The word "Wu Wang Pei" was unfurled in the wind, leading the black and oppressive armor soldiers to spread across the mountains and fields like a wave, and rushed to the towering fortified city in front of them. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Close the gates!"

The defenders of Xingyang (Zhengzhou) were frightened, and while quickly raising the suspension bridge and closing the city gate, they sent people to the city to inform the Xingyang Taishou.

In an instant, more than 10,000 armor soldiers finished lining up outside the moat, not moving like a mountain, swords and guns like a forest, and the spirit of killing was spontaneously born, forcing the city guards to swallow saliva.

"Stepping on ......"

Wearing the gold-swallowing dragon bright light armor, the Phantom Demon No. 1 rode out with a few personal soldiers and slowly came to the edge of the moat.

A soldier beside him shouted angrily: "Xiangzhou Lieutenant Chi Zhen raised troops to rebel, His Royal Highness King Wu led his troops to Qin Wang, passing through Xingyang, you must enter the city to rest, open the city gate quickly!"

The deputy general defending the city strengthened his courage and responded: "Dare to ask His Royal Highness King Wu if there is an order from the imperial court? If there is no order, please forgive the last general for not daring to privately release soldiers and horses from other states into the city!"

The soldiers shouted again: "Blind your dog's eyes! dare to turn King Wu away?"

"How dare the lower officials and others turn King Wu away?" Another voice came from the city, but it was Xingyang Taishou who urgently caught up with the city, a middle-aged man who was elegant and full of might, and said unhurriedly: "Xingyang City is small, and it can't accommodate thousands of troops and horses. ”

Listening to the tone of Taishou who was neither humble nor arrogant, soft and hard, the guards seemed to have found the backbone of the main heart and gradually calmed down.

"Xingyang Zheng clan, but it is also one of the top clans of the Northern Dynasties, with two brushes!"

Phantom No. 1 muttered, and at a glance saw the strong warrior aura on the middle-aged man's body, but he didn't take it to heart, sneered, and said loudly: "Xingyang Zheng clan obstructs King Qin's army, is it to secretly help the traitor Wei Chi Yuanhu?"

The corner of Xingyang's eyes twitched, obviously he was taking advantage of the fire to rob, but he dared to beat a rake so confidently?

"King Wu's words are serious! The lower official is just the duty of the head of a county, and I ask King Wu not to embarrass the lower official!"

Phantom Demon No. 1 was dressed in clothes and had no wind automatically, and his spirit was secretly gathered to his peak state, and he shouted loudly, "Xingyang is too guarded to collaborate with the enemy and treason, and the crime should be ambushed!"

Before he could say anything, he waved his palm and slapped the scabbard, and in the roar of the dragon and the tiger, a silver rainbow broke through the air and disappeared.

"Flutter!"

Blood mist splattered, and there was a trembling broad-bladed heavy sword on the giant pillar of the city tower.

The next moment, Xingyang Taishou's head fell from his neck, fell straight to the bottom of the city, and fell into pulp.

In an instant, the guards at the head of the city were all cold and speechless, on the contrary, the morale of more than 10,000 armored soldiers under the city was high, and they all raised their swords and shouted: "King Wu is mighty! King Wu is mighty......

The cry shook the four fields, and the whole city was shocked!

Phantom No. 1 raised his hand, and his voice stopped, "The traitor has been ambushed, you will open the city as soon as possible, and the Lone King will pardon Er and others will not be guilty, if not, when the Lone King leads the army into the city, he will destroy the nine clans such as Er!"

Of course, with his martial arts, he can kill the city head and open the city gate with a single sword, but he is dignified King Wu and can no longer be on the front line in person, otherwise it will be too embarrassing, and killing chickens and monkeys like this, the invincible divine power is undoubtedly just right.

Sure enough, after a moment of chaos at the head of the city, the drawbridge and the city gate were slowly lowered or opened with a creaking sound.

Phantom No. 1 waved his hand, and just in case, the sword and shield soldiers opened the way first, rushed into the city, and then rushed to the city head to control the city walls and gates.

The dust has settled!

Phantom One's gaze fell on the headless corpse of Xingyang Taishou lying on the battlement, and he couldn't help but sneer. Perhaps in terms of cultural inheritance, the Zheng clan of Xingyang can be listed as one of the top ten warrior clans in Middle-earth, but in this world where force is supreme, the powerful emperor never cares about this kind of vassal clan rich in civil officials.

As a lesson from the past, the Qinghe Cui family, which is not inferior to the Xingyang Zheng family, was almost killed by Emperor Daowu and Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and it was not that he didn't let go of a fart.

The so-called scholars are actually the same as all the civil and official groups throughout the ages, the weak masters are heavily constrained by them, and the powerful masters shout and kill them, not only do they dare not resist, but they will lick their faces and laugh.

The key is only whether the master has enough swords and guns in his hands to wipe them out!

Obviously, taking advantage of Yu Wenyun's violent death, the court was in turmoil, the lord was suspicious, the power was arbitrary, the relatives rebelled, and many local officials were at a loss, and the entire territory of the imperial court south of Xingyang (Zhengzhou) and north of the Yangtze River and the king of Wu, who had tens of thousands of elite soldiers, was far from being something that a mere Xingyang Zheng clan could contend with!

It is equivalent to the territory of the previous half of the Northern Qi Dynasty, with thousands of miles of fertile fields, a population of more than 10 million, and hundreds of large and small cities, no matter what era it is, it can act as the capital of each party or dominate the world!

It must be known that the Han people in the entire Southern Dynasty are only 15 million people at most, in other words, even if he, the king of Wu, is now called the emperor and founded the country, no one will laugh at him!

At this point, the powerful Northern Dynasty was divided into three, and Yang Jian coerced the Son of Heaven to order foreign ministers, and still occupied vast territories such as Guanzhong and Bashu, that is, the old land of the former Northern Zhou Dynasty, with a population of as many as 15 or 6 million, and more than 300,000 soldiers and horses of all colors;

Of course, the above-mentioned total of five or six hundred thousand soldiers and horses also refers to the elite soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who have experienced a hundred battles, but if the battle ends together and the three parties expand their armies, then the final number of soldiers and horses is uncertain.

At the very least, now the soldiers and horses under the command of Wei Chi are snowballing, and by the time they meet Yang Jian, I am afraid that they will have to become two or three hundred thousand!

Today, the population of the entire Northern Dynasty is as high as 35 million, while the population of Southern Chen is only 15 million...... The huge gap in strength between the north and the south is also one of the fundamental reasons why there is little hope for the south to unify the north.

"Golden horn and silver-edged grass belly...... Now this foundation, even if it can't be called a golden horn now, should be a silver edge, right?"

Phantom One's eyes groaned and muttered to himself.

At the beginning of the struggle for hegemony, the choice of territory is like a game of Go, with golden horns, silver edges, and grass belly, which refers to the advantages and disadvantages of the location of the separating place.

The previous two Huai and Yangzhou Pingchuan, no danger to fear, but also sandwiched between the two countries, can be described as a veritable "grass belly", and now from the Yangtze River north, Xingyang south of the vast territory, although not as good as the captain Chi Yuan's half of the Northern Qi "Golden Horn", but after occupying Xingyang, the advance can be attacked, retreat can be defended, it can be regarded as a "silver edge", and the probability of achieving hegemony has increased several times!

If he really wants to dominate the world, he should join forces with Yu Chi Hui to resist Yang Jian at this time, after all, on the surface, Yang Jian's strength is the strongest, which is almost equivalent to him and Yu Chi Hui uniting, and he and Yu Chi Hui are equal in strength.

Of course, the rule of the three is very unstable, and each has many hidden dangers!

However, as long as he and Wei Chi Hui join forces to repel the first wave of Yang Jian's expedition with the name of righteousness, then the pattern of the Northern Dynasties is likely to stabilize, and what happens in the future depends on the ability and means of each person.

"It's a pity that the lord is compassionate and doesn't want the Northern Dynasty to fall into the flames of long-term division again, so he gave up this great opportunity in vain!"

Phantom Demon No. 1 sighed secretly, although he was quite puzzled by the decision of the Venerable Lord, but he did not have the idea of violating it, this time he pushed the situation to this point, and had completed the goal of the Venerable Lord - not only showing the image of an ambitious hero, giving Yang Jian a certain amount of pressure, but also faintly confined the civil war to the narrow range of the line from Luoyang to Yecheng, so as not to completely destroy the Northern Dynasty.

"Your Highness's Sword ......"

When entering the city, a personal soldier came quickly and handed over the dragon sword that had been removed from the giant pillar of the city tower.

Phantom No. 1 took it casually, and was about to return the sword into the sheath, when he suddenly felt the cold hilt of the sword penetrating into the bone marrow, as if something invisible had entered his body from the hilt, making him in a trance for a moment, and a familiar mutilated picture appeared in front of him......

In that picture, he had a strange but heroic and majestic face, dressed in the dragon robe of the Ming and Huang Tianzi, pointing at the country and scolding Fang Xuan, with the spirit of a heroic and martial Mingjun!

On the top of the city tower more than 20 zhang high, a cynical and black-robed figure who looked at the world smiled evilly, and disappeared silently in the blink of an eye.

From beginning to end, the thousands of troops coming and going in and out of the city could see him as soon as they looked up, but no one had the idea of looking up, and no one ever noticed his arrival and departure.

..................

The carriage sparkled and the sound of hooves continued.

In the long queue of sending relatives to the north, Changsun Sheng was expressionless, walking on the side of the princess's car on a high-headed horse, although he was close to his lover, and at this time he personally escorted his lover to marry someone else, but his whole heart was already numb, only a demonic aura became darker and deeper.

The red curtain of the car window quietly opened a gap, and Changsun Sheng suddenly felt a ray of resentment on him, but he pretended not to know anything.

In the carriage, Yu Wenhan, who was dressed in a big red phoenix crown and a bead curtain, was staring at Changsun Sheng's handsome and indifferent face, and his thoughts were flying.

When she received the decree and learned that she had been canonized as a princess and married to the Turkic Shabalu Khan, she felt the sky fall and was heartbroken, and she did not think of letting Changsun Sheng take her away.

But the long-term political influence of the royal family made her understand that her father Yuwen Zhao was the king of Zhao, and the uncle of the emperor Yuwenyun was already suspicious of Yuwenyun, and if she resisted and disobeyed the decree, she would definitely give Yuwenyun an excuse to condemn her father.

When the time comes, her family will not be spared!

After Yuwen Yun was gone, but it was replaced by the more authoritarian and sinister Yang Jian, although Yang Jian recalled all the five Yuwen princes including her father to Chang'an as soon as he came to power, and gave him a high position, but all the military and political power inside and outside the court was in the hands of Yang Jian, and the five kings of Yuwen had a famous position but no real power, so they had to be cautious so as not to incur murder and robbery.

All this can be described as Yang Jian's Sima Zhao's heart, which is known to passers-by!

Just when her convoy drove out of Chang'an City, her cousin Bi Wang Yu Wenxian and the other five kings took the opportunity to murder Yang Jian before they could do it.

But Yu Wenhan also faintly felt that this was not that Yang Jian was really magnanimous and did not blame the past, but that Yang Jian needed to show the bearing of a generation of male lords to the courtiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and pave the way for the smooth usurpation of the throne in the future.

However, after this, once the five kings of the Yuwen clan fall into the hands of Yang Jian next time, no one will intercede for them anymore.

During this tense period, Yu Wenhan didn't dare to ask Changsun Sheng to let him elope with her, because doing so was tantamount to sending her father to the guillotine with his own hands.

Even if Changsun Sheng was close at this moment, she didn't dare to speak, she was afraid that she would cry as soon as she opened her mouth, so she could only stare at Changsun Sheng so quietly, fantasizing that the road to the Turkic tooth tent would be longer, and it would be better to never go to the end.

Changsun Sheng's sharp gaze swept over the honor guard at the front of the convoy and the dowry items at the back again, seemingly looking dutiful, but in fact, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart—most of the dowry items that could not be seen at a glance were porcelain, spices, salt, tea, cloth and other scarce goods in the prairie.

"Hypocritical etiquette...... The false teachings of Confucianism are of no use except self-deception!"

There is a cloud in the Analects: The gentleman is said to be righteous, and the villain is said to be profitable. It means that the gentleman values morality, and the villain values interests.

However, in fact, as the orthodox Confucian civil officials of the Confucian clan at that time, they were the main force in business, and they never said the word "profit" in major national affairs, but they did the opposite.

One of the strange things, just like the intermarriage between the two countries such as the Great Zhou and the Turkic Heqin, on the surface, in order to save face, the royal families of both sides are extremely rich in dowries and dowries, which are enough to load thousands of carts of all sizes, so that hundreds of people admire the royal wealth.

Only those who know the inside story can understand that this huge exchange of goods is not a dowry or dowry at all, but an international trade tacitly between the two sides and each taking what they need!

The Great Zhou received a sufficient number of high-quality war horses, and the Turkic nobles were to receive luxuries that would satisfy them.

"But...... The more corrupt the Turkic nobles, the better it will be for me to achieve the goal of this trip?"

Changsun Sheng thought indifferently, his eyes flashing with confidence.

If there is anyone in the world who wants the East and the West to be divided apart, it is not the small countries such as Tuyuhun, Gaochang, and Khitan that have been oppressed by the Turks, nor is it Yang Jian, who is afraid of the Turkic wolves, but his eldest grandson!

Although he planned to subordinate the Turks and transfer the power of the Demon Sect to the north of the Saiwai Desert!

In fact, this is not difficult to understand, but also to apply the trick that the door valve of the Middle Earth Shi clan has already made perfected - Whenever the gate valve of the Shi clan has taken a fancy to an outstanding talent from a poor family, and wants to take it for his own use, the first step is not only not to buy it for the benefit of the Han family, but to secretly persecute the Han disciple by various means, forcing him to be desperate and despairing. Work hard for a lifetime.

To put it bluntly, it is the difference between icing on the cake and sending charcoal in the snow, if there is no "snow", then you have to create "snow"!

In the same way, Changsun Sheng thought to himself, if he went to join the Turks at this time, then the Turkic high-level who dominated the steppe would not take him in his eyes at all, and he would become a victim of the Turks' external expansion if he was not careful, but if the Turks were divided and civil wars were frequent, he would choose a master and assist him, and he could become the prime minister, hold power, and show his ambitions.

That being the case, what he has to do in the future is not to sell the Great Zhou to curry favor with the Turks, but on the contrary, he needs to help the Great Zhou to plague the Turks until the Turks are torn apart and their power declines.

At that time, if he led the elite of the Demon Sect to join a certain male lord of the Turks, he would definitely get what he wanted.

Now the first chess piece he is about to play in the Turks is the girl who loves him deeply in the carriage next to him, and the second chess piece is himself!

"This way is not only the road for me to say goodbye to my lover, but also for me to completely put aside the burden of love and love, and go all out to cross the grassland master one by one and become famous!"

All these things will undoubtedly be a higher level of grinding and testing of the soul, which is the second stage of his spiritual asceticism. He believes that when he returns from the prairie, he will be reborn and become a generation of top masters who can compete with Pei Ju and Zhu Yuyan! )