As the main force of the Southern Military District of the Empire seriously exposed the weakness of its troops' low combat effectiveness and poor preparation, resulting in repeated defeats in clashes with the Maqi Khan [***] forces, these circumstances were revealed by the two largest media outlets in Yanjing, causing strong dissatisfaction among the people of the Empire.

On December 29, the Imperial News carried a large commentary entitled "What Happened to the Emperor's [***] Team?" on its front page, while the "Every Express" published the war on the Southern Front in its supplement for several days in a row, and asked experts to make a detailed analysis of the unfavorable situation of the war, which aroused great interest from people from all walks of life in the empire, and for the first time, the sales of the supplement exceeded that of the main magazine.

Emperor Situ Mingyue was furious and removed the commander of the Southern Military Region Command, the Imperial Duke Chen Xiangnan, and the commanders of the Fifth and Sixth Army Corps, and deprived the three of them of their noble status, and sent the three to a military court for trial.

While the eastern front was being secured, the diplomatic missions of the Maqi Khanids also made frequent visits to the Archprincipalities of Mahad and Andako to the west, and to the Nanyang Alliance to the south, in an attempt to stabilize the increasingly grim diplomatic situation. In the dark, there are even some personnel with special missions who secretly travel to Tiannan County and Sanjiang County in the empire, and their missions are even more unknown.

The diplomatic missions of the Tang Empire also began to visit the Nanyang Alliance, the Kingdom of Milan, and invited the foreign ministers of the Grand Duchy of Mahad and the Principality of Andako to visit the Empire. At the same time, the 1st Infantry Division, the 2nd Mixed Division, and the 3rd Cavalry Division of the Eastern Military Region of the Imperial also began to move westward and assemble, preparing to enter the southern battlefield of Wuhu County. In addition, the Fourth Army Corps of the Western Military Region also began to mobilize for war and make preparations for moving its division south.

A big war seemed inevitable.

Wu Feng, who was far away in the middle continent, was still ignorant of all these changes, and was intoxicated by the magnificent mountains and rivers near the green sea swamp and the fire-like enthusiasm of the girls, and he couldn't think about it.

And Xiao Tang in Qingyang, after receiving the information from Yanjing Guji and Wuhu County, was immediately keenly aware of the change in the situation, did not dare to delay, and immediately sent a fast horse in the form of an expedited report to Wu Feng, who was still in Northern Luzon, and asked Wu Feng and Ling Tian to return to the northwest as soon as possible to discuss countermeasures.

After receiving the information from Xiao Tang, Ling Tianfang, who was sitting in Shuangduiji, also felt that the matter was very important, and did not dare to ignore it in the slightest, so he sent people straight to Wufeng, who was still staying in the Green Sea Swamp, overnight, and asked Wufeng to end his trip immediately and return to the northwest immediately, while the affairs of Northern Luzon could be handed over to Mu Haoran and Lu Man.

The trip to the Green Sea Marsh was very fruitful, not only winning the affection of the five ethnic minorities, but also inspecting the situation in the westernmost part of his territory. Among the five ethnic groups, the Shatuo tribe, which is located in the westernmost part and borders the Indean Kingdom, also reflected to Wufeng the hidden worries of their own ethnic existence.

It turned out that due to the small population of the five tribes, especially the Shatuo tribe located at the very edge, the population was only more than 30,000 people, and it also lacked the necessary military strength, while the neighboring Indean Kingdom was an alliance composed of dozens of tribes of different sizes, and the Punjab tribe, a tribe close to the Shatuo tribe's residence, was relatively large, although it was not strong in the entire Indean Kingdom, but compared with the weak five tribes next to it, its power was too strong. At the instigation and instigation of the nobles of the tribe, the armed forces of the tribe have been harassing the five tribes in recent years. Sometimes, they pretend to be horse thieves and bandits to rush into the territory of the five tribes to loot, sometimes they cross the border into the settlements of the five tribes to extort money under the pretext of suppressing bandits, and sometimes they simply openly demand that the five tribes pay a certain amount of protection money to ensure the safety of the people of the five tribes.

The Five Clans also complained to the generals and officials of Vito, the rulers of the original region, but they were excused by the rulers of Vito on the grounds that the distance was long and the affairs were numerous, and the reaction to the central government of the Grand Duchy of Luzon was like a stone sinking into the sea. The five clans also died at this point, and had to endure the bullying from the evil neighbors, as long as they were within the scope of bearing, they all tried to swallow their anger, and there were several times when conflicts broke out because the other party was too excessive, although they all ended in the defeat of the five clans, but it also let the Punjab tribe see the limit of the patience of the five clans, so they no longer forced each other too much.

After learning that Wu Feng had taken de facto control of Northern Luzon, the five clans all agreed that this was an excellent opportunity. Because Wufeng's military exploits and prestige have long been famous in the Tengger Prairie, and the invincible Luope people have also been beaten by the army led by Wufeng three times and fled, but it is this Luope who fled with their tails between their tails in front of Wufeng who have repeatedly broken the coalition army of the Indean Kingdom, and even captured the noble generals in the various tribes of Indean many times, forcing the Indean Kingdom to accept the demand to pay a huge amount of financial tribute to the Luope people every year.

If they can rely on Wufeng as a backing, no matter how bold the Indean people are, they will not dare to brush the tiger whiskers without a blade, then the troubles that have plagued the five clans for many years can be easily solved. Therefore, the five clans jointly asked Wu Feng to inspect the territories of each clan, and actively befriended Wu Feng's important ministers, Wu Feng, Ling Tianfang and Lu Man also knew more or less about these situations, but because these affairs were originally within their own affairs, they also agreed to it.

After inspecting the territories of the various tribes, Wu Feng promised to establish a checkpoint at the border leading to the Indian kingdom and send troops to protect the merchants and check for suspicious people on the one hand, and to deter the restless Indians and defend the country.

In order to welcome Wufeng's inspection, the five clans also did their best to welcome them, selected the most beautiful girls in their respective clans to form a welcome team, and also treated the guards who came with Wufeng, and made a group of officers who were not gentle out of the world, but the strict discipline of Wufeng's army made these officers not dizzy, but their eyes were too addicted.

However, Wu Feng was able to enter the sea of red and pink, his hands and eyes were warm, and he enjoyed all the beautiful blessings, and it was not until Ling Tianfang's urgent report that Wu Feng was awakened from the gentle township, and he hurriedly took the heart of the Danhai Clan on behalf of the five clans - two twin stunning girls of the Danhai Clan, who had just turned fourteen, and returned to Shuangdui City.

Liang Chongxin temporarily led the First Division of the Northwest Army Corps to stay behind to help Helian Bo and Ling Huyi complete the formation and basic training of the Shuangdui Garrison Division as soon as possible, and at the same time promoted Qu Bo, the former director of the Logistics Department of the First Division, to be the deputy division commander of the First Division, and he led the Guards Army and the Third Division together with Ling Tianfang to quickly embark on the return journey.

In a deep mansion compound in the city of Hanzhong Mansion in Guanxi County of the Empire, it is already dark, and the whole compound seems to be uninhabited, but if you look closely, you can find that there are hidden people in every corner, silently waiting at their posts.

A few candles were lit in the main hall, the fire was not dazzling, and the whole hall still looked a little dark, but as long as you were serious, you could see that there were already several people in the hall, but the hall was silent, and everything seemed so quiet.

Sitting in the center was a middle-aged scribe in a linen shirt, his clear face looked erratic in the light, and a random Taoist bun on the top of his head added an elegant aura, especially his deep eyes, which flickered in the dim candlelight, adding a bit of mystery.

"Grandmaster, everyone has arrived. A brown-clothed middle-aged man standing behind him said respectfully.

"Well, since everyone has arrived, let's talk about the situation as well. The middle-aged scribe in Mai swept his eyes around, and several people on both sides felt a shock, as if that vision pierced into the depths of his soul, and all his selfishness was understood by him.

"Master Feng, let's talk about it first. The brown-shirted man behind the middle-aged scribe in sackcloth looked at the first person on his left.

"Okay, Grandmaster is here, we Guanxi disciples are deeply honored, and my old Feng will report to Grandmaster the development of our Guanxi Altar in the past year. To date, we have grown a congregation of nearly 100,000 people, including about 20,000 faithful congregations. The Hanzhong branch has developed the fastest this year, now having 30,000 congregations and 6,000 backbones; the Longdong branch is also relatively fast, with 218,000 members and 2,500 backbones, compared with only 14,000 and 2,000 respectively at this time last year; Xikang and Jincheng have also made great progress, and these two branches have also formed a secret armed force of considerable scale. ”

"According to the arrangement of the main altar, the Bashan branch has secretly established a training base in the area of Motianling in the depths of Daba Mountain, and a material storage base has been established near the Moon Picking Peak, and now the training base has begun to be opened, and the armed congregations of the Xikang branch have begun to train there in phases and batches. In August, he also mobilized garrison troops to arrest more than 30 members of our congregation on the grounds that Zhu Wuneng, the core congregation, had gathered a crowd to make trouble and had hidden a large number of weapons, among which Zhu Wuneng, Zhu Wucheng, and Zhao Decai were killed with a cane in the court, and nine of the remaining 30 people were beheaded by the Empress Qiu, and the remaining people and their relatives, totaling more than 100 people, were sent to Kamchatka Island. Speaking of this, the originally high-spirited Feng Tan Lord couldn't help but be overshadowed.

"Oh, where did this Fang Xianling come from?" the Mai scribe's eyes wandered, but he remained silent, and the brown-shirted man behind him opened his mouth to ask.

"Hui Da Young Master, this person is a native of Jinling, Donghai County, Empire, graduated from Imperial University, and later served as a small official under the General Administration of the Empire, and was sent to Hejian Prefecture in Heshuo County in 686, successively serving as the deputy director and director of the Internal Affairs Department of Hejian Prefecture, and the director of the Administration of Hejian Prefecture, and from January 694 he served as the city guard of Lujiang Prefecture in Kansai County. The middle-aged man in brocade clothes standing beside Lord Feng Tan bowed and replied.

"Why does this person hate our congregation so much, and what is the reason for this?" The brown-clothed man known as the "Great Young Master" standing behind the Mai scribe asked slowly.

"Senior Master Hui, according to what we know, when this person was the director of the interior of Hejian Province, he brutally slaughtered and suppressed our congregation in Hejian Province in the name of deceiving the people of money by using the evil words of our Hejian Congregation, and also took measures such as joint sitting to prevent the activities of our congregation. The man in brocade hurriedly replied.

"Have you ever used other methods to contact him?" said the brown-clad man's face grim.

"Back to the eldest young master, as soon as he arrived, we took all kinds of means to contact and make friends with him, but this person did not eat hard and soft, and his words and actions were leaky, which was quite difficult, but at that time we did not expect that this person would be vicious, this is our fault, please punish the grandmaster and the eldest young master. Lord Feng also came forward to defend his subordinates.

"Alright, Wen Zhe, don't go too far into this matter. This person must have a deep prejudice against my Taiping Sect, and no matter how much effort he spends, he may not be able to change his mind. We can think of other things. The Mai scribe, who had been silent, finally spoke, and his deep voice had an indescribable charm.

"Yes, Grandmaster. The man in brown bowed slightly.

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