The first year of the Heavenly Sage, early winter.

This year's winter came earlier than at any time in the previous year; In early October, you can feel the chill in the air, and by mid to late October, the north wind is blowing and the snow is flying.

This is the first year of the new emperor's ascension to the throne, and it is also destined to be a very unusual year; October has not yet passed, and this majestic Shangjing City seems to have been covered with a thick snow blanket. As far as the eye can see, inside and outside the capital, there is a white snow.

Accompanied by the heavy snow in Shangjing, there was a border army flying cavalry from the western border of the Great Zhou; At this moment, these two thousand children, under the leadership of the genius handsome, are driving all the way to the hinterland of the Beijing Division.

That's right.

The eldest princess is about to enter Beijing.

Just like when Xiao Changling, the king of Qin, led his troops into Beijing, the news of the eldest princess's entry into Beijing was like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, resounding over the temples of the Great Zhou, and also deeply shocked His Majesty the emperor on the dragon throne.

Huanghuang went to Beijing, first heard the Jingbei Iron riding horses' hooves, and saw the northwest horses neighing.

You must know that the person who commanded these two thousand elites in the Western Realm is not an ordinary general, let alone a noble girl who grew up in the deep palace, but the eldest princess of the Great Zhou Empire, the only one since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who was enshrined by the Son of Heaven and can independently control the 300,000 army,—— Xiao Yingxue, the eldest princess of Pingyang.

This noble-born eldest princess, at the age of sixteen, put on a military uniform, went to the battlefield, at the age of eighteen rode a horse alone, broke into battle alone, and the general of Xiyan was in the chaos of the army, threatening the enemy, and was canonized by the imperial court at the age of 20, commanding the northwest armies, and officially became the commander of the western border, in charge of the military affairs of Ganliang and Liangzhou, with great achievements, and it has been a full fourteen years of spring and autumn.

She is from a noble background and a royal daughter of the dynasty, but she is more careful than men, she doesn't like red clothes and loves arms, and she shows that women don't let her eyebrows go.

She is not only a husband of women, but also a heroic among women, as a woman, alone in the west for 14 years, deterring Qiang and Hu barbarians, and is a prince of the dominant party.

Although she is a daughter, she can make 300,000 soldiers of the Zhenxi Army bow down to her, and her liver and brain are smeared, thus raising a banner to support the western defense line.

As far as the royal family is concerned, she is the eldest princess and the eldest daughter of the first emperor; In terms of the world, she is the master of the 300,000 border army; As far as the Zhenxi Army is concerned, she is a meritorious female marshal who commands the three armies and says nothing else.

The world only knows that Xiao Changling, the king of Qin, rode his horse and raised his whip, smiled proudly, led 400,000 Jingbei troops, destroyed Southern Chu, conquered Rouran, conquered the world, created immortal achievements, and finally became a great cause, dominating the north and controlling the land of Sanzhou; But what few people in the world know is that as the only female handsome woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty, Xiao Yingxue, the eldest princess of Pingyang, is also an indispensable existence...... And the Zhenxi Army of 300,000 people under her command has already become a banner of the Great Zhou Empire in the western border in the bloody pestle again and again.

If Xiao Changling is a tiger from the north, then Xiao Yingxue is a wolf rising in the Western Wilderness; These two sisters and brothers, one is the lord of Jingbei and the other is the handsome lady of Zhenxi, with the same blood flowing in their bodies, and they are also immortal talents who have passed through the heavens and latitudes, and together they support half of the sky of the Great Zhou Empire.

In terms of troops, the Jingbei Army is 400,000 and the Zhenxi Army is 300,000; If you talk about combat power, the iron cavalry of the Jingbei Army is unparalleled in the world, and the soldiers of the Zhenxi Army are brave and rare; In terms of territory, the Jingbei Army sits on the territory of You, Hebei, and the three states, and dominates the northern Xinjiang, and the Zhenxi Army controls Gan and Liang, and dominates the northwest. The two armies, one in the north and the other in the west, are the two most powerful forces today.

Moreover, for many years, almost everyone in the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty can see that Xiao Changling and Xiao Yingxue, the two sisters and brothers, with the powerful forces in their hands, each have one side of the cane, tearing the earth and king, Jingbei Zhenxi, showing a horn trend, the world can not stop it; In the eyes of those self-proclaimed clear streams, this is the source of turmoil.

In addition, in the eyes of His Majesty the Emperor, his two relatives with heavy troops, and the hundreds of thousands of troops under their command, have always been Xiao Changyao's confidants, making this emperor like a fish in his throat; As the lord of the world, the most unacceptable thing for Xiao Changyao is that the imperial authority of the king of his own country can only be limited to the court in Beijing, and cannot popularize the four borders.

In fact, since the day he ascended the throne, Xiao Changyao made a grand wish that he would be the emperor of the world, not just the son of the Xiao family; Therefore, although so many years have passed, whether it is the Jingbei Army in the north or the Zhenxi Army in the west, in the heart of the Great Zhou Tianzi, they are extremely unstable factors, and even the bane of war in the world.

This winter, accompanied by the rolling cold snap, the overwhelming snow enveloped the entire Shangjing City; And the rumbling iron cavalry from the border has cast a gloomy color on this silver-covered imperial capital.

The wind and snow are all over Beijing.

At this moment, above the temple of the Great Zhou, it seems to be calm, but I don't know how many undercurrents are hidden.

……

Plum blossoms fell overnight in the snowstorm.

The snow in the capital seems to have just stopped, and it seems to have never stopped; In the gray sky, a few tiny snowflakes slowly drifted down the clouds.

At this moment, inside and outside the city, the earth is frozen, and the snow is white and boundless.

The palace under the flying snow stands in the center of the Beijing Division, and with the angry north wind, it looks particularly deserted, lining off the royal spirit of the heavenly family; Even the various gates of Miyagi are completely different from other places, and they look very royal.

The wide square was also snow-white, empty and cold, and the north wind swept and blew, rolling up the ice chips in the sky, and gradually, it turned into a thin white mist, covering the sky and the sun.

Suddenly, the dark cloud in the sky, without warning, cast a faint moonlight on the white snow, but soon disappeared.

In the imperial study of the palace, it is dull, solemn, depressing, as cold as the dark night, and as lonely as the polar night.

Xiao Changyao, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, wearing a pale cyan dragon robe, with his hands behind his back, stood in front of the wind and snow in the imperial study, looking at the snow scene of the dark night with a cold face, letting the cold wind sweep over his face.

At this moment, Xiao Changyao's state of mind was like this snowstorm, cold, gloomy, and gloomy; Although at this moment, there are several braziers in this imperial study, but this still can't withstand the coldness in the hearts of a generation of emperors.

Xiao Changyao stared at the night sky, without saying a word, he seemed to be using this silent silence to brew his majesty as an emperor; He remembered that his father had said to him that those who are emperors have always been lonely, as long as they are for the sake of the country, no one can be sacrificed, even if it is their own relatives, since they are emperors, they are destined to be accompanied by loneliness for the rest of their lives; It was only now, when he sat in this position himself, that he really understood the deep meaning of this sentence, which may be the curse of imperial power.

The wind swept across the temples of the Son of Heaven, Xiao Changyao stared at the snowy night with no end in sight, stunned, his eyes became more and more solemn, and he couldn't help but sigh softly.

"It's snowing."

At this time, Lei Hao, who was standing beside His Majesty, hurriedly stepped forward and whispered concern when he saw this. "Your Majesty, it's cold outside, you have to watch out for the dragon body."

I saw that Xiao Changyao's face sank slightly, as if he was thoughtful, but the imperial aura on his face had not diminished at all, but became more and more intense; He stretched out his hand, and a crystal snowflake landed on the palm of his hand, melting into ice water in an instant.

Da Zhou Tianzi's face is like water.

"I hate snow the most. I remember that year, my father took me and Ah Pu to the West Mountain to hunt, and on the way back, he encountered heavy snow blocking the mountain, and the wind and snow hit his body, which hurt like a torture, and nearly half of the Royal Forest Army fell in the snow like that, and never got up again. At that time, Ah Pu and I only had one horse, and he held me in the back and said to me, 'Big brother save me, big brother save me, big brother save me, ......'. Who would have thought that now, I would ...... him?"

As soon as he thought of this, a tear faintly flashed in Xiao Changyao's eyes; This iron-fisted emperor who rules all the people and is in charge of the Great Zhou Dynasty rarely reveals his true feelings, and even his voice has become low.

In that deep voice, there is melancholy, melancholy, sadness, and memories of the past.

But soon, such sentimentality disappeared without a trace from Xiao Changyao's face, as if it had never appeared, and in its place, it was still the supreme coldness; Because Xiao Changyao understands that as the king of these thousands of rivers and mountains, the master of the Great Zhou Empire, he can't have too much tenderness, which can only become his shackles and affect his judgment.

So, Xiao Changyao did not hesitate, slowly raised the noble head, and without looking back, he turned around and walked into the inner hall, leaving only a night of heavy snow outside the door.

"Bang".

The door of the imperial study, with a sudden loud noise, was slammed shut, cutting off the silvery white outside from everything inside.

It's late at night, and it's snowing heavily; Therefore, in the spacious imperial study, the lights are bright at the moment, and the fire candles as thick as children's arms reflect this imperial study, just like day, flashing a large piece of light, and the fire is dazzling.

With the bright light, Xiao Changyao, who was dressed in a dragon robe, stood in front of a wall, the whole person was motionless, staring intently at the wall; On that wall, there was a thick cotton curtain that covered half of the wall; No one knows what hangs behind the cotton curtain, whether it is calligraphy and painting, scrolls, or something else......

But I saw that His Majesty the Emperor, who was high above, stood so straight, neither spoke nor showed any expression, but just blindly locked his eyebrows, looking very melancholy.

At this moment, Xiao Changyao waved his hand lightly, and the small yellow doors on both sides immediately understood, stepped forward to "open-mindedly", and opened the cotton curtain; When the cotton curtain was torn off, an incomparably accurate and incomparably huge "map of the mountains and rivers under heaven" was hung on the curtain wall and presented in front of the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This "map of the mountains and rivers of the world", more than one zhang in length and width, hanging on the wall is eye-catching, this is since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it is also so far, the most detailed, the most well-made map of Kyushu; I saw that this map clearly depicted the various stations, state capitals, and counties under the rule of the Great Zhou, including the vast steppes on the northern border, the thousands of miles of desert in the western fortresses, and the continuous coastline in the southeast of the empire.

Countless scarlet lines, connected by silk, are inlaid on the wide map, marking the cities, military towns and fortresses in the four borders, as well as the Northern Zhou army stationed in various places, all very clearly; For example, the main forces of the Jingbei Army, the Zhenxi Army, the Jianghuai Army, the Yanzhou Border Cavalry, and the Xiangfan Naval Division were respectively defended in the places where they were defended, from the leading generals to the number of soldiers and horses, to the distribution of troops, all of which were annotated with Zhu Pen.

The great rivers and mountains have been like a magnificent blueprint, slowly unfolding.

Xiao Changyao stood under the map, looking at the majestic outline, the beautiful texture, and the sharp gaze of the Son of Heaven, becoming deeper and deeper, and gradually becoming a little fascinated; This is his country and his world, but at this moment, the emperor's heart also has a trace of anachronistic confusion, how long can he appreciate the picturesque country in front of him?

Slowly, Xiao Changyao raised his hand, stretched out two steady, slender fingers, and slowly moved on the map in the direction outlined by the red line; But see, the two fingers of the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou Dynasty, where they moved to the map, there was a gloom, just like a snow-bright sword of the Son of Heaven, representing hundreds of thousands of iron horses of the Great Zhou Empire, full of killing intent, and the soldiers were fierce, sweeping the entire Shenzhou Continent.

When the emperor's two fingers fell into the sky above the three states in the north and Jinyang, Xiao Changyao's eyes crossed an imperceptible chill; He then spread out his five fingers and patted it gently, and that hand was like a majestic mountain, pressing the word "North" on the map.

No one knows what His Majesty the Emperor is thinking in his heart at this moment, maybe he is enjoying the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains of the Great Zhou, or he is planning the bright future of the empire, or it is ...... It's a pity that they are not the emperor himself after all, the emperor's heart is like the sea, how can ordinary people guess it.

Soon, Xiao Changyao put down his hand, and the brows that had been locked were slightly relaxed; And the expression on his face was as calm as ever, but his gaze also moved from the north to the west little by little, and fell to the capital of the west - "Pingliang".

Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Wen Xiao Shiyuan issued an edict to set up a four-border travel platform to deal with the war in the four directions; After Emperor Jing ascended the throne, he added four capitals on the basis of the four major platforms, which were used as the center of commanding the surrounding armies, for example, the capital of the north was Jinyang, the capital of the south was Xiangyang, the capital of the east was Linzi, and the capital of the west was Pingliang.

Therefore, for more than ten years, Xiao Changling has been the king of Qin, sitting in Jinyang, serving as the commander of the northern border, commanding 400,000 Jingbei troops, and relying on this army of tigers and wolves, he has set foot on Southern Chu in one fell swoop, raised his authority in the north, and deterred Rouran's millions of iron horsemen; And Xiao Yingxue is a generation of female marshals, resident in Pingliang, alone in charge of 300,000 Zhenxi Army, governing the two states of Ganliang, and then led these 300,000 athletes, through the destruction of Xiyan, the great achievements of Qiang Hu, became a unique Northwest prince.

It can be seen that although the Great Zhou Dynasty has unified the Central Plains, the pattern of the imperial frontier is still divided by feudal towns and factions. The only difference is that the princes who hold the army now are no longer the proud generals of the past, but a family connected to the blood of the Great Zhou royal family.

Take Xiao Changling, the king of Qin, as an example, Xiao Changling guarded the northern border for ten years and created an invincible Jingbei army, so the foundation of Xiao Changling and the Jingbei army has long been established in the north and Jinyang; As an emperor with great talents, Xiao Changyao will not allow the existence of a country within a country, and throughout his life, he is bound to adopt a thunderous strategy to cut the feudal domain to end this deformed status quo.

"Lei Hao."

Xiao Changyao didn't turn around, he still stood there with his hands in his hands, staring at the map on the wall, motionless, leaving only a lonely back for Lei Hao.

"The minions are here."

"Tell me, I'm not a good emperor." Xiao Changyao said coldly.

Facing the question from the soul of the Son of Heaven, Lei Hao couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, he didn't understand why His Majesty, as the king of a country, would ask such an esoteric question to himself, a slave; But after a moment of hesitation, Lei Hao still tried his best to calm down and said slowly.

"Your Majesty is wise and wise, diligent and loves the people, under your governance, the Great Zhou is thriving, and all the people in the world are grateful for your imperial grace. There is no doubt that you are the greatest generation of saints that the minions have ever seen. ”

The words are good words, and between the words, they are full of compliments from the slave to the master; However, such flattering words poured into Xiao Changyao's ears at this moment, but they were extremely ironic and ridiculous.

The cold emperor laughed at himself.

"You glass egg, when did you also get contaminated with the sour and rotten atmosphere of those Confucians."

"Minions should be damned, minions should be damned......" Lei Hao slapped himself.

Until this moment, Xiao Changyao's heart gradually showed a clear mind; The gloomy color on his face was swept away, as if he had reconciled with himself.

"I also know that you are comforting me. Sometimes I wonder why even the people closest to me regard me as an enemy. Yes, I am now the emperor, and everyone is afraid of my power, but how do they know how lonely people above the top are. Just like the dragon chair on the Taiji Palace, tall, majestic, heavy, in fact, it is the most unstable chair in the world. ”

After the words fell, there was a deathly silence, and Lei Hao stepped forward and put on a bright yellow coat for the emperor. "Your Majesty, don't overthink it."

Sour and painful, filled Xiao Changyao's eyes, he blinked slightly, and the gloomy look in his pupils was like a pebble thrown into the water, and it was suddenly very clear; Xiao Changyao gathered his cloak and changed the topic very casually. "Pingyang, it's almost time to go to Beijing."

"Yes, Your Majesty, according to the footsteps, the eldest princess should arrive the day after tomorrow." Lei Hao responded.

"Well, okay, pass on my will, and arrange it at the discretion of the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, and there must be no mistakes." Xiao Changyao nodded and said expressionlessly.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Time stands still again.

Standing under the vast territory, Xiao Changyao's thoughts wandered for a moment; His primordial spirit, as if floating from this cold nine-fold palace, to the outside of the wolf smoke, could not calm down for a long time.

"Say, what is Apo doing at this time?"

……

In the north of the capital, the Tiefutu camp.

At midnight, the stars are like promises.

The Chinese army camp of Tiefutu is located at the foot of Yunding Mountain; The huge military camp is full of murderous aura.

The cold north wind swept through, swept through the undulating hills, swept through the solemn camp, and swept through the wolf-like tiger-like Tiefutu soldiers.

The silver dragon king flag engraved with the word "Xiao" stood in the middle of the barracks with gusts of wind, making the sound of hunting and rolling, sweeping across the empty field......

Layers of wind and snow, unconsciously, fell on the Tiefutu middle camp that stretched endlessly like mountains and ravines, and the momentum was solemn, and a clear and snowy heavenly coat was draped over the camp.

Here, the flags are hunting, the camps are continuous, and the endless black is standing in the wind and snow, like a beast resting temporarily, licking its bloody wounds, and it may be killed at any time!

Suddenly, in the camp of the Chinese army, Xiao Changling, who was dressed in white armor, smiled slightly, lifted the black and heavy "Chengying" long sword, got up gently, walked slowly outside the tent, lifted the curtain of the big tent, and looked at the night of Gyeonggi covered with ice and snow, his eyes were heavy.

He was dressed in white and stood in front of the tent.

Suddenly, a cold wind in the winter night, mixed with a roaring roar of thunder, blew extremely vigorously, and directly pulled the "Xiao" word Wang flag.

The battle robe on Xiao Changling's body, the white clothes are better than the snow, as if they are integrated with the snow everywhere; And Xiao Changling's battle armor seemed to be blown through by this night wind like a knife, vibrating countless majestic momentum.

On the night of the wind and snow, Xiao Changling held the long sword, stared up at the starry sky with heavy snow, and a faint sense of loneliness shrouded the heart of this generation of heroes.

"Sister, you shouldn't have come."

The endless slaughter spread thousands of miles away and spread all over the world, like a lingering shadow, covering the night sky of Shangjing in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and also covering the thousand-mile-long border, not seeing the light of day......