The aid agreement between the court of the Han and Tang Empires and the Golden Lion Empire, as well as the aid agreement between the Shuonan Jiedu Mansion and the Red Tiger Empire, was soon revealed by the newspapers.

Although in these two aid agreements, the Golden Lion Empire and the Red Tiger Empire only demanded the right to build roads, these two aid agreements still caused an uproar throughout the Han and Tang Empires.

Other feudal towns of the Han and Tang Empires accused the two aid agreements as treaties of betraying the country for glory, and strongly demanded that the imperial court and the Shuonan Jiedu Mansion revoke the two aid agreements.

According to the content of these two aid agreements, the strength of the imperial court and the Shuonan Jiedu Mansion will soar in the next period of time, which other feudal towns do not want to see.

However, the accusations and protests of other feudal towns, and even the verbal and written criticism in the newspapers in various places, did not shake the determination of the Han and Tang imperial courts and the Shuonan Jiedu Mansion to reach an aid agreement.

When the Zhou army's army invaded Kangyang Town, one of the six towns in the northwest, the Han and Tang Imperial Court and the Shuonan Jiedu Mansion were even more determined to implement the aid agreement.

At the beginning of June 1540, the Zhou army suddenly concentrated 10 infantry divisions and invaded the territory of Kangyang Town in five ways.

At this time, the two brothers Liu Hou and Liu Yi, who controlled Kangyang Town, combined their respective armies exceeded 700,000, while the total strength of the 10 infantry divisions of the Zhou Army was only about 400,000.

But on the battlefield, it was the defeat of the Kangyang Army, and many troops of the Kangyang Army defected one after another, and even the entire division and the entire division chose to submit to the Zhou Army.

As a result, by the end of June 1540, all 24 cities in Kangyang Town fell into the hands of the Zhou army.

Liu Hou was killed by a cold gun on the battlefield, and Liu Yi took the initiative to order the city gate to be opened when the Zhou army's soldiers were approaching Anrui City, the capital of Kangyang Town, which was regarded as saving a life.

The two brothers, Liu Hou and Liu Yi, have been in Kangyang Town over the years, because they have set up many harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which is very unpopular with the people, which makes the Zhou family have a lot less resistance when they take over Kangyang Town.

So far, the territory under the command of the Zhou family has expanded to 8 feudal towns, and the population under its jurisdiction is close to 200 million.

Seeing that the Zhou family was so fierce, other feudal towns in the Han and Tang Empires were even more afraid of the Zhou family, and the towns of Boting, Huannan, Rongbei and Deyang in the southwest region even put the original secret alliance on the bright side and established the Southwest Alliance.

And this Southwest Alliance is obviously to guard against the Zhou family.

As a result of the Zhou family's annexation of Kangyang Town, the other five feudal towns in the northwest region, Botai Town, Fuping Town, Xiangxi Town, Ding'an Town, and Luoshan Town, quickly united to form the Northwest Alliance, which was also aimed at the Zhou family.

It was only at the end of February that Jinzhong Town and Jinbei Town were established, and at the end of June, Kangyang Town was captured, and the establishment of the Southwest Alliance and the Northwest Alliance made Zhou Rui decide to suspend the expansion of the Zhou family.

In the next period of time, Zhou Rui is ready to focus on internal construction.

Time flies, and the time soon came to March 1541, after more than a year of fierce battles, the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire finally signed another armistice agreement on March 3, 1541.

The losses of the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire in this war were greater than in the previous war, especially since the navies of the two countries fought three large-scale naval battles around Barra Island, causing the navies of both sides, only the combined capital ships sank hundreds of ships.

The armies of the two countries also lost more than a million men in each of the fierce battles for more than a year.

However, the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire paid such a big price, but still no one took advantage of anyone.

It seems that after sparing a circle, the war is back to the original point.

And the rebel army in the Silver Wolf Empire, that is, the Silver Wolf Column, took advantage of the war between the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire to capture almost the entire Bauhinia Province of the Silver Wolf Empire, as well as most of the Tulip Province, and the small half of the Phalaenopsis Province.

Thanks to Zhou Rui's strong support, the three armies under the Silver Wolf Column now have 37 infantry divisions and 53 independent brigades.

Now the establishment of each infantry division of the Silver Wolf Column is on par with the armies of the Zhou Army's various feudal towns, and it also has 3 infantry brigades, 1 baggage brigade, 1 heavy artillery brigade and 1 guard regiment, with a strength of about 40,000 people.

The weapons and equipment of the independent brigade of the Silver Wolf Column are still mainly captured, with 3 infantry regiments, 1 baggage battalion, 1 guard battalion and 1 artillery regiment under its jurisdiction, with a strength of about 10,000 people.

As a result, the current total strength of the Silver Wolf Column has reached more than 2 million, and the population in the area under its control exceeds 70 million.

It was precisely because of the continuous growth of the human resistance army in the territory that the Silver Wolf Empire had to take the initiative to sue for peace with the Flying Leopard Empire.

Under the mediation of the Golden Lion Empire and the Red Tiger Empire, the Flying Leopard Empire finally agreed to sign an armistice agreement, but demanded a symbolic compensation of 30 million silver coins from the Silver Wolf Empire.

Regarding the unreasonable request of the Flying Leopard Empire, although the Silver Wolf Empire was angry enough, it finally pinched its nose and admitted it.

In a study room in the Jiedu Mansion of the Eight Towns of Ganyang City, Zhou Rui looked through the armistice agreement signed by the Silver Wolf Empire and the Flying Leopard Empire, and said in a somewhat solemn tone: "The pressure on the Silver Wolf Column will inevitably be very great in the future.

We'll have to find a way to re-establish a supply route with the Silver Wolf Column. ”

As the strength of the Silver Wolf Column continued to expand, the Barbarian Bull Empire felt that this human resistance army in the Silver Wolf Empire was also threatening its own safety.

So at the beginning of this year, the Barbarian Bull Empire used its army to cut off the supply channel of the Silver Wolf Column through the territory of the Barbarian Bull Empire.

At this time, in the study, in addition to Zhou Rui, there were also Zhou Xiaorong, Song Limin and Hu Yi.

At present, Zhou Xiaorong can be said to be the person in charge of the Zhou army, Song Limin is the person in charge of the Zhou family's southwest coastal defense fleet, and Hu Yi is the person in charge of the Zhou family's intelligence system.

These three people can be called the three giants of the Zhou family except for Zhou Rui.

Hu Yi immediately said: "Dashuai, at present, the Bauhinia Province, Tulip Province, and Phalaenopsis Province where the Silver Wolf Column is located do not have access to the sea.

And it is very difficult for the Silver Wolf Column to seize the sea mouth in other provinces of the Silver Wolf Empire. ”

Zhou Rui frowned and asked, "Xiang Tao and Li Dongbao, what is their opinion?" ”

"Xiang Tao proposed to directly attack the territory of the Barbarian Bull Empire and reopen the original supply channel by force, but in that case, the Silver Wolf Column would be tantamount to provoking another strong enemy.

The army of the Wild Bull Empire is much stronger than the army of the Silver Wolf Empire. ”

Zhou Rui pondered for a moment and said: "We are not ready to attack the territory of the Barbarian Bull Empire for the time being, if we only seize that small port and control the primeval forest leading to the Bauhinia Province, the Barbarian Bull Empire may not gather a lot of strength to counterattack."

If there is no military order outside, it is up to Xiang Tao and Li Dongbao to decide whether to open up the original supply channel by force! ”

Next, Zhou Rui turned his head and said to Song Limin: "Old Song, once the Silver Wolf Column regains control of that port, your Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet must ensure that the fleet transporting supplies and personnel arrives safely. ”

Song Limin said with a smile: "Don't worry, even if the Barbarian Bull Empire gathers the navies of the two worlds together, our Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet is confident that it can ensure that the transport fleet arrives at the port safely." ”

Song Limin has such self-confidence, on the one hand, the navy of the Barbarian Bull Empire, after the so-called "Swarm Fish Plan", now there are only more than 30 battleships with all main guns, and the strength is far inferior to the navies of other beast countries.

On the other hand, because the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet is now more powerful, Zhou Rui will add a large number of new warships to the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet almost every two or three months

At present, the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet has undergone the latest reorganization and has a total of 12 main formations under its jurisdiction.

The first formation has six squadrons, each of which is composed of six "Fu" class battleships, which is the Nevada-class battleships of the United States.

The second formation has five squadrons, each of which is composed of six "Mo" class battleships, which is the American New Mexico class battleships.

The third formation has four squadrons, each of which is composed of six "Tian"-class battleships with full main guns, and the "Tian" class is also the United States-class Tennessee-class battleships.

The fourth formation has four battle teams, two of which are composed of five "Shang" class all-main gun battleships, and the other two teams are each composed of six "Shang" class all-main gun battleships, and the "Shang" class is the Fuso-class all-main gun battleships of Dongying Kingdom.

The fifth formation has 4 teams, each of which is composed of 5 "Yi"-class battleships with full main guns, and the "Yi" class is also the Ise-class battleships with full main guns in the East Ying Kingdom.

The sixth formation has six warbands, three of which are composed of five "Lie" class all-main gun battleships, and the "Lie" class is the German King-class all-main gun battleship.

The remaining three squadrons are each composed of 5 "Tian"-class all-main-gun battleships, and the "Tian" class is the German Caesar-class all-main-gun battleships.

The seventh formation has six squadrons, two of which are composed of six "Rui" class battleships, which are also the British Orion class battleships.

The two teams each consisted of 5 "Yao"-class battleships with full main guns, and the "Yao" class was the British Iron Duke-class battleships.

The last two teams each consisted of five "Dragon"-class all-main-gun battleships, which were France's Corbe-class all-main-gun battleships.

The 8th Formation has 4 squadrons, each of which consists of 6 captured battleships with full main guns.

The ninth formation has 5 warbands, each of which is composed of 6 "Jie"-class battlecruisers, which is also the British Lion-class battlecruisers.

The 10th formation has 4 teams, each of which is composed of 6 "Shun" class battle cruisers, and the "Shun" class is also the King Kongo-class battle cruisers of Dongying Kingdom.

The Eleventh Formation has four squadrons, two of which are composed of five "Fei" class battle cruisers, and the other two are each composed of six "Fei" class battle cruisers, which are the German Seydlitz class battle cruisers.

The 12th Formation has 4 squadrons, three of which are composed of 5 "Wu"-class battlecruisers, which are also the German Moltke-class battlecruisers.

The last squadron consisted of 5 Yong-class battlecruisers, which were British Invincible-class battlecruisers.

At present, the 12 main formations of the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet have a total of 218 battleships with full main guns and 96 battlecruisers.

Originally, the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet also had 28 all-steel battleships, most of which were captured, but now these 28 all-steel battleships have been assigned to the garrison fleets in various ports.

In addition, the 12 main formations of the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet also have 120 large armored cruisers, 192 light cruisers and 288 destroyers.

Each main formation was armed with 10 large armored cruisers, 16 light cruisers and 24 destroyers.

With the current strength of the Southwest Coastal Defense Fleet, it can completely fight against the navy of the Barbarian Bull Empire.