On June 10, 1900 in the Saint-Lun calendar, Drinker came back with the news that Shui Ruoxing had successfully suppressed the bandits. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In this operation, with 250 recruits and 250 maids, 1,500 enemies and 500 prisoners, Shui Ruoxing beheaded the thief Turahan in the mountains of Qilaro, losing only 50 recruits and three maids - and these maids died of fear, not in direct combat. At present, he is escorting the prisoners to St. De'an, near Mount Qilaro, and after handing over to the local military police and completing the work, he will return to the imperial capital.

After reading the newspaper, I smiled and said, "This was the expected result, but Shui Ruoxing's battle was quite beautiful. I don't know what method that kid used to easily settle two thousand bandits? ”

But my question was quickly answered, because the day after the news was delivered, Drinker appeared in the "Ling Tian" hall of the Imperial Palace.

The Vampire Count gave full play to her storytelling skills and told me what had happened.

As soon as Shui Ruo Xingfu arrived in St. De'an, he made a big announcement to the outside world that he wanted to destroy the robbers on the mountain, so that everyone knew about it, and even the robbers on the mountain of Qilaro could not help but send people down to find out the truth.

But they were surprised to find that Shui Ruoxing had been soaking in the flowers of St. Dean County all day long, and his soldiers were only laughing and playing with the maids, without any plans or arrangements for attack. The robbers were relieved: they were just the children of the nobility who were just interested in having fun and touting nonsense, and that few people were not enough to pose a threat to them.

More than ten days later, Shui Ruoxing appeared at the foot of Mount Qilaro with 500 men, ordering the soldiers to wander loosely around the mountain, while the maids giggled and laughed and amused themselves in the stream, causing the robber leader Turahan to secretly wonder: Are all the characters under the command of Alexander the Great, who is known for his debauchery? This is simply an outing, which is like a posture of marching and fighting?

Just as Turahan was about to pour out his nest to attack this army that did not know whether to live or die, to teach a lesson to the boys who did not know the height of the sky, and to let these guys who dared to go to the mountain they occupied to fool around get the lesson they deserved, his subordinates reported in a panic: The army under the mountain suddenly increased, and the estimated number reached 100,000! Then came the news that Shui Ruoxing was only the first force, and the 100,000 troops that arrived later were the main force.

Turahan immediately suddenly realized: it turned out that this indiscriminate force of 500 people was just bait, and he almost fell for that kid! Thankfully, I didn't act rashly...... So he ordered the whole group of thieves to hide and hide for a few months with the grain stored in the mountains, so as to avoid the edge of the Imperial army.

The mountain is steep and precipitous, and even the army cannot search the mountain, and the 100,000 army cannot stay at the bottom of the mountain for a long time, and sooner or later it will have to retreat.

Just as Turahan was planning this wishful thinking, the spies reported that the Imperial Army was sending people from the foot of the mountain to sprinkle tung oil all over the mountain, and it seemed that they were planning to set fire to the mountain. Turahan was dumbfounded for a moment: This is too nonsense, right? No one would do such a stupid thing...... After some analysis, he concluded that this was just a trick by the Imperial Army to trick them out, so he decided to respond to all changes with no change.

On June 8, Shui Ruoxing ordered the mountain to be set on fire.

The entire mountain of Qilaro was encased in a huge ring of fire, and thick smoke enveloped the wilderness, but strangely, the fire did not spread to the mountain, but only maintained a continuous ring of fire. In fact, the reason is very simple-

Shui Ruoxing ordered people to set up a barrier to limit the spread of the fire, and at the same time, from time to time added futong oil to continue the fire ring.

Turahan was suspicious of Shui Ruoxing's painstaking approach, and he was not puzzled, and did not understand what his purpose was in doing so.

But he soon understood—when the frenzied beasts poured into the cottage and pierced the bodies of his men with their claws, he finally understood Shui Ruoxing's intentions, but it was too late.

It turned out that the purpose of Shui Ruoxing's arson was not to burn the mountain to force them out, nor to trap them, but to arouse the madness of the demonic beasts and use the mouth of the demonic beasts to destroy them.

Shui Ruoxing, who grew up in the mountains, was familiar with the characteristics of all kinds of beasts that were afraid of fire, and the middle and low-level monsters were no exception - and although there were groups of monsters in the Laluo Mountain, they were mainly some low-level monsters, and there were very few middle-level monsters, and there was no trace of high-level monster activities at all, so he panicked the monsters on the mountain with continuous fire, and then put a kind of canon herb in the fire circle that was enough to make the monsters crazy, supplemented by the sound of the cave flute, so the crazy monsters ran wild on the mountain, and the robber cottages of "not my race" bore the brunt, Completely destroyed, more than half of the robbers were torn apart by the monsters, and some of the robbers rushed down like crazy in order to avoid the attacks of the monsters, and threw themselves into the flames, screaming in the raging flames.

Turahan is worthy of being the leader of the robbers, and he is still able to stay in danger and keep his mind clear, and finally let him find a gap in the circle of fire.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but smile faintly and said, "The siege lacks one!" ”

Drinker nodded, and continued-

Sure enough, when Turahan led the remaining 500 robbers to rush out of the gap, the 500 soldiers led by Shui Ruoxing were already in full array.

Behind this phalanx, however, there were a sea of flags, and the shouts of the mountains and fields were so great that it seemed that more than 100,000 imperial soldiers were arrayed behind the palace, and Turahan finally understood that he was under siege.

After quickly analyzing the situation, Turahan immediately ordered the remaining robbers to storm the loose handmaidens on Shui Ruoxing's right flank, trying to fight to the death.

However, when the robbers rushed into the group of maids, many of them died in the traps that Shui Ruoxing had set on the ground in advance, and the maids suddenly arranged in a neat and orderly formation: the first row spread out neatly on both sides, and the maids in the second and third rows threw spears at the bandits, and the spears with strong wind pierced the bodies of the unprepared robbers, and then the maids began to draw their swords and rush forward in formation—under the maids' costumes were strong suits and armor, and the bold and courageous attack was like a man's spirit, Kill the robbers in all directions at once.

When Turahan was desperate, a beautiful girl with a silver sword suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Beauty! Who are you? Turahan stared at the beautiful woman in front of him, swallowed a mouthful of water, and almost doubted that he was in a dream—death could not change his lustful nature.

"Stars in the water!"

After the "beauty" finished speaking, she drew her sword in a stunned moment! The sword light streaked across the space like a meteor across the dark sky, bringing up a dazzling stream of color and falling on Turahan's body......

It was as if Tulahan had experienced the sweetest dream in the world, and then he died.

The sword is like a dream - this is the origin of Shui Ruoxing's "Dream Magic Sword".

And Turahan did not understand until his death, and he completely fell into the calculations of the water from beginning to end.

It turned out that Tulahan mistakenly thought that the handmaiden team was actually a soldier disguised as a woman, and the "soldiers" on the left wing who were wearing armor were dressed as maids, so that the robbers who did not know the situation fell headlong on the edge of the sword.

At that time, the maids were able to maintain their "military appearance" when they were about to fight, which is said to be the result of Shui Ruoxing fully displaying his personal charm.

After showing a bewildering smile to the maid, he suddenly said coldly: "If anyone dares to disobey the order, I will kill him immediately." "The charm of angels and the threat of demons go hand in hand.

As for the so-called reinforcements, it is purely false, the 100,000 Imperial Army is just a civilian temporarily recruited by Shui Ruoxing from St. Dean County with ten copper coins per person, responsible for holding wooden poles and cloth flags and waving flags and shouting, creating the illusion that the army is coming. And this expenditure, Shui Ruoxing unashamedly threatened that the local government could recover it from the imperial treasury after it was advanced - this can be regarded as a small trouble he caused me, indicating that he is still deeply unwilling to let me go on the expedition.

Subsequently, the Chancellor of the Exchequer inevitably nagged me about this matter, and insisted that it was not included in the budget and would not pay; And the county warden of St. Dean County also wrote many times to collect debts, which made me unbearable, and finally I had to allocate funds from the treasury of the imperial palace to quell this debt turmoil.

Since ancient times, there has never been such a thing as "the emperor owes debts", and he has been "forced to pay debts", which can be regarded as a "historical precedent" for me...... I was heartbroken by this sudden huge expense, and I also secretly hated Shui Ruoxing who put me together, and I was always looking for an opportunity to find fault with this kid.

In addition, I was very curious about Shui Ruoxing's women's dress, but I never had the opportunity to witness it with my own eyes, and whenever I asked Shui Ruoxing for this, I was always asked by him to say "You are perverted!" Leng Leng went back.

In the small battle against bandits, Shui Ruoxing's edge has begun to emerge, and he has initially shown excellent military tactics and bold strategies.

Although this is only the first battle of Shui Ruoxing, although this is only a small battle, compared to the countless magnificent wars that the new empire will set off, it is just a small ripple in the sea, which has not attracted much attention and is quickly forgotten......

On 17 June, the Inspector General, Juliet Shayga, who had returned from the southern county of Säjosen, gave me a detailed account of the events of the uprising.

Sajosen County is located in the imperial capital of Proust forty miles east of a medium-sized county of agriculture, the population is not large, the area is not large, but due to the fertile land, the dense network of rivers, and the terrain of the basin valley, the four seasons are like spring, so the planting and fishing industry is quite developed, three-quarters of the food supply of the imperial capital comes from here, and its strategic position cannot be ignored.

Therefore, when the news of the people's uprising came, it aroused the great attention of me and the ministers of the eight provinces, and I immediately dispatched a full-time team headed by the Secretary of Supervision to thoroughly investigate the matter, and repeatedly exhorted me to focus on appeasing the people's hearts.

Without notifying the local officials in advance, Juliet and her party entered Shayoson County and secretly found out what was going on.

Originally, because the local officials arbitrarily set up various items to collect fees from the peasants in addition to the "agricultural tax" and deducted the "farm money" that the central government had specially returned to the peasants from part of the tax revenue, the peasants were dissatisfied, and they spontaneously organized a joint demonstration of the peasants, but the local officials sent people to suppress it, and fierce shocks and bloodshed broke out between the two sides.

In fact, it has been more than three months since the incident happened, and at the beginning the magistrate still wanted to conceal it and not report it, but later it was really impossible to suppress it, and it might even endanger his own life, so he hurriedly wrote to the imperial court, asking that the local army be dispatched to suppress it, but in the notebook, he overdid the mischief, blaming the blame on people with intentions to provoke discord between the government and the people, and the peasants being deceived and used for their ignorance.

After learning the truth, the jealous and hateful Juliet took drastic measures - holding my edict, mobilizing the local army, arresting all the 49 officials involved in the case, and organizing a public trial, agreeing on the severity of their respective crimes, and allowing the peasant representatives to participate in the hearing, and then executing the 13 officials who were the first offenders on the spot, hanging their heads in public, quickly quelling the people's grievances, and personally convening a peasant assembly to explain the empire's agricultural policy of "leniency of taxes for the people", and announcing my edict of "halving the taxes of Sajossen County within three years", And the relevant aftermath work was properly handled.

In the main hall, I openly praised Xiao Yezi's exploits to the ministers, and announced that I would make a great contribution to her "performance appraisal", and award her the "Silver Ribbon" badge, which represents the highest honor of civil officials, to commend and commend her.

As for my praise, this beautiful inspector who is known for her fairness and love for the people, and her iron-faced selflessness, which makes officials at all levels love and hate, neither shows excitement nor joy, her beautiful face is calm and waveless, and the gaze in her phantom pupils is as cold as water, maintaining her usual indifferent and indisputable expression.

Finally, on the basis of the performance appraisal provided by Secretary of State, I made an exception for some of the lower-level officials in Sajosen County, and selected a number of officials from the county list to be transferred to the county of Sayoson, and reformed the Sayoson County Government with a view to restoring the normal functioning of the local political system, management, and law and order as soon as possible.

As for the Inspector General's impeachment of Governor-General Klevier, the Secretary of State's subordinate to the Secretary of War, on suspicion of illegal tax collection and embezzlement and bribery by officials of Sayason, although it was also supported by many military attachés and civilian ministers led by Memphis, Karanji, and others, I still put it on hold for the time being on the grounds that there is "no substantiated evidence."

In this regard, although the Inspector Secretary did not say anything more, the word "dissatisfaction" was always written on that beautiful and elegant face.

After the meeting, Secretary of State, who I had stayed with the court and had not said a word, asked, "Does Aiqing have any objections to my handling of the situation?" ”

"Governing the country is like playing chess, rooks, horses, artillery, ministers, soldiers, and pawns are just chess pieces in the hands of His Majesty. Yuhasu said slowly in a feminine voice.

"A good sentence to govern the country is like a game of chess! As the head of the country, don't you have any advice on how to move next for this chess player? I asked in a deep voice as I stared at the secretary's expressionless, emaciated face.

The fox's fine eyes met my sharp gaze without showing weakness, and said softly: "What a true gentleman who is silent when watching chess...... It can only be His Majesty himself who decides how to move each move, and the rule of playing chess is 'no return', just as every sentence His Majesty says is a holy word, the so-called 'Jun has no jokes', otherwise it is not enough to establish authority. The foundation of the new empire is based on the authority of His Majesty alone, and anyone who tries to weaken His Majesty's authority in any way is a usurpation. What Weichen should do is not to meddle in His Majesty's chess game, but to help His Majesty play every move that he has thought of in his heart, give full play to His Majesty's chess intentions, and implement His Majesty's chess purpose. ”

I was stunned, and then I bowed deeply to Yu Hasselblad and said, "Thank you, sir, Alec has taught me!" ”

The next day, Simon Stag, the secretary of state and a man known as the "tail of the scorpion", came to the State Chamber to consult with me privately.

"Are you here for the Klevier thing?" I struck first and said coldly.

The Secretary of War's succinct answer surprised me: "It has nothing to do with him." ”

To my astonishment, Simon continued: "Crevier is a servant of His Majesty, and the assessment of the value of his existence depends on the whims of His Majesty, and there is a balance of justice in His Majesty's heart, and there is no need for his subordinates to act as a substitute. ”

Although expressed in a different way, the Secretary of State has the same opinion as the Secretary of State.

I nodded, and Simon, though he didn't say it explicitly, was all in plain sight, and he had already secretly pointed out my thoughts-

Because at present Klevier still has a use value, to the day when its value is lost, I can shake out its bad deeds, easily get rid of it, sometimes it is necessary to allow a few dead leaves to exist on a healthy trunk, no matter how clear the imperial government can not completely eradicate the rotting insects, as long as it does not hurt the fundamentals and endanger the emperor, the emperor should have this tolerant bearing, this is politics. On the other hand, Simon has made it clear to me that he has no intention of protecting himself.

"Since it has nothing to do with the Director of National Security, what is Aiqing's important matter?" I asked lightly.

"Your Majesty," the Secretary of War stepped forward, and a cold voice burst out of thin, pale lips like a sharp blade, "Now is the best time for Your Majesty to unlock the key to the great cause of dominating the country and tyranny!" ”

"Ah......" I said with a slight emotion, "Qing means ......"

"Your Majesty, after the original empire is divided into four parts, the weakest person is none other than James's Eastern Capital regime, but it is also the first obstacle that must be removed on our way forward! From a geopolitical point of view, the Attiria and Aruton regimes, which are divided between the north and the south, are our greatest threat - the division between the two is not to be considered, and if they are combined, they can endanger the imperial power, and the eastern capital regime is located at the point of contact between the two, as long as we remove James, a seemingly insignificant chess piece, and cut off the geographical ties connecting the two powers, we can completely separate the two, eliminate the possibility of the integration of the north and the south, and then the new empire can be broken one by one! Simon said in a slow voice.

I tapped my finger on the table and said nonchalantly, "Your Excellency, isn't this a new word?" It's a simple truth, but the problem is ......"

Before I could finish speaking, the Secretary of State, who rubbed his finger against the bridge of his nose, had already said, "The problem is that there is no justification for waging war against James. But now the time has come for this conquest! Wasn't it rumored that the 'Sayosen Incident was provoked by someone with a heart? Although this is just a precedent by the magistrate who wants to evade responsibility, we can claim that James is the obstruction and provoke local discord, with the purpose of encroaching on our country's territory, so as to hold high the banner of justice and liberation, and take the opportunity to raise troops to march eastward! ”

"Isn't this a 'trumped-up' charge against James?" I frowned slightly, and said hesitantly.

"Is there any war in the history of mankind when the initiator did not disguise his true motives with superficially high-sounding and righteous justifications, but with ridiculous reasons? I want to be a bitch and want to set up a chastity archway...... But since this is a convention rule of a game like war, there's no reason for us to deliberately violate it, right? Does Your Majesty think so? ”

The Secretary of War's cold, silver-blue eyes flashed with a frenzied glint under the magic lenses, and his pale cheeks flushed slightly with excitement, as if he were trying to describe the cold nature of war in a humorous way, but instead of making me laugh, I felt a chill.

Simon Stagg's talents have been recognized time and time again, especially in the three most important events of the new empire's peacetime, the Eastern Metropolis, the Return of Tikrit, and the Sectarian Wars, all of which he displayed for his incredible strategy and talent, and as Secretary of War, he also had many outstanding achievements in military and political affairs. But that doesn't mean he's got his peers to do it.

I can't help but recall what Memphis, who has always been at odds with Simon, once said during a casual conversation at a meeting of the military cabinet: "Listening to Luo Bai's kid say serious things with a straight face, the result is a lot of laughter; And listening to the jokes told by His Excellency the Secretary of War, the result is ...... Scare the Legion to death! The Secretary of War's joke is the ultimate combat power and secret weapon of the new empire! ”

At that time, Van also quipped: "This at least proves that there is no nonsense in the mouth of His Excellency the Secretary of War, which is so good at telling jokes, which is much better than that of you, Your Excellency the Field Marshal!" And His Excellency the Marshal, though he speaks very well, but nine out of ten sentences are ......"

"What is it?"

When Memphis asked curiously, Van replied solemnly, "Of course...... Top fart with Luo! ”

……

"There is one thing that must be considered," the cold voice of the Secretary of War suddenly interrupted my thoughts, "that is, the grasp of the situation in the new empire, Aruton and the Ettiria regime - if Aruton and Ettiria send troops to intervene, it will create a lot of trouble for Your Majesty's crusade to the east, and may even affect the development of the entire war situation." In order to clear all obstacles in the way of His Majesty, we must draw up a strategy in time! ”

"Does the Secretary of State have a plan?" I cast an inquiring gaze on Simon.

"Your Majesty, Wechen thinks that on the one hand, he can reach a secret agreement with the northern barbarian Eagle Vulture State, so that he can send troops to Baglunda and threaten Constantinburg, the ruling center of Arudon; On the other hand, at present, the Kingdom of Dottir and Haynes are discussing a bilateral agreement on commercial and trade cooperation, and the dignitaries and ambassadors of the two countries exchange visits frequently, we can send dead soldiers to ambush on the way, secretly get rid of the envoys of the two countries and blame each other, and even secretly order Dichitino to send troops to pretend to be the troops of Ettiria, and make a detour to attack the border cities of the Kingdom of Dotir on the border between the two countries, so as to make the two countries hostile - this matter does not need Your Majesty to worry about, just leave it to Weichen to do, please Your Majesty focus on the war, At that time, Wechen will definitely hand over His Majesty a satisfactory answer! ”

The Secretary of War's voice was full of conspiracy, but his flat and sharp tone revealed the inevitable confidence in success.

"This is a continuation of my country's long-distance and close-range strategy...... However, James is not alone, and there is no shortage of capable people around Etiriah and Aruton, will they be willing to be led by our noses? "I questioned.

Simon seemed to have expected me to ask this question, so he just gently fiddled with the frames of his magic glasses, slowly rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb, and said in an unhurried voice: "The minister also thinks that of course they will not be reconciled, so the minister has another plan - when His Majesty sets out on the expedition, our army can ......"

The voice below reached the point of whispering, and after I listened to it, I couldn't help but mutter: "Qing is really a natural conspirator......

"Your Majesty has won the prize," said the Secretary of War, with a grimace on his face, "Wechen thinks that the success of this strategy depends on whether or not they can maintain a high degree of secrecy, and even the core figures of the empire can only learn about the full plan at a critical time. ”

I was silent for a while, and then I tapped my fingers on the table with a series of crisp sounds, and then I breathed a sigh of relief, faced the Secretary of War with an awe-inspiring expression, and said in a firm but cold voice: "As Qing said! Let me gently tear the veil of the Goddess of Peace with these hands! ”

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