Realm of Power

Just as the two-month stalemate in the Holy Capital region had begun, the Imperial Army and the Martin Liya Army were fighting in the cold wind of the Holy Capital Wetlands until rivers of blood flowed. Harvey, located in the south of the Order State, On the plateau, it was a silvery season. A group of Harvey Kingdom cavalry wearing thick felt and leather armor stopped at a higher ground. In the hills, the whistling wind brought coldness to the face, and the face of a plateau person turned dark red with cold. Snow flakes as big as goose feathers were floating in the sky. The plateau climate is already colder than other areas, but in the cold air There was a fresh smell permeating the air, and the horses' hooves stepped on the soft snow and soil, making a squeaking sound.

A Harvey Kingdom cavalry nervously glanced at the surrounding situation with his square eyes. The ground was crystal white, and the wind blew, like a pair of invisible hands gently brushing over the pieces of snow rice, and they rolled forward neatly. The sound of thunder can be heard from the top of the bulging mountains in the distance, and traces of lightning can also be seen. The gloomy sky feels like you can reach out and touch it.

Powerful, vast, and strange, the raised Harvey Plateau is like a huge cross in the central Barrot region of southern Europe.

To the north of the Harvey Plateau is the fertile Order State, to the west is the flat Martinliya Prairie, to the south is the dense forest and humid southern wetland, and to the east is the Kingdom of Ikar, another kingdom on the Harvey Plateau. , both the Haveli and Ikar people are from the Haveli Plateau The natives, both sides once had a fierce and continuous war for control of the plateau. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. Finally, eighty years ago, Lu Wu II, the first generation hero of the Harvey Kingdom, was determined to get rid of this consumption. An unprecedented peace proposal was made to the Ikar people,

This world is vast and boundless, and the plateau is just a small area. The two sides have been fighting for the plateau for so many years, and so many people have died. If such energy was put into conquering areas other than the plateau, I am afraid that the plateau would have been conquered long ago. There is still a vast area. There is no need for everyone to fight life and death here. There is so much land outside the plateau. You can take it as long as you are willing. There is no need to continue to consume it on the plateau. In the end, the Ikar people were moved and agreed to negotiate. The two parties signed a secret agreement. The Harvey people located on the east side of the plateau were responsible for expanding eastward, and the Ikar people located on the west side of the plateau were responsible for expanding westward. In terms of foreign attitude, Both the Harvey people and the Ikar people are collectively called plateau people. This state of affairs has lasted for decades until now, and it has also made the Harvey Kingdom and the Ikar Kingdom jointly become one of the powerful Barro countries in southern Europe. Base,

On the Harvey Plateau, war has not been seen for decades. Both the Harvey people and the Ikar people have only left a small number of troops on the plateau according to the agreement. The border areas of the two sides have been integrated for decades. Underneath, it is even a little blurry. The boundaries that were only drawn on the map decades ago, and even the boundary markers that were once buried, have been covered by various weeds.

"Captain, what do the higher-ups want us to guard against here? There is nothing here except weeds and stone beaches. Everyone has seen it for so many years, what else can be found? What's more, it's still cold winter, even if you are not afraid of the cold The wild goats will not come here." One of Cavalry's subordinates complained in a low voice to Captain Ruasuo with a strange expression on Cavalry Harvey's face.

"Stop talking nonsense, don't you know the situation now? The kingdom has lost the area outside the plateau. Now the plateau is our last land. No amount of caution can be too much. Since the above has such a request, everyone should be more difficult. Bear with me, you know that team in Abia? Just because you missed one point during patrol, you will be punished by thirty leather whips. Do you also want to taste the taste of the cold oil whip?" Cavalry Captain Lu Yasu said with a serious face, looking back from a distance

"Forget it then. I would rather run to death than suffer that crime."

Hearing the captain mentioning military punishment, the other cavalrymen all trembled slightly, and the cavalryman shook his head hurriedly, "The whips soaked in cold oil in this season have the grease on them condensed, and the whips will not hurt when they are hit on the body." It hurts, but when the whip is pulled hard along the cold oil, it doesn't hurt anymore, it just pulls off a piece of flesh. This kind of cruel military punishment has not been carried out for many years, but in the past half month, thirty or forty people have been seriously injured. I don’t know what happened above. Everyone became the border guard in the first place. Save a mouthful of food for my family. If I had known that this would happen, I would not have joined the border guards even to death."

"Yeah, what are they trying to prevent from above?"

Lu Yasu also sighed inwardly. There are only two kinds of people on this plateau, one is the Harvey people and the other is the Ikar people. Could it be that the people above are guarding against the Ikar people? This idea made Ruasu himself feel funny, and he was on guard against the Ikars. Isn't this a joke! Everyone has lived in harmony with the Ikar people for decades, especially on this border, where intermarriage between the two groups abounds. Take Ruasu himself as an example. His mother is an Ikar person, and he His wife's mother is also an Ikar, and more than half of his family members have Ikar blood. Even if it is said that Taruasu is an Ikar, it can be justified.

"Forget it, what do you want to do? Just follow the requirements above and complete all the patrol locations. Although it will be cold and difficult, as long as the military salary promised by above is enough."

Lu Yasu shook his head and drove away all the thoughts in his head. He raised his hands to his subordinates and continued to move forward. Under the horses' hooves, the snow was as white as powder. After passing the tidal flat in front, there would be a place standing tall. The small broken stone barrier on the half wall, that It is the last point of this patrol. The small stone fortress is said to have been an outpost. According to Lu Yasu's memory, when he was seven years old, his father, the previous generation of border guard patrol captain, had already brought him here. , although they are Harvey Kingdom Border Guards, but strictly speaking, they are more like militiamen. They are composed of local people who have lived on the border for decades. They have been inherited from generation to generation. According to the original procedure, they only come every week. They can go back here once to check if there are any changes nearby, and they are not as nervous as they are now. It is just a symbolic inspection before they can return. But now, they are ordered to patrol the border line every day.

It is more than twenty miles from the place of residence to here. Even for cavalry, it takes four or five hours to go back and forth. It is basically evening when you leave in the morning and return. The whole day is spent on this. This is something that people are used to. The local border guards who patrolled in the morning and farmed in the afternoon really killed them. In such cold weather, there was even a shallow wetland along the way. It was so cold that it was biting. The authorities also required that they must be fully armed. You must know that they must be fully armed. The concept of clothing is that they need to wear armor and all light and heavy weapons. They have no items to keep out the cold. They can only wrap up a few layers of clothes, which may not be able to withstand the cold. The only food they have is what they have prepared at home. After eating cold food for half a month, even the old cavalrymen who are familiar with the road conditions are miserable. Their thighs are swollen from rubbing, and they feel cold and itchy when they are blown by the cold wind. Every time they return to their place of residence, You need help even to dismount.

When will days like this end?

Lu Yasu sighed secretly. The kingdom lost a large area of ​​land in the east, and more than 300,000 soldiers died in the battle. Although they were far away on the plateau, they were also affected, although they could only be regarded as ignorant. The lowest level sergeant, but he also vaguely heard about the kingdom's disastrous defeat in the east, and the word empire was often mentioned by the superior officers. It was a supportive word. A country with vast land and a large number of powerful cavalry like raging wolves represents cruelty and power. It is said that the kingdom's two hundred thousand most elite main force died at the hands of the empire. If not, the kingdom in the east The plateau would not collapse so quickly, let alone sign an agreement with the brutal Martin Liya people to cede all the land to the east of the plateau in humiliation.

Half an hour later, Lu Yasu stopped at the edge of the river beach below the small stone barrier. He raised his head and looked at the small stone barrier on the cliff above. Climbing up was a very tiring task, and in the case of freezing conditions in winter, he I don’t think anyone would climb this inconspicuous place. On the contrary, clear mountain streams flow out from under the frozen ice like streamers. There are many such small streams here, all flowing down from high in the mountains. Yes, everything after the middle part of the mountain range is transparent ice. The local people living near the mountains have been spreading the rumor since childhood that the middle section of the mountain range belongs to the devil. Anyone who crosses the middle section without knowing how to stop will be dragged into the lair and eaten by the devil. Of course, this is just a legend, and some people are curious. I've been up there, and I'm still alive and well. I've seen that man Lu Yasu, and he's indeed alive and well, but he's completely stupid. Someone asked this person about the situation behind the middle section of the mountain, and the idiot couldn't say anything. come out

"His soul has been eaten by the devil"

The elders of the clan said that, but Lu Yasu obviously didn’t believe it.

Looking at the small streams in front of him, Lu Yasu looked a little serious. He didn't believe there were devils on the mountain, but he knew another thing. As a low-level officer who had been recommended to study at the Kingdom's military school, Lu Yasu knew This huge mountain range has thunderstorms hovering on its top, like a long black dragon. , is the source of the Yalin River on the bank of the largest river in the Harvey Plateau. The water flow here is just like a small stream, and will turn into a surging river with a width of more than 200 meters thousands of miles away, and will irrigate the entire Harvey Kingdom for hundreds of years. The largest water source in the sixty-sixth grain-producing area is the river of life in the Harvey Kingdom.

As a proof that you have been here before, you can use the water bottle provided by the camp to fill a bottle of water back here. Because it is ice water from the source, the water here has a special light sweetness.

"Everyone take a rest here and look around, and then you can go back." Lu Yasu jumped off the horse, took out the water bottle from the horseback package, walked to the stream and started to get water. At this moment, a man who bent down to wash his face The cavalry suddenly pointed to the distance to the west, with a horrified look on his face and shouted, "Look, what is that?"

Lu Yasu turned around quickly and saw a large black thing in the west direction, surrounded by something like white mist, rushing towards this side with great momentum.

"Is it a snowstorm?"

"It doesn't look like a blizzard? And the blizzard should be in the sky, not on the ground." Someone murmured in a low voice. "What was it that time? The cavalry stretched their necks one by one and looked at them intently. The ever-expanding black "Everyone mount up, let's go immediately, it's the Ikar army!" "Ruasu's rapid and powerful voice suddenly sounded. Under everyone's stunned eyes, they saw Ruasu running towards his horse. At this moment, all the Harvey cavalrymen shuddered in unison. Trembling, with an expression of disbelief, what are the Ikar troops doing at the border? The Ikar troops are attacking the Kingdom of Harvey!

The cold air was suffocating and solidifying at this moment, and the black sky was also shining at this moment. Ikar's military flag was flying, and dozens of narrow black spots crossed the border line. At the front were a few people wearing light mail armor. The elite cavalry, the white smoke and dust are the snowflakes that have not completely dissipated under the horses' hooves. Behind them are the large groups of infantry, with spears like a forest, and the brilliance of metal shines with the aura of killing.

A general from the Ikar Kingdom was riding a horse and staring at the land belonging to the Kingdom of Harvey in front of him. The dilapidated stone barriers on the cliff made his pupils shrink slightly.

After so many years, there should be no one stationed here anymore. The Harvey people have strengthened border patrols. Only this forgotten corner, this stone fortress, may even have been forgotten by the Harvey people themselves. Decades ago , it was from here that Lu Wu II, the first generation hero of the Harvey Kingdom, went around to the rear of the main force of the Ikar Army, and everything was done in one fell swoop. Cut off the retreat of the more than 100,000 troops led by King Ikar, and finally forced Ikar to sign the unfair agreement. Although the agreement stated that each party went to one side, in fact, based on this border line, Since then, the Kingdom of Harvey has occupied two-thirds of the plateau, while the Kingdom of Ikar has only one-third.

This led to the fact that in the following decades, although the two countries were in alliance, the Kingdom of Ikar had always been the puppet of the Kingdom of Harvey. Martin Liya's Silver Fox had already begun to mobilize Martin Liya's army towards the plateau, which should be enough to attract Harvey. Most of the attention of the kingdom, the Harvey people would never have dreamed that the Ikar Kingdom would launch a war in the direction of the plateau. This Ikar Kingdom The general's eyes flashed, the cold wind blew his short, strong hair, and he wore a cross-shaped collar helmet on his head. Looking into the distance, he raised his hands slightly with solemnity and ruthlessness. The Kingdom of Harvey is the master, Yi It’s time to change the situation of Carl Guowei’s followers. Now that the Harvey Kingdom has problems even protecting itself, what qualifications does it have to continue to be the leader of this alliance!