After the Shuodong Army surrendered to the Zhou family, the original four feudal towns of the Shuodong Army, namely Shuodong Town, Yongwei Town, Xiaozhou Town and Hanzhou Town, immediately formed the tenth military region of the Han and Tang Empire Frontier Guards - Shuodong Military Region.

According to the agreement reached with Xue Daoquan, the envoy of Shuodong Jiedu, more than 7 million Shuodong troops will be reorganized into border guards.

Of course, many of the generals of the Shuodong Army, including all the children of the Xue family, will leave the army according to the agreement.

Hou Lian, the former deputy commander of the Luoshan Military Region, was transferred by Zhou Rui to the Shuodong Military Region as the commander-in-chief.

Hou Lian was the first company commander of the guard battalion of the Ganyang City Garrison Brigade, and after Zhou Rui took over the Ganyang City Garrison Brigade, Hou Lian has always been one of Zhou Rui's most trusted generals.

This time, Zhou Rui asked Hou Lian to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Shuodong Military Region, and another reason was that Hou Lian graduated from the Army Academy in Shuodong Town and had been mixed in the Shuodong Army for a period of time.

Only half a month after the Shuodong Army surrendered to the Zhou family, Shi Desheng, the envoy of Shuonan Jiedu, also announced that Shuonan Town would be incorporated into the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion of the Border Guards from now on, and the 3 million Shuonan Army would accept the reorganization of the Border Guards.

Shuonan was once the second largest of the 24 feudal towns in the Han and Tang Empires, with an area of about 1.1 million square kilometers and a population of about 70 million.

Subsequently, the Metropolitan Governor's Office of the Frontier Army announced that Shuonan Town would be merged into the Longnan Military Region of the Han and Tang Empire Frontier Guards, and the Longnan Military Region would be renamed the Shuonan Military Region.

In this way, the jurisdiction of the Shuonan Military Region will cover the six southeastern towns of the former Han and Tang Empire.

On November 1, 1549, in the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion of the Frontier Army in Ganyang City, Zhou Rui put the telegram sent by Guan Guoren, the commander-in-chief of the Shuonan Military Region, about the border guards stationed in Jieyang City, the capital of Shuonan Town, on his desk, and asked Hu Yi: "Is there a response from Zhao Rongguang?" ”

After the Shuonan army surrendered to the border guards, the entire Han and Tang empires, except for the Zhou family, were left with a nominal imperial court.

At the beginning of October, Ouyang Hui, the emperor of the Han and Tang Empires, who had been bedridden for many years, swallowed his last breath on the hospital bed, and then Ouyang Hui's youngest son, Ouyang Jing, who was just 5 years old this year, ascended the throne with the support of Zhao Rongguang, the governor of the forbidden army.

Ouyang Jing's apparent biological mother, Empress Zhao Yan, was promoted to the empress dowager of the Han and Tang Empires.

To tell the truth, with the current strength of the court of the Han and Tang Empires, even if the border guards are at war with the six beast countries and the three elf countries, the border guards have the ability to swallow up the power of the court and complete the unification of the entire Han and Tang empires.

However, Zhou Rui always hoped that the soldiers of the Han and Tang Empires would surrender without a fight, after all, they were all Han and Tang people, even if the border guards had an absolute advantage, after the war, both sides would have to kill and wound a lot of people.

The successive surrender of the Northwest Army, the Southeast Army, the Shuodong Army, and the Shuonan Army also proved that Zhou Rui's idea was indeed possible.

Therefore, for the only remaining court of the Han and Tang Empires, Zhou Rui also hopes to solve it by peaceful means.

Fox Yi shook his head, "Marshal, Zhao Rongguang hasn't replied yet, but our 'ghost' has recently bribed the middle and senior generals of the forbidden army, and has achieved greater results."

If the border guards were to wage war with the imperial court now, perhaps less than a quarter of the imperial court's 4 million forbidden troops and 4 million local troops would be able to shoot at the border guards. ”

Zhou Rui pondered for a while and said, "In order to avoid having too many dreams at night, give Zhao Rongguang another month to think about it at most."

The conditions we gave Zhao Rongguang are already very generous, and if Zhao Rongguang is stubborn, there is no need for the border guards to be polite. ”

In the Forbidden Army Governor's Mansion in Tiansheng City, the capital of the Han and Tang Empires, Zhao Shicong, the commander of the embroidery platform, said to Zhao Rongguang with a nervous face: "Father, the Zhou family has just sent an ultimatum, asking the imperial court to reply whether or not to agree to the conditions offered by the Zhou family before December 1.

Moreover, according to the information obtained by our embroidery table, the movements of the border guards in the vicinity of Tiansheng City, Pushan Town, Pingyue Town, Jinggu Town, and Zhongfang Town in the past few days have suddenly become more frequent.

I'm afraid that the ultimatum of the Zhou family is not as simple as saying it. ”

Zhao Rongguang said with some bitterness: "The conditions given by the Zhou family are too harsh, if the imperial court accepts it, our Zhao family will become fish and meat on the Zhou family's board." ”

"Father, but with the strength of the imperial court, he can't stop the border guards at all, not to mention that I don't know how many generals in the forbidden army have been bought by the Zhou family behind their backs.

Once the war really starts, the results faced by our Zhao family may be even worse! ”

The commander of the embroidery platform made Zhao Shicong willing to give in to the Zhou family, mainly because of the conditions that Zhou Rui gave to the imperial court, promising to retain Ouyang Jing's throne, and even the status of the empress dowager Zhao Yan.

Zhao Rongguang shook his head, "Shi Cong, some things are unavoidable.

Although Zhou Rui promised to retain Jing'er's throne now, what about the future?

With Zhou Rui's power, can he resist such a temptation?

I'm afraid that at that time, even if Zhou Rui doesn't want to, Zhou Rui's subordinates will push him to that position! ”

Zhao Shicong, the commander of the embroidery platform, hesitated, "Father, even if Jing'er does not have the throne in the future, I still feel that I should accept the conditions of the Zhou family."

A few days ago, the Longyang Qi family of the Qi'an Empire unilaterally cut off all contact with our embroidery table, and the current imperial court really doesn't even have an ally.

If you do, you will definitely not be able to beat it. ”

Zhao Rongguang was silent for a moment before he spoke: "Let my father think about it again!" ”

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhao Rongguang came to the palace of Tiansheng City and met the Empress Dowager Zhao Yan.

"Queen Mother, the Zhou family gave the court an ultimatum, asking the court to hand over all rights, including military power, before December 1." Zhao Rongguang said in a deep voice.

Zhao Yan said with a calm face: "Now that the Shuodong Army and the Shuonan Army have returned to the Zhou family one after another, only with the 4 million forbidden army and 4 million local troops of the imperial court, they can't stop the Zhou family's border guards at all.

Surrender may be the only way out. ”

Zhao Rongguang hesitated for a moment and said: "The Zhou family promised to retain Jing'er's throne and the status of the queen mother, but it was ......"

Zhao Yan suddenly smiled miserably, "Father, are you worried that because of me, Zhou Rui will not let go of the Zhao family in the future." ”

Zhao Rongguang sighed and said: "A person like Zhou Rui will not allow anyone to betray him, if the Queen Mother is alive, Zhou Rui will always have a thorn in his heart." ”

"Father, I know what to do."

On November 11, 1549, Zhao Yan, the empress dowager of the Han and Tang Empires, fell into the water and died in the palace.

After the death of the Empress Dowager Zhao Yan, Zhao Rongguang, the governor of the forbidden army, accepted all the conditions put forward by the Zhou family on behalf of the imperial court.

Zhou Rui learned of Zhao Yan's death, but only sighed slightly, and never mentioned Zhao Yan's name again.

In fact, Zhou Rui's hatred for Zhao Yan in his heart has long been dull.

Even if Zhao Rongguang didn't force Zhao Yan to death, Zhou Rui was not ready to settle accounts with Zhao Yan again, let alone trouble the Zhao family.

However, Zhou Rui has learned through the "ghost" that the 5-year-old emperor Ouyang Jing is actually the grandson of Zhao Rongguang, since he is not a real royal child, of course Zhou Rui will not let him occupy the throne all the time.

The reason why he agreed to retain Ouyang Jing's throne was also to smoothly take over the court of the entire Han and Tang Empires, after all, Ouyang Jing was not the biological son of the first emperor Ouyang Hui, and not many people knew about it.

The royal family of the Han and Tang Empires has been controlled by the Ouyang family for more than a thousand years, and it still has a lot of prestige among the people of the Han and Tang Empires.

Now that the border guards are at war with six beast countries and three elf countries, Zhou Rui does not want to cause turmoil because of the abolition of the emperor.

On November 27, 1549, when the troops of the border guards entered Tiansheng City, the capital of the Han and Tang Empires, Zhou Rui received a prompt from the system, congratulating him on completing the system task of "unifying the Han and Tang Empires", and rewarded Zhou Rui with a five-star lottery card and 50 points.

This also made Zhou Rui's points in the lottery system change to 390/400, and there is only one step left before the upgrade.

After the five-star lottery card was used by Zhou Rui, a total of eight rewards were issued.

100 pounds of silver bricks (3 million)

100 kg gold bricks (400,000 pieces)

100 kg of rice (5 billion bags)

100 kg of flour (5 billion bags)

French 406 fighter jets (800 units)

German Stuka D dive bombers (800 units)

Dongying Kunixianghe-class aircraft carriers (24 ships)

U.S. Essex-class aircraft carriers (24 ships)

Zhou Rui had received a total of 3 five-star lottery cards before, and the rewards offered in the first four were exactly the same as this five-star lottery card.

The French 406 fighter and the German Stuka D dive bomber have been driven by Zhou Rui before, but the number of the two fighters was less than 400 before.

Now 800 French 406 fighters and 800 German Stuka D dive bombers have been drawn, which is definitely great news for the border air defense forces.

Because the performance of the Camel fighter and the improved version of the Camel fighter lags behind the fighters of the three elven countries in all aspects, it is very difficult for the border air defense forces to seize air supremacy, and they can only rely on a small number of French 406 fighters to suppress the fighters of the three elven countries.

The German Stuka D dive bomber is a dive bomber used by the Luftwaffe in World War II, with a maximum level flight speed of 410 kilometers per hour, equipped with three 7.92 mm machine guns, and can carry 1800 kg of aerial bombs.

The performance of the German Stuka D-type dive bomber far exceeded that of the Italian CA.36 bomber, which was heavily equipped by the border air defense forces, and the improved version of the Italian CA.36 bomber.

At present, the border fleet is still only equipped with six American Essex-class aircraft carriers, and the three-star lottery cards given by the lottery system every month have not been issued aircraft carriers, not even warships, and only some army tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery have been opened.

Unexpectedly, this five-star lottery card gave Zhou Rui 48 aircraft carriers at once.

The Xianghe-class aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier equipped by the Dongying Navy during World War II, with a full load displacement of 32,105 tons, a maximum speed of 34.2 knots, a flight deck length of 242.2 meters, a width of 29 meters, and a crew of 2,750 people.

Its waterline armor belt is 105 mm thick and is armed with eight twin 127 mm caliber high-level guns and 12 triple 25 mm anti-aircraft guns.

There are a total of 84 commonly used carrier-based aircraft plus spare carrier-based aircraft, including 20 Dongying Zero fighters, 32 Dongying 97 carrier-based attack aircraft, and 32 Dongying 99 carrier-based dive bombers.

Although the overall combat effectiveness of the Xianghe-class aircraft carriers of the Eastern Ying Kingdom is weaker than that of the Essex-class aircraft carriers of the United States, it must be much stronger than the aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships.

In order to deal with the improvised aircraft carriers of the three elven countries, and even the improvised aircraft carriers that have just been built by the six orc countries, the border fleet is now also urgently equipped with more than 20 improvised aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships.

However, these simple aircraft carriers can only carry a dozen or more than 20 carrier-based aircraft, and their damage resistance is too poor, and their speed is also very slow.

Now Zhou Rui has opened 48 new aircraft carriers, and those improvised aircraft carriers with weak combat effectiveness can even be decommissioned from the sequence of border fleets.

For the court of the Han and Tang Empires also fell to the Zhou family, the emperor of the Golden Lion Empire, Kosno, can be said to be the most annoyed.

In the palace of Norya, the first capital of the Golden Lion Empire, Emperor Kosno hated Prime Minister Salento: "Human beings are really unreliable!

In order to support the Han and Tang Empire's forbidden army governors, the empire has invested billions of silver coins, but now the forbidden army governor has handed over millions of troops and hundreds of millions of people to the Zhou family without firing a shot.

Coupled with the surrender of the Shuodong Army and the Shuonan Army before, the Zhou family has actually unified the entire Han and Tang Empires.

Now the Zhou family, or it can be directly called the Han and Tang Empires, how many people do they have in total? How much land is there? ”

Prime Minister Salento sighed and said: "The total area of the Han and Tang Empires is about 65 million square kilometers, and the population is about 2.65 billion.

In addition, the border guards of the Han and Tang Empires, after the integration of the Shuodong Army, the Shuonan Army and the Forbidden Army, increased the strength by about 18 million, and it will be more difficult for our Nine Events Alliance to defeat the border guards of the Han and Tang Empires. ”

Emperor Kosno asked: "On the battlefield of the Northern Front, when will the Five Nations Alliance Army launch an attack."

As far as I know, we, the Golden Lion, the Black Bear, the Silver Wolf, the Flying Leopard, and the Wild Bull, have gathered more than 20 million troops on the northern front. ”

From the middle of September of Tianyuan 1549, in more than two months, the four kingdoms of Golden Lion, Black Bear, Flying Leopard, and Wild Bull sent an additional army of almost 10 million to the border areas of the Violet Province and Calla Lily Province of the Silver Wolf Empire.

At present, on the northern front, the Silver Wolf Empire has gathered 5.5 million land forces, the Golden Lion Empire has gathered about 4 million land forces, the Black Bear Empire has gathered about 4 million land forces, the Flying Leopard has gathered about 2 million army forces, and the Wild Bull Empire has gathered about 4.5 million army forces.

However, in the past two months or so, reinforcements from several major military regions of the eastern continent of the border guards have entered the Jingzhou Military Region and the Tongzhou Military Region on the western continent.

Today, the border guards of the Han and Tang Empires have gathered 35 group armies and 122 garrison divisions in the border defense line of Jingzhou Town, Yuzhou Town, and Lanzhou Town.

In addition, the border defense line of the Han and Tang Empire border guards in Tongzhou Town, Lianzhou Town and Dazhou Town has also increased to 31 group armies and 108 garrison divisions.

Prime Minister Salento said: "Your Majesty, the combined forces of our five countries, the Golden Lion, the Black Bear, the Silver Wolf, the Flying Leopard, and the Barbarian Bull, are preparing to launch a full-scale attack on the border guards of the Han and Tang Empires on the northern front on the Chinese New Year's Eve of mankind. ”