate soldiers had obviously changed, and their eyes had changed. Feeling a little scared, the soldiers who got on the carriage to carry their belongings also slowly stopped what they were doing, put their belongings back far away, and jumped off the carriage, Falcon Empire Ah, the name of a person, the shadow of a tree, this Falcon Empire, which was not known to most Central Asians before, has recently become known to everyone, because there are rumors that the Yelu Cavalry on the north coast is most afraid of Even the Falcon Empire's caravan, some people even swore that they had seen the ferocious Yelu family cavalry once escorting the empire's caravan, just like they were servants.

"Are you really from the Falcon Empire?"

Soon, a city guard officer appeared in front of Lak Geding. His skin was slightly red, his eyes were piercing, sharp and deep. He was a person who had really seen the light of swords and swords on the battlefield. The Western Continental man who looked at Lak Geding He glanced at his face and landed on Li Long again.

"Who is this?" The city guard officer's eyes narrowed slightly. Li Long was wearing typical Central Asian clothes. The cold and arrogant aura of the other party made the city guard officer even more agitated. He was hesitant, as if he felt that he had seen this person somewhere before, and the aura on his body clearly belonged to a soldier.

"As a Central Asian soldier, don't you feel ashamed that you are blatantly robbing the people?" Li Long's body trembled slightly with anger. Although the Military Cabinet also received many such reports and knew that the army below was in chaos, Eating and taking cards should become a common practice, especially when the court orders it to be released Abandoning the north of the river forced many soldiers on the north bank to cross south. These soldiers abandoned themselves and turned into ruffians from the warriors who fought against the grassland people. However, they did not expect that the chaos would reach this level. It was dozens of miles away from Linhang. This is still the case in Qingyang, and it can be imagined that other areas

"We haven't received military pay for half a year. If we don't do this, how can we survive?" A look of disapproval appeared on the city guard officer's face, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "Eat the mountain and eat the river. Not everyone does this, and The people from the grassland are about to cross south, so why don’t we have to go up there? Now we have to eat and take some, but we have to pay for it with our lives. Is this wrong?” (To be continued.)