Qinzhou City.

Qi Tianhe was a little uneasy, it was just night at the moment, and Qinzhou City in the south only had a very thin frost in early winter, mostly at night. There is no curfew in Qinzhou City, so it has always been lively at night. The Qinhuai Bridge was also completed soon. At this time, Qinzhou City was the most prosperous.

But even though the night in Qinzhou City was very lively, Qi Tianhe felt that there were a lot more people. As a master who recently stepped into the realm of nine leaves, the Crane King in the rivers and lakes, he clearly sensed that dozens of martial artists had arrived. He had never seen these people, but he knew the appearance of these people, the red monk's robe and the red crown were the only one of the nine major sects that had almost no intersection with all the other sects.

There are always a lot of Haotian Sect people wandering around at night in Qinzhou City, not knowing what they are plotting or planning, especially during the war. And Qi Tianhe, as the head of the Qi family, also has a certain plot, he recently asked his brother Qi Linya to leave Qinzhou City and go to Shuangchuan to support the general Xiang Wu.

It's just that as soon as the sword ghost left on the front foot, the people of the Haotian Sect then poured in in large numbers. This had to make Qi Tianhe uneasy, the Haotian Sect had only been preaching in the Western Regions for many years, rarely stepping into Middle-earth, and even if it did, it would definitely not send so many masters to come. Qi Tianhe finally chose to wait and see, Qinzhou City sang and danced peacefully, as the city of the center of the empire, Qinzhou City was not occupied by any big forces except for the Qi family and the previous Dragon King, in Qi Tianhe's opinion, even Haotian Sect did not have this ability.

The geographical location of Qinzhou City is the belly of the empire, and the Qi family is the host of Qinzhou City because it has been in Qinzhou City for a long time, and the Qi family has always regarded itself as a martial arts family, and has never opened a sect, for the same reason that the nine major factions have never entered Qinzhou City. Even if the Nine Great Sects tried to expand their forces over the years, they rarely considered Qinzhou City, because no one wanted their forces to be surrounded by the rest of the forces. Therefore, although the Qi family continues to grow, there is always a big gap between them and the nine major factions, because the seemingly peaceful rivers and lakes are actually fighting, and because of these battles, the Qi family has never dared to cross a certain watershed.

The Haotian Sect is not an ancient sect in the westernmost city of the empire, and there are two sects that have been established the latest among the nine major sects, one is the Iron Lion Sect established a hundred years ago, and the other is the Haotian Sect that is only fifty years old. Although the Haotian Sect was established for a short time, as a martial arts force, it also regarded itself as a religion, allowing the people to believe in Haotian, believing that Haotian, who was in charge of fire, was the origin of all things, and once there was no fire in this world, it would quickly enter into decline.

As the westernmost city of the empire, including the former Chu State, Hongcheng has great cultural differences from the cities of the Central Plains. The inheritance of martial arts is also extremely backward in the Western Regions, although there are many masters in the Xiachuan Green Shade Royal Court, but whether it is the Royal Court, the Northern Regions, or even the Southern Barbarians, the warriors in these places are far less than the warriors of the Central Plains even if they are combined.

However, the Haotian Sect was able to quickly leap to the level of the Nine Great Sects, but there was no luck in this kind of sect. The four Haotian Sect sacrifices are all in the Nine Leaves realm, and the strength of the Haotian Palm Sect is bound to be in the Nine Leaves Peak Realm or even higher. And the means of gathering qi and condensing in the Nine Leaves Realm are the real supernatural powers in the eyes of ordinary people.

In particular, the means of controlling the flame with internal strength in Haotian palm method made the people of the Western Regions extremely awe of the people of Haotian Sect, with the dual invasion of powerful force and religious culture, the people of the Western Regions began to believe in Haotian in just a few decades, almost half of the people in Hongcheng are believers in Haotian Sect, and the remaining half, although they have not joined the religion, also maintain absolute reverence for Haotian Sect.

There is one thing in this world that can indeed make the people who are ruled by the royal power no longer fear military power, and that is theocracy. Especially theocracy, which has mastered the use of force.

When the Haotian Sect made the believers understand the strength of Haotian, on the other hand, the people's obedience and fear of the imperial kingship diluted a lot. As a result, Hongcheng became the city with the least control of the empire, and the empire was not unaware, but they underestimated the influence of religious culture, and when a religious culture became the belief of the local people, it became very difficult to erase it.

The war is imminent, the empire does not underestimate the combat power of the Wanzang tribe, but it has always believed that the threat of the Wanzang tribe is far inferior to the Tieli people, and there is a dusk desert barrier, this battle has a great chance of winning, but the reason why the empire still insists on sending half of its troops to Hongcheng is because the empire is worried that Hongcheng will change internally.

Now that the war has come, the people of the empire do not know that in the position of the belly of the empire, some people from the Haotian Sect have come, and the martial arts forces have also not known. There are not many people from these Haotian Sects. There are more than 30 people, they are all over the most densely populated places in the entire Qinzhou City, it seems that they are preaching, and the rest is unknown.

Qi Tianhe observed these days and found that these Haotian Sect masters were very low-key and didn't do anything, they just wandered around Qinzhou City at will, and their conversations with the people of Qinzhou City were also extremely harmonious and friendly. If it weren't for the strength of this group of people, Qi Tianhe would have thought that they were here to preach.

Qi Tianhe didn't find anything abnormal, he was a little timid, and he didn't dare to take the initiative to verify anything.

Qinzhou City's Qinglou Restaurant is innumerable, in winter it is also filled with the smell of fat powder, the city was almost destroyed because of heavy rain, but because of the geographical location and the importance of the empire, Qinzhou City slowly recovered in a few years, since the Dragon King left Qinzhou City has become more prosperous, even the barren area such as Huailiu Street can also attract a large number of tourists, plus it is located in the south, this year's winter is long, although the tourists come not as good as summer, but there are still a lot.

Such a city is full of opportunities. Qi Tianhe has been rejoicing, glad that the Qi family is in such a position, although it is surrounded by all powerful forces, it can also become the key to restraining all forces.

The city of Qinzhou was also an important location for the Empire, and could have served as a second capital had it not been for the heavy rain twelve years earlier and the catastrophic flooding caused by the opening of the dam.

Therefore, such a city naturally cannot afford to encounter another disaster. That catastrophe came from the Demon Sect Sect Leader Chen Ling's Rain Punishment Technique, which was an extremely powerful forbidden technique. Because of the heavy rain, the people of Qinzhou City were afraid of the rain. Chen Ling herself has been blaming herself.

And Qinzhou City has always been a rainy city. Qi Tianhe looked at the dark night sky, and suddenly thought of these, about the Qi family, about the Haotian Sect, about the empire, about the heavy rain. Now he found that it seemed that it had not rained in Qinzhou City for a long time.

It's been a little abnormal for a long time.

……

There was a trace of strangeness in Qinzhou City, but after all, Qi Tianhe failed to detect anything substantial. And weird things are happening in another city.

As a city in the Western Regions, Hongcheng has a lot of business and trade exchanges, and in the past, the caravans of wealthy merchants Qian Guanbei often entered and left Hongcheng, bringing enough water and food across the desert to do business with the Wanzang tribe.

The backward Wanzang tribe has always been fond of the goods of the empire. And the imperialists have always felt fresh about the products of the grassland. The most important feature of Hongcheng is that it is a trading center, and the people of the two countries often buy the goods they need from each other.

Of course, most of the stalls here are sold by locals, and most of the prices are not cheap, and there are not many of them, if you want to make a fortune, the best way is to go deep into the desert to reach the green shade, and you can buy a large number of products from the Wanzang tribe at an extremely cheap price, and also trade a large number of goods from the empire.

Qian Guanbei was doing this kind of business back then, and he almost died of thirst in the dusk desert, and finally survived because of a strange inn, although Qian Guanbei would still go in and out of Hongcheng afterwards, but most of them were only doing some small business, and would not pass through the desert again, following the words of the strange innkeeper, Qian Guanbei would no longer flow the empire's things into the Wanzang tribe.

Qian Guanbei is in Hongcheng at the moment, in an inn, most of the people in the Western Regions like to eat the whole livestock, so most of the food is roasted, and the meat is roasted until the aroma of the meat overflows and then sprinkled with spices. This can also reflect the heroic temperament of the people of the Western Regions and the wolf people. Even the wine here is stronger than the wine in the Central Plains.

Qian Guanbei likes this kind of wine and food, after all, although he no longer does the business of the wolf clan, Hongcheng still has many opportunities. The animal bone products of the Wanzang tribe purchased in the early years are also very popular in Hongcheng.

Although Qian Guanbei is used to this, some people are not. There were three people at the table behind Qian Guanbei, and he just glanced at it, feeling that the back of one of the young men was very familiar. The other two people are dressed like Xiucai who entered Beijing to take the exam, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and one has a large and exaggerated kitchen knife around his waist, and he has five big and three thick eyebrows and big eyes.

There are very many people in the Western Regions, but Qian Guanbei swept his eyes over the entire restaurant, and still felt that the table behind him was the most eye-catching, and he didn't know why, he felt inexplicably familiar, and finally shook his head, thinking that he had been in business for a long time, and it was easy to get confused.

The three people at the table behind Qian Guanbei are the three people of the inn.

Shopkeeper, scholar, cook.

At this time, it was the scholars and shopkeepers who were extremely unsuitable for wine and food. To be exact, they just couldn't get used to the sour and spicy taste of this mare's milk wine. But the topic of the three is not on this.

"Shopkeeper, speaking of which, before Sect Master Chen said goodbye to you, he said that he would come to Hongcheng in the Western Regions to investigate the Haotian Sect, you are now in Hongcheng, can you contact her?" The scholar asked.

The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "She only said that she would meet again because of fate, and did not leave a way to pass the message." Could it be that there is something wrong with the sir? ”

The scholar nodded and said, "Hongcheng is a little strange. ”

The cook asked, "What's wrong?" ”

The scholar said, "It's too calm. ”

"What the fuck is weird?" The cook was puzzled.

Li Nianyun received a message from Xiang Wu, which means that the war has begun, and this is an inevitable war. Hongcheng is a frontier fortress in the Western Regions, and although the empire has been semi-hostile to the Wanzang tribe, it has not been at war in these years. But now that an army of 100,000 and three generals of the Divine Soldier Absolute General Battalion and an Emperor Star General have suddenly been transferred, and the city is calmer than before, isn't it strange? The scholar lowered his voice.

When the cook heard this, he really didn't feel that Hongcheng looked like he was going to fight.

"A month ago, the army had been transferred, although the strongest Emperor Star General Di Yueluo had not yet arrived, but ten miles outside Hongcheng was the imperial army company camp, and three thousand troops patrolled inside Hongcheng, and this patrol strength has been caught up with God. But the people of Hongcheng didn't seem to be aware of it. Moreover, the Wanzang tribe has not invaded the empire for so many years, because of the dangerous twilight desert. But even if the twilight desert in winter is not as hot as in summer, it would not be wise to cross such a long desert before fighting the Imperial army. ”

Although the scholar is no longer Xiang Wu's strategist, he has been planning in the army for many years, and his acumen as the first strategist of the empire cannot disappear after resigning from his official position.

The shopkeeper pondered for a moment and said, "What does Sir mean that the Wanzang tribe may have found a way to conquer the desert?" ”

The scholar said: "Unless there is some kind of vehicle similar to the Molou Inn, but this kind of technology is not to mention the Wanzang tribe, and even the empire can't build it after the death of the old man." ”

The scholar squinted his eyes, his gaze became sharp, and he said: "Hongcheng is the location of the Haotian Sect, I don't know what the relationship between the Haotian Sect and the wolf clan has been over the years, but if I am the leader of the Wanzang tribe, if I want to attack the empire, the best way should be to unite with the Haotian Sect to be the enemy among the enemies, and to attack back and forth." ”

He kept tapping his fingers on the table, as if lost in thought, accompanied by this self-talk.

The shopkeeper and the cook glanced at each other, did not disturb the scholar, and the two continued to eat.

"Overly calm...... It's a kind of hiding, what are they hiding? The scholar suddenly missed the intelligence network of the Tianji Pavilion.

The Haotian Sect has indeed reduced the Empire's control over Hongcheng a lot over the years, but whether the Haotian Sect's motives are just simple preaching is unknown to the Empire.

In his inference, the Wanzang tribe would not neglect to cooperate with the Haotian Sect, if he was the leader of the Wanzang tribe, he would try his best to contact the Haotian Sect, and if he was the head of the Haotian Sect, then he would not let go of such an opportunity to cooperate with a country. Haotian Sect must have made a move and made a choice.

But the specific details cannot be deduced by scholars.

"Looks like we're going to have to inquire." The shopkeeper said.

The scholar smiled and said, "We are here to find Liuli, sorry, it's my old problem, this war, in the final analysis, has nothing to do with me." ”

After the shopkeeper knew the scholar's past, he understood that his account office had almost no feelings for the empire, and the scholar threw his pen from Rong to stay in Shuangchuan for six years to fight against the Tieli people, just to repay Xiang Wu's nurturing grace.

"Sir, you are resourceful and resourceful. The war will displace many people, and if Mr. has insight into the intentions of the Wanzang tribe, and if their actions will hurt the people, please let me know. ”

The scholar sneered: "And then you, a bad bad person, are going to run to the rescue again?" Shopkeeper, there are people dying every day in this world, how much can you save? ”

The shopkeeper smiled: "I don't deliberately save it, but if I don't do it, then my inn will have no business." ”

"Okay, I still have questions that I haven't figured out, and when I figure it out, I'll tell you. This Hongcheng is a bit weird, so it's better for us to go back to the inn at night. The scholar said.

The cook looked around and said, "Don't say it, the people in this Hongcheng city not only look calm, everyone looks a little festive. ”

The shopkeeper said: "I also noticed, which family is going to get married?" And it should be a big shot. ”

There are a lot of pedestrians coming and going, as a city located in the Western Regions during the war, it is very unusual to have so many people, and almost everyone outside the restaurant has a little red, red clothes, red hats, or red waist ornaments, red headdresses, red back ornaments, in short, there will be one or several of them on the pedestrians, which looks a little festive. It's like some kind of sign.

The scholar suddenly felt uneasy.

……

In deducing the overall situation of the war, in addition to scholars, there are also words and awakenings. At this moment, Yan Xing was in the study of Yanfu, and Li Zangjian, who was his best friend and guard, was also beside him.

Yan Xing knew more than the scholars, Tianji Pavilion's intelligence network was all over the continent, and after Qi Tianhe noticed that the Haotian Sect had sent dozens of masters to Qinzhou City, Yan Xing knew the direction of this war.

He knew that the man liked to mess around, but he didn't expect that person to think of making such a big noise. If it weren't for the fact that half of the current Tianji Pavilion was in the hands of Yan Xing, Yan Xing would feel that he was going to be concealed.

The Red Jade Division of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion is a high priest of the Haotian Sect. But he hadn't seen it all these years, Lan Yusi was a master of the Xuanji Sword Sect, and the strength of these two people might be able to fight with Li Zangjian. But they have never made a move, they are the people who hide behind the scenes like Yan Xing, and they only obey the orders of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion Master.

The people of the Haotian Sect appeared in Qinzhou City, and in Yan Xing's opinion, the Tianji Pavilion Master who had the Haotian High Priest must have something to do with this matter.

At this moment, Hongcheng needed Haotian Sect the most, but he sent all dozens of masters of Haotian Sect to Qinzhou City.

Yan Xing squinted his eyes, and the way he thought was extremely similar to that of a scholar.

In front of Yan Xing's case was a map, he held a pen in his hand, drew a diagonal line on the map marked the location of Hongcheng, and said to himself:

"The double invasion of ice and fire is really a good means."

"Sir, I have made a discovery." Li Zangjian asked.

"The empire has lost a city, and Hongcheng is gone." Yan Xing said calmly.

Li Zangjian was surprised, although he was a swordsman, he had been with Yan Xing for a long time, and he was also very familiar with the situation between countries.

"Isn't there no war going to war in the Western Regions? The troops of the Wanzang tribe have not even crossed the desert, so why is Hongcheng ......"

Yan Xing looked at the map and said softly: "There are many kinds of war, and the best strategy is to win without a fight." ”

Li Zangjian didn't ask again, but suddenly said, "How much do you know about the Heavenly Machine Pavilion Master?" ”

Li Zangjian shook his head and said, "It's not as good as sir, I have only fought with the pavilion master once." ”

Yan Xing asked again: "Do you think it is possible that he is the master of Haotian?" ”

Li Zangjian thought for a while and said: "Unlikely, thousands of sects and thousands of sword streams can clearly see the qi flow in the opponent's body, Haotian Palm Sect has been famous for a long time, and Haotian Palm Method is the most yang and rigid palm method, which is completely different from the Pavilion Master's exercises." ”

Yan Xing sighed and said, "I really hope that he is the master of Haotian. ”

Li Zangjian couldn't understand this sentence, and he didn't explain it.

Yan Xing sighed, just because the possible opponents in the future will have one more Haotian Sect. If the Heavenly Machine Pavilion Master was not the Haotian Sect Master, then in Yan Xing's opinion, there would be one more opponent worth fearing.

Although, now it seems that this Heavenly Machine Pavilion Lord just likes to cause chaos, and is not his enemy.

At this time, an eagle's cry came from outside the door. Li Zangjian opened the door and found that it was a messenger eagle from the Northern Regions.

"It seems that the first war in the Northern Regions has begun." Yan Xing said.

Li Zangjian opened the message, the content of the letter was not much, and he quickly read it.

"Yes, Lord Xiang Wu has already fought with the forces of Tie Li Kingdom." Li Zangjian said.

"Cloud Riders?" Yan Xing asked.

"It's not the Cloud Cavalry, it's just the ordinary troops of the Tieli Kingdom, and the main general of the other party is not the Helei brothers, but the fourth general of the Tieli Kingdom, Aksu." Li Zangjian said.

Yan Xing continued to look at the map and asked symbolically, "Win?" ”

In Yan Xing's opinion, there are only two battlefields between the Northern Regions and Shuangchuan, one battlefield is on the main road, and that must be the battlefield where Xiang Wu is going.

The other battlefield is on the dangerous road of the Hades Arm, which should be the battlefield for warriors from all walks of life to go, because the environment of the Hades Arm is harsh, especially in the cold winter, the strongest cavalry in the imperial army cannot exert their full ability in the Hades Arm at all, but it is the individual strength of the rivers and lakes that can play the most valuable role in the Hades Arm.

He believed that Xiang Wu must be arranged like this. And with the strength of Xiang Wu on the main road, it would be impossible for the Tieli Kingdom to defeat Xiang Wu if it were not for the strongest generals of the Tieli Kingdom such as Heredubu or Heleiyue, coupled with the ace military force Cloud Cavalry, which was rarely matched even in the entire continent. He knew how powerful Xiang Wu was, and he believed that the number one general of the empire on the battlefield was absolutely invincible.

Although he was asking, he was sure that Xiang Wu had won the first battle of this war.

Li Zangjian's answer startled Yan Xing.

"Lost, although Lord Xiang Wu was extremely brave, riding a thousand, and even killed a general, the soldiers of Tieli Kingdom seemed to have become extremely powerful, ten miles south of the Fog Prison Valley, the two armies clashed, and the Tieli people used six thousand troops to break the 10,000 army of Lord Xiang Wu."

Yan Xing's eyes widened, such a result was absolutely unexpected for him.

Xiang Wu's defeat was not a bad thing for him, but although he had never faced the Tieli people in the army like a scholar, he understood Xiang Wu's strength and the combat power of the soldiers of the Tieli Kingdom.

In the case of Xiang Wu personally leading the troops, he can still be dealt with and win more with less, which is impossible in Yan Xing's opinion. Unless the Tieli Kingdom has some kind of weapon. However, the letter does not mention it, only that the soldiers of the Tieli Kingdom have become extremely powerful.

Yan Xing sensed that something was wrong. Tieli and the empire have been at war for a long time, and the strength of each other is very clear, and the combat power of soldiers is the biggest key to determining the outcome of the war, but the combat power of soldiers cannot be greatly improved in a short period of time.

"Do you know where Mizo went?"

Li Zangjian shook his head and said, "After the news of the pavilion master's return spread, he seemed to be gone. ”

The feeling of uneasiness grew stronger and stronger, and the wise man of the empire had an ominous premonition at this moment, like a scholar in the far Western Regions.

And at this moment, it is the Imperial army in the north that is most disturbed.

(End of chapter)