Xilong Plain, Pickaxe Capital.

The place where the clouds arise. 1,600 years ago, Taiyun was only a vassal state on the border of the Eastern Continent, but with the eastward invasion of the Oka Empire, the traditional power of the Eastern Continent was weakened, and Taiyun's national strength began to rise.

1,400 years ago, when the Eastern Continental Alliance expelled Okka, Taiyun pacified the northwest and fought four wars against the Hela people at that time. Then, 800 years ago, he took control of the Moonfall Mountains and opened up commercial channels to the West. The country has expanded and become one of the most powerful countries, with the ability to wage frequent wars against the eastern countries.

In the capital of the Taiyun Empire, there are dozens of railroad tracks running through it, and all kinds of steam trains shuttle through the cornices complex. Compared with the capital city in the east, Taiyun's capital city road system is very orderly, and the power of the empire cannot be surpassed.

Led by the Imperial Commander, groups of young people stepped off the train, lined up, and entered the training center handled by the Empire.

Some of them will be given basic training and then filled into the factory. Others were sent to barracks for military training. Compared to the Zongmeng, after the Battle of Weishui, the Taiyun Empire is recovering the attrition of the war at an astonishing speed.

Beiling Palace.

Sixty meters long and fifty meters wide, the emperor of the empire lived in the north and facing south. The nine-zhang and nine-foot high platform is the emperor's throne, and the left and right from high to low are the platforms where the ministers and generals are located. Compared with the ancient St. Sauk, the Taiyun Empire can be regarded as a successful transformation empire.

What is adopted is that the previous emperors legislate, and the later emperors respect the rule of law. Generations of emperors have ruled the country according to the system of the previous generation.

Although the ministers are still upper-class families, the emperor can seize their power according to the law. In the history of the Taiyun Empire, there have been cases where the authoritative family has not been able to sit in the Beiling Hall for several generations. There is also a precedent for mechanical controllers, who have been in power for forty-five years.

On the Imperial Palace, the Taiyun Monarch, dressed in black and with a long sword tied around his waist, Sheng Zhao, was walking in front of the developer.

And the developer is the scene of Lu Qixuan's last political speech at the parliament in Hanshan half a year ago.

At the meeting, the red-eyed Lu Qixuan asked the Zong Alliance to cede its commercial interests to Jingchuan in the south, pull Jingchuan into the Zong League, and make the Jingchuan Empire the new leader of the Zong League.

The emperor smiled on his face, picked up Yu Ruyi from his seat and pointed to the developer and said, "Hedong has talents, but Weidong countries have no eyes. God help me Taiyun. ”

"My Lord is holy." The courtiers, who sat below the throne on either side of the emperor, congratulated the emperor.

The developer in front of Sheng Zhao was replaced with a map of the Eastern Continent, and the emperor pointed to the Yuqun Kingdom on the map and said, "Now there is news that Yuqun is willing to deal with Jingchuan together with our country. ”

The young man (Qing Juncong), who looked like a woman on the side, said to the emperor with a smile: "Inside the Yuqun, they hope that our country will be driven by them. ”

Sheng Zhao smiled contemptuously: "The camp is a reluctant one, then we will push the boat down the river and fulfill their wishes first." ”

On Taiyun's seat, hearing Wang Shang speak like this, they laughed at the small abacus of the Yuqun people - the Yuqun people just wanted to provoke the contradiction between Taiyun and Jingchuan, and then make a profit from it. The civil and military forces of the Taiyun Manchu Dynasty were very happy to see the thinking of such a small country and foolish people.

The idea of the Yuqun people instigated the two powers to move towards a full-scale war, and the third party was able to rise from oppression.

Until the 21st century, there are still some second-rate countries on the earth who have this kind of sweet dream, waiting for the opportunity of the so-called "confrontation between the two powers".

[The reason why there is such a dream is because people always fall into the misconception that "the alliance of a large country and a small country is stronger than a big country", and this misunderstanding makes politicians of various countries seek long-term and stable military alliances.

In fact, international strategic goals should be accomplished by the big countries in a hundred years, not by the big countries leading the small countries to make peace for decades, and finally being dragged to the end by the stupidity of the small countries and their opponents when the total contradictions erupt. 】

Once several national forces form a military alliance, in the alliance's sense of security, they will inevitably carry out the operation of using each other and making small calculations on their own.

The contradictions caused by this kind of operation will be suppressed by the dividends of the military alliance at the beginning, and suppressing them does not mean that they will be resolved, and the contradictions will accumulate, and eventually induce the Thucydides trap - so that the great powers will be extremely passive and dragged into a super-war when they should not be at war. In Oriental terms, these powers were passively involved in confrontation and did not grasp the timing of the war.

Time: When a country is high-willed, united and powerful, it is the time to occupy the time. Otherwise, it is the loss of time.

The idea of 'military alliance' also existed in the pre-Qin period in the east of the earth, isn't it a combination of longitudinal, @苏秦. However, it is obvious that this strategic idea has failed completely in the history of the East, and directly extinct the idea of a solid military alliance among the nobles of later generations.

History has proved that as long as the big powers do not do it themselves, and never build an alliance to set up a target to unite the other side, then in a long time, the big countries will actually have enough opportunities to stir up internal contradictions in an adversary alliance. Here @ Zhang Yi.

At the end of the pre-Qin and Warring States periods, the military alliance of the six countries of Shandong not only consumed the economic strength and political consensus of various countries in peacetime, but also provided a sense of security in peacetime, and always dropped the chain at critical times.

A major power that does not rely on long-term military alliances can always integrate its national strength first with a 'contradictory military alliance', recuperate when it is recuperating, and quickly enter a state of time when the alliance of enemy countries contradicts itself.

In a hundred years, it is approaching step by step, forcing the alliance to retreat step by step. Therefore, the strategic thinking of the east of the earth is to continuously accumulate advantages, and finally "the aftermath of Fen VI".

The similar geographical environment has led to a very similar historical situation today.

Now the Yuqun people, who have been in the Zongmeng for a long time, have not kept up with the thinking of the Taiyun people at all. At this time, Taiyun was indeed hostile to Jingchuan, but the goal of this hostility was only to weaken Jingchuan. It's not the Taiyun and Jingchuan that the Yuqun people think.

This kind of restrained confrontation will not hurt Taiyun's national capital. Therefore, the perfect ending of the two great powers that the Yuqun people thought of was never possible.

And after Jingchuan suffers a loss, it will inevitably be easy first and then difficult. - That's right, after Jingchuan suffers a loss, he can't retaliate against the powerful country, can't he pinch the small one.

At this time, Taiyun now needs the feud between the eastern countries, so that he will not become the target of the public, and Yuqun's behavior of the two or five boys with small profits is in Taiyun's arms.

In Lianheng's strategy, the weak country is left to the opponents to vent their hatred.

[653 is a diplomatic year, the envoys of the Taiyun Empire sent envoys to many countries in the East, and finally, arrived at Jizi, the capital of the Penghai Republic]

The envoy of the Taiyun Empire presented the jade chain to the female chief of Penghai State, Lu Min. To show that the friendship between the two countries is like a connected jade ring, which is difficult to unravel. And the Penghai Republic also gave the envoys of the Taiyun Empire the highest standard reception. In newspapers and media, they also began to report that the relations between the two countries were good.

Su Ying looked at the picture of the noble female chief in the newspaper smiling and shaking hands with the envoy of the Taiyun Empire.

The fingers that were buttoning their noses flicked, and then wiped them clean on the newspaper, to be precise, the snot-stained fingers were wiped clean on the face of the female chief executive in the newspaper photo.

Su Ying sneered: "The women who have kept the country war-free for forty years, the women who are respected as sages, cut." ”

Crumple up the newspaper and throw it in the trash.

Su Ying stood up from his chair.

"In the world of great controversy, it is really interesting to let a woman who is naturally unaggressive and lack of vigilance be in power for so long, Penghai!"

[The female chief of the Penghai Republic has a good reputation on the Eastern Continent, and she is honest and communicates with various countries. Let the Republic of Penghai be in an environment without foreign war for a long time]

Compared with the previous governor of the Penghai Republic, the long-term lack of mistakes has become the biggest highlight.

The previous commander-in-chief used troops everywhere, and as a result, he made too many enemies, allowing the coalition forces of the Column Alliance to hit the capital. The war of 120 years ago still affects Penghai's diplomacy and thus the entire political landscape. It can be said that the Taiyun Empire's victory in the Battle of Weishui was due to the confirmation that the Penghai Republic would never help the Zongmeng, so it dared to go all out.

And the peace policy pursued by the husband of Lu Min, the previous governor, did give Penghai time to regain his national strength. But it also allowed the Republic of Penghai to cultivate a huge isolationist interest group.

After the death of the previous governor, the situation of the great powers competing for hegemony changed several times, but Lu Min still kept the foreign policy of the Penghai Republic closed. - Yes, she alone has no power to change the isolationism in the country, but she can't help it.

Su Ying commented viciously: "Now that the Taiyun Empire is friendly and purposeful, she doesn't avoid it at all, and she thinks about raising her face." ”

[Not in his position, not in his politics, Su Ying is preparing for the big exam at this time]

The Republic of Penghai will conduct an annual examination for students from all over the country.

If a public school student shows great potential in the big exam, they can choose to enter the school. Every year, several students from public schools are selected to be admitted to aristocratic colleges.

And the junior aristocratic academy will also have excellent students who will skip to the higher aristocratic college. As for the best school in the Penghai Republic, the students of the Holy Scroll Academy do not have any pressure.

The names of the noble disciples who participate in the examination every year and do not perform well in the big examination are generally not announced, and the noble disciples are not under pressure to be expelled from the academy, but if they can win a good ranking, they can become famous all over the world.

In the school exam, Su Ying originally did not plan to participate.

But Meng Hong, who was in Jizi, made a phone call and said in a non-negotiable tone: "You go to the test, win a place, and shut up the people who discuss you." "So Su Ying can only prepare.

Meng Hong's quota on Su Ying made the Meng family complain. Although the people in the clan could not deflect Meng Hong's willfulness, they had been looking for an opportunity to make Su Ying, who was from a humble background, appear.

It's just that in the past two years, Su Ying has not participated in any public competitions, nor has he been to any public place where students communicate with each other to give people the opportunity to stir up trouble. - Those people can't come up and slam on the door.

And in this academic examination, the Meng family felt that they couldn't let go of Su Ying. I want to take Su Ying out of Meng Hong's protection and take it for a walk.

[At night, the bright Celestial Pole Star once again shines in the sky of the Northern Hemisphere]

In the rich area of Cuiyu Port, Su Ying tiptoed and looked at the brightly lit city, tonight's Cuiyu Port is the same as usual, no, it should be lively, I don't know who provoked the order of the port.

The entire city police department was dispatched in the port, and in the high altitude of the city, the unmanned airship projected a beam of light to the ground, and a huge spot of light was projected onto a certain building in the city, and after a few minutes, it seemed that there was a flash of shooting on the building, and then the police car of the inspector flashed red light, chasing the people there on the road.

Sharp alarm bells, very harsh at night.

Su Ying looked at the suspected shooting in the factory area from afar and shook his head, such things happen once or twice a year, sometimes it is a riot by port workers, sometimes it is a sabotage by soldiers with guns.

In the chaos, the police will pull up the cordon, and the washing cars will wash the blood on the ground. The next day, Cuiyu Port will resume operations.

The rich area is insulated from the chaos more than ten kilometers away, Su Ying shook his head and walked back to the room from the windowsill, looked at the still noisy sound outside the window after washing, frowned and said, "Why isn't it over yet?" ”

Su Ying closed the curtains, put on an eye mask and earplugs, opened the equal communication, and prepared to check whether Bai Haoyu's kid was staying up late before going to bed.

。 m.