Yan Zhuoran listened to Ye Lan's question, and was slightly stunned, not knowing how to answer. The eldest grandson Wenquan said: "Brother Yan doesn't know, this Brother Ye grew up overseas, today is the first time to set foot in Northern Xinjiang, overseas is quiet, not as noisy as Northern Xinjiang, Brother Ye doesn't know the customs of Northern Xinjiang, so he has this question." ”

Yan Zhuoran nodded slightly, and said: "I see, no wonder Brother Ye, your dragon Zhangxiu bones are very different, and the Taoism is even more unique, Yan has never seen it, but it turns out that he is not from Northern Xinjiang." ”

Ye Lan said: "The younger brother is new to the rivers and lakes, and he doesn't understand anything, but it makes Yan Gongzi smile." ”

Yan Zhuoran said: "Where is it! Having said that, although this Caizhu Town is located in a remote area, it is not big, but it is very prosperous, so it produces a kind of pearl, the color is colorful, bright and gorgeous, and it is deeply loved by rich women, not only in this Nanhua country, but also exported to the three major empires of Tianning, Tianquan and Evian. Pearl merchants from all over the world came and went, and the inhabitants of the area, whether pearl diving and fishing, or doing small business, were very wealthy, so that although it was remote, it was not a deserted place. ”

Ye Lan heard Yan Zhuoran talk about the name of the Tianning Empire, and suddenly remembered something, and when he came, he listened to the advice of the fifth uncle Ye Lun, saying that the worldly properties of Liuye Island are all in Ningdu City, the capital of the Tianning Empire, and Ye Lan Qiankun still has a thick stack of land deeds in his bag, so he wants to go to the Naning Capital City as soon as possible, so he asked Yan Zhuoran: "The younger brother has some mundane affairs to go to the Tianning Empire, I don't know how far away from here?"

Yan Zhuoran said: "The territory of Nanhua is not wide, 120,000 li long from east to west, only 30,000 li wide from north to south, and 33,000 li to the north here, which is the boundary of Tianning. ”

Ye Lan said with a smile: "I want to go to Ningdu City, I am afraid that the road is far away, it is only more than 30,000 miles." With the strength of the younger brother's feet, it will arrive in three days. It's so convenient. ”

"Ningdu City is a little farther away from here. Yan Zhuoran frowned, shook his head slightly, and said: "Ningdu is located in the northeast of the Tianning Empire, adjacent to the Taihe Dynasty, and is more than 2.6 million miles away. ”

When Ye Lan heard this, he was very frustrated. He flew here from Liuye Island for half a year, and when he heard that there were still more than 2.6 million miles to Ningdu City, wouldn't he have to fly for a year?

"Isn't it? Eldest Sun Wenquan stretched out his finger on the table a little, "The Tianning Empire is vast, and compared to it, this Nanhua country is just an ant at the foot of an elephant. ”

Yan Zhuoran nodded yes, and Zhu Wenchang also echoed: "The Nanhua country is long and narrow, bordering the Evian Dynasty in the west, the Tianquan Empire in the east, and most of the north bordering the Tianning Empire. The little Nanhua is sandwiched between these three empires, like three giants squeezing a pearl. ”

"Exactly!" Yan Zhuoran nodded slightly, "The three empires have each other's taboos and check and balance each other, so that the Nanhua Kingdom can be war-free for more than 600 years." The country has been peaceful for a long time, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. ”

Ye Lan asked, "There has been no war for more than 600 years, what about 600 years ago, who did you fight against? Tianning Empire?"

Yan Zhuoran said: "That's a long story. ”

Ye Lan liked to hear the story the most, and he was overjoyed when he heard the words, and hurriedly said: "Brother Yan, please tell me, what kind of battle was fought six hundred years ago?"

Wen Feng said with a smile: "This kid surnamed Ye has never seen the world, he doesn't know this, he doesn't know that." The stories we know are also novel. Today, I happened to meet this scholar, and I must be familiar with these past events, so I might as well talk about it and have the right to be a drink. ”

"Yes, talk quickly!" Ye Lan urged repeatedly.

Yan Zhuoran smiled: "Okay, then I'll nag a few more words." In fact, 600 years ago, there was no real war in the south. It's just that at that time, it was necessary to guard against the invasion of the Tianning Empire, and the whole country of Nanhua was full of soldiers, and the people were panicking. In order to prepare for war, all men over the age of 14 and under the age of 40 were conscripted into the army. As a result, military spending soared, and the imperial court had to levy more taxes to finance military spending. At that time, when the tax was at its heaviest, it actually reached the point of eight out of ten. The people were fed by half of the harvest, unable to feed their families, and countless people died of starvation. The Tianning Empire has not yet come, and the people of Nanhua are already struggling to make a living. ”

"It's so miserable!" Ye Lan was full of compassion, shook his head and sighed: "The Tianning Empire is so huge, the national strength must be strong, this Nanhua country is so small, it was all soldiers back then, I'm afraid I can't resist the attack of the Tianning Kingdom, right?"

Yan Zhuoran shook his head and said: "The Tianning Empire is now a behemoth, standing on a three-legged basis with the two great powers of Evian and Tianquan, but as recently as seven hundred years ago, Tianning was only a small nameless state, with a radius of only seventy or eighty thousand miles, which is even smaller than this Nanhua country. At that time, the Tianning Empire was also with Ningdu as its capital, which was 2.6 million miles away from the Nanhua country, which can be said to be far away in the sky. I'm afraid that the Nanhua Kingdom has never even heard the name Tianning Empire, let alone any precautions to resist. ”

Zhonglan was surprised: "Seven hundred years ago, it was so small, how can it have such a large territory now?"

"How else can I get it? Can it still be from drinking and guessing boxing? Territory, naturally I grabbed it!" Wen Feng drank a bowl of wine and muttered.

Yan Zhuoran nodded and said, "Not bad." It turned out that there were dozens of countries between the Evian Dynasty and the Celestial Empire, large and small, and they had been fighting each other for many years. Tianning is a small country, and it was originally a precarious situation in the chaos of various countries. More than 700 years ago, the old emperor of the Tianning Empire died, and the crown prince Ning Zhan succeeded him as emperor. This Ning Zhan was really eloquent, and the Tianning Empire expanded rapidly under his rule. In only seventy or eighty years, it annexed dozens of other large and small countries one by one, covering an area of millions of miles, and then it was on a par with Evian and Tianquancheng. ”

The eldest grandson Wenquan said: "Brother Yan, I also know a little about this past, but there is one thing that I don't know. At that time, the Tianning Empire was ambitious, and there was a great tendency to merge the world. As the saying goes, raising a tiger is a problem, why did Evian and Tianquan ignore it at that time and let Tianning expand?"

Yan Zhuoran said: "Back then, the Tianquan Empire and the Taihe Dynasty were fighting fiercely, and they had no time to look west. Later, the strength of the Tianning Empire increased greatly, and the Tianquan Empire deliberately recruited Ning Zhan to fight against the Taihe Dynasty, and helped Ning Zhan a lot openly and secretly. The Evian Dynasty is bounded by the Taixu Mountain Range in the east, and there is the Taixu Gate, a big backer guarding the gate of the dynasty, and has always been indifferent to the war in the countries on the eastern front. It was not until Ningzhan unified the countries and pushed the national border to the border of Nanhua that the two great powers realized that something was wrong, and at the same time tried to prevent Ningzhan from attacking Nanhua. ”

"What's so special about this Nanhua country? Why do you ignore these two big countries when you fight others, but you can't fight Nanhua alone?" Ye Lan was puzzled and asked with a frown.

"The Tianning Empire is bordered by Evian to the west, Tianquan to the east, and the two empires of Taihe and Dasheng to the north. Evian East is guarded by Taixu Gate, and our Mingde Academy is located in the territory of the Tianquan Empire, only more than 70,000 miles away from the Tianning border. With these two major sects in charge, Ning Zhan had great courage, and he did not dare to fight the idea of these two empires. Yan Zhuoran stretched out his fingers and moved slowly on the table, as if there was a map of northern Xinjiang on the table: "The Tianning Empire has been at war with Taihe and Dasheng in the north for more than ten years without an inch, and has to hastily negotiate peace. Ning Zhan is ambitious, so how can he want to stop there? If he is allowed to conquer Nanhua, he will inevitably expand into the sea. But how can the Dragon Palace be easy to provoke? If he is allowed to come and cause a war between the human race and the dragon race, let alone a Tianning Empire, I am afraid that there will be a great catastrophe in the entire northern frontier and the two realms of immortals and mortals. Therefore, Evian and Tianquan, as well as the large and small righteous sects of the two countries, tried their best to prevent Tianning from attacking Nanhua. ”

Ye Lan had lived in Xiaoqing's house for several months, and had seen with his own eyes the prosperity of the dragon clan's army. Not only are the royal masters of the dragon clan like clouds, but the aquarists in the sea also listen to the orders of the dragon clan, and there are countless shrimp soldiers and crab generals. And the land under the jurisdiction of Xiaoqing's father is still a remote place on the border of the Dragon Clan, and the garrison is not heavy. The strength of the dragon clan can be seen. If the Terrans go to war with them, the consequences will be truly unimaginable. Ye Lan was concerned, and hurriedly asked: "Evian and Tianquan dissuade the Tianning Empire and prevent it from attacking Nanhua, so Ning Zhan will obey?"

Yan Zhuoran shook his head and said: "At that time, Ning Zhan was already full-fledged, and he was showing his strength, although the territory of the Tianning Empire was large, but there was not an inch of sea territory, Ning Zhan was eager to expand the territory to the coastal line, and the south was a small country, and it could be fought in a war, Brother Ye, do you think he would be willing to stop here?"

Ye Lan shook his head and said, "I think he won't listen to persuasion." Then how did Nanhua survive this catastrophe?"

Yan Zhuoran said: "The dissuasion of the two empires is ineffective, and they ignore Ning Zhan by sending troops as a threat. The three kingdoms are all huge empires, and the disasters are not small when they are in turmoil. The Immortal Dao Sect rarely intervenes in mortal disputes, but the Taixumen and my sect live in the middle of the two countries, and they can't sit idly by. But Nan Ning Zhan is also really strong, and he didn't even give the golden face of the head of Taixu Qi and the head of my sect Mo, although he was very respectful to the two heads, he never mentioned giving up the attack on Nanhua. ”

Ye Lan knew that the heads of the Taixu Sect and the Mingde Academy were all masters of the Chaos Realm, and such masters were also mythical existences in the eyes of monks like Ye Lan. But Ning Zhan dared to disobey the intentions of the two major leaders, he was really bold, and couldn't help but stick out his tongue and said: "This emperor is so bold, so don't the heads of your two factions just care?"

Yan Zhuoran smiled awkwardly and didn't answer. Wen Feng drank a bowl of wine and laughed: "Otherwise, what can we do? We are a righteous sect anyway, since Ning Zhan doesn't give face, can we still kill the emperor of a big empire? I see that the old man has been moved by this thought, but he just held back." As for Master Mo, I'm afraid I haven't even moved such thoughts, right? haha......"

"Since Ning Zhan refused to agree, what happened later?" Ye Lan also drank a bowl and asked.

Yan Zhuoran said: "Later, Ning Zhan drove the army to the Nanhua line, and he was about to fight, but suddenly a holy decree descended and withdrew the army. ”

"Why did he change his mind again?" Ye Lan was stunned.

Yan Zhuoran said: "I don't know about this. I only heard that it was Long Huayun, the head of the outer heavens, who personally visited the door and promised Ning Zhan some benefits, which saved the southern country. Since then, for more than 600 years, Nanhua and Tianning have been at peace and sound, and there are no more disputes. Nanhua knew that the national strength could not match the Tianning Empire, and if the other party wanted to invade, it would be useless to resist, so he even saved the border garrison, and the common people were happy not to serve in the military. ”

Wen Feng drank another bowl and said with a smile: "That Ning Zhan was blocked by the south, and he couldn't annex Haijiang, so he must be depressed, and he could only honestly nest in Ningdu to be the emperor for more than 600 years, and he was suffocated to death!"

Ye Lan hadn't swallowed a sip of wine yet, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but widen his eyes, and almost squirted out a mouthful of wine, and it took a lot of effort to swallow the wine, and asked in surprise: "What? Ning Zhan is still alive!"