Realm of Power

Xupu Province, southern China

From the perspective of the entire southern region of Central and South Africa, the location of Xupu should be regarded as an extension of the southern mountains. Because it is close to the southern mountains, the terrain gradually rises from the plains to the south. Occasionally, there are small plains and basins, but they are not considered as such. A real population gathering area, but the Xupu area is the corridor of southern China and Bibia. Zone, decades ago, the Zhongbia Empire built two major military towns in order to suppress the southern mountainous areas, one is Longjia in the southwest and the Lujia in the southeast. The two areas are connected by the Xupu Wetland. Although the two areas Dajun Town has been fighting against the mountain people in the south for decades, but those in the Xupu area have rarely been affected by the war.

Many times, the people of Xupu just watched the troops coming and going from both sides. The people of Xupu did not treat the mountain people harshly, because as the Bai family that ruled the Xupu area for many years, it can even be said that decades ago, the Bai family was The protruding part of the southern mountainous area, but because it has considerable reputation in Xupu, and the Bai family originally had With the firm support of the central court, and the need to cultivate a southern force to contain the powerful Song clan, the central court naturally favored the Bai family, not only handing over the entire Xupu to the Bai family for management, but also giving With considerable power, as part of the defense line that suppresses the southern mountains, the Bai family is definitely a breath of fresh air.

Heyang Market was established by the Bai family. It is the largest trade market established in the entire southern mountainous area. Its neutral attitude for decades has made the Bai family's rule in the Xupu area increasingly stable.

But in the past two months, Xupu has been in a bloody storm, mainly because of the Central and Asian refugees coming all the way from the north, 60% of whom have flowed into the Xupu area. It is a good thing that Xupu has less land and more land. However, because there are too many immigrants, and with the deliberate promotion of the central court, the number of refugees in Xupu area, which is more than 300 miles away, is two to three million. , Xupu There was simply no room for so many refugees. In the end, the refugees turned their attention to the mountains further south. Millions of people poured in at once, and the entire edge of the southern mountains was suddenly overcrowded. The refugees were already chaotic, and they were even more miserable. How many people with evil intentions resorted to all possible means in the extremely chaotic situation, and soon the act of reclaiming land to the south turned into an act of bloody plundering of the mountain people in the south.

At this point, the Bai family was unable to control it. They had submitted several reports to the court, but in the end they all came to nothing.

Baijia's headquarters, Furunikou, this city located at the entrance to the largest basin in the Xupu area, is only a medium-sized city. The entire population of Furunokou is only 50,000. It is completely comparable to the cities in the central area, but in the southern mountains, it is absolutely It's a macro The great city, Furunoguchi Castle, built on Mount Furuno, is built entirely with large blocks of granite stones. It is more safe to say it is a city than a fortress, with a radius of eight or nine miles. , going up from the foot of the mountain, along the way there are three cities The outermost stone city wall alone is one meter high. The widest part at the top can accommodate four people walking side by side. The bottom is the passage gate. The winding mountain roads separate each area. A stone castle stands in each area, which makes it look like a convenient place. is to transform the entire mountain into It has become a city. In terms of defense, if you want to capture Furunokuchi, you need to pay at least three to five times the price. At this moment, in the Bai family hall in the center of Furunokuchi, a middle-aged man in casual clothes is Squinting his eyes, he looked at the famous Bai Family Hall in front of him.

The sunlight fell on his sturdy body, which seemed to be slightly distorted. Behind him, there were two guards, each of them tall and straight, still standing silently between the sky and the earth. The guards of the Bai family in the hall , his eyes swept over this middle-aged man in casual clothes. , all of them could not help but straighten their bodies, not because of anything else, but because he was the person who single-handedly brought light to the whole of China and Bia when China and Bia was completely overturned. Because of his name, Long Po, the head of the Long family, because he alone represents an era! "Even if Lord Long Po comes in person, I still say that, my Bai family is not miserable and this time the Southern Alliance, I will not interfere with what you want to do, this is the Bai family's motto, please also ask Long The head of the broken family understood that “an old man in casual clothes He walked in tremblingly. When the guards at the door saw his figure, they all looked respectful and bowed to him. The old man was already in his fifties, but his body was still strong and his legs and feet were nimble. He soon became Came to Long Podi's side. "It's a pity, I thought Chief Bai Lie could change his mind," Long Po said with a respectful nod. The old man in front of him was called Bai Lie, and he was the current head of the Bai family. Because of its neutral status, the Bai family had no relationship with the Long family. Not bad, even among the Long family descendants, there are many who are married to the Bai family, and the Bai family Long Po also knew that the family motto was to remain neutral, so he did not show any anger. This time, the three major forces of the Long family, Lu family, and Song family joined forces to form the Central and Southern Alliance in terms of strength. , it is enough to control the entire south. This time I came to the Bai family, more to force the Bai family to express their stance.

"Master Long Po, please tell the other two families that although our Bai family will not join, we consider ourselves a member of the South and will never betray the South." The old man said calmly. "In order to express the sincerity of my Bai family, I The White family is willing to contribute thirty thousand dollars to support the Confederacy."

"That's it, thank you very much." Long Po raised his hand with excitement. He didn't expect the Bai family to join in. After all, the Bai family's decades of neutrality were obviously more towards the southern mountains. If they really joined, they would only To let the Song family benefit, it would be best if the Bai family expressed this. The head of the Bai family is really a smart man. The Bai family is sandwiched in the southwest. It would be great if the Long family and Luzhou Lu family can achieve this step. The biggest advantage is that the Xupu Bai family has acquiesced to the dominance of the Southern Alliance. With this, the Southwest Long family and the Luzhou Lu family can Connected through the Xupu area, completely cutting off the Luzhou and Xupu lines from the central court in southern China.

Long Po had been the prime minister of the court, so he naturally knew what it would mean to the Zhongbia court once the south separated from the central government. Because of the original war with the grassland people, almost the middle part of the Zhongbia court was destroyed. Not to mention increasing taxes, even recovery requires a large amount of capital investment. This is why the Central and Asian courts would rather stay in Xinjing, because There is no money. The ministers have money, but they all guard their own pockets and refuse to give out a single coin. The emperor also has money, but the emperor is obviously more willing to collect taxes than pay for it himself. The final result is that he suffers There is simply no money to rebuild the areas destroyed by the war. For example, the Linhang area in the south, which was once the most prosperous, is still a white land with no human habitation for dozens of miles.

Seeing Long Po turn around and leave, the old man Bai Lie heaved a sigh of relief. Who would have thought that the three major forces in the south would join forces one day? Sure enough, there were no enemies before the interests. The Long family, the Lu family, and the Song clan were originally fighting for their lives. The sworn enemies who were killed were unprecedentedly united at this moment; with Luzhou as the main gate, the Central Government All nineteen provinces in southern Biya were divided. It should not take more than three months. Long Hua, the fourth figure of the Long family, personally went to Luzhou. Within a day after returning, 40,000 Long family troops marched out of Guangling. Sichuan, they drove directly to the border of Xupu with murderous intent. The Southern Song Dynasty, who had promised not to advance northward in his lifetime, The leader of the clan, Song Que, also openly broke his current oath, and sent Song Lu, the third person in the clan, to miraculously form sixty ships again. Led by Song Lu, they were loaded with 20,000 elites and sailed up the current. It is said that Song Lu arrived in the southern area that was opened up due to the large number of refugees moving south some time ago. After that, he immediately unilaterally expelled the officials stationed in the court and declared these areas to be under the management of the Song people. Suddenly, there were two to three million more people, almost an entire southern mountainous area. All restrictions on the south were being implemented. It was completely open for a moment. Is the Bai family's insistence on neutrality right or wrong?

"Master, someone from the empire is coming." A Bai family descendant cautiously came to Bai Lie's side and whispered.