According to the information fed back from the intelligence system, due to the frequent attacks on the peripheral institutions of the Murayi Kingdom, which caused them extremely heavy losses, the Sheikh Umid of the Murayi Kingdom was not young and was a little unable to do things, so he ordered the lord of Lamba Sal Fort Hamad to convene all the ministries to discuss how to deal with them and find out the real culprit. Umid was the former lord of Lambasal Castle, and after he succeeded to Hassan's throne, he was succeeded by his son Hamed, who obviously became the successor of the next Sheikh, that is, the crown prince.

On that day, Hamed summoned more than 20 lords of the castles, including Mementisburg, Aslanburg, Gilduti, Alamut, and Tahetashamu, to discuss the plan. As the future heir of the country, Hamed was naturally hospitable and tried his best to win over these local princes, but the reality was very complicated, not everyone wanted to be succeeded by him, so the atmosphere in the meeting was not harmonious, and they had disagreements on how to deal with the crisis and quarreled, which is what Shadui saw at that time.

In fact, things are not as simple as quarrels, there is an old Chinese saying: the same hardship, easy; Rich and noble, difficult. This sentence is like a theorem, and it is also applicable in the country of Murayi, as the country of Murayi has overcome the initial difficulties, the increase in strength and the increase of territory, in order to maintain the rule, Hassan assigned the imams in the religion to various places to serve as the lord of the castle, and they have become the heads of the party, government and army of a place, and the de facto emperor of the soil.

Because the land is rich and poor, and the power is big or small, not everyone can dedicate himself to religion like Hassan, and under the pure heart and few desires and selfish worship, internal contradictions inevitably arise. But Hassan, as the founder of the sect and the founder of the state, enjoyed high prestige among the church and the people. And he is a fair man and enforces the law strictly. Possessing wealth as dung, his two sons were executed for violating the religious rules. While he was alive, he handed over the post of Sheikh to others and devoted himself to the study of the teachings. Therefore, although the domestic undercurrent is surging, under the suppression of Hassan, everyone can still unite and work together to resist foreign enemies.

After Hassan's death, Umid, the second Sheikh's successor, was known for his toughness and ruthlessness, but he was no better than Hassan in abusing the Assassins to the outside world. expanding the scope of assassinations against political opponents; a reign of terror at home and a harsh crackdown on dissent; The appointees are nepotistic, and the people in charge are all relatives and friends of his family. They also indulged in wine, and the castle often kept a large number of kaki and beautiful women, who sang and danced all day long, and indulged in pleasures.

Up and down, the forts compete for wealth and profligacy. They also built luxurious residences and villas on their own territory, attracting kaki and geisho from all over the world. Set up a brothel, and enjoy it to the fullest. However, he no longer has the intention of organizing the economy and production for the benefit of the people, and has already collected tribute from political opponents, robbed and plundered health. Even if there are canals and orchards. Raising camels and sheep still does not constitute the main source of their economic livelihood. And when they fight with their opponents, they often destroy their crops. When famine strikes, people have to eat grass to get by.

As Umid entered his old age, he wanted to pass on the title of Sheikh to his son. This caused discontent among the congregation. Anyway, you were also chosen by everyone, how can you do that? We have to understand. At that time, the Sheikh was not hereditary, but was elected by the recommendations of the patriarchs, although it was not the current popular election in Western countries, but it was also elected by various representatives. How can you do this right? Your son is content to become the sheikh, and our family is not without a son, how can everyone be convinced! So the struggle for power inevitably happened.

In the past, the deterrence of neighboring countries, the acceptance of offerings, and the robbery of merchants, these lucrative trades were naturally the responsibility of Lambasal Fort and his cronies, but now that something has happened, many people see an opportunity in it, and some people in the discussion have proposed that they should be involved in the investigation and track down the hostiles. However, after the re-establishment of the liaison station and those transactions without capital, everyone must have a share, that is to say, the interests must be equalized, and the Lambasal Castle cannot be monopolized and monopolized.

Hamed certainly couldn't agree to the offer to get a piece of the pie, and a heated argument ensued. The lord of the castle of Memmendis, the fat man, questioned his identity, believing that he was nothing more than a castle master, but he was acting as the heir of the Sheikh. Therefore, a call was issued to demand that the next Sheikh must follow the teachings of the Prophet, and the lords of the castle recommended and elected.

It is said that one of the Assasin imams decided to build one of the most precipitous fortresses, and he ordered: "Build me a pavilion where I can reach the heavenly road, the heavenly road." It took his officials twelve years and many parts of the country to finally find a steep mountain and begin to build a fortress.

The terrain of the castle is very steep, with three springs on the summit and a stream on the mountainside, and the fort is well watered. The mountains here are staggered, even the falcons retreat from the passes, and the wild beasts go around from the bottom of the mountains, such a place is basically impossible to capture, plus the fort can be self-sufficient, has water and fields, can grow its own food, can withstand a long-term siege. There is a poem that describes it like this: People can't climb its peak, neither can birds, not even vultures and eagles. The climber had no hope for it, only his dog barked at the stars.

The lord of Memendisburg had this place to attack, retreat and defend as a backing, of course, he was full of confidence, and he also had the intention of coveting the position of Sheikh, and he hurriedly said what was in his heart. Among the many castle lords who came to Lambasal Castle, some were dissatisfied with Umid's training of his son as an heir, and joined the faction of the lords of Mementisburg, and Hamed naturally had his own people among them, so the people at the meeting were divided into two factions, and the original discussion topic was also crooked.

The lord of the fat castle got up in a fit of rage and blamed Hamad for not obeying the teachings, pointing his finger at him and saying that he would be punished by Allah. As soon as he finished speaking, the gun in the sand went off, knocking Hamed to the point where his brain burst and killed him on the spot. Seeing that his 'prophecy' was fulfilled so quickly, the fat man and the others in the audience were also stunned! As a result, by the time they realized that there were assassins, six people had already been killed and wounded, all of whom were high-ranking officials at the level of the Grand Imam of the State.

What happened next was beyond the control and expectation of Sandpile and others. At that time, there were more than these bigwigs in the garden. There are also their entourage and bodyguards, and those who can act as personal followers are naturally their hardcore cronies. How can the master be reconciled when he is assassinated. But the problem is that they are in the Lambasal Fort, and the owner of the castle has not been able to save his life. The guards certainly won't let them go.

Although it was not clear who the assassin was for a while, the most likely person was the person at the scene, and the living person became the biggest object of suspicion. But those people knew that they were wronged, looking at the red-eyed bodyguards and guards who came at them, how could they be restrained, of course the two sides were a scuffle, some were killed on the spot, some were captured, and some took advantage of the chaos to escape. In order to chase down the escapees, the Lambasal Fort lit a beacon of smoke and notified the nearby forts to intercept and hunt down those who had escaped. The sniper team that accidentally hit the initiator's sand pile was also surrounded by it......

The 'crown prince' was killed in his own fortress, and he was buried with the lords of several large castles, the patriarch and more than a dozen small castle owners, causing a shock. Sheikh Umid personally sent people to investigate, and found that in addition to the dead from the sword in the melee, several of the bigwigs were shot by a thumb-sized cone-shaped projectile, and this kind of thing had never appeared in the country of Murayi and the surrounding countries.

The truth shocked and unbelievable the bigwigs of the 'Assassin Nation', and they couldn't do it anyway if they could take a human life at a distance of 400 paces. This must be possible only for God-like beings. It also shows that distance is no longer an impenetrable line of safety, that the Assassins can take their lives wherever they can see, and that a strong fortress is no longer a safe place.

The panic caused by the discovery of the truth has not yet dissipated, and the follow-up of the incident continues to ferment. Those who died in the Lamba Salburg had a certain strength. My family died there in a daze, how could I give up. As for the truth revealed by the 'investigation team', they did not believe that anyone could kill someone from such a distance, and the so-called god-like assassin did not catch a single one. There must be someone trying to confuse the public and cover up the truth of the matter.

At the same time, another version of the truth is convincing. It was the dictation of those who had escaped from Lambasal Fort, who believed that Hamad had brought together the sheikhs and castle lords in the name of consulting on the hunt down the saboteurs. It is to remove the opponents who oppose themselves as the next Sheikh in one fell swoop. It's just that he was also killed by mistake because of the assassin he arranged, otherwise why did the people of Lamba Salburg kill everyone, this is an attempt to cover up the truth, and the mastermind behind the scenes is self-evident.

An assassination sparked a nationwide panic, with everyone trying to protect themselves and no longer following the Sheikh's orders, and even the deceased's relatives sent assassins to assassinate Umid. Naturally, the hard-line Umid could not tolerate the existence of these 'rebels', and sent assassins to eliminate their political enemies. The assassins on both sides came and went, killed countless people, and swept many fortresses into it, and the country of Murayi fell into a bloody storm, and its strength was greatly weakened. But the strange thing is that the hostile ones who provoked the incident all disappeared at this moment, as if they had never been there......

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The Great Song Emperor Zhao Tan, who was in Yanjing for summer vacation, did not keep to his own hunting, fishing, and fishing, while inspecting the war preparations, he also frequently met with state officials in the palace, and also took time to inspect Beijing Taixue, and repeatedly made speeches in public, warning everyone to 'learn from the past and the future of the future', do not forget the existence of war because peace has been achieved now, and many countries are hostile to the Great Song Dynasty, covet our wealth, want to invade our country, and enslave our people.

The emperor's speeches in various places quickly spread to various places, attracting the attention and discussion of all parties, speculating on the political trend of the Great Song Dynasty, and causing a storm of public opinion. Many people wondered why the emperor wanted to disturb the calm and watery situation, which made the people of the government and the opposition uneasy, and advised the emperor to 'be cautious in his words' and not to make speeches at will, knowing that he was a golden mouth, and a mouth could cause turmoil, but he did not listen or did his own thing, and he should say or say.

Zhao Ta is actually not like this because he is a loudspeaker and likes to speak, but because he is consciously guiding public opinion in society. Now he is intensively preparing for the Northern Expedition to the Jurchens, which is a major strategic decision, and in order to lead the country to war, it is necessary to first create favorable public opinion at home and abroad, put on a reasonable cloak for his strategy, and win the support of the government and the opposition.

With the growth of Zhao Ta's power and the knowledge of his previous life. He felt more and more that ordinary people could not have the ability to collect and analyze massive amounts of information, especially in this era of single sources and communication channels. It is impossible for the common people to come into contact with too much of the real situation of military and diplomacy, and the blindness of public opinion arises from this. However, national security strategic decision-making must always be faced with blind public opinion. Sometimes even contradictory public opinion, they often mislead the grand strategy of the country.

The Song Dynasty suffered repeated defeats in foreign wars for a long time, and the implementation of a strategy of passive defense and the practice of exchanging money for peace was by no means the result of a few lack of blood and insight. The fundamental reason is that in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Taizong's two northern expeditions failed, causing heavy casualties, and the catastrophic huge losses made the government and the opposition afraid to fight hard and take decisive action, and adopted the Jingsui policy to avoid the recurrence of the war.

This 'peaceful' public opinion has made the common people and bureaucrats indulge in a peaceful life and lose their blood and courage. The weak pacifist ideology permeated the government and the opposition, bringing a negative strategy to the Great Song Dynasty, which led to serious consequences. "The Alliance of Tanyuan" made the Great Song Dynasty completely lose the courage to recover Yanyun, and turned to buy peace with money, so that later after the defeat in the Western Xia war, he also adopted this policy and lost his enterprising spirit.

A hundred years later, Cai Jing came to power in order to win the trust of the emperor and once again used public opinion to create an illusion that the Great Song Dynasty was invincible, the world was peaceful, and the country was rich. It cultivated an atmosphere of extravagance and pleasure, which stimulated speculation, which affected the judgment of Emperor Zhao Ji. Regardless of the actual situation and with the support of public opinion, he launched the war of Lianjin against Liao, which resulted in a crushing defeat. The country has been brought to the brink of life and death.

Later, Zhao Huan ascended the throne in the midst of a plea for peace between the government and the opposition, which made him make the decision to cut the land and beg for peace, and he also used public opinion to get rid of the six thieves who posed the greatest threat to him. Solidify his rule. And the decisions made in the few years that he was emperor have always wavered under the pressure of public opinion, and the rulers have been constantly replaced. In times of war, it is impossible to effectively use the power of public opinion. In the end, the city was broken and captured.

But Zhao Ta is different, since he came to this world, he has been using the power of public opinion to protect himself and consolidate his position. He used a few paintings to make the emperor understand his situation, won the support of his father and the sympathy of the whole court, and thus escaped the shadow of death. He also took advantage of the opportunity to give the queen and queen the funeral, set up an altar in front of the palace, and made a bitter meat plan, which was recognized by the people of the capital, and with the help of public opinion, he won the reputation of 'benevolence and filial piety', which laid the foundation for all kinds of things he did when he returned to Beijing in the future, and he could always get the support of public opinion when needed.

After returning to Beijing, he beat Wang Hao and rectified several great immortals, and Xuanfu Jiangnan made Zhao Ta once again use the power of public opinion to gain support for his desire to govern the northwest, and was able to complete an important part of his plan. After gaining power, he can manipulate the power of public opinion to serve himself, portray himself as a tragic hero who has the intention to kill thieves and have no power to return to the sky, create a political environment favorable to himself, and finally win the support of the people in the northwest and climb to the peak of power step by step.

In successful operations again and again, Zhao found that public opinion is changeable, and public opinion will be reversed by one or two very intuitive events, which will affect the country's strategic determination. In order to obtain these strategic materials of copper, Zhao Ta did not hesitate to temporarily stop attacking gold and turn his strategy to Dali, so it was difficult to gain the support of public opinion, but he was very opposed to the emperor sending troops to intervene in a country that was very deferential to the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao had to concoct the illusion that the merchants of the Great Song Dynasty were killed and the economy was seriously damaged because of the civil strife in Dali, so that he could change the trend of public opinion.

In the war to aid Goryeo, when he decided to take advantage of the good situation at that time to launch a full-scale war against Jin, this was not only in line with the strategic and fundamental interests of the Great Song Dynasty, but also a rare opportunity, at least to weaken the power of the Jin State again, and public opinion should also be supported. However, Wushu took advantage of the sympathy of the Great Song Dynasty for the former emperor, and sent people to sue for peace and promised to release Zhao Huan to end the war, which made public opinion turn around.

Many people supported the war against Jin, in addition to hatred for the Jurchens, and the shame of rescuing Emperor Yixue and taking him captive, not from a strategic point of view. Now that the Jurchens are already afraid, and they are willing to cede the land and pay compensation, and they promise to release them, there is no need for the Great Song Dynasty to aggressively launch a big war to show the demeanor of the state of etiquette, and if he does not agree, it may lead to the murder of the first emperor, and the crime is great. The pressure of public opinion formed by this mentality made Zhao Ta make a decision contrary to his strategic judgment, agreeing to the Jin state to sue for peace and give up the war.

After making peace with Jin, it not only determined the strategic direction of the Great Song Dynasty in the following years, but also raised tigers for trouble, so that the Jin State could recuperate and relieve. The more serious consequence is that the idea of peace in the world has reared its head again, and people do not want to start a war again, but want to maintain the current rich and peaceful life, but Zhao Ta knows that once this kind of thinking forms the pressure of public opinion, it will lead to the stillbirth of the gold fetus again...... (To be continued......)