readx(); Ford is still gone, and he has to go, if he can, with the boundless lifespan of his water element duke, even if he stays in the mainland for a hundred years, it is just a matter of a snap of his fingers for them, but the problem is that now the water element plane has just experienced such a turmoil, although the loss of the battle is not as serious as imagined, but all the elemental creatures in the entire water element plane are "floating people's hearts", in order to stabilize the situation, and at the same time reflect their leadership ability, Oranes has specifically strengthened the recovery process of the water elemental plane.

In this case, as the Duke of the Water Element, Ford's strength is huge, whether it is prestige or ability, it is very important, so even if he goes out, it can only be for a short period of time, and it must not be too long, otherwise, Oranes will not be able to agree in the first place, especially when Gao Zhen has recovered, this situation is even more unallowed.

So Ford had to leave, and although Gao Zhen was a little reluctant, he couldn't force him to stay.

When Ford left, Gao Zhen took the time to ask about Anxiong, he instinctively felt that there was a certain amount of cattiness between the water element creatures and Anxiong and them, otherwise there would not be any traces of battle on the battlefield at that time, just look at the strength, Anxiong is definitely not the opponent of so many water element powerhouses, but he left the scene safely, Ford and Kaben were in some reason, and they did not stop at that time. Gao Zhen didn't blame anything, he was just curious, curious about why Ford and they let Anxiong go, after all, in his impression, Ford was never amiable to strangers he didn't know at all.

But no matter how he asked, Ford just didn't say anything, and even he asked in a hurry, Ford also said "This matter will be handed over to me to deal with, that person, you'd better not meet him in the future" Such words, although it is for his good, Gao Zhen He is also very moved, but he is still a little aggrieved in his heart, always feels uncomfortable, and wants to solve it himself, even if it is to answer his doubts.

But until Ford left, this question was not well answered, and he had no choice but to ask Bai Jue to make more efforts and check all over the world, especially in the ancient books of the old empires, to see if there was any information. In other words, when did Bai Jue become an eleventh-level existence? This guy has obviously never been very ****, and he doesn't know what to do all day long, but on the contrary, this guy's strength has been steadily improving, and unconsciously, he has become an eleventh level master, which is much beyond Gao Zhen's imagination. Today's Bai Jue is really too mysterious, even Gao Zhen can't see through all his strength, Gao Zhen also asked Bai Jue what kind of new ability he has added, but Bai Jue just doesn't say it, which makes Gao Zhen very helpless.

At the same time, Gao Zhen also breathed a sigh of relief, Bai Jue is different from others, Bai Jue is not good at fighting, the direction he specializes in is retreat. The improvement of strength is inevitably also an improvement in the art of retreat. The stronger his escape skills, the stronger his ability to detect intelligence, which is what Gao Zhen still needs the most.

……

Just as Ford left and Gao Zhen continued to train, the already weird and chilling situation changed dramatically again.

The imperial ** team and the rebel army, who had been fighting frantically between the two sides for a long time, suddenly reconciled at such a critical moment. No, it can't even be said that they are reconciled, they actually united. Led by the three major empires, except for the Tang Dynasty, all the emperors jointly issued an announcement announcing the recognition of the status of the rebel army, and the two sides ceased war, and even united to form an offensive and defensive alliance. And the Eastern Continent, although there was no such ferocious change, the battle between the two sides also stopped abruptly, each defending its own territory, and no one crossed the thunder pool by half a step. That is to say, the original crazy battle was actually overnight, as if it had been discussed, and the armistice between the eastern and western continents at the same time was too weird, and almost everyone who got these two news couldn't help but be dumbfounded, it is said that even the emperors of the three major empires did not speak for a long time after hearing the news from the eastern continent.

In short, the originally crazy battle came to a halt, and although it was not clear why, the vast majority of people were still very happy. For the common people, it doesn't matter who is in power, the status of the people is not high, but no one in power dares to underestimate the people, after all, water can carry a boat and can overturn a boat, the people are the main body of society, once the civilian class is completely turbulent, it is absolutely not what anyone in power wants to see. So although the common people are living a tight life, they are not worried that they will really suffer any catastrophe, so they have almost no direct thoughts about the transformation of various **, as long as their lives are not disrupted, the rest does not matter.

But the thinking of the common people is diametrically opposed to the thinking of those in power, and anyone in power, without exception, is the kind of person who is particularly self-centered. They allow themselves to do all sorts of unexpected things, but they are very unhappy with what other people do. No one knows why the emperors are united with the rebel army, but the truce that was almost synchronized between the eastern continent and the western continent made these emperors in the western continent know that it would be very troublesome without thinking about it.

But these have nothing to do with Gao Zhen, what really has to do with him is that he seems to have been excluded from all empires, the reconciliation and union of these empires and the rebel army, even if there is a white intelligence system, he actually knew nothing before, knowing that something happened, he showed a surprised expression, this situation is definitely not a good thing for him. Now it has been proven that the person behind the rebel army is either Anxiong or someone who has this close relationship with Anxiong, and Anxiong has expressed his intention to kill himself before, but it is only because of the arrival of Ford and others that it will not be done. Before, there was the energy of the Imperial Alliance, but now that the two sides are united, as the last empire in the Western Continent that is outside the main force, Gao Zhen suddenly felt a huge pressure like a mountain. He could even feel the strong rejection of himself by all the forces of the entire Western Continent that gradually spread out of the air. He was not afraid, but he understood that once this happened, or even developed into hostility with the entire continent, the newly born Datang would definitely be wiped out in an instant.

"No, we have to find a way to solve this problem, if we continue like this, it will be really troublesome!"

Gao Zhen stood in front of the map, looking at the western continent that had almost been covered in black color, and looking at the only white strip left in the east to represent the range of the Tang Dynasty, his brows became more and more furrowed.

It's not that Gao Zhen is worried, but just look at the map, the entire continent is black, except for the northwesternmost red area is the orc area, there are only the white areas of the Tang Dynasty, which is simply incompatible with the entire continent, in fact, it is true, not to mention those traditional empires, except for the Anta Empire, other empires almost never support themselves, at most they do not object, but they will definitely not support them, and if the situation is right, they don't mind taking a knife on themselves. It's like the previous invasion of the twelfth-level master squad, aren't these empires behind it? Didn't they just take advantage of their absence to snatch this land in one fell swoop? Fortunately, those twelfth-level masters seemed to have mistaken the original intentions of those emperors, and turned the invasion war into a challenge match, one after another to tease and defeat these masters, but they did not rush to destroy all the living forces of Datang, so they gave Gao Zhen a chance to return and save everything.

Therefore, the relationship between these empires and the Tang Dynasty is definitely not good. Usually, when there are no special circumstances, everyone keeps a good face with each other, but once something happens, they can definitely show their sharpest fangs and bite off Datang's throat. That is, the Anta Empire, for some reason, has always been very supportive of Datang. Although there is also the existence of the Anta Empire in the joint announcement this time, Gao Zhen does not mind. He also knows that the Anta Empire's support for himself is limited, and in order to support himself to completely go against the entire continent, for Angela, he needs to consider the survival of the entire empire, so at such a critical moment, he must choose the right direction, and his personal feelings have become insignificant. And the position is the position, when it really comes to a critical juncture, if these empires jointly send troops to attack the Tang Dynasty, he Angela can contribute money and not make efforts, even if he contributes, he can also be passive and slack off, in short, there are more things that can be done, as long as he has the heart, he can completely show one thing behind the other, and he doesn't really want to turn his face with Gao Zhen.

It is precisely because of this understanding that Gao Zhen will not feel betrayed.

This is the aspect of these empires, and the rebel army has long regarded the Tang Dynasty as a thorn in the flesh. The rebel army was active on the mainland stage for the first time, but it once hit under the holy city, but it was repelled by Gao Zhen with his own strength, and the meteorite that fell from the sky caused heavy losses to the troops of millions of people. In addition to those who died under direct impact, more people died by stampeding each other and killing each other in a panic, but without exception, these death figures were attributed to Gao Zhen's head. What's more, the Elemental Hall is almost completely detached, although as far as it seems now, just an Elemental Hall, those so-called masters in it, may not even be as good as babies in front of Anxiong, and there is no threat at all, but there is still a face problem in this. It's already humiliating to be defeated, and in the end, a piece of meat was taken from your mouth, and anyone else would be very angry. Anxiong himself is a self-proclaimed hero, and for this situation, it is even more like a fish in his throat, although he has never said it explicitly, but Gao Zhen knows that he definitely wants to get rid of himself and hurry up. This is also the reason why Gao Zhen has repeatedly rejected Anxiong's "kindness" before, he believes that if Anxiong is really the leader behind the rebel army, then even if he really takes refuge in the past, as a result, he will only be killed quietly, and his existence represents a stain on Anxiong's life, for people like Anxiong who cherish feathers, the stain must be removed. There is no reason for a person who represents a stain to live.

All in all, Gao Zhen's nervousness is not without reason, except for the coastline, Datang has almost been completely surrounded, and it can be expected that the war spears of the entire western continent will be aimed at themselves, either themselves or orcs, but no matter who it is, in the face of the entire continent, they will feel powerless to resist. This is not a psychological problem, but an objective condition that really exists.

Of course, some people may say, isn't there still the element of water? If the entire Western Continent has become a whole facing Gao Zhen, then why doesn't Gao Zhen unite with the water element and become another whole that is even more powerful than the Western Continent to confront them?

This...... Of course, Gao Zhen also thought about it, not to mention whether the water elements would agree, just let them agree, but even if the water elements agreed, Datang would still be in crisis, Datang was close to the inland on the one hand, and the sea on the other, if the two behemoths really fought because of themselves, then Datang is the battle zone that is directly impacted, just imagine, tens of millions of troops, countless masters, in Datang, a land that is not too big, what kind of blow will it cause? There is no need to think about this at all, once a war of that scale starts, it will be a blow to Datang.

In other words, no matter how Gao Zhen chooses, Datang is facing a catastrophe, even if it is to defect to the empire and the rebel army, they have long wanted to deprive themselves of their strength and life, once they take refuge, it is the sheep that will kill themselves. All in all, Gao Zhen is now facing a dilemma again, and it seems that either side is the end of the destruction of the Tang Dynasty, but on the one hand, he has to die, and on the other hand, he can live.

"What the hell should I do?"

Gao Zhen's brows became tighter and tighter, and it was a matter of life and death for countless people, so he had to choose carefully. There is no need for any righteousness, he really doesn't want to die, so it is basically impossible to take refuge in the rebel army, but if he doesn't take refuge, there will inevitably be a big war, and those ordinary innocent civilians suffer from unjustified disasters is what he doesn't want to see. But if you don't fight, you can't do it, even if he doesn't care about life and death, and takes refuge in the rebel army, but he believes that with the style of the rebel army, the final fate of these ordinary people will not be too good, after all, the development of education in the Tang Empire over the years has far exceeded that of other empires, and the cognitive level of the people in the empire is relatively high, and most of them have mastered a skill. The most ordinary civilians who are not alien races and have little ability will definitely be executed as spies or mobs, because he has faintly felt the kind of atmosphere from the empire that people will over-mythologize him, for ordinary people, Datang is a country like heaven, and the emperor of Datang, Gao Zhen, who personally cast all this, has a very high status in the hearts of ordinary people, especially young people, who have almost regarded Gao Zhen as a faith, which is why Datang can be in a very short period of time. More than a dozen regiments were successfully trained, and a large number of young people joined the barracks and dedicated their lives to the Tang Empire, which was the real reason for the rapid development of the Tang Dynasty.

Saying this, I just want to say that if other people want to rule the Tang Dynasty, those young people will definitely not be willing, and it is even very likely that it will really cause a riot, plus most of the young people have joined the army, that is the army's riot, and even peaceful surrender cannot be done, and those young people who are enthusiastic will definitely do crazy things. The final result is that even if the Tang Dynasty surrenders, it will cause other emperors to carry out a bloodbath on the entire Tang Dynasty because of the rampage of these young people.

The big war, the people and the people lost their money and bones for thousands of miles, and surrendered was the same fate, Gao Zhen really had no choice.

Except for whether he will die or not, in other aspects, the two options are almost identical, which is the real dilemma.

Of course, if you have to talk about a psychological bias, Gao Zhen of course still chooses the former, at least he and his people can still survive, but it doesn't seem to be really that situation yet, so he still wants to find a way to get the best of both worlds.

"Don't forget, sir, Lord Ford asked you to come over when he left."

Shikamaru leaned on the sofa with his head in his hands, drooping his "heavy" eyelids, and suddenly said with a bored face.

"Shikamaru, I know, I remember, but can you not be so lazy? It's a matter for the whole empire and everyone, where is your usual bright brain? Can't you help me figure it out? ”

Gao Zhen glared at Shikamaru very unpleasantly, rubbed his eyebrows, and said distressedly.

"Hah-"

After hearing Gao Zhen's words, Shikamaru showed an indifferent expression.

"My lord, do you still need to think about this kind of question? Of course, I chose to unite with the water element. First of all, the relationship between you and the water element is very good, which is a very favorable condition. Secondly, through the observation during this time, I found that the water element seems to be inconvenient to meddle in the affairs of the continent for something, but it is not absolute, this needs an opportunity, so why can't you become this opportunity? You can do what they can't do, and they can do what you can't. It's a win-win situation, and I'm sure Ford-sama asked you to come there this time to talk about related things, so instead of pondering here, why don't you take a look? Maybe there's a turnaround? Anyway, the current situation is already like this, although it won't get better, but it won't get worse, it's a big deal, it's just a fight. ”

Shikamaru's words made Gao Zhen suddenly wake up, yes, whether he is there or not doesn't matter much about the situation on the entire continent, it is impossible for him to surrender anyway, so it is only a matter of time before he goes to war. In this case, it is indeed less important to have such time than to find reliable foreign help.

Thinking of this, Gao Zhen's eyes suddenly lit up, patted Shikamaru's shoulder, laughed and walked out. (To be continued.) )